Star Trek: Starbase 777 - data-distribution-node

Vara'l started into the new room then as he visually scanned the room. Pushed down the thoughts that roiled about his mind alongside emotion. The repeated assessment of casualties that attempted to maul at him and his control. He'd lost a officer. But he needed to keep going right now, so he forged onward. "Can someone keep checking for lifesigns?" The Romulan asked then as he started to move to aid in securing the immediate area.

Khamlet moved into the room not entirely trusting the scans, technology could deceive better to trust your own instincts, and so his eyes surveyed the space carefully. His teeth bared in a menacingly excited grin, eager for blood and violence, it was so tantalising close he knew it. But he was not a foolish warrior, he fought for honour and there was nothing more honourable than victory, so he kept to the formation, he watched the room for any signs of movement or likely places for ambushes or for traps. Like with the hallway, the exact function of the room he left to the engineers and scientists, he wasn’t here for that. He was here to find and crush the enemy, nothing else.

She was very happy to have been volunteered for the vinculum. Also, Karavix hadn't stopped scanning since the moment they set foot out of the workshop. So. She was on that! (edited)

T'She was in the room, which room? This room. They were watching the others as well, making sure everyone was alright, making sure everyone was as safe as they could be... in the middle of a borg cube.

Briefly he lifted his gaze away from the path ahead to look over the team - quick little headcount couldn't hurt anybody. Satisfied, the android continued his controlled, paced gait.

He was beginning to lag behind a little. Damn all these long-legged giraffe people! Probably for the better, though. Most of the tall people were also better at fighting.

5

1

He paced around in a slow circle, looking around at all of the consoles and screens, the illumination from which contrasted with the typically dim Borg lighting. "Do we think these can be used to switch things off from here?"

Tavek looked around- no apparent signs of life other than them, which was good, but the consoles intrigued him. At least one had to be related to the Vinculum.. so it was worth it to at least take a look. “We can take a look.. even if we can’t switch off the Vinculum or anything from here, we might be able to do something about the shields?”

Are you going to take a look?

8

Take a look, eh? Well, he might as well! With the amount of consoles over here, Kairos began strolling by them, slow and methodical, looking at the indicators and screens for any clue. The previously looked at files with Borg language transcripts helped, a bit.

Tavek also went to a console- probably should’ve said that in the original post, but oh well. Having read through the other Borg console in the other room was a bit of a help, but it was a honestly bit of a crapshoot on how much of this given Borg console he could understand.

These consoles were less for controlling parts of the station, in the sense that they weren't for power distribution at all. They dealt with information distribution though, with how different parts of the ship communicated with one another. And, crucially, some of these did have interfaces. It should, theoretically, be possible to ascertain details about the vessel's history from here.

“Good, these ones have interfaces.” He said, more to himself than anything. After all, he’d be lying to himself if he said he still didn’t have a glimmer of interest in this cube. So, he tried to navigate the console’s interface, trying to see if he couldn’t figure out why so many parts of the vessel seemed to be in such disrepair.

Khamlet posted up at the exit from the room which would lead in the direction that they would have to continue down in order to reach the Vinculum. For now it seemed like the science and engineering officers wanted to try something in this room. Though he felt his blood sing with the call to advance, his heart tempered the call with the knowledge that foolishness does not become a warrior. So, on guard and alert he covered the others while they worked.

1

Well, no digging necessary for that: the vessel was in disrepair because there had been, for several months, only one drone active to repair and maintain critical systems. (edited)

Immediately the android got curious about the potential history logs. This cube was very peculiar after all - especially with what they saw in the previous room. Might as well try to access that...

Vesta peaked around the closest person to her who was looking through the history and read the logs with them.

As for the history, there was quite a lot of information there, which would have been difficult to parse for anyone not processing information at the speed of an actual computer. There was of course the same information Tavek had found, which was that there hadn't been more than one drone on the vessel for over six months, until a few days ago. Before then there had been about thirty, which all slowly deactivated over the course of about two months, and before then... The information was messily compiled, but it seemed like there had been an altercation of some sort that had caused major damage to parts of the ship, and had wiped out almost the entire population of the cube. From drone activity logs, it seemed like the major repairs had slowly exhausted all the drones, until only the one was left.

9

8

He let out a soft whistle as he read through it all, eyebrows furrowed as his fingertips absent-mindedly tapped against the console. He wondered about those dead drones that they saw just recently - were they all dragged there as they died, one by one? "Hey, Commander?" he called out to Vara'l-- or any senior officer willing to listen really, at the same time spotting Timi in the room, to whom the ensign waved and pointed at the console, in case the other Intel officer was interested in taking a look. "I found some info on what happened to the cube, and-- long story short, they basically all just... died out after the ship sustained some major damages. The main guy seems like the last one left standing. We're looking at the timeline of abou-u-ut nine months." (edited)

Aoife was totally here the whole time and was following along in her one armed state holding a phaser pistol.

Timi walked over with silent footsteps, nodding along to Kairos' story, not even attempting to read the console since he had no clue of the Borg language. There was a tragedy to the story, a drone all alone on a ship through no fault of its own. "The parts in the previous room?" he signed questioningly, before adding, "what about the hivemind?"

Grey eyes remained fixed on his part of the perimeter for a time. Fixed upon duty and task as he struggled to not dwell on what had occurred recently. A officer lost, officers wounded, all of that. Remained fixed on it for a time. For a few moments after the Ensign responded too, as a mauled mind kicked itself out of the rumination it'd slipped into within the control it maintained. "Yes Ensign?" He'd asked then as he'd turned around. He then moved toward the console also, listened to what was explained, noted Timi's questions. "Any idea also." He added. "What caused the damage?"

”The damage must have been extensive enough that the collective deemed recovering this cube too wasteful on resources.” Tarsek commented.

The process of becoming borg was a process of being cut off from everything and everyone you've ever known. The process of losing the rest of the borg was a process of being cut off from everything and everyone you've ever known AGAIN. To be twice-erased... Yeah, he could sympathise with that kind of loneliness. Even empathise, maybe. The thought crept into his mind that perhaps it might be nice to be part of a collective - to exit this black world of sorrow and loss and enter the heaven of the death of the self. If you were more than just one person, you could never be apart from other people. It was a dangerous thought, though, so he shook his head, blinking as though he was awakening from rest. "I can't envy that isolation. If that's all, though, we should move on."

3

"The information is scrambled and all over the place, so answering some of your questions will be hard..." he crinkled his nose. "The source of the damage is unknown - the only thing that is clear is that this Borg cube was the only party involved in the circumstance. At least, from the cube's side. There's nothing about the hivemind, unfortunately. I also read that the leftover drones all just... died out, one by one, as if the repair efforts, like... killed them all off or something. Gross example of natural selection."

That cleared things up immensely, and let Vesta know that the drone had not ripped apart it’s own crew out of malicious intent. It was all quite sad really. “If that’s the case, the Vinculum may already be damaged.”

Vara'ls jaw worked a bit as grey eyes flicked toward Serin-De-Seith as one arm remained lax to one side of him and the other tense as his hand clenched about his hand phaser. Grasped it as the Romulan forced his mind through the motions, considered the point they made. Softly admitted. "Neither can I." As he considered the ensigns response after that. "Thank you for the information, Ensign." The Romulan proceeded to say then before he observed. "It paints a rather harrowing picture, but I agree with Lieutenant Serin-De-Sieth." He paused then as he holstered his hand phaser one handed, clenched his hand then unclenched it then pulled the weapon back out again. "If we've gotten all we can get from the consoles, it's time to move on." Vara'l then turned to Lieutenant Kuzeed. Listened and moved to sign before he winced a bit and thought better of it. "The Vinculum's the heart of the vessel, it's well protected." He started then before he conceded. "But that doesn't mean its not possible." (edited)

Silent in the background was Eicran. Not wanting to get in the way he stayed back, guarding entrance points like Khamlet was doing. It was best to let the professionals work: Intelligence, Engineering, and Operations would do a far better job without him getting in the way. He mused over the findings on the console. Did drones still have feelings in their normal, Hive Mind-controlled state? Could they feel alone? He had struggled enough to find balance when it came to viewing the Borg, finding a place between 'enemy' and 'victim'. He wasn't sure he wanted to wax philosophical about them more.

7

While Eicran was thinking to themselves a wild Aoife appeared. "Hey doc?" She said as she walked forward with only one arm fully functional. "You got any more painkillers? I don't think the Borg got all the nerves this burn is staring to hurt like a bitch!"

Once again off with the medical kit so he could go through the contents and find what he required. "I'm sorry that I can't do much more for you just now," he said as he clipped the hypospray cartridge into the device. He took a step closer to Aoife and tugged down the fabric around the collar of her armour, then pressed the hypo to her neck. "It'll take more equipment in a proper medical bay to have it treated fully."

"I could poke and prod around some more, but I'm not sure if I'll find anything more on the history, sadly. Unless the other guy found something," he jerked his head in Tavek's direction.

The other guy would indeed not find something more comprehensive in the short time given.

3

"Yeah don't worry about it, we'll get it sorted once we're off this goddamn cube." Aoife said with some relief as the drugs stopped the screaming of her pain receptors.

“Nope, nothing more over here. If we had more time, maybe.. but time is not on our side.” He said, shaking his head before looking up from his console. It was about time to go, now, and get to the Vinculum.

Vara'l considered Commanders O'Rielly and Kehal then before he looked to the Ensign. "Does there look to be anything more to find?" He inquired then as he looked to the Lieutenant also, the question aimed at both of them. The Romulan's gaze then shifted to Kehal. "Lieutenant Commander Kehal, are you able to provide me with something for pain also?" Vara'l asked even as part of his mind twitched at the thought as it struggled onward. "Relating to my arm?"

A nod and he again delved into his medical kit. He might have been useless for the majority of this mission, but if anything, at least he could play pharmacist and hand out painkillers. He beckoned Vara'l over and then jabbed him with the next hypo.

5

"Be prepared for a fight. Everyone experienced with Engineering should focus on disabling the Vinculum, while the rest of us cover for you," Senang said, readying his rifle once more.

Khamlet grinned at the word from Senang, and with snarl of joyous violence said, “Qapla’!” His rifle shouldered and he looked ahead ready to advance as soon as the order came, it was a good day to die!

Vara'l moved over as directed and got jabbed. The Romulan then nodded in thanks. "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander." He said then before he nodded slightly. "Medical personnel, if anyone goes down, grab them and get them to cover." The Romulan readied his hand phaser then and stated. "Thinking on it more, agreed." He paused. "No time, lets get going." Vara'l decided then as he then moved to support Senang and Khamlet once they started to move to the next space.

Well.. with his rifle raised.. it was into the heart of the beast.