Star Trek: Starbase 777 - intensive-care

The intensive care was... clean? There were no signs of struggle here... but also no bodies, or patients on the beds that all had new, clean sheets on them. The mechanical yet soothing beeping of all the different machines created a very familiar ambiance, sounding nearly identical to what the medbay on 777 sounded like. It was nice, almost. A save haven in the belly of a corrupted Warbird. But... then there was the humanoid-sized pod, stationed by the wall, beeping softly, gently.

Medical bays always made him nervous. And this place even more so, if possible. Two steps in, he didn't think to glance over his shoulder. His stomach twisted and turned, heartbeat hammering against his chest, but he wandered forward. "What...?" Hardly audible, soft-spoken as they turned the torch onto the pod. Something about it tugged him forward while everything else seemed to scream in protest. Gingerly, they touched a gloved hand to the front of it. (edited)

The pod was warm. If he looked closely - which meant that Five would have to lean in, angle his face so that the overhead lights would not obscure his vision - he would see someone inside. They appeared to be another Romulan - a woman, uniform missing, replaced instead with the scrubs that patients would usually wear. Her face young, hair carefully, lovingly brushed, lips parted slightly, chest slowly rising up and down...

Alive. Five swallowed hard, taking - no, stumbling two steps back purely out of shock. Why? What? So many questions raced around relentlessly in their head, so many they couldn't even begin to answer. They pressed their lips tightly together and waited for Niwayiva and Whidbey to follow him inside, not touching anything in case something went horrifically wrong.

He looked between the other, finally letting just a bit of his fear slip through. The borg were scary to him, he could not imagine a worse faith then being forcefully assimilated, having his body used to harm others. "I SAY WE LEAVE THAT THING THE HELL ALONE." He was incredibly firm with that. He partially meant it as an order, it was evident just how seriously he felt about that thing. "I don't like whatever is in there and I can't imagine it likes us much either."

"That thing" had not reacted to touch nor their loud voices in any way. The woman kept on sleeping(?), blissfully unaware of the stress she was causing. If they looked around, they could spot that there was a small, round table near the pod, something that clearly did not belong in the room. On it was a small portable computer, and a vase of unfamiliar, alien flowers - real, but wilting.

Wandering in behind the other two officers, Niwa slowed just short of the entrance to what seemed to have been marked as more of an ITU as opposed to a standard medical bay. This… Wasn’t what she had been expecting. Everything here was pristine. It was a stark contrast to the state of the turbolifts with all of their damaged machinery, or the bodies – having met such violent ends – being strewn about the corridors. Even on a ship that seemed to be on its last legs things still functioned here; biobed monitoring systems chiming the occasional ping as they did when there was no patient to monitor. Even the steady hiss of ventilation systems made it sound as though the ship was breathing. If she closed her eyes she could imagine that this was 777’s own medical bay… Except that 777’s had an atmosphere of peace, and even though this ITU might have seemed so safe compared to the rest of the ship, that only served to make it more unnerving. x_divider

09:51

While the Commander and the Chief conducted their own investigations, Niwa walked amongst the rows of biobeds, checking for the dim glow of observation monitors and functioning equipment that contrasted the state of the rest of the ship. How had this unit gotten away unscathed? Perhaps this place had the same safety systems as the ITUs used in the Federation: with different pressure ventilation systems built for quarantining and bulkheads and holofields built in, it truly was one of the safest places that you could go. Had whoever – she presumed whoever, as creatures didn’t tend to use blades or energy weapons – had ransacked the rest of the ship been locked out of here? Perhaps the deceased outside had been guards, and the attacker had been able to eliminate them but not proceed any further. But then… The away team had gotten in without a hitch. Why would someone stop outside and not go any further? …Unless things were the other way around, and the attacker had emerged from here. x_divider

09:51

It was while observing the state of the medical bay that she mused over all of this, theorising about the nature of the damage to both the ship and its people, the Borg involvement when it came to the ship’s own structure but the lack of involvement when it came to its crew… Only to be snapped directly out of her train of thoughts by the sudden shouting from behind her, the voice belonging to Lieutenant Commander Whidbey. Instantly she spun, heartbeat hammering in her own ears – and halted at the sight of the Chief stumbling backwards from some form of pod. Letting out a breath that she hadn’t realised she was holding, the medical officer paced over to join the other two. “That’s… Some form of cryostasis container?” She queried, stepping up to where Five had just been moments before (although not touching the pod’s window.) The warmth of the machine disproved that, as did the rise and fall of the chest of the woman inside. “…Maybe not. Some kind of chamber to keep a person sedated, maybe?” x_divider

09:51

The Federation preferred to use more conventional means to place someone into an induced coma, but it wasn’t as though alternative technology didn’t exist. Instead of intubation or extracorporeal oxygenation they could be using a blood-gas infuser built into the chamber, and instead of using gas for sedation they could be using something like neural frequencies. The rest left her with queries though: how did they prevent pressure sores, how did the patient receive fluids and other nutrition… She squinted to see if they had any form of IV, central line, or foley, but it was hard to see given the angle of the lights. With hopes that it might be able to give her some readings of the air content of the chamber or observations on the person inside, she flipped open her medical tricorder again and glanced over her shoulder while she waited for it to start its scan. Her gaze fell upon the portable console system. “Do you think we can get onto that? If it’s safe enough to try, that is? I don’t know much of how the Borg’s technology integrates into a computer’s systems… But maybe because that’s separate, it would be safe? We might be able to find out more about the person here… Charts, observations, medical history – anything.”

It was indeed hard to see - but it seemed that there were some IV lines, connected to her body. Niwa, were she look at the Romulan's chest area, would see her hands, and on the left one's wrist was a small tattoo that seemed to depict a flying falcon-like bird. Despite the moving chest, the tricorder reported her as dead. Which was illogical - was the tricorder broken? Or was something else going on? Now, as for the portable console - if anyone tried to turn it on, they would succeed. The files and logs were organized in an almost neat-freak manner, some of the names crude but humorous. There were the observation files, and... huh. Some voice logs!

"Sedation, more likely, yes." Five murmured along distractedly, dazed and confused. "'s warm." As far as they knew, anyway. They swallowed and shook their head, forcing themself steady, forcing themself to stop racing through every possibility. "I don't know. We should leave it alone, but I don't think we should leave the to die should the ship go down—" He huffed, silencing himself soon after, still turning over ideas in his head as he moved on. "I don't think it would hurt," Five reasoned, going to stand beside Niwayiva to look at the console, scanning over it for any sign of Borg corruption. "Even then, it's not like a computer could assimilate you. You would need a drone for that," they added. (edited)

At the chirp of the tricorder’s finished scan she turned back, looking at the small screen. The reading that it gave made this all significantly more unsettling, seeing as how it was reporting this person to be deceased. Things might have been tense here, sure, and it was easy to start imagining things if you were frightened… But she certainly wasn’t imaging the rise and fall of the Romulan’s chest, peering back into the pod for confirmation. Maybe they were some sort of synthetic being, more technological than biological so the tricorder couldn’t pick up a reading from them… But then if they were, then why would they be in this sort of pod? Why have catheter lines in? That was only required for someone living. …Maybe some sort of technology here had been built to give a false tricorder reading for whatever reason? Ugh – none of this made sense. The Vau N’Akat gave a shake of her head as she turned back to Five again – it was mainly to try to clear her head, trying to force away the growing feeling of unease that wouldn’t let her heart settle. “The tricorder is giving a faulty reading. It’s saying that she’s deceased, but you can see her breathing, and her pallor is far too healthy for her to be deceased, even recently. I’m not quite sure what’s going on.” She spared a glance to Five beside her, the slightest hint of a smile just twitching up at the corner of her lips when she realised they had done the exact same head movement as a sort of clearing-their-heads thing. A brief moment of familiarity amidst how ominous everything here was. “You’re right – I was more meaning safe as in… That I don’t want to break anything. This portable console looks unscathed, so I don’t want to go turning it on and it immediately getting hijacked by the Borg or whatever the term is. I don’t want to lose any information that it might have. …Do you want to switch it on..?”

"Deceased?" Five echoed, snapping their head around to look at the Lieutenant. At least she confirmed she was breathing, and it wasn't just a figment of their imagination. This whole mission was a mess already. They drew up to rub their temple, letting loose a quiet sigh. "I don't understand. Everything here is wrong," they huffed. Still struggling to get a grip on reality, they looked up at Niwayiva, nodding along to what she was saying. "Right- of course. I was trying to make a joke," he mumbled, somewhat embarrassed, "but it was an improper time for it, you have every right to be concerned." He moved to switch on the console as he was asked. "It looks fine. There's files here, and some voice logs." He stepped back to let her do her thing, folding his arms behind his back. "Maybe you'll be able to find something about our friend over here." He tipped his head to the side, indicating the pod.

The observation files and voice logs were there to be open. The computer seemed to be in perfect working order, too.

”Oh, sorry – I didn’t realise it was a joke. That’s not your fault, though,” she reassured, “Standard just really isn’t my forte. And you’re right – everything here is wrong. But we’ll work it out. There’s always a reason behind everything, right?” Her words were intended to reassure Five, given their body language and the sigh, but she may well have been reassuring herself at the same time. All of this just kept getting more and more confusing: from the Borg having not assimilated people, to the deceased having been stabbed or shot at, to their woman in the pod who was certainly not dead (contrary to what the tricorder said). But things did always have an explanation, and with any luck, getting into the console might help. She stepped forward to take the place that Five had previously occupied, having a brief look through what was displayed upon the console – it took a moment, trying to work out what was where compared to the Federation’s LCARS. She opened the first of the files.

"There's a reason behind everything," Five echoed. Was there a reason for this? "Whatever the reason may be, I'm not sure I like it very much," he muttered, brows furrowing as he studied the console over her shoulder. Everything seemed to get more and more convoluted, but in the end, there had to be a reason for it all. The ends certainly couldn't justify the means, but there had to be a reason. Those words echoed in his head like a mantra as they stood there quietly, watching Niwayiva fiddle with the console. They found themself almost smiling - and she'd said she was no good with technology, and she was already getting used to unfamiliar layouts and such. "I'll comm the other teams." (edited)

The file displayed the following information: "Observation file one, recorded by: Chief Medical, Centurion Sindari t'Merek. Jaeih was hit pretty bad, poor thing, but she seems to be recovering fine - it is hard to perform surgery while you're on the run, but somehow, we managed. Juler was quick to install the masking chip into the pod, so... hopefully she won't be discovered." "Karrim has brought the flower vase from her room here. I am... I am fine with that." "Hopefully we manage to throw those lunatics off and escape."

She gave a nod of acnowldgement to Five about contacting the other teams – it was a good idea, having been a while since they had last checked in. They might have found some information that could help as well. Looking back to the console, she quickly read over the first of the files – and then again, making sure that she had taken everything in. “The woman in the pod is named Jaeih,” she stated, not looking away from the console now. Her pronunciation of the name was probably pretty off. “It says that she was ‘hit’ pretty bad and that they had to do surgery while on the run… I suppose they were being chased by their attackers? It mentions a ‘masking chip’ for the pod. That explains why she’s reading as deceased: sensors at long range wouldn’t be able to pick up a life signature, and then up-close it acts as though the body is deceased to sort of… Conceal that they’re there. "It also talks about them having to try to escape from ‘those… lunatics,’ I don’t know what that word means. I think we can guess that they’re the people who killed the others on this ship, though…” There was a pause then, eyes widening as she looked to Five. “Lunatics. Plural.” One attacker was enough for Starfleet officers to handle, but how many did this mean..? For all they knew, there could be far more danger here than they had originally anticipated.

"I don't know what it means either," Five sighed as they got off comms, "but whatever it is, it can't be good. Lieutenant Tud said they put her here to protect her from assimilation. Sister of the security officer. He also said they were doing experiments of some sort. Decryption in process." He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. To wake up in this situation... On a half broken ship with everyone you know and love dead... Sympathy tugged at his heartstrings. "We should have her beamed onto the ship," Five suggested, "Brig for precautions, maybe someone from medical on standby, I—It can't be safe for her here." He looked up at Niwayiva expectantly. "There may be a whole fleet after this ship, for all we know. Or maybe the entire collective. I don't know. We'll figure it out." Tentatively, he laid a hand on her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "And we'll be fine. We can handle this, yeah?" (edited)

The lights flickered, then dimmed, Kinaen's voice heard oh so clearly - in the screech of her metal.

As she skimmed through the files and logs to select what she should read (or listen through) next, she listened to the comms call that was going on in the background – muffled though, given the distance, not picking up every word and waited for Five to return. If this woman - Jaeih - had been placed here to protect her from being assimilated, then what had she been hit by? Were they running from the Borg, or from someone else? Just as she thought they were starting to work things out, it felt like they were back to square one in terms of confusion again. Still facing the console she inhaled slowly, exhaled slowly – and would have jumped at the hand being placed upon her shoulder had Five’s voice not been right behind her. She turned to face him properly then, giving him a wavering smile. It was like they had a thing of mutual reassurance going on even though neither of them were entirely confident either. “We can handle it – strange things happen in Starfleet all the time, and this is just another strange thing. I agree with removing Jaeih to somewhere safe… But I think we should consult with Captain Worahino about that first. If there is someone else after this ship, then if we harbour her then the Eventide and then 777 could be in danger, too. I think we need more information on the attackers who aren’t the Borg-“ she was cut off by the lights flickering and going dimmer, and the groaning drone of the ship’s structure moving. “…First.”

[Comms] "Everyone alright in there? We don't know what's going on."

Five snapped up almost instantly, eye darting around the medical bay as the lights flickered and the ship cried with effort. "No—" Shit, shit, shit— "Nonono, what's going on?!" The hand on Niwayiva's shoulder tightened for a split second before he let go, dashing off to the corridor to watch the windows.

14:54

[COMMS] "Fine," came the breathless reply, "we're okay. We- I think we've gone into warp."

[Comms] "Go to the corridors to meet up with the other group. We'll be in contact."

[COMMS] "Got it." He swallowed, hard, feeling numbness starting to wash over him. They were stranded. It was all Five could do to stay standing at the moment, as he found himself unable to stop shaking. If this crew was killed, or worse, assimilated— "I can't do this again," he whispered, hardly audible, already assuming the worst as he gripped his arm tightly. Five would rather be dead than hollow again. Completely empty inside, whispers of thought echoing across galaxies, a dull hum of pain that could be light-years away but was always present.. They hadn't even found any Borg, dead or alive, but paranoia clutched his chest, seized his heart and made it hard to breathe. His heart, pumping power to a machine. Had it always been so cold in here? (edited)

When the lights had dimmed she had expected it to simply be some sort of fluctuation in the systems or… Whatever sort of operations-engineery technobabble was used to describe that. What she didn’t expect, however, was the sudden sensation of the ship lurching as if they had just sprung to warp with the inertial dampeners being thrown on at the last second. Niwa stood there in a shellshocked silence as she watched Five sprint from the room out into the corridor – and then back again momentarily, with her still stood there. If they had jumped to warp… Then where were they? How far had they travelled? She didn’t know how to do the maths on that. Were they able to send out a distress call? If they could were they just going to alert some other enemy who was waiting for this ship, just like Five had suggested? It didn’t take much to set her mind racing through the different possibilities… And the thought that loomed over her like a tidal wave, one that told her that Keazayi was about to be alone, light-years upon light years from a homeworld that she had never been to, her mother dead and having no other family of any kind. x_divider

15:30

But what snapped her out of the sudden panic was the sound of Five’s whisper, barely audible to the point that she couldn’t make it out over the sound of her own heartbeat hammering in her ears, but it brought her back to reality nonetheless. She looked to Five who was shaking even worse than she was, watching as one of their arms gripped the other. It didn’t take an empath to imagine it: the downright horror at being stranded amidst the Borg again, reliving a nightmare that you had already been through. The Vau N’Akat took a few tentative steps towards him, not wanting to make them jump, but also not wanting to leave them alone with this. “Chief? Five? It’s… It’s alright,” she started, voice thick with a nervousness that she tried to force aside, for what good was she trying to reassure someone if she couldn’t sound the part? “Hey –- take a deep breath with me. Inhale… And exhale. This… This is just a minor setback, okay? We’ve got a ship and a whole starbase out there who will be working out where this ship has taken us to. And – we’ve got good people here with us too: if the ship can move then maybe we can fly it home. We’re not alone here, and I know it’s hard to see, but we’ll… We’ll be fine." There was a nod of her head then, tone more resolute. "For now, let's just breathe.”

Five raised their head before they could drown in uncertainty. Everything sounded muffled, underwater, echoing through their head like the echo of footsteps through halls. Marching, all together, all at once. "Breathe...?" May as well get used to doing things together now, came the nasty thought. You'll all be in sync soon enough. And they hardly had it in them to snap back. "Right," they said oh so softly, a pathetic excuse of their usual cool confidence, "Yes, I...I can do that." They nodded just a little. In. Out. He could still feel the residual panic throbbing through his veins, still lighting his nerves on fire with the urge to flee. He didn't expect it to be fixed immediately. That would be near impossible, or take an insane amount of emotional control Five just didn't have right now. But his grip on his arm - that likely left light bruises, thanks to his metallic fingers- loosened, just a little. "You're right." He exhaled sharply, something that might have been called a laugh, but was really just more of a sad sound. "I'm overreacting. This is all- it's just a little overwhelming. Too familiar," he mumbled, dragging a gloved hand down his face. "I should have more faith in everyone. In you." His eyes suggested a tiny attempt at a smile, though he still trembled, and his heart still pounded. "I won't - I'll do all I can to protect everyone. Yourself and Commander Whidbey included. I won't be much use sitting here blubbering, will I?" (edited)

”It’s alright,” she reassured – both about the situation that they were in and about Five feeling the need to apologise. Niwa’s own attempt at a smile was a little more successful; not exactly a beaming grin, but better than the terrified expression that she had held moments before. “You’re not blubbering, and you don’t need to apologise at all. This is a scary situation, and it’s completely understandable that it hits a little too close to home for you. No one at all is going to tell you off for that, and please don’t feel as if you’re not having faith in all of us. It’s normal to be afraid. We’ll re-group with everyone and come up with a plan, and all of this is going to be fine. I only caught part of that comms – did they say we need to meet somewhere? Do you want to tell them that we’ll be there shortly? There are still other files and logs on this console and I don’t want to leave them now in case something happens and the computer goes down, then we won’t be able to get them back. I’ll read as fast as I can, though – promise.”

The lights returned to their normal brightness slowly, and the intensive care had resumed it's usual beeping ambiance. The computer's screen was still on, showing four available audio logs from the Chief Medical Officer, as well as another observation file.

With Five contacting the other teams to let them know that they would be there for the regrouping shortly, Niwa turned her attention back to the console to check the next observation file. At least the lights had come back to full brightness… Maybe they had dropped out of warp, wherever that had been to. Hopefully it hadn’t been too far.

Austin was still around, just playing with his phaser in the corner while time progressed. He had busied himself with guarding the door to the room just making sure everything was secure. Protecting others would always be his greatest priority.

Here were the contents of the second - and last - observation file: "Observation file two, recorded by: Chief Medical, Centurion Sindari t'Merek. Jaeih is healing. As for our situation... they've boarded the ship and are currently trying to sweep us out - and according to Juler, may his soul rest, they have the drone with them. Karrim has ventured out to fight back, and... I will soon do the same. Sorry, Commander, but we may not make it out - but at least we will all go down together, and take our enemies with us. Perhaps... perhaps that will save a fellow Warbird from a similar fate." "t'Merek, out."

Healing from what, who was trying to sweep them out, what drone, what enemies… Once again, reading was just creating more questions instead of answering them. Did this refer to the Borg, or the other potential attacker who had been aboard? What did it mean when they spoke about a drone? Niwa was good when it came to having patience but the strangeness of this setting and the fact that they were now light-years away from the Starbase was clearly making hers wear thin. With both hands upon the console she took a moment to breathe out slowly, trying to find a sense of calm, and then tapped the screen to access the audio recordings.

Sindari's voice was heard, the slightly nasally rasp suggesting her older age, her pattern of speech peculiar - perhaps a dialect? The UT even managed to catch up on her forever sarcastic-sounding tone, peppered in her drawl: "First log, I guess? Anyways, here's IRW Kinaen, a patrol ship, though once, if the words of Commander Lhaes are to believed, it was a science vessel. The old man seems to be unhappy with the change, but what's there to do? Empire's gone to shit, and we're used as they seem fit. At least we're not hunted like those who dared to run away, and for that I am grateful... I guess. At least her crew is likeable." There were some more files, but those seemed to be either corrupted, or some very short and, in this case, useless ones - Sindari noting all the hurts and ouches she healed, the resupplies, her worries about crew she grew to love, oftentimes lamenting the shit position they were all in. The next log, though... "Stardate I don't give a shit at this point-- guess what? Another visit from the higher ups! At least this time, I got some juicy gossip - and dear hell and heaven. The Shiar are going insane. Hakeev is a good example - for he is a fucking nut. Just absolute, complete buffoon. Who let this ballsack-shaped manbaby into a supposedly high-ranking, elite division? Fucking, Borg experiments!? Hello-o-o-o, he put an implant inside of his dumb fucking skull, and he did that to himself! And these rumors about mind control experiments and even further fucking around with Borg tech... Their science division is, just... ugh!" divider

19:57

A frustrated groan was heard. "Lhaes seems to also dislike all of them. Good. Glad to see that our Commander is still the sensible one, despite it all. Poor guy is going to go gray soon, though. Maybe it's time to suggest a wig..." The next files were the most recent ones - both corrupted, but: "---- -- We learned about the experiment the Tal Shiar want to do with their Borg drone, and we were deemed as the dispensable ones - too soft, Lhaes too merciful. Currently the Commander is forging a plan, and-- most of our senior crew has agreed that we will be staying with him and the Kinaen, no matter what. We have an oath to keep. So -- - ---" Finally, the last one. "----- - - f any of you Shiar fucks are listen— - - - eat shit! You’re going down with us!”

Whidbey celebrated for a moment. "Borg expirement, called it." Perhaps all the detective books that Austin had been reading finally payed off or maybe he was supposed to be a trained security officer. Either way he was proud of himself for guessing Tal Shiar borg experiment back in the medbay. "Sounds like they were the ones who took down their own ship..." He paused for a moment at the last message however. "I really hope what ever they planned to take down the Tal Shiar here is complete because it sounds as though there may still be some active traps. I think this further ingrains the necessity for us to stay careful, watch our steps."

Stood there in front of the console, Niwayiva was silent as she listened to the audio recordings, playing them one after another. It was almost strange to hear someone’s own perspective on another faction – another faction who were enemies of the Federation, although from the sounds of it they had even became enemies of their own people. She was surprised that a lot of this had been recorded. Weren’t the Tal Shiar supposed to be all-knowing, a ‘Big Brother’ (she knew that one, Orwell had come up in conversation before) over their own society? But then that was answered at the end: the Kinaen’s CMO didn’t care if they were listening. Her anger was completely understandable. Experimenting with Borg technology was one of the most dangerous things that you could do – even Starfleet steered away from it the majority of times, except in rare cases. Implants inside of people’s head, mind control… It was sickening. x_divider

20:28

Niwa was still processing everything when Lieutenant Commander Whidbey spoke from behind her, seemingly impressed with his correct deduction. In a direct contrast to him, she wasn’t celebrating. “You… You think that she did this? I mean – this CMO? And her friends, or allies, or – whatever you want to call them?” The thought of it made her stomach lurch, skin paling to a more pearlescent colour than its light blue. The Tal Shiar were horrible people, but weren’t you just as horrible if you blindly killed them? And in such a violent way: multiple penetrating traumas, burns from energy weapons… Not everyone swore to the Federation’s Hippocratic Oath, but it felt like such a far cry from ‘do no harm’ for any medical officer, regardless of faction. “No, she… She mentioned someone ‘boarding the ship’ and ‘trying to sweep them out’, or, maybe that’s what she meant when she said that they were ‘disposable’ and that the Commander was ‘forming a plan,’ but…” The Vau N’Akat went quiet, voice just fractions from wavering. “…Was it really her?”

"Well, why don't you ask me about it?.." With two disruptors in her hands, the Centurion stepped into the intensive unit confidently, white labcoat on her frail shoulders a stark contrast to the dark Borg implants on her cheek and in replacing her right eye. But the old Romulan's glare did not lose any of it's intimidation or ice because of that small, insignificant inconvenience. "Do not touch that commbadge, and don't do anything too loud or too stupid, you'll immediately regret that," she warned, voice wavering yet her face determined, for she had a room, a crew, a whole ship, to defend. And she was, and will, do it again. "And step the hell away from her..." That last sentence was almost a snarl, as she glanced protectively at the pod where Jaeih was still laying in. The masking chips were still working, she was confident of it, then how did these assholes?.. Ack. Later. She will find out later. "And to think that we just got rid of the Shiar pests. What the hell are you all doing here?.." Sindari inquired flatly, making no attempt to outright kill the Starfleet officers - yet still pointing her weapons at them.

He tossed his phaser to the side, not looking for himself or his team to get shot. He needed to diffuse, something he had at the very least been trained in. "Take it easy, eh. I'm not going to do anything stupid." He stepped away toward the end of the room opposite of 'her' "Look, we just saw an abandoned ship and came to investigate. Neither myself nor starfleet have any qualm with you." He was about to add that they didn't have a qualm with whatever she was doing here but he recognized that part might not actually be true. "Why don't you lower your weapon and we can talk about whatever going on here, and we can get out of your hair." He tried to get on her good side. "Personally I've never been a fan of the Tal Shiar so we aren't here to back them up." He wanted to find an amicable solution for everyone here. He just hoped that she would be willing to take things from a logical perspective.

Her head couldn’t have turned in the direction of the voice ever quickly, instantly looking to the side. You could practically see her shrink back against the console as the Tal Shiar Centurion stepped out of the shadows of the door’s archway and into the ITU’s light. The voice matched – this was the Kinaen’s CMO, Sindari t’Merek… Although while there had been no indication on the logs that she had been subject to the experimentation with the Borg, her physical appearance spoke otherwise. …Had the Tal Shiar experimented on her? Because they were too ‘soft’ they had been turned into experiments instead? Only to prove that they weren’t soft at all… Because then they had killed all of their fellow officers..? Niwa was thankful that Austin was taking point on the speaking part, because for one her mind was too busy racing and her heart racing equally as fast, her mouth dry, and her entire being decidedly terrified. The only movement that she spared was to shoot a glance to Five across the room, otherwise frozen in place.

"Oh, you've done your homework!" she almost - almost - spared Austin a smile, but, no. Instead she glanced around - at Niwa, her gaze turning curious, never have seen a member of her species before, then at Five... which made her pause. They got this one? No, impossible - they're all dead. Focus. "Starfleet always has qualms with us, as our faction does with you. Don't play coy with me here," she shook her head, but there was no spite in her tone. Just a somber declaration of a fact, of unpleasant reality. "A vicious circle, really. Shame it didn't stop even after our home fell apart. Ah, but I am getting sentimental..." Speaking of sentimentality - as soon as her pathway was clear, Sindari made a brisk beeline to the pod, immediately checking it, seeing if anything was-- done..? Nothing? Huh... the poor uhlan helmsman was lying as peacefully as ever, just as she was left there. Cautiously the Romulan glanced around at them, distrust still evident in her light green eye, a tight smirk on her lips that made the crow's foot around her eye crinkle- she could threaten them all she wanted, but there were still three of them. "You wanted to talk, security boy? Sure. Let's talk, for the hell of it. Even if it sounds like the beginning of some stupid anecdote."

Nice she was willing to talk, he wasn't atleast immediately going to get shot. The Centurian clearly however had a distate for starfleet, clearly that wasn't a good start. First he wanted to get to the bottom of that, try to prove that he wasn't the enemy. Truely though the first thing on his mind was just not getting anyone shot. "I know starfleet isn't perfect, that's something I myself have struggled with in the past but..." He paused for a second for affect. "I think anyone in Starfleet could be sympathetic to you're situation. Just from those logs we heard. Our goal is to help, and I'd like to help you if you'd allow us. Firstly though, what happened hear." He made his best attempt to sound sympathetic. In truth he was, he just struggled with it sometimes.

Five had taken a handful of steps away from the pod and the console the second they were asked, holding their hands up in surrender- away from their phaser. They wondered if there were masking chips everywhere - hiding more of the ship's crew. That would explain the readings. If only they could communicate to everyone. They scowled in frustration, not making a move. They caught the woman's eye on them for a split second as they loced gazes with Niwayiva for a split second. Whidbey was a diplomatic type, it seemed. They would be fine. If only they could communicate that to her with their eyes alone. Not to mention their combadge was chirping relentlessly. How annoying... (edited)

Niwa hoped that Austin was just trying to make it sound as though if Sindari complied with them then she would get out of this unscathed, because Starfleet really wouldn’t be sympathetic to the Romulan’s situation. They were pretty good at giving second chances to other former-Star Empire officers, but people who had remained part of the Star Empire until now were quite literally engaged in open war with the Federation. Not only did they fight for an illegitimate power, they conducted atrocities such as this: both part of the crew’s experimentation with Borg technology, and Sindari (and potentially others’) blatant massacre of this crew. There was a distinct difference between sending horrible people to jail and violently murdering them. She had a dash of sympathy for the Centurion’s involvement in projects that she thought were insane, but that was it. This woman was a mass murderer – no better than the other Tal Shiar aboard this ship. It was lucky that the fear of their present situation had resulted in her keeping her mouth shut. It seemed that emotions running high had only amplified her moral compass tenfold. No – she would keep the diplomacy and the talking to Lieutenant Whidbey, there… Although she wasn’t sure why he was trying to coax the Centurion into talking and reassuring her that Starfleet would be sympathetic to her situation. Why would she care? She wasn’t on the barrel-end of two disruptors: it was the away team who were. It was clear who had the upper hand.

She blinked, not understanding where the officer came from. "Kinaen's crew has been punished for disagreeing with the Empire's ideals by turning us... turning us into this. I like to think that I know what an imperfect faction looks like, human." She shook her head, palms sliding over the pad's surface as she found it's control panel. "How--" Sindari shut her mouth with a click, glancing at the beeping commbadge. "... There's more of you, huh." Conflict arose in her. But soon, she would give Five a hard glare: "Tell them to be careful around corridors, there might be a Borg drone walking about. Running into Karrim would be rather unproductive if we're trying to talk." Then, she glanced back at Niwa and Austin, her eyebrow cocked up in a difficult expression. Sure, she was still convinced that they were about to pull something similar to the damage that the Tal Shiar had done to them, but if these white-shouldered goodie two-shoes were trying to sort this all out in a civil manner - it was only fair to offer them some warning. "How about you ask me? You've been snooping around here long enough to gather some intel on us."

He raised an eyebrow at the Centurian, a borg around the halls here might mean his tactic of stalling for time might be much less helpful then he would've thought. "Perhaps someone else has found much more conclusive evidence then us but still we have now idea what's truely going on. Besides..." Then he gestured towards the pod at the end of the room. Anouther big question mark for him. He needed to start finding answers. "Your friend here only raises more questions for us. Really though this isn't some kind of offensive pincer maneuver we're just on a fact finding mission and I suspect there are a lot of facts to be found." He leaned against the wall. He didn't want to be in this room for too long when he could be helping the others but still he figured leaning back might add effect to his point. "I really think there is a solution here that'll work for everyone except maybe the Tal Shair." He added that part as somewhat of a joke though he figured she was quite serious. "I'm certain that one exists."

The sound of the commbadge chiming as the other team tried to get ahold of them was reassuring for just a brief moment until the Centurion actively acknowledged it. On the one hand, the Centurion might reconsider what she was doing here, given that if there more Starfleet officers and she would be outnumbered. But on the other hand… She just didn’t like the idea of others in the crew showing up here and getting into trouble as well. Things still felt tense when Five was told to call the others and advise them of what else might be lurking in the corridor, but at least it was somewhat of a step in the right direction… Even the Centurion had acknowledged that the four of them here were just trying to ‘talk.’ “The Lieutenant Commander is right,” she finally said after Austin had finished, feeling as though someone ought to help to back him up. Her voice wavered slightly – sounding confident when you were reassuring a colleague was one thing, but sounding confident when you were faced by a (former?) Tal Shiar officer wielding two disruptors was another thing. “Your ship arrived not far from our location-“ a tactical choice of words there, as the Centurion didn’t need to know that there was an entire starbase of people involved. “-and we were sent to investigate. We’re not here to cause any harm. We didn’t even know that anyone was aboard. We’re just trying to ensure that this ship is safe… And to understand what happened here.” x_divider

13:00

There was a slight pause then, contemplating her options. They had to work out what had happened on this ship – who was in the right, who was in the wrong, or if everyone involved was wrong as she thought them to be… But it seemed like the Centurion wasn’t willing to simply hand over the information. She felt it was somewhat of a gamble, but Niwa decided to just prompt a little… But try to do so tactfully. The last thing she wanted was to offend the person wielding the weapons, or escalate things further. “…The Tal Shiar were going to experiment with Borg technology, and because they thought that you were ‘too soft,’ they… Were going to do something to you? Chase you off the ship – or use you as part of their experiments?” It was difficult trying to piece things together from the observation logs, the audio recordings, and what she saw right in front of her. How the Centurion had come to end up with those Borg implants was still unknown, but she could take a guess. “But then yourself and the others who disagreed with the Star Empire’s new ideas killed the others who were in favour of them..?”

"This friend," she began, slow, as her disruptors were put away and Sindari instead focused her attention on the pod - trying to unlock it, "Is Jaeih. She's our helmsman, who unfortunately was caught in one of the explosions during our escape from a Tal Shiar vessel. Somehow though, when those bastards had finally caught up with us and boarded our ship with that damn Borg toy of theirs... that fate ensured that she wouldn't get assimilated like we did. The chips, first designed by our lead scientist - oh I hope that she's all well... - were worked on by our lead engineer." Sindari then smiled. "Juler, if he gets to see this, will be happy that his chips worked even better than he expected - at least partially. So... yes, we hid her. The course of Kinaen was set to a colony where she and her brother grew up, in hopes that... she, and perhaps us, if there was anything left of us, could get some help. I guess we never made to that rendezvous, instead running into you, Starfleet. Huh. Of all possibilities... maybe that shouldn't be that much of a surprise." She contemplated for a bit - just handing over information went against all of her instincts, carefully and lovingly forced upon her by the Empire. And yet, Sin was a smart woman - and perhaps, seeing just one of the weakest, most pathetic chances in her long life, she was desperate and tired enough to try and take it. divider

14:43

"Commander Lhaes is a resistance sympathizer," she stated, giving Niwa a calm look. "Always has been, though, credit where credit is due, the man knew when and how to pretend otherwise for his - for our - sake. Kinaen, "Oath", began a science and research vessel. She and Lhaes were far removed from the violence of our benevolent empire, but when we lost our home and desperation grew... well, she then became a patrol ship. Putting all of us right in the spotlight. Safe to say, Lhaes was very unpopular with our new leadership. All of us were. And that made us the perfect candidates for an artificial assimilation experiment - they didn't care for us, but took the chance to tame the rebels. Fortunately for us, we were notified of that plan - and managed to send the whole crew away." "They were so pissed when they finally confronted us, and saw that instead of hundreds, there were only five officers!" She puffed out an unamused laugh, shaking her head lightly: "You are my fellow medical officer, Lieutenant. You know we do not like to do harm - yes, even in the Empire. So, will you believe me if I say that those bodies you saw outside, were killed out of self-defense?.. That this - all of this - was done out of loyalty, out of necessity?.." The pod hissed gently, opening up. Sindari gently reached out for the woman inside, already working on all the needed steps to safely wake her up: "Come on now, Jaeih. I think your big fool of a brother really needs you right now..." (edited)

Stirring from her chamber, Jaeih's eyes fluttered open as she heard the sound of a familiar voice tickle her pointed ears. Her puppy dog eyes glanced around the room before the gravity of the situation finally hit and she began to whimper and her body flinch. At first she tried to scream, but when she opened her mouth, no sounds came out. Brown eyes shifted left and right in a flurry. She could hear more voices than just Sindari's, but she had no idea who they belonged to. Were they home? They couldn't be, this was still the medical bay. After a few panicked seconds she was finally able to get a sound out of her mouth. "W-What happened? Dinam? Where is Karrim?" Jaeih was shaking the pod with how much she was flinching, her shoulders rubbing up against the sides as she completely ignored Sindari's movements as the officer was just trying to help her. Jaeih was in full fight or flight mode at this point, all she wanted was to see her brother again. Was he even still alive?!

So she had gotten things the wrong way round, then. Part of her trying to piece the puzzle together had been correct, but it was… Kind of like if you put the right jigsaw piece the wrong way round; it just didn’t quite fit together. These Romulans had almost been part of that Borg experiment, singled out to be test subjects for being sympathetic towards a new civilisation which was entirely the opposite to the Star Empire’s rule? But they had caught word, sent the majority of the crew away… So the bodies out there weren’t their own crew. They were the Tal Shiar who had been sent after the crew of the Kinaen, sent to conduct this ‘artificial assimilation’… And when they had boarded, they had subsequently been killed. …But who had won, she couldn’t help but wonder: the Kinaen’s crew, who seemed to have ended up subject to the Borg’s technology either way, or the Tal Shiar, who had been slaughtered for their attempts? When the Centurion addressed Niwa directly it made her skin crawl. Blue eyes tracked Sindari’s every movement, expression taut and shoulders tense. Putting together all of this information and trying to reconcile it felt like a storm inside of her own head, largely from her trying to decide how she felt about all of this. The Kinaen’s crew were going to be subject to a fate so incredibly inhumane - but in the nature of self-defence, they had conducted inhumane acts in turn. There was nothing merciful about the nature of those officers’ deaths. If they could kill them, they could have captured them: handed them over to the Romulan Republic or any member of the Khitomer Alliance. Why hadn’t they just sought refuge to begin with? Both the Republic and the Federation would have been sympathetic to their situation – something that, given the amount of blood on the hands of the Kinaen’s crew, would have faded now. x_divider

15:32

So no, Niwa decided, that strong moral compass helping to cut through the fear and add a stubborn resoluteness instead; she couldn’t believe that all of this was simply out of self-defence. To begin with perhaps… But going by the number of bodies that they had seen, it had gone too far. And still… Despite the call for proper justice that echoed in her head, and despite how sickened she felt at the fact a fellow medical officer had been part of this… The Vau N’Akat ignored the question, even though it repeated over and over in her head. “It’s not my place to judge what you’ve done, to decide who’s to blame or if your reasoning is valid.” That would be a matter for the Romulan Republic; the people who the Kinaen’s crew would be handed over to… If that was what Starfleet decided to do. Surely they couldn’t let this crew simply leave and get away with their actions… But again, that wasn’t for her to decide. She looked to Lieutenant Commander Whidbey then – he would be able to elaborate further far better than her, and surely he would know their next steps. “We’ll let you tend to your helmsman…” She stated, hoping that by letting the two speak then the away team officers here might be allowed to convene in turn. They had to get in touch with the other teams and relay what had happened here so they could work out what to do with the ex-Tal Shiar officers… And also still work out a way to get home – if the Centurion even let them. This conversation may well have been civil, but for all she knew, this could still end in some sort of bloodbath. The Centurion clearly wasn’t above such a thing.

Austin stepped off his place leaned against the wall momentarily when the pod opened out of instinct but quickly he settled back into place. He decided to add to her previous statement. "I do believe you about the self defense, just so you know. I know aswell as anyone that the Tal Shiar can truly be a group of rat bastards." Austin took up a much more sympathetic position then Niwa especially since he had no sympathy for the Tal Shiar in the first place. He liked to avoid violence at nearly all costs but when faced with violence, sometimes violence was the only correct response. "Go on and make sure your friend is okay. There is always time for talk later."

In a practiced manner, her hand immediately went to squeeze itself in between Jaeih's palms, just like it had so many times before when the younger one needed something to ground herself with and Karrim wasn't nearby. "Apparently we went off course and got Starfleet's attention - don't worry, they seem to be acting much more decently than out previous guests. Let's get you out of this pod and then go see everyone, yeah?" And if Jaeih agreed, Sindari would help the uhlan out by slowly, carefully shifting her into a sitting position - and letting her stay like that for a bit, to get used to being mostly upright. "I respect that answer, Lieutenant. Now, I feel like should soon head over to the bridge and see if that old bas-- sorry, force of habit. If our Commander is there. If I understand correctly, the ship was set in motion - and we have to get you lot out of here, somehow. Not a jab at you, by the way, I just don't think that you're enjoying your stay here too much and would like to go back to your ship, or station, whatever. Can I use on of your commbadges for a second?.."

If it were not for Sindari's gentleness, Jaeih would have surely bruised her arms struggling with the pod. With the help of the centurion, she slowly moved out of the pod. Sitting was welcomed as her head was still spinning from all that had happened in just the short amount of time. She took slow and deep breaths as she attempted to calm her nerves, her eyes glancing at the others in the room before going back to Sindari. It felt weird having all these strangers looking at her-- at Sindari, but if what the medical officer said was true then they were in no danger, at least from the people with the funny uniforms.

Austin figured, 'well why the hell not' and then tossed his comm badge to Sindari. Hopefully she'd use it to tell everyone that they were okay. He saw it as no problem given that he didn't feel safe to use it anyway. "Go right ahead and use it. We'd rather be out of your hair as soon as we can."

After her announcement, she glanced at the away team once more, before Sindari gently guided Jaeih to her feet, holding the helmsman up: "Well, anything else, or we can go? By the way, I would prefer to pass by a replicator.. if there is a working one. I wore an eyepatch before... this, had happened, and I would prefer to acquire a new one..."

Fives was struggling only for a second to wrap their head around everything. It was all so much to take in. Sympathy was easy to come by, especially given their situation... He swallowed, brows furrowing as everything sank in. "That should be all," he said, looking to his group. "We'll all do all we can to assure you're both safe and sound." An almost-smile quirked up the chief's face for a second. "I understand the eyepatch thing completely," he said, gesturing vaguely to his own.

The Narrator will dare to write that the away team one had made their way to the bridge - perhaps even finding a working replicator along the way, allowing Sindari to recover some of her normalcy from the already seemingly distant past.