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Day 05 [0900 hrs.] Weaponizing Innocence

[Lt. Zephyr Praise | Taking On New Projects | Outside of the Klingon Love
 Nest | Finally, Reasons to Scan Heather | Working Collaboratively]
@Arista @Hastata-Nerada @Numen @Triage

[Deck 17 
Science Labs] 


Zeph had already scheduled the lab for usage. She had already known that something had to be done. The key to getting after these parasites was the fact that they were going to need something special. She had heard rumors, and confirmed them with her own conversations. That special something was already on board but it was inside a person. That was both a boon and a problem. It would be far easier to experiment on some kind of chemical process, or work with some kind of hybridizing of plants and specific growth patterns to create a vaccine. None of that was going to work though, not specifically. Instead, it was going to take the collective works of a lot of really smart officers and civilians. It was also going to take the cooperation of one amazingly bright ndividual. 

Meeting Heather, outside of the Versant, for the first time was so special for the young Betazoid. She had quite enjoyed getting to talk to her, albeit briefly, about her plans for the project and how she hoped to find a way to cultivate the very thing that the parasites were allergic to. That thing that was inside Heather, and she hoped they could recreate it and finally arm themselves against the near invisible enemy.  

She had hand selected a group of people that she thought would be helpful. It wasn't as though she knew them all. She knew they needed Heather, and that was the first step. Without the key subject there wasn't anyone on board that could do anything against the parasites. After she got Heather's permission, once they finished picking themselves up off the floor after a spectacular collision, she had been set to go. Zeph had already met Parnak, the science Cardassian, and all too righteous man. They seemed to get along all right, though fighting for lab space seemed to be their main issue. Still, they seemed to do well enough and she knew immediately that she would want someone with his mind power on this project. 

She knew that she needed Okafor, she had met him briefly in the gym with a woman named Samala. They weren't very similar but she hoped that he would be able to help from another mind set. He seemed more cautious than most and she felt that the kind of officers she was planning to pull from, they could use a voice of reason and caution from time to time.  

Through the grapevine she had heard about Bila. Having not met the man yet, though having heard things about him through other Science officers, and how he was a chemist. She knew that she needed him too. An invite had been sent. Accepted, as well.  

The other thing was, though this was a predominately scientific research project if they were going to actually weaponize it she knew that they were going to need someone with the kind of expertise to put together a containment unit, or something that could harness the energy and point it in the right direction, or extract it. Whatever it was they would end up doing with it. Zeph didn't know much about Engineering or Inventions but she did remember the angry one from the Versant and how she freed Thea and the owl known as Albert. She had worked hard to harness the energy from the ship to power Thea when they needed it the most. She had worked her ass off despite everything. That was the kind of person she wanted on this project. So Lieutenant commander Blue Tiran rounded out their little project group. 

Zeph had taken up the largest lab and had as many of the devices she thought they would need in here. She had Thea transport a biobed down so that Heather could be comfortable while they did their scans and blood tests. She even brought down some holonovels incase she got bored. She had centrifuges and all sorts of other testing devices ready for them to figure out what they
 could and would be able to do here. She hoped that she had thought of everything but if not they could replicate it or ask Thea for a site to site.


Now she just had to wait for the others. Dressed in her Science blue's Zeph waited with PADD in hand for all the others to join up. She was nearly bouncing with excitement. Short brown curls pulled back out of her face but still hung loose behind her brushing against her shoulders. Black eyes, showing her heritage, surveyed the lab. 

"Lets do this." she grinned. 


[LCdr Blue Tiran - [Albert Tiran] | What Is This Science Shit? - [Learning Experience] | They Better Have Twinkies - [Useless Calories] | I'm Allergic to Science - [Location: D17.08]


The Turbolift rocketed upwards from Main Engineering. She had gotten the summons on her PADD, and it had been sent to her specifically and not just as the Chief Engineer. Blue had read it out loud because she was so fucking shocked that it had been sent to her at all, and Albert perched on the side of her desk as they had been puzzling through paperwork, promotions, and other needless shit was listening to her as she had done so. Of course, Albert was interested, as soon as she finished reading it he had all been about going. Even without her, he was going to go, with her permission of course because he technically worked 'for' her now. Still, they were settling into their new roles on board the _Theurgy_ and she hoped that it would continue to be something they could do easily but she wasn't sure. He was becoming more and more his own person and that was getting to be an easier pill to swallow now that she was starting to get used to it. The couple of days away with Ranaan had likely been a large part of her adjusting. 

That much needed break. 

"This is fucking science shit." she hissed as the lift rose up, some of the other officers giving her glares of disapproval in which she returned with glares of the 'get fucked' variety. 

[Miss Blue, your expertise in a situation like this is quite valuable.] 

"Well I don't see myself getting fucking paid." she grumbled with a sigh. 

[Is your blood sugar low, Miss Blue, you seem especially sharp today.] 

"I don't fucking know, and neither do you, as you're not a fucking doctor."
 she retorted. 

[I am unaware of the last time you consumed a food byproduct, perhaps it is time, less you get what Earth once called, Hangry.] In his decidedly European accent, it was quite hilarious the way he pronounced the latter word, but Blue was having none of it and rolled her eyes. So once she stepped out onto the deck in question she found the nearest replicator and got herself some food. She couldn't decide between a burrito, tacos, or nachos. So she replicated all three on a plate with some twinkies for dessert. She even
 replicated enough twinkies to share should anyone not hate them. She found there was a remarkable amount of people in the universe that didn't like her precious snacks. 

As the plate was replicated Albert shifted on her shoulder. [I think it is quite nice of you to bring sustenance for all those involved, Miss Blue.] 

She paused in her turning away from the replicator and looked down at the food she had gotten. "I better, make sure I have enough." she turned back and replicated a bit more for everyone else and then headed that way with bags of nachos, burritos, and tacos.  

[Miss Blue, you are not feeding an army, just yourself and several others.] 

"They could keep me in there all fucking day!" she replied as she finally made it to the Science lab in question. Palming the pad at the door it slid open. "Fuck I'm the first fucker here." 

"Actually, the second." Came a chipper voice as a stool in the corner moved and turned around to show the face of Zepyhr Praise. 

"Oh fuck, you're the nosy bitch from the Versant." 

"Zephyr, actually, but yeah. Nice to see you again." 

"Is it though?" Blue asked as she tossed the bag of food up on one of the counters before taking one of the rolling stools for herself sitting down on it she began to eat like a starved woman. 

[Miss Praise, it is a pleasure to introduce my personage. I am Albert Tiran, AI. I decided to come along on your research project as I have worked with Miss Blue for years.] 

"Oh, well, hi Albert. Nice to meet you, it's always good to have other people here. Is all this food for you?" Zeph asked turning her attention from Albert and back to Blue. 

"Um, if I ate all that shit I wouldn't fit through the door. I brought it for everyone because we're going to be working, and talking, and doing some shit before we even get to the actual creating of shit. So yeah, eat, maybe you won't blow away so easily. Aren't you with that really loud fucking Klingon pilot guy?" 

"Oh, Khorin? Yeah, we're together." she beamed like someone absolutely smitten with her other half. Blue wanted to hurl. 

"Yeah... so eat up, you might need some... cushion." Blue smirked, Zeph gave Blue a bit of a glare though it was not nearly as powerful as the kind that Blue could give. 

"Maybe once you're finished eating you won't be so pissy." Zeph tried to retort.  

"Nah bitches been trying that for fucking years, it doesn't work." 

[Unfortunately, this is Miss Blue's status quo.]

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #1 –

[ Lt. JG Izar Bila | Tacc CONN Departmental Heads' Quarters| Thomas Ravon man's cave | Vector 02| USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]

Att: @BZ @Arista @Triage @Hastata-Nerada 



Zephyr Praise.

Mr. Zephyr Praise had contacted him.

When he had seen the message sender on his Padd, he had almost dropped the device from his hands. As his human friend would say, it was as if suddenly a unicorn had knocked on his door inviting him to have tea. It was an extraordinary and unique event.  Bila knew more about the woman than he ever imagined, infinitely more than she would know about him. It was his chance to meet the woman who had stolen his best friend's heart and, if it was in his hand, pull the strings to make things easier between those two lovebirds. So the Bajcardie had hastened to accept the invitation with a couple of short lines and had erased the message as soon as possible. He had barely skimmed through the text which informed him why he had been summoned. Only that it had to do with that light that affected the parasites. The same light on which the Infected had insisted so much when the counselor Ejek had interrogated the good Doctor. To inquire furt into the matter fueled his scientific curiosity, so the hybrid only saw advantages in that meeting.

By the time Ravon had seen him delete the e-mail with such promptness, he had dug about that weird behaviour. And Bila, with his best poker face, had lied to him. He wasn't proud to have told Tom that it was Kythalie who had contacted him, with his best shit-eating grin etched in his gray features. The chemist didn't like to lie. At least not the people he appreciated. He generally preferred to share sweetened or partial versions of the truth, so that his listeners interpreted something totally different from the truth. But that small lie was worthy of this break into his inner code of conduct. Obviously, and knowing the hybrid as he knew him, Ravon hadn't actually swalloed it. But he hadn't been able to get the truth out of him either.

So Bila had left the quarters he squatted as quickly as he had managed, with a pair of padds in one hand and a cup of redleaf tea in the other, leaving a very confused Ravon behind. A Ravon that, arguably, would dedicate the following half hour to look for that bad taste prank that the bajcardie should had prepared against the pilot. Due that was the only explanation to his even weirder behaviour.

For his part, the chemist had barely had time to get ready, and walked down the corridor, disheveled and unshaven, as he tried to hold the objects in his hands and fit his uniform jacket over his undershirt teal.





[Lt. JG Izar Bila | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy]



When that door opened with a hiss in front of him, there were already two women in the lab. Despite not having met her in person, Bila quickly identified the new Engineering Chief. The blue strands in her hair and the raptor-shaped device made her easily recognizable and she was quickly linked to the file that had been shared in the newsletter with her designation. So the other woman had to be Zephyr. The chemist studied her briefly, whileshe exchanged a few sentences with the engineer and her appliance. She seemed... ordinary. Almost anodyne. Only another scientist, random crewmember number 1031. But, as he approached where the two women sat, Bila repeated to himself that he wasn't the one to judge anyone by their appearance. He had had more than enough problems with his own grey featured and ridged nose.

"Madrana, ladies," he greeted and deposited the padd and the cold tea on counter next to them. While he searched for a stoll to take a seat next to the two women, he introduced himself, his best impy smile lightening his face between his sparse beard. "I'm Junior Liutenant Izar, at your service." Once he had dragged the chair along with the women, he perched over it, like a kind of  ungainly, featherless bird.  "So, Liutenant Praise," he said, staring cheekily into the betazoid's green eyes. "I must say I've heard a lot about you," he said with a mischiveous flicker in his hazel eyes. "I was able to read one of your papers a few years back. Too bad you didn't keep publishing further research..." The hybrid's stomach betrayed him then, roaring thunderously like a man who hadn't eaten for several days. It was untrue of course, but his breakfast had been frugal and Bila's stomach was demanding in terms of the quantity and spacing between his food intakes. Intakes that Bila tended to forget when his hyperactive brain was centered on something else.

"Ahem... I... can I take one of those hasperat?" he asked pointing to one of the rolls stuffed with meat and vegetables close to the engineer.




OOC:
Madrana → hello, standard greetin in kardasi

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #2 –
[ Lt. Tyreke Okafor | Quarters to Labs | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy ] @BZ @Arista @Numen @Triage
[Show/Hide]

The morning had been good thus far. It was almost a week of no incident, surely a record at this point, and Okafor did not wish to curse their luck by saying anything about it. He awoke, stretched, showered, shaved, and donned his uniform. A quick jaunt to his quarters’ replicator and a hot mug of coffee was in his hands. Okafor breathed a sigh as the fumes carrying the beverage’s distinct scent wafted to his nose. He sat, picked up his PADD, and sifted through his messages. As luck would have it, he would be still checking this as a new message appeared from one Zephyr Praise. Zephyr Praise… Oh! Zeph! At last, a team was being assembled to begin looking into the light, or whatever Nicander was doing. Okafor head meant to bring this up but the chaos of the battle had lead him to forget that Nicander was looking at luminous wavelengths.

Very well, this could be interesting. Okafor readied himself, drank his coffee, and strode out the door. As he walked, he imagined where this could be going. Was a breakthrough made? Did they have some way of combating these… parasites? Demons? Puppeteers? Demons seemed most accurate but assigning religious context to a largely unknown being was a flawed effort at best. Still, why was Nicander looking into these? Was he creating a weapon? The thought of the doctor being inhabited by one of those things made Okafor feel sick. More disturbing was how easily the creature was capable of manipulation. Had they ever known the real doctor?

The doors to the lab hissed open and Okafor stepped inside to see three individuals already gathered. There was Izar, there was Zeph, and there was the new chief engineer? With an… owl?? A robot owl? What? The sight of it caught him off guard. “Greetings everyone!” was what he almost said to announce his presence. But what actually came out was, “Greeting- what in the world, is that some form of probe?”

OOC: Please let me know if you need me to expand my post.
Also OOC: Fun fact, in the thread where Okafor and Zephyr met, Okafor hasn't learned that she's named anything other than "Zeph".

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #3 –
[ PWO Heather McMillan | Upper Science Labs | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]
“In conclusion,” said Heather to the recorder while a bundle of holographic tribbles purred and mewed contentedly, “the active ingredients of chamazulene, apigenin, and bisabolol, along with the benzodiazepine-like compound, is what makes matricaria recutita an ideal treatment for promoting sleep and treating insomnia with herbal remedies instead of more contemporary medications. For the record, matricaria recutita is better known as chamomile, most often found in the form of tea...in fact...” she went to the nearby replicator and ordered, “Tea, chamomile, hot.”

The replicator produced the desired drink instantly. Gingerly lifting the cup and taking an appreciative sip, Heather smiled, “Lovely! Ohhh computer, is there anything on my schedule? I feel like I'm forgetting something dreadfully important.”

Bunny the bunny, the holographic coney of cuteness, the rabbit of robust rambling, popped out from amongst the pile of tribbles and hopped up onto the table near Heather, snuffling its booplesnoot nose in the air, and then reached out with a paw as if to point at a holographic screen with blinking red text, each letter at least a foot long. MEET WITH LOTS OF TOP NOTCH SCIENTISTS TO BE STUDIED AND HAVE YOUR LIGHT TURNED INTO A WEAPON OF CRASS DESTRUCTION AT 0900 HOURS STAT. ALSO, ZEPHYR PRAISE IS VERY TALL. COMPARED TO YOU, THAT IS.

“CRIKEY-O-RILEY! How long has that been staring me in the face?!?” said Heather as she went into full panic mode. Not noticing the screen had helpfully changed the text to say ALL DAY LONG, DOOFUS. as she frantically ran to her desk, grabbed the outer uniform she had so carelessly chucked and put it back on, backwards and in reverse. As was her norm, she didn't even wear boots and was hoofing it barefoot. “Oh bloody Nora, bloody wet snickerdoodles in ghost pepper soup! I cannot be late, I can't be late, argh, am I supposed to bring something? Tea! I'll bring lots of tea! Wait, there's a replicator there, no forget that...I'll bring them my personal copy of Bored of the Rings...wait, why would they care about that?!? Nevermind...d'oh! I need to bring myself...RIGHT NOW! I'M COMING!”

Heather tore out of the lab like it was on fire, quite forgetting to stop her recording throughout the entire process, and it had picked up everything. The screen shifted to look at Bunny the bunny, SO, SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?

Bunny took out a deck of cards from...no where in particular, and started dealing.

[ PWO Heather McMillan | Xenobiology & Cybernetics Lab | Lower Science Labs | Deck 17 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Arista, @Hastata-Nerada, @BZ & @Numen
[Show/Hide]
“DECK SEVENTEEN PLEASE, THANK YOU!” said Heather unnecessarily loudly upon stumbling into the nearest turbolift. She'd gone turbo herself from the lab, blasting past two terrified officers when they saw a rainbow missile streaking past them. Apparently panic would make her flare with light just like she used to. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she calmed herself down enough to realize she was not alone. Glancing over at the three officers, a RIO, an Engineer and a tactical officer, all of them clustered together as far away from her as possible upon her entry, and with her still swirling in all manner of colour and lights, they thought she was going to explode and bathe them in radiation and Radiant bits.

“Why're you bunched together like tha-wait, is it all the tea I've been drinking? You're gods, you have nothing to fear!” Heather couldn't fathom the looks on their faces. It was as if they were terrified of her.

Silly gods, right?

The RIO smiled nervously and nodded at her, but none of them visibly relaxed until she was walking out the door, except she tripped on the threshold and fell flat on her face, when she landed and yelped, the three officers jumped, one of them screaming in fright, and just as the doors hissed shut, Heather twisted around in time to notice one of them had fainted, with the other two catching him. “Most peculiar...”

Getting up, she proceeded to make the clumsiest dash to the lab where she overshot the correct place by forty paces right into...someplace else. “So sorry! Wrong place!” she breathlessly yelled at two researches, making them jump and look up as she streaked back out, leaving a colourful after image of herself behind. When she finally reached the lab, she passionately introduced her nose and forehead to the door. KLONNNG!

“BLIMEY! OW!” said Heather, grasping her nose and she looked up at the door as it opened and closed repeatedly a few times before fully opening to admit her in. There was Zephyr, the really lovely tall Betazoid whom she'd crashed into sometime ago in their second encounter with one another, Izar, Tyreke, a woman with blue streaks in her hair (No wait that's Commander Blue Tiran! Look at her hair! Pretty hair!) and...“Oh my goodness, IS THAT AN OWL!?!”

In her excitement and her scamper-run forward towards the bird, she tripped and crashed beside Blue, “OW!”

Xenobiology, Synthetics & Cybernetics Lab
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Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #4 –
[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Hastata-Nerada @Numen @Triage
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This was unusual. Usually Silim Parnak strode with purpose. Today, he dawdled.

It was a slow meander of someone who had a place to be but was in no inclination to get there anytime soon. With a PADD in one hand, he stopped to take in the sights, such as they were. Starfleet vessels all seemed to look the same. Identical little corridors attached to identical little rooms, each with that identical little plant in the corner. It was a wonder he didn’t get lost.

Or put a phaser in his mouth.

Now, now. There was plenty of time to be melancholy later. This was yet another chance to be the star of the show and that was something that Parnak particularly enjoyed. When he received the request from the Betazoid, he knew he had won their previous foray. After all, she was not specifically asking for him. That put him on the upper hand. And, what should one do if you are on the upper hand? Milk it for what it’s worth. Silim planned to do exactly that.

Part one of his strategy was to be late. Not overly late, just fashionably so. Enough for the science officer to wonder if he had actually received her invite. That was why he took his own sweet time now.

There was, however, only so much bulkhead inspection that one could do between two locations and Silim was getting bored of brushed metal. Ensuring his mental defences were in place, Parnak wandered into the lab. He wasn’t about to let just anyone into the inner recesses of his mind.

Inside the room was a strange ensemble. The Betazoid, a dark-skinned science officer, someone flapping and floundering on the floor like a fish out of water, a yellow collared woman with unconventional hair colour choices and, of course, the hybrid. Parnak resisted the urge to sigh audibly. They did come separately, you know.

Moving across the room, Parnak said nothing, only wondering on why it seemed that he always seemed to be roped in the half Bajoran. Yes, they had a common heritage but that didn’t mean they always had to work together. In fact, did the so-called chemist even do anything all day aside from wait to be called into action to follow Parnak around?

Silim took account of the mayhem within the room to order a red leaf tea from the replicator before finding a seat across from the hybrid. It wasn’t a significant gesture, and Parnak tried to make it look like an inconsequential choice, just subtle enough to say the Cardassian and half were not besties.

He took a long sip of the hot beverage before speaking. It was game time.

“Fear not, I have replied to your summons” He spoke, waving his PADD, as if to calm the nerves of the Betazoid. He didn’t know if she was worried about him showing up or not, but that didn’t matter. All Parnak needed to do was come out on top.

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #5 –
[Lt. Zephyr Praise | We're Here to Study, Not Snack | What did you Bring | Those Smell Good | Why are Cardassians Chronically Late?]
@Hastata-Nerada @Numen @Triage @Arista



The door hissed open again as Zeph was exchanging words with the Chief Engineer who was gleefully crunching into chips for some kind of concoction that had meat, some white stuff, some cheese, and who knew what else was on top of them.  Zeph had never seen food like that before, but then she supposed that the Engineer's lack of healthy food was probably not too far off from that stuff she had eaten on the Versant.  The little yellow cake things, the whole name she couldn't be bothered to remember, she just knew that she didn't like them.  They had been almost tasteless but also she had found the interior of them far too sweet.  So, she had decided that she would be fine never to try those again.  For now though, she just wanted to figure out what was going on with their study.  It was going to be a huge under taking.  Figuring out how to weaponize the light that came from biologically insides someone. 

“Do you ever eat vegetables?” she asked the Chief.

“Sure, they're inside the fucking tacos.” she motioned to the bag, which cause Zeph to raise her brow.

Zeph shook her head and turned her hazel green eyes over to the man that had only just entered the room and she gave him a smile.  A little wave of her hand from where she sat on her stool.  He introduced himself as he commandeered a stool for himself.  “Hey, I'm Zeph.  Or.. Lieutenant Zephyr Praise, but you can call me Zeph.” she smiled warmly not realizing that he was Thom's best friend and already had the drop on her.  Her brow rose as he mentioned that he had heard a lot about her, and she was about to ask from where, when he mentioned having read some of her published papers.  That made a blush crawl up her cheeks.  “You've read my research?  Really?  I didn't think it would interest a chemist, my.. hybridization papers.” she said as though she was absolutely astonished that anyone had read them.  She was a Botanist and she got a lot of flack for being one, but she didn't care because they had always intrigued her.  There were so many ways to make things better, make new things, and stuff like that.

The door opened again, allowing Okafor to step in.  Zeph gave him a warm and welcoming wave as he greeted everyone.  She didn't need to introduce herself to anyone else anyway, they all knew her by now.  Still, she was surprised when he mentioned the Engineer's owl and wondered if it was a probe.  Zeph bit the corner of her lips trying to hide a smile of amusement and failed. 

The Chief Engineer said something, or maybe it was the owl, but, regardless, the door opened another time and suddenly the woman of the hour had stepped inside.  Only, she hadn't stepped, she had charged in like tribbles were chasing her and they she was their only hope of survival.  She crashed to the floor over by Blue and looked around in surprise.  What the clumsy girl didn't realize was that Zeph had her shields on a lower setting, so to speak, and she could hear all the screaming and exclaimation about Blue's hair and the owl.  Though the owl was said out loud.

Zeph rose her brow and checked the time on her chronometer.  Still no Parnak, and it was really time to start.  She brushed her curls behind her ear hoping that he would be here soon, but if he wasn't they could get started without him.  He would show when he did, or he wouldn't and he would miss out on the kind of experiment that scientists lived for.  She grinned as he told her not to fear he had arrived, as soon as he stepped in the door with a flourish that could only belong to the most stuck up Cardie she had ever met.  Though the amount of them was pretty slight, truthfully.  Zeph looked over at him with her amused gaze and shook her head.

“Now that we're all here...” she stated shooting Parnak a playful look.  “Commander Tiran has brought food, and Okafor tea, so we're all set to begin.” she said as she pushed a button on the wall and a holoscreen came to life, for their notes, ponderings, and their hypothesis to be out in the open so everyone could work on them at once.

“It's come to my attention, that Miss Heather, is the answer we need against the parasites.  The light that her body creates is the only weapon we have found so far that actually has any effect on them.  However, Heather cannot be our weapon.  Firstly, she's a person and therefore she deserves the same rights as anyone else.  Secondly, Heather cannot be everywhere at once.  Thirdly, we need a weapon that hopefully we can recreate and arm ourselves, and perhaps even other ships to finally turn the tide over the infestation.”

She looked around the room at everyone.  “So, I have assembled a team of Scientists, Heather, and an Engineer to help us figure out what exactly causes Heather's light and what can we do to make an artificial one, or what exactly we can do to extract the light from Heather and utilize it as a weapon.  Questions?”



[LCdr Blue Tiran | If Albert is a Probe, I Don't Want to be the Receiver | What the Fuck is Hasperat? | Tacos For Everyone | Biological Warfare?]

[Albert Tiran | Science Labs | Location: D17.08 | Far More Than a Probe | Engineering Prowess, Activate]



Blue was not really paying a whole lot of attention to the people that entered the room.  The door opened, the door closed, extra bodies breathing the same recycled fucking air in the room multiplied.  Blue was currently finger deep in her nachos enjoying the flavors of the beef, beans, cheese, and toppings.  This kind of food was her fucking jam and something that she could eat just about any time she wanted.  On the bonus said, as she had told Zephyr, there were even vegetables in them so that Ranaan couldn't complain too much when she was eating them.  Though the lettuce, a couple tiny tomato squares, and an onion really counted much for vegetables.  But she would take what she could get, and she was pretty sure that was the mind set of Ranaan when he was engaged to a woman with a three year old's palate.

The third time the door opened, the woman legit crashed into the room.  Holding her nose, and exclaiming something as she crashed down quickly.  Blue's reaction time was actually pretty quick.  She grabbed the woman's arm quickly keeping her up off the floor in her messy state.  Blue gave a bit of a grin as the girl looked up and asked if that was an owl.

“Obviously.” Blue answered in her standard way, though there was no cursing at the moment, that would likely come later.

[My chassis has been designed to replicate that of an Earthen owl.  However, I regret to inform you, I am not actually an owl.  My designation is Albert.]

Blue shrugged.  “He's also an asshole.  So don't take anything he says personally.”

Albert had no answer for that.  Across the room, the half-Cardi, and the Betazoid were over there having a fucking love fest. 

Quote
'Oh I read your papers.'

'you did?!  I didn't think I was important enough for people to read my work!'

'Oh yes, your work is phenomenal and I can't believe you didn't write more.'

'As a matter of face (pulls out her pad) I have so many unpublished ones.'

'Oh let me incorrectly label this burrito in my own home language so I sound cooler, and read them.  You're so amazing.'

'Are you sure?  Because I'm not sure.  I mean, I'm just a lowly Botanist, no one understands me.'

'I do.' (que snog fest in the corner.)

Not exact, but it was still more interesting than the actual shit that was going on at the table.  Blue helped the clumsy one to stand up more fully and that happened just as another one, Cardassian, walked into the room mentioning that he had responded to Zeph's summons.  Blue rolled her eyes.  There is only room in this lab for one fucking bitch, and that slot is taken, mother fucker. she thought to herself as Zeph launched into the 'why are we here' bit.

Heather must be the clumsy one. she thought to herself as she looked out over at the group of people.  She wasn't sure what all their specialties were but they must have been collected here for some reason.  She didn't recognize any of them from Engineering which meant they were all likely scientists, at least, everyone except Late McRobe because he had swooped in wearing his robes which likely classified him as a Civilian Scientist, or maybe he was some kind of specialist.  He certainly had the stick in his ass that came with being one. 

“Didn't you say you were a Botanist?” Blue asked out right as she licked some cheese off the tip of her thumb.  The nachos were gone now, but she was already starting to unwrap her first burrito.

“Yes.”  Zeph replied cautiously, having a feeling where this was gong.  It paid to be a Betazoid.

“Cool.  So is Heather a plant or... did I miss the part where Botanical research is important here?”

Zeph stared at Blue for a long moment, a bit in shock she had just said it out loud.  “I'm also a Medical Doctor, but that doesn't mean Botany has no place here.  We don't know what causes the light, or how to harness it, we may very well need to use genetic material not available outside of plant life.  Because plants are living, breathing, things, they better meld with biological material than artificial.”

Blue let out a bit of a grin at the 'I'm also a Medical Doctor' because it was as if, she too, knew that Botany was a shit science.  The worst of all the Sciences, because.. it was fucking plants!  They grew.  And they died.  Some were useful for fruit and shit.  Others were nasty vegetables.  Regardless, plants never did anyone anything good.  She was pretty sure.

“Oh so you're medical, okay.”  Blue said biting into her burrito.

“No, I'm a Scientist and a Doctor, I'm both”

Blue could tell she was rubbing the woman the wrong way.  “Whatever helps you sleep at night, why the fuck am I here?”

“We will need a device to administer the light once we harness it and you came... highly recommended for your inventions and thinking outside the box.”

Blue chuckled.  “Aw I feel like I just won a fucking award.  Please, continue on with my accolades.” she said waving her free hand around for Zeph to continue as she bit into her burrito. 

Zeph rolled her eyes and looked at the rest of the group hoping they would have more constructive ideas.

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #6 –
[ Lt. JG Izar Bila | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]

Att:  @BZ @Hastata-Nerada @Triage @Arista 

Bila watched as Zephyr blushed, which did nothing but widen his witty smile. He could glimpse part of the fascination that Ravon felt for the woman. Even more so considering how passion driven the pilot was in the deepest part of fool being. But the hybrid couldn't disclose his connection with Thom. Not at the moment. He needed to learn more about the botanist, more about her personality and aspirations, without Ravon's infatuated filter. Until he found her weak points and succeeded in luring her into his friend's beefy arms, all sighs and lovely blush. It was his obligation as a friend towards the bird's brain and he wasn't ashamed to act as a matchmaker to improve his chances with the betazoid. After all, he was still indebted with Ravon. And that debt was increasing day by day as the chemist kept squatting his rooms against the human will. "Oh, my interest range is rather ample," he assured, as he tilted elegantly his head while his wicked smile never left his features. And without his hazel eyes straying from Zephyr's green ones.  "At the end of the day my field is a prop for the rest of the sciences. Chemists must keep ourselves informed," he said, his tone full of innuendos.

However, the statement was left in the air, as the arrival of new project partners. Okafor, with whom he had had an interesting talk just a few days ago. He was a good and calm man that the hybrid was starting to esteem. The human was surprised by the mechanical device perched on the engineer's shoulder. That prompted Bila to chuckled softly just before taking a first bite to that weirdly shaped Hasperat.

The timing was perfect since, just as he was about to take the first bite, the Prom Queen made her debut on stage. Grasping, chrashing against the engineer, like a ray of sunshine after a particularly cloudy day.  The uniqueness of her entrance made the hybrid almost choke, sauce dripping down his fingers as he juggled to prevent the 'taco' from escaping his hands in search of the nearest uniform. Undoubtedly Heather McMillan, the light girl, was a force of nature to be taken into consideration.  An especially clumsy force.

Of course, the last to arrive was the good Doctor Parnak. Because, obviously, Izar COULD NOT be able to join a group of outstanding scientists without the arrogant Cardassian showing up. Gracefully late, according to his custom, classy and giving himself a greater importance than he should have, without caring the least about the others. For some strange reason, at that moment Bila lost his appetite, and laid the hasperat, untouched, on a napkin in front of him. It got even worse when Parnak sat at the other end of the table, evidencing that the hybrid was some sort of pesky nuisance. For some reason he couldn't understand, this fact was even more insulting than his usual smugness. Bila was entitled to be there. And that Parnak would acknowledge that he was a valuable asset to the project. "You have honoured us with your attendance, Ogamĵan" he remarked when the old Cardassian eventually settled in. Bila made no attempt to hide the sarcasm of his words, nor could he hide how hurt he felt at the xenobiologist's disdain.

For better or worse, at that moment Zephyr began to explain the reasons why they were there, who was who, and other necessary information. This caused most of those in attendance were quiet, attentive listening, although Blue Tiran took advantage of the very first moment available to pester the betazoid for her discipline choice. For a moment, Bila was tempted to point out that the engineer was no more than an overrated mechanic, but a sidelong glance towards Parnak made him flinch at the very last moment. And he hated him further, for that unconscious control he had over him.


From nx kardasi by noxfox

Ogamĵan.- oldman, politely distanced

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #7 –
[ Lt. Tyreke Okafor | Science Labs | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy ] @Arista @Numen @BZ @Triage
[Show/Hide]

To describe Okafor as stunned was an understatement. He had not yet met the new chief engineer before, and the sequence of events which followed left his mind fumbling for any semblance of reality and sanity as a cavalcade of new experiences bombarded his poor neurons. Okafor was fairly certain at least some of the nerves in his brain simply gave up in protest.

As the present scientists (and engineer) made their introductions, Okafor ignored the protesting picket signs that his cortex was parading around, and tried to process what had just happened. First, the chief engineer digging into something that made the nutritionist inside of him cry out in terror, with language and attitude that caused him to visibly blink in surprise. Followed shortly by Heather, tumbling in like a wrecking ball of feathers and sunshine, the star subject of today, and… a cardassian, who seemed for all the world like he was able to casually spot fifteen microscopic faults in Okafor’s uniform from where he was standing.

Oh and the owl. What the HECK was going on with the OWL? Did Tiran build it?

Okay, this made some degree of sense at least. With that out of the way, Okafor returned his attention to the meeting at hand. Zeph, or rather Zephyr Praise, confirmed Okafor’s suspicions. Heather (who apparently emitted light… somehow… this was a new one) was the key to fighting the parasites, Nicander’s research into various wavelengths was indeed something to do with a vulnerability with the parasites (and with the parasites’ constant need to call themselves the ‘darkness’ or whatever it was, this might have been a logical conclusion). So, now to the next logical step; how to weaponize the light. There was of course a question that immediately leapt to Okafor’s head.

“Do we know if Ms. Heather needs to be the one emitting the light? Could we construct emitters designed to flush out the enemy if and when they are present? And… for that matter… why is Ms. Heather capable of doing this to begin with?” He asked, all while he did his best to ignore the engineer in the room. “I am still catching up on events that happened since our-” he stopped himself. Most of these people were new. “Since the Theurgy’s battle in the Acamar system, when I went into stasis. I don’t know all that much about how these abilities manifest and operate or whether there is any information known beyond- well beyond that they happen.”

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #8 –
[ PWO Heather McMillan | Xenobiology & Cybernetics Lab | Lower Science Labs | Deck 17 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Arista, @Hastata-Nerada, @BZ & @Numen
[Show/Hide]
In came Silim Parnak. Scientist extraordinaire. Supreme Mugwump of sciency thingamajigs with the fanciest of terminologies, officiator and announcer for the orgies of research, Master of the finest trousers on board, and all round bright spark, ruler of all he surveyed. This lot of fact would have been very interesting and significant to Heather, but the simple problem was she was too busy making out with the floor to be aware of even his presence and entrance. Well, she would have been, if not for the stupenduous Blue Tiran's lightning reflexes, but Heather was determined to kiss the floor even if for a split second.

It would be a really lousy time for Cardigan Trent to kiss Heather on the lips right then.

“Much obliged,” said Heather, as she gazed up at Blue, her eyes sparkling with delight. No, really, it was literally sparkling, like some damn anime character when they saw something they wanted or just admired on sight. And if everyone that that would be Blue Thiran, one should look carefully to realize she was already looking at Albert with those eyes, and now it was clear what was the object of her desire, because this beats a holographic therapy pet. If she had an Albert...

“So nice to meet you, Albert!” With little effort, Supreme Blue had Heather on her feet and somewhat steadied, but in any reality, a stable Heather was as much a possibility as stable protomatter. So please don't do drugs. “Hey, would you like to stop over for tea sometime?”

It did not for a moment register that she'd just invited a robotic owl over for tea. He could speak after all, that made him sentient and living as far as she was concerned. She listened to the conversations after that for a while, taking in what everyone had to say and she quickly interjected when Blue spoke to Zephyr, saying, “Well I could be a plant, you know,” she held up a finger and let it light up, and then she looked at her own finger like it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the universe. “Oh hey, a taco, may I have one?”

She reached out and looked admiringly at it, then started devouring it at the speed of molasses, nibbling on the crunchy food, making a consistent crunching noise as she ate. She paused at some point to hold up the glowing finger of judgement and said, “Do be careful when you extract, yeah? I may need it back. I haven't quite determined if it's my soul itself or not. Oh Commander Tiran, you have an astounding arm and reflex.”

Blue had ordered them to continue with her accolades.

Turning to Tyreke, Heather excitedly waved at him, and then allowed her whole hand to start glowing, “I'm a Radiant! So I can shine.”

It was important to note that Heather had a master's degree for stating the obvious.

Turning back to Zephyr, Heather grinned, allowed her hand to stop shining, then went back to eating her taco as slowly and as noisily as biologically possible.

Xenobiology, Synthetics & Cybernetics Lab
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Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #9 –
[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Hastata-Nerada @Numen @Triage
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With his red leaf tea in hand, Parnak settled into his seat. He could feel the eyes upon him; The rolling eyes of the engineer unable to comprehend her side seat in this arena of intelligence. The hybrid, as expected, acknowledged his presence. Silim expected that the officer would call him out from across the ship if he had visibility. It was both gratifying to know that he held such attention but, likewise, the hybrid was not the focus of attention here.

Before there was even the proper change to not reply, the Betazoid sprung into administration mode, introducing the task at hand and why she had assembled the team. It seemed simple enough.

Raking a hand through straight black hair, Silim waited. He had questions, but he wasn’t going to be first to ask. There was an order to these things. Like with most things, Parnak was careful and deliberate with his words. Waiting for the prime time to pounce. When the dark-skinned Science Officer spoke, it provided an ample opportunity.

“I do believe that is why we are here” He retorted in reply to Okafor’s question about whether it specifically needs to be heather. “Unless I have not been keeping up to the latest scientific news, the Federation is still trepidatious about the application of cloning.”

He couldn’t help but grin. The mental concept forming was more amusing.

“And, as delightful as I’m sure  you are, My dear.” He said, turning to the girl in question. “I suspect we don’t have the scope, patience or resources to place you on every ship, station and planet across the galaxy.

“No…” Parnak paused, rubbing his chin as if in thought. Once he was sure the attention was back on him, he continued. “...I suspect once we isolate the metabolic function that allows the bioluminescence, our yellow collared friend will be in charge of actually building some form of prototype.” 

Turning back to the Betazoid, the leader in this smattering of braincells, Parnak eyed her carefully. Perhaps this was her plan? Get a group together, sit back and let them devise the whole scenario and result before taking all the glory. Either way, Parnak still needed further answers and she was going to give them.

“Do we have some mechanism to sufficiently test the outcome of our works? I have no desire to just reinvent the lightbulb.”

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #10 –
[Lt. Zephyr Praise | Time to get Busy | Lets Work Together | We Can Do This | Teamwork makes the Team Work!]
@Numen @Arista @Triage @Hastata-Nerada



The Engineer in this equation was the sort that held up to her reputation.  Zeph had heard about her attitude, her cursing, and the fact that she was as blunt as a nail studded plank of wood.  The woman was smart, crazy intelligent, and an inventor.  It was something to be said that her creation was currently sitting on her shoulder and was practically a living thing.  Zeph had heard stories that he hadn't always been able to talk back, and that the Savi had done things to him as they had with many others.  He hadn't been reverted back to his previous form, and she wasn't sure if he had wanted it though likely not.  Still, she didn't think that just anyone could have come up with something quite like Albert and it was for this reason that Zeph had contacted Blue for. 

She heard the questions being fired around the room.  Okafor was firsts with various questions about Heather.  Wondering all sorts of things that none of them had figured out yet that was kind of the whole reason they were here.  Zeph and Heather had met in the hallways and Ives had mentioned that Heather was the key to defeating the parasites but they had to figure out how to harness her energy and it was something that wasn't going to be easy.  To take something built into the core of a person.  As Okafor continued to ask many questions that were on the top of his mind Zeph gave a quick nod to encourage him asking when Heather admitted she was something called a Radiant.

“that's true, she is a Radiant, and we are here to figure out how she makes the light, and what we can do with it.  If we can recreate it, clone it, or maybe make an artificial but still potent version of it ourselves.  That's why we have the best minds in here.” she admitted motioning to the whole room.

Heather made her hand shine just for the fact of showing everyone that she could do it and earned a smile from Zeph herself.  Before she headed over to get a taco that Tiran had brought with her.  Apparently it was a good thing to bring all the food because Zeph hadn't expected people to actually want to eat here but she was glad that Tiran had decided to help out in that one.  Parnak began to speak up, he was always very 'my way is better than yours' but Zeph had dealt with pretentious people before and he didn't really bother her.  She knew that he likely thought she was less than him, but again, it didn't bother her neither did Tiran's little question string earlier.  She was used to being underestimated because of her size, her chosen profession, and the fact that she was nice.

But, looks could be deceiving and she had been surprising people for years.

“Well what I wanted to do to begin with, was scan heather and see if we could do it before she lit up and during.  I want to see if we can figure out where exactly the light originates from in her body.  So we're going to do a long comprehensive scan of the whole process from regular Heather to Super Nova Heather.' she stated with a bit of a smile.  “Then we can decide where exactly we want our samples from.  Tiran, you're here to make the device once we figure it all out, but you need to be part of the process so you know what kind of materials you're going to have to harness and deliver.”

Zeph turned to Heather who was eating a snack at this point.  “If no one has any objections, and you're ready, I have the scanner warmed up and waiting for you back there.” she pointed to the back of the lab where the full body medical scanning device waited.




[LCdr Blue Tiran | Does Albert Do Parties? | Can I Bring Tacos? | Will Work for Twinkies | Napping Until Needed]




Heather was going to be intriguing.  Blue couldn't decide if she was really fucking annoying or just a little fucking annoying but either way being on the annoying scale was never a good plan.  Blue looked down at the blonde woman who had sparkles in her eyes, like the legit kind, it was creepy as mother fucking shit and Blue could not decide if it would get her in trouble if she shoved the girl away on sheer creep factor or not.  Luckily, Blue was not the object of the infactuation as shown in the seriously grotesque eyes of Heather and instead it was on Albert who seemed neither bothered nor really paying attention to the young thing until she said his name. 

Albert's metallic head twisted and altered it's axis so that it's optical sensors could take in the shining visage of Heather still held in Miss Blue's grasp.  He was curious how a particularly clumsy creature could consistently live when they seemed hardly capable of retaining an upright position.  Her emotional wellspring seemed to be overflowing as well, and while he was used to emotional people (IE: Blue Tiran), he was not used to the kind of emotion he was detecting on this person's face.  What intrigued him further was the invitation to join her for some tea.  A party of the tea variety.

[I am incapable of the consumption of either sustenance nor beverages.  Is there another reason one should attend a party of the tea?]

“You're not serious.” Blue said looking over at the owl.

[I am merely being polite, as it was I, and not you, invited to a party.]

“Do you need someone to make you a pretty fucking suit and tie so you can show up in fucking style too?”

[I do not understand the need to cover my chassis with unnecessary fabrics.]

Blue rolled her eyes as the Science people were doing the Science thing.  Zephyr launched into her explanation and Heather played light show with her fucking laser hand.  Blue watched as she mentioned something about having a burrito and Blue waved her hand at the table.  “I brought enough for every fucking one.” she admitted.

[You're welcome.] Albert said, looking at Blue.

She just grinned and shrugged her shoulder. 

The Late Cardassian mentioned something about isolating some shit and then yellow collared buddy would have to get their shit together and find a way to deliver the weapon.  Blue just gave a nod.  “Don't talk dirty to me.” she winked across the lab at the Cardassian just to fuck with him because she could.  She had an engagement ring on her left hand and she wasn't even in the mood to fuck about with anyone other than Ranaan but she might as well get some fucking enjoyment out of being here.

“So we need this shit weaponized to be mounted onto every fucking fleet ship?  But, .. aren't we on the run?  We can't just fucking go to other ships and put this shit on there and be like, hye guys I know that you guys don't know anything at all about these super fucking cool parasites and all that but we swear that if you just shoot that guy over there... it'll be cool, no really, it'll work, no it's cool, it's not murder.. honest.”

[I believe, Miss Blue, the prototype would be on the Theurgy alone.]

“Yes but if the universe is full of these mother fuckers, we alone aren't going to be able to make a fucking dent in it.  I'm willing to create the shit, I'm just wondering how the fuck we're getting everyone else on board but then I guess that's why we have Ives and Ducote.” she gave a shrug and picked up another taco unwrapping it from the protective wrap and crunched down on it.

“Why don't we worry about making the weapon before we get discouraged trying to attach it to other ships.” Zephyr said with a slightly exasperated sigh.

“Sure, I'm just a forward thinker.” Blue grinned after swallowing her bite of taco.

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #11 –

[ Lt. JG Izar Bila | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]

Att:  @BZ @Hastata-Nerada @Triage @Arista 

For a short time, the reunion seemed to fluctuate between a VERY informal reunion and a working-meeting. The hybrid didn't mind informal meetings. He thrived in informal situations, but the presence of Ogamĵan added a layer of discomfort to the gathering. He remembered well the counseling session with Ejek, and what she had suggested. Maybe it was the ideal time to put that into practice, but he didn't feel too confident to do so with so many people present. The chemist squished his palms beneath the desk, as he repressed the urge to bring his hand to his earring, a nervous motion he should avoid at that moment.

Luckily, Okafor took the floor, wondering if it was pertinent that Heather was the one emitting the light and she should be present. The hybrid saw the relevance of the former. They really needed to analyze the light from the source, how it was emitted, and whether it was possible to replicate that effect artificially. The chemist wasn't entirely convinced that it could be replicated, based on what he had read in Nicander's research. Of course they had to try. And the Prophets would provide them with an adequate solution if they put all their effort and intellect into it. But it would not be a simple endeavor. A task in which Heather's presence would be fundamental. Especially if the way she produced light couldn't be reproduced and they only could only 'magnify' its effect to be used on a larger scale. A prospect that the chemist thought was the most likely solution.

No matter how, Bila was so lost in thought that he said naught, which was especially convenient given Parnak's quick rebuke.  The hybrid felt sorry for the dark-skinned man. Okafor was a good man, in a human fashion. But for his misfortune he was receiving a dose of bedside's manners in the Parnak manner. In the Cardassian style. It wasn't something pleasant to observe.  Bila felt divided, not knowing what to do, for a minute, but in the end, Ejek's words weighed more heavily on his decision. So he giggled (kind of nervously) and nodded in the old man's direction. Two cruel gestures against someone who didn't deserve them, to kiss up Parnak. But Bila had to do it. He would clarify the situation with Okafor, later. If there was anything left to salvage after that briefing. In the meantime, he just glanced at Ogamĵan, concealing the best he could his hope that the good doctor would approve of his action. How much he loathed himself for that.

However, the bajcardie couldn't gloat too much on those negative feelings, as the main character of the party proceeded to make a small sample of her skills. "Shit" whispered Bila in spite of himself. It was one thing to read about it, and other far different to contemplate it firsthand. It was almost like behold the interior of an Orb, it was not just light, there was a myriad of colours intermingled in that light, an unreal iridescence a....."KU!" he repeated as he plunged forward, took one of the tricorders and began to take some readings. As soon as the upper lights of the tricorder blinked revealing the initial measurements when Heather's hands went out.  Hazel eyes scanned the device's small screen. They searched, compared the data he had read with the records he has studied. It seemed that the electromagnetic range, wavelengths and so on were the same. At least as little as he could compare. And as in Nicander's files, it was incomplete. There was part of the light that wasn't quite in the same phase as they were, something that made it special and unique and escaped the traditional sensors.  Bila's browridges knitted deeply as he verified all this.

While he was at this, Zephyr spoke up, as did that engineer who terrified Bila.  The chemist wanted to be attentive to their words. He tried. He really tried. But most of his brain was focused on the tricorder. In what he had to say. In how to say it to sound proper in front of Parnak. "Ahem" cleared his throat to draw the attention of those present to himself. " Ha-the-there is a little problem regarding Miss McMillan's light. Nicander's reports already warned it, the nature of the light she emits is transphasic in nature, so we can analyze the wavelengths that are in our same phase, but without having all the full ra-range the only thing we will accomplish would be to recreate an especially complex flashlight." he stuttered as he stared at Heather apologetically. He swallowed and started talking again, attempting to give a little more confidence to his voice. After all, this was part of his expertise. " Sensors won't be able to register the whole electromacnetic range if we don't narrow the phases in which it is present. It's... it's like looking at a planet through blue tinted glass. We could see all the colours of the planet, but the blue gradients would be 'invisible' to us and our knowledge of the planet would be distorted by the filter we use," he tried to simplify for the most untrained in quantum chemistry. "So both the nature of the light and the... organ or the way Miss McMillan creates that luminescence will be incomplete and useless to our objectives until we can develop a specialized detector in a broad-electromagnetic-spectrum that could identify the waveform's range enough to limit its multiphasic spectrum. Only then will we'll be able to have all the necessary information to find out how it's produced." He explained turning to Okafor and Parnak with his last sentences, since, as specialists in biology, they would be the ones who could find out how that phenomenon worked.

Then Bila sat down again, much more comfortable with himself than he had been since he had begun to speak. " Liutenant Commander, have you ever worked with Kemocite" asked to the engineer of the room, at the time he dared to look for the first time at her irate blue eyes. Bila swallowed again. He couldn't be afraid now. This was his chance to prove himself useful.  The hybrid lifted his shaggy chin a bit and straightened his posture. "Its characteristics can be of great help to us as a starting point to develop the sensor and the emitter".


From nx kardasi by noxfox

Ogamĵan.- oldman, politely distanced
ku → shit (swear shortner)

useful links to developt the nature of the light
1 2 3 4

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #12 –
[ Lt. Tyreke Okafor | Science Labs | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy ] @BZ @Numen @Arista @Triage
[Show/Hide]

Cloning or artificially recreating the light… Why not both? Mechanics and biology, well… There was no reason why they couldn’t synthetically replicate whatever Heather’s body was doing with bio-synthetic replications of that same process. That is if such a committee could survive the possibly literally colorful array of personalities present in the room. Zephyr at least, definitely had her head on her shoulders, and thankfully managed to have a clear direction for the small collective of scientists and an engineer.

And a robot owl who was there.

Also Heather… Heather was like something he’d dreamed up when Okafor had eaten a bajoran plant which he should have scanned first. Someone with a personality so glowing that her exterior matched, a literal beacon of sparkles. Okafor had to blink a few times to make sure he hadn’t eaten an alien fruit jammed with psilocybin again.

Okay, the robot owl spoke, and seemed to be a personality. Was this a really advanced virtual intelligence? Like the kind used in basic holodeck programs? Did Tiran build the owl? Couldn’t have, the owl was too polite to have been built by someone like Lieutenant Commander Tiran.

However as scathing as Tiran’s language was, she did make a good point. Production of the devices would be challenging. Of course just as Okafor’s brain turned to brainstorming, Bila proceeded to upturn his entire assessment of the situation with a single word: transphasic.

By all the luck-

Well it would explain a lot, and it certainly explained some degree of how it affected the parasites. But also… how… why… many questions and not enough answers. But wait- kemocite?

“K- kemocite?” Okafor stammered, as he turned his head towards Bila. “I understand that kemocite is multiphasic in nature, but it is also a highly radiolytic isotope, enough to produce planet-killing weapons which I assume you are already aware of, and... probably are thinking of some way to counter that.”

Okafor stopped, glanced down, then said, “Well, I suppose it is okay to handle, but I am worried about exposing multiphasic energies to the kemocite that are of a type we do not know. I ah… I am afraid the particulars of that are outside of my field though, so if you know something that could help then do not hold back.”

“I have also been thinking.” He added. “That if the source of the light is too closely tied with Heather’s biological processes to work, I could assist Lieutenant Commander Tiran with constructing an emitter, as my work does deal with bridging synthetics and biology. But I would not like to count on that, as I do not know if that would still be possible.”

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #13 –
[ PWO Heather McMillan | Xenobiology & Cybernetics Lab | Lower Science Labs | Deck 17 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Arista, @Hastata-Nerada, @BZ & @Numen
[Show/Hide]
Heather gave Silim a toothy grin and self-consciously checked for taco bits in her teeth, then shrugged when she figured it was a little too late for being self-conscious. Izar, a half-Cardassian, had taken some quick tricorder scans while she was lighted up, and whatever he found had stumped him. There had also been talks about turning her into a supernova, but she wondered how the gods intended to turn her into an exploding sun. That seemed outside the realm of possibilities as the sheer power alone required more than whatever they had in existence.

“If you want to blow me up,” said Heather as she slowly finished her snack, “you could whip up nitroglycerin for me to drink, but I think that trick might work just once...”

She frowned as she computed the results of exploding, “Oh, I'd die.”

After one brush with death, Heather felt she had a decidedly more blasé reaction to the possibility of a repeat, and shrugged. The conversation went around, and she heard all the relevant parts: "My dear," "I believe," "A little," and "That."

“We can always combine an artificial temporal inversion to counteract the more lethal aspects of Kemocite,” she said as she cleaned her fingers and quickly reached out to pet Albert, he felt so solid, but he was the creation of a god, so that was no surprise, and she walked over to stand beside Zephyr for a moment. That woman was really tall! “When I was assigned to the Theurgy before everything happened, I was studying some kemocite and...civilian applications. But I never got far, I was distracted by making holographic teddy bears and tribbles. Th-they were more fun to make!”

She knew how defensive she sounded and blushed, then quickly went on, addressing Izar, “Transphasic, right? I...well, I had a specially configured tricorder that I used to take deep scans of myself when I was still a full Radiant. Unfortunately it got incinerated along with most of my belongings during our kerfuffle at Starbase 84. But!” she jabbed a finger at her temple and jerked away, “Ow...but, I mostly remember how to rebuild it. Mostly, because...after I got vapourized, and then rebuilt partially with Xenexian DNA, I seem to have holes in my memory, I still have trouble remembering the cat god's name. Th-the one who runs Above Decks? The proprietor? Was it Bacon? No...something else. Beacon? That sounds more like it.”

She turned away stroking her chin thoughtfully, then turned to look at everyone blankly, “What was I talking about again? Oh, right, thanksgiving. No! I mean, transphasic tribbles! Hey did we have photonic nurse? Eve? something like that? I think she took some thorough scans of me too back then...m-maybe that could help? There is raw data about me in Theurgy...I think.”

She wandered away, seemingly lost in thought once more, and walked right over Silim's foot, not that there was much weight on her to begin with, and she was not wearing shoes, “Okay, so we need to use a taco, bake a torchlight, and add twelve kittens into a nursery and that will help us make some magic.” She turned to look at Silim, “did I step on your foot?!? I'm so sorry! Oh goodness, I'm so sorry.” she lowered her head and clasped her hands in front of her, “lesser beings don't step on gods, lesser beings don't step on gods...uh, I think I'll go get the scans done. Yes. Yes, that's a good idea, nice idea...”

She funny-walked as fast as she could to the indicated device by Zephyr and dropped her hands to her sides, “Scan away, and don't spare the spare ribs! That did not come out right.”

A thought hit her then, and she shook herself, “If my light is transphasic, couldn't we use some of the underlying principles of a transphasic torpedo and reverse-engineer a conceptual design for a more comprehensive applicable device?”

Xenobiology, Synthetics & Cybernetics Lab
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Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #14 –
[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Hastata-Nerada @Numen @Triage
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Parnak had missed being with a group of his peers. Now, this circle wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but it was probably as close as he could get on this ship. Each person spoke, waiting or their chance to chime in and bring forth the knowledge they had. Listening to the wittering of the others, he mulled over their words and choices in the way to solve this particular predicament. Certainly, some ideas had merit and he would be interested to see how they evolved.

He broke his contemplation to take a sip of tea. It was still nicely warm and he could feel the heat radiate through his hands as he cradled the cup. The conversation around the room carried on and Silim closed his eyes and lounged back into his chair, idle, somewhat content. That was, at least until he felt something on his foot.

It was light, almost unnoticeable, yet when snapped open his lids, there was movement nearby. Parnak frowned, the furrow of his brow creasing his eye ridges further. Did she just stand on his foot? Why was she so light?

It didn’t matter much as almost immediately she turned and apologised. It was, however, a bit much, calling him a god. Silim knew he held himself in high regard, some could say he was resplendent, but a god? That was a leap, albeit, small.

“Do take care.” Silim retorted, attempting to cover his sneer.

With a small chirp, the doctor’s combadge indicated that someone was trying to contact him. Depressing it, he answered immediately.

“Parnak.” He offered by way of an answer.

“Doctor Parnak, this is security officer Matthews. The security centre is reading an unauthorised entry on your lab and I think you need to come down to see this.” The voice over the com was clear and concise. Finally, Parnak concluded closing the channel without a reply, a security officer with merit.

“Forgive me.” He smiled apologetically to his host. “It appears I am in demand today.”

Moving to the doorway, he paused, placing his tea down on a nearby countertop. Looking back over the room once more, he smirked.

“Try not to solve everything without me.” He called, and like that he was gone. Off down the hall to find out whatever was pulling him away.


OOC: Sorry for the poor quality reply. Due to RL issues, I am removing Parnak from this thread so that I'm not delaying you all any further.

I hope it goes well!

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs.] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #15 –
[Lt.  Zephyr Praise | Harder Than First Thought | Never Give Up | Making it Work | Team Work]
@Numen @Triage @Hastata-Nerada




Zephyr looked around as Heather lit up like a beacon.  She could understand where the wow factor was, but the Scientist in her needed the information more than she needed the show.  Her tricorder was struggling to consume as much of the readings as possible, and the screen was lighting up with all of the information that it could taking it all in to be saved for later.  She didn't even have time to read it all at the moment, but she would, and it was something that she could take away and look over when she had the time to.  The light of Heather faded and now, the tricorders fell silent as the world in their little room went back to normal.  Zeph noticed out of the corner of her eyes Bila was doing the same thing that she was with avid curiosity as to what the tricorder was actually going to say to him.  She figured that he would end up with the same readings that she had.

The light, now that she could read about it, was transphasic in nature, which made her heart sink slightly because that was going to make it much harder to work with.  It would not be easily replicatable, and since it was biological in nature, they weren't going to just be able to reproduce.  Of course there was biological reproductions and there was a reaction inside Heather's body that actually created this light.  So it was possible, but it could take years, decades even, to figure out how to harness the light and actually create a weapon.  The smartest people in the Fleet stood around this little.. tiny... ball of energy and tried to figure out what they could do with it and they still weren't probably going to be able to work it quickly.  For a moment, Zephyr's heart fell, she had really hoped they could come in here and solve the problem.  But, true to Zephyr form, she wasn't going to let that get her down, no, they had come in here on a mission and she was going to do her best.

We can do this, I know we can.

Bila spoke what Zephyr was thinking though, the transphasic light would be hard to replicate not because the light morphed in and out of phases and pulled from different ones, but also because they wouldn't be able to see all the properties in the different phases without being able to study it.. in that phase.  “That's true, but there has to be away.  At least, I'm not giving up yet.” she stated calmly as she brushed a errant curl behind her ear and looked back at the tricorder.  Bila mentioned they needed something that could actually tell them what phases they needed in order to read the different phases properly, and that was something that maybe.. maybe the woman in the corner could help with.

Sure enough, Bila looked over to ask if she had ever worked with Kemocite before.  Zeph's eyes widened, she had, and she had been tasked with never speaking of it.  She didn't use it much, only once actually, but other than that, it was used on the Azurite station for various research possibilities and weaponry that was created for the Fleet, or .. not.  Whatever use it was for, she had heard of the substance.  Before she or Blue could actually say anything on the matter the very shy Okafor began to speak and so she turned to give him her full attention.  He mentioned that Kemocite could be dangerous to work with and Zeph gave a nod. 

“It is, but I imagine if we actually needed to use it we could find ways to make it work a little bit?” she wondered.  “It's our first actual lead in this whole conversation so I don't want to count it out.  If everyone stopped doing something because it was a little dangerous or volatile they there would be a lot less of the universe.  I think we can at least keep trying.  My main concern is getting our hands on some.  It's highly regulated, we can't replicate it, and so that means we're going to have to go to the black market and pay a very large sum of money for a very small amount.  Before we leave, we have to make sure we have enough to do this, because once we leave port, there won't be any kemocite stores around anymore.  Also; this is super illegal.” 

You know.. just incase they weren't aware.

Heather began her very happy and chipper explanations of herself.  Of the tricorder that she used to have, which gave Zeph hope, until it ws given out that it had been destroyed at some point.  Then she was working on another, but that one wasn't going to work either because when Heather was brought back to life they had used different DNA and now she wasn't full radiant anymore.

“Hold on.”  Zeph said holding up her hand.  “If you're not full radiant anymore and your DNA has been mixed with another .. then your light may have changed completely.  While you can still act as a biological flash light, do we know if you still have the same powers against the parasites as you once did?  Or was that post rebuilding?  I only ask because I know that the smallest alteration in a genome is something that can completely change how things work down to the core level.”

Heather stepped onto the large scanning pad and Zephyr pushed the button so that she could begin to scan the girl as best as possible.  “I'm going to take some blood when we're done, I think some of us need to run your genome.  You should have some previous blood on file, and I'm sure I can pull up Eve's old records on you that we can compare and see how the new DNA introduced into your body when you were created once more, could have altered you.  I would hate to build a weapon and break laws for no reason.”

Parnak was pinged over on his badge, though Zeph was only half listening.  She respected the man, quite a lot, and his mind was filled with great knowledge, she hoped to sit down one day and talk shop.  But, it seemed today he would have to leave them early because of some issue with his lab.  She gave a slight absentminded wave to him figuring that she would see him again soon as they continue to work on this project.  Once he was gone, she looked up at Heather and cocked her head.

“You're hollow.” she shook her head, “I mean, your bones are hollow, this is intriguing.  Biologically, most hollow bones are for lighter bodies that create less weight so that you could fly or something, I'm curious how you evolved to having hollow bones..” she tapped her fingers on her PADD a moment getting lost in the thought of possibilities.






[LCdr Blue Tiran | Is It Nap Time? | Breaking Laws is My Middle Name | Should Have Brought Drinks | Sodium Intake is Unacceptable]





People were talking.

They were all happy and giggly and really fucking annoying.  Blue sat back in her corner and hooked her boot around one of the empty seats now that the fucking light show was out of it.  Pulling it over to her, she slid both her boots into the seat of the chair and leaned back further.  Her mass of black and blue hair shifted over the back of the chair and fell in it's ringlets down behind her.  Blue's eyes fluttered closed her dark black eye lashes rested on the cheek bones in her face.  All around her people were chattering excitedly, Blue was less excited.  With two burritos, six tacos, and two sets of nachos in her belly her body knew three things.  Carbs were the fucking bomb.  She was really fucking full  And she should have brought some drinks. 

[Commander Blue, you should pay attention.]  Albert said, his volume lowered quite nicely, so it didn't jolt in her ear, he was learning more about propriety of volume, something that Blue had never truly learned herself. 

“I am.” she muttered.

[Your current heart rate shows that you are declining into a sleep pattern.]

“I'll have to fix your sensors, they're shit.” she muttered again.

[I have run a diagnostic, they are working at optimal capacity.]

“Fuck your diagnostic.”

Someone, she couldn't place the voice without the lips flapping in her field of vision, which was currently closed off to the whole room, mentioned Kemocite.  Then, asked if she had worked with it.  Blue cocked one of her eyes opened, and looked at the vocal offender, but before she could answer, and she could tell that the ol' Boss Lady had something to say too, someone else answered.  Her eye shifted to the Blue Shirt, such a waste really, as he began to speak of it and all that it was about.  Blue closed her eye again, the light was bright in here now that she had closed them at some point.  Besides other people were answering questions and it was totally rude to interrupt.  Yeah, that was the reason.  The other one, .Boss Lady began to speak again about how they needed Heather's scans, and how her body could be different, but also how illegal it was to get their hands on kemocite and they would be breaking laws to go get some.

“We can come up with a dampener for the whole world destroying angle of it.  In fact, if we're going to break Federation law for shits and giggles, we might as well get as much of that shit as we can because we don't fucking know how much it's going to take to go through the phases, and fucking build a machine that can work it, through all the phases at once to fry the fucking parasites into crispy critters.”

Blue had spoken without really meaning to, and without actually cognitively doing so.  Fuck you brain.  “I can build some shit, that's for sure, but we have to figure out what we're wanting fir-”  The Scientist with the fancy ridges had to leave and said something about not solving all the problems without him.  Blue smirked.  I could get behind that guy..  Once he was gone, she continued.  “We need to decide at what range we want to be able to attack these fuckers, because we can't just attack a whole planet, not everyone may be all bugged up, so we have to think probably something on a smaller scale, or maybe both, I don't fucking know yet.  But we need a bunch of this shit if we're going to be working on what phases we need to get Firefly over there into a weapon, and also, what kind of weapon we want to make.  It's not as easy as it sounds on paper this is going to take a lot of fucking work.”

Blue, who had been leaning back in her chair on the back two legs, now dropped herself back to all four and opened those blue eyes of hers.  She rose her arms up over her head, forcing Albert to shift around her a bit as she stretched her upper body.  If I don't move, I'm going to fall asleep.

“Step one, get the kemocite.  It's unreplicatable, for good fucking reason, you're going to have to find someone that is willing to break all the Federation laws, put their jobs in danger, and you know.. flirt with dangerous materials.... once you get your crew, I would check Aldea.  Places like this probably have a fucking black market, especially with the bandits that I've heard are down there.  So, it's probably a good place to fucking start.  I'll go work on some blueprints for some kind of prototypes and we can discuss more during a second pow wow right?  Cool.  Bye peeps, keep the left overs!”

Blue rose and headed for the door already her mind running with the possibilities of how she would want to build the prototypes of the different weapons.

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs.] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #16 –
[ Lt. JG Izar Bila | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy]
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Att:  @BZ @Triage @Auctor Lucan

Almost as soon as Bila had finished his suggestion regarding the use of Kemocite, Okafor voiced his doubts about the idea. "Well, you don't make an omelet without breaking some eggs" he chuckled before Praise advocated on his behalf. The chemist shifted to look at her and nodded as a show of appreciation, but he chose not to discuss the matter any further. At that time it was more important to raise possible solutions and diverse study tracks, the reality would be responsible to provide more than enough problems once they actually began to work on the issue.

Shortly afterwards, the queen of the party, Heather McMillan, began to babble animatedly and swiftly, and Bila tried to follow her convoluted thread of thought, but soon he found that he was barely able to make sense of a quarter of what the girl was saying. There was too much superfluous data. Too much critical information was missing. Everything was messy and tangled, and every time the hybrid thought he had grabbed an idea that might be useful, MacMillan shattered it with the interesting fact that they couldn't use that information in any way. Frustration grew within the chemist by leaps and bounds, as well as a fierce headache. The same one that had chased him since he woke up in the Cayuga' s sickbay just before it had been destroyed, so many days ago. He couldn't help but rub his temple, just behind the right orbital ridge, in an attempt to relieve the growing tension that grew there.

"Miss MacMillan, please could you make a file with all the data that you can remember about Radiants and about that tricorder that you used to analyze and put them in common with the working group?, we'll see what we can get out of it." he asked with the kindest voice that was able to muster. He breathed deeply before he added. "Please also contact... 'Eve' so she can share with us all the relevant details she has available."

Only then did his brain manage to unravel the idea of disraveling part of the light principles by comparing it to the transphasic torpedoes. It was an idea that had its own merit and that the engineer in the room could undoubtedly use. However, this didn't solve the problem of having to analyze Heather's light fully in order to understand and reproduce it. But it was a good idea, one they could possibly use later. In addition, it was probably the only meaningful thing that Bila had pulled out of the girl's whole gibberish, so he hurried to write it down on one of the padd that ornamented the table. Unfortunately, Bila had been unaware that his fingers were stained with the sauce of the strange hasperat provided by the engineer, which left a greasy stain on the immaculate screen. Bila cursed between his teeth and sprang up in search of something to clean the padd's surface before further typing. As he did so, Parnak excused himself and left the room. Bila felt somehow bewildered, as he stared at the door hissing shut behind the Ogamĵan, not quite sure how he felt about his abrupt departure. Part of him was certainly relieved. How the other parts of him felt was more complex and convoluted, and the hybrid decided to set those thoughts aside for later, when he had time to analyze them calmly.

When he picked up the thread of what was being discussed in the laboratory one more time, he heard how Zephyr proclaimed that some degree of danger was a must for scientific progress. Bila nodded vehemently at these words. "Furthermore, if an experiment doesn't bear the risk of blowing up all the scientists involved into pieces or endangering the entire lab and all the adjacent facility  sections, it is NOT a serious experiment." He deadpaned, "I can assure you this, I am a chemist after all," he claimed, although this time the seriousness of his face cracked with a mischievous smile. "In any case, I agree that Aldea may be the perfect place to acquire kemocite and I' ve some ideas about how we can obtain a significant amount of it..." He added then, staring at the botanist. His lips didn't utter the words, but in his voice and attitude it was implicit that the means he was talking about were of dubious legality and ethics. Almost as much as how Bila had acquired such expertise in the matter. He swallowed loudly. That was a point from his past that he preferred to avoid sharing. One about which he would be grateful if no one would inquire, much less the absent Silim Parnak. Perhaps his departure had been a gift from the Prophets, after all.

The conversation progressed further in front of him, with input from several of those present, among others from the engineer, whom Bila listened to with horrified astonishment. He couldn't help but notice that Blue's attitude and words gave him goose bumps, as if he were looking at a predator ready to jump. Or to some radioactive material degrading rapidly. Yeah, he couldn't deny that the blue-haired woman was right, but there was something about her that made him extremely nervous. And as she expressed herself, it did not help to alleviate that primordial anxiety. For better or worse, she didn't take long to leave the lab, thinning even more the group that remained planning the work. "Ma-maybe you could study Heather's engrams stored in the transporter's log. May-maybe they keep some of her DNA prior to the change she's undergone, so you can compare it to the current one or get a rough idea of which organ or set of organs allow her to generate that light," Bila stammered after the second hissing of the door as he watched how Zephyr extracted MacMillan's blood. It was a remote possibility but it deserved to be tried.

Once he was able to recompose a little from the verbal thrust that the engineer exhuded, Izar looked again at the betazoid and suggested. " What do you think about splitting the team into two groups? The first could analyze the data we have, both the past and those we have just reviewed, while a second group could help Commander Tiran and... get the kemocite."

Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs.] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #17 –
[ PWO Heather McMillan | Xenobiology & Cybernetics Lab | Lower Science Labs | Deck 17 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Arista, @BZ & @Numen
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“Sounds like a lot of fun!” said Heather to Izar with a big smile as the scans were concluded. She considered the remark about her hollow bones. Maybe it was part of the Xenexian side of her now? No, no, not bloody likely. She was the lightweight. “I think my ancestors were capable of a limited form of psychokinesis and used it to travel short distances from tree-to-tree. It's...something I'd seen in dreams. Fever dreams, but it seems a logical assumption based on your findings, and mine. As for my light...”

She drew into herself for a moment, searching her own core for the purest light from her soul, and slowly, she began to glow again, but it took visible concentration to maintain. Her head held the brightest shine, and she smiled wearily at Zephyr, “It's unchanged. I promise...it's...it's just harder to bring it out for a long time, unlike how I used to be.”

Everyone was taking their leave. The meeting appeared to be over as quickly as it began. “I'll compile everything into a neat file for us,” said Heather, “I've got everything I need in my lab, and I'll check with Eve for the old records.”

She smiled brightly at those left in the room, “Pop over anytime you like, okay? I'll have some tea or anything else you might fancy.”

Rising up to tip toe, she scampered out of the room with the raw data and scans on herself...and one more taco.

Xenobiology, Synthetics & Cybernetics Lab
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Re: Day 05 [0900 hrs.] Weaponizing Innocence

Reply #18 –
A joint-post by  @BZ & @Numen
[Lt. Zephyr Praise & Lt. JG Izar Bila | Science Lab | Deck 17 | USS Theurgy]
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Att: @Triage  @Auctor Lucan 

Everything seemed to start working. Most of the pieces were on the table and all that was left to do was study them to see which ones were useful and which ones weren't, and how they fit together. A puzzle as complex as the one in their hands wasn't easy to solve, but Zephyr was convinced that they had put together a great team that would surely succeed in that endeavor.  A confident smile appeared on her lovely face. They were there to make science and that was always exciting.  Even though the objective was almost unreachable and many of their peers had failed to reach it. They had an advantage: they played as a team and had more data than any of the earlier teams. They could build on the failures of their predecessors and learn from them. In addition, they had one of the best Fleet engineers on board, no matter how blunt she was.

Bila observed how the betazoid clapped her hands, her face radiant and cheerful.  " I think splitting the group is a good idea. You and I will concentrate on getting the Kemocite for the Liutenant Commander. Okafor, please work with Dr. Parnak to analyze and organize the data we currently have. I'm as interested in what we know as in what information we lack. It'll be our first focus once we've scanned all of Miss McMillan's light phases." The dark-skinned man only nodded briefly, with a lukewarm smile on his lips. The chemist had only known him for a short time, but he had the feeling that while Okafor would be a very useful partner, he had some reticence about how the project was being drawn up. The Half-Bajoran valued that the group had a moral compass in order to not lose direction but the fact was that they lacked the time and resources to indulge in too many scruples. 

At that moment, the former Radiant agreed too with the part of the plan she has been tasked and left the room with an unstable stack of pads wrapped in her arms and a trail of taco sauce behind her. Okafor followed her barely a minute later, his neck craned forward as he had studied his personal padd. "Oh!" he exclaimed, turning on his heels just as the door opened with a hiss in front of him. "I' ll be responsible to study the old patterns stored in the transporters. With all this starship has endured there is probably nothing we can work with there though..." he said with some taciturn hesitation in his voice.

Eventually, only Bila and Zephyr remained in the lab. "Well," the hybrid said as a mischievous smile blossomed on his face. "I have... some experience with the Orion Syndicate and gladly this system seems to be riddled with them," he whispered in confidence. "If we want to get something dangerous and potentially illegal like the kemocite they are our best bet. But we'll need money. And maybe it will be dangerous," he added, leaning toward the woman as if he were plotting something terrible. "The last time I worked with them and things went south I ended adriftt in a bolian scapepod in underwear, with only one boot, three rabid Terra Nova Diggers and a severe episode of Ankaran flu," he explained in a jocular tone. What he didn't explain was that this bizarre scenario was the best thing that could have happened and that his life had been hanging by a thread during most part of that adventure... and for the next fourteen months. "In any case, I don't think I would have ended up in that situation with a betazoid by my side. Listen, here's what we'll do, I'll impersonate a..."

FIN
 
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