LtJg Lera Michaels - Change of Plans

[steve...@yahoo.com]

(((Deck 6, Main Sickbay, USS Khitomer)))

C. Dewitt: =/\= We have an unidentified filament-based structure on the bridge. It appears to have manifested directly inside the compartment. Unknown composition, unknown function. We are treating it as potentially hostile. ::pause:: We are also proceeding with an away team to the Alien vessel. Lieutenant Torrado is accompanying the team. =/\=

Zerva: =/\= Yes sir, we appreciate the update. Commander, based on the available information we have, I think our best course of action would be to get engineering back in the science labs. My recommendation is Lieutenant Michaels and myself hook up with Captain Naxell and the science team there on deck 16. We can assist them in finding the answers we need. I’ll have Alpha and Beta Shifts stationed between Engineering decks on the lookout, should those filaments decide engineering isn’t enough and sneak their way to other parts of the ship. =/\=

Michaels: =/\= I am concerned about Captain Naxell. :: beat :: Should I come to the bridge to assist in dealing with this new... structure? =/\=

C. Dewitt: =/\= Negative. ::speaking calmly, but firmly:: The Captain is cared for. I want you to begin cataloging these filament structures shipwide. I need to know how many we’re dealing with, where they are and whether they continue spreading. =/\=

Zerva: ::to Lera:: Looks like that sensor data will come in handy after all.

Michaels: =/\= Sir. There could be several thousand of them. =/\=

Zerva: =/\= Yes sir, we’re on it. =/\=

C. Dewitt: =/\= Use all security and engineering resources you we can spare. I need to know what systems might be affected. ::pause:: Also issue a shipwide advisory. No direct contact, everyone needs to be careful. If you have any data on these report immediately back to me. =/\=

Michaels: =/\= Yes sir. =/\= :: to Zerva :: You have security teams around the ship. You should handle the ship-wide advisory.

Zerva: =/\= We’ll upload the sensor data that Ensign Morda gave us and coordinate our efforts with security from Engineering and find you that data, sir =/\=

C. Dewitt: =/\= Anything else? =/\=

Zerva: =/\= No sir, that is all. Ezra out =/\=

Michaels: Engineering is on the way to Deck 16. I should check their status before going to Science.

Zerva: We’ll convene there with the security shifts now that we are no longer heading off directly to deck 16. I think engineering will make a good place to get started.

Ezra turned to the members of Gamma Shift in sickbay.

Zerva: Kelana, I want you and your team to start here on deck 6. Work with the remaining medical team in sickbay using the sensor data that Ensign Morda uploaded into the computer and then make you way up, sweeping all decks between here and deck 2. Keep myself and Lieutenant Michaels updated. I want to know the moment you find anything.

Kelana: Yes sir. You can count on us.

Zerva: And Kelana? No unnecessary risk. You heard the XO. Be careful.

Michaels: :: to Zerva :: You have security teams around the ship. You should handle the ship-wide advisory?

((Brief Timeskip. Deck 12, Engineering, USS Khitomer))

Zerva: =/\= Attention all hands, attention. This is Lieutenant Zerva. I have been advised to issue a shipwide security advisory. The nearby nebula is emitting nearly invisible filaments that have been located on the bridge and engineering. Use the sensor data uploaded by Ensign Morda in the ship's computer to locate them. Avoid direct contact and do not touch them. Send your findings directly to engineering, where we have set up a monitoring station to coordinate with the XO and all departments. =/\=

After Ezra finished his announcement, he spoke with a pair from the security teams. Lera went to her locker in the Engineering breakroom, pondering the alien filament problem and grabbed a cold, sweet, lemon-lime flavored drink. She pulled off the tunic and for the first time got the full picture of how many filaments had created how many cuts. Lera shook her head. They had been lucky the cuts they had received had been as minor as they had been. There must have been hundreds of the razor sharp filaments in the Jeffries Tube. She discarded the tunic and pulled on her spare tunic before closing the locker again.

Michaels: ::to herself:: How exactly are we going to count and categorise the variety of something that we can not see? You can not count what you can not detect. They are functionally invisible. What I need is a way to make them clearly visible. Thicker perhaps.

She leaned back against the bulkhead and closed her eyes. For a moment, she daydreamed of the walk she had taken on that rainy day at the Academy. Rain was something she had seen precious little of in Marathon where it rained only a couple days a month. In the Academy gardens there had been a spider repairing its web after the rain.

Lera lifted the beverage container to her lips, stopped abruptly and stared at the container. She tapped her communicator.

Michaels: =/\= Ginny. I need to bounce a thought off you. Can you come in here for a minute or two? =/\=

Ginny entered the room a moment later.

Lacy: Response

Michaels: I just had a thought about our thread problem. I want you to tell me why it will not work. Dewitt wants us the catalog the alien filaments on the ship... You are aware of the filament issue, are you not?

Lacy: Response

Michaels: We need to set up a collection system so that as the filaments are detected, we can keep track of their locations. Perhaps we will detect a pattern. Ultimately the problem is seeing the filaments. They are so thin that they are functionally invisible. :: Holding up her beverage container so Ginny could see it. :: And this may be the answer to that.

Lacy: Response

Michaels: Not the beverage. The container. There is condensation on the container. If we could get water vapor wherever we think there might be filaments, droplets would cling to them because of the water's surface tension. It would be like a spider's web after a rain. :: beat :: We may not be able to see the filament directly but we could see the droplets. If we lower the temperature to below the freezing point of water, the water will not just condense on the filaments but freeze as well. :: beat :: What do you think? Will it work?

Lacy: Response

((Brief Timeskip. Deck 12, Engineering, USS Khitomer))

Ezra was watching as she returned to his side.

Zerva: ::nodding:: Ready?

Michaels: I am finished here. I assume we are now heading down to Deck 16 now.

Zerva: All lower decks are now being swept by Beta Shift. I’ve got Gamma Shift covering the upper decks and Alpha Shift is here keeping tabs in engineering. I think our best course of action is to —

Chenn: =/\= Transporter Room two to Lieutenant Zerva? Uh crewman Chenn here. =/\=

Zerva: =/\= Go ahead crewman. =/\=

Chenn =/\= Uh sir you might want to make your way here to deck 9. I think, uh, I think I've found some of those fil-a-ments you talked about. They’re in the… Oh my, is that… blood? =/\=

Ezra cast a quick glance at Lera.

Michaels: =/\= Chenn. Mark that location and then back away slowly and carefully. =/\=

Zerva: ::to Lera:: Looks like we’ve got our first location. Better grab a medkit on the way out.

Michaels: I will be just a moment. There are several nearby.

Zerva: =/\= Hold on Chenn, we’re on our way now =/\=

El’Heem: =/\= El’Heem to Lieutenant Michaels. Where are you? =/\=

Lera took a deep breath, sighed, rolled her eyes in a most un-Vulcan like manner and glanced up at Ezra.

Michaels: Now what? =/\= Michaels here. I am in Engineering. Is there a problem I need to attend to? =/\=

El’Heem: =/\= Change of plans. You and I have been conscripted for the away team. Meet me in the shuttle bay as soon as possible. We’re late. =/\=

Michaels: =/\= Understood. I am on my way. =/\=

Tags/TBC

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LtJg Lera Michaels

Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2