Ensign Sevantha Saa - Empathy is My Weapon (Part II)
Sevantha Saa
((Primary Sickbay, Deck 12, USS Astraeus))
((OOC: There is a whole segment here that no one needs to include and I chose to write due to some inspiration I had in the moment.))
Sevantha activated the transporter and relocated the first half of the changeling into a containment field near her, far away from its other half that was being transported by Mark IV into the brig. There was relief she hadn’t messed it up. Stepping away from the console, she put on her protective glove to set the liquid nitrogen canister right up against the containment field as a warning and threat both to the piece of the changeling in there.
Saa: =/\= Part one of the changeling relocated and contained, along with visual confirmation it’s where it should be. =/\=
Tam / Mark IV / Shewytch: =/\= Response=/\=
The piece of the changeling contained in there hissed angrily, its childish shape starting to melt again as the distance and focus on its other half became strained. It appeared the brig received its guest as well, hopefully.
Changeling Pt 1: Ruinous… solids ::It hissed as it pressed against the field:: What’s this?
Its attention had gone to the canister set at the base of the containment, a tendril poking at it.
Saa: A last resort.
Changeling Pt 1: Starfleet honor at its finest.
Saa: Starfleet’s honor is the reason you are contained as opposed to having been shot on sight, considering the amount of officers your infiltrators killed.
The blob would swirl about, angry, stewing if not outright bubbling. Their strength was impressive but there was a slowness to its movement that the original species did not have. The modifications were an isolating factor in itself to take on, it made them different, and she couldn’t help but somewhat suspect that returning to their great link was not an option.
Changeling Pt 1: Solids destroy everything they touch… they are disorder and chaos, they are pain and suffering.
Saa: Clearly, you have never been afforded the luxury to truly live among them… or when you had the option you controlled them through the Dominion, as rulers.
Sevantha did not get heated, instead her voice chilled, reminding the changeling that they were speaking to one of the many species victimized by their war. Betazed had never been occupied until then.
Changeling Pt 1: We see what you do to equals.
Saa: …Do you? ::She snapped:: You all knowing and seeing Changelings, who also chose the Borg as your equals in some demented belief your collectives were compatible, and now you’ve fled with refugees onto this ship because they decided you do not fit their idea of the collective.
There was a silence between the two of them for a moment. Averting her gaze away from the changeling for a moment, she sighed, was she really talking to a changeling? Much like Ferengi, it was difficult speaking to them, lacking one of her most innate senses and it made her uneasy, even further distrusting of it despite her implicit bias against them due to her own history.
Changeling Pt 1: Then why not do it? ::it tapped the field indicating towards the canister:: Shoot it.
She gave pause and looked at the canister then to the changeling within the field. A tempting thought that in her younger days, the days where she followed the code and creed of her lord’s house, she just might have. Today…?
Saa: No. You get to live with failure and to see the consequences your actions have on Starfleet. ::She finally looked at the changeling again:: It may look like you’ve destroyed it but there are few things as unifying as destruction… sharing pain between those who have suffered is a powerful bond.
Walking over to the containment field, she lightly touched it before withdrawing her hand at the tingling sensation stirred in her nerve endings. The changeling touched it with very little struggle, fascinating biology.
Saa: I cannot read you the way my kind naturally can others. ::She sank down to be on level with the changeling:: But at the heart of all of this… is that pain not what motivated all of this?
This time there was true silence between them as the Changeling piece sank to the floor in either defeat or perhaps an expression of its own grief and frustration, she wasn’t sure. Rising up, she walked away from the changeling and lightly tapped her combadge.
Saa: =/\= Apologies, was handling our guest over here, did the other half make it?
Tam/Shewytch/Mark IV: =/\= Response =/\=
Saa: =/\= Thank the Four, something worked. =/\=
Tam/Shewytch/Mark IV: =/\= Response =/\=
Saa: =/\= Tam, you want to inform Lt. Matthews we’ve dealt with it? I'm sure the bridge has heard enough of me. =/\=
Tam/Shewytch/Mark IV: =/\= Response =/\=
Saa: =/\= Shewytch seemed close to cracking part of the borg infection, between the Bynars, Fianna… and yourself, we should be able to study the data. Then to figure out how it spre-- =/\=
Changeling Pt 1: …the transporters ::sitting in a small pile, it bubbled again, sounding almost depressed:: …it was easy…
Saa: What do you mean the Transporters?
Changeling Pt 1: …It’s how we spread the borg, for months and months, so long and you all never knew…
Sevantha stared in disbelief for a moment at the revelation confessed by the truly trapped changeling that seemed to be accepting its fate. Their words sounded gloating but the tone didn’t match the presentation of its still puddle indicating something much more akin to exhaustion and depression.
Saa: =/\= Um… Piece one of our changeling, after a little heart to heart, just indicated the infection originated in the transporters…=/\=
Tam/Shewytch/Mark IV: =/\= Response =/\=
Medical Officer