Thetans Assemble

Posted on Thu Dec 21st, 2017 @ 7:02pm by Captain Mrazak & Lieutenant Colonel Storr Garlake & Lieutenant Reno “Reno-gade” Van Straten & Lieutenant Commander Kiril Nevin & Gunnery Sergeant Roderik Kos & Ferrofax

2,724 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: S1E1: Bynars Be Bygones
Location: Deck 1 - Observation Deck
Timeline: MD 1; 19:00

Mrazak had arrived early to the Theta briefing. It was an irregular time, but then schedules meant little at this facility, being a time and space unto itself. With the expansion of the field team from a couple of research assistants into a full-fledged operation, there were changes afoot. Mrazak meant to meet these changes head on and establish quickly that regardless of from where else the new arrivals had come, that they were in his house. Any administrator who came to play referee at a future day would never change that.

"Ferrofax, please assign seating based on an algorithm that will prevent the most sidebar discussions."

“If you desire that outcome I’ll leave them in their quarters and you can teleconference. I’m a Sword class AI with a quantum processor score of 4.1 quibits per nano second. There is only so much my Godly intellect can achieve before the heat death of the universe,” the voice of the station's demon grumbled. Chairs materialised along the edge of the table, each fronted by a name card.

A plate of Danishes and a carafe of coffee appeared.

“There, I predict a 42% chance of success,” a solitary apple appeared on the plate. “54% now, our Marine is something of a fitness buff.”

Mrazak distributed PADDs before each chair, and then seated himself to wait. Already familiar with the contents of the briefing, he contented himself to stare through the floor to ceiling transparent aluminum alloy windows at the swirling Badlands beyond.

Rodi made the first appearance. His sidearm had been removed, as had his rifle. His uniform was replaced with a fresh one. He nodded to the commander sitting at the head of the table. Glancing down, he first noticed the seating tags. He frowned at them but took his assigned place, after getting a danish and coffee.

Van Straten arrived with the Phantom's Engineer Lt Aaron Branston and Tactical MCPO Dynt Sharja. "I'm telling you the damn thing was just lumbering down the corridor" Reno was recounting his encounter with a Borg Drone outside the Mess hall after dinner. "I was looking for a weapon or something to beat the thing with, when this Nurse comes by, shoos the Drone away and tells me not to worry about the hired help!"

Branston chuckled "Yeah those take a little getting used to" He acknowledged. 'Well looks like we have assigned seating" He checked the name cards and found their seats.

Reno had stopped to take in the view out through the massive windows the full terrible splendor of the Badlands roiled and burned. It was quiet something to have flown through that he figured and gave himself a small boost. Then went to take his seat.

Mrazak looked up from his ruminations for a moment, a frown on his face. As he looked back and forth between the new arrivals and his PADD, that frown deepened into a scowl. "It seems there is some mistake," he said at length. "This is a briefing for field team specialists, and before me I see rank-and-file officers who surely took a wrong turn somewhere."

He wagged two fingers from his right hand. "Be gone, now. Off with you."

The Borg drones Janeway and Picard appeared and escorted a very confused Branston and Sharja out of the observation deck and to parts unknown.

Mrazak turned pleasant again. "That's better. Now, it seems we are still waiting for a few late arrivals. Ferrofax, kindly remind the station commandant and the biomedical specialist that their presence is required in the observation deck for a briefing. Creativity level lambda authorized."

Rodi sipped his coffee, nodding slightly in appreciation of the blend of mocha and cinnamon he tasted. He had observed the commander authorizing a creativity level and wondered what it meant.

"I've begun a localised test of the self-destruct mechanism. The alarms are quite loud, and realistic. They are both on their way," Ferrofax's disembodied voice commented lightly.

"Excellent," Mrazak said. "I suppose we can begin the preliminaries." His fingertips ran together as if playing the universe's smallest accordion. "A number of potential Theta alerts have crossed the admini--my desk of late, but there is one in particular that merits our immediate attention. It pertains to the Bynars of Bynaus."

The subtle *swoosh* of the briefing room door's opening and closing punctuated Mrazak's statement, the new(est) station commandant standing in the archway with one hand akimbo and a face failing to belie a myriad of emotions (the most significant of those being exhaustion). Quickly assessing the room, he walked around the table to his seat and snatched a danish and coffee mug from the side table on the way; his SFMC mug was still in his bags and hadn't percolated to the top yet. He made a note to rectify that soon.

"While I appreciate the self-destruct alarms as a means of getting me out of bed," Lt Col Garlake began, taking a hearty quaff before continuing, "a simple knock on the door would have sufficed. Though I'm sure not nearly as amusing. Apologies for being late."

Mrazak sniffed at the colonel but said nothing in acknowledgement.

“Next time Lieutenant Colonel Garlake, I will endeavour to ‘spice things up’,” Ferrofax said thoughtfully.

Above the briefing room table a hologram of Bynaus appeared, the beach ball sized projection gently spinning so that its glowing night side came into view for all. What did not revolve in-time with the sphere was a label directed towards the marines: NOT TO SCALE.

Storr made a snuffing sound at the label as he wasn't sure if he wanted to be insulted or to laugh. It WAS funny...

The sound of the doors opening once again interrupted the silence that the room had just settled into. Nevin walked through the doors, looking quite annoyed and angry. Behind him strode a Borg drone who had a firm grasp around the back of his neck. "It appears I've been summoned," he said, giving Mrazak a look that could melt steel. "He snatched me up when I was heading for an escape pod. Feigning a self-destruct has to be against some regulation."

Mrazak nodded. "Probably. Thank you for finally joining us though, Lieutenant. As our biomedical specialist, could you kindly explain to the rest of the team what makes Bynars so special?"

Taking the seat assigned to him, Nevin picked up a PADD that had the notes he had prepared for himself. "The Bynars are a very interesting species, almost like benign Borg drones. Their parietal lobes are replaced after birth with a synaptic processor that gives them access to their master computer which is housed on their planet. The Bynars have a single-sex and they become a pair with another Bynar who mirrors their exact asymmetry. The sudden loss of a single Bynar is devastating to the pair and can have lasting effects on the computer."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Mrazak folded his hands and looked down at his own notes. "The report we received was written in the peculiar binary language of Bynaus, so allowing for translation, it essentially informed us that a recently constructed android has caused irreparable harm to the master computer. It began with the lone death of a Bynar while on a transport vessel en route to Earth. Though the Bynar was eventually resuscitated, his pair became separated from the master computer on Bynaus. The death affected more than just the late Bynar's pair, however. It created a registry error in their DNS system that has spread to every Bynar who comes into contact with Patient Zero."

Mrazak pressed a button on his PADD which shifted the holographic display to images of a Bynar on a biobed in a medical suite. "As the designation suggests, the original Bynar is brain dead but alive. But all other Bynars near him have been violently severed from the master network. The Bynar vessel has been rerouted to Bynaus for emergency quarantine and diagnostics."

The image of Patient Zero was replaced by the luminescent logo of Memory Theta.

"As the Bynars are regarded as the Federation's preeminent computer experts, I will waste no time explaining the catastrophes in store if this 'virus' spreads unchecked," Mrazak said. "We're going to send the field team aboard the Phantom to Bynaus immediately in order to ascertain the cause of this... glitch... before it results in a catastrophic system failure. Any technology we uncover in the process will, of course, be added to our databanks." Mrazak folded his hands together once again and asked, "Are there any questions?"

“Given my current standing within Starfleet’s org chart of necessary monsters,” Ferrofax’s voice grumbled from on high, the air seeming to chill ever so fractionally. “I would assume I will not be allowed to attend this away mission's informational needs in a meaningful and useful capacity? If that is so, then I see this as a perfect chance to give Janus a test drive. She’s been itching for a little real-world experience, and as a Simulated Intelligence she doesn’t have my pesky habit of doing what is desired.”

Mrazak rubbed his chin. "That is acceptable. If this android who is allegedly at the root of the problem is a true artificial intelligence, then it may behoove us to fight fire with fire, as it were."

"Oh, well. If that's the case we could unpack one of the FTL rail guns from the Hades Armoury. At last reckoning, I judge Weapon 17 to be the less mentally unstable one of the lot, though he tends to fall into rhyming couplets if given a chance," Ferrofax said thoughtfully. The floating holo sphere of Bynaus began to grow a series of concentric red and amber rings on its surface. "Depending on terrestrial topography at the target site, there's very little chance that the destruction of Patient Zero would result in anything more extreme than a mild nuclear winter. I can run you through a tabulation of possible side effects and their likelihood of occurrence if you like?"

An eager to please Ferrofax was a dangerous thing.

"Let's call that Plan B," Mrazak said. "For now data acquisition is our top priority."

Lt Col Garlake simply sat in silence, waiting for the first round of inevitable questions. Despite a late night of readings and pouring over what he could of the station and its mission, his head was still swimming with details and, even more importantly, the multitude of unanswered questions. So, for the moment, he decided to live with the maxim "better to be quiet and have others think you stupid than to speak and prove them right."

After assessing everyone at the table, Mrazak clapped his hands. "Very well. Let us discuss logistics. Despite the non-militant nature of this alert, the commandant will be accompanying us." For the first time, he looked directly at Storr. "The Bynars have a history of renegade actions, so we must be prepared for anything."

That the admiral had ordered him to take Storr along seemed too inconsequential to mention.

"The Phantom's crew will accompany us, which includes a--" Mrazak referred to his PADD again. "--Lieutenant Van Straten and Sergeant Kos." He matched their faces from the PADD to the people at the table. "You two will coordinate with Colonel Gunlick to determine optimum entry and exit strategies, and perhaps a few contingencies. You will, of course, neutralize any and all threats to our persons and our ship as they materialize. Ferrofax will provide acceptable collateral damage ratios, which will be uploaded to... Janus, was it?" Mrazak squinted at the ceiling in his question to the AI. He turned his attention to Nevin last. "Lieutenant Kiril will be my second on this mission. Regardless of the truth of whatever is going on, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to dig around inside the Bynars, both literally and figuratively, to probe the depth and berth of their technology, so I won't have any shock-jocks or flyboys getting in the way of that. Is everybody clear?"

" Neutralize threats? Acceptable collateral damage?" Reno wondered. “This sounded like a warzone, not a ferry run for some secret research scientists."

“Every threat that a Theta Team is assigned is classified under Operational Plan NIGHTMARE RAINBOW,” Ferrofax explained pointedly. “Any of the spectrum of NIGHTMARE RAINBOW’s target outcomes result in the loss of life on planetary and system level scales. We are not called out to preform the functions of the Coast Gaurd. We are authorised permission to do what is necessary to safeguard the Federation. To this date we have only lost two planets to Theta level threats, both of which were sustained with minimal civilian casualties.”

Why did the mad AI sound like that was a sore point? Like it was missing out on a high score?!

"How about we not go into this situation with guns blazing and preparing to neutralize threats?" Nevin said as he looked around the room. "We need to go into this situation without preconceived notions of what we think happened and be objective. Yes, we need to protect the Federation but our actions can not be the source of any unacceptable loss. And loss of life is unacceptable."

"I agree, sir. And paramount among the unacceptable loss of life are you, and the other members of my team. Those outside of my team are a secondary priority to me." Rodi answered after being quiet the entire briefing so far. "A drill sergeant of mine once said 'Come for peace, prepare for war.' That is what's ordered." He took a sip of his coffee, waiting for a possible reply but happy to stay quiet again.

Mrazak grinned at each and every one of his specialists. His field team. His hounds. "I love the diversity of thought. Let us bear in mind that the Bynars are unpredictable in their binary reasoning. Most of us think in shades of gray that lie between two extremes, but on Bynaus, there are only extremes."

His grin faded to a faint toothless smile. "I have already stated our priority: acquisition of technological data. If that data leads to the salvation of the Bynars, then we will have done our job, but if our efforts result in the destruction of Bynaus for the good of the Federation or for the preservation of Memory Theta, then we will have also done our jobs. Either way, we shall remember."

Mrazak's final words were intoned as if they were nearly sacred.

"So....was that a yes or no on the release of a item from the Hades Armoury? I ask only because of the pesky governer program, I'd hate to cause a station wide blackout because this thing took a suggestion to seriously? I could have it loaded on the Phantom in 5 minutes," Ferrofax said, before adding. "Three if no one tries to help me."

A quick glance around the table confirmed Mrazak's own feelings. "Eh, let's leave them behind... this time. We wouldn't want to risk any sneaky Bynars filching them without any apparent need." His hands slapped the tabletop in a quick beat. "Are there any other questions?"

"One. Given your disregard for my innumerous talents am I still allowed to serve red meat from the replicators, or would that be considered morally questionable? I just want to make sure I keep conistent across the board," Ferrofax muttered sullenly.

"None for me, please," Mrazak hissed with mock irritation. He rubbed his ribs before stretching his hands out to examine his fingertips. "I am a temple."

Nevin stood, "Eating meat is hardly equitable to violent acts against a sentient race," he said as he walked out of the room, clearly frustrated with the Computer.

"Self-defense, marination, these are topics for another time at a philosophy conference," Mrazak said with a shrug. "Now, you all have your assignments. I expect to leave as soon as the Phantom is ready. Dismissed."

"You do know that I can't actually be dismissed, given my God-like range of motion over this station?" Ferrofax purred.

Despite a very real feeling that the inmates were running the asylum, Lt Col Garlake stood, finished the last bite of his Danish and made his way to the door. "Anything above medium-rare is a crime against humanity."

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