Beta Shift

Posted on Tue Nov 18th, 2025 @ 3:36am by Commodore Wilkan Targaryen & Lieutenant (J.G.) Anzai Sulu & Petty Officer 1st Class Akaathaan Saarnosh & Commander Ash Randall & Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte & Lieutenant (J.G.) Dylan Blake & Lieutenant (J.G.) Chase Moore & Lieutenant (J.G.) Stacey Moore & Ensign Sayori Nakai & Ensign Mirakylin Yumerieva

10,380 words; about a 52 minute read

Mission: Madre
Location: Bridge, U.S.S. Enterprise
Timeline: 2439-07-03, 11:15

Captain's Log, Supplemental:

The Away Team is underway for the lifeform. While most of the Senior Staff are off ship, I've asked Beta Shift to step in a little early."

The starboard Turbolift doors slid open, letting Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Anzai Sulu an opportunity to return to the Bridge. While she'd been here many times during her service aboard the Enterprise, something about today felt different. With Lieutenant Commander Sevek having gone with the landing party to the alien lifeform she had a legitimate chance to do some real investigating into the creature and its origins, and she was relishing that opportunity.

Walking the upper-level ramp, the young Lieutenant sat down at the inward facing workstation and logged in, beginning scans of the area.

Already as his station at Ops Lieutenant Blake turned from his console at the sound of the door opening. Noting Sulu's arrival with a stiff nod Dylan returned his attention forward but his mind wasn't calm or still like his body. Technically, that wasn't true either as he shifted restlessly - the creature they'd discovered after following the telepathic breadcrumbs was incredibly fascinating, and yet in Blake's opinion dangerous. He couldn't entirely put his finger on why he thought that way but having heard of the distress Counseour Laurell had experienced he couldn't accept this creature was completely innocent or safe either.

Sora leaned over the Lieutenant's shoulder. "Don't mess up my config. I've signed it out, but still." She pat him on the back and chuckled, before heading to the First Officer's seat.

Having not heard Bernadotte draw closer Blake started at her appearance and jerked comically as she spoke. He smiled faintly in response while trying to recover.

Stacey walked onto the bridge, and noticed a Lieutenant Blake at the operations station. "Where am I needed today sir?" Stacey asked as she looked over to Commodore Targaryen.

Commodore Targaryen had been reading through the fuel consumption logs when he heard Lieutenant Moore interrupt. Looking up from his datapad, he glanced at the Helm, "Please take the Navigation station, Lieutenant."

Stacey tried to hold the big grin on her face, she was dreading taking the operations station, but now she was sitting in the chair that made her feel like she was home. The good old navigation station. "Aye Sir." She simply said, trying to hold back her excitement.

"Lieutenant Blake," he called out next, "has the Sol requested clearance to depart yet?"

"Yes sir," Dylan replied. "They've just completed final checks and are ready to depart."

Ash sat, quietly, out of the way, at the MSD, faced away from the large status board and accompanying work interfaces. The Chief Engineer watched and listened to the bridge activity around her as Beta shift personnel filtered in early to take the place of the Alpha shift personnel that were departing for an away mission to the giant, jelly fish-like space creature. She was there to facilitate communication with the creature since it had seemed to interact with and through the felinoid along with Amber to lead the ship and crew to this place and time. Other than as a potential point of communication Ash had not been authorized any, official, duty on the bridge so waited, contentedly, to be of some assistance when the time came.

Chase came into the bridge and headed to the security station. He glanced around and was relieved to see Stacey was at navigation. This might help her mindset a bit.

Setting aside the Fuel Consumption Report, Wilkan turned to see Ash having arrived on the Bridge and sitting at the Master Systems Display. "Commander," Targaryen greeted and motioned toward the chair to his left, "join Commander Bernadotte and I."

"Aye, sir." Ash responded, before making her way to the indicated seat to the left of the Commodore and hiking herself into it, feet dangling.

Looking at the Acting Executive Officer next, "So, Exec, what are your thoughts on the situation?"

Stacey was curious to see what the acting first officer was going to say. On a personal level, she was happy to be serving at the Navigation station. She had a big grin on her face, as she looked at her station.

Chase listened as the command staff on the bridge spoke. He wanted to have a complete picture so he could property assess his bridge time.

Sora settled into the executive officer's seat, and contemplated for a moment, glancing at the status displays on the main viewscreen. "For now, we observe as the landing party make their way to their objective. But be ready. We have no idea how the creature is going to respond to our shuttle approaching. Keep a sensor lock on the shuttlecraft, and be ready for an emergency beamout at a moment's notice. Tactical systems on full standby, but keep the shields at normal navigation levels for now. Communications, keep an open ear for any form of signal coming from the creature, or from anywhere else." She oturned to the Commodore. "Anything to add, sir?"

The Commodore listened carefully to Sora's comments, impressed by the suggestions that she'd presented. He looked forward and directed, "Issue your orders, Commander."

"Aye, sir," Sora replied, before addressing the bridge crew. "In case you haven't heard my orders the first time. Helm, hold us steady in place. Ops, keep a sensor lock on the shuttlecraft, ready to get our people back if needed. Tactical, full standby, but don't raise shields yet. Comms, listen out for any signals and keep an open channel to the shuttle. Sciences, constant monitoring of the creature." Glancing at the Commodore, she noticed he seemed impressed. 'If only he knew my actual service record,' she inwardly said to herself, barely stifling a chuckle at the thought.

Lieutenant Sulu glanced down at the freestanding Science Station's monitor, "Sensor systems are actively monitoring the life-form."

"Plotting a new course for the helm, to maintain our course, do you want me to plot an escape vector to be on the safe side sir?" Stacey asked, trying to be a little to prepared, she was eager to prove her worth.

"Good thinking, Lieutenant," Sora replied, without even waiting for a reaction from the Commodore. "Do it."

“On stand by.” Chase spoke up, his eyes ever attentive to his station. He wanted to be able to react quickly should things escalate.

At Ops Blake responded: "Sensors locked on shuttle and ready to execute extraction if required."

"Sirs," it was Sulu who interrupted, "I have to ask: aren't we breaking the Prime Directive with this mission? The people living on that life-form don't possess faster-than-light technology, if they did why would they have stayed there?"

Wilkan glanced at both Ash and Sora, more willing to deflect this answer than he probably should've been.

Ash returned the glance her direction by the Commodore with one of her own his direction. "I think Commander Kuzos provided the answer to that question earlier today but I do not believe you were present, Lieutenant." Ash replied, quietly. "The people marooned inside the life-form are Vorta and subjects of the Dominion even at the time when they were marooned. Whether they had FTL at the time is overshadowed by their contact with the Dominion and the Dominion possessing FTL." Ash explained.

"I don't think there is anything to add to that," Sora said once Ash had completed her remarks. "Your concern is appreciated, however. Speaking of technology, are we detecting any technology at all from the people inside?"

Sulu, quietly, listened to both sides. She had grown up in a Starfleet family, learned a lot from them, but she still remained a bit concerned by this that they were, in some way, violating the Prime Directive on this mission. The Vorta may've had FTL technology at one point, but that didn't mean that they still did.

Hearing the request for information, Anzai typed on the display. A holographic LCARS monitor appeared from the edge of her console, "We're having trouble penetrating the life-form, but sensors are not detecting technological signatures compatible with a Warp Drive. There are small power sources, but they're negligible. I don't know if that's by design, or from the interference."

Wilkan looked over at Lieutenant Sulu, "Maintain monitoring of the energy sources, just to be safe."

"Yes Sir," she answered.

Rising from his chair, Wilkan walked toward the forward workstations. Crossing his arms, the Enterprise's Commanding Officer watched the viewscreen and the information that scrolled over the HUD. Now it was the time of the mission that he always had hated: waiting. They had to wait to know if everything was fine, if everything was all messed up, if everything was as expected. Hopefully they'd get answers soon.

"So," Targaryen walked around the Bridge, "anything I need to know about?"

Suddenly, the turbolift doors opened, and a tiny human woman in a slightly disheveled Sciences uniform burst in. "I... sorry I'm..." she stammered between breaths.

Sora turned around to look at the new arrival on the bridge. "Slow down, Ensign, take a deep breath. Then make your report."

After a moment to regain her breath, the Ensign nodded. "Sorry I'm late, Commander, Commodore. Ensign Sayori Nakai, reporting to the bridge as per my orders. I was in the middle of an analysis for Commander Randall when I was told I should be here, rather than down in the lab. But," she added with a shrug, "it was almost done, so I thought I might as well wait for the result. Which I did, so I'm late, and I'm-"

The acting First Officer cut her off. "Ensign Nakai, get to the point."

Sayori flinched and nodded. "Yes, sir, sorry, sir. I tend to ramble on, and that gets worse when I'm nervous, so, sorry." Sensing Commander Bernadotte's stern look on her, she stiffened up a little and held out the PaDD she had been clutching. "Analysis of potential means of communicating with the creature, sirs. Looks like, if the landing party remodulate their combadges correctly, they can talk to it. In a way. Send signals it can receive. If it works. Hopefully."

Wilkan turned toward the Chief Engineer, who was sitting next to him in the Mission Specialist chair. Ash may have been in contact with the alien creature, but Wilkan still trusted her interpretation of things. He looked back at Sayori, "Ensign, Commander Randall is right here. I'd like you to go over your plan with her and begin the process of implementing if viable."

Sayori looked over and, seeing the Chief Engineer, blushed. "Oh, ah, Commander Randall, sorry, I did not see you there, my apologies." Somehow, she managed to prevent herself from rambling on further, and hurried over to Ash. "Here, sir, my findings. The result, I mean, of the analysis you asked for." She held out the PaDD.

The Chief Engineer received the PaDD with a, quiet, "Thank you, Ensign." And a reassuring, little smile that gave her a, plushy-toy, countenance for a second or two and then quickly reviewed the results of the analysis. "Well, done, Ensign." She said, with a nod to Sayori, and looked to the Commodore. "It will work. Some back and forth in conjunction with the Councilor's empathic impressions should establish meaningful communication fairly quickly." She informed him and looked back to Ensign Sayori with another, little, smile. "Ready to assist implementation?" She asked.

"I think you two know where the Communications station is," the Commodore teased, but motioned toward the starboard mounted workstation.

Sayori nodded, slightly surprised by the praise. "Thank you, sir, of course, sir. Communications, on my way."

As she turned to go to the comms station, Sora stopped her. "Ensign Nakai, a word."

Nervously, Sayori turned back. What had she done now?`"Um, yes, Commander, sir, how can I help?"

Sora smiled at the nervous young officer. "You did good, Ensign. I take it this is the first time your duties have taken you directly to the bridge during a mission? You'll get used to it in no time, I'm sure. Just, try to get to the point when you're making a report. Less rambling. That will make your life a lot easier."

The Ensign went slightly red at the praise and nodded. "Thank you, sir, I will try."

The Chief Engineer slid out of the mission specialist seat and headed to Communications, pausing a few seconds on the way to let Sayori catch up with her. "I figure you already have an implementation plan, Sayori, so, you drive and tell me what you need me to do." Ash suggested.

The Ensign beamed. "Of course, sir. Leave it to me." Now, Sayori was in her element. She immediately grabbed the PaDD from the Chief Engineer's hand and connected it to the console. Her hands raced across the touchscreen as she copied data and adjusted parameters. After mere moments, she smiled. "That should have done the trick. Okay, all we need now is for the landing party themselves to modulate the frequency band of their badges."

Ash stood near by and watched while Sayori worked, following what she was doing, as unobtrusively as possible. "Shouldn't be long." the Chief Engineer observed and looked to the Commodore. "All set, sir."

"Mister Blake," Wilkan called out, "Please notify the away team that we may have an additional means for them to make contact with the creature and will get them updates as available."

The corner of Blake's lips smirked as Sayori rambled recalling how nervous he'd been as a Ensign. Her potential discovery however sounded promising and would certainly benefit the away party. "Of course Commodore," he acknowledged the order and sent the details to the shuttle as to drew closer to the creature.

The modifications to the communications array complete, Sayori called out to Lieutenant Blake. "Lieutenant, please inform the landing party to switch their badges to channel seven. That should then automatically remodulate their signals and allow communication with the creature." Finally, she was being useful, she thought to herself, grinning. This kind of work was exactly why she had joined Starfleet.

"Channel seven," Blake repeated relaying the information to the party.

Stacey wondered whether some kind of chemistry that she wasn't aware of between their commanding officer and the young ensign. For a brief moment she thought I was inappropriate, but at the moment she needed to focus on her duties as navigation officer. Currently the ship's course was spot on. And at the moment it's acting like the waiting with having a lot more fun than they were up on the bridge. She wonder what it be like to go on a mission discover a new creature, she knew part of it might be exciting but part of it be scary. She knew it wouldn't be too long before she would be assigned to an away mission but today wasn't obviously going to be that day.

"Do we have an ETA for the landing party," Sora asked. "Hopefully they can get the comms adjustment working by the time they arrive."

Lieutenant Sulu looked at the sensor screens to get a status check on the runabout. Pecking at the controls she brought up the details and overlaid them on the viewscreen. A glowing Starfleet Delta appeared on a portion of the creature as she spoke, "The Sol has landed, Commander. I'm patching in with their systems and checking their sensors as well. It looks like they've got some company. A crowd of Vorta are approaching them."

Commodore Targaryen turned toward the Science Officer and walked closer to the freestanding console where she sat. Crossing his arms, "Do we have any details on the Vorta?"

"Not with this equipment, Commodore. We can say that we don't detect weapons fire, but that doesn't mean that the Vorta are unarmed, Sir."

"The Vorta were hard diplomatic negotiators, I think they'll try to promise you before shooting to kill. Granted it can also be easily manipulated but their first instinct is to always negotiate. But that doesn't mean we should underestimate them either. But I think that gives her away team at least a Fighting Chance." Stacey said that she decided to chime in, remembering from her history lessons about this race and about the Dominion War that most the time they served as negotiators, and they were very smooth talking and their abilities to negotiate.

Wilkan listened, thinking about his own experiences with the Vorta during the War and, more specifically, the one that nearly got him killed. It was a long time ago - another life in fact - but it was hard to avoid that abyss of pain even now. "I think that it's safe to say that we're probably not dealing with the Vorta of the War though. The story that Commander Kuzos mentioned was from generations ago, if these are the same Vorta that went missing this would be their children's children at this point. Who knows what Vorta raised away from the Dominion would become."

"I know that Commander Sevek is over there, but I'd like a bit more detail on this creature. Begin as detailed as scans as you can with the interference. We believe that it's been contacting the Counselor, I want to confirm it's sentient." Wilkan glanced at the Life Sciences workstation as he issued the order.

Chase had listened to all that was going on around him. His priority was to keep apprised to things should he need to react quickly. He had nothing to report at the moment but if he did they would know it.

The turbo lift chimed and opened to let other personnel onto the Bridge. Out stepped a rather tall (6ft 1in) female Ratinoid/Musinoid type Humanoid. She had grey silver fur, Green eyes, and brown hair with Byzantium highlights. She had come on board with others who transferred from the USS Uhura a while ago. She was 15 minutes early, but heck, she was so ready for this. She called out, "Bridge, Engineering Ensign Yumerieva, Engineering Console Training or Relief."

Wilkan nodded in greeting to the new arrival.

Mirakylin Arkalia Yumerieva, Emma, glanced around the bridge and spotted Commander Randall. She headed over to where the diminutive felinoid was sitting. She smiled to Ash and asked, "Hi. Well, this is my first time to the bridge. May I try a stint at the Engineering panel? Or do you want me to just watch for a while?"

Ash looked up at the Lieutenant and smiled, wanly. "Greetings to you, Lieutenant. You may take over. I find myself feeling a bit of a headache coming on." The Tuansee stated, quietly.

Emma tilted her head at the missed rank upon her collar, as well as the mention of the headache. She replied, "Thank you, Commander Randall, I, Ensign Yumerieva, have the engineering console watch and relieve you of the watch." She shifted to check how the engines and power cores were doing, then added, "Commander, would you want me to call a medic to check on you?"

The Chief Engineer squinched her eyes shut and grimaced, in pain, the grimace turning into a baring of, tightly, clenched teeth. "A medic might be in order." She replied, quietly, as she moved away toward the mission specialists seat on the center dais eyes still tightly shut and ears now pinned back, flat.

Emma moved to the Engineering panel, found the comm panel, dialed in Medical, then touched the Activator. =/\= Medical, Bridge, Please send a medic to the the Bridge, the Chief Engineering Officer is experiencing a migraine and needs immediate help. =/\=

"We'll send someone up."

Emma now fully engrossed herself into her Engineering Panel. It was one thing to use mockups, or be on cadet ships using them, but a full fledged panel on a flagship was on another level. She began reading panels and associating them with their functions for being able to quickly locate and associate for any problems that might occur in the near future.

Sitting at the primary Science Station, Lieutenant Anzai Sulu adjusted the sensors to better scan the life-form as the Commodore had asked. Glancing over at Ensign Sayori, "Would you like to take the Life Sciences station to help with the scans?"

Sayori finished her work at the communications station, and nodded at Sulu. "Of course, sir." Quickly, she moved over to the indicated station, and signed in. "Okay, what are we looking for, Lieutenant?"

"The Commodore has asked us to try to get as much detail about the creature as possible from the sensors. With Commander Sevek unavailable I need to cover the primary sensors to monitor for any threats to us from outside, can you use the Life Sciences console to try to map out the creature's neural structure? I'm hoping that you'll be able to make heads or tails out of this thing," Sulu explained to the Ensign as her console started to audibly beep.

Sayori simply nodded, and got to work. After a few sweeps, she had something resembling an abstract diagram of the creature's... brains? No, not quite. It certainly appeared to be some sort of nervous system, transmitting signals throughout the creature's body, yet what those signals were, she couldn't quite decipher. "Right," she reported. "There's something, I mean, signals running through the creature, that has to be it's nervous system? But I can't pinpoint a central structure or anything, but then many invertebrates back on earth, and similar creatures on other planets, too, don't have one brain, so maybe this is like that? After all, it looks like a giant squid, so it probably works like one, too." She shrugged. "This kind of thing definitely is not my specialty, though."

Glancing down at the console, Sulu stated, "Commodore, sensors are showing an increase in radiation in the area."

Wilkan glanced over, "Source?"

"Looks like it's coming from the star in this system," the Lieutenant answered as she typed on the console. "Sir, the life-form is turning toward the star."

Ash had found her way to the mission specialists seat and had sat, quietly, eyes still shut, for several seconds before issuing a rumbling growl of pain, more felt than heard, that set hair on end. It didn't seem possible that sound could come from the, diminutive, Tuansee but it did.

"Sora, get a medic up here," Wilkan ordered the Acting XO as he turned to his Chief Engineer, "Ash, are you alright?"

The Chief Engineer opened her eyes at the question from the Commodore, now dilated to a solid black with a thin fringe of green, and slowly turned his direction. "NO." The one word response, though uttered slowly and, quietly, holding an intensity that spoke of immense pain. "It...is...SHARING..." She continued, with great effort. "...its PAIN." Ash concluded.

"On my way, Commander."

Sora glanced towards Ash as she heard her groaning, immediately reminded of the torture that Amber had gone through while she was in contact with the creature from farther away. Immediately, she tapped the intercom button. "Bridge to sickbay, we have a potential medical emergency. Get someone up here, stat." With a frown, she turned back at the main viewscreen and the readouts displayed there. "Ops and Science, what can you tell us about that radiation?"

Sayori's hands flew across her console. "Not much, but the nervous system or whatever that creature has? It's going into overdrive. Since the radiation spiked, signal activity has gone up by almost eighty-five percent. Whether it's attracting the squid or making it aggressive, or whatever its intention may be, I can't tell."

"Thank you, Ensign. I want a full spectrum analysis of the radiation types that spiked. Any word from the landing party yet? And, more importantly, are we able to get them out of there if needed?"

"Whatever it is, the radiation has no effect on the ship or systems," Blake consulted the data stream and comms. "There's no word from the.. - oh - I'm receiving reports that Counsellor Laurell is receiving medical aid in direct collation to the creature's actions."

“We can beam them out if necessary.” Chase spoke up. “However worth the radiation we will want to monitor it to make certain it won’t be an issue.

Petty Officer Juqquix quickly entered through the port doorway on the Enterprise's Bridge. Carrying a Medical Kit in her hand, the Denobulan woman quickly activated her wrist Tricorder and pulled the scanner peripheral from its housing. The medic quickly asked, "What happened?"

The Tuansee turned her gaze the direction of Jugguix, eyes open but, seemingly, unseeing, at the moment. "Gnawing...Gnashing...Grinding...Biting...Burning...All Consuming...PAAAAIN..." She answered, surprisingly iterative, considering the apparent effort involved in speaking at all and looked the direction of the Commodore. "STOP...the PAIN." She added, her voice a little louder and insistent.

"Radiation spike from the star," Sora quickly explained. "She immediately complained of massive pain. Seems to be telepathic, from the creature."

"Hmm," the Denobulan answered as she started adjusting the Tricorder's settings. On her wrist a three-dimensional replica of Commander Randall appeared as if standing on the Medic's arm, portions of her body illuminating with red lighting. "Temperature's rising, her pain centers are very much alive - lit up like a Human Christmas Tree I think is the old saying."

"Get! Them! Out!" Ash said, slowly, each word enunciated clearly and emphatically. Though the words were spoken quietly there was no mistaking that there was an exclamation point following each word as she spoke it.

"We're going to try some Lexorin," the Denobulan answered while injecting the medication. "This should help with the effects, I hope."

Wilkan had more than one calamity to deal with concurrently. Staring at the viewscreen and the monstrous alien hovering before them, he considered the possibilties that existed to try to help Ash, but also knew that he had an away team on that creature. Anything he did to help them could risk Ash's safety, anything he did to help Ash could risk the away team. In the end the Enterprise herself could be at risk. He looked at the Helm.

"Back us off, Lieutenant, nice and slow." He turned toward the Engineering console, "Get me as much energy as you can to Commander Kuzos' shield. Block those signals."

Emma turned to look at the Captain, "On it, Sir, I will do my best." She found the panel with the tie in to the specialized shielding and began working on formulations with power transfer equations. The current tie in was near max. Even as she went ahead to max it out, she activated a direct linkage to the Engineering Spaces. "Engineering, Bridge, please connect a second Aux Power Console to circuit 7-3A-5 and tie it to an AWR as well as surplus Main Reactor energy, stat. I need that tie in ten minutes ago. Send me a signal ASAD! (As Soon As Done)" A response was seen on the Tie in panel, 4 minutes and counting.

Emma sent a return acknowledge, then called out, "Captain, Engineering Ensign, Current shield tie in from 87% to Max, new tie in with 3x power coming online in less than four minutes, Engineering doing their best."

"Thank you, Ensign," Wilkan acknowledged from his chair as he watched the data displays carefully and hoped they started to negate some of the telepathic contact.

"Sir we have altered our course, the creature is matching our course." Stacey called out, as she tried to stay ahead of the creature. Her first goal was to protect the Enterprise.

"Keep scanning that creature," Targaryen didn't like using such a negative word, but it was the most fitting right now, "I want an idea, and I want it now."

"Ensign," Sulu interrupted, "I'll handle the star, you scan the life-form. Focus on its neurology. There may be something there."

Sayori's hands flew across the console as she looked for anything that could provide an answer. "This confuses me," she began thinking out loud. "I can clearly see that the neural activity is spiking massively, indicating that our squid out there is in immense pain. What's happening to the Chief Engineer would confirm that. But then, if the radiation from the star is what's causing it the pain, why is it heading towards it? Wouldn't it make more sense to try to get away from what's hurting you? I would think that any living creature with any kind of survival instinct would act that way. Do we know what kind of radiation we're dealing with yet?"

"It's not much different than the normal background radiation that you'd expect to see in normal space," Sulu reported. Looking at the readouts, "Honestly it's only a slight tick over what our systems are set to monitor for, not even enough to justify preventative measures on the Enterprise just yet. I wonder if this is a behavioral response. Maybe something is drawing the creature to the star?"

Sora frowned. "So, there is slightly heightened background radiation, yet it has sent the creature into a frenzy, sending painful telepathic signals to Commander Randall here. And then it is heading for the star that we assume is causing its pain, rather than trying to flee. Something does not add up here." Suddenly, she had an idea. "Lieutenant Sulu, are you certain that you are accounting for all possible types of radiation? Give us a full analysis of that star. Everything coming from it, even the tiniest amounts, I want to know about it. Something about this star is making the creature go crazy, and we need to know what it is." She sighed. "Because if we can't figure out how to help it, we might end up having to put it out of its misery," she added, saying out loud what she was certain some people of the bridge were scared to even think about.

Anzai cocked her head a little to the right at the Commander's statement, "You really think that this ship is going to win in a fight against an alien the size of a starbase?"

If only you knew the impossible things I've already done, Sora thought to herself, before shaking her head. "No. Not if it fights back, in any case." Suddenly, she stood. "Hang on a moment. You said the radiation barely changed, correct, Lieutenant? So what if it has absolutely nothing to do with it?" She turned to the medic. "I'm not a medical officer in any way, but I've had a thought. Commander Randall said it was sharing its pain. You describe a rising temperature as well as pain flaring up everywhere. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that indicate an immune response to something like a foreign object, or an infection?"

Sayori cut the Commander off. "Yes, yes, yes. That explains it, these weird readings! The reason it called out via pain impulses! It called us here to get rid of the people inside of it!"

Emma was listening along, not sure how to interrupt into this 'tete a tete', but she had to get word to the Captain. Then, there was a break. She called out, "Captain, Engineering, Power to Commander Kuzo's shields now at 382% from previous levels, max for current Shield Configuration." She returned to her speaking with Engineering on the ability to cut over that power to defensive armament and maneuvering if needed.

"Thank you, Ensign," Targaryen answered the Engineer as he turned toward the Science Stations, "And since we failed in getting rid of them ourselves, it's going to do it itself by boiling them to death in a star's corona."

Sora nodded. "And potentially itself along with them." She put her hand on her chin, thinking for a moment. "This is bad."

Crossing his arms, "Alright people, we're in the home stretch of this, but the creature is threatening not only our away team, but the refugees, and even itself. We need a plan to stop it from harming itself and we need one now."

At Engineering station, Emma frowned as her mind ran through a couple of scenarios with shields and tractors, but the size between the Enterprise and the Creature was just too expansive. Wait, maybe the Starship had more power than the creature? After all, the Enterprise used the destruction of matter and antimatter to create exponential energy that usually could not be found in nature.

Ensign Mirakylin Yumerieva, Emma, called out, "Bridge, Engineering, maybe our Warp Core produces more energy than the creature can produce? Could that energy be used for deflection as with shielding, or tractor, or maybe even high powered direct line communication with the creature's neural core and the Enterprise Main Computer tied through the universal translator? Just, thinking maybes.."

Sayori shook her head. "I don't think there is a neural core to this thing. Looks like a decentralised nervous system to me. If there is a core, I haven't been able to locate it." She looked at the readouts from her latest scans. "I'm not sure squiddie out there can survive getting close enough to the star to kill the 'infection', as it sees it. It's desperate."

"Can we use our transporters to get the Vorta and most of our people out, and then have whoever is left evacuate on the shuttlecraft?", Sora asked. She was beginning to run out of ideas that did not result in everyone's death.

The Commodore answered that one, "Enterprise is capable of supporting as many as 13,000 people if she has to, including our existing crew, but the interference to the Transporters is growing instead of decreasing, making it harder to beam anyone aboard." Wilkan took a deep breath and thought about the situation that they were facing, his mind going back to the earlier suggestions to attack the life-form and wondering if that may be the way to go.

Targaryen asked, "I know how large the damn thing is, but could we use the Tractor Beam like Ensign Yumerieva proposed? We may not be able to stop them, but we could slow it down while we try to come up with an alternative."

"If we try to use the tractor beam on it, that would most certainly be seen as an attack," Sora replied. "And we have no idea what that thing is capable of. Ensign Nakai, do you think we might be able to stun it, based on your scans of its neural system?"

Sayori shrugged. "No idea. If we hit it in the right spot, with the right thing, at the right strength, then, maybe?"

The strengthening of the PSI shield had, somewhat, the desired effect on the condition of the chief engineer in as much as her eyes were no longer black basketballs and were focusing on what was around her now. "What if we take the Enterprise inside, transport them aboard, and withdraw." Ash suggested, quietly. "No interference and, I am fairly certain no opposition from the creature." She added.

"Glad to have you back with us, Commander," Sora said to the Chief Engineer. "Your idea could work, but it also sounds very risky. What if the creature won't let us in, or worse, won't let us back out?"

Ash shook her head. "It is not without reason nor compassion. It did not call us, here, only to not allow us to help it if we are able. I fear we have acted too slowly as, whatever has it in so much pain and distress, is reaching a finality...a point of no return. If we act to remove what is, for lack of a better word, 'killing' it, it seems unlikely it will oppose us." Ash rebutted.

Stacey felt a little over her head, but she loved it. She did not expect so much excitement during a beta shift assignment. She always expected the fun stuff happened on Alpha Shift. She was happy to be proven wrong. "Maybe its instinctive. Maybe it perceives us as one of its own." Stacey said out loud, but mainly thinking to herself.

Sayori looked at the scans again. "I mean it does seem to be rather intelligent." She frowned and scrolled back through the data. "Fascinating. Just as Commander Randall experienced pain, the creature had a sudden reaction spike to something. And I think it came from the core of its nervous system. Finally found it. Something happened on the inside."

Sora wasn't convinced. "I think you are all being very optimistic. If we do this, we should definitely have a backup plan to get out. Just in case."

The Commodore had listened to the back and forth that was going on and was, more to the point, very proud of the Beta Shift crew of the Enterprise. They had quickly proven that they were among the best and the brightest that were available. If they weren't on the Enterprise it was certainly possible that they would've been on the way to being a Department Head already. Though, serving on the Enterprise seemed to lead that way if they transferred to another vessel.

As the back and forth continue, Wilkan realized what Sayori had said, "Sayori, display the details on the viewer please."

"Aye, sir," the young science officer replied, and transferred the scan data to the main screen.

Wilkan walked toward the viewscreen as the life-form appeared. Overlaid above the creature, the neural system started to show and was highlighted. There was a lot of evidence that the life-form was still in pain from the neural discharges that the Enterprise's sensors were detecting. There was a spike in energy again. Wilkan looked at it, "There. That. What is that?"

Sulu checked the energy emissions, "Looks like an energy discharge, not too different from a rapid nadion effect."

"A phaser blast?" Targaryen turned toward the Science stations. "They're firing on the creature?"

Sitting next to Lieutenant Moore at Tactical II, Rrawran answered, "I don't think so, Sir."

Wilkan turned, "Explain?"

"Our away team is located here," the overlay showed the Runabout's location as Targaryen turned back toward the forward display. While they were close, the combadge's of the away team were nowhere near the neural cluster.

"So," the Enterprise's Commander continued, "we have someone apparently firing on the alien, it's not us, and how to we stop them?"

Sora frowned. "If it's not our people, it has to be the Vorta. But why would they attack the creature that has been their home?" She paused for a moment. Back in the other universe, there were stories of alien races that had enslaved space-dwelling creatures, although the Empire had, as far as she knew, never encountered any of them. "Or maybe that's why it wants them gone in the first place, maybe that's how they control it?"

"That's horrid," Blake couldn't withhold his displeasure at the thought of enslaving a being to benefit another. His original opinion of the jellyfish-like creature had quickly evolved as the scene continued to develop. "Should we have the Landing party investigate?"

"We have no other option, really," Wilkan acknowledged, theorizing that this was why the creature had started to turn on them. If the Vorta had started to attack the very creature they lived on, if they were attacking its brain no less, it would need to take steps to protect itself. You killed a virus through the heat of a fever, the lifeform was just finding a way to speed up the process.

Crossing his arms, Wilkan returned to the center of the Bridge, "I think the chances are growing we may have to try to take the Enterprise into this lifeform." He looked at the Helm, "Start working on a plan to take us in. Use every sensor, every scanner we have to figure out a safe way to do so. Call Astrometrics, Cetacean Ops, anyone that can help with accomplishing this." He looked at Ops, "And get me the away team. I want to talk to them and fast.

"And figure out what this thing could do to cause us harm," Sora added. "and how we could best defend the ship against it, if necessary. If it's being attacked from the inside, it may not take as kindly to our entry as we initially thought."

"On it, sirs," Sayori acknowledged, as she began further scans of the creature.

"Nothing like spinning a whole set of plates at once," Blake whispered under his breath before turning his attention to the multiple tasks starting with contacting Commander zh'Roothi and her team on the creature.

"I have a channel with the away party, sir," the young man announced. "It's a little patchy with the interference but stable."

Standing behind Lieutenant Blake, "On screen, Lieutenant."

The visual transfer began a second later on the Enterprise's viewscreen, the Commodore not too surprised by all of the static and other interference that was playing across the monitor. The Commodore was going to get right to it when he heard his XO first.

"Can you clear this up a little more, Urvasi?"

In the background, Urvasi's voice was heard, "Working on it..."

"See if you can help them with that, Lieutenant," he directed to Blake, opting instead not to wait and get right to it, "Commander, we don't know how much time we have so let's get to it. What's your status?"

"Right away," Blake nodded.

On the viewscreen the XO shifted uncomfortably: "Talks with the local Vorta have broken down. They refuse to leave and will no longer listen to reason, additionally instructed us to leave. At present they'll attempting to assault the shuttle craft with primitive weaponry." She stole a glance to the nearest port confirming the barrage hadn't let up. "The forest has become unstable as Tchema appears to be heading toward the nearby star in apparent distress deduced by Counsellor Laurell."

Chase stood, listening to what was going on around him l. He was prepared to follow whatever orders he was given.

In the background was Urvasi's voice once more, "Captain, XO, what if the interference isn't interference, but Tchema trying to communicate? The video interference is following the same pattern as the audio background noise on Comms channel 7. So, what if it's speaking is higher or lower than our audio range?" There was a short pause, then the voice continued, "Others may not have heard it, my hearing is from 5 Hz to 38 KHz... so, try a seven second delay to slow the pattern down on comms 7 and see if we can make heads or tails of it?"

Lt. Commander Randall, while others spoke, had settled into the Mission Specialists chair and accessed her personal files. "Sounds like a reasonable assumption." She commented, quietly, while she perused some data that, presumably, was applicable to the current situation.

Sayori, being the one who had originally devised the modification, nodded energetically. "Yes, yes! After all, one of the things I remodulated for channel sevel was the frequency, so it makes sense. I'm not sure if the sounds could be seen as speech, but I do think that if we do as suggested, we will hear something."

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Sora observed. Establishing a better means of communication with the creature would most certainly make it easier to find out what was going on inside of it.

"If the seven second delay does anything to help - or any other adjustment to the wavelength or frequency of Tchema's attempt to communicate, then that would be the best result and unblock the impasse. Other than that, I have no suggestions as to how we could reach her, other than if we knew how to ease her pain. I doubt if we have either the data to construct a medication to help just long enough to get through to her and let her tell the Vorta what she needs them to stop doing, and even if we did. I also doubt we would have sufficient of whichever minerals, chemicals or elements we would need to give her anyway." Rio offered, shrugging with dismay at how unhelpful this all seemed to sound.

In the background, Urvasi's voice said, "Working on it now..."

Silently, Wilkan listened to the back and forth between the Away Team and the Beta Shift crewmembers on the Bridge, intrigued by how well they were working together to try to resolve the situation that they were all facing. Speaking to this Tchema was looking more and more like the play they needed to move after. The Enterprise's Commander was about to issue the order when Commander zh'Roothi continued.

"We're currently tracking Bedran, the leader of the Vorta whose wife, a high priestess is able to communicate directly with Tchema via a central neural cluster." zh'Roothi continued. "He fled when the area began to destabilize, and we assume he'll be heading to her to discuss our story. I had intended to gain a clear understanding of the situation from the neural cluster," the XO paused her gaze shifting around the bridge despite the flickering images. "I'm open to other options."

Sora nodded at the XO's report. "Based on what we were able to determine through scans from our end, something attacked the creature's - you call it Tchema? - neural centre from within. We don't know what, why, or with what, but that seems to have led to the creature's reaction. It wants to use the star's heat to burn out anything living inside, is what we're assuming. Anyone who doesn't evacuate ASAP will be burned to a crisp."

"We may know what," the Commodore answered as he looked at Lieutenant Sulu. "Sensors detected a rapid nadion effect a few minutes ago, those are consistent with Phaser discharges. I'm not sure why they'd be attacking the runabout with stone knives and bearskins if they had access to Phasers, but it does fit the potential facts." He turned back toward the viewscreen and walked toward it, "We're going to have to try to stop whatever is going on at that neural cluster. Exec," he referred to zh'Roothi, "get to the neural cluster and disable the threat to Tchema by whatever means necessary." The Commodore wondered how Commander Kuzos would take the order that he'd given, after all Wilkan had potentially issued the death warrant for whoever was behind this.

On the viewscreen the Andorian woman glanced towards Kuzos expecting the Vorta to speak after the discovery of advanced technology being used despite the low key appearances. She returned her gaze forward and nodded glumly: "Understood."

Kuzos had indeed heard the commodore's order and he stood silent and rigid. His face for once an inscrutable mask. There was no sign of any emotion on it. His thoughts were his and his alone.

Wilkan considered the next part very carefully, "Enterprise will be entering the alien to recover the Vorta and place them into protected custody." He turned to the Bridge, "Security will need to be on full alert and begin patrol of the ship to maintain the safety of all hands aboard. I don't expect this to be easy," he looked at the Helm, "but I expect you to make it at least look easy. We're going to try to give the Sol a wide berth, but you're going to need to closely keep an eye on us. Science will help keep you all updated on where Enterprise is and help keep us from being the next permanent addition to Tchema."

Sayori immediately got to work. "Remotely linking our scan data over to the Sol. Well, as best as can be done with the current transmission, I expect it'll get better once we are inside. And I'll look for any potential weak points we could use as an emergency exit."

To Sora, "Exec, we need a plan to mass transport the Vorta aboard the ship. See to it."

"Aye, sir," Sora nodded.

"This is going to take a lot of power from our reserves and quickly. Ash, Mira, you're both going to have to work closely to keep the Enterprise powered. We may be working against the very life-form we're trying to save," Targaryen explained.

Emma raised an eyebrow at the 'Mira' and decided she liked that shortening of her name. With that out of the way in her mind, she responded, "Aye Aye Captain, I shall do my best." She only spared a brief glance at Ash sitting in the specialists seat, then returned her full attention to the Engineering console even as she looped her tail behind her. That way, if Ash came over to help, a touch on that tail would let Mira know to make room for her.

The Tuansee, Chief Engineer, glanced the direction of the Commodore and nodded. "Understood, sir." She said, quietly, and sent a set of changes over 'Mira' at the engineering console that related to life support management that were not going to be found in any operations or engineering manual. "Ensign Yumerieva, please implement Alpine life support settings in all, outer-hull and inner-hull access compartments and all unmanned spaces in the drive and saucer sections and issue hot stand-bye orders for impulse engines for all shuttles, runabouts and service vehicles so capable to supplement backup and battery power following the guidelines I've sent to you." Ash ordered as she slid out of the mission specialist seat and moved to join 'Mira' at the console as an, extra, pair of eyes.

Mira heard the beep from the console as the new settings popped up on the manual/schematic display screen. She looked at them quizzically as she didn't recognize what was displayed. As she started to think through them, she heard Ash's voice with orders and those orders quickly making sense of the settings. Mira called out her response, "Aye Aye, Commander Randall, setting up the protocol." As she worked the engineering controls, she hit the comm directional mic at the console and began speaking in a very low voice with damage control teams to setup for power connection to aux craft, then asking Hanger Flight control to get anything with power plants running and power couplings exposed for the damage control teams to make those power connections.

Mira felt Ash touch her tail and moved slightly left so as to give the Chief Engineering Officer of the Enterprise access to the Engineering console, even as she continued to follow the guidelines and the checklist upon the display screen.

"This all calls upon one key component though," he directed this to Counselor Laurell, "Tchema spoke with you first, Counselor, it has a bond with you. Use the comlink to speak with it and ensure that Tchema knows that we're trying to help. Hopefully we may be able to pull this off," Wilkan finished, "but we need to keep a close eye on the Counselor to make sure that the strain of contact doesn't become too much."

Amber nodded. “I’ll do my upmost Sir, I don’t want to see any harm come to Tchema, or the Vorta.”

"We're on the clock," Commodore Targaryen said as he walked around the Bridge, "so get moving."

Urvasi's voice was heard on the bridge once more. "Captain, XO, Tchema isn't sending words, but changing pictures, video. I can see them with my vibration sense when I returned the signal to its original KHz range. Okay, do a phased 256 QAM decode of the signal from 50 KHz to 150 KHz and you should see the moving pictures as well. Tchema is empathic for emotions and is sending us a camera eye view of what is happening. We can probably communicate back with her by creating the same type of phased 16 x 16 changing information for 320 x 240 pixel pictures with the moving information changing at a rate of 35 KHz of what we are desiring to do. Think of it as old low resolution MPEG broadcasts." Urvasi hoped that was enough information for sciences to quickly put together something to better talk with Tchema.

"I like the theory," zh'Roothi stepped towards her shuttle pilot. "However, given the pain Tchema is experiencing plus the phaser pulses I don't think we'll be heard."

“That’s an interesting idea” Amber offered Urvasi a smile. “I’ll keep trying as well, at least until you can get something up and running.”

Sensing there was no winning here zh'Roothi relented: "Just don't over exert yourself in the process Counsellor."

"We're running out of time," Wilkan reminded, "Get going. Enterprise out."

Sora, meanwhile, had gotten out of the XO seat and made her way to her usual Ops station. "Mr Blake, I will take Ops for this bit," she stated. She had more experience regarding transporting large groups of people at once than she cared to admit - after all, the Terran Empire had mastered the art of weaponising transporters. "I'm going to need numbers and locations, and somewhere to beam them to," she added as she signed back into her personal profile on the console, and began adjusting the necessary settings on the transporters. "This will take overriding some safeties, but we should be able to get them all in one go, provided we can get a lock on everyone."

Obediently Blake stood and side stepped for the Commander to take over. "I'll start making room," he nodded before retreating for the secondary station.

"Commander Bernadotte, would pattern enhancers be of any help in your efforts?" Ash asked, quietly. Pattern enhancers weren't used much since the late 24th century but Ash, tended to take outdated technologies and methodologies and refine them to her satisfaction, mostly making them much smaller while also making them far more efficient and, in the case of pattern enhancers, quadrupling their carrying capacity and range. "I have a set of 12 available in my bag." She added, with a glance to Sora.

Sora shook her head. "Don't think we'll need them, but I will keep it in mind that they're available. Like I said, all I need is the target, and the destination." After a few more adjustments to the transporter settings, trying her best to recreate the settings she had used when taking an entire rebel base prisoner, she nodded. "There. Should be good to go."

Mira saw incoming feedback from the damage control teams upon the status panels. She pointed to a side display where she had grouped aux craft into types with connection status, active, and inactive power symbols and how much. On the display, 30% of the aux craft were showing connected. She said to Ash in a low voice, "Commander, I estimate 12 minutes for all connections to be made. I am hoping Flight Control is getting the craft online as our teams are making the connections."

It was, instead, the Commodore who answered, "We can't wait that long, Ensign. Helm, lay in the course and engage all ahead two-thirds."

Mira realized that she needed to say percentages rather than when 100%. "Captain, Engineering, Thirty Three percent of aux craft are connected and supplying power for the Enterprise."

"Thank you, Ensign," the Commodore answered as he monitored the controls built into his own workstation. With a deft motion of his hand, a holographic display appeared before his eyes showing the Enterprise's route within the creature. Swiping his hand, the holographic panel moved beside the armrest of his chair as he watched the forward screens.

"Increase speed to all ahead flank," Wilkan ordered, knowing full well that it wasn't exactly a common order. All Starfleet vessels had very specific speed ratings. While the Enterprise's Impulse Engines were incredibly capable at providing thrust, full impulse was only 25% of the speed of light. By ordering the Enterprise's engines to flank speed, Lieutenant Moore would know to send the Enterprise's engines to 50% percent of the speed of light. It was rare because of the risk of relativistic effects, but they needed the thrust. If they had to he'd take Enterprise to the apex of its sublight speed, but only if there were no other choice.

"Time dilation, relative to Techma. is roughly 1.08 seconds to our 1 second, sir." Ash observed, quietly. "Not noticeable but not negligible at these speeds though easily compensated for." She added, knowing that helm would be making the required adjustments.

Targaryen nodded, "Make whatever adjustments are needed." Wilkan looked at the Acting XO and Operations Manager, "As soon as we're in position begin transporting those people up here."

"Time dilation effects may be very little, but we should still minimise the time we spend at relativistic speeds. It can get messy, speaking from experience," Sora commented on Ash's observation. "Ready to transport on your order, Captain."

The Enterprise's Commander looked over his shoulder at the Security Officer, "Lieutenant, you'll need to have Security Teams ready to monitor the Vorta. I doubt they'll be happy to leave their home."

Having issued his orders to the Security Officers and the Helm, Wilkan watched as the Enterprise flew into the large, open chamber that was at the heart of the space jellyfish that they had encountered. While he did not relish the possibility of forcing people from their homes, he knew that they really had no other choice in the matter. They were all going to die otherwise. Sighing, he looked carefully at the trees as the Enterprise headed above them at high speeds.

Checking his readouts, Wilkan continued, "Work with Chief Saarnosh to get those Vorta aboard, Commander." He paused a moment, considering the next part carefully. He remembered hearing stories, ages ago, while he was serving aboard the Armstrong of an incident involving Commander Worf and his brother. While Wilkan didn't remember the finer details, he remembered that Worf's foster brother violated the Prime Directive by saving a group of villagers from a doomed planet using the holodeck. Maybe they could do something similar here?

"Ash," he interrupted, "I need one of those crazy plans completed that you excel at. I want you and Blake to build a holographic replica of Tchema aboard the Enterprise in the holodecks within the next minute. Commander Bernadotte's then going to beam the Vorta there to help keep them secure. It'll require detailed scans to be done as quickly as possible, a firm eye on our power reserves, but I need you all to do it. Think you all can handle it?"

At the rear of Bridge Lieutenant Blake swiveled towards the Chief Engineer for conformation - given the ticking clock it was always going to be an ask but having worked with the Commander over the last few months Dylan had learned Ash always excelled under pressure. "Providing we can maintain a steady speed I think we can acquire scans and convert into a holo projection ahead of transports."

"Already in progress, sir." The Chief Engineer announced, quietly, with a glance to Blake. "It occurred to me that I could leverage the high intensity, detailed, scans in support of the transporters to give life sciences the opportunity to 'explore' Tchema, after the fact. Mr. Blake, if you would please concentrate on the inhabited areas of Tchema I will apply my efforts to the rest." She added.

"On it Commander," Blake nodded in confirmation.

Sayori spoke up from the sciences station. "We should be able to replicate the climate and atmosphere on the inside the creature as perfectly as the holodeck will allow. There will be some minor differences, but they should not be noticeable to the Vorta. Sending the parameters over now."

Mira was listening for a place to give an update. That place became available. "Captain, Engineering, 64 Percent of Aux craft now supplying power for Enterprise. Coming online will be Two runabouts and their power output which should be coupled in less than 30 Seconds. We should have power for planned actions."

"Commence transport," the Commodore ordered, impressed by how well his crew was working.

Sora tapped a few commands on the ops console. "Locking on to any biosigns within the creature that are not in the crew database and preparing to transport directly to the holodeck." She focussed as the targets were registered by the transporter system, and adjusted its parameters accordingly. "Overriding mass limits, tying emergency backup systems into the main transporter matrix. Engaging mass evacuation transport... now. Energising."

A few tense seconds passed, until Sora spoke up again. "Transport complete, sir. All Vorta have been evacuated from the creature and are on the holodeck, as close to their relative origin positions as possible. There's been a minor overload in transporter room two, but the backups successfully compensated. All our passengers seem to be uninjured or otherwise negatively affected by the transport."

Wilkan tapped his Communicator at the announcement about Transporter Room 2, ""Transporter room, do you have them?"

"Safely and soundly."

Enterprise's Commander let out a sigh of relief at the announcement, "Let them know our status, Chief, and ask them to report to their stations. Targaryen out." Knowing his crew was finally safe, Targaryen rose to his feet. "I'm sure they won't be too happy when they find out about what all has happened, but I think it's time to find a new colony world for the Vorta. Start scanning the local area for a Class L or M planet that has a suitable atmosphere to support them and set a course." He turned to the Operations Manager, "I'll be in the Ready Room. You have the Bridge until either me or Commander zh'Roothi returns."

Another break available, and having a change of command, Mira called out, "Commander Bernadotte, Engineering, All runabouts connected, Aux Craft connection at 85% with 100% in another 5 minutes. I will have aux craft remain connected for Main Large Holodeck power needs and any other emergency transports needed."

Walking toward the starboard door, the Commodore paused and motioned toward his chair, "Feel free to try it out."

Sora nodded, signed out of the Ops station, and turned to Lieutenant Blake. "Mister Blake, back to your station." She then stood, and headed to the command chair. It felt somewhat familiar, since she had been in command on I.S.S. Asha many times, but yet it felt... different. She took a deep breath. "Right then, we're done here. Helm, get us out of here. Slow and steady until we are in open space."

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