Post by Lt. Commander Liz Sur'Shess on Feb 6, 2015 21:06:12 GMT -8
The others didn't seem to share Liz's fascination with the bomb. Not that she blamed them; it was, after all, a device expressly designed to scatter them over a few kilometers of space. And yet, she couldn't help it. It was fascinating, and she was still very determined to preserve some bit of this tech. Even if, as was likely, they would be mostly fried by the time she got done with them. Whatever could be salvaged, would. She would see to that.
"That things sorta like a big bio-neural gel pack with an attitude problem right- you're sure it ain't sentient?"
"Sentient? I don't think so. But in some way, it is alive. Maybe it's part of the point of this...test."
"A sentient bomb would be cruel in more ways than one," Liz said distractedly, because she was still watching the scroll of data across her tricorder. Not that she wouldn't put it past the Pewdin at this point, because any people that was willing to blow up an essentially innocent group of bystanders wasn't all that high on the list of ethically balanced groups, at least from where she was standing. Maybe that was just because she was, you know, one of the people threatened by the blowing up bit.
Eden and Stone divvied up the task of going to fetch a virus. They could have simply commed the science labs and asked them to pick out their most dastardly strain of whatever their pet project of the moment was, but then again the groups had been expressly told that the Captain wasn't permitted to communicate them, and Liz wasn't sure what the rules were about communicating with other teams or portions of the ship. Truth be told, she was rather glad the rest of the ship wasn't entirely aware of what was going on in here. There would probably have been more mass hysteria, even if very professionally controlled. Regardless, Stone disappeared, doors hissing shut behind him, and Liz sat back on her heels, trying not to focus too much at the continuing countdown.
Thirty minutes. They had half an hour--less, now, the inexorable tick of time dialing downward every second--and five of these things. And they'd not even gotten one off.
"I like the idea, but we have to be careful what we use. We don't want a strong reaction, something that might cause a premature detonation. Something that stops it in it's tracks..."
Liz was nodding before Tegan finished and trailed off, mind already following through on the continuation of that thought.
"A paralyzing agent! What if we injected a paralyzing agent?! It might be enough to stop it from detonating altogether!"
"Yes," Liz said, snapping her fingers. She stood up, already wheeling to the engineering kit. A hypospray, or something like it. They'd need one when Stone arrived. A regular hypo wouldn't work; they had to inject the agent or the virus directly into the gel packs, and a hypo would punch straight through the lining and puncture it too much. Something more like an old-fashioned hypodermic needle would work, more localized and therefore leaving the lining more able to regenerate itself...unless the agent worked as quickly as she was beginning to hope. This thing was small--while they could inject a paralyzing agent into the Talon's systems and wait hours or even days for it to take effect, plugging something into this device should shut it down within seconds. Or minutes. She'd be content with either, to be honest.
"Get with Stone, let him know," Liz said, not looking at either of her compatriots. They knew their jobs, and whether it was Eden or Tegan who called him, he'd get the message eventually. She heard the crackle of a communicator behind her, the tinny voice of somebody she couldn't identify coming out, Eden answering back.
Liz fell to disassembling some bits and pieces, praying that nobody in engineering had been too terribly attached to this particular kit. Reaching under a nearby console, she retrieved a first aid kit and unplugging the hypospray from its place, unplugging the bottom part of the array from the rest. "Ensign Mast, get the laser cutter and cut into the rest of those bombs," she said, still focused on the quickly-assembling hypo under her hands. "Try to get it in the same general area as our original cut on that first one. It'll save time if we're already into them."
Hopefully....
Science says that paralyzin' the dang thing could work. Smart thinkin' y'all. So, how much time we got left?"
Liz turned back to the others, a strange device that was equal parts syringe, hypospray, and pointy bit in her hand. She lifted it up to inspect it as she answered. "Twenty-three minutes," she said. "Better pray Stone runs on his way back."
Just then, the comm crackled on overhead. //"This is the Captain speaking. All crew not on duty are ordered to general quarters. All other crew will remain at their locations until further notice. Please check your messages for further information. Monroe, out."//
Brilliant. Precisely what they needed.
Tag: Ensign Tegan Mast, @zakarystone, Lieutenant Eden Nivans
"That things sorta like a big bio-neural gel pack with an attitude problem right- you're sure it ain't sentient?"
"Sentient? I don't think so. But in some way, it is alive. Maybe it's part of the point of this...test."
"A sentient bomb would be cruel in more ways than one," Liz said distractedly, because she was still watching the scroll of data across her tricorder. Not that she wouldn't put it past the Pewdin at this point, because any people that was willing to blow up an essentially innocent group of bystanders wasn't all that high on the list of ethically balanced groups, at least from where she was standing. Maybe that was just because she was, you know, one of the people threatened by the blowing up bit.
Eden and Stone divvied up the task of going to fetch a virus. They could have simply commed the science labs and asked them to pick out their most dastardly strain of whatever their pet project of the moment was, but then again the groups had been expressly told that the Captain wasn't permitted to communicate them, and Liz wasn't sure what the rules were about communicating with other teams or portions of the ship. Truth be told, she was rather glad the rest of the ship wasn't entirely aware of what was going on in here. There would probably have been more mass hysteria, even if very professionally controlled. Regardless, Stone disappeared, doors hissing shut behind him, and Liz sat back on her heels, trying not to focus too much at the continuing countdown.
Thirty minutes. They had half an hour--less, now, the inexorable tick of time dialing downward every second--and five of these things. And they'd not even gotten one off.
"I like the idea, but we have to be careful what we use. We don't want a strong reaction, something that might cause a premature detonation. Something that stops it in it's tracks..."
Liz was nodding before Tegan finished and trailed off, mind already following through on the continuation of that thought.
"A paralyzing agent! What if we injected a paralyzing agent?! It might be enough to stop it from detonating altogether!"
"Yes," Liz said, snapping her fingers. She stood up, already wheeling to the engineering kit. A hypospray, or something like it. They'd need one when Stone arrived. A regular hypo wouldn't work; they had to inject the agent or the virus directly into the gel packs, and a hypo would punch straight through the lining and puncture it too much. Something more like an old-fashioned hypodermic needle would work, more localized and therefore leaving the lining more able to regenerate itself...unless the agent worked as quickly as she was beginning to hope. This thing was small--while they could inject a paralyzing agent into the Talon's systems and wait hours or even days for it to take effect, plugging something into this device should shut it down within seconds. Or minutes. She'd be content with either, to be honest.
"Get with Stone, let him know," Liz said, not looking at either of her compatriots. They knew their jobs, and whether it was Eden or Tegan who called him, he'd get the message eventually. She heard the crackle of a communicator behind her, the tinny voice of somebody she couldn't identify coming out, Eden answering back.
Liz fell to disassembling some bits and pieces, praying that nobody in engineering had been too terribly attached to this particular kit. Reaching under a nearby console, she retrieved a first aid kit and unplugging the hypospray from its place, unplugging the bottom part of the array from the rest. "Ensign Mast, get the laser cutter and cut into the rest of those bombs," she said, still focused on the quickly-assembling hypo under her hands. "Try to get it in the same general area as our original cut on that first one. It'll save time if we're already into them."
Hopefully....
Science says that paralyzin' the dang thing could work. Smart thinkin' y'all. So, how much time we got left?"
Liz turned back to the others, a strange device that was equal parts syringe, hypospray, and pointy bit in her hand. She lifted it up to inspect it as she answered. "Twenty-three minutes," she said. "Better pray Stone runs on his way back."
Just then, the comm crackled on overhead. //"This is the Captain speaking. All crew not on duty are ordered to general quarters. All other crew will remain at their locations until further notice. Please check your messages for further information. Monroe, out."//
Brilliant. Precisely what they needed.
Tag: Ensign Tegan Mast, @zakarystone, Lieutenant Eden Nivans