Post Number: 168 *Working through the data*

Posted on Fri Dec 6th, 2024 @ 3:57pm by Captain Marius Pontmercy & Ensign Erin Couldis & Lieutenant Marty Stokes & Lieutenant JG Maddy Dale & Ensign Ewan Barker

1,144 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Secrets

On:

After the staff meeting, Erin made her way through the corridors and decks until she found herself at Sickbay. She strode through the doors, thinking about what the Captain had said, and what they were needed for. She glanced around, and saw Marty, Amanda, and Maddy standing around a console. She quietly made her way over, smiling slightly, but also worried about what had happened.

"Hello," she said softly, "what have we found with the Admiral's scans?"

"Well this." Maddy said bringing the close up of the blood sample up on the nearest screen "Is the headline. Nanotechnology of some sort, operates like Borg tech but isn't. I think this is likely responsible for the Admiral's medical issues and probably how those aliens knew where he was." Erin leaned in more closely so that she could see the information on the screen.

"Not that I am the final word in reading minds or thoughts," she said, "but I did not even sense them at all when they were nearby. Usually, and I say this loosely, I can at least pick something up. But it was as if they were not even there."

"There are multiple species that can disrupt or resist telepaths." Maddy said "I'm more concerned with what this little bit of nanotechnology might be capable of in the Admiral's bloodstream than I am about anything else at the moment." As a Betazoid, Erin knew that quite better than most, but the fact remained that they had no warning whatsoever. She shook her head, and sighed.

"Have you been able to find out any data from the nanotechnology?"

"Not yet." Maddy said "This isn't my area of expertise, it's why I wanted to get a second opinion from an expert." Erin nodded, wondering to herself what it all meant.

"Counselor," she said, addressing Marty, "in your sessions with the Admiral... did he mention anything that would have indicated he was being controlled in any way?"

“No and honestly, I don’t think he even knew he was,” Marty said thoughtfully. “I never sensed any presence but his own.” Erin thought for a moment.

"Do you have transcripts of your sessions, and then any time he was alone? He was mumbling to himself a lot, right? I wonder if there is anything hidden there."

“Of course,” Marty said thoughtfully. “We need to access those sessions right away.” Erin looked at Maddy.

"What expert were you referring to?"

"His name's Ewan Barker." Maddy said "He's a specialist in cybernetics, artificial intelligence, robotics and is a little bit of an obsessive in regards to his true passion..." she paused "But from a scientific perspective he should be be able to answer the questions that we need answering." Barker was not a name she was familiar with. Glancing between the two women, she paused a moment before speaking.

"I am unfamiliar with Barker. Is he stationed here? If so... can you ask him to join us?"

"Officially he's stationed at the Daystrom Institute, however he has agreed to travel here I don't know if he's arrived yet." Maddy said "And even then I have to hope he pokes his head out of his personal project long enough to be helpful..."

"Oh ye of little faith." a spikey haired male ensign wearing the science uniform said from the door of the room

"And this is Ewan Barker." Maddy said "Ewan this is Counsellor Stokes, Doctor Helmsley and Counsellor Couldis."

"Nice to meet you." Ewan said "So this is it?"

"Yeah." Maddy said "Nanotechnology not seen before, behaving in what I would describe as a Borg like manner and I don't know enough about it. If this was Borg I'd know exactly how to treat it but with this I don't."

"Ok." Ewan said "So?"

"Would you say this is all there is or is there something we're not seeing?" Maddy asked

"You mean a control device?" Ewan said, Maddy nodded, "It's possible, most nanotechnology the Federation has encountered has such things for localised control, think about the Borg and their various nodes and implants and so on and how that regulates the nanoprobes. Nanotechnology is not normally sentient though there are examples of that."

“Is this one of those situations?” Marty asked. Erin had nodded in greeting, but had remained silent. She knew that the man had already focused in on the screen, and by the looks of it, was already thinking of possibilities.

"The only way to know that is to test a sample if you have one." Ewan said

"Which we do." Maddy said "We have a blood sample with this technology in it. It acts like a virus." Erin watched as the Chief Medical Officer walked over to a storage container, and after entering in her code, withdrew the sample contained within a small shielded box. She handed it carefully to the Ensign.

"Here's hoping," Couldis muttered.

"It's similar to Borg nanoprobe technology yes." Ewan said looking at it under a microscope "I wouldn't say it's sentient but given that the Admiral's medical scans don't show a control mechanism this is likely more advanced than anything we've seen before. It's probably got programming for tasks that we wouldn't associate with this sort of technology but given the advanced nature of the aliens in question I think we've gone way past the point of where we can make any assumptions about capability. The good news is that nanotechnology has its weaknesses, it can be reprogrammed, it can be disrupted, it can be destroyed." he looked at the group "My recommendation would be to utilise Borg assimilation techniques and nanoprobes in anti viral manner, essentially make the Borg nanoprobe an antibody, you'd have to figure out the precise weakness of what we have here. My concern is that, not being familiar with the species, disrupting or removing the nanotechnology may have an adverse effect on Admiral Bradley which we want to avoid happening. That's pretty much all I can give you based on what I'm seeing here." Erin had a thought.

"Captain Pontmercy mentioned that they were bringing on an expert, a Doctor that has experience with the Synthulans. I wonder if this is something you could discuss with him, maybe he would have an idea of their weaknesses."

"I think talking to them is a certainty." Maddy said "Because he sounds the only person who might be able to say with certainty what happens to Admiral Bradley if we attempt to remove that nanotechnology or if we try to mess with it. There's no value in risking his life unless there's no other option."

***********

Ensign Maddy Dale
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Obsidian

Ensign Ewan Barker
Science Officer
Starbase Obsidian

Ensign Erin Couldis
Assistant Chief Counselor
Starbase Obsidian

Lt. Jg Amanda Hemsley
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Obsidian

Lt. Jg Marty Stokes
Chief Counselor
Starbase Obsidian

 

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