One Step At A Time

Posted on Dec 01, 2016 @ 11:06am by Ensign Sofia Andersson
Edited on on Dec 01, 2016 @ 11:10am

Mission: Aftermath

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"One Step At A Time"
[previous post was "Taking Sides" by the Wheeling and Dealing Jerome]
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LOCATION: EARTH
SD [2.16] 1201.0952
SCENE: Paris, Underground Research Facility, Level 5 (Dark Blue)

Sofia focussed on her feet, making sure that she kelp walking forward. The blonde woman had not been worried of falling, but this had been the best way to avoid the looks from those around her. No one had accepted the story of her having had an accident, this despite Jayson's valiant and repeated efforts to convince everyone otherwise. Maybe he did believe that it had been an accident, or maybe he had just been trying to convince himself above everyone else. Either way she did appreciate what he had done and continued to do.

There was a lot for her to think about, not the least of which had been what had led to the split second decision to let herself be exposed to the Thalaron radiation. She had been ready to give up, to surrender and join the 28 million victims, to become nothing more than ashes on the floor like so many others, but fate it seemed had other plans.

She had never been one to believe in such things, but the sequence of events that had taken place over the last few weeks had begun to make her wonder if there had not been some higher power at play. The board of Inquiry had given her a chance where none should have been given. She had made friends with people who had happily ignored her past affiliations where most would have left her alone because of it. Lastly some unknown force had absorbed the radiation that she had been ready to surrender her life and future to.

What did she know of such things? The universe was by all accounts a marvel of endless possibilities. So who could tell what powers were actually at play in each of our lives? Many believed that a person needed to hit rock bottom to be able to even begin to understand this concept, to gain a new perspective and open mindedness to life and beyond. Some would decide to remain where they had fallen, but Sofia had decided to climb back out from that abyss, to walk down she had lost sight of, to instead move ahead one step at a time.

"Thank you," the blonde woman offered to the man walking by her side, his hand tightly wrapped around hers to insure that another accident would not happen. The gratefulness that echoed in those two simple words had left no doubt in his mind that she had been sincere, still he had not been ready to let go, not that she blamed him nor wished him to.

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LOCATION: EARTH
SCENE: Paris, Underground Research Facility, Level 6 (Purple)

Although everyone appeared a little surprised as they stepped into the next sub-level, the size of the cages within the isolation chambers had not been entirely unexpected. The pattern from the previous levels had remained constant hinting to some sort of administrative logic having been used during the complex's construction.

Sofia took a step towards one of the clear walled isolation rooms and was immediately held back by Jayson. "I'm just looking, I promise," the blonde woman said with a thoughtful and caring smile which proved enough to let him slowly release his grip on her.

"Saw something?" Lillie inquired as she came to stand by Sofia's side. As much as the blonde woman might have wanted to be annoyed by all of the attention, she actually found it sweet that so many people, including strangers, had been so concerned about her. That had been another reason to keep on going, leaving the mistakes done where they belonged - in the past.

"Trying to understand the reason for all of this," Andersson said as if thinking out loud instead of answering the question that had been presented to her. "This entire facility was obviously geared for research, but we have found little in the likes of actual work space. All of the levels we have gone through so far have been set for keeping specimens, specimens growing in size and complexity the further down we go."

"If this place was meant to be some sort of holding facility, the actual laboratories could be in an entirely separate location," the Chief Science Officer of the ANUBIS explained. "From an Intel standpoint keeping the sample source and research area isolated from one another would make sense in that one would be protected by physical separation should the other was discovered. Find the laboratories and the samples and sources are still available for further research, find this place and the work that had been completed or in progress remains intact."

"Sounds like the more we discover about this place the more sinister those who were responsible for it appear to be," Shar'El noted as she joined Maya who had come to stand next to the two blonde woman who also happen to be Medical Officers. As the ExO / ILO of the ANUBIS, the Commander had felt something odd about this place, as if it had belonged in the same shadowy world as their base of operations: NEW ALEXANDRIA.

"Like the identification plaques that we noted on the levels above, these seem to indicate locations that are either on the edge of Federation space or well beyond them," Sofia pointed out. "Someone had gone through a lot of work to bring all of these specimens here."

"Bringing them here was just the tip of the iceberg," Sonja added as she scanned the room with her tricorder. "Any shipment marked for the surface goes through several verifications and scans to insure that nothing ecologically toxic or illegal makes its way onto the planet. I am sure that most of these would have been stopped and flagged well before making it past EARTH's orbit. Someone with high-end influence wanted these things here and made it possible for them to be brought to this facility undetected by the authorities."

"Who would want to do that?" the Chief of Security demanded out of sheer confusion. "What possible reasons would someone have to set up a secret research lab on EARTH, under Paris of all places? More to the point, what had been the goal of this research?"

"Frankly Scarlet I have no idea," the redheaded Engineer replied in her best Clark Gable impersonation.

"Maybe we can find some answers on the next level," Angelo Tannahill suggested. As much as the survey team leader had wanted to head back up to the surface and forget about this place, his curiosity had been piqued.

"Still reading zero traces of Thalaron radiation or any other residual energy reading," Sheila Grant reported, the radiation specialist trying her best to remain useful in the company of far more trained and experienced people.

"We do need to identify the cause of the radiation absorption and confirm that it does not pose an equal or greater threat," Maya stated, appearing more than anxious for them to resume their search.

"Leave it to you to take all the fun out of us wandering through an unknown underground facility, Sir," Sonja chuckled as she and Ya'Han took point once again.

"You guys are Starfleet?" Sofia asked uncertain of the claim that had been made earlier by Commander Shar'El, the interaction between the officers having been unlike anything the blonde woman would have expected from officers.

"Yes," Lillie replied with some hesitation. "Let's just say that we are from a remote branch of the service, a very remote one."

"I'm not sure *remote* truly covers it Doctor, but I guess it will have to do for the time being," Jayson chuckled as he took hold of Sofia's hand once more. The gesture made sure that they would remain close in addition to insure that there would not be any other accidents. "We'll just have to take things one step at a time."

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NRPG:

This adds another level of mystery to what was already a huge unknown for us to deal with. What are we going to find on the next level?. Also a little more character interaction and the start of Sofia's journey out of the emotional abyss she had ever so quickly slipped into. Still a lot to be covered but at least she knows that she won't be alone and that life in Starfleet can be more than she had envisioned.

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Tiffany Reeve

Ensign Sofia Andersson
Currently sentenced to the
VERSAILLES Triage Center