Lt. JG Natasha Cole - The Cost of the Modifications
Natasha Schell
((USS Artemis-A, deck 11, Hazardous Materials Lab))
Bancroft: ::muttering to himself:: Absolutely unreasonable. Unnecessary. Savage. ::louder:: The disruptor signature matches known Da’al weaponry, Commander. The setting was… excessive. This was not a clean kill.
Silveira: It was murder. Let’s see if we can find out more.
That caught Natasha’s focus for a brief moment. If they examined the deceased, that might provide some much needed information. She however had to force her focus back towards the data before her.
Cole: My engineering experience is limited, but if I’m reading these schematics 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?
Tarsan: Yes, that matches what I saw with Lieutenant Imril in the hangar. Though I can’t quite make out what they are for.
Silveira: Find out what you can Ensign.
Cole: I think the rods helped give us a trail to follow, at least something real to brief the Captain on.
As she was looking back to her console, she caught a look on Roy’s face. Was it disgust, frustration… No it was a hint of disappointment, but with who? Her? The others? Himself?
Her eyes flicked towards the deceased Romulan and back to Roy. Her heart broke a little. She knew Roy well enough to know he was going to beat himself up over this. The sad reality was she was dead the instant she was shot. The best thing Nat could do was try and find out why she was murdered and get the information in the hands of those that could help fix the mistake her final words were referencing..
Silveira: Good, send a text message to the Bridge and Commander K’Wara informing them of what we have so far and that I’ll hail with further progress.
Natasha nodded and started composing an update for Captain MacKenzie and Commander K’Wara’s teams. Ensign Breys made her way to Roy’s side to assist him.
((OOC: Using // \\ to indicate message is text format.))
Cole: // Captain MacKenzie, Commander K’Wara. The recovered box contained an active folded-space transport device linked to the hybrid core. We locked down and isolated the Hazardous Materials Lab as a security precaution once that was confirmed. It transported a wounded Romulan female into the lab; she died before she could answer any questions. We recovered an intact Romulan data rod from her person and kept it isolated. Initial decryption indicates the Afalqi was deliberately modified with concealed systems to receive or support this technology. More intel to follow as we work through the data. The box is contained and stable for now. - Cole \\
Breys: I don’t know anything about Romulan physiology, but I’ve worked on Bajorans for almost a decade. How can I help?
Bancroft: You surprise me, D’tin. In a good way. Grab a tricorder, start looking for clues. ::holding up his tricorder, indicating the control sequence:: Academy refresher: this toggles medical diagnostic mode, this narrows for xenophysiology, and this marks anything anomalous without trying to interpret it for you.
Silveira: Lieutenant, compile everything we have so far. I want to take a look before hailing them upstairs.
Cole: Yes Sir, decrypting more files so we have as much information as possible.
Nat kept pulling at the files, one layer at a time, as if the rod might finally give her something useful if she stayed stubborn enough. She tapped her fingers impatiently on the side of the console. It was a shame her former roommate wasn’t there. He’d have made short work of these files.
Breys: I think I see.
Tarsan: The box is safe now. We should keep it in here for now, wrapped in the forcefields we have. Containment and forcefields are all operating within proper parameters.
Bancroft: I have genetic irregularities here. Recent ones. These are not inherited markers, and they are not standard Romulan variation. Someone altered her at the cellular level, and her body was actively rejecting the edits.
Vitor made his way over to Roy.
Silveira: What do you mean?
Files were starting to unlock, but like many designers a lot of them appeared to be updated versions of older schematics. To her they looked very similar to each other with minor changes to power distribution.
Cole: ::to herself:: Come on, there’s gotta be something more here.
Breys: That isn’t supposed to be there, is it?
The sound of a second tricorder caught Nat’s attention. Nat looked over to see what Breys was referring to. And started an update for the other teams.
Breys: The area around this tissue shows markers for other species, but it seems like it was being rejected.
Tarsan: She was hiding it from the others.
For a moment Natasha was fairly certain she could actually hear Vitor, Roy and Breys blink after Tarsan spoke. The lab felt unusually quiet suddenly and that made her uncomfortable.
Bancroft: Hiding what?
Cole: I’m not going to like how you know that, ::sternly:: Am I?
Breys: Response
Silveira: How are you guessing that?
Tarsan: I uh, connected with her, before she ::voice catching and hating himself for it:: died
She noticed the tension in Vitor’s shoulders first followed by the slightest hint of a tremble of unfiltered anger in his fists. If he hadn’t controlled himself, she was fairly confident Roy would be treating a new patient. She also caught anger across Roy’s face but it was replaced with compassion just as fast.
She looked at the young Ensign with a mix of disappointment and understanding. She understood the want to help any way that you could, especially in someone's final moments. But it was also incredibly reckless. It was her understanding that doing that could have irrevocable repercussions on his own psyche.
Bancroft: ::soothingly:: Take a moment to ground yourself, Gavrin. You are here. You are aboard the Artemis. You are alive, and you are not alone in your own head. If you need an anchor, you may reach out to my mind.
Silveira: What were you thinking?
Breys: Response
Tarsan: I wasn’t thinking, it was all instinct! ::pause:: Sir.
Roy turned fully toward Ensign Tarsan.
Silveira: It’s alright, carry on with your work.
Nat let out a slow exhale there was really nothing else she could say that would help the situation. So she turned her focus back to her task. She turned back to the rod. The amount of data packed into it was staggering.
Breys: Response
Nat glanced up at Tarsan and then over to Vitor, wondering if he’d order her to escort him out of HML. Tarsan however started to regain his composure as he explained himself.
Tarsan: I’m still - still figuring out what she was trying to say, but I think she was against some part of the plan and they killed her for it. ::gesturing to the box:: That was her last chance to survive. Or get out whatever data she had.
Bancroft: ::to Breys:: You saw something. Tell me about it. Not just what your tricorder tells you. Tell me what you see with your eyes, too. Our senses are incredibly powerful diagnostic tools.
Breys: Response
Silveira: Anything new on the data rod?
Cole: ::gesturing towards the display:: Lots of iterations of the schematics, almost identical except for notations of power distribution changes. Likely for the systems they intended to install in the two cavities we confirmed earlier.
Tarsan: Responses
Bancroft: You’re right. It’s not any sort of medical device I recognize. And if it were, I'd like to meet the surgeon responsible and personally revoke every license, certificate, and childhood merit badge they ever received. ::raising his voice without taking his eyes from the implant:: Commander, Lieutenant, Ensign, we’ve discovered an unknown device implanted inside her abdominal cavity. It may be connected to the genetic anomalies D’tin and I are seeing in the surrounding tissue, but that’s a working theory, not a conclusion.
Silveira: Then work the theory so we can have a conclusion, Doctor.
Breys/Tarsan: Response
Bancroft: The device is crude. Extremely crude… but effective. It appears capable of temporarily altering surface-level genetic expression and cellular markers – not just cosmetically, but enough to mislead most routine scans. I’m reading residual fragments consistent with both Da’al and Klingon genetic profiles in the surrounding tissue.
Silveira: Genetic maskers. Or DNA Express. It’s rare but not unheard of.
Cole: I’ll update the other teams.
Cole: // Captain MacKenzie, Commander K’Wara. Additional findings from the lab: the Romulan female died from Da’al disruptor trauma. Doctor Bancroft and Ensign Breys also identified an implanted device that allowed her to mimic other species. Her tissue showed evidence of both Klingon and Da’al genetic markers, suggesting recent use of that technology. - Cole. \\
Breys/Tarsan: Response
Vitor shrugged.
Silveira: Deception isn’t a Romulan exclusive. The Federation does the same. I turned Blue some years ago when we infiltrated a pre-warp planet.
Nat gave Vitor a long look trying to imagine him with blue skin, but that quickly morphed into him resembling a smurf, which caused her to crack a smile.
Cole: ::smirking:: Did you have to wear a little red hat too?
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft: Response
Vitor straightened himself.
Silveira: What else?
Nat had been distracted by something she found in one of the data packets she hadn’t heard Vitor’s question.
Cole: ::confused:: Excuse me Sir?
Realizing he was waiting on an update she cleared her throat.
Cole: After looking over several revisions of the ships schematics, and feeling like I was going in circles, I pivoted to looking at other data packets and found something interesting. Let me pull it up.
She brought the files onto the main display for the others to see.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft/Silveira: Response
Cole: According to this report ::key strokes:: tachyon radiation shielding was removed to accommodate power distribution for the two hidden systems. Looking back at the schematics, ::pulling up two nearly identical plans:: you only notice the difference when comparing them to each other directly.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft/Silveira: Response
She watched as her fellow officers looked over the report and schematics. This was why she firmly believed ‘Details Matter’, someone less meticulous might not have caught the differences, she didn’t let assumptions drive her investigation.
Cole: Looking at where that shielding was pulled from. ::points to the display:: It exposes whoever is piloting the Afalqi to a higher amount of tachyon radiation than they originally planned for.
Breys/Tarsan/Bancroft/Silveira: Response
Tags/TBC
----- ◌● -----
Lt. JG Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240205NC4