Star Trek: Starbase 777 - propulsion-node-34

Way further along the walkway lay a propulsion node, one that was currently not being supplied power. It did, in fact, not do anything.

T'She and their tricorder checked the around the node before walking closer to it. They didn't want to be surprised now did they.

Damn. That was all for nothing, wasn't it. Five frowned, a little frustrated, but oh well. Worth looking around and seeing what else they could find.

23:12

Oh, right, comms. Boop!

From what could be seen and scanned, the propulsion node was actually in fairly good condition, all things considered. It had clearly seen some upkeep, but certain parts of it, like the energy conductors, but also some internal wiring, showed clear signs of aging, the way the wire had before. If this was how all or at least most propulsion nodes looked though, no wonder the cube was dead in the water.

"Propulsion nodes in a good, but not perfect, condition, and that correlates with the way the cube is just..." he made some kind of motion with his free hand, "floating about. Does that leave us with shields?"

The entire cube lurched as it took a hit from Eventide.

"... it does leave us with shields," he concluded mildly, grasping at the nearest wall or flat object in case the lurch was bad enough to throw them off balance. (edited)

T'She did the same, leaning against the nearest wall to keep from falling.

The cube lurched again with another hit.

Ato let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, also throwing an arm against the wall to brace himself as the cube rocked from fire. “I wonder what’s going on outside? Why are we taking hits?”

Five was not so lucky, taking a tumble before she could grab a hold of anything. Fine, though. Tis a mere flesh wound (not even a bruise). "I can guess," she muttered through gritted teeth.

“Whoa,” Ato muttered, reaching a hand out to Lt. Five, if they needed it to get up and get steadied. “Yeah, not sounding so great.”

"I'm assuming the cube engaged first, and any fire is retaliatory," Senang said, really letting those tactical gears grind.

Thank youuu. She was able to brace properly this time! "Is there — we could see if we can shut off the tactical systems, maybe??"

"Were you not the one explaining that these ships are modular, Lieutenant?" Senang asked seriously. "We'd have to somehow shut off all tactical systems on the entire cube, simultaneously."

"Forgive me, I'm a little scrambled trying to figure out how to not get shot at at the moment." Five was not being sarcastic, she was just a little distressed. "Okay — we have to do something, surely?"

“Well, I honestly don’t know what we can do right now except let the commanding officer know what we’ve found, and either sabotage this node worse? Maybe? Or, I don’t know. Look for something else useful.” And with that, he looked around the room, looking for a way to either bust up the node worse, or to see if anything was out of place or worth poking around in.

No more being shot at. Incredible. Hopefully that meant Eventide was fine ...? "Anyway — that leaves us with shields, likely, yes. And this answers one of our questions — why the cube isn't moving. How it got here, and what is hiding here, are both different questions entirely.."

Eventide engaging a Borg cube alone?.. A very dormant one, yes, but... Saren hummed, standing up straight. "How are the others doing?" he asked, noticing Five's communication. "Any good finds?"

"tr'Hara's team has scanned the drone, which means they either may have seen them or they're coming damn close," Five answered, un- and re-doing their ponytail. "One of the scientists has a minor concussion from being jostled around, but they're taking care of it. "

"Given that the communications on the cube itself are working fine, perhaps they could send us their scans of the drone? Hopefully there's something helpful in those... or at the very least we will know what to look out for," Saren suggested, his own hand hovering over his commbadge, just in case.

"That would be helpful," Five nodded, cueing Saren to go right ahead since he already had a finger on the trigger. "Right — they're also looking for a shield node of some kind, and I want to finish our investigation. So..." She sucked in a breath, finally removing that godforsaken mask — it was too hot in here to keep it on, and it wasn't helping one bit. Somehow, removing something that had once been comforting helped her feel a little better. "We can try to find any traces of the old drones. Logs. Anything that clues us as to where they went, or..."

"I got it," after some time passed with all the communications and waiting, Saren began to go through his tricorder to look at the data the other team managed to accumulate. "Let's see if there is anything interesting here..."

Curious, Five poked over Saren's shoulder to get a good look at just what they were dealing with.

18:05

Wait, I forgot they're a lot shorter than him. Peering around his arm, actually.

2

Like the other team, it was pretty easy to ascertain for Saren, or rather, probably Five, that this drone was indeed abnormal. Its biosigns showed more activity in almost all levels of the drone, more neural activity, more electricity in its attachments, just. More.

"This is one, uh..." oh, Standard was failing him. Saren snapped his fingers once, twice... and then gave up both his linguistic abilities and dignity, "... juiced up drone."

Roid Rage Borg Drone.

9

"Juiced... up drone...?" T'She seemed a little confused before they looked at the scan signs. "Juiced up drone." They concurred.

3

Eventide isn't responding. Five was paying attention to the specs. Trying to get a hold on what they were up against, what kind of person they used to be if possible. Trying to be useful. But Mavna's voice rang out over her combadge, and she just... Stared. Stared at numbers, at symbols she knew but couldn't quite process, at the intricate map that could be woven of this drone. She felt sick. "Right," she said softly, trying to focus on anything besides her spinning head. "Souped up. Certainly."

4

"All of the vital signs we typically see in Borg drones are heightened in this one," he explained, trying his best not to sound defensive of his wording. "Maybe it's compensating for the lack of other drones, but there also might be just something... very off about this guy in particular..." He looked to the side, at Fives, perhaps catching up on the way her voice began sounding... off: "Lieutenant, is everything okay?.."

"They... I..." Five swallowed, metallic fingers digging into flesh in an attempt to reorient her focus. "We can't get a hold of Eventide. They — we tried to put a message out, and we succeeded, but we don't know if they received it or if they're even..." And it was fine, wasn't it? They were probably licking their wounds. Or just hiding somewhere nearby and somehow missed their communication. They weren't stranded in a borg cube with an active drone. Eventide's crew wasn't dead. They weren't going to be dragged back into the tangle of subconscious, a thousand screaming voices, knowing nothing but the endless cycle of marching along dark halls of green, not when she was so close to who she once was — "I think it's.. compensating. Yes. Maybe using components the — the other drones left behind, or.. or..." She exhaled, trembling, paler than she already had been. "I don't... know... I've never seen this before." (edited)

3

"Hey. Hey," he put his tricorder away for now, turning so that he was facing Fives, both of his hands raised slightly. "Let's pause and take some deep breaths, yes? Do you need my or anyone else's assistance in that?"

"Yes, I am sure we will get out of this. We always have, after all, no matter how bad things get, we always pull through in the end." They were trying to sound hopeful, no matter how illogical they were being at the moment. Maybe hoping beyond hope could be what gets them through this mission.

She nodded. Trying, trying, but the other teams were shouting over the comms, the drone already had its claws in someone— she had to focus. She couldn't drag the team down. She couldn't be useless, not now, not when they were relying on her. Five ripped off her gloves, cold metal digging into flesh until the room stopped spinning. Until she could breathe again. "We have to keep moving. We can't.. stall. Not now."

"That I agree with. I will keep scanning to make sure it doesn't come across us without us knowing first. Where should we go next though, that is the question." They tied to offer Five a nod and a small smile, but they felt like they just fell flat on both attempts to reassure someone. Instead, they focused on the mission.

"Remember the shakes? It is very likely that the Eventide decided to retreat. They're safe now, and can return with backup," his eyes flitted to the OPS officer's hands, before quickly returning back to Five's face. "It means that we are on our own for now, and... the danger is very real, I can't deny it. It only means that we have to move forward and do our best, to help ourselves and others, right?"

1

"So we have to..." Think. If Eventide isn't here, what can they do? Neutralizing the drone would only be temporary (she wants it to be saved, even now), put down the shields long enough to relay a distress signal... Escape was not an option right now, so what could they do, realistically? "Keep looking," was the only answer for now. "If — we can find a way to disconnect the individual cubes, or fix the propulsion nodes, maybe..."

He nodded to her words: "We can try all of that. Right now, we just need to decide where to go and what to do next. How about we look at the scans again? Or maybe find another map?"

"Yes. That sounds good." Another map... She hunted around for another console to plug her credentials into, to hopefully get another map. "If the system is capable of manipulating what we can see, shouldn't we be worried about the maps changing?"

"That... does sound like a valid concern. Should I be scanning and mapping as we go then? That way we have a trusted source for our map?" They offered as they held up their tricorder again.

"That would be useful, yes." Good to know they had something to rely on, at least.

"Nowhere to go from here. If we backtrack some, there are some other branching paths in the walkway, " Five said, gesturing back the way they came.

"Understood, shall we get going? I think staying on the move is imperative for our mission." They commented as they looked back the way they came.

"Alright, yes, then let's go that way and see what options we have," in the meantime, he could think about new matters that this development has brought. Namely, food and potential exhaustion...

"After you all," she gestured. "T'She, if you have just a second... we'll only be a little bit behind. "

He briefly glanced at Fives, but didn't comment. Eventually, their little team would make their way to #regeneration-alcoves...

"Of course, did you need anything, Lieutenant?" T'She seemed concerned, but was trying to put on a brave face.

Her gaze bounced from the rest of the group to T'She. Her first friend on 777, the person she arguably knew most in their little team.. and their only medical officer for the time being. Five's voice was hushed, soft. "If... If that thing gets its claws in me..." She swallowed. "I need you to go. Alright? Just get as far away as possible." And, with that, she moved to follow the rest of their group.

3

T'She knew that was logical, but something made them want to do something completely illogical, that being help Five no matter what happened. They were a friend, someone who T'She trusted, and they weren't going to throw that all away. Nevertheless, they nodded, and turned to join the others as well, resolving to not let anything happen to anyone in their little team.

4