Learning about the Zynari

Posted on Fri Apr 25th, 2025 @ 1:08pm by Commander Kyle Reece & Lieutenant Commander Rin & Teevs Dosivi

Mission: Season 6: Echoes of the Zynari
Location: Shuttle Bay
Timeline: MD2, after senior officer briefing
2145 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Rin had replicated a dry uniform for herself, but her hair was still wet. She had rung it out best she could and run her fingers through it, but it was still too disheveled for her liking. She would almost swear it was tying itself into knots as she tried sorting it all out. Eventually, she gave up. She and Kyle had more important things to do.

Kyle had caught up with Rin, having to go check on his children, and grab a dry uniform. He, himself, was still a bit damp, but the dryer clothing did help improve his mood slightly. He was still thinking about how this felt like a Q game again, and was not happy about that thought. However, for now, he would try to keep an open kind about what, if anything, that Teevs could tell them about the region of space they were in now.

They walked into the shuttle bay where the computer had indicated Teevs was. Considering Avalon's increasing glitches, Rin half-expected him to be on the other end of the ship. This time, however, Avalon managed to get it right. Teevs was looking over his ship.

"Hello, Teevs," Rin said. "Can we have a few moments of your time?"

The Lonian, who had been rooting around in one of the crates in his ship's cargo hold, rose when he heard voices. A quiet muttering that could only be a curse followed the thump of his head hitting the rack above him. "Of course," Teevs suggested, rubbing the back of his head where it hit the rack. It was clear he was distracted, or at least mildly frustrated. "I believe the Human phrase is 'what is the shake'?" He didn't look at either of them while he spoke, only providing the briefest of glances to acknowledge their presence before he continued his search, popping open another crate.

Rin was pretty sure "what is the shake?" was not a human phrase, but she left it be. "The crew has been experiencing various... occurrences the past couple days. Constant malfunctions without cause, things going missing or moved around, strange sights and sounds, and so forth. Have you been experiencing similar problems?"

A vague sound was Teevs' reply as he stood straight again, this time being careful to not hit his head. The crates didn't have the missing items, much to his frustration. "I am missing some items," he thought aloud. "I don't like when people use my things without asking... tools don't just grow legs and walk away, so someone must have touched them and didn't put them back." A very subtle change in air pressure, coupled with a tang that could only be due to a mild change in humidity, tickled his senses. Teevs turned around, only now noticing their damp hair and the occasional dark spots on their uniforms from water drops, and his frustration became confusion. "Why are you two all wet?"

"Fire suppression system malfunction," Rin explained. While she was attempting to address Teevs, she kept glancing off to the side, as if something was catching her attention just out of view. "Exactly the sort of thing that's been plaguing us. And while I have not yet seen tools grow legs, people have reported them moving of their own volition. Have you ever heard of such a phenomena?"

Kyle stood to the side, allowing Rin to ask her questions. He was still feeling a bit distracted. He suddenly saw a whisp of greenish mist float around the landing gear of Teevs' ship. "The hell is that?" He asked aloud as he pointed toward the mist, which seemed to move about as if it were sentient.

Teevs raised an eyebrow at Kyle's question and quickly walked out of the Spheia to see what had his attention. When he saw the greenish mist, his eyes widened, not out of fear but out of timid recognition. "The stories are real??" He gasped. The odds of it happening to his tiny ship were nearly impossible. But they were supposed to be myths... right? "Do you have a scanner?" He asked, a tone of excitement lacing his voice.

Rin pulled a tricorder from her belt. She had been trying to scan these anomalies all day without success. But Teevs seemed to at least have an idea, so maybe he could find what others had not.

Social politeness briefly left the room as Teevs excitedly grabbed the tricorder, opening it and directing it toward the mist. As the stories claimed, the readings were as if the mist simultaneously existed and didn't exist, and the tricorder was having a fit deciding which one it was.

As Teevs ran his scans, Kyle stepped to the side and tried to get a better look at the mist. However, every time he moved, it mirrored him, thus making a close observation nearly impossible.

"I can't believe it..." Teevs muttered, typing on the tricorder to try and get a sensible reading. It was almost as if the buttons were pressing themselves, teasing him with information. Then, the tricorder simply disappeared from his hand, followed by a giggle so quiet that one could have believed it was a figment of the imagination. He was initially surprised, then a smile crept onto his lips. "It's really you, huh?" he asked the mist, not expecting an answer. According to the stories he had heard, they never answered.

Turning toward Rin and Kyle, his expression was both entertained and faintly bemused. "I believe this might be a Zynari. I always thought they were stories shared amongst crew to pass the time, but they consistently told of a misty... apparatus, if you will, and unexplainable things happening across the ships. Items misplaced, malfunctions, never anything harmless from what I've heard. The Zynari are thought to be rumors because scanners cannot make sense of them; they are both here and not here." Rubbing the back of his head where he bumped it, he added, "I never thought the Zynari were real, because travelers make up all kinds of things. But this," he gestured to the mist, "is uncanny. It is precisely as it is described in the stories."

Kyle snapped eyes eyes to Teevs as the other man spoke. "You said that these...Zynari, are never anything harmless?! Or do you mean never anything harmful?" Concern filled his voice as he asked the questions.

Teevs gave Kyle a confused look, then tried again, but this time in Lonian. The computer translated it as "they do not cause harm." Upon hearing the translation, Teevs then understood where he messed up and facepalmed. "Apologies, Mister Chief of Kyle, your language is confusing sometimes."

After a beat or two, Kyle finally relaxed a bit. "Sorry. I guess the universal translator needs to work with your native language some more." He glanced back at the mist. "What exactly are these Zynari?"

It was more a matter of Teevs needing to work more to understand their language than an issue with the UT. Every once in a while he would try to speak their language, but the word order presented quite the problem and often confused him. Sentence structure in Lonian simply made more sense. "I... don't really know, actually," Teevs admitted. "I never gave it much thought because I thought they were just myths. I have records of the stories I've heard, so maybe the computer can provide a better interpretation?"

Kyle nodded. "Sounds good. The more we know the better prepared we can be." He then glanced at Rin. "Your thoughts on this, Rin?"

Rin sighed as she looked back at Kyle and Teevs. "Sorry. Got distracted. My shadow just ran off."

She pointed to the ground and the nearby wall where, according to physics, there should have been a Rin-shaped shadow, but wasn't. "I kind of feel like I should go find it, but I have no idea what I'd do if I caught up with it. So, Teevs, I'm sure all of Elysium would be grateful if you could share whatever information you have on these Zynari."

Kyle looked over at Rin, a concerned expression on his face. "Are you feeling alr5, Rin?" He stepped a little closer as he asked the question.

Rin pointed more forcefully at the blank wall. "I'm perfectly fine, unless you can see a shadow that I cannot."

Motion caught her eye, and she turned toward a stack of crates. A dark shape hung on the wall as if it was the shadow of someone peering out from behind the boxes, although no such person was present.

Rin waved a hand at it with a shrug. "Apparently, even my shadow doesn't want to hang out with me."

Kyle glanced in the direction that Rin had indicated. He saw the shadow before it vanished. "That's damn odd." He looked back at Rin, and chuckled. "Looks like you have your shadow back." He pointed to the deck behind Rin.

And just like that, he shadow was back where it belonged, starting at her feet and projecting across the floor to the wall.

And then it waved, as if saying hello.

Rin's shoulders slumped in surrender, and she turned her attention back to Teevs.

Meanwhile, Teevs had disappeared into the Spheia and was typing on one of the wall displays. He asked the computer to compile all the information he had on the Zynari. It didn't take long for the results to come in, and by then he heard Kyle and Rin approach.

"Species: Zynari. Classification: Non-corporeal, energy-based entities. Origin: Unknown​," the computer recited aloud. "The Zynari are enigmatic beings believed to exist beyond conventional space and time. Reports describe them as luminous, non-corporeal entities that interact with the physical world in unpredictable ways.​ Commonly Reported Phenomena: Appearance of mist that defies environmental conditions; Unexplained malfunctions in ship systems; Displacement or movement of objects without identifiable cause​. Encounters suggest a form of interaction that is indirect and often perceived as mischievous. There are no confirmed instances of direct communication.​ Various accounts across different cultures reference entities resembling the Zynari, often attributing them with roles ranging from tricksters to observers.​"

Kyle frowned slightly. "They certainly sound similar to the Q. Though, with less blatant malice to lifeforms they deem as lower than them in evolutionary levels."

"Are there records of what might convince the Zynari to move along? Do they simply get bored? How much of a danger do they pose?" Rin asked.

Teevs turned back to the display and searched for the information. "Many of theses stories just talk of what the Zynari do without much resolution --electrical glitches, items moving on their own... moving shadows, as you recently noticed-- but I do recall a warning issued to tradesmen a couple years ago." Typing on the wall display, he eventually pulled up an image showing a fleet of warships. "The Galatonians were growing their territory but were forced to retreat after strange things started happening. There's a region of space called Tara N'fekas --Unnavigable Space, I believe is the translation-- and after they entered this region their systems started behaving strange. Their navigation charts were useless because they were overwritten with nonsense, the weapons systems malfunctioned, and they even had issues communicating between ships. The Galatonian commander managed to order a retreat, and ever since they refused to try and conquer the area again. But they never actually contacted any other ships."

Anticipating a follow-up on the region of space, Teevs pulled up a star chart, asking the computer to translate the text for his guests. There were several borders defined, one showing Galatonian space, and marked in an orange border was the so-called Unnavigable Space, with a modest buffer of space around the defined border where no other territory touched it.

Kyle, his professional mind alternating between tactical, security and even strategic operations, as he looked over and memorized the image of the map. "That's not of unmarked territory," he indicated the area of Unnavigable Space, as Teevs had referred to it. "If my guess is right, it looks to be at least a thousand lightyears across, along it's widest point here," he pointed at the location he was referring to. "Rin?" He asked his friend. "I imagine you're better at calculating the math than I am. What do you think?"

For the next few minutes, the three talk amongst themselves as Teevs reveals everything he knows about the Zynari. Finally, Kyle asked him to make a copy of everything he has on both the mysterious Zynari and their territory, upload it into the Elysium's main computer, so that everyone who needed to review it, could do so easily. Once that was done, the three of them went their separate ways, to do whatever it was that they needed to do.

~OFF~