Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen - I thought JG Cole was crazy... and then I served with Lt. Commander Silveira...
CPT Arianus
(( USS Artemis-A, deck 1, Bridge ))
Ollie stared at the communications log, at the repeating cycle of attempts to contact the intercepting ship ahead, followed by an immediate rejection of the connection.
oO Lucky for them… Oo
Bergmen: Sir, we need to disable the primary comms systems before it spreads! Destroy them if needed!
Bergmen understood the implications of that proposal, but he didn’t see any viable alternatives. Yes, a comms blackout until they could isolate and reactivate the secondary backup would be inconvenient, but he couldn't see any other way to stop the virus from spreading beyond their control.
Imril: If we do that, the virus will still be able to spread from those ships. We need to end the virus here, and transmit the final counter-virus to the Nascaik fleet.
The commander looked anything but satisfied with the situation.
Silvera: Fight the virus Lieutenant Imril. Lieutenant Bergmen find another way. I know you got this. Secretary Jetripar stay put, I might need your assistant in a moment.
Jetripar: Staying put Sir.
Even with only part of Bergmen’s plan in place, it could still be viable. There was no reason to bring up any reservations, even if they still applied.
Bergmen: I will isolate secondary comms systems before we activate them, not take any chances with the virus. Right now, while offline, they are clean.
Imril’s antivirus finally brought fruit.
Imril: The patch worked! The virus's targeted search algorithm now regards its own inter-process communication matrix as being a component of the Da'al ship's plasma accelerator EM field vectorization protocols! And is deleting them!
Silveira: At least some good news. Lieutenant Bergmen, tell me we have comms back. And start preparing a data package with all the data we have on the virus. We need to share that with the Nascaik.
Bergmen double-checked the solution's readiness before he answered.
Bergmen: Secondary comms online. No sign of infection.
oO Yet. Oo
Ollie felt uncertain about whether Nascaik would be willing to talk, especially after the virus had exploited their comms to spread. He doesn't have to wait long to get a response to that question.
Tactical: Commander the Nascaik ship is firing!
Silveira: Get me comms and open a channel. I don't care if you have to shut down life support. We hold our breaths.
Jetripar: ::quietly: They're going to kill us all.
Bergmen: Connection declined, sir.
oO Rejection can also be considered a valid response, right? Oo
Silveira: All hands... Red alert. Helm full impulse intercept course on the Nascalk fire line.. Set the Artemis between them so we take the hits. Lieutenant Bergmen open a hailing frequency. Lieutenant Imril, whatever you have to do to speed things up do it, but get Engineering ready. Secretary Jetripar... Well, you're a politician so the closest thing I have to a diplomat. Give me some idea on how to deal with the Nascaik. that doesn't involve then firing on the Afalqi or delivering you to them.
Jetripar: Allow me to think on it, Commander.
Bergmen: I’m trying, sir.
Imril: Response
But Silveira didn't give up so easily.
Silveira: Set us in position and power down shields and weapons.
Jetripar: Those murderous barbarians will take me!
That order didn’t sit well with Jetripar, and Ollie was not surprised. It seemed downright insane.
Bergmen: ::confused:: Sir?
Imril: Response
Silvera: Send this message and the data regarding the virus to the Nascaik ships =/\= This is Commander Silveira from the USS Artemis, we are here to help. I assume you're also suffering the effects of the Virus, and are placing ourselves in your fire line to prevent any loss of life as we keep working on a solution. Please just give us a little more time. Thank you =/\=
Ollie nodded and sent the message and data altogether. No answer came, not even confirmation. Artemis held its position, waiting, as the commander turned to each of them.
Silveira: If they are being affected maybe the Virus won't attack us. If they were in control and firing on the Afalqi hopefully they would stop, with us in their way.
Jetripar: I certainly hope you're right, Commander…
Ollie wanted to hold on to the belief that the commander was right because the alternatives were far from appealing.
Yet Nascaik still didn't fire at Artemis, so maybe?
Bergmen: They didn’t open a channel to any of our hails, by us or virus, so they, with high probability, are not infected and in control.
Imril: Response
There was no response. No attack either. Artemis was sitting there, in silence, between Nascaik and Afalqi, holding its ground.
Jetripar: Allow me to speak with them. This is, after all, an idealogical battle as much as anything. This is my realm.
Bergmen: We can try, sir. They can receive, but just decided not to listen to us…
Silvera/Imril: Response
Ollie nodded and waited for Jetripar to take a position at the front of the viewscreen and his signal to open the channel.
Jetripar: Good Nascaik people, I stand before you..
Da’al barely had the chance to complete his first sentence when he was suddenly swept away by a transporter beam. In a split second, he was gone, just like that.
Bergmen: They raised their shields and hold their target lock on us. Weapons energized. ::turns to Silveira:: Sir, they are calling us.
Silvera/Imril: Response
The viewscreen flashed with the face of Nascaik they hadn’t seen before.
oO Ah, new face. Great. Oo
Nascaik: =/\= The Datal criminal has been taken, in accordance with Nascalk law. He will be held until his crime may be covered by another. =/\=
Bergmen didn't waste the opportunity to delve into the Nascaik communication protocol, partly to confirm that the Nascaik weren't attempting to retaliate by sneaking something of theirs into Artemis system.
Silvera/Imril: Response
Bergmen: Antivirus sent and received, sir.
Silvera/Imril/Jetripar?: Response
Bergmen: Ehm, the problem is not our side, sir. (beat) We are on hold.
Silvera/Imril/Jetripar?: Response
TAG/TBC
--- ○● ---
Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1