Learning Things

Posted on Thu Dec 8th, 2022 @ 2:43pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Lieutenant Ayana Hillis & Commander Samantha Howard & Ensign T'Plana-hath

Mission: Living History

It was a bit of a drive to where the shuttle was hidden, but Deanna had used the time to do surface scans of Morden. His mind was disciplined, but he couldn't outright block her, only cause her some difficulties finding things in his mind. She hoped that once they were back in the shuttle a few things could be done that would weaken his defenses significantly and allow her to better probe his mind. The one thing she was certain of, T'Plana could not be allowed to attempt a meld. The consequences would be potentially horrific. It was best to let T'Plana focus on the advanced technology that had been introduced.

Once the arrived at their out of the way location Ayana led the way with Morden as they reentered the shuttle. She took him back to what was essentially the cargo area which had a single biobed and placed him on it, putting a restraining field up before even considering undoing the handcuffs.

Deanna was next to Sam talking, "Not sure how you feel about it, but I'd like for you to sedate him, heavily. I will have an easier time probing his mind with him unconscious."

Sam was conflicted for the moment, deliberately rendering someone unconscious so his mind could be read was treading the very fine line of medical ethics. She looked from Deanna to Morden and back again. They needed information and this man had the ability of causing harm to the team if he was awake.

"Ok, I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea but we need information. It's for our safety" She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as she readied the hypospray.

T'Plana walked forward to the cockpit and scanned all the systems. The ship was still well hidden and unobserved. She looked at their guest "Just so you know I have placed both a 'worm' and a 'virus' in the servers. The 'worm' is designed to infect and destroy any technology or programs that do not meet this timeline. The 'virus' is designed to erase and permanently destroy any data that is not of this timeline. I also put a tracer signal on the components that are not of this timeline to be beamed aboard. I am merely awaiting the Commander's orders to implement the protocols I have in place."

Deanna whispered to Sam, "I know this plays with your ethics. I promise not to do anymore than absolutely necessary. The alternative is definitely something you wouldn't approve of I'm afraid." She looked over at T'Plana, "Can you transport that server here? I really think we need to take a closer look at it."

T'Plana nodded, "Just awaiting your orders. Would you also like me to initiate the 'worm' and 'virus'?" she inquired.

Celes gently shook her head. "Not yet. We should take a look at what they have before we purge it from the timeline."

"I confirm to wait on the protocols until we find out just how what we need to get rid of" Sam advised as she injected Morden in the neck, heavily sedating him. "Do what you need to do" She looked at Deanna. " I trust you."

Deanna smiled. "Appreciated" she said. She looked to T'Plana, "Get that server here and start going over it. Use caution, I suspect it'll have defenses." Deanna slowly moved towards Morden, "Sam, you may want to monitor us. I can't guarantee he won't try to resist in unexpected ways while I probe him. We have to take into consideration he is from the 31st century, all kinds of possibilities."

"One step ahead of you" Sam smiled as she had two neural monitors in her hand as soon as Morden was unconscious. "If I see anything hinky, I'm pulling you out"

Deanna gave a soft chuckle. "Perhaps you can wait for things to get a bit more than just a little hinky. I'm sure you will see all kinds of strange things in your monitoring."

Ayana looked uneasy. "You sure you want to go trapsing in his mind?"

"Better me than T'Plana. More safeguards if I do it honestly. That isn't to say T'Plana couldn't handle such things, but I am simply the most qualified. I have a great deal of experience doing this, though I am not at liberty to discuss it more than that." Celes walked over to Sam and let her put the monitor on her.

"I may know a thing or two about hinkiness during mind to mind communication" Sam knowingly tapped the side of her head "Now, go forth and delve into the unknown" She smiled, giving Celes a reassuring look.

Deanna gave a smile and confident nod. She turned to look at Morden, a look of calm and concentration coming over her as she delved into his mind. His mind was disciplined, dark, dangerous. She traversed his mind, avoiding defenses and traps, and learning secrets. Her facial expression began to shift as she encountered dark information.

"Is she alright?" questioned Ayana as she looked at Sam.

Sam never took her eyes off the complex data rolling in from the neural monitors. The brain waves of both parties periodically spiked and plateaued as they played a game of cat and mouse in Morden's mind. Sam grimaced at the secrets and darkness Deanna may have found in there. "She's doing okay, physically speaking. Goodness knows what she is experiencing in there though" Sam admitted.

"Telepathy. Wondrous ability, but sometimes I don't envy those with the ability. Vulcans, Betazoids, Andorians, mental abilities that are difficult to fathom" Ayana mused. She looked over at T'Plana, "How goes the transport?"

T’Plana-hath finished some minor adjustments on the transporter. The trick was taking the items she needed without seriously damaging or hampering the servers of this time period from doing their jobs. Satisfied with what she had she pulled the items that did not belong in this timeline. There was a slight hum and they appeared. “I have successfully retrieved the items.” Stated T’Plana as she went and gathered up the chips. She took a tricorder and began doing a scan and interrogation of the components.

Sam was a little nervous, just a telepathic link could go wrong in so many ways and cause permanent damage before her ever ready 'pull her out' device could be used. She continued to monitor both sets of brain waves and hoped that Deanna prevailed.

Several minutes passed, and Deanna's facial expressions were chaotic. Finally she opened her eyes and let out a long sighing breath. She was looking a bit haggard as she looked towards Ayana and Sam, "I got the information. He didn't make it easy. It would be best if he remains unconscious for the foreseeable future."

"Well that's pretty easy to achieve" Sam quipped as she topped up the sedative she had already given Morden. "More importantly though, are you okay?" She looked at Deanna and indicated she should rest for a few moments. The neural monitor was still working, sending all the relevant data to Sam's tricorder.

"I am fine, though I will happily take your advice to take it easy for a few minutes" Deanna responded. "His mind was...dark yet disciplined."

"Given he is a time traveler I'm not surprised" Sam mused as she took more readings from Deanna. "Your neural patterns are returning to normal - are you feeling a little better?"

"In general, yes" Celes replied, a look of concern on her face. "This Morden fellow is not alone. He has a partner, a superior working at the NASA facility in Florida. We should inform Jon immediately about that so he can keep an eye out for the agent. These fellows work for StarFleet Temporal Affairs but are acting as rogue agents. The changes made by the Romulans in our recent encounter, while benign to us, and considered overall positive to their superiors, had consequences they could not live with. They decided to alter the past by pushing Earth into space earlier and the result would be the foundation of the Federation sooner, and the defeat of the Romulans. It is a dangerous gambit on their part."

"Geez, no small mission profile then" Sam let out a low whistle as she considered the consequences they had just prevented from happening." She sent a message to Jon's tricorder/device, detailing what they had uncovered, not risking a voice call should he be in a sensitive location.

Deanna looked over to T'Plana, "What have you learned from the future tech so far?"

T’Plana looked up “It contains highly advance mathematical algorithm’s, one’s that this current time period would not be able to conceive of yet. There is also an intuitive A.I. program to speed up and correct all mathematical calculations for launch and space flight, to include intersystem flight. Once that was achieved the system is designed to open up rudimentary theory on faster than light travel and warp theory. It is all cleverly disguised to make it look like a natural progression of human cultural and scientific development. One of these ‘agents' must have a fundamental background in archaeology and anthropology, as well as psychosocial development.”

"Based on what I got from Morden, that seems to make sense. As a temporal agent he has a background in sociology, archaeology, anthropology, and several other sciences needed for this sort of work." Deanna shook her head before continuing, "Morden is essentially a lot like me, his position essentially an Operations officer. I would say the partner at NASA may be a command level officer."

"So we found this guy and located the technology he was using to alter the timeline. What happens next?" mused Ayana.

Deanna remained concerned. "What we did was the easy part. We still have a bit of work remaining before we can even begin to think about getting back to our own time."