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" Complications "
(Previous Post was Susan's "Mea Culpa")
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 63077.1900

The young woman stood at the back of the Bridge… her gaze taking in the features of an area that she knew all too well.  Rikar had left Sickbay with the intent of going to her quarters to change into something more suitable for relaxing activities on the holodeck.  Strangely enough though, the redheaded woman had instead found herself on the command deck of the USS ANUBIS.

The moment the doors had opened and she had realized this, the young woman had been instantly ready to redirect the turbolift to the appropriate deck but something caught her eye instead… the vacant chair at the center of the room.

Lured by an unseen force, the ANUBIS' CMO had stepped onto the deck and allowed the doors to the turbolift to close behind her, sealing the former CO in without any rapid means to escape.

"Can I help you Doctor?" The Kzinti Sec/Tac officer inquired, surprised to see the redheaded woman on the Bridge but still having remembered to refer to her with the title of her new position.

"I just…" Rikar began before she realized that admitting that she had gotten *lost* would not have sounded overly favorable.  "I just came to see if everything was alright."

"Ablative cloak is fully operational, long-range sensors are currently detecting no Romulan activity in the sector and the IGC is monitoring all communications in case we come across something," Hex reported almost as if giving a status report to the ship's CO which made the redheaded woman smile for a brief moment.  This had been her ship… her crew… and in many ways it still was despite the official appointment of Erick Morningstar as Commanding Officer.

"Thank you," the young woman acknowledge before she quickly pivoted on her heels and made her way back into the turbolift having suddenly realized that her presence on the Bridge might end up causing some complications should the official CO returned.

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Setting: RAADEJ III, Underground Research Facility, Level 9, Control Center
Stardate: 63077.1900

The secret Romulan base that hid deep beneath the frozen surface of RAADEJ III had been an impressive complex made out of 10 large rings connected through three large shafts spread evenly along the outer rim as well as a central larger shaft in the center.  The layout had been created this way to allow for any section to be isolated and cut off from the rest of the complex in case of an emergency.

Level 10, the one closest to the surface had been the security level were new arrivals were processed and supplies where kept, inspected and quarantined until deemed safe to be moved to the lower levels.

Level 9 contained the Control Center and all of the system that maintained the complex including power and air filtration.

Level 8 was for all intents and purposes the living area for all non-research personnel, thus further insuring that each level and section remained as isolated as possible from one another.  Travel from one section to another was strictly restricted and monitored.

Level 7 was where the research work began, namely on lower contagions that were meant for small scale infections such as disabling for a few hours a small ship's crew without causing any casualties.

As the numbers of the levels became smaller, the infection scale of the contagions being researched and worked on increased almost exponentially which meant that by the time someone reached Level 3 the impact of anything being researched there would be measured on a planetary scale.

Levels 2 and 1 were reserved for bio-genetic research sometimes meant to complement the work done on the previous levels to allow, for example for a pathogen to be specifically targeted to a race.  The rest of the research had been independent of the rest of the complex, such as the Asari's Genetic Memory Transfer project which had been transferred to this location for security reasons.

Each level contained basic living quarters for the research teams so that there would be little to no need for any of them to travel from one section or level to another.

Commander Treparri had been the Romulan in charge of the RAADEJ III complex for the last 5 years.  The man, a true officer of the mighty Romulan Star Empire ran the complex with military efficiency which did not always make things easy for the research teams scattered throughout the lower levels.  Still the results that the research had produced had been noted by the Senate and insured that Treparri would remain in command for a long time to come.

"Commander," one of the techs monitoring the lower sections called out.  "I am reading a containment breach on Level 6, Lab 34."

"Again!" Treparri growled as he moved to stand behind the tech that had made the report.  "Seal off that section and inform the researchers in Lab 33 that they will be cut off *again* thanks to the incompetency of their neighbor, Professor Xirrus.  Hopefully we can solve the problem before they run out of air or freeze to death."

Although Xirrus had been nothing more than a repeated annoyance to the Romulan Commander, there had always been the potential for the researcher's inability to keep control over his work to create complications that would affect everyone.

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Sabrina Jones

Doctor (Captain) Sabrina Rikar
Chief Medical Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501