Ensign Jaran Jira - Changed For The Worser
Jira Jaran
((Tertiary Conference Room - Operations Center, Deck 5, USS Artemis-A ))
Bergmen: Weird thing is, sir… The system was able to identify all ten basic markers in that DNA chain… And the last one marker was definitely Da’al.
Jira sat back and put their fingers to their temples.
Jaran: Sure. Why not?
K’Wara: It’s likely either genetic engineering or some sort of specialized transporter technology that can alter your appearance to specifications, though I don’t know if we have a way to be certain which one.
Ollie nodded.
Bergmen: Yes, that makes sense.
Imril: I’m not the physician here, but doesn’t moving from one form to another have a high metabolic cost? Could that leave biological traces behind? Excess body heat for one?
Jaran: There's always a cost, whether it be a biological process or a technological one. The cellular transit usually results in high temperature from the sheer friction involved in the shift, yes. And if the body were rearranged by manipulating their transporter pattern, the cost is usually "horrible disfiguring accident or death."
K’Wara: It would explain why no one seems to remember seeing a Romulan walking about the facility. But evidently, it doesn’t mask DNA, and that’s why the infiltrator needed Alvaine’s biometric ID to pass through security.
Bergmen: Yeah, and there goes the puzzle piece about the receptionist, I guess.
Imril: What color were the receptionist’s eyes? They could be a Chameloid. They always have yellow eyes. ::Remembers they have yellow eyes, blinks, looks away:: Never mind.
One of Bergmen's PADDs on the table beeped, and the lieutenant pulled it out of the stack and looked at its screen.
Bergmen: Sir, I was working on the DNA comparison against the Da’al database with the initial raw data…
He pressed a button on the PADD, and a hologram showed eight DNA double helices, yet three were still incomplete.
Bergmen: ::points to helices:: Three data samples were too corrupted to be analyzed, but that’s not an issue. The computer was able to find a match for the rest, and I’m quite sure they are connected to the other five identified. I think those oldest transporter patterns in the communication belong to these eight Da'al engineers and scientists - all close coworkers or acquaintances of Doctor Havun in the past.
Bergmen pressed another button on the PADD, and the DNA transformed into faces as holophotos.
Jaran: Are these from the group that was sent home? Or are they missing, like some of the others?
K’Wara: Response
Bergmen: There is just one issue… Two, technically, but one is more like headscratch…. (beat) All eight were flagged by Da’al Security for some reason. All eight died altogether in the transport accident according to Da'al records… A month ago.
Imril: First guess, they all faked their deaths and were hiding out in the Afalqi until the time came to leave. Quietly building the plasma accelerators and whatever else in the ship all the while.
Jaran: A transporter accident with multiple people at once would be very suspicious. I assume it was investigated.
K’Wara: Response
Imril pointed at the figure on the console.
Imril: How might this ‘accident’ tie in to that transporter signal? Could the ‘shapeshifters’ be these supposedly dead Da’al, walking around the facility in other forms?
Jaran: It's possible. If they're taking the risk of that sort of thing, they must either really believe in their cause, though.
K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
Imril pulled up the Afalqi's schematic again.
Imril: Let’s play another mental game. Assume eight officially-deceased stowaways on the Alafqi. The best place to hide the lifesigns would be here and here, in the schematic gaps nearer the engines. Any power readings given off by cryopods or shielded saferooms could be pretty easily masked there if you modulate the EM wavelengths coming off the experimental dilithium chamber. The excess power linkages in the walls could support either option.
Jira rubbed their chin thoughtfully.
Jaran: It's theoretically possible, with the right energy signatures.
K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
Imril pointed out another area on the ship.
Imril: That would leave this area to house the plasma accelerators and whatever they charge. It's near the front end of the ship, and not too far off from a main weapon bank. It wouldn't be too hard to link one system into the other, or to convert these portholes into cannon ports.
Jaran: There would need to be some really substantial shielding between that array and any living beings. The radiation would be intense. Cutting it close to hide lifesigns that near plasma accelerators.
K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
Jaran: I'll admit, professionally, I'm far more interested in this transporter technology, if that's what it is. There's also one major unanswered question: who's the Romulan in this pattern?
K'Wara/Bergmen/Imril: Response
Jira looked off into the middle distance, considering.
Jaran: No, I don't think it could be a Da'al, even with that marker. Quite frankly, editing someone's pattern finely enough to alter someone on the DNA level with any reliability is beyond us. It may be possible that something could alter enough to fool, say, biometric scanners, though.
K'Wara/Bergmen/Imril: Response
Jaran: Right. I'm certain we're looking at something that is purely cosmetic. Even that's tricky enough, and, if I'm being honest, could explain a transporter accident that killed eight people as much as them hiding somewhere. But if the Da'al were working with the Romulans, why would a Romulan need to hide? And where are they now? Presumably on the Afalqi.
K'Wara/Bergmen/Imril: Response
TAGS/TBC