Ensign Alyndra Syrex - Dividing by Zero

[Alyndra Syrex]

((Ward C, Sickbay Complex, Deck 10, USS Ronin))

 

Syrex: =^= Ensign Syrex to the bridge, intruder Alert, Deck 10. =^=

 

Niac: =/\= Niac to Syrex, say again? =/\=

 

Winded, Alyndra attempted to describe the runaway ensign. Just as she began her sentence, the tricorder beeped to alert Alyndra.

 

Syrex: =^= Young, human, male, ::Catching breath:: Gold uniform, wait… no that’s not right. Sir, I am picking up two distinct lifeforms in a single entity, one human, one… changeling  =^=

 

As the words left Alyndras mouth, she couldn’t believe what she heard, why would there be a changeling here? Did this have something to do with the strange tactics employed by the Lattice Alliance?

 

Niac: =/\= Standby Ensign but do not engage. =/\=

The small handheld communicator emitted a soft chirp, signalling that the transmission had been terminated. Alyndra couldn't help but worry about the potential complications the changeling might bring to the already precarious situation on the ship. She highly doubted that the individual they were chasing was Deep Space Nine's renowned former security chief.

 

Alyndra had lost track of time and couldn't recall much from the past few minutes, possibly due to shock or a minor head injury. She found herself explaining the situation to what she hoped was a genuine security officer. Her suspicions were confirmed when the ship's security chief entered the room.

 

She felt the same unease toward the chief as what she felt toward most security officers. Despite knowing she did the right thing; she couldn't help but begin to sweat and feel her chest tighten. The only security officer she didn't feel uneasy around was her roommate, T’Fearne. However, Alyndra suspected that was because of their time together in their quarters before the Ronin departed for its mission, leaving Alondra’s friend behind on Deep Space 33.

The security chief, Lt Commander Carpenter turned to face Alyndra after presumably discussing the situation with her team.

Carpenter: Thank you for the heads up, Ensign...?

 

Syrex: Ensign Syrex ::Straightens Back::, Lt Commander

 

Lt Commander Carpenter nodded in acknowledgement, edging her eyes carefully down the corridor.

 

Carpenter: Syrex. I'm Carpenter. Sorry we aren't meetin' under better circumstances.

 

Syrex: Believe me, the feeling is mutual.

 

Carpenter points down the corridor.

 

Carpenter: Down this way, you said? And in Gold?

 

Syrex: That's right. He wore a gold uniform, I'm not sure which division though. I didn't see where he went very well because… my face was on the floor when he ran away. But I believe he went that way, yes.

 

Carpenter turned her body in what looked like a well-practised manoeuvre towards one of her colleagues. Who appeared to be scanning the area with a tricorder, whilst another of the security officers peered down the corridor.

 

Carpenter: Y'all stay on me. We'll run 'em down, confirm biometrics, and then lock. Them. Down. Captain wants this handled yesterday.

 

Lamia: Copy, Chief.

 

Weintraub: On you, sir. 

 

Syrex: I’ll help however I can, chief.

 

The security chief held a small phaser in a downward grip and started to move forward. She kept looking back and forth between the path and the tricorder in her colleague's hands. Unsure if she was dismissed, Alyndra followed them down the corridor at a distance, after grabbing a med-kit, just in case.

 

((Port Observation Lounge/Mess, Deck 10, U.S.S. Ronin.))

 

Surprisingly, the security team didn't spot the positive proximity signal or the biological particulate trail as they walked further into the deck. It was instead the sound of glass shattering that caught their attention. Alyndra knew by how their ears perked when she heard the noise, they all had heard it simultaneously

Proceeding in the direction of the noise, the team soon caught a glimpse of someone who was, to Alyndra, the familiar figure in a gold uniform. At their feet, were remnants of the glass, which had alerted them to the presence of the figure in the first place. The figure, who was shimmering with an unnatural hue, seemed to be metaphorically glued to the port window.

 

Carpenter: That them? ::she said through the side of her pursed lips toward Syrex::

 

Syrex: Yes, that’s them

 

The figure's silence snapped, without turning to face Alyndra and the security officers.

 

Changeling Agent: Happy Frontier Day. ::they point to the platform outside:: Yer gonna love the presents. 

 

Alyndra wondered what the presents the changeling brought along were, perhaps this was a peace offering from the Dominion

 

Syrex: oO Yeah right, the only peace offering from the Dominion is in the barrel of a gun Oo

 

Carpenter: Stand down. I won't ask twice.

 

The agent let out a contemptuous scoff, the movement of their entire neck trembling with the force of the sound. Alyndra noticed that the agent's skin had changed to a sickly colour, unlike what she had seen in sickbay earlier.

 

Changeling Agent: Monoforms. Always tryin' to swim uphill. Or is it...

 

The changeling agent turned to face the team, their appearance shifting between multiple forms. First came someone Alyndra didn’t recognise, then the captain, then eventually the form of Ensign James. Whatever had happened to him was unknown to her, but he clearly wasn’t here now. The form of Ensign James however wasn’t held for very long. The agent either didn’t want to, or couldn’t hold that form, reverting to a humanoid prototype, further cementing in Alyndra’s head that Ensign James and this changeling were two separate entities.

 

Changeling Agent: Oh, whatever...

 

The changeling cut its sentence anxiously short, no sooner had it done that, it had bolted itself forward. The closest analogy for what happened would be to say it smashed through the tables in the lounge, but that wouldn’t be true. The agent quite skilfully moved through the tables, like waves of water sloshing onto a rocky shore. Its limbs began to shoot off in multiple directions, one sending a security officer, (whom Alyndra had heard them be referred to as Weintraub) back into the corridor outside the room. Another tendril shot in the direction of Chief Carpenter, luckily the other security officer had been able to relinquish a few shots towards the changeling, appearing to affect their physical form, but not in a useful way to the team. Instead, the shots sparkled out cosmetically across the lounge.

 

The changeling agent thrust itself towards Carpenter, whatever it was doing to her, Alyndra didn’t think it was pleasant, especially not by the face the chief of security was making. The agent’s blank face simultaneously showed the closest thing Alyndra could think of as anger.

 

Changeling Agent: Once our Alliance is through, the universe will be-

 

Carpenter silenced his taunt language with a savage and sudden headbutt. One that seemed to shock him, alongside making Alyndra think “Oh Damn” and changing the agent into a mostly solid state. Thankfully to the Chief, the agent was thrown, giving Carpenter the perfect opportunity to grab a weapon with their recently freed hands. A cannonade of stun bolts peppered the body of the Agent, driving them into a sitting position at the very same table they had ignored the physical properties of just a few seconds earlier.

The security officers weren’t as able to dodge as the changeling. However two ropes of milky Gold slime shot from the being's shoulders, slapping cloyingly at their weapons.

The Chief, however, appeared to have other plans, trying to close the space, pressing the little advantage they had. Though not nearly with enough speed, she stepped heavily up onto the table's bench seat with her left foot and brought her right surging upward. Catching the Agent flush with the point of her knee in a sort of half-cocked superhero flight stance. As limbs seemingly made of wet sand started to try and gain purchase around the sides of her hips. She started to drive her elbow downward into the top of the Agent's murky head, shouting over her shoulder as she did so.

 

Carpenter: ENSIGN! THE ICERS!

 

Syrex: I’M SORRY ::Shouting in a panic:: I don’t know what an ICER is… I have this though… ::Voice trailing off::

 

Hastily, Alyndra whipped out her tricorder, swiftly and far from elegantly punching it with her fingers in an almost rhythmic way, before attaching a homemade module to the top she kept in her med kit. Before too long, the tricorder began to beep, then again. The increments of each beep getting quickly closer. With the greatest amount of force that Alyndra could muster at that moment, she threw the tricorder towards the changing agent, landing closely at what she assumed were its feet or closest equivalent.

 

After a few more close beeps, the tricorder let out a terrifying wail soon following was a ball of bright blue fire that engulfed the radius of the changeling, originating from the tricorder. The changeling reacted poorly to this, melting into a medium-sized puddle, covering a decent amount of the lounge floor real estate.

 

Alyndra was glad the technique her brother, Voren had developed, subsequently teaching her back home, to configure a tricorder to “Overheat” a specific species came in useful out here. She’d only learned it to deal with an infestation of Cardassian Vole her other brother, Topa had brought back to Trill from his trip to Bajor, today she owed them both one.

 

Syrex: I doubt that’ll last long, you probably have three minutes, tops oO Tricorders did never like diving by Zero, a little amplification didn’t hurt anybody, except the changeling of course Oo.

 

[To be Continued…]

 

Ensign Alyndra Syrex

Medical Officer

USS Ronin (NCC-34523)

R240107AS3