Figuring a Mystery

Posted on Sat Feb 12th, 2022 @ 7:43pm by Commodore Keiben Haistro & Commander Iy'dan Brell & Lieutenant JG Alena Alessa & Lieutenant Commander Junjie Han & Lieutenant JG Adrian Sage & Lieutenant JG Melinda Sommers

1,877 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - The Fires Of Hades
Location: Science Lab
Timeline: Mission Day -584,948 @ 1830 Hours

ON

The day had certainly taken a turn as the handsome Trill rushed into the science lab, his padd containing nothing of note and no more information than they had already gleaned. In short, the device, if it was such a thing, was still very much a mystery to him, he just needed to report into his senior officer as much and was somewhat taken aback when he found the ruggedly handsome Betazoid Captain stood in the room towering over his Chief Science Officer and meek-looking women next to him.
"Excuse me, sir, Captain... My report. I regret to inform you that my scans are inconclusive" casting an eye to the pyramid-shaped mystery now sitting on the diagnostic bench.

Junjie looked up. "Then we're going to have to find a different approach to this problem." he thought a moment. "The T'kon were known for using both maths and music in their technology. Perhaps we'll try using temporal energies with musical harmonics and see what the results are, this isn't a question we can leave unanswered."

"Music," Melinda mused, "do we have anyone here with any musical talents?" She chuckled. "Maybe we should sing to it?"

"If you'd like to sing to it, You're going to have to wait until we set up a containment area and focus the temporal energies on the object. As for myself, I am a violinist. We'll need to set up sensor safety limits for auto shut down in case anything unwanted occurs. What do you think Captain?"

"Let's take this one step at a time and perhaps use the computer to run through a full acoustic range on the initial attempts!" Keiben had to smile at the enthusiasm from his officers, all be it a tad too early to be discussing things like that.

"Speaking of one step at a time... You are Commander Holt?" the Captain asked, his curiosity peaked and knowing that he would likely get no gossip from Tam.

Junjie looked up with an amused expression. "Sir, are you asking if Tam and I are involved? If so then the answer is yes. We are engaged to be married and will ask you to perform the service when the time comes. We're also living together. The request and notification to security for us both to have access taken care of. The notice to operations letting them know that my old quarters were able to be reassigned, all taken care of." Junjie stopped and thought a moment and gave Keiban a curious look. "Didn't Melanie tell you? She was the first one Tam told after I proposed to her. Nor have we been trying to keep our relationship a secret, I'm surprised you're just finding out."

"I'm a telepath Lieutenant, of course I knew... It's the gossip I'm after!"
The broadly muscular Captain said with a wolfish grin on his face

Alena watched everyone around her with interest. It was plain that these people knew each other pretty well. She had been suggested shadowing the Captain for a day, and she had jumped at the chance to see how these people interacted with each other. It was interesting, to put it mildly, to see how at ease the people here were around one another.

Junjie gave Keiban a puzzled glance. "Gossip? What gossip Sir? Ever since we've been here, My crew and I have been working on how to figure out that alien machine. And Tam has been in meetings and taking care of everything that you're not taking care of yourself. So pretty much our day is wake up, get the job done, have some supper together sleep and repeat the next day. There hasn't been time for anyone on this station to do anything to be worthy of gossip. If you really need some gossip Sir, I believe the library computers have enough federation entertainment channel gossip to keep you happy for at least a couple hundred years."

"Look, if I don't come back with something my wife is never going to forgive me!" he said equally as playful, gently needling his officer.

" Well Sir, If I hear of any gossip, I'll be sure to let you know. " stated Junjie. " Does it have to come from a reliable source, or can i make it up as needed? " he asked with a grin.

"Fine, you keep your secrets... But don't say I didn't warn you... Doctor D'BrooNi will be out for more!" he laughed and it was probably the first mirthful sound he had made since the wash of light that had seemingly pulled them back in time. "What can I do to help?" he asked, indicating the device.

Melinda shrugged, at a loss for further ideas.

"What about setting a spectrometer on it?" Adrian suggested, "do we even know what that thing is made of, to begin with?"

" Good suggestion Adrian. " Stated Junjie. " Let's figure out the material composition of the device and then run an acoustic sweep to see if it responds to music in some fashion. "

Anja looked at Keiben, "Lieutenant Han likes to mention how his lovely lady is doing from time to time, it's a very open secret you know." giving a small smile. "She plays the flute, he plays the violin. Maybe we should have Commander Holt come here with her instrument and Lieutenant Han's and they can play some music towards that device. A love duet. It might but I do digress like it was mentioned, a containment field may be important to be put around." she said running a scan over it herself, "It looks like there might be some crystalline pieces, which may amplify sound. I am trying to remember just what happened when it was first activated."

Anja took a look towards Alessa, "Hi there, welcome to the crew." she said with a smile.

"Alessa... You have a background in linguistics do you not?"
Keiben asked, interrupting Anja with an apologetic smile.

"I do, though I had trouble deciding on what to specialize in", Alena said with a smile. "Every language and every culture has so many interesting differences that I couldn't choose. So I settled with mainly diplomatic affairs. Though there is a lot to learn from a person's body language, I learned a bit of this and that, here and there", she added, thinking of her Ma's "complaints" over her inability to choose a single language to work with. However, her Ma had been proud beyond words as well. The "complaints" had merely been a running joke between them.

"You are pretty much the only linguistic specialist we have... perhaps with the computer's help, you might be able to decipher some of the inscriptions on the device... If it truly is a device!" Kei said looking somewhat apologetic at the young woman.

"I'll get to it now", Alena promised. She knew that time was of the essence. Looking at the inscriptions, she started going through the languages she knew mentally, trying to find something, anything, that would be similar to what she was seeing in front of her.

" An instruction manual would be nice right about now. " Stated Junjie. " There are a number of symbols on the device and we did detect temporal energies coming from it. But it still doesn't let us know if it's a time travel device or the worlds fastest pizza oven. We're just scratching the surface of knowledge to what the T'kon may have known. Even if we had a T'kon rosetta stone, it would take every federation scholar a couple thousand years to decipher it all. And who knows how long to apply it all into functioning technology, We're on the frontier of discovering what this device was designed for. Let us hope it opens up an understanding of the T'kon that others will be able to expand upon in the future."

"You know, I remember a previous mission that Lieutenant Han, and some of the other senior members were on that they had met with T'kon equipment. In fact, my predecessor had written some notes as to it before she met her end. They worked with some sort of computers that utilized those who had some psionics. You sir." looking at Keiben, "I have read that you connected with the computer, unknowingly. Perhaps this device can be translated using some minor psionics? Those who have Betazoid genetics in them or even, have psionics due to their racial traits. Even some humans have minor psionics. Maybe the device has the code built into it unknown to us, due to its construction."

Alena frowned at the symbols in front of her. They reminded her a bit of ancient Norse runes, mixed with Greek letters
"There are similarities to the ancient Norse runes and the Greek letters", she told the people present. "It could be the same letters, but with different meaning. I wonder why they seem so similar".

"You think telepaths can unravel the mystery of this thing?" Melinda asked, shivering visibly.

Junjie frowned. "We've come across some T'kon devices in a past mission, and some memories I'd rather do without." He struggled briefly with what to say next. "These machines connect with the user almost seamlessly as the machine and operator merge. If we are going to go that route, Then I want medical here to observe the person's vitals and a containment field around the device. I don't think that the containment field will interfere with the process and I want as much safety protocol in place as we can get."

The Betazoid woman frowned. She had, obviously, heard of people somehow getting connected even if somehow the specifics had gone right by her. Melinda cast a sideways glance at their captain, her face taking on an expression of worry. "Maybe..." she started slowly, "maybe the captain shouldn't reconnect... what if he gets drawn in and we can't get him out again?"

"That is a possibility." Said Junjie. "That is why I want medical here to monitor whatever happens. On the other hand, I'll play devil's advocate What if that's our only shot at getting back home?" He paused briefly and spoke more softly. "Gods I hate this... I could never ask someone to link with a machine like this. I know as a Starfleet officer I am expected to perform my duties, even if it means that someone may never return from a mission." He looked to Keiben. "As an officer, I tend to be concerned for the safety and welfare of all the crew, As does every officer above and below me in rank. Does it ever get any easier Captain?" Junjie asked.

Keiben smiled warmly as he put a large hand on the shoulder of his officer, understanding his concerns and the burden of command all to well, he himself having lost all but a handful of his crew and the reason he was promoted to Captain. "Never!"

"Maybe we should ask for volunteers to help," Melinda suggested, "surely having more telepaths assist will lighten the load?" She smiled carefully. "Hiro will probably hate me for this, but I'll help."

Keiben was about to add when a call came through.

"Ops to the Captain. Report to Operations. We have an unknown vessel on approach!"

END

 

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