Romulus

Anomaly TrekMUX Episode (#01-005) 5/17/00

Ronar has arrived.

The doors slide closed.

Surat says "Deck 3"

The computer confirms entry with a chime and the turbolift starts to move toward Level 3.

The doors slide open at Level 3.

You exit the turbolift.

Science Labs - Level 3 - Station 419 - [IC]

     This room seems fairly sterile. Several work tables are scattered around the room and over them containment field emitters hiss with energy. Along the walls, secured equipment lockers hold a variety of tools and devices. Below them, monitors display the results of computer-assisted similations and tests. Towards the back of the room, a series of jars containing trilithium-matrix holding solution give off a slight blue glow.

Obvious exits:
Science Lab One <S1>  Science Lab Two <S2>  Turbolift <T>
 
The turbolift doors slide closed.

The turbolift doors slide open with a hiss.

Ronar exits the turbolift, the double doors sliding shut behind him.

Ronar has arrived.

The turbolift doors slide closed.

You wield your Type I Phaser.

Surat slowly approaches the entrance to Science Lab 2, drawing his phaser.

As Ronar and Surat charge down the hallway, the Security officer nods briefly to the security detail posted outside Science Lab Two, signaling them to let the pair pass. He as well brandishes his small, hand-held phaser, and, if allowed, takes point infront of the First Officer.

Ronar wields his Type I Phaser.

The guards stand aside and let the officers through.

Surat nods to the Security Chief and steps to the entrance.

You enter science lab two.

Science Lab Two - Station 419 - [IC]

     This lab is slightly smaller than Science Lab One, but is definitely more interesting. In the center of the room is a large square slab, measuring about four by four meters, and about a half-meter tall. Suspended above it via forcefields (and a backup tether securely fastened around it) is a large stump-shaped object, appearing to be made of a cluster of opaque ice-blue crystals. The 'roots' of the stump branch out into continuously thinning crystals into a delicate-looking structure beneath. It is sheared off flat at the top. The whole thing is about one meter tall, and three meters in diameter at its widest point. A glowing gold ring around the base of the slab indicates a containment field is up around it. Scattered around the stump is a variety of portable scanner consoles, on which is plugged a portable computer. A shelf is recessed into the gunmetal grey wall, a variety of scanning and diagnostic tools scattered on its surface. One wall is nothing but computer displays. It seems this room was hastily converted from the astrometrics lab into a lab devoted to the study of this... thing.

Contents:
Tyler
Obvious exits:
Out <O>

You are currently wielding a Type I Phaser.

Ronar comes in from the central Sciences area.

Ronar comes into view wielding a Type I Phaser.

Ronar has arrived.

Tyler is standing beside the artifact, peering at something on top of it.

Entering the room with his phaser drawn, Lt. Ronar does a quick scan of the room and its contents, doing his best to make sure that nothing is amiss.

Of course, this is the first time he's been in the room, so it might be hard for him to tell just what to look for. But some things do tend to stand out if they're wrong. As he sees Tyler peering at the crystalline object, he pauses, focusing his attention on the young ensign for the moment. "What happened, Mister Tyler?" His tone is all business.

Surat stops just inside the entrance, and once he gives the lab a good once over he straightens and turns toward Ensign Tyler, "Report."
 
Tyler jumps as the door opens, startling. "Oh," she says. "Suh-sirs." She points on top of the artifact. Resting on its ice-blue surface is a rather large knife of some sort. "Suh-someone's b-been in here. And left that."

Surat looks in the direction indicated and slowly approaches the artifact, his phaser quickly exchanged for an active tricorder.

Narrowing his eyes on the sharp weapon, Ronar takes a few steps closer, in order to get a better look at it. Despite the temptation to lower his phaser in the seemingly secure room, the Security Chief keeps his weapon at the ready, instead letting the executive officer perform the scanning duties. "Who was on duty in the lab before you?" he asks the ensign then, turning his attention back to her for the moment.

Tyler shakes her head. "Nuh-nobody has gone through the duh-doors since I last left, suh-sixteen hours ago."

Surat frowns as he attempts to glean any information from his brief scans. He abruptly ends his efforts when he hears the Vulcan reference.

The expression on the Security Chief's face is also stymied, as he gives another scan around the otherwise empty room. Even assuming someone snuck in through the Jeffries tube access panels, they still would have had to disengage and re-engage the artifact's force-fields - without setting off any alarms. "Computer," he states then, walking over to the nearest terminal, "Display video logs of Science Lab Two, beginning at time index 0700. Relay at triple speed." The computer chimes affirmative, and starts to display to Ronar.
 
Surat attempts to get a closer look at the knife while staying well away from the artifact.

As the terminal chirps its acknowledgement, the Andorian watches intently as the images speed by on the monitor. The playback begins at the end of Tyler's last shift, and her departing the room. For a few long moments, nothing happens as time shoots forward. And then, the image flickers in a blackout, right before the ensign arrives again for her next shift. "Computer, stop." Ronar orders, getting a better fix on the blackout. "Start display at time index 2307, fifty percent speed." And he then watches again, as the image disappears for a little over thirteen seconds of log-time. "Commander, whatever happened, affected our video logs."

Surat turns and walks slowly back toward Ronar and Tyler. He nods, "I suspected that might be the case."

Tyler looks to Commander Surat, then back at the knife. "D-do you know what it is?" she asks him.

Turning at the sound of the Vulcan's response, Ronar gives the executive officer a slightly puzzled look. One that seems to echo Tyler's hesitant statement. He doesn't add anything verbally to her words, though waits to see what Surat has to add on the case so far.

Surat says "Indeed, I believe I do, but what it is doing .." he glances back over his shoulder at the artifact.." there is beyond any explanation." He looks to Ronar and reacts to his questioning look.. he points to the garbled video display, "The previous intrusion event in this lab produced similar data corruption."

Tyler steps to the console at the artifact and starts to scan the data there. After reading over it, she looks to Surat. "We have to get that knife out of there now, sir," she says quickly. A soft buzzing alert starts to repeat itself at her console. She continues to look at him, awaiting his approval.

Surat frowns, "Is it responsible for the increased chronoton emissions?"

Tyler spends a courage point.

Surat nods sharply, "Proceed Ensign."

Still holding his small, Type I phaser in one hand, Ronar is clearly not happy with the news that this is the second security breach into the highly sensitive lab that hasn't been able to be caught on video. Definately a matter that needs to be addressed. In fact, that might be the very matter that he's opening his mouth to speak on, when his words are cut short by Tyler's sudden outburst. And though it looks like he himself wants to respond to her statement, the Andorian does his best to defer to Surat, who's the superior officer at hand.

Tyler presses several buttons on her console, taking action. The buzzer is still going off. The field drops with a metallic zap. The air in the room seems to change - almost as if electrically charged - a strange and uneasy feeling passes through everyone. She looks to Ronar. "Quick! Grab it!"

Already getting himself poised as Tyler begins the preparations to disembark the force field, Ronar quickly leaps into action as soon as it's disengaged. He doesn't know what this artificat is, what it can do, or more importantly, what it can do to him, but those are questions which can wait to be answered another day. Right now, he puts those uncertainties out of his mind and focuses on the task at hand - getting the weapon of war off of the artifact, and doing it as fast as possible. His free hand lashes out to grab the sword at the hilt and yank the thing back and out of range of the fields, all in a single, smooth motion.

As Ronar grabs the hilt, a bright, blue-white light consumes the room in a hissing flash - which fades to a darker blue. For a few long moments, nothing happens as time shoots.. Everywhere. After a moment of ungodly queasiness, you are standing in a patch of large green ferns at the base of huge, redwood-sized trees with a canopy reaching hundreds of feet into the air. There are no low branches, only this carpet of ferns. The forest is untamed. Ronar is holding the knife in his hand, but in the other, is a large orange fruit. Everyone is standing approximately the same distance from the others as before. The smell of the forest is fertile and rich.

Tyler drops to her knees, holding her stomach, trying to get over the dizziness.

Surat appears frozen in place for a time, except for his rapidly shifting eyes. After a moment he takes a deep breath and then moves to aide Tyler.

Tyler is getting up, coming back to.. whatever reality they're in. "I'm oh-okay, s-s-sir," she stutters. "Juh-just dizzy."

Also taking a moment to regain his bearings, Ronar grips the hilt of the sword hard, his blue knuckles turning almost white as he does so. His features pull tightly into a grimace, though he manages to keep both his footing and the contents of his stomach. If not knowledge of where the three of them are. "Ensign, report. What in the name of Lor'Vela just happened?" Even as he asks this question, the Andorian takes another look at the lush vegetation around the area, and the orange fruit that was once his phaser.

Surat holds Tyler's shoulders square to him and looks into her eyes... satisfied that she will indeed recover he unholsters his tricorder and begins scanning.. at first he turns in a slow circle, and then heads toward Ronar.

Everyone has all of their equipment, except Ronar's replaced phaser. Tyler shakes her head. She pulls out a tricorder and starts scanning.
"Ruh-reading very high levels of Chronatons fuh-from us," she says. "Muh-my guess is the artifact generated a temporal field, caused by unstability d-do to the presence of th-that knife." Tyler says "Ah-as to where we are, I huh-have no clue."

When Surat reaches Ronar he focuses his scans on the fruit.

Turning the orange over briefly in his hand, Ronar holds it out a little further to give Surat better access to the fruit, a frown still firmly etched onto the Andorian's face. His other hand hefts the knife lightly, getting the feel and the balance of the weapon should he be forced to use it in defense. "Any idea as to how long the temporal field will last?" He's assuming that it's still ongoing. Or maybe that's more of a hope, than an assumption.

Surat frowns and shakes his head, a sure sign that this Vulcan very much distressed, "... an historically relevant Romulan blade and a Vulcan fruit.." he stops to look around, "... the artifact .. and an unknown world..."

Tyler turns a circle as she scans, looking very worried. "The temporal event is over, Luh-lieutenant."

Surat seems to catch himself .. his thoughts straying. He asks sharply, "Theories?"

To his credit, Ronar's expression doesn't blanch too terribly much at the news that whatever put them here, apparently decided not to hang around and pull them back. Instead, he drops the fruit onto the ground, and reaches up to test his comm badge, seeing if maybe this is all some elaborate hoax or illusion. "Lieutenant Ronar to Starbase 419..." He really doesn't expect to
get a response. But, it never does hurt to try.

There is no response to Ronar's hail.

Tyler shakes her head, looking to Surat. She's on the verge of breaking into tears, but she's holding up rather well otherwise - keeping from breaking down is probably taking everything she's got. "Nuh-none, sir. We could be now. We cuh-could be tomorrow. We could be a billion years ago. I don't understand wuh-what happened yet."

Surat silently examines his tricorder. He bends and picks up the fruit.. he examines it, turning it in his hand, and then smells it... as if he were about to take a bite of it.  ".. ripe and very fresh.. as if it were recently harvested .."

Well, so much for the easy way out... Ronar takes his hand away from his comm badge with another frown at his lips, and then takes a long glance upwards to the far-away canopy that lurks above. Too much leaf cover to get any star-chart readings at night, so no real way to tell where they are, let alone when. And the Andorian doesn't even have close the science training to figure out what happened, or how to reverse it. "Sir," he looks over to Surat, about to ask something, when he catches the officer's motions with the fruit. "I recommend against eating that. I'd also like to perform a quick security sweep of the area, while you and Ensign Tyler try to figure out what happened. I don't want the three of us to be surprised by any natural predators that might be in the area."

Tyler pales a bit. Predators.

Tyler spends a courage point.

Surat nods to Ronar, "Yes, by all means, perform your sweep. Perhaps you can find us a good location to camp if we must."

Tyler shakily scans the horizon, moving about in a circle. "Suh-sir, the forest th-thins out in that direction." She points off into the trees. Tyler checks her Tricorder.

Noting Tyler's increasingly scared demeanor, Ronar offers the young ensign a reassuring look, and nods to her as she reports on the nearby terrain."Near the edge of the forest would probably be the best place to make that camp. If we're all able to, we might want to just head there now." He glances to Surat as he says that, looking for the first officer's opnion on the matter. But even as he speaks, Ronar seems to think of something else. "Unless it'd be recommended to stay near where the temporal event brought
us in..."

Surat nods, "Yes, I was thinking it best to close to this position, but with little evidence that this spot is of any importance, I agree.. we should move to a less exposed area. Ensign Tyler... mark this position and keep track of our movements."

Surat says "Lieutenant Ronar, you are on point."

Surat takes his phaser from it's holster and tosses it to Ronar.

Tyler frowns as she examines her tricorder, facing in the direction of the thinning forest. "Thuh-there's a huh-hillside beyond, sir. I'm ruh-reading an impulse drive signature." She smiles a bit. We're saved. "Five huh-humanoids. in puh-proximity to the shuh-ship."

Surat says "A Federation signature?"

Tyler shakes her head. "I duh-don't know enough about engines tuh-to tell the duh-differences."
Holding his hand out for Surat's phaser even as the Vulcan begins to unfasten it, Ronar catches the energy weapon easily, fingers wrapping around the small object. "Aye, sir," he responds, before Tyler gives her startling news. He pauses before heading out then, waiting to get the rest of the information, and when he does, offers a nod. "We'll approach with caution then." And with that, he heads off in the lead, towards th edge of the forest.

Surat levels his tricorder and points it in the direction the Tyler refers to.

Surat shakes his head, "I can not make that determination either."

Surat says "Perhaps if when we are closer .. Lieutenant, you determine the proper approach. Move out."

Tyler follows behind. She's slow going - mainly because she's doing three things at once - scanning the surrounding area, running a simulation, and trying to clear her way through the dense foliage without walking into a tree.

Already in motion, Ronar gives another nod to his commanding officer, keeping his phaser at the ready before him as he makes his way through the underbrush. The Romulan knife is still held loosely in his other hand, alternately hanging down at his side, and being used to hack away at particularly offensive fern branches. "Commander, recommend you take the rear while Ensign Tyler takes position in the middle." Surat stops and allows Tyler to pass before picking up behind her.

The progress in general is slow going, and though Ronar doesn't seem to be getting particularly tired, he is breaking a sweat as he continues to beat a path through the foliage and keep an eye and an antennae out for possible danger. Perspiration rolls freely off of his blue-skin, much of it getting caught up in his short moustache and beard. "Any new information about the event that brought us here, Ensign?" he calls behind him then, apparently looking to start up some conversation to break up the monotony of traveling through the underbrush.

Tyler continues to type things into the tricorder, trying to forget the current situation, but failing due to the enormity of the unexpected shift in her reality. "I wuh-was running an experiment at the luh-lab. The knife interfered w-with the chronanton pulse, and buh-brought us here. I'm stuh-still working on h-how."

Surat speculates, "If the chronoton pulse created the temporal displacement it had an unusually specific result .. the three of us, the blade, the fruit .. nothing else in the area of effect."

Surat says ".. an increased probability that an intelligence is at the root of the cause.."

Setting his mouth into a line again, Ronar re-focuses himself on the path before him, continuing on with the forging a path through towards the edge of the forest. Fortunately, as the foliage thins out, the Andorian's work does as well, giving him fewer overgrown ferns that he needs to cut back out of the way. "Looks like we're getting closer," he announces, slowing the pace some as he tries to get visual confirmation of the edge of the forest. "Unless we've got a positive identification on that engine signature, I'll go on ahead in a solitary recon to see who they are."

Surat looks to his tricorder once again, "Negative... very well, proceed Lieutenant. Report back once you have made visual contact, but do not let your presence be known no matter what you discover."

Poised up on the hill - everyone can see it - is a run-down jalopy of a shuttle craft. Five men are gathered together in a circle approximately 100 meters or so down the hill. You are about 50 meters from them farther down. The men are wearing tunics, and have black hair, and pointed ears. All are armed, save one, with large energy weapons. The one who is not armed is old, almost venerable.

"Aye, sir," is Ronar's terse reply to the edict, as he hands the small phaser back to the Vulcan first officer. Then, armed with only the Romulan knife, the Andorian lieutenant slinks off into the underbrush, to get closer to the base of the hill and get a better look at the men camped out around it. Once there, Ronar remains in a low crouch behind a particularly large tree, peeking out as he eyes the five men. Instictively, he reaches up to his comm badge with the intent to talk to Surat, but only realizes just as he's hitting the badge, that it probably won't work.

Surat crouches down on one knee beside a tree which gives him a good degree of cover.
Surat's eyes widen as recognition turns to revelation, ".. fascinating .." he half-whispers to himself.

Tyler doesn't pay much mind to the goings on. She's really concentrating on figuring out what has happened to them now that they're sitting still.

After waiting in his position for a moment, Ronar blinks in shock, before he hurriedly slinks back towards Surat, doing his best to move without disturbing any of the larger underbrush that might betray the fact that the five men on the hill are being watched. Once there, gives another glance to the hill and the shuttle, before whispering to his commanding officer. "Sir. They just proclaimed this planet as Romulus.... I think we're at the birth of the Romulan Empire.." The awe and shock in his voice is readily
apparent.

Tyler blinks and looks at Ronar. "Wuh-what?" she whispers.

Surat nods enthusiastically at Ronar's report, "Yes.. most interesting. I have recognized their attire .. and that man, the eldest... I am almost certain of it .. that is Tellus, the leader of the rebel colony that abandoned Vulcan, just as Surak's teaching began to take root. By whatever means, it seems we are present at the birth of the Romulan Star Empire."

Unaware of what to make of this development, Ronar can do nothing for a moment but just sit there, watching the group of five men on the hill with abject fascination. This is to the Romulans, what Lor'Vela ending the Time of Lament is for Andorians. What Zephram Cochrane launching the Phoenix is for humans. Complete history - and here they are, watching it. "We can't be here," he whispers then, snapping himself out of his reverie. "Even if we are here, we can't stay. If there's one thing I remember from the temporal philosophy classes in the Academy, it's how easy the timestream can be polluted."

Surat nods in agreement, "Yes.. we must get as far away from here as possible, as soon as possible. If we are detected we risk irreparable damage to the our timeline."

The proto-Romulans pick up fruit exactly like the one that Ronar was holding, from a basket at their feet. One of the men shoulders his rifle and draws a knife from his belt. He takes a hack at it - and just as the blade enters the fruit, the blue-white flash of light bursts before you. The same sense of falling into.. Everywhere. Nausea overwhelms you as the room stabilizes. The next moment, Ronar is standing, phaser in hand, in front of the artifact. There is no knife. The forcefield is down. Everything is as it was. As it should be.

Tyler blinks a bit, holding onto the console for stability. She fumbles the tricorder, and it bounces to the floor. She follows quickly suit, trying to get her bearings again.

Again, it takes Ronar a moment to catch his bearings, his white eyebrows creasing severely towards the bridge of his nose as he fights off the overwhelming sense of vertigo and nausea. The hand with his phaser drops to his side, while the other hand reaches behind him, to brace himself on a nearby computer console as he takes a step away from the artifact. "Report," he calls out then, his voice a bit unsure at first, but rapidly growing in strength as he goes. "How long were we gone? /Were/ we even gone
according to the computers?"

Surat staggers a few sideways steps and then looking as if he was just winded by a heavy blow he bends forward a moment his hand on his knees.

Tyler pushes herself up to a console. She frowns as she views the readings. "There n-nuh-never was a knife, s-sirs," she reports. She checks, then rechecks. "Th-there are 13.2 s-seconds unaccounted for from the t-time Lieutenant Ruh-ronar touched the knife. The l-logs are blank." She looks to Ronar. "W-with no p-previous blackout."

"No previ..." Ronar begins, before cutting of his words, his features setting in a mixture of disbelief and anger. Anger at apparently being jerked around by some kind of higher power. The Andorian begins to move over towards Tyler's console, but is still fighting off the effects of vertigo to get too far, and ends up calling up the display on the terminal near him. "I don't like this."

Surat looks to the artifact, "Perhaps 'we' did not make the journey that it seemed we had."

Tyler shuts down the display as the two senior officers step forward. She frowns and looks to the artifact. "S-sirs, we did make that juh-journey."

As if just suddenly remembering, Ronar turns to the other two with a single word on his lips. "Tricorders." Though the intent behind the word is clear, the Andorian backs it up with further with a continued statement. "Do either of your personal tricorders still have data from the journey left on them? Anything that can corroborate what we saw and heard?"

Tyler turns and hesitantly reaches out for Surat's tricorder. "I huh-have to have th-that, sir. I have to turn it over tuh-to Admiral S-s-sinclaire."

Surat is slow to react but he steps back and turns his body and covers the tricorder with his hand, ".. I.. I.. am .. not quite sure .."

Tyler nods. She starts to knot her fingers together as she moves toward a console against the back wall. "Computer. Establish a suh-subspace link with Ah-admiral Sinclaire. Priority One, encrypted."

Surat says "I am obviously rather overwhelmed by the experience. When I have had time to consider the event, and review the data collected, I will turn it over to you so you can pass your findings on to the Admiral."

Surat turns to Ronar, "This is a matter of station's security.. retain possession of that tricorder."

The image of the seal of the Federation comes onto the viewscreen, with the words 'Establishing link'. She looks to Surat.
Surat stumbles a few steps again and has to support himself on a nearby trolley.

Steeling himself as Tyler made her request for the tricorder, it seems that Ronar was afraid of a reaction just as Surat had shown. Unforunately, being a junior officer to the Vulcan, there's not much he can do to solve the situation. Instead, he watches patiently as Ensign Tyler moves to open the subspace link, and keeps his hand on his phaser... Well, just in case. The three of them have just been through a rather taxing experience, after all. "Sir," he responds to Surat then, "I'll wait until hearing Admiral Sinclair's orders before making that judgement."

Surat nods and slowly finds solid footing. He straightens his tunic and waits for Sinclaire to appear.

A few minutes later, the visage of a very old human female in Admiral's uniform. "Yes, Ensign," is all she says. Tyler reports quietly, "We h-have experienced a tuh-temporal event."

"Who?" asks the Admiral.

"Commander Suh-surat and Lieutenant Ronar. And.. Umm. Muh-me too."

"Damage to the timeline?" the old admiral asks.

"N-none, sir. I n-need to cuh-collect the tricorders of the p-party." Tyler looks to Surat.

Surat steps forward, "Greetings Admiral, I am Surat, acting station Commander."

Sinclaire nods once. "I know. I hope you are faring well, what with Commander Balin off the station."

Though he didn't actually use his tricorder during the temporal event, Ronar nonetheless is already reaching for his as Tyler speaks to the Admiral, apparently under the impression that the woman will order him to turn it over. He waits until the actual order is given, of course, but doesn't seem to be upset or put off by having to give the equipment to Tyler.

Surat says "Thank you Admiral, I believe Commander Balin will be returning shortly." he pauses a moment and with noticable apprehension continues, "Sir, the 'experience' that we have just had .. it reveals disturbing potential. This artifact has become a danger to much more than this station.. therefore, I formally request .."

Sinclaire patiently listens.

Surat says ".. that you lift your information blackout, and allow this station's 'full' resources be employed in researching the artifact, and for our officer's to have proper access to the data collected to date. With all due respect sir, any less would be pure negligence."

As Surat continues speaking with the Admiral on the other end of the communcation, Ronar watches both parties carefully, paying special attention to the Admiral, who he is seeing for the first time. After a moment, he glances from the old woman, to Ensign Tyler, and then back to the view screen again. His features shift just barely then, as his lips purse together lightly in thought. His tricorder still rests easily in his hand, prepared to be handed over at a moment's notice.

Sinclaire states simply, "It's out of my hands, Commander. You are ordered to comply with Tyler in this regard. She /is/ the expert. Maintain current security measures. And I will inform Starfleet command of your concerns." The admiral continues.. "In the meantime, you and Lieutenant Ronar are ordered not to discuss the event with anyone other than Ensign Tyler. Any thing else I can do for you, Commander?"

As soon as the words 'comply with Tyler' come out of Sinclaire's mouth, Ronar takes a step towards the ensign, and hands off his tricorder to her. The gesture is a polite one, and the Andorian makes sure she has a firm hold of the piece of equipment before letting go and returning back to his former position. Of course, Ronar's not losing that much information, he didn't even open up the thing when they were on Romulus. But, it makes for a good show in front of the Admiral, at least.

Tyler smiles shyly to Ronar. Thankfully he's not being as difficult as most of the other crew usually is when it comes to locking down information. She takes the tricorder and places it on one of the shelves.

Surat straightens, "No, sir. I understand your orders." He removes his tricorder and hands it to Tyler, "I am turning over all data I collected, with protest, and will not discuss the event with any one, sir."

Sinclaire nods. "Your protest is noted and will go down in my formal report. Sinclaire out."

Tyler sighs a bit and looks to her commander. "I'm suh-sorry, sir. If it's.. Ah-any c-consolation, I feel the s-same way."

Surat raises an eyebrow, "Well then, it seems you have an even greater burden to bear Ensign... I wish that it did not have to be this way."

After Sinclaire logs out, Ronar glances from Tyler, and then to Surat, before remarking with a lopsided grin. "Well, look at the bright side, Commander. We may not be able to talk about what we saw. But who'd believe that we were really at the birth of the Romulan Empire anyways?" Humour probably isn't the best way to console a Vulcan, but it seems to be the Andorian's way of dealing with the moment.

Tyler wrinkles her nose up. "I d-didn't even see it. I w-was too busy with my tricorder."

Surat looks to Ronar and then to the artifact, "I am not convinced anything is as it has presented itself .. there is simply not enough information to say one way or the other what has or has not happenned in relation to this 'thing'."

Surat looks disgusted, "All we can hope is, Ensign Tyler gains a complete understanding, before anything disastrous occurs."

Tyler shrinks a bit. Disgust on a Vulcan doesn't wear well. She turns and looks at the artifact sullenly. "I'm ah-afraid I'm g-going to have to ask you to leave, sirs," she says quietly.

"Well, all the more reason to keep quiet about it, until we /do/ know what happened, I guess," Ronar chimes in then with a brief shrug. He's never professed to be a scientist, so he seems content to leave the matters of figuring this thing out to the people wearing blue. Surat's less than pleased tone catch his attention then. "I don't think Starfleet would have assigned her here if that wasn't the case, sir," he adds, before moving towards the door at Tyler's request. "Understood, Ensign. I need to get back to security and not file my report, anyways."

Tyler says softly. "You huh-have to file one. T-tuh-to me. S-sir."

Surat nods, "Very well.. Ensign, as always, let us know if there is anything we 'can' do to assist you." He turns to leave, "Report to the infirmary within the hour.. to be sure there are no lasting ill effects." Surat goes there immediately.