Bringing Everyone Up To Date

Posted on Wed Mar 24th, 2021 @ 8:16am by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Major Samuel King & Lieutenant Aurelius Davis & Lieutenant Samantha Leyton & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D. & Ensign Elegy Nascimento
Edited on on Wed Mar 24th, 2021 @ 8:18am

Mission: Mission 4 - Eden
Location: Deck A - Situation Room
Timeline: Day 162 21:00
2022 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

The meeting was going to be short and sweet letting each other know everything and anything about what they had experienced with the other ship and the AI that had greeted them there. Not everyone on her senior team had been across yet but she wanted everyone aware as they would be exploring the ship as well. It was getting late but Beth still had so much to do as the door opened and the first person came in.

Chloe entered the situation room, fresh from another double shift in engineering. She was one of the officers who had yet to go over to the alien craft, so the Chief Engineer was rather interested to hear from those who had. She chose a seat in the middle of the table, facing towards the glazing, and sat down.

"Good evening, Captain," Chloe said.

"Chief," Beth answered quickly offering the woman a smile. She was sad that she had not been able to let the woman go to the ship but she wanted her onboard for anything going through there will lack of fuel starting to show.

Entering the Situation room with a cup of coffee in her hands, Samantha took her position next to the captain's right. Taking a sip, she waited for the other officers to arrive.

William entered the situation room with a mug of coffee in one hand and a PADD in the other. This was his first Senior Officer meeting since his promotion, and he had ensured that he would not be late. He nodded to those officers already assembled and spotted a chair at the back of the table. He sat down and took a sip of his coffee while he glanced over the PADD he held. His promotion to Armory Chief also meant that he stood bridge watch, and he was due to take his first watch at 2200.

Aurelius wasn't even sure why he was here. Was he technically a department head? He was the only one in his department unless he was considered part of medical and he wasn't really sure the Morale officer fit there. But he would come and sit and listen as long as he didn't have to look at Beth too much.

Like William, Elegy Nascimento had been promoted to Chief Science Officer not terribly long before this meeting. The last time Elegy had attempted a senior staff briefing, he had been serving as a proxy for Sovar and had done so rather neurotically. This time, Elegy's attentions were too absorbed by a PADD to think too much about what anyone else was thinking about him being there. He literally walked into the plotting table, his eyes down on the computer's analysis of some of the flora he had scanned in the alien ship's hydroponics chamber. "Sorry," Elegy muttered as if he had walked into a person, instead of a bit of furniture.

"I'm sure the table is forgiving, Ensign," Avira remarked, she was glad to already be seated at the table. It seemed like the days only got longer and longer for her and she was happy to just be sitting down and not having anyone expect her to give them medical advice.

Once everyone was stood around the situation room Beth finally decided to speak up instead of staring at the image of the AI that she had on her PADD. “Thank you for coming at the end of what already had been a tiring day for some. I wanted to talk about our experiences of the ship as yes we could put it in a report but talking I find is better.”

Looking up at Beth's voice, Elegy quickly put his PADD to sleep to remove the temptation. "That starship contains a labyrinth of technology more advanced than anything I've seen in Starfleet," reported Elegy Nascimento, more than a little bit awed. "The science team studied mechanisms --and even construction polymers-- that matched nothing in our Vulcan and Andorian databases. I don't think I could explain to any of you how the sprinklers in their garden worked," Elegy wryly said, "let alone the purpose for any of their scientific computer equipment."

Chloe listened with interest, the words "technology", "more" and "advanced" rapidly increasing both her curiosity about and eagerness to see EDEN increasing by the second.

“All groups that went over today to The Caelestis met E.D.E.N. she is The Caelestis’ Emergency Disaster Engagement Network in the form of what best we can describe is an AI.” Beth pulled up the photo showing a humanoid woman. She had long blonde, straight hair neatly coiffed with a thin black headband keeping it out of her face, cat eyeliner and a nude lip, it almost looked human in style, a homage to Earth’s hippie era apart from the outfit she wore was plastic and black.

"I can't be the only one unnerved at the idea of an AI aboard that ship. We have no idea just how integral her system is to the ship. She could control every aspect of that ship," Samantha spoke up first.

William absorbed this information as he looked at the photograph on the screen. The appearance of the ship was already unsettling, but the news of a potential AI made the situation even more troubling. He shook his head as he spoke, "I have to agree with the XO. A true AI could be unpredictable and pose a threat to our own ship's computer. She may have the ability to remotely tie into our ship. How can we be sure of her intentions?"

"Creepy and interesting at the same time." It spurred Aurelius to want to speak to her, which was dangerous and exciting all at once.

Beth listened and nodded here and there as she thought about what they all said. "We cannot be sure of her abilities or lack of abilities at the moment especially as she disappeared within moments of meeting her. She seemed pretty clueless of why she was activated." She admitted with an honest tone. They should know by now that they could be not sure of anything at all.

"E.D.E.N. was the closest thing to sentient life any of us found over there," chimed in Elegy. He rubbed the back of his neck and he winced at their predicament -- answering a distress call, but then finding nobody in distress. "If we don't find any members of the crew," Elegy asked, looking around the room, "should we engage in diplomatic relations with E.D.E.N.? ...Is diplomacy even ...feasible with an artificial intelligence?"

Chloe shrugged. "It's worth a try, Ensign. Enterprise's crew managed to engage with that automated repair station in 2152, I don't see why we can't do the same here. If we are able to engage with EDEN, let's hope they have a better stock answer than 'Your inquiry was not recognised'"

"Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean a lot of machines have the ability to reason. IT's almost mathematical in a way. It's better than going in and just taking what we want and disregarding it. Or going in guns blazing and making it mad." Aurelius answered, keeping his gaze down.

William shook his head slightly, "Still, I would not fully trust what it says to us. I suggest that we limit our contact with it and post a MACO or Security officer with any away teams we send over there. It's to big a risk to simply threw caution to the wind." William looked over at Lt. Atkinson and said with a raised eyebrow, "And if I recall reading the report correctly, that repair station the Enterprise encountered in 2152 abducted one of her crew to integrate into its own network."

Beth nodded pushing her hair out of her face. What she would not live for a hair cut right now or a hand band to tie it back with. She had seen the report herself but EDEN had not seemed like that at all. It had almost been like talking to a child, a child with the ability to disappear at random. "We do not know more than what you can see here but we have priorities." Beth reminded. "We need fuel." It was not like anyone could or would forget but they needed a little prompting to get back on track.

"So let's get some," Aurelius said with a small shrug.

William shot a small sideways glance at the morale officer before focusing back on the captain. He was aware of the fuel issues they were facing, but he was not sure of exactly how long until they were at the critical point of no return. "How long do we have until the tanks run dry, " he asked.

Beth had not given the number properly to anymore apart since the Chief Engineer had shared it with her. They all knew that it was low, they were meant to have been at Vulcan after peace talks with the Xindi by now. "15 days," Beth said finally. "This is our last shot."

Visibly wincing at the suggestion of piracy, Elegy was quickly able to rationalize it to himself by suggesting, "A ship of that size, their storage capacity must vastly outweigh our needs..." He nodded at his own suggestion, but his train of thought quickly moved on to another station. "Given how advanced their technology appears to be," Elegy asked, "Did our engineering team detect any whispers of deuterium or dilithium?" Making light of his own discomfort, Elegy suggested, "...Their engines could run on corn oil for all we know."

"We got more than whispers of deuterium and dilithium." Beth assured softly indicating the screen as she flicked through the PADD in front of her bringing up what had been found on the ship.

Samantha let out a low whistle as she looked over the scanned information. "That is way more...perhaps we can get extra and store it in the cargo bays?"

William raised his eyebrows as he saw the amount of deuterium and dilithium. With all they had been through, the thought of solving their fuel problems would be a considerable boost to morale and be one less thing they would have to worry about for the foreseeable future. "It would appear we have stumbled upon an oasis in the desert," he said.

Avira remembered her training on a desert world, a preparation from the Imperial Guard if they'd ever find themselves on the planet Vulcan, "Remember that Fata Morgana's are also a thing in the desert." The whole thing still didn't sit all too well with her, she looked over at Beth, "I'd like to have a team to help me search for any medical supplies that might be present on the ship, Commander."

“Yeah. We are all going to have to go back over and salvage what we can.” Beth would sort out the list and priorities for the morning. For now she wanted her bed and to allow everyone to rest if possible.

At the mere thought of acquiring desperately needed deuterium and dilithium, Chloe felt some of the weight lift from her shoulders. She'd already pushed her own and her team's ingenuity to the limit, but even that wouldn't be enough to keep the ship going indefinitely.

"I'll put a salvage team together first thing in the morning. I think it would be wise to look for anything else we can use too, injectors, coils, conduits etcetera. Just because we didn't find any earlier doesn't mean there aren't any lying around somewhere else" Chloe offered, thinking that while spare parts were in decent supply now, it would be wise to stockpile as many as they could while they had the opportunity.

Beth nodded. “Anyone else have anything to add before we all try and get some sleep?” When no one else spoke up Beth nodded at them all. “I know it’s been a long day and there are so many questions from this ships but let’s get some rest and meet in the morning. Dismissed.”