[sb118-khitomer] MSNPC Technological Lead Vidya - Federation Deceptions

[BC Cooper]

((Conference Room, Deck 1))

Vidya’s journey to the Khitomer was filled with mixed emotions as she watched over her Captain Rana. The view of this alien vessel as the shuttle flew closer gave Vidya a forbidding presence that things were about to change in a way she and Rana were not yet prepared to deal with. 

It did not take them long to make their way to the bridge. She took in every sight, every word, watching and listening carefully to what was before her. On the bridge she met the males who were in charge. She followed them and the other officers of their vessel with Vidya’s eyes on Rana and on the males. Males she did not trust, not yet. It was too much for her to take in all at once. She did her best as she took a spot around the conference room table as one of the males spoke and addressed Rana.

Naxell: Captain Rana, I must apologize for our deception. I am Commander Nax-Ellarneii-Tellargo, “Naxell” to most, and I captain the starship Khitomer. When your people displayed hostility towards my second-in-command, Lieutenant Commander Dewitt ::gesturing:: we opted to lower the temperature, so to speak, by offering a more comfortable face. Lieutenant Semara, whom you know well, is actually my Intelligence Officer.

 

So that is why the deception was initiated. Do they blame their ignorance of Velithair’s culture for their reason to deceive? It did not sit well with Vidya. She tried to understand, but it was beyond anything she had experienced thus far. She would look to Rana for guidance.

 

Semara: I apologize for my part as well... :: lips twisting :: Like I said, I'm quite protective a' my crew.  I understand if y'all have trouble trustin' us - or me...  I pray you'll believe the impulse to conceal the truth was for their safety. :: Beat :: I'm afraid I ain't done a terribly good job of bein' an Intelligence Officer.  What we knew 'bout you 'fore comin' here was basically nothin'.  :: A contrite wince ::  And I might'a overdone it with the embellishin' liberties I took…

Your crew? Semara was the First Officer and now she was in charge of intelligence? Yet she referred to the crew of this vessel as if it was her own. Was she in charge or not? And what sort of intelligence would do such a thing? Was this the normal for that position?

 

Rana: I see...I must admit, in Velithari culture it is a great insult to send your males to speak to someone when you are capable of speaking yourself. Your lieutenant has informed me that ::holding in some mild disgust:: that males are able to perform the duties suited to levels far above them in Velithari culture.

 

Vidya gave a nod in agreement but said no words as Rana spoke. It was not her place, that was for Rana to speak on. Not for Vidya, not yet.

Naxell: I’ve spoken with Dr. Ohnari about your people’s history with the “Takers,” was it? I assure you, we are not conquerors. We are explorers. Our laws—our Prime Directive—forbids us from interfering with your people and your culture. But it does not prevent us from defending you against outside aggression, as you have experienced against the Lattice Alliance. Your tactical assessment, Lieutenant Zerva?

And yet they felt the need to interfere with the Velithair despite their “laws”.

Zerva: We’ve detected a large object heading our way. Further analysis indicates it’s a Leviathan Attack Vessel. The largest ship in the Lattice Alliance’s Fleet. This is the only vessel of theirs that has shown up on our sensors. There is the possibility of Alliance reinforcements, but if there is more than one of their ships present, we haven’t yet detected them. I recommend boosting our sensors as we did on our previous nebula mission. The nebula’s cloud should be able to give us enough cover and time to hide long enough to prepare and if at all possible give us the edge of surprise should we wish to engage them in combat. ::eyeing out the window in the room as if he could see the remains of the Alliance ship in the nebula before turning to Rana and Vidya:: Any assistance as to how you dealt with the previous Alliance ship before our arrival would be most appreciated. 

So this male was the equivalent of Alya. His report did not sound of good words. And now this male asked for her advice. Good, this pleased her. She was quite knowledgeable in this matter.

Vidya: The nebula’s cloud provided us with cover as it had done upon your arrival. The threads or filaments as you know them caught the Lettuce of Alliance as it had done your vessel. They attempted to flee as you had done. They are no more.

There was more she could say to these aliens, but she was reluctant to do so at this time without Rana’s approval.

Naxell: Our best guess, Captain, is that the Lattice see the Velithari as a thorn in the path of their conquest, and they want to smooth you out. They’re firing indiscriminately. It’s probable that they don’t see us, but their Sencha weaponry is especially dangerous to your cloud. Lieutenant El’Heem?

 

Vidya gave daggers with her eyes at the one called Rasha El’Her, who was not in fact Rasha but Ras El’Heem. A male who had tried to deceive the Velithair. It did not sit well with her. His locks as Ras tossed them back out of his face were just as deceiving as his voice. She would watch this one closely.

El’Heem: Yes. ::turning to Rana:: Captain Rana, I hope my transgression won’t prevent you from trusting my analysis. ::beat:: Sencha radiation is a unique form of energy that interacts with subspace and in turn, temporal causation. It does not propagate strictly through normal spacetime. Part of the waveform appears to travel through adjacent non-Euclidean subspace domains, allowing it to disrupt temporal continuity at the cellular level, even those that exist primarily in subspace. If what you say is true, and the cloud is alive, then that is of particular concern to me. I have no doubt the Velithari have been able to hold their own against the Alliance, but they tend to escalate severity of incursion quite drastically when they are unsuccessful.

Vidya: It is of concern for all Velithair, if what you say is true, Ras El’heem.

She let the weight of that last part linger for the male to hear, but it was interrupted by the Captain of this vessel.

 

Naxell: I’m afraid it gets worse, Captain. As bad as the Sencha technology is for your cloud, it is even worse for organic life, especially life that communicates by means of telepathy. Fortunately, our doctors have come up with inoculations that have shielded our crew from the worst of these effects. If you accompany Dr. Ohnari, Lieutenant El’Heem, and Ensign Melville-Kilpatrick to sickbay, we can adapt our technology to your physiology and with any luck to Jorogumo itself.

This Sensha technology was something Vidya wanted to learn more about. But it was this inoculation that caught her attention. So they wish to examine the Velithari as Vidya and Rana had done to them? Was it wise to send Rana there without her?

Zerva: ::adding:: During Frontier Day, just one of their Leviathan ships was able to severely damage the Khitomer using Senha weapons. It took us almost three months to complete repairs at DS9.

Some time to be sure, but she was not as concerned about their repairs. The Jorogumo could repair itself in a shorter time. Perhaps their technological was not as advanced as she had been led to believe.

Ohnari: ::wincing:: Even a rudimentary radiation protection would be preferable to none.

Rana: What do you have in mind, Doctor?

El’Heem: The formula that we have developed is a timed release compound that interacts with exposure to the radiation and has been formulated for almost all species in the federation. With a bit of tweaking, I believe we can make it compatible with the Velithari as well.

Interesting thought. She was curious, as was Rana, as to how this would affect the Velithair.

Melville-Kilpatrick: I agree. Dr. Ohnari's been pretty responsible about adjusting the injection for everyone on board. I'm sure it can be fixed for Velithari. 

Was they sure? Vidya was not so confident, but she reserved her judgement for now.

Naxell: While you are there, I would invite your technician, Vidya, to assist in the effort to free our ship from the cloud so that we may better defend you. My First Officer—my true First Officer—will personally oversee this effort in Main Engineering.

 

True First Officer. Ahh yes the so-called bonded one. The male they had first seen on the video screen. The first one to deceive them. She eyed him with suspicion.

Dewitt: ::to Vidya with a small bow of his head:: Lieutenant Commander Dewitt, ma’am. I understand you asked for a visit yourself? We will try to be worth it. If you would follow me once we are finished here to Main Engineering.

The male bowed before her. She took this as a sign of respect more for her position than her being female. 

Valeris: Hopefully our systems aren’t too dissimilar to your own.

Another male. One she did not know. Was he as deceptive as the other males? Likely, given the ones she had met. Apparently the male known as Matthews was an anomaly among the males for his rude ‘joking’, behavior. She gave a polite response in return.

Vidya: ::returning the bow to the XO:: I shall follow your lead to your engineering.

 

Michaels: Despite the differences, I am certain that we will be able to make good use of your talents... and make your time on Khitomer worth your time and effort.

Perhaps if Michaels was to accompany them, Vidya could find a way to tolerate the male true First Officer. Michaels has been respectful while on the Jorogumo, but had been in on the Ras deception. Perhaps it would be wise to give Michaels the benefit of the doubt?

Naxell: In the meantime, the rest of us will begin work on the tactical aspects. Lieutenant Semara will lead the effort. It’s at least two-to-one out there, so we’ll need to be creative.

 

Semara: Aye, sir. We'll come up with somethin'.

Vidya had every confidence that Semara could do it, even if she had ‘played along’ with the deceptive ruse.

Naxell: Thank you for your trust, Captain Rana, Ms. Vidya. The rest of you, dismissed.

Trust? She mulled that over for the briefest of moments and realized she would need to give these aliens some level of trust if she and Rana were to work in tandem with these Federation. She could start with the females in the room and work her trust level up towards the males.

Ohnari: Captain, could I have a brief word?

Whatever word the Doctor wished to have, Vidya would not be privy to this as Rana took Vidya aside to have a private conversation.

Rana: Vidya, keep me updated. Keep in contact. I trust you will know what is best.

Vidya: ::bowing:: Yes my Captain. It shall be done. My trust with these males is filled with caution. They have deceived us before ::casting a glance at Ras:: and it’s highly probable they could do so again. I shall learn all I can while I watch. Trust your eyes and listen well my Captain.

Rana: Indeed. I will see what I can learn about their...strange culture. It is hard to believe that their males are so capable. But enough of that. Be strong, Vidya.

Vidya: It is puzzling and disconcerting at the same time just how capable. ::bowing:: I shall be strong for us both. ::clicking:: Take strength my Captain. ::bowing away::

Vidya turned and followed Michaels out of the conference room. The one known as the true First Officer gave her caution. She would keep eyes especially on him. His words were deceiving at first contact. The fact they admitted to the deception gave Vidya little comfort. For now she would do her best to reserve judgment and give them the opportunity for their males to prove themselves to her and the Captain. The other male that spoke with the XO joined the three of them.

The last thing she heard as she exited the room was her Captain speaking.

Rana: I will do my best to assist in this gathering of information on the Velithari physiology. Please be sure to explain your actions thoroughly.

It pleased her to know that Rana was making sure that all was explained thoroughly. She would be relying on these Federation engineers to explain that which she was unfamiliar with thoroughly as well.

The four of them strolled across the bridge of the Khitomer, arriving in front of the turbolift. 

Dewitt: Engineering is a couple of decks down. We are going to use the turbolift to get there.

Valeris: Do you guys have lifts on the Jorogumo?

oO Guys? Oo

Such strange words from the other male in the group. Words she did not understand. Was this more of their ‘slang’? She was no more a ‘guy’ than Rana or any of the females of the Velithair

Michaels: We did use a number of stairs. I do not recall seeing a turbolift.

Vidya: We do not have that level of technological as do you. Everything in the Jorogumo snakes, weaves and moves in a variety of directions flowing together as one. All corridors lead to each other in a harmonious direction, but it does not move in a vertical line like your technological lift does.

Dewitt: This all must feel … very Alien to you.

Vidya: ::pausing in thought for but a moment:: No more alien than our vessel is to you. The Velithari adapt as we always have. This is no different then the Alliance Aliens bor the King-longs.

Dewitt: ::nodding:: Of course. Commander Valeris, please give us a short report on the crystalline masses across the ship.

Valeris: There are no new reports of injury or systemic incursion. The program seems to be keeping things in check. ::Beat:: I took the liberty of changing some of the songs that were playing throughout the ship in hopes of maximizing our chances of keeping the masses asleep.

oO So they have discovered how to use music to assist them in their daily use. They have learned to adapt as we have. Oo

Michaels: Miss Vidya. We will greatly value any of your expertise that you can share concerning the threads... filaments... whatever the appropriate terminology is. They have proven problematic for us.

Vidya: Music is a culture art to us as I am sure it is to yours. I find it interesting that you have adapted to using music to work in harmonious sync with the threads. You are on the correct path towards communication with them. A variety of various tones and pitches can determine the outcome with interactions with the threads.

Valeris: ::To Vidya:: If you happen to have any insight into the masses as well, I would love to hear it.

Vidya: I shall be as forthcoming as I can in assisting you on all matters as I am permitted.

But only that she was permitted within her culture and her authority to do so. She had little desire to overstep her Captain Rana and the Priestess back home. Especially the males to whom she was still reserving judgment.

Valeris: Deck 12. All ashore who’s going ashore.

Ashore? Were they leaving the Kit-o-more for some relaxation? There was no time for that now. They had work to do.

TBC

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MSNPC Technological Lead, Vidya 

As simmed by

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Lieutenant (JG) Ezra Zerva

Security Officer

USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)

A240101EZ2