“Every old Earth film about this kind of thing ends really…badly.”  Atega sat across from the chief science officer in science lab two as they were working over the various methods, ideas, and brainstorms on how to release the spirits of the Brenari from the Blood Dilithium.  Fowler was hunched over the console, building the list of ideas they were discussing.  Atega was an expert in communications systems, and Sadie had decided whatever they did, they'd need a way to communicate on a more permanent basis.

Fowler mused, “Well, this isn't the movies.  It's real and dangerous…and I don't even know if it's a good idea.  The spirits of the Brenari say they only want revenge on the Devore…but what happens when they get their piece of justice?  Where do they go from there?  I don't think going back into the dilithium is going to work.”

Presley was working on her console at the station, “If we were able to release them…communicating is going to be a problem.  They're contained within the Blood Dilithium, and the trumpet allows us to concentrate the beam…once they're out of the container…we'd have to reverse engineer the trumpet components.”

Sadie raised her eyebrows at the thought, “Could it be done?”  She knew with the assistance of engineering; science could create anything.

The communications chief pondered, “Well, the Universal Translator would have to be heavily modified - we will be playing with telepathic communication outside of a container.”  She tapped a few ideas into her console, “Instead of a beam, what about a field?  It wouldn't have to be a containment field…just a field tuned to the apparition of the Brenari consciousnesses.”

“It would need to be tuned just right - the trumpet took a lot of work to create, test, and finesse.  They had a bit more time than we do.”  Fowler sighed, “It's doable…probably.  The captain hasn't heard back from Starfleet yet on whether we can even release them…but I suppose we need to be ready if they say yes.  I'll get the teams together.”

Atega gave a distracted nod as she continued her work.

The chrono clicked over to 1600, and the low murmur of conversation and investigation continued as officers from science, engineering, and communications worked in tandem throughout the lab.  There had been some progress made but not enough.  The trumpet reverse engineering process was moving but had hit some walls along the way.  The communications work was moving at a halting pace as the science department was trying to craft a field that would draw from the nebulous cloud of Brenari and be able to transmit whatever signal was within to the next piece of the puzzle.

“We don't even know the contents or consistency of the eventual…cloud or spirit or…whatever it is.”  Atega was leaning back in the chair, hands on her forehead in frustration and contemplation.  “I know how to seek out signals from all kinds, types, and even eras of time.  I can delineate signal strength, bandwidth, frequency, and content given some time.  But we're talking about something…well, it's not quite biological, and it's not quite a nebula we can study.  Whatever this will be isn't going to fit any of the molds we have or had.”

Fowler grumbled, agreeing with her. “We can approximate, but until we have the thing in front of us…we're going to be shooting our phaser in the dark.”  A second thought came to her, “What if we could…confine the Brenari presence long enough after we release it to study it?  There are enough studies out there about this kind of thing to suggest a container that would hold it without too much difficulty or suffering on the subject itself.”  She motioned to Lieutenant Greer, and she bounded over with a smile.  Sadie explained to the assistant chief engineer her idea and how it would allow them to hold whatever was released securely and safely while they tried to communicate with it.

Greer felt a broad grin on her face, “Totally.  We can fabricate it - we'll have to make sure the thickness and materials of the material fit what you're looking to do.  Give us a few hours - we'll start building in Cargo Bay 3.”

She was off with a gaggle of engineers, and Sadie turned to Atega, “I think we might have a least a temporary solution if we manage to get them out of the dilithium.”  

The communications chief agreed, “I'll focus my teams on getting our end built up to a certain point where we can modify the variable parameters.”  Fowler sat back down at her desk and continued her work with new energy,