Lieutenant Amelia Semara - It's Alive!

[Max]

(( Observatory, Velithari Ship Jorogumo ))

The stage was set, and quite dramatically: The mixing gasses on the other side of the observatory bubble danced in perpetual motion, the starlight streaming through it forming smokey spotlights onto dense pockets extending out like a prima ballerina.  In the distance, great pillars of heavier, denser material formed the framework for this place the Velithari called home.  Somewhere in this vast nebula, there must float a planet circling a star of their own, cradled by all of this.

What did that planet look like?  Amelia wondered.

Semara: 'Course the problem with buildin' trust is you often gotta show weakness.  It's the only way for the other person to prove they're as good as their word.  :: Beat. :: So how 'bout this?  I'll go first.  :: Beat :: Do you have a human male aboard this ship?

It was a small thing to risk the blunt question now, just the two of them.  Besides, the manner of the answer would reveal as much as the answer itself.  Her hands tucked behind her back, and she swished side-to-side with her small ballroom steps, studying Rana with a little tilt in her head.

The question seemed to pierce something - the captain's clicking stopped.

Rana: Indeed we do. I then will ask a follow-up question: did we not instruct you to send only a team of five?

Amelia already knew Matthews was aboard, of course, but it was good to hear it acknowledged.

Semara: We did as you asked.

Unless she forgot to count someone?  Ohnari, Michaels, El'He- El'Her, Torado, and herself.  One for each finger on her five-fingered hand.  It wasn't like the universal translator to make errors with mathematical concepts, so her brows furrowed, trying to penetrate the intent.

Rana: As you have seen, First Officer Semara, I take the safety of my people very seriously. The habits or whims of a foolish male could endanger those people. Especially one unfamiliar with our ways, as yours seem to be.

Amelia came to a standstill just slightly off-center from the furthest point on the window's curve, dark eyes skipping from reflection to reflection, mapping the disco ball of specular dots on Rana's left compound eye.  It was true - first contact was inherently dangerous for both sides, and ignorance could be fatal.  But Amelia was suddenly consumed with the question: what possible danger did a "foolish male" present (Rana really had met Matthews, hadn't she) when floating in an EV suit maybe a dozen meters away from Khitomer's hull?  He wasn't armed when he went out.  And the scans Rana's people took earlier either didn't detect or didn't care about the sidearms Torado and Amelia both carried, so that couldn't be it...  Her eyebrows furrowed, trying to understand the gap that was still there between them.

Semara: We're all unfamiliar with your ways, but we're tryin' to learn.  Is there a reason you're particularly worried about... this male?

It seemed like names weren't used.  With any luck, a little mirroring of the language would help.

Rana: You speak of trust, but made no mention of this male's journey into our nebula. Forgive me for breaking what rules this conversation may have--I require more information to fully understand. Is he...bonded, as the other was? Acting on commands?

Semara: Bonded?

The question took a moment to sink in.  What did Rana even me--?  Oh!  Right!  Like Connor was "bonded."  Amelia was suddenly beside herself with a schoolgirl giggle.

Semara: Heavens, no.  :: Another chuckle :: He wishes.

It only occurred to Amelia then that it might have been a better idea if she had "claimed" Ras for her own for this away mission.  That would have been fun in its own way.  Oh well.  There was always the next mission.  Unless the next mission involved criminally patriarchal otter-people or something like that, in which case Ras would probably get the away-team-lead slot.  For what it was worth, Amelia imagined she would look absolutely amazing in a three-piece suit and tophat.  She'd even wear the codpiece, if it came to that.

She physically shook the mental tangent off with her head, only narrowly avoiding the next diversion onto who Matthews probably wished he was bonded to.  So the Velithari could be funny after all.  Just not on purpose, so far.

She took a breath, still smiling, carefully considering how to answer.  There was something under Rana's words, perhaps not even hidden by design.  Somehow Matthews might be dangerous to the Velithari.  How?  And how did his "journey into the nebula" factor into it?  Amelia felt like she was her childhood cat, pouncing on a foot every time it moved under a blanket, never quite understanding why she hadn't managed to tackle the real thing.

oO This is our home, First Officer Semara. We care deeply about maintaining it. Oo

Amelia had lied when she said she understood.  Not intentionally: she thought Rana meant in a religious or cultural way.  Like maintaining a way of life.  That may have well been true, but it meant a lot more.  Rana's bearing suddenly reminded Amelia distantly of a woman back home named Taro, who paraded herself in front of every new construction project, pun-filled protest sign held high, trying to stop it and save the wildlife... Even when the plot was barely worth anything.

Her lips flattened back out, suddenly grasping in a new direction on instinct.

Semara: Cap'n Rana...  How carefully have you and your people examined the ships you've destroyed?  :: Beat :: Particularly the propulsion.

Rana: Response

Amelia tilted her head in momentary apologetic supplication.

Semara: Forgive me, I ain't meanin' to avoid your question, but this is real important.  Before I answer, I gotta know how much you already understand.

Rana: Response

Amelia nodded, somewhat relieved.  Whether or not the Velithari themselves employed warp technology, they knew of its existence now - if not before.  They had to.  There were at least a dozen examples of it still installed in the corpses of Alliance ships out there in the nebula.  They may not understand the finer workings, but it was enough that the bindings of the Prime Directive loosened somewhat.

Semara: We travel between the stars similarly.  We call it warp drive.  It's real fast, but it seems your nebula ain't too fond of it... Or subspace bubbles in general, if I were guessin'.  :: Beat :: When we came into contact with the nebula, it interfered with our ship's systems, and our propulsion in particular.  Our sensors were havin' trouble understandin' why, so the man you have was instructed to risk takin' a sample for closer study.

It was the under-sell of the season, but Amelia wasn't prepared to reveal just how vulnerable the Khitomer was until she had a better sense of Rana's intentions.  And, with any luck, a little verbal sleight of hand would offer up lots of room for interpretation as to Matthews' agency and role in this little escapade.  Which colors would Rana use to fill in the paint-by-numbers sketch Amelia drew?

Rana: Response

Only that was far from the most important thing in Rana's answer.  Amelia's lips parted slightly as her brain skewed in yet another direction, her perspective finally shifting to see something astonishing.

Semara: Hold on, are you sayin' your nebula's... Alive?

Of course.  It had to be.  Not in a way their sensors understood, obviously, but...  Heavens!  How dense could she be?  No one thought Matthews was capable of intentionally damaging a whole entire nebula all on his own.  Least of all Rana.  She was contemptuous of the man's brains and brawn at best.  Now the microbes he could have on his skin or on his suit...  Why else the obsession with contamination?  They were doing what any ecologist concerned with invasive species might do: quarantine and weeding.  And the ship!  The organic material could be covered in a dozen different protein markers that would signal whatever was in the nebula to leave it alone...  Or even to help it along.

Rana: Response

From what Amelia could piece together, she leapt ahead of herself to a theory Rana probably wouldn't fully understand absent an introductory class to warp theory: the nebula was having something remotely analogous to an immune response to the Khitomer herself...  Or rather the warp power that propelled her in particular.  Which meant that...

Amelia swallowed, and a low, firm urgency crept into her voice.

Semara: I gotta contact my ship.  They'll be tryin' to restore warp.  If I'm right, and if I understand you, a stable warp bubble inside your nebula's liable to devastate life inside it for trillions a' kilometers...  I ain't gonna let that happen.

Perhaps it was borderline impudent to not leave quite enough space for Rana to forbid the action, but she'd be damned if she let Hobart's voice in her head stick around to remind her about the cost of inaction even after the man was off flying PADDs around DS33.  She tapped her communicator, only to hesitate for a moment to think about who, exactly, she could actually contact.  A male voice on the other end of the line could be a risk... Unless...

Semara: =/\= Semara to communications assistant Dewitt. =/\=

Connor could scold her later.  Probably for a lot of things.  It was going to be hard to not tease him (lovingly) for forking over the job of first officer to her on his first mission out wearing red, even if it was only pretend.

Dewitt: =/\= Response =/\=

Semara: =/\= I need you to pass along a message to the Cap'n.  The Velithari nebula is full a' livin' organisms we can't detect.  If I understand Cap'n Rana, I believe the life-forms to be allergic to subspace bubbles and waves, in a manner a' speakin'.  That reaction would be what makes 'em able to stop us from goin' to warp, but it also means if we do manage a stable bubble it'll likely be highly toxic.  We could endanger the nebula's stability over very long distances. =/\=

Dewitt: =/\= Response =/\=

Amelia looked over to Rana once more, studying her as the enormous space made Connor's voice sound particularly tinny over the comms.

Semara: =/\= The Velithari are real protective, and I understand 'em to be real worried about infection or contamination of themselves and the nebula.  So tell the cap'n that, too.  I don't know much more than that yet.  If I were to guess, I'd say odds are low of a true sapient intelligence.  Too diffuse.  :: Beat, then thoughtfully. :: Ant colonies are capable a' complex problem solvin', but don't 'think' per se.  Maybe an analogue? :: Another beat. :: I'll call back when we know more - 'bout anythin'.  Either way, we can't go to warp until we're fully clear a' the nebula, or confidently understand the mechanism. =/\=

With any luck, the information would be enough to help Connor's engineering brain to work the problem and get people in motion.  But the real audience of the show was still Rana.  If the Velithari's eyes could roll, Amelia imagined they'd have rotated a full one-hundred-eighty degrees at the sound of Connor's voice again.  Still, it was worth taking the chance so Rana might see her intentions up close and personal.

Dewitt / Rana: Response

Tag / TBC...

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Lieutenant Amelia Magnolia Semara

Intelligence Officer

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0