Hacking the College

Posted on Thu Jul 15th, 2021 @ 7:22am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Commander Kara Starr {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Season 5: Episode 2: Operation Save Humanity
Location: Equinox Bridge
Timeline: MD - 18 1530 hrs
1921 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure

"Okay Kara.. I'm ready to attempt to hack them." Arri noted. "Good thing I know my Cousin's password for access." Arri mentioned. "When you've chased an empress around the palace in a game of hide and seek. You learn things."

Kara nodded. “Remind me not to play any games with you!” She smiled warmly, “I’m ready when you are.”

Arri typed on a console and then began to log onto the college. Her hands typed fast, creating distractions across the university's network. Attacks that would go nowhere to keep the technicians chasing alarms. Then She began downloading the counter-borg research as quicly as she could. Effectively locking most of the technicians out. Okay, c'mon. Don't trace us....

"What are you doing?" Lily asked from the doorway.

"I'm following your example and I am stealing data on Counter-Borg technologies. And thus cementing my.... infamous reputation as a ne'er-do-well, a scoundrel, and a vagabond." Arri noted.

Kara smiled. “So you have a reputation then? How long do you think this will take?”

"Kara... I'm focusing on the Nanite research. Which in and of itself is a hundred thousand kiloquads of dedicated studies of the assimilation process, the construction of reinforced endoskeletons within Borg drones, and I have to download all this from multiple laboratories specializing in diffierent aspects of counterassimilation process." Arri mentioned.

Kara nodded. “Right... so an Uber amount of time then!” She offered a wry smile.

"We're going to need all this research Kara. I just hope my people forgive me... Nanotechnology is not a trifle thing, unfortunately." Arri mentioned. "And we will have to destroy this technology and the copy of this knowledge when we are done with it, as people can make horrors with this."

Kara nodded. “Can’t we make sure your people get a copy of their information back? It seems harsh to take it all for our use and just destroy it, but I do understand why.”

"The original data will be backed up and intact. I will not jeopardize research that will one day be of great help to the Federation in many way." Arrianna mentioned. "Later, a message will be found and delivered to my cousin. Asking for utmost discretion. We can do this Kara. We can get these things out of Cragen's slaves. But we'll have to do it like a renegade would. Perhaps this act could draw attention to us from parties that would be interested in Cragen's downfall."

“Perhaps so” Kara nodded in agreement, then walked over to the replicator to get herself a mug of ginger tea.

After an hour, Arri spoke. "I have the research. Arri began to do some work on Kara's scans. "Impressive Cragen. She thought some more. Kara, these are indeed reprogrammed Borg Nanoprobes. The problem were facing is they've integrated into my heart walls. Tampering will activate them."

Kara looked at Lily then back at Kate. “I was afraid of something like that.”

Lily Sighed "Kate..."

"I have one idea.. you won't like it. A specially tuned interplexing subspace signal could activate the base intelligence of the nanoprobes. The probes will deconstruct what they have built, and then proceed to assimilate me. But since the native borg intelligence is quite single minded. We can neutralize the nanoprobes the minute they finish with omicron particles..." Arri noted. "But this is not going to be pleasant and...."

"Borg.. Kate,"

"There is nothing I fear more than being borg."

“Hell no!” Kara shook her head. “You’re the only one here with knowledge to be able to reverse that and if anything goes wrong we’ll have a Borg drone running around trying to assimilate everyone!” She looked at Lily. “It’s madness! We have to find another way!!”

"There is no other way!!" Arri ntoed. "If we try to tamper with these nanites in any way, Cragen can flip a switch and kill me and Josie in an instant. Worse if he decides to reclaim me.. I'll become a sex crazed lunatic again." Arri noted. "We can use a subspace dampening field to prevent me from linking, and Omicron Particles to destroy the Nanoprobes once they have finished. If we succeed here, I can refine the treatment further into a medium we can carry with us." Arri sighed. "Even if I die.... Josie will be free of him."

"And what will that do to her?" Lily asked softly. "Arri, while I understand your line of thought, But No. We will find another way."

Kara breathed a sigh of relief as she sipped her mug of ginger tea. “There has to be a different approach to this Kate.”

Kate spoke. "How do I do it.. It's impossible. All of my people's brightest engineers, and we've never succeeded at reprograming borg nanoprobes. How did he do it? Only a borg could do that..."

"He is very old" Lily said softly. "If he has been looking for Josie for centuries, he will have seen much in technological changes and maybe even more than that." She studied Kate. "Kate, did Josie ever say if she and Westin had been discovered by anyone in the 1660's?"

Arri thought a moment. "No... Josephine spent most of her time at her residence, not interfering with history. But there were court events in England and Scotland that required her attention. She was beautiful to them. Intelligent. Many courtiers desired her hand, but she refused them all. I need to ponder this.”

"So Westin may have done more than what he admitted to?" Lily shrugged. "He is not going to forthcoming so, we will just have to go with trying to learn more."

“Wait... am I missing something?” Kara looked at Lily and Kate curiously. “Are you say Josie is from the 1600’s?”

"No, she is from now. She was trapped in the past a few years ago."Lily replied.

Kara nodded. “I bet that sent temporal investigations mad! I bet they were all over it for a while afterwards.”

"Yeah, so much so that James Westin was sent to New Zealand and Josie lost her rank and is blocked for promotion for years." Lily said sourly.

Kara shook her head. “That is just so unfair. Anyway... how are we going to sort this Borg nanite problem?”

"What we are not going to do is be rash" Lily said firmly. "And who knows, we may be able to track down Cragen and he might have information we can use."

Kara nodded. “Will you both excuse me a minute” Getting up she headed to the bathroom, the ginger tea seemed to provide some relief for her morning sickness but not quite enough.

Kate sighed. "Lily... There may be a possibility" She noted. "I often melded with Josie several times and experienced a few of her memories during her time in 1662. With enough deep meditation, I may be able to sift through what Josie shared with me... Maybe learn a few things."

"Ok.. Thats if she remembers him, she may not have even met him. Or seen him. I tell you Cragen is a creepy stalker if he has been there from then" Lily gave an exaggerated shudder.

“That’s just it” Kara looked at both as she returned from the bathroom feeling a little better. “I remember now, Cragen told me that he’d been looking for her for over 700 years! He said they knew each other very well back then.”

"We have other means of investigation. If he learned from James Weston who they were, and learned from Josephine from James Weston... Then chances are he was aware of my away team's nature after the Elysium found itself in the 1662." Kate mentioned. "So, knowing he was actively searching for Josephine for almost seven hundred years... I could follow that search back to him. He had to have informants in the Federation to locate Josephine... And a means to acquire Borg Nanotechnology." Arrianna noted. "There was the Runabout nearby Josie's castle Lily. It is possible that Cragen learned when Josie would be born, at what time she would disappear. From then, he had a rough outline of whom to look for... But he couldn't gain access to me while I and Josie were in Federation space. Neither on Earth or Pacifica, or after the Mirror Universe incident. Acquiring her before the VOID incident would have created a paradox. He had to acquire both me and her at the same time." Kate noted. "Unfortunately... I proved more valulable to him than he first anticipated." Arrianna bowed her head. "A Personality formed in my mind. Completely loyal to Cragen... Based on... a desire for the endless pain to stop... It was a defense mechanism based on the drugs and nanites I was given Lily. I became Flossi. And she began to enslave others... and She assisted in his attempts to break my own mate. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop hurting my mate.. I had no control." Kate noted. "The Drugs... Completely locked out my personality. and if I was bought by anyone else than you... I would have been Flossi after a few years." Arri noted with a sigh. She was more focused, Less heartbroken, but she was still there.

"Lily... If I can remove the drugs and the nanites.. I think I can reach Josie in her mind... Flossi tried very hard to suppress me, and that is a mistake Cragen has made... No matter what happens, when the fear of torture subsides... The Defense Mechanism of Flossi failed." Arri smirked.

"Flossi..." Arri chuckled a bit. "Lily. What kind of man names an Alindari such.... a horrendous name... Our names should be reflections of the greatness we want our children to be.. Inspirations for us to achieve.. It is like naming someone Penelope... Phoenix is far more suitable."

"My mother wanted me named Persephone. My father disagreed. He said, my place was as a faithful wife. Which is what my name means in English. That being said, being called the Bringer of Destruction isn't much better." Lily quipped

"Lily... How did you do it... hold on through all that Torture... While I surrendered the Elysium to save you... and ended up surrendering myself failing to save Josie..." Arri noted... "It was just so painful and excruciating."

Lily looked off into the distance almost. "Same way I held it together when we were captured by the Romulans. I put my focus elsewhere. Then it was staying calm for Liselle and Lia. Gary I was not worried about. His file has so many 'redacted' parts I figured he had black ops in his past. When they caught me unawares and beamed me to the ISS Elysium, I reminded myself that I was strong enough to endure a Romulan prison cell and almost drowning several time that i could hold out until the truth came out. I met my duplicate. She had no spine, no one to show her any kindness. No one pulled her off the Whipping pole. No one was there to give her the help I had. I knew she would muck it up. Then, when they showed me the crew, I knew my crew well enough to know that through everything, they would succeed. And people would survive." Lily said. "Now I keep that in mind every day."

Arri thought moment. "And that is why I need to come for Josie... Like I did you.... I cannot fail. We will find Cragen, and his master."

Lily touched Arri's shoulder and left her to her thoughts.