SB ASSAILANT - MISSION 2.2 The Nascent

[Deleted]

Commander Vok led his team out of their shuttle to find a chaotic scene around them. The population of Qualinost had obviously seen the Starfleet shuttle craft approaching, and had ran for the landing site, eager to receive help.

“Please remain calm,” Vok called out to the panicking civilians, “we have adequate medical resources to treat you all.”

Around him Vok was aware that as the medical teams of Emergency Planetary Support Team Alpha rushed to the worse casualties, the security teams were busy trying to stop the population crushing each other in their desperation to receive help. All the team carried phasers, but Vok had made it clear they were only to be used in the direst of situations.

As he looked around, Vok caught sight of a young woman, with a young child in her arms, crying desperately.

“Please help me, my baby!” the woman welled, “my baby! My baby!”

“Medics!” Vok called out, rushing towards the woman to try and calm her down, “it is all right madam, help is on the way,” he told her in a confident voice, as he tried to shelter her from the manic crowds.

[Deleted]

Out on Ops, Drew had pulled out the chair for his usual station and was busying himself trying to find a way to secure the station. He was also arranging for the full excavation of the station, just in case they couldn’t stop the radiation levels increasing. Lucky for Assailant there was now more than enough escape pods, and ships in dock to accommodate everyone, the last time they had to evacuate they didn’t have enough space for everyone. Something Magellan had soon corrected Drew knew.

Over the last hour, as word had spread about what had happened, the full Alpha Ops team had reported for duty, including Drew’s wife who was the stations Chief Science Officer.

“What’s the latest?” Joanna asked, in a quiet voice, her science station was next to Drew’s own station wide operations console.

“Unless we find some way to stop the raising levels, we are going to have to evacuate,” Drew told his wife, “I have already sent Darok to get the kids into the shuttle.”

One of the benefits of Drew’s rank was his own personal shuttle, and right now he was making sure his family were safely aboard the small craft, ready to depart the station at a moment’s notice. In the event of a full-scale evacuation Drew’s own place was on the Copenhagen, directing the relief efforts, he had already sent word to have the Copenhagen crewed and ready for launch, and he knew Magellan was making similar arrangements for his ship.

“I’ll go with you on Copenhagen,” Joanna said, “your going to need all the help you can get.”

“No,” Drew said, shaking his head, “get on the shuttle with the kids.”

“You may have more pips on your collar Paul, but don’t think for one minute that means you outrank me,” Joanna said in a warning tone, “I am coming on Copenhagen.”

“Well, with any luck we wont have to evacuate,” Drew told her, “the Chief may just pull off a miracle.”

“Miracle is the right word,” Commander Nelson said across the way from the Strategic Ops station, “he said himself he couldn’t do the job any faster.”

“Which is way we are getting all the civilians safely onto the shuttles,” Drew said, “Within fifteen minutes it will be only Starfleet Officers left here.”

Nelson and Joanna both nodded there heads in agreement, everyone who joined Starfleet was prepared for this sort of thing, and the all knew the first rule was to get all civilians out of harms way.

“Where are you sending them?” Joanna asked.

“We have made arrangements with the Hood and Excellence to stay just outside the system, they will pack all the escape pods and shuttles.” Drew answered, “we also have a squadron of Miranda class relief vessels on the way.”

Before Joanna could answer, all eyes on Ops turned to watch Tedak rush out of Magellan’s office with the strange woman in his arms, without looking at any of them, or saying a word Tedak ran into the turbo lift and disappeared.

“If you ask me,” Lieutenant Fuller, the Engineering Officer on the deck, said, “all this trouble has something to do with that girl.”

“Careful with that line of fault Lieutenant,” Drew said in a warning tone, “you should know never to assume anything.”

“Yeah,” Nelson chipped in, “it makes an [word deleted] of you and me.”

“Well,” Joanna said, catching all their attention, “I have been monitoring the nebula, and based on those readings, and the readings we have of the girl, I’d say there was some connection.”

“Explain,” Drew said simply.

“It’s hard to,” Joanna answered truthfully, “but its almost as if the two are connected, anything we do to the nebula effects the girl.”

“Drew to Magellan,” Drew said, hitting his comm button, “could you come out here please?”

Seconds later, Magellan was walking out of his office, and down to the workstations on Ops, he stopped next to Drew and Joanna.

“We may have found something,” Drew said to the Trill Admiral.

“Oh?” Magellan asked, as Joanna started to explain her findings.

<tag Magellan>

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan looked down at the PADD Joanna clutched.
"I m not sure what I m looking at here?"
"Look here" she pointed, "The curve here is nebula density, the one on the left is the biosignature of our guest."
"And..." Magellan asked, he was tired and not thinking particularly clearly,
"And... here they both dip. Its the point the polaron burst was made."
Lenara Kahn came up and looked at the PADD herself.
"Shes right Mag. They are clearly linked. One affects the other."
"Great" Magellan rolled his eyes,
"So if we disperse the nebula we disperse her." Paul confirmed
"Yes" Joanna answered plainly,
"But the radiation will render this base uninhabitable in minutes" Lenara noted
"Is there nothing we can do?"
Lenara shook her head,
"No. And whats worse it will affect the Qualinost too. At the moment the dose is low but it will rise exponentially in a matter of hours."
"Damned if we do and damned if we don't" Magellan muttered
"Perhaps theres another option?" Drew suggested,
"Maybe but I can't see it. Lily is obviously the key. We need more information on her - Lenara, can you and Joanna scan her, talk to her whatever, find me a third option."
"Sure we can try" Lenara nodded
"I think I saw Tedak whisk her away."
"Hes become quite protective of her. If he proves a problem contact me" Drew said.
"Yes dear" Joanna replied sweetly a wry smile on her lips, "I think I can handly him"

TAG - Tedak, and well anyone

[mercy]

pauldrew said:

As he looked around, Vok caught sight of a young woman, with a young child in her arms, crying desperately.

“Please help me, my baby!” the woman welled, “my baby! My baby!”

“Medics!” Vok called out, rushing towards the woman to try and calm her down, “it is all right madam, help is on the way,” he told her in a confident voice, as he tried to shelter her from the manic crowds.

Dr. Stuart Mercy heard the security officers call for a medic. He was the closest person there and he could hear the child crying desperately. "Bring her over here Commander." Cmdr Vok guided the mother who was so desperately clutching onto her child.

Stuart started his tricorder scans on the child. "This will only take a moment." He tried to comfort her. The scans revealed that the child had minor exposure to radiation poisening but enough to cause it severe pain for its fragile body. "Your child will be fine." He gave the child a small dose of the Hyronalin for the poisening and a dose of Asinolyathin for the pain. The child stopped crying almost immediately and the mother embraced Stuart with such great strength that he had to catch his breath. Cmdr Vok led them away and Stuart moved on to some of the severe cases.

[Deleted]

After all of the commotion which was caused by the newly discovered link between the girl who Tedak was protecting and the nebula was over and people calmed down a bit a new commotion rose up. The radiation within the Starbase was soon going to become lethal and it didn't look like the CEO would be able to get the shields up and running in time, which meant one of two things either take actions which will undoubtedly kill the girl or evacuate.

Alto Saarok had a pretty good opinion of what should be done, as the needs of many are more important than the needs of the one. However he decided to keep that part to himself for now.

"What? No 30 point something minutes?" Tedak mocked him angrily. He gathered the girl up in his arms. "I'm going to take her to sickbay," he announced, "oh...a telepath might be useful in trying to talk to her." He shot a look at his Vulcan friend. "I mean one who does not need to touch her. A Betazoid might help us...."

"There might be someone here who would suit our needs", Saarok answered as Tedak stormed out carrying the girl in his hands

As Joanna was about to head down after Tedak, Saarok called her over for a moment, but then Adm. Drew came to attempt to get the ambassador to evacuate.

"Ambassador it is time for you to go, we can no longer guarantee your safety here.", Drew said

"Admiral, you need not be concerned about my safety, but I thank you for your concern, and i will be remaining aboard this Starbase till the last minute"; Saarok said as he turned to Joanna

"I would like to accompany you in your search for Tedak, I know where we can find him but first i would like to stop by the Federation embassy, most of the staff should be safely evacuated by now but there is someone who i believe is still there and she could help us in communicating with the girl"; Saarok said

"Very well ambassador ", she said

After finishing the conversation in the Ops, Saarok, Joann and his guard departed for the federation Embassy. They did not speak much while they were moving through the base, Saarok knew that she was probably concerned about the radiation levels and about admiral Drew, but one had to admit that she did not express her worries out loud like some others do.

After they arrived to the embassy, the went inside, most of the embassy staff was gone by now as expected, alto some officials were still doing their jobs, and the security was still there, minus a few officers that were assigned to the personnel that has departed. Saarok moved through the embassy until he reached the office of the Betazoid attaché.

He chimed at the bell and a few moments later he heard the words, come. He was correct in his assumption that Dana Descartes would still be there.

"Ambassador", she said as she rose from her chair

They shook hands after which Saarok got right down to the point, as their time was running short. Saarok and Dana Descartes went a long way back, and she was one of the people who were able to shine some light on his past, at least the part of it they shared.

"Dana, i require your assistance", he said

"I am not sure are you aware.....", he told her the summary of the recent occurrences

"Well i will do everything I can do to help Saarok"; she said, she was the one of the few people in the embassy who tended to refer to the ambassador by using only his name

"Let's get moving"; she said as she rose from her chair and went out of the door

"On the way out of the embassy they picked up another security guard before they went to sickbay which was the place where they would find ambassador Tedak

[Deleted]

Joanna let Saarok and his colleague lead the way down to sickbay; the two were deep in conversation about the girl – who had been named Lily – and the effects of the radiation on the station. Joanna herself was busy still consulting with her tricorder, the radiation seemed to be increasing the further into the Starbase they went.

Reaching sickbay, they found Tedak fussing over Lily, who he had placed on an empty bio bed, a few of the Nurses were stood in the corner watching the Romulan Ambassador. One or two of them seemed rather annoyed. Joanna nodded politely at them all, and then approached Tedak.

“Ambassador,” she said in way of greeting, “we have made an interesting discovery.”

Tedak looked up at her with a glare in his eye, almost as if he was annoyed to be disturbed from caring for his patient.

“Really,” Tedak said matter of fact way, “and what interest is this to me?”

“It concerns Lily,” Joanna explained, “We believe she is somehow connected to the nebula.”

“Explain,” Tedak said in a harsh tone.

Joanna didn’t even blink at the Ambassador’s bluntness; being married to an Admiral she had met her fair share of diplomatic officers, and knew how to handle them with ease.

“Based on our primary readings, we believe there is a connection between the nebula and Lily, she appeared the same time as we encountered problems with the nebula, and every attempt to free ourselves has resulted in harming her further.”

“We have brought along with us a Betazoid, with the intent of trying to form telepathic communication with Lily, in the hopes it can give us more answers.”

Tedak paused to take in this information, and then he looked across at Lily before turning back to Joanna, everyone waited for what the Ambassador had to say.

[Deleted]

The Romulan ambassador stayed silent for a long moment, just gazing between Mrs Drew and Lily. He had known there was something perculiar about the girl, and his suspiscions had been confirmed by the bloodsample he had taken, but he hadn't yet made the connection between the girl.

Finally he nodded at the Betazoid to approach, but he hovered closeby, making sure the woman wouldn't hurt his charge. Lily was still unconscious but for some reason Tedak doubted that she was completely unaware of her surroundings. He knew she would wake if touched.

Ruefully, he rubbed the back of his head. Lily had woken up after he'd taken the bloodsample, and the girl hadn't been pleased. In fact, she'd been raging at him, and had flung him across sickbay. Of course, she'd started crying afterwards, reaching for him. He looked up at Joanna and Saarok. "If she hurts Lily...." He let his voice trail off, then beckoned Joanna. "Have a look at this," he said, showing her the bloodsample taken from Lily.

From the corner of his eyes, he watched the Betazoid woman trying to make contact with the girl. He was glad she didn't have to touch Lily as so far only he'd been able to touch her without repercussions from her end. "Do not touch her," he warned anyway, and shot a glare at the nurses who still didn't look pleased. Earlier, he'd shoved the nurses aside roughly when they started prodding and poking her, and complaining when they'd been flung away.

[Magellan Lin]

Dana approached lily with caution. Her black pupils met Lilys purple. Tentatively she pushed out her mind to meet that of lilys. It was strange unlike anything she had ever encountered before. Disparate was one word for it, disjointed another. Lilys mind was a kin to something newborn in development and yet had a depth of... knowledge if it could be called that.
"Well?" Tedak asked,
"its hard to explain" Dana replied, "Her mind is like an infants, its afraid and learning fast. But on the other hand theres an age to it. Its almost as if someone took an existing mind and took a part of it, a graft you could call it, a splinter."
"So its part of a greater whole then" Joanna suggested,
"Of sorts, except this girl is seperate mentally. She has her own identity, its just that its linked to well whatevers out there"
"The nebula" Lenara noted, "The nebula cloud that engulfed the station had unusually high readings of electrochemical discharges"
"Like a humanoid brain"
"Yes"
"So when F'rras polarised the station he some how created Lily" Paul asked incredously
"I think so" Lenara nodded
"From this I d have to agree." Joanna agreed, "What we have here is a new lifeform, one based on electrical information. Lily has shown herself to be extremely adept at interfacing with computer systems but her corporeal form is tied to the nebula, remove the nebula and her body disappears."
"But dont we have to erradicate the nebula cloud to save the station" Tedak said,
"We do"
"Well that is unacceptable. " Tedak stated " You cant just condemn her to death"
"Need I remind you the needs of the many out way the needs of few" Saarok noted in an unusually vulcan way,
"bah, this is a persons life we are discussing here."
Drew decided to intercede,
"Perhaps there is a third option."
"Like what?"
"Well thats what we need to devise and quickly. We have the following facts - The base is in danger, we need to remove the cloud, to do so will destroy lilys body but not her mind. Lily can interface with our technology. Our computer systems are on the brink of failure, anything we do has to be done fast."
"Sounds simple" Lenara quipped darkly,

[Deleted]

"And what of her body?" Tedak retorted angrily, "she cannot remain in our computer! She is a life-form, she has a right to remain as she is. You say the needs of the many Saarok, that is so typically Vulcan! What about her needs?"

He glared from Saarok to Paul Drew, to Joanna Drew, past every other person present and finally fixed his gaze on Lenara. All the while he stood protectively beside Lily, who seemed very aware of the tension and anger hanging in the air. She reached out and clung to the Romulan like a frightened child, as if understanding what they were likely to do.

"I won't let you," Tedak growled, and suddenly his two firelizards appeared in sickbay, screeching with anger. Yet, they only hovered before Lily, their eyes whirling red and orange. Nut settled in her lap, flipped his wings onto his back and just stood there, glaring at the people present.

Sev landed on the foot end of the bed, and copied his littermate's behaviour. "I won't let you do this," Tedak repeated, "she has rights, and I am going to make sure that she's given those rights to their full extend. She is a living, breathing person, and we've no right to terminate it, let allone suggest that she give up her life as it is now to continue as computer being. Look at her! Just look at her, she's intelligent. I believe she understands every word we speak!"

He disengtangled her arms from his torso, and gave hr an encouraging pat on her shoulder, then ruffled his hand through her hair with a smile. "Don't worry," he whispered at her, "I'm not about to let them do this to you. There must be a way to save both you and the station. Is there some way you can help us?"

Lily stared back at him, by now wishing that she could make them understand. Her eyes were wide with fear, and then she turned to Dana, her eyes pleading. She had no knowledge of how to form words with her thoughts, but the woman's contact had not been unpleasant. If she had more, perhaps she could learn.

[Magellan Lin]

Paul backed away from the biobed and Tedak and Lily. Lenara and Joanna joined him.
"This is nt helping" Lenara noted, "The math is simple. We can save her of a sort."
"But thats it - it is a sort. What you intend is effectivly downloading her into the computer core."
Joanna ran a hand up his arm reassuringly,
"It seems strange but we dont have many options. It will enable her 'essence' spirirt, what you will live on. Live independantly of the Nebula. Something she can't do know. Without teh nebula she'll die"
"And if the nebula stays here we lose this station, Qualinost becomes uninhabitable, The Tekarans are left homeless and the Debrune become homeless again." Lenara noted cooly, "We really do have very few options"
"Tell that to Tedak" Paul answered,
"But what exactly does he expect. The nebula wont just go on its own."
"Hes a diplomat not a scientist. He looks out for people"
"And thats admirable" Lenara snapped "But its not helping us here. We have less than 15 minutes before our shields fail and we're all irradiated."
Paul paced back in to the corridor and then back into the room.
"I can't just condmen a girl, any lifeform, even one we created even by accident to death."
"Its not death, and you dont have to decide" Lenara replied pointedly.
"No your right" Paul looked at Joanna and then tapped his badge.
=^=Magellan, can you come down here a moment=^=
=^=Of course Ill be right down=^=

It took 5 minutes for Magellan to arrive and another 2 for Paul, Joanna and Lenara to explain things to him. With a grim face Magellan entered the med bay.
"Admiral" Tedak greeted quietly,
"I m sorry Ambassador but I m afraid I must ask you to return to your quarters now."
"I will remain with Lily"
"I m afraid that that is no longer possible"
"No longer possible." the realisation dawned in Tedaks eyes "Oh I see you want me out the way while you kill her. And you think Romulans are barbaric"
"Ambassador. I have a station full of people to think of - 1 hundred thousand people, and thousands more below. I ve been assured it will not kill her, merely transfer her consicousness to the computer core. Quite a risk. If Command new they wouldnt like it a bit- they d want her terminated completely. So take what you can get."
"Never. This girl had rights. Doesnt the Federations vaunted system of rights extend to her?"
"Of course they do. But this is far from a simple matter. I ask you again stand aside and allow me to take her to the computer core. We have only ten minutes before none of this will matter. If need be I will summon security and have you removed."

<TAG Tedak>

[Deleted]

Tedak drew himself up to his full height and faced the admiral in defiance. "Then you shall have to call security, because I am not leaving her," he said calmly, surprised at the sound of his own voice. He gathered the girl in his arms protectively, and even his firelizards responded to his suppressed anger.

"I will not have you, or anyone else kill her. There has to be another way."

Lily sensed the anger coming from the man who'd been her caretaker ever since she'd been found, then looked at the telepath who had been in her mind. She sensed two different emotions, yet both seemed to want to help her. She was extremely confused and thoroughly despaired at being unable to communicate with them. The two flying creatures seemed in sync with the man's emotions and from what she could tell, they were agitated.

Again, Lily looked at the faces of the people around her. The spotted male looked annoyed, if not angry, the other persons looked angry as well, but also worried. The two women, especially the one with the dark eyes looked worried, but also angry with her caretaker.

By now, she was able to link the people by a single name they were constantly called, and also laid that connection by the single word they kept addressing her with. Thus by now she associated the spotted male with Lin, her pointy eared caretaker with Tedak, and the non-marked male with Drew. Yet one of the women was also designated as Drew, and this confused her profoundly. Two people with the same name was unheard of.

She felt arms being wrapped around her, a gesture she now associated with protection. From this, she knew something was terribly wrong. She looked up, meeting Tedak's gaze and was startled by the amount of anger they expressed. Yet, the anger was directed at the other people, not at her...and it was directed at them for her. ~if only I could talk to them~ she thought desperately ~without destroying their home....I understand them but even the woman does not understand me...why?~

She watched as Lin tapped a shiny item on his chest - ~communication~ she thought - and called for someone. ~what is going on?~ she wondered.

[Magellan Lin]

=^= Security to Sickbay Immediatly=^= Magellan demanded
=^= Understood Sir. We'll have a team to you in 10 minutes=^=
=^=10 minutes is too long I need them here now=^=
=^=Sorry Sir We have a panic up here at Dock A we ve got just over a hundred people trying to comandeer a vessel.=^=
=^=Understood=^= Magellan replied exasperatedly.
He retreated back to Drew and the others.
"I dont have time for this. I m a little concerned how Lily will react to this but its gotta be done"
"What are ..." Drew began to ask but stopped when he saw Magellan reach into a cabinet and pulled out a phaser. In one fluid movement he turned on his heel and walked towards Tedak.
Tedak rose and placed himself in front of Lily protectively.
"Its not her I m aiming at" Magellan stated raising his arm, "I asked you nicely"
Before Tedak could respond the beam of yellow orange light leapt from the phaser striking him in the chest. Tedak slumped to the floor stunned. Lily screamed and looked down at her would be protector.

.... Theres more but teas ready so part 2 will come in a little while.....

[Magellan Lin]

K I ve had my Beef Stew followed by Raspberry Yoghurt Yum yum and so on with the story.

IC:

Lily stared at the spotted man. She was unsure what to make of what was going on. She knew 'Tedak' had been kind to her and now he was... inert. She could tell he lived and was reassured.
"Lily" Magellan called softly, he placed the phaser down and walked carefully forward arms out before him. Instinctivly she backed away.
"Don't be afraid. I dont want to but in order to save a lot of people and to give you a chance of survival at least in some form I need you to come with us."
Lily stared back blankly.
Magellan turned to Dana, "Is there any sign she understands?"
"She can hear you and yes I think on some level she understands, I ll try and improve the link." Dana closed her eyes and focused on Lily.
Lily looked up and stared at Dana, a link was obviously formed.
"I... I m not sure I understand" Lily stammered, "I am disparate and alone. I am tired so very tired."
Joanna looked at Lenara,
"Its the energy ebb. She hasnt recharged in awhile shes fading"
"We can help you. We need to disperse the nebula otherwise it will kill us all - do you know what that means"
Lily stared oddly with her head cocked to one side.
"Termination. I saw such records in your...computer"
"Yes you will have seen much about us. You must realise or predicament and that we dont want to do this."
Lily seemed to shrug,
"But...Teeedak"
"Yes I m sorry I had to do that. He is your friend I know but I had to act we have so little time, the shields will fail at any moment." Magellan explained, "You were created by us... by accident and we can save you. You are caught between two worlds, the corporeal and the nebula, you cannot survive for long in either but we have another option."
"Option?"
"Yes. You are mostly energy, electrical energy we can download you in to our computer. Like how you interfaced with the station earlier"
"Earlier. I remember. I was in the ....circuitry, I could read all your .... files. What am I"
Magellan looked round.
"You are you. You are Lily" Paul answered for them, "And we want you to survive, but if we here are to live your body must die. We can offer you life in our computer. Once the nebula and the risk is gone we can find a way to give you a body back."
"I am Lily. I am... I am alone... unique... I miss the charges, I miss purpose.... I .... I ... I will do as you ask..."
"Excellent" Magellan answered "Please come with us." Magellan, Drew Joanna and Lenara left with Lily for teh computer core. On the way out Drew stopped beside Nurse Tsomba,
"Make sure Tedak is made comfortable. He should wake soon. Magellan only used a low stun setting."
"Yes Sir."
They left the nurse bending over Tedak and quickly made there way to the computer core.

[Deleted]

Lily followed the two admirals to the transporter room, feeling quite strange on one side but on the other side excited. She was finally getting a purpose, yet she was also afraid. She didn't quite trust the spotted creature who was referred to as "admiral Magellan Lin"who had mercilessly shot Tedak, who only tried to protect her.

However, the telepathic woman had been very open to her, and had given her the ability to express herself, for which she was extremely grateful. But, she wouldn't go through with it without saying goodbye to her friend, just in case. She didn't know if she could communicate with anyone when she was in the computer and she wanted to thank him.

Lily gazed up at Dana, who relayed the message for her to sickbay. Now, all they had to do was wait for the Romulan to arrive.

In sickbay, Tedak moaned as he came around, pressing a hand to his aching ribs as he sat up. Gazing at Tsomba he frowned. "He shot me, didn't he?" he asked unnecessarily.

"Yes," the nurse replied solemnly, "and now that you're awake, you're summoned in the transporterroom. You'd better hurry ambassador."

Tedak needn't to be told twice and was out the door before the nurse had even finished his line. He stormed into the transporterroom and found Lily waiting, standing on the transporter pad. "No!" he shouted, but was restrained by two guards who wrested his arms behind his back.

Lily stepped down and gave him a fierce hug. "Thank you," she said through Dana, "for everything. This is something I have to do, my choice."

When he stopped struggling, the guards let him go, and he reached to return the girl's hug. "You don't have to do this," he managed, as his voice choked.

"Yes I do," Lily let him know, then she let go of him and gazed up at him through tear-stained eyes. "Farewell Tedak." She stepped up on the transporter platform without another word, and nodded at the chief.

"Move," Tedak said roughly, glaring at the chief, "if anyone is going to do this, I am." He shoved the chief aside and quickly familarized himself with the console. "She's mainly energy," he muttered, more for himself than for anyone else, "yet she's also corporal. I need to get her into the pattern buffer and separate the energy part from the corporal part. Before I shunt her energy into the computer, I need to beam back the corporal part."

He was so concentrated on what he was doing, that he was oblivious to the guards having moved up behind him, ready to jump into action. "There, the two essences are separated," he muttered on, as he worked the console. He looked up at the second whine of the transporter and saw Lily's body lying on the platform. "Right, now to gradually shunt her into the computer.......there....now we'll have to hope for the best."

The Romulan looked up and walked forward, and drew himself up before Magellan. "How dare you," he said through clenched teeth, and before the two guards could even prevent it, his right fist connected soundly with Magellan's face, sending him staggering. "That was for shooting me," Tedak said, "and for forcing Lily." He motioned at the body. "I am going to see the body buried on Qualinost," he stated, "as soon as we know if Lily made it into the computer. Until then, I want the body in stasis."

[Deleted]

Saarok was standing in the background and decided not to interfere while the Admiral was trying to convince Tedak into allowing them to do with Lily what they had to. He knew that this was the admirals base, and he had the last word there, and also it was interesting to observe how to admiral would resolve the situation. He nodded for his guards not to interfere also, and when the admiral shot Tedak. Now this came out as the logical and the only other outcome of this situation and Saarok knew it. As they had very little time left it was the only way out of the situation, and the admiral had every right to do it, as there was much more at risk than Tedak might have realized.

Emotions have clouded his judgment but he was a Romulan so this was not so surprising Saarok thought while this was transpiring. After Nurse Tsomba took Tedak to sickbay, and Dana left with the group to resume and communicate with Lily till they transfer her mind to the computer, Saarok and his guards went to ops to hear what did the science officer find out about what will occur when the nebula begins to disparate.

After arriving there he walked over to the science console, where the science officer and F'Rass were preparing to disperse the nebula on the admirals command. Although not too happy about having another civilian sneaking around the ops, F'Rass informed Saarok of the situation and what exactly will happen with Lily after the nebula is dispersed. Saarok thanked him before he departed for the transporter room, where they were scheduled to transfer Lily "soul" to the computer.

He arrived just in time to see Magellan flying across the floor and two guards grabbing a shouting Tedak by his arms.

"And I want her body to be buried on Qualinost"; he said

"And put into stasis until that is possible", he resumed enraged

"I am afraid that will not be possible"; Saarok said as he walked in

All of the eyes turned to him, including those of Admiral Magellan who was being helped by Paul Drew to his feet, and the eyes of admirals’ friend Lenara who was trying to conceal a smile.

"What, why, what do you mean by that"; Tedak yelled at Saarok

"Calm down, it is not something we can avoid, I have spoken to commander F'Rass up in ops and he has informed me that Lilies body will lose cohesion and disperse into its parts or the nebula to be precise when the nebula is dispersed as the links within it will fail and this will unfortunately cause the same to happen to Lilies body, from the nebula she came and to is she will disperse"; Saarok finished

"Or as humans say, ashes to ashes, dust to dust", he said waiting for a response from the crowd gathered in the room

[mercy]

There seemed to be a lull in the care of the wounded and injured. The medical teams had tended to over three hundred patients. Dr. Mercy and the rest had found out that the Tekarans physiology was a little more immune to radiation. they had only made up of about twenty percent of all patients, of which none had died. Sadly enough, there were eighteen casualties amongst the Debrune.

Stuart Mercy was thinking about the purple mystery girl, Lily. Were they making progress with her? He sure hoped so, for this was becoming a catastrophy.

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan pulled himself to his feet, and glared at Tedak.
"As Ambassador you have diplomatic immunity so I can't charge you. I can however have Romulus remove you. So watch your step. That punch I ll let you have for free given the circumstances anymore will cost you."
Magellan turned away from Tedak and tapped his comm-badge.
=^=Okay ops disperse the Nebula=^=

Up top F'Rrass initiated the full polaron burst. It flood out of the station pushing back the nebula, like a torch beam erasing the dark. Slowly the effect spread across the small finger of nebula gas that had engulfed them, splitting it, dividing it forcing it apart until none of it remained.

Down at the transporter room Lilys body pulsed in rhythmn with the polaron bursts and gently faded away in to at first a swirl of nebula gas and then nothing. Tedak stared sadly at the figure disappearing.
"Well that seems t be that" the Cheif replied
"Perhaps" Drew replied cautiously
"Indeed" Magellan answered,
=^=Magellan to Ops. Status.=^=
=^= Radiation levels are returning to normal. The base and personnel seem fine. Dr Mercy is also returning from the surface. He reports a successful mission.=^=
=^= Excellent. Have him meet us in my office on his return. =^=
Magellan turned back to the others,
"Drew, Lenara, Joanna your with me. Guards take Mr Tedak to his quarters he requires rest I m sure."
"Not until I m sure Lily is safe in your..."
"That was not a request Ambassador" Magellan answered uncharacteristically harshly, "For now you will do as I say. File a protest if you like, but for now I want you to...'rest'"
Tedak was not happy but allowed himself to be taken back towards his quarters.

Back in Ops Magellan stopped beside F'rass,
"How are our systems?"
"They seem fine, a little slow but fine"
"Well time to see if our guess was right. F'Raas locate the file where Lilys mind was stored"
F'rass looked down and tapped a few keys. He frowned.
"Its here but empty."
"Empty?" Magellan looked up worriedly, "How"
"I don't know. But the file is present and some of the markers but the algorithims are missing"
=^= Magellan to the Chief. Please confirm the locations of the transfer=^=
The chief answered and confirmed the position.
=^=and there were no transfer problems?=^=
=^= No sir. There was a small energy spike but all with in tolerance.=^=
=^=Understood=^=
Magellan turned to the others a stricken look on his face.
"Shes... gone!. I... I... what have I done"
Lenara came up to stand behind Magellan,
"Steady on Mag, your putting the symbiont before the host a little here. The energy surge could just have displaced her to another part of computer core. I ll begin looking. Perhaps you better go into your office have a drink, I ll get started" She looked up and gave Drew a meaningful look.
"Yes I ll handle Ops, It shouldnt take long for us to locate her. Jo" Drew said with a nod.
"Yes come along Magellan" She led him into the office and over to his desk.
"Lets get searching" Drew suggested,
"I m already on it" Lenara answered
"I will assist too" Saarok offered,
"The more the merrier."

[Deleted]

Tomlinson was getting impatient. There was certainly no danger down here, and he was no medic, so couldn't help Dr Mercy in any way. The ambassador had plain refused to allow him to escort her, claiming that if she needed a guard here, then she may as well have one all the time. When Simon had pointed out that ambassador Saarok had two with him all the time, she made some comment about spies, and then moved away.

The south african finally decided that he would take no more of this.

"Dr Mercy. If you have no more need of me, then I would like to get back to the station. I will leave these guards with you in case the need arises for them, but I feel that I would be better placed on the starbase."

The young doctor nodded slowly at him. "Of course." As he spoke, he looked around. There were no more patients, indeed, from the reports coming in, he had completed his task. "We will leave to. There is no more that I can do here."

A few minutes later, they all arrived back on the starbase. As soon as Tomlinson had landed, he was making his way to Ops, hoping that everything had been sorted. As far as he could tell, the place was back to normal. The nebula had receded from the base, and there was no sign of Lily, although he was unsure whether that was a good thing or not.

He stepped around a corner, near now to Ops, but was forced to stop by the presence of another right in front of him. He made a side step, and was about to advance, but he way was blocked once more. He side-stepped again, and again the figure in front of him mimicked his move, preventing his advance. He was getting frustrated, when he felt, before he saw, a hand on his chest. He looked down at it, at the end, slowly running over his uniform, feeling the shapes that defined his muscles. Taking his eyes away from the hand, he looked up at the figure in front of him once more.

"You aren't an easy man to find Commander Tomlinson."

"I have been planetside." The security chief replied, a slight sign of impatience and anger slipping into his voice.

"I'm glad you are back." The girl's voice was melodious and attractive, indeed, the girl was extremely attractive, but Tomlinson knew she was worth more than his job.

"This is not appropriate behaviour Tammy." He spoke, and tried to move past her once more, but again she interecepted him. He knew better than to push past her, and instead he turned on his heels, and walked away. The teenager stood in place, not following him, a slight smile forming on her face.

A few minutes later, Tomlinson had arrived in Ops. He walked over to Admiral Drew. "What is our status sir?"

[Deleted]

Tedak glared right back at Magellan but chose to remain silent. A nice dark blue patch was forming around the admiral's eye, including his jaw and it made his spots stand out even more. He didn't regret punching the admiral, especially not after forcing his ward to proceed with a procedure that didn't even guarantee her continued existance.

He allowed the guards to escort him to his quarters, walking between them as they did so. He winced occasionally as he stil felt it where the stun blast had hit him at close range. All the way to his quarters, he didn't acknowledge the presence of the guards, nor did he invite them into his quarters when they reached it.

Once he was inside, he locked the door and walked over to his replicator to order a mug of hot milk. With the mug he walked into his bathroom and let the tub fill with hot water. It was one of the luxuries extended to diplomats aboard the space station. Quietly, he undressed and stepped into the tub, sighing as the warm water engulfed his sore torso.

"Teeeedak," he suddenly heard, startling him. He lost his balance and went under. He resurfaced, sputtering as he looked around.

"Lily?" he called, "Lily talk to me, is that you?" His mood suddenly changed from angry to cheerful. "Honey did you make it into the system?"

There was no vocal response at first, but then the lights in his bathroom flickered, changing from yellow-ish to purplish. "Teeedak," came the soft voice again, "thaank you."

The Romulan diplomat sat up in the tub, clamping his hands down on either side of the tub to keep himself from sliding under again. "I'm glad you made it Lily," he smiled, suddenly feeling a whole lot better, "I really am. But what are you going to do now?"

Lily remained silent for a long moment, as if trying to absorb the information needed to give a proper response. "I don't know," she replied softly, and to Tedak's astonishment, in Rihanssu, "what can I do?"

Tedak pondered on it for a long moment, then decided to call on someone who might be able to help. "Tedak to Mrs Drew, could you please come by my quarters?"

He sighed as he stepped out of the tub, dried himself off and got back into a clean robe. He walked back to the living room to wait for Mrs Drew. "Computer, keep water in tub warm until further notice," he ordered. He'd resume his relaxation after his conversation with Mrs Drew.

<Joanna Drew>

[Deleted]

OCC:

This is a Drew family post LOL If I ever decide to give the other two kids a large storyline as well, someone shot me hehe

Joanna Drew had just been about to drop in to her quarters when she got Tedak’s call, with a sigh; she zipped back up her uniform over-jacket and changed direction for the Ambassadors quarters.

She wasn’t surprised to see two security officers posted outside the Ambassadors quarters, punching an Admiral was never a good thing to do, especially one who was the station commander. She smiled sweetly at the two officers as she approached, both of them of course remained as still as a statue.

“Can we help you Commander?” the most senior ranked of the two asked.

“I am here to see the Ambassador,” Joanna explained.

“I am sorry sir, but we have orders not to let anyone in,” the security guard said.

Joanna made a point of sighing deeply, then moved her hand to her comm badge, “do you gentleman really want me to call my husband, interrupt whatever important work he is doing, just to tell you two to let me in?”

The two guards exchanged startled glances, before moving past to give Joanna access to the door. Nodding in thanks, Joanna rang the doorbell, thinking how handy it was having an Admiral for a husband as she waited for Tedak to answer.

Meanwhile in Ops…

Paul Drew watched the newly promoted Commander Tomlinson hurry out of the turbo lift door red in the face, and with a guilty look in his eyes, almost as if he had had an encounter he wished to forget. Pretending not to notice Drew continued talking to Nelson about the search for Lily.

A few seconds later, Tomlinson had approached Drew, and was asking for the current status.

“Well,” Drew said, taking a deep breath, “we seem to have lost Lily, but apart from that everything else is back to normal.”

“How could we lose her?” Tomlinson asked, sharing the confusion the rest of the Ops staff had had for the last thirty minutes.

“That’s what we are trying to find out,” Drew said, “but with little success, what’s the situation on the planet?”

<tag Tomlinson>

Back in Tedak’s quarters…

Joanna walked into Tedak’s well-decorated quarters to find the Ambassador already in the main living area waiting for her. He had a strangely excited yet worried at the same time look on his face.

“You wanted to see me Ambassador?” Joanna asked, approaching the Romulan.

“Yes, yes I did,” Tedak said, Joanna, noticed his voice was shaking a little.

“What’s wrong?” Joanna asked, gently moving Tedak to sit on the large leather sofa.

“It’s Lily,” Tedak finally said, “She’s here!”

Both Joanna’s eyebrows shot up in shock, the last she had heard from Ops, Lily was still missing, it seem unlikely that Tedak could have seen her.

“What do you mean, she is here?” Joanna asked slowly.

“What can I do?” a different, softer voice said before Tedak could reply.

“What was that?” Joanna asked quickly, looking around the room.

“It’s Lily,” Tedak said with a smile, “it is as I told you she is here, but she is confused as well.”

Joanna couldn’t believe it, she needed to call Ops, she needed to let Magellan known he hadn’t killed Lily, she needed to do so much. But she realised she also had to help this new life form she had helped create.

“Lily,” Joanna said very softly, looking all around the room, “we are going to help you.”

<tag Tedak>

And down in the Drew’s Family Quarters…

Tammy walked into the large living room with a huge grin on her face, he knew her name! She could hardly believe it, for so long now she had been watching Commander Tomlinson from afar, thinking he didn’t even know she existed, but now she just knew that he felt the same way.

She rushed into her room and pulled out the hidden holo image she had taken of Tomlinson a few days ago, laying on her bed she looked at the photo longingly. Soon she and Tomlinson would be together, and nobody, not even her father would be able to stop them.

[Deleted]

Joanna and Tedak waited patiently, while Lily absorbed the notion of 'help'. After a long wait, she replied. "I will need the help. There is so much information....what do I do with it? What can I do with it?" Lily sounded overly confused. "Where am I?"

Tedak exchanged a brief glance with Joanna and behind him, his firelizards chirped. "Lily," he started, running a hand through his still damp hair, "because of the nebula causing grave danger to the station, and because of your connection to the nebula, your consciousness has been transferred to the computer system of this starbase. However, apparently something has gone wrong. We had intended for you to occupy only a part of the computer, but it appears that you have been completely intergrated into the computer system."

"Huh?" Lily replied, then chuckled softly. The longer she remained in the system, the better her language skill and communications skill became. "Now I understand the overload of information." She chuckled again, then her voice became husky. "Thank you," she said softly, "please, don't blame them. They only thought what was best, though I think it was very gallant of you."

Tedak noticed Joanna's sharp stare at the mention of the word 'gallant'. "What was so gallant?" she demanded.

By now, Lily was laughing. "He punched the spotty one," she laughed, "on my behalf. Teeedak thought I was in danger, and he wanted to protect me."

Tedak blushed, and was glad that because of his green teint, Joanna wouldn't notice immediately. "At the moment, it was the right thing to do for me. It was a risky procedure, and never done before. I believed they were going to kill her."

At last he tapped his combadge. "Tedak to Admirals Lin and Drew, there is something in my quarters that you should come see and hear." He cast a smile at Joanna. "Don't tell them yet," he whispered, "let's let Lily play with them a little...it's only fair."

Then he frowned as Sev chirped. "Oh never mind, he probably already knows," he said sadly, "sometimes having firelizards for a pet can be a pain in the backside. They're real gossips, so it is likely Magellan knows via his own bronze."

[Deleted]

--Somewhere over the rainbow, Section 47 Space, Starbase Assailant, Operations Center--

Saarok and more than 5 other officers were in the process of attempting to locate the conciseness of "Lily" the being that was created by accident out of a cloud of nebula gas, but has somehow managed to become intelligent, and now was somewhere inside the computer core. But no matter how much the group tried to find her they were not successful, but then all of a sudden Saaroks firelizard queen sent him a thought, and moments after that a call came from Ambassador Tedak's quarters for Admirals Lin and Drew to come.

Most intriguing. Saarok thought as he went over to Admiral Drew and informed him that he would like to come along to visit mr. Tedak. To which Drew had nothing against. After everyone was ready, Magellan led the way towards the turbolift, followed by his firelizard, Drew, Saarok, his two firelizards and his two security guards.

As they entered the lift, they didn’t speak much except they brought up the subject of how Lily ended up where she is now, when she was meant to be only inside of a part of the computer. But seeing as this kind of procedure wasn't done everyday, they agreed that it was not possible to see everything that could have gone wrong.

After the lift came to a stop the group went out and proceeded towards the door of ambassador Tedak's quarters. Magellan nodded the guards and the group after chiming entered the ambassadors quarters.

[mercy]

Dr. Stuart Mercy had returned to the station, along with the rest of the Emergency Planetary Support Team. Their mission accomplished and the Nebula seemed to be subsiding from the lower atmosphere of the planet.

The images of suffering were going through Stuart’s mind. He hadn’t seen such suffering at this scale since he had been an EMT in San Francisco. In fact, it was only one other time where he was involved in a mass casualty rescue. A large transporter, one of the many city conveyances for transporting beings around, had a major engine malfunction. It had plummeted from the skyway some two hundred feet. There had been sixty-eight people onboard of which only fifteen survived.

He was thankful to the stars that the suffering on Qualinost may have been vast, many had been healed and saved. A disaster was averted, unlike the transporter accident on Earth. Stuart went to the infirmary to clear his mind. The supplies would need to be restocked and Nurse Tsomba could fill him in on the happenings on the station. Stuart wondered what lily’s status was, if she was alright.

[Magellan Lin]

Nurse T Somba quickly explained events aboard Assailant to Stuart,
"It seems you ve had as much drama up here as we did down there. And what of Lily now?"
"Im not sure. Last I heard she'd been lost somewhere in the computer core."
"hmm perhaps we can help. I m sure there will be some kind of bio signature in the relays. We may be able to track her down. I ll be in Ops."

Stuart made his way up the station to the bases nerev centre. Admiral Drew was on duty with a trill woman - Magellans guest beside him.
"Sir. I understand theres a problem."
"Ah Dr Mercy. Yes we seem to have lost Lily in teh computer core. I assume you know what happened."
"I ve heard" Stuart nodded, "Perhaps I can help."
"How?"
"Lily had a unique bio electric signal, call it a representationof her brainwaves. It identifies her, I believe that what ever form she took in teh computer will mirror that signature in some way."
"Your right." Lenara agreed, "What an interesting idea, assist me doctor."
Stuart joined Dr Kahn at the science terminal as Magellan emerged from his office. He was deathly white.
"Any news?"
Drew looked up,
"Not yet but we have a lead..."
=^= Joanna to Paul=^=
=^= Jo?=^=
=^=We ve found Lily. Or rather lily found Tedak. Shes talking through the comm to us in Tedaks quarters.=^=
=^= Excellent news. I ll see what we can do=^=
Magellan seemed to brighten,
"Thank the pools for that. Shes still alive. Now we can find away to give her her life back"
"Of a sort" Lenara noted turning in her chair,
"What do you mean?" Magellan asked,
"Dr Mercys idea and Joannas location has enabled us to locate Lily."
"And whats wrong with that if we know what file shes in we can..."
"Thats the point shes not in A file, shes in ALL the files. She is completely and irreversibly integrated with our computer system. She has replaced our limited AI network and controls... well everything"
Magellan exchanged looks with Drew.
"Is that... safe"
"Essentially, consider it a merger, our computer protocols merged with her identity. Basically our computer now has Lilys personality."
Stuart looked up,
"Congratulations you have Starfleets first Sentient Computer System."
"And systems are not compromised?" Drew checked
"No not at all, everythings working as it should be."
MAgellan looked out the viewscreen,
"In that case we leave her alone. Shes been through enough and if shes happy she can stay."

TAG EVERYONE LOL

OOC: Okay this is a wrapping post to begin to tie up the mission. Everyone can now make a post for their character to round up their place in the mission and set up and mini plot threads for the next one which may begin as early as the weekend unless anyone has any objections.

[Magellan Lin]

With things starting to return to normal Magellan began to feel as if he could breath easy once more.
It seemed as if Assailant was one crisis after another and each took their toll. In the past year he nearly been killed several times, the base been on evac orders twice, they'd rediscovered a new race and he'd dueled with his nemesis Kavek. He shuddered to think how others were dealing with all that had happened to them.
He looked around him at the people in Ops, He was pleased to note that Joanna and Paul seemed as close as ever despite there enforced seperation by pauls double. Breifly his thoughts strayed to Tedak. There was a man he found hard to get on with. Admittedly Tedak wasnt your average Romulan but he had always find it hard to trust someone from that empire. They had been starting to get along up until Magellan had clashed with him over Lily. The declicate working rapport they had built up was likely in tatters.
He sighed deeply, in many ways he longed for the simpler life aboard the Victory, but that was just the glint of rose tinted glasses, things on a starship were just as hectic as aboard the Starbase.
He was surprised however at how cold and hard he had become when dealing with Tedak in the end. It was a side to him he hadnt seen before. Another little niggle that he had notcied in the past six months, knowinbg languages he didn t know he'd learned, stray memorys, mood swings. He would need to see Dr Mercy.
Lenara came round and touched his arm,
"You ok Mag?"
"Oh yes, just tired I guess" he replied to his mentor.
"Your getting tired a lot arent you at the moment"
"Yes. But..."
"Odd thoughts, new... abilities"
"Yes and Yes, how did you know?"
"Its why I m here. I was forbidden when still in the commission but now I m not I needed to check on you."
"Check on me"
Lenara drew him over to a corner away from the others.
"Yes. I was concerned it may have more of an effect especially given the troubles you have with your symbiont."
"What Lenara? Whats wrong with me?"
"Its not you its Lin. Magellan your not his second host, your his fifth"

Cut to Magellan looking dumbfounded

Queue Music

Roll Credits LOL