"Alien Psychology"
Previous was "Excitement"
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Setting: USS HATHOR, Bridge
No one was breathing on the bridge, such was the tension surrounding the image on the viewscreen. Susan had never seen anything like it – actually that was a lie, she had seen *something* like it back at the Academy: during training simulations. Usually this view was the end of such a simulation. The probe was moving slightly ahead of them, looking a like a torpedo. A *lot* like a torpedo.
As if reading her mind, Uxtar suddenly announced, "The probe is… charging weapons."
Without more warning the probe suddenly shot forward and then arched around so that it was once again heading straight for them.
"Evasive action!" Serenna shouted, jumping to her feet. Derek's hands flew over the controls and suddenly Susan realized something she should have realized before… it had been something David had said: "all races put a piece of themselves in what they make…" And it had taken till now for Susan, 'expert' in alien psychology, to realize that the one thing the they knew about the Imperians – the one piece of 'self' they could have put into their probe – was the destruction of all biological life.
"It makes sense." She said, to no one in particular, "Why does the probe need to collect information on us while we’re alive?"
Showing no sign of hearing the counselor Serenna barked, "David, can you disable it before it reaches us?"
"I can try," David's eyes did not leave his instruments.
Susan could hear Lea’s voice in her head saying how crazy the idea would be.
"Let's destroy it now, while we have the chance!" Uxtar's biology had finally won over his Starfleet conditioning.
"It's already too late for that." Ensign Kea shot. "It's too close,"
"David!" Serenna demanded.
"I'm working on it" The tension in his voice was clear, and it didn't make Susan feel any better. "There."
Susan didn't know if she would have been able to see the pulse on the viewscreen, but there was no opportunity to find out. On David’s last word, Serenna ordered, "Ensign Stormwind. Now would be a good time to use some of those 'advanced flying' skills of yours."
Needing no more telling, Derek's fingers became a blur on his controls. The HATHOR lurched. Then lurched again. Then suddenly it was moving like a rodeo horse. And like the rider of such a horse, Susan – who was the only member of the crew on the bridge without a place to stand and brace herself against – went flying.
She didn't know whether the HATHOR's rodeo act was a result of Derek's advanced flying or whether they'd been hit by the probe. All she knew was the ground was flying up to meet her. And it didn't look friendly.
--------------- 2006 post #049
Stardate: 60341.0745
Tallulah Habib {thabib@eject.co.za}
Ensign Susan Mei
Head Counselor
USS ANUBIS
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"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own." - Adam Lindsay Gordon
