Aftermath and Answers
Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2026 @ 5:31am by Commander Grace Vetur & Lieutenant JG Peri Valeri & Lieutenant Commander Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii & Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova & Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus & Lieutenant Xavier & Lieutenant Amanda Rose & Staff Warrant Officer Madelyn Steele & Ensign Rishi Chabbra & Lieutenant JG T'Avia Espinosa
1,668 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Preservation Instinct
Location: Ontario
Timeline: Right after "The Game is Afoot"
Grace was waiting for the shuttle to land in the bay and the away team to debark. She was close enough they couldn't miss her, but far enough to keep a safe distance until they were all cleared by the doctor. She didn't think the pheromones could be passed from person to person, but she wanted the doctor and his team to verify that before anyone was cleared to go back to work or to their quarters.
"Welcome back," she told them as they approached. "Each of you is to go immediately to sickbay to be cleared by the doctor and his staff. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you."
The commander smiled at Amanda. "Especially you. You are to see the doctor himself. He is to personally clear you for duty."
Amanda shrugged. "It is protocol," she admitted, regardless of how much she knew that he needed her help much more than the reverse.
"Yes, it is. Especially for you." Then Grace looked at the others. "All of you. Sickbay first. Once you're cleared, I want a report from each of you."
"Especially?" Amanda asked. Was the Commander treating her differently again?
"You were the only one kidnapped, were you not?" Grace explained. "Therefore, you, especially, need to be cleared by the doctor. That is protocol. When you are cleared, you can return to duty."
Of course it is protocol. I still don't know why she is using the word "especially." There's no need to single me out further than already having been plantnapped, as the case might be.
Madelyn was quite happy to be back on the Ontario. She figured that Crystal would be waiting for her, in her quarters maybe having some sort of meal waiting for her.
Crystal tended to do things like that after Madelyn had been on an away mission.
"Okay, just a quick in and out medical exam, that works for me. My daughter probably has dinner for me." she did feel that the deck was moving like a ship at sea.
"Staff Warrant, I need your report," Grace said. "You can do it from your quarters, if you like, but I need to know what happened down there."
Madelyn gave a nod, approaching Grace walking a bit unsteadily as if she were drunk she gave a sneeze as she neared Grace, before she could cover her mouth and nose.
"Sorry, Ma'am" then she told the events which led to tracking down where Amanda was. She finished up by saying. "And I am sending you the files I had made recordings of" doing just that via her padd.
Madelyn gave a shiver, as if a chill coursed through her body. "And I need to get a shower, as I would dearly love to get out of my grimy uniform."
She looked rather pale, and a little bit green around the gills.
Grace grew more concerned as Madelyn spoke. "Go to sickbay first. You clearly picked something up on the planet. Then when the doctor clears you, take that shower."
"Will do, I don't want to get my girl ill." Madelyn replied giving a nod and making her way out of the shuttle bay.
Peri was the last to leave the shuttle. As she saw the commander, she stopped. "You should have all the scans from the shuttle. If not, let me know. I forwarded everything I had to you."
"Thank you. I'll take a look at those now." Grace wasn't going to break orbit until they had answers."
"Great. I'll send them to you right away. I'll send them to the doctor, too. Just in case."
"And to T'Avia. Science should see them as well." Although Grace found she missed Percy. Crazy plants and all. She just hoped he wouldn't want to adopt one of those plants.
Then she left Peri to go to her ready room and await the data.
Xavier had been the first off the shuttle and started to download the logs of the shuttle to the main computer. He stayed out of everyone's way not feeling like himself. It was odd, he couldn't put his finger on why he felt this way but he did and until he put his finger on it he would stay quiet. He briefly wondered if he could skip the sickbay part but sadly. He knew he could not. The up side was Tox would be there.
Grace made a point of checking on each of the away team to make sure they were okay and to ask them to write up a report on their experiences and impressions on the planet.
She sought out Yivliph first.
'Commander Vetur,' Yiv offered his captain a friendly wave. 'All's well that ends well, eh? Glad to say that with the exception of Amanda's, uh, minor run-in with the native plant life the operation went without a hitch for us.'
"Excellent. Now we need to look through the data you collected and find out exactly what happened," she replied with a smile. "Once we do that, I can send a report to Starfleet and we'll be off again."
'That sounds like an excellent plan,' Yiv replied with a smile. 'I'm sure most of us will be glad to put some distance between us and those damned plants down there.' He pulled a face for a moment, his stomach unsettled. 'Hopefully the next assignment is to monitor gaseous anomalies. From a distance. A very safe distance ...'
"Maybe. We'll see what Starfleet sends us. And be sure to stop by sickbay and get checked out first." He didn't look good. In fact, most of the away team looked a little under the weather. Grace made amental note to have science run more scans of the planet.
Then Grace found Anahera. "Commander. Do you have a few minutes?"
"Of course, what can I do for you, Ma'am?" Anahera said.
"What did you notice that was odd or unusual on the planet?" It was a broad question, but Grace wanted her honest observations, not guided ones.
"The lack of any personnel was odd, and the abundance of plants where they shouldn't be, like the power plant was also odd, as was the pollen produced by said plants, that had an effect on the Away Team causing lightheadedness." Anahera replied. "I'm not a scientist or medic, so its outside my scope of knowledge, but from a tactical stand point, I believe the overabundance of plants is somehow linked to the missing staff."
"That's an interesting theory. Do you have any evidence to back it up?" Grace asked.
"Nothing solid, but we did collect soil and plant samples, perhaps a scientific analysis can shed some more light the mystery." Anahera replied. "Also, there was no evidence of an outside attack."
"I'll check with science on that. Thank you," Grace said. "Check with sickbay to make sure you didn't pick up anything, then return to your duties."
"Aye, Ma'am." Anahera said.
There was a chirp of a comm channel, the Captain was being summoned. "Captain, it's Ensign Chabbra. I apologize for interrupting the away team's reception, but when you have a moment..." the Archeologist from Ontario's science department stated.
"I'll be there momentarily," Grace replied.
"Yes ma'am, Chabbra out" replied the ensign, cutting the channel. What he would have for her were some Federation news reports circulating around the science community. A Dr. Seymour Oinks reported on Folnar III had a run in with some Orions. 'Paperwork' of Dr. Oinks was found to be forged, a Xenobotanist that after Folnar III had been spotted on Freecloud where a jeweler’s shop was nearly destroyed.
Dr. Seymour Oinks did not exist. It was a pseudonym of sort, and Oinks was not publishing papers. What he was doing was causing a mess and leaving more than a few breadcrumbs along the way. The name was far more a nom de guerre than a nom de plume.
Grace found Rishi into the main science lab. "Hello, ensign. What do you have to show me?"
"Know anyone who would leave a pigsty of a mess in their wake and use a pseudonym Dr. Seymour Oinks?" Rishi replied as he displayed news on the lab screens. "Folnar III then Freecloud, I don't know what he's doing, but he's been busy."
Rishi shook his head and looked at Grace. "Nothing illegal, ma'am, at least not from what I can tell. Some altercations with Orions and Nausicaans."
Grace sighed. There was only one person--or Tellarite--that would go by Oinks. "Yes. I'm afraid I do. At least he's not doing anything illegal. Copy all the information you have and send it to my computer. I want to have a good look at what he's been up to."
"Of course, ma'am," replied Rishi. "It will be there momentarily."
"Thank you." Grace needed to look over that information. But she also had a question of her own. "I was told a number of scans and samples were taken by the away team. I'd like you to run tests on them why and see if you can find any helpful information."
Rishi nodded. "Yes, Captain. I will work with Lieutenant Espinosa and get our best biologist on it, and loop in other divisions."
"Again, thank you. If there's nothing else, I'll go look at those files and let you get to work." All Grace really needed was confirmation--and to find out what was going on with her chief science officer.
A post by
Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ontario
Staff Warrant Officer Madelyn Steele
Chief Engineer
USS Ontario
Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Ontario
Ensign Rishi Chabbra (PNPC)
Science Officer
USS Ontario
Lieutenant Xavier
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Ontario
Lieutenant Amanda Rose
Chief Counselor
USS Ontario
Lieutenant Commander Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii
Executive Officer
USS Ontario
Lieutenant JG Peri Valeri
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Ontario
Commander Grace Vetur
Commander
USS Ontario
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