Season 16: Episode 2: A Night at the Opera

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Discovery|Bridge|Vila mildly panicking}

The Bajoran ran herself through her lame breathing exercises to calm herself. Inhale-123-"picture a box in your head and breathe around it". Exhale-123...she nodded at McNair.

'Pologies, Lorut. I'll try not make that mistake again.

"I appreciate it. I forget that not everyone is aware of Bajoran customs," she explained. "Thank you for coordinating things." She looked around.

"Anyone else have news?" she asked. She paced a little-the movement helped her brain to slow down. She could visibly relax slightly. The danger was OUTSIDE. But outside was where the others were....she tapped her Comms as she moved about the Bridge in short steps, staring at the bulkheads as she did. It would appear that the woman had "checked out" but really, she was just repeating to herself some mantras common in Bajoran prayer. She wasn't spiritual or even religious, but she was learning to meditate. So far, it wasn't helping much.

=/\=Captain. News? She inquired in her usual nonchalant way. But at least she'd called him "Captain" this time instead of some insubordinate nickname, or "that man." Progress was slow but it was still progress...

[Rayek trLhoell]

EREWHON

(Malik, Hansen and Broadshire)
[Market Place]

[Ensign Lilly Hansen | Sec/Tac]

Lilly stayed close to Malik, her gaze alert as she scanned the surroundings. Once Malik sat down with the one named Candy, Lilly positioned herself in a seat nearby, close enough to catch every word of their conversation and intervene if necessary. She didn't trust this situation and was ready to act if things went south. Meanwhile, Dem had wandered off, leaving Lilly to be Malik's silent but watchful shadow.

As Lilly gazed about alertly she was approached by the same hologram who had greeted her at the transporter pad with the mai tai and lei earlier.  "Hello again.  Is there anything I can do to help fulfill your fantasies?"
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(Ramort, Lek, Tanner & Rayek)
[Erewhon - Library]

[Erewhon | In front of the Library]

Besides the sociological and medical implications there were legal too though. He wasn't sure about the current orders Star Fleet had issued regarding sentient cloning but if this was a human, turning to the away team he asked:

"If he is really a human being, how can we leave him here?"

[Erewhon | In front of the Library]

Lek's jaw dropped open at the revelation that the gardener was essentially a slave. There were many that disparaged Ferengi for their profit based society, but treating other sentients as property was not a feature of Ferengi history. Lek really didn't have words for the level of contempt he now had for Erewhon.

"This isn't right Lieutenant, but the Prime Directive will not let us stop this. All we can do is tag this planet as restricted to prevent business with the Federation. As someone with an understanding of business, the loss of revenue from being excluded from the worlds of the Federation is a powerful motivator to any organization that is profit based."

[Erewhon | In front of the Library]

Silently to make sure only his team could hear him he replied: "This feels just too terribly wrong. If he is cloned and was raised here, he does not even have a concept of freedom!"

A quiet, horrible voice in his head replying as he spoke.. Maybe this could be a mercy, if he does not know what he is missing, he can not long for it.

[Erewhon | In front of the Library]

Lek fully sympathized with the hyoomon, this planet was an embarrassment to sentience.

"You aren't wrong Lieutenant, I'm going to need a shower get the stench of this planet off me when we get back to the ship."

Lek turned to face Rayek with a pointed expression.

"Please tell me we're done here and can go."

Human clones kept as a labour force certainly was not a pleasant situation to find themselves encountering, however to Rayek's experience it certainly wasn't the worst.  Yet the shocked expressions of both Ramort and Lek suggested that it might be for them.

When Ramort questioned, about getting involved, Rayek was grateful Lek spoke up first to answer.  These sorts of 'ethical' situations were often a grey area for Rayek, who grew up with a completely different world view of what was acceptable and morale.  Enslaving other civilizations had been standard practice within the Romulan Star Empire.  "Unfortunately, Lek is correct."

At Lek's pointed look and plea, Rayek nodded.  "That would seem to be appropriate." As he spoke to Lek, he directed his gaze towards Tanner. "While Lieutenant Lachlyn informs the other team to return to the transport area, I'd like you to contact the ship and update the Captain.  I'll speak with our guide and come up with a suitable excuse for our leave-taking.  Ramort, I'd like your attention focused on those papers.  While we aren't able to see it, there obviously is some manner writing on it. Find a way to make it visible."

Rayek hoped that by giving each member of the team a task he might avoid one of them doing something reckless in regards to the human clones.

[James Ramort]

[Erewhon - In front of the Library]

Having a task was good, it gave Ramort something to focus on, something to keep his mind from wandering back to the poor Groundkeeper. To a live spend in servitude to an uncaring alien race, being cloned for entertainment sake only.

What would happen to this person should this place ever shut down? Would they relocate their clones? Would they release them? Or would they...

There was no point in wondering, no point in asking questions he could never get answers too, or in some cases hoped to not receive answers. In case the more grim possibilities actually manifested.

The papers in his hands felt like regular paper. Chemically bleached sheets of cellulose fibres and pressed to a weight of 190 g per square meter he guessed. Quality paper but archaic in the age of screens and holographic projections.

He pulled out his, probably modified, Tricorder. His theory being that if the aliens indeed figured the letters should be legible, the fundamental principal used for this Methode of awareness would not be altered by their alterations to the Tricorder as they should have guessed he could have verified its function in this aspect easily enough that any tampering would be discovered too soon.

The possibilities were manifold as for what he was looking for. Easiest to eliminate were freak electromagnetic frequencies. The Tricorder reconfigured to scan for pigments absorbing stray frequencies.

Another possibility were radioactive elements. It would be strange to have developed a script based decaying isotopes but if the right pigments were used it would allow for a script readable through the depths of night or even limited material coverings.

Lastly, and he hoped this one would not turn out anything, he imagined a system of localised subspace displacement. If this species running this space had either developed or adapted to an environment with overlapping subspace regions they might have created a system to record their knowledge and thus their script in localised subspace bubbles, outside the eroding forces of this universe, and able to peer into these bubbles through some kind of adapted visual organ. If this would be proven true though it would have wide ranging implications as to their control over spatial dimensions, which would place them at a pretty worse spot to be in. If the aliens wished to isolate them from the surrounding world or even each other, they would be powerless to act against this without highly specialised equipment.
He really hoped it wasn't so but a previously unknown feeling of claustrophobia began to take hold in his gut. Even the possibility was chilling to imagine.

[Tekin Nevir]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck nodded, realising that he had made a mistake. "'Pologies, Lorut. I'll try not make that mistake again."

He went back to check on the status of the probe that he had sent out, his brow furrowing more as it glitched and crackled. "McNair to Ensign Kedan, confirm if the probe readings playing up for yourselves as well?"

{USS Discovery|Bridge|Vila mildly panicking}

The Bajoran ran herself through her lame breathing exercises to calm herself. Inhale-123-"picture a box in your head and breathe around it". Exhale-123...she nodded at McNair.

"I appreciate it. I forget that not everyone is aware of Bajoran customs," she explained. "Thank you for coordinating things." She looked around.

"Anyone else have news?" she asked. She paced a little-the movement helped her brain to slow down. She could visibly relax slightly. The danger was OUTSIDE. But outside was where the others were....she tapped her Comms as she moved about the Bridge in short steps, staring at the bulkheads as she did. It would appear that the woman had "checked out" but really, she was just repeating to herself some mantras common in Bajoran prayer. She wasn't spiritual or even religious, but she was learning to meditate. So far, it wasn't helping much.

=/\=Captain. News? She inquired in her usual nonchalant way. But at least she'd called him "Captain" this time instead of some insubordinate nickname, or "that man." Progress was slow but it was still progress...

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain stared at the monitor's readouts.  Bands and waves, numbers scrolling past while the probe functioned the best it could as it shields degraded and then fell.  It didn't seem very long at all until the systems fried and it stopped transmitting. There was a pattern... weird... unstable... but a pattern nonetheless.

With that, the Captain turned off the monitor and walked back to the Bridge as the call from Lorut came through. Instead of answering her, he walked out of the doors onto the bridge.

"Most people would love a chance at the big chair... you look about as comfortable as a little girl in her father's chair.  You can return to your station." he commented, walking over to take his place.

"There is a pattern... the radiation wasn't always at this level, and before the probe died it was showing a decrease.  I think this binary system is showing a fluxuating mixture of radiation and particles.  Increasing and decreasing... like a tide.  A radiation tide.  There is some sort of reaction that is taking place that is creating exotic particles.  We need to isolate what it is and what we can do.  Mr McNair, run a spectro-analysis of the radiation.  See what it is made of."

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Discovery|Bridge}

Vila had managed to settle down a little when the Captain appeared again.

Most people would love a chance at the big chair... you look about as comfortable as a little girl in her father's chair.  You can return to your station...There is a pattern... the radiation wasn't always at this level, and before the probe died it was showing a decrease.  I think this binary system is showing a fluxuating mixture of radiation and particles.  Increasing and decreasing... like a tide.  A radiation tide.  There is some sort of reaction that is taking place that is creating exotic particles.  We need to isolate what it is and what we can do.  Mr McNair, run a spectro-analysis of the radiation.  See what it is made of.

"I'm not most people, Sir," she said. Even in the Militia, she'd never had goals for command. She didn't mind being a low-level operative, free to build hand grenades and fire at Cardassians away from the probing eyes of higher-ups. Someday, department head would be nice, but she'd never captain a ship. Never mind that she was old, it just wasn't in her plans. Of course, joining Starfleet had never been...really. Nothing that had happened to her in her adult life had gone to plan. She just hadn't yet realized that maybe it was time to stop making plans.

"I will continue to run monitors. The buoys are holding....but we've lost any contact with even the Commander-his earpiece doesn't work out there," Vila shared. It was a bit of concern-not so much for the man himself, but for the situation. She felt useless without the distractions of combat situations. She was trying to remind herself that it was a first-contact situation anyway, and (hopefully) no combat would be missed, but still.

She settled back into the Ops console. "I'll send it to your view screen, sir," she said. 

[James Ramort]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck nodded, realising that he had made a mistake. "'Pologies, Lorut. I'll try not make that mistake again."

He went back to check on the status of the probe that he had sent out, his brow furrowing more as it glitched and crackled. "McNair to Ensign Kedan, confirm if the probe readings playing up for yourselves as well?"

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Forward Sensor Module Control chamber]

The Forcefields all through the section were making moving in this part of the Ship quite hard for Kedan. While running, constantly needing to check if there was a wall of energy waiting for him around the next corner to slam into, which only happened to him twice, although his bruises were telling another story to his head.

Rushing through another plume of smoke emanating from a broken coolant line in the floor, he finally reached the door of the Forward sensor Control Chamber. A room usually only frequented by Engineers to perform maintenance. Now though a quick realignment was in need and with all hands busy keeping the ship from exploding it fell upon whomever was available. As sensors were part of basic Science Training, Kedan was as fit to perform this as any other member of the crew.

Behind the door, the sensor apparatus was attached directly to the inner hull, its fragile head reaching even into the plating of the exterior hull to capture full spectrum data from the surrounding space. It was just one of the sensor nodes the ship had, but if one was out of alignment it was enough to taint the data for all of them.
Using the integrated console, he called up the current read-outs and alignment, a long list of parameters presented itself, deviations from expected values resulting in multiple of them having turned red.

After a quick minute of work, all parameters were configured to what he knew to be the correct alterations from Labs Main readouts. The Forward Sensor cluster now working once gain, he tapped into the live sensor readout when he received a call from the Bridge.

"Can confirm, the readings seem erratic. I have lost contact to the probe, but the sensors are still spewing out nonsense data. The star seems to be bumping, and the radiation is messing around in upper energy bands. Is there any way we could get some additional computing power directed to the Sensors, maybe that could help us cut through the noise in the data?"

[Erewhon - In front of the Library]

Having a task was good, it gave Ramort something to focus on, something to keep his mind from wandering back to the poor Groundkeeper. To a live spend in servitude to an uncaring alien race, being cloned for entertainment sake only.

What would happen to this person should this place ever shut down? Would they relocate their clones? Would they release them? Or would they...

There was no point in wondering, no point in asking questions he could never get answers too, or in some cases hoped to not receive answers. In case the more grim possibilities actually manifested.

The papers in his hands felt like regular paper. Chemically bleached sheets of cellulose fibres and pressed to a weight of 190 g per square meter he guessed. Quality paper but archaic in the age of screens and holographic projections.

He pulled out his, probably modified, Tricorder. His theory being that if the aliens indeed figured the letters should be legible, the fundamental principal used for this Methode of awareness would not be altered by their alterations to the Tricorder as they should have guessed he could have verified its function in this aspect easily enough that any tampering would be discovered too soon.

The possibilities were manifold as for what he was looking for. Easiest to eliminate were freak electromagnetic frequencies. The Tricorder reconfigured to scan for pigments absorbing stray frequencies.

Another possibility were radioactive elements. It would be strange to have developed a script based decaying isotopes but if the right pigments were used it would allow for a script readable through the depths of night or even limited material coverings.

Lastly, and he hoped this one would not turn out anything, he imagined a system of localised subspace displacement. If this species running this space had either developed or adapted to an environment with overlapping subspace regions they might have created a system to record their knowledge and thus their script in localised subspace bubbles, outside the eroding forces of this universe, and able to peer into these bubbles through some kind of adapted visual organ. If this would be proven true though it would have wide ranging implications as to their control over spatial dimensions, which would place them at a pretty worse spot to be in. If the aliens wished to isolate them from the surrounding world or even each other, they would be powerless to act against this without highly specialised equipment.
He really hoped it wasn't so but a previously unknown feeling of claustrophobia began to take hold in his gut. Even the possibility was chilling to imagine.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[Erewhon - In front of the Library -> City Square]

First, the Geiger Meter returned a result. There were slightly elevated levels, maybe residuals traces of their replication process or by-products of their power grid. Not nearly enough to be caused by a large scale script language in need of the emission of radioactive particles. The pages also contained not traces with higher Geiger counts than the surrounding simulation.

At least they produced some radioactive response, meaning they indeed had been replicated using some unknown alien technology. If they were mere holographic representations for attached virtual concepts, understanding them without additional equipment would have been nearly impossible for them.

The relative gravitational and space topography sensors also returned no results, the possibility of localised subspace field thus also eliminated.

Ramort let out a sigh in relief, those too would have been hell to deal with without specialised tools and access to a powerful computer.

This only left the option for stray and freak frequencies.

He turned the Tricorder to emit and check for reabsorption in all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum it was capable of producing.

Lifting his head for a second, he took a minute to look around. So far he had only been looking around, but now he saw they had entered a small street. Restaurants in white plastered buildings lining the sides with multiple customers enjoying what looked like classic earth foods at sitting arrangements that had spelled over on to the side walk.

Under the shadow provided by some bushes and parasols, he noticed two shapes in particular. Both appeared human but wore the very same wristbands the away team and the other guests had been issued.

Once again turning to the pile of paper in his hands, the asked the others:

"Please make sure I don't accidentally run into any chairs or more guests, it is hard to both check the papers and look ahead while walking."

[Lek]

(Ramort, Lek, Tanner & Rayek)
[Erewhon - Library]

Human clones kept as a labour force certainly was not a pleasant situation to find themselves encountering, however to Rayek's experience it certainly wasn't the worst.  Yet the shocked expressions of both Ramort and Lek suggested that it might be for them.

When Ramort questioned, about getting involved, Rayek was grateful Lek spoke up first to answer.  These sorts of 'ethical' situations were often a grey area for Rayek, who grew up with a completely different world view of what was acceptable and morale.  Enslaving other civilizations had been standard practice within the Romulan Star Empire.  "Unfortunately, Lek is correct."

At Lek's pointed look and plea, Rayek nodded.  "That would seem to be appropriate." As he spoke to Lek, he directed his gaze towards Tanner. "While Lieutenant Lachlyn informs the other team to return to the transport area, I'd like you to contact the ship and update the Captain.  I'll speak with our guide and come up with a suitable excuse for our leave-taking.  Ramort, I'd like your attention focused on those papers.  While we aren't able to see it, there obviously is some manner writing on it. Find a way to make it visible."

Rayek hoped that by giving each member of the team a task he might avoid one of them doing something reckless in regards to the human clones.

[Erewhon - Library]

Lek nodded to Rayek and stepped away to try to contact the ship. He was greatly relieved to be leaving this planet, its very existence was an affront to his thoughts on business and morals, he couldn't leave soon enough. He pulled out the antiquated looking communication device he'd been given and hoped the ship would be able to hear him.

  "Lek to Discovery, Lek to Discovery. Come in please."

[Malik Grippen]

EREWHON

(Malik, Hansen and Broadshire)
[Market Place]

The waitress smiled pleasantly towards Malik.  "Oh?" She seemed surprised looking towards the hologram a bit uncertainly, but when Candy sat down smiling when Malik had gestured for her to take a seat, the waitress down. "Of course, sir.  First, what would you like to drink? ?"

After he gave her his order,  she slipped away to the back of the restaurant for a moment before returning with the drinks.

She had a glass of water with a lemon wedge. "I'm not too sure how I can be of help. Your guide should be able to answer any of your questions better than I."
.
.

[Erewhon]

Malik ordered just a sparkling water. He was still keen to learn how a human had ended up here of all places.

"I'm commander Grippen. And you?" After she had answered, he continued. "So you appear human, how did you end up here of all places? It's a bit far from Earth isn't it. And not part of the Federation either. It's unusual to encounter humans outside of the Federation."

[Buck McNair]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

"There is a pattern... the radiation wasn't always at this level, and before the probe died it was showing a decrease.  I think this binary system is showing a fluxuating mixture of radiation and particles.  Increasing and decreasing... like a tide.  A radiation tide.  There is some sort of reaction that is taking place that is creating exotic particles.  We need to isolate what it is and what we can do.  Mr McNair, run a spectro-analysis of the radiation.  See what it is made of."

The captain had returned to the bridge, the order restored as Lorut returned to the operations station - Buck moved out of the way and gave the space as he looked up and nodded at the next bit of direction, "Aye, captain." He glanced over at Vila before cracking on with making sure that the spectro-analysis was going correctly. The probe was still playing up but he hoped that a deeper dive would come back with something more concrete.

"Can confirm, the readings seem erratic. I have lost contact to the probe, but the sensors are still spewing out nonsense data. The star seems to be bumping, and the radiation is messing around in upper energy bands. Is there any way we could get some additional computing power directed to the Sensors, maybe that could help us cut through the noise in the data?"

Ensign Kedan had been quick on the uptake, confirming his suspicions and raising his curiosity.

He had been working on making sure things were running smoothly with the probe and them losing connection and contact was problematic. Buck leaned back in his seat as he waited for the results of the star coming through.

"Hyper-Energons..." Why did that sound familiar? He must have heard that phrase before but it was a while away. Hyper-Energons, subquantum particles AND chrono-detenators? A deadly combination and he was certain that the ensign could confirm his suspicions that the star system shouldn't be able to function with the combination of the amount of energies clashing with their vessel.

Ensign Kedar, I am patching through the results from the probe that we have obtained. Confirm to me that I'm reading these correctly. Surely the star system shouldn't be able to exist. 

[Rayek trLhoell]

EREWHON

(Malik, Hansen and Broadshire)
[Market Place]

[Erewhon]

Malik ordered just a sparkling water. He was still keen to learn how a human had ended up here of all places.

"I'm commander Grippen. And you?" After she had answered, he continued. "So you appear human, how did you end up here of all places? It's a bit far from Earth isn't it. And not part of the Federation either. It's unusual to encounter humans outside of the Federation."

The waitress, having sat down hesitantly across from him,  seemed even more uncertain at Malik's introduction but responded with her own name.  "My name's Tammy"

She looked perplexed at his odd questioning. "I'm not sure what you mean... I am human and this is Earth." she stated.   "What do you mean by Federation?"
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(Ramort, Lek, Tanner & Rayek)
[Erewhon - Library]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[Erewhon - In front of the Library -> City Square]

Lifting his head for a second, he took a minute to look around. So far he had only been looking around, but now he saw they had entered a small street. Restaurants in white plastered buildings lining the sides with multiple customers enjoying what looked like classic earth foods at sitting arrangements that had spelled over on to the side walk.

Under the shadow provided by some bushes and parasols, he noticed two shapes in particular. Both appeared human but wore the very same wristbands the away team and the other guests had been issued.

Once again turning to the pile of paper in his hands, the asked the others:

"Please make sure I don't accidentally run into any chairs or more guests, it is hard to both check the papers and look ahead while walking."

Rayek, hearing Ramort's request, glanced back from his spot at T'Sana's side to see if any of the other team members would move to assist the Science officer.   He noted Lek a short distance away attempting to make contact with the ship, and figured Lachlyn would be similarly distracted reaching out to Malik and the other half of the Away Team, so the Romulan dropped back and adjusted his stride to match Ramort's pace for the moment.

Their guide, T'Sana, noting this drop back slowed her own pace by a quarter to make traversing the City Square less of a challenge for the distracted officers.

[James Ramort]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

The captain had returned to the bridge, the order restored as Lorut returned to the operations station - Buck moved out of the way and gave the space as he looked up and nodded at the next bit of direction, "Aye, captain." He glanced over at Vila before cracking on with making sure that the spectro-analysis was going correctly. The probe was still playing up but he hoped that a deeper dive would come back with something more concrete.

Ensign Kedan had been quick on the uptake, confirming his suspicions and raising his curiosity.

He had been working on making sure things were running smoothly with the probe and them losing connection and contact was problematic. Buck leaned back in his seat as he waited for the results of the star coming through.

"Hyper-Energons..." Why did that sound familiar? He must have heard that phrase before but it was a while away. Hyper-Energons, subquantum particles AND chrono-detenators? A deadly combination and he was certain that the ensign could confirm his suspicions that the star system shouldn't be able to function with the combination of the amount of energies clashing with their vessel.

Ensign Kedar, I am patching through the results from the probe that we have obtained. Confirm to me that I'm reading these correctly. Surely the star system shouldn't be able to exist. 

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Forward Sensor Module Control Chamber]

As there was no real workstation in the Sensor Nexus, and he only had a PADD with limited processing capabilities with him, the Computer redirected the incoming data to the maintenance panel on the wall, supplanting energy readouts with complex mathematical depictions of the movements of astral bodies and databases worth of energy readings.

Applying some quick algorithms he drew from the Main Lab computer's database, he tried to make sense of the Data.

"I should have taken that additional seminar on system theory.", he mumbled to himself.

After giving the Computer a couple of seconds to bring order to the chaotic system, some patters were revealed. Or better, the parts were revealed that broke the pattern. The energy bands spiking in places where there really should be anything.
There also were some instabilities in the quantum bands. These were more understandable to him. Those related to material properties. Something he understood.

" Kedan to Bridge, I am seeing some strange quantum fluctuations here. Maybe these are somehow related to this. Without additional resources, it's hard to say. They might be responsible for the issues I am having with the sensors down here. If the molecular bands in our equipment are subjected to these frequencies, it could cause all kinds of problems. Are you detecting any similar problems on the ship? "

[James Ramort]

[Crewman Katerine Galven]
[USS Discovery | Deck 12 | Access Corridor 14]

Kat was pretty busy holding her part of the ship together. With main power gone unexpectedly, there was too much strain on too many important systems, and there were also far too many noises that shouldn't be there.

Next to her, Petty Officer Kane worked on a distribution node, trying to reroute power to the Shields. Usually he would tease her right now. Make fun of her jumpiness, today was different. The atmosphere felt tense. She held a Coil spanner, trying to bring the power phase back into alignment. It was tricky, for whenever she fought she had it fixed, the flow just seemed to shift. Sometimes the plasma seemed to get randomly excited, sometimes it was as if the controlling circuits just glitched suddenly.

Her feelings had always been sensitive to her surroundings, earning her many a nickname, many times they had been so without leading to anything. Today was different.

It was a quick fizzling sound, followed by the intense smell of burned meat. Then the sound of something dripping. Some liquid and something which should not have been liquid.
Fearing the worst, she turned around. Kane was still behind here. His hands placed firmly on the panel. But where there should be a line separating the two, burned flash was flowing into exposed plasma, the protective panel having been blown away by whatever has happened to the distribution node.

For a second she thought about screaming, then training reasserted itself:

" Ops, Engineering, Medical whoever can hear me we need help. There was an accident in Access Corridor 14, someone cut power, someone sent help! Quickly! "

Forced to watch helplessly as power cursed through him, she could no longer bear it and rushed towards a medical kit in the main corridor, not that it would be able to do much, given she could not even touch him at the moment, but it gave her the feeling to do something at least.

[Ensign Lilly Hansen | Sec/Tac]

Lilly stayed close to Malik, her gaze alert as she scanned the surroundings. Once Malik sat down with the one named Candy, Lilly positioned herself in a seat nearby, close enough to catch every word of their conversation and intervene if necessary. She didn't trust this situation and was ready to act if things went south. Meanwhile, Dem had wandered off, leaving Lilly to be Malik's silent but watchful shadow.

[Erewhon | Market Place | Café]

As Lilly sat down, a server soon approached her. He had dark hair and was wearing an carefully ironed white shirt under a black apron. Both absolutely spotless. On one hand balancing a tablet with two cups filled with what seemed to be coffee, each a little caramel biscuit at its side, in the other holding a large menu, clad in thick red leather and held together by brass metal clams.

"Welcome Madame to the Palazzo del Caffè, may I present you with our Card?"

Holding out the leather-bound card as he spoke.
The cover embossed with elegant golden letters and a stylized plume emanating from a cup in front of a series of buildings which bore a striking resemblance to the surrounding market.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[Erewhon | On Route to the Transport Site]

As their group moved through the Street and his Tricorder still busy with running through every electromagnetic frequency available to its instruments, he took a second to glance up.

The sun far above him was painting dancing rays across the buildings to their sides, creating an actually quite pleasant atmosphere. If only he didn't know what was under the surface. If only they didn't employ humans, if only they weren't actively cloning them.
Every second he ever had spent in bio-ethics class was screaming from within his conscious to do something, but he only could continue walking.

His brooding thoughts suddenly being disrupted by a most peculiar sight.

A bit further down the street, a small group had assembled around a fire hydrant. Outwardly they looked like humans, but each one of them were wearing wristbands. Except for a person at the centre of the group who carried a small stick with a number attached to the top of it.

As they got closer, he was able to make out some of the words spoken in the group.

"..for booking our guided earth tour. We will begin this unique experience by taking a look at a most peculiar specimen of authentic earth technology. To prevent their cities from burning down, humans invented so-called Hydrants. Valves in the ground, laid out only to be used to unleash fountains of water to spray onto flames while..."

The Group seemingly deeply fascinated, one of them, an older man with a khaki shirt and wearing what looked like pith helmet, even daringly piking the metal hydrant at the side of the road.
Two more taking out Polaroid cameras to capture the daring stunt onto plastic.

His thoughts once again were disrupted by an audible ping from his Tricorder. It had finished its series and found something.

[Lilly Hansen]

[Erewhon | Market Place | Café]

As Lilly sat down, a server soon approached her. He had dark hair and was wearing an carefully ironed white shirt under a black apron. Both absolutely spotless. On one hand balancing a tablet with two cups filled with what seemed to be coffee, each a little caramel biscuit at its side, in the other holding a large menu, clad in thick red leather and held together by brass metal clams.

"Welcome Madame to the Palazzo del Caffè, may I present you with our Card?"

Holding out the leather-bound card as he spoke.
The cover embossed with elegant golden letters and a stylized plume emanating from a cup in front of a series of buildings which bore a striking resemblance to the surrounding market.

[Ensign Lilly Hansen | Sec/Tac | Erewhon | Market Place | Café]

Lilly was not really in the mood when the nicely dressed man had brought what looked to be a very good food, but Lilly didn´t want to partake.

"Welcome Madame to the Palazzo del Caffè, may I present you with our Card?"

Lilly thought long and hard about that. And finally made a choice. ¨Sure, So, How dose this work?¨ Lilly asked as she took the card.

[Tekin Nevir]

{USS Discovery|Bridge}

Vila had managed to settle down a little when the Captain appeared again.

"I'm not most people, Sir," she said. Even in the Militia, she'd never had goals for command. She didn't mind being a low-level operative, free to build hand grenades and fire at Cardassians away from the probing eyes of higher-ups. Someday, department head would be nice, but she'd never captain a ship. Never mind that she was old, it just wasn't in her plans. Of course, joining Starfleet had never been...really. Nothing that had happened to her in her adult life had gone to plan. She just hadn't yet realized that maybe it was time to stop making plans.

"I will continue to run monitors. The buoys are holding....but we've lost any contact with even the Commander-his earpiece doesn't work out there," Vila shared. It was a bit of concern-not so much for the man himself, but for the situation. She felt useless without the distractions of combat situations. She was trying to remind herself that it was a first-contact situation anyway, and (hopefully) no combat would be missed, but still.

She settled back into the Ops console. "I'll send it to your view screen, sir," she said.

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

The captain had returned to the bridge, the order restored as Lorut returned to the operations station - Buck moved out of the way and gave the space as he looked up and nodded at the next bit of direction, "Aye, captain." He glanced over at Vila before cracking on with making sure that the spectro-analysis was going correctly. The probe was still playing up but he hoped that a deeper dive would come back with something more concrete.

Ensign Kedan had been quick on the uptake, confirming his suspicions and raising his curiosity.

He had been working on making sure things were running smoothly with the probe and them losing connection and contact was problematic. Buck leaned back in his seat as he waited for the results of the star coming through.

"Hyper-Energons..." Why did that sound familiar? He must have heard that phrase before but it was a while away. Hyper-Energons, subquantum particles AND chrono-detenators? A deadly combination and he was certain that the ensign could confirm his suspicions that the star system shouldn't be able to function with the combination of the amount of energies clashing with their vessel.

Ensign Kedar, I am patching through the results from the probe that we have obtained. Confirm to me that I'm reading these correctly. Surely the star system shouldn't be able to exist. 

[Erewhon - Library]

Lek nodded to Rayek and stepped away to try to contact the ship. He was greatly relieved to be leaving this planet, its very existence was an affront to his thoughts on business and morals, he couldn't leave soon enough. He pulled out the antiquated looking communication device he'd been given and hoped the ship would be able to hear him.

  "Lek to Discovery, Lek to Discovery. Come in please."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"No... I don't suppose you are." he commented back at Vila, as she took her place.  A check on the ship systems showed that the energy required to keep the shields up was taking a toll on the remaining systems.  He frowned, but there wasn't much that could be done.  It wasn't like they could leave the system.  That wouldn't be an option.

He heard McNair mention hyper-energons, and he would have liked to respond, but the crackle and heavy static of a message interrupted them.  He could barely make up what was said, , but he could have sworn he heard Lek's voice.  Must be an update.

"Lek, this is Discovery.  We can barely hear you, and I'm sure you can hear me.  There is an unknown radiation in the system that is degrading ship systems.  We are on the dark side of the planet working on a solution.  It removed the safeties from the warp reactor, so we've had to shut down the drive and evacuate Main Engineering.  At the present time the safest place for you and your team is to remain in the protection of the planet.  Whatever has been blocking our sensors also seems to block out the radiation."

He paused for a moment and took a breath.  He actually hoped Lek wouldn't get this next part he said.

"If we can't find a way to counter the radiation's degradation effects on the hull and shields in time, we'll have to dock her at the station to protect the crew and the ship's computer while we make repairs.  Discovery out."

Once the channel was cut, Nevir stood up.  "The station is shielded.  It is an unknown, but it is shielded. Our shields will fail in about 3 hours. We have that long to figure out how to protect our system, or we will have to risk the ship docked at the station.  They did offer repairs."

"Mr McNair, you said something about hyper-energons?"

[Lek]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"Lek, this is Discovery.  We can barely hear you, and I'm sure you can hear me.  There is an unknown radiation in the system that is degrading ship systems.  We are on the dark side of the planet working on a solution.  It removed the safeties from the warp reactor, so we've had to shut down the drive and evacuate Main Engineering.  At the present time the safest place for you and your team is to remain in the protection of the planet.  Whatever has been blocking our sensors also seems to block out the radiation."

He paused for a moment and took a breath.  He actually hoped Lek wouldn't get this next part he said.

"If we can't find a way to counter the radiation's degradation effects on the hull and shields in time, we'll have to dock her at the station to protect the crew and the ship's computer while we make repairs.  Discovery out."

[Outside Library - Erewhon]

When he got through to the ship, Lek's spirits raised until the captain finished his report of what was going on aboard Discovery.

"This what I get for going on away mission."

He thought, but replied with a simple.

"Aye Sir."

Before putting the crude device away. He then walked over to report to Rayek what the captain said.

"Bad news. It seems the radiation that drew us here to investigate is of an unknown type that our ship's system can't block. Warp is offline and they've have to abandon main engineering. They are running out of options and are considering docking the Erewhon's station, which seems to be shielded from the radiation to try and make repairs. Looks like we're stuck on this rock."