Star Trek: Starbase 777 - outpost-security-room

Your typical security hub, albeit with a makeshift bed in the corner. The consoles were right there, ready to be used.

Aoife followed Kaiso into the security room and went over to the nearest console to look for anything interesting.

Seht hopped into a chair, instantly way more comfortable, and shrimped his posture. He leaned over the computer system, instantly clicking away to look at whatever resources they had access to.

Iki followed after Kaiso too, eager to see if their sensors, which were bound to be robust like the shuttle's but with the added benefit of a larger dataset, would be able to shine a light on Sunhead. Pun intended. "Did you end up manually recalibrating all sensors, too? It's what I had to do when we entered the forcefield."

Klaa silently walked around the room, observe the counsels. The two decade old station was bound to have some hidden gems. As Seht sat she watch him access the computer.

"We did, after a brief moment of panic," she confirmed to the scientist. "Thought the damn thing was fried for good..."

In the meantime, the consoles booted up, showing an access to a rich backlog of sensors, as well as some security footage from around the area. There was also a backlog of general happenings around the outpost, probably including the day of the incident as well. Despite being on the older side, the consoles seemed to be in good working conditions - a blessing, given everything that has happened so far.

Seht began narrating to himself as he worked, explaining his thought process. "Okay, so first the best idea is to update our forcefield. Second, we should have lifeform scanners running all around the immediate area. Everybody accounted for, including sunguy." (edited)

She had followed them. It was a good idea for her to know if they managed to get the sensors to work and to find out more about the missing commander and the outer plan creature. Since it appeared there would be a track and rescue mission involved.

"Sounds about right," Iki said, pulling out their tricorder to compare its scans against the sensor logs. They might be able to isolate something that'd allow them to set the tricorders up with an alarm of sorts if similar readings pop up again. "Does the guy register as a lifeform? Didn't seem very "commonly something we understand as alive" to me personally.*

"Well, there's tons of sensors on these bases, usually." Seht reasoned. "Cameras, heat, radiation, there's gotta be something we can use to find it..."

2

"That's what I was thinking. Cameras won't be much use except for documentation, but if we can tie a combination of sensor readings to the creature, we should be able to create an alarm system for if those specific readings come up again." Easier said than done, of course, but it was an extremely reasonable plan of action.

It would make sense to rule some of the options out, and perform more in-depth checks for the more promising ones. Which ones would they be?

”We should run a scan for any and all life signs. It’s also effecting the wildlife right? We should also compare it to the reading prior to the explosion. I’m curious if there were any significant changes in the animal population.” Klaa imputed despite this not being her area of expertise. “Is it possible Sun head was here before, or perhaps a mutation to a person or animal?”

Seht poked away at the console. He, of course, first went into the settings and flicked off all the RAM hogs and configured everything to his liking. After that, he scanned for all lifeforms on the base using the accessible sensors.

Guess who was here... T'She! With everyone seemingly on the mend, they decided to try and help... somehow. To do this, they had the scans of effected persons that they could reference, as well as an idea for a way to track the sun head. "I have heard that there are... particles... that are connected to temporal distortions... at least sometimes. It isn't my area of expertise... but maybe checking this area for spikes of those could help us get an idea for where the being is?"

The all-lifeform scan, presumably using the similar sensory technology to tricorders, did not wield concrete results. It had no trouble spotting the more concrete, this-world's lifeforms - that of the scientists - however, outside of the outpost, besides the single dot that blinked for just a moment somewhere in the middle of the forest, as well as their own arrival... nothing solid was found.

"Chronitrons? I suppose that could work, though I don't know if these sensors pick those up. I was going to start working my way through different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation until I found something; Lieutenant tr'Lareth said it gave off heat, right?" They were being coy. They knew what Saren had said. "Which one would you start with?" They asked T'She, trying to not just charge on ahead with what they thought was the best course of action.

"Checking heat would probably be the best course of action, since that has a better shot of working. Maybe we can check for Chronitron density after that? You are probably more well-versed in scanning things than I am, after all," They offered Iki a nod, letting them do whatever seemed best, since they had more expertise.

”Wait, hold on!” Marze had been just behind them, trying to take a look herself at the results. “What was that single signal? The one that disappeared?”

"Well there's something in the forest at least. Either the sun head or the commander. Either way I see a hunting trip in our futures." Aoife said a second after Marze having spotted the same thing.

"Heard." Iki decided they liked Commander T'She. "I'll run down a sensor data check of the full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation to see if anything fluctuates, especially in the direction we just came from. Afterwards, I'll see if there's anything on chronitrons, and we can check whether or not any fluctuations match up. If anyone else has any ideas, please shout." Iki walked as they talked, already performing the actions they were setting out to do. They had noticed the blip, but one data point was no data point. The best thing for them to do right now was stick to the structure of data management.

Now, the electromagnetic fluctuations were... interesting. Perhaps unsurprisingly, if the thing radiated heat and emanated light. There was a rapid vector of distortion moving all around, but mostly circling the densest area of the forest, in it's middle, as well as the outpost - never coming too close to the latter. Similar movement could be seen by the river area, not too long ago. Perhaps around the bush?..

"Well, that looks like something." Iki said, keeping the sensor logs to one side as they started to see if there was any sort of chronitron detection going on that they could capitalise on. Still, they were pretty confident they could analyse this and make an effective tricorder alarm out of it. "I think this might be it, but I'm double-checking."

"Good job, and good thinking," They responded with a smile on their face -- albeit a small one.

Chronitrons were a good lead. Unfortunately, possibly because of the "hallucinations" and corner-of-the-eye visions that the team had mentioned, there were quite a few spots and "roads" of said particles, left behind by the temporal anomalies. Some of it seemed to be spritzed around the area as well - perhaps as the residue that turned the river into a mirror, and the fog into watercolor swirls?.. (edited)

”The crew here mentioned that the creature… Sunhead I guess, once froze when encountered them and they managed to get away.” Marze seemed to look at the pattern as one would look at a trail of footprints from a prey. “If this is it, it appears to avoid this outpost. And to only react when provoked, granade or telepathy wise.”

"Perfect!" Seht exclaimed. "We are then safe here and can beam up and burn this whole thing from space, problem solved!" He flashed a smile to his crewmates.

"Chronitrons are a little all over the place, Commander," Iki relayed. "I think we're better off focussing on the electromagnetic radiation, for detection purposes at least." They shot an absolutely unequivocally dumbfounded look at Seht. "Are you stupid?" they asked genuinely.

Seht instantly looked more sheepish. "Well I mean we WANT to get out of here, don't we?"

"No?" Iki was rather interested in what was going on, actually.

"No we want to figure out what happened and fix it, and we're absolutely not leaving the commander behind if they're still out there." Starfleet doesn't leave people behind, not during peace time at least.

”We want to answer to the distress call. But the crew specifically asked for help finding their Commander before thinking of leaving.” Marze remembered.

"Understood Ensign, continue focusing on the electromagnetic radiation, I believe making some sort of alarm or detection device would be the most logical use of our time? That way when we go out into the forest we aren't completely blind." They spoke, not even giving Seht a response, for a moment, but deciding they had to. "We have a missing person, and until we determine their fate or get them back, leaving is not an option."

”Plus…. I vividly remember a very recent mission that showed us why it is not a good idea to leave loose ends.” A very recent and meaty mission.

"...Excuse me, what the actual fuck?" she was right here, by the way, hearing all of the conversation. The already hardened expression was a hairwidth away from turning livid. (edited)

5

Figuring the more senior officers were on Seht's ass, Iki just rolled their eyes and got back to the sensor arrays, isolating the fluctuations to the correct frequencies so that they could reprogram their tricorder to function as an alarm. Or should they... they kind of didn't want to be the dedicated alarm, actually. "Is anyone here okay with keeping track of a Sunhead-alarm?" they asked, just putting out feelers. If nobody responded they would do it, of course, but with any luck someone else would step up.

Marze was unsure to what the other lieutenant was reacting, but she figured explaining her side would not hurt. Yeah Marze, like that generally worked. ”I’m just agreeing that we should: one, find the commander…” So that they don’t become some sort of future threat like the meat living dead from before. “And two, figure out what happened and how to safely make things… safe? I guess… on this outpost again. That field is not gonna hold for eternity.”

"Couldn't you tie an alarm into the base computer so it isn't relying on a single person?" Aoife asked genuinely, tech wasn't her thing but she knew trusting one person alone with something important usually ended poorly. "If not I can take it, assuming we're going out looking for the commander. Better to trust herself with the important thing if she didn't trust the others.*

"I mean, sure, but the thing is that we need to be able to sense it when we're in the forest searching. I'd want a handheld alarm, with directionality. So a tricorder makes the most sense." Iki was sure Marze was making a lot of sense, but they had A Task to complete. They stuck out a hand towards Aoife. "Can I have your tricorder?"

Aoife wordlessly handed Iki her tricorder, figuring the ensign wasn't one for smalltalk from what she had already observed.

”If what you’re doing is modifying the tricoder to that function… isn’t it feasible to do that to all the tricoders of the search party?” Marze asked. “I mean, if the group splits for whatever reason or this specific tricoder is lost or damaged… not a good idea to leave people prone to surprises.”

1

"I am not talking about whatever you're referencing," terse, but not outright unpleasant. Kiaso pinched her nosebridge: "God, whatever. I'll just hope that the rest of you can figure this out."

Klaa was struggling to keep up with the conversation. “I’m confused. What exactly is the plan this time. Are we sending a search party? Also what’s the plan for recontamination?” (edited)

Maggie poked her head over Iki’s shoulder. “Want some help or?” She asked nicely!

"If we need hands to modify the tricorders, I probably could." Seht offered, awkwardly.

"Too many alarms will cause confusion. I would do one or two more, but it should be limited to people who won't give confusing directions. Preferably people who will receive the alarm, and then respond tactically." Iki looked at Maggie, one eyebrow raised. "Not really, all the hard work is done. You could try to see if there's anything else in the sensor logs of interest, I might have gotten tunnel-visioned." Were they bossing around higher ranks? Yep. Were they feeling guilty about it? Nope. Were they at all offering their own tricorder up for the mission? Also no.

2

Maggie hummed, not really caring about being bossed around (I mean, technically her boss was a junior grade so who was keeping score). She went over to the sensor logs and just took another eye. “Yep! Let’s see here.”

Making her way over, Suun spied the group, thankful that they seemed to have figured something out. “How’s it going over here?”

"Plan!" Seht hollered to Suun. "I think we have a general area of the Sunhead, and we're gonna develop an alarm and give it out to everybody."

"I just said we're not giving it to everybody," Iki complained loudly. "Three people, to prevent confusion. I just said this."

She nodded, moving further into the room as she listened. Spirits, she was grateful for that. This whole situation had her nerves frayed, as if something deep in her bones knew the distortion was bad news. “I’m glad to hear it’s being worked on. Nice work, all of you.”

Maggie hummed. “Be nice ensign.” She said from her spot. Getting bossed around? Eh who cares! Iki being a jerky pants? Rank pulling time.

"No," Iki grumbled as they got back to work. "Whose tricorders am I modifying aside from Commander O'Rielly's?"

”I guess you can take mine as well for modifications.” Marze offered. “I’m no newbie on the hunting business… if that is alright for the Commander.” Her eyes trailed back to Aoife.

"I," Seht declared. "am staying right here." He flung his arms around the large computer system on the desk.

”It’s probably best if I stay as well. Not because I’m scared though.” Giving Seht a stink eye. “I was hoping to get a closer look at the equipment. Perhaps take a look at the explosion site.”

“Should probably be the fighty guys and not the smart guys.” She said with a hum. “Not that you guys aren’t smart, just….comparatively you know.” Iki was infecting her…

3

"Unsure how salvageable that whole mess is, but a look can't hurt," the security officer shrugged, looking at Klaa.

Iki took Marze's tricorder without waiting for Aoife to confirm. Whoops.

4

Aoife gave a nod to Marze a half second after Iki already grabbed it. She also gave a pointed look at Seht, not impressed at all with his attitude toward the mission. That was something that would be addressed at a later date.

Marze decided she liked this Ensign. A lot.

"That's two. I can do a third, if necessary." Someone volunteer someone volunteer someone volunteer.

“If I may,” She spoke, “I would like mine modified.”

AND THANK FUCK FOR THAT. "Heard," Iki said, holding up their hand to receive T'Evoryn's tricorder. "That'll be the last one, any more and it'd get messy."

She gave a curt nod, hands behind her back once again. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Three tricorders, ready for some ambiguous ghostbusting.

4

"So we're searching the forest, right? That blip was there, and Sunhead hangs out there too," Iki said as they handed the tricorders back to everyone. They were coming with on the mission, obviously. They wished anyone who wanted to stay behind a lot of fun with that, but that was not them.

“I believe that’s it, yes.” She nodded, hoping whatever woods they avoided in the beginning weren’t all that much of a danger to them, “I’m assuming if we hear static, we just have to run.”

”Did the sensors caught that kind of blip only once in the past hours?” Marze’s brain was already entering track mode.

"That is fair," Kiaso nodded along. "One of your engineers expressed interest in checking out the laboratory. I am fine with that, if you allow your away team to separate. Similarly, I have to ask - what do you expect us to do while you're searching? Should we stay here, or move somewhere?"

“It may be more beneficial for you to stay here, or potentially move back towards the shuttle.” She noted, “I believe those are the two most secure areas at our disposal.” (edited)

“Agreed. If we divide the team, we should make sure one person in each group has the modified tricorders.” She stated, “And a medical officer on hand, if possible.”

"We have medical officers, so that is covered," how convenient. "The tricorder could be of use, though..."

Vara'l nodded once at the assessment of Commander T'Evoryn. "I agree with Commander T'Evoryn." He commended then before, after he had assessed the options further,he added. " I personally feel the best option is likely a move back to the shuttle for your personnel, especially if we can give you a modified tricorder." A thought then proceeded to strike him and he looked to Iki. "If that's needed and not something the Shuttle can provide in Lieu of one?

"I can just make more tricorders," Iki said, although it was, in their opinion, probably easier to just modify the sensor array itself. "The limit of three was just for the search and rescue group. Although actually, it's not that hard, you can also just modify more tricorders yourself."

To answer Marze's question, that blip was singular - and the Sunhead's vector of movement began to circle the area around that place immediately after it was snuffed out.

2

"I offer we - not the search party - go check out the labs first, and then move to that shuttle of yours, if that is alright with you all," Kiaso said, briefly gesturing to the exit with her thumb. "The comms here work alright, just... don't believe all of the voices you might hear on there."

“Voices?! What does that mean?” She turned to Kiaso in surprise.

”You mean unknown voices, or our own teammate voices saying things that make no sense?” Marze was starting to find this all too familiar.

Now Klaa turned to Marze. “You’ve experienced it before?!” She was very confused now. (edited)

"Memories, conversations of the past," she explained to the Klingons. "Things you've heard before." (edited)

Horrifying addition. The possibility of the crew being caught up in the past in a literal sense was not something Suun loved to entertain, but circumstances were circumstances.

”Yes and no.” She answered Klaa. “I just needed to confirm what type of ‘don’t trust your comms’ situation this was. Get used to it, happens more than you’d think.”

"Well then. Who goes where? Both options are equally risky, so don't go choosing by safety measures," the storyteller apologizes for stupid questions from the characters, but alas.

“I’m happy to help search for the commander.” She brushed herself off, realizing she still had a leaf or two stuck to her from the bushes.

Maggie nodded. “Yep! I’m down to help too!”

“So it is based on our memories…” Interesting. Considering that T’Evoryn herself had barely over a year’s worth of concrete memories, she wondered if that meant she was less susceptible to visual hallucinations caused by the anomaly. “Checking the labs is not necessarily a bad idea, though i think a few of us should accompany you there.”

“I am willing to accompany those going to the labs.” Silver offered. She’d mostly been quiet, listening intently to the growing plan, though she couldn’t think of much to offer. But, going to the labs seemed like a good idea, and she’d be more useful there than in a search for the Commander.

“I’ll help with the Commander search,” She said with a huff, “We’ll need an equal amount of tactical and security officers on both teams, I’d think…or whatever.”

"I will go with those searching for the commander. They may need someone with medical expertise among their ranks." They decided with a nod, eyes lighting up slightly at the thought of being useful.

Again, she found herself relieved at having a doctor nearby. If anyone got caught by the Sunhead, they’d at least have someone who could check on them properly. “If there’s any sign of the commander, we could use badge numbers over comms to make sure we’re speaking to the real versions of our crewmates.” She suggested.

"Uh, are there any further researching duties you think you need here?" Seht asked the Commanders.

"That would be smart. Before you came here, we would sometimes say rather out of pocket sentences to prove that we're real," she said, rather deadpan. It was quite hard to imagine this particular Trill saying something stupid to prove her identity.

“That’s… probably not a struggle for this group.” She chuckled quietly, “But even then, we may be taking less chances with the badge numbers.”

"Yeah, I've noticed," fucking oof. "No offense."

3

“Understandable.” Perhaps letting Lieutenant Paco scream at the top of his lungs wasn’t the best idea, although it was a valid observation.

3

Gimura snickered slightly from where she was standing beside Suun.

“I’m not sure, Commander. Potentially, the minute we know of another’s badge number, would that not be something stored in our memory, and thus known to the anomaly? In such a case, I believe ‘out of pocket’ phrases to be the best option for identification.” T’Evoryn commented.

“We do have a knack for it anyways.” She joked, before nodding, “You make a good point, it’s less memorable.”

“Won’t be a problem for us,” She muttered, before clearing her throat, “So, uh- Are we good to get going, then?”

"I'll get our team, then," she nodded. "Do you want one of us coming with you? Might help to have at least one person who knows the terrain a bit better, I imagine."

“That’d be useful, for sure. If you don’t mind sparing one of your own, we’ll accept the help.” She replied, a little surprised at the Ensign’s change in willingness to participate. Maybe it was an off day, who knew?

She really wants to leave, and getting both of these things done in a timely manner means going back to base in a timely manner. Hmph.

Honestly she hadn’t even said anything because she had thought that it was more than obvious which route she would be taking. Modified tricoder, riffle and all.

"I hate to say this, but Kove might be the most well-versed out of all of us. They've been to the forest often," Kiaso sighed. "Both before the incident, and after."

“Well, we’ll take whatever help we can get.” She assured Kiaso, not seeing exactly why she was so disappointed about it but assuming there was something going on.

"I'll go let them know. In the meantime, you could begin your descend down the stairs," a definitely non-direct way to suggest to the players to get shmoovin. (edited)

2

T'She nodded, it would definitely be good to get moving. And so, they readied themself to get moving, ready to herd anyone else who was a part of their group.