Building Connections though Technology

Posted on Sat Nov 25th, 2023 @ 2:08am by Lieutenant JG Dr. Anna-Lee McEntyre Ph.D & Lieutenant Commander Rin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Computer Core
Timeline: Before current mission
2064 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

On:
Rin strode with her usual formal, slightly stiff gait as she walked into the central hub of the computer core. Asking around for the location of Dr. Anna-Lee McEntyre, she eventually came across a space in the corner of the room hemmed in by racks of isolinear chips and other appropriate devices, while a large console with holoscreens and keyboards was set in the middle of it all.

Rin poked her head in. "Hello? Dr. McEntyre?"

Anna pops up, clearly having been asleep, her fur disheveled, hair a mess with just the faint amount of drool at the side of her muzzle. Clearly she had been working and crashed from the look of the holographic screens still displaying code blocks and a flashing cursor indicating that she was mid code when she conked out.

“I’M AWAKE!”

She yelps out hearing her name being called, looking around quickly before setting on the woman in front of her desk.

“Sorry…sorry, think I crashed there for a moment. How can I help you?”

She asks with a curious smile.

Rin's one remaining eyebrow lifted slightly for a moment, before her expression returned to one of neutrality.

"Afternoon, Doctor. I'm Lt Rin. I hoped to talked to you about a project. I've been given permission to be able to link up mentally with the computer system. That's going to require some specialized code, if more no other reason than to protect the system from unwanted intrusion."

Anna tilts her head for a moment, before she speaks again.

“That can be done by any PADD device running LCARS 108 or later.”

She pulls out a drawer, pulling out an energy drink from it. She cracks it open and starts drinking from it.

Rin was a bit taken aback. No protests about security or her own safety? No warnings of how long and complicated a project would be? She wondered if she had not been as clear in her description as she thought. "Um...Excellent. But how would we be using a PaDD? And what do you need from me?"

Anna tilts her head again in confusion

“Did no one give you access credentials for the ship’s LCARS system? You said you were given permission to link with the Main Computer, then you should have been given your access credentials when you arrived on ship during your first day orientation.”

She says as she finished off the can she was drinking and tosses it into a refuse bin and pulls out another and opens it.

Rin blinked a couple times as she tried parsing what Anna had just said as she watched Anna knock back the entire energy drink. "Ok, let's try this again," Rin stated. She didn't seem mad, although she did slow her words down just a bit and give them extra emphasis, as if perhaps speaking to someone mentally fuzzy with a hungover. "Hello, I am Lt. Rin, the Chief of Intelligence, I have a computer in my head and I would like to be able to directly interface with the ship's computer."

Anna blinks for a moment as if she was thinking hard about what Rin had told her.

“No shit? Really? That amazing!”

Anna got up coming around to get a better look at Rin.

“Now I see the implants, did Intel give those to you, didn’t know they had gone forward with those projects. I was toying with something like this at Daystrom but never could get it off the ground.”

She started rambling, a big smile on her face.

Rin leaned closer to examine the Caitian, half wondering if the officer was having a stroke or something. It wasn't often Rin had to explain what she was. It was rather written all over her face. She didn't get the impression Anna was playing dumb as some sort of joke.

"Lieutenant, are you ok?" Rin asked.

Anna looks up

"Wait…”

She moves to the side then back again.

“These are Borg implants aren’t they? xB, I take it?”

Anna asks politely.

“And to answer your prior question, I’m as ok as one can be running on very little sleep."

"In order: yes I am, and why aren't you sleeping?"

"Part of Caitian traits, and a caffiene habit that just doesn't quit."

Anna beams before continuing, picking up one of her custom PADDs and Styluses, starting to scribble.

"Now, linking Borg and Federation tech is kinda tricky, and you're right about the coding being quite specialized but I can recreate alot of the work of Seven of Nine from her time on Voyager from scratch. Now, Elysium has that A.I, Avalon, which makes it alot more difficult that getting your brain to plug and play with the Main Computer."

Anna starts rambling again, taking notes as she talks.

"Actually, the one time I've done it was in tandem with Avalon," Rin interjected, grabbing a chair for herself. "But that's not the goal here. I just want to be able to access some of the data more efficiently than through a damn terminal. Those are..." she gestured at the doctor's computer interface "frustratingly inefficient. And I'm only looking for access to data. Not for control over ship functions. That's a back door for all sorts of problems."

“We can do that, we’ve just got to isolate a data stream, and boost the signal from your cortical implants to keep sync with the ships computer”

Rin nodded. "That all sounds reasonable." Remarkably reasonable, in fact. "What do you need from me?"

"More details about your implants would be a good start. Need to know what kind of hardware I'm working with so I can code the software and such"

Anna smiles soflty as she picks up her PADD and pencil again.

"All of the implants are between 34 and 17 years old, with the exception of a small amount added to correct necessary tech that was breaking down. May I?"

Rin reached over and tapped Anna's keyboard, pulling up all of her medical files related to her implants. The material was sizable, filling up the holographic displays. It included 8 years of Federation documentation, with notes of older surgeries having been done previous to her return to the Federation by a people labeled "Tavarans." Her implants had been removed in stages. Some of the work had not been terribly clean. The Federation had done some significant reconstruction of her face.

"I expect you will treat this material as both confidential and classified," Rin stated, stepping back from the terminal so Anna could better examine the data.

“Of Course, Starfleet Medical Regulations on cybernetics are treated as classified.”

Anna examines the data.

“Some of this looks like shoddy work in terms of how they removed the implants. Thats a lot of scar tissue for what should be a simple extraction. I may have to examine you closer to find where we need to begin. They took out several that might be conductive to what you’re wanting to do in terms of linking into the computer.”

“The Federation work looks decent, though I’d like to see more about the reconstruction. I may have to build a new implant to link with the remaining ones as a controller.”

Rin nodded. She didn't love the idea of a new implant, but she had gone into this knowing it might be a necessity. "After the accident I used what remains of the assimilation hardware to connect to the computers, but that required driving a tubule through the console, which I'm sure Ops would prefer I not do. Also, it would probably eventually fry my head."

She flipped through the pages of her holographic records, pulling up an image of herself when she was first encountered by Starfleet. While some of the hardware had been stripped, she still had most of her visual implants, and the skin pulled oddly in places where incisions and sutures had been put.

"That was how I looked when I returned to the Federation. I had already spent several years as an xB at that point. Much of the work was done at the hands of other xBs, and aesthetics had not exactly been a priority. The people we lived among had never met a human nor a Borg. We were quite a mystery to them."

Rin flipped to another picture, her official service photo from before assimilation. Even though the 22-year-old's expression was neutral, you could still see a glint in her eyes, a tiny bit of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, curly hair framing her face. In short, the image of a Starfleet ensign ready to go on her first adventure. At first glance, one might think her to be Rin's sister or daughter, rather than Rin herself. "The Federation used this image as a base when they repaired by face."

"You're xB. That's fascinating, I've only really ever heard about Seven of Nine but she's notorious for dodging requests to talk."

Anna commented looking still over the various files.

"Yeah, I was thinking something like Old Earth bluetooth or WiFi tech. Something that'll allow you to link with the computer as naturally as thinking, but it would require a full study and workup. I'd also would need to study your current range of Implants to see about compatability issues."

"I can understand Seven's reluctance," Rin replied. "I imagine a whole lot of people wanted to poke and prod what they saw as a freak."

“I see her as a most fascinating person. I’d love to get to know her more and understand how she manages with the implants and how I’d might be able to help others with theirs. I always thought that technology should be used to enhance and improve the life of everyone. Better prostheses for injured officers, individuals with disabilities.”

Anna elaborates.

“Seven is the farthest thing from being a freak. She’s her own true self and I think that what everyone should be, comfortable in their own skins.”

"I'm glad we agree on Seven," Rin said neutrally. "And I'm sure you are well aware why we are extremely resistant to the use of Borg tech. And I'm going to be very upset if I find any of this..." she pointed to the medical records "...show up in a pet project, classified or otherwise."

“Consent is non negotiable, I don’t do anything without consent of all parties involved, period.”

"Good. Too many people think our tech is public domain."

“Have you had others try to take your tech? Once it’s inside your person, that’s a gross violation of Ethics, and Law. I’d consider that Assault and Battery or worse”

"I've never personally had someone attempt to take the tech within me by force, although others are not so lucky. We're a commodity to some." Rin pointed at the screen again. "My point is none of this information is to be used for something outside of this specific project. Do not recreate or reverse engineer it. It usually ends tragically... all the way back to the original Borg."

Rin took a breath to let herself relax. It was a touchy subject. "You seem very eager to get hold of this information, no doubt with the best of intentions, but even best intentions with this tech goes badly. I'm not making accusations. I just need to absolutely clear on the matter."

Anna nods in agreement.

“Your tech is your tech. Nothing leaves this lab without your full knowledge or consent. If I’d want to develop something, I’d have you involved in the project from the beginning and with full knowledge of what was going on.”


"Thank you," Rin said sincerely. She really did not want to have to vacuum up another overeager scientist, whose remains were now secured in Intel. "So, how do we proceed from here?"

“I would defer to you, since it is your tech and body we’re speaking of, I’d like your input on how to proceed. Ideally scans of your implants connectivity and pathways, followed by analysis of the results.”

"I can do that. Shall we go down to medical?"

Anna Smiles.

"Lets! I'm sure that Dr. Sthilg would help us with this.

Anna says as she head for the door with Rin and started for sickbay.

OFF