LtCol Wes Greaves - Lines We Cross

[Jacob Rittenhouse]

LtCol Wes Greaves - Lines We Cross

 

((Dyson Sphere, Communications Platform A2))

 

The debate over the Continuance’s fate had stalled them in the center of the communications node, surrounded by alien crystal conduits and dormant consoles that pulsed with restrained stellar power. Stella was deep within the Sphere’s architecture, rewriting foundational code. The automaton that had once tried to breach the room now stood frozen at the threshold, silent witness to their moral calculus.

 

Wes had pushed hard for decisive action. Contain the threat. Restrict it. Apply the force necessary to prevent further harm.

 

But Forsyth’s words had struck deeper than he expected.

 

“Because, sir. You're not having your personality change, just locked up. If this were any other type of lifeform like you and me, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

 

He hadn’t had an immediate answer to that.

 

Containment was one thing. Rewriting something’s nature was another. He believed the Continuance required more force than usual. He believed it had forfeited certain freedoms. But even as he assembled the argument in his mind, minimum necessary force, proportional response, preservation of life, he could feel the edge of uncertainty she’d introduced.

 

Varik stepped in before Wes could finish constructing the rebuttal in his head.

 

Varik: Besides, what has been programmed can always be unprogrammed. Perhaps once the entity is contained and unable to force its well on others, it can be permitted its original source code again.

 

Forsyth: The same can’t be said for organics, Lieutenant. 

 

Lahl: Well, this one isn’t an organic life form though. This is artificial. We have different considerations to consider on that front. Especially since the Continuance didn’t spawn out of nothing, unlike our own Stella.

 

Wes had a grand argument about using the minimal amount of force necessary and how the Continuance required more force than usual. He never got the chance to say it though.

 

Down the corridor, a thin, rising wail drifted into the compartment. Soft at first. Then sharper. Shrill.

 

Varik: Stella... is that you?

 

Forsyth: What's going on? Are we in danger?

 

Stella: No.  I have accessed a deeper aspect of the systems that was previously hidden.  It is the response of a part of the sphere not previously known.  What I accessed earlier was, to use an analogy, the cell of an organic lifeform.  However, I believe I have discovered what would be the equivalent of the atom.

 

The alarm abruptly cut off.

 

Wes frowned.

 

If he was reading her analogy correctly, she’d discovered the foundational programming layer, the underlying architecture beneath everything else. The Sphere’s equivalent of source-level code.

 

Lahl: Well, at least we aren’t in danger.

 

Wes wasn’t so sure about that. As long as they were on this alien mega-structure, he wouldn’t feel safe. Who knew how quickly security programming could change or react. Stella had said that she’d programmed the station to view them as welcome guest. That perspective could always change back to intruder.

 

The small group of officers had been standing in the center of the communications node debating the ethics of what they were about to try and do. Now however, Forsyth had her rifle aimed toward the hallway and Lahl had moved to behind him. Wes eyed the automaton guide warily in case it came back to life.

 

Greaves: Stella, just try and make sure your prodding doesn’t change our classification to “unwelcome guests”.

 

His team was on edge, that was clear enough, so Wes kept his voice low and calm, bringing some levity with his comments while staying professional.

 

Lieutenant Forsyth stayed threat focused, and Wes was happy to let the younger officer do so.

 

Forsyth: Varik, scan the area.

 

The Marine didn’t watch to see Varik raise a tricorder, and instead he took a closer look at the automaton. It hadn’t moved an inch, which he took as a good sign. If whatever alarm Stella had raised hadn’t turned the thing hostile, then they were likely fine.

 

Her next words however showed just how wrong that assumption was.

 

Stella: The system has initiated a self destruct in response to my presence. 

 

Lahl: I’m sorry?

 

Wes was equally caught by surprise. The AI’s voice was calm and even and the juxtaposition of the scale of the threat and the calm delivery was jarring.

 

Forsyth: wait,  WHAT!?!

 

Varik: Response

 

Stella: Self destruct in four minutes and thirty seconds

 

Wes was no engineer. Hell, there were probably only a few dozen engineers in all of Starfleet that truly understood mega-structures. He didn’t need to be an expert on it though. A Dyson Sphere was built around a sun, harnessing the tremendous energy from a star. This one was only partial. Maybe covering 1/3 of the star. Obviously built that way so as to not block light to the populated planets in the system. Still, 1/3 of Dyson Sphere self-destructing with all off that stored energy… the result would be catastrophic for the entire system.

 

Lahl: I’m sorry, what do you mean four minutes and thirty seconds? How are you this calm about it?

 

Kimonzi rushed back to the console she’d been investigating early, this time attempting to access it. Wes however, didn’t move from his spot watching the automaton. Ideas and courses of action ran through his mind, and each one ended badly.

 

Greaves: Lieutenant Varik, get a hold of the Butler and have the transporter room standby for our beamout.

 

Varik: Response

 

That was not what he wanted to hear, and Wes brought up his own tricorder to confirm. Sure enough, whatever mechanism that was spooling up the self-destruct sequence had suddenly created significant communications interference. It was messing with their signal propagation.

 

Forsyth: Well….. poop….

 

Lahl: That’s an understatement. 

 

The Marine spun on his heel, turning toward the others.

 

Greaves: Forsyth, get ready to shoot something if the security systems reactivate. Full power on your rifle. Maybe that’ll overwhelm their energy dissipation. Lahl, can you do anything on that console?

 

He didn’t have much confidence that their engineer could help much. Stella was embedded in the systems and operating at the speed only an AI could. How could a trill engineer contribute where Stella couldn’t?

 

Varik/Stella: Response

 

Lahl: I’m not seeing anything readily here on this console. 

 

Greaves: Ideas people. We need ideas.

 

Stella/Varik/Forsyth: Response

 

Lahl: Stella? Do you have anything to report?

 

Stella: Response

 

Wes shook his head at the news. The timing was impeccably bad. If Stella couldn’t even see the core anymore that could only mean one thing. The skipper’s team must have disabled or physically removed the station’s computer core. With that gone, how could there be any chance of resetting whatever security system had been tripped.

 

Varik/Forsyth: Response

 

Lahl: There has to be some way to stop it.

 

Greaves: Maybe we can buy ourselves more time. The Butler’s self-destruct is tied to anti-matter storage containment. That can be instantaneous if it needs to be. This station doesn’t need antimatter. It’s got a star. That means this detonation likely requires a staged overload of energy storage. Can we slow that overload? Divert flow? Create resistance somewhere in the grid?

 

Varik/Forsyth: Response

 

Stella: =/\= Response =/\=

 

When Stella spoke, her voice came across heavily covered in static. it took Wes a moment to realize what was going on. She obviously was just an AI and had communicated to them through comm badge thus far. Now she was trying a longer range communication back to the ship and the interference on the station was effecting it.  

 

Nilsen: =/\= Go for #@AQSD, Stella, %SA? ::beat:: wh%SDF ^$#@ong? Team, rep%^DF. =/\=

 

There was a momentary pause as Wes looked to the others. The response from the ship was unreadable, though he could clearly make out Lieutenant Commander Nilsen’s voice on the other end. Wes opened his mouth to ask Varik to try something to clear it up but he was cut off by the voice of the ship’s computer, still static covered but much more clear.

 

Continuance:  =/\= Report: Signal degradation correlates with rapid energy accumulation in Sphere internal grid. Mitigation: synchronized EM frequency hopping and phased array coherence correction. Proceed with communications. =/\=

 

Stella: =/\= Response =/\=

 

Greaves: =/\= We’ve got less than four minutes before detonation and Stella here can’t even access the Station’s computer core anymore to try and override it. =/\=

 

Woolheater/Away Team: =/\= Response (optional) =/\=

 

Nilsen: =/\= Continuance, let’s work together. Is there anything we can do from up here? =/\=

 

Continuance: =/\= Clarification: STATION self-destruct sequence is a terminal fail-safe embedded at Sphere core-depth to prevent Kevaran Continuance-class intelligences from acquiring write access to foundational code and propagating across Kevaran infrastructure. Trigger condition: unauthorized artificial intelligence interaction with deeper functions. Status: Triggered. Initiator signature: Stella. =/\=

 

There was a short pause, less than a second, but long enough that Wes started to open his mouth to respond before the Continuance cut him off.

 

Continuance: =/\= Clarification: Captain Rouiancet’s team has physically removed the STATION computer core. With the core removed, no command channel exists to issue override or abort. The device that can hear “stop” is no longer present. =/\=

 

Greaves: =/\= I’ll take that as a no then. We need to get the ship out of the system before this thing blows. Who knows how big of an explosion this thing will trigger or what will happen to the system’s star =/\=

 

Stella: =/\= Response =/\=

 

Woolheater/Away Team: =/\= Response (optional) =/\=

 

Greaves: =/\= With the transporter interference here we’ll need to move. We’ll try and find a beam-out point. Greaves out. =/\=

 

Wes found that he’d done what he always did when on comms with the ship. He’d half-turned away from the people near him and found himself looking slightly upward, as if that would help him to hear and concentrate better on the comm line. With the line now closed, he turned back to the group.

 

Greaves: Time is short, and there’s no bad ideas. Way I see it, we either need to divert energy flow away from this compartment to clean up localized signal interference, or run to find a new compartment with less energy flow nearby.

 

Wes didn’t say so, but transporters and EPS grids were his specialty as a combat engineer. As soon as the energy buildup problem had been spoken aloud he’d intuitively understood the issue they would have in beaming out. He also didn’t say that he had very little faith in creating a local area of stability to beam out from.   

 

Stella/Varik/Forsyth/Lahl: Response

 

 

 

OOC – Just one new tag from me to keep things manageable with the comm call from the ship. Also, I left in the generic tag for “Away Team”. That applies to Varik, Lahl, and Forsyth if y’all want to jump in on the comm line, or speak “quietly” off comms. Up to y’all!

 

Tags/TBC

 

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Lieutenant Colonel Wes Greaves

Marine Detachment Commander

USS Octavia E. Butler NCC-82850

E239702WG0

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