Posted by Lieutenant Markus Woods (Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim [Engineering]: An Ever-Shifting Perspective

Posted by Ensign Caelian Weir (Engineering Officer) in Main Sim [Engineering]: An Ever-Shifting Perspective

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Sharah Fayth (Medical) in Main Sim [Engineering]: Seeking Prometheus
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

—SNIP—

“Alright,” Markus said, exhaling in a sigh through his nose as though mentally switching hats. One could almost see him adjusting a pair of glasses if he had them. “Let’s start with some review. We have the ship, which seems to be a derelict colony ship, low on power and almost out of gas. We make contact, wake it up. Come aboard without knowing the full measure of the situation. Interference from their damage warp drive obscures much from our sensors.” As he spoke he swiped each of the data points he had on his tablet onto the screen, beginning to build a network of data points and information.

Rende bit the inside of her cheek to stop from grinning. This was much more entertaining that Eldorin’s lectures. Then again maybe she was just easily distracted by Eldorin himself. As he spoke, Rende could feel his frustration at the predicament and the weight of responsibility he wasn’t sure he was ready for by being aXO. Rende, however, had no doubts about the choice.

“We make contact with Hab’rabi aboard his vessel, as he is thawed out from cryosleep. The rest of the crew are still there. And we have our first encounter with those lights. Conversation ensues, we move back to the ship, scans all around on the flight line. The lights are with us.”

“Now we’ve asked him about these lights. Ship, people, etcetera. We’ve gotten some dodgy answers. And even picked up some deception off of him.” He focused his gaze on Rende for a moment. “However. Everything he has told us tracks.” Markus spoke of deception, then jumps to Hab’rabi telling the truth? That was a twist.

“Secrets, Lt. Not necessarily deception. He has secrets and wants to be honest, but isn’t sure he can trust us. Makes things complicated.”

“Okay, so we have been told the lights are Remnants. Bits of consciousness and the like. Hab’rabi is the Keeper of the Remnants. Or a keeper. We thought it was a cultural metaphor. But it’s literal, at least I believe so.” At the same time he pulled up the cultural references they had received from the ship, especially in relation to the castes, and the remnants as he’d spoken.

He pulled up Hab’rabi’s latest scans, showing the electrical activity in his brain. Then pulled up the other comparative scans for those that had been affected by the Remnants. Then he pulled up the victims anecdotal accounts of their experiences. And lastly he pulled up Fayth’s. “Memories. Fragmented, but there. A sense of consciousness, of another person. We have Commander Sigmundsson going off book. For an intel guy that’s well… not unusual. But he’s disciplined and committed to the cause. Lieutenant Darz.” He went on to show the others, pulling up their images, their faces lined side by side. “They’ve all gone off book, but don’t remember why. Now we might think of it as possession. And there might be some correlation there. But I don’t think that’s really what we’re seeing. Not in the way we think about it.”

Caelian stopped a respectful distance away, clasping his PaDD behind his back and waiting patiently to be noticed. Much as he tried not to listen to what was being said, he couldn’t help but key in on some of the snippets and highlights. Ever since hearing about the derelict vessel from beyond the core of their galaxy, Caelian had been itching for an opportunity to learn more. Then the rumors of malfunctions and strange occurrences began to circulate, resulting in a contamination protocol and their current logistical plight. Eventually, he couldn’t help but follow along with what Woods was saying.

“In their culture, these middle-caste folks serve as … channelers. Mediums. The Habs serve as almost a balancing force, but also interact with the Remnants in many other ways. Hab’rabi… is almost more like a priest. But his whole job is not only a spiritual leader for the people alive but also a leader for the Remnants. Or at least, … like a host for them? But his brain circuitry is engineered either through evolution or actual engineering to handle this. Most people on board are not really equipped, mentally, to interact with the Remnants. I might be able to. Maybe the betazoid doctor, a few other telepaths might. But it would take time to … get the technique and discipline down. But it could be done.”

No, thank you, Caelian thought bitterly to himself. The idea of having something else rattling around in his head, making him do things—or even just jumbling his already active thoughts—was enough to give him gooseflesh. A finger tapped absently against his PaDD.

Rende glanced over at the young engineer…Caelian she believed. Eldorin had mentioned him a couple of times. Young, Brilliant, and been through quite a bit. He and…that new doctor on board had both come from the same ship after some rather disturbing interactions with the Continuum. Rende lifted a hand and made a hooking motion with her index finger, encouraging Caelian to join them. The young man was practically vibrating with the conclusions he wanted to add to the conversation. She was eager to hear what he had to add.

“Now I bring this up because the Remnants, I think, are just looking to interact. Both with us and the ship. I do not think it’s intentionally malicious. Despite the cascade of failures we’ve seen. Despite having Kohr out of commission for now.” He knew some might be giving him looks, wondering who’s side he was on. But their thinking might well be upside down on the whole thing. “Hab’rabi told us initially that they served as part of the ship’s function. They’re similar to the gelpacks. They register our systems as similar to theirs and likely compatible. Or even something they can… dump data into. But they don’t know how to do it yet. The static discharge shorts out the pack. Almost like shorting out some of our people.”

It wasn’t a bad theory. While the gelpacks were a wonderful way to boost a computer’s processing power, they were also composed of living matter and were extremely sensitive to external influences. If these “remnants” were of a varying energy type or maintained some manner of bioelectric property, that would go far to explain how the packs Fairweather was working with could have malfunctioned. And since they worked on the same general principle as neurons, it would definitely speak as to why they were affecting the crew. Caelian found himself nodding along, forming theories of his own.

He brought Hab’rabi back to the front. “This ties in. Hab’rabi’s job, is the Keeper. Say that title is literal. He keeps and maintains the Remnants. Like an ancestral memory or record, keeping these consciousnesses or fragments of them intact as long as he can. My analogy may be off, but his brain may well function like a jar, holding all of the Remnants. Outside of the jar they lose energy or cohesion, but over time. But they can afford to leave, for a while. Then circle back. Which is why there are lights coming and going. It may well not be the same Remnant leaving his head as entered. One comes in, another comes out. Juggling more Remnants than he can actually hold. And aboard the ship they may be able to interact with the ship in a similar fashion.”

Caelian nodded again. He hadn’t done as well as he’d have liked when it came to medical studies at the Academy, but he was able to muddle along. Isn’t that what the brain is, basically? he mused wryly, trying not to smile at himself. A jar for our memories? Thinking to himself, he punched up the available data on the energy motes, toying with a few ideas of his own. After a moment, he blinked and cocked his head. Was it his imagination, or did some of those motes look brighter before entering Hab’rabi’s skull? He made a mental note to look over the data more thoroughly later. Woods was moving on, and he didn’t want to get lost.

He turned back to Rende. “So they’re not really trying to hurt anybody, even though they kind of are. They may just be trying to hang on. Or interact and tell us something. Based on the memory dump that Doctor Fayth got. And with Hab’rabi down, there’s no executive control there right now.”

Rende nodded, “Perhaps not. The log that Dr. Fayth gave us....it seems her scans also indicate the formation of new memories. So this ‘remnant’ that she came into contact with…imparted it’s memories on her. However, Sacco, attacked Hab’rabi, coldly, calculated, and with precision. If he was ‘visited’ as well, obviously some of these things are hostile.”

“So it’s possible everything we’ve been told is actually accurate. We’ve seen damage to the ship. Those remnants might be his remaining crew. The thing that troubles me are the amber ones we’ve seen now. But like any group… they’re people. People who want to maintain the status quo, others who want to rock the boat, and varying agendas all around. So while one group might be benign the other might well be hostile. And perhaps that is part of Hab’rabi’s altercation. But more than that, his deception may not have been that he wanted to lie to us, there just wasn’t time, or things that we might not get right away. Or just complicate matters.”

He chewed the inside of his lower lip for a moment. On the display the image of one of the motes squirting right through a force field in front of the security team popped up. “Well, crap,” he muttered under his breath.

=^=Computer. Isolate the force field in that footage and check it’s frequency and timing against he visual time index of the mote passing through the field.=^= Did it anticipate when the field would change directions, oscillate, or fluctuate? Or did it change it’s frequency to match it?

The computer chirped and eagerly—if a bit sluggishly—pounced on the task at hand. Mechanically speaking, the containment field had been operating properly at the time of the incident. The sensor readings of the mote at the time of “impact” showed a shift in its energy matrix, but in a way that confounded Woods: there was a drastic drop-off in both amplitude and frequency. Simultaneously, while the field emitters may have been operating properly, there was a dip in the barrier’s charge when the mote came into contact with it. It was a strange loss on both sides, and by all accounts the field should have held. So why hadn’t it?

“A… subspace inversion wave…?” Caelian breathed, then wishing he hadn’t. Not now, Cael. They’ll see it. Give it time.

Tapping on the display he brought up Sharah’s scans of the Remnants she’d directly taken readings of. The ones around Hab’rabi, the ones that came out of Kohr, and the one that exited her and winked out. Mind working in overdrive he began to dig into the specific data of the motes. Their energy output, frequencies, energy composition, and so on. This he cross-checked with the data he was getting from the force field incident.

Another point of frustration emerged from the pattern: that of variety. When the computer displayed the matrix patterns of the observed and recorded motes, there were four different and distinct types. The first and most obvious was the subject from Deck 34, with a very erratic, almost angry, wave pattern. Sharah had caught a brief scan of a similar mote exiting Commander Kohr before disappearing, though its pattern was more cohesive somehow; conversely, the ember that had lingered behind to interact with her vaguely matched several in orbit of Hab’rabi’s head as he boarded the Viking. Yet the last type—the most complex energy matrix Woods had ever seen—was also found floating about the alien lord, and seemed to be the type most frequently entering and exiting his skull.

The first and second types seemed to share a commonality in energy makeup, though there were distinct enough spikes in frequency that Woods felt confident in keeping them separate in his head—a dingo standing alongside a shepherd, as it were. To follow the analogy, the third type bore a faint enough resemblance that they could have been far-flung cousins—a hyena, perhaps—but was distinctly different in that it had an underlying electrostatic charge. The final type was so eerily dissimilar and dense that there was no doubt it earned its own place beyond the horizon of its kin, a whale of an energy signature. However, each did have its own unique waveform, strengthening Woods’ theory that each mote was an individual.

Caelian felt a working theory building up inside his mind, racing along his neural pathways and lighting his brain up like a supernova. Those waves were the piece of the puzzle the engineering team had been missing, and a great deal of it went far to explain why they couldn’t readily detect or contain these energy forms—until now. It was only an idea, but maybe…

“If I can find a common frequency and amplitude and reverse the polarity, I can possibly create a field that they can’t enter, or that nullifies them. I’d settle for repelling them,” Markus explained as he worked. “I want to go back to the derelict. I feel there are many things we’re missing. But we need to be able to do it safely. For both our sake’s and for Hab’rabi’s people. We might even be able to uncover medical records that help us treat him. Find out if the ship was sabotaged. These other Remnants that are … causing problems or are hostile. Maybe hostile.” He glanced over to Rende, pausing for a moment. “If you need me here, i’ll stay, but I do think we really didn’t give it the once-over we should have, so sending a team back on a runabout…”

Lt Woods, CSO/aXO
—Jas—

“You can’t!” Caelian finally blurted, his face turning bright red in embarrassment. What had gotten into him? “I mean… you can go back to the alien ship, sir. That’s not what I meant to say. In fact, if you do go, I have a repair schedule already prepared for inspection. What I meant to say is… uh…”

“Out with it Ensign,” Markus said. He could feel Caelian’s excitement pressing up against him, vibrating like a drill in his hand. The guy was about to burst with what was on his mind. Mark found himself smiling a little, trying to keep it contained.

Rende grinned before turning to look at Caelian. She made a circular motion to go along with Woods’ encouragement. They weren’t going to figure this out by ignoring each other’s perspectives.

The ensign nearly vibrated with anxiety. Still, he took a moment to close his eyes and take a deep breath. Caelian could feel their eyes on him, hear the blood of chagrin thundering in his ears. But he’s already stuck his foot in his mouth. Nothing to do but press on and hope he didn’t end up on someone’s bad side. After all, he’d already been removed from one ship.

“If I may, sir?” Caelian barely waited for so much as a nod before stepping to the console and tapping at the controls. He pulled up the mote data from both Sickbay and Deck 34, placing them side-by-side. It took him a moment to get the computer to align them properly, but he finally nodded and turned. “I’ve seen this type of wave pattern before, specifically in the field of subspace study. I attended a conference where we discussed the technology used by the Dominion to build houdinis and— Ah, nevermind.”

He gestured to the wave pattern displayed both at the moment the mote disappeared from Sickbay and the instant the mote on Deck 34 passed through the field. “This sort of pattern most regularly occurs when a physical object enters or leaves subspace, similar to a houdini. Similar, more subtle patterns, occur during subspace transmissions or long-range sensor scans, but the computer accounts for them and disregards them or they’re so fine as to be almost imperceptible. I’m going to guess that these things aren’t pure energy, but more of a sort of bioelectric plasma, hence the inversion wave as they fold into subspace. It would also go a long way to explain why we haven’t been able to detect them: they’re not here to detect.”

“I had a similar thought about them being bio-electric plasma. Which is why we have the containment field protocol and such,” Markus said. As he studied the fields, he knew exaaaactly what the Ensign was talking about and onto. Inside he was kicking himself for not seeing it sooner. That was his specialty, among other things. In truth he felt his ears begin to ring and the grip on his PaDD tightened, along with his jaw muscles bulging from clenched teeth. Caelian was definitely onto something. Why hadn’t he seen it? It was so freaking clear now.

“Now we could permeate the Viking with a type of nucleonic charge found to border subspace,” he mused as much to himself as anyone. “That would essentially thicken the air and destabilize the formation of subspace inversion waves. But that would mean recalibrating the main deflector and taking the warp drive off-line while the field was active. It would also mean we would be unable to use the subspace relays to communicate, and we’d have to navigate via other means if we wanted to go anywhere. Depending on the field strength required, it could also disrupt other systems like containment fields. We’d keep those two types of beings out—or in, if they’re already here—and render them visible but it could come as a trade-off.”

Caelian gestured to the other mote in the security feed, bumbling about haphazardly. “These ones don’t have that underlying subspace property, so our conventional methods of containment should work fine on them. It’s also why we’ve been able to see them. He—or she, I suppose. It?—doesn’t seem to like it, though. Watch how its matrix destabilizes and reconstitutes each time it bumps into the barrier. Our energy fields certainly don’t seem to agree with it, are possibly hurting it. I don’t know whether to be relieved or upset that we haven’t tried beaming them off the ship; that would likely have destabilized it completely.”

“This jumbled misto is giving me a headache just looking at it,” Caelian grumbled at the final convoluted energy signature. “It has all the varying energy markers found in the others but its… different somehow. Denser, but constantly fluctuating, like its trying to be in two places at once. Given enough time, we could probably get a better handle on it.”

“Maybe it’s newer? Or one of the other castes. It’s possible these things could have a super-position,” he mused along with the Ensign. At the same time the situation was giving him a headache as well, and he could feel his blood pressure on the rise, even see it as his vision pulsed some.

Caelian shrugged, tapping his chin with a thoughtful finger. “Possibilmente, but there are parts of this wave that I can’t identify. It could be the unique pattern of its type, a sort of biological component—since they seem to work like a gelpack, or a mind—or some other element I’m not seeing. I’m an engineer, sir, not a doctor. With some time and help from the computer’s filters, maybe…”

He chuckled sheepishly, stepping back and offering an apologetic smile. “I-I’m sorry for interrupting, sirs. I find this kind of thing fascinating, but I clearly overstepped into your conversation. It won’t happen again.”

“The, uh,” he coughed and offered the PaDD to Captain Rende, “damage report on the derelict, sir.”
—Caelian Weir, Engineer—

Rende took it and scanned it. “Alright, Woods, I have no problem going over there to investigate the ship. I’d like Sigmundsson to go with you, but he has to be cleared first, so does anyone else that you would take. You and Caelian need to figure out where you are going from here. I’m going to go talk to Sigmundsson and then, Lt Woods, which ever of us is done first needs to go find out where sickbay is on figuring out who is themselves and who is not. Get to it gentlemen. We clear our house, then we take care of Hab’rabi’s house. And let’s do it without anyone else getting visited while they are over there.” She turned and headed for a lift, “I’ll be in the brig.”

Rende, CO

Markus waved one hand. “No, no. Very insightful, and you spotted something I missed. I’m glad you spoke up.” He glanced toward the engineer then back to the display. “It’s a good thing you didn’t sit on that, or we’d be worse off.” Thinking about it for a moment he frowned. “Could we modify a level three containment field to stop these buggers that way? They create a spatial distortion.. a gap in the fabric of space that things simply can’t move across. Like sliding off the edge of the universe.” The field he had was a great idea, but they’d have to be dead in the water while they tried it. The level three containment fields though were a lesser measure.

Lt Woods, CSO

Caelian thought for a long moment before holding his hand aloft, tipping it back and forth dubiously. “With the proper adjustments, I think it might. The only difference is that we wouldn’t be able to generate a global effect. It would be like, say, locking all the doors in your house; a burglar could still move about in a given room, smash up your furniture—and we’re talking warp field manifolds and EPS conduits rather than tables and chairs. We also wouldn’t be able to know which rooms to lock, as it were, since we still wouldn’t be able to see them. We could certainly secure areas we don’t need ready access to, if that’s what you’re thinking. But moving from room to room would be… problematic.”

“The other issue is power,” he noted, gesturing to the engineering display of the Viking on the nearby wall monitor. “We’ve got plenty, but again it would mean tapping into the warp core. Not as heavily as my suggestion, mind, which gives us more maneuverability and range if we need to be somewhere. I should think we’d be able to top off at Warp Five; I’d need to run a simulation to confirm. My only concern is that, with the computer systems already on auxiliary, if we run into any snags we won’t have backups to fall, well, back on.”

Caelian turned his attention to Woods and nodded. “But yes, it should work. If you’ll give me a moment to review some of the data, something is bothering me.”

Offering another quick smile, Caelian hefted his PaDD and began to pour over the information available on the entity on Deck 34. Something about the way it had behaved before it had passed through the barrier was eating at him…
—Caelian Weir, Engineer—

Her last stop before returning to sickbay was main engineering where the computer said Lt Woods was currently working. The man seemed to be everywhere. The shuttle bay, even his thoughts seemed to range across the ship in a way she wasn’t used to from humans. She had even felt his thoughts touch on hers briefly a few times. Especially after the contact with the mote…no that young terrified girl. Eyes closed she took a deep breath and then made her way into the main area of engineering and walked over to him. “Lt. Woods, I need to fit you with one of these mobile monitors.”

Fayth, Med

“There!” Caelian exclaimed triumphantly, stabbing his PaDD with a finger. A few quick commands brought the security feed from Deck 34 to the moment the more aggressive energy signature—how could he differentiate between them? did they have names?—slipped into view. Nodding, he moved the feed forward at one-quarter speed while he explained what he was seeing.

“As we’ve now noted, some of these energy… beings?… can move in and out of subspace, which is why there have been times were we can neither see or otherwise detect them. We have also see that there are several different types of signatures, each with their own properties. Several have been shown to be a subtype of a more general group—such as the ones orbiting this Lord Hab’rabi—that lead me to agree with the current theory that they’re individuals. In looking over the data available, I can confirm that this one is also the same ‘individual’ that was encountered briefly in Sickbay. Or, at least, similar enough that they are closely related.”

So engrossed in his theories and projections that Caelian failed to notice Lieutenant Fayth not two paces behind him. He made a gesture with his free hand as if to dismiss his own thoughts like pestering gnats before taking another breath and plunging headlong into his hypothesis.

“While that may or may not be relevant at some point, what I wanted to illustrate is a rather unusual bit of behavior during the encounter with this particular scintilla. We see later in the recording that it was able to move through the containment field by means of slipping into and out of subspace. Which, I might add, also seemed to weaken the field briefly simultaneously; I’m still working on that part.”

Another wave of his hand. Shaking his head, Caelian paused the feed at the moment the energy mote in question first came into contact with the containment field. A command from his PaDD brought the field’s output up on the left side of the display followed by the matrix of the ember.

“This was what was gnawing at me,” he murmured, gesturing to the comparison. “I was curious as to why a being capable of moving through subspace would come into contact with an energy field. Judging from the drop in the field’s output and the simultaneous rise in the being’s energy matrix, I think it was studying the field. Possibly even feeding on it. If it’s the former, we’ll have to randomly modulate our barriers to keep them guessing; if it’s the latter, well, I don’t need to tell you how much more difficult it will make containing them.”

Caelian sighed, shook his head again. “And that’s just this specific specimen. The other seem to behave differently, which will make dealing with them collectively a task of logistical nightmares. I’m stretching my understanding six ways to salvation when it comes to the field of engineering, sir. I have the faint feeling this misto—” the young man gestured to the densest signature type “—is going to keep me up at night.”
—Caelian Weir, Engineer—

Sharah listened absently at first and then suddenly recognized the voice of the engineer. It took her back, all the way to Ark Angel and that horrible decision she’d made, and irrevocably altered a life. And now here was the man that had brought Ark Angel home. “Cael.” She looked at the data on the screen. “There were two of them. That one,” she pointed at the more orange colored mote, “and another one. They both came out of Cmdr Kohr. That one disappeared through a bulk head. The other one came out of him right after. It…it died.” And now she was responsible for another life - irrevocably ended.

She knew Cael, kind of, and knew that once he was focused on something it had his whole attention. “I need to fit you with a monitor. A quick scan and I’ll be done.” She waited for his consent, too the scan and fixed the monitor.

Mark was deeply engrossed in conversation with the engineer. The two seemed to be in a rapid-fire meeting of the minds and processing information back and forth. Both were simulating and crunching information at high speeds, making connections and filling in gaps in a way that would have been remarkable most anywhere. “I know what you mean, Ensign. Keep at it,” he said. “Start working on a modulation setup with enough stability to not mess with power consumption too much but enough randomness to keep them guessing. For now anyway. I’ll get back to you in a minute.”

With that he turned to Doctor Fayth and stepped away, gesturing for her to come with him until they were out of earshot. It didn’t take an empath to see she was a little out of sorts. It was the same doctor that had been at the shuttlebay before and of course, he’d felt her distress earlier. Concern radiated off of him in waves. It wasn’t just one officer to another but much more personal. There was connection there. If it could be boiled down into anything it would have been a silent ‘Are you alright?’ It wasn’t just a pleasantry but genuine concern. Sure he didn’t know the doctor at all, but in the grand scheme time known didn’t mean much. And then the words came aloud. “Hey, are you alright? I felt … sickbay. And you.” He wasn’t questioning her ability as an officer or doctor, but was looking after her.

Lt Woods, CSO/aXO

Fayth followed him…anyone else would assume he wanted some semblance of privacy while the doctor did whatever she was there to do. Fayth knew otherwise. The compassion and concern rolling off of him was enough to break through all the noise and urge her to a fresh bout of grief. She absolutely refused. Maybe she wanted to, to give in to the grief, to morn that small little girl who so desperately wanted her mother. But she couldn’t, not right at that moment. She didn’t know how to respond to his question. No she was not alright, but when was she ever? If she said no, was he going to send her to Korczak? But then if he could feel what was going on in sickbay then he could tell she was not alright.

Finally, she shook her head ‘no’ and then reached into her case. “I just need to take a quick scan for a base line.” She flipped open the tricorder waiting for permission. “The monitor won’t stop them, the remnants. It will alarm though if one…makes contact. If you hear one go off you should call medical and security.” She took a monitor out of the case and after a few quick taps of the interface she held it to his upper arm and secured the band. She was meticulous in not making physical contact. The feeling that he was trying to look out for her was too much - in many ways. “We don’t have enough for everyone. All senior staff and some of the repair crews are getting them. Everyone else will have to report to the check points every hour. I hope our medical scans can help you find a way to contain them. If we can help…I need to get the rest of these pass out.” There was a fleeting touch of gratitude to her presence and then she was gone feeling more confused and off kilter than she had all day.

Fayth, med