Ensign Miaxdiso Avoi - Bedecked and Embellished
Doz Finch
((Pathology Lab, Deck 7, USS Gorkon))
Miaxdiso Avoi had searched for purpose, with all of the focus and determination of a cat honed in on a single piece of string dangling from an impossible to reach spot. As the ship's Diplomatic Officer, she had had an enviable degree of outreach. Had being the key word; there in the Borg dominated universe, a lot of creativity was needed.
Avoi: I’d like to see it up close and personal. That is, if you wouldn’t mind taking me there and showing me?
Taelon: I - of course, if you’d like to. It’s not far.
The man downed the last of his coffee as if it had been a shot of Diahali¹, and proceeded into the hallway, taking a moment to eyeball her wonderfully customised PADD. She did the same, lifting it in front of them so that they could both admire all of the twinkling and reflecting elements.
Taelon: You, um, have good taste. In decorations, I mean. I’ve never - I mean, I’ve never seen someone decorate a PADD like that.
Avoi: Thank you! It is rather flash, I suppose, but then what is life without a bit of flamboyance? In Idridi, the place I come from, almost everything you see is bedecked and embellished. A shining city that teems with beauty.
Taelon’s uncertain smile took on a larger one, lighting up the angles and peaks of his features that little bit more. He suited smiling—she felt it rather enlivened his eyes.
Taelon: Oh, well, beauty is a goal in and of itself, right? Without it, life is so very bland…
She nodded politely as they entered the lift, its swoosh indicating they were well on their way to the other deck. Once in the new corridor, Miax walked out primping the lower curves of her bouncy hair, pondering what rather ominous equipment and technology her oily eyes would soon be feasting on.
Taelon: We’ve been moving things in here to study them. The quarantined components should be in here by now…
Avoi: Quarantined! Goodness. Now that does paint a picture.
The door slid open. As it did, Miax squee’d excitedly, taken aback by the floating android and its distant bell-like sounds emanating from it. The thing turned to face them as they crossed the threshold, with wires coming out of it like long strands of hair and gold accents glittering under the lab’s lighting, and she found herself amazed by its impressive and striking shape.
Taelon: Ah, this is ARIA, my assistant.
ARIA: This unit greets you, Ensign.
Avoi: OH! Aha! Hello little thing! Well now, Lieutenant, *this* is *very* different! And like nothing I have ever seen before. ::She caught sight of some of the Borg components nearby and widened her eyes.:: If only the Borg components were as inviting to look at.
Taelon: I’m afraid none of the Borg components we have are, um, particularly pretty. We’ve extracted some of their major parts…
He moved over to another location in the room and pulled out a storage unit, with which a long black spike that appeared in length to be not too dissimilar from a humanoid's finger was displayed. Its tip was sharp, and its body lined with smaller nubs with a purpose that the Betazoid couldn’t quite discern.
Taelon: This is a drone’s primary transceiver, where they receive and send data. It, um, goes into the brain…
Avoi: Well! Seeing it here in person is quite different to seeing it in pictures. ::She placed her accessorised PADD down onto a nearby table, then returned to properly view it.:: Is it safe? Removing a transceiver from a person's brain, I mean.
The man with the sharp features shook his head.
Taelon: Once removed the brain is left damaged. The only way to restore that is to either replace the unit with a user-friendly variant, or years of reconstructive tissue regeneration and therapy.
Avoi: Something tells me that that would be far too costly and time-consuming for our rather wasteful Borg neighbours.
She spent the next minute or so peering at its many intricate sections. She could hardly cope with the image it projected into her mind's eye just sitting there in its little container. The notion that it had once been forcibly injected in the living brain of a person whose life had at one time meant something so much more than cybernetic servitude.
Avoi: Though I suppose the rehabilitation of ex drones is more what you’re talking about?
Taelon: Response
She twirled her elegant fingers, almost feeling the sharp prick of the transceiver's most serrated point scratching at her skin, so very relieved that it was purely her imagination. It terrified her immensely, envisioning herself adorned with heavy cybernetic equipment, skin sullen and grey, her hair reduced to wisps. Everything that made Miaxdiso, Miaxdiso, gone.
A sudden shiver rippled through her whole body.
Avoi: So then it is rather important that some of these components remain behind in the liberated drone, because of the complexity of where they are located in the body and the dangers posed by removing them?
Taelon: Response
She started thinking about her research, particularly a piece she had read regarding a central computer of sorts, and the role it played onboard a sphere or cube. Taelon’s answers regarding the way the transceivers worked aligned with pieces of her research, that a large bulk of a conglomerate’s communication and decision-making happened at more of a local level before it hit the wider collective.
Avoi: But how reassuring it is that liberating them is even possible at all. ::She pondered for a moment.:: I do wonder if a separated transceiver like this could be linked to a computer and used in the same way a brain would. ::She blinked.:: Is that possible?
Taelon: Response
¹ A Betazed spirit infused with warmed herbs and spices and often downed as a shot.
Diplomatic Officer
USS Gorkon NCC-82293
Simmed by
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Gorkon NCC-82293
C239809SH3