Sleepy Briefings

Posted on Sun Nov 17th, 2019 @ 11:59pm by Captain Wilkan Targaryen & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Zephryn Kaldiran & Commander Nathan Hawkins & Commander Ash Randall & Commander Sherwin Porter & High Commissioner Jasmine Haynes & Lieutenant Commander T'Lisha "Hawkeye" Bishara & Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Commander Lily Snow PhD, MD & Petty Officer 2nd Class Corvus Hannah
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:09pm

5,049 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Main Bridge, Starfleet One
Timeline: 2429-12-03, 21:15

Admiral William Teagarden stepped onto the Bridge on Deck One of Starfleet One wishing he could be in his Quarters sleeping instead of dealing with this calamity. The Away Team had returned from the Preserver vessel a short while ago and they had shared with him an interesting story, one that was supported by the happenings aboard Starfleet One itself. He had trouble believing everything that was happening, but the facts were the facts.

Galatea had turned against them. It was an impossible scenario to imagine, but she was now their enemy and had warned them all that the Preservers would be coming for them. The mere thought of the ominous warning sent shivers up and down his spine. To make matters worse Galatea was the central computer for Starfleet One herself. If she had been corrupted she knew all their secrets, not to mention her essence transfer had robbed them of the most important system aboard the ship. With the computers on emergency operations and switched back to LCARS it was only a matter of time until they overloaded and failed from the needed computing power and capability.

Plus there were medical concerns that they had to address. Two members of the ship's crew had been afflicted by some unknown source - citing music that kept repeating over and over again. If they couldn't do something soon to help them it was entirely possible that they'd lose their war for survival and their bodies would fail. They needed options and they needed them quickly.

The lights flickered as he sat at his chair in the center of the Bridge. He had chosen to have their meeting here with all of the craziness going on rather than in the Briefing Room so that they could keep an eye on things more clearly.

"Evening Admiral," Hawkins acknowledged his arrival having remained on the bridge for most of the evening so far tentatively nursing the ships systems to continue as best as possible.

Zeph exited the turbolift and headed over to Will. He had been with Ops in the computer core working frantically to isolate the Galatea core and connect the backup Galatea core with its backup programming. Of course, he had no idea when the last snapshot was taken, but at least it was a backup before this incident. He came over to Will, coffee in hand, "Evening Admiral, I have a quick status update. Ops has found the backup core and programming. We are working on putting it in now and trying to get 'Galaty' (Ops nickname for just in case something happened to Galatea to where she couldn't be recovered and the backup became main) up and running before too many systems crash. Still, though, that doesn't address the 'elephant' in the room, does it."

"No," the Commanding Officer answered with a sigh, "it most certainly does not. The rest of the crew will be arriving shortly, we're going to have to come up with a plan especially since the backup core isn't intended to be a permanent replacement and I'm sure Galatea put back doors in."

Patton walked into the meeting room with concerns over what the current situation was. He wanted to ask but knew it would be best to wait for everyone to arrive. That way everyone would be able to ask their questions at one time.

“The Doctor was informed and should be here shortly,” Patton informed the admiral before he took a seat.

William looked at the Hazard Team CO from his Captain's Chair, "Thanks, Patton, I appreciate it." As he said it the viewscreen flickered with static and the workstations momentarily did the same.

Jasmine walked into the room, she noticed the admiral and Patton discussing. She walked over to her station. At tactical. Patton had walked over to the secondary station, that had been converted to a monitoring station. "Everything is set, well as set as we can make it." Jasmine said to the Admiral, waiting for acknowledgment.

The Admiral gave a subtle nod to the Security Chief.

Hannah entered the bridge, knowing that as enlisted he didn't really have permission, but after taking a further look at the scans he performed while on the ship, he felt he needed to talk to one or the other of his COs and, according to ship's records, both were on the bridge. He'd tried to find the data he needed in the ship's computer database, but either he didn't know what he was looking for, they didn't know or the database was malfunctioning. Which left him with little choice but to try to find one of them.

Commander Patton was here, but, as he quickly looked around, trying to be unobtrusive, he didn't see the CMO.

Bishop came in moments late and took his place as he slid into the XO's chair. He was still running through all that had happened. Commander Viol to be executed for some stupid belief that the shuttle failure was her fault. The finding then boarding of the Preserver ship and the latest his argument with Galatea and her turning against them and leaving the Enterprise crippled. "Well, we're still in the air." He observed wryly.

Commander Randall emerged onto the bridge, black doctor bag in one hand and a PADD in the other and quietly made her way, directly, to an Auxiliary station without so much as a word where she logged in. The Tuansee transferred what she was working with on the PADD to the station with a flick of a finger and resumed study of a, very, detailed scan of the Juggernaut while her long, sinuous, tail swished slowly back and forth in relaxed fashion.

"Sometimes we have to take comfort in the little things, XO," William said as he noticed Commander Ash. He stood from his chair and stepped forward toward the screen, the replica of Earth still flickering behind him.

The CMO arrived just as the Admiral had finished speaking to Commander Randall. The Bridge was full, so he stood off to the side to wait for the Briefing to start.

"We're going to get started," Teagarden said as he studied the room. "To say the last two days have been eventful is an understatement. When this all started our biggest challenge was what was the origin of the Human related signals. Instead we are in one of the biggest mysteries we've experienced. First, the people we helped are being executed for a perceived failure. Second, a Preserver vessel is in orbit with us. Third, two of our crew are losing their minds. Last but not least we've lost one of our own and our ship is falling to pieces. Did I miss anything?"

Patton stood listening to him speak. There was a lot he could say but it would mostly be ranting and wanting to stick it to the preserver vessel but he also knew that would not help any.

"I think that about covers things, Admiral." Commander Randall replied, her attention still focused on the Juggernaut scans and then turned towards Admiral Teagarden. "Looks like there's an acoustic transmitter at work on the Juggernaut that is the source of the musical-madness afflicting members of the crew." She stated, glanced around the bridge, and then shrugged. "I realize there's not much chance of it happening but I'll make the recommendation anyway. We should blow that ship to bits then cut and run as soon as we can." The Engineer stated, knowing full well that option wasn't on the table but, since almost everyone present had probably thought the same thing, she was going to say it. "So, what's our plan for taking it?" She added, with a toothy grin.

Their Commanding Officer thought about what was being said, "As much as I would like to see how our weapons handle a Preserver Juggernaut I'm not as inclined as I once was to engage an historical relic. Command wants us to recover the ship, but we have two complications. The first is the ship's computer. Commander Kaldiran and the Ops Officers have a temporary stop gap in place, but it's not foolproof and not guaranteed to last. The other are our affected crew. If the acoustical beacon is affecting them how do we block it? Science, Medical, any ideas?" He looked at Commander Rigby, who was one of the affected and Commander Bishara who was at the Helm. Absently he glanced to the Security Officers after them.

“I am inclined to agree with blowing it out of existence,” Patton spoke up. “How many crew are affected? Maybe we could find a way to get them far enough away that the Perserver can’t affect them.”

William looked toward the Medical Officers wondering the same thing.

Bishop had been listening to the Admiral has he listed the problems they were facing and he absently said "Earplugs." in reply to helping Rigby and Bishara to plug the music they were hearing.

"Create a feedback loop for the emitter and burn it out." Commander Randall suggested, absently, regarding the question of how to kill the music. There were all sorts of options on how to deal with their computer issues, the Preserver ship, the maddening music and with Galatea herself in the process. The question was to what degree were they going to be permitted to act? How far could they go?

"The music is being caused by the way we are getting scanned." Lily said looking at her padd. "I'm also afraid that if we power up our weapons systems, this might cause the planetary and ship-based defensive systems to engage."

"I'm in support of not bringing the weapons online," William said with a smile. "Though I do like Commander Bishop's earplug idea. Could the feedback loop work as a barrier for our crew that are affected? Is it possible that the acoustic anomaly also could explain Galatea going homicidal toward us?"

"Commander," Hannah said, moving toward Patton. He couldn't help but overhear the senior officers speaking and, on some level - maybe the level that already suspected the answer to his questions - was greatly disturbed. "Sir, we can't consider destroying that ship!"

Patton turned to Corvus. “Tell me why not.” He knew the petty officer wouldn’t have spoke unless he had information against such a move.

"Sir," Hannah said, trying not to think about who else may be hearing their convesation, which of the other officers were looking at them. "I..." he sighed as he squared up and looked at his Hazard Team CO. "Sir, I believe the ship is a living being. The ship itself is alive."

O’Sullivan thought about what Corvus said and he turned to the others. “I believe Petty Officer Hannah is on to something. At the very least we need to consider it.” He turned back to Corvus. “What are you basing this on?”

Hannah found his mouth suddenly dry and, without knowing, wiped his hands on his trousers while trying not to look back at the senior staff looking at him. There should be disrupter fire and hostile enemies rushing the attack. He was good under pressure when it was life or death, not...speaking to the entire command staff of the ship at once. He turned back to Patton and gave a slight nod. "I..." he swallowed the lump in his throat. Focus, he needed to focus, there may not be the sound of artillary all around him but it was...dangerous anyway. If he focused on the job at hand like if he were working on the wounded on the battleground. "I performed scans while we were on the ship and," he turned to the panel behind him and reconfigured it to medical. "I recorded this." He played a file and the bridge was filled with a deep, sonorous glub dub repeated over and over, about once every three seconds.

"I believe that's a heartbeat," he said, concentrating on his CO. "And that's not all.”

Patton could tell Corvus was nervous. “Pretend I am the only one here and fill me in on the rest.”

"Yes, sir," Hannah answered as he turned back to the panel and, without stopping the looped recording, brought up another file. Immediately the screen split into four - three were filled with spiked lines of various lengths and heights. "These are...my scans weren't complete, I was just starting on these when we were recalled and...I didn't know what I saw then but, along with the heartbeat I believe these are...energy signatures. But..." he pointed to the first set. "These approximate rudimentary alpha waves, these are delta waves," he pointed to the next and then, looking straightening and looking around the room, he pointed to the third. "These look like Theta-gamma three. Those are found in...primarily found in telepathic subspecies."

William crossed his arms, carefully studying the readings on the display as recorded by the Medic. He came to one conclusion from what he was seeing: he should have taken more psychology and neuroscience courses to understand all of this. Good thing he had a team familiar with all of this to help guide him.

"So, its possible that this ship is the cause of everything that we're experiencing is what you're telling me? We have encountered species with living vessels before, the Breen and 8472, the question is how can we release our people from the influence and resolve our computer troubles?"

Bishop listened to Hannah as he outlined his belief that the Preserver ship was alive. it was a compelling argument. "Let me ask you this Mr. Hannah, when Galatea was talking, threatening us. Could it have actually been the ship talking to us?"

Hannah shrugged before realizing that may not be the best way to answer the question of extremely senior staff. "I don't know, sir but," he turned back to the panel, "I didn't get a good enough scan as I said but, these two here? They're not what I'd expect to see. They're more like...a coma? Like if it's living it's not fully conscious? And the heartrate isn't right either. It could be the cause but not causing it." He shrugged again. He hated the idea of them destroying the creature if it was being used and not doing these things on its own.

Patton was impressed by the petty officer. He could use a few confidence skills but he was helping them assess the situation. “This is going to be more difficult if we are unsure who the enemy really is.”

Zeph had been quietly observing and listening. It was time to add some information. "The Theta waves are abnormally high, meaning this ship is more than likely in a deep sleep or coma, and its subconscious dreams are designed around assessing threats and listening for others who are designated to wake it up, or to help it out. The 'music' may even be its call for help. Its subconscious is probably being aggressive due to the length of time it has been here." He looked at Engineering, "Can you create quartz rubite with hexegonal interstitial layers? If so, you can overlay a pattern of the scans pinging onto our hull and interpose it with the Theta waves onto those interstitial layers. Once done, put that into the ships navigational shielding frequency generation computer as a baseline crystal clock and have that signature become part of the shields. That will nullify the specific earth pattern sub scanning and help block the subconscious mind from trying to find designates. If you cannot create that type of crystalline structure, another idea is if we shift our position to be just past a van allen belt radiation barrier for the planet so it's between the ship and us, that will greatly reduce the affect of the pattern and the subconscious."

The CMO had been quiet until this point. He stepped forward, "that would explain the creation of Psilosynine in minds that do not already possess it as well as the spikes in those species that do. As you know, I have been able to depress the effects, but only temporarily. The consistent barrage into the crews' minds may be stopped if that would work."

Sherwin moved slowly across the Bridge, "my concern is that if this is happening while the being is in a deep sleep," he looked over at Commander Kaldiran, "or coma, is what happens if we wake it up." He paused momentarily as he began to make eye contact with the others in the Briefing. "If the ship suddenly goes into a hyper-alert mode and increases the effect, and we are unable to complete a effective shielding process, we may all die instantly."

Porter's gaze stopped briefly on Commander Randall, before landing on the Admiral, "and I am sure you all already know my stance on preemptive murder of another life form."

Commander Randall nodded, ever so slightly, to Porter and then looked to Commander Kaldiran. "Quartz rubite with hexagonal interstitial layers? Not with anything we're likely to have on board. Those have to be grown and we'd need a starter matrix." She replied, thoughtfully. "Pretty straight forward L'Tandrey Crystal Tech, from what I understand, and child's play, if this were an L'Tandrey vessel." The Tuansee added and considered for a few seconds, with a glance the direction of Commander Porter. "I do have a device, of Betazoid design, a pacifier, for young empaths, who have difficulty 'tuning out' while sleeping. It could possibly be adapted for our purposes." Ash explained, quietly, her voice and physical bearing, suddenly, very somber as if, just speaking of the device, was the source of a profound, palpable, sadness on her part.

The CO looked around the Bridge crew, thinking over the options as presented. He didn't want to know why Ash had such a device aboard, or what that had meant for the Engineer since they last served together, but he also knew that Ash was not the one to propose an option willy-nilly.

"I'm not inclined to kill the creature either, Doc, but we do need to be prepared should the creature wake from his nap." William sighed, thinking of the implications of what he was about to do especially when his orders were taken into consideration. "Begin work on trying to sedate that creature. I want a plan in place within the next hour."

Having used the device herself, Ash knew the device could probably be used in the manner the admiral was suggesting. It had proven ineffective in her case but not because the device didn't work. The engineer looked to Commander Kaldiran. "I think the pacifier could be utilized in two ways to our benefit by using it as the core emitter for a dampening field. The field would need to be emitted in such a way as to not 'frighten' the juggernaut into action so, it can not come from Starfleet One." She stated. Ash was thinking worker bees but Kaldiran might have a better suggestion.

Zeph smiled as he replied to Ash, "The juggernaut is asleep. We can use the device to tie into subconscious emission fields to gently bring it to either consciousness or to further deep sleep. Tie the device into the navigational array and IFF fields of a remote controlled Shuttle or Class 4 Probe as that model has the sensors and deflector shields to tie into and has excellent station keeping abilities."

Admiral Teagarden thought about the next part, "We have left someone behind on this mission and that is not something that I'm prepared to do. I will be leading a team back to the Juggernaut to recover Galatea. Haynes, Snow, and Hannah you will be with me. We will leave once Ops and Engineering have sedated that ship further."

Just remained at her station on the bridge. Lily had a feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong with this plan the others are planning.

Jasmine was eager to go, she wanted this problem solved once and for all. She knew the Admiral was the man to get this done. Despite the fact, he should not be going per Starfleet regulations.

"Commander Bishop will remain here in command. While Doctor Porter and Medical work on our Helm Officer and Counselor, I want Hawkins and Patton to work on a plan to destroy the Juggernaut if needed."

“Yes sir,” Patton replied. He wasn’t real pleased about being left behind again but he would do his job as ordered. He looked to Hawkins. They would have to get some explosives and work out a plan to blow it up.

Nathan nodded grimly at the order but otherwise remained quiet as the others continued to speak their piece.

Sherwin nodded, "Commander Randall, I would like to speak to you more in-depth about your device."

Commander Randall looked to Porter and did her best to hide her, obvious, dread of the coming questions. Pacifiers were handed down from one generation to the next and Ash was, most decidedly, not a Betazoid. "Sure Doctor. What would you like to know?" She asked, as if she didn't know.

The CMO looked over at her. "Let's discuss it together after the Briefing," he replied.

"Sure." Ash replied. "After the briefing." She added, and did her best to push aside the sadness and dread she was feeling in order to focus on what needed to be done next.

"Admiral." Bishop spoke up. "Your too important to go over there. Let me go, it's part of my duties to lead away missions. Your needed over here. Especially if that ship is waking up." He argued.

Speaking for the first time, "It's not that simple. Earplugs won't help. The music is projected into the mind telepathically. Neural blockers are the only way to stop it until we find the cause of the music. Whatever that is must be eliminated. Blowing up the ship will kill those of us that are affected by overloading our brains", T"Lisha said flatly.

"Let's move destroying the alien vessel to Plan B," Teagarden said with a chuckle.

"Yes, sir," Hannah said, addressing the admiral. "Except...well...the ship already seems sedated, in a unconscious or coma state. I think..." he glanced back at the display scans. "I think we should consider waking it up."

Teagarden looked at Doctor Porter then back to the Medic, "What?"

"There were five bodies on that ship, dead Preservers. I couldn't find a reason for their pods to have all failed. No mechanical defect or failure. Which makes me wonder how it happened and, if the ship is in a coma state, why is that? Do the Preservers keep them in that state? Do the ships actually want to serve? And, if it's in a coma state, then someone is manipulating their systems against us. That may be harder to do if the ship is conscious."

William retreated back to his Captain's Chair and slipped into it. If the Preserver vessel was a living being and had been conscripted into service did they have the right to release it? This was surely one of their more complex missions. Did the Prime Directive continue to apply?

"What if what is happening is because it's waking up?" He asked absently, looking at the static filled readout on his panel. He tapped at the controls, leaning back into his chair, "Let's proceed as planned. Once the defense is ready to assist with keeping the creature asleep we will carry out the mission with one change. We will wait to implement putting it into a deeper sleep until we are sure which option is best, or have a stronger inkling of which route to take."

Porter was glad they weren't fully waking the creature up, at least not until they had better protection for the crew.

"Yes, sir," Hannah said realizing he needed to obtain his pack and equipment before they went back to the ship. In actuality, he was very glad to have the decision about what to do with the ship taken out of his hands. This was very much above his paygrade. However, his excitement level was through the roof. But, when this was done, he really needed to get started on getting his weapons certs back.

Bishop had remained silent as the debate went on finally he spoke up. "Sir, I again repeat myself. Let me go, I can bring Galatea back."

"I appreciate the offer, Commander, but Galatea is my responsibility just like every other member of the ship's crew. I can't abandon her to this fate of being a puppet of the Preservers. I can't," he stopped, thinking back to the Gettysburg and what had happened when they last faced off against the Preservers. Of what he had lost, "It's my duty. You will be responsible for getting us back."

Lily looked over at the Admiral. "Admiral the Commander has a point about going to that ship." She said standing. "I can quote the regulations about the Commanding officer of the ship going on a dangerous mission." She said walking down to where the Admiral stood. "If you wish to continue with going on this mission, then I must request that my protest to be logged within the ships log, sir."

"I'd expect nothing less, Commander. Your objection has been noted. If anyone else is so inclined speak now or forever hold your piece," the Admiral surveyed the Bridge after saying it, waiting for others if any.

Hannah turned to O'Sullivan and was about to speak, but then thought better of it. He folded his arms across his chest uncomfortable in that he was privy to an argument among the senior officers questioning an admiral but that he believed they were right and an admiral didn't lead away teams. Still, it wasn't his place to say anything, especially when the admiral gave orders. Still...he started to speak again but then stopped. He'd given his word and he would abide by it.

Bishop was surprised but pleased that Snow backed him on his objection of the admiral going to the Preserver ship. "Admiral, I disagree, your duty sir and you said it yourself his to every crew member on this ship. You are needed her sir." He stated firmly.

Still remaining quiet Hawkins allowed the others to pitch in their objections. He wasn't one of them, he understood and respected Teagarden's choice to personally go aboard and retrieve Galatea. Perhaps his experience gave him a unique insight the others lacked. If he was in Will's position he'd want to go over too.

“I am inclined to support them,”‘Patton spoke up. “We need you here to lead the ship, Commander Bishop should be going.” He always believed in speaking his mind.

"No objection, Admiral." Commander Randall, advised. "Just, I can't shake the feeling we're being conned and the Atlantean's are running it." She admitted.

"I'll go.....the fact that I am a full Betazoid and this ship is sentient and it might just be trying to communicate with us but unable to could be the reason why telepaths were affected the way we were. With the neural blocker I am able to communicate with it. I will take the risk", T'Lisha said turning to look at everyone

Zeph spoke up, "Admiral Teagarden is well aware of my stunted Telepathic abilities as an L'Tandrey Racial specimen. I will leave it to his discretion."

Teagarden nodded, "Very well. Now that that is out of the way, part of the reason I selected you for the away mission, Commander, is that I know your priority will be doing what is best for the Federation. That you will all do what is right." He walked along the railing, "This is the finest ship in the fleet and I trust each of you with my life, but if we're to go down we'll go down being who we were meant to be." He sighed, "I could similarly quote regulations that an armed escort is all I need to still be allowed to go. Commander Bishop the mission is yours, with the same away team."

"Yes sir!" Bishop replied, "We'll bring Galatea back." He assured the Admiral. Then , looking around the bridge he spoke "Alright, lets go get Galatea back and see if we can get some answers and not get ourselves killed in the process."

"Sirs, I should go. You are dealing with a being that we have no idea of its capabilities. Maybe our AI was taken to give it purpose much like the Enterprise D and Tam Elbrum. If I could open a dialog with it we might be able to find out what is happening to it", T'Lisha added.

Zeph quietly waited to hear final decisions. He had the sample Interstitial quartz specimen to be grown, he was immune to the effects of the preserver ship, and he had limited range telepathic communication ability. He was at Will's discretion. Besides, he had a ship to keep running, despite Galatea having joined her programming and consciousness to the preserver ship.

"That's the precise reason I need you both to remain here. With the Preserver vessel affecting you, Commander, we can't take the risk of further endangering your condition. Who knows what a direct contact so close to that vessel would do. Zeph your experience is better suited here to help keep the ship functional in her current state. If you arrive aboard Galatea may simply go to combat mode, anticipating an effort from us to compromise her. Or she may compromise you."

He looked at the two, "the offers are genuinely appreciated though. It's just too much of a risk. I am willing to explore additional options though."

The Admiral studied the Bridge crew, "Anything else?"

Zeph bowed politely to Will. "I believe my services shall now be at the discretion of the Chief Engineering officer. By your leave, Admiral."

Admiral Teagarden nodded, "Alright, everyone. We have a lot to do in a little bit of time. You all have your missions, you all have your timetables. Get to it. The Away Team will leave to retrieve Galatea at 23:00 hours. Dismissed."

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