Kaya Som
Engineering/Ops
Site Historian
Yaya! You have survived! That's too bad!
Posts: 804 Likes: 108
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Engineering
Species: Trill
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Post by Kaya Som on Jul 21, 2021 2:26:47 GMT
[...] Finally, she began to issue orders. =/\= "Bridge to Engineering. Chief, try to block the siphon. There's a Security team on Deck 7 who say they are in contact, I'd like to see what kind of reaction cutting the data off might produce." =/\= [...] [ SCPO Kaya Som | Engineering] "Aye, captain," Kaya returned. Then she spun round to shout her own orders. She snapped her fingers in the air for attentinon. "Alright, shut it down!" The new Cheif Engineer was careful to quickly specify exactly what they were going to be putting out. It amounted to physically isolating the information so it was inaccessible to a brute attack, and then redirecting the intrusive signal to a pool of useless information set to churn around on loop. There wasn't exactly a protocol to it, and Kaya wasn't completely sure it wouldn't hobble other systems, but she couldn't resist trotting out a trick she'd learned in her youth on a Sovreign Class scale. Working as quickly as they could, it took several minutes to get everyone up to speed and all the moving parts coordinated. Soon, the Engineers were checking in and waiting for Kaya's go-ahead. "Engineering to Bridge, we're cutting them off in 5 seconds." Four. Three. Two. "Now." Simultaneous commands from a few terminals and the screens began flickering confirmations. The flow of the ship's juiciest information was cordoned off and the siphon program got only a mouthful of dense static. Engineering went quiet, as if waiting for something to break. Some even took a few steps from the consoles, anticipating an explosion. Kaya crossed her arms and waited. Felicity Ellis
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Syl O'Connell
Flight Control
[TI8]
Posts: 662 Likes: 9
Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
Position: Flight Control/Caldonia 5
Species: Human
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Post by Syl O'Connell on Jul 21, 2021 3:57:06 GMT
[Ens. Syl O'Connell - USS Mac - Bridge]Syl couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face at the Commander's praise. It definitely helped that this system had been designed by a pilot for other pilots to use, so the controls were relatively within Starfleet's standard layout. "Aye, Commander," she replied to the order, the fingers of both hands sliding across the two pads to shift the drones' position outside the ship. Through the visor, she could see the hull of the ship pass alongside like a massive grey wall, and there up ahead loomed the satellite embedded in its side, surrounded by floating debris and flickering with the containment fields. The drones' movements were a little erratic as the pilot was still adjusting to the sensitivity of the controls, but thanks to the quiet beep she quickly figured out was a proximity alert, she was able to keep them from bumping into the side of the ship. Bringing the swarm to a stop not far from the satellite, it took her a few moments longer to toggle between each drone and move them individually to a strategic position and begin the scans. Once they were each in place with sensors running, she toggled back to the first one that she left with the best view. "Hornets in place, scanning the satellite." Syl really hoped the Commander - or at least one of the other stations - had access to the information the drones were receiving, as it didn't seem to be coming to her. There was just a flashing green light around the edges of the visor that let her know they were performing the task she'd set for them. Her head was still throbbing from the intense focus and changing views, but it had dulled enough to be easier to ignore. Even so, as soon as they got back to the station she was likely going to be in Sickbay for a few hours. If they made it back to the station...Tag Felicity Ellis [Lt. JG Cerjess Miren - Mystery Planet]"Yessir," Miren replied to the order, refocusing his tricorder on the obelisk. Trying to stay out of Left Ear's way as she was ordered to also check the object, he set the tricorder to compare readings to the language and cipher database, and began to scan each symbol. They did look vaguely familiar to him, but when you weren't familiar with xenolinguistics, or ciphers of any sort, most characters looked relatively the same. There were only so many ways lines could be drawn, after all. Cerjess was also fairly certain it was not any modern language currently used by Federation species... though he would wait until the computer revealed any information before speaking his thoughts on the matter. Tag Isaiah Quinn soft Left Ear to-Ennien Rin Zakir
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Jul 21, 2021 19:45:40 GMT
[Lt. Commander Isaiah Quinn - Rendezvous Point, Cavern, Planetoid] Isaiah listened as the rest of the facts rolled in. There was no sign of anyone else besides the members of the away team. That and this subspace echo continued to suggest the possibility that the away team had been relocated by some means of transport. "It is possible," Isaiah said. "The Ferengi at one point had developed a subspace transporter that allowed transport over great distances by converting the energy pattern into a state of quantum flux. The tech was unreliable, but if these echoes serve as fixed points... they could be part of some sort of transport system." Isaiah exhaled and tapped his badge, wondering if communications could get through. "Quinn to Shavan? Quinn to Hunt?" There was nothing. "Something is interfering with our communications as well," Isaiah stated. "If this is some sort of interface for a transporter system, we need to figure out how it works. Cadet, you said S'Riia touched the obelisk. I need to know exactly what she touched and where everyone was standing. Mr. Rin, try to reconfigure your communicator to match the subspace frequency we detected. It may give us a way to communicate with the others. Lt. Miren, scan all the symbols on that obelisk. As best you can, see if you can decipher or interpret some sort of meaning for any of them that will give us a clue of what we're looking at."[Lt. JG Cerjess Miren - Mystery Planet]"Yessir," Miren replied to the order, refocusing his tricorder on the obelisk. Trying to stay out of Left Ear's way as she was ordered to also check the object, he set the tricorder to compare readings to the language and cipher database, and began to scan each symbol. They did look vaguely familiar to him, but when you weren't familiar with xenolinguistics, or ciphers of any sort, most characters looked relatively the same. There were only so many ways lines could be drawn, after all. Cerjess was also fairly certain it was not any modern language currently used by Federation species... though he would wait until the computer revealed any information before speaking his thoughts on the matter. Tag Isaiah Quinn soft Left Ear to-Ennien Rin Zakir [ Cadet Left Ear to-Ennien - Rendezvous Point] Left Ear was glad some of her skills were useful, since they didn't need a doctor, yet. She hoped that her healing abilities wouldn't become necessary once they did find the other team. First, she sniffed around again and located the last spots where Hunt and Th'zhaar had been standing and marked them with stones. Then the Sivaoan returned to the obelisk, still careful not to touch it even with a whisker. She walked all around it, sniffing down and then up as high as she could reach without getting too close, stopping before the side that she'd been fairly certain of in the first place. ' That symbol is the only thing anyone touched in here. Those stones are where the others were standing last, as far as I can tell. If they retraced their steps to leave, I can't detect that, but their scents are strongest near the obelisk.' Left Ear took a moment to be grateful that the Commander hadn't even questioned her ability to be able to detect so much from smell alone. Others had, since she'd come to the Federation, and she was as careful as she could be not to be intrusive. But it wasn't as if she could shut off her nose; sometimes she smelled things she was sure people wouldn't want her to know. Tag Rin Zakir, Isaiah Quinn and Syl O'Connell
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Isaiah Quinn
Science
[TI36]
Posts: 1,153 Likes: 57
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Chief Science Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Isaiah Quinn on Jul 21, 2021 23:19:00 GMT
{Quoted Posts} [ENS Veronica “Ronnie” Li - Deck 7 - Passageway] The security officer was giving the thing directions as if it was a deckhand and the deuterium tanks needed scrubbing. Ronnie winced, anticipating disaster, and she was rewarded with increased activity from the metallic octopus. It was flailing its tentacles about in an inquisitive way, something that reminded her of a cockroach twitching its antennae. Was this thing...probing them? Her stomach turned in both real and imagined disgust at the pervasive thought. Ronnie abominated insects. One of the worst things about being an engineer was all of the creepy crawlies. Despite all of the environmental controls on a starship you’d be surprised how many bugs found their way in. The internal sensors weren’t calibrated that finely, and new pests were being picked up all the time. 800 years ago it had been rats and monkeys. Now it was an endless variety of invasive species from all over the galaxy. And it was up to the engineers and operations personnel to discover and mark them for disposal. So, too, had this creature been marked, but for containment. They weren’t dealing with a colony of ants here, but a sentient being that had enough intelligence and wherewithal to ooze its way into the Mac and set up shop. The security officer was correct, they needed to keep this thing corralled. Ronnie’s speciality was devices, gadgets, inventions. Small handheld things that you could hurl across the room if they decided to become self aware and eat you. Nothing in the Academy or all of her tinkering as a nascent, budding little engineer back in Canada could prepare her for this. Still, she knew what to do. Ronnie didn’t even let her bulky engineering kit fall, so afraid was she for causing too much of a ruckus. There were too many unknown factors in play in this equation for her to run into the bulkhead, shrieking like Bigfoot and pawing away at the console there. Instead, with more calm than she felt, the artist’s long, elegant fingers found the smooth screen. With just as much delicacy and flourish as if she was signing her name to her latest masterpiece Ronnie gave the commands to the computer to erect a sufficiently strong force field around their section to ensure that the talking metalloid octopus couldn’t spread. [ LT Joshua Niles - Deck 7, USS Mac ]{Spoiler}{Spoiler}Well, it would seem that Gates had decided he was going to try and talk to the damn thing just as the engineer got to work. At first, he was about to bark at the Petty Officer, get him to back the hell off and not get that thing further riled up... that was until Commander Ellis got back to him with the overarching plan. Keep it busy, while they were trying to cut it off from that communications link he'd stumbled up on back on the Bridge. Well, that did change things all right. =A="Niles, acknowledged,"=A= he simply replied as he regarded the situation.
Which, visibly, was not going any way he'd have preferred it to. But then again, that was the name of the game, wasn't it? Always be ready to roll with the punches. Especially the statement that it would not acquiesce to what was still a polite enough request to back down. Well, perhaps it was time to be less polite all right. Especially as those metal tentacles, like something born from the mind of some deranged anime holonovel writer, made its way towards the party and opened up in vicious-looking pincers. "Gates, back, now." Niles' voice came out like a whipcrack as he drew his phaser, but still kept it pointed down at the deck; the counter-boarding party, crewmembers who knew their business, were already positioning themselves in such a way as to maximize their amount of fire, but they'd yet to actually take immediate aim. "Request denied," he replied in a cold tone. "Your actions thus far have caused damage to this ship and pose a threat to all biological entities aboard. Direct interface with members of this crew is likely to cause irreparable damage, and unless we can prove otherwise, it will not be allowed. If you wish to exchange information, means that are not hazardous to us can be explored."Keep it busy, Ellis had said, and report any change in the damn thing's behaviour. Well, that was getting interesting all right. Too interesting. And then, the forcefield sprang to life. "Thank you Ensign," he said softly. "Now, we need ways to drop that thing if we have to. I need you to rig me anything you can that's... destructive. Just in case."Then, returning his attention to the boarder, he spoke again, loudly and clearly. If that thing had a way to analyze behaviour, perhaps it would recognize a hierarchical structure. "You are required to state your origins and intentions." {Spoiler}{Spoiler}[Petty Officer Kellen Gates - Outside Main Sickbay, Deck 7]
"Ah, of course," Gatesy nodded, sounding for all the world that he was engaged in a casual chat with an alien tentacle robot. But knowledge assessment made sense, didn't it? It explained its behaviour, or at least, it did to the medic. "Would that be an assessment of our knowledge, or a gathering of knowledge for yourself?" Clarification on that point might be important, he thought. He was about to expand a little further, when Niles barked at him. He jumped on the spot a little, startled by the interruption. "Huh?" He asked, blinking rapidly, stumbling backward again, not quite understanding what was going on until the movement of the mechanical tentacle caught his eye. He startled once more as the pincers closed. Kellen Gates then found himself wondering what exactly interfacing would entail. Or more to the point, if it would be survivable. As the Lieutenant waved his weapon around and issued more orders to everyone, including asking the Engineer to make a bomb, Gatesy found himself suddenly even more uncomfortable, but this time for a slightly different reason. "It can understand you, you know," he pointed out, his tone perhaps a little tart. The young man wasn't disrespectful by nature, but his manner with which he corrected others could sometimes be misconstrued. He usually made an effort to temper those reactions, as it had put him on the receiving end of a fist once or twice, but he was a bit stressed out currently by the thing from outer space. He turned back to his face in the panel. It was time to be bold again. "Would I be able to repair the organic matter of an interfaced person?" It had made it passed their shields, it would probably make it passed their force fields. By Gatesy's reckoning, it was better to know if what this thing wanted to do with be fatal to their fragile forms now rather than later. [ENS Veronica “Ronnie” Li - Deck 7 -Passageway] “Destructive?!” Panic made her voice squeak. “I’m no xenobiologist, sir, but there’s no telling what effect that might have!” Still, if they were considering defending themselves against the creature, not attacking it, Ronnie could get on board with that. And it was a stroke of luck, so to speak, that an engineer, security man and medic were all here. They should cover the situation, no matter the outcome. She bit her lower lip, a gesture she made as she was contemplating bringing a painting to life or sorting out an overheated plasma coil. Phasers must have been out, as the security lieutenant would have already considered those before he asked her to whip up an improvised explosive device like an impromptu bowl of gazpacho. Ronnie started at their “guest,” cogitating, heart pounding an adrenaline rich mixture throughout her entire body, making her mind race. “We could isolate this section, beam it into space,” Ronnie murmured in her husky contralto. “Or I could attempt to overload the EPS conduit in that bulkhead. But again, there’s no telling what effect that would have on this…thing.” [ SCPO Kaya Som | Engineering] "Aye, captain," Kaya returned. Then she spun round to shout her own orders. She snapped her fingers in the air for attentinon. "Alright, shut it down!" The new Cheif Engineer was careful to quickly specify exactly what they were going to be putting out. It amounted to physically isolating the information so it was inaccessible to a brute attack, and then redirecting the intrusive signal to a pool of useless information set to churn around on loop. There wasn't exactly a protocol to it, and Kaya wasn't completely sure it wouldn't hobble other systems, but she couldn't resist trotting out a trick she'd learned in her youth on a Sovreign Class scale. Working as quickly as they could, it took several minutes to get everyone up to speed and all the moving parts coordinated. Soon, the Engineers were checking in and waiting for Kaya's go-ahead. "Engineering to Bridge, we're cutting them off in 5 seconds." Four. Three. Two. "Now." Simultaneous commands from a few terminals and the screens began flickering confirmations. The flow of the ship's juiciest information was cordoned off and the siphon program got only a mouthful of dense static. Engineering went quiet, as if waiting for something to break. Some even took a few steps from the consoles, anticipating an explosion. Kaya crossed her arms and waited. [Ens. Syl O'Connell - USS Mac - Bridge]Syl couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face at the Commander's praise. It definitely helped that this system had been designed by a pilot for other pilots to use, so the controls were relatively within Starfleet's standard layout. "Aye, Commander," she replied to the order, the fingers of both hands sliding across the two pads to shift the drones' position outside the ship. Through the visor, she could see the hull of the ship pass alongside like a massive grey wall, and there up ahead loomed the satellite embedded in its side, surrounded by floating debris and flickering with the containment fields. The drones' movements were a little erratic as the pilot was still adjusting to the sensitivity of the controls, but thanks to the quiet beep she quickly figured out was a proximity alert, she was able to keep them from bumping into the side of the ship. Bringing the swarm to a stop not far from the satellite, it took her a few moments longer to toggle between each drone and move them individually to a strategic position and begin the scans. Once they were each in place with sensors running, she toggled back to the first one that she left with the best view. "Hornets in place, scanning the satellite." Syl really hoped the Commander - or at least one of the other stations - had access to the information the drones were receiving, as it didn't seem to be coming to her. There was just a flashing green light around the edges of the visor that let her know they were performing the task she'd set for them. Her head was still throbbing from the intense focus and changing views, but it had dulled enough to be easier to ignore. Even so, as soon as they got back to the station she was likely going to be in Sickbay for a few hours. If they made it back to the station... [ ... Meanwhile in orbit... ] As more and more data was transmitted, the satellite began to comprehend the languages of this vessel... this... MAC. The databanks contained a great deal more than tactical and political data. There was also personal data. Communiques to maternal units... prognosis of fertilizations... descriptive conjugal affairs... historical records ... literary anecdotes... all from hundreds of different civilizations. Worlds it did not know of, as well as worlds that it did. The satellite's proximal sensors detected the approach and arrangement of these small devices. They were... insignificant, yet their purpose unknown. They were like... what human would refer to as: insects. And then... there was confusion. It had consumed enough information to interpret MAC's data. Yet, what it was receiving now made no sense. Did it require another cipher? Was this data further encrypted? No, there was a pattern to this randomly generated drivel. This was... "iNTeNTioN: DecePTioN," a voice boomed on the bridge of the Mac. The sound of the voice was a garbled compilation of the computer's. Soon, the main viewscreen was hacked and the orange, pixel-generated image of gaTE c filled the screen. "wHy?"
[ ... Deck 7... ] "we gaiN kNowLeDge To giVe kNowLeDge," the second satellite replied as it continued to sift through the databanks, deciphering data it was accumulating. "ReLeVaNT aNecDoTe: see TeRRaN eNTRy - PRomeTHeus.""uNkwowN," the second satellite responded to gaTE c's last inquiry. "comPaTiBiLiTy assesseD By iNTeRFace." It could tell from the Niles voice that it objected to direct interface. Yet, it was the simplest means to learn what their databanks clearly could not tell. It assessed Niles words that their intentions were hostile. And then... it assessed nothing. Something was wrong. The fountain of information had stopped. Why? Why would they do this? Would gaTE c deceive them? The tentacle moved forward, it would have struck Niles by was intercepted by force field that had been erected. It reared back, this time striking at another one of the security officers. The final time, it pounded the forcefield right before gaTE c. Why would they do this? One the panel, gaTE c's face looked towards the Gatesy, almost with a wounded expression. "DecePTioN DeTecTeD?" Its tone almost suggesting a question. The face morphed and mimicked Josh's face again. "yoUR iNTeNTioN:... aggRessioN!" The tentacle then pounded against the forcefield several times more.
[NPC - Crewman Ezra Mora - Engineering USS Mac ] As quickly as Chief Som dished out the orders, all of the engineers moved to carry them out, and Ezra was no exception. It was a rather ingenious strategy to keep that probe, or whatever it was running in circles and downloading useless data. That would probably buy them some time to come up with another plan to get out of this. "Amount downloaded holding at 29.4%, Chief," Ezra called out. There were a few attaboys traded among some of the engineers. Yet after a few minutes, Ezra noticed something else. "Hey Chief," Ezra said. "I was able to see what that thing was poking at by looking at the scripts. What I don't know yet is how much it got of what. But we can see what it liked." He handed the PADD over to Kaya to review. Tag: Felicity Ellis , Joshua Niles , Syl O'Connell , Kaya Som , Veronica Li
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Jul 22, 2021 2:07:37 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Deck 7, USS Mac ]{Quoted Posts} [Petty Officer Kellen Gates - Outside Main Sickbay, Deck 7]"Ah, of course," Gatesy nodded, sounding for all the world that he was engaged in a casual chat with an alien tentacle robot. But knowledge assessment made sense, didn't it? It explained its behaviour, or at least, it did to the medic. "Would that be an assessment of our knowledge, or a gathering of knowledge for yourself?" Clarification on that point might be important, he thought. He was about to expand a little further, when Niles barked at him. He jumped on the spot a little, startled by the interruption. "Huh?" He asked, blinking rapidly, stumbling backward again, not quite understanding what was going on until the movement of the mechanical tentacle caught his eye. He startled once more as the pincers closed. Kellen Gates then found himself wondering what exactly interfacing would entail. Or more to the point, if it would be survivable. As the Lieutenant waved his weapon around and issued more orders to everyone, including asking the Engineer to make a bomb, Gatesy found himself suddenly even more uncomfortable, but this time for a slightly different reason. "It can understand you, you know," he pointed out, his tone perhaps a little tart. The young man wasn't disrespectful by nature, but his manner with which he corrected others could sometimes be misconstrued. He usually made an effort to temper those reactions, as it had put him on the receiving end of a fist once or twice, but he was a bit stressed out currently by the thing from outer space. He turned back to his face in the panel. It was time to be bold again. "Would I be able to repair the organic matter of an interfaced person?" It had made it passed their shields, it would probably make it passed their force fields. By Gatesy's reckoning, it was better to know if what this thing wanted to do with be fatal to their fragile forms now rather than later.
Tags: Joshua Niles , Veronica Li and Isaiah Quinn [ENS Veronica “Ronnie” Li - Deck 7 -Passageway] “Destructive?!” Panic made her voice squeak. “I’m no xenobiologist, sir, but there’s no telling what effect that might have!” Still, if they were considering defending themselves against the creature, not attacking it, Ronnie could get on board with that. And it was a stroke of luck, so to speak, that an engineer, security man and medic were all here. They should cover the situation, no matter the outcome. She bit her lower lip, a gesture she made as she was contemplating bringing a painting to life or sorting out an overheated plasma coil. Phasers must have been out, as the security lieutenant would have already considered those before he asked her to whip up an improvised explosive device like an impromptu bowl of gazpacho. Ronnie started at their “guest,” cogitating, heart pounding an adrenaline rich mixture throughout her entire body, making her mind race. “We could isolate this section, beam it into space,” Ronnie murmured in her husky contralto. “Or I could attempt to overload the EPS conduit in that bulkhead. But again, there’s no telling what effect that would have on this…thing.” Tags: Felicity Ellis Joshua Niles [ ... Meanwhile in orbit... ] As more and more data was transmitted, the satellite began to comprehend the languages of this vessel... this... MAC. The databanks contained a great deal more than tactical and political data. There was also personal data. Communiques to maternal units... prognosis of fertilizations... descriptive conjugal affairs... historical records ... literary anecdotes... all from hundreds of different civilizations. Worlds it did not know of, as well as worlds that it did. The satellite's proximal sensors detected the approach and arrangement of these small devices. They were... insignificant, yet their purpose unknown. They were like... what human would refer to as: insects. And then... there was confusion. It had consumed enough information to interpret MAC's data. Yet, what it was receiving now made no sense. Did it require another cipher? Was this data further encrypted? No, there was a pattern to this randomly generated drivel. This was... "iNTeNTioN: DecePTioN," a voice boomed on the bridge of the Mac. The sound of the voice was a garbled compilation of the computer's. Soon, the main viewscreen was hacked and the orange, pixel-generated image of gaTE c filled the screen. "wHy?"
[ ... Deck 7... ] "we gaiN kNowLeDge To giVe kNowLeDge," the second satellite replied as it continued to sift through the databanks, deciphering data it was accumulating. "ReLeVaNT aNecDoTe: see TeRRaN eNTRy - PRomeTHeus.""uNkwowN," the second satellite responded to gaTE c's last inquiry. "comPaTiBiLiTy assesseD By iNTeRFace." It could tell from the Niles voice that it objected to direct interface. Yet, it was the simplest means to learn what their databanks clearly could not tell. It assessed Niles words that their intentions were hostile. And then... it assessed nothing. Something was wrong. The fountain of information had stopped. Why? Why would they do this? Would gaTE c deceive them? The tentacle moved forward, it would have struck Niles by was intercepted by force field that had been erected. It reared back, this time striking at another one of the security officers. The final time, it pounded the forcefield right before gaTE c. Why would they do this? One the panel, gaTE c's face looked towards the Gatesy, almost with a wounded expression. "DecePTioN DeTecTeD?" Its tone almost suggesting a question. The face morphed and mimicked Josh's face again. "yoUR iNTeNTioN:... aggRessioN!" The tentacle then pounded against the forcefield several times more.
[NPC - Crewman Ezra Mora - Engineering USS Mac ] As quickly as Chief Som dished out the orders, all of the engineers moved to carry them out, and Ezra was no exception. It was a rather ingenious strategy to keep that probe, or whatever it was running in circles and downloading useless data. That would probably buy them some time to come up with another plan to get out of this. "Amount downloaded holding at 29.4%, Chief," Ezra called out. There were a few attaboys traded among some of the engineers. Yet after a few minutes, Ezra noticed something else. "Hey Chief," Ezra said. "I was able to see what that thing was poking at by looking at the scripts. What I don't know yet is how much it got of what. But we can see what it liked." He handed the PADD over to Kaya to review. Tag: Felicity Ellis , Joshua Niles , Syl O'Connell , Kaya Som , Veronica Li "Ensign, what I want is options on the table, and maybe a last resort contingency," Niles replied softly. Granted, asking an engineer to find a way to blow up part of the ship on purpose, even under control, would really go against the grain. Truth be told, it went against the grain for him as well; but a blown out EPS conduit or generating an energy pulse using the ship's power grid rather than a portable source, that would have a lot more punch than any handheld phaser could. However, it would seem that the bloody thing was dead-set on jamming a tentacle into someone, and that was not something one Joshua Niles was inclined to let happen unless he was ordered to do so. Especially as it said that there would be no way to know if that interface would work unless it was attempted. But then, it said something about a deception? It would look like the plan to interrupt the transfer had been put into place, and the tentacle then struck the forcefield. And now, the face that spoke was no longer Gates, but his own. And it spoke of being faced with aggression. =A= "Niles to the Bridge. Whatever you did, it's not happy right now. Been taking measures to try and contain it so far, and it's not liking that either. I will attempt to talk it down."=A= Well, now that he'd committed himself to such a thing, he would have to try and let whatever was in there know that the measures, while they could be harmful, were not a matter of aggression. "No. My intention is protection. Protection of my ship, protection of my crew. Your initial actions have nearly crippled this ship and now you have breached the hull, started to attack our computers and boarded us against our will. And now you want to subject a member of this crew to something that could end their biological processes. You are the ones whose actions we perceive as aggression. We can't allow you to continue on your current course of action any further. If you want to exchange knowledge, the call isn't mine to make but if you will withdraw from the ship and cease any attempts to force information, it would be a show of good faith I can bring to my commander, and she might agree to a consensual exchange. Otherwise, your actions will be interpreted as hostile and we will have to respond with force. And that is our last resort, and we'd really rather not do that."
Tags Felicity Ellis Isaiah Quinn Veronica Li
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Shavan Th'zhaar
Science
[TI35]
Posts: 800 Likes: 19
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Assistant Chief of Science
Species: Orion/Andorian
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Post by Shavan Th'zhaar on Jul 22, 2021 2:33:24 GMT
[Lt Shavan Th’zhaar - Unknown Cavern] Shavan narrowed his eyes a little when S’Riia asked if ‘someone' had touched something. “You touched the obelisk, right before it happened.” He had no intention of casting blame, but hadn’t she been aware of it? And, while of course there were other possibilities, hadn’t Hunt seen? But however they had gotten there… there was no response from the comms, which meant they had to get back on their own. He was about to agree to have Hunt do a medical scan, when suddenly S’Riia tried to warn him away from the mirror, and his attention was caught by the movement within it. Well… that was new. Shavan stared down the mimicry of his own form, carefully refraining from stepping back. It told them to identify themselves. As much as he generally treated the truth with caution… what else were they going to do, in this case? They hadn’t been hiding their presence. “I am Lieutenant Shavan Th’zhaar. We are here on a mission of scientific exploration on behalf of the Federation.” He waited to see how it would respond before saying anything else. Isaiah Quinn Jonathan Hunt
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Kaya Som
Engineering/Ops
Site Historian
Yaya! You have survived! That's too bad!
Posts: 804 Likes: 108
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Engineering
Species: Trill
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Post by Kaya Som on Jul 22, 2021 3:25:40 GMT
[ SCPO Kaya Som | Engineering ]Any data coming into Engineering from the away teams was sidelined as the local crew dealt with the immediacy of the hull breach and unwanted access - pulsing alert lights made the former difficult to ignore, the stream of data keeping tabs on the latter. Kaya took the PADD from Mora and keyed into what he'd taken the initiative to find. "This is good," she said with furrowed brows. From the meta-data, the object was indifferent at best to their warp engine and weapons; it was far more curious about ... them. "They're either carnivores or biologists. Thanks." She clapped Mora on the shoulder and tapped her comm badge. "Engineering to Bridge. The data stream has been cut off at 29.4%. And now we have some feedback on what they were focusing on: biological profiles and ship prefix codes - not weapons, not warp technology. Sending the data up there now." She handed Mora the PADD to carry out her promise to get the data packaged for Ellis. "Good work." Then she rounded back, seeking a vital update. "Status on my warp engines!" Isaiah Quinn , Felicity Ellis
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Rin Zakir
Security & Tactical
[TI21]
Posts: 112 Likes: 5
Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
Position: Security & Tactical
Species: Bajoran
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Post by Rin Zakir on Jul 22, 2021 12:12:24 GMT
[ Ensign Rin Zakir - Planetoid Cavern - Rendezvous Point] The other signal being the location of the other team was very possible, but Zak understood that they couldn't work on assumptions. He nodded as the commander reminded him about a certain ferengi technology that though unreliable was in some ways rather similar. He could only hope that what they had picked up was indeed a fixed point. That would make it much easier to find the others. In the mean time, he could only hope that S'Riia did her job and kept her hands away from glowing objects from here on out. For now, the team would work quickly and efficiently in tracking them down and finding out just what this thing was. That, or they would have Quinn to answer to, as he handed out orders once again. "Aye sir", he responded to his own orders to try and reconfigure his communicator to match the frequency that they had identified. It would be helpful if said communicators could do their jobs, so it was a fair request. He just hoped that they weren't going to get beamed out by locking onto their combadges while he was fiddling on with his. That would be bad. Thankfully, that wasn't standard practice, so he removed his combadge and used a few tools from his pack to get it open. It was too bad that they didn't have an engineer down here, but everyone had basic training in this much, at least. While the science team did their jobs, he did what he had to do. He just really hoped that this would work. "Sir, I've changed the frequency. Lets just hope this works", he confirmed once he at least hoped he had managed to make the necessary modification. He thought of making the call himself, but he wondered if that would maybe be overstepping the line a little. There was a fine line between doing that and appearing to be unable to show initiative. It was hard to know when and if it should be crossed.
Tag Isaiah Quinn , Syl O'Connell , Left Ear to-Ennien
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Veronica Li
Engineering/Ops
[TI20]
Posts: 13 Likes: 2
Rank: Ensign
Species: Human
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Post by Veronica Li on Jul 22, 2021 14:07:07 GMT
{Quoted Posts} [ENS Veronica “Ronnie” Li - Deck 7 - Passageway] The security officer was giving the thing directions as if it was a deckhand and the deuterium tanks needed scrubbing. Ronnie winced, anticipating disaster, and she was rewarded with increased activity from the metallic octopus. It was flailing its tentacles about in an inquisitive way, something that reminded her of a cockroach twitching its antennae. Was this thing...probing them? Her stomach turned in both real and imagined disgust at the pervasive thought. Ronnie abominated insects. One of the worst things about being an engineer was all of the creepy crawlies. Despite all of the environmental controls on a starship you’d be surprised how many bugs found their way in. The internal sensors weren’t calibrated that finely, and new pests were being picked up all the time. 800 years ago it had been rats and monkeys. Now it was an endless variety of invasive species from all over the galaxy. And it was up to the engineers and operations personnel to discover and mark them for disposal. So, too, had this creature been marked, but for containment. They weren’t dealing with a colony of ants here, but a sentient being that had enough intelligence and wherewithal to ooze its way into the Mac and set up shop. The security officer was correct, they needed to keep this thing corralled. Ronnie’s speciality was devices, gadgets, inventions. Small handheld things that you could hurl across the room if they decided to become self aware and eat you. Nothing in the Academy or all of her tinkering as a nascent, budding little engineer back in Canada could prepare her for this. Still, she knew what to do. Ronnie didn’t even let her bulky engineering kit fall, so afraid was she for causing too much of a ruckus. There were too many unknown factors in play in this equation for her to run into the bulkhead, shrieking like Bigfoot and pawing away at the console there. Instead, with more calm than she felt, the artist’s long, elegant fingers found the smooth screen. With just as much delicacy and flourish as if she was signing her name to her latest masterpiece Ronnie gave the commands to the computer to erect a sufficiently strong force field around their section to ensure that the talking metalloid octopus couldn’t spread. [ LT Joshua Niles - Deck 7, USS Mac ]{Spoiler}{Spoiler}Well, it would seem that Gates had decided he was going to try and talk to the damn thing just as the engineer got to work. At first, he was about to bark at the Petty Officer, get him to back the hell off and not get that thing further riled up... that was until Commander Ellis got back to him with the overarching plan. Keep it busy, while they were trying to cut it off from that communications link he'd stumbled up on back on the Bridge. Well, that did change things all right. =A="Niles, acknowledged,"=A= he simply replied as he regarded the situation.
Which, visibly, was not going any way he'd have preferred it to. But then again, that was the name of the game, wasn't it? Always be ready to roll with the punches. Especially the statement that it would not acquiesce to what was still a polite enough request to back down. Well, perhaps it was time to be less polite all right. Especially as those metal tentacles, like something born from the mind of some deranged anime holonovel writer, made its way towards the party and opened up in vicious-looking pincers. "Gates, back, now." Niles' voice came out like a whipcrack as he drew his phaser, but still kept it pointed down at the deck; the counter-boarding party, crewmembers who knew their business, were already positioning themselves in such a way as to maximize their amount of fire, but they'd yet to actually take immediate aim. "Request denied," he replied in a cold tone. "Your actions thus far have caused damage to this ship and pose a threat to all biological entities aboard. Direct interface with members of this crew is likely to cause irreparable damage, and unless we can prove otherwise, it will not be allowed. If you wish to exchange information, means that are not hazardous to us can be explored."Keep it busy, Ellis had said, and report any change in the damn thing's behaviour. Well, that was getting interesting all right. Too interesting. And then, the forcefield sprang to life. "Thank you Ensign," he said softly. "Now, we need ways to drop that thing if we have to. I need you to rig me anything you can that's... destructive. Just in case."Then, returning his attention to the boarder, he spoke again, loudly and clearly. If that thing had a way to analyze behaviour, perhaps it would recognize a hierarchical structure. "You are required to state your origins and intentions." {Spoiler}{Spoiler}[Petty Officer Kellen Gates - Outside Main Sickbay, Deck 7]
"Ah, of course," Gatesy nodded, sounding for all the world that he was engaged in a casual chat with an alien tentacle robot. But knowledge assessment made sense, didn't it? It explained its behaviour, or at least, it did to the medic. "Would that be an assessment of our knowledge, or a gathering of knowledge for yourself?" Clarification on that point might be important, he thought. He was about to expand a little further, when Niles barked at him. He jumped on the spot a little, startled by the interruption. "Huh?" He asked, blinking rapidly, stumbling backward again, not quite understanding what was going on until the movement of the mechanical tentacle caught his eye. He startled once more as the pincers closed. Kellen Gates then found himself wondering what exactly interfacing would entail. Or more to the point, if it would be survivable. As the Lieutenant waved his weapon around and issued more orders to everyone, including asking the Engineer to make a bomb, Gatesy found himself suddenly even more uncomfortable, but this time for a slightly different reason. "It can understand you, you know," he pointed out, his tone perhaps a little tart. The young man wasn't disrespectful by nature, but his manner with which he corrected others could sometimes be misconstrued. He usually made an effort to temper those reactions, as it had put him on the receiving end of a fist once or twice, but he was a bit stressed out currently by the thing from outer space. He turned back to his face in the panel. It was time to be bold again. "Would I be able to repair the organic matter of an interfaced person?" It had made it passed their shields, it would probably make it passed their force fields. By Gatesy's reckoning, it was better to know if what this thing wanted to do with be fatal to their fragile forms now rather than later. [ENS Veronica “Ronnie” Li - Deck 7 -Passageway] “Destructive?!” Panic made her voice squeak. “I’m no xenobiologist, sir, but there’s no telling what effect that might have!” Still, if they were considering defending themselves against the creature, not attacking it, Ronnie could get on board with that. And it was a stroke of luck, so to speak, that an engineer, security man and medic were all here. They should cover the situation, no matter the outcome. She bit her lower lip, a gesture she made as she was contemplating bringing a painting to life or sorting out an overheated plasma coil. Phasers must have been out, as the security lieutenant would have already considered those before he asked her to whip up an improvised explosive device like an impromptu bowl of gazpacho. Ronnie started at their “guest,” cogitating, heart pounding an adrenaline rich mixture throughout her entire body, making her mind race. “We could isolate this section, beam it into space,” Ronnie murmured in her husky contralto. “Or I could attempt to overload the EPS conduit in that bulkhead. But again, there’s no telling what effect that would have on this…thing.” [ SCPO Kaya Som | Engineering] "Aye, captain," Kaya returned. Then she spun round to shout her own orders. She snapped her fingers in the air for attentinon. "Alright, shut it down!" The new Cheif Engineer was careful to quickly specify exactly what they were going to be putting out. It amounted to physically isolating the information so it was inaccessible to a brute attack, and then redirecting the intrusive signal to a pool of useless information set to churn around on loop. There wasn't exactly a protocol to it, and Kaya wasn't completely sure it wouldn't hobble other systems, but she couldn't resist trotting out a trick she'd learned in her youth on a Sovreign Class scale. Working as quickly as they could, it took several minutes to get everyone up to speed and all the moving parts coordinated. Soon, the Engineers were checking in and waiting for Kaya's go-ahead. "Engineering to Bridge, we're cutting them off in 5 seconds." Four. Three. Two. "Now." Simultaneous commands from a few terminals and the screens began flickering confirmations. The flow of the ship's juiciest information was cordoned off and the siphon program got only a mouthful of dense static. Engineering went quiet, as if waiting for something to break. Some even took a few steps from the consoles, anticipating an explosion. Kaya crossed her arms and waited. [Ens. Syl O'Connell - USS Mac - Bridge]Syl couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face at the Commander's praise. It definitely helped that this system had been designed by a pilot for other pilots to use, so the controls were relatively within Starfleet's standard layout. "Aye, Commander," she replied to the order, the fingers of both hands sliding across the two pads to shift the drones' position outside the ship. Through the visor, she could see the hull of the ship pass alongside like a massive grey wall, and there up ahead loomed the satellite embedded in its side, surrounded by floating debris and flickering with the containment fields. The drones' movements were a little erratic as the pilot was still adjusting to the sensitivity of the controls, but thanks to the quiet beep she quickly figured out was a proximity alert, she was able to keep them from bumping into the side of the ship. Bringing the swarm to a stop not far from the satellite, it took her a few moments longer to toggle between each drone and move them individually to a strategic position and begin the scans. Once they were each in place with sensors running, she toggled back to the first one that she left with the best view. "Hornets in place, scanning the satellite." Syl really hoped the Commander - or at least one of the other stations - had access to the information the drones were receiving, as it didn't seem to be coming to her. There was just a flashing green light around the edges of the visor that let her know they were performing the task she'd set for them. Her head was still throbbing from the intense focus and changing views, but it had dulled enough to be easier to ignore. Even so, as soon as they got back to the station she was likely going to be in Sickbay for a few hours. If they made it back to the station... [ ... Meanwhile in orbit... ] As more and more data was transmitted, the satellite began to comprehend the languages of this vessel... this... MAC. The databanks contained a great deal more than tactical and political data. There was also personal data. Communiques to maternal units... prognosis of fertilizations... descriptive conjugal affairs... historical records ... literary anecdotes... all from hundreds of different civilizations. Worlds it did not know of, as well as worlds that it did. The satellite's proximal sensors detected the approach and arrangement of these small devices. They were... insignificant, yet their purpose unknown. They were like... what human would refer to as: insects. And then... there was confusion. It had consumed enough information to interpret MAC's data. Yet, what it was receiving now made no sense. Did it require another cipher? Was this data further encrypted? No, there was a pattern to this randomly generated drivel. This was... "iNTeNTioN: DecePTioN," a voice boomed on the bridge of the Mac. The sound of the voice was a garbled compilation of the computer's. Soon, the main viewscreen was hacked and the orange, pixel-generated image of gaTE c filled the screen. "wHy?"
[ ... Deck 7... ] "we gaiN kNowLeDge To giVe kNowLeDge," the second satellite replied as it continued to sift through the databanks, deciphering data it was accumulating. "ReLeVaNT aNecDoTe: see TeRRaN eNTRy - PRomeTHeus.""uNkwowN," the second satellite responded to gaTE c's last inquiry. "comPaTiBiLiTy assesseD By iNTeRFace." It could tell from the Niles voice that it objected to direct interface. Yet, it was the simplest means to learn what their databanks clearly could not tell. It assessed Niles words that their intentions were hostile. And then... it assessed nothing. Something was wrong. The fountain of information had stopped. Why? Why would they do this? Would gaTE c deceive them? The tentacle moved forward, it would have struck Niles by was intercepted by force field that had been erected. It reared back, this time striking at another one of the security officers. The final time, it pounded the forcefield right before gaTE c. Why would they do this? One the panel, gaTE c's face looked towards the Gatesy, almost with a wounded expression. "DecePTioN DeTecTeD?" Its tone almost suggesting a question. The face morphed and mimicked Josh's face again. "yoUR iNTeNTioN:... aggRessioN!" The tentacle then pounded against the forcefield several times more.
[ENS Veronica "Ronnie" Li - Deck 7 - P-Way] Fair enough, Ronnie thought. Her panic and the ever present trifecta of negative emotions, ones she always struggled with keeping from bubbling to the surface at all times, especially on duty, had caused her to speak unwisely. The security lieutenant hadn't explicitly told her to do anything, just to have something in her back pocket in case things went south. And from the frantic way the metalloid cephalopod's tentacles were flailing at the force field it was about to. While the security officer was running down his spiel to the strange life form, Ronnie circumspectly tapped out a precise pattern onto the console. She hadn't had the time to throw up her shoulder length black hair as she usually did before going on duty, so it overhung her perspiration glazed forehead. The emergency alert lights stained her face. Finally, the artist gave the security officer a tight nod. The console was primed to blow. She took reflexive step or two closer to safety. Tags: Felicity Ellis Joshua Niles
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Felicity Ellis
Command
Cap'n Mum
[TI11]
Posts: 719 Likes: 59
Rank: Commander
Position: XO
Species: Human
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Post by Felicity Ellis on Jul 22, 2021 15:13:50 GMT
{Quotes: O'Connell, Som, Niles, not!Gatesy} [Ens. Syl O'Connell - USS Mac - Bridge]Syl couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face at the Commander's praise. It definitely helped that this system had been designed by a pilot for other pilots to use, so the controls were relatively within Starfleet's standard layout. "Aye, Commander," she replied to the order, the fingers of both hands sliding across the two pads to shift the drones' position outside the ship. Through the visor, she could see the hull of the ship pass alongside like a massive grey wall, and there up ahead loomed the satellite embedded in its side, surrounded by floating debris and flickering with the containment fields. The drones' movements were a little erratic as the pilot was still adjusting to the sensitivity of the controls, but thanks to the quiet beep she quickly figured out was a proximity alert, she was able to keep them from bumping into the side of the ship. Bringing the swarm to a stop not far from the satellite, it took her a few moments longer to toggle between each drone and move them individually to a strategic position and begin the scans. Once they were each in place with sensors running, she toggled back to the first one that she left with the best view. "Hornets in place, scanning the satellite." Syl really hoped the Commander - or at least one of the other stations - had access to the information the drones were receiving, as it didn't seem to be coming to her. There was just a flashing green light around the edges of the visor that let her know they were performing the task she'd set for them. Her head was still throbbing from the intense focus and changing views, but it had dulled enough to be easier to ignore. Even so, as soon as they got back to the station she was likely going to be in Sickbay for a few hours. If they made it back to the station... [ ... Meanwhile in orbit... ] As more and more data was transmitted, the satellite began to comprehend the languages of this vessel... this... MAC. The databanks contained a great deal more than tactical and political data. There was also personal data. Communiques to maternal units... prognosis of fertilizations... descriptive conjugal affairs... historical records ... literary anecdotes... all from hundreds of different civilizations. Worlds it did not know of, as well as worlds that it did. The satellite's proximal sensors detected the approach and arrangement of these small devices. They were... insignificant, yet their purpose unknown. They were like... what human would refer to as: insects. And then... there was confusion. It had consumed enough information to interpret MAC's data. Yet, what it was receiving now made no sense. Did it require another cipher? Was this data further encrypted? No, there was a pattern to this randomly generated drivel. This was... "iNTeNTioN: DecePTioN," a voice boomed on the bridge of the Mac. The sound of the voice was a garbled compilation of the computer's. Soon, the main viewscreen was hacked and the orange, pixel-generated image of gaTE c filled the screen. "wHy?"[ LT Joshua Niles - Deck 7, USS Mac ]
=A= "Niles to the Bridge. Whatever you did, it's not happy right now. Been taking measures to try and contain it so far, and it's not liking that either. I will attempt to talk it down."=A= [ SCPO Kaya Som | Engineering ] "Engineering to Bridge. The data stream has been cut off at 29.4%. And now we have some feedback on what they were focusing on: biological profiles and ship prefix codes - not weapons, not warp technology. Sending the data up there now." [Felicity Ellis - Bridge, USS Mac]"Commander," Dimmadome managed to force out after multiple coughs to clear his throat, "I am still unable to raise the Away Team, nor can I lock on to their signatures. I can tell you that they appear to be split and are located in two separate locations. I- I think perhaps we- I could reprogram or repurpose a probe to act as a mid-point booster, which may, if deployed to the right layer of the planetoid's atmosphere, assist with pinpointing the exact location of their bio-signatures.""Do it, Lieutenant. Let me know when the probe is away." While Felicity waited for Dimmadome's update on the Away Team's status, she kept an eye on O'Connell's progress with the Hornets. Once they were in position, the local scans began and some data began to stream to her console. "The Hornets' scans are suggesting what looks like decreased mass of the first satellite. There's a power drain of some kind; like its being shared." A couple of things happened very quickly after that brief synopsis. =/\= "Acknowledged, Engineering. Nice work." =/\= It was something of a relief to learn that the unidentified objects were not interested in anything proprietary, that they seemed curious about the individuals within the ship instead of the ship itself, but their methods did still leave a lot to be desired. When Niles reported that the visitor on Deck 7 wasn't happy and was being contained, she assumed for necessary reasons, it suggested that there would continue to be a sting attached to this probe. Then came the voice. The garbled, mutilated Computer voice, and the viewscreen flickered. Orange, black, orange, and then a face came into focus. "Why in the name of all that is holy am I looking at Kellen Gates on my viewscreen!?"She stared back, her understanding of the words Gatesy's face was speaking quite slow. Deception? This was obviously an attempt at communication, and a direct response to Engineering's successful redirection of the siphon. "There is no deception," she responded to the face, "There is protection."She intended to keep the exchange to the point. Up until now, there had been a lot lost in translation, and she needed to clarify the situation. "We have not given you permission to take our data. But we are open to sharing. I cannot allow any damage to my crew or my ship, so once we have established that you mean us no harm, we can discuss an exchange."
Tags: Isaiah Quinn , softs: Syl O'Connell , Kaya Som
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Isaiah Quinn
Science
[TI36]
Posts: 1,153 Likes: 57
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Chief Science Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Isaiah Quinn on Jul 23, 2021 5:03:08 GMT
{Quoted Posts} [Unknown Cavern] As he materialized in a section in an unknown cavern. It was obvious to see that there is a lot of discovery to do with this planet. If it’s even a planet. The lack of energy source or son and the devices could indicate that it’s might not be a moon or a planetoid it might be a space station. “ I have no idea how we got there” Hunt responded to the petty officer response. He looked around and kept observing. He listened to the Lt. explanation that it might be a transporter that is activated by touch. “If so, why have advanced technology like transporter activated by rudimentary control such as touch?” He wondered. As he spoke about the Andorian’s theory. “ Sadly, I’m a Doctor not an Engineer” he said as he did not know the reason for it or understood how the device works. As the petty officer asked about the touch Hunt replied “No, I don’t think so”. He added as he looked around. “Maybe, it’s not touch but trigger by proximity sensors. Or Alternatively, someone else is controlling it” Hunt continued with the theories. “ Maybe I should do some biological scans to see if there are any clues in our bodies. Sir?” Hunt asked to Shavan for authorization. Before anything major could happen, they detected an unknown presence. As they requested to identified themselves Hunt walked in the rear as he would let the security officer and senior personnel deal with the situation. [Lt. JG Cerjess Miren - Mystery Planet]"Yessir," Miren replied to the order, refocusing his tricorder on the obelisk. Trying to stay out of Left Ear's way as she was ordered to also check the object, he set the tricorder to compare readings to the language and cipher database, and began to scan each symbol. They did look vaguely familiar to him, but when you weren't familiar with xenolinguistics, or ciphers of any sort, most characters looked relatively the same. There were only so many ways lines could be drawn, after all. Cerjess was also fairly certain it was not any modern language currently used by Federation species... though he would wait until the computer revealed any information before speaking his thoughts on the matter. [Cadet Left Ear to-Ennien - Rendezvous Point] Left Ear was glad some of her skills were useful, since they didn't need a doctor, yet. She hoped that her healing abilities wouldn't become necessary once they did find the other team. First, she sniffed around again and located the last spots where Hunt and Th'zhaar had been standing and marked them with stones. Then the Sivaoan returned to the obelisk, still careful not to touch it even with a whisker. She walked all around it, sniffing down and then up as high as she could reach without getting too close, stopping before the side that she'd been fairly certain of in the first place. ' That symbol is the only thing anyone touched in here. Those stones are where the others were standing last, as far as I can tell. If they retraced their steps to leave, I can't detect that, but their scents are strongest near the obelisk.' Left Ear took a moment to be grateful that the Commander hadn't even questioned her ability to be able to detect so much from smell alone. Others had, since she'd come to the Federation, and she was as careful as she could be not to be intrusive. But it wasn't as if she could shut off her nose; sometimes she smelled things she was sure people wouldn't want her to know. [Lt Shavan Th’zhaar - Unknown Cavern] Shavan narrowed his eyes a little when S’Riia asked if ‘someone' had touched something. “You touched the obelisk, right before it happened.” He had no intention of casting blame, but hadn’t she been aware of it? And, while of course there were other possibilities, hadn’t Hunt seen? But however they had gotten there… there was no response from the comms, which meant they had to get back on their own. He was about to agree to have Hunt do a medical scan, when suddenly S’Riia tried to warn him away from the mirror, and his attention was caught by the movement within it. Well… that was new. Shavan stared down the mimicry of his own form, carefully refraining from stepping back. It told them to identify themselves. As much as he generally treated the truth with caution… what else were they going to do, in this case? They hadn’t been hiding their presence. “I am Lieutenant Shavan Th’zhaar. We are here on a mission of scientific exploration on behalf of the Federation.” He waited to see how it would respond before saying anything else. [ Ensign Rin Zakir - Planetoid Cavern - Rendezvous Point] The other signal being the location of the other team was very possible, but Zak understood that they couldn't work on assumptions. He nodded as the commander reminded him about a certain ferengi technology that though unreliable was in some ways rather similar. He could only hope that what they had picked up was indeed a fixed point. That would make it much easier to find the others. In the mean time, he could only hope that S'Riia did her job and kept her hands away from glowing objects from here on out. For now, the team would work quickly and efficiently in tracking them down and finding out just what this thing was. That, or they would have Quinn to answer to, as he handed out orders once again. "Aye sir", he responded to his own orders to try and reconfigure his communicator to match the frequency that they had identified. It would be helpful if said communicators could do their jobs, so it was a fair request. He just hoped that they weren't going to get beamed out by locking onto their combadges while he was fiddling on with his. That would be bad. Thankfully, that wasn't standard practice, so he removed his combadge and used a few tools from his pack to get it open. It was too bad that they didn't have an engineer down here, but everyone had basic training in this much, at least. While the science team did their jobs, he did what he had to do. He just really hoped that this would work. "Sir, I've changed the frequency. Lets just hope this works", he confirmed once he at least hoped he had managed to make the necessary modification. He thought of making the call himself, but he wondered if that would maybe be overstepping the line a little. There was a fine line between doing that and appearing to be unable to show initiative. It was hard to know when and if it should be crossed. [Lt. Commander Isaiah Quinn - Rendezvous Point, Cavern, Planetoid] Left Ear was the first to speak up and share. Isaiah's eyes followed the her gesture towards the stones that she had used to mark both Lt. Shavan and Dr. Hunt's positions. It seemed that S'Riia had been the only one to touch the obelisk. The obelisk that had the symbols that he had asked Lt. Miren to attempt to decipher, but also those vines. Vines that also appeared slightly familiar. While standing beside Left Ear, he gestured towards the plants. "Do we have a record of those vines in our database?"Ensign Rin then alerted the commander that he had finished his attempts at adapting the frequency. Isaiah left both Miren and Left Ear to their work as he moved towards the young security officer. He took hold of the ensign's combadge and pressed it. =A= Quinn to Shavan. If you can hear me Lieutenant, please respond." There was no immediate response, and Isaiah wasn't certain if it had worked as well... their attempt to piggyback off of that frequency. "Theories, anyone?" Isaiah said. "Independent climate zones... plants native to Kerelia... the obelisk and these symbols... possibly transport technology. Something that is considerably more advanced than our own I might add." It wasn't much to go on, but they clearly had to be missing something.
[NPC - PO1 S'Riia - Unknown Cavern, Planetoid] S'Riia's eyes widened at Shavan's statement that she had been the one to touch obelisk. "I touched it?" she asked attempting to affirm what she'd heard. She pressed her brain to remember, but it wasn't there. "I don't remember that. I remember... hearing that... sound and then... being here with you all." Her eyes moved between Shavan and Hunt briefly, but returned to mirror-Shavan. It hadn't made any threatening movements thus far, but she wanted to be prepared if that changed. Mirror-Shavan listened as its image-sake introduced himself. The name it spoke held no meaning to it: Federation. Though it claimed to be here for exploration. It also did not recognize Shavan. Nor did it recognize Hunt... or either of their species. There was some familarities with the other, but still quite different. Yet, she uttered something that captured it's attention. "You can hear the song? Then you are J'kyttra?" S'Riia simply stared at mirror-Shavan, not comprehending the words that he had spoken... at least not completely. "You may interface directly."=A= "--avan. If -ou can -ear me, Lieu-- --spond." =A=
Tag: Shavan Th'zhaar , Jonathan Hunt , Syl O'Connell (Cerjess), Left Ear to-Ennien , Rin Zakir
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Felicity Ellis
Command
Cap'n Mum
[TI11]
Posts: 719 Likes: 59
Rank: Commander
Position: XO
Species: Human
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Post by Felicity Ellis on Jul 23, 2021 11:07:44 GMT
{Quotes: Tentacle Monster, Niles, Li.} [ ... Deck 7... ] "we gaiN kNowLeDge To giVe kNowLeDge," the second satellite replied as it continued to sift through the databanks, deciphering data it was accumulating. "ReLeVaNT aNecDoTe: see TeRRaN eNTRy - PRomeTHeus.""uNkwowN," the second satellite responded to gaTE c's last inquiry. "comPaTiBiLiTy assesseD By iNTeRFace." It could tell from the Niles voice that it objected to direct interface. Yet, it was the simplest means to learn what their databanks clearly could not tell. It assessed Niles words that their intentions were hostile. And then... it assessed nothing. Something was wrong. The fountain of information had stopped. Why? Why would they do this? Would gaTE c deceive them? The tentacle moved forward, it would have struck Niles by was intercepted by force field that had been erected. It reared back, this time striking at another one of the security officers. The final time, it pounded the forcefield right before gaTE c. Why would they do this? One the panel, gaTE c's face looked towards the Gatesy, almost with a wounded expression. "DecePTioN DeTecTeD?" Its tone almost suggesting a question. The face morphed and mimicked Josh's face again. "yoUR iNTeNTioN:... aggRessioN!" The tentacle then pounded against the forcefield several times more. [ LT Joshua Niles - Deck 7, USS Mac ]
"Ensign, what I want is options on the table, and maybe a last resort contingency," Niles replied softly. Granted, asking an engineer to find a way to blow up part of the ship on purpose, even under control, would really go against the grain. Truth be told, it went against the grain for him as well; but a blown out EPS conduit or generating an energy pulse using the ship's power grid rather than a portable source, that would have a lot more punch than any handheld phaser could. However, it would seem that the bloody thing was dead-set on jamming a tentacle into someone, and that was not something one Joshua Niles was inclined to let happen unless he was ordered to do so. Especially as it said that there would be no way to know if that interface would work unless it was attempted. But then, it said something about a deception? It would look like the plan to interrupt the transfer had been put into place, and the tentacle then struck the forcefield. And now, the face that spoke was no longer Gates, but his own. And it spoke of being faced with aggression. =A= "Niles to the Bridge. Whatever you did, it's not happy right now. Been taking measures to try and contain it so far, and it's not liking that either. I will attempt to talk it down."=A= Well, now that he'd committed himself to such a thing, he would have to try and let whatever was in there know that the measures, while they could be harmful, were not a matter of aggression. "No. My intention is protection. Protection of my ship, protection of my crew. Your initial actions have nearly crippled this ship and now you have breached the hull, started to attack our computers and boarded us against our will. And now you want to subject a member of this crew to something that could end their biological processes. You are the ones whose actions we perceive as aggression. We can't allow you to continue on your current course of action any further. If you want to exchange knowledge, the call isn't mine to make but if you will withdraw from the ship and cease any attempts to force information, it would be a show of good faith I can bring to my commander, and she might agree to a consensual exchange. Otherwise, your actions will be interpreted as hostile and we will have to respond with force. And that is our last resort, and we'd really rather not do that." [ENS Veronica "Ronnie" Li - Deck 7 - P-Way] Fair enough, Ronnie thought. Her panic and the ever present trifecta of negative emotions, ones she always struggled with keeping from bubbling to the surface at all times, especially on duty, had caused her to speak unwisely. The security lieutenant hadn't explicitly told her to do anything, just to have something in her back pocket in case things went south. And from the frantic way the metalloid cephalopod's tentacles were flailing at the force field it was about to. While the security officer was running down his spiel to the strange life form, Ronnie circumspectly tapped out a precise pattern onto the console. She hadn't had the time to throw up her shoulder length black hair as she usually did before going on duty, so it overhung her perspiration glazed forehead. The emergency alert lights stained her face. Finally, the artist gave the security officer a tight nod. The console was primed to blow. She took reflexive step or two closer to safety. [Petty Officer Kellen Gates - Outside Sickbay, Deck 7]Learning and sharing knowledge were the most noble quests in Gatesy's eyes. It was why he was a medic and it was why he liked space so much; there was always something new, something else. So many things he hadn't seen or learned yet. He was no expert in the field, but he did know that Prometheus was a figure from Greek mythology, and he'd gotten in trouble with the gods for helping humanity. "Are you here to give us fire?" He asked, head cocked slightly. It would probably be so much easier to answer his questions if the interface was an option, but as it couldn't guarantee the safety of its biological partner then Kellen couldn't see a way around it at that moment. Perhaps with study, some time...? Startled again, he took another step back and closer to the others. Which each knock on the force field, the sinking feeling in his stomach deepened. "I don't know..." He answered the thing's maybe-question about deception. He wasn't aware of what the others on the Bridge or in Engineering were doing, he could only speak for himself in that moment. He fell quiet as Niles began to talk, not feeling as though he had anything of worth to add.
Tags: Isaiah Quinn (Tentacles), soft: Joshua Niles , Veronica Li
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Syl O'Connell
Flight Control
[TI8]
Posts: 662 Likes: 9
Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
Position: Flight Control/Caldonia 5
Species: Human
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Post by Syl O'Connell on Jul 24, 2021 3:03:32 GMT
[Ens. Syl O'Connell - USS Mac - Bridge]Hearing the Commander say what the drones were reading, Syl breathed a soft sigh of relief, grateful that it wasn't up to her to figure out how to read the scans while she was controlling the drones. She continued to hold them steady, only occasionally shifting the position when one didn't seem to be receiving as much as the others. The booming voice from above her made her jump, and she ripped off the visor to stare up at the face that filled the view screen. What the hell were these things? Commander Ellis engaged the face in conversation, and the pilot put the visor back on, deciding it best to focus on the task she'd be given. She kept her attention divided, though, listening carefully for any orders that might be given to her. Soft Felicity Ellis [Lt. JG Cerjess Miren - Mystery Planet]His tricorder vibrated in his hand, and Cerjess looked down at the information it was providing. "We have a couple matches for the symbols, sir," he reported, glancing over at Quinn. "They seem to be primitive dialects from Barzan, Caitian, Caldonian, Arkarian... They don't really make much sense, though. It's translating to 'nurture', 'den', 'sacred', 'library'... I'm honestly at a loss." If only they had a linguist with them. Tag Isaiah Quinn ; soft Rin Zakir Left Ear to-Ennien
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Jul 24, 2021 13:28:40 GMT
[ Cadet Left Ear to-Ennien - Obelisk] The cadet finally drew her tricorder from its holster on her harness. She scanned the vines, then did it again. Though the carnivorous plants had also been native to Kerelia, and Lt. Miren was indicating that the symbols on the obelisk were from a variety of planets, Left Ear wanted to double check. It wouldn't do to make assumptions. There was no variation that she could see. That is, if the scans were accurate, and Left Ear could see a possibility of something making their scanners read familiar flora instead of what they actually were. ' Commander, as with the drosera, the vines appear to be an ivy native to Kerelia. But,' Left Ear hesitated, not wanting to overstep herself, but finally decided that it would be better to go ahead and put the idea out there, even if it was wrong. ' I was wondering if it might be possible that our scanners are being fooled somehow. It seems impossible that this planet could have species that are identical to those on Kerelia, but the level of technology that we're seeing may indicate the ability to fool our scans.' Even as she said it, the Sivaoan felt like it was a wild notion. Tag Rin Zakir, Isaiah Quinn, Syl O'Connell
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Shavan Th'zhaar
Science
[TI35]
Posts: 800 Likes: 19
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Assistant Chief of Science
Species: Orion/Andorian
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Post by Shavan Th'zhaar on Jul 24, 2021 16:54:09 GMT
[Lt Shavan Th’zhaar - Unknown Cavern] Shavan glanced at S’Riia. He didn’t know what the untranslated word meant, but it wasn’t talking about him. “Do you know what it means?” If this was some sort of advanced machine responsible for maintaining this place, interfacing with it might finally get them answers. However, it seemed that only the security officer could do it… and they shouldn’t just agree blindly. “Interface how? We’ve identified ourselves, and request that you do the same.”A faint, scrambled voice then came through the combadge. He couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like Isaiah. The other team must have been trying to boost the communications signal. As for how, Shavan tried to think quickly. He had been able to scan the subspace echo from the mirror and the obelisk; attuning their communicators to that frequency on both ends might allow them to work. So far, his mirror self didn’t seem hostile, but he didn’t know how it would react. So he took a step back, allowing it to talk to S'Riia, and began to work on reconfiguring the badge. Then tried again. =/\= Th’zhaar to Quinn, can you hear this now? =/\=Isaiah Quinn Jonathan Hunt
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