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

[Kyan Mackenzie]

She stood and exited her office, barely choking back a gasp to see Davies crumpled on the deck before she straightened up to her full height and replied.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Jessica Fellows. Chief Medical Officer of the USS Challenger. This is my Sickbay and I will advise you now that whatever you have planned, it will fail."

Larosh regarded the human woman with a casual smile. "œI'm afraid you're wrong doctor." She stepped over the sleeping Davies and made her way over to Fellows. "œAnd I'll also say that your bravado isn't convincing. I think you'll comply with our demands. Because if you don't"¦.

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret

He cleared his throat audibly and called out. "Don't shoot. I'm coming out." He slowly pushed back the curtain to reveal the empty space where the disassembled biobed lay. He took a cautious step out from the curtain, raising his hands in apparent surrender. With any luck no one but he would know that the transparent forcefield lay just behind him. It would be his ace in the hole; he hoped.

His eyes fell on the crumpled form of Chloe and he had to tamp down on his sudden urge to charge at these people who would hurt those he cared about. "Look you don't need to hurt anyone else; and to be honest it might be a helpful gesture in negotiations with the Captain if you allowed one of the medics to treat Nurse Davies. Just sayin'." Lahr gave a shrug hands still held up to show he had no weapon and wasn't a threat.

Larosh stopped mid-sentence and turned to get a look at the new arrival. The Orion woman arched an eyebrow at his suggestion. "œAnd what makes you think we have any intention of negotiating with your captain?" She asked, laughing. As she was speaking, the sickbay doors opened and a grey haired Nausicaan walked in. His posture and bearing indicated that he was in charge. The other Nausicaans stiffened and the Ferengi fidgeted nervously. Larosh turned to see who'd entered as well. Then, seeing who it was, she forgot about Lahr and turned toward the Elderly Nausicaan
"œOjegar"¦"She inclined her head, "œI was told that you were going to remain on the ship."

"œYou were ill-informed." The Nausicaan  replied dismissively. Then he noticed Davies lying on the deck with her uniform still smoldering around her disruptor burn. "œWho shot this woman?" he asked, his tone taking on a hard edge. When he didn't get an answer he whirled on the Nausicaans who'd come in with Larosh. "œI asked you a question!"

For a brief moment, no one answered him. Then the scavenger stepped forward. "œIt was me." He spoke up, "œI shot her."

Ojegar nodded. "œHojik." He sighed. "œReturn to the ship and send someone to replace you who isn't incompetent."

The other man bowed his head, turned, and left without another word. Ojegar turned back toward Larosh, who appeared eager to keep the old Nausicaan's favor.

"œThis," she began indicating Fellows, "œis the Ship's medical officer."

"œDoctor." He nodded. "œPlease accept my apologies for this inconvenience, and for the injury to your comrade. You may tend to her wound and then we will speak privately."  He turned to the other Nausicaans. "œAnd you will search this sickbay. I want everyone out here."

The others started for the exam room and stopped briefly when he added "œ"¦and NO ONE else is to be harmed. Am I understood?"

They replied in Nausicaan before continuing to the Examination rooms.

[Jalen Kartos]

[Exam Room 1 | Sickbay | Deck 7 | USS Challenger-A]

Jalen had barely started his rounds in the ward when his combadge chirped,

"Davies to Carter, We've just gotten a load of kindergardeners in here from the classroom up on deck three. We're gonna need you in main sickbay stat."

He tapped his own Combadge in return and responded,

Copy that I am just in the Ward, I'll be there presently. Kartos out

Jalen then smiled and apologized to the older woman he'd been about to examine then excused himself and made his way back to Main Sickbay. He saw the gaggle of students all clustered around and crying and quickly rallied the nurses and Kyan to help him in getting the students out of the main sickbay and into the largest of the exam rooms. Out of sheer habit he slipped a Jumja Sucker from his lab coat and handed it to the Only as they entered the room. He took out his medical tricorder, with it's plethora of childish stickers (each one put there by a paitient in the past) and began his examination of the students. Jalen watched as Kyan interacted with the recalcitrant blond boy, and smiled. The Only was certainly making strides in regards to his interpersonal skills, at least with the children, now if only he could learn to be more diplomatic with Grups. All this came to a sudden and crashing hault as the unique whine of disrupter fire was heard from beyond the exam room. Jalen moved with an alacrity that most would not expect from him as he lept towards the door and palmed the door shut locking it. He than began fiddling with the panel and got it to display the red for medical quarantine and double locked to door with a forcefield aswell. For the moment that would keep the occupants safe, but it also meant that it kept both Kyan and himself from aiding the people on the other side of that door.

Jalen than turned back to the assembled children and smiled warmly,

"œWell one of you is being quite the party pooper, but the rest of you want to get checked out don't you?" He projected as much calm, control, and authority as he could, and shot a sideways glance at Kyan. He signaled the Only with his hand as he did so, trying to recall what he'd learned from the Onlies in his region, but he had to admit his handsign was very very rusty.

"˜what the hell do you think is going on?' was what he thought he signed, but who knows what Kyan actually got from it.

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[USS-Challenger/ Operations]

After the events on the surface and the failure of their efforts, Aarwendil went back to his work. He felt dejected for not being able to help more. Their efforts on the surface ended up not stopping the doomsday machine, which continued to travel full speed toward Andgarr. Now he only could hope that the rest of the crew would find another way to help.

He was also concerned with Nekab. The Romulan could be stoic like a Vulcan, but the young Betazoid had felt some emotions coming from him since they returned from the surface. It was most frustration and concern. Probably because his mother could still be down here and he wasn't able to contact her.

Aarwendil decided to check him later. Nekab was in his room when the marauders invaded the sickbay, making it impossible for him to go there. He was at the cetacean labs at the moment. Something about marine mammals from Earth being good listeners.

[Ian Galloway]

Larosh regarded the human woman with a casual smile. "œI'm afraid you're wrong doctor." She stepped over the sleeping Davies and made her way over to Fellows. "œAnd I'll also say that your bravado isn't convincing. I think you'll comply with our demands. Because if you don't"¦.

Larosh stopped mid-sentence and turned to get a look at the new arrival. The Orion woman arched an eyebrow at his suggestion. "œAnd what makes you think we have any intention of negotiating with your captain?" She asked, laughing. As she was speaking, the sickbay doors opened and a grey haired Nausicaan walked in. His posture and bearing indicated that he was in charge. The other Nausicaans stiffened and the Ferengi fidgeted nervously. Larosh turned to see who'd entered as well. Then, seeing who it was, she forgot about Lahr and turned toward the Elderly Nausicaan

"œOjegar"¦"She inclined her head, "œI was told that you were going to remain on the ship."

"œYou were ill-informed." The Nausicaan  replied dismissively. Then he noticed Davies lying on the deck with her uniform still smoldering around her disruptor burn. "œWho shot this woman?" he asked, his tone taking on a hard edge. When he didn't get an answer he whirled on the Nausicaans who'd come in with Larosh. "œI asked you a question!"

For a brief moment, no one answered him. Then the scavenger stepped forward. "œIt was me." He spoke up, "œI shot her."

Ojegar nodded. "œHojik." He sighed. "œReturn to the ship and send someone to replace you who isn't incompetent."

The other man bowed his head, turned, and left without another word. Ojegar turned back toward Larosh, who appeared eager to keep the old Nausicaan's favor.

"œThis," she began indicating Fellows, "œis the Ship's medical officer."

"œDoctor." He nodded. "œPlease accept my apologies for this inconvenience, and for the injury to your comrade. You may tend to her wound and then we will speak privately."  He turned to the other Nausicaans. "œAnd you will search this sickbay. I want everyone out here."

The others started for the exam room and stopped briefly when he added "œ"¦and NO ONE else is to be harmed. Am I understood?"

They replied in Nausicaan before continuing to the Examination rooms.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The change in the dynamics of the armed incursion changed as soon as the old Nausicaan, while he was clearly still a lethal threat, he seemed less psychopathic than the Orion and Jess relaxed marginally.

"Thank you... Ojegar was it? Doctor Zorr, please see to Nurse Davies."

As the Bolian male moved next to Chloe to treat her, Jess asked.

"May I ask what you hope to accomplish here?"

As Jess waited for an answer, her eyes fell on the Orion woman and she thought.

"I am going to make you hurt in ways you didn't believe were possible you wench. You will not leave this ship alive if I have anything to say about it."

Normally, Doctor Jessica Elaine Fellows never had thoughts of such violence, but this was her sanctum and she was not going to let anyone violate it without repercussions. So, she waited and one thing Jess was very good at was waiting.

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

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

The assembled team of engineers and scientists scanned the small probe furiously and besides the already established dimensions of the thing, the only thing the close examination had revealed were three triangular panels 20 centimeters on a side, equidistant around the center of the probe. The probe was emitting a low power signal on a specific subspace band that was not unlike some of the signals the main Machine used.

Lieutenant jg Rebecca Fisk from engineering, an expert in computer system finished her evaluation and spoke to Randall who was nominally in charge of the project.

"Near as I can tell, these three panels are a sort of fail safe device. Press them in the right order and the communications system of the probe becomes fully active which, I believe, will allow direct communication with the Machine."

"Well, that's more than we knew twenty minutes ago. So, if I'm doing the maths right. Three buttons, pushed at random, that is... oh Jeez, only a 16% chance we get it right. I have an idea what would happen if we get it wrong, but indulge me Lieutenant, what is your take if we muck up the sequence?"

"I'm going to go with the probe would have an anti-tampering device built in and it would self-destruct."

"And we know the thing has the power of a warp core, so that would be a bad day at the office."

Randall looked stressed as he addressed the team.

"Anyone have any insights that might improve our odds?"

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian smiled wearily at Nira as he replied in as positive a tone as he could manage.

"I know the waitin' is the worst. You could be down there with Zhuk, but the Lieutenant kens his craft well, part of sittin' center seat is learnin' ta trust your people ta do their jobs. He'll get it done."

[Tora Zalos]

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The change in the dynamics of the armed incursion changed as soon as the old Nausicaan, while he was clearly still a lethal threat, he seemed less psychopathic than the Orion and Jess relaxed marginally.

"Thank you... Ojegar was it? Doctor Zorr, please see to Nurse Davies."

As the Bolian male moved next to Chloe to treat her, Jess asked.

"May I ask what you hope to accomplish here?"

As Jess waited for an answer, her eyes fell on the Orion woman and she thought.

"I am going to make you hurt in ways you didn't believe were possible you wench. You will not leave this ship alive if I have anything to say about it."

Normally, Doctor Jessica Elaine Fellows never had thoughts of such violence, but this was her sanctum and she was not going to let anyone violate it without repercussions. So, she waited and one thing Jess was very good at was waiting.

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

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

The assembled team of engineers and scientists scanned the small probe furiously and besides the already established dimensions of the thing, the only thing the close examination had revealed were three triangular panels 20 centimeters on a side, equidistant around the center of the probe. The probe was emitting a low power signal on a specific subspace band that was not unlike some of the signals the main Machine used.

Lieutenant jg Rebecca Fisk from engineering, an expert in computer system finished her evaluation and spoke to Randall who was nominally in charge of the project.

"Near as I can tell, these three panels are a sort of fail safe device. Press them in the right order and the communications system of the probe becomes fully active which, I believe, will allow direct communication with the Machine."

"Well, that's more than we knew twenty minutes ago. So, if I'm doing the maths right. Three buttons, pushed at random, that is... oh Jeez, only a 16% chance we get it right. I have an idea what would happen if we get it wrong, but indulge me Lieutenant, what is your take if we muck up the sequence?"

"I'm going to go with the probe would have an anti-tampering device built in and it would self-destruct."

"And we know the thing has the power of a warp core, so that would be a bad day at the office."

Randall looked stressed as he addressed the team.

"Anyone have any insights that might improve our odds?"

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian smiled wearily at Nira as he replied in as positive a tone as he could manage.

"I know the waitin' is the worst. You could be down there with Zhuk, but the Lieutenant kens his craft well, part of sittin' center seat is learnin' ta trust your people ta do their jobs. He'll get it done."

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

Honestly, Tora was glad to have been given the opportunity to stay out of danger for once - at least, the danger of being shot at and killed and taken prisoner, that is. Studying the probe was very much more up her alley as an anthropologist - artefacts of a civilization visible on their technology could lead to clues as to why and how it'd been built and possibly how to use it. So far, Tora had turned up nothing, other than whomever had built this ridiculously complicated (and dangerous) neutronium device was centuries ahead of anything the Federation was presently capable of. The first thought in her mind had been the Iconians, considering they'd built the gateway on Vandros IV - but the more she studied the device the less compelling that particular idea felt. This thing wasn't quite as elegant, from what the records showed.

Upon hearing the warnings from her colleagues Tora had decided to forego any form of physical contact with the device itself, lest she trigger something that'd take them all out in a fiery explosion. Failsafes designed by hyper-advanced civilizations tended to be that way. "Nothing so far. Nothing in its design is reminiscent of any civilizations we have on file - it is as unique as unique can be." The Cardassian announced as she examined the probe carefully. "Simply put no civilizations we know of have ever had the means to even build something remotely close - though I can try to find some other piece of technology that is similar in function rather than design."

[Nira Said]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian all but pounced to reply to Zhuk, but it wasn't as if it mattered, he didn't have any information to give as he replied.

"Bridge ta Mrekrerhas. No updates on the hostages or the hostage takers. We have anesthizine on standby and have good transporter locks on the Starfleet personnel. We can beam them out rapidly if'n you need so. You tell me what you need Lieutenant and it's yours."

Turning to face Nira, Ian added.

"The sickbay situation is a complication ta be sure, but nae so big a one as ta keep us from our goal of stoppin' that monumental Beastie. It's settin' me on fire that our people are in trouble as I'll bet real latinum, the hijackers are those scavenger wankers we promised ta help. They hurt anyone and you may just find yourself in command sooner than you predicted because the bloody regulations will go out the airlock if'n they do. For now, we focus on our mission and let security be the professionals they are, they will solve this."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian smiled wearily at Nira as he replied in as positive a tone as he could manage.

"I know the waitin' is the worst. You could be down there with Zhuk, but the Lieutenant kens his craft well, part of sittin' center seat is learnin' ta trust your people ta do their jobs. He'll get it done."

[USS-Challenger/ Operations]

After the events on the surface and the failure of their efforts, Aarwendil went back to his work. He felt dejected for not being able to help more. Their efforts on the surface ended up not stopping the doomsday machine, which continued to travel full speed toward Andgarr. Now he only could hope that the rest of the crew would find another way to help.

He was also concerned with Nekab. The Romulan could be stoic like a Vulcan, but the young Betazoid had felt some emotions coming from him since they returned from the surface. It was most frustration and concern. Probably because his mother could still be down here and he wasn't able to contact her.

Aarwendil decided to check him later. Nekab was in his room when the marauders invaded the sickbay, making it impossible for him to go there. He was at the cetacean labs at the moment. Something about marine mammals from Earth being good listeners.

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

"Good Allah, I hope the scavengers attacking Sickbay aren't including the ones I brought up," said Nira. Any one of those scavengers in particular, if they were involved, then it would mean it's her fault.

She sighed at Captain Galloway's next words. "I suppose so...if only the center seat could see what was going on...but yes, it's best to put trust in..."

She looked up at Ops and saw Aarwendil there, feeling just as bad as she was about their efforts against the Machine. She stood and approached him.

"I understand how you feel, Aarwendil," she said comfortingly. "If anything, I have been feeling worse about it; I wasn't sure what more we could do..."

She then looked around at the science row...and she noticed Savar was gone. She realized he must be heading down with Lieutenant Randall...

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

The assembled team of engineers and scientists scanned the small probe furiously and besides the already established dimensions of the thing, the only thing the close examination had revealed were three triangular panels 20 centimeters on a side, equidistant around the center of the probe. The probe was emitting a low power signal on a specific subspace band that was not unlike some of the signals the main Machine used.

Lieutenant jg Rebecca Fisk from engineering, an expert in computer system finished her evaluation and spoke to Randall who was nominally in charge of the project.

"Near as I can tell, these three panels are a sort of fail safe device. Press them in the right order and the communications system of the probe becomes fully active which, I believe, will allow direct communication with the Machine."

"Well, that's more than we knew twenty minutes ago. So, if I'm doing the maths right. Three buttons, pushed at random, that is... oh Jeez, only a 16% chance we get it right. I have an idea what would happen if we get it wrong, but indulge me Lieutenant, what is your take if we muck up the sequence?"

"I'm going to go with the probe would have an anti-tampering device built in and it would self-destruct."

"And we know the thing has the power of a warp core, so that would be a bad day at the office."

Randall looked stressed as he addressed the team.

"Anyone have any insights that might improve our odds?"

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

Honestly, Tora was glad to have been given the opportunity to stay out of danger for once - at least, the danger of being shot at and killed and taken prisoner, that is. Studying the probe was very much more up her alley as an anthropologist - artefacts of a civilization visible on their technology could lead to clues as to why and how it'd been built and possibly how to use it. So far, Tora had turned up nothing, other than whomever had built this ridiculously complicated (and dangerous) neutronium device was centuries ahead of anything the Federation was presently capable of. The first thought in her mind had been the Iconians, considering they'd built the gateway on Vandros IV - but the more she studied the device the less compelling that particular idea felt. This thing wasn't quite as elegant, from what the records showed.

Upon hearing the warnings from her colleagues Tora had decided to forego any form of physical contact with the device itself, lest she trigger something that'd take them all out in a fiery explosion. Failsafes designed by hyper-advanced civilizations tended to be that way. "Nothing so far. Nothing in its design is reminiscent of any civilizations we have on file - it is as unique as unique can be." The Cardassian announced as she examined the probe carefully. "Simply put no civilizations we know of have ever had the means to even build something remotely close - though I can try to find some other piece of technology that is similar in function rather than design."

[{NPC} Lieutenant Savar | Cargo Bay Three | Deck Six | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Savar accompanied Lieutenant Randall and Ensign Zalos to the Cargo Bay. While conferring with Lieutenant Fisk, Savar observed the device. Three buttons at random, they would be the ones to shut it off. Gotten wrong, something worse could happen. When Ensign Zalos gave her piece, Savar raised his eyebrow.

"If I may," he said, "the buttons pushed at random, and one sequence shuts it off...if that was the case...whoever found it, who did put the device online in the first place, and would he or she remember the particular buttons that turned it on? Because if that particular person would remember the buttons that activated the machine in the first place, the particular reverse could potentially shut it off."

That was what he figured, and the investigator in Nira that had rubbed off on Savar was what had him thinking in an investigative manner...

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 7 - Sickbay (main room)] [15:05-ish]

Larosh regarded the human woman with a casual smile. "œI'm afraid you're wrong doctor." She stepped over the sleeping Davies and made her way over to Fellows. "œAnd I'll also say that your bravado isn't convincing. I think you'll comply with our demands. Because if you don't"¦.

Larosh stopped mid-sentence and turned to get a look at the new arrival. The Orion woman arched an eyebrow at his suggestion. "œAnd what makes you think we have any intention of negotiating with your captain?" She asked, laughing. As she was speaking, the sickbay doors opened and a grey haired Nausicaan walked in. His posture and bearing indicated that he was in charge. The other Nausicaans stiffened and the Ferengi fidgeted nervously. Larosh turned to see who'd entered as well. Then, seeing who it was, she forgot about Lahr and turned toward the Elderly Nausicaan

"œOjegar"¦"She inclined her head, "œI was told that you were going to remain on the ship."

"œYou were ill-informed." The Nausicaan  replied dismissively. Then he noticed Davies lying on the deck with her uniform still smoldering around her disruptor burn. "œWho shot this woman?" he asked, his tone taking on a hard edge. When he didn't get an answer he whirled on the Nausicaans who'd come in with Larosh. "œI asked you a question!"

For a brief moment, no one answered him. Then the scavenger stepped forward. "œIt was me." He spoke up, "œI shot her."

Ojegar nodded. "œHojik." He sighed. "œReturn to the ship and send someone to replace you who isn't incompetent."

The other man bowed his head, turned, and left without another word. Ojegar turned back toward Larosh, who appeared eager to keep the old Nausicaan's favor.

"œThis," she began indicating Fellows, "œis the Ship's medical officer."

"œDoctor." He nodded. "œPlease accept my apologies for this inconvenience, and for the injury to your comrade. You may tend to her wound and then we will speak privately."  He turned to the other Nausicaans. "œAnd you will search this sickbay. I want everyone out here."

The others started for the exam room and stopped briefly when he added "œ"¦and NO ONE else is to be harmed. Am I understood?"

They replied in Nausicaan before continuing to the Examination rooms.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The change in the dynamics of the armed incursion changed as soon as the old Nausicaan, while he was clearly still a lethal threat, he seemed less psychopathic than the Orion and Jess relaxed marginally.

"Thank you... Ojegar was it? Doctor Zorr, please see to Nurse Davies."

As the Bolian male moved next to Chloe to treat her, Jess asked.

"May I ask what you hope to accomplish here?"

As Jess waited for an answer, her eyes fell on the Orion woman and she thought.

"I am going to make you hurt in ways you didn't believe were possible you wench. You will not leave this ship alive if I have anything to say about it."

Normally, Doctor Jessica Elaine Fellows never had thoughts of such violence, but this was her sanctum and she was not going to let anyone violate it without repercussions. So, she waited and one thing Jess was very good at was waiting.

Lahr took an instant dislike to the Orion woman and was grateful that he'd been given a dose recently against the influence of her pheromones.  This way she couldn't 'charm' as she could some others who might have let their anti-pheromone vaccination lapse.

When the grey-haired Nausicaan entered, immediately drawing Larosh's attention he knew her superior had arrived on scene.  From her stark change in demeanor , Lahr got the sense she was almost fearful of the older Nausicaan.  That tidbit of info could be useful later.

While Hojik was sent away and the others ordered to check the room, Lahr remained where he was, partially blocking, their route the disassembled biobed, hands remaining upraised while he waited for an opportunity.  He had to wonder how the Nausicaan's were so easily coming aboard from another ship.  The ship was at red alert this entire time so shields should by standard protocol be raised.  Had they somehow managed to get the shield frequency for the ship?  Were other areas of the ship equally under a hostage situation?  He supposed it would be best to assume the Bridge was compromised as well.

He glanced about.  Hadn't he seen Commander Mackenzie in the room earlier?  Hopefully Larosh's ignorance about the crew extended to other senior officers as well and Kyan could slip in amongst the children easily.  But for all his discreet glancing about, Lahr couldn't see the Commander's distinctive hair among the children that were clustered together.

While Ojegar and doctor Fellows, moved off towards the CMO office to talk privately, Lahr looked to Dr.  Zorr working on Chloe.

"How is she, Doc?  Is there anything I can do to help?" he questioned, worried about his former girlfriend, even if she hated his guts for cheating on her with Ruth.  He still cared for Chloe... that would never change.

[Neva Cordon]

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

"Good Allah, I hope the scavengers attacking Sickbay aren't including the ones I brought up," said Nira. Any one of those scavengers in particular, if they were involved, then it would mean it's her fault.

She sighed at Captain Galloway's next words. "I suppose so...if only the center seat could see what was going on...but yes, it's best to put trust in..."

She looked up at Ops and saw Aarwendil there, feeling just as bad as she was about their efforts against the Machine. She stood and approached him.

"I understand how you feel, Aarwendil," she said comfortingly. "If anything, I have been feeling worse about it; I wasn't sure what more we could do..."

She then looked around at the science row...and she noticed Savar was gone. She realized he must be heading down with Lieutenant Randall...
[{NPC} Lieutenant Savar | Cargo Bay Three | Deck Six | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Savar accompanied Lieutenant Randall and Ensign Zalos to the Cargo Bay. While conferring with Lieutenant Fisk, Savar observed the device. Three buttons at random, they would be the ones to shut it off. Gotten wrong, something worse could happen. When Ensign Zalos gave her piece, Savar raised his eyebrow.

"If I may," he said, "the buttons pushed at random, and one sequence shuts it off...if that was the case...whoever found it, who did put the device online in the first place, and would he or she remember the particular buttons that turned it on? Because if that particular person would remember the buttons that activated the machine in the first place, the particular reverse could potentially shut it off."

That was what he figured, and the investigator in Nira that had rubbed off on Savar was what had him thinking in an investigative manner...

[Ensign Neva Cordon|Cargo Bay 3|Deck Six|USS-Challenger]

Neva walked into the Cargo Bay with Randall and to the Entity. She slowly circled it, PADD in hand, making notes. She kept an ear out for what was being said, adding this and that to her notations.

When she stopped among the group, her brow furrowed as she heard Lieutenant Savar's speculation. Her head tilted, thoughts suddenly racing. 'Buttons to push? Order?' Her silent shorthand queried.

"Pardon me all. I have an idea." She murmured, her whole attention focused on the Baby Planet Killer. Her hands hovered over the controls, fingers making tapping motions.

"Were the Salvagers feeling of anything specific when they were going over the Mama when it activated? Or thinking something?" Now Neva straightened and looked at Commander Said. "What I'm asking is this." She pointed at the thing. "All beings need energy to eat, move, release energy, etc. They have a rudementary 'brain' if you will." She pointed at the controls. "What if the buttons aren't buttons? What if they're essentially this thing's brain configuration?" She grinned at the Commander. "They basically patted its head and woke it up." The young Engineer scanned the group, looking for any light of understanding to glow. Finding only skepticism and blank stares, she shook her head quickly and continued.

"What if the key is we have to treat it like a being who needs to go back to sleep? That it's done eating a big dinner and needs to sit and let the body digest?" She looked at the Commander sheepishly. "Just a thought, Sir."

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian all but pounced to reply to Zhuk, but it wasn't as if it mattered, he didn't have any information to give as he replied.

"Bridge ta Mrekrerhas. No updates on the hostages or the hostage takers. We have anesthizine on standby and have good transporter locks on the Starfleet personnel. We can beam them out rapidly if'n you need so. You tell me what you need Lieutenant and it's yours."

Turning to face Nira, Ian added.

"The sickbay situation is a complication ta be sure, but nae so big a one as ta keep us from our goal of stoppin' that monumental Beastie. It's settin' me on fire that our people are in trouble as I'll bet real latinum, the hijackers are those scavenger wankers we promised ta help. They hurt anyone and you may just find yourself in command sooner than you predicted because the bloody regulations will go out the airlock if'n they do. For now, we focus on our mission and let security be the professionals they are, they will solve this."

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Cargo Bay I --> Jefferies Tubes | Deck Six --> Deck Seven | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Angdarr System]

"Understood Captain Galloway. Then the Teams shalt proceed with our current data set. If we have a dire need for an asset, you shalt be the first to be informed,"  Zhuk swiftly answered Ian, as he crossed the door that led into the Jefferies Tubes, closing it after him, with all of Team Beta inside. Before he proceeded any further, he tapped on his comm badge again, "Team Alpha, we are cleared to proceed. There is no new information on this situation. Excercise caution."=/\=

Larosh regarded the human woman with a casual smile. "œI'm afraid you're wrong doctor." She stepped over the sleeping Davies and made her way over to Fellows. "œAnd I'll also say that your bravado isn't convincing. I think you'll comply with our demands. Because if you don't"¦.

Larosh stopped mid-sentence and turned to get a look at the new arrival. The Orion woman arched an eyebrow at his suggestion. "œAnd what makes you think we have any intention of negotiating with your captain?" She asked, laughing. As she was speaking, the sickbay doors opened and a grey haired Nausicaan walked in. His posture and bearing indicated that he was in charge. The other Nausicaans stiffened and the Ferengi fidgeted nervously. Larosh turned to see who'd entered as well. Then, seeing who it was, she forgot about Lahr and turned toward the Elderly Nausicaan

"œOjegar"¦"She inclined her head, "œI was told that you were going to remain on the ship."

"œYou were ill-informed." The Nausicaan  replied dismissively. Then he noticed Davies lying on the deck with her uniform still smoldering around her disruptor burn. "œWho shot this woman?" he asked, his tone taking on a hard edge. When he didn't get an answer he whirled on the Nausicaans who'd come in with Larosh. "œI asked you a question!"

For a brief moment, no one answered him. Then the scavenger stepped forward. "œIt was me." He spoke up, "œI shot her."

Ojegar nodded. "œHojik." He sighed. "œReturn to the ship and send someone to replace you who isn't incompetent."

The other man bowed his head, turned, and left without another word. Ojegar turned back toward Larosh, who appeared eager to keep the old Nausicaan's favor.

"œThis," she began indicating Fellows, "œis the Ship's medical officer."

"œDoctor." He nodded. "œPlease accept my apologies for this inconvenience, and for the injury to your comrade. You may tend to her wound and then we will speak privately."  He turned to the other Nausicaans. "œAnd you will search this sickbay. I want everyone out here."

The others started for the exam room and stopped briefly when he added "œ"¦and NO ONE else is to be harmed. Am I understood?"

They replied in Nausicaan before continuing to the Examination rooms.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas and Crewman Zala | Jefferies Tubes --> Sickbay Computer | Deck Seven | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Angdarr System]

Though neither knew it, Zhuk and Zala were anxious about the current happenstances. Zala's expressions were much more notable, at least, but as she had taken point on the rear, none had noticed. Zala's thoughts were focused on her little brother, Mo. A rollercoaster of emotions had taken over when she had overheard the explosion in the classroom. Fortunately, her superior, Kyan, had been there to rescue the children and their teacher from further harm. She was thankful to the Onlie for that, though now, she once more feared for his safety. As he had been transported to Sickbay, he was now exposed to whoever crooks had decided to board it.

Besides, the fact was that Deck Seven was currently filled with wounded with rather nasty injuries. No child should be exposed to that carnage. But she was a Security officer. And now, she had the opportunity to save him. At least, she was mildly glad that her smaller size gave her an easier time traversing through the metal tunnels of the vessel, compared to the rest of her teammates.

Zhuk shared such an ability with her, due to his height. His mind though, remained on Chloe and the rest of the Medical Staff. He wondered if they had been hurt by the miscreants which had boarded them, under his whiskers. And if she had been hurt, well, Mrekrerhas would be forced to leave them as good as a Hawaiian pa'u skirt. His blood boiled just thinking on that, glad that no Betazoid was there to pick up on his feelings of violence.

Eventually, they reached the door that led to the Sickbay Computer. With that, he proceeded to contact Alpha Team,

"Blackfeather, Koroz. Do you read? We are in position... where do you be?" 

No response. Had the communicators been jammed? Quite likely. It was not a good sign. Coordinating in such a case would be quite hard. Still, Zhuk was undeterred, as he glanced over at the officers with him, "Please, wait here. I shalt proceed to scout ahead to obtain a better understanding of the situation. Crewman Zala. With me."

The Ferengi proceeded to zigzag through the rest to reach Zhuk, while he proceeded to carefully open the door. He took a peek outside, making sure that no enemies were in the vicinity, before proceeding to carefully advance into the room. Zala dutifully followed, closing the door behind her.

"Very well. Let us proceed to Sickbay, as silently as possible. I trust that with our combined senses, we may be able to perceive if anyone approaches"

Zhuk whispered at her, to which Zala nodded. Mrekrerhas squatted as he ventured outside, being imitated by Zala, his feet almost silent thanks to the soft padding underneath. The Ferengi, as he expected, proved to be rather inconspicuous as they approached the outside of Sickbay, by the Medical Staff entrance.

As the door was locked, however, Zhuk was met with vexation. Zala, however, had an idea almost immediately, "Sir... allow me..."

Zhuk nodded, moving aside as Zala began to put her engineering knowledge to work, attempting to pry off the panel to access the inner cables and mechanisms of the door.

[Ian Galloway]

[{NPC} Lieutenant Savar | Cargo Bay Three | Deck Six | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Savar accompanied Lieutenant Randall and Ensign Zalos to the Cargo Bay. While conferring with Lieutenant Fisk, Savar observed the device. Three buttons at random, they would be the ones to shut it off. Gotten wrong, something worse could happen. When Ensign Zalos gave her piece, Savar raised his eyebrow.

"If I may," he said, "the buttons pushed at random, and one sequence shuts it off...if that was the case...whoever found it, who did put the device online in the first place, and would he or she remember the particular buttons that turned it on? Because if that particular person would remember the buttons that activated the machine in the first place, the particular reverse could potentially shut it off."

That was what he figured, and the investigator in Nira that had rubbed off on Savar was what had him thinking in an investigative manner...

[Ensign Neva Cordon|Cargo Bay 3|Deck Six|USS-Challenger]

Neva walked into the Cargo Bay with Randall and to the Entity. She slowly circled it, PADD in hand, making notes. She kept an ear out for what was being said, adding this and that to her notations.

When she stopped among the group, her brow furrowed as she heard Lieutenant Savar's speculation. Her head tilted, thoughts suddenly racing. 'Buttons to push? Order?' Her silent shorthand queried.

"Pardon me all. I have an idea." She murmured, her whole attention focused on the Baby Planet Killer. Her hands hovered over the controls, fingers making tapping motions.

"Were the Salvagers feeling of anything specific when they were going over the Mama when it activated? Or thinking something?" Now Neva straightened and looked at Commander Said. "What I'm asking is this." She pointed at the thing. "All beings need energy to eat, move, release energy, etc. They have a rudementary 'brain' if you will." She pointed at the controls. "What if the buttons aren't buttons? What if they're essentially this thing's brain configuration?" She grinned at the Commander. "They basically patted its head and woke it up." The young Engineer scanned the group, looking for any light of understanding to glow. Finding only skepticism and blank stares, she shook her head quickly and continued.

"What if the key is we have to treat it like a being who needs to go back to sleep? That it's done eating a big dinner and needs to sit and let the body digest?" She looked at the Commander sheepishly. "Just a thought, Sir."

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

Randall took in the two theories and mulled them over, looking for flaws in their logic, when he couldn't find any, he sighed.

"From what little information I got from the Captain, this O'Flaherty character found the probe and the Machine drifting. They tried to grab the probe, it activated and shot at them. O'Flaherty fired back and got blindly lucky, hitting something important enough to shut the probe down. They beamed it aboard their ship, scanned it and couldn't figure it out. If anyone pressed or even noticed these buttons, I don't know.

"As for feeding it and letting it nap, If we follow the example of the original Machine and what we have seen with this new one, they don't 'sleep' they eat and keep eating remorselessly. We could replicate something and toss in the probe's maw, but I think it would just get more powerful, sleeping seems doubtful.

"These buttons exist for a reason, we just don't what that reason is yet. If we can figure that reason out, I think we can operate this thing. What options do we have that can increase our odds of pushing these buttons in the right order?"

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

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 7 - Sickbay (main room)] [15:05-ish]

Lahr took an instant dislike to the Orion woman and was grateful that he'd been given a dose recently against the influence of her pheromones.  This way she couldn't 'charm' as she could some others who might have let their anti-pheromone vaccination lapse.

When the grey-haired Nausicaan entered, immediately drawing Larosh's attention he knew her superior had arrived on scene.  From her stark change in demeanor , Lahr got the sense she was almost fearful of the older Nausicaan.  That tidbit of info could be useful later.

While Hojik was sent away and the others ordered to check the room, Lahr remained where he was, partially blocking, their route the disassembled biobed, hands remaining upraised while he waited for an opportunity.  He had to wonder how the Nausicaan's were so easily coming aboard from another ship.  The ship was at red alert this entire time so shields should by standard protocol be raised.  Had they somehow managed to get the shield frequency for the ship?  Were other areas of the ship equally under a hostage situation?  He supposed it would be best to assume the Bridge was compromised as well.

He glanced about.  Hadn't he seen Commander Mackenzie in the room earlier?  Hopefully Larosh's ignorance about the crew extended to other senior officers as well and Kyan could slip in amongst the children easily.  But for all his discreet glancing about, Lahr couldn't see the Commander's distinctive hair among the children that were clustered together.

While Ojegar and doctor Fellows, moved off towards the CMO office to talk privately, Lahr looked to Dr.  Zorr working on Chloe.

"How is she, Doc?  Is there anything I can do to help?" he questioned, worried about his former girlfriend, even if she hated his guts for cheating on her with Ruth.  He still cared for Chloe... that would never change.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Zorr looked up from Chloe for a moment and said.

"Tricorder says she's stunned. That damned disruptor caused some second degree burns. If you hand me that hypospray and dermal regenerator off that tray Chief, I believe she will be fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Cargo Bay I --> Jefferies Tubes | Deck Six --> Deck Seven | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Angdarr System]

"Understood Captain Galloway. Then the Teams shalt proceed with our current data set. If we have a dire need for an asset, you shalt be the first to be informed,"  Zhuk swiftly answered Ian, as he crossed the door that led into the Jefferies Tubes, closing it after him, with all of Team Beta inside. Before he proceeded any further, he tapped on his comm badge again, "Team Alpha, we are cleared to proceed. There is no new information on this situation. Excercise caution."=/\=

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas and Crewman Zala | Jefferies Tubes --> Sickbay Computer | Deck Seven | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Angdarr System]

Though neither knew it, Zhuk and Zala were anxious about the current happenstances. Zala's expressions were much more notable, at least, but as she had taken point on the rear, none had noticed. Zala's thoughts were focused on her little brother, Mo. A rollercoaster of emotions had taken over when she had overheard the explosion in the classroom. Fortunately, her superior, Kyan, had been there to rescue the children and their teacher from further harm. She was thankful to the Onlie for that, though now, she once more feared for his safety. As he had been transported to Sickbay, he was now exposed to whoever crooks had decided to board it.

Besides, the fact was that Deck Seven was currently filled with wounded with rather nasty injuries. No child should be exposed to that carnage. But she was a Security officer. And now, she had the opportunity to save him. At least, she was mildly glad that her smaller size gave her an easier time traversing through the metal tunnels of the vessel, compared to the rest of her teammates.

Zhuk shared such an ability with her, due to his height. His mind though, remained on Chloe and the rest of the Medical Staff. He wondered if they had been hurt by the miscreants which had boarded them, under his whiskers. And if she had been hurt, well, Mrekrerhas would be forced to leave them as good as a Hawaiian pa'u skirt. His blood boiled just thinking on that, glad that no Betazoid was there to pick up on his feelings of violence.

Eventually, they reached the door that led to the Sickbay Computer. With that, he proceeded to contact Alpha Team,

"Blackfeather, Koroz. Do you read? We are in position... where do you be?" 

No response. Had the communicators been jammed? Quite likely. It was not a good sign. Coordinating in such a case would be quite hard. Still, Zhuk was undeterred, as he glanced over at the officers with him, "Please, wait here. I shalt proceed to scout ahead to obtain a better understanding of the situation. Crewman Zala. With me."

The Ferengi proceeded to zigzag through the rest to reach Zhuk, while he proceeded to carefully open the door. He took a peek outside, making sure that no enemies were in the vicinity, before proceeding to carefully advance into the room. Zala dutifully followed, closing the door behind her.

"Very well. Let us proceed to Sickbay, as silently as possible. I trust that with our combined senses, we may be able to perceive if anyone approaches"

Zhuk whispered at her, to which Zala nodded. Mrekrerhas squatted as he ventured outside, being imitated by Zala, his feet almost silent thanks to the soft padding underneath. The Ferengi, as he expected, proved to be rather inconspicuous as they approached the outside of Sickbay, by the Medical Staff entrance.

As the door was locked, however, Zhuk was met with vexation. Zala, however, had an idea almost immediately, "Sir... allow me..."

Zhuk nodded, moving aside as Zala began to put her engineering knowledge to work, attempting to pry off the panel to access the inner cables and mechanisms of the door.

[Jeffries Tubes Outside Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Having reached their destination, undetected so far as they could tell, Zhuk and his team prepared to force entry. The biggest concern was the small opening of the Jeffries tube meant they faced an extreme form of the 'fatal funnel' that all points of entry created in that they could only enter one at a time whereas the defenders had open fields of fire and movement. Unfortunately, their options were limited and it meant the first couple people through the hatch were at the highest risk. This presented Zhuk with a difficult choice. Did he take point, not willing to send someone to do something he himself would not do, but in so doing risk the leadership and stall the assault? Or, did he send in one of the other members of the team knowing their odds of survival were low? It was at times like this that Zhuk hated being in charge.

"What to do? What to do?"

[Neva Cordon]

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

Randall took in the two theories and mulled them over, looking for flaws in their logic, when he couldn't find any, he sighed.

"From what little information I got from the Captain, this O'Flaherty character found the probe and the Machine drifting. They tried to grab the probe, it activated and shot at them. O'Flaherty fired back and got blindly lucky, hitting something important enough to shut the probe down. They beamed it aboard their ship, scanned it and couldn't figure it out. If anyone pressed or even noticed these buttons, I don't know.

"As for feeding it and letting it nap, If we follow the example of the original Machine and what we have seen with this new one, they don't 'sleep' they eat and keep eating remorselessly. We could replicate something and toss in the probe's maw, but I think it would just get more powerful, sleeping seems doubtful.

"These buttons exist for a reason, we just don't what that reason is yet. If we can figure that reason out, I think we can operate this thing. What options do we have that can increase our odds of pushing these buttons in the right order?"

[Ensign Neva Cordon|USS Challenger| Cargo Bay 3]

Neva listened and had to admit, she had gone WAY out in left field this time. Shrugging it off, she considered what Randall had circled back to.

'Right sequence right sequence right sequence...how to find that...' she mused silently. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she snapped her fingers. Looking at Randall, she asked "Is there a way to isolate fingerprints?" She pointed at the buttons. "we can isolate particles down to protons." She held up one hand, pointing to a finger on it with the other. 'You put your fingerprints and the last thing you touched on your spacesuit. It leaves an imprint, unchanging even in vacuum, right? Isolate the imprints and cross reference it with the harder pushes on the buttons and we could possibly get our proper sequence." Neva bit her upper lip as she dropped her hands and stepped back into the group.

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

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Zorr looked up from Chloe for a moment and said.

"Tricorder says she's stunned. That damned disruptor caused some second degree burns. If you hand me that hypospray and dermal regenerator off that tray Chief, I believe she will be fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Cargo Bay I --> Jefferies Tubes | Deck Six --> Deck Seven | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Angdarr System]

"Understood Captain Galloway. Then the Teams shalt proceed with our current data set. If we have a dire need for an asset, you shalt be the first to be informed,"  Zhuk swiftly answered Ian, as he crossed the door that led into the Jefferies Tubes, closing it after him, with all of Team Beta inside. Before he proceeded any further, he tapped on his comm badge again, "Team Alpha, we are cleared to proceed. There is no new information on this situation. Excercise caution."=/\=

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas and Crewman Zala | Jefferies Tubes --> Sickbay Computer | Deck Seven | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Angdarr System]

Though neither knew it, Zhuk and Zala were anxious about the current happenstances. Zala's expressions were much more notable, at least, but as she had taken point on the rear, none had noticed. Zala's thoughts were focused on her little brother, Mo. A rollercoaster of emotions had taken over when she had overheard the explosion in the classroom. Fortunately, her superior, Kyan, had been there to rescue the children and their teacher from further harm. She was thankful to the Onlie for that, though now, she once more feared for his safety. As he had been transported to Sickbay, he was now exposed to whoever crooks had decided to board it.

Besides, the fact was that Deck Seven was currently filled with wounded with rather nasty injuries. No child should be exposed to that carnage. But she was a Security officer. And now, she had the opportunity to save him. At least, she was mildly glad that her smaller size gave her an easier time traversing through the metal tunnels of the vessel, compared to the rest of her teammates.

Zhuk shared such an ability with her, due to his height. His mind though, remained on Chloe and the rest of the Medical Staff. He wondered if they had been hurt by the miscreants which had boarded them, under his whiskers. And if she had been hurt, well, Mrekrerhas would be forced to leave them as good as a Hawaiian pa'u skirt. His blood boiled just thinking on that, glad that no Betazoid was there to pick up on his feelings of violence.

Eventually, they reached the door that led to the Sickbay Computer. With that, he proceeded to contact Alpha Team,

"Blackfeather, Koroz. Do you read? We are in position... where do you be?" 

No response. Had the communicators been jammed? Quite likely. It was not a good sign. Coordinating in such a case would be quite hard. Still, Zhuk was undeterred, as he glanced over at the officers with him, "Please, wait here. I shalt proceed to scout ahead to obtain a better understanding of the situation. Crewman Zala. With me."

The Ferengi proceeded to zigzag through the rest to reach Zhuk, while he proceeded to carefully open the door. He took a peek outside, making sure that no enemies were in the vicinity, before proceeding to carefully advance into the room. Zala dutifully followed, closing the door behind her.

"Very well. Let us proceed to Sickbay, as silently as possible. I trust that with our combined senses, we may be able to perceive if anyone approaches"

Zhuk whispered at her, to which Zala nodded. Mrekrerhas squatted as he ventured outside, being imitated by Zala, his feet almost silent thanks to the soft padding underneath. The Ferengi, as he expected, proved to be rather inconspicuous as they approached the outside of Sickbay, by the Medical Staff entrance.

As the door was locked, however, Zhuk was met with vexation. Zala, however, had an idea almost immediately, "Sir... allow me..."

Zhuk nodded, moving aside as Zala began to put her engineering knowledge to work, attempting to pry off the panel to access the inner cables and mechanisms of the door.

[Jeffries Tubes Outside Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Having reached their destination, undetected so far as they could tell, Zhuk and his team prepared to force entry. The biggest concern was the small opening of the Jeffries tube meant they faced an extreme form of the 'fatal funnel' that all points of entry created in that they could only enter one at a time whereas the defenders had open fields of fire and movement. Unfortunately, their options were limited and it meant the first couple people through the hatch were at the highest risk. This presented Zhuk with a difficult choice. Did he take point, not willing to send someone to do something he himself would not do, but in so doing risk the leadership and stall the assault? Or, did he send in one of the other members of the team knowing their odds of survival were low? It was at times like this that Zhuk hated being in charge.

"What to do? What to do?"

[Nira Said]

[Ensign Neva Cordon|Cargo Bay 3|Deck Six|USS-Challenger]

Neva walked into the Cargo Bay with Randall and to the Entity. She slowly circled it, PADD in hand, making notes. She kept an ear out for what was being said, adding this and that to her notations.

When she stopped among the group, her brow furrowed as she heard Lieutenant Savar's speculation. Her head tilted, thoughts suddenly racing. 'Buttons to push? Order?' Her silent shorthand queried.

"Pardon me all. I have an idea." She murmured, her whole attention focused on the Baby Planet Killer. Her hands hovered over the controls, fingers making tapping motions.

"Were the Salvagers feeling of anything specific when they were going over the Mama when it activated? Or thinking something?" Now Neva straightened and looked at Commander Said. "What I'm asking is this." She pointed at the thing. "All beings need energy to eat, move, release energy, etc. They have a rudementary 'brain' if you will." She pointed at the controls. "What if the buttons aren't buttons? What if they're essentially this thing's brain configuration?" She grinned at the Commander. "They basically patted its head and woke it up." The young Engineer scanned the group, looking for any light of understanding to glow. Finding only skepticism and blank stares, she shook her head quickly and continued.

"What if the key is we have to treat it like a being who needs to go back to sleep? That it's done eating a big dinner and needs to sit and let the body digest?" She looked at the Commander sheepishly. "Just a thought, Sir."

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

Randall took in the two theories and mulled them over, looking for flaws in their logic, when he couldn't find any, he sighed.

"From what little information I got from the Captain, this O'Flaherty character found the probe and the Machine drifting. They tried to grab the probe, it activated and shot at them. O'Flaherty fired back and got blindly lucky, hitting something important enough to shut the probe down. They beamed it aboard their ship, scanned it and couldn't figure it out. If anyone pressed or even noticed these buttons, I don't know.

"As for feeding it and letting it nap, If we follow the example of the original Machine and what we have seen with this new one, they don't 'sleep' they eat and keep eating remorselessly. We could replicate something and toss in the probe's maw, but I think it would just get more powerful, sleeping seems doubtful.

"These buttons exist for a reason, we just don't what that reason is yet. If we can figure that reason out, I think we can operate this thing. What options do we have that can increase our odds of pushing these buttons in the right order?"

[Ensign Neva Cordon|USS Challenger| Cargo Bay 3]

Neva listened and had to admit, she had gone WAY out in left field this time. Shrugging it off, she considered what Randall had circled back to.

'Right sequence right sequence right sequence...how to find that...' she mused silently. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she snapped her fingers. Looking at Randall, she asked "Is there a way to isolate fingerprints?" She pointed at the buttons. "we can isolate particles down to protons." She held up one hand, pointing to a finger on it with the other. 'You put your fingerprints and the last thing you touched on your spacesuit. It leaves an imprint, unchanging even in vacuum, right? Isolate the imprints and cross reference it with the harder pushes on the buttons and we could possibly get our proper sequence." Neva bit her upper lip as she dropped her hands and stepped back into the group.

[{NPC} Lieutenant Savar | Cargo Bay Three | Deck Six | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Savar listened to the exchange between Randall and Neva with interest. Little is certainly known of how the Doomsday Weapon operated, how it's programmed. The idea that it could be alive, thinks, that was new.

"I would have to concur with Lieutenant Randall on this logical regard," he said to Neva. "If it's alive, and this its brain...well, it would only have one purpose: to consume. If it is alive; as a machine, it is unknown how it is programmed..."

Then Neva proposed another idea, one that made Savar extremely interested. "Fingerprints?" he said. "And isolated from the last person who touched it, regardless of the suit...it could work...saves the time from having to track down the last person who had contact with it..."

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

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

"Good Allah, I hope the scavengers attacking Sickbay aren't including the ones I brought up," said Nira. Any one of those scavengers in particular, if they were involved, then it would mean it's her fault.

She sighed at Captain Galloway's next words. "I suppose so...if only the center seat could see what was going on...but yes, it's best to put trust in..."

She looked up at Ops and saw Aarwendil there, feeling just as bad as she was about their efforts against the Machine. She stood and approached him.

"I understand how you feel, Aarwendil," she said comfortingly. "If anything, I have been feeling worse about it; I wasn't sure what more we could do..."

She then looked around at the science row...and she noticed Savar was gone. She realized he must be heading down with Lieutenant Randall...

[Bridge/ Deck One/ USS Challenger]

Aarwendil yelped when he heard Commander Said's voice next to him, the woman could be so stealthy when she wanted. Or perhaps it was because the young Betazoid was still ashamed of what had happened between them in Andgarr. While he wasn't afraid of talking to her anymore, the Ensign couldn't avoid thinking how he acted improperly. However, with a doomsday machine coming, the effect of the yanmarr pollen was the least of what he should think about at the moment.

"œI only hope that we can evacuate the maximum number of people possible." if they couldn't find another way of stopping the machine, this was the only thing that they could do. Then he remembered something. "œCommander, is there a way that we can find if Nekab's mother is out of Andgarr? He didn't show it, but I felt that he was concerned with her. She was among the Unificationists, but I don't know if they already left."

[Neva Cordon]

[{NPC} Lieutenant Savar | Cargo Bay Three | Deck Six | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Savar listened to the exchange between Randall and Neva with interest. Little is certainly known of how the Doomsday Weapon operated, how it's programmed. The idea that it could be alive, thinks, that was new.

"I would have to concur with Lieutenant Randall on this logical regard," he said to Neva. "If it's alive, and this its brain...well, it would only have one purpose: to consume. If it is alive; as a machine, it is unknown how it is programmed..."

Then Neva proposed another idea, one that made Savar extremely interested. "Fingerprints?" he said. "And isolated from the last person who touched it, regardless of the suit...it could work...saves the time from having to track down the last person who had contact with it..."

[Ensign Neva Cordon|USS Challenger|Cargo Bay3]

Neva let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She smiled a little as she grabbed the tricorder from her hip. Stepping forward, she scanned the button area, focusing on extracting data of the fingerprints. Once done, she put it away and grabbed her PADD from her kit once more. She tapped a few things then held it out to the group.

"Ok, here's the data." She widened the readout to show the buttons near the bottom of the screen, and a conglomeration of wavy lines above it.

"Computer, isolate the fingerprints on the buttons to find the first set."

Working... The display on her PADD showed prints being lifted from the clump, then the lowest one turning outward to view closer. Data Complete

"Computer, Superimpose these fingerprints on the buttons of the Planet Eater, adjusting to show hardest press on the buttons."

The display changed again, the fingerprints floating down onto the buttons, then row of the creature's display turning to face outward again to show a glow of deep presses.

"Ha!" Neva exclaimed, hand tilted toward the PADD's display with palm in and fingers angled down. "Sir, I think we have our answer." She looked up and her gaze swept between those assembled. Her face suddenly fell to show a sheepish and concerned look. "Who wants to do the honors?"

[Ian Galloway]

[{NPC} Lieutenant Savar | Cargo Bay Three | Deck Six | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Savar listened to the exchange between Randall and Neva with interest. Little is certainly known of how the Doomsday Weapon operated, how it's programmed. The idea that it could be alive, thinks, that was new.

"I would have to concur with Lieutenant Randall on this logical regard," he said to Neva. "If it's alive, and this its brain...well, it would only have one purpose: to consume. If it is alive; as a machine, it is unknown how it is programmed..."

Then Neva proposed another idea, one that made Savar extremely interested. "Fingerprints?" he said. "And isolated from the last person who touched it, regardless of the suit...it could work...saves the time from having to track down the last person who had contact with it..."

[Ensign Neva Cordon|USS Challenger|Cargo Bay3]

Neva let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She smiled a little as she grabbed the tricorder from her hip. Stepping forward, she scanned the button area, focusing on extracting data of the fingerprints. Once done, she put it away and grabbed her PADD from her kit once more. She tapped a few things then held it out to the group.

"Ok, here's the data." She widened the readout to show the buttons near the bottom of the screen, and a conglomeration of wavy lines above it.

"Computer, isolate the fingerprints on the buttons to find the first set."

Working... The display on her PADD showed prints being lifted from the clump, then the lowest one turning outward to view closer. Data Complete

"Computer, Superimpose these fingerprints on the buttons of the Planet Eater, adjusting to show hardest press on the buttons."

The display changed again, the fingerprints floating down onto the buttons, then row of the creature's display turning to face outward again to show a glow of deep presses.

"Ha!" Neva exclaimed, hand tilted toward the PADD's display with palm in and fingers angled down. "Sir, I think we have our answer." She looked up and her gaze swept between those assembled. Her face suddenly fell to show a sheepish and concerned look. "Who wants to do the honors?"

[Cargo Bay Three - USS Challenger]

Randall poured over the data Neva had collected and ran an additional focused tricorder scan of his own before doing some calculations in his head that he had Lieutenant Fisk verify before he spoke.

"I do like the idea that using the buttons would leave traces. However, it is unknown if the beings that made this thing even had fingers as we know them, I did pick up trace markings of silicates in varying amounts on the buttons. Combining those findings with that of Ensign Cordon's work, I am ready to make an educated guess at the correct order."

He tapped his combadge before he touched the probe.

"Randall to bridge, we are ready to try to access the probe, standby to beam it into space if we get it wrong."

Everyone in the cargo bay held their breath collectively as Randall pressed the buttons firmly and decisively in the order suggested by their findings. When he pressed the third button there was a pause before everyone's tricorder lit up as the probe began broadcasting a coded subspace signal in a cyclic pattern that repeated every 2.7 seconds. What this meant, no one in the cargo bay knew.

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The Challenger, along with the seven Romulan ships some 500,000 kilometers behind continued their slow advance out system as the Doomsday Machine maintained its own steady course toward Angdarr Prime. Two hours, just two hours before the Machine reached the planet. The tiny ships arrayed to face it would intercept the behemoth in just half that time. Tensions were high on the Bridge as Ian wracked his brain for options he knew he didn't have. It was then when Catalan spoke.

"Sir, I am detecting a signal originating from the Machine. It matches the same low ban of the subspace spectrum as the one being broadcast from Cargo Bay Three. It doesn't appear they are exchanging data as they are just repeating the same subspace pulses."

Ian arched an eyebrow at this information as it seemed to represent progress, it just wasn't clear just what sort of progress had been made.

"It somehow seems like I've seen summat like it before. Anyone recognize that type of signal?"