Countdown

Posted on Wednesday, 14 October 2020 - 5:54pm by Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Dreamweaver
Location: USS Standing Bear
Timeline: MD 10

Forty-five minutes.

It sounded a lot, yet it wasn't really. They lost five of those minutes just traveling to engineering. In truth, Lieutenant Kingsley hoped that Lieutenant Vali and the others could complete the task at hand much much sooner. The less time spent in this region of subspace, the better for the ship and the surrounding space. And there was no guarantee just how long the shields would hold. Especially if their 'friends' found a way to attack them.

"Lieutenant Vali," Alex spoke up, glancing towards the former drone who - for the moment - looked far more Borg-like than before her abduction. It was somewhat unnerving. "What do you need?"

“Well, I’m hoping that Lieutenant Eyelaya can help me harvest a handful of my nanites to start with. We only need enough to reprogram but we have to have the time to do the programming and test it.” She looked at Eyelaya.

Eyelaya gave a thumbs up.

“Lieutenant ... Alex” T’Lanna looked at Alex. “I’ll apologise if seeing me like this worries you. I’m still me but I’m just feeling more of my Borg side thanks to these damn things!” She looked at the extra implants she had on her arms. “I’m not going to turn Borg on you, it’s just an attitude thing.”

"I didn't think you would," Alex said quickly although she frowned. Had she? Maybe. Just in case she had, she offered an apologetic smile, "sorry. I don't have much experience with the Borg and beyond the academy lectures, just stories from some El-Aurians I've met while trying to find out more about my heritage. Anyway, time is short and I trust you and the Chief to do whatever is best."

“We will don’t worry” T’Lanna smiled warmly.

Ensign Lu'Sura's tail swayed back and forth, flicking as she entered the room. "Ensign Lu'Sura reporting, ma'ams" she said with a playfully purring. "I have a background in sciences though not as refined. I have studied the basics of nanites for pharmaceutical purposes. May I be of some assistance?"

Eyelaya couldn't blame Alex. She put a hand on her arm. "This will all work out." She looked at Vali. "You'll be back to normal before you know it." Her working with Vali's nanites had been a trip. She'd enjoyed getting to study the nanites and now it gave her ideas.

“More the merrier, we don’t have a lot of time,” Alex said with a nod to Lu’Suru. Turning her attention to Vali she added, “we have to assume they are aware of Borg Nanotechnology and may have harvested some nanites themselves - will you be able to ensure any they have self destruct at the same time as these?”

“We should be able to incorporate programming that will take care of any of my old nanites.” T’Lanna looked at Eyelaya then back at Alex. “I’m guessing that these aliens don’t know anything about Borg tech, if they did they wouldn’t have messed me up the way they did. Introduced in the right way these nanites should be able to do just the right amount of damage to show them what will happen if they carry on experimenting on others.”

Alex nodded, "works for me. Just tell us what support you need."

“Looking at this programming I think Eyelaya is already way ahead of me!” T’Lanna nodded respectfully to Eyelaya.

Eyelaya smiled, "Oh I know my way around Borg tech." She turned down to look at her screen. "How much time do we have ma'am?" She asked Alex.

Alex frowned as she studied the workstation she had reconfigured to match her bridge station. "Well, you remember Stillwater saying forty five minutes?" she said cautiously.

"Oh yea...sorry. Mind not what it was." She tapped her head.

"He was being generous," Alex told them. "If you could aim for twenty, twenty-five tops...?"

"Let's meet at thirty." She said. Otherwise, we might get borgafied."

"Is that the technical term, chief," Alex teased her lightly before nodding, "I'll see if we can adapt the shield modulations a little to buy you those five minutes."

"Excellent. Now let's get these babies up and.... working." She was already lost in adjusting her machines. She looked at Vali. " I... may need a couple of nanites."

“Help yourself” T’Lanna nodded. “I’ve got more than enough now thanks to Talarn.” She offered a smile.

She carefully took a couple of nanites. "Alright. Into the doohicky machine, you go!" She sat down hunched over the nanite working her magic.

“It’s scary what you can do,” Alex told her as she continued modulating the shields.

“Trust me scary doesn’t come close!” T’Lanna offered a smile. “It scares me what I could do whilst I’m clad in this armour! I’m a walking assimilation factory and I wouldn’t blame you if you stuck a guard on my tail until it’s been removed.”

Alex grinned, “I meant Eyelaya.”

T’Lanna grinned. “I know, she is totally scary even to me!” She looked at Eyelaya. “You’re one of the few people who’d know how to disable a drone quickly.”

She smiled, "Had plenty of practice. "Remind me to tell you two about the drone Vulcan....it was...interesting."

Adrianna stepped in holding a printed and mini holo device, "Voyager Mark 2 is finished. Warning is in there too. Where do you want it?"

"Away from me," teased Lu'Sura. "Nanites do not go very well with my fur" added the Caitian.

“This is Eyelaya’s show. Chief?” Alex prompted the engineer.

Adrianna looked confused at the Ensign, "This isn't a nano bot thing. This is a message and a load of information about the known universe." Adrianna then looked to Eyelaya, "here you go. It's only small."

Eyelaya took the offered info and began weaving it. As she worked she muttered to herself about connections. It took a good twenty minutes before she looked up. "All done!"

“Right on time, let the Commander know and we can get out of this place,” Alex said as she glanced at the shield readings. “We don’t have long.”

Eyelaya gave a nod happy she could be of help.

OFF.