Do hikkies and thing a mah bobs

Posted on Thursday November 19th, 2020 @ 1:31am by Ensign T'val

Mission: The Forgotten Outpost
Location: Engineering bay

Yani was so glad to be cleared for duty again. She had checked the time and realized that Thomas and Martha would likely be sleeping right about now on the USS Saturn and so she would have to wait before checking in with them. Her heart ached thinking of them so far away. 'just a few months' she reminded herself. 'just finish out your contract and then your home again.' It did little to boost her spirits. She wandered around aimless at first, Then curiosity took her towards where she recalled Engineering to be at. She was a field engineer. Still she enjoyed stations and ships. It was something to help pass the time at least. She figured. Besides she might be able to lend a hand who knew?

T'val sat in a chair that felt entirely too large for her in contrast to the person who normally sat here. She was filling out reports and trying her absolute best to pretend she had some semblance of emotional control. She raised her eyebrows at the newcomer entering engineering, and left Lyra's desk to approach them before anyone else did.

"Peace and long life, first Lieutenant." T'val gave the woman a nod. "May I assist you?"

"Actually if your not to busy then perhaps yes. I am thee field engineer for the Marine detachment. Well one of them. I was curious as to how the Station runs and all that. Last place I stayed was full of alien technology Id like a chance to be around something familiar again for a while. Do you think maybe I could just maybe look around and admire it all. I promise I wont touch a thing." Yeah, If she couldnt be home with her family then this was the next thing for her.

T'val tilted her head, took a moment to consider what this woman was intending. "Field engineer." She said, steepling her hands. "I would go so far as to argue that a proper tour is not only appropriate, it is a requirement of you to do your job effectively." T'val didn't add that she required the distraction. "It would not be the first time I have encountered a marine artificer. The Chief Engineer recently lost such a friend, actually."

"My condolences." Yanna said and she meant it her own team had suffered heavy losses and she had lost a lot of friends as well. The world seemed so much emptier with out them all, with out the sounds of their laughter or the energy they produced when they all were together. Its why the Major had brought what was left of them here. Using the blunder that had murdered over five thousand of his men. He had used all the pull he could to bring the last of them here. There were barely enough of them to make a full team not even a unit. Some of them like Thomas had been reassigned and simply gone. She had barely had a chance to tell him she was coming here to StarBase 3. Yanni didnt understand it. But the Major seemed to and she trusted him. He promised her that Martha and Thomas were safe. She forced herself to smile despite the inner turmoil.

"Yeah I think your right. I would like that a lot thanks, a tour." 'It will keep my mind of everything else'. She liked T'val she desided then. "The name is Yanna Blake, Private first class. But you can call me Yani as I am not on duty if you like."

"T'val." T'val paused. "Just T'val. I'm not particularly fond of rank designations and I do not have another name." She gestured around them. "Welcome to main engineering. The reactor is here. The main computer banks are not far. Do you have a specific specialty you would prefer to start with?"

"Well my specialty is demolitions and damage control and Conversion. But my passion is bio filters and anti matter containment and Nano technologies.. But I am pretty good for anything." Yani said as she glanced around to all the places T'Val had pointed out.

"Nano technologies?" T'val perked up. "We are shy on specialists in that field, and as it so happens, we have a requirement for one. We're having a bit of trouble getting some of the borg technology clean from the admin offices on Deck 29. If you're up for working, I would appreciate any assistance and insight you might be able to provide our team."

"I am happy to help. Go ahead and lead the way." Yani said her tone seemed far more optimistic now. "Im not expert but I can get things done. Nanites are a stubborn lot at the best of times. and still people complain about tribbles. Sure the furry balls of teeth are more comman and such but they only eat grain and are more a nuisance. Now you get just one random nanite with a open program roaming about it will get into everything until it turns your whole damn ship into a play house. They adapt from program to program and learn as they go. The more then grown in knowledge the more dangerous they get to the systems. If the ship has an AI or EMH might wanna run it for hidden program folders. It it has these ghost files in it then its a sign of nanite tampering." Yani was saying as they walked. "They also will multiply worse then tribbles if they do not have a barrier erected around them usually force fields and some tempered glasses can contain them and they need metal and alloys to reproduce. they love replicators for that reason. Its like a mothers teets for them. They can learn alot from making friends with the replicators and its not that far a step from it getting an invitation to join in the ships main computer."

"Fortuitously, there is a barrier erected around them." T'val paused. "Lieutenant Bogdonovich developed a dampening device that disables their ability to communicate with one another, and it more or less shuts them down without any command inputs."

"Sounds like my kind of people. Defiantly wanna get in tight with you all." Yani said excited now to maybe get to see this technique in practice. "It's always smart to collect as many ways to neutralize them as possible especially in mass. You can never have enough ways because they love to adapt."

"It's an adaptive system, but you're right. The idea we're trying is to clean it out as fast as possible so we don't have to worry about adaptations or this methodology being invalidated in the future." T'val agreed. "Unfortunately, the inventor of the technology is in sickbay. Fortunately, someone literally shares her mind."

"Well thank the universe for small favors. At least we have that going for us. About how much further?" Yani asked.

"We're almost there." T'val paused, and nodded to the security. "We've got a containment area set up, and most of the drones are contained."

"We going to wear the grey bunnies? Er the RHS distortion suites to prevent transference?" Yani asked hoping that it wasn't that bad. Those suites where confining. But it was better then Nanites getting all over.

T'val held up her wrist. There was a bracelet on there. She nodded to the security officers, who handed one to Yani. "Sonic repulsion field. It's also of Lyra's design. She hates those RHS suits almost as much as she hates extra work."

"Cant blame her their." Yani said in agreement taking the offered suite she watched and copied her companion as to putting it on.

"Do you need any special equipment?" T'val asked. "We can get some brought up if you need something more than the standard kit."

"Just some warm jello dunno why but the green crap works best go figure., , a couple magnets. The rest is in the kit i do believe." Yani said after a few seconds thought.

T'val gave a funny side glance at that. "Jello?" She gave a slight smile. "That reminds me of... Nevermind. I'll get someone to run some up."

"Sounds good have them put it in a spray bottle and make sure its very warm. hotter the better means more work time." She was already going through the kit that was handed to her. She took out some copper wires and a powercell.

T'val placed the request through a PADD, then pondered what Yani was doing. She closed her eyes for a moment, and remembered the first time she has seen Lyra fixing something impossible to repair and then refocused on Yani. "You're going to suspend them in a conductive semi-fluid and then short them out?"

"Yup that is the plan. The jello is more attractive to them then the bio fluid. Believe it or not that sparked a huge debate about whether or not the nanites could taste or proses real taste and if that was a form of sentient behavior. It was a big headache. Just a real drama really." Yani chattered on.

"To quote my closest friend, such things are stupid and unnecessary. If it works, it works. The why is someone else's problem." T'val offered a shrug. "She is the wisest person I know."

"That is indeed some sound logic." Yani agreed. Yeah she liked this lot already.

"Logic and Lyra share precisely their starting letter in common." T'val shook her head. "You would do well to remember this if you work with her in the future."


========Stay tuned for part 2===========