Reviewing the Data

Posted on Fri Oct 10th, 2025 @ 2:22am by Lieutenant Anna Esquivias

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Operations
Timeline: MD-5 1300
775 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Anna stood in front of the screen which displayed two lengthy rows of data, one next to the other. It was the record of two holodeck programs as they had been run. At least, it was all the data that had been recoverable. It was hard to tell how much of a record the Zynari actually left of what they did. She looked over when Garo entered. "Ensign, you've been doing really good work recently. How's your hand?"

Garo gave a dry little grin as he stepped closer, flexing his left hand once as though the memory of the injury still lingered somewhere in the bones. "It still wants to complain when it rains," he said, though of course there was no weather on a starship. "But it holds a data PADD and doesn't drop my coffee, so we're good." In actual fact, the burns had been mostly superficial with minor nerve damage, according to Sthilg.

His eyes shifted to the screen, narrowing slightly as he took in the side-by-side data streams. The structure was familiar--far too familiar. There was a rhythm of Zynari interference that sat uneasily on the edge of the pattern.

"This is the data from Holodeck Two at the Vulcan gathering," she said. "I think you've already seen it. This is the data from the same Holodeck a few hours later, when N'vok and I were using it. Communication was, at the very least, less clear."

Garo pointed at a tiny blip that matched both streams. "Do you see that?" He placed his finger directly on the screen--it was an almost imperceptible spike, but there was no doubting it was there. "That is time index four-four-eight-three-point-seven. We need to find out exactly what was happening in both programs at that moment. Do you remember what you were doing?"

"Not precisely," Anna admitted. "We couldn't look at chronometers while having the experience, but I think it's around the time we both found ourselves in water. You worked more on the earlier incident. What were the Vulcans doing?"

Garo pivoted to a smaller display built into the console, his fingers flying over the keys. Blocks of raw data filled the display as he scrolled through the mess of symbols, carefully. "My Tatik used to say, 'If the soup is too salty, add a potato or find out who's trying to poison you.'"

"Well, ma'am," he said, squinting at the data, "time index shows the initial program was carefully altered from a Tellarite forest to a... school--on Vulcan." He looked to Anna and added, "The data indicates the changes happened abruptly."

"Our experience was somewhat less abrupt," Anna shared. "We had time to note our original program was deserted of the regular characters and somehow darker and that we were unable to turn it or communicate with others before the real change."

He nodded to his department head and paused for a moment, attempting to recall the incident with the Vulcans. "The only thing Doctor Sylorik mentioned, was that it seemed like the holodeck was reacting to their memories. Replaying their memories." Garo looked to Anna. "Was your program a memory or maybe something from Lieutenant N'vok's life?"

"It wasn't," she said. "It was originally a mystery story set in the 22nd century. But the Zynari changed it to an ocean shore that seemed vaguely haunted, like something you would hear about in old Earth ghost stories." She frowned. "Perhaps it was just more of their usual hijinks that happened to occur in the same space."

Garo stepped back from the console, his brow furrowing in thought. "They're not just altering the programs--they're rewriting emotional context. The Vulcans got memories, you got mood. Same anomaly, different impact." He glanced at Anna, his tone sharpened a little, tinged with a little curiosity. "What if they're tuning their interference to specific cognitive responses? Playing with... tone, not just content."

"Maybe," Anna said, pursing her lips and bringing a hand to her chin. She was staring at the date. "Maybe. It seems like a lot to rest on two incidents, but we don't have the leisure of properly paced research. We are in an increasingly disastrous situation."

"There were other incidents," said Garo, beginning a slow circuit behind the console. "But none involved program alterations. More of like what we've been seeing across the ship--environmental glitches, stuck doors, unresponsive computer." He crossed his arms, thumb settling beneath his chin as his thought turned inward. "Only one constant between the two altered programs: Vulcans."

"One possible conclusion is that they are able to respond to Vulcan telepathy," Anna went ahead and noted the obvious.

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