Lt. Robin Hopper & Lohani Vananth-Polgonz: We Come In Peace
Robin Hopper
((Idrustix – “Mid-Islands Region”, Island 4, Inside Accommodation Pod))
Commander Ukinix turned to her patient, showing him the device. Ensign S’Raga’s intrigue seemed to outweigh his disgust, as he peered at it. Robin took a step back, covering her mouth and nose with a hand – as if that would do anything to hold back the smell emanating from it.
She was familiar with the smell – bioneural fluid used in a variety of applications, including her prosthetic leg. It allowed for minimal neurological independence in devices. Nowhere near ‘artificial intelligence’ – more akin to reflex action processing. Still, if it was in use within the probe, it may well be allowing them to act with minimal independence as well. The thought of one of these devices ‘choosing’ whether they should live or die made her very uncomfortable.
Ukinix(H): S’Raga, I know you’re unwell, but do you have any ideas on how we could start messing with their comms… whoever “they” are?
She was pulled back into the moment by the request. Given the circumstances, she could understand Ukinix’s desire to get S’Raga working – but the Caitian was only barely getting by.
Hopper: Now, hang on, Sir. Ensign S’Raga is still recovering from a traumatic injury and anaphylaxis. The last thing he needs is any more stress.
S'Raga: It's ok, Lieutenant. I can take a look. I'd like to help. Can someone help sit me up, please?
Ukinix(H): Yeah mate, I can.
Robin supposed that, if S’Raga really felt up to it, having something do may help him. A distraction could help ease any anxiety he was feeling – and anxiety would likely worsen his condition.
Hopper: Fine. But I’m going to continue running my scans – so don’t move around too much.
She returned to her work, trying to follow her hunch regarding the reason for the probe’s attack. The readings came in, recording levels of the Geobacter lucia bacterial colonies living within the Caitian Ensign. Without Ikaia’s inoculation he, and all the others, would likely be doubled over with flu-like symptoms – or worse, in the case of their Betazoid guests.
S'Raga: Commander, can you hand me your tricorder, please?
Ukinix(H): ::Pulling tricorder from holster:: Of course.
S'Raga held the tricorder up to the alien device to see if it picked up on anything interesting.
Lohani: So, what can we do with this? Will we be able to affect their systems? Or can it help us regain communication with our own people?
S'Raga: Well, it's definitely tetryon-based, which isn't at all surprising considering everything we've seen so far. Actually, I think there might be a couple things we could try with this.
Ukinix(H): Good news, we’re bereft of options so anything is better than nothing.
As the scan completed, Robin exclaimed with excitement, raising one hand in the air excitedly. They were getting less and less ‘bereft of options’ with each moment.
Hopper: Oh!!!
Noting the questioning gazes of the others, she lowered her arm and tucked the medical scanner back into the tricorder.
Hopper: I think I have a theory. Something that could help us avoid being attacked like that again… The probe hit S’Raga with a beam that triggered an immune response so severe that it could have killed him if we hadn’t intervened… But if they wanted to kill him, why not just use a kinetic energy weapon?
S'Raga: ::Under his breath:: It might've been less painful...
Ukinix(H): ::Under *his* breath:: And more efficient…
Robin made her own puzzled face at the Commander’s utterance but, as S’Raga seemed amused by it rather than offended, she simply moved on to explaining her thought process…
Hopper: It's just a theory... But I don’t think they were trying to kill S’Raga, or any of us, at all. I think they’re trying to kill the Lucia bacteria. We’re all infected with it… It makes sense, right? ::Looking off to the side for a moment:: In an insane, murderous kind of way…
Ukinix(H): And unless you’re a Klingon, J’naii, or a Romulan, you’re a carrier. ::Nodding, before looking at up everyone:: We’re *all* carriers of the bacteria.
S’Raga: Oooh... The alien ship, the impenetrable barrier around the planet, the bacteria-killing drones... You think it's some kind of pest control?
Robin nodded along with Ukinix and S’Raga. It felt like it was all coming together. Just what they would do with this theory she wasn’t yet sure… but it felt good to be getting closer to figuring out why this was all happening in the first place.
Lekasa: If they're trying to kill the bacteria, then you're suggesting those spheres are some sort of... medical device?
Lohani: ::Sarcastically:: That feels like a rather loose definition to me, Ms. Lekasa.
Robin ignored the Betazoid noble’s quip.
Hopper: Assuming our thought process is correct, this still seems like overkill. Why go to all this trouble?
S'Raga: I wonder if the bacteria turned out to be really harmful for these particular aliens, which would explain the extreme measures they're taking.
Ukinix(H): They could just be germaphobes. Extreme ones.
Lekasa: They clearly have a different set of medical ethics than we do.
Hopper: I’d say that’s a bit of an understatement.
Lohani: Desperation can drive people to do terrible things.
Hopper: I understand, but you’d think they’d at least… talk to us first. They don’t even know us.
Ukinix(H): Well, that’s the beauty of the galaxy. Different cultures with different standards and beliefs. Unfortunately, it’s when they impinge on others that it causes a problem. That’s why first contact situations can be so delicate.
S’Raga: It's like we're nothing to them except carriers of the bacteria. Infected organisms.
Lekasa: This means establishing communications with them is of utmost importance. Maybe they don't even realize we're sentient beings?
Lohani: That’s assuming they even care. ::Crossing her arms, mirroring Tani:: What if our wellbeing doesn’t factor into their considerations at all?
Hopper: ::Shrugging:: I don’t think we should be discounting any possibilities just yet. If we can contact them – or the Kitty Hawk or our fellow teams, we absolutely should do it. Maybe it will help, maybe it won’t, but doing nothing certainly won’t.
S’Raga interjected, holding the stinky alien device in front of him.
S'Raga: I think I have an idea. But I don't think I can do it myself. Not now, anyway. Commander, can you take me outside to the tetryon signaling device we constructed out of our spare signal boosters? There might be a way we can integrate it with this thing,
Ukinix(H): ::Slight grimace:: Yeah I can, but with everyone’s help. Provided Robin says it’s okay. Alternatively, I can give you a PADD and a visual feed and you can monitor and give instructions from in here-
Before she could object, an alert tone sounded from everyone’s tricorders. Hopper exchanged hurried glances with Grurg and Ukinix. The perimeter had been breached again. Instinctively, she set her tricorder down on the crate beside her, picking up her phaser rifle once again. She felt a flutter in her chest at the thought of another firefight.
Ukinix peered out through the door and was momentarily bathed in blue light, which shone through the slight opening, filling the accommodation pod with an eerie azure glow for a moment before he ducked back inside…
S'Raga: Oh, whisker-plucker!
Ukinix(H): It’s outside. It could have hit me with the same immune system inducing beam, but it didn’t. It raised ten metres into the air when I poked my head out, and hit me with a blue beam.
Grurg: ::Looking at tricorder:: It has a different energy signature to the last orb.
Hopper: ::Tightening her grip on her phaser:: They may be multifunctional. I don’t think we can rule out that it may still ‘attack.’
Lekasa: Response?
Through the gaps in the doorframe, more blue light was seeping in, sweeping from side to side as the drone outside levitated around the hut.
Ukinix(H): ::Looking at tricorder:: It’s scanning. Detailed tomography scans. Tani, I think you’re right about these being some sort of medical devices. ::To Grurg:: I’m going out there, cover me.
Grurg: Sir-
Ukinix(H): That’s an order.
Grurg made her way to the door, and poked out her phaser rifle, aiming it at the probe up above. A pointed blue beam from the probe harmlessly hit her hand. Ukinix went next, the device scanning his hand, then his face. It returned to scanning the entire area.
oO What is it doing? Looking for something? Oo
The Commander carefully crawled out through the door, followed swiftly by Grurg. The door slid shut behind them. Robin let out a measured breath, waiting for something to happen – but nothing did.
Hopper: What’s going on out there?
Ukinix’s voice came back from outside. He sounded apprehensive, but not distressed. Whatever was happening out there, this orb was not attacking – at least not immediately.
Ukinix(H): Robin, we’ve got you covered, come out slowly.
Hopper: ::Sarcastic:: Great…
She looked amongst the three others in the pod – Vananth-Polgonz, Lekasa, and S’Raga – then nodded.
Hopper: Okay, I’m coming out…
Lekasa: Response?
S’Raga: Robin... Be careful out there.
She stepped towards the door, sliding it open with her left hand while holding the phaser in her right. She pointed it upright, aiming towards the ceiling, hoping that the probe would understand her desire to appear unthreatening. There was a blinding flash of blue light as the device scanned her, and she stepped through quickly, shutting the door behind her.
((Campsite, Outside the Accommodation Pod))
As Robin inched forward, stepping into a line with Ukinix and Grurg, she watched the hovering probe apprehensively as it continued to shine its blue beam across the campsite’s surfaces. It was clearly looking for something – but what?
Ukinix(H): It’s trying to scan the other three, like it’s searching for something.
Hopper: Well, the accommodation pods have low-level radiation shielding. It won’t be able to get a clear read on anything in there. ::A glance sideways at Ukinix:: In theory.
Grurg: Searching for Ensign S’Raga again?
Ukinix(H): ::Wil shook his head:: It doesn’t see us as a threat at the moment. He’s got the bacteria as much as the rest of us do. And it tried to purge him of it.
oO Right. So why isn’t it ‘attacking’ us as well? Trying to purge us? Oo
Ukinix(H): Unless it’s suddenly interested in Betazoids for some reason. It could be Tani and Lohani it wants to scan.
Hopper: ::Intrigued and mystified:: Why would it be interested in them? With their inoculations, Betazoids don’t experience the bacteria any differently than you or I, Commander.
She looked to Grurg. As a Klingon, the woman’s superior immune system prevented the bacteria’s survival within her body. In theory, she would be the least interesting to the probes – if they were, in fact, trying to isolate or destroy the bacteria. She wondered if there might be something they could do with that… But this was hardly the time to think about that.
Hopper: We could try speaking to it. Maybe it can understand verbal communication?
((Meanwhile, Inside the Accommodation Pod))
Lohani stood near the accommodation pod’s door, listening intently to the conversation happening outside. While she had no desire to risk her life for this condemned colony, she was also not used to feeling ‘out of the loop’. The entire situation left her feeling powerless – a feeling which she detested above all others.
S'Raga: Huh…
The Sixth House Daughter turned to look at the Starfleet officer, who had worked open the alien device and was examining its internal workings – it looked like no communication device she had ever seen before.
Lohani: Is that a good “huh” or a bad “huh”, Ensign?
Lekasa: Response
S'Raga: Whatever's in here is allowing the drones to receive commands from outside the tetryon barrier surrounding the planet, and maybe even communicate with any other drones that might be here.
S'Raga: I don't suppose either of you have a tricorder, by any chance?
Lekasa: Response
Lohani took two steps to cross the pod’s interior, taking Lieutenant Hopper’s tricorder from the crate, where she had left it. She passed it to the young officer, hoping it would lead him to some sort of helpful discovery.
Lohani: Here.
S'Raga: ::Taking the tricorder:: Thank you.
He began scanning the exposed insides of the device. Lohani returned to her spot near the pod’s door, trying to ascertain what was happening outside. It was awfully quiet.
S'Raga: Weird...
Lekasa: Response
S'Raga: This data, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it kind of looks like a genetic sequence. I'll run a genome analysis and see what happens.
That was interesting enough to pull her away from the doorway. She stepped closer, standing beside Lekasa, as the Ensign input a string of commands on the tricorder. A moment later, he held it up. The result was clear – though perplexing.
Lohani: Betazoid? What does that mean? It’s building a genetic profile of.. ::Looking at Lekasa:: ..Us? For what purpose?
Lekasa: Response?
((OOC – Can continue to sim here…))
((Outside))
The device continued hovering, scanning the area with its blue beam. Robin scowled as she realized, in her state of exhaustion and worry, had left her tricorder inside the accommodation pod. For the moment, at least, it didn’t appear to be hostile – though there was no telling at what point that might change.
Hopper: Well, what do you think, Commander. Should we try reasoning with it?
Ukinix(H)/Grurg: Responses
Robin nodded. At the least, since it wasn’t attacking them, she decided to lower her phaser rifle. However, as she moved to aim it towards the ground, the device suddenly ‘snapped’ its focus onto her, the blue light constricting into a narrow beam, aimed directly at her hands and the weapon she held. She froze, mid-motion.
Hopper: ::To the probe:: Woah! Woah! It’s okay… I’m just, putting it down.
The probe maintained its narrow focus. At least it seemed clear that it was currently assessing her as a threat. She decided to take a chance and simply let go of the phaser, dropping it to the dirt below with a dull thump. The probe’s beam widened, taking in both Robin and the ground where the phaser rifle lay.
Ukinix(H)/Grurg: Responses
After a moment had passed, the device returned to scanning the accommodation pod behind her. Robin felt almost like she was about to faint and realized she had been holding her breath. She took a ragged gasp, and then looked to Ukinix and Grurg with uncertainty.
Hopper: It… ::breathing heavily:: Seems to understand that we’re not hostile at least.
She turned her attention to the probe once more and held her hands outward, palms up, in a gesture of openness. oO Here goes nothing… Oo
Hopper: I’m Lieutenant Robin Hopper. I’m a Scientist. We’re here to learn about this planet… We’re peaceful. We only want to defend ourselves.
Ukinix(H)/Grurg: Responses
TBC
