S1-M7 The Danger of Secrets

[T'Ra Jones]

[Hallway]

Takur (NPC) ran through the hallway looking for Carol Higgins. He stopped when he saw her talking with Commander Jones and Captain Hawke. He caught Carol's eye and motioned for her to come closer. As soon as she was close enough that she could hear him whisper, he told her everything.

"I was with the Soong Android. She's been integrated to LCAR's systems and it's trying to take control of the android's body. What should we do?" He was nervous, out of breath, and shirtless. He waited patiently for a reply and tried to calm himself down. His conflicting emotions for K-5 and for his orders were setting him on edge and he shuffled from foot to foot anxiously.

[Mess Hall]

Carol Higgins arched a brow, her lips pursed in an audacious smirk, but before she could make a reply to T'Ra Á¢â,¬Ëœs last remark, her brows suddenly furrowed. T'Ra followed the woman's gaze to the edge of the mess hall, where a young man stood breathless and without a shirt. He made a motion with his hand, and Higgins briefly turned back to the away team. "If you'll just excuse me, this shouldn't take more than a moment." She was still smiling, but it now seemed forced in contrast to the easy-going grin that she had been flashing earlier. T'Ra simply nodded, saying nothing.

Takur tried to wait patiently for Carol to come over, but he couldn't contain his nervous energy, shifting uneasily from foot to foot. "What?" she hissed quietly once she was close enough. And as Takur related the story, it took everything she had not to smack him right then and there for his carelessness, but she still had to appear the ever gracious host, and causing a scene was not something she could tolerate. "We can't have the android making splashes before the inspection is done and the federation lot is on their way out of here."

From where she stood, T'Ra couldn't quite hear what the two were saying. Perhaps she could have made out some of it if she really strained her ears, but she was distracted and her stomach threatening to make complaints, which was probably because she hadn't eaten anything that morning, having been too queasy. "I don't know about you, sir," she commented to Hawke, "but I do hope the dinner proves to be more enlightening and fulfilling."

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

For the moment, everything seemed to be okay. Ensign Zex had begun the particle scan systems and for the time being, Engineering was addressing the other issues that had arisen. Caelene tapped at the controls next to the center chair and glanced through the system readouts. Nothing concerning.

Feeling a bit better, the Trill glanced over at Steve who was still on the chair next to hers. She frowned and looked a little closer. Unless she was mistaken, Steve had been programmed to be a couple shades of striped brown, but now it looked like there was some green and black mixed in. Had he been that way before? Were her eyes playing tricks on her?

Her attention was drawn away by Zex's voice.

System issues? Caelene's frowned deepened as she replied, "Of course, Ensign. Try another station and let me know if you continue to experience problems. I'll run a diagnostic on the console that's having issues."

After Zex switched to a different console, Caelene headed over to the one used by the Science Officer previously. Sliding her fingers over the console quickly, she brought up the diagnostic screen. She selected a level four diagnostic, transferring the diagnostic results to the Engineering console before starting the tests, which would also shut down the console being tested.

As she moved to the Engineering console, she let her mind ponder the possibilities. Either the issues between Steve and the holodeck and crossed over into other systems on the ship or something else was causing issues. While it was possible that the holodecks, replicators, possibly Steve, and either Science systems or bridge consoles being affected could be a coincidence, Caelene had a bad feeling it wasn't. Even if she discounted the holodecks and Steve as conflicts from before, the other systems affected weren't directly related.

Had a virus gotten into the ship somehow? Had there been sabotage? Was there something about this station that was interfering with their systems?

While she didn't want to bother James and T'Ra unnecessarily, or show that she wasn't competent enough to be in charge, Caelene would soon be at the point where she would have to inform them of what was happening. She would wait to see if the diagnostics revealed anything and perhaps run a diagnostic on either the Science systems or bridge consoles, depending on what Zex discovered along with her results. After that, Caelene knew she would likely have no choice but to alert her superior officers...

OFF: Tag Zex, people on the ship, etc

[Bridge]

"Aye, Ma'am" Zex replied.  She logged out and moved to to the next station.  She logged back and and repeated the command.

Nothing happened.  "No good.  I'm getting the same issue here" he said.

[William Waring]

[Bridge]

Will had been delayed on getting up to the Bridge due to the staggering lack of restrooms on a Starship of this size. However he stepped off the Turbolift and nearly began the trek to his station until realizing he was ranking officer since T'Ra and the Captain were on the station.

[Bridge]

For the moment, everything seemed to be okay. Ensign Zex had begun the particle scan systems and for the time being, Engineering was addressing the other issues that had arisen. Caelene tapped at the controls next to the center chair and glanced through the system readouts. Nothing concerning.

Feeling a bit better, the Trill glanced over at Steve who was still on the chair next to hers. She frowned and looked a little closer. Unless she was mistaken, Steve had been programmed to be a couple shades of striped brown, but now it looked like there was some green and black mixed in. Had he been that way before? Were her eyes playing tricks on her?

Her attention was drawn away by Zex's voice.

System issues? Caelene's frowned deepened as she replied, "Of course, Ensign. Try another station and let me know if you continue to experience problems. I'll run a diagnostic on the console that's having issues."

After Zex switched to a different console, Caelene headed over to the one used by the Science Officer previously. Sliding her fingers over the console quickly, she brought up the diagnostic screen. She selected a level four diagnostic, transferring the diagnostic results to the Engineering console before starting the tests, which would also shut down the console being tested.

As she moved to the Engineering console, she let her mind ponder the possibilities. Either the issues between Steve and the holodeck and crossed over into other systems on the ship or something else was causing issues. While it was possible that the holodecks, replicators, possibly Steve, and either Science systems or bridge consoles being affected could be a coincidence, Caelene had a bad feeling it wasn't. Even if she discounted the holodecks and Steve as conflicts from before, the other systems affected weren't directly related.

Had a virus gotten into the ship somehow? Had there been sabotage? Was there something about this station that was interfering with their systems?

While she didn't want to bother James and T'Ra unnecessarily, or show that she wasn't competent enough to be in charge, Caelene would soon be at the point where she would have to inform them of what was happening. She would wait to see if the diagnostics revealed anything and perhaps run a diagnostic on either the Science systems or bridge consoles, depending on what Zex discovered along with her results. After that, Caelene knew she would likely have no choice but to alert her superior officers...

OFF: Tag Zex, people on the ship, etc

"Ms Tam" he said as he approached her, giving a warm smile before noticing her look "Nothing is wrong I hope?" He said raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.

[K-5]

[Mess Hall]

Carol Higgins arched a brow, her lips pursed in an audacious smirk, but before she could make a reply to T'Ra Á¢â,¬Ëœs last remark, her brows suddenly furrowed. T'Ra followed the woman's gaze to the edge of the mess hall, where a young man stood breathless and without a shirt. He made a motion with his hand, and Higgins briefly turned back to the away team. "If you'll just excuse me, this shouldn't take more than a moment." She was still smiling, but it now seemed forced in contrast to the easy-going grin that she had been flashing earlier. T'Ra simply nodded, saying nothing.

Takur tried to wait patiently for Carol to come over, but he couldn't contain his nervous energy, shifting uneasily from foot to foot. "What?" she hissed quietly once she was close enough. And as Takur related the story, it took everything she had not to smack him right then and there for his carelessness, but she still had to appear the ever gracious host, and causing a scene was not something she could tolerate. "We can't have the android making splashes before the inspection is done and the federation lot is on their way out of here."

From where she stood, T'Ra couldn't quite hear what the two were saying. Perhaps she could have made out some of it if she really strained her ears, but she was distracted and her stomach threatening to make complaints, which was probably because she hadn't eaten anything that morning, having been too queasy. "I don't know about you, sir," she commented to Hawke, "but I do hope the dinner proves to be more enlightening and fulfilling."

[Mess Hall]

Takur (NPC) nodded and gave a halfhearted salute. "I'll get her to do a full system shut down if she hasn't already. She's in Maintenance Closet twelve, I'll leave her for you to deal with later on." He made sure to hide his mouth and voice from the Captain and his second so neither could hear him or read his lips.

[Maintenance Closet]

As soon as he was dismissed by a simple nod he sprinted back to the closet and found K-5 in the corner, huddled on hands and knees facing away from the door. He tapped her back, but she didn't move. When he saw her eyes, they seemed vacant. Takur closed and locked the door so no one could get in- or out- without his or Higgin's permission.

He turned on a light and found a sheet and a box filled with various tools of all sorts. He covered K-5 with the sheet and put the box on top of her to camouflage her against the rest of the closet, then he looked for his shirt and pulled it back on. As he left and locked the door again, he saw he had just enough time to go clean himself up before the dinner. He headed to his quarters to get a cold shower and brush his hair out, suddenly having a bad feeling about his short-lived romance with the Soong android.

K-5 couldn't figure out what was going on. She had done a hard system shut down, but she was still conscientious. It felt as if she'd been hard wired into a different pace, much like how a Borg sleep system was set up. Only, she was floating, and there were six grey walls around her, and she couldn't move. She could hear whispers, and slowly, she started thinking exactly what the whispers were saying.

[Fala Awen]

[Bridge]

Caelene watched the console in front of her as the diagnostic on the Science bridge station completed. The results compiled on the screen and she read through them, shaking her head. The diagnostic hadn't found anything wrong. From what she was seeing, there was no reason Zex shouldn't have been able to use it. Perhaps she needed to run a more thorough diagnostic...

Nothing happened.  "No good.  I'm getting the same issue here" he said.

Turning towards Zex once she heard the Deltan's voice, Caelene's frowned deepened. Whatever was happening seemed to be spreading, but for the time being her engineering console was okay. Unless there was a glitch where the diagnostic results were incorrect.

It was at that moment that the Engineering bridge console flickered, went blank, then returned slowly. What was going on? Steve moved over to her and hopped up and down, agitated. She tried to calm him by petting his scaly head while she thought.

Caelene didn't like not knowing what was going on. If she knew, she could fix it. Or if she at least had an idea about the cause it would be easier to isolate and resolve. Her best guesses at this point were the same as before - either the holodeck glitch had morphed and gotten worse or perhaps something about the station was interfering with their systems. Those were the two most likely scenarios based on the timing.

At this point, the Trill felt she needed to inform James and T'Ra; they should know what was happening. Taking a deep breath, Caelene tapped her comm badge, =/\=Shran to Captain Hawke. This is Lieutenant Tam, sir. The ship--=/\=

A burst of static suddenly squealed over the comm system, causing her to wince. Not what she needed...

Caelene tried again. =/\=Shran to Hawke. We're experiencing numerous glitches across several unrelated systems. I'm currently investigating and will update when I have something. Shran out.

Throughout her message, she'd heard various odd distortions, almost like being underwater, and squeals coming from the comm link. Caelene had no way to know how much, if any, of her message had gotten through. Hopefully the Captain had received it and they would hear something back...if not, she would have to continue on as she had already planned.

"Ms Tam" he said as he approached her, giving a warm smile before noticing her look "Nothing is wrong I hope?" He said raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.

Lost in thought as to her next move, Caelene nearly jumped as Will came over to her. She hadn't seen him in his peripheral vision due to how distracted she was with the issues at hand. "Actually," she answered with a sigh, "I'm afraid we're having a number of issues. Engineering received reports of malfunctioning replicators and holodecks, which I sent them to investigate. After that, Ensign Zex wasn't able to get the Science console to begin a particle sweep. She moved to another station - still no luck - and I ran a diagnostic on the Science console, which supposedly has nothing wrong with it, if I happen to believe what these results are telling me. The screen here has flickered, gone blank, then come back. And just now I tried contacting the Captain, but the comm system was distorted and made some awful squealing sounds..."

It was just her luck. Her first time in charge of the ship and everything seemed to be going wrong. Perhaps it would have been better if she had just stayed down in Engineering. All she could do now is do her best to get to the bottom of things and try to help put it back together before the away team returned.

OFF: Tag Zex, Will, Hawke?...others on the ship

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

Zex turned to Tam so that she could hear what was going on.  It did not sound good.  Especially since the ship was supposedly only a few months old.

"Maybe we should do a hard restart of the main computer" the Deltan offered as an idea.  She turned her head back to her station.  Then she tried to cycle it up again.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Bridge]

At this point, the Trill felt she needed to inform James and T'Ra; they should know what was happening. Taking a deep breath, Caelene tapped her comm badge, =/\=Shran to Captain Hawke. This is Lieutenant Tam, sir. The ship--=/\=

A burst of static suddenly squealed over the comm system, causing her to wince. Not what she needed...

Caelene tried again. =/\=Shran to Hawke. We're experiencing numerous glitches across several unrelated systems. I'm currently investigating and will update when I have something. Shran out.

[Mess Hall]

T'Ra Á¢â,¬Ëœs ears pricked up at the sudden, sporadic sound of voices. "---Hawwke...~~-ship...--~" She tilted her head in the direction of the sound, which seemed to be coming from the captain's comm badge, blocking out all other stimulus in an attempt to make out more of the garbled speech. "--~investigating---~~-something--.." T'Ra pressed her own badge, but it did not even chirp to indicate a channel had been opened, something that caused her to furrow her brows slightly.

"Sir," she said, speaking in a low voice, "it seems our communications with the ship are down." It made her incredibly nervous, an emotion she did not usually feel so intensely, but given the way her mood had been off the last couple days, maybe she was just being paranoid, but she felt like it was worth checking out.

[Mess Hall]

Takur (NPC) nodded and gave a halfhearted salute. "I'll get her to do a full system shut down if she hasn't already. She's in Maintenance Closet twelve, I'll leave her for you to deal with later on." He made sure to hide his mouth and voice from the Captain and his second so neither could hear him or read his lips.

Carol Higgins paused a moment and took a deep breath to steel herself before turning back to face their special visitors with yet another luxuriant smile. As she moved to rejoin the group, she couldn't help but notice the Vulcan's posture. "Is everything alright?" Higgins asked, clasping her hands together. But before T'Ra could mention any concern she had for the ship, Higgins exclaimed, "Well, then. You all are probably quite famished, and it would be rather rude of us to put off the dinner any longer. Please, let my assistants lead you to the dining area."

As the rest of the away team was herded along, Higgins stepped up right beside Hawke. "Might I have a quick word, captain?"

[Fala Awen]

[Bridge]

Once she brought Will up to speed on what had been happening, Caelene gave James and T'Ra another couple minutes to respond. Nothing. Either they hadn't gotten the message at all, they'd only gotten parts of it and didn't understand what was happening, or the comm system was simply no longer working.

Caelene wasn't particularly keen on any of those options. Of course, whether or not the command officers had received the message was something of a moot point. The Shran's systems had to be fixed regardless, which meant she had work to do... Engineering and Operations would be busy fixing the mess.

"Maybe we should do a hard restart of the main computer" the Deltan offered as an idea.  She turned her head back to her station.  Then she tried to cycle it up again.

Hearing Zex, Caelene turned and looked at the woman. "It is a possibility, but without knowing what's happening and just how deep it goes, I'm hesitant to do so. We could be bringing systems back online in the same or worse condition than they are already. And if the problem is deeply embedded in our systems, there's a chance we could have trouble bringing the main computer back online from a hard restart."

Generally speaking, Caelene preferred to avoid doing a hard restart unless absolutely necessary. In part for the reasons she had mentioned, but also in this case because they didn't yet know the true extent of the damage. They would have no way to differentiate between what were new issues after the restart and which had persisted.

"I think we should start with thorough system diagnostics of all ship systems. Once we know how many and which systems are affected, we can decide on a course of action - fixing all of the issues without a restart, fixing some before a restart, or doing a restart. It's the best and safest way, in my opinion, to proceed given the little information we have. Also, there's a chance that something from the station is interfering with our systems...if so, it's likely that nothing we do will help," Caelene explained.

Her eyes slowly moved from person to person. While she was the Chief Engineering Officer and was confident in her approach, Caelene had no issue with listening to other opinions. Perhaps someone would have an option she hadn't thought of. Either way, they needed to get moving and sort out the issues.

OFF: Tag bridge, others on the ship (experiencing problems?)

[Amynta Lianez]

[Hallway]

It had been less than an hour since Amynta had waved farewell to the Trill ship that had dropped her here at the station, but it felt like she had been waiting for an eternity for the Shran to arrive. She hadn't been able to join the official station welcoming party considering she wasn't part of their crew, but she had managed to convince a crewman here to escort her to the nearest visitors from her new ship. She had been meant to rendezvous with the ship after their mission here was complete, but when the captain of her commuter ship had heard where they were, he insisted that it would be easier for everyone if she met up with them a few days early. Hopefully her new captain would have no issue with her change of plans--she had tried to contact the Shran, but strangely enough all she had gotten back was static.

[Escape Pods]

Thankfully her guide dropped her with a lower ranking group--had she been introduced to the captain immediately she may have gone into a panic.

"So kinzi tell me more about this coffee."  Ser said.

Approaching the group of three, she perked up a bit at the mention of one of her favorite drinks. "Did someone say coffee?" she asked with an expression she hoped was a friendly smile rather than a terrified grimace, "I hope you don't mind me joining your group for the time being. I'm the Shran's newest counselor, Amynta Lianez. My transport was running ahead of schedule, and opted to drop me off with the crew a bit early."

((I hope this is alright! Please let me know if any of this doesn't make sense or conflicts with past posts. I can even delete this entirely if that's best!))

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

Once she brought Will up to speed on what had been happening, Caelene gave James and T'Ra another couple minutes to respond. Nothing. Either they hadn't gotten the message at all, they'd only gotten parts of it and didn't understand what was happening, or the comm system was simply no longer working.

Caelene wasn't particularly keen on any of those options. Of course, whether or not the command officers had received the message was something of a moot point. The Shran's systems had to be fixed regardless, which meant she had work to do... Engineering and Operations would be busy fixing the mess.

Hearing Zex, Caelene turned and looked at the woman. "It is a possibility, but without knowing what's happening and just how deep it goes, I'm hesitant to do so. We could be bringing systems back online in the same or worse condition than they are already. And if the problem is deeply embedded in our systems, there's a chance we could have trouble bringing the main computer back online from a hard restart."

Generally speaking, Caelene preferred to avoid doing a hard restart unless absolutely necessary. In part for the reasons she had mentioned, but also in this case because they didn't yet know the true extent of the damage. They would have no way to differentiate between what were new issues after the restart and which had persisted.

"I think we should start with thorough system diagnostics of all ship systems. Once we know how many and which systems are affected, we can decide on a course of action - fixing all of the issues without a restart, fixing some before a restart, or doing a restart. It's the best and safest way, in my opinion, to proceed given the little information we have. Also, there's a chance that something from the station is interfering with our systems...if so, it's likely that nothing we do will help," Caelene explained.

Her eyes slowly moved from person to person. While she was the Chief Engineering Officer and was confident in her approach, Caelene had no issue with listening to other opinions. Perhaps someone would have an option she hadn't thought of. Either way, they needed to get moving and sort out the issues.

OFF: Tag bridge, others on the ship (experiencing problems?)

[Bridge]

Zex turned back to Tam when the woman started talking.  She nodded her head to indicated that she was listening.   And agreeing with the thought out plan.

"Moving away from the station would be possibly the quickest fix to the problem.  At least the easiest in my mind.  Once we eliminate that as a cause we can move to the ship wide system diagnostics" the Deltan proposed.

[K-5]

[Maintenance Closet Twelve]

She woke up cold. She was shivering even though she could feel a cloth covering her entire body. There was a weight in the center of her back with four corners. Curious. She was leaning forward on hands and knees, both of which were getting sore. She leaned upward, only on her knees. She flinched with the sound of a box tumbling to the floor behind her with a loud clatter. Her sensitive ears rang with pain after the sudden loud noise and she jumped to her feet. They were unsteady and uncoordinated. She stumbled.

As she fell she hit her shoulder on the wall. She thought is best to just sink down to her knees again.  She. Was she a she? Or a he? What was a she? Did she know? She looked down and saw two round lumps on her chest. Yes, she thought, I am a she.

Thought. Was she thinking? Or was it a stream of data in her mind's eye simply giving the illusion of thought? Perhaps yes, and now she had a body. Perhaps not, but she still now possessed a body, a host. She could feel the original program running in her mind, struggling, writing, but never making any waves; only ripples. It's name had been K-5.

She realized she did not know how she looked inside her new body. She looked around the room and stood, slowly this time. She worked each arm and leg, every muscle, making sure she could use them. Then she walked over to a wall. A shiny piece of scrap metal was there, laying on a shelf. She picked it up and looked at it. Her brown hair and brown eyes surprised her. She was sure that was not how eyes were supposed to look. They were brown, yes, but a bright glowing ring of deep neon green encircled her pupils, like a halo. She realized they cast a soft green glow on the room.

She tilted her head and felt her skin. It was soft, yet felt like inorganic matter. Like silicone.there were tiny unnoticeable lines running to and fro, panels that could open and close for maintenance. Good, she'd need them. But her eyes.

What was this? Her heart rate had increased and her pupils had lessened in size, her breathing had increased. Her eyes- Fear. Finally she knew what it was to Feel. Emotions they were called. How peculiar, these emotions felt. After being only a program used by the Station's crew for her lifetime, this body and feelings felt- new. Refreshing.

What had they called her? LCAR? Yes, that name suited her well, she liked it. After all, it was the only name she'd ever had.

A feeling, like an itch, in the back of her mind alerted her. Surprise, this emotion was. It was time to update her code again. She went back to the corner, leaving the scrap metal where it had been, bent down on hands an knees again and closed her eyes. She let her systems take over and begin to re-write themselves.

OOC: Tag James and T'Ra

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Hallway]

It had been less than an hour since Amynta had waved farewell to the Trill ship that had dropped her here at the station, but it felt like she had been waiting for an eternity for the Shran to arrive. She hadn't been able to join the official station welcoming party considering she wasn't part of their crew, but she had managed to convince a crewman here to escort her to the nearest visitors from her new ship. She had been meant to rendezvous with the ship after their mission here was complete, but when the captain of her commuter ship had heard where they were, he insisted that it would be easier for everyone if she met up with them a few days early. Hopefully her new captain would have no issue with her change of plans--she had tried to contact the Shran, but strangely enough all she had gotten back was static.

[Escape Pods]

Thankfully her guide dropped her with a lower ranking group--had she been introduced to the captain immediately she may have gone into a panic. Approaching the group of three, she perked up a bit at the mention of one of her favorite drinks. "Did someone say coffee?" she asked with an expression she hoped was a friendly smile rather than a terrified grimace, "I hope you don't mind me joining your group for the time being. I'm the Shran's newest counselor, Amynta Lianez. My transport was running ahead of schedule, and opted to drop me off with the crew a bit early."

((I hope this is alright! Please let me know if any of this doesn't make sense or conflicts with past posts. I can even delete this entirely if that's best!))

[Station]

Ardy grinned to the Trill, slightly wryly. "Sounds like a plan. You just missed the inspection, but they say there's a party they're hosting. I'm mainly there for the food, if you really want to know." She snickered. Walking into the room with the rest of the team, she caught the faint crackle of a comm. Judging by the concerned thoughts of the others, she could tell something was wrong. "We're back. Need any help with anything Captain, Commander?"

[T'Ra Jones]

[Station]

Ardy grinned to the Trill, slightly wryly. "Sounds like a plan. You just missed the inspection, but they say there's a party they're hosting. I'm mainly there for the food, if you really want to know." She snickered. Walking into the room with the rest of the team, she caught the faint crackle of a comm. Judging by the concerned thoughts of the others, she could tell something was wrong. "We're back. Need any help with anything Captain, Commander?"

[Mess Hall/Hallway]

It was almost as if a silent dinner bell had rung, beckoning the remaining members of the away team to rejoin the group to eat. And it seemed a new face was joining them. The young trill wasn't in dress whites or wearing the typical station garb. The medical blue uniform that she wore made it highly likely that she was the Shran's new counselor, though if this was indeed the case, she was early. "Na'shaya," T'Ra said by way of greeting to the new comer. "I take it you must be Miss Lianez? I'm T'Ra Jones, Chief of Science and First Officer."

And speaking of early, where was the android? K-5's punctuality would normally give a Vulcan a run for their money. "Miss Jaeger," T'Ra added, now addressing the flight officer, "have you by chance seen K-5 anywhere?" She couldn't recall if the android was interested in the notion of food, but it still struck her as odd not to have heard from her.

[Fala Awen]

[Bridge]

"Moving away from the station would be possibly the quickest fix to the problem.  At least the easiest in my mind.  Once we eliminate that as a cause we can move to the ship wide system diagnostics" the Deltan proposed.

Caelene paused as she considered the Zex's suggestion. There was a chance it could help the ship's systems return to normal...but that was assuming that the glitches they were experiencing were based on the Shran's proximity to the station. If whatever was causing the glitches was already embedded in their systems, they'd still have problems even away from the station. Not to mention that with comm systems acting up, they had no way to communicate their intentions with the station.

After pondering the idea a few more moments, Caelene was going to respond when suddenly everything shut down. The bridge went completely dark and the sounds of the ship went silent. It was eerie...

"That's main power going offline," Caelene explained, trying to keep her voice calm. "Auxiliary systems should be kicking in." Or so she hoped. If there was a problem with aux power, they'd be in trouble. Theoretically, the auxiliary systems should be okay as they were isolated from the main systems in the event of an issue with main power. But considering the glitches they'd had, the Trill was a bit less sure.

After what felt like an eternity, but was actually only a minute or two, emergency lighting turned on, illuminating the bridge as the bridge consoles came back to life. Caelene glanced over and noticed the lack of Steve...the computer wouldn't consider the holographic velociraptor a high priority for power, so his system wouldn't have come back online with auxiliary power.

Caelene's fingers quickly moved across the Engineering console as she checked on the Shran's systems. "We are now on auxiliary power. Non-essential systems, such as main lighting, holodecks, and non-emergency replicators are offline. We don't have warp drive on aux power and shields and weapons will be at reduced output. Life support levels are holding."

Looking around the bridge, Caelene could tell that some of the younger bridge officers seemed concerned; she couldn't really blame them. Half of the senior staff was on the station and unable to be raised on comms...and here they were on a malfunctioning ship.

"Everybody check your systems and report any oddities. Ensign Zex, try running the scans now that we've restarted on auxiliary power. I'm going to coordinate with Engineering and run a level 1 diagnostic on the main power systems since they're already down. We'll run additional diagnostics on the holodecks and any other offline systems, but prioritize online systems if we find more issues," Caelene explained.

=/\=Tam to Engineering. Obviously we've lost main power. I'm starting up diagnostics and will need you to coordinate the manual inspection portions of them. Let me know of any other system glitches or issues.

=/\=Aye, Lieutenant. We'll monitor from here and take care of the inspections. Engineering out.

Hopefully now that the computer had essentially restarted itself the glitches from before wouldn't be an issue. The Trill had a feeling they would though...if the glitches were in the individual systems themselves and whatever was causing them was buried in the coding, a restart may not have resolved them. In fact, it could spread to the auxiliary power system as well. If they lost that...well, it might be time for Environmental suits or abandoning the ship. They weren't to that point yet though.

Caelene pulled up the diagnostic screen from her console and started inputting the appropriate parameters. As she was choosing which systems should be tested, the console flickered and went dark. She closed her eyes briefly and sighed. The problems were still in the system. It took nearly a full minute this time, but the console turned back on and she continued her work. This was not good...

OFF: Tag people on the ship

[K-5]

[Mess Hall/Dining Hall]

Takur rush in, a bit late, but cleaner and better dressed now. He found a seat close to the doors and still near a few of his friends and made small talk while he waited for the dinner to start. He felt nervous.

What if the Shran's captain found out about K-5? Or worse- they detained Takur in their brig. He knew neither one of those options seemed optimal, so he excused himself for the wash room. He scanned the room for Higgins, trying to make sure everything was okay. He saw her still talking to the Captain and the Commander, but the Commander seemed... worried. Not a good sign. He went to a bathroom close to the dining hall and splashed the water on his face. None of this was a good idea.

Something was going to go wrong, he could just sense it. He looked into his own eyes through the mirror. He looked fine. Not even an hour ago he'd been making out with a Soong Android, the same 'species' that had discovered his own once upon a time. That had been coincidental. A happy one, but still conincidental.

Takur recomposed himself and splashed his face again, then dried off and rejoined the party. They'd started serving drinks before the meal started.