Course Change - Dedjoy System

Posted on Tue Mar 10th, 2020 @ 9:53am by Rear Admiral Farenia Meowlith & Captain Enalia Telvan & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Kodria Mizu & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Commander Sonak & Lieutenant Samuel Clemens XV & Lieutenant JG Rena Pacci & Lieutenant JG Tovanna Mah & Ensign Varnok Jahal
Edited on on Fri Mar 20th, 2020 @ 4:03pm

Mission: Dedjoy System Mystery
Location: USS Hera Bridge
Timeline: 2397

After the 'party' that Loki had thrown for Schwein a few days ago, and the responsibilities of caring for a new child, Enalia felt beyond exhausted. In fact, now there was a ringing in her ears that seemed to be getting louder and...

Glancing up, she realized the ringing wasn't in her ears, it was an incoming transmission. Quickly composing herself as best she could, she tapped the call to answer it only to see Admiral Meowlith on the other end. She smiled briefly, but Farenia didn't return the grin - instead, her demeanor remained as grim as a Kohlinar master's. "Is something wrong, Admiral?"

"Deeply wrong, Enalia," the admiral replied without hesitation. "I've got another pretty bad mission for you. I assume you still remember Primordious and the state you left him in, what with all the genesis wave energy you used to... Convert him into a cornucopia shaped planet? The survey ship we sent hasn't reported in for weeks and we finally got word from their emergency beacon earlier today."

"I'm sending you the data, but..." Farenia leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. "Yeah, we're not going to send another Oberth class out on this one, Enalia. I know it's canned dialog by now, but you're the only ones in Intel that can handle it. Figure it out, handle it, and report back. If we don't hear back from you two weeks after your arrival at the Dedjoy system, we'll mark the system as off-limits at the highest priority."

As Captain Telvan looked over the data as it came in, she nodded. "We've faced worse and come back to tell you all about it, so don't worry. We've got this."

"Wherever you get that confidence, I hope it never runs dry," replied the Admiral with a nod. "Meowlith out." With that, the channel was closed.

It was Enalia's turn to sigh heavily. "The Dedjoy system... Computer, relay this information to Commander Paris, Commander Sonak, to Yeoman Dedjoy, and to Lieutenant Gonadie. Relay the coordinates to the helm."

As the computer chirruped in compliance, Enalia stood and headed for the door, grabbing a PaDD on the way.

Out on the bridge, she started calling orders. "Change of plans, everyone. Helm, change course to the coordinates I just sent you. We're heading to the Dedjoy system. Our research team has been lost and we're going to investigate."

At the helm, Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox's stomach tightened just the slightest bit at the Captain's tone as she punched in the coordinates and replied, "Aye, Captain. Course laid in."

''Acknowledged, Captain, '' Sonak answered from the science station. ''I will input all the latest data we have on Dedjoy into the sensors computer banks. If there is any stellar or planetary discrepancy with what is there and what we should expect, sensors will alert us instantly.''

As his fingers started playing on his console he added:

''Recommendation for tactical; as we are heading to a potentially dangerous area, shields should be linked to sensors and allow automated activation in case of potential hazard... or threat.''

"Seen that work far too many times to disagree, Mr. Sonak. With the Captain's permission, linking shields and sensors now," Paris began initiating the procedure in anticipation of the captain's approval, which she received with a nod and a wave as Enalia worked on something else. This was a strategy she and he had used many times in the past, on Sonak's recommendation. Each time he brought it up, it tended to save their bacon at a crucial moment. The procedure itself had grown a bit more complicated, yet far more streamlined and efficient in the intervening century since Sonak had begun to employ it.

"Trouble in the Dedjoy system means Primordious, and the black crystals that Dedjoy discovered. Isn't she still studying those?" Paris prompted, mentally assembling the mission briefing.

"I think it's time we made that part of standard operating procedures," Enalia replied, motioning to Rita her approval as she settled into the command chair. "As for Ila's research, she's been sending me semi-regular reports on her research and she's discovered the possibility that they might have had an adverse reaction to the genesis wave energy. You should both have the data from the research vessel's emergency beacon. I'd say that's most likely what happened, but I'm not a scientist."

"I believe that's your cue to analyze and hypothesize, Mr. Sonak. I'll be darned, we're in the relative neighborhood, 8.4 light-years away. Helm, lay in a course- warp 9.4 should get us there in 32 hours, give or take. Unless you want to push her harder, Captain?"

"No, I think that's a good speed. Thank you." As she spoke, while Dox initiated the course change and the Hera warped off, Enalia punched up data on the system on her own consoles to refresh her memory on it. "Anyone know what a... 'funyun' is?"

''On Earth, it is a culinary dish made from an onion cut in rings and fried in vegetable oil with a corn covering,'' Sonak answered after a quick look at the computer readout. ''It appears the reference is meant to convey in a colloquial sense that the planet-sized artificial construct they encountered is hollowed and has several layers.''

"That sounds delicious and strangely fitting, though I think the health risks we'll be facing will be slightly higher than fried foods offer." Enalia offered a bit of a joke to help ease any tensions.

Dr. Mah called up to the bridge confused and concerned, "Captain, did I just receive notice we are heading to a planet shaped like fried food?"

"That we are, Doctor," the spotted captain replied with a grin. "One of our own creation, at that. I suspect we'll be dealing with unknown forms of life and energy from the mixing of primordial energies, a being similar to that of the doomsday device shaped like an ice cream cone Captain Kirk faced off against, and genesis wave technology. Therefore... Please prepare sickbay for literally anything."

From the helm, Dox had called up the mission report to read while the ship streaked to its destination. While she was only the Flight Chief, she always liked to be as informed as possible regarding everything she could and her eyebrow raised as she read the distress reports from the now missing Oberth class Starship, the U.S.S. Turing.

Turning slightly in her chair, the red-headed Romulan pilot raised a finger, almost like a child in school asking for permission to speak as she interjected, "Captain. I'm looking at the last transmission transcripts from the Turing. It appears like when they pulled in closer to Primordious to investigative the missing away team's shuttle, the last report filed and sent out indicated a sudden an inexplicable power loss. I would recommend... parking at a distance that the Turing was at before they pulled in closer until we have more information on whatever was causing that power drain."

''A most logical recommendation, Captain,'' Sonak confirmed. ''And since this pull is logically gravitic in nature, I will calculate the proper distance relative to our mass difference with the USS Turning. We might also consider using probes with tractor beams at a greater distance to act as anchors if this is insufficient, or if we fall prey to any additional tractoring attempt.''

"You know, that reminds me of an old smuggler trick we used when I was young," Enalia replied with her trademark lopsided grin as she turned to Sonak. "We'd cart off whole ships with shuttles by using a pair of modified tractors linked to the shuttle's warp field control. The first one would grab onto the ship we needed to tow, but the second one would leap out through the warp field towards a distant asteroid or moon or something so we could get more momentum. Do you think you can make that work?"

''Affirmative; I will study the details of the star system where this construct is and make the necessary stellar calculations for navigation to adjust, '' the Vulcan answered. ''A logical follow-up, Captain.''

Smiling with a bit of sly grin at the helm, this was a technique Mnhei'sahe knew well. "Absolutely, Captain. I've done so more than one both on the Forager and with shuttles. And with Commander Sonak's calculations, it should be by the numbers."

"The future is truly grand. Here's to advanced technology," Paris wisecracked as she tapped at one of her screens. "In the intervening time, presumably the Turing made earlier reports with long-range scans. While we're en route, why don't we have a look at what they DID learn, shall we?" Looking around, Paris admitted an unfortunate fact. "I'm going to come clean here and own something I don't know. Who's in charge of contacting Starfleet for the data and getting it transmitted? It used to be comms, but now it's, what, ops?"

''Current conventional starship protocols have Security run external communications, '' Sonak reminded her.

Enalia just grinned sheepishly. She'd had the duty shifted over to Operations for so long, she'd forgotten that it was originally a duty of Security. "Artan vessels, Ops takes care of coms so I shifted the duty ages ago. I know... Starfleet security protocol... 19-2... something..."

"Learn something new every day.... be damned, here's the comm panels," Paris muttered to herself, learning another aspect of her job that others had apparently been covering for her. "All right, I'm putting in the request for the data, and I'll call a meeting when I've received the reports and Science has had a chance to review the data."


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As the Hera set into a very wide orbit around the remains of Primordious, which Starfleet has unimaginatively dubbed ‘Object X3357-665’, the senior staff assembled to put together their plans. After the requested data had been received and Science had a chance to review the scans, Yeoman Dedjoy actually looked a bit flustered as she entered the conference room reserved for the meeting.

"Captain... Everyone... The crystal samples we took before we left the... the Dedjoy system... They've been evolving in storage." Here, Ila paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. "They're exhibiting basic signs of crude intelligence."

“That makes a weird sort of sense,” Commander Paris postulated. “Given that the Genesis wave interacted with the raw materials- including Ms. Dedjoy here- the fact that crystalline life is growing shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone. Mister Sonak, what we know of crystal-based lifeforms? Perhaps these new life forms might be following some patterns with which we are already familiar?”

The chief science officer of the Hera brought up data on the holographic display to illustrate his words.

''Indeed we do; starting with the fact that carbon does form crystals and carbon is the basis of most of life as we know it. There are many theoretical possibilities of crystalline-based life forms, and several confirmed. The most well known are the silicon-based Horta of Janus VI and the inhabitants of Excalbia, the crystalline entity first recorded on Omicron Theta and the Tholians, these last having built a spacefaring civilization quite on parr with ours.''

He let the display run as he looked directly at the assembled officers.

''We may also include in this category artificial lifeforms like the nanite civilization accidentally created onboard the USS Enterprise D and the Exocomps which are also silicon-based. As for crystal development, it is a quite well-known chemical process and its propensity to build lattices and stable structures of conductive elements is naturally well-suited for the structuring of pre-organic compounds, the preliminary building blocks for life.''

He looked at his commanding officer and her Exec.

''Since the Genesis effect uses protomatter to alter the very subatomic level of inert matter, turning it into life-generating matter, it is logical to see these crystals generate a living structure, possibly even a sentient one, under this phenomena. The very stability of crystalline structures could possibly offset the inherent instability of the Genesis effect and effectively create sustainable life. And intelligence is an emergent property of life.''

"Exactly put, Commander," replied Yeoman Dedjoy, adding images of a normal crystal and one of her Genesis wave enhanced crystals to the displays that Sonak had put up. "If you add to that the inherent properties of the crystal lattices in question to absorb all incoming energies and disguise themselves as surrounding matter or even open space, I hypothesize that there could be living crystalline beings now living and evolving inside of the planet actively trying to consume foreign energy because that's what their structure is programmed to do at its very basic structure."

"Or it could be one giant entity rather than multiple smaller ones. We won't know until we arrive." Ila closed her large doll eyes for a moment to collect herself before proceeding. "Either way, we may be the only ship capable of scanning the crystalline matrices in question and even then I've had to recalibrate the lab scanners several times to keep up with the evolving crystal samples."

Sonak nodded and addressed his commanding officer again.

''Captain, we should consider the possibility that if such lifeform is indeed present, they might not be aware of us; not even that we too are alive and that what they do may cause harm. This is rather like the situation aboard the Enterprise D that I mentioned, except in reverse. I recommend efforts should be made to develop a way of communicating with such life.''

"At least we're not going in blind," Enalia declared with a worried look on her face. "You have until we tighten our orbit to do your best to come up with a method of communication. For now, we’re keeping a safe distance to allow for planning."

Looking over the available data that Commander Paris had procured regarding the U.S.S. Turing's mission, Dox's brows knitted as she thought. She was reluctant to speak in a meeting that was largely scientific in nature and well outside her area of expertise, but a thought occurred to her. "Pardon me, Yeoman Dedjoy. I was looking over the reports Starfleet received. The Turing sent an away team in a runabout to investigate the Primordius Planet with... 6 officers and 3 security personnel that vanished first. If they experienced the same power drain that the Turing reported when it got closer, then it's safe to assume that the runabout went down."

"You said you've been able to recalibrate the sensors to get readings off of our evolving crystals." Dox said, her confidence rising slightly as nobody had stopped her just yet. "With that data, is it possible to reconfigure our own shields to block whatever effect drained the Turing and... presumably... their Runabout? We will undoubtedly need to go in and search for survivors so this would also require shielding on one of our own Runabouts and, I would recommend, the Cyclones as well."

''Lieutenant Commander Dox has reasoned it out well, Captain, '' Sonak interjected. ''All crystals vibrate a specific resonance. So too do our shields. It is safe to assume that, whatever effect these crystalline entities or mechanisms use, it will be based upon resonance, as was observed thus far with all other crystal-based life forms we know of. In all logic, it amounts to finding the correct frequency with which to match our shields, so as to provide effective protection. The selfsame logic will apply to communicating with any crystalline intelligence. We do have the data from the Turing, and an emerging crystalline lifeform aboard to establish a computer simulation for testing and calibrating.''

Then, Dox turned to Commander Paris and Captain Telvan. "With the advanced sensor rigs on the Cyclone, Curiosity, I would propose that it would be prudent to go in with them first. They're smaller and much more adaptable, and it will determine if it's safe to bring in a runabout of our own."

"I've been able to mock up a few enhancements to the lab safety systems to keep the samples from siphoning too much energy," Ila replied. "I'll forward my data to Commander Sonak and the R&D department for assessment."

"Please do so. Excellent thinking, scouting with Curiosity first. Even with the drain, it should be fast enough to escape if something were to happen." Enalia mused silently for just a moment before continuing. "Still... We'll need an amazing pilot and scientist combo in it. I'd prefer them to be volunteers, because I'm not going to order just anyone on this mission."

Sonak faced her.

''I already volunteered when I joined Starfleet, Captain.''

"It's been a long time since the two of us went out on a mission together," Paris grinned at the stoic scientist. "If the Chief Science Officer is volunteered, far be it for the First Officer not to do the same."

"Good thinking, Miss Dox- we'll make the modifications to the Curiosity, then take her on precisely the sort of mission she was designed to handle," Paris offered with a proud smile. It was good to see the junior officer speaking her mind and contributing to plans on the bridge, as it reminded Rita of her own career, relatively only a few years before. "Unless you'd like to go, Miss Dox- it was your idea, after all, and you are the chief helmsman."

Shaking her head lightly, Dox already knew her answer as she had considered those options as she was making her last suggestion. "Thank you, Commander. But no. Ultimately, if I had to make that decision, Commander Sonak is the best-suited person to run the mission from a scientific position, and you're one of the ship's best pilots. Your sim rating on the Cyclones is high, but most importantly, this will be a team mission. Nobody can work with Commander Sonak, anticipate his needs and interpret his instructions better than you. So in the event that power is lost, you two don't need a comm system to communicate and solve problems."

Knitting her eyebrows ever so slightly, Dox nodded and pursed her lips as she finished, "It's dangerous, and my first instinct is to want to take that risk myself, but for the best odds of success, I believe you're the best pilot for this mission."

"Agreed," Enalia added. She too wanted to take the risks herself, but she also knew there were a lot of people in the room that would remind her of Starfleet protocol prohibiting her from doing so, thus didn't even consider it... This time. "Commander Dox and Yeoman Dedjoy will be on standby just in case, however, I have full faith in the two of you. Now that we have a plan, let's get busy making it a reality."

"Aye aye, Captain," Paris rose from her station to head for the lift. "I'll get started outfitting the Curiosity, while Mister Sonak works on finding the harmonic for this particular lattice."

"This mission sounds like it might just be a first contact..."