Lt. Cmdr. Alieth - In The Lion's Den
Alieth
((Cockpit, USS Rhine, Outside the J-0922A System))
In the Ensign
Syrex's first away team, she had already shown herself to be an
attentive (if mildly jumpy) officer and had found a debris pattern
that appeared to be heading in the direction of the Rhine. A sweep
of the passive scanners, polarised, revealed that not only the number
of objects was greater than they had initially identified, close to a
dozen, but that they weren't merely debris, but that their
displacement had been induced by the movement of something that
Alieth hadn't seen for almost four years. Something she had been
fortunate enough to observe as an ensign shortly after arriving on
the Thor and which, by and large, few space travellers ever encounter
on their journeys.
Alieth: It is a gormagander pod. This can help us.
The gaze of the petite Vulcan turned away from her display for a moment to watch the main screen, where the first of the space whales broke through the debris barrier that had concealed it so far, then gaped open its mighty maw and began to engulf minute alpha particles. The creature's underbelly and tentacles flashed a pattern of brightly coloured lights as the rest of the pod followed, a large group of adults trailed by a couple of younglings.
Lorana: :: awed :: They are magnificent … I've never seen such a thing before..
Syrex: Response
For a few seconds, everyone remained staring at the creatures, a natural spectacle rarely seen, as the creatures gracefully danced among the debris, the station and the void of space, in a synchronised and breathtakingly beautiful choreography.
As two of the larger adults were about to slip past the runabout once more, the commander broke the silence, her fascinated trance shattered by the unique opportunity the spacefaring creatures offered them.
Alieth: Miss Lorana, follow them and squeeze between them, we will be disguised enough to get within a few hundred metres of that structure, even more if we cloack our armonics once more. We will have a good view of whatever that is.
Lorana: :: excited :: Understood.
The Caitian triggered the thrusters and with light, smooth precision, the Rhine glided among the pod members, another performer in the space ballet that had been going on since before some of the civilizations from which the team members hailed existed.
Raedai: We'll depend on how they move, but I think I can create a fake lifesign, that we look like one of them for a casual scan.
Silently, Alieth nodded towards the Romulan, appreciative of the insightful statement, and motioned gently with her hand that he should proceed.
Syrex: Response
Lorana: Look at them :: to Syrex :: You see the colouration of the underbelly, where the appendages tense … that's how they communicate with the younglings. It causes slight vibrations in the space between them. It's truly remarkable, we learnt about them in the academy. I've never had the pleasure of seeing them.
Raedai: Shouldn't these beings be affected by all the radiation in the area?
Once again, the observation made the Vulcan rethink the presence of the creatures in the area. They were rare, and sometimes one could count the sightings in a century with the fingers of only one hand. And yet there was a pod of remarkable size, feeding contentedly, encircling the structure as if it were a fertile fishing ground. Would the Sencha radiation, or the degraded particles from its use, have something that attracted the pod? If so, and somehow the space whales were feeding of it… Would they hold the key to resisting or nullifying the powerful energy? Both interesting possibilities to explore.
Alieth: The presence of the gormangander so close to the structure suggests that they may be attracted to Sencha radiation. We should monitor their movements and activities while we still can, maybe we can learn something useful from their behaviour.
Syrex: response
Lorana: We can review the scans when we get back to the Ronin.
The deliberately silent ‘if’ in the sentence echoed loudly in Alieth's ears, but she too decided to keep her finger out of the problem.
Alieth: If they feed on particulates derived from radiation activity, we may be able to develop a countermeasure or contention mechanism from their digestive process.
The Vulcan sought to vocalize just the positive points of the encounter. Their mission already had too many things that could go awry, and they were in constant risk of being discovered, so any little detail that could focus the group's mind on the possible blessings of the future, away from the difficulties they were facing, sounded beneficial to the morale of the emotional beings, so she pointed out one of the options that she would be interested in.
Alieth: Or, if their presence here is merely circumstantial, the analysis of the behaviour of such a large family group will be interesting enough to write a paper on.
Syrex: Response
The pod approached the structure again, now up close its ovoid shape embellished by crystalline-looking structures and bulbous protrusions, like blisters in disease-ridden flesh. It was an ominous sight, and even more so when they went under the structure and its brutal mass hid what little light came from the stars. Only the lights emitted by the whales, a mix of purple and blue, brightened the area, a glimmer of hope in that sinister voyage. The space creatures swirled around the bottom, dancing among the sharp black crystal daggers that protruded from the curves of the structure, in tight loops and ringlets. The Rhine followed suit, gliding under the creatures, barely using the thrusters and the animals' slipstream.
After the second loop, the pilot broke the silence.
Lorana: It's now or never. We're at the structure. Commander I can place the Rhine in a pattern with the gormagander pod. They're mid frenzy so they'll circle around for some time before moving on.
Alieth: If you can, arrange her to follow one of the biggest individuals, with a slight deviation up and down. It should fit the movement of one of the juveniles.
Syrex: Response
Lorana: That will work. I just need to adjust the flight pattern slightly. Are we ready?
Alieth:
Ensign Syrex, perform a passive scan of the area in search of LA
vessels.
Syrex:
Response
The tiny vulcan didn't stand still either and
monitored the scanner echoes, looking for vital signs of both silicon
and carbon based life inside the station. After the second scanner
ping, she confirmed what they already knew.
Alieth: The structure shows no life forms inside, so it is logical to assume that it is automated or remotely controlled. We can beam in.
Luxa nodded at her words.
Lorana: Transportation locked in. We'll have several minutes to get into our suits :: to Syrex :: We might need some more of those drugs?
Syrex: Response
Raedai: I'll stay behind to maintain the ship's systems and get it ready to jump to warp. If we are detected, there won't be a second to lose.
The Vulcan, who had
already stood up to head to the rear of the ship, to where the
transporter and EVA suits compartment were located, halted. She spun
around very slowly, staring at the Romulan long and hard, two pairs
of dark eyes meeting. She didn't trust him, not enough, and he strove
to increase that distrust every chance he got. Leaving him behind
could mean that, in a pinch, they would be left stranded, alone and
with no chance of escape. No one would know, he would claim they had
died in service or some other sob story of how he had waited till the
last moment hoping they would return before he was forced to escape,
with the Rhine badly damaged and on the verge of being
destroyed.
Niac would buy it, trusting as he was with that
man, Alieth had no idea why. And their death would be swept under the
rug, a lie within a lie that would leave the Romulan free and
unsupervised to carry out whatever nefarious plan he had in
mind.
The Vulcan's brows furrowed, her jaw tensed faintly,
as every fiber of her being urged her to refuse, to pull rank and
profession to force him to go with her. If anyone was to be left
behind, Lorana was a better choice.
And yet, the bearded
face of the legged tribble appeared once again in her mind's eye.
Karrod had asked her to trust Raedai. And she trusted Karrod. All
that was left to do was to take what humans would describe as a leap
of faith.
She peered into the eyes of the tallest
Vulcanoid, looking for something that would indicate that this leap
was justified. Or, on the contrary, that the betrayal she expected
would be delivered. The Romulan's dark brown eyes offered no
answer.
Alieth repressed the tiniest of sighs.
Alieth: It's okay. Keep a scan on the Gormangander and the structure, and a transporter lock on us. We will need you to get us out quickly if things go south.
Syrex: Response
Raedai: I've loaded the ship with suits prepared for a Y-class planet. So if the environmental system is prepared for the Sheliak or Tholians they should hold up, for a bit.
The commander nodded
slowly, and waved to the other two women to join her, before turning
for good and heading to the rear of the runabout.
Without
haste, but without wasting a moment, she began to put on the suit,
bulkier than a normal EVA, the extra layers of protection making the
process more cumbersome.
Lorana/Syrex: Response
From the cockpit, once again, came the voice of the Romulan.
Raedai: Although before beaming, we must check what kind of internal sensors they use. And what is the target, the less time in there, the less chance of detection and success.
Alieth: Proceed, Lieutenant Raedai, and beam us up when it is safer.
Safer being the key word, since it would never be safe to step into an enemy and unknown structure.
Lorana/Syrex: Response
With the suit on, Alieth turned to one of the material lockers, and pulled out a reinforced tricorder, a tiny PADD encased in a security casing, and a type 1 phaser. She fastened everything to the clasp in the suit, before she turned to the two officers.
Alieth: Are they ready and fully equipped?
Lorana/Syrex: Response
The petite Vulcan nodded and then, with extreme care, she took the combadge she had detached from her uniform and clasped it in the designated place on the outside of her suit.
Alieth: Lieutenant Raedai, everything ready to beam us up?
Raedai: Response
The petite commander took a second before giving the order. Just long enough to suppress the fear and excitement growing in equal parts in the lower part of her rib cage. As well as the desire that other officers (friends, colleagues, people she cherished and trusted) would be there with her at that moment. She could only hope that they were safe, and that the battle that was anticipated upon their arrival at DS33 spared them from death and injury.
Alieth: Beam us up.
[[One second later, corridor, 47th level, Lattice Alliance Unknown Structure.]]
The hallway lit up as the cascade of gold and blue sparks materialized the three women. But it was a brief glow, barely a spark, before it sank back into deep darkness. The corridor had a hexagonal section, with rounded edges, almost like a honeycomb, and stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted with small red lights at regular distances, tiny blood-coloured lights that barely managed to brighten a couple of feet away. The walls had strange bulbous panels, black and shiny like insect carapaces, interwoven in an organic-looking and somehow nauseating lattice, like petrified entrails made of black petroleum.
Alieth crouched down, her back pressed to one of the corners of the corridor, and she slowly reached for her tricorder, scanning the corridor from one side to the other.
Alieth: Temperature range 393 degrees kelvin. High ambient humidity. It seems that the Lieutenant has had a good intuition with these suits.
A kind of thick, heavy, whitish mist swirled in the corridor, clinging closely to the floor plates.
Lorana/Syrex/Raedai (optional): Response
Alieth: Are there signs of movement or energy nearby? Any indication of Sencha generators as we know them?
Lorana/Syrex/Raedai (optional): Response
[[Tags!/TBC]]
Lieutenant Commander Alieth
Chief Science Officer & 2O
E239702A10
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