S2 M1 - Fathers and Daughters II

[Hrafn Falleg]

USS Healy - Bridge

Solluk contemplated the current situation in the light of Hrafn's belief that it might be her father out there, a telepathic influence impacting them all.  Not only did such a possibility create more complexity in an already complex situation, but it suggested that her father had telepathic abilities which were many orders of magnitude beyond what was typical.

For his own part, Solluk hadn't felt a telepathic presence at all.  Only the oppressive pressure and pain which encroached on his thoughts and muddled his mind.

"Thank you, Doctor," he said as Tess administered both a psionic blocker and analgesic.  The relief was almost immediate.  "That is... much better."

Upon reports that the signals had been sent, he nodded, "Now we wait and see if any of our labors bear fruit."

He was anxious to see what the probes might reveal, as well.  Although the situation was dire and its complexity was daunting, a small portion of his mind was delighted with the chance to discover something new, here.  They were in the middle of a phenomenon never before recorded.  At least insofar as he was aware.

Hrafn raised a concern about breaking her telepathic link, and Solluk turned to face her.  "If you are getting something beyond discomfort, it may be useful to maintain a connection.  But if all you are receiving is pain... well, I think I'd prefer to have you clear-headed rather than tortured.  That having been said, the final decision must be yours.  Suppressing people's abilities without their consent is not something I endorse."

[Bridge - Healy]

"Then with your permission Sir, doctor, I'll do without it. I can work through it.  But I've done my knee in again."  Hrafn said with a determination, gritted teeth against the pain both in head and knee..

"Like I said to Dr. Moreno when I was in Sickbay earlier, the telepathic communication with my father and this... oppressive thing, may be completely unrelated, two things going on in my head that happen to manifest themselves at the same time.  I also feel, if I may be allowed to be a little personal, that he's hurt, or scared, in trouble... no one screams my name like that other than my children when having a nightmare." she finished with a slight shrug. "Although they don't call me by my given name but my title, least the one they use."

[Beja]

IKS Nom Pach - Bridge - Science Station

Beja didn't blink when Vilka attempted to assert her dominance. Nothing that she hadn't experienced before. The Klingon culture rarely celebrated a person's unique qualities and aspects. The only things that were appreciated and desired was the ability to dismember an opponent in a matter of seconds, bare hands if possible, with weapons if not. Everyone was an opponent, for any reason that the Klingons could come up with. The entire thing was sadly predictable, and just another reason why she hadn't made a life back home.

Her father's reaction only solidified the fact that there was truly no place for her among her own kind. Not just because the Klingons didn't want her, but more importantly she realized, that Beja herself didn't desire it either. As much as she was an alien species to the Klingons, they were the same to her. Why did Klingons insist on clinging to the past, rather than looking to the future, to the stars?

There was no time to ruminate on how much her heart hurt at the fact that she'd never truly be enough for her father, her family, her race. Now wasn't the time for weeping, there would be plenty of time for that once the mission was over, and she found herself once more without a place to call home or people to call family. Unfortunately, Beja had no control over the fact that her Klingon ridges were only skin deep..

Words were not needed, and no real reason was expected from her, nor given out loud either. Her father and the Klingons could battle plan to attack an imagined enemy all they wanted. Beja did not intend to speculate for them about how to murder a newly discovered life-form.

She focused back onto the computer console and the Healy's odd behavior. The flashing lights were not operating in a normal navigational pattern. Even a cadet could have seen that. Beja ran the flashing patterns of the Healy's lights through the database to see if she could find any pattern recognition and code that had been used before. She assumed they were trying to communicate with them, she just couldn't figure out what they were saying by looking at them.

The flashing lights turned out to correspond to an ancient Klingon communication method where forces in the field would signal each other with shuttered lanterns. Beja read it a couple of times to be sure, and it started the same way each time.

"SoHvaD qaDta'bogh maH Hay' mounts!"

Why would the Healy be wanting to combat the Klingons? Had the Romulan somehow boarded the Healy and taken out the command staff? That would mean the crew would have been killed, as well. Beja couldn't see the crew giving up their ship, not unless it was pried from their cold dead hands as the old human saying stated.

Before Beja could even mention this outlandish communication from the Healy, they received a partial message, ".......stuck in sub space.....able ...detect....ships....something in the domain.." Once she had the subspace radio message for reference, she was able to correct syntax errors in the signaling lights. In short order, the full true message became clear.

Beja turned to report as had been requested of her to the Captain of the Nom Pach, "The Healy has messaged us letting us know they are also held in place by this subspace domain. They have detected the Romulan vessel, as well as the Kosst Holana, and the Nom Pach."

"What would you like me to report back to them, Captain Noh'ves?" Beja asked, while she researched human code communication, so she could make sure they responded in a way that the Healy would understand. Using the Klingon language and code would add to the communication issues.  There were enough tensions aboard the Nom Pach, they didn't need to add new ones.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Katra Station – Brauhaus Gamma – the day before]

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[Katra Station – Brauhaus Gamma – the day before]

Tess smiled widely and beckoned her father and brother over to them to sit on the bench with them. While Fabiano and Benjin moved over to Rayek and Tess, she pulled out a personal device from her pocket, with which you could take and send photos, videos and messages.

"Excuse me", she said to one of the waiters who was passing them by. The man stopped and turned to her. "Could you take a photo of us, please?" She handed him the device which he took. "Of course."

Fabiano had sat down next to Rayek while Benjin had placed himself next to his sister. Fabiano leaned in a little closer to Rayek while Benjin wrapped his arm around his sister and grinned as brightest grin into the camera. Tess laughed, her hand searching for Rayek's so she could hold his it.

"On three", the waiter said once all of them seemed to be ready. "One ... two ... three!"

Rayek twined his long fingers with hers, hidden from the camera's view by the table, and leaned his shoulder to hers and tried not to be concerned at the close proximity of Fabiano Moreno on his other side.  The Romulan looked to the waiter operating Tess' device, wondering if the unit was set to just two dimensional or if the 3D holo image had been selected.

At the countdown Rayek had to refrain from glancing to Tess and made sure he was smiling, Tess would appreciate that he thought. It wasn't hard to smile - all he had to do was think of Tess' delighted reaction earlier and one ached to settle on his lips.

The waiter took a set of three photos. Then handed back the camera to Tess at which point Rayek looked to Fabiano and Benjin.

"Would one of you mind taking a shot of just Tess and I?  We, as yet, don't have a couple's photo.". He glanced to Tess after stating this.  It was hard to imagine.  All the time they spent together and neither had thought to have taken a photo before now.

Benjin was eager to do the honors and snatched up the device before Fabiano could.  He took a few candid shots of them as Rayek was glancing to Tess and repositioning, placing his arm around Tess.  Then like the waiter, Benjin did a countdown for the 'official' photo.  "Say 'Cheese'!"

Rayek, having never heard that phrase before, drew his eyebrows down in perplexity at the request...cheese? "What!?"  Click!

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

[USS Healy – Bridge - present]

The second she turned away form Solluk and looked at Rayek it struck her what she just had said for everyone on the bridge to hear. She shock was apparent on her face. Crap. Glancing back to Rayek she looked at him apologetically, angry about her slip up.
When he spoke, commenting he didn't need an inhibitor because he was no Vulcan Tess felt her cheeks blush. Of course. But she knew it was all her own fault and Rayek was trying to fix things. "Oh- ... Of course, Commander, apologies", she said, making it sound like an amusing little mistake.

When he said he believed his arm was dislocated Tess lifted Rayek's arm carefully up and to the side, stopping when he indicated that it hurt. It was dislocated. Looking back over her shoulder she spoke to Jayce. "Ensign Fuller, I will need your assistance for a moment."

Looking back to Rayek she only needed a second to understand what he meant. "I will give you a strong analgesic", she confirmed, but of course it would be the inhibitor drug she would administer to him.

Tess had walked onto the bridge soon enough to catch Hrafn's explanation. In her bustle of treating Solluk and Rayek Tess almost missed the clue that was hidden there. If she thought her father was screaming because of something that caused the anomaly it could mean her father was here too – stuck in this anomaly with them.

The revelation hit her just as she was waiting for Jayce to join her and help setting Rayek's shoulder. "I need to use your console for a moment, Commander", she said and turned the device that mounted on the arm rest to face her. She quickly typed a message to Roberto.

Once sent she picked up on Hrafn's question and Solluk's reply. Of course nobody would be forced to wear an inhibitor. That was a given. But since Solluk made that clear, Tess didn't think she needed to repeat it or add anything to it. She walked over to the replicator and replicated a vial of the inhibitor drug. It wasn't her first choice since it could give adverse reactions but with Rayek's cure of the Pan'ar it should go well. Walking back to him she administered the hypo to him and then added another shot of analgesic.

In the meantime Jayce walked over to Tess and Rayek. "The Commander's shoulder is dislocated, we need to set it."

The hermaphrodite nodded, knowing what she was supposed to do. "Try to relax your shoulder as best as you can."

Both Tess and Jayce waited until Rayek signaled to them to be ready. Jayce placed themselves behind Rayek, holding his shoulder, ready to push back against it. Tess took hold of Rayek's arm, steading herself and yanked it in certain angle and controlled force while Jayce provided back pressure.

From Tess' expression and quick acceptance of his correction, he knew she'd realized her mistake.  She also seemed to understand his meaning about hypospray.  Yet before administering it she made an odd request to use his console to send a message to Padrini.  He of course allowed it.  Turning his attention at the time back to Hrafn and the Captain.

He paid special note of the Captain's comment about his remark about not endorsing suppressing abilities without consent.  He wondered if the comment was indirectly meant for him or more of a self regret since telepathic suppression was one of the stipulations required of  Numati delegate.

At Tess' return with two hypos in hand, Rayek smiled slightly and craned his head to the exposing his neck to her in invitation.  The hypospray could have just as easily been administered to his bicep, directly through his shirt even... but Rayek knew for a fact that she had a 'thing' for his neck and he wasn't above teasing her with it at every possible opportunity.

The relief wasn't exactly immediate as it would have been with the electronic inhibitor, but Rayek knew within a couple minutes any connection would be impossible. "Thank you, Doctor."

As Ensign Fuller moved in behind him and readied to apply back pressure for the procedure to pop his shoulder back into its' socket, Rayek focused on his breathing and tried to relax.  The analgesic helped with this, but he was still quite tense.  While he appreciated Tess recognizing that now was not a good time for him to leave the bridge, Rayek half wished this next part could be done someplace private.

He'd had two shoulder dislocations in the past, back when he'd been a junior officer in the Romulan Star Navy.  Both times the re-setting of the joint had been intensely painful when forced.

Since then, Rayek had seen how Federation medics did the procedure and it had never involved any significant amount of pain.  Ideally, this would be equally pain-free. Yet his past haunted him and Rayek subconsciously tensed up anticipating pain strong enough to elicit a scream - something he really didn't want to do in front of the Bridge crew.

Had he followed Tess' instruction and actually relaxed, there would have been next to no pain.  But at his nod, Rayek tensed even more and Tess' had to fight taut Romulan muscle and sinew to get the shoulder ball into position in the joint.  While the procedure was certainly less painful than the Romulan method of merely forcing it back into place, there was notable pain because of his resistance.

Rayek sucked in a sharp breath at the flare of nerve endings all firing at once around his shoulder.. then it was done.  All that remained was a dull ache of having had strained his muscles.  He let out a grateful sigh and nodded to Tess.  "That feels much better. Again... thank you."

With his shoulder seen to and no longer in pain.. and the inhibitor drug beginning to take effect - the feeling of thinking through molasses fading, Rayek tried to make sense of what Hrafn had said.   If he understood correctly, since leaving the Station she'd been receiving a telepathic connection - one that she believed was from her father.   Now, upon entry into this phenomenon that connection had increased.

Question was why? Why would it suddenly increase?  Or had it been increasing all along and she just hadn't noticed?   Did it have something to do with passing through the event horizon of whatever this phenomenon was?  And if it did... what did that mean? "Lieutenant Falleg, did the pain increase before we entered the area or just afterwards?"

Rayek looked over to Ops.  "What readings are we getting from the sensor probes ahead.  As suspected they didn't go far... but what are they picking up?  Are we getting anything from them or is even that short a distance too much for the comms to pick up?"

Rayek toyed with the idea of trying to send out a tethered probe but wasn't sure the data to be gained would be worth the  effort when the sensors in the ships hull were likely just as comparable.

He turned his attention ahead to Helm where Eli and Benjin sat. "Well, Mr. Ferris... were you able to back us away any?"  Rayek had been so focused on his treatment he hadn't paid attention the the Flight officer's activities.

[John Saxon]

[USS Healy - Main Bridge]

Seeing the forward probes' retarded motion scant meters from the launcher, John almost slammed his aged fists into the console. Clearly all forms of energy were being... Absorbed? Redirected? So while their failure gave them nothing by way of sensor analysis, it did still impart invaluable insight to the situation. On another screen, the aft probe launch was successful and without any undue impairment; he supposed the plan would be to turn their sensors back towards this anomaly, acting as substitute eyes that the forward pallets of the Healy was currently incapable of providing at complete operational efficiency.

But the forward probes' failure bothered him, not least that - from a Tactical perspective - one of the launchers was now somewhat blocked by a group of objects not far from the firing aperture. While the Healy had plenty of other offensive, albeit none currently conventional, options the currently the stressed shields meant that the old craft had much less advantage than usual - a loss of one launcher could mean the difference in a bunched up conflict; who knew how proficient the crew of the scout were in resolving the same situation they were clearly stuck with.

[Tess tLhoell]

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[Katra Station - Brauhaus Gamma - the day before]

Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Katra Station – Brauhaus Gamma – the day before]

Rayek twined his long fingers with hers, hidden from the camera's view by the table, and leaned his shoulder to hers and tried not to be concerned at the close proximity of Fabiano Moreno on his other side.  The Romulan looked to the waiter operating Tess' device, wondering if the unit was set to just two dimensional or if the 3D holo image had been selected.

At the countdown Rayek had to refrain from glancing to Tess and made sure he was smiling, Tess would appreciate that he thought. It wasn't hard to smile - all he had to do was think of Tess' delighted reaction earlier and one ached to settle on his lips.

The waiter took a set of three photos. Then handed back the camera to Tess at which point Rayek looked to Fabiano and Benjin.

"Would one of you mind taking a shot of just Tess and I?  We, as yet, don't have a couple's photo.". He glanced to Tess after stating this.  It was hard to imagine.  All the time they spent together and neither had thought to have taken a photo before now.

Benjin was eager to do the honors and snatched up the device before Fabiano could.  He took a few candid shots of them as Rayek was glancing to Tess and repositioning, placing his arm around Tess.  Then like the waiter, Benjin did a countdown for the 'official' photo.  "Say 'Cheese'!"

Rayek, having never heard that phrase before, drew his eyebrows down in perplexity at the request...cheese? "What!?"  Click!

Tess smiled when Rayek twined his fingers with hers and felt him lean in to her a little more. Tess waited for the waiter's mark and smiled the best smile she could manage. When getting the camera handed back she curiously called up the photos to take a look at them. It was awesome! Tess was so happy to have them.

It was while she was looking at the photos that she heard Rayek asking for them to take a photo of just him and Tess as a couple. She looked up at Rayek, smiling. He would want to take photos? Until now she had been refraining from taking pics of them because Saqa7 had once mentioned Rayek's aversion to being recorded so she thought it would be the same with having taken photos of him. That he suggested that himself now was awesome!

She felt someone snatching the camera from her and saw Benjin stepping back with it when she looked up. Fabiano moved away from Rayek's side so they had enough space to take the photo.

Tess moved to sit a little closer to him, smiling when he wrapped his arm around her. Leaning against him a bit, she rested her hand lightly on his thigh, their faces close to each other as they looked toward Benjin.

Tess already started to smile her photo smile, anticipating for Benjin to start the 'countdown' any moment. He did, using the old Terran way of getting everyone to smile in saying 'cheese'. She didn't think so much that Rayek could be unfamiliar with the custom and thus find it strange, that's why his confused 'What?' came completely unexpected. The moment was too comical and Tess started to laugh out loud, leaning forward a bit while she did, and Benjin too couldn't hold it back and laughed because additionally to that he saw the photo the camera took with Rayek's dumbfounded expression of confusion. Even Fabiano couldn't contain an amused grin from showing on his face.

Tess looked to Rayek, grinning. ,,Saying 'cheese' when a photo is taken of you is an old Terran custom, because saying the word makes your face look similar to a smile already", she explained to him.

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[USS Healy - Bridge - present]

[USS Healy – Bridge - present]

From Tess' expression and quick acceptance of his correction, he knew she'd realized her mistake.  She also seemed to understand his meaning about hypospray.  Yet before administering it she made an odd request to use his console to send a message to Padrini.  He of course allowed it.  Turning his attention at the time back to Hrafn and the Captain.

He paid special note of the Captain's comment about his remark about not endorsing suppressing abilities without consent.  He wondered if the comment was indirectly meant for him or more of a self regret since telepathic suppression was one of the stipulations required of  Numati delegate.

At Tess' return with two hypos in hand, Rayek smiled slightly and craned his head to the exposing his neck to her in invitation.  The hypospray could have just as easily been administered to his bicep, directly through his shirt even... but Rayek knew for a fact that she had a 'thing' for his neck and he wasn't above teasing her with it at every possible opportunity.

The relief wasn't exactly immediate as it would have been with the electronic inhibitor, but Rayek knew within a couple minutes any connection would be impossible. "Thank you, Doctor."

As Ensign Fuller moved in behind him and readied to apply back pressure for the procedure to pop his shoulder back into its' socket, Rayek focused on his breathing and tried to relax.  The analgesic helped with this, but he was still quite tense.  While he appreciated Tess recognizing that now was not a good time for him to leave the bridge, Rayek half wished this next part could be done someplace private.

He'd had two shoulder dislocations in the past, back when he'd been a junior officer in the Romulan Star Navy.  Both times the re-setting of the joint had been intensely painful when forced.

Since then, Rayek had seen how Federation medics did the procedure and it had never involved any significant amount of pain.  Ideally, this would be equally pain-free. Yet his past haunted him and Rayek subconsciously tensed up anticipating pain strong enough to elicit a scream - something he really didn't want to do in front of the Bridge crew.

Had he followed Tess' instruction and actually relaxed, there would have been next to no pain.  But at his nod, Rayek tensed even more and Tess' had to fight taut Romulan muscle and sinew to get the shoulder ball into position in the joint.  While the procedure was certainly less painful than the Romulan method of merely forcing it back into place, there was notable pain because of his resistance.

Rayek sucked in a sharp breath at the flare of nerve endings all firing at once around his shoulder.. then it was done.  All that remained was a dull ache of having had strained his muscles.  He let out a grateful sigh and nodded to Tess.  "That feels much better. Again... thank you."

With his shoulder seen to and no longer in pain.. and the inhibitor drug beginning to take effect - the feeling of thinking through molasses fading, Rayek tried to make sense of what Hrafn had said.   If he understood correctly, since leaving the Station she'd been receiving a telepathic connection - one that she believed was from her father.   Now, upon entry into this phenomenon that connection had increased.

Question was why? Why would it suddenly increase?  Or had it been increasing all along and she just hadn't noticed?   Did it have something to do with passing through the event horizon of whatever this phenomenon was?  And if it did... what did that mean? "Lieutenant Falleg, did the pain increase before we entered the area or just afterwards?"

Rayek looked over to Ops.  "What readings are we getting from the sensor probes ahead.  As suspected they did go far... but what are they picking up?  Are we getting anything from them or is even that short a distance too much for the comms to pick up?"

Rayek toyed with the idea of trying to send out a tethered probe but wasn't sure the data to be gained would be worth the  effort when the sensors in the ships hull were likely just as comparable.

He turned his attention ahead to Helm where Eli and Benjin sat. "Well, Mr. Ferris... were you able to back us away any?"[color]  Rayek had been so focused on his treatment he hadn't paid attention the the Flight officer's activities.

Tess had been asking Rayek to relax so it wouldn't hurt so much. Normally, in any other situation, she would have given him a muscle relaxant to make it even easier for him but that would leave him unfit for duty for several hours, something she couldn't do right now, she was aware of that. Rayek most likely would have rejected that anyway.

She waited patiently and when he nodded she counted ,,One, two, three", so Jayce would know when exactly she would pull so she could push back against his shoulder. On three, she yanked hard, knowing she'd need to pull hard to set his shoulder. She didn't expect him to tense a second before she would pull and thus didn't expect to meet such an amount of resistance to her yanking which made it harder for her to apply the proper amount of force – and she knew it would make it more painful for him. Luckily, she shoulder ball slid back into the joint anyway, but from Rayek's reaction she knew it didn't go as smooth as she had wanted it to.

,,I'm sorry", she said quietly to him for having hurt him. She knew it wasn't really her fault but she always apologized to patients when needing to hurt them. Medical treatment nowadays rarely was really painful anymore so she felt inclinced to do so when it didn't go that way for whatever reasons.

Hrafn needed to be seen to her knee and she turned to her after she was sure Rayek was good now. Grabbing her medical kit she moved over to the science officer while she thought she needed to find a solution for Hrafn's knee. It was unfortunate that none of her treatments had improved her knee issue the slightest bit. Tess was so far to recommend a replacement with an artificial knee joint.
What Tess normally would have done was administering an analgesic but Hrafn had already received that a couple of hours ago. Tess picked a hypospray and gave her another smaller shot of analgesic, then picked a small jar from the medkit. ,,This is a balm that will numb the pain a bit locally additionally to the analgesic." She then lowered her voice a bit as she looked up at Hrafn while she sat crouched down in front of her. ,,I can apply it right here for you or I can give this to you and you do it yourself whenever it is convenient for you."

In the meantime Ensign Fuller had moved over to John Saxon. The hermaphrodite flinched slightly when the aged man slammed his fist in obvious anger on the console. "Treating you real quick, Sir", Jayce announced and did so as she said, scanning the man's shoulder. ,,It's a sprain", she explained to him. ,,Unfortunately there is little I can do except treat the pain." She pulled a hypospray out of her medkit and administered it to him. ,,If possible try to favour the shoulder, sir."

[Solluk]

IKS Nom Pach - Bridge

Noh'Ves knew his daughter well enough to know when he had wounded her.  He did not understand her well enough to know exactly why.  But now was not the time to settle relationship issues.  The Healy was here.  Not fully embedded, but still trapped.  At least, though, they could now communicate.

If Tolec and Grom could not figure out the solution to their predicament, perhaps the Healy could.  Problem-solving was a favored trait of the Federation Starfleet.

"Tell them we have received their message.  Give them a status update on our own situation, which seems nearly identical to their own.  Tell them we are seeking a way to disrupt this realm, or break free from it, and ask them if they have insight."

He paused.  He should tell them about Beja's theory, that this place might be alive.  It could help them figure things out.  But if he did, then Starfleet ethics might keep them trapped here for days.

Or perhaps forever.

He understood enough of their prime directive to know that they would even sacrifice their lives for it.  If they determined that their entry into this domain represented an encroachment into some other species' rightful territory, they may very well be prepared to die rather than harm the native creature.  While that was a noble dedication to their ethics, it was also ludicrously foolish.  The best course would be to destroy this living space and then proceed to destroy or capture the Romulan ship.

"Also see if they can figure out a frequency or technique that will restore full function to the subspace radio.  This is all too haphazard for my liking."

He did not like passing his messages through another party.  Beja might be his daughter, but she was sworn to the same ideals as the officers on the Healy.  He knew she would not be keen to destroy a newly discovered species, even if it had seized their ship.  The sooner he could regain personal control of his communications, the less chance she would let her duty to Starfleet override her duty to her father... and let something slip that could wind up marooning them here.

[L'mar Camili Rhade]

[ Acting Ensign L'mar Rhade | Bridge, Deck 1 | Healy ]

He stood, and turned to face the interface table at the rear of the room.  "While that's going on, I'll need a quick diagnostic of all systems, Ensign.  Whatever has got ahold of us... it seems we are mostly functioning as normal within the ship.  But I'll feel better if what seems to be is confirmed to be."

It did seem odd they couldn't move and that time had frozen according to what the viewscreen displayed with the 3 ships unmoving and static weapons fire. L'mar recalled a similar event encountered by the Enterprise D where it was frozen in time with a Romulan Warbird, it turned out to be an interdimensional alien using the Romulan engine core as an offspring nursery which had disrupted the area's space with time bubbles.

"Aye sir," L'mar replied as he got to work on diagnostics. One thing he immediately did notice was that this particular instance, the anomaly was visible. There was a similar network of strands like this that had energy beings living in it and attempted to take the Enterprise D's crew's energy, but there was a distinct lack of life in this case, well as far as an engineer could tell. Maybe Sciences could if one presented itself.

Though what if they were inside a large space creature? L'mar shuddered at that thought and focused on the diagnostics, he only did level 1 and had almost immediate returns. All systems seemed responsive except combadges inside the anomaly. No wonder he'd seen an increase in hardline ODN activity, departments were using the internal text messenger system between saucer and engineering hulls. At least with half the ship outside they could still defend themselves if need be.

"Captain, combadges seem disrupted within the anomaly, the text messenger and hardline voice systems are functional and unaffected but one must use the corridor and replicator panels to do so." L'mar reported. He noticed that the aft subspace antenna works, "we are also able to send out a distress call if need be as one of the subspace antennae is outside the anomaly."

Generally communications was Operations as he knew but diagnostics was Engineering, though Operations personnel did them all the time. Everyone really was trained in the basic ones, and if those had satisfactory returns then no need to do anything higher.

He wondered why the anomaly was letting the people move about freely inside the ship but not penetrate the hull. L'mar imagined that the Sciences department would be looking into that as well. One question nagged him, is time frozen or simply moving at a crawl? And another question, why was it affecting telepathic species?

Clearly they had to get the ship out as soon as possible. L'mar began thinking about what he could do to get them out.

[Mike Corso]

Rayek looked over to Ops.  "What readings are we getting from the sensor probes ahead.  As suspected they did go far... but what are they picking up?  Are we getting anything from them or is even that short a distance too much for the comms to pick up?"

If Tolec and Grom could not figure out the solution to their predicament, perhaps the Healy could.  Problem-solving was a favored trait of the Federation Starfleet.

"Tell them we have received their message.  Give them a status update on our own situation, which seems nearly identical to their own.  Tell them we are seeking a way to disrupt this realm, or break free from it, and ask them if they have insight."

Bridge - USS Healy

"The probe's comm array is dealing with the same interference as our own systems," Ensign Corso had been monitoring the probe's troubled launch, "Let me see what I can do."

So far their attempts to brute force a connection with the Kosst Holana had been unsuccessful however their probe was much closer and designed to interface with a Federation starship's systems. Data corruption was inevitable, but Mike could program a subroutine that would repeatedly query the probe until the Healy received each component of the entire message. From the isolation of their own computer he'd then recompile the broadcast into something comprehensible.

While his reassembly of the probe's data finished compiling he listened to Ensign Rhade's report and tossed the felinoid a grateful nod. The knowledge that they could still get a message out comforted him. Whatever this anomaly was the Healy appeared to be wedged inside of it which was wreaking havoc on their instruments, but when Mike finally accessed the probe's records they painted a somewhat clearer picture.

"Preliminary telemetry from the...probe...sir..." he trailed off. Now that was interesting, "Commander, you should take a look at this."

Corso waited for Rayek to attend his station. He pointed out an analysis of the strange pulsing lights all around them.

"There's a pattern here. Does that waveform look natural to you?"

[Hrafn Falleg]

USS Healy - Bridge

Solluk contemplated the current situation in the light of Hrafn's belief that it might be her father out there, a telepathic influence impacting them all.  Not only did such a possibility create more complexity in an already complex situation, but it suggested that her father had telepathic abilities which were many orders of magnitude beyond what was typical.

For his own part, Solluk hadn't felt a telepathic presence at all.  Only the oppressive pressure and pain which encroached on his thoughts and muddled his mind.

"Thank you, Doctor," he said as Tess administered both a psionic blocker and analgesic.  The relief was almost immediate.  "That is... much better."

Upon reports that the signals had been sent, he nodded, "Now we wait and see if any of our labors bear fruit."

He was anxious to see what the probes might reveal, as well.  Although the situation was dire and its complexity was daunting, a small portion of his mind was delighted with the chance to discover something new, here.  They were in the middle of a phenomenon never before recorded.  At least insofar as he was aware.

Hrafn raised a concern about breaking her telepathic link, and Solluk turned to face her.  "If you are getting something beyond discomfort, it may be useful to maintain a connection.  But if all you are receiving is pain... well, I think I'd prefer to have you clear-headed rather than tortured.  That having been said, the final decision must be yours.  Suppressing people's abilities without their consent is not something I endorse."

[USS Healy - Bridge]

"Then with your permission Sir, Doctor, I'll do without.  Like I mentioned to Dr. Moreno earlier, it's entirely possible, since my father has contacted me this method once before, sans major headache, it may be two totally unrelated things, unfortunately manifesting themselves together, and since both seem to be telepathic-ability based..." Hrafn gave a wry smile and a slight shrug.

"My knee however, throw all the painkillers you can at that! Bashed the old injury on the way down I'm afraid, doctor! And I assure you Captain, I'm clear headed enough to still be on duty.  I've worked through worse pain levels than this, it's annoying, as you know yourself but I'm able to work with it.  To that end I've run a few things through the database, this isn't throwing up any results as far as this anomaly is concerned though, so I have telemetry recording direct to our database to monitor this, and for study later." the CSO said with an attempt at a reassuring smile.

[Eli Ferris]

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

[USS Healy - Deck One - Bridge - -present - stuck in the anomaly]

Despite the everpresent headache, Rayek focused his attention on the Captain's orders.  Probes - fore and aft.  Running lights for Morse Code and check into other code systems in relation to the Klingons and Bajorans.  And brute-force the comm signal through the deflector dish.  "Aye sir!"  he acknowledged then assigned tasks.   Grimacing when the Captain added in the contacting Medical.  He nodded.

"Saxon - probes fore and aft. Hrafn see about boosting that signal through the deflector dish. Mr. Corso I want you working the lights and finding a code the Klingons and the Kosst Holana will respond to.  Mr. Ferris.  See if we have the ability to back-up,  even just 5 meters. Don't take us out completely. I just want to know if we can back out or not."

That just left contacting Medical to himself.  Any excuse to talk to Tess.  Using his uninjured arm he tapped at his commbadge but much like the outgoing comms, internal comms were nothing by static.  Fvadt

Distractedly he listened as Solluk and  Hrafn discussed the possibility of there being a telepathic being ahead causing the headaches.  It was possible but he wasn't feeling a connection, more like a drain.   Rayek meanwhile was one-handed typing - with his off hand, after discovering that it seemed like the text message system was still functioning.  He was slower than usual at writing up the missive since his attention kept getting pulled to reports coming in about shield distortions..  attentuation of the graviton bubble...  so that by the time he was just about to hit send he noted in his inbound messages, one marked from Tess.  He opened it and read her message and sent the one he'd prepared as it answered her questions fairly well.

"Aye, sir, low power reverse will be attempted."

Eli adjusted the ship's engines, preparing to give a small impulse push in reverse, away from the subspace domain. It was clear that the gravimetric properties were going to make this difficult. He wasn't even confident if they could sustain a warp field stuck as they were.

Eli adjusted the power slightly, a minor modulation. His fingers were light and deft in slowly increasing the reverse thrust. The ship shuddered slightly, not as bad as their initial contact with the anomaly.

"Sir, there is no change in our position, not measurable anyway. Recommend waiting on probe telemetry."

Eli sat thoughtfully and looked up at Benjin. "Any thoughts, Cadet?" Eli felt it was a stressful situation for everyone and wanted to try to include Benjin in the discussion, to ease the nerves...maybe. Eli's mind was also imagining different release vectors. Going further in to the subspace domain seemed inadvisable, especially given the other ships being trapped. 

[Beja]

IKS Nom Pach - Bridge - Science Station

Beja nodded, and responded, "Yes Captain," when he had given his orders for the message to be sent to the Healy. She turned back to the computer console to send the message. Morse code had been what she opted to use. The Klingon dialect combined with the ancient lantern shuttering code couldn't have been used, the Healy's communication had showed it left too much confusion for them. The communication between the Nom Pach and the Healy couldn't be left with any confusion. She didn't want them to think they were asking for fresh fruit, no she needed them to understand the situation fully. It was a life and death matter for a newly discovered species after all.

Lieutenant Hrafn had used the morse code in the past, so Beja figured it would be the best option to use for everything to go through without any issues. That left the main issue: the message itself to be sent. She took a deep steady breath, before she typed out to the Healy in the morse code:

"The Nom Pach is currently being held in place. No time for a mounted duel. Is the Kosst Holana alright? Any word of wounded or injuries? Tell Captain Solluk, the subspace is a living, intelligent entity. The pulsing of the area is a form of communication from them. I have not been able to figure out the pattern yet. See if Lt. Hrafn can use her linguist expertise to find the pattern and communicate with the entity. I believe it is asking for help. Do not believe it is trying to harm, but rather seek assistance. If we cannot communicate with it soon, fear it may be harmed and destroyed. I await your response. Lt. j.g. Beja."

"Message has been sent. Awaiting their response," Beja informed her father, and did her best to ignore the pain that doubled inside her heart. She was sure it would be viewed as just another betrayal of her house, her family, her kind. But she was tired of slowly killing herself with being what other people wanted her to be. She had to be true to herself, and if that was not enough for her father, then she would happily do what is needed to make it right after. She had been willing to do that in the past, and he had said no. Times might have changed, he might welcome her stain being wiped from the family line, but that would have to wait.

Beja pushed the darker thoughts away from her mind, and turned towards K'mpoc and said, "Sir, we have not tested the transporter yet, request permission to transport a test object. If it is successful we can board the Romulan ship, and still win a victory."

[Jada]

[Bridge]

'...So, my statistical and probabilistic analyses of the transmissions along the filaments between the nodes shows that they aren't random, or even chaotic – in fact, they have a significant degree of mathematical structure.' s'Metra was explaining eagerly to Jada, showing off a PADD of data and Fourier transforms, as the two Orion cousins emerged from a turbolift onto the Bridge, crossing to a rear Science station. They tried not to bother the other officers. 'By applying information theory, I found they have a relatively low Shannon entropy—'

'In Low Kolari?' Jada asked impatiently, though she said it in Federation Standard English.

'It's information!' s'Metra exclaimed, turning to her,  blue eyes wide with excitement.

'Meaning what? This place is a computer, or it's alive?' Jada wondered, stunned but confused about the significance. She wished she knew all this physics stuff; she might not have the right answers, but she could at least be here to ask the right questions. She wanted to let herself get swept along with s'Metra's enthusiasm, to see the world without jaded eyes again. Had she ever?

Loading her data on screen, s'Metra shook her head. 'Maybe, maybe neither. Life is normally defined in terms of abilities to metabolise, to reproduce, be animated...'

'I know that.' Jada had spent some time at the Academy studying xeno-ecology and evolution, after all. She was not just a grunt like some made her out to be.

'Anyway, I can't tell that yet. But this subspace fold could be intelligent.

'Uh-uh. You can't sell me that, cuz. Intelligence needs an ability to perceive, process, and preserve information. A self-contained universe or subspace fold has no external environment to perceive, nothing to think about. And there's no ecology to evolve in.'

'Maybe not in this dimension. And the information is there. Under that theory, even a rock is intelligent because if you heat one side, heat information is received and transmitted across, and the other side gets hot and tells you about it by burning your hand. It's the basis for animism. This subspace fold steps it up a few dimensions and orders of magnitude. And now it's got to be perceiving us.'

'But to be so complex? I can't see how a subspace domain can exist within an ecosystem.'

'Astronomy shows that universes grow and die, that they consume smaller universes and can even reproduce by budding with new big bangs. Subspace domains clinging outside the space-time continuum could show similar behaviour, and they're always so complex and different every time they're encountered...'

'The baby universe stuck to the Tempest a few years ago...' Jada remembered, wishing she'd called for something other than destroying it. She had a few regrets. But someone had to play devil's advocate, just to spark some debate. And they had their own universe, not to mention their own ship, to protect from being engulfed.

'Do you think maybe it grew up?'

[Tess tLhoell]

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[USS Healy - Bridge]

With Hrafn's permission Tess rolled up the woman's trouser leg of her uniform, so much that she had access to her knee. She started to apply the gel that would additionally numb the spot and cool it down a bit.

When that was done Tess packed her stuff back into the medkit and took a quick look around to check if she had more patients to treat. It didn't appear like it. Her gaze wandered over to her brother and she had to fight the urge to walk over to him and check in on him.

NPC Cadet Benjin Moreno
[USS Healy - Bridge]

"Aye, sir, low power reverse will be attempted."

Eli adjusted the ship's engines, preparing to give a small impulse push in reverse, away from the subspace domain. It was clear that the gravimetric properties were going to make this difficult. He wasn't even confident if they could sustain a warp field stuck as they were.

Eli adjusted the power slightly, a minor modulation. His fingers were light and deft in slowly increasing the reverse thrust. The ship shuddered slightly, not as bad as their initial contact with the anomaly.

"Sir, there is no change in our position, not measurable anyway. Recommend waiting on probe telemetry."

Eli sat thoughtfully and looked up at Benjin. "Any thoughts, Cadet?" Eli felt it was a stressful situation for everyone and wanted to try to include Benjin in the discussion, to ease the nerves...maybe. Eli's mind was also imagining different release vectors. Going further in to the subspace domain seemed inadvisable, especially given the other ships being trapped.

Benjin watched attentively and noticed the deft and delicate handling of the flight control panel. He faltered, 'feeling' for any movements of the ship but it simply shuddered slightly and stayed where it was. Whatever it was, it had a firm grip on them.

Benjin had not expected to be asked to add his opinion, so he might look a little surprised at his superior officer, but he quickly regained his composure. He even sat a little more straight. "Um, I too would wait for the telemetry, Sir." He bit his lip - a sign of insecurity or nervousness. "Depending on the probe's results we might find ways to break free." Without the telemetry it was hard to say what they were dealing with actually.

[Hrafn Falleg]

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[USS Healy - Bridge]

With Hrafn's permission Tess rolled up the woman's trouser leg of her uniform, so much that she had access to her knee. She started to apply the gel that would additionally numb the spot and cool it down a bit.

When that was done Tess packed her stuff back into the medkit and took a quick look around to check if she had more patients to treat. It didn't appear like it. Her gaze wandered over to her brother and she had to fight the urge to walk over to him and check in on him.

NPC Cadet Benjin Moreno
[USS Healy - Bridge]

Benjin watched attentively and noticed the deft and delicate handling of the flight control panel. He faltered, 'feeling' for any movements of the ship but it simply shuddered slightly and stayed where it was. Whatever it was, it had a firm grip on them.

Benjin had not expected to be asked to add his opinion, so he might look a little surprised at his superior officer, but he quickly regained his composure. He even sat a little more straight. "Um, I too would wait for the telemetry, Sir." He bit his lip - a sign of insecurity or nervousness. "Depending on the probe's results we might find ways to break free." Without the telemetry it was hard to say what they were dealing with actually.

[Bridge - USS Healy]

"Ooooh cold!" Hrafn mock yelped when Tess put the gel on.  It was soothing though and the momentary attention to the knee drew away the pain of the head for a moment, which was interesting.

"Hey, I don't know if I should say this but, this stuff Dr. Moreno put on my knee.  Possibly because I was thinking of that for a while, seemed to help with my headache.  Would it do any harm to put on my temples?"

The CSO looked over at Benjin and smiled.  'Yup a true Scientist, that one!' she thought 'Waiting for any evidence before making assumptions.'

[Rayek trLhoell]

Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Katra Station - Brauhaus Gamma - the day before]

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[Katra Station - Brauhaus Gamma - the day before]

Tess already started to smile her photo smile, anticipating for Benjin to start the 'countdown' any moment. He did, using the old Terran way of getting everyone to smile in saying 'cheese'. She didn't think so much that Rayek could be unfamiliar with the custom and thus find it strange, that's why his confused 'What?' came completely unexpected. The moment was too comical and Tess started to laugh out loud, leaning forward a bit while she did, and Benjin too couldn't hold it back and laughed because additionally to that he saw the photo the camera took with Rayek's dumbfounded expression of confusion. Even Fabiano couldn't contain an amused grin from showing on his face.

Tess looked to Rayek, grinning. ,,Saying 'cheese' when a photo is taken of you is an old Terran custom, because saying the word makes your face look similar to a smile already", she explained to him.

Rayek's perplexed frown deepened, his forehead 'V' showing starkly as his brows furrowed as well.  Then Tess explained and Rayek tested the theory quietly to himself his lips saying a silent 'Cheese'. Sure enough the edges of his mouth lifted simulating a smile.  The realization caused an actual smile to form.  "I see."

He looked back towards Benjin.  "Once more." This time when the request to say cheese came Rayek followed instructions and happily called out the dairy product.  "Cheese!"

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

[ Acting Ensign L'mar Rhade | Bridge, Deck 1 | Healy ]

It did seem odd they couldn't move and that time had frozen according to what the viewscreen displayed with the 3 ships unmoving and static weapons fire. L'mar recalled a similar event encountered by the Enterprise D where it was frozen in time with a Romulan Warbird, it turned out to be an interdimensional alien using the Romulan engine core as an offspring nursery which had disrupted the area's space with time bubbles.

"Aye sir," L'mar replied as he got to work on diagnostics.

"Captain, combadges seem disrupted within the anomaly, the text messenger and hardline voice systems are functional and unaffected but one must use the corridor and replicator panels to do so." L'mar reported. He noticed that the aft subspace antenna works, "we are also able to send out a distress call if need be as one of the subspace antennae is outside the anomaly."

Ensign Rhade's report to the Captain confirmed what Rayek had suspected.  News that they had an antenna outside the anomaly could be useful, but not for sending a distress call - not yet.  Rayek couldn't see the Vulcan accepting defeat to the anomaly so easily or so early on.  This anomaly represented a chance to learn more about their universe.  Studying it and unraveling it's mysteries was all part of Starfleets mandate.   No. The Captain would give his crew the opportunity to learn about this phenomenon first hand.

So far it didn't seem to be a threat to the ship or crew.   In fact, it's timely appearance might be the only thing to have saved the Kosst Holana

Lt. Cmdr. Tess Moreno
[USS Healy - Bridge - present]

She waited patiently and when he nodded she counted ,,One, two, three", so Jayce would know when exactly she would pull so she could push back against his shoulder. On three, she yanked hard, knowing she'd need to pull hard to set his shoulder. She didn't expect him to tense a second before she would pull and thus didn't expect to meet such an amount of resistance to her yanking which made it harder for her to apply the proper amount of force – and she knew it would make it more painful for him. Luckily, she shoulder ball slid back into the joint anyway, but from Rayek's reaction she knew it didn't go as smooth as she had wanted it to.

,,I'm sorry", she said quietly to him for having hurt him. She knew it wasn't really her fault but she always apologized to patients when needing to hurt them. Medical treatment nowadays rarely was really painful anymore so she felt inclined to do so when it didn't go that way for whatever reasons.

Rayek wasn't sure what Tess was apologizing for. The procedure had been relatively painless in comparison to previous times he'd had his shoulder reset.   He shook his head and offered a slight brief smile meant for just Tess.  "No need for apologies, Doctor.  Thank you."

He circled his arm slowly, testing the shoulder joint... there was some slight tenderness, but even that was diminished by the analgesic she had given him.  "It's much better."

While she moved on to assist Hrafn, Rayek turned his attention to Eli who was attempting to back them out of the anomaly.

"Aye, sir, low power reverse will be attempted."

Eli adjusted the ship's engines, preparing to give a small impulse push in reverse, away from the subspace domain. It was clear that the gravimetric properties were going to make this difficult. He wasn't even confident if they could sustain a warp field stuck as they were.

Eli adjusted the power slightly, a minor modulation. His fingers were light and deft in slowly increasing the reverse thrust. The ship shuddered slightly, not as bad as their initial contact with the anomaly.

"Sir, there is no change in our position, not measurable anyway. Recommend waiting on probe telemetry."

Eli sat thoughtfully and looked up at Benjin. "Any thoughts, Cadet?" Eli felt it was a stressful situation for everyone and wanted to try to include Benjin in the discussion, to ease the nerves...maybe. Eli's mind was also imagining different release vectors. Going further in to the subspace domain seemed inadvisable, especially given the other ships being trapped.

The Flight officer's news, that the ship was unable to back out despite having their engine section free and clear of the anomaly, was not good.

Bridge - USS Healy

"The probe's comm array is dealing with the same interference as our own systems," Ensign Corso had been monitoring the probe's troubled launch, "Let me see what I can do."

So far their attempts to brute force a connection with the Kosst Holana had been unsuccessful however their probe was much closer and designed to interface with a Federation starship's systems. Data corruption was inevitable, but Mike could program a subroutine that would repeatedly query the probe until the Healy received each component of the entire message. From the isolation of their own computer he'd then recompile the broadcast into something comprehensible.

While his reassembly of the probe's data finished compiling he listened to Ensign Rhade's report and tossed the felinoid a grateful nod. The knowledge that they could still get a message out comforted him. Whatever this anomaly was the Healy appeared to be wedged inside of it which was wreaking havoc on their instruments, but when Mike finally accessed the probe's records they painted a somewhat clearer picture.

"Preliminary telemetry from the...probe...sir..." he trailed off. Now that was interesting, "Commander, you should take a look at this."

Corso waited for Rayek to attend his station. He pointed out an analysis of the strange pulsing lights all around them.

"There's a pattern here. Does that waveform look natural to you?"

At the Ensign's call for him to take a look, Rayek strode over to the Ops console and look the readings.

IKS Nom Pach - Bridge - Science Station

Beja nodded, and responded, "Yes Captain," when he had given his orders for the message to be sent to the Healy. She turned back to the computer console to send the message. Morse code had been what she opted to use. The Klingon dialect combined with the ancient lantern shuttering code couldn't have been used, the Healy's communication had showed it left too much confusion for them. The communication between the Nom Pach and the Healy couldn't be left with any confusion. She didn't want them to think they were asking for fresh fruit, no she needed them to understand the situation fully. It was a life and death matter for a newly discovered species after all.

Lieutenant Hrafn had used the morse code in the past, so Beja figured it would be the best option to use for everything to go through without any issues. That left the main issue: the message itself to be sent. She took a deep steady breath, before she typed out to the Healy in the morse code:

"The Nom Pach is currently being held in place. No time for a mounted duel. Is the Kosst Holana alright? Any word of wounded or injuries? Tell Captain Solluk, the subspace is a living, intelligent entity. The pulsing of the area is a form of communication from them. I have not been able to figure out the pattern yet. See if Lt. Hrafn can use her linguist expertise to find the pattern and communicate with the entity. I believe it is asking for help. Do not believe it is trying to harm, but rather seek assistance. If we cannot communicate with it soon, fear it may be harmed and destroyed. I await your response. Lt. j.g. Beja."

"Message has been sent. Awaiting their response," Beja informed her father, and did her best to ignore the pain that doubled inside her heart. She was sure it would be viewed as just another betrayal of her house, her family, her kind. But she was tired of slowly killing herself with being what other people wanted her to be. She had to be true to herself, and if that was not enough for her father, then she would happily do what is needed to make it right after. She had been willing to do that in the past, and he had said no. Times might have changed, he might welcome her stain being wiped from the family line, but that would have to wait.

Beja pushed the darker thoughts away from her mind, and turned towards K'mpoc and said, "Sir, we have not tested the transporter yet, request permission to transport a test object. If it is successful we can board the Romulan ship, and still win a victory."

It was at this time that Jada and s'Metra entered the Bridge seemingly discussing their own thoughts on the anomaly.

[Bridge]

'...So, my statistical and probabilistic analyses of the transmissions along the filaments between the nodes shows that they aren't random, or even chaotic – in fact, they have a significant degree of mathematical structure.' s'Metra was explaining eagerly to Jada, showing off a PADD of data and Fourier transforms, as the two Orion cousins emerged from a turbolift onto the Bridge, crossing to a rear Science station. They tried not to bother the other officers. 'By applying information theory, I found they have a relatively low Shannon entropy—'

'In Low Kolari?' Jada asked impatiently, though she said it in Federation Standard English.

'It's information!' s'Metra exclaimed, turning to her,  blue eyes wide with excitement.

'Meaning what? This place is a computer, or it's alive?' Jada wondered, stunned but confused about the significance. She wished she knew all this physics stuff; she might not have the right answers, but she could at least be here to ask the right questions. She wanted to let herself get swept along with s'Metra's enthusiasm, to see the world without jaded eyes again. Had she ever?

Loading her data on screen, s'Metra shook her head. 'Maybe, maybe neither. Life is normally defined in terms of abilities to metabolise, to reproduce, be animated...'

'I know that.' Jada had spent some time at the Academy studying xeno-ecology and evolution, after all. She was not just a grunt like some made her out to be.

'Anyway, I can't tell that yet. But this subspace fold could be intelligent.

'Uh-uh. You can't sell me that, cuz. Intelligence needs an ability to perceive, process, and preserve information. A self-contained universe or subspace fold has no external environment to perceive, nothing to think about. And there's no ecology to evolve in.'

'Maybe not in this dimension. And the information is there. Under that theory, even a rock is intelligent because if you heat one side, heat information is received and transmitted across, and the other side gets hot and tells you about it by burning your hand. It's the basis for animism. This subspace fold steps it up a few dimensions and orders of magnitude. And now it's got to be perceiving us.'

'But to be so complex? I can't see how a subspace domain can exist within an ecosystem.'

'Astronomy shows that universes grow and die, that they consume smaller universes and can even reproduce by budding with new big bangs. Subspace domains clinging outside the space-time continuum could show similar behaviour, and they're always so complex and different every time they're encountered...'

'The baby universe stuck to the Tempest a few years ago...' Jada remembered, wishing she'd called for something other than destroying it. She had a few regrets. But someone had to play devil's advocate, just to spark some debate. And they had their own universe, not to mention their own ship, to protect from being engulfed.

'Do you think maybe it grew up?'

As Rayek mulled over the readings, and read over the morse code received from Beja, Rayek couldn't help but overhear the two Orion women.  Seems that he, Beja and Corso weren't the only ones to interpret the pattern as suggestion of not just life but sentience.

"Captain. Counselor Beja has replied back using morse code.  She suggests that the subspace is some manner of living entity.  With the pulsating waveforms as form of communication. She message indicates she believes it is requesting assistance. "  If that were correct it was a manner of life rarely encountered - and it begged the question of at what point did the Prime Directive come into play.