Primordial Briefing

Posted on Mon Mar 11th, 2019 @ 11:46am by Commander Rita Paris & Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Lieutenant Commander Sonak & Lieutenant Asa Dael & Lieutenant Samuel Clemens XV & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Hera

Mission: Gaia Reborn
Location: USS Hera, Deck 7, Conference Room 14
Timeline: 2396, in pursuit of Gaia

Arriving at the VIP guest quarters where she had enshrined the namesake of the vessel, the Greek goddess Hera, Commander Rita Paris approached the Amazonian guards posted outside the door.

At least this time none of them challenged her, which she took as a positive sign

Hera, by virtue of her presence, made certain realities come to pass. Pregnancies aboard the USS Hera had skyrocketed. The marriage rate had also taken a sharp increase. When the sweep of the Security force had required recruitment, most of the applicants had been female. All of the security force appeared to be 'bulking up' to some degree, as she had once casually pointed out that Amazons always sought her out to serve her. She simply attracted them... and here they were.

Of course, these wore Starfleet uniforms and obeyed orders. So Rita didn't particularly object.

"Glonk, good to see you beat that head cold. Lewandowski, been working those biceps again I see." Paris congenially addressed the security team- after all they worked directly for her, and she knew all of the personnel in her department. She might not be able to detail the Treaty of Algeron, but she knew the names and faces of all of her subordinates.

"Computer, please unseal hatch, VIP Quarters 8, authorization Paris, R, LTCDR, 867-5309," the anachronistically-attired antique asked, as the computer chirrupped and asked a random security question.

=^= What is your date of birth? =^=

"February 13th, 2233," Paris called out. The computer chirupped again and the hatch unsealed.

"Computer, eliminate security question passcode on this hatch on my order. Authorized personnel only, but authorization code alone will suffice moving forward."

=^= Acknowledged, Commander Paris. =^=

"Thank you, Computer," Rita acknowledged. After all the ship's computer WAS the ship, and it paid to be nice to the sentient starship. Stepping inside the quarters, Rita called out. "Hera, it's Rita. Up for a little conversation?"

"For you, any time," replied Hera, setting aside the book she seemed to perpetually have in hand and motioning towards a glass covered serving tray full of small chocolate covered tarts with a chocolate cookie crust. "Would you care for a peanut butter and chocolate tart? I used a recipe from that cookbook by Martha Stewart and they are absolutely divine."

"I shouldn't... I'm a little bloaty at the moment," Rita rubbed her lower tummy a bit. "I did bring you a new book though. This is 'Hero of a Thousand Faces'. It's a seminal philosophical work from one of our greats, and a personal favorite of mine. The first true identification of the 'heroes journey' and the myths that inspired it. Sort of a 'what we did with what you taught us' sort of thing- I thought you might enjoy it." With that, Rita handed over the book.

It wasn't very old, and it certainly wasn't a first printing. But it was replicated paper, it was at least a few decades old and she had actually purchased it on Earth. It was, in point of fact, her own copy she'd bought for herself- but Hera was a voracious reader and perennially bored, so Rita felt an obligation to keep the reformed goddess' mind stimulated. Thus a loaner of her copy.

"Ohh, thank you," Hera took the book and looked it over, handling it delicately. She could see the telltale signs that it was well cared for and that it was indeed loved by Rita. "I'll get it back to you as soon as I've finished with it." Setting it aside on her reading table separate from her other books, she made a mental note to read it next. "So what is it you'd like to speak about?"

"In this case, it's a bit more than just me. I'm not sure how to tell you this, or if you already know, but... Gaia has awakened. Like, completely awake and active, and she's out there terraforming planets. I was hoping that you might be able to come brief the senior staff on what you know about titans, since... well, you are officially the only person on board who has ever clashed with a titan." Rita couldn't resist the play on words, although this was certainly no joking matter.

Hera's demeanor darkened at those words. "Then the day I feared has come. I will give you what information I can and what I believe you will understand. The rest, I will entrust to you." Hera tossed her shawl around her shoulders and slipped her sandals on, then nodded to Rita. "Lead on, my friend."

"Look at you, all ready to go charge off to brief the troops, not even a consideration for what's in it for you, not a hesitation to help. I'm so proud of you," Rita smiled she she led Hera to the door. "Computer, please unseal hatch, VIP Quarters 8, authorization Paris, R, LTCDR, 867-5309."

As the door slid open, Rita Paris stopped between Glonk and Lewandowski. "Ladies, we're taking Hera for a walk up to to Deck 7. Fore and aft, if you please." As Lewandowski stepped forward into the corridor, Rita held out her arm for the starship's namesake.

"Well, the fate of the galaxy is in your hands now. Who am I to deny the Fates and Lady Time?" The matronly goddess chuckled softly as she followed along with Rita. "I just hope I can be of some help."

"So say we all..."

-----------

In the deck seven forward conference room, Enalia had arrived early and brought several trays of assorted danishes, donuts, and pastries that her wife had prepared for the occasion and after unsealing them and arranging them on the bar, she got the coffee and tea replicators going, making sure there were enough cups and mugs for everyone.

Oddly, the room already smelled strongly of fresh coffee.

She then snagged a cheese danish and a cup of coffee, noting that the replication unit had chosen a custom recipe that Hera had programmed in herself. Enalia just chuckled softly at the slightly independent choice of the ship's computer as she took her seat at the head of the conference table.

Strolling in with a goddess on her arm was her second in command, Rita Paris, with the starship's namesake, Hera herself. Pausing to instruct the Security officers to wait inside the door and not to challenge anyone, she turned the Grecian beauty loose on the pastries and coffee.

Stepping over to offer the spotted captain a report, Rita offered a nod of respect, as the Captain disliked formality and saluting when it wasn't called for. "Hera's aware of the situation and she's volunteered to tell us what she knows, at least what we can grasp. Since Sonak will be here I assume that's a lot, but metaphysics definitely isn't my specialty."

"This might be a meeting to look forward to for once, then," Enalia replied with a grin.

Noting her security officers fidgeting, Rita chuckled, then sighed in mock frustration. "Yes, Lewandowski, you can both have a few donuts and some coffee. You're on standby, so be ready for trouble like always, just not proactive. Remember our talk? Active defense versus passive? This is a passive defense situation, right."

Hera laughed softly as she collected a pair of pastries and a cup of coffee. "I swear I'll be good. I'm doing my best to suppress all my powers and domains as well so if there's any trouble, it won't be from me."

With that, Rita found a seat, indicated the one next to her for Hera and settled in with a cup of sweet black coffee to wait for the rest of the senior staff to report in for the briefing.

Hera took the offered seat and nibbled on one of her pastries, eliciting a slight moan. "Mmmph... You treat your crew well, Captain Telvan. These are better than those made by the Greek artisans of Olympus."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to let my wife know how much you appreciate her cooking," the spotted woman replied with a satisfied grin.

The door slid open as the Andorian chief engineer stepped through the door. She was hastily doing up her jacket and her hair was still slightly wet. " Sorry if I'm late we had a coolant leak down in Main Engin...." The Andorian said as she noticed the Greek goddess in the room. " Hello. Hope you're enjoying your namesake...?" She said, a little shocked at seeing the goddess out of her room.

"I am, thank you," replied the matronly goddess with a bright smile.

The door opened to reveal CMO Asa Dael, fresh off the night shift and voraciously hungry. At first all the lieutenant saw was coffee and pastries, and quickly grabbed a few chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles and a huge cup of coffee, smiling at the aroma as they took the seat the other side of Hera.

Squeezing her arm gently in a friendly greeting, Asa said, “Hey there, lady. How have you been? Get your delivery from Earth?”

"I did! Thank you so very much!" Hera bumped shoulders with Asa and giggled happily as she munched on one of her danishes.

As the others talked, Lieutenant Mnhei'sahe Dox walked in. She was visibly anxious due to the nature of their new mission and kept her head down as she grabbed a mug of coffee and took a seat by the far end of the table.

The red-headed Romulan woman had a PaDD with all the current mission data on it that she pulled out to re-read while she waited for the briefing to begin, hoping to look busy.

Ila walked in as well, three PaDDs in hand. Barely glancing up, she handed one PaDD to each Enalia and Rita. "The Commodore just sent the latest scan data from both the Amaterasu and the Photon. Gaia is already building up to launch an attack on Flint 7. The latest probe scans of Hemaphas 9 is in there as well. The ecosystem is starting to settle down a bit, thankfully. Only about twenty percent of the ecosystem seems to be carnivorous."

Taking the PaDD with a nod of acknowledgment, Paris began scanning the data. In truth, most of the technical jargon went over her head. She wouldn't know a gluino from a quark if they bit her, and generally instances like this just reinforced just how ill-educated she was in the modern day. But as always, she gamely pressed on, trying to make heads or tails of the data.

"Thank you," Enalia said, taking the PaDD and looking it over. Most of it might as well have been in Iconian for all she understood though. She leaned in closer to Rita to mumble something softly to her. "We're going to need someone to explain this very simply..."

"Here I thought it was just me. Once the crew are assembled we'll ask Dedjoy to break it down- Ila's pretty good at understanding that not all of us are rocket surgeons," Rita muttered out of the side of her mouth, even as she handed the PaDD over to Hera to take a look. After all, she might not have caught the latest quiche recipes in the past two millennia, but the fallen goddess had an intuitive grasp of physics that exceeded modern scientific understanding.

Hera looked over the data and hummed over it a moment before pointing something out. "Oh, she's still using a pseudo-dimensional harmonic in her protomatter matrix. If you destabilize her... But you don't have that tech yet... Hmmm..."

It was a full minute after the appointed time when Sonak entered the room. He went straight to his commanding officer and stood at attention.

''Captain, I offer my apologies for being this late. There was a simulated protomatter study on the main holodeck that needed to be shutdown properly for the results to be significant; and this took more time than initially calculated. Protomatter, even in simulated form, is pretty unstable so all our attention in the science department was required.''

He took a pause to straighten himself.

''I do not offer this as an excuse, Captain; I only wish to provide you an explanation for the exactness of your record. I shall take the appropriate disciplinary action you deem adequate.''

Enalia took a moment to look up at Sonak. "As there are others yet to arrive still and it was critical duties that pertained to this meeting that delayed your arrival, I feel that no disciplinary actions are necessary. Now please help yourself to the refreshments if you feel so inclined and take a seat."

''Aye, Captain,'' simply acknowledged the Vulcan before taking his appointed seat. As usual, he took nothing while on duty, which was no effort for someone used to fast for weeks under the scorching Vulcan sun since childhood.

His eyebrow did however lift slightly hearing the captain's serious reply. It contrasted sharply with the devil-may-care attitude of his former commanding officer, Captain Michael Stuart of the USS Exeter, who would have seized the opportunity to tickle the Vulcan's overseriousness with the likes of ''we witheld the court martial for another occasion,'' or such typical human banter.

But Captain Telvan was not Human. This was not the Exeter. And this was another place, another time. It was good to be reminded so.

Enalia then looked back down at the PaDD in her hands. "Mister Sonak, You can probably make more use of this than I can. It's the latest readings from the Photon and Amaterasu." She then passed the data device down to the Vulcan Science Chief.

"Good thing we're both pretty and clever," Rita muttered under her breath, where only Enalia and presumably those with exceptionally sharp hearing could detect.

''Thank you,'' answered Sonak.

No one could ever have told if it was for receiving the data from his commanding officer, or in response to the compliment of his superior officer who happened also to be his wife.

Or for both.

Sonak might have been Vulcan and even more a kolinarh master, devoid of any emotion, it was obvious to those who knew him that he was mastering human humor quite well; again thanks to his wife as much as decades of service among them.

His face was therefore a mask of blankness as he rapidly scanned the data on the PaDD. But at the end, merely seconds later, an arched eyebrow rose over his left eye.

''Fascinating,'' he muttered to himself. Then his attention came back to the briefing.

The Southernly Spook of Some Sophistication stood, smiling sheepishly, breaking the low-level holo-projection he'd cast over himself and his briefing materials in the early morning hours.

"G'mornin', Cap'n, ahl," he drawled, explaining his appearance, "...ah've been here a while, 'a diggin' over these repoahts, an' didn' notice mah field cloahk sleep mode wuz still active from th'testin, last night. He walked over to the carafes and refreshed his large mug of straight black coffee, and grabbed a stack of various breakfast items.

"Excellent," Enalia grinned and motioned towards Hera. "Now that everyone we need is present, Hera, would you be so kind as to tell us what you can about Gaia?"

"Of course, Captain." Standing, Hera looked over the gathered officers with a concerned look, sizing them up. She knew them to be capable in their own right, but she just hoped that the new generation of mortals that they were were up to the task, however they chose to handle it.

"Gaia is the one that seeded much of the life in this galaxy and predates the Q, Prophets, the Preservers, Iconians, and my people. When this galaxy was just forming suns, she and Primordius formed from dark matter clouds as opposing intelligences and began a sort of yin and yang balance against each other. millions of years after their sweep across the young galaxy started, many of us knew we had to stop them and the other Titans that had similarly formed as their direct descendants."

"So my people and several others combined our powers and overthrew them, casting them from this plane using quantum resonance with their dark matter matrix. I don't believe you have the power to create a resonance strong enough to do that, nor would I condone doing so again, as it caused a great pain in the universe that took many millions of cycles to heal. As for her actual body once formed, both Gaia and Primordius will be composed of dark, proto, and normal matter in a semi-stable matrix. Her mind will be akin to a hive mind, with an overreaching Queen at the lead."

"Also, if she feels as though she has been personally wronged, she will seek vengeance. How fast or severe that vengeance is enacted, depends upon how fast Primordis can consume systems. They may be counter to one other, but they're also part of one other. Primordis consumes and Gaia creates. If she's on the move, that means he is as well."

Leaving that bombshell to hang in the air, Hera sat back down, having finished her briefing on the nature of Gaia.

Enalia sat there stunned for a moment before clearing her throat and proceeding with the meeting. "Mister Sonak, Gaia's protomatter weapon seems to have some passing resemblance to the Genesis device. Would you care to brief us on that as well as your recent research you've been doing?"

The Vulcan chief science officer activated the holoprojector to show them the full data and recordings while he summarized it.

''The Genesis Device was a sophisticated technological innovation designed and completed in 2285, Earth calendar, by a team of scientists led by Doctor Carol Marcus and her son, Doctor David Marcus, on the Spacelab Regula I in the Mutara sector. The objective was to alleviate sociological problems such as overpopulation and limited food supplies. The device initiated a process of rapid terraforming, by which previously uninhabitable planets could be turned into class M worlds. This was accomplished by launching a torpedo-shaped projectile, into a lifeless planet. Upon impact, the device detonated to reduce the entire area to subatomic particles. A preprogrammed matrix then reassembled these subatomic particles into the desired configuration, much like our current replicators do, creating an inhabitable environment within a matter of hours, regardless of the test area's original composition. Unfortunately, if the device was detonated where life already existed, it could prove to be a very powerful doomsday weapon, destroying all life in favor of its new matrix.''

He made the tridimensional image focus on a specific set of data before continuing.

''The project ultimately failed because Doctor David Marcus' eagerness to find shortcuts to keep support from the Federation Council prompted him to include protomatter in its Genesis matrix; this resulted in rapid aging of the affected area until it literally tore itself apart in an explosion almost as tremendous as the one that had created it. Although this caused the project to be abandoned, it's data proved useful to improve on terraforming technology in the 24th century.''

The projection now isolated the data about protomatter as he finished.

''In the simplest terms, protomatter is a highly unstable state of matter, somewhat akin to matter as plasma is to energy; a transitory state between matter and energy, but closer to actual matter than plasma. Hence why it is by nature highly unstable. It is a natural transient state that existed briefly at the moment of initial expansion of the multiverse. It can still be found in nature under very specific conditions; it can also be recreated artificially under certain conditions, as our experimental simulations her on board recently confirmed. This is why it is so dangerous... and so coveted by any intelligence wishing to actually wield the... power of creation.''

His steely grey eyes then swept over the assembly as he finished.

''Here, as a much as a matter of cosmic history as that of cosmic balance, the power of creation implies equally the power of destruction.''

Raising her hand, Paris chimed in somewhat hesitantly, reading from her notes on the PaDD in her hand. “I believe I read a summary of the Genesis Project that included the observation that the instability of the Genesis planet was caused due to it being created from the remains of the Mutara Nebula, rather than the protomatter being the problem in itself, speculating that the Genesis effect would have been successful if it had been used on a lifeless planet as it had been originally intended. Do you believe that the planets created by this being would be stable? Also, do we have any idea precisely how she is achieving this effect. I believe we have data from the Ameratsu and the Photon verifying this?”

Sonak nodded.

''Affirmative; our universe alone is proof that protomatter will contribute to a stable material creation. And if we are to believe myth, such beings do have the energy and the know how to properly achieve this stability using protomatter. Our simulation confirmed this.''

Clemens a'hemmed, and hearing no objections, brought up a report he'd prepared on the effects of psionic energies on matter to the viewscreen. It was in a very old format, and used a classified category that, in its day, was far higher than most field personnel would have had access to.

"Ah was gonna brang this'n up at a diff'runt meetin', but th'C'mnanduh's gotta poynt," he noted, pointing out specific areas.

"A'cord'n t'this, heah, some high-level eh'spuhs aboahd thuh 'riginal NCC-1701 were capable uv mattuh transmutay'shun on uv massive scale, pah'shully terrafoahmin' Delta Vega."

He addressed the goddess, "May'uhm- izzit pahssibul that someone killed durin' a pro-toe mattuh based terrafoahmin act'shun could influence how it all turns out? 'Speshully if'n they had an espeshully powaful mind?"

Hera thought it over a moment, running a few scenarios in her head. "Yes, if for example I were on a planet that were targeted, I believe that upon my death and subsequent rebirth I could redirect the protomatter matrix into evolving into an identical evolutionary clone of the destroyed planet. The people would not be the same as before... But evolutionarily, the flora and fauna would be identical and since any structures would remain..."

"And that sounds a bit too much like sacrificing yourself," interrupted Enalia. "One more question then... What's the current status of Genesis and protomatter tech and will that help us figure out a defense? Yeoman Dedjoy? Lieutenant Clemens?"

"Well, it's been used to destroy a whole ton, but mostly because no one managed t'git a chance tuh actually try t'build with it uthuh than thuh Gennie-sys Cayve. Since th'Khan Incident, every deliberate use, an' a few screwups, has been t'wreck someone or somethin'. It ain't a mattuh of materials oah skill, it's intent. Thuh tech is sound- an' ah disagree with thuh notion that usin' it on thuh Mutara Nebula caused it tuh blow up latuh. Everuh 'nalysis of all the tests and uses of thuh process since have called it clean- it's paht uv a natural method ov creation."

The wild-haired winder of clockwerks paused, and brought up a dossier of one Khan Noonien Singh.

"Based on Hera's cohnfuhmayshun, mah suspicion is that thuh cuhntaminashun that caused th'Gennie-sys Planit t'blow all too hayl'n'damnation wasn't physical- it was psychic. Thuh man who detonated thuh original d'vice apparently hated Cap'n Kirk with a fiery pah'shun. He was one of thuh orig'nal Augments, and had a phenom'nal mind. The Genesis Planet showed no sign of instabiliteh until thuh arrival of th'Enterprise."

Animations to this effect showed a wild-eyed Khan shaking his fist at Enterprise, then closing it around the nascent Genesis Planet, with a cartoonishly-shocked Kirk gaping at the viewscreen.

"Hera confuhm'd that thuh introduc'shun uv a whole mess uh'crazy could cause thuh finished product t'fail like a shaken souffle. Given this- maybe it's paw-sibuhl t'intra'duce a psionic pulse durin' thuh initialization phase of Genesis an' cause it ta crash earleh 'nuff in th'process t'save thuh tah'git."

Another graphic showed a large pipewrench descending into the top of a Genesis Device, smashing it to bits.

"Good to know if we have to try to disrupt the effect, Chief," Commander Paris agreed, then wagged her finger a bit. "Although how to accomplish that is my first question. Ideally we have to convince Gaia to stop, because we can't force her to- do we agree on that? Assuming so, how do we even communicate with her?"

It was at this point that Mnhei'sahe Dox, who had been quietly observing, said something. "We... we already have, haven't we? I mean... At least with a piece of her, we communicated."

Turning slightly to the Goddess in the room, Dox continued. "Pardon me, lady Hera. but... you described her mind like... a hive. The shard that was here... that merged with me... that's a part of her still, right?"

Hera nodded in affirmation. "Yes, that shard will be one voice of hundreds, if not thousands in the current iteration of Gaia."

The Missourian marvel pressed his point. "My thoughts on the mattuh ah that, like a cuhmputuh proh-gram, corrupt data might be introduced to make the process self abort."

"Interesting," Captain Telvan replied. "That would leave you with a barren rock, unless you get the right virus."

"Ahh, y'see, that's wheyah the excitin' paht comes in," Chief Clemens elaborated expansively. "The controls for the protomatter engine are being psionically programmed by the controllin' entity, aye?"

The spotted captain nodded, rubbing her chin. "This is true. Be a hell of a lot of programming, would it not?"

''Not necessarily, Captain,'' Sonak interjected. ''Like all re-programmings, the closer you are to the source of the whole programming sequence, the simpler it is and the more repercussions it has. And regarding material creation, you can not get any simpler than protomatter.''

"...it's kinda like time trav'l. Futhuh back y'go, th'bigguh levuh ya got," piped in the Loquacious Lethario.

A point occurred to her, and Lieutenant Dox spoke up. "Even Hera's plan would still end up with a lot of dead people. Rebooted eventually as different people, but still not an ideal outcome."

"Ah'm thinkin' if'n you could introduce a stop command inta the cleaning code, why you could minimize the damage, maybeh even stop it befoah it touches th'tahgit." the mustachioed mechanoid mentioned.

Shaking her head, Captain Telvan countered. "As the process is, as you mentioned, psionically controlled, how would one interfere with that process?"

"With Dox," Sam said flatly.

"Come again?" Lieutenant Dox blurted.

"Indeed. Come again?" The pirate in the command chair queried, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Owah verah own great big doggone anxiety fueled gun Miss Dox," the Chief Spook said, as understanding dawned on the Captain's face.

"With Dox's newfound psionic linkin' ability... use that feah," Clemens offered. "Feah is a primal stop command, evolutionally-root'd in most species, at th'lowest lev'ls."

"Since she has a link to that shard of Gaia we found in the holodeck... interesting," Enalia Telven considered the possibilities. "Dox has a backdoor to input commands into Gaia already. Perhaps with some help from Mona and Sonak..."

"Wait, hold on a second. Let me see if I've got this straight," Paris interrupted, a bit of indignance in her tone. "You want to use the fact that Dox’s mind invites psionics in to try to override a titan‘s genesis effect?"

"It's an idea," Captain Telvan admitted.

"It's a bad idea," Asa said flatly. "You want to use a weakness that could endanger the life of a member of this crew to throw them at a goddess to the gods. I'm sorry, how is that anything other than murdering Lieutenant Dox?"

"Asa... Doctor..." Dox interjected nervously, accidentally skipping protocol. "There's a more than good chance that with that gate in my head open like it is... she's coming into my mind whether we like it or not. And honestly, I don't. So... as much as I wish there was some other option, planning for what might be inevitable seems like the best idea." The fear on Dox's face was palpable talking now, not to her Doctor, but to one of her best friends.

The intelligence chief broke the word into it's components for oratory effect. "Sabo. Tage."

Does Sonak have the knowledge to rewrite those commands and can send them to the shard through my link to it? Dox wondered to herself as this surreal discussion continued around her. Am I really thinking of doing this? Letting a Titan into my head? Asa's right... This is crazy...

"So you're saying if we have a potential backdoor, we don’t use it to try reason, we just jump to sabotage?" Paris clarified, the moral compass piping up.

"You have to admit, sabotage isn't a bad idea," the starship commander shrugged.

"At an early stage," Clemens chimed in.

"We start with reason, plan to sabotage if reason fails?" Dox asked.

"The Starfleet way," the Captain interjected with a nod to her first officer, "is to try reason first. The Starfleet Intel way is to always have a backup plan that limits the threat to ship, crew, and civilians."

"Ah have heard tell of Romulan artifacts that boost psionics, you know..." Clemens offered, looking to Dedjoy for confirmation. "And at least one crown and marble in our vault that can only be used by someone with a godlike link, without burnin' up th'usah."

Turning towards Clemens, Dox had a somewhat incredulous look on her face. It was an experimental sensory helmet that opened her mind up in the first place and she had no intention of hooking her brain up to anything even remotely like what he was suggesting.

Looking around, the fulsome first officer decided to speak of herself in the third person to emphasize her point. "Wow, the more of this plan that comes out, the less Rita likes it..."

"I'm hoping it evolves into something more reasonable," the Captain admitted.

"O-kay," Rita spread her hands as she spoke. "The big flaw in this plan, that seems to make it not worth the risk, is that Dox has zero psionic defenses. So that 'door' in her head is a whole lot more open one way than the other. Inviting contact with a titan and pissing it off when it has a foothold on your ship sounds like a really awful tactic." Paris shrugged broadly.

"Seeing how the Genesis effect is psionically controlled," Paris wound up for this one, because the obvious was easy, she wanted to really point out a tangible possibility. "Gaia might just decide to send a Genesis wave through Dox to terraform the ship, for instance. That's assuming it doesn't fry her brain and the brain of everyone in contact with her, or even nearby, for that matter. Remember how the 'possessed' Jurot used to brag about how she could toy with your mind? This would be a massive source of that power. Inviting her in for shenanigans might be a very terrible idea, I am thinking."

''It would be unwise to reject viable alternatives,'' Sonak pointed out. ''As one legendary captain stated, risk is our business. And if we are to involve psionics, I of course offer myself to stand with Lieutenant Dox in this option. My capabilities may be limited in this reality, but not my training and experience. Lieutenant Dox' mental training may be still in it's early stages, but a kolinarh master stands a much better chance to help her escape abuse or harm... through a mind meld.''

"Perhaps Hera could help in that regard" Keep anything like that from coming through me other than just direct communication?" Dox spoke up. trying to find some way to make this plan work. "But a link can be used both ways," Dox hypothesized. "I... I don't know what I'm doing yet... I wouldn't have the ability to push anything through to Gaia, but through my link, to that shard fragment of her that I carried, could we?"

"Perhaps... perhaps the plan should be in using the link I have with her to try and bolster our shard's influence on the whole. The one part of Gaia that saw the best we could be," Dox explained as she walked through the idea herself.

The Captain nodded in agreement relieved a different plan had been hatched. "That might be a more feasible angle. Since so many other shards supposedly saw the worst of us... like the one in Jurot. But the one that linked with Dox saw so much better in mortals."

"That's the hope." Dox agreed, still extremely anxious, but more focused. "If that's one tiny voice in a din, it'll get drowned out. If Gaia links into me, we can try and use that to reawaken the piece WE met and make it's voice louder with our own. Giving that voice a megaphone, so it can hear the greatest Rita Paris speech ever."

That got laughs around the table as the tension was broken.

"I don't think we're going to win this with science or weapons. We're going to do this with compassion," Lieutenant Dox proclaimed, nodding to the throwback from the 23rd century who often served as a reminder of those values in these modern times.

"I propose a committee Paris speech," the Paris in question opined. "Lots of voices joined together, Starfleet style, pleading for a better way. If we're arguing the case for humanoid life, it shouldn't just be the human. We're all in this, I say we add in as many voices as we can. I like this plan MUCH better."

''It does have a reasonable chance of succeeding,'' estimated Sonak, nodding. ''And considering our options, it is a logical approach to the problem.''

"I still have extreme reservations, " Dael intoned, "The risk to Lt. Dox is high, and she will need a great deal of medical supervision to make sure she comes out of this the same person that she goes in. If this is the command though, I will do all I can to aid, of course."

"Captain, do we have approval to proceed with at least the base plan?" the hopeful heroine of the golden age asked. "We'll form the away team for this one with Dox, Sonak, Ensign Gonadie, myself and Doctor Dael?"

The spotted woman leaned back in her chair and collected her thoughts before making what she hoped would be a motivational speech. When she was done, she stood and looked over those assembled. "Everyone involved with anything psionic or psychic in this mission will be voluntary only, including Lieutenant Dox. If that's the case, we will find another way. We are Starfleet. We will always find a way. If everyone is ok with going forward with this plan, no one stands alone."

"But just remember, we're here to protect those of the Federation, and the lives of thousands, if not trillions, are currently at stake. If I could take any one of your places in this plan, I would do so without hesitation if it meant the continued livelihoods and freedoms of those we're here to protect."

"Unless anyone else has anything else to add... Let's get this plan in motion. Dismissed."