Dr. Randy "Butcher" Callahan's page

BACK FROM COMMERCIAL BREAK

THE HYPHERZEPHYRIAN CASTLE:

The Captain stands up, still visibly ill. "We have a chance to get our crew out of there. Let's not get dragged in ourselves!" He points to a small lean-to, across a strange wooded area of alien vegetation. "Let's get our bearings. Study the surroundings. See what our equipment situation is. Try and contact Aubrey, or Starfleet..." He moves slowly from the fortress.

"And stay as far away from those... wizards... as we can..."

"Yessir, Captain, let's get you two under cover. Then I'll scout around and see what kind of trouble I can stir up." After situating the captain and Frankel, Callahan took stock of their equipment. In addition to the three phasers, they had Callahan's medical tricorder, Frankel's technical tricorder and three useless communicators. Callahan took the two of the phasers, his tricorder and one of the communicators and crept quietly around the edge of the open space, avoiding contact with any of the Aubrey's crew. As he approached the the cages, a woman saw him coming. He held his finger up across his lips, begging her for silence. She nodded understanding and he sidled up to her cage.

"Who are you and how long have you been her?" she asked him.

"My name's Callahan, I'm Ship's doctor for the USS Aubrey, we just got here, wherever here is."

"The Aubrey? Heraclio? Is Heraclio here?" the woman asked, breathlessly, clutching the bars of her cage.

"Heraclio, our helmsman? I don't know, miss, last I saw him he was still on the Aubrey, but it looks like everyone else from the ship is here, so he might be. Who are you and how do you know Heraclio?"

"My name is Adrianna Maria Gomez, Heraclio and I were at the Academy together. I...I was on the Intrepid when we entered the HyperZepherians zone. They make the crew fight for their enjoyment. They can't be touched, nothing seems to stop them. You have to get us out of here!" She was starting to get hysterical, Callahan tried to calm her down but she was too upset. Finally, he stepped back and, using the captain's phaser, stunned her, catching her as she slumped against the bars.[/b]

"Sorry, miss, but I can't have you alerting the wizards. I'll be back."

Von Sturm stumbles towards the gates. "Let's go Doctor. Help me open these doors. We need to get the lay of the land."

With minimal help from the captain and Frankel, Callahan pushes open the metal doors. Inside is a large courtyard, paved with white marble paving blocks. Arched doorways lead into the building's shadowed interiors. Several HyperZephyrians stand in the courtyard, all pointing towards one large archway at the far end of the courtyard. Callahan makes his way towards that archway, the other two following after him.

As they passed under the arch, Callahan felt a hot sun beating down on them. On the other side of the arch, he looked back and saw purple clouds in pink sky. Through the arch, though, a bright yellow sun blazed in a clear blue sky.

Down a broad flight of steps Callahan saw a large expanse of sand. Milling about on the sand were hundreds of uniformed Star Fleet personnel. Surrounding the arena, on stone seats that rose up around it, a crowd of HyperZephyrians waits for the games to begin.

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, just got out of the hospital. Caught RSV, a respiratory infection that's only dangerous to premature babies and people with compromised immune systems. Thank the gods I'm not a preemie or compromised... Oops, I am. Compromised, that is, not a preemie. I take immune suppression drugs so I don't reject the heart that some really nice family in Maine let me have when their son stopped needing it. :( Had a really high fever but I'm doing better now. I'll try to get caught up on my all PBPs.

The figure stares at him quizzically.

"Your people are aggressive, and violent, yet you show mercy and concern above all else. This is odd. Our experience with humans has not shown they have a capacity for mercy."

The figure advances, using his staff as a tall walking stick. You may have a moment to tend to your fellows. Then they must join the others..."

"IN THE ARENA."

And with that, the uninjured shuttle crew vanish, in a plume of violet energy, leaving Callahan alone with the Captain and Frankel, outside the castle gates.

Callahan increases the dosage of stimulant he gives Frankel and Captain Von Sturm. There'll be hell to pay when it wears off but that's something to worry about later. He informs the captain that the HyperZephyrians apparently are setting up some sort of gladitorial contest pitting members of the crew against unknown opponents. "We have to stop this, Kaspar! We have to convince these aliens we mean them no harm before any more crew members get killed. If we can't, we'll have to fight."

Callahan pushes open the castle gates and leads Von Sturm and Frankel into the castle.

Yay, the captain's back!

Callahan motions to the remaining redshirts to the wounded, including Captain Von Sturm, and follow him out of the shuttle. He leads them towards the HyperZephyrian in the hallway. "Well, now that you've got us, what do you intend to do with us? I have injured personnel here that need immediate medical attention. I demand that you lead us to your medical facilities so that I may examine the captain and Ensign Frankel," demands Callahan of the enigmatic figure.

The shuttle is landing, of it's own volition. The Captain is stumbling, and holding his head in pain.

"Callahan... What is happening?"

Callahan gives the captain a shot of pain reliever. "Apparently, we've been contacted by a race of beings called the HypeeZephyrians. They have some sort of old grievance with humankind and intend to punish us for our transgressions. We've lost control of the shuttle and can't contact the Aubrey. We have no idea what's happening on the ship. Zbornak was killed when he tried to contact the ship," pointing to the body. "We're being pulled into their castle." The doctor points out the viewscreen as the shuttle lands.

There is a pregnant silence on the shuttle.

After a long, tense moment, the voice returns.

"HUMANS! YOUR CRIMES AGAINST OUR REALM ARE LEGION. YOU SHOW GREAT HUBRIS IN RETURNING. THE COSMIC MAGES OF HYPERZEPHYRIA WILL SHOW NO MERCY, THIS TIME."

The shuttle fills with an unearthly, violet glow.

Boy, I wish I could just shoot something. :)

"WAIT! YOU HAVE TO GIVE US A CHANCE TO DEFEND OURSELVES AGAINST YOUR ALLEGATIONS! WHATEVER MAY HAVE HAPPENED IN THE PAST MUST NOT PREJUDICE YOU AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE FOR ALL TIME. WE HAVE GROWN AND MATURED AS A PEOPLE. LET US PROVE OURSELVES WORTHY OF YOUR FORBEARANCE." Callahan braces himself for the aliens response.

He is Andorian. :)

Callahan bends down and examines the captain. He pulls out a hypospray and gives Von Sturm a mild stimulant. "Come on, captain, we need you on your feet."

The shuttle is rocked, and violet light flashes through the portal. The Captain is knocked backwards, and he falls forward in a portly hump.

A booming voice echoes through the cosmos. "HUMANS! YOU DARE RETURN TO OUR REALM!!?!?"

A redshirt frantically turns to Callahan and shouts, "Doctor! The Captain is out... You're senior officer... WHAT DO WE DO!??!?!"

"Full reverse impulse power! Get us out of here!" Assuming that doesn't work, "Call the Aubrey and have us transported back to the ship. WHO ARE YOU AND BY WHAT RIGHT DO YOU ATTACK US? WE HAVE COMMITTED NO HOSTILE ACTS." Dammit, Captain, I'm a doctor, not a diplomat. I don't have any training in first contact situations. Relax, Butcher, relax. Remember your hostage negotians training, try to get them talking, not shooting.

The Captain jumps from his seat. "Callahan! Can you tell what hit that crewmen? What are we dealing with?!?"

The medical tricorder is pinging with spikes of Ultra-sigma radiation, but it is not following normal patterns... The Doctor finds himself in a bind... he will have to think outside the box....

“It’s ultra-sigma radiation poisoning but there’s something different about it.” Callahan wracks his memory for radiation treatments while sorting through his hypos. Finding one with a Σ notation, Callahan dials the smallest possible dose and presses the hypo to the crewman’s neck. Pssst. Nothing. Callahan dialed a stronger dose and tried again, still nothing.

Sorry this took so long. I struggled with what to do. I thought about exposing him to vacuum but there's no airlock. It seemed like the captain wanted to go with a telepathy cure but I couldn't make that work. Hope this makes sense.

Do shuttlecraft have airlocks?

The strange anomaly on the nebula's clouds begins to take shape...

Callahan catches a glimpse of the anomaly in the shuttle's viewscreen. "Good God, what is that?"

As the crewman plays with dials on the console, a sudden blast of deep purple energy jumps from the controls, knocking him backwards, across the shuttle floor. His head is bleeding from the impact, and he is unconscious.

The Captain turns back, quickly, and shouts, "Callahan! Good thing you're aboard! This is getting ugly..."

He's dead, Jim. (I had to do it.)

Callahan scans the crewman with his tricorder, then quickly gets out a hypospray. Sssst. Turning to the captain, he says, "Ohara will be okay, he'll have a headache when he wakes up but shouldn't have any lasting complications. If the radiation levels get much worse, I'm going to have to try one of these untested treatments. I don't really want to do that."

Doctor- Cut to SHUTTLE INTERIOR with the Captain. You have taken off, with three redshirts and a science crewmen in tow.

"Captain, can I speak with you privately?" Callahan and Von Sturm move to the rear of the shuttle where the doctor tells Von Sturm about the voice on the communicator and Section 13's interest in their mission. "I brought samples of the treatments. If we get exposed, I suppose I'll have to try them. I don't like it, though, Captain. I'm a doctor, not a mad scientist!"

Doctor- Cut to SHUTTLE INTERIOR with the Captain. You have taken off, with three redshirts and a science crewmen in tow.

Hmm, I wonder if any of those redshirts are on Ojo's list of men without a past?

Callahan sat down in front of the med-comp. "Computer, medical database. Hyprazine," reading the label on the hypospray.
"Working...No entry found."
Interesting. Callahan picks up the next vial. "Computer, medical database. Tricaridine."
"Working...derivative of bicaridine. Effects unknown."
Very interesting, Callahan tries the other mysterious treatments Ensign Roen had discovered in sickbay. The computer had no useful information on any of them. Curiouser and curiouser, he thought.
As Dr. Callahan gathered his gear for the away team with the captain, the communicator beeped. "Callahan here," he responded.
"Doctor, you should stop nosing around and do your job."
Callahan whirled around to look at the monitor. It was blank, no picture. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"Just a friend, doctor. A word to the wise should be sufficient. You don't want to run afoul of Section 13, now, do you?" The communicator light went out. Callahan tucked his tricorder into his belt and headed for the shuttle bay. He'd have something to tell the captain, for sure.

CLARIFICATION-

The Intrepid only reported the distress signal. Where (or who) it is coming from is not yet known.

Consider Callahan's posts edited appropriately.

"Changing course for a destination other than the nebula might force this cabal's hand, and keep us from having to worry about the nebula's radiation or other dangers while we handle the on-ship part of this situation."

The creature on Mister Ojo's shoulder chatters quietly. Ojo darts his eyes at the creature, and then adds, "Of course, there is the distress signal to consider."

"Our first priority has to be the Intrepid. We need to rescue its crew and find out what happened to it. Everything else has to take a back seat to that." Dr. Callahan gets up from the conference table. "I'll be in sickbay researching those treatments, Captain, gentlemen. Call me as soon as you know anything about the Intrepid."

Once back in sickby, Callahan uses the medical computer to research the treatments.

Callahan follows the captain into the conference room. {b]"Captain, what's going on? Why the all the cloak and dagger stuff? My nurse says she never even saw how those treatments showed up in sickbay. They were just on the shelves when she came in one morning."[/b]

The turbolift opens and Dr. Callahan enters the bridge in time to hear Lt. Koike's words.

"Radiation, you say, Lt.? That may explain something that was bothering me, Captain. My nurse, Ensign Annella Roen, tells me that there are a variety of untested radiation treatments in the sickbay. Does Starfleet expect me to run experiments on the crew of the Intrepid to see what works and what doesn't?"

Callahan takes one last trip around sickbay to make sure everything's shipshape, then lets his Betazoid nurse know he's headed to the bridge for departure.

"Yes, sir, thank you, sir, I had noticed. It should be fine. How large a crew does the Aubrey carry, sir, if I may ask?"

The captain entered sickbay quietly, and saw a figure in shadows, ahead, doing his own inspection of the medilab equipment.

"Dr. Callahan, I presume? Is everything in order?"

"Captain! Ouch!" Randy's head thunked the bottom of the diagnostic bed he was checking when the captain entered the sickbay. Scrambling to his feet, he turned to face the captain. "Yes, yes, everything's fine, just checking some settings," said the doctor, putting out his hand to shake the captain's hand. Suddenly remembering where he was, he started to salute, then realized that wasn't right either, finally just standing there. Smooth, Butcher, real smooth.

What's the point buy for stats? I came up with a 24-pt buy and added two to WIS per Pathfinder human rules. Not sure if that is correct.

Lt. Cmdr Callahan, sounds nice, thought Randy Callahan as he inspected his new home. Small but clean, should be fine, I wonder what the crew will be like?