Colors And Their Meaning

Posted on Nov 25, 2016 @ 4:39pm by Ensign Sofia Andersson
Edited on on Nov 25, 2016 @ 4:39pm

Mission: Aftermath

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Colors and Their Meaning"
[previous post was "Terminus" by the musically inclined Shawn]
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LOCATION: EARTH
SD: [2.16] 1125.1330
SCENE: Paris, Underground Research Facility, Level 4 (Light Blue)

Each sublevel displayed a different color on their perimeter walls making it clear that someone had been in a different location despite the layout of the transparent walled labs being nearly identical. The sublevels of this underground research facility had likely appeared very different from one another prior to all life in the city above and in the facility below being reduced to ashes. Now each level came across as a desolate and empty memory of life in general.

"So the white level was just for security," Sofia said to no one in particular, the sound of her own voice having served to fill some of the emptiness she felt echoing through the levels they had visited. "The yellow level below that was for small plant samples, the third level which was green was for larger plant samples. What do you suspect was on this light blue level?"

"Hard to tell," Ya'Han said, the woman still in the lead of the group where it was clear she belonged. Fearless and driven, she embodied the best of Starfleet. How had Jayson never fallen for her had been beyond Sofia's comprehension. "I would have expected there to be more actual laboratory and research equipment here to deal with the samples collected above."

"The labs here are completely empty," Jayson pointed out in obvious agreement, "yet the rooms are just as secured as those we saw above. It makes no sense, why have a decon-style access to empty rooms?"

"There are no containers of any kind, no tables and no ashes," Sheila added as she stopped and more closely investigated one of the sealed labs. "It's like the room were empty before the Thalaron blast occurred."

Sofia's gaze dropped onto the empty lab coat that rested on the floor, the ashes of its owner proving that the lab had been in use and that the Thalaron radiation had hit this level like all others, with deadly force.

"Could these labs have been prepared for something that had not been brought in yet?" Angelo suggested, that having been the only way he could explain what they ha discovered.

"That would entail that this facility was not fully operational," Ya'Han added in disbelief, "but based on everything we have seen so far, it that makes no sense."

"I agree," Sofia said in support. "Forgetting that this was some sort of secret lab, medical facilities will always bring in the most dangerous material and specimens first, that way if something goes wrong they won't lose everything else. Since it is very likely that there are more levels below us, something was on this level, we just haven't figured out what yet."

"Jayson," Ya'Han continued, drawing her shipmate's attention to the equipment in the corner one particular lab. "What do you make of these? They appear slightly different from those we noticed in the higher levels"

"Hard to see from this angle," the OPS Officer replied as he tried to get a good look at one of the devices that had been pointed out to him. "Whatever they are, they were in every lab, the difference is that on this level there is one on every inner corner and they appear to be more sophisticated. That would in theory mean that they were of a greater importance here than on the previous levels."

"Air quality controls?" Sheila offered. "I had not made the connection until now, but they do look like some of the controls used inside isolation chambers I have worked in, they are meant to monitor and maintain air quality."

"Would make sense that there would be one in every lab, but why have four of them in these ones?" Sofia inquired. "Why be so concerned about the air quality in an empty room?"

"What if the rooms weren't empty?" Jason theorized. "We could be dealing with spores or even radiation. This place has gone through a lot of work to bring in specimens in from all over the blasted galaxy, I doubt it very much that they would leave any labs empty, and certainly not an entire level."

"Could be," Sofia noted as she moved to stand next to Jayson. "Air samples or maybe even airborne microorganisms, anything that requires a very specific type of atmospheric conditions to survive. Even if the specimens were biological, there would not have been all that much to be turned to ashes."

"Which explains the empty labs and the lack of ashes on the ground inside them," Ya'Han nodded, the explanation having been sufficient for her to leave this level for the next, their quest for a reason to account for the lower radiation readings still unanswered. According to the last scan performed by Angelo Tannahill, the Thalaron count had dropped to less than 10.

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LOCATION: EARTH
SCENE: Paris, Underground Water Treatment Facility
TIME FRAME: Same as the above

The away team had made its way down another set of metal stairs and through the maze of pipes to arrive where ANI had located the highest level of disturbance in the dust on the floor.

"A bio-identification scanner," Sonja out of puzzled curiosity, her head tilted ever slightly to one side. "Someone wanted to confirm the identify of those wanting to gain access to whatever is beyond that opened door."

"It appears as if Ensign Stark was able to find a way to go around the locking system," Maya pointed out based on the fact that the door had not been opened through the use of a kick or any other forceful manner.

"Oh come on," the CEO huffed. "Any first year Cadet would have been able to bypass a bio-scanner like that one. My guess is that it took him a few hours just to figure out how to open the panel beneath to access to control system."

"You really don't like him," the CMO pointed out with a chuckle. "That bio-scanner is not one of the easy ones to by-pass, and we both know it."

"Shall we go?" the ExO / ILO rhetorically inquired opening to avoid any sort of debate about the OPS Officer's abilities and knowledge. The CEO appeared more than happy to accept the invitation to go through the open door and down into whatever the survey team had ventured into. At least that way Sonja would not have to discus her opinion of Jayson Stark.

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LOCATION: EARTH
SCENE: Paris, Underground Research Facility, Level 1 (White)
TIME FRAME: A few minutes later

"Wow," Doctor Doyanne exclaimed as the sight of the long white corridor. "This is a nightmare come true. I'm just glad there is not a bright light at the end of this corridor."

"Smooth polycarbonate reinforced walls," Sonja stated as she ran her hand on the closest section of the wall she could reach. "Bet there are hundreds of scanners, sensors and cameras taking every possible readings on us. This corridor was meant to identify authorized personnel and tell them apart from would be doppelgangers and maybe even shapeshifters. Somebody was on the far end of paranoid to make this."

"Since there are no signs of Jayson and Ya'Han, can we assume that whatever security system was her is no longer working?" the ExO / ILO inquired. As much as they had been looking for their missing officer, Shar'El had not wanted to place the lives of her team in danger.

"If the computer system used to monitor security and maintain this complexe used any sort of biogel components, the Thalaron radiation would have easily destroyed them and severally hindered the computer's ability to function, if it was able to at all following the attack," Maya theorized as she too looked at the white wall closest to her.

"Well, let's go down to the end and find out," Sonja suggested but before she took another step, ANI reached out and took hold of the CEO's shoulder.

"You instructed me to inform you the moment my link with the ANUBIS went below 50%," the Avatar stated, her voice having become extremely cold and mechanical. "Based on my single last step, I predict that this will drop to below 40% by the time we reach the end of the corridor."

"It does make sense and explain why we suddenly lost all signs of Jayson and Ya'Han," the ExO / ILO said. "As you pointed out Sonja, someone was paranoid when they made this place, so it goes without saying that there would be a fair amount of shielding and counter sensor/communication measures in place. Whoever was responsible for creating this place did not want anyone noticing it by mistake on some random scan."

"Fine," the redheaded Engineer angrily snarled, not at all happy with the fact that the Avatar would have to be left behind. "Stay here and inform the ANUBIS of our situation. We will try to get a signal to you to relay up as soon as we can.

"Understood," ANI replied as the perfect obedient robot the lack of her operational subroutines had left her to be. "Awaiting further instructions."

"ANI is still there," Lillie offered to Sonja. "She will be back to her normal *Pinocchio, almost Human* self as soon as we get back to the ship.

"Then let's get moving," the CEO said as she quickly turned and headed down the white corridor. "I don't want ANI to suffer being this way for any longer than she has to," Sonja added, her words red with anger.

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NM:

Moving things along. No worries though, this little side story is far from over.

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Tiffany Reeve

Ensign Sofia Andersson
Currently sentenced to the
VERSAILLES Triage Center