Once More Into The Breach - Part II

Posted on Wed Apr 6th, 2016 @ 10:55pm by Lieutenant Seren Hawke & Ensign Six of Ten & Ensign Reva Madhava

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: EFS Kohana

* Engineering *

Six rested her hand on the panel mounted on the rail that surrounded the warp core. There was a slight phase variance and even as the thought occurred to her, the ship went to work, compensating. “Oh if Niro could only see you now,” she murmured. “You would cause him more nightmares, and it’s no less than what he deserves.” She made a mental note to tell Reva about the variance. She would know the cause in moments, Six was sure.

Yawning, Reva entered engineering. She’d napped some after her discussions with Vic, Seren and N’Riss and the ship was now several hours out from the colony. She’d had another nightmare, again starring Fisher with his co-host, Niro, and had woken herself with a scream. “Six, hey. Anything interesting going on?”

“Just one,” Six answered. “Come look at this.” She indicated the panel before her. “The ship has adjusted but I thought you might want to look into it. Janus is finally off to get some sleep.”

“Huh... phase variances.” Reva tapped a few commands into the console and waited a moment. “Here,” she pointed to a diagram of the ship; an area of it was blinking. “Some of the Borg tech isn’t playing nicely with the ship’s shields. You’ve got the ship working on that?” She glanced at Six.

“I do. Given where we will be tomorrow, I think…..” Six hesitated a moment. “I think it might be best to let the ship take over the shields. We will be safer. What do you think Carter will say?”

“No.” Reva laughed. “Even I have a thing about letting the ship - Borg tech - control the shields. Every system is under the nanites’ control... I’m a little concerned, actually. We’re going to be close to Borg territory; is there a chance the nanites might respond to an external signal?”

Six shook her head. “They only respond to their programming which we control.” She stopped suddenly, her mouth hanging open. “There’s only one thing on this ship equipped with the tech to answer the Borg.”

Reva put a hand on Six’s arm. “I know. I’ve chatted with Vic and Seren about it; we’ve got your back.”

“Thank you.” Six rested her hand over Reva’s, sensing her worry. “Well, if they do reach out to me, you all can secure me. There’s plenty of cargo space to fence me in if you have to. What did they say?”

“Same thing,” Reva nodded. “I voted for sedation, but a containment field... well, no, since the ship will respond to you... I’m thinking stasis might be best.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Six frowned slightly. “At least the ship will answer you and Janus. It behaves very well in fact. Have you tried not using touch commands but just...thinking at it?”

“Uh... what?” Reva’s expression was a mix of horror, confusion and excitement. “Think at it? How can it receive and interpret thoughts? Wait... this could be what Eli and I need for Iggy.”

“How’s that?” Six asked. “I know you don’t have a neural implant but here, put your hand here.” She placed Reva’s hand on the panel. “Try it now. They can read temperature changes and electrical impulses, which is what thoughts are, really.”

“Iggy can’t talk and doesn’t have the same touch we ‘bipeds’ have,” Reva said. She was thinking, No, no, no, and the engines began to falter. “Oh, is that me?” She pulled her hand off the panel.

“Well done.” Six was impressed. She tapped the panel, getting them back up to speed. “It works. That’s pretty amazing.”

The comm panel beeped and it was the bridge. “We just read a reduction in speed. Everything okay down there?”


“Reva here,” she responded. “Everything’s fine. Six and I were just experimenting with something. Sorry!” She closed the comm and looked at Six. “That’s weird. Can I do that anywhere on the ship or does it have to be this panel?”

Six shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ll likely have to touch some assimilated panel, but I don’t know if where matters much. Wait till Janus hears this.” She smiled back at Reva. “He’ll either be thrilled or totally freaked out.”

“I’m going to guess he’s going to be freaked out.” Reva smiled, not quite as brightly as Six. “I can tell him about it.”

“Sure. He’ll be back in a few hours. Till then, I need to eat. Have you had dinner? Vic called down not long ago asking if we had.”

“I’m good. I napped, so I’m fine. You go on, I’ll mind the engines till Janus comes back in the morning.” She hid the truth behind a wall of thoughts: she hadn’t eaten in a long while. Her dreams upset her too much.

“I’ll be back in a little while. It gets boring down here alone. Call if anything weird happens.” Six departed and as she went, she sought out Seren’s location from the ship. He would be good company for Reva while Six was gone.

Reva, meanwhile, put a hand on the panel Six had indicated and thought at the ship. After a moment, the display in front of her flickered and showed her the information she’d asked for. She pulled her hand back and rubbed it, as if she’d touched something creepy - which, she had.

“Something shock you Reva?” The voice was Seren’s and he stood just inside the doors. “What’s up?”

Startled, she jumped and turned. “Oh, Seren,” she laughed, “No, not shocked. It’s just.... Six showed me that we can think at the computer and control it.” She was curious and reached out for his hand to press it against the panel. She covered it with her own. “Go on, tell the computer to do something we’d notice.”

“Alright.” Seren stood silent for a moment, then the lights in engineering dimmed considerably. “Damn,” Seren whispered. Instantly the lights came back up. “I see your point.”

“Creepy, right?” Reva looked up at him.

He nodded slowly. “Could come in handy in an emergency though,” he suggested. “How’d it go with Six?”

“Eh,” she shrugged. “She hadn’t thought about it, but we got to talking about whether the nanites would respond to external signals. She said there’s only one transceiver on the ship - the one in her head. She suggested we put her in the cargo hold if something happens; I told her we’d probably sedate her or use stasis to confine her.” Her small laugh was humorless.

“Agreed. She could pass through a force field.” He shrugged and leaned back against the rail surrounding the warp core. “Let’s hope we don’t have to.” He crossed his arms as he watched her. “I have some totally unrelated news that will interest you.”

“About Riley?” She smiled and joined him by the railing.

“Among others.” He smiled now. “I talked to Li right before I came in here. I wanted to see how she’s holding up. She’s doing well, all things considered but she passed along some news. Your grandmother and your father are on the station.”

Gasping, Reva slid down till she was sitting on the floor. A slow sense of stunned horror emanated from her. “Oh gods.... Poor Riley, facing them alone. I had no idea she was on her way to 900. I have to call Riley tonight.”

“Well, there’s some hope. Apparently, one of your relatives is with her - a good friend of ours and the brother of her old fiance. Long story there, but Max is on the station. According to Li, Riley’s already had dinner with them and then took your father our to see the station sights. Li has had several conversations with her too….about you.”

“About me?” That she was on the Station XO’s radar wasn’t that strange, but having the Station XO talk to her grandmother about her.... “Did Li say what those conversations were about?”

“Well, you have to understand that our families go way back. She was supposed to marry Max’s brother, well...until he tried to kill her. Li and I grew up with them and have known Menna since we were big enough to know anything. Li’s heard first-hand about Menna’s objections?” That was putting it mildly, but Seren was doing his best to be gentle.

Reva’s shoulders slumped and her eyes rolled. “Objections? By now, she’s likely done her best to convince Riley that he needs a pure-blood... or, at least, not a part-Orion. I’m sure Maxym knew all about how much Menna dislikes my mother. And me.”

Seren nodded. “From what Li said, that idea didn’t fly with Riley. She said he walked out of dinner and took your father with him. Your dad has been staying with Riley and they are apparently as thick as thieves now.” Seren laughed. “It gets better.”

She laughed, surprised. “My dad is staying with ..? I’m amazed - Grax ..., no, I’m not surprised, actually. Dad plays the zombie but he’s not. Hasn’t been for years. How does that get better?”

“Li said she has, gently, put forth the idea that there is no stopping your wedding and that Menna needs to let it go. She and Li were always close so maybe that will do some good. Especially since Menna has ideas about Li and Max. Let’s call it leverage.”

“Li and Max?” She looked up at him and read him a bit more than she normally would have. “They’re in love! That’s sweet and... oh, that means that the XO and I are going to be related through marriage. Cousins, I think the humans call it.”

“Cousins, yes. She and Max...well, let’s say that years back, the arrangement should have been with him and not Rhys. I knew it, and worst of all Rhys knew it. Those two, though, never seemed to realize that the other returned their feelings. Past history.” He shrugged. “She said Riley is firmly standing his ground.”

She smiled, “Riley’s a touch stubborn, considering what he’s put up with and done for me. We don’t need Menna’s approval, even if that means the marriage isn’t recognized on Betazed. It isn’t like either of us is betrothed to someone. It’s just the likes of Li and Rhys who had that burden.”

“I think he can wear her down, especially if Li’s championing the cause. I’ll stick my nose in too when we get back. I can charm her socks off, trust me.” He grinned at Reva. “What do you think about us being related? You realize that means you’ll be related to my father.”

“Admiral Hawke. Maybe Rye and I should wait till after Li and Max marry.” She laughed. “That’ll all work out. Heh,” she chuckled suddenly, “All I need now is for Europa to show up. That’d be... awkward.”

“No, don’t base your timetable on them. I have no idea if it will be soon or will take some time, given Li’s situation,” Seren answered. “You two have waited long enough and been through so much, you deserve to be happy. No matter what Menna thinks.”

“Exactly,” Reva agreed. “What about you? Are you stationed out of 900 for the foreseeable future? I mean..., after this patrol routine is over.”

“Possibly. I’m due for some R&R after the mission to the Devore homeworld and now this. I’ve been out in the field for over a year, so I’m due and I’d like to take that time out here since I’ve not seen Dad or Li in so long, or Aia and Saye. I think I can convince Dad.” He laughed finally. “Besides, that way I’ll be around for your wedding.”

“That’ll be good. We haven’t really planned anything yet. Riley wanted to run off to the planet and get married.”

“Would you?” he asked. “It might shut down her objections.”

She grimaced; eloping wasn’t an idea she liked, but she could see Seren’s point. “I suppose it would. Maybe Riley could come out to the colony when we’re next scheduled to be there; Adara could marry us.”

“Instead of Archadia?” Seren asked. “Li and Max and your father would likely want to be there.”

“That’s why I don’t want to run off to the planet. We have more than a few friends I’d like to have there,” she said. “Any way, Riley and I will figure it out.”

“Then leave your grandmother to me.” Seren’s smile now was a sly one. “Gotcha covered. Trust me.”

Standing, she gave him a curious glance but left it. “Okay, you go right ahead. Feel like thinking at the ship again?”

“I’ll leave that to the engineers,” he said. “But while it’s quiet, why don’t you replicate a chess board or something? We’re basically on night shift now, and nothing’s on long range sensors. Six is off to see Vic and Janus is asleep. We might as well entertain ourselves.”

“Sounds good,” Reva laughed and went to the replicator. A few minutes later, they were deep in thought, strategizing over the board.

******
Ensign Reva Madhava
Lt. Seren Hawke
Ensign Six Of Ten