Ensign Natasha Cole - Shadows Between Truths
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Natasha Schell
Sep 9, 2025, 8:09:08 PM9/9/25
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((Computer Core, New Hope))
(OOC: I got permission from Vitor to do a minor tweak towards the end of their SIM.)
From where Natasha was standing, it looked less like typing and more like music. Dariell’s hands spread across the consoles, fingers moving in patterns that reminded her of a pianist playing four different instruments at once. Though she couldn’t hear the tones themselves, not the way Dariell or even Tho’Bi might, but she swore she felt something, like a faint vibration in the soles of her boots, or the whisper of sound just below the range of her hearing. In spite of that, it appeared to be working
Cole: If you need any extra help just let us know.
Natasha watched as Silveira moved closer as he let the two Engineers get to work.
Silveira: This is the part where we let the Engineers do the work and watch Ensign Cole.
Cole: ::nodding:: Can we chat for a second? ::stepping more to the side.
Silveira smiled and nodded following Cole, lowering his tone slightly.
Silveira: Off course Ensign.
Dariell appeared to be chanting in presumably the same frequency as that, that they had been playing across the four consoles as the lighting in the room shifted in patterns from gold to bronze, copper to silver, platinum to brass and continued to shift.
Cole: ::quietly to Silveira:: Call it a gut feeling, but something about this feels like we’re only getting a partial picture of what’s going on here..
Silveira: How so?
Cole: ::raising her hand to her chin:: What I mean is, it’s like they're hesitant to trust us with the whole picture. I don’t want to presume their purposely lying to us, but more omitting information.
Silveira: Very well observed Ensign. I admit I share the same feeling…
Dariell: It’s done. Understanding is one.
Tho’Bi: ::to Silveira:: Confirmed, Lieutenant Commander. Computer Cores are synced.
The Chief tipped his head to Cole and turned to the others. She read that as a pause in their conversation and turned towards the engineer dream team.
Silveira: Well done Ensign. And you too Dariell.
Cole: ::looking between the two:: You both work well together.
Tho'Bi: ::to Silveira:: We appear to have the Master System Display for this part of the ship ::gestures with PADD in hand:: but not for the decks above us.
Silveira cocked an eyebrow and turned towards Dariell, who shrugged as they gestured with their lower arms towards the MSD for the area they were in. While Natasha had only been in the Artemis’s Main Engineering a handful of times for routine security patrols, this looked kind of limited in regards to ship data. Meanwhile Tho’Bi juggled the PADD and tricorder in his hands for a moment before getting himself sorted and gestured for Silveira to look at his PADD
Tho'Bi: ::to Silveira:: I believe I have located Engineering ::turns to Dariell:: my skills will be of most use to you there. ::bows slightly::
Silveira: Would we be allowed there Dariell?
Dariell: ::to Silveira:: I can take your team there, commander, if you wish. ::to Tho’Bi:: Engineer Tho'Bi, as you, I believe you will be valuable there.
Cole: Please lead the way. ::gesturing with an open palm::
The Yurum engineer led them back to the corridor, but they quickly stopped next to one of the doors.
Dariell: It would be a long walk to the warp core. It is a deck below and half a ship's length away from here, so we wait for the cabin.
While they waited for a cabin, presumably it was their version of a turbolift. As they stood there somewhat awkwardly Dariell smiled at Cole.
Dariell: Yes, the lights should calm your mind, Ensign Cole.
Natasha clocked Dariell’s smile directed her way. Were they attempting to put her at ease, she was having a tricky time reading their body language, but did tilt her head slightly about the comment on the lights.
Dariell: The lights, you asked before if they meant to mesmerize.
She turned to him realizing he had answered her question from earlier about the lighting. This prompted a thought, did the Boraxian use lighting to influence the mood or feelings of their crew? That of course sparked several other questions and concerns paramount of which was were they being affected?. However before she could jump into an impromptu Q & A the door swung open. It was time to move on.
(( Engineering, New Hope ))
Where Starfleet favored openness and flow, the Boraxian ship felt almost claustrophobic, every choice in its design seemed to isolate rather than connect. Natasha’s eyes went first to the glass wall opposite the entry, behind which the warp core pulsed in steady rhythm, its glow spilling across the room like a heartbeat. Light dancing over the two flanking walls lined with consoles, each streaming diagnostics and data in tangled waves of graphs and alerts. On the last wall hung a schematic, like a larger sibling of the one she’d seen earlier. The entire room felt arranged around the core, as though it wasn’t just machinery, but the colony’s silent overseer.
Natasha’s security instincts sharpened as she took in the layout. The workstations were arranged like a bridge, deliberately positioned for efficiency, yet something about the emptiness gnawed at her. By her count, twenty engineers should have been here, yet with the Artemis team and Dariell present, the room barely reached half that. Her mind turned immediately to the gap: Where are the missing crew? Were they pulled away… or is this ship not as stable as it looks? Even the pulse of the core seemed to echo the thought.
Dariell: Be welcomed to the nerve center of New Hope Engineering. Where would you please to see as first?
Vitor turned to Tho’Bi.
Silveira: I defer that answer to Ensign Tho’Bi, as he is our Engineer.
Tho’Bi: Response
Cole: If this were a Starfleet ship, you’d have engineers climbing over each other’s shoulders by now. You folks prefer a little elbow room?
Dariell nodded and escorted them to an unoccupied workstation.
Dariell: There. Engineer Tho’Bi, you can gain insights into areas where you can assist us. ::turns to Silveira and Cole:: Lieutenant Commander, Ensign, be our guests. Would you like chairs or something to drink before Engineer Tho'Bi finishes his analysis?
Vitor smiled and shook his head.
Silveira: We appreciate the gesture, but I am fine, thank you Dariell.
Cole: I prefer to stand, but thank you for the offer.
Dariell/Tho’Bi: Response
Vitor gestured to Dariell and Tho’Bi and tipped his head to Cole
Silveira: I will let you and Tho’Bi to work as we just step aside and send in a report on the Computer repair, Ensign Cole please join me.
Natasha nodded to the Chief but stopped mid turn to face Dariell directly; she took a breath before speaking sincerely.
Cole: Dariell, if I’ve come across as suspicious or prying, I owe you an apology. Security habits die hard. My job is to see danger where no one else does, even when it’s not necessarily there.
Dariell: Response
Cole: ::soft smile:: And sometimes that means I forget there’s more to people than what they tell me outright. Some things… well, some things are private, ::beat:: aren’t they? Not secrets meant to hurt anyone, just parts of yourself you’re not ready to share until you feel safe.
Dariell: Response
Cole: I’ve lived through that myself. Before Starfleet, there were pieces of me I kept hidden, not because they were dangerous, but because I wasn’t sure how others would see me. It took time, and the right people, before I could be… honest, whole.
Dariell: Response
Cole: So if you’re holding things back, I won’t press. I just ask this… when you’re ready, when you want us to know, you tell us. Until then, I’ll do my job. I’ll watch the door, keep everyone safe, including you and your people, and trust that you’re doing the same in your own way.
Dariell: Response
Tho’Bi: Response
Vitor had taken a few steps, but remained at eyesight of both Dariell and Tho’Bi, he kept his smile and pulled out his own tricorder and leaned down, as if he was showing something to Cole.
He whispered so only she could hear him.
Silveira: Ensign, have you noticed that it is quite a quiet Engineering room?
Cole: ::matching his tone/volume:: I have. And after watching Dariell work that set of consoles in the computer core, I suspect while experienced, they wouldn’t be running a department with such limited numbers, not for a ship of this scale.
She made a point to gesture towards Vitor’s tricorder and nod continuing their cover.
Silveira: Response
Cole: Yeah their comment about the light’s calming my mind has me concerned as well. Think we could run a passive scan to see if it’s some kind of phototherapy?
Silveira: Response
Cole: Sir, whatever’s going on, I don’t think we’re being misled for our harm. This feels more like an omission for safety. Hopefully I have garnered us some good will in that regard… but we need to factor it into our risk assessment.
Silveira: Response
Dariell/Tho’Bi: Response
TAG/TBC
(OOC: phototherapy also known as Light therapy uses specific wavelengths of light to treat various conditions including but not limited to Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), Depression & Arthritis)
-----
Ens. Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
Writer ID A240205NC4
(OOC: I got permission from Vitor to do a minor tweak towards the end of their SIM.)
From where Natasha was standing, it looked less like typing and more like music. Dariell’s hands spread across the consoles, fingers moving in patterns that reminded her of a pianist playing four different instruments at once. Though she couldn’t hear the tones themselves, not the way Dariell or even Tho’Bi might, but she swore she felt something, like a faint vibration in the soles of her boots, or the whisper of sound just below the range of her hearing. In spite of that, it appeared to be working
Cole: If you need any extra help just let us know.
Natasha watched as Silveira moved closer as he let the two Engineers get to work.
Silveira: This is the part where we let the Engineers do the work and watch Ensign Cole.
Cole: ::nodding:: Can we chat for a second? ::stepping more to the side.
Silveira smiled and nodded following Cole, lowering his tone slightly.
Silveira: Off course Ensign.
Dariell appeared to be chanting in presumably the same frequency as that, that they had been playing across the four consoles as the lighting in the room shifted in patterns from gold to bronze, copper to silver, platinum to brass and continued to shift.
Cole: ::quietly to Silveira:: Call it a gut feeling, but something about this feels like we’re only getting a partial picture of what’s going on here..
Silveira: How so?
Cole: ::raising her hand to her chin:: What I mean is, it’s like they're hesitant to trust us with the whole picture. I don’t want to presume their purposely lying to us, but more omitting information.
Silveira: Very well observed Ensign. I admit I share the same feeling…
Dariell: It’s done. Understanding is one.
Tho’Bi: ::to Silveira:: Confirmed, Lieutenant Commander. Computer Cores are synced.
The Chief tipped his head to Cole and turned to the others. She read that as a pause in their conversation and turned towards the engineer dream team.
Silveira: Well done Ensign. And you too Dariell.
Cole: ::looking between the two:: You both work well together.
Tho'Bi: ::to Silveira:: We appear to have the Master System Display for this part of the ship ::gestures with PADD in hand:: but not for the decks above us.
Silveira cocked an eyebrow and turned towards Dariell, who shrugged as they gestured with their lower arms towards the MSD for the area they were in. While Natasha had only been in the Artemis’s Main Engineering a handful of times for routine security patrols, this looked kind of limited in regards to ship data. Meanwhile Tho’Bi juggled the PADD and tricorder in his hands for a moment before getting himself sorted and gestured for Silveira to look at his PADD
Tho'Bi: ::to Silveira:: I believe I have located Engineering ::turns to Dariell:: my skills will be of most use to you there. ::bows slightly::
Silveira: Would we be allowed there Dariell?
Dariell: ::to Silveira:: I can take your team there, commander, if you wish. ::to Tho’Bi:: Engineer Tho'Bi, as you, I believe you will be valuable there.
Cole: Please lead the way. ::gesturing with an open palm::
The Yurum engineer led them back to the corridor, but they quickly stopped next to one of the doors.
Dariell: It would be a long walk to the warp core. It is a deck below and half a ship's length away from here, so we wait for the cabin.
While they waited for a cabin, presumably it was their version of a turbolift. As they stood there somewhat awkwardly Dariell smiled at Cole.
Dariell: Yes, the lights should calm your mind, Ensign Cole.
Natasha clocked Dariell’s smile directed her way. Were they attempting to put her at ease, she was having a tricky time reading their body language, but did tilt her head slightly about the comment on the lights.
Dariell: The lights, you asked before if they meant to mesmerize.
She turned to him realizing he had answered her question from earlier about the lighting. This prompted a thought, did the Boraxian use lighting to influence the mood or feelings of their crew? That of course sparked several other questions and concerns paramount of which was were they being affected?. However before she could jump into an impromptu Q & A the door swung open. It was time to move on.
(( Engineering, New Hope ))
Where Starfleet favored openness and flow, the Boraxian ship felt almost claustrophobic, every choice in its design seemed to isolate rather than connect. Natasha’s eyes went first to the glass wall opposite the entry, behind which the warp core pulsed in steady rhythm, its glow spilling across the room like a heartbeat. Light dancing over the two flanking walls lined with consoles, each streaming diagnostics and data in tangled waves of graphs and alerts. On the last wall hung a schematic, like a larger sibling of the one she’d seen earlier. The entire room felt arranged around the core, as though it wasn’t just machinery, but the colony’s silent overseer.
Natasha’s security instincts sharpened as she took in the layout. The workstations were arranged like a bridge, deliberately positioned for efficiency, yet something about the emptiness gnawed at her. By her count, twenty engineers should have been here, yet with the Artemis team and Dariell present, the room barely reached half that. Her mind turned immediately to the gap: Where are the missing crew? Were they pulled away… or is this ship not as stable as it looks? Even the pulse of the core seemed to echo the thought.
Dariell: Be welcomed to the nerve center of New Hope Engineering. Where would you please to see as first?
Vitor turned to Tho’Bi.
Silveira: I defer that answer to Ensign Tho’Bi, as he is our Engineer.
Tho’Bi: Response
Cole: If this were a Starfleet ship, you’d have engineers climbing over each other’s shoulders by now. You folks prefer a little elbow room?
Dariell nodded and escorted them to an unoccupied workstation.
Dariell: There. Engineer Tho’Bi, you can gain insights into areas where you can assist us. ::turns to Silveira and Cole:: Lieutenant Commander, Ensign, be our guests. Would you like chairs or something to drink before Engineer Tho'Bi finishes his analysis?
Vitor smiled and shook his head.
Silveira: We appreciate the gesture, but I am fine, thank you Dariell.
Cole: I prefer to stand, but thank you for the offer.
Dariell/Tho’Bi: Response
Vitor gestured to Dariell and Tho’Bi and tipped his head to Cole
Silveira: I will let you and Tho’Bi to work as we just step aside and send in a report on the Computer repair, Ensign Cole please join me.
Natasha nodded to the Chief but stopped mid turn to face Dariell directly; she took a breath before speaking sincerely.
Cole: Dariell, if I’ve come across as suspicious or prying, I owe you an apology. Security habits die hard. My job is to see danger where no one else does, even when it’s not necessarily there.
Dariell: Response
Cole: ::soft smile:: And sometimes that means I forget there’s more to people than what they tell me outright. Some things… well, some things are private, ::beat:: aren’t they? Not secrets meant to hurt anyone, just parts of yourself you’re not ready to share until you feel safe.
Dariell: Response
Cole: I’ve lived through that myself. Before Starfleet, there were pieces of me I kept hidden, not because they were dangerous, but because I wasn’t sure how others would see me. It took time, and the right people, before I could be… honest, whole.
Dariell: Response
Cole: So if you’re holding things back, I won’t press. I just ask this… when you’re ready, when you want us to know, you tell us. Until then, I’ll do my job. I’ll watch the door, keep everyone safe, including you and your people, and trust that you’re doing the same in your own way.
Dariell: Response
Vitor had taken a few steps, but remained at eyesight of both Dariell and Tho’Bi, he kept his smile and pulled out his own tricorder and leaned down, as if he was showing something to Cole.
He whispered so only she could hear him.
Silveira: Ensign, have you noticed that it is quite a quiet Engineering room?
Cole: ::matching his tone/volume:: I have. And after watching Dariell work that set of consoles in the computer core, I suspect while experienced, they wouldn’t be running a department with such limited numbers, not for a ship of this scale.
She made a point to gesture towards Vitor’s tricorder and nod continuing their cover.
Silveira: Response
Cole: Yeah their comment about the light’s calming my mind has me concerned as well. Think we could run a passive scan to see if it’s some kind of phototherapy?
Silveira: Response
Cole: Sir, whatever’s going on, I don’t think we’re being misled for our harm. This feels more like an omission for safety. Hopefully I have garnered us some good will in that regard… but we need to factor it into our risk assessment.
Silveira: Response
Dariell/Tho’Bi: Response
TAG/TBC
(OOC: phototherapy also known as Light therapy uses specific wavelengths of light to treat various conditions including but not limited to Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), Depression & Arthritis)
-----
Ens. Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
Writer ID A240205NC4
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