S:5 E:16 - A Doomsday Like Any Other

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Conference Room | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

At the briefing, the department heads gathered. Nira took a seat at one of Captain Galloway's sides. She looked around at the rest of the senior officers.

"Okay, are we all here?" asked Nira.

Once Captain Galloway gave his opening words, Nira proceeded. "Okay, you all know what we've encountered. An impossibility from Kirk's day. We're looking for options of how to take it down. And we have to take it down from the inside, like how Kirk did it.

"We're looking into ideas," continued Nira, "and we have two so far. We can take it down the same way Kirk did, but we need more omph: A warp core. And we're on our way back to Andgarr...and at Andgarr is a junkyard of downed Romulan ships. Some had been downed...extremely recently. We're going to need to speak to Anax Jindak as well as to find a usable warp core that we can send down the Machine's throat.

"One of our new science officers had another idea to bring it down," she said, nodding at Lieutenant Randall, and then she explained what Jamil had in mind. She looked at Dashlish and asked, "Assuming we can replicate the fuel and whatnot, how long would it take?"

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

The Tellerite engineer grimaced and thought for several moments before she replied in her usual gruff tone.

"Going by the fact one of these things eats planets. I doubt there is enough replicator mass in Starfleet to make enough bait to draw this thing off course. We certainly can't do it by ourselves. Good idea, just beyond our capacity to execute."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

For a brief few seconds Tora found it odd that a redheaded boy who looked no older than ten (generously estimating) was giving her orders and in a way that certainly befitted his physical age - but then she reminded herself that there were several species with ridiculously long lifespans, and with that usually also came ridiculously slow aging. For example, she would've never guessed that that hot Vulcan girl she'd dated in year two was in fact sixty-five - not that that had ever gotten in the way of their relationship - had she not asked offhandedly that one day. She'd looked twenty-five at most. This child could've been anywhere from eighty to about eight hundred with the service experience to back it up and she would've never known. In short: put aside the face and body, and listen to the rank instead.

The Cardassian stood and waddled her way over to the human the Commander had identified as Jamil. He looked a bit scruffy and just a little bit surly with those smile lines and beard of his, like he'd snap into a sales pitch for off-brand Saurian brandy at any moment, in a sort of comical way - which she thought was cute, all things considered. "So... hello! I'm Tora. You must be Jamil. It's nice to meet you." She said, offering her hand for him to shake. "Replicate the energy a Doomsday Machine craves? I'd like to see what you've got in mind..."

Looking at the data from the scans taken so far, showed that the mass required to create a large enough 'bait' to distract the machine far exceeded the replicator mass the Challenger carried. However, in running the data, both Jamil and Tora noted something. The power levels logged by the original machine theUSS Enterprise encountered were much higher than this machine was currently producing. Much lower, only about 20% of what the original device produced.

[Dr Taja Grippen]

[Sickbay]

Abas frowned as the question came back, before tapping a console near him quickly to pull up the information requested. Running his hands over the information displayed, he returned the message. The Chief isn't in sickbay anymore, it appears he left when the alert was triggered to return to his duty post. I'll follow up with him if you wish, but his last bio-scans came back clear enough for the moment.

While the Chief may not have been in ideal health, he was at least well-off enough to return to post until the crisis scenario was passed. After all, even operating at only 80% the Chief was far more valuable on the line than taking up space in the medical ward. There were after all only so many bio-beds to go around. Abas tapped the console a few more times, entering a note to have the Chief report back to the medical bay for a follow-up in a few days, if not sooner.

[Deck One, Bridge]

"Acknowledged. That's good to know that he's stable for now. However, he should not have self-discharged from sick bay, I'll make a note to follow this up with his superior. If you have time, I'd appreciate it if you could go find him and keep an eye on him! Good work. Grippen out."

Taja watched as the bridge emptied of the senior folk for their briefing. So it was to be a period of watchful waiting until she was called upon. The Risan remained on the bridge, standing at an unoccupied console until such time as she was required to perform. She did recall there had been another new arrival to the medical department, an El-Aurian of all things. She'd never had the opportunity to meet one in the flesh, and wondered how many centuries this one had lived and if they had ever gotten bored of it all.

She logged into the terminal and began to review the personnel files of the Challenger. Scrolling through each one in turn, she began to hum a soft melody to herself in idle concentration. A habit she'd had from childhood.

"I can't sing a love song
Like the way it's meant to be
Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore
But baby, that's just me
And I - will love you, baby, always"

[Jamil]

Leaning to the side to look around Jamil at the Cardassian Ensign who'd taken the station beside him... Tora? Yeah... that was it. ...he called over. "Hey.. Tora... Can you work with Mister Jamil here on his plan. It sounds good so it does." Unsaid was "Even though I have no idea what the dude was talking about."

"Ookay," Jamil replied.

The mention of warbirds and possibly the elephant ship graveyard. "That's it!!!! Ohh!!!!" His eye widen with excitement. That was when his brain was in fast gear.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

For a brief few seconds, Tora found it odd that a redheaded boy who looked no older than ten (generously estimating) was giving her orders and in a way that certainly befitted his physical age - but then she reminded herself that there were several species with ridiculously long lifespans, and with that usually also came ridiculously slow aging. For example, she would've never guessed that that hot Vulcan girl she'd dated in year two was in fact sixty-five - not that that had ever gotten in the way of their relationship - had she not asked offhandedly that one day. She'd looked twenty-five at most. This child could've been anywhere from eighty to about eight hundred with the service experience to back it up and she would've never known. In short: put aside the face and body, and listen to the rank instead.

The Cardassian stood and waddled her way over to the human the Commander had identified as Jamil. He looked a bit scruffy and just a little bit surly with those smile lines and beard of his, like he'd snap into a sales pitch for off-brand Saurian brandy at any moment, in a sort of comical way - which she thought was cute, all things considered. "So... hello! I'm Tora. You must be Jamil. It's nice to meet you." She said, offering her hand for him to shake. "Replicate the energy a Doomsday Machine craves? I'd like to see what you've got in mind..."

"Yeah, Tora nice to meet you. Jamil," he said, smiling and winked at her. You got to love the pretty ladies. Sadly, females are dressed up in clothing. Even if he missed his Godmother's nakedness, there was a few Ferengi female who did not want to be naked with that new movement of female rights. However, his godmother did wear some clothing in public. "You smell nice; what you wearing?" he asked her. The little charm slips in when he is not aware of it.

"Any who, Pardon me and my babbling. When my mind is working, I must speak before it's all a loss. We need replicators to be connected to the heart of the Planeteater; Doomsday is an overrated title for it. There is no real day in space, and we claim it Doomsday...silly. eh?" He paused for a split second. "We need an engineer to find a to replicate the fuel. With Medical, they can help by creating a cloning of the fuel...which we need to figure out the exact fuel it needs... Planet farting..." he winked at her. The planet farting was a throw-the-wrench joke. Sheesh. Was he more clever than a Cardassian? Never. No way!

"The junkyard of ships can be what we need. So with your help, we can go through the computer database to see if we can find a pattern of the breakdown of fuel that Planet Eater eats," he stated.

[Jalen Kartos]

[Kartos Family Quarters | USS Challenger]

Jalen had arrived on the Challenger during the last crew rotation, although being a Pediatrician meant he hadn't really met much of the crew yet. I had barely even had the chance to interact with the rest of the Medical Department, as his duties had very little overlap with the other senior medical personnel and doctors on board. At the moment he was snug in bed his husband wrapped in his arms, when the piercing trill and red glow of the red alert sounded in his quarters. He grumpily rolled over and quickly got out of bed, with a smoothness that came from decades of service on military vessels. He was just putting on his uniform pants when his husband sat up on his elbows, a look of concern on his face. The much younger Bajoran had no experience with military matters, having served in the Bajoran Provisional Government before find his true calling with the Prophets.

"œWhat is it Jalen?" The Bajoran man's face was a mask of fear, as he looked to his much older husband for reassurance.

"œI'm not sure Lorian, but I am sure you and Learn will be safe here. But I have to report to Sickbay. I'll update you as soon as I can." Jalen said as he fastened his tunic like Smock Varriant teal uniform on his body. He then went to the bed side and kissed his husband on the lips. Causing the Bajoran to blush.

"œBefore you go, we should pray." Lorian said as they broke the kiss. He than smoothly swept aside the bed clothes and got out of bed. Jalen smiled, Lorian's unshakable faith was one of the things he admired most about the man, and one of the traits they shared in common. Jalen reached out and took his husbands hand and helped him from the bed, and then continued to hold his hand as they made it to shrine they kept in the heart of their quarters common area, and knelt together. Jalen lit a stick of Bateret Incense and stuck into the sand before the great wheel that was a representation of the Faith of the Propehts. Once that was done Jalen bowed his head and took his husbands hand, as Lorian entoned the words,

"œ Jia kasha tren tolaren lapor ilani kor ena tana talinok. Jia kasha treyna tolaren lapor ilani kors ena. Jia kasha tren." [Heal, fight, keep away illness(es) (and) disease (from) friend(s), family (and) relatives (and) protect (and) strengthen (them).]

Jalen couldn't help but smile, the words of the Healers Prayer had become the Family Prayer, since Jalen's primary calling was that of a healer, and even now in the midst of crisis, Lorain prayed not for their safety, but that Jalen would be able to heal others and keep them safe. After a few moments of quiet reflection Jalen eased himself up from his kneeling position and placed his hand on his husband's shoulder.

"œI must go now Lorian, but I shall return." The Vedek brought his hand up and squeezed Jalen's.

"œI never doubt it. For you are as constant as the rising of B'hava'el itself. I will remain here in prayer while." Jalen nodded and then bent down and kissed his husband again. He then made his way to the door, pausing at the coat rack to put on a white Medical Coat, then left.

*****
[Sickay | USS Challenger]
Few moments later he arrived in sickbay, and found it relatively calm. He went to the CMO and reported in.

"œCommander Fellows, Dr. Kartos reporting to station. Where do you need me? And do we have any assessment of what we are to expect?"

[Ian Galloway]

[Sickay | USS Challenger]
Few moments later he arrived in sickbay, and found it relatively calm. He went to the CMO and reported in.

"œCommander Fellows, Dr. Kartos reporting to station. Where do you need me? And do we have any assessment of what we are to expect?"

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The attractive redhead looked up at the unfamiliar voice and presented a brilliant smile as she spoke.

"Hello Doctor, welcome to Challenger sickbay. Currently, we have two patients in serious condition from our last battle, both suffering from extensive plasma burns.

"As for what to expect. The truth is unknown. It seems we've managed to encounter a massive weapon known as a Doomsday Machine. The name gives you an idea of what we could possibly face. We have all personnel at the ready and medical teams ready to respond as needed. Where do you believe you could provide the most good?"

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Observation Lounge, USS Challenger]

So... first the Romulans, in a predictable fashion, had been up to secret squirrel shenanigans on Andgarr. That wasn't a shocker. They always had some sinister plot going. In fact, they probably taught it to kids at school. "Ok children. I've graded your quizzes." the teacher would say. "Toran, you had the sneakiest plot. you receive a gold star." Of course then all the other Romulan kids would be mad at Toran for being a teacher's pet and start plotting on him. Kyan imagined that's how it worked on Romulus....well, wherever there were enough Romulan kids for a school now anyway.

Then they'd learned of a Borg thing in the Sol System. Something about the new, and to his mind excruciatingly stupid, Fleet Formation program. Come to think of it... they hadn't had a staff meeting about that. As the others went on about making snack pellets for the Planet Killer... or whatever Jamil's plan was, Kyan wondered why they hadn't done that. In his experience, Starfleet Captains had staff meetings for everything.

"Ope! A space Amoeba farted in the Deneb sector! Quick, get everyone in the conference room so we can talk about it!" Kyan grinned at that. The thought of a space creature letting one go in space and then floating off in the opposite direction forever almost made him laugh. But he suspected that cracking up to his own inside joke wouldn't go over well. After all, they were in a life or death type situation, what with a planet-killing... machine... ship.. ice cream cone thing headed toward Andgarr.

No. It wouldn't do. Galloway would furrough his eyebrows and curse him in gaelic. Nira would do her Betazoid pearl clutch move...probably with an appeal to her version of the Powers... wait... could she hear him? Kyan stole a glance at the XO, who appeared to be focused on Galloway and Tharn. good He thought.

Honestly, he didn't have any ideas on how to destroy the thing. Kirk flew a starship into it, which shut it down. But if he'd been able to do that... why not just detonate a bunch of torpedoes in the maw of the thing. They could definitely produce a bigger explosion with a score or two of quantum torpedoes than a Constitution Class ship could by overloading the impulse engines.

Sadly, the brief spasm of productive thought soon gave way to the gassy space amoeba again. Only this time it was the Planet Killer. What if it burped after eating a planet? Or a gas giant? Like... if it ate Jupiter... and then burped... would it fly off in the opposite direction til it hit something? It was pointed on the one end after all....What if it got stuck in another planet, like some great cosmic dart?

That might actually work! Kyan thought. If they could convince it to eat a gas giant... then maybe it would get indigestion and break down. Bleh. Now he sounded like Jamil. It wasn't alive! It was a machine. It had mechanisms inside it, not guts. If they couldn't do what Kirk did, they'd have to find out how to get inside it......

Unfortunately, that tangent also came to an abrupt end. The space amoeba farted again. This time, too close to the sun. It turned into a stinky comet.

Kyan did chuckle at that one. He looked around afterwards. "Sorry." he offered. "I thought of sommat funny. Umm.." Say something useful! he implored himself.

"So... we need a ship tae fly inside it and blow up?"

[Tora Zalos]

"Yeah, Tora nice to meet you. Jamil," he said, smiling and winked at her. You got to love the pretty ladies. Sadly, females are dressed up in clothing. Even if he missed his Godmother's nakedness, there was a few Ferengi female who did not want to be naked with that new movement of female rights. However, his godmother did wear some clothing in public. "You smell nice; what you wearing?" he asked her. The little charm slips in when he is not aware of it.

"Any who, Pardon me and my babbling. When my mind is working, I must speak before it's all a loss. We need replicators to be connected to the heart of the Planeteater; Doomsday is an overrated title for it. There is no real day in space, and we claim it Doomsday...silly. eh?" He paused for a split second. "We need an engineer to find a to replicate the fuel. With Medical, they can help by creating a cloning of the fuel...which we need to figure out the exact fuel it needs... Planet farting..." he winked at her. The planet farting was a throw-the-wrench joke. Sheesh. Was he more clever than a Cardassian? Never. No way!

"The junkyard of ships can be what we need. So with your help, we can go through the computer database to see if we can find a pattern of the breakdown of fuel that Planet Eater eats," he stated.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

A little mischievous smile danced its way across Tora's lips. A tiny part of her was secretly glad for the Risan spryll leaf shampoo she'd used right before taking the shuttle here - Risans knew how to make scents last, alright; some of their scented soaps lasted about twelve hours before fading. She hadn't exactly worn it just to get people to sit up and notice, but whenever it happened it never failed to amuse her. "You might get to experience a little more of it when we're done here, if you keep your head in the game." Tora teased in that sultry purr she liked to use with men that got a tiny bit too eager to keep them wanting more. Not that she minded hanging out with this scruffy-looking man, of course, but there was a task at hand.

"Don't Doomsday Weapons need a tremendous amount of energy per feeding, though? We could replicate something, but how'll it attract that thing's attention? It'll be tiny by comparison." She commented while pulling out her PADD. There had to be at least some data on how the monstrosity in front of them worked, right? Searching the ship's computer should've been their first port of call; going into the junkyard could, in her opinion, attract far more attention than necessary - which was exactly what they didn't need.

[Jalen Kartos]

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The attractive redhead looked up at the unfamiliar voice and presented a brilliant smile as she spoke.

"Hello Doctor, welcome to Challenger sickbay. Currently, we have two patients in serious condition from our last battle, both suffering from extensive plasma burns.

"As for what to expect. The truth is unknown. It seems we've managed to encounter a massive weapon known as a Doomsday Machine. The name gives you an idea of what we could possibly face. We have all personnel at the ready and medical teams ready to respond as needed. Where do you believe you could provide the most good?"

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Jalen stood at attention as he was addressed by the CMO, she was a far younger, and objectively a very beautiful woman. But Jalen had seen and done it all, and such carnal things had little effect on him anymore"¦ that or if he was truly honest with himself, he had played himself out after the destruction of the El-Auria as a means of coping with the loss, and as he had given in to every carnal indulgence imaginable, it all just bored him now. Well aside from the intimacy he shared with his Husband, but that was far more then simple carnality. He raised a quizzical eyebrow at the mention of a "˜Doomsday Machine', he knew he had read something, somewhere, at sometime about that but couldn't place where. He then heard her request for him to decide where he could be the most useful.

"œCommander, I am a Pediatric Specialist, though I have experience with Trauma and Emergency Medicine,  even that is with a focus on Pediatrics. I have also spent most of the past 4 centuries focused on Pediatric Medicine in all it's myriad forms. Though as I am sure you are well aware from my personnel file, I am also a bit of an expert on Cybernetics and the Borg, but I am not sure that any of those specialties would be of any use in this kind of crisis. Unless we start getting a lot of Only or Pediatric casualties. As such I leave it up to you to place me where you think I would be most useful."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Pride O'Rigel]

From the moment Lahr stepped foot on the Pride O'Rigel, the Andorian was impressed by how smoothly the ship's crew worked together.  He was escorted to engine room where he met with the ship's engineer, a sultry Orion female, whose presence made Lahr realize he was a tad overdue on his anti-pheromone shots,  and had the Andorian all but tripping over himself to prove himself a better engineer than he actually was, working hard and fast to install the equipment.  Roozh! Ruth would string him up by his antennae if she could read his thoughts right then.   On the up-side - Lahr was so high on pheromones that he forgot all about his earlier headache.

Unfortunately, Lahr hadn't thought his plan through well enough.  His extra effort made short work of the installation of the impulse manifold and to his dismay he was done all too soon, prompting his return to Challenger.   During the short walk back to the transporter room, escorted by the ship's Captain no less,  Lahr dropped hints of his interest in making a career change, but Captain O'Flaherty must have thought he was kidding or worse a Starfleet spy because the man just laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, spouting how amazing an engineer Lahr was, and that it would be wise to update his shots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[USS Challenger-A - Transporter room]

[Sickbay]
Crewman Th'vyrrol to Chief ch'Verret, apologies for the interruption Chief, what's your current location? Want to follow up on your treatment from earlier, he said, staging by the door. An outpatient call was much more likely to be met with less consternation, especially with as hard as Starfleet crew often pushed themselves. He heard the chime of the main circuit as the Captain summoned department heads to the bridge, but that wasn't a concern of his. Hopefully, they'd get answers soon as to what was happening.

Lahr's arrival back on the Challenger was noted by no one, other than the transporter tech who had beamed him over just a short while ago.   He still somewhat pined to see... um... oh dammit! what was her name?  He was so besotted... that he'd forgotten to ask he name!  Roozh! He was a such an idiot!   The Andorian's antennae sunk as he trudged down off the transporter pad and gave the tech a wave as he exited the room.  In the corridor, he was about to call in to Chief Tharn to let the Tellerite know he was back when his commbadge chimed with a call from Sickbay.   Oh?... someone had noticed he'd left. Oops.

Before he could reply, the overhead intercom sounded calling the Department Heads to the briefing room.  Lahr frowned.  The intercom was far too loud for his liking causing his headache to return.

Once the message ended, Lahr tapped his commbadge to acknowledge Th'vyrrol's call.

"ch'Verret, here.  Nice timing.  I just got back.  As for follow up... slight headache.. though it felt better when I was aboard the Pride O'Rigel." Lahr commented, then remembering Captain O'Flaherty's advice added  "Oh and I think I need a top up on my anti-pheromone shot."

[Ian Galloway]

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Jalen stood at attention as he was addressed by the CMO, she was a far younger, and objectively a very beautiful woman. But Jalen had seen and done it all, and such carnal things had little effect on him anymore"¦ that or if he was truly honest with himself, he had played himself out after the destruction of the El-Auria as a means of coping with the loss, and as he had given in to every carnal indulgence imaginable, it all just bored him now. Well aside from the intimacy he shared with his Husband, but that was far more then simple carnality. He raised a quizzical eyebrow at the mention of a "˜Doomsday Machine', he knew he had read something, somewhere, at sometime about that but couldn't place where. He then heard her request for him to decide where he could be the most useful.

"œCommander, I am a Pediatric Specialist, though I have experience with Trauma and Emergency Medicine,  even that is with a focus on Pediatrics. I have also spent most of the past 4 centuries focused on Pediatric Medicine in all it's myriad forms. Though as I am sure you are well aware from my personnel file, I am also a bit of an expert on Cybernetics and the Borg, but I am not sure that any of those specialties would be of any use in this kind of crisis. Unless we start getting a lot of Only or Pediatric casualties. As such I leave it up to you to place me where you think I would be most useful."

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Jess listened to the new doctor's accomplishments with wonder as he recounted centuries of experience. She could only dream of that sort of competency as even under the best of circumstances, human life span was at best 150 years now. Regardless, of relative experience and positions, she was the one that was going have to decide how to best utilize her new asset.

"I'm not sure exactly where to start with a resume like that Doctor, but, while Challenger does currently boast 112 children aboard, their medical needs are minimal. It is good you have trauma experience because that is likely to be where you will be needed as this ship is, a 'braw brawler' as her Captain will tell you and we tend to end up with casualties because of it. All we can do at the moment is be prepared for a mass casualty event and hope we don't get one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Observation Lounge, USS Challenger]

"So... we need a ship tae fly inside it and blow up?"

Ian struggled with his perceptions of Kyan. He knew the Onlie was centuries old, but regardless of that, outwardly, he still looked like a ten-year-old and despite those centuries, he was still quite young developmentally. It was at times like this he deeply missed T'Kel, the Vulcan former head of security. Her steadfast and stoic disposition was as reliable as the sun rising in the east on Earth.

"Yes, that is the workin' theory as it's known ta have worked before. Our plan is ta get ta Angdarr ahead of that Beastie and see if'n there is a ship they will spare or perhaps we can salvage from that junkyard we discovered. Our options are limited, so we're ta make summat up as we go. Any useful information Evan?"

All eyes turned toward the Chief Science Officer.

"As a matter of fact Sir, yes. Scans determined this machine's power readings are very low. Roughly 20% of the output of the machine the Enterprise faced. As you know, the hull is impenetrable to scans, so why the power is so low is unknown, but it is worth noting."

"Well, that is useful, how, I dinna ken, but thank you Evan. Anyone have anything else?"

As there were no replies, Ian nodded and spoke again.

"Then this is the plan. At our current speed we will reach Angdarr in eight hours. The Machine will arrive 28 hours after that. We have until then ta prepare our defense. I want all of you ta get as good a night's sleep as you can. I'll need all of you at your best ta face this thing. Dismissed."

[Jalen Kartos]

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Jess listened to the new doctor's accomplishments with wonder as he recounted centuries of experience. She could only dream of that sort of competency as even under the best of circumstances, human life span was at best 150 years now. Regardless, of relative experience and positions, she was the one that was going have to decide how to best utilize her new asset.

"I'm not sure exactly where to start with a resume like that Doctor, but, while Challenger does currently boast 112 children aboard, their medical needs are minimal. It is good you have trauma experience because that is likely to be where you will be needed as this ship is, a 'braw brawler' as her Captain will tell you and we tend to end up with casualties because of it. All we can do at the moment is be prepared for a mass casualty event and hope we don't get one."

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]
Jalen nodded as he had once been a Dean of Medicine himself, basically the civilian equivalent of the Chief Medical Officer of a Starship, and on some classes and starbases the exact same thing. His being here would likely stand out as being strange, even with 112 children of various races onboard the vessel. Thus Jalen decided he had to expose a bit more about his past.

"œAs you are likely aware Commander, I did my Cadet Cruise on the Challenger as well, and while I was here, I noticed that your vessel has a rather colourful Miri"¦ I mean Only, who is assigned here. As well as a civilian Only as well. One of my past honours was aiding the Onlies with their integration into the Federation after they were discovered by the Enterprise. I also served as their first Surgeon General and trained up one of them to replace me before I left. So I was quite happy to be placed here as I figured my unique skill set might be needed with such a precocious and impulsive member of such a unique species on board. As I suspect that since there are so few of them who have chosen to serve in Starfleet, there would be very few doctors who are trained in their unique forms of care. Let alone one who has had decades of experience in dealing with them. Though for the moment, I shall go and do rounds and ensure that as much trauma space as possible is freed up in the case of mass casualties, is there a nearby overflow ward or cargobay that can or needs to be converted to that task?"

[Nira Said]

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

The Tellerite engineer grimaced and thought for several moments before she replied in her usual gruff tone.

"Going by the fact one of these things eats planets. I doubt there is enough replicator mass in Starfleet to make enough bait to draw this thing off course. We certainly can't do it by ourselves. Good idea, just beyond our capacity to execute."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Looking at the data from the scans taken so far, showed that the mass required to create a large enough 'bait' to distract the machine far exceeded the replicator mass the Challenger carried. However, in running the data, both Jamil and Tora noted something. The power levels logged by the original machine theUSS Enterprise encountered were much higher than this machine was currently producing. Much lower, only about 20% of what the original device produced.

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Observation Lounge, USS Challenger]

So... first the Romulans, in a predictable fashion, had been up to secret squirrel shenanigans on Andgarr. That wasn't a shocker. They always had some sinister plot going. In fact, they probably taught it to kids at school. "Ok children. I've graded your quizzes." the teacher would say. "Toran, you had the sneakiest plot. you receive a gold star." Of course then all the other Romulan kids would be mad at Toran for being a teacher's pet and start plotting on him. Kyan imagined that's how it worked on Romulus....well, wherever there were enough Romulan kids for a school now anyway.

Then they'd learned of a Borg thing in the Sol System. Something about the new, and to his mind excruciatingly stupid, Fleet Formation program. Come to think of it... they hadn't had a staff meeting about that. As the others went on about making snack pellets for the Planet Killer... or whatever Jamil's plan was, Kyan wondered why they hadn't done that. In his experience, Starfleet Captains had staff meetings for everything.

"Ope! A space Amoeba farted in the Deneb sector! Quick, get everyone in the conference room so we can talk about it!" Kyan grinned at that. The thought of a space creature letting one go in space and then floating off in the opposite direction forever almost made him laugh. But he suspected that cracking up to his own inside joke wouldn't go over well. After all, they were in a life or death type situation, what with a planet-killing... machine... ship.. ice cream cone thing headed toward Andgarr.

No. It wouldn't do. Galloway would furrough his eyebrows and curse him in gaelic. Nira would do her Betazoid pearl clutch move...probably with an appeal to her version of the Powers... wait... could she hear him? Kyan stole a glance at the XO, who appeared to be focused on Galloway and Tharn. good He thought.

Honestly, he didn't have any ideas on how to destroy the thing. Kirk flew a starship into it, which shut it down. But if he'd been able to do that... why not just detonate a bunch of torpedoes in the maw of the thing. They could definitely produce a bigger explosion with a score or two of quantum torpedoes than a Constitution Class ship could by overloading the impulse engines.

Sadly, the brief spasm of productive thought soon gave way to the gassy space amoeba again. Only this time it was the Planet Killer. What if it burped after eating a planet? Or a gas giant? Like... if it ate Jupiter... and then burped... would it fly off in the opposite direction til it hit something? It was pointed on the one end after all....What if it got stuck in another planet, like some great cosmic dart?

That might actually work! Kyan thought. If they could convince it to eat a gas giant... then maybe it would get indigestion and break down. Bleh. Now he sounded like Jamil. It wasn't alive! It was a machine. It had mechanisms inside it, not guts. If they couldn't do what Kirk did, they'd have to find out how to get inside it......

Unfortunately, that tangent also came to an abrupt end. The space amoeba farted again. This time, too close to the sun. It turned into a stinky comet.

Kyan did chuckle at that one. He looked around afterwards. "Sorry." he offered. "I thought of sommat funny. Umm.." Say something useful! he implored himself.

"So... we need a ship tae fly inside it and blow up?"

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

Ian struggled with his perceptions of Kyan. He knew the Onlie was centuries old, but regardless of that, outwardly, he still looked like a ten-year-old and despite those centuries, he was still quite young developmentally. It was at times like this he deeply missed T'Kel, the Vulcan former head of security. Her steadfast and stoic disposition was as reliable as the sun rising in the east on Earth.

"Yes, that is the workin' theory as it's known ta have worked before. Our plan is ta get ta Angdarr ahead of that Beastie and see if'n there is a ship they will spare or perhaps we can salvage from that junkyard we discovered. Our options are limited, so we're ta make summat up as we go. Any useful information Evan?"

All eyes turned toward the Chief Science Officer.

"As a matter of fact Sir, yes. Scans determined this machine's power readings are very low. Roughly 20% of the output of the machine the Enterprise faced. As you know, the hull is impenetrable to scans, so why the power is so low is unknown, but it is worth noting."

"Well, that is useful, how, I dinna ken, but thank you Evan. Anyone have anything else?"

As there were no replies, Ian nodded and spoke again.

"Then this is the plan. At our current speed we will reach Angdarr in eight hours. The Machine will arrive 28 hours after that. We have until then ta prepare our defense. I want all of you ta get as good a night's sleep as you can. I'll need all of you at your best ta face this thing. Dismissed."

[Commander Nira Said | Briefing Room | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Hearing out Dashlish, Nira shrugged slightly. "That's a fair point. Beyond our capacity...." She thought of Frontier Day, Nirreen and the Triumvirate's declaration of war, and the fact that they could be on their own. Then she heard Kyan and she raised an eyebrow in a Vulcanlike way.

Nira had to admit, for all of Kyan's centuries of experience, he certainly displayed the emotional output of a child as old as he looked. He could blow out emotions and maybe she could hear him, but she wasn't going toward the "noise" of his head. She learned her lesson never to go into a person's head, not without permission. Still, she liked Kyan. Being with him, Nira can never help but feel like a big sister, but not at all like a mother. She felt more sisterly than motherly when it came to Kyan.

"Most likely salvage from their junkyard," said Nira after their exchange. "I doubt the Andgarr will spare a ship of their own, I feel they may need it."

When she heard Lieutenant Randall's report, she double-taked. Twenty percent of the power than the one Kirk's Enterprise found? She was gobsmacked.

She was so gobsmacked, she was at a loss of words until the Captain dismissed them. Nira heard him about having their rest. She blinked. Good Allah...she found it hard to believe: This morning, at least that's what she felt, she woke in a field hospital from a recovery from pollen from genetically engineered Yanmarr and from an accelerated hormornal affect. Woke to find herself among the Unification Movement. Then the shocking news of Frontier Day and the stay away warning from President Chekov. Then the battle that led to the death of a Praetor, the declaration of war...and now this.

"I can do my best to get a good night's rest," she said, "but after what I went through today, from one shocking piece of news to another, it won't be easy. Allah forbid another something from Kirk's era randomly show up after this. What would it be, the floating head of Zsa Zsa Gabor?"

Then turning to Randall, she said in astonishment, "But still...twenty percent of the original machine's power? Holy Allah...given today's technology, anything between a yacht and a shuttlepod could take it down, even with its neutronium hull..."

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Later that night, Nira did her best to sleep. She was right in that it wasn't easy. So much was on her mind that it took time for her to sleep, and when she did, she slept fitfully. In fact, it was the first time since Discovery's jaunt into the past, into 1899, into an attempted alteration of the timeline in which her past was almost rewritten by future aliens with natural hypnosis, that she slept fitfully.

Glimpses of Saavik's past, which she had shared with Nira before they left, down to her explaining her involvement with the Unificationists, flashed through her mind. Then they segued into nightmares. The most disturbing entailing seeing her home nothing more than the surface of a metallic shell, the inhabitants: Either Borg or animated corpses. And as she was gazing upon, a dead man lurched before her: Malik.

"No! Malik!" Nira screamed. But he was too dead to speak. In fact, the dead repeated their mantra over: Resistance is futile. Do not resist or be eliminated.

And then she looked into the mirror and saw...herself. But a pale cybernetic monster taking her form. Her hair were dreadlocks of cables. She looked down and was even more horrified: Her shoulders were bare, but she wore layer upon layer of Borg armor that snaked down until it formed a huge cable that draped like a snake. Then the cybernetic snake woman that was Nira lunged from the mirror, her fingers forming injection tubules, and she hissed:

Embrace the collective, or embrace your own destruction.

She raised a hand, jabbed her fingers toward her...

...and she woke screaming, drenched in sweat, waking Savar.

"Nira?" said Savar in surprise.

Nira could only blink, and then she cried. "It's...it's just so hard, Savar...it could all be gone..."

She sobbed and Savar put his arms around her. Deep down, she was suddenly feeling more guilty. She loved Savar, but she also loved Malik...perhaps even more...And she still didn't have a good rest...

[Dr Taja Grippen]

"Then this is the plan. At our current speed we will reach Angdarr in eight hours. The Machine will arrive 28 hours after that. We have until then ta prepare our defense. I want all of you ta get as good a night's sleep as you can. I'll need all of you at your best ta face this thing. Dismissed."

[Deck One, Bridge]

Taja simply nodded and made her way to the turbolift and back to sickbay. She was to worried about her brother's fate in Frontier Day to even consider sleeping. There were plenty of stimulants in sickbay, she could make good use of the time and begin scheduling in the crew's next round of physicals...

[Later that evening, Deck Seven, Sickbay]

Sickbay was quiet at this time of the day, with just a few remaining patients under observation from the previous mission's events. Taja was sat at a desk in a darkened corner scrolling through the ship personnel's medical records, anything to keep her mind from worrying. In a mug atop the desk was a concoction called 'Go-Juice', something she'd found in the replicator database. It tasted like pure sugar-caffeine and she could almost feel her teeth melting with each sip. But it was effective.

Taja sighed and rubbed her dry eyes, hopefully something would happen soon to keep her brain active. This was a far cry from the emergency room at her previous hospital on Risa, there was always something going on.

[Abas Th'vyrrol]

[USS Challenger-A - Transporter room]

Lahr's arrival back on the Challenger was noted by no one, other than the transporter tech who had beamed him over just a short while ago.   He still somewhat pined to see... um... oh dammit! what was her name?  He was so besotted... that he'd forgotten to ask he name!  Roozh! He was a such an idiot!   The Andorian's antennae sunk as he trudged down off the transporter pad and gave the tech a wave as he exited the room.  In the corridor, he was about to call in to Chief Tharn to let the Tellerite know he was back when his commbadge chimed with a call from Sickbay.   Oh?... someone had noticed he'd left. Oops.

Before he could reply, the overhead intercom sounded calling the Department Heads to the briefing room.  Lahr frowned.  The intercom was far too loud for his liking causing his headache to return.

Once the message ended, Lahr tapped his commbadge to acknowledge Th'vyrrol's call.

"ch'Verret, here.  Nice timing.  I just got back.  As for follow up... slight headache.. though it felt better when I was aboard the Pride O'Rigel." Lahr commented, then remembering Captain O'Flaherty's advice added  "Oh and I think I need a top up on my anti-pheromone shot."

[Sickbay]

Abas was continuing to wait in Sickbay when the response to his query came through. It seemed the Chief was indeed suffering further ill effects from his incomplete treatment. It also seemed the Doctors were irked by his self-discharge, but Abas couldn't help but agree with the man's actions. A guardsman's duty was at his post, regardless of what else was occurring. If he could still fight, he could still serve. To lounge in the medical bay being pampered served no purpose if it just meant others picking up the slack. But, he wasn't an officer. Those types of decisions were made far above his head.

Abas was vaguely aware of the conversation happening between the CMO and one of the new doctors but didn't pay it much mind. He did, however, note the specialties the officer espoused their knowledge of, in case it came up later. It was always good to know which fields different officers were subject matter experts in - you wouldn't go to an optometrist for a digestive issue, nor assign a trauma surgeon to handle a dental surgery. The right tool for the right job, and all that.

Understood, Chief. I'll bring the updated meds. he said in response, before taking a few sharp strides over to the medical cabinet and signing out a hypospray and the required dosage, cross-checking it with ch'Verret's medical records to get the dosage right. Placing the medication in a hard-sided medkit's extra storage capacity and sealing the case with a click, he turned to walk toward the door and exit.

[A short time later]

Only a few moments later, he emerged in the doorway of the room, walking over to a table and setting down the medkit as he cracked it open. He pulled out a hypospray of vertazine, and inserted the canister into the dispenser as he prepared the medication. "Chief, if you'll just come over here please?" he asked, gesturing vaguely to the area around where he was. "Any other symptoms? Anything else bothering you right now?"

[Kyan Mackenzie]

Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | USS Challenger, Crew Quarters]

After being dismissed by Galloway, Kyan had taken the turbolift to deck three with the other zombies. He had encountered Ensign whatshisname back on the bridge with the "œGo-Juice" but waved him off. Go juice was the last thing he wanted right now. It was quarters-shower-bed, in that order. Even though it was a short ride from deck one to deck three, Kyan was sure he "œlong blinked" at least once during the trip. Maybe that shower could wait til morning.

It was dark when Kyan trudged into his quarters. He kicked his shoes off as soon as he walked in and doffed the other parts of his uniform as he made his way toward the door to his bedroom. He tossed them all in the general direction of the reclamation unit, but everything ended up on or around the hamper device. Like the shower, Kyan decided that they too could wait til morning. He usually ensured that everything was collected but in this instance exhaustion trumped tidiness.

Max and Jo-Jo would no doubt be in the bed asleep. Since coming to stay with him, Max had eschewed his own bed for Kyan's. This wasn't unexpected, nor did he mind. Back on his home world, Kyan and the other Onlies in his group had always slept in the same spot. They had chosen a room and placed mattresses from wall to wall. They piled blankets, cushions, pillows, and stuffed animals on them and the whole group slept there, often entwined with one another. There were more than a dozen in Kyan's group, but none were so big that there wasn't room. Everyone sleeping together was also safer than sleeping alone in separate rooms for a myriad of reasons. The biggest reason was safetly, from zombie grups, predators in some places, and the cold in winter. Max had a similar story from his own group, even though he came from a warmer area than Kyan. In the American southwest, weather hadn't been too much of a factor most nights. But animals were. Where he was from there were all manner of predators that would have loved nothing more than to make a quick meal of a wayward Onlie.

After Kyan pulled on a pair of pajama pants he staggered to the bed and pulled down the blanket. Sure enough, Max was curled up in the middle of the bed. Jo-Jo stirred, poking his little green head up over the sleeping Onlie and saw his other owner. Seeing nothing amiss, he flicked his tongue once and hunkered back down behind Max. Like him, Kyan tended to curl up in the center of the bed too. His pillow was already there, as was Toby the stuffed Targ. Although Max had him in a vice grip currently. If not for his desire to just jump in and pass out, Kyan might have tried prying to plush targ from his friend. But he didn't want to wake him up. Nor did he want to waste time in recovering Toby.

Instead he climbed onto the bed and curled up opposite the sleeping boy before throwing the blankets back over the both of them. His eyes had barely closed before he was asleep.