Last looks

Posted on Tue Dec 19th, 2023 @ 12:18pm by Lieutenant N'vok Holv & Lieutenant Commander Rin & Lieutenant JG Dr. Anna-Lee McEntyre Ph.D & Teevs Dosivi & Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson

Mission: Season 6: Episode 4: Memory Lane
Location: Science Lab 2
Timeline: MD4?
1519 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

N'vok scanned the alien disc again, it was emitting the faintest levels of psi and chi energy, the sensors had to run as maximum gain to detect even that, but it was reflecting upsilon waves in an unusual way. But how, and if, was it related to the nightmares? And he only had an hour at most to work it out before having to follow the Commodore's orders and jettison it.

He had sent a request to the rest of the science department and others for ideas and to Lieutenant Rin, who seemed to have some sort of link to the object.

Knowing Lalor was eager to destroy the item, Rin felt almost compelled to attend the last examination of the device. If they could learn anything at all about its nature, perhaps that would convince them it was worth keeping. After all, it had been sitting quietly in Science for months.

Then again, if for somehow it was responsible, then she was responsible for bringing it aboard. But, surely, that wasn't possible, was it?

"Any feelings or sensations, Lieutenant?" asked N'vok, knowing that it had communicated -for lack of a better term- with her before. "It still seems mostly inert."

Rin paused for a moment, mentally taking stock of any unusual experiences, but there was nothing beyond the normal sights and sounds of the ship. "I don't feel anything. I haven't since we left the graveyard."

N'vok made notes. "Have you ever shown any other signs of psionic abilities? Telepathy? Empathy?" he asked.

Rin kept a straight face as she inwardly grimaced at the question. She still struggled with expressing even a mundane amount of empathy. And while she has had plenty of voices in her head, it definitely wasn't telepathy.

"I have no recollection of such experiences, and no such thing is noted in my medical files," she answered.

"I'm not the only one who appreciates this device. I believe everyone on that away mission felt the same," Rin continued as she thought back to when they had found the item. The experience was just a memory now. She hadn't felt such incredible joy since they left the station. The same everyone seemed to have felt...

As Rin finally put the pieces together, she dropped her head, turning her gaze downward and sighed. "Damn it. It did psychically affect us, didn't it? Everything I felt was just a way of getting it on the ship. This is all my fault. I'm sorry."

"An interesting supposition, Lieutenant," said N'vok, "like sweet bait to take poison back into a chalik nest." He mused over that. "It is possible but it still does not explain how it works."

"And it is certainly not your fault, even if the device is to blame for our nightmares. It is an alien artifact, we would have retrieved it even if had just been sitting there," he said. "And it was just sitting there, was it not? Unconnected to anything else in the location you found it. The bait theory is looking more and more plausible."

"Yes, unplugged. It just...it just felt like something... magnificent. Important. It was like... staring into a corner of the cosmos." Rin sighed. "That sounds ridiculous out loud."

“We could try to brute force our way into it”

Anna pops up, seemingly out of nowhere, a bright smile on her face and a large PADD in her hand.

“Could try to hack our way in, see if we can’t shut it down.”

"Not at all, Lieutenant Rin," said N'Vok. "If they can manipulate psionic energy in some way, what better way to attract people to the item? But, again, I am not sure how."

He turned to look to the Caitian and handed her another datapad. "Be my guest. Here is a list of the contact and interface protocols that have been tried, it is quite extensive, and none have triggered any response from the artifact so far."

Teevs was standing nearby, observing the device carefully while the others talked. He had heard rumors of a device that could produce nightmares, but nobody he met had ever seen one, so he assumed it wasn't real. And yet, there it was. His curiosity was battling his fear of the thing, preventing him from getting closer. Was this Thaih'ea technology? Was this how they captured ships? "Is it wise to tamper with this device?"

"Ah, our guest," said N'vok, "Welcome to science. I am N'vok, the chief here."

"Teevs Dosivi," the Lonain responded. The greeting provided the faintest offering of a distraction from the nightmare machine. He returned to inspecting the device from afar, now recognizing it through process of elimination. Despite the Thaih'ea utilizing technology from many different species, this device hardly seemed like any kind of amalgamation. It looked like it was their original technology, which was incredibly rare to even see, let alone obtain. If the circumstances were different, Teevs would almost feel bad for letting it be destroyed. "Knowledge of these devices is rare, if any. Have you detected any sign that it might broadcast if it's tampered with?" If this device could alert the Thaih'ea of their presence... a shiver blanketed Teevs' body at the thought.

"There is no indication it broadcasts at all, Mr Dosivi . . ." said N'vok his voice trailing off. "Does not broadcast." He connected his datapad up to the computer directly, using a cable, and starting running scans.

A bit of relief washed over Teevs. "That was my main concern about this device."



"If it was not being used for such insidious purposes, I would call it genius," said N'vok. "It does not broadcast, it reflects and amplifies psi and chi waves, and a little into the lamba band as well. Ah," he looks to Rin, "I believe that may be what caught you, Lieutenant. Remind me to look into how Borg technology and telepathy interact."

Rin made a face as a memory came to mind, an expression of startlement and more than a little disquieting realization. "I don't know if it's relevant, but my cube encountered some sort of stellar psychic phenomena. It's literally my last memory as a drone. It disconnected us from the Collective. Most of us went mad... although that may have been because of the disconnection rather than the phenomena."

"If you are willing, I would like to talk with you about that in the future, Lieutenant," said N'vok.

He hit a key and a hologram projected a wire-frame version of the artifact. "Using some exotic matter I do not pretend to understand, the artifact reflects, amplifies, and distorts the brain's harmonic function by interrupting neural patterns. It does this through projecting chi and psi waves on, well, an angle may be the best way to understand it. This is a higher order of psionic technology than I have ever encountered."

Rin nodded almost absently in response to N'vok's request.

"It is almost a shame that we need to completely and utterly destroy it," added N'nok. "I hope, someday, to learn more about its source and the technology behind it. Now, any last-minute ideas? If not, I intend to have it launched into the nearest star."

Anna pops up again from her work.

"I still would like to poke around it's OS, but i can download a copy of it into a sandbox."

"As I said, if you can get such from it, you will have achieved more than we have managed," said N'vok. "I do not think it bothers with such."

"But you have six minutes in any case, then it is being taken to a launch tube and sent to return to the furnace from which we all came."

There were a few phrases spoken that Teevs didn't quite understand, but the general presence in the room didn't give him any reason to be concerned. They all wanted this thing gone, that was clear. "If I could use some of your scans of this device, I would like to make a warning for vessels that may encounter these things in the future. It's an... unspoken trader's rule, I suppose."

"Certainly, Mr Dosivi," said N'vok. "We are happy to help people avoid such dangers." He picked up a datapad, entered a set of commands and handed it to Teevs. "That should be what you need."

With a nod, Teevs accepted the datapad and held it by his side. There wasn't anything else he felt he could contribute here. By warning others of the existence of these devices, maybe the slavers would struggle.

"If there is nothing else?" N'vok used a small tractor beam to lift the artifact which was then wrapped in signal blocking material. A small tracer was placed on it. He took a handheld tractor, opened the isolation room and used the beam to pick up the artifact. "I am off to the probe room to see this get sent off into a star. Thank you all for your thoughts."

"Now this will return to the nuclear forge from which it came," the Vulcan said, heading to the probe launcher.