Jhalib Ekal, "Handle with care."

[Deliera Jay]

((Sick bay))

Rahman: =/\= Captain Rahman to Jhalib Ekal. =/\=

::Liquid brown eyes opened, followed by his head tilting to his left and right shoulders.::

Ekal: =/\= Yes, Captain? =/\=

Rahman: =/\= Mr. Ekal, we require your assistance. Please meet my engineers in engineering at once. Ensign Teller will brief you. =/\=

Ekal: =/\= I'll be there momentarily. =/\=

::Once upon a time, he used to meditate on the floor - the grounding feeling that being of lower elevation gave him was in itself enough to soothe him, even just a little. But more recently, getting up off the floor was becoming very much it's own chore.

::Hell, just getting off of this biobed, of which he'd set himself up to meditate on, was going to be problematic. But already, a security officer had casually strode over to him, awaiting his movements patiently.

::Apparently someone had told her that he wasn't in the greatest condition.::

((Flashback))

::Ayden leaned against the dresser, turning back to Merce as he refuted the argument. His heart was still catching up to his movements, but now that he was standing, he was starting to regain some colour, the circulation doing him some wonders as the weight on his chest eased somewhat.

::Getting out of bed was always the worst part. That this had spooked Merce, to the point that he was standing over him like a mother hen, was on one hand adorable, but on the other, incredibly infuriating.::

Blake: Okay, first of all - last night was . . . ::He gave a laugh.:: Last night was nice, but it wasn't *life threateningly good*, if you get my meaning-

Merce: Can you take this seriously for even just a minute-

Blake: *Secondly*, this is your first time staying over. I wake up like this *every morning*. My mother, my sister, hell - anyone I've shared a space with have stated to me many many times that I sleep like the dead. Which is what I'm guessing has caused this panic attack that you're having right now.

::Merce sighed, rubbing at his temple. Ayden turned to face him properly.::

Blake: Merce, last night was the first time that I wasn't treated like I was glass - like I'm fragile.

Merce: You *are* fragile.

Blake: I'm *well* into my adulthood - you don't think I don't know that I'm fragile by now?

((End flashback))

::Ordinarily, he'd have loathed someone assisting him with standing up - people treating him like glass was an old song and dance that he didn't usually appreciate - but in this case, he allowed it. He had to force himself to breathe, waving the woman off when she asked if he needed a doctor.

::What he needed was to get this over and done with.::

Makepeace: You're not well.

Ekal: No, I'm not.

::He stood up properly, the moment of weakness finally on its way to passing, and shrugged on a thick pull-over. The crew had graciously upped the temperature of this quiet corner of Sickbay, but no doubt that courtesy would not extend past this small space.::

((Engineering lab))

::The the time he entered the engineering lab with Lieutenant Ash Makepeace (as she'd introduced herself) in tow, keeping a casual eye on him to keep him upright more than it was for him as a potential security threat, the lights of the room had been lowered, a holographic model of the Odyssey class vessel rotating.

::One of the officers gave him a cold look. He sighed to himself, retraining his eyes back up to the Odyssey class ship as Makepeace leaned herself against a console with a hand on her hip. Jhalib, however, stood awkwardly near Rahman, hands scrunching into the ends of his sleeves before he crossed his arms to retain some of the warmth his body was generating - a movement which was futile, really, since his poor health was not doing his body temperature wonders.

::The Brekkian, Betazoid and Vulcan hybrid was typically an indoor heater, much like his mother before him, but today, he was a dead man walking, his condition having deteriorated due to his continued use of chronometric radiation to jump into different times, to the point where all he could do now was "wait, and be comfortable". He'd gone from being relatively self-reliant to needing serious medical intervention in just a matter of days aboard the Veritas.

::Jhalib Ekal did not have the time to wait or make himself comfortable.::

Teller:  Captain, when you asked Ukinix and I to come up with some demolition plans for the Artemis I had an idea which was a little extreme, so I didn't bother voicing it to Commander Kelrod.  Now that our situation has....altered slightly, I put together a hypothetical model and had the computer work on some of the details. 

::Teller changed the virtual display, the condition of the shown vessel having changed somewhat. It surged forward in what he might have called a warp flash, before the simulation ended, and the room returned to it's default lighting.::

Teller:  What you've just seen is the result of a slipstream collapse event.  Found references to it in the slipstream drive teams testing notes.  Essentially the tunnel through subspace the SS drive uses destabilized at the moment of interface, leading to the total conversion of the ship in question to energy and radiation.  We're going to do it intentionally.  That's the good news. 

::Teller again reviewed the data and gulped.::

Teller:  The bad news is that the energy release at the time of interface is....well...almost astronomical in terms of magnitude.  We'll need to be several light years away when we set this off - anything closer is going to get reduced to a fine ionized gas for a few millionths of a second. 

Rahman/Hext: Response?

Teller:  It still depends on what Commander Kelrod finds, but as long as one of the Slipstream drive coils is still intact, we can make it work from this end.  We'll need some time aboard the Artemis to make the modifications but I'm sure we can get it done, Captain. Everybody else - questions?  Concerns?  I'm open to ideas here. 

Rahman/Hext: Response?

::He glanced back towards them, surprised that the question had been addressed to him.::

Ekal: I wouldn't know. You have to remember, my understanding of this event is about the things that occur before and after the Tholian engagement. I can give a reasonable assumption, though - and the destruction of the ship will probably upset the Tholians greatly. Especially if it has something of interest to them.

Teller:  Is that so, Mr. Ekal?  Well then what exactly do you suggest, harsh language?  A strongly worded letter?

::He glanced back to the man, an eyebrow raising.::

Ekal: I mean, *sure*. If you *want* to send them a message titled "Bai scrumbeline sarca*", it wouldn't be the only time it happens.

Rahman/Hext: Response?

Teller:  On top of that, there's still the issue of the electronic warfare attack against the Veritas.  Some of your pals, Ekal? 

::He gave an exasperated sigh, becoming a little frustrated with this treatment. He was older than three of these officers lives put together - the attitude that he was witnessing felt childish in the face of a real threat. It was weird, being one of the more mature people in the room. It felt unsavoury and uncharacteristic of him.::

Rahman/Hext: Response?

Teller: Captain, I've put some extra security measures in place around our more sensitive systems but if we're really dealing with time travel, there's a real chance anything I come up with won't be enough. 

Ekal: You're right. This ship's up against 25th century techniques - chances are you *won't* come up with something.

::He sunk himself down onto a seat, straddeling it backwards so to lean against the back of the chair and prop himself up. Though his eyes were surprisingly energetic, the rest of his body was quite obviously betraying him, his complexion looking overall unhealthy. Maybe *that* was the most frustrating thing about this - that he had all his faculties, but was no longer able to be alone lest he black out from something ridiculous.::

Ekal: Lucky for you, though, you've got a temporal mechanic *native* to the 25th century aboard your ship.

Teller/Ukinix/Rahman/Hext: Response?

Rahman: Response?

Ekal: I've already established that the commission won't send someone - not *here*, *now*, at least. So this has been waiting dorment for a while.

Teller/Ukinix/Hext/Rahman: Response?

Makepeace: Maybe we can trick it? Find the core root of the program and hold it in a virtual box? I once heard an engineer did that on a Cardassian space station with a non-biological lifeform - called it his puppy or something. Never lived it down.

Teller/Ukinix/Hext/Rahman: Response?

Ekal: I wouldn't call out technology AI, but the same principles might apply. Self-contained units and programs were developed to combat the sphere builders because- ::he caught himself, giving a cough and deciding not to explain that particular encounter more than he already had, and pressed on to his point.:: If the TIC wanted to cover up the Veritas's true reason for destruction, that might be one of the ways it's waved off by historians.

Teller/Ukinix/Hext/Rahman: Response?


Tbc . . .

Jhalib Ekal
C238803SB0

* Bai scrumbeline sarca PG translation: "You nasty bottom hats".