snip

Jen tipped his head with a curious expression. “I’m doubtful that we can replicate those things, Captain,” he said after some moments of pause and thought. “That suit gives all the regenerative properties?”

“Yes but like all things there is a weakness. We just need to find it. Right now the suit seems to be our asset and the bane of our existence. So far the only thing we haven’t tried was beaming the suit and its occupant into space. I would rather not beam out a twelve-year-old child into the vacuum of space to test the theory so we need to find a way around it rather than asking pretty please. Also,” Kelly paused to down another shot, “it seems that the suit can regenerate its inhabitants. It seems to keep the occupant going, the suit can inject nanites if an injury occurs which means the person inside it can be hurt.” After another pause, she looked at Jen. “I am not a monster. I am not looking at hurting that little girl. It’s her friend out there who had no inclination for peace that I am worried about.”

“Given the nature of the suit protection from vacuum would be a minor accessory,” Jen commented wryly. Part of him was envious of such a suit and what how that may have helped in the trenches. “Can it not be scanned to determine what makes it tick and then reverse engineer a solution? Finding out what can damage it is like seeing whether a musket can penetrate plate armor.”

“As to the nanites, while we can’t confirm this yet, we have a working theory based on what Jessa has told Rinker in her daily sessions with him that they may only be effective for a short period of time. She explained to him that she gets a vitamin shot every three months.” Kelly let her voice trail off as she looked at the image on the screen of the tiny metal device. “The blood samples also show she has a perfect paternity DNA match to Ian.” Enlarging that report, it showed in laymen’s terms a visual displaying that fifty percent of her DNA was from Ian, and the other fifty percent of her DNA was from a human female.

Kelly Bordeaux CO

“And they don’t have an idea of the female?” He furrowed his brows and antennae. “From birth DNA is logged in the Federation databases. How could that pass through without detection through the various stages of growth and interaction with medical facilities?”
- Jen, XO

“Yeah that is the part…well one of a billion parts that just don’t make sense to me,” Kelly confessed. “However, as the Vulcans say, when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” She paused knowing it was time to start unloading the dirty laundry. “There is nothing to back this information up but the female’s name is Bria Thesh.” Pulling out an image that was found on the alien ship, Kelly placed it on the table. Reaching into her desk she pulled out another picture and laid it next to the first one. Each picture had one edge torn but when laid side by side created a single image.

Jen could have sworn that that was an Andorian expression. “Looks identical.”

“Ian met this woman the year he graduated from the Academy. He and Chris took a month and visited their families. Ian was the third wheel,” she pointed to Chris and his then-girlfriend Lexi, “until they met this woman at some bar in Briony Bay. Ian said they ran amock basically off the grid in some beach house Chris’ family owned until one day she just up and took off. Standard shore leave fling and would not have even jogged his memory except this picture was found on the alien ship among Jessa’s things. Ian didn’t immediately put it together until,” she picked up the image of Bria which had been torn off from one side, “Chris noticed the edge of his family’s cabin behind her.” Kelly replaced the image showing the small unrecognizable object behind the woman suddenly part of a larger picture.

Jen leaned in and squinted trying to frame that object. He took her word for it that it was a cabin and gave a ‘huh’ kind of sound in his throat.

“They are running DNA traces and getting hits but only on Ian’s side. It is literally like this woman and half of Jessa never existed. There are no genetic markers save for the ones that connect all Caucasian females. So if we get rid of the impossible, the improbable we are left with is Jessa’s story has some validity to it. That she is a part of a civilization called the Galactic Union which is in the Vela Astria galaxy at the edge of observable space in the Caelum supercluster which is one point four billion miles from Earth.” Rubbing her forehead, Kelly could feel a headache forming. “Oh and something else extremely odd,” she looked at Jen, “Jessa hasn’t had a single vaccine or routine medical exam, procedure, or checkup. It is like she literally was raised under a rock.”

“Orrrr .. splicing human DNA in order to construct a person from it in a lab,” he said. That was not impossible and the ‘marvels’ of DNA had been mapped and sliced for centuries including the Terran ‘augment’ problem centuries back.

“That thought has crossed my mind but it seems the child has a memory of a mother and Rinker has shared that the child…Jessa,” Kelly corrected herself. She needed to set the course of action and referring to the child by name would make her more real than just the reference child. “Jessa stated that her mother was kidnapped or something. We are still trying to tease out the facts. I am trying to keep an open mind to all possibilities until we can confirm any of them.”

“Jessa,” Jen said more to himself. His expression suggested that the ‘mother kidnapped’ schtick was overused and simplistic.

Pouring a fourth drink, Kelly felt a lead weight in her belly. “Oh and Jessa claims you were the one behind the attack. She is claiming she met with you and you gave her the weapons and the means to carry out the attack.” The Andorian in the brig along with the XO being off the ship discredited this claim but it was still a talking point.

Kelly Bordeaux CO

“Me?” he said, honestly surprised. “Weapons? What did I give her? Presumably, that is.” There were many ways of disguise in today’s age. Chameleon masks for one. Surgery for another. It did disturb him that his image was a means to an end that resulted in people dying. His Andorian sense of honor was being quite ruffled - and one where he didn’t have a target to address.
- Jen, XO

“She was given a personal phaser by you. Oddly enough she never used it once in the attack and gave it back as proof she met with you. We checked the serial codes and they are not registered on the ship nor ever a weapon you have access to going all the way back to your days as a Marine.” Leaning on the table, Kelly pursed her lips. “Perkin’s is going to come after all of us for collaboration with the aliens and or section 31. We checked the numbers to rule out for the record and not out of mistrust. Everyone is under the microscope. Don’t take offense to it.”

“That is an amateur move,” Jen said flatly. Really, all of this daring do and cloak and dagger and they just toss a random phaser into the mix and say it was his? What was wrong with some good old fashioned elbow grease effort to get his phaser and swap it for an identical or something. That should have been candy from a baby for Section 31 given his rumors of it and hinted encounters at it. He shook his head and looked at the glass between his fingers, the blue mixing with the color of the liquid.

“I think you should meet Jessa,” Kelly announced. “Maybe if she meets you, she will stop saying she had met you and see we are trying to wage some psychological warfare to make her crazier than she is.” Kelly was flippant about Jessa’s fanatical beliefs but Kelly generally used humor to deflect.

Jen scratched at a slight itch at the edge of his feathery white hair. “Or it will show that they were good at something, in mimicking me,” he commented.

“ It might also build some trust with her for the crew. I am not going to defend the reasons some of the crew are hostile toward her. She attacked the ship, sided with the enemy but she is a child and was set up by our side which is more what I want to know. If this was a first-contact situation, why would our side want to subversively help her to attack us? None of it makes any sense. Maybe she has some detail about the events where she met your imposter that will help us figure out how they did everything right under our noses.”

“That would be prudent,” he answered. “I agree, it may open up conversation to enlighten us more.”

“ I also want your take on her. Rinker seems to think with therapy, we could break her institutionalization from the Galactic Union. Of course, I want that but I have been accused of being biased. Jessa has treated this encounter as a military endeavor so maybe your more tactical side would give us some insight. Personally I don’t think she is some military genius. More of the child soldier. Deadly with her weapons but only knows when to use them or who to point them at when given an order. Your Marine background hd brought you into contact with insurgents like this so are you up to meeting her?” Kelly danced around the word interrogate for many reasons but it was obvious that was essentially what Kelly was asking for

Kelly Bordeaux CO

That was valuable intel. Soldier to soldier there is a certain understanding. He caught himself nodding as he thought that through. “I agree. I’d like to meet her. What rank does she say she holds?”
- Jen, XO