Lt. JG Natasha Cole - Parting Gift
Natasha Schell
((USS Artemis-A, deck 11, Hazardous Materials Lab))
The blinking began to slow.
Not much. Just enough for Natasha to notice the rhythm dragging, as if whatever process was driving it was losing the strength to continue.
Tarsan: I don’t think our power can keep it going for much longer… we can’t just let it die! Any luck on that signal?
oO hopefully it’s not the final countdown Oo
Nat’s hands moved faster over the console.
Cole: Working on it. ::typing faster:: I’ve got… Seventeen more percent to go. How close are you Breys?
Bancroft: Pocket coherence is dropping with the signal strength. If those two are linked, we are about to lose both the message and the mechanism.
Silveira: Compensate.
Breys/Tarsan: Response
The pulses from the core dimmed again, one beat slower than the last. Natasha did not know if it was shutting down, running out of room, or giving up, and none of those possibilities improved her mood.
She looked from the display to Gavrin.
Cole: Gavrin, can you squeeze any more power, we’ve almost got it.
Bancroft: Increase in increments if you can. The regulator is already bleeding excess energy into the containment matrix.
Silveira: Don’t let it overload but keep at it.
Breys/Tarsan: Response
Natasha’s console chirped as the decryption routine finished. She glanced toward Breys, then back to the core, which was still blinking, still trying.
Cole: Great Job Breys, What changed?
Bancroft: It’s… I think it’s preparing to transport something. I don’t know if it can transport through the HML’s forcefields… if it can, I’m not sure we can stop it.
Nat did the mental math. It was fast and messy. If whatever this device was attempting to transport was living, the forcefields would be... less than a pleasant experience for them. As a security officer, it would be easy for her to presume a threat was arriving, but that was not guaranteed.
Silveira: Increase forcefields and containment.
Cole: Aye Sir.
She keyed in her security codes increasing containment and shield strength before stepping towards the newest crewmembers, knowing full well Vitor could handle himself, especially after their recent sparring match. Roy knew better than to do something foolish, so her choice was obvious. She was already pulling her phaser into a low ready position just in case.
Everyone has these assumptions about Security Officers, that they shoot first, and in some cases act more as blunt instruments. Nat has always viewed the role of Security Officers as more akin to preservers of life. Though thanks to the influence her father, the Commander, had on her in her youth she had the drive and determination to exert that through force when necessary.
‘Necessary’ being the operative word. Contrary to all the rumors, She genuinely preferred to find a nonviolent end to any conflict, something she’d earned through hard earned experience since her graduation from the Academy.
Breys/Tarsan: Response
With no warning the Hazardous Materials Lab was filled with a cacophony of noise as every instrument sounded warnings and alarms. The entire lab felt like the embodiment of chaos for several heartbeats. As a fractal gold light started to appear in front of them.
She winced not out of the brightness, but more the sudden appearance of it combined with the slowly dissipating sound of alarms and distinct smell of ozone as a humanoid form took shape in front of her. a woman, dark hair matted against her face, sharp cheekbones and most alarming a wound that was actively bleeding her green blood across the deck plating.
In that instant Roy was already at the woman's side tricorder out scanning. Before he even had to ask, Nat had holstered her phaser and was halfway towards the emergency med kit on the wall, when Vitor grabbed one of the others close by and handed it to Roy quicker.
Bancroft: Romulan. Severe hemorrhage. Abdominal disruptor trauma. Someone get me a medkit now!
Roy had dropped to one knee as his tricorder was relaying all the information at once. She only caught a glimpse over his shoulder, but it didn’t look good.
As Roy rolled the Romulan woman over, Nat noticed something had fallen from the woman’s pocket. She stopped it with the toe of her boot and scooped it up, examining it. It was an intact Romulan data rod. Turning it over in her hand it looked undamaged.
Romulan: ::weakly:: It… was… a mistake…
Silveira: What? What was a mistake? Who are you?
Looking back to the woman and the grim shape she was in, Nat turned towards the two Ensigns with an idea. They needed to retrieve whatever information was on the data rod.
Cole: Breys, Tarsan is there any indication of anything else attempting to teleport through?
Breys/Tarsan: Response
While Roy worked to try and save the gravely wounded Romulan, Nat got to work running a new decryption algorithm on the Romulan data rod.
Bancroft: ::silencing his tricorder:: She’s gone.
Nat’s jaw tensed at that news. She had loads of questions and their potential source for answers unfortunately gone. She let out a shaky frustrated breath. She liked mysteries, but this was getting ridiculous. When it looked like they might get some answers, a dozen more questions popped up.
Silveira: I want a damage report and status of the containment and forcefields. We won’t move until we are sure everything is in order.
Breys/Tarsan: Response
Cole: She dropped a data rod, I’ve isolated it from our already isolated system and I’m working on decrypting it now. We should have some kind of intel shortly.
Nat kept working, but tracked Vitor’s movement in the edge of her vision as he stepped toward the dimming core. The box was quieter now, but not quiet enough to trust.
Silveira: Secure all the information we can, full scans on the box and make sure it’s contained. It looks like it’s still active…
Cole: I’ll keep working the rod. If it ties back to the box or the Afalqi, we may finally have something useful.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft: Response
They could at least say, in spite of the now deceased Romulan woman in their presence, they have managed to discover one function of this mysterious box. Besides the fancy light show when they managed to crack it open.
Silveira: If we can’t find anything else, shut it down. Keep under the forcefields and compile all relevant data.
Cole: Understood. Let me see if the rod tells us what the box was moving or where it was meant to send our departed visitor.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft: Response
Silveira: Let’s examine the body and learn as much as we can before I report to the Captain.
Cole: Got it. I’ll work on the data. If there’s anything on here about the ship, the box, or anything else, we need it before this trail gets any colder.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft: Response
The rod resisted at first, then started giving ground in small, useful pieces. Natasha preferred that to dramatic breakthroughs. Dramatic breakthroughs usually came with consequences.
The first decrypted files started to come through in fragments: registry codes, transfer markers, and then a schematic overlay that made Natasha straighten. Well, she wasn’t an engineer by trade. She did find some enjoyment and learning new things and this proved to be rather interesting.
Cole: She wasn’t just carrying information. She was carrying instructions.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft/Silveira: Response
Cole: my engineering experience is limited, but if I’m reading these skimmer correctly, there are a minimum of two areas of the Afalqi that have been modified as hidden systems. ::turning to Tarsan:: Tarsan can you take a look at these to make sure I’m reading them correctly?
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft/Silveira: Response
Cole: I think the rods helped give us a trail to follow, at least something real to brief the Captain on.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft/Silveira: Response
Tags/TBC
----- ◌● -----
Lt. JG Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240205NC4