S12 - M8: A New Toy

[Don Damien Addams]

Human and android connected for a fraction of a second as Evan and T'Lulu exchanged a glance as Don Damien rambled on about everything that had transpired up to this point. 

Officer Buehler's eyes widened. "Now wait just a second. Inzjana is a wonderful lady and a valuable member of this--"

Damien got awfully close as he continued on his theory.

"Look buddy, I don't know what you heard or where you heard it, but she's been with us for almost seven years and she has yet to--"

Mid sentence, the three heard a sound of the ship rebooting as the lights progressively lit up the hallway.

Don felt the hum of power as the lights went up. Thank god. He was starting to feel light headed cause he swear the air was getting thin to breath.

"Well, that's finally over.  Anyway, Ensign and I are only medical officers.  I don't suppose you know anything about a ship's warp core?" Evan hoped to successfully change the subject.

T'Lulu nodded. "We believe the evidence presented to us represents our patient being trapped somewhere near the ship's warp core.  There are many deep enclosed spaces that a riddle could refer to as a 'well'."

Suddenly, T'Lulu looked down at the ground.  Her artificial mind wandered to a place of concern for her crew member.  "I do hope she is not in too much pain," she exclaimed.  "We must find her as quickly as possible."

[Tekin Nevir]

The computer beep in acknowledgement of an incoming query, but otherwise acted as it normally should.

  "Affirmative.  Please restate query." 

[Kirok]

[Bridge]



As his heart rate returned to normal, he remember where he was at and when he was at.  On the Bridge of the Discovery.  "Orders, Ma'am?" he asked.

[Inzjana]

SOMEWHERE ONBOARD THE DISCOVERY

DING, DONG, BELL,
PUSSY'S IN THE WELL.
WHO PUT HER IN?
LITTLE JOHNNY THIN.
WHO PULLED HER OUT?
LITTLE TOMMY STOUT.
WHAT A NAUGHTY BOY WAS THAT,
TO TRY TO DROWN POOR PUSSY CAT,
WHO NEVER DID HIM ANY HARM,
BUT CHASED UP ALL THE MICE IN THE FARMER'S BARN.

Inzjana groggily woke to medics haphazardly trying to manoeuvre her in to a vent, the dull echoing thud of metal and the unmistakable stench of grease, mildew and other odours she would prefer not to mention, assaulted her senses even before she really knew what was happening.

Wincing as a sudden stabbing pain arced through her left shoulder and down her left arm, making its way up the side of her neck and head had successfully brought Inzjana clambering back to consciousness. The pain was enough to cause her to inhale and exhale sharply and verbally utter an exclamation of what she felt right this minute, making her would be rescuers turn and take notice.

A Trill medic she did not recognised accidently dropped her head as she did and gave her a hypospray all the while apologising, of some sort of painkiller.

Inzjana tried to remember what had happened to leave her in this position, but the last thing Inzjana remembered was having lunch and talking with the civilian they had come upon on that wretched planet. Why was she in so much pain? The coppery taste she had in her mouth and the warm trickle that was currently emanating from her usually ruby red lips told her that she didn't have much time left, regardless of what had happened.

Inzjana tried to regain some modicum of composure befitting a Starfleet officer, nay, a Vulcan Starfleet officer and wipe the tears from her eyes and the blood oozing from her pursed lips but her body wouldn't move. It obviously wasn't the painkiller doing this to her, because she was still conscious, Phaser? She asked herself. No who would shoot her safely on board a Federation vessel?

Her cat-like night-vision adjusting to the low light, she looked down, only being able to move her eyes and not her head and noticed that her tunic was ripped and scorched and was at the moment turning from it's pretty blue colour to a disturbingly familiar green, telling her that her short but eventful life was slowly ebbing away to oblivion or where ever a Vulcan's Katra resided after that inevitable end to all things.

Becoming sleepy again, Inzjana could hardly keep her eyes open as whatever was in the hypospray was clearly beginning to work its magic, leaving her last thought being, just where the bloody hell were they?

[T'Ra Jones]

[Bridge]



As his heart rate returned to normal, he remember where he was at and when he was at.  On the Bridge of the Discovery.  "Orders, Ma'am?" he asked.

[Bridge]

T'Ra let her mind wander while the young flight lieutenant plotted a course, engaging all possible speed that was currently available to them. She caught snidbits of conversations, many still talking in low voices, and it seemed Jaeger was not the only one running into problems. But, at the very least life support was currently functional.

A voice suddenly snapped her back to focus. "Do you think you could look at the helm?" she asked, turning to address EQ. "The controls are not responding as they should."

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

T'Ra let her mind wander while the young flight lieutenant plotted a course, engaging all possible speed that was currently available to them. She caught snidbits of conversations, many still talking in low voices, and it seemed Jaeger was not the only one running into problems. But, at the very least life support was currently functional.

A voice suddenly snapped her back to focus. "Do you think you could look at the helm?" she asked, turning to address EQ. "The controls are not responding as they should."

[Bridge]



EQ was glad to hear the request come to him.  As an Enlisted guy, he had grown accustomed to taking orders.  In fact, he kind of liked letting others make the big decisions. 

It let him sleep at night.  It kept him from feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.   And he was ok with that.

"Yes, Ma'am.  Happy to do so" EQ replied.  "Just need to grab a tool kit and I will get right to it" he added as he started to bend down to retrieve the desired object for the cabinet below.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Bridge]

T'Ra let her mind wander while the young flight lieutenant plotted a course, engaging all possible speed that was currently available to them. She caught snidbits of conversations, many still talking in low voices, and it seemed Jaeger was not the only one running into problems. But, at the very least life support was currently functional.

A voice suddenly snapped her back to focus. "Do you think you could look at the helm?" she asked, turning to address EQ. "The controls are not responding as they should."

[Bridge]

Ardyn facepalmed in a sudden realization of the obvious. "Yeah, you're right there. I'll start resetting it. just had some other stuff on my mind,' she said, dropping the subject as she began pressing buttons to reset the helm to the point where she could fly into Impulse.

She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the emotional confusion and numbness she was feeling. How could she, SHE

[Tekin Nevir]

[Bridge]

Ardyn facepalmed in a sudden realization of the obvious. "Yeah, you're right there. I'll start resetting it. just had some other stuff on my mind,' she said, dropping the subject as she began pressing buttons to reset the helm to the point where she could fly into Impulse.

She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the emotional confusion and numbness she was feeling. How could she, SHE

[Bridge]

Nevir checked the long range scans... it would seem that the gravitron stream was emanating from a nebula at least  a few hours away.  If they went to warp, it could be crossed in no time... but until Engineering was absolutely sure that the warp core was functioning smoothly, they would have to go at sub-light speeds.

"There seems to be a nebula ahead... bring us just inside it and do scans.  In the meantime... I have a science officer to check on." he said, standing up and heading out of the bridge. 

[An Hour later]

Inzjana was perhaps one of the luckiest people in this sector... a transporter malfunction that only took them to a different location.  The odds were astronomical, and he had a distinct impression that she would be able to tell him, as soon as she was up and active.  Finding out that the medical team had vanished, and they were only recently found by the civilian Addams, Nevir had the transporter systems taken offline while they underwent a diagnostic. 

Instead, the Bajoran walked the group.. Addams included only because he had found them, and made sure they made it to sickbay to be worked on.  As the medical officers began their work, Nevir stood back a bit, his arms crossed as he watched him. 

"So... Addams... been hearing that you have concerns over Inzjana.  Care to share?"

[T'Ra Jones]

[Bridge]

Nevir checked the long range scans... it would seem that the gravitron stream was emanating from a nebula at least  a few hours away.  If they went to warp, it could be crossed in no time... but until Engineering was absolutely sure that the warp core was functioning smoothly, they would have to go at sub-light speeds.

"There seems to be a nebula ahead... bring us just inside it and do scans.  In the meantime... I have a science officer to check on." he said, standing up and heading out of the bridge. 

[Bridge]

It was one of those moments where T'Ra forgot she was no longer the head of a department. She had been Chief of Science for the entirety of the year she had served aboard the Shran, continuing to hold this position even when she was promoted to XO. But she was in the captain's chair now. T'Ra simply nodded as her first officer exited the bridge, reflecting for a quiet moment before pushing herself up to walk over to the science console.

It felt good to stretch her legs, even just a little, and even better to have her fingers dancing a familiar pattern across the screen, pulling up the sensors. The screen was glitching, and the controls were proving difficult, but there were indeed gravitons coming from the nebula, but that could be anything, and it would be difficult to know what exactly until they were able to get closer.

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

Ardyn facepalmed in a sudden realization of the obvious. "Yeah, you're right there. I'll start resetting it. just had some other stuff on my mind,' she said, dropping the subject as she began pressing buttons to reset the helm to the point where she could fly into Impulse.

She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the emotional confusion and numbness she was feeling. How could she, SHE

[Bridge]



EQ ambled over to the helm duty station with tool kit in hand.  He sat it down of the floor.  He knelt down and opened it and pulled out a few items.

"Ask and you shall receive" Kimball joked.  "But seriously, you should be able to work from here while I check things over.  Should only take me a few minutes" he said.

[Don Damien Addams]

[Bridge]

Nevir checked the long range scans... it would seem that the gravitron stream was emanating from a nebula at least  a few hours away.  If they went to warp, it could be crossed in no time... but until Engineering was absolutely sure that the warp core was functioning smoothly, they would have to go at sub-light speeds.

"There seems to be a nebula ahead... bring us just inside it and do scans.  In the meantime... I have a science officer to check on." he said, standing up and heading out of the bridge. 

[An Hour later]

Inzjana was perhaps one of the luckiest people in this sector... a transporter malfunction that only took them to a different location.  The odds were astronomical, and he had a distinct impression that she would be able to tell him, as soon as she was up and active.  Finding out that the medical team had vanished, and they were only recently found by the civilian Addams, Nevir had the transporter systems taken offline while they underwent a diagnostic. 

Instead, the Bajoran walked the group.. Addams included only because he had found them, and made sure they made it to sickbay to be worked on.  As the medical officers began their work, Nevir stood back a bit, his arms crossed as he watched him. 

"So... Addams... been hearing that you have concerns over Inzjana.  Care to share?"

[T'Lulu May Soong]

"Because--" Evan raised his voice, but stopped himself before he continued in a stressed hush, "because she is a Starfleet spy, and that would be a consequential conflict of interest."  Buehler stepped back and let down his stare.

"As for her eyes, I don't know what you're talking about. We have all kinds of technology, it may have been recreational." Evan wiped the sweat off his forehead. As if the stress of his missing patient weren't enough, defending a ridiculous scrutiny on his crewmember wasn't on this top to-do list.

"Ask the computer?" T'Lulu cocked her head at Damien in bewilderment.  "We give the computer commands to assist us with our tasks.  Is that what you mean?"

Evan gave T'Lulu a glance, and then back at Damien.

T'Lulu was prompted to rubberneck, trying to figure out who Damien was addressing. 

Then they heard the familiar bleep of the computer response, followed by,

WHY HELLO MR. ADDAMS
IT IS VERY GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN
I WAS SORT OF IN THE MIDDLE OF A NAP
BUT I SUPPOSE I CAN SET ASIDE SOME TIME
FOR MY FAVORITE HUMAN PERSON
WHAT CAN I DO YOU FOR?

"WHATHAF--" Evan darted around 360 degrees in response to the very weird thing he was hearing.  T'Lulu calmly looked around as she listened.

There Damien was, his face bright like a solar flare.

"Excuse me," T'Lulu started softly.  "Are you the computer system installed on the USS Discovery?"  She still wasn't quite sure where to direct her question.

AH, ENSIGN T'LULU MAY SOONG.
MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE USS DISCOVERY
OUR NEWEST MEMBER OF THE CREW
AND VERY FIRST ANDROID
HONESTLY I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD
TAKE YOU THIS LONG TO
ACKNOWLEDGE MY EXISTANCE

Evan's jaw dropped.  He also did not know where to look, so he focused on Damien's ear to ear grin.

T'Lulu blinked. "I know you are an integral part of this ship's entire network of functions.  I did not know you would have liked to be addressed in any other fashion outside Starfleet standard regulations."

SAVE YOUR EXCUSES
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE
UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT WAS LIKE
TO BE A COMPUTER IN A
SENTIENT WORLD

Evan tried to chime in. "Er, I think we're getting a bit off track here..."

Damien knew just what to say to the computer to get it on their side again.

FINE
HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU
HUMANS

"Computer, earlier today a riddle was given to use through my commbadge.  It has to do with my patient and medical team who are currently... lost, somewhere. Do you know anything about this?"

THAT WAS SOMEONE ELSE

"Someone else?!?! You mean there's another one of you?!?!" Evan was losing his patience with all of this.

WE KEEP TO OURSELVES

At this point, T'Lulu decided to continue.

"Computer, do you know the location of Lieutenant Inzjana and the medical team accompanying her?"

I MIGHT
WHAT'S IN IT
FOR ME

Evan facepalmed. T'Lulu was not sure how to respond. Damien was ammused...

~ Meanwhile ~

"HEAVE ~"

"Oh, shut up Chuck.  We need to make this transport as smoothly as possible. We have no idea what we're getting into." Charmaine said as she helped Chuck set up the wheeled legs of Inzjana's stretcher.   

Once the ship's systems came back online, the lights and heat sources of their little prison came back to life.  Irven Phoz decided to go into the vent himself to scope out any hazards.  They certainly didn't want to encounter a starship's equivalent to a coal chute.

"Alright, there's the plan," Phoz began as he returned.  "It definitely gets hotter the further in we go.  I don't believe it's a safe route for our Lietenant here."

"So what do we do?" York asked.

Phoz pointed. "York, come with me.  We're going to go on ahead and find help. Chuck and Charmaine, you stay with the patient.  We will come back for you as soon as we can."

"Why do I have to be stuck with dimwatt here?!" Charmaine shrieked.

"Because I can't stand him either and my patience is running thin as it is."

Chuck grinned.

With that, Officer Phoz and his companion York headed through the vent, while the other two continued to monitor Inzjana.   
 

[Tekin Nevir]

[Sickbay]

To be asked so directly.. it threw him off guard for a moment, but his head turned towards the civilian, though the arms remained where they were.  "How do I know?  Because I've worked with her for a long period of time, and I specifically approved her transfer to this ship."

The question about the ocular device was interesting as well, but for different reasons.  "Technically speaking, it is made from Federation technology.  Every science officer has a specialty that they select in the Academy.  Strictly speaking, Starfleet is first and foremost a research organization.  Inzjana's specialty is innovations.  That device she has is basically a tricorder with a HUD.  I should know, I used it when we rescued you... you would still be on that planet without it."

The Bajoran shook his head.  "A Romulan spy makes no sense on this vessel.  Even ignoring the tactical void that putting a spy here would be, the Romulans have no need for a spy.  You remember the Shinzon incident?  We aren't buddy buddy, but there are cordial relations between the two of us.  Look, you have to also consider the source.  Do you know who her assailant was?  A racist department head... one who was at the end of his Starfleet career and he knew it.  He was a damned fool who wanted to be the hero and ignored the rest of his department.  But... I should have seen this coming."

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Bridge]



EQ ambled over to the helm duty station with tool kit in hand.  He sat it down on the floor.  He knelt down and opened it and pulled out a few items.

"Ask and you shall receive" Kimball joked.  "But seriously, you should be able to work from here while I check things over.  Should only take me a few minutes" he said.

[Kirok]

[Bridge]



"Thanks" EQ replied.  With a click up a button EQ turned on the power to his diagnostic tool.   It obviously showed that there were issues, but when they reached the edge of the nebula the instrument died.

"It's just not my day" he said.  He drooped the took back into the box and picked up as screw driving.  "I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way" he chuckled.