"Sometimes Knowledge Can Prove to be More Troublesome Than Ignorance"
(Previous Post: "Choke Hold")
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Stardate: 60341.1045
Very little had been exchanged between the Chief Science Officer and the Chief of Security during their travel to Cargo Bay 15 where the probe and the Imperian had been secured. The Shillian scientist had on several occasions wanted to say something to the Enaran Marine but each time she had found it impossible to say anything.
Back in Sickbay Pravat had thanked her for her show of *desperation* which had led to the short-circuiting of the Imperian Conqueror. The chief Science Officer could not help herself but think that some people might equate what she had done to a heroic act, something that had been as far from the truth as could be. There had been nothing *heroic* about having been so scared, and still so unwilling to actively get involve in a fight, as to throw a *bottle* at a technologically superior robot with a death grip of someone she deeply cared for.
Instead of being thankful the Enaran should have been disgusted by the unwillingness of the Shillian to get *involved* in the fight, the only saving grace having been the incredible amount of luck that had for some unknown reason befallen the scientist on that specific moment in time. The Chief Science Officer wanted nothing else but to apologise to Pravat for what she had *failed* to do, regardless if in the end what she had done had strangely enough proven to the exactly what had been needed.
The Enaran glanced over his shoulder at the Shillian who had been following several steps behind, insuring that the Chief Science Officer had not been left too far due to the hasty pace that the Marine had set the moment they had exited the turbo lift. "Are you coming?" Pravat said with great difficulty, his voice not having had time to fully recuperate from the ordeal that the man had endured.
The Shillian woman smiled and nodded. She had not been a hero, but whatever had been the reason or cause the scientist had been very thankful that the random elements of the universe had intervene to allow the Enaran and herself to still here onboard the ANUBIS, and alive.
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Lieutenant Fairborn greeted the two new arrivals into the cargo bay with the respect that he had been known to show to everyone, regardless of rank of position on the ship that they served on. "I am pleased to see you both back on your feet," the Chief Engineering Officer of the ANUBIS said with a bow.
"It is nice to see you both undamaged," the Avatar of the ANUBIS added. Only her selection of the word 'undamaged' hinted to her mechanical origins, the smile that she had offered to the two new arrivals having appeared as genuine as could be.
"Nice job of the dismantling," The Enaran said with a grin of satisfaction as he looked at the dismembered limbs of the Imperian droid that had almost ended his life a short while back.
"Annie and I have been trying to better understand these beings and hope to maybe discover the means to even out the playing field against them," the Oltharian explained not liking the idea that his work would lead to the possible construction of a weapon but having little choice in the matter. If the Imperians remained unchallenged they would certainly led to the end of life throughout the galaxy.
"Mind if I join in on the research?" The Shillian scientist asked, looking forward to hearing what the Oltharian and Avatar had so far discovered and looking forward to seeing first hand what made these mechanical monsters *tick* while being under the watchful eyes of the Enaran Marine.
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The crews of both the USS ANUBIS and USS HATHOR had been called into the conference, a room that had usually been large enough for such a meeting but had proven to be slightly smaller then required this time around forcing some of the Officers to remain standing.
"All right," Captain Rikar opened with from the far end of the table. "Let's start with the status of both ships, Lieutenant Dawson, if you wouldn't mind?"
The Chief Engineering Officer and Executive Officer of the USS HATHOR seemed troubled for a moment as he met the eyes of his Commanding Officer, but that changed the moment he went to give his report. "The HATHOR is back to full operational status; the cloaking device has been repaired and reinstalled. We can head out anytime."
"Perfect," the Commanding Officer of the ANUBIS said turning her attention to her own Chief Engineering Officer. "Lt. Fairborn, are we in any better shape than we were before?"
"Unfortunately not as much as I would like," the Olthairan replied. "Due to the required repairs to the cloaking device of the HATHOR and the subsequent work on the probe and Imperian, my time was diverted to issues other than the ANUBIS."
"No apologies needed," the captain said with a reassuring smile, "I just hope that this means we have learned more about these *things*."
The Shillian scientist recognized this as being her cue for her report on what they had discovered so far in regards to the Imperian threat. "Thanks to the assistance of Lieutenant Fairborn we have been able to get quite a bit of data on the Imperians, their strengths as well as their limitations."
"Nice to hear that those things have *limitations*," Ensign Stormwind said with a slight sigh of relief, all of the stories and rumours so far having painted these creatures as next to unstoppable.
"First, we have discovered that the Imperians are a highly sophisticated race who have incorporated their themselves into whatever equipment of ships they are using," the Chief Science Officer began making everyone know that what would follow would be lengthy and if not informative. "We see ourselves as *users*, using equipments and vehicles to achieve tasks or get to other places, the Imperians on the other hand integrate themselves with whatever they use, becoming part of it in the case of a craft such as the probe, or incorporating whatever tools they have at their disposition with their own body in the case of tools."
"Sounds like the Borg assimilation idea," Ensign Halliwell commented, having covered this particular process during her years as a Medical student in Starfleet Academy.
"Actually the Imperians are more efficient in that regards, at least as far as we can tell from having observed a single specimen, this based on our observations of the probe and mostly because it appears that their technology is superior to our own. This would likely leave them uninterested in whatever alien technology they would encounter, allowing them to concentrate on the biological elements they encounter, I mean that is what they are said to have been created for so why bother with the rest?" The Shillian scientist continued with looking somewhat distraught by her own description of the race and their ways.
"Why bother *assimilate* anything?" The Chief of Security of the HATHOR huffed. "They could just search through whatever is left as wreckage once everything is dead."
"You sure know how to put a positive spin on things," Ensign Mei sarcastically said, the idea that the Imperians would stop at nothing short of total inhalation of life in the galaxy having sent shivers down her spine.
"You mentioned something about their *limitations*," the Commanding Officer of the USS HATHOR asked, more interested in finding out about the weakness of this new enemy and how they would be able to capitalize on it.
The Shillian looked at the Oltharian Engineer and smiled, a gesture that the large man immediately understand to mean that this part of the explanation would best be understood if given by him. "We discovered that the Imperian used its own power source, a micro-ion reactor, to energize the probe. After running some tests on the reactor itself we found that it lacks the casing to protect it from warp field distortions, thus limiting the race to slower-than-light space travel. Because of they immense energy output and the design of the probes, they are able to reach speed nearing that of warp 1, but they are unable to pass the warp threshold."
"At least we now know that we can outrun them," Ensign Kea chuckled briefly before regaining the air of seriousness that had been shared by everyone else during the announcement.
"Question," the Chief Medical Officer of the USS ANUBIS said as she raised her hand from the back of the room as if back in grade school. "maybe this is because I am not an engineer, but how did those things manage to get so deep into Cardassian space without have being able to travel at warp speeds?"
The expression on the face of Captain Rikar indicated that the Commanding Officer of the ANUBIS had thought the exact same thing, leading her to turn her eyes onto the only other man who possessed the engineering background and knowledge to answer this question.
Although Lieutenant Dawson had been thinking of something entirely different during the majority of the meeting, the gaze of Captain Rikar had been more than enough to snap him back into the here and now. Not having been listening all that closely to what had been said, the Chief Engineering Officer and Executive Officer of the HATHOR only shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the Oltharian who had started the ball rolling on this subject.
The Oltharian sighed indicating by the gesture that he did not know how this had been achieved before confirming this with his reply. "There is insufficient data available at this time to even formulate an hypothesis on this."
"What else do we know?" First Lieutenant Pravat asked, hoping that they had gained more of a tactical advantage than the one that had been explained.
"We also know this," the Shillian scientist replied. "The energy pulse sent out by the HATHOR had no effect on the probe itself but damaged the atomic structure of the Imperian. Although we do not yet understand how this happened, we know that this caused a severe power drop in the robot and made it more vulnerable to indirect physical attacks of a liquid or gaseous form."
"In other words it made them vulnerable to water," the Enaran Marine chuckled dryly glancing at the Shililan woman for a few moments before smiling.
=/\= Annie to Captain Rikar, =/\= the Avatar of the ANUBIS called out, interrupting the meeting. =/\= Your presence is required on the Bridge. =/\=
Before anyone could ask or wonder as to what this had been about, the lights within the Conference Lounge suddenly gained the red hue indicative of the highest alert condition possible.
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The Avatar turned to face the Captain the moment she stepped onto the command deck of the ANUBIS. "The two probes that the HATHOR had been tracking have altered course and are heading for us. It is unknown if they have detected us, but they will reach us in less than three hours."
"The one true advantage we have," Captain Rikar sighed referring to the limited speed of the Imperians.
"Captain," Lieutenant Commander Serenna said, stepping up next to the Commanding Officer of the ANUBIS. "The HATHOR is back to full power and we can still travel faster than the ANUBIS. Resume your course for SURIAL III and let us handle those probes. We have the advantage of knowing what we are up against this time and will not be taking any risks."
Everyone could see that Captain Rikar had wanted to argue this, not wanting the two ships to be separated, but the completion of their primary objective and the need to see the two probes stopped before they could reach the ANUBIS had forced her hand. "Fine, go."
With that the Commanding Officer of the HATHOR motioned for the members of her staff to head to the turbolift, their mission and objective having been as clear as could be; to intercept and stop the two probes.
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"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2006 post #064
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 26, Corridor
Stardate: 60341.1050
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 26, Cargo Bay 15
Stardate: 60341.1300
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 1, Conference Lounge
Stardate: 60341.1315
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 1, Bridge
Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Executive Officer and Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
