S2 M5: Old Wounds

[Ian Galloway]

[AS NPC HRAFN FALLEG]
Teplanea

"I assume you are speaking to me..." Hrafn asked while placing her phaser and tricorder in the pile, carefully so as not to accidentally fire it by dropping it.

"The name is Hrafn Falleg, I was hitching a ride back to Columbus with Admiral Kirov.  I offered to help and while you're busy yelling at me, I volunteered to help out since everyone is in a flap, I have not been briefed, I asked for what I would standardly ask for as a science officer on an away team and I was presented with them on the transporter pad, I was barely on the Tempest longer than 10 mins, I literally beamed over to the Tempest, ran up to the Bridge in a turbo lift, exchanged 10 words with Mr. Hawk and was ordered down to the Transporter Room then beamed down here, so... Mr...Galloway was it??  So no, I didn't get the briefing, I was just sent out. I wasn't aware of the danger of the standard stuff, I've relinquished my weapon and tricorder, now how might I best help. I'm a scientist but I'll try my hand at anything."

Hrafn then brightened up "Did you say Dr. Kintiss?  I know him... we used to call him the Lizard Wizard cuz he works miracles that guy!  I'm happy to work with the doctor."

[Teplanea]

Ian eyed the lieutenant before replying.

"Regardless of circumstances, the security lot should have bloody known about high tech equipment. What's done is done and it's been resolved. Aye, that would be best you you were ta help the Doctor. I'll leave you in Mister Jada's capable hands."

Ian then turned to the Octavia.

"Are you able ta pick up anything on them? Last thing we need ta do is make an accusation and it isn't right."

[Jada]

[Streets, Teplanea]

Jada gazed skyward at Falleg's defensiveness, then remembered she'd been the same way, in her own way, when first discovering Galloway's... offensiveness. She'd come to accept it now. Maybe everyone got chewed out by the Scotsman when they first joined the crew? 'Welcome to the Tempest.' she told Falleg with sympathetic smile.

She eyed her yellowshirts dangerously. 'Ass-kickings will continue until attentiveness improves. Good hunting.' She waved them on to their missions.

Back to Falleg, she added 'Okay, this way to the, um, Lizard Wizard? But he's really more of a snake, not a lizard.' She might not be a scientist, but she knew her animals.

[Jada]

[Space]

In the hangar, Solluk boarded a workbee and lifted off, flying easily out into space. Of course, the workbees, shuttles, and runabouts were separate systems, not yet affected by the power drains. At least not unless he encountered another Succubus mine out there.

Outside the Tempest, peering through the workbee viewports, nothing seemed off or out of place. The big, beautiful Galaxy-class starship was whole and undamaged, though the lights were noticeably dimmed, necessitating him switching the workbee's own headlights on.

Then he saw it, thin lines glinting in the rays of light cast by the workbee, like spider webs in the sun. He could see some half-dozen of them criss-crossing space around the Tempest, draining her power through their soft caress. The Houdini mines themselves were unseen, literally out of sight in subspace. Sensors reported they were multi-walled carbon nanotubes sheathing a superconducting wire core. High tensile strength, low mass, nanometres thick. If one of those wires touched the workbee, it would be drained in moments. And if he flew into one, it would slice the workbee in two like a cheese wire.

The workbee's power supply must have been a shining beacon to these mines, because in a heartbeat, one popped into existence and lashed its wires toward the little ship.

[Kintiss]

[Outside the Hospital, Teplanea]

Ford and Kilminster met with Kintiss just outside the hospital. They carried a set of medical equipment, and a number of blue paper strips in a glass box. They'd been especially developed for detecting the Quickening in water. During their analysis of the virus, the medical staff had discovered a unique synthetic element in the Quickening's makeup. Like the litmus tests of old, the strips turned red in the presence of the Blight.

"We could probably do with ssssome extra handsss," Kintiss mused. He knew first-hand just how restless the natives could get. He didn't want to deal with that while he was conducting sensitive experiments on the water supply. Luckily for him, there was...Falleg?

"Well, I'll be," he noted. There was another face he hadn't seen since the Phoenix days.

[Solluk]

Between a Shield and a Hard Place

Solluk carefully maneuvered the Workbee out of the flight bay.  It was strange to be in such a cramped vehicle.  It felt almost more like a sled than a spacecraft.   Even the Sphinx workpods had more heft.  He turned his neck left and right, feeling somewhat cramped within his flight suit, in turn within this coffin-like vehicle.

Then he activated his com-badge.

This is Lieutenant Solluk.  Workbee 003 is deployed.  I can work within the shield envelope, so it should be safe to raise shields now.  I will be turning on passive sensors and lighting apparatus to scour the ship for evidence of the Houdini-Succubus mines.

He turned on the workbee's simple passive sensor array and activated the lighting apparatus on the workbee.  Playing with the controls a few meters outside of the shuttlebay doors, he performed maneuvering experiments to see what the little craft was truly capable of.  The hot gas thrusters were highly responsive, and he was able to put the workbee into a delicate revolution without moving it further from the ship.  Tip down, around.  Stop.  Tip left, revolve like a planet.  Stop.  She could turn, quite literally, on a dime.  And on any axis.

Nice.

Tapping the thrusters gently again, he set the workbee into forward motion, 1 meter per second.   Searchlights flashed and scanned as he manipulated their control sticks.   Watching for anything unusual, he simultaneously deployed the utility arms of the workbee.  Phaser torch, Solder nozzle, Diamond-Carbide cutter, tractor arm.  He clicked each of their controls in turn.  Everything was working, deploying smoothly on command and retracting as ordered.

Then something caught his eye.   A barely perceptible strand of material glinting off of the lights.  He focused the passive sensors on it, and pulled up a magnified view on the internal cockpit display.

A tether.

Incredibly thin.  No doubt made from a superconductive material, and only a few microns across.  It must be incredibly strong, as well, to resist being torn away when a ship moved.  No one could say that the Dominion sported substandard tech.

And there... another.   And another.  More and more of the narrow strands became visible to him as his eyes learned what to watch for.  The environment around the ship started to look like it was populated by spiderwebs.

He activated the coms.

Tempest, I have a visual on several of the strands that link the Succubus mines to our vessel.  I do not see the mines themselves, however.  Most likely the strands extend through a subspace envelope.  It may be time to initiate the static warp-

At that moment, one of the mines popped into existence nearby, sending tiny tendrils towards his small craft like hungry, hairlike snakes.  His hand moved quickly on the thruster controls, juking the workbee to one side like a prize-fighter dodging a punch.  But the hungry mine was persistent, reorienting itself and sending its tendrils at him from a new direction.

Solluk deployed and fired the phaser torch, easily dissolving the tendrils.  But the outlay of energy inspired another of the mines to drop out of subspace.

Juking on a new axis, he realized that he not only had to keep track of the attacking mines, but also the strands already deployed all around him.  For all he knew, they could cut through the cockpit of this tiny workbee like a hot knife through Plomeek Pudding.

He sent the workbee's carbide blade snipping out to sever the existing strands, firing the phaser torch at the approaching mines.  Meanwhile dodging wildly within meters of the ship's hull, daring not to send his craft careening too far in any direction.  The workbee became like a manic dervish spinning with twin sabers, cutting here, lashing there, turning away, dodging back.  Momentarily, he added the tractor arm to the fray, using it as a repulsor device to push at incoming, hungry Succubi.  Each item he deployed seemed to attract another of the ravenous devils, forcing him into a greater frenzy of activity to escape harm.

Request deployment of static warp shell NOW!

If he didn't start carving up the root cause of these attacks, he would be overwhelmed in moments.  His only hope was to be able to target the mines directly, and see their locations before he stumbled into their ambushes.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Teplanea]

Ian eyed the lieutenant before replying.

"Regardless of circumstances, the security lot should have bloody known about high tech equipment. What's done is done and it's been resolved. Aye, that would be best you you were ta help the Doctor. I'll leave you in Mister Jada's capable hands."

[AS NPC HRAFN FALLEG]
[Teplanea]

"No problem Mr. Galloway!" Hrafn replied in a cheerful enough voice.  She'd heard worse, she'd dated and served under Christian Grix for starters... when he got riled...yeah.

[Streets, Teplanea]

Jada gazed skyward at Falleg's defensiveness, then remembered she'd been the same way, in her own way, when first discovering Galloway's... offensiveness. She'd come to accept it now. Maybe everyone got chewed out by the Scotsman when they first joined the crew? 'Welcome to the Tempest.' she told Falleg with sympathetic smile.

She eyed her yellowshirts dangerously. 'Ass-kickings will continue until attentiveness improves. Good hunting.' She waved them on to their missions.

Back to Falleg, she added 'Okay, this way to the, um, Lizard Wizard? But he's really more of a snake, not a lizard.' She might not be a scientist, but she knew her animals.

Hrafn smiled at Jada.

"Thanks and yeah but they're both kinda scaly and well... we couldn't think up anything magical that night we got drunk and started thinking up nicknames for people!" she chuckled.  "Still stand by what I said about him and being a miracle worker tho!"

[Outside the Hospital, Teplanea]

Ford and Kilminster met with Kintiss just outside the hospital. They carried a set of medical equipment, and a number of blue paper strips in a glass box. They'd been especially developed for detecting the Quickening in water. During their analysis of the virus, the medical staff had discovered a unique synthetic element in the Quickening's makeup. Like the litmus tests of old, the strips turned red in the presence of the Blight.

"We could probably do with ssssome extra handsss," Kintiss mused. He knew first-hand just how restless the natives could get. He didn't want to deal with that while he was conducting sensitive experiments on the water supply. Luckily for him, there was...Falleg?

"Well, I'll be," he noted. There was another face he hadn't seen since the Phoenix days.

"Hi Doc!" Hrafn smiled,

"Yip, thanks to your ministrations on a few occasions I am still not a ghost.  No time to visit with you at present but promise I will and with James and anyone else in the crew I know of days of yore, once we're done here.  Now, I'm not going to make the same mistake I did with Mr. Galloway...so I'll lead with the fact that I haven't exactly been briefed.  I was hitching a ride with Admiral Kirok to Columbus, understood there was a bit of a flap on, James... ah Mr. Hawk said he could do with some help when I volunteered so beamed me over I was on the bridge like 5 mins, and then beamed down here so... point me at what you want me to do and I'll do it.  I have however learnt that modern tech is lethal to the guys down here.  Galloway gave me that lesson gratis!"

She held her hands out and grinned "I am yours to command!...I got two hands at least and they're all yours.  Oh and what do these guys speak down here... you remember I'm a xenolinguist, that might help, I also worked in Anthropology...might help!"

[Jada]

[Outside Hospital, Teplanea]

"Thanks and yeah but they're both kinda scaly and well... we couldn't think up anything magical that night we got drunk and started thinking up nicknames for people!" she chuckled.  "Still stand by what I said about him and being a miracle worker tho!"

Jada looked askance at Falleg, wondering 'You got Kintiss drunk?' She couldn't believe it. Drove him to drink, maybe, that she could believe.

"Yip, thanks to your ministrations on a few occasions I am still not a ghost.  No time to visit with you at present but promise I will and with James and anyone else in the crew I know of days of yore, once we're done here.  Now, I'm not going to make the same mistake I did with Mr. Galloway...so I'll lead with the fact that I haven't exactly been briefed.  I was hitching a ride with Admiral Kirok to Columbus, understood there was a bit of a flap on, James... ah Mr. Hawk said he could do with some help when I volunteered so beamed me over I was on the bridge like 5 mins, and then beamed down here so... point me at what you want me to do and I'll do it.  I have however learnt that modern tech is lethal to the guys down here.  Galloway gave me that lesson gratis!"

She held her hands out and grinned "I am yours to command!...I got two hands at least and they're all yours.  Oh and what do these guys speak down here... you remember I'm a xenolinguist, that might help, I also worked in Anthropology...might help!"

As nominal expedition leader, Jada filled Falleg in, quickly explaining how they'd answered a distress call about a resurgence in the Blight, a tenacious Dominion-created disease that afflicted the Teplan people as punishment for their defiance centuries ago. Doctor Bashir had created a vaccine some 24 years ago, but now it seemed to be failing.

Jada left Kintiss to better explain the medical and scientific aspects, instead covering the social problems here with Netia's aid. After being bombed back to the Stone Age and plagued with a ticking time-bomb of a disease, Teplan society was little more than anarchy, with a few wide elders like Netia (their guide and representative) to try to keep a lid on things; honoured doctors who relieved and ended suffering through painkillers and euthanasia; a hopeful young vaccinated generation with dreams of rebuilding, led by Latean; and a mob of anti-technology zealots led by Torva, who tried to enforce their views on the rest; and the regular people, who just tried to eke out a living before their inevitable, unpredictable deaths.

EM fields could advance and trigger the Quickening, the final stage of the disease, hence they had to be minimised or eliminated. Bioelectric fields and lightning storms were unavoidable, of course, but everything else, all electricity, magnetics, and technology had been removed, stored, switched off, or even destroyed. Torva's mob were brutally fanatic about this, and had caught and stoned Latean for calling Starfleet on a subspace ansible. Hence the Starfleet away team were using low-tech equipment wherever possible, to avoid either advancing the Quickening or scaring the Teplans. They were already pessimistic and resentful about outworlders' failed attempts to help.

Such was the situation on Teplan. Now they were going to investigate the wells and test the water supply, to find if a new strain was contaminating the wells. Doctor Trepan, Netia, a Teplan nurse accompanied Doctor Kintiss, Ford, Falleg, and Jada.

Departing the hospital, the small team ventured out into the rubble-strewn city streets, past shanty houses built inside former office blocks and superstores, through markets where vendors traded foods, tools, and cloth for trinkets of a forgotten age and the modern era, simple folk art. There was a common theme to the artwork: skulls, bones, universal symbols of death, common to a culture that lived so closely to death. Some rocks and chunks of rubble were carved into the shape of skulls and placed at high vantage points, forever staring down on the people with empty, sightless eyes. It was a memento mori, an ever-present reminder of death.

Under them, the people moved slowly about their business, with no urgency or desire, just the chore of existence before the end. Occasionally, some fell sick and staggered away. The away team members drew fearful and suspicious looks from passers-by.

As they walked, Jada scanned the streets and the crowds, alert for threats but finding no more than dirty looks at this stage. She hoped this testing wouldn't take long; they were too exposed in the street. They'd surprised Torva back at the stoning pit, when they'd rescued Latean, but she was sure to want a rematch.

Soon, they came to a well, a squat stone-built cylinder of the classic design, erected in the middle of the street. Apparently the Teplans had tunnelled down into subterranean river, perhaps even the old city's water network. They saw a Teplan go to the well, winching down a bucket to collect water...

[Klizh]

Engineering

For an Ops officer, K'lizh didn't come down here much. The engineering crew was competent and better-staffed than his own department, so K'lizh was more needed on the bridge than down in the inner workings of the ship. Which was a shame, because he loved the warp core. It was a thing of beauty, the heart of the Galaxy class. But he had no time to stand around and admire it. He strode in and immediately took command of a legion of faces he barely knew. Fortunately, someone had already begun the calculations for the static warp shell at the precise modulation they needed. Unfortunately, the power drain was slowing the engine's charge.

Tempest, I have a visual on several of the strands that link the Succubus mines to our vessel.  I do not see the mines themselves, however.  Most likely the strands extend through a subspace envelope.  It may be time to initiate the static warp-

K'lizh tapped his badge.  Acknowledged. Stand by, we should have it ready in thirty seconds.

Request deployment of static warp shell NOW!

"Commander, it's not ready! Just a few more seconds!" A Bolian ensign pleased.

"We have no choice! Do it now!" K'lizh didn't wait for the engineer at the console to react, however, instead pushing him aside and slamming his finger down on the console button.

Across the entire ship, the lights dimmed and every console flickered, and outside, the warp nacelles illuminated with a flash of blue light of an intensity that would blind a non-Vulcan. But the enemy traps around the ship all became visible not just to the ship's sensors, but the naked eye of most humanoid species, as blue-purple silhouettes.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Outside Hospital, Teplanea]

Jada looked askance at Falleg, wondering 'You got Kintiss drunk?' She couldn't believe it. Drove him to drink, maybe, that she could believe.

As nominal expedition leader, Jada filled Falleg in, quickly explaining how they'd answered a distress call about a resurgence in the Blight, a tenacious Dominion-created disease that afflicted the Teplan people as punishment for their defiance centuries ago. Doctor Bashir had created a vaccine some 24 years ago, but now it seemed to be failing.

Jada left Kintiss to better explain the medical and scientific aspects, instead covering the social problems here with Netia's aid. After being bombed back to the Stone Age and plagued with a ticking time-bomb of a disease, Teplan society was little more than anarchy, with a few wide elders like Netia (their guide and representative) to try to keep a lid on things; honoured doctors who relieved and ended suffering through painkillers and euthanasia; a hopeful young vaccinated generation with dreams of rebuilding, led by Latean; and a mob of anti-technology zealots led by Torva, who tried to enforce their views on the rest; and the regular people, who just tried to eke out a living before their inevitable, unpredictable deaths.

EM fields could advance and trigger the Quickening, the final stage of the disease, hence they had to be minimised or eliminated. Bioelectric fields and lightning storms were unavoidable, of course, but everything else, all electricity, magnetics, and technology had been removed, stored, switched off, or even destroyed. Torva's mob were brutally fanatic about this, and had caught and stoned Latean for calling Starfleet on a subspace ansible. Hence the Starfleet away team were using low-tech equipment wherever possible, to avoid either advancing the Quickening or scaring the Teplans. They were already pessimistic and resentful about outworlders' failed attempts to help.

Such was the situation on Teplan. Now they were going to investigate the wells and test the water supply, to find if a new strain was contaminating the wells. Doctor Trepan, Netia, a Teplan nurse accompanied Doctor Kintiss, Ford, Falleg, and Jada.

Departing the hospital, the small team ventured out into the rubble-strewn city streets, past shanty houses built inside former office blocks and superstores, through markets where vendors traded foods, tools, and cloth for trinkets of a forgotten age and the modern era, simple folk art. There was a common theme to the artwork: skulls, bones, universal symbols of death, common to a culture that lived so closely to death. Some rocks and chunks of rubble were carved into the shape of skulls and placed at high vantage points, forever staring down on the people with empty, sightless eyes. It was a memento mori, an ever-present reminder of death.

Under them, the people moved slowly about their business, with no urgency or desire, just the chore of existence before the end. Occasionally, some fell sick and staggered away. The away team members drew fearful and suspicious looks from passers-by.

As they walked, Jada scanned the streets and the crowds, alert for threats but finding no more than dirty looks at this stage. She hoped this testing wouldn't take long; they were too exposed in the street. They'd surprised Torva back at the stoning pit, when they'd rescued Latean, but she was sure to want a rematch.

Soon, they came to a well, a squat stone-built cylinder of the classic design, erected in the middle of the street. Apparently the Teplans had tunnelled down into subterranean river, perhaps even the old city's water network. They saw a Teplan go to the well, winching down a bucket to collect water...

[AS NPC HRAFN FALLEG]
Hrafn chuckled as she walked at Jada's comment.  "Noooo, that would have been fun... Academy graduates I had been teaching, we were on a night out to celebrate their graduation, they kindly invited me, and someone had heard about the good doctor here, and started, well not bad mouthing but ah.. drawing attention to his species and being not too complimentary about it.  I told them a few things about his work and, by the end of it we'd called him the Lizard Wizard."

Her chuckles dried up totally as did her mouth as she saw the scene unfold around her.

"So... we're testing the wells and stuff.  Well, I'm not medical but I do read a lot of history and water, lack of sanitation or adequate sewerage removal are the common big spread of diseases factors, clear that up at the source and well you're not out of the woods but you're not creating any further cases so you can concentrate on getting the sick people better if they can be saved, and if not, you're not making the situation an ongoing viscious circle of disease."

She nodded towards the well that someone was drawing water from.  "Is that the only well?  I mean we might have to track it along it's course as in where does the water come into the well, how is it fed so to speak, how deep is it? And if it's tested, it's clear and it is the sole source of water, if we could find something that could possibly treat it... that's Dr. Kintiss's department... maybe something that is dissolvable and doesn't taste disgusting, and it gets distributed.  OK it's not a perfect idea, but it's an idea, I'm a scientist not a doctor!"

[Kirok]

[Tempest Bridge]

"Yes Sir, Admiral" Djann said as he strode to the workstation and logged in beside the Admiral.

Dominion ships... he thought as he thought of ways to expand the scanning parameters. Not much was known of developments of new technology in the Dominion since the conflict ended, at least not publicly.

Turning to the Admiral, Djann asked "Sir, I'm not privvy to any word of major advancements in Dominion technology but from what I'm aware they use Polaron energy to power their weapons and some subsystems. It's not directly detectable but you'd think they'd have them on standby if they're cloaked right? I'm not an engineer Sir, but could we use the deflector to accelerate or charge the Poloran particles to the point that they'd be detectable if they're cloaked?"

[Tempest Bridge]

Kirok dipped his head slighly and moved over a bit.  He wanted to give the new Science Officer plenty of room to work.  And not hinder the man in any way by his presence as an Admiral on a ship.

If fact, he found the man's reaction to be quite accepbable.  Some Officers would shy away from direct converstion with him.  But not Tempest.

Kirok's left eyebrow arched as he considered the idea.  "That is a logical deduction, Mr. Tempest.  One that is well worth testing out.  You should mentin it to Mr. Hawk" the half Vulcan replied.

[Solluk]

Between a Shield Envelope and a Hull Place

Even a mediocre Vulcan student, as Solluk had been, learned something of trends and analysis.  As such, Solluk was well aware that the current trend was unsustainable.  In mere moments, he would reach the full capacity of his reflexes and the limits of responsiveness of the workbee.

After that, the tentacles of a Succubus mine would steal away the power of the workbee.  Worse, he might spin off into some of the wires already deployed.  Those thin, powerful wires could carve him to pieces.  The only way to solve this problem would be to target the mines themselves, and to see them before he stumbled into their path.  But the only way for that to happen would be if-

A blue flash of light filled his vision, then faded.   In its wake, all of the Houdini-Succubus mines suddenly stood out as shimmering sapphire spheres.  Interacting with the static warp shell that K'lizh had initiated, the mines were pulled out of their subspace seclusion.  And now they were vulnerable.

This did not mean Solluk would win the fight.  He was at the extreme limit of his twitch response.

But it did make the fight winnable.

Left, Cut.

Advance, Fire, Retreat.

Spin, Cut.

Repulse, Advance, Spin, Fire. 

Cut, Cut, Spin, Dive, Fire.

Fire. Fire. Fire! FIRE!

Suddenly, Solluk found his hands poised over the controls, motionless.   His eyes darted left and right.  Debris floated through the space all around him.  Lax microfilament tethers tumbled lazily, reduced to limp, lifeless segments.  Bisected spheres revolved end over end, internals sparking with dying light.

Extending the tractor arm, Solluk activated it.   The nearby bits of debris gathered onto the tip of the arm.  Tilting it, Solluk switched to repulsion and sent the collection down and away.

What was left?   Where were any others?

He saw nothing.

Reaching out, he switched the workbee's passive sensors to active mode.   This would energetically broadcast his presence to any mines that might be a bit further away.

Silence.   No motion.

Then... there! 

Three spheres, soaring in his direction.   Now fully visible, thanks to the static warp shell.  Unfortunately for the mines, it was a small matter to target them with the workbee's intermediate-range phaser torch.   He swept the beam across them, and they were dead before their tendrils could make contact.  Their destroyed shells bounced hard against the hull of the workbee, but not with enough force to breach the craft.

Collecting the new debris, he tossed them down and away.   Then he began a new, slow search of the exterior of the Tempest.

Solluk to Tempest.   Appreciation for the timely assist.  Thirteen mines have been destroyed.  Now proceeding with a careful scouring of the hull.  The worst of the danger seems to be past.  I should have any remaining mines cleared momentarily.

[Djann Tempest]

[Tempest Bridge]

Kirok dipped his head slighly and moved over a bit.  He wanted to give the new Science Officer plenty of room to work.  And not hinder the man in any way by his presence as an Admiral on a ship.

If fact, he found the man's reaction to be quite accepbable.  Some Officers would shy away from direct converstion with him.  But not Tempest.

Kirok's left eyebrow arched as he considered the idea.  "That is a logical deduction, Mr. Tempest.  One that is well worth testing out.  You should mentin it to Mr. Hawk" the half Vulcan replied.

[Tempest Bridge]

Returning a respectful nod to the Admiral, Djann replied;

"Yes Sir, thank you" and quickly rechecked the information before he sought out the XO. He was glad to be working closely with a respected officer like the Admiral but being half Vulcan he felt a little more at ease with the superior officer than most Cadets would.

Djann approached Commander Hawk.

"Sir, the Admiral and I think we may be able to either force the Dominion ships out of cloak or potentially damage their weapon systems, making them detectable. We think the main deflector can be adapted to serve as a kind of particle accelerator and use it to charge any polaron particles in it's effective range. I've taken the liberty of writing some coding here that an engineer would be able to integrate to target the particles we need specifically" Djann finished, offering a padd to the Commander.

[Kintiss]

"Hi Doc!" Hrafn smiled,

"Yip, thanks to your ministrations on a few occasions I am still not a ghost.  No time to visit with you at present but promise I will and with James and anyone else in the crew I know of days of yore, once we're done here.  Now, I'm not going to make the same mistake I did with Mr. Galloway...so I'll lead with the fact that I haven't exactly been briefed.  I was hitching a ride with Admiral Kirok to Columbus, understood there was a bit of a flap on, James... ah Mr. Hawk said he could do with some help when I volunteered so beamed me over I was on the bridge like 5 mins, and then beamed down here so... point me at what you want me to do and I'll do it.  I have however learnt that modern tech is lethal to the guys down here.  Galloway gave me that lesson gratis!"

She held her hands out and grinned "I am yours to command!...I got two hands at least and they're all yours.  Oh and what do these guys speak down here... you remember I'm a xenolinguist, that might help, I also worked in Anthropology...might help!"

[Western Quarter, Teplanea]

"I'm ssssure we can find a usssse for you," Kintiss nodded. While he'd forgotten just how much more animated Falleg was than him, it was good to see her again. That was two faces he had now seen from the Phoenix, and he was glad to have done so. On a big ship like the Tempest, a bit of familiarity was always welcome.

His enthusiasm faltered a little when she mentioned Admiral Kirok, however. Despite them mostly patching up their working relationship after Tarna, there was still a rift between them that Kintiss didn't think would heal in time. Still, if he was here to help, Kintiss wasn't going to stop him. They could use all the hands they could get.

Upon finding the well, it was easy to see how the water was so easily infected. No high technology meant no advanced filtering or anti-contamination mechanisms. It was like putting a large hole in the middle of a hallway. Sooner or later, something was bound to fall in.

"We'll need a water ssssample," he noted, turning to Trepan and Netia. "I'll leave that up to you." In all his excitement and terror at the new discovery, he had completely neglected how to inform the Teplans of it. He was no counsellor, but he figured it would be better to let a familiar face handle the talking. He frightened enough of his Starfleet patients as it was, so he didn't like to imagine how a scared Teplan might react.

[Kirok]

[Tempest Bridge]

Returning a respectful nod to the Admiral, Djann replied;

"Yes Sir, thank you" and quickly rechecked the information before he sought out the XO. He was glad to be working closely with a respected officer like the Admiral but being half Vulcan he felt a little more at ease with the superior officer than most Cadets would.

Djann approached Commander Hawk.

"Sir, the Admiral and I think we may be able to either force the Dominion ships out of cloak or potentially damage their weapon systems, making them detectable. We think the main deflector can be adapted to serve as a kind of particle accelerator and use it to charge any polaron particles in it's effective range. I've taken the liberty of writing some coding here that an engineer would be able to integrate to target the particles we need specifically" Djann finished, offering a padd to the Commander.

[Bridge]

Kirok as if on que also turned to Hawk.  He offered the man a nod.  Confirming what Mr. Tempest had said.

"In all my days on a starship I have never encountered this solution to this problem.  But it is well worth exploring" Kirok said.  "And as a side note, I can confirm that none of the parts have been tampered with.  So, I would consider that good news" the half Vulcan added.

[Octavia Tarian]

[Teplanea]

Ian eyed the lieutenant before replying.

"Regardless of circumstances, the security lot should have bloody known about high tech equipment. What's done is done and it's been resolved. Aye, that would be best you you were ta help the Doctor. I'll leave you in Mister Jada's capable hands."

Ian then turned to the Octavia.

"Are you able ta pick up anything on them? Last thing we need ta do is make an accusation and it isn't right."

Octavia looked at Ian, "I can sense feelings, I can't really detect radio frequencies. But, I'll do my best," she calmed herself inwardly, closing her eyes like her father, the Betazoid, had taught her. "Getting past all this overwhelming emotions may take a while,  so bear with me."
She could feel the emotions of the planet like a low, slow, melancholy throbbing. She could also sense something else, something different. "I can't believe it, I'm actually feeling something," she said with more surprise than she intended. "It's different, and it feels like it's coming from that way..." she pointed east. "I mean, I it's very faint." She started doubting herself, "but it's worth checking out, I think."