LtJG Gila Sadar - Field Testing has NEVER been this dangerous before...
LtJG Gila Sadar
((CMO’s Office - Sickbay, Deck 2, USS Kitty Hawk))
Frontier Day thus far had been a disaster. It was bad enough that the Borg had violated such a momentous day for Starfleet’s - nay, for the Federation’s - history, but that they had done so by indiscriminately assimilating innumerable Starfleet crewmembers remotely and with no visible identifier to assist her in finding out how!? It was downright deplorable. Doubly so because she had just been on board an actual Borg Cube, which had been supplied by stolen technology and then embarked for Sol. She was certain she had to have seen something onboard that could provide a clue, but thus far, she had had limited time to actually sit down and consider what that clue might be. Now, such a time had been offered to her, but rather than find out what method they used to assimilate the crew, their focus was on something far more important: Devising a method to break that assimilation.
Sadar: ::to Gnai:: You said, before... Your sting was able to bring one of the Bridge Borg out of the assimilation?
Gnai: ::to everyone:: ~ Yes… It did. One of the dronesss, she picked me ::partial:: up, and then as soon as I ::partial:: stung her, she was… normal again? ~
It felt odd that a Galadoran’s sting would be significant enough to break assimilation outright, but perhaps there was something deeper at play.
Gnai: ::to everyone:: ~ She swore. And then… tried to help me ::partial:: escape? ~
Wong: It seems like something either in your venom or the pain itself was enough to at least bring her out of her assimilated state.
Iko: Who?
Asking Ensign Gnai that was pointless - both it and Gila had a cursory knowledge of the Kitty Hawk’s crew at best - and so, Gila instead turned the conversation in a different direction.
Sadar: ::considers:: W-Well, it does give us some options. P-Perhaps we don’t need to filter out the signal, if we can just force the nervous system to ignore it, and then put in a stopgap to prevent the Borg signal from re-establishing itself?
Gnai: ::to everyone:: ~ There was another resisting. On the bridge. A Triiill. He sent me ::partial:: here. But I ::partial:: didn’t sting him. ~
Wong: A Trill? If they have a symbiote with them, that might have given them some assistance with resistance.
Gnai: ::to everyone:: ~ There must be something to do with Trill… but that won’t work for the rest. ~
Wong: Clearly not. Joining with symbionts is uncommon for the Trill and even rarer outside of the species. We can’t rely on that.
Iko: So, our best bet at the moment is Stinger?
oO Its name is Ensign Gnai Oo
Gila felt her brow ridges vibrate with dismay, but she dismissed it as quickly as it came. This really wasn’t the time to start correcting these aliens’ lack of decorum, even if it was quite egregious. Perhaps if they all survived today there would be time for such measures.
Gnai: ::to everyone:: ~ Perhaps, but I ::partial:: can’t sting the whole shiiip. ~
A valid concern, if only because Gila didn’t enjoy the prospect of putting the Ensign within grasping distance of a couple of thousand Borg Drones.
Wong: And I wouldn’t expect you to either, Ensign. I wouldn’t put you through that.
Sadar: But perhaps, we could simulate the effect? Artificially?
Iko: How powerful is it? I mean, a sting isn't the same as a stun, but if you were to equate it to standard phaser settings… speaking of, does anyone have one?
Gila shook her head before Lieutenant Iko’s question had even been finished. She most certainly did not have a phaser, and even if she had, she would have no clue what the average strength of cnidarian venom was, or whether the biological processes to Ensign Gnai’s ‘sting’ was even comparable to that of a Mizarian meduilae or an Earth jellyfish. Perhaps Ensign Gnai’s sting was actually electro-shock rather than a venom?
Gnai: ::to everyone:: ~ If you want… you can test mmmy ::partial:: sting. If you think it would help make a stopgap. ~
Wong: And then there’s my Borg allergy and the Augment virus bound to my DNA. If you need someone to run tests on or need samples from, I have no issues with loaning my body to medical science.
Iko: What?
The Klingon Lieutenant regretted the question before any had a chance to explain.
Iko: ::shaking head, waving hand:: nevermind, doesn't matter. What do you want me to do?
Sadar: Take the time to r-
Iko: Other than rest!
Gila jumped slightly in response to the forceful tone of the Klingon Lieutenant, but she shook it off as best she could. At this point, she had realized this was simply the Lieutenant’s way of communicating - regardless of how antisocial it might seem - and that she was not truly intent on beating Gila unconscious for disagreeing with her.
Sadar: ::considers:: How well-versed are you in Medical Science?
Lieutenant Iko’s expression said more than a thousand words, and Gila let that be the end of the conversation.
Wong: We have two options right now after we have the treatment - We stay here and hope rescue finds us in time for us to implement our treatment or…. We take back the bridge.
Gila fell silent.
Those weren’t options at all!
Iko: How much power over the Kitty do the Borg have? Like, ability to remote control?
Gnai: Response
Gila was struggling to wrap her head around what Lieutenant Wong thought the four of them could accomplish on their own. Clearly they were hardly the ideal choice for an infiltration team to retake the Bridge of a bloody Galaxy Class!
Wong: I understand this is a lot to take in. But those are our two options. Both equally dangerous.
The Klingon was, obviously, gung-ho about the prospect.
Iko: I’ll have your backs.
Gnai: Response
Lieutenant Wong stopped pacing, and Gila realized that she’d been twisting her obsidian anxiety band to the rhythm of his movements. She swallowed, self-consciously interlacing her fingers before her to prevent herself from too obviously resuming her obsessive behavior. And yet, this was not all that stopped her. For a moment, a shadow fell over Lieutenant Wong’s eyes that seemed familiar - a deep, dark obsidian that seemed more familiar and terrifying than the Klingon’s own - and Gila felt more at ease than she had anticipated.
Wong: If you want my opinion, we retake the bridge. We can do this. There are at least two people in this room who have done it once before. We have some of the best minds here. The only way we get the bridge back is we do some of what Starfleet does best - helping others and sciences. Right now the Borg are our patients. They are our friends. Our family. Our ohana. And I don’t intend to leave them behind. I have never run from disease and I have no intentions of doing so now. People are depending on us and you know what? We can do this. Because we’re Starfleet.
The Wheel had brought hope to her in spite of the circumstances, and while doubts and anxious thoughts of the futility of it all still manifested on her face, she found her mind responding to him with the only words suitable for the situation.
oO … Yes Sir. Oo
Iko: ::to Sadar:: I've got you. Okay? I've got all of you.
Gila looked to the resting Security Officer with confusion, realizing a bit late that her self-doubt was readily apparent on her face. But then, she nodded. They truly had few options.
Gnai/Wong: Response
Iko: Step one was me continuing to lie here while you did blue shirt stuff though, right?
This was when the banging started - Drones were attempting to gain access to them - and the anxiety band almost immediately resumed its clockwise turns on her ring finger.
Gnai/Wong: Response
Iko: They don't stop, do they?
Sadar: W-Well... ::deep breath:: L-Let’s get to it, shall we?
((Jefferies’ Tubes near the Bridge - Deck 1, USS Kitty Hawk))
((Timeskip: Onto Hour 4 we go!))
It had taken them the better part of 30 minutes to get the medical experiments to a workable solution, and then another twenty to modify some phasers from an emergency locker to reasonably simulate the effects of a Galadoran sting. Unfortunately, they’d had little opportunity to test the medicine - colloquially called Borgistamine - particularly because they didn’t want to risk it working on low-ranking Drones and then the Collective having time to adapt to it by the time they made it to the Bridge.
No, they needed it to work on the Bridge Drones. For if it didn’t, the Kitty Hawk was truly lost to them.
Sadar: ::whispers:: Low stun setting with ::visibly stutters:: m-m-m-modified phaser, then inoculation - preferably at range or from a blind angle. Avoid Galadoran suit. Low stun setting with... ::whimpers:: modified phaser, then inoculation - preferably at range or from a blind angle. L-Low stun-
Iko/Gnai/Wong: Response
Gila’s startled when her panicked whispers were interrupted, and she had the decency to look apologetic.
Sadar: S-S-Sorry... ::over her shoulder:: H-How are you doing in there, Ensign?
She looked at the cumbersome white backpack she’d replicated in the CMO’s Office, a portable source of water sizable enough to allow the Ensign more mobility than the simple water bowl. A porthole in the center mass of the backpack allowed visual identification of the Galadoran - useful for knowing its emotional state, which - if the dim light being expelled out from the water and into the dimness of the Jefferies' Tube was anything to go by - was currently about as panicked and anxious as Gila felt. Its close proximity to Gila also meant that it would never lose the ability to communicate with at least one of their number, which she was certain it would vastly prefer to being left behind in the Jefferies' Tube for its own safety, with no way to know what was going on down below…
What would soon be going on down below…
Gila swallowed the lump in her throat, hindering her breathing.
Iko/Gnai/Wong: Response
Sadar: W-Well, the only real way to test it, is to administer it to someone, but lab trials were consistent enough... ::deep breath:: … R-R-Ready?
Iko/Gnai/Wong: Response
TAGs/TBC
LtJG Gila Sadar
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1