Up In the Air

Posted on Fri Oct 11th, 2019 @ 11:21pm by Captain Wilkan Targaryen & Galatea & Commander Zephryn Kaldiran & Commander Nathan Hawkins & Lieutenant Commander T'Lisha "Hawkeye" Bishara & Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Commander Victoria Rigby M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Lily Snow PhD, MD
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:11pm

3,394 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Bridge, Starfleet One
Timeline: 2429-12-03, 19:00

Commander Galatea walked along the upper level of the Bridge of Starfleet One silently surveying each of the workstations as she worked. Her arms were crossed, her focus directly ahead as she marched around keeping a close watch on all that were around her. It was mainly for show really. As an AI she was, effectively, everywhere aboard the ship at any given moment. Her holographic avatar was intended to keep the crew cognizant that she was with them and their equal, but she was intent on ensuring that the ship was functioning at maximum levels at all times.

The Away Team was making their way to the Transporter Room now. Admiral Teagarden had been late, as usual, but so had most of the Away Team as well. The Ambassadors were also attending the State Dinner that was being provided which meant that Commander Hawkins was in command. At the Admiral's request the Senior Staff were at their stations during the State Dinner because, as he'd commented, something was up that had him on edge. What didn't have him on edge these days was more concerning. Ever since he'd returned the Admiral had been different. She hoped that he got out of this funk or she may've had to make a report that she was not thrilled to make.

Stopping at her workstation she turned toward the inward panels and started to type. It was, again, symbolic to keep her on par with the others. She was really communicating with herself and displaying the data as needed on the different screens. Her psychology subroutines made her speak up though, "It's quiet as a tomb in here."

Patton was deep in thought when he heard her speak. “Maybe we are all just busy doing our duty.” Which was a total lie in his case. He couldn’t let go of the day and that strong hold he had felt.

"Perhaps that is it," Galatea answered as she checked the sensor readouts before her. "Still a bit too quiet compared to the norm for this crew."

Vikki’s fingers were rubbing against her temple as she tried to focus on the conversation floating around her. The earlier events with the marine medic and sickbay were still playing on her mind. The humiliation of loosing control so badly but also at how she knew she had treated the man who had only been trying to help.

Focus was still a little on the difficult side, when in the back of her mind she could hear the dull sound of the tune she had heard st the market. “I’d put it down to tiredness and people on edge. It’s not usual for senior staff to be on duty when there’s formal events happening that would usually need our attendance.”

"It's certainly far from a usual day," Hawkins added shifting restlessly. The experience on the surface had created more questions than answered, Premier Daiarcall hadn't exactly put them at ease nor welcomed them warmly.

“I am uncomfortable with the whole visit,” Patton spoke. He hadn’t meant to speak out loud but he might as well go on. “There is more than meets the eye and this state dinner has me on edge.”

The hologram approached carefully, "What exactly has made you uncomfortable, Commander?" She tapped on the wall mounted workstation next to the Security workstation, trying to be friendly as she did.

Lily turned and looked at Patton. She wanted to hear what the man had to say.

“Their leader was evasive,” Patton replied. “I consider myself to be an excellent judge of character and she was hiding something. Her manner towards Viol bothered me as well. They are up to something and I am concerned we may be a pawn in their plan.”’ He paused. “Then there was this pull I got from one of their artifacts. I could feel it trying to control me, to manipulate me and it took everything I had not to allow it.”

Vikki frowned as she listened, while the situation with the artifact was concerning; it was something unknown to her compared to the rest of what the man had said. “What was it about the leaders manner that caused you the concern?”

“She was acting like they were peaceful,” Patton replied. “But It wasn’t sincere and her actions showed otherwise. She threatened Viol and then tried to make light of it.”

This was concerning to the AI. The planet was the perfect trap for the Federation because of the world being an exact copy of Earth already. If they were employing subterfuge to draw them in they were all in danger. Then there was the other concern of the artifact.

"Can you explain this artifact a bit more, Commander? It was trying to control you?"

“It is a bronze helmet,” Patton explained. “Legend has it that Atlantis chooses the person who wears it, to do its bidding. It sorts out the nonbelievers and Viol said that ifnot chosen carefully it could destroy them all.” He shook his head. “I would have laughed at the story but I felt it and I wasn’t the only one.”

Hawkins nodded at O'Sullivan's explanation. "I felt it too, a strange allure, drawing both your eye and attention to the item."

At his ops Station, Zeph continued to program in specific routines for possible emergency scenarios that could occur. One such was a sudden shield appearing, causing a need for enhanced sensors, power to transporters, enhanced telemetry, and power to communications. Done as scenario five. However, once more, he saw a slight power blip across the shields, one usually associated with a low level scan of the ship. He was actually tracking three such, each one distinctive, at timings of 3.14159 seconds, at 12.756 seconds, and one at 40.075 seconds. He frowned to himself as he realized those numbers were for pi, equatorial diameter of Terra, and equatorial circumference of Terra. He spoke up now, "Commander, this artifact, are there others that the Atlanteans alluded to? I am picking up sensor pings on our shields via shield power fluctuations that are at 3.14159, 12.756, and 40.075 seconds. As those correlate to universal Pi, Terra diameter, and Terra Circumference... could the artifacts be causing us to see different from what is actually there?"

"It's certainly should be ruled out," Hawkins noted. "Far too precise to random timings. At present we are not aware of any additional artifacts similar to one we already encountered, I seriously doubt however it's the only one. Liaise with science and see if you can find out anything."

Zeph's tail shook once as he answered Hawkins. "Certainly, Sir, I will get on it." Zeph linked up an observation panel with Sciences and sent the information down to a Sciences Lab. He next sent a message over Padd to Sciences for next available lab slot to be dedicated to this anomaly. He said to the 2nd Officer, "Lab time requested, Sir."

Lily remained quiet as the other talked to each other. "Interesting." Is all she said as she watched.

"Granted Kaldiran," Hawkins acknowledged.

With a lab now granted to him, Zheph began feeding the real time information to its computers while making sure the current saved information was also input to be correlated with the live feed. "Working with the data now sir. Hopefully nothing of consequence found, but if there is something, better to know sooner than later."

Lily looked at the request and authorized it. She even assigned several of her Science officers to assist.

T'Lish stepped from the turbolift onto the bridge. "Sorry all but I can't keep my mind off that music. Also there was something I sensed when those chimes sounded. Almost like they forewarned of some ill intention or something evil." she said as a sudden chill made her shiver.

Intrigued Hawkins switched his attention to T'Lish: "What music?" he asked. "We heard chimes too, but they didn't sound foreboding like you suggested."

“I didn’t hear anything.” Patton spoke up. “But this is all odd, like I said.”

Galatea shifted her holographic weight from one foot to the other foot. Everything that they were saying was putting her on edge. For her, a warship in every sense of the term, it was a frightening prospect. Could someone be trying to control the crew?

"Is there any way to get one of these artifacts aboard for investigation?" The hologram asked.

“They won’t let us borrow one,” Patton spoke. “Even Viol seemed very protective of them. The only way I see is to create a diversion and beam one up for a small window of time so they don’t know we had it.” He paused. “But that risks an incident and we could be in big trouble with the Federation as well as Viols people.” He paused. “Not to mention I am leery of bringing something that affected us that way into our ship.”

The subroutines were firing, "If you used an isolation suit do you think we could successfully borrow the artifact? It would cloak you from their senses, but if you bumped into one they'd know you were there..."

"Interesting." Is all Lily said again. She wondered if they would figure things out or ask her directly what her thoughts where.

The AI peered at their Science Officer, "What are your thoughts, Commander?"

"I just find it interesting that the rest of the Command crew is parroting a conversation that I had with the Admiral earlier." Lily said with her icy tone. "Besides, I was saying that this was a trap and something was wrong with this whole affair. Now that Commander O'Sullivan has voiced what I had already stated in the beginning. It is being taken seriously, while my statements where ignored and I'm censored by Commander Bishop."

Zeph stayed facing his console so that others would not read his facial expressions. A Department Head feeling ignored and censored was not a good start to the mission. He now kept one of his mind's compartments fully onto the current situation unfolding even as he kept others upon the upcoming Lab Slot and his ops panel. He began tracing all power drains to see if there might be something else drawing power from the ship while waiting on any preliminary results from the Lab.

It was interesting. The Admiral had not shared with her his concerns before beaming down, whether she had shared the concerns with Commander Hawkins she did not know. "I wouldn't necessarily say your concerns haven't been taken seriously, Commander. The Admiral did not relay your concerns to me," Galatea looked at the Acting CO, "I am unaware if such concerns were shared with Commander Hawkins. Nonetheless, we are now working together to explore a mystery."

Hawkins chewed his inner cheek at the AI's gaze feeling he'd perhaps been quick to discount Snow earlier. "At the time I did not believe them to have any merit," he confessed. "Perhaps I was mistaken in light of our experiences. I apologize for not giving your concerns more thought Commander Snow."

"Also we all need to take into consideration that if both Hawkins and I were affected by the Helmet, others heard music we didn't," Patton replied. "Who knows what the Admiral has been affected by. He is their ace in the hole, it is known that we believe in following orders." He looked at Lily. "Because I didn't voice my concerns while we were down there didn't mean I didn't have them. I just did not choose to let them know how I felt and I wanted to learn whatever I could while I was there."

Lily just scowled at the group. 'Now it falls to the fact that you maybe affected by alien mind control. Even partially." She said with her icy tone. "I'm concerned about the Admiral."

Galatea was momentarily surprised by the admission. Even a remote concern for the Admiral's well being was a serious charge due to the nature of his command and relationship with the President. If something or someone was clouding his objectivity or decision making that was a critical issue that needed immediate addressing.

"What are your concerns, Commander Snow?"

"I'm concerned that the Admiral is getting a full blast of the subliminal conditioning." Lily said.

“I was affected while being in close proximity of it only,” Patton returned with a look of his own. “I am not being held under some secret power or I doubt it would be allowing me to speak frankly here. We don’t “know” if Bishop is being affected. Has anyone observed him acting different or in saying something out of character?”

Hawkins pinched the bridge of his nose feeling increasingly unsettled by the discussion around him. Part of him wanted to dismiss the theories as nonsense, but their points were valued and creditable. If Teagarden and perhaps Bishop we're being manipulated in some manner they had to act. "What are you suggesting?" he asked the Science Officer.

She grunted at everyone. Lily looked at the Vulpinoid. "Commander Kaldiran, translate those power levels to music. I'm sure it will match what a few of the away team heard." She tapped her fingers against her lips. "Now if it does match, then the Atlantians are attempting to use our shielding and hull as a subliminal amplifier."

Galatea watched as the officers around the bridge did their duty. Commander Hawkins could authorize or deny the request for the Ops Officer, but Galatea had a feeling that they would be approved. They were all very, very curious about what was to come and what was to be found.

"Do it," Hawkins nodded to Kaldiran then rose to his feet with a sigh.

Zeph nodded with a tail shake as he replied, "On it." He had already been performing sequencing to check for patterns and that would lead to a cadence for the soon to be notes to follow. As the power level drains were slightly differing, he decided to go with C note from a typical federation piano for the low, then using the last High C for the high. He correlated with low power to low note, then he switched the scales and did low power to high note.

Rolling his stiff shoulders Nathan turned to the ships AI: "Anything from the surface?" he asked hoping for some sort of insight on Teagarden and the others.

Galatea stood for a moment, checking against her sensor readings. "We're having difficulty with penetrating the building that the Away Team has entered. Nonetheless, I am receiving a signal from the Admiral's PDT. His vitals are slightly elevated compared to the norm, it could indicate he is in danger but there is no way to tell without speaking with him." She paused, looking at Commander Snow, "but it could also indicate potential influence."

"It may." Lily said flatly. "He is also attending a State Dinner as in accord with First Contact Protocols." She stated.

Zeph followed along with his ears as he put in the timings. The PI power draw wouldn't overlap the second one for several minutes, and same for the second to third. However, he did notice that the first and second power draws multiplied together equaled the third. Strange, and would make for a weird harmonic note every three and a quarter minutes. And, the computer beeped. The song, both ways, was ready.

Zeph turned around to report. "I have the power draw timings into a cadence with the power drain levels tied to a piano scale. I have it set for both ways, as in lowest power drain to lowest note, and then highest power drain to lowest note. However, realize that the third power draw timing is a multiple of the first and second, so every 3 and a quarter minutes there will be a cascade harmonic. With that warning, I am ready to play it when desired."

Hawkins nodded at the explanation. In honest he was hesitate to try this experiment out, should Snow and Patterson be correct most of them could become incapacitated in some description. He glanced at Galatea confident she'd be able to take over if necessary.

They were interrupted by the Admiral, "Teagarden to Starfleet One."

The Commander flinched at unexpected hail: "Go ahead, Admiral," he responded.

"Bring us aboard, Commander," the Admiral ordered from the surface.

“We need to be on alert,” Patton spoke. “And have some authorization if things go south. Also. Who exactly is the “us” he speaks of coming aboard.”

Galatea shrugged her shoulders, knowing that the Admiral would be expecting an answer from them soon. She crossed her arms, "I've been trying to connect to him through the bioimplant that he has. So far it seems pretty normal, but I won't deny at times it can be impacted by strong emotions. Plus, he's learned how to block me in recently weeks."

The AI paused, thinking for a moment carefully, "We should implement the plan and see what the music is, Commander." Galatea was concerned that it could be truthfully a psionic attack, but they had to know. If necessary she could, and would, assume control through her programming if need be.

"Galatea," Nathan turned fully to the AI. "Monitor the crew for anything abnormal, and be ready to take control if required."

"I always am, Commander," the hologram answered.

"I didn't doubt it," Hawkins said lowly returning to the center seat.

The Admiral interrupted once more, "Any time, Enterprise."

Galatea looked at the Operations Manager, "Please bring the Away Team aboard, Commander. Initialize the musical tones."

Patton stood, knowing nothing could happen but prepared to act if he needed to. His job was to protect this crew and he was damn well going to do so.

Zeph nodded and replied, "Understood. Performing the first try at lowest level to lowest note first." As he reached for the control, he quickly made sure his mind shields were fully up, as well as having his telepathic communication mind flytrapped and at the ready. The 'music' began playing, a complete score as Zeph had it run with a complete cadence instead of having to wait for the music to build if he was to match purific timings as well.

Galatea stood ready should the music take hold of the crew of Starfleet One. As the security sensors monitored the arrival of the away team aboard she noticed something atypical. The musical tones were not affecting the crew, but rather the ship itself. Her sensors began to register an activity she could not quite understand, but it felt like a warning.

Without warning she opened a communications channel, almost remotely and transmitted the tones. A moment later a massive starship, horseshoe shaped and ancient, appeared before them. Sensors registered no life aboard, but the vehicle was truly alien.

"The Preservers," she cried out before her hologram faded away...

Lily stood as the hologram vanished. She was looking at the ship that just appeared. "Well, this is interesting." She said with something akin to surprised in her voice.

Mirroring Snow Commander Hawkins was in his feet at the sight of the ship. "Certainly not what I was expected," he breathed.

Patton immediately looked over at Hawkins for their orders. This wasn’t what he had expected.

"Take us to Yellow Alert, scan the enemy vessel," Hawkins called as the crew stood in awe.

As the music played, Vikki felt a similar sensation travel through her brain as pain began move through the nerves like earlier in the day. The woman moved a hand to cup her forehead as she tried to process the change in atmosphere on the bridge.

In looking at the instruments around him, Zeph noticed that while the cadence 'unblocked' the sensors from seeing the ship before them, everything was indicating the ship was dead in space. However, if the ship could hide itself through a harmonic cadence specifically designed around Terra measurements, what was the planet hiding? He called out, "Second Officer Hawkins, I would like to suggest we reverse cadence and see if that 'cloaks' the ship from our sensors again, then have a meeting on what this portends out of the moment of surprise?"

"Hold for now Kaldiran." Hawkins waved the Ops Officer down. "Let us asses this further before drawing decisions..."

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