Third Mission, Part XIX

Posted on May 31, 2020 @ 1:51am by Chloe Nielsen
Edited on on May 31, 2020 @ 1:51am

Mission: Section 31

“Third Mission, Part XIX”

**********************
Location: Simlran, NUMINO
SD: [2.20] 0530.1916
Scene: Docking Bay


Chloe took in a deep breath, looking around and sighed. Edward’s entrance had worsened an already chaotic situation. The agent blinked, bewildered.

Edward was repeatedly tapping MacNeil’s corpse with his right fin, releasing a series of squeaks and whistles like a dolphin. Some Nuimon aquatic creatures seemed to share similarities with Terrans ones: octopus, lobster, whale and dolphin to name a few. Of course, it was obvious Mirror Kate had made certain genetic modifications to those creatures.

“What’s he doing?” Chloe asked to no one in particular. “Is he trying to wake her up? He doesn’t seem to realize she’s dead.” The whale-dolphin creature’s tapping became frantic, his squeaks getting louder. “I don’t think Edward realizes he killed her.”

Her heart skipped a beat. The agent felt her mouth dry. If she didn’t think the situation would get more bizarre, then she was wrong. A glowing greenish brown tentacle popped out of the water and wrapped itself around the corpse, pulling it under.

Chloe froze, suddenly feeling a chill down her spine. A holo-projection appeared, displaying a red blob, deep underwater, not far from her position. The blob was on the move. Nielsen then accessed the visual feed of one of the nanobot trackers in the vicinity and put it up for display beside the other holo-projection. She sighed, watching MacNeil’s octopus/lobster creature moving towards the Nuimons and Starfleet officers. Mirror Kate’s corpse was nowhere in sight. It seemed like the creature had already consumed it and the mad doctor had ended up becoming the sacrifice.

“Emma on the move,” she said. “I better stay out of the beast’s way as I don’t want to be a sacrifice.” There was a hint of sarcasm in her remarks. She began climbing up the wall to stay ahead of the rising tide.

Edward began wailing. Nielsen sighed.

--------------------

Spankryz shook her head, listening to the wailing from the aquatic creature and sticking close to the shuttle entrance.

After the explosion, Anaqueen, Kate and the marines found themselves, along with the shuttles, underwater. When they had swam up to the surface, Choi had ordered the shuttle pilots to start their engines and keep them running so that the crafts would rise along with the water. Mina also had commanded one of her marines to escort the CO to the shuttle and make sure she didn’t leave. Ana, however, needed to see what was happening so remained at the entrance, where the door was closed. The marine guarding her was a Sergeant, a dark skinned human woman, about an inch shorter than the Trill.

Kate remained outside, swimming along with the shuttle as she was fortunate to be wearing a diving suit. The publum, being an amphibian, was able to manage being underwater as it swam alongside the doctor, its hide now a bright green.

When Edward had jumped inside and sent waves in their direction, the shuttles along with the officers were knocked back. Ana had barely held onto the shuttle’s top, managing to maintain her balance. After the waves had receded, the Trill had found Mirror Kate dead, killed by her pet, which apparently still thought the mad doctor was alive and attempted waking her up. Then the body was snatched by the arm of an unseen creature, making the CO nervous. The presence of another deadly creature had put everyone on edge, including the publum, which was letting out low oomas.

Kate seemed frozen, her eyes fixed on the spot, where her doppelganger’s corpse used to be. But now the doctor moved, her attention shifting to the baby whale creature, which was now frantically splashing the water with his fins. Edward’s multi-coloured tail fin could be seen sloshing around. The publum raced ahead of MacNeil, releasing some ooya sounds as if warning her it was too dangerous to move any further and she needed to turn back. But the half-Nuimon didn’t heed its warning. The publum opened its mouth to sigh, looking downcast as it hung around, keeping a close eye on Kate.

“Captain,” the sergeant inquired, looking over her shoulder. “Have you ever seen anything this bizarre in your previous lifetimes?”

“No,” the Trill replied. Neither she nor her former hosts had encountered a mad scientist with a talent for genetically engineering deadly pets that she was terribly fond of.

“What a weirdo,” the black woman muttered. “Glad she’s dead.”

Ana glanced to her side, when she frowned and called out. “Doctor MacNeil, where are you going?”

Kate was swimming towards the whale/dolphin creature and with the combination of sounds from Edward’s wailing and the gushing water, she wasn’t able to hear the Trill.

Spankryz tapped her comm badge. “Spankryz to MacNeil.” No answer. The Trill let out an exasperated sigh. “MacNeil? Answer me.”

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Kate’s heart broke for the poor, innocent creature – innocent not because he was just a baby but was likely ripped from his real mother to be genetically modified by the wretched doppelganger. Edward was obviously in pain and she could feel it, making her really sad. And because the creature was in pain, he had been flapping his fins rather frantically. Due to his huge size, the innocent flapping generated large waves in every direction, causing trouble for the Nuimons and Starfleet officers, making it a challenge to leave this awful place.

She had remembered reading from one of the Nuimon science databases that Edward was a minula, an aquatic mammal, similar to a Terran whale or dolphin. The doctor had always found it fascinating that some fauna on other worlds shared similarities with Terran wildlife, and yet they weren’t really Terran. Nuimons had discouraged mixing genes of alien flora and fauna with their own as it was generally believed to upset the balance of the planet’s ecosystem. However, debates had been happening amongst member of the Science Guild over whether or not the introduction of new species from other worlds would enrich or upset their world’s ecological balance.

Minulas were generally vegetarians, their only protein source coming from insects. Baby minulas had no teeth so it made sense Edward didn’t have any either. For those mammals, teeth only developed as they matured but only sharp enough to cut and chew plants – no canines. As for Edward’s pointy snout, that physical attribute came as a result of the wretched doppelganger’s genetic manipulation. That horrible woman had ruined Edward’s life, Kate thought angrily – the poor baby would never be able to freely roam the Nuimon oceans. In order to prevent polluting the marine gene pool, the Nuimons were likely to cordon him in an isolated area of one of the oceans, away from the other minulas, where he’d stay for the rest of his life. Poor wee baby, Kate sighed, looking sadly at him.

The hybrid approached the wailing creature slowly. She had only one choice, in order to calm Edward down and knew it was a gamble. The Scot took in a deep, long breath, mentally preparing herself to take this next step. MacNeil had a plan, likely considered reckless, which was why she didn’t share it with Spankryz. When Edward had first begun wailing, she had immediately sensed the creature believed Mirror Kate to be his mother – likely imprinted into his genetic makeup by the mad lass. That was also when she had come up with the idea to pretend she was her. She’d attempt to speak with him, hoping her voice would be enough to sooth him.

[[Spankyz to MacNeil,]] Ana’s voice broke through her comm badge.

Kate sighed, choosing to ignore the Trill.

[[MacNeil? Answer me.]]

The Scot let out another sigh, deciding to respond. “MacNeil here.”

[[What are you doing?]] The CO demanded, furious.

“Captain, I am going to try calming Edward down.” She inched forward, her gaze fixed on the large creature.

[[No, it’s too dangerous,]] Spankryz warned before ordering her. [[Return to the shuttle at once.]]

Kate set her jaws. “Sorry, Captain. I cannot. This wee baby needs my help.]] She abruptly cut off communication before Ana could protest further. Taking a deep breath, she began to speak in a calm and loving way like she’d with her own children. “Edward.” Her voice was loud, reverberating around the room, yet soothing enough to calm nerves.

Minulas were blind but possessed highly sensitive hearing, using it to sense the presence of others and identify them by the sound of their voice. Despite the roar of the water falling into the bay, Edward as well as everyone else were able to hear the Scot/Nuimon. The baby minula stopped wailing and the frantic splashing slowed.

“Edward, my sweet lad,” MacNeil continued. Edward squeaked, slowly moving towards her. Kate swerved a little to the side to avoid coming in contact with his snout. “I understand why you are in pain. You were unable to hear me and believed I abandoned you.”

Edward made a whistling, squeaky sound akin to a dolphin, tapping his back fin on the water.

“But,” she said, sighing. “I am here now, my precious baby.” The minula let out a squeak. “But I need to tell you something.” She gulped. “I will be going away for a while and it may be a long time before I see you again.” The minula wailed, flapping his fins. “Look, I will always love you but my time raising you has now come to an end as you will be entering the next stage of your life, where you will begin learning to survive in the ocean outside. You are growing, sweet lad and no longer need your mummy.” Kate assured, trying to sooth him. “There will be others – wonderful people just like mummy who will take great care of you and help you grow up to be this kind and amazing minula who will make his mummy proud.” Edward stopped wailing, his flapping slowing down.

“I promise to come visit you from time to time,” she added, not knowing whether it was the truth or not.

Edward finally calmed down, now only letting out low squeaks mixed with whistles and was extending his left fin towards the doctor. Kate curled her lips into a warm smile, floating closer to him and gently touched the fin. The minula lifted his fin, gently placing it around her. Kate leaned against his body, closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth of this sweet creature.

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Captain Spankryz and the marines watched the whole exchange in amazement. Ana looked over at the Nuimons, most of whom were in some form of trance, their gaze fixed on MacNeil and Edward. While the Trill was displeased at Kate for risking her life, she couldn’t help feeling impressed with the doctor’s uncanny ability to understand the animal and calm him down. She heard the female sergeant talking.

“Wow, the doc’s got a talent as whale or is it dolphin whisperer,” the black woman remarked.

“Okay captain, are we at a clone factory?” Choi swam towards them, arching her brow. “First, there was a double of you and now apparently that mad scientist is a look-a-like of Doctor MacNeil.”

“No way,” the black woman said with a gasp. “You don’t mean that crazy bitch had samples of our DNA?”

Spankryz sighed, speaking dryly. “I can assure you that this place is not a cloning facility.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Mina nodded. “That puts me at ease.”

The publum dashed to their side, shrieking, ‘omama omama’ repeatedly in a continuous loop before diving into the water and then jumping back out, its eyes wide and body quivering.

Spankryz frowned, wondering what got the little amphibian so spooked. The Trill turned around and blanched. Not far from the shuttle crafts, eight long greenish brown glowing arms shot out through the water – three of them having snatched a ranger and two Free Nuimons who were attempting to swim away, and pulled under, never to be seen again. A fourth and fifth arm had sprung towards the Starfleet group. Choi and her marines aimed their rifles and shot multiple orange bolts, pushing those arms back into the water. They continued shooting, the bolts striking through the water. The sixth and seventh arms grabbed about four or five Nuimons, a mix of mostly the facility guards and the lab assistants. The two marines, assisting the rangers, began shooting back but were unable to prevent the creature from taking her latest victims underwater.

A scream, making Ana turn, finding the eighth arm, wrapping itself around MacNeil’s foot. Choi shifted her weapon, about to take a shot but paused, when Edward let out a wail, slicing off the edge of the tentacle arm with his snout. Reddish brown blood gushed out of the wounded arm, spraying in all directions.

“Go baby whale!” Mina cheered, giving Edward a thumbs up.

A tentacle arm shot out again, towards Spankryz, but a young humanoid male – ranked a private - swam in front of her, readying his rifle to fire. “Don’t worry, ma’am, I…” The tentacle caught his arm, forcing him to drop the weapon and pulled him under. Anaqueen, shocked, withdrew, sticking to the shuttle door. The publum appeared by her, shaking with fear as it released a low ‘oom’,

“Oh hell!” The sergeant bellowed, fuming. “This was his first mission.” The black woman, along with her fellow marines continued shooting in the direction of the arms, but no sign of the creature that was attacking them. The shooting stopped.

Ana looked around, leaning against the shuttle door, taking in a deep breath. There was a tense silence. Everyone was on edge, waiting for the creature to attack again. Then in the space between the shuttles and the minula, the water started bubbling and the monster rose from the surface, towering over the bipedals and their shuttles but compared to the baby minula, she was small.

“Hey big boss, what the heck is that?” The sergeant asked, addressing the MCO, her eyes widened. “Is it an octopus or a lobster?”

“I don’t know.” Mina narrowed her eyes, her weapon raised at the creature. “But it is dangerous and ugly.”

Anaqueen sighed, recognizing the octopus/lobster like creature to be Emma. “We need to get rid of it,” the Trill declared, addressing the marines. “Otherwise, we won’t be able to get out of this place at all.”

“Right on it, ma’am,” Choi acknowledged, readying her rifle to fire again.

Emma’s head, huge and round, tilted to her left, her round black orbs, filled with an insatiable hunger as they studied the prey. Once again, she sprung out her arms in all directions and that was when the marines resumed shooting. As one of the arms attempted to grab MacNeil’s foot. Edward, his fin protectively wrapped around Kate, wailed, shaking his head, the pointed snout cutting off two of Emma’s arms in one fell swoop. The baby minula, releasing another wail, began stabbing Emma’s head with such fervor, in order to protect the woman he had considered as his ‘mummy’. Emma fought back by snapping one of her clawed hands on the minula’s skin, pushing the larger animal away from her. Edward wailed in anguish but calmed down soon after as the claws barely managed to penetrate into his thick skin. Kate barely held onto his fin, gasping for breath.

The door behind Anaqueen parted and the Kaferian popped out, holding an enhanced compression rifle. Mina swam towards him, swapping her type 3 rifle for the other weapon. The insectoid pulled back inside, closing the door. Mina briefly checked the new rifle, an upgrade to the compression rifle, commonly used in intense combat situations. The enhanced compression rifle was capable of firing phaser blasts at a much higher frequency and speed and in addition, a grenade launcher was attached to its nose, making it suitable for the major’s next task.

“Alright,” the Korean announced, steadying her new rifle, slung over her right shoulder. “Let’s finish off this beast once and for all.”

“Right with you, big boss,” the sergeant responded as she and the other marines continued shooting at the creature to keep it at bay to give Choi time to launch the grenade.

“Alright, beast, open your mouth and say aah,” Mina called out.

Emma, her head now bloodied from the wounds inflicted by the baby minula, turned to the Starfleet crew, opened her mouth wide, releasing a blood curdling scream as she slowly began floating towards them.

Mina inhaled in her breath, held it and exhaled as she pressed on the button, releasing the grenade from its mount. She waved her arms. “Everyone, move back!” Both the Starfleet crew, the Nuimons and even Edward with Kate in tow quickly swam backwards.

The projectile shot towards Emma, flying in an arc and into the creature’s open mouth. Emma closed her mouth, not sure what she had just swallowed but the irritation in her eyes indicated she didn’t like the taste. Before the beast could react, the grenade inside her exploded, shaking the entire room. Everyone held onto the wall, shuttles or each other with dear life as the explosion shook the room, sending waves in all directions.

A minute passed, the waves receded. Anaqueen, shaking off the water from her hair, took in a couple of breaths and studied her surroundings - nothing remained of Emma, except scattered dust from the explosion vaporizing the creature. Ana took in another breath, turning her attention to the marines. “Time to move out,” the Trill ordered in a detached tone.

Mina nodded, giving the CO a salute. “Aye Captain.”

Ana tapped on her comm badge. “Doctor MacNeil, we are heading out. Wait there. One of the shuttles will come get you.”

[[Understood, Captain.]] MacNeil waved back with a smile before turning to Edward, placing her palms and leaning her head against his body for one last goodbye.

Ana turned around but stopped upon hearing cheerful noise and spotted the publum, its hide now a bright, glowing yellow. The amphibian was babbling, ‘oma oma oma oma omama’ in excitement. The Trill noticed the little animal’s attention was on a cluster of publums – the ones from the lab – their hides displaying the same glowing yellow and babbling in excitement as well. This publum began to swim towards the cluster but paused, turning behind to look at MacNeil.

Kate waved back at it. “Bye!”

The publum released a loud, ‘omama’ and then left to join its fellow amphibians. Ana noticed a ranger trying to gather the cluster together to take them to a safer location.

Ana sighed, following the marines inside the shuttle.

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As the shooting match with Emma was taking place, Chloe, with her right arm numb, would have been useless in a fight. With her tricorder, connected to the many nanobots swarming the bay, she had been recording the events. The analysts were going to have a kick out of the footage, especially of MacNeil and Edward. She let out a sigh, watching the shuttle carrying the Starfleet crew, diving underwater and departing from the bay.

She tilted her head to the side, spotting the rangers lining up the lab workers and decided to join them, pretending to be an employee of the facility. In all this chaos, the rangers wouldn’t bother to check whether she was Nuimon or not. Turning around, she swam towards the Nuimons and joined the queue. She took in a deep breath, when her eyes picked up yapping sounds mixed with splashes. The blonde glanced behind her shoulder and sighed.

Mirror Kate’s puppy was spotted, struggling to keep his head above water. Chloe sighed again. “Alright, little guy. I’m coming.” She turned around, extending her arms to pick up the puppy. Chloe, holding the husky pup close, returned to the line.

With Mirror Kate dead, Chloe’s mission was over. Despite not completely succeeding in her mission, which was bringing the doctor back to prison, the blonde took some comfort that the mad woman was at least dead. Better than letting her roam free and destroy lives. So, she was going to take MacNeil’s death as a win – the universe was better off for it anyway. Thus, the mission wasn’t a failure in the end.

Now all that was left before the agent departed Numino, was to do some cleaning up. Mirror Anaqueen, the asset who had betrayed the blonde by allying with the mysterious and dangerous Yeelixa aka the Lady. Chloe furrowed her brow, wondering what the Lokustaar operative had said to make Ana turn against her. Lies. What lies? The Canadian sighed, knowing her next task was to find Anaqueen and confront her about it. Either she’d change the Trill’s mind or send her back to prison for breaking her agreement with SFI. Fortunately for the agent, she had planted a tracker on Ana and should be able to locate her with ease.

The ranger directed her inside the shuttle before the doors shut.

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Location: USS CAMELOT
Scene: Main Bridge
TI: 0519hrs (S), 1019hrs (C)

The doors slid apart and Spankryz marched inside, trailed by MacNeil. Following the underwater shuttle’s departure from the facility, the craft had travelled at its maximum speed through the cave to the ocean. As soon as the shuttle had exited the cave, Major Choi had contacted the ship, requesting to beam up. The Starfleet officers were transported, leaving the craft’s Nuimon pilot and their ranger escorts in the shuttle.

“Captain,” Sol greeted, standing up from the command chair. “Glad to see you and Doctor MacNeil have made it back in one piece.”

Anaqueen, skipping all pleasantries, jumped straight to business. “Commander, status report.”

“Okay,” the ExO began. “So I and Commander Cato were finalizing our plans with the police commissioner to send down a rescue team to the resort, comprising a marine squad led by Major Choi and a team of Nuimon police enforcers, when the council decided to discuss the non-confidence vote against Chief Consul Hollande first before debating on the hostage crisis.”

“What?” Ana said, annoyed. “Hollande assured me she was planning to bring up an emergency resolution to deal with the hostage crisis, which had included giving the police commissioner the power to request assistance from anyone – in this case, us - for this one crisis.”

“Well, when I last spoke with her,” Sol said, rolling her eyes. “She told me that Djiktra – whom we now know as the Lady, thanks to your message – advised her to ignore your proposal and go with the non-confidence motion, which I found odd, but she had seemed confident of surviving the vote.” The ExO shrugged. “Though the commissioner was like, the heck with the council and chose to just proceed with our plan anyway and said he’d take full responsibility for the decision. Then this happened.” She directed the CO to the viewscreen.

Ana and Kate turned, shifting their attention to the viewscreen, split into over a dozen little windows, displaying views from multiple locations worldwide. “What’s happening here?” The Trill frowned. In all the windows, the victims were moving. Most were simply moving around, muttering, talking in anguish or screaming. “So, this is phase two?”

“Phase two?” Sol raised an eyebrow.

“The Lady mentioned of three phases of this weapon’s deployment,” MacNeil answered. “Back in the jungle, I was forced to endure the first phase and there, I was apparently in a catatonic state. The mad lass was conducting an experiment to test the weapon at the time.”

“Commander, any attempts made to rescue the victims?” Ana inquired.

“A few but the enforcers involved ended up getting affected by the psionic wave so no further attempts were made. I opted not to send our own teams until we learn more about the effects of this weapon and find a way to shield us from the wave.” Sol shook her head. “Regarding transporting everyone from the affected zones, we weren’t able to get a transporter lock, due to the wave’s interference.”

MacNeil brought up. “Actually, there are these purple rocks that were able to block and repel the psionic energy.”

“That’s great,” said Sol, relieved. “Where can we find these rocks?”

“The underground caves in Simlran, whose walls are made up entirely of these rocks,” Kate answered.

“How did you find out about the rocks?” Ana questioned.

“It was by chance.” Kate sighed, having to lie about Chloe’s identity. “There was another woman, a lost hiker abducted by my doppelganger, who found me, and she gave me a piece of rock, small enough to fit inside the palm of my hand. Apparently, that was enough to shield me from the psionic field.”

“Commander,” Ana ordered, turning to the ExO. “Contact Commander Cato. Have him coordinate with the commissioner about cutting out pieces of those rocks from the Simlran caves.”

“Yes Captain.” The human first officer sat down on her chair and tapped her comm badge.

“What can you remember from your ordeal in the jungle?” Spankryz asked, addressing the Scot.

Kate inhaled and then exhaled a deep breath. “Well, it started with the jungle suddenly illuminated in a glowing bright blue light and this was sometime after 2200hrs local time.”

“I can confirm Doctor’s MacNeil’s report with the sensor scans that I took during that time,” Lieutenant Lith, ship’s chief science officer, chimed in. “And also right now, that section of the Simlran jungle is lit in the same bright blue light.”

“Then,” MacNeil continued, taking in another breath. “I began having these hallucinations. It was like something burrowed deep into my brain, pulled out long-buried painful memories and forced me to relive them– even my happy ones were twisted into something horrible.”

“It’s the psionic field,” the J’naii science officer said.

Sol got up from her seat, approaching the CO. “Cato will speak with the commissioner about the rocks.”

“Good.” The Trill nodded before addressing the rest of the officers.

“The psionic wave was generated by a weapon,” Anaqueen said in a matter-of-fact tone. “This weapon was designed by a mentally deranged scientist with backing from the Lady’s unknown group.” The Trill paused. “In fact, during my interrogation with the Lady, I found out that the purpose of this weapon was to create political instability on this world – a civil war between the progressive and conservative factions.”

When the CO had learnt that many of the lab assistants and techs who had worked under Mirror Kate, were progressive, she had figured out Yeelixa’s game plan. The Lokustaar operative was likely planning to place the blame of deploying the weapon and its repercussions on the progressive lab employees for conspiring with off-worlders to harm their world – never mind the fact that they were coerced by the Lady and the Free Nuimons. The accusation would light a spark in the Free Nuimons’ cause, possibly leading to a surge in their popularity amongst the population’s conservative segment. The conservatives in turn, would use this information to blame the progressive faction for attempting to destroy their planet and likely go to war with them. In this possible war, weapons would most likely be used. The progressive faction might have no choice but obtain weapons and there were parties, including the Orion Syndicate, eager to sell to them. In the process, Numino would be changed irrevocably. And she couldn’t let that happen. There was a still a chance to prevent the Lokustaar’s plans for the Nuimons from coming into fruition.

“The weapons system is made up of components, comprising of mostly the stolen artifacts from the archaeological expedition,” Spankryz informed. “Only the initial transmitter, located in the lab, was of Nuimon origin and even after it was destroyed, the weapon couldn’t be turned off due to an unknown variable.”

“Well,” Azula said, glancing at the J’naii and a human woman of Indian/Chinese origin with short black hair, seated at the Engineering station. “Right after you were abducted, I had convened a meeting – the one you had scheduled suddenly – with me, Lith and Song. And Lith mentioned of sensors detecting something unusual from various locations in Ithlirin in the time frame as the spikes in psionic energy in the Simlran jungle. Anyway Lith also brought us up to speed on the various sensor scans, conducted last night and the discovery of psionic energy in the jungle.”

“Yes.” Ana nodded. “I set up the meeting to not only discuss the scans but also the possibility –a fact now – that the elevated levels of psionic energy were as a result of a weapon, designed by this doctor, whom you already know, was sought after by the Dominion, Klingons, the Syndicate and all those in need of a bioweapon.”

“Right,” the ExO said dryly. “The invitation, everyone but Starfleet had received from the Lady…which apparently was all a ruse.” The human woman sighed. “Anyway, I had Lith and Song conduct an investigation by taking a shuttle to do a quick flyby of those locations and guess what, the strange signals originated from stolen artifacts.”

“The receivers.” The Trill nodded. “Which also act as conduits for the energy wave to travel to its next location.”

“Following their return, they then contacted Dr. Adeyami’s team and sent images of the artifacts,” Sol added. “But before we got any reply, this event happened.”

Spankryz sighed, looking at the screen. The victims began to hurt themselves, some even going after others in their vicinity. The deployment had entered phase three. They only had twenty minutes to prevent a catastrophe.

“How is the wave causing them to behave like this?” Sol asked, frustrated.

“Well, I can’t really be a hundred percent certain without having performed a medical scan,” Kate answered, swallowing a lump. “From my understanding, the psionic wave seems to be targeting a number of interconnected areas in the victim’s brain that play a key role in information processing, thought, awareness, memory, decision making, sensation, perception, emotions, behaviour…”

“Perhaps, skip over the medical lesson,” the ExO interrupted, sighing. “And just give us the specifics.”

“Aye.” Kate nodded. “From my experience, the psionic wave caused hallucinations from my painful memories. I am guessing that the other victims are experiencing the same. When I came out of it, my emotions were running high in the negative direction, leaving me really stressed and in fear for my life. Of course, I was fortunate to have endured only phase one.” She paused to take in a breath. “But from what I observe on the viewscreen, it looks like the victims feel increased levels of fear and anger as if at threat from some kind of danger and that triggers the fight or flight response – which explains the aggression in many of them.”

“Aggression, so they seem to be fighting or running away from what they perceive to be a threat,” Sol murmured.

“Right.” MacNeil nodded. “Normally in many humanoid species, there is another part of the brain that processes the threat and enables one to respond to it in a rational and logical way. Unfortunately, here, it looks to me like the psionic wave may have somehow disabled that part of the brain.”

“What will happen if we don’t bring them out of this state?” Azula asked, nervous.

“Hmm…” Kate shrugged, speaking in a low voice. “I’m not sure. If their stress is left unchecked, then it is possible, they may die.”

“Casualties, that’s the last thing we need,” Spankryz said, her expression hardening. “We need to come up with a plan to repel the field. According to the Lady, assuming she’s telling the truth, the weapon is set to only run for an hour and we have less than twenty minutes left.”

“I remember reading about a similar encounter in 2372, during the time when that starship was stranded in the Delta Quadrant,” Lt. Commander Meera Song, the chief engineer informed. “It was when they had encountered the Botha who had attacked them using a psionic field. The energy field put the crew in a catatonic state, trapping them in rather vivid hallucinations, likely similar to what Doctor MacNeil and those other victims may have experienced.”

“Aye.” Kate nodded. “My hallucinations were, while horrible, vivid.”

“Commander, why don’t you tell us just how that ship managed to get free from the Botha?” Spankryz asked, more like a rhetoric question to the engineer as she was familiar with the incident.

“The chief engineer had modified the warp core to produce a resonance burst to block the Botha’s psionic field. The modification involved sequencing the magnetic plasma constrictors.”

“Will this resonance burst repel the psionic wave from the jungle?” Kate asked.

“I think so, though not modify the warp core in this case,” Song nodded. “However, the main deflector dish can be modified to generate a resonance burst, simulating an antimatter discharge to disrupt the field.”

“How are we to shoot a resonance burst, when there are like over a dozen receivers/conduits in place at multiple locations?” Azula asked, skeptical.

“We don’t have to target all the receivers,” Spankryz informed. “Just the initial conduit.”

“Do we know the location of the conduit?” Sol inquired.

“On the beach outside that section of the jungle,” Ana replied. “Our sensors should be able to detect it.”

“On it.” Lith began, quickly dancing their fingers on the sensor, and a moment later, announced. “Captain, I got the location.”

“Alright.” The Trill turned to the chief engineer. “Commander, make the necessary modifications to the main deflector to send out a resonance burst.”

“Yes, Captain.” Meera got up and left the bridge to head down to the Navigator Deflector control room.

------------------------
Location: Ciris, NUMINO
Scene: City tunnels
TI: 0527 hrs (S), 1027 hrs (C)

After the underwater shuttle, carrying Nielsen and a number of Nuimons, had reached the port at Sailya, Rohirr, the agent, using her tricorder, had hacked into the transporter of an Yridian trade ship and beamed directly to her apartment in the capital. At the apartment, she had promptly deleted the record of her transport to prevent the Yridians from tracing it. She had also quickly changed out of the diving suit and into a black fleece jacket over her white top and black pants. Then she had accessed the Camelot’s mainframe and uploaded the files on the weapon system, including the coordinates for all the components’ locations – Spankryz and her crew were going to need them to figure out a way to turn off the weapon and end the crisis.

Leaving the puppy at the apartment, the blonde had left through the backdoor to the tunnels to track down her asset.

It only took a few minutes of navigating through the caves with marble white walls, taking a number of winding turns, until she had finally found the Trill. Anaqueen seemed pre-occupied as she was heading in the blonde’s direction. Chloe turned around a corner and was lying in wait for her.

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Location: USS CAMELOT
Scene: Bridge
TI: 0536 hrs (S), 1036 hrs (C)

As Meera Song was working on modifying the deflector dish, the Camelot had received a communique, marked urgent, from Doctor Naomi Adeyami, the lead scientist of the Federation-Nuimon archaeological expedition. Ana had accepted the call and was currently speaking with the scientist, while Kate was sitting quietly on the counselor’s chair, to the CO’s left.

“So, doctor,” the Trill said, staring at the viewscreen, showing a human woman of African origin, occupying a third of the screen. “You mentioned of having something important to share with me.

{{Yes, Captain. My team and I were reviewing the list of the artifacts that your crew had discovered in Ithlirin, earlier.}} Adeyami nodded, sighing. {{Well, after we found out from your chief of security that some of the stolen artifacts were part of a weapon - that is apparently responsible for the madness happening outside, we became concerned about a particular artifact and wanted to find out if it was built into the weapon.}}

“Can you show us an image of this artifact?”

{{Of course, Captain,}} Adeyami said, bending forward to tap something. {{Okay, you should have the image now.}}

“Thank you, doctor.” The Trill shifted in her seat, turning to the operations station, where an Efrosian sat. “Lieutenant, did you get it?”

“Yes, Captain,” the Ops officer replied.

“Put it up on the viewscreen,” Spankryz ordered, leaning forward. The viewscreen flickered. An image of the artifact was taking up another third of the screen next to Adeyami. The Trill set her jaws, her blue eyes fixed intently on the image.

{{Captain?}} Naomi looked perplexed. {{Everything okay?}}

The CO shifted her gaze to the black woman and nodded. “Yes, doctor. I can confirm this artifact is a component of the weapon, a psionic resonator that amplifies the energy to dangerous levels.”

{{Well, Captain, there is something…}}

[[Song to Bridge,]] the chief engineer’s voice broke through the comms.

“Bridge here,” Ana responded. “Are the modifications complete?”

[[Yes, Captain. The main deflector is ready.]]

“Good.” The Trill turned to the tactical station, where an Andorian man sat. “Ensign, activate main deflector and target the conduit at the coordinates, Lieutenant Lith has sent to you.”

“Yes Captain.” A moment later. “Target set. Ready to fire at your command.”

{{Captain, what is going on here?}} Adeyami asked, furrowing her brow.

“Fire the resonance burst,” the CO ordered, ignoring the scientist. The Captain’s attention was glued to the section of the screen, now switched to the ship’s exterior. A bright, bluish white energy beam streamed out from the deflector towards the planet surface.

“Target hit,” the Andorian announced.

“Sensors detect the resonance burst has disrupted the psionic field,” Lith reported.

“It worked,” Sol said, smiling as both she and Spankryz watched the viewscreen, which flickered again so that the last third of the screen displayed one of the affected locations –the central part of Ciris, also one of the busiest sectors. The affected persons looked to be coming back to their senses as they were no longer displaying elevated levels of fear and aggression. Police enforcers and medical teams were entering the area.

“Captain, Major Choi is on standby, ready to extract the hostages and recommends with the Free Nuimons distracted, the time is right for a rescue mission,” Azula informed.

Spankryz nodded. “Tell her to go ahead.”

“Major,” Sol spoke to the MCO over the comms, getting up and making her way to Ops. “Did you hear the order?” Both operations and tactical were monitoring the situation on the surface, including the rescue of the hostages, held by the Free Nuimons at the Riivenvale resort.

[[Yes, Commander. Loud and clear,]] the Korean replied. [[My squad and the local enforcers will be moving out now. Choi out.]]

Anaqueen took in a deep breath, relieved as she turned to the scientist. “Okay, doctor, we can resume our conversation.”

{{As I was saying,}} the scientist said. {{I have something important to share, regarding this artifact before we were interrupted.}}

“Go on.” The Trill nodded, a little concerned over the black woman’s nervous expression.

{{This artifact is not a device that simply amplifies energy,}} Adeyami informed in a calm voice.

“I don’t understand. The designer of the weapon had mentioned the artifact amplified the psionic energy.” Spankryz frowned. “Are you suggesting that’s not the case?”

{{Well, obviously the creator of the weapon misunderstood the purpose of the artifact,}} said Adeyami.

“Then, doctor, what do you think is the purpose of the artifact?” There was a hint of irritation in the Trill’s voice.

Adeyami sighed, taking a moment to formulate her answer. {{The artifact is capable of establishing a telepathic link with a sentient being possessing psionic abilities. This information has been corroborated with other items and documents, found at the archaeological site, indicating this ancient race had likely developed technology to enable communication with those who are telepathic.}}

The CO set her jaws, her expression filled with disbelief. “That is not possible because the jungle flora isn’t sentient.”

{{Well, we made this discovery by accident.}} The scientist shrugged. {{One of my colleagues was alone in the lab, studying the artifact. He decided to play music in the background to help him concentrate. A few moments after the music started playing, the artifact came online and he then began feeling very excited, which in turn enhanced his telepathic ability.}} She added a moment later. {{He is an Ulian.}}

“Naomi,” Kate inquired, baffled. “Are you suggesting that it was music or specifically the audio signal that activated the artifact? What kind of music was he playing?”

{{Klingon opera, his favorite,}} said Adeyami dryly. {{When his research assistant came by, she had found him in a rather jovial and excitable mood and had to quickly turn off the music. He returned to normal but not immediately.}}

MacNeil arched her brow, pondering. “Did you test the artifact with music that elicits sadness or anger?”

{{We didn’t get the opportunity as the artifact was stolen the morning after.}} The scientist raised an eyebrow. {{Why? Does it have something to do with the weapon that is creating panic and aggression in its victims?}}
“I think it does,” Kate said, sighing.

“Captain,” Lith announced, panicked. “Sensors detect the psionic energy levels in the jungle have spiked even further and a stronger wave is moving towards the beach conduit.”

Rage built up inside the Trill, realizing the error she had made in shooting the resonance burst at the jungle. If Adeyami was right and the device established a link with sentient species possessing psionic abilities, then that meant the entire Simlran jungle flora was sentient. That flora had likely deemed the resonance burst as an attack against them and were about to retaliate. Ana narrowed her eyes. So this was the missing variable that Yeelixa indicated – the jungle flora was sentient, reacting to the audio signal from music that elicited fear. For reasons she couldn’t comprehend, the flora emitted a psionic energy wave that targeted its victims’ memories and in this case, the ones that brought out negative emotions like fear, anger.

“The police and our own security teams are still in the process of evacuating everyone out of those zones.” Sol glanced behind her shoulder. “The rangers and the geology branch of the Nuimon science guild were able to cut out many pieces of rocks but are still distributing them to the rescue teams. If this second wave hits, then everyone down there is in deep trouble.”

Ana nodded, addressing the ExO, “Warn Commander Cato that a second wave is imminent and the evacuations teams need to speed up.”

“On it.” The human woman complied, tapping her comm badge. “And captain, Major Choi reports the mission is a success and the hostages are secure. She tells me that the Free Nuimons folded before the marines even made a move and in the process, no one got hurt.”

“Well, that’s one good news.” Ana sighed, when the doors parted, permitting Lt. Cmdr. Song inside. The Chief Engineer took her place at the engineering station. “Assuming the Lady was truthful, this deployment was supposed to last an hour so we still have about eleven minutes left.”

“Are you thinking of just waiting it out?” Sol asked.

“No, I don’t trust that woman so we need to prevent the second wave from reaching the population.” Ana shook her head, determined and addressed the room. “Options?”

“Perhaps, send another resonance burst,” Meera suggested, whirling around in her chair.

“No,” the CO said before adding as the chief engineer had missed the earlier conversation with Adeyami. “The first burst is the reason why the flora is sending a second wave in the first place. We need another solution.”

MacNeil leaned forward. “What if after the link has been established, the telepath, with the help of the artifact, detects the emotion in the audio signal?” She inhaled, before exhaling a single breath. “Back in the mad lass’ lab, the audio signal was from music that brought out our fear and anxiety.”

“Right, so what are you suggesting?” The Trill asked, turning to the hybrid.

Kate took in another breath, feeling anxious. “Since we have information on how to send communication from here to inside the jungle, I propose we transmit music that would have a more positive effect on the flora. I mean, right now the jungle is frightened and angry because it was reacting to signal containing negative emotion.”

“So play happy music?” Sol raised an eyebrow.

“No, that would get the jungle excited and raise their psionic energy levels.” Kate shook her head, glancing at the ExO. “And we don’t want that as too much excitement, even in the positive direction, is not good for the person’s health. So we need to calm the jungle down and hope that lowers the psionic energy levels.”

Meera nodded. “We can transmit an audio signal from music, played during a relaxing activity like yoga or meditation.”

“It’s a good plan but there’s one problem,” Sol pointed out. “We don’t have the location of that artifact.”

“Actually, Commander, we do,” Lith informed, beaming.

“How? The message packet I had sent didn’t contain any information on the weapon.” The Trill CO was feeling a bit exasperated yet hoped the J’naii was right as MacNeil’s plan was their best option.

“I’m not sure how it happened,” the CSciO said. “But before your return, the computer mainframe was breached and terabytes of data were downloaded into our system.”

Sol narrowed her eyes, chiding the J’naii. “And you’re only reporting the breach now?”

“I apologize, Commander, Captain.” Lith said in a low voice, looking downcast. “I got distracted by this crisis and…well, at least the culprit didn’t download anything from our databanks.”

“We will deal with this matter, later,” Anaqueen said, realizing the unauthorized access to upload information on the weapon was performed by Nielsen. The Trill bristled, disapproving of the Section 31 agent’s illegal methods, yet she knew Chloe did it to help them. Still, the captain would have preferred Nielsen had found another – more legal- way to pass on the information to the Camelot. She turned to the Indian/Chinese engineer. “Commander, prepare to transmit a list of songs that will induce a calming effect on the jungle.”

“Yes Captain.” Meera began working quickly at her station, knowing the time was short and the second wave had entered the conduit. The wave would reach the first location soon. “Playlist downloaded and ready to transmit the signal. I estimate the entire playlist will run for about forty-five minutes.”

The Trill took in a breath, hoping the plan would work. “Transmit the signal,” she ordered with confidence in her voice.

“Yes ma’am,” Song complied and tapped on her console. “Signal sent.” For the next minute or two, which had felt like hours, everyone waited in tense silence. The audio signal would first reach the buoy, set up at the cave entrance. After the signal was converted by the device, it would then travel through the bio- communication network in the underground caves, finally reaching the coordinates of the artifact. The artifact was located at the entrance to a cave within the jungle.

“The energy levels are starting to drop,” Lith reported. “And the wave is dissipating.”

“It worked!” Kate exclaimed with joy and relief mixed together. “I cannot believe it.”

“Still dropping,” the J’naii continued reporting, their lips curling into a smile. “It looks like the jungle is calming down.”

Within the next hour or so, the psionic energy levels in the jungle had returned to ground state. Numino had averted a civil war.

------------------------------------------
Location: Ciris, NUMINO
Scene: City tunnels
TI: Around the same time as the previous scene

Mirror Anaqueen was angry, yet tormented. She had made a decision that could potentially lead to her ruin by making a deal with Yeelixa. Ana kept wondering if she was making a mistake in aligning herself with the Lokustaar, who from what Yeelixa had said, were engaged in an ongoing, secret war with the Federation. She had neither seen the operative’s parent race nor any of the other humanoid agents. The Trill sighed. She didn’t give a damn about the war - after all this wasn’t her dimension so if the Lokustaar wanted to destroy it, she wasn’t going to get in their way. As far as she was concerned, the Federation, with all their lies and hypocrisy, could go to hell.

Her stomach lurched. A pang of guilt for betraying Chloe – the woman responsible for getting her out of that rotten prison cell, the one who had come to her rescue time and time again. The one who always had her back. Ana’s expression darkened, pushing away the guilt. Remembering Yeelixa’s words and the evidence she had presented back in the lab, the Trill was reminded that Nielsen’s actions weren’t for her benefit but Starfleet’s. Chloe Nielsen didn’t care for her at all, had been using her and telling all these lies to keep her on the leash. Ana had found it hard to accept at first but she now did, thanks to Yeelixa. The Lady had promised to take the Trill back to her own dimension on the condition that the latter help the Lokustaar.

Ana didn’t like the idea of helping the Lokustaar and actually despised Yeelixa. However, the prospect of going home had enticed her and she was desperate to return – had been for over a decade. That yearning and desperation to go home was what convinced the Trill to align with the Lokustaar operative. Yeelixa had provided evidence in the form of holographic images that the rebellion to overthrow those parasites and free the Trills was alive, even taking on a new life through a partnership with the insurgents. The insurgents were involved in their own struggle against the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. Apparently, both rebel groups had agreed to help each other in getting rid of their respective oppressors. Yeelixa had mentioned of a powerful entity deciding to openly support the rebel groups and wondered if it was the New Terran Empire, after all humans had made up a large segment of the insurgency as many Terrans were still prisoners at the Alliance prison camps. But it might also be another powerful group.

She had heard of rumours the empire had been secretly providing aid as much as they could to the insurgents after all it was common knowledge that the Terrans desired to rid the galaxy of the Alliance. Yeelixa hinted that war might be inevitable between the empire and the alliance, one that could possibly affect the fates of the two rebel groups, the Trill Hegemony and the alpha quadrant as a whole.

Speaking of Terrans, Ana’s heart lurched. She could be finally reuniting with the love of her life because of this deal with the Lokustaar. A smile crept across her lips, thinking of the beautiful Terran woman. When Yeelixa had shown the Trill, the latest holo of her former lover, Ana recalled the image having taken her breath away. She wanted to leave now but the Lady bitch needed her to do some jobs for her before that could happen.

She was broken out of her thoughts, when someone grabbed her from behind and pushed her against the wall. Ana growled under breath, glaring at her attacker. “Oh, it’s the lying bitch, Miss Bossy.”

“Hello Ana,” Chloe Nielsen greeted, giving her a cold smile. “I just want to have a little chat with you.”

“Go to hell, you bitch,” Ana growled.

*************************************************************************************

NRPG: Continued in Part XX

A brief appearance by Meera Song, an old character of mine for the 1st ed.

References on psionic energy field and resonance burst

Psionic Field
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Psionic_field

Star Trek: Voyager episode ‘Persistence of Vision’
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Persistence_of_Vision_(episode)

Resonance Burst
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Resonance_burst


~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Chloe Nielsen
Section 31 Agent

And

Special Appearances by

Captain Anaqueen Spankryz
Commander/Dr. Kate MacNeil
Lt. Commander Meera Song