AWD #469: Consulting with experts
AWD #469: Consulting with experts
Summary: Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it! Dr. Nadir consults with Chief Ferrell & Crewman Callaghan, along with Specialist Zahav regarding securing the site of the tomb on Piraeus.
Date: Mon 03/Oct/2016 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: http://battlestarorion.wikidot.com/physician-go-forth http://battlestarorion.wikidot.com/supply-round-up
Alex Miri Niamh Samtara 
Piraeus
The valley floor is only about a quarter mile wide with a river running through it. There is a thick forest of pine coating most of the ground while is up at about 7500 above sea level. On each side of them the mountains rise up to nearly fourteen thousand feet and the valley becomes more narrow. With scattered clouds overhead and chilly weather, and on a beautiful day the wind would sigh through the tall stands of pines.
Thu 20/Apr/2006

Loaded into a series of Raptor's that have been ferrying supplies and equipment to the location of the Tomb ever since the orders were issued, the team descending to the valley floor is treated to the same sort of breath taking views that the original search party encountered.

The valley floor is only about a quarter mile wide with a river running through it. There is a thick forest of pine coating most of the ground while is up at about 7500 above sea level. On each side of them the mountains rise up to nearly fourteen thousand feet and the valley becomes more narrow. With scattered clouds overhead and chilly weather, and on a beautiful day the wind would sigh through the tall stands of pines.

Each member of this team has been issued a hazmat suit and been given at least one walk through of how to function inside the suit, how to maintain strict hazmat protocol and how to operate all the environmental controls. The coms between the suits have been checked pre-flight, in-flight and once more upon the ground with Dr. Nadir personally checking the seals on each suit before the Raptor lands and the all clear is given to disembark. Around the landing site, and as near to the entrance of the tomb as possible, are stacks of supplies that have already been slated as potential building materials to begin framing up the actual airlock itself.

<FS3> Samtara rolls Alertness: Great Success.
<FS3> Niamh rolls Alertness: Great Success.
<FS3> Miri rolls Alertness: Great Success.
<FS3> Alex rolls Alertness: Good Success.

Once the all clear is given and the ranking personnel has disembarked, Niamh will follow suit. Pausing on the ground, shifting a little uncomfortably inside the hazmat suit. She peers around, fingers twitching with the need to triple check everything, but too scared to incase something goes wrong. That feeling of being watched isn't helping matters either and as soon as she's able, she'll sidle closer to the Chief.

Alex waits till everyone else has their suits and stuff checked out before she gets checked out as well. When she steps out onto the dirt, she has a heavy duty bare metal toolbox in tow. She steps out and off to the side so she isn't blocking the hatch and says into the comm, "I'm guessing I ought to have a clean tarp for this toolbox?" The suit is more formfiting than a deckhand's coveralls, making her look even skinnier and taller than usual. This being her first time to step down on the planet, she takes a moment to simply look around the valley past the Raptor before starting to scan the supplies from the perimeter of the main cluster.

Emerging from the Raptors, the terrain around the designated landing area is comprised of a hard pack of some sort of crumbled rock that, on closer look, appears black and grey, but there's no volcano for hundreds of miles. Eyes that drift towards the lit cavern can see a few things. A faded yellow bar runs at shoulder level down each side. There's even a low whistle of air passing over the crumpled remains of the heavy door. The remains of the door is about fifteen feet across and about four feet thick. It appears to have fallen off in place and tumbled to the ground when some of the overhead rock buckled. The locking bolts on the sides, however, look to have been melted clean through. It would have left the door able to swing freely. There is writing on the walls in white, but its hard to make out. By the armored door at the end there's something glittering on the ground, like a sea, shifting as they move. The white writing is done in block lettering, but is so faded that its almost impossible to make out except for some of the corners and accent marks.

As probably one of the few people aboard the Orion who has spent extended time in a Hazmat suit (with the exception of actual designated scientific personnel), Dr. Nadir navigates around in the hazmat suit with the ease of someone comfortable wearing it. Her suit, like all the others, is a reflective stark white color, though her shoulders patches mark her, and Specialist Zahav, as medical personnel (as all suits look the same, it's imperative to mark the medical personnel accordingly) marked to indicate that the wearer is a person to turn to in the event of some manner of hazmat breach. Over the suit-to-suit com, Nadir's voice carries easily, "There's a crate with tarps sealed in individual packets," she consults the clipboard, orients on the mouth of the tomb itself, then indicates the correct crate, after fixing a long look at the entrance to the tomb itself. "Before we move out, I am given to understand that we can expect to be observed while we're on site. Anyone who finds themselves markedly uncomfortable under this scrutiny, please say something."

Coming down with the crate of tarps, Specialist Zahav takes a look around, fighting the urge to scratch at the back of her neck. Damned suits. She sets the crate down, gazing up at the giant gates. "Wow," she says, simply and sincerely.

Because curiosity possibly killed the Deckie, Niamh can't stop herself from moving over to examine what remains of the writing. She peers closely, her head tilting one way, and then the other. Definitely distracted. Her fingers twitch again, like she either wants to touch, or copy the marks, but she manages to restrain herself and eventually pulls herself away, dragging eyes to observe the remains of the door. The Crewman shifts from one foot to the other, inching forward as she gets used to moving in the unfamiliar suit. "Were these in this condition when the tomb was originally discovered?" She indicates the melted lockbolts, turning slightly to look between Nadir and the Chief.

Alex turns her attention to watch over Niamh from the outside as the girl ventures inside. "None in engineering," she reports over the radio and then strolls over to stand near the CMO, careful to approach within her field of vision. Then she waits for briefing on who Sam might need where.

The writing, faded though it is, looks official, though. Venturing into the time ravaged foyer/lobby, a glance upward would see that above them there are dark, square recesses in the ceiling that probably held light fixtures at some point. The glass on the floor beneath them seems to confirm it. As they get closer to the door, though, they can make out just what the glittering is on the ground. Shell casings. Thousands of them. Blown with the wind over centuries, maybe millenia, they've all ended up at this end of the entrance, the sewer grate nearby seemingly still functioning because the air back here feels very dry. With their lights moving into the entry left open by the fallen door, they can see a room with twin metal doors. There's the remains of something that may have been furniture, but only scraps this far in the past. The ceiling tiles have collapsed and rotted away millenia ago, leaving the room looking almost skeletal. Rodents and woodland creatures must have picked everything in there apart long before the Colonies were even settled.

"Quite," Nadir agrees with a careful pivot and nod to Zahav, "and equally impressive and depressing at the same time, in equal measures. Rather disquieting, that." She turns, equally carefully, toward Callaghan. "The report i have is that this is as is, as it was found, by the original survey team. None of the exterior has been significantly disturbed, save for the regrettable impact of foot falls, of course. We will not be able to entirely prevent damage to the environ, so bear that in mind, and try to limit impact as much as possible."

Niamh nods her head slowly, "Yes sir," She murmers, pausing in the foyer to look around. She's silent and actually quite still for the usually hyperactive Crewman. She stares at the shell casings for a long minute, maybe trying to wrap her head around the implications. The redhead sighs softly, murmering quietly under her breath in her native language and again her fingers twitch, "Need my notepad." This is mumbled a fraction more coherently.

"Understood Sir," Alex says over the comms with a suity-thumbs up for the CMO and a totally humorless expression. She readjusts her grip on the toolbox and shifts her weight, leaning to the side casually as she waits for orders. "Sir, do you want us to help with the bio-dome first and then take our measurements while your team takes samples?" Just an educated guess.

Unhooking a spare notepad from one of the pouches cinched around the waist of her hazmat suit, Nadir extends it and a rounded pen toward Callaghan. "This may help?" she offers before turning again toward Alex and nods. "My thinking is to double seal the main entrance with a hazmat lock to shelter this entire area, then determine the best manner of sealing it properly." She tips back, literally bending backward slowly, until she can see upward to the ceiling entirely then just as slowly back so that she's straightened once again. "I have no idea how you're going to build an airlock down here, Chief. But the dome itself is relatively easy."

"Well let's tackle one problem at a time shall we?" Alex shows a sudden burst of optimism Niamh would be very familiar with by this point. When there's a goal with obstacles, Alex has an undying sense of determination and optimism…at least for the project. "Niamh and I are all yours. Does this dome thing come all out at once like a bouncy tent or is it sectional?"

The offered notepad and pen are quite eagerly accepted and Niamh seems to relax a little, the familiar feeling of things in her hands. She immediately flips to a fresh page and uncaps the pen, and gets going. Her green eyes roaming quickly, pen moving even quicker as she draws a rough sketch of the scene in front of her. Adding little details, but not too much. Just a rough idea of what's what and where things are. The pen pauses and Niamh tilts her head back to observe the ceiling, then she turns slowly, viewing the whole lobby in a slow circle. "We're wanting to keep the ceiling - or lack thereof - as it is now? Right?" She shifts, looking down and scrawling a couple of notes. "The airlock is a permanent thing?" She's definitely thinking past the dome and there's a sort of belated head-jerk at the Chief.

"Sectional," Nadir answers promptly. "We build the metal frame first, anchor it in place, then seal the sheeting in place in segments. Once the inner frame is in place we build the exterior structure. Hook up the air circulation vents, flush the interior and exterior environment, then it's ready to go." She glances toward Callaghan and starts to nod, remembers that 'nod' doesn't translate via com. "Yes. We can't change any of the environment save for erecting the hazmat structure AND the permanent lock to secure the site."

Niamh diving right in causes Alex, who is staring right at Sam, to start grinning. She nods to Nadir's explanation of how the dome is constructed. "I really hope there are corresponding markings like a giant 'Part A.'" She is, of course, alluding to what toy makers do with building blocks though those more adult in her audience might think of DIY furniture assembly or tent assembly instructions.

Niamh nods, and wanders back toward the entrance, examining the frame of the entrance closely. "This is going to be a problem…" She gestures to the melted boltwork and shakes her head slightly. "Without comprimising this…" A hand waving vaguely at the whole doorway, "We'll need to construct something outside…I'm not a builder though. I'd imagine that the mountain itself will provide a fair amount of natural protection. Without reconstructing the ceiling entirely… unless the lock goes below the ceiling level, but that would comprimise the site." Her brain apparently jumps from one thought to the next without much pause, and she's busy looking out the door at the wilderness beyond, too. Pen tapping idly on the notepad, definitely not listening to anything about domes being constructed.

Nadir makes a sound that is suspiciously akin to a snort of amusement. Akin. "I have seen the original line art drawings that accompanied this hazmat structure. I considered them laughable at best, disastrous, at work. Then I drew up a real instruction outline. With actual numbered parts," she exhales a quiet breath of laughter. "You should see surgeons build and disassemble then build again in every worst case scenario we could come up with until we had it down. So." She leafs through the pages on the clipboard and passes a copy, each, to Niamh and Alex. "Who knew this would be the worst case scenario," she adds before turning and almost (but not quite) squinting at Niamh for a moment. "I would prefer to just enclose this entire entrance as a starting point, and work forward from there. Is that not a viable option?"

"Dare I say it's foolproof now? I'm not sure the surgeons are fool enough for that," Alex comments idly in her lackadaisical humor. "Well getting a good seal on a mountain surface…without some kind of sealant?…and if the rock is porous." Alex doesn't move to add to Niamh's assessment. The girl is doing a great job in Alex's book, at least as evidenced by the slight grin that lingers. She lets Niamh give a more definitive answer since she's positioned to do so. Slacker Chief.

Nadir chuckles suddenly, "We have several tubes of apoxy, Chief, that adheres to the sheeting and damn near any surface it's been tested on. As long as it isn't a predominantly liquid surface, it'll hold." She tips back, again, having carefully trekked back to the very entrance and is staring upward at the interior frame of the door then steps out and stares up again. "I need to get up there and clean it though, before we spray the apoxy on it. No sense in forcing the apoxy to adjust to accumulated layers of detrius and debris, is there."

Niamh follows the doctor outside and also looks up, then down, she shifts from one side to the other, and then back to stand /in/ the door way. The pen continues to tap, occassionally pausing to scribble something down. "If it's as good as you say, Sir, then it'll probably do the trick." There's a slight frown, head shaking slowly. "Water. To clean up there. I don't think we should use chemicals beyond what is /absolutely/ necessary. They might comprimise… the rock might not like it, and…" One shoulder lifts in a shrug and she looks over at Alex, maybe seeing what the Chief thinks. "I'm not really good with rocks and stuff, but I think if it was porous we'd see a lot more damage than is readily visible." She looks down at the remains of the door, "I mean, I think if this had stayed standing, this place would probably still be as it was."

"Good point, and if it is porous we're frakked anyways right?…but, I'm a little concerned. The overhang /has/ collapsed over here. I think we should go over that. I don't think it's as structurally sound as the main rock." Alex is already out there. "No I agree, stay away from solvents. I don't think we need to overthink it. We need to do it right more than we need to do it fast. None of this will matter if we do it wrong. I don't care what Command thinks. I'm not getting stabbed in the back with unseeable eye-daggers…from these guys or Command."

"Hmm. Agreed," Nadir says, a reluctant tone in her voice, "I see the logic. And there's no sense in consulting with experts and then ignoring them, now, is there?" she paces carefully around the foyer/lobby area again. "Lets get some measurements, do structural survey, then get to work."

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