USS Sojourner; Conference Room – Deck 1

Kirin stood looking out the viewport of the conference room, hands clasped behind her back, giving her a very rigid posture. “So! What is the update? How did that THING do this to my SHIP,” she growled through clenched teeth, not caring about the anger in her voice.

Thanen frowned at her, he liked to think he knew Kirin better than most on the crew. Over the last nine months, they had tried to share dinner once a week to review ship matters among other things, and he knew that this anger was not like her; in this situation anyways. He knew that she could be very quick to anger but that was usually linked to her childhood and heritage.

“Kirin, if I may,” He began.

“No, not now Thanen,” Kirin said as she turned around and looked straight at him. “This ship, my ship and my crew were attacked. We lost Andrews to whatever the hell that stuff is out there and have three others in critical condition. I want answers so, let’s have them.” He turned from Thanen and looked at the rest of the senior staff sitting around the table.

Thanen looked at her, his antenna reorienting on her as he began to speak. “Very well. The Doctor reported that we had 15 wounded, with all but the 3 in critical condition discharged. Though that doesn’t include the telepaths; currently four have been sedated and are resting. Several others have expressed concerns about how the blood dilithium is impacting them and are relieved of duty for the time being.”

Kirin glanced at Belania, “Move us away from the colony and any other blood dilithium deposits, give us at least 15 thousand kilometres of clearance.” She then turned back to Thanen, “What else?”

Thanen nodded before continuing, “Repairs are underway and should be completed in the next five to six hours. The hull breach has been cleared of debris and teams are currently fixing them. We were lucky, though it was on decks four and five, it was very small and didn’t hit anything critical. And as for…” He paused for a moment and glanced down at the PADD before him to link to the holo display.

“What about the shields, any idea what happened there?” Kirin said with some impatience.

Thanen looked at her and smiled, “I am projecting our findings now.” Before them, above the table appeared the energy readouts that the sensors logged when the beam weapon had struck the Sojourner. “The weapon seemed to not be a directed energy weapon but the opposite. It can absorb energy that it comes into contact with. The internal damage was caused by interruptions in our own power systems from this drain which caused energy spikes and then the blowouts.”

“How do we stop it from happening again?” Kerry asked from across the table as she looked up at the readings. 

“That is the tricky part.” Thanen began and glanced over at Ril who took over. “We are pretty confident that a quick rotation shield frequency will mean the beam is unable to drain energy as efficiently, but it won’t stop it.”

Kirin just nodded and walked over to the table, “What about you Kerry, any ideas as to what that was? Because it was not Blood Dilithium anymore. What was it that killed Andrews?”

Kerry sighed and switched the display over to her control, projecting an image of Malon ship, covered in Blood Dilithium. “I have been studying the sample we collected and it still exhibits the same properties of blood dilithium, as I am sure the doctor can attest to given the reactions some of the crew have had. Other than that the chemical structure has been changed. When exposed to radiation or another energy source it is able to absorb the energy and store it. One of the shards, like the one that killed Andrews, was collected also. It showed the same properties but at a much higher degree and was able to absorb energy directly from organic cells when exposed to them. Draining them in the process.”

“What did you expose it to? Not someone?” Belania asked.

“Of course not, just a small cell culture. It used the energy to expand itself, minimally I would add. After that, we left it and in the space of an hour and a half the remaining energy dissipated and it was inert. I suspect the shards would only react if put in direct contact with an energy source or organic material.” Kerry said as she showed a simulation of the shard expanding when in contact with an energy source. 

“I suspect that that is what happened on the Malon ship. I think it feeds off their core and expanded to make whatever that thing was. As for how this happened I have a theory. The blood dilithium in the rest of the system is very similar to what we have seen elsewhere its structure has changed but only minimally. Likely due to it being radioactive after being exposed to the near continual pulsar discharges but it doesn’t react to organics or energy sources in any way. The issue is the blood dilithium around the colony, in particular, that of the mining vessel. It has the ability to react to organic tissue. I think the theta radiation leak from the waste transport in such high concentrations mixed with the radiation from the pulsar made a perfect storm and something horrific was created.”

“How do we stop it from spreading? Our weapons, well the phasers didn’t do much.” Thanen asked as he watched Kerry intently. The others around the table nodded before Kirin spoke up. “What about the Malon you found entombed, he was different than the other?” Her posture was a bit more relaxed as she began to get a better idea of what was happening.

Kerry nodded, “The doctor was able to look at the samples we collected from the entombed Malon and he believes that he was hit by one of the shards as well but then killed with a weapon’s high energy beam. This likely caused the shard, the crystal to grow rapidly as it absorbed the power and expanded, entombing the body. That is the reason the phasers didn’t work but the torpedoes did I believe. The explosive power of the torpedoes ripped the ship apart whereas the phasers just powered it up.”

Ril nodded, “Ok but we destroyed it already so it’s done right?”

“Maybe not,” Belania said, “I detected an energy discharge, possibly a signal sent from the mining vessel just before it was destroyed. I could not tell where it was going as it got lost in the system’s background radiation. We know that there was a Devore ship here and it left a day or so ago. Maybe it was exposed as well…”

Kirin sighed, “So there could be another one out there. I want ideas on how we can destroy it.” She looked down and began to rub her right temple, “And we need to move that waste transport. Can we stop the leak? If the theta radiation is causing this we need to remove it.”

Thanen nodded, “I had been thinking about that and think a single damage repair team in EVA suits will be able to patch the leave in an hour or so. The remaining spill though will linger.”

“Get on it,” Kirin said.

USS Sojourner; Ready Room – Deck 1

After the end of the briefing, Kirin returned to her ready room to review the detailed reports from each of the department heads. Before she was able to even open them up the door chimed. She closed her eyes and exhaled loudly in annoyance. “ENTER,” she barked.

A second later the door opened and Thanen walked in. “Kirin,” he said with a nod, “We need to talk.”

She rolled her eyes and leaned back, “About?”

“You. You are not acting like yourself. You let yourself get angry and show that anger to the crew,” he said as he stood before her desk.

“Everyone can get angry,” she said with a hint of venom in her voice, “Especially after what happened to the ship. I would have expected you, my XO to be angry as well.”

Thanen sighed, “I am upset by what happened but there are ways of showing it.” He paused for a moment and looked out the viewport at the asteroid field beyond. “I have to ask, are you feeling like yourself? The last time you seemed agitated like this was after the implant was destroyed.”

Kirin glared at him, “So you think my implant is faulty and….”

She was cut off when the comms activated and the EMH’s voice came over them. “Captian Tarken and Lieutenant Th’zalnar please report to medical immediately.”

Both Thanen and Kirin looked at each other. “We will speak on this,” Thanen said as he turned to the door. “Fine,” Kirin responded as she stood and followed him.

USS Sojourner; Medical – Deck 4

Kirin walked into medical with furrowed brows followed moments later by Thanen. She saw the EMH standing by one of the biobed looking over one of the crew. “What did you want to speak to us about Doctor, we are very busy right now.” Her tone caused Nurse Joy to glance her way from where she stood beside the unconscious form of Jenoda.

The EMH turned hearing Kirin’s voice, “Ah, good, you came.” He stepped away from the bed and up towards Kirin and Thanen giving them a view of the crewmember on the biobed. Her green skin gave her away as the only other Orion on board. Kirin frowned and moved to step past the doctor, “Why is Dese here?!” she started to demand, her anger beginning to grow again.

As she stepped past the doctor his arm moved quickly and she felt something press against her neck and then the tell-tale feeling of a hypospray being injected into her.

Both Kirin and Thanen spun on the doctor but Kirin spoke first. “What the hell was that?” she asked as she moved her hand up to the spot on her upper arm rubbing the spot. 

“You better explain yourself, Doctor?,” Thanen warned.

“So dramatic,” the EMH said shaking his head. “It was the same treatment I gave to help suppress your pheromones Captain. “I am going to go out on a limb and say you have not been yourself for the last few hours?”

Kirin just looked at him, “What?!” she spat. 

“See anger, agitation, generally unlike you Captain.” I expect the suppressant will start to take effect any second now given the previous speed you have reacted to it.

Sure enough, the bubbling anger and the pressure she had been feeling in her head began to subside. As it did her body noticeably relaxed, but a wave of exhaustion washed over her and she had to grab ahold of one of the nearby consoles for support. “Ok, but please explain.”

The doctor stepped up to her and flipped open his tricorder. After a few seconds, he nodded, “Same as Ensign Tycon; well almost.”

“Doctor.” Thane said, “Answers please.”

“Fine,” he groaned as he rolled his eyes, “I was getting to that. It would appear the close proximity to blood dilithium also has an impact on Orion’s physiology as well. I know not all Orion females produce the pheromones naturally, such as Ensign Tycon here. You on the other hand do, not that that is news to us.”

“It would seem that the blood dilithium has stimulated hyperactive pheromone and adrenaline production. Your implant,” he continued pointing at Kirin, “blocked most of the pheromone effects though if it went on longer am sure would see some less-than-interesting effects. For you, it most flooded your system with adrenaline.”

Kirin crossed her arms and frowned, “Ok, I get that, what about Dese, her body doesn’t even produce them.”

The EMH shook his head, “Not true, they are at such a low concentration they have no effect. That has changed; her body is now producing them at the same levels as yours, without the implant, that is. She had elevated adrenaline levels when she was in before that was expected given the combat and injuries she took so I didn’t look further.”

“Will she be ok?” Thanen asked, stepping up and scanning the display beside the biobed. “Does she need an implant like Kirin?”

“I don’t think so. Once we get out of the vicinity of the blood dilithium I suspect she will be fine, similar to the telepaths.”

“That is good news,” Kirin said as she relaxed visibly. “What happened exactly?”

“Ah,” the EMH began and glance over at Dese and then over to the still form of a young Betazoid ensign, Ined Bruco. “It would appear that Dese did not take my instructions to rest and instead went to one of the smaller crew lounges. We were alerted when Ensign Bruco neural monitor indicated abnormal adrenaline levels and neurological readings. He didn’t respond when contacted so Nurse Joy and a security officer went to his location as we have been doing for all telepaths. They found Dese and Ined rather engaged; it would appear that they have been seeing each other so the heightened pheromones didn’t need to push much. We had to bring them here and sedate them to allow the suppressants to take effect and the pheromones to wear off. “

Kirin raised an eyebrow at that. Not that she was surprised that the ensigns were seeing each other but that she hadn’t any idea given that she saw Dese every day. “Let them rest but I want them back on duty as soon as possible. Make sure she has sufficient suppressants on hand. I need my primary pilot, I have a suspicion that we aren’t finished yet here yet.”

The EMH nodded, “Sure, but I will add to it my own orders Captain. You need to sleep. The XO can look after things until you are rested. The adrenaline has been pushing your system too much.”

“I will rest soon.”

“Now,” the EMH said sternly. “Doctor’s orders.”

Kirin glanced at Thanen beside her and he shrugged. “The repairs are well underway. I will oversee the movement and repair of the Malon ship. Get a few hours and I will notify you if anything happens.”

“Fine, I will be in my quarters,” Kirin said, silently happy she was going to be able to sleep.