Damage Control

Anomaly TrekMUX Episode #02-010

Ghorev steps into the shuttle bay, the doors clanging shut behind him.
Ghorev has arrived.

Laco fiddles with his tricorder.

Ghorev has a tricorder on him, of course, but doesn't fiddle. "Mr. Laco, are you the only resource Science section is sparing at the moment?"

Laco looks around, "I guess so. Unless somebody else shows up."

Ghorev nods. "We might as well begin the pre-flight check, then.

Laco says "Alright.....they aren't sending a crew to pilot the shuttle?"

Ghorev says "'They'?"

Just then, the doors to the shuttlebay opens and in walks an ensign pilot.

Laco says "Uh, nevermind sir."

The ensign looks around briefly, "Hello sirs."

Ghorev nods at something Laco says, and turns to the Ensign. "Ah, Ensign ... DuPrie, was it? Please, board and start the pre-flight check. I'll be taking the backup console for this."

"Aye, sir," Ensign DuPrie replies with enthusiasm and enters the designated runabout.

Laco puts his tricorder in it's holster."Any idea what we're supposed to do on this mission, Lt?"

Ghorev says "I should hope, yes. It's my mission. Hence my earlier confusion about your use of 'they'."

Laco shrugs, "Oh, sorry. I didn't know."

Ghorev shakes his head. "No worries, Ensign. Lt. Kallan left it to me to brief you. I'll do so once we're aboard with all hands rather than repeat."

DuPrie settles into his seat at the runabout cockpit and brings up the relevant console readings.

Laco nods, and making small talk, adds, "So, what Irdosia like?"

Ghorev says "'Eerie' is the term which first springs to mind."

Laco says "Really? I guess I'll have to see it for myself."

Ghorev says "You will, though hopefully not from the surface."

Bela steps into the shuttle bay, the doors clanging shut behind her.
Bela has arrived.

Edwards steps into the shuttle bay, the doors clanging shut behind him.
Edwards has arrived.

Laco turns to look at the new arrivals.

Bela steps into the cargo bay carrying a tricorder and phaser at her hip. She walks toward Ghorev and enters a parade rest, her hands clasped behind her back. "Lt. Bela reporting as ordered, sir."

Edwards wanders in behind Bela, and is also suitably armed. He glances around at the assembled crew momentarily, then looks to Ghorev.

Ensign DuPrie is inside the runabout, going through the pre-flight check.

Ghorev stands near the Rhone with Laco. "Excellent, Lieutenant. Please board. You and Ensign DuPrie can share flight control and ops duties, freeing Ensign Laco and myself for sensor duties. Lt. Edwards will, as ever, stand by in case we have an emergency and someone needs to be rescued." He says this with a lopsided smile, clearly still a bit chagrined.

Edwards comments, "Personally, I'm hoping that I'm going to be very useless this time around. Well, purposely useless, at least."

Bela nods once to Ghorev. "Aye, sir," she says. She makes her way to the runabout and steps inside. Soon she can be seen in the cockpit window, sitting at the conn and checking preflight routines with DuPrie.

Ghorev says "Indeed, I should hope so. I intend to keep us in orbit this time unless absolutely necessary."

Laco looks as if he is wondering what they're talking about, but remains silent..

Ghorev says "I think we've waited long enough for volunteers, at any rate. All aboard."

Edwards nods and wanders over toward the runabout, so he can board it. Once he's inside, he goes about finding a seat, and slumps into it quietly.

Laco turns, and heads into the runabout. Once there, he stops to see which seat is left empty.

Ensign DuPrie completes all the pre-flight checks and prepares to ask for clearance from the station as the rest of the team makes it way into the runabout.

Ghorev enters, as well, and takes one of the side generic consoles.

Bela allows DuPrie to go through the motions of take-off. "Opening Shuttlebay doors," she states as she taps her console.

DuPrie goes through the standard departure procedures, and soon the runabout is exiting the shuttlebay.

Laco takes a seat at the other side console.

DuPrie says, "Course set. Warp factor, sir?"

Ghorev says "Mr. DuPrie, as soon as we're at standard operating distance, go to maximum sustainable warp. When we reach the system, drop to impulse and await further instructions."

DuPrie says, "Aye, sir."

Laco leans back in his seat and swivels to look out the front viewport.

Bela taps at her controls silently as she co-pilots.

The runabout's impulse drives take the craft away from the station, and shortly afterwards the runabout slips into warp speed. "Maximum warp. ETA to Irdosia, approximately two hours."

Ghorev says "Gentlebeings, here is the situation. On our last excursion to this system, as a surface-level cloaked survey party, the surveyors -- myself, Lt. Poole, Lt. Edwards, Lt. Glemm, Counselor Semok, and Lt. Talban -- found that somehow, either we or our equipment reacted poorly with rare minerals, and several as-yet-unknown factors. Bluntly, we were detected, and then a further reaction from these minerals and X-factors caused mass disappearances. We are now investigating."

Bela continues to monitor the controls, as well as long range scanners for ship traffic. "Which rare minerals, sir?"

Edwards remarks, "You know, I've been thinking about that..." He settles back in his chair and asks, "Those cloaking suits give off tachyon particles, right?"

Ghorev says "Dicosilum, Lt. Bela. It's common as mud on that planet, apparently, and I'm hoping some critical mass issue isn't part of the problem since frankly, critical mass equations are not something I enjoy." Turns to Edwards. "Indeed."

DuPrie hums a quiet folk tune to himself as he keeps an eye on the console readouts and an ear on what Ghorev has to say.

Laco turns away from the viewport, thinking. "Dicosilum..."

Edwards remarks, "Well I don't know anything about dicosilium... or tachyon particles, for that matter, but maybe the two react to each other. It's the only thing I can think of."

Ghorev says "Here's hoping it's that simple, but so far it hasn't been. I'll be spending the time between here and Iridosia reviewing our tricorder logs of the entire affair."

Bela says "Dicosilium an be used in weapon production as well as a reactant for a Krieger wave converter."

Edwards peers toward Bela, "A what?"

Bela smiles. "A Krieger wave converter. It can produce massive amounts of energy. We studied it at the Academy, and the man making the groundbreaking work in Krieger wave conversion, Dr. Apgar."

Ghorev falls into momentary silence while reviewing the logs, leaving Lt. Bela to explain the technology in question to Lt. Edwards.

DuPrie half turns in his seat to ask Bela, "Wasn't he the one who got blown up from that very converter?"

Bela looks to DuPrie. "Sir."

Edwards grunts. He can handle tachyon particles, but that's about it. "Massive amounts of energy, eh? Sounds like the problem we had on the surface."

"Uh, sir," DuPrie adds.

Laco glances at his console for a second, yawn, then turns back to the viewport.

Bela turns to regard Edwards. "Krieger waves aren't naturally occurring though, sir." She looks back to DuPrie. "I think he ended up killing himself somehow with it. I think Commander LaForge of the Enterprise hit on his wife or something, and Apgar tried killing the Commander. Only it backfired. At least, from what I can recall of the story."

Ensign DuPrie presses his lips together and he tries to remember that bit of information, but shrugs and returns to his duties.

Edwards actually pays a little more attention, "Enterprise, eh?" But he shakes his head and tries to get back to the point, "Uh, anyway. Does this have to do with tachyon particles or dicosilium?"

Bela looks to Laco. "Ensign Laco, do you have any theories?"

Laco starts, sitting up in his seat suddenly, "Uh, pardon?"

Ghorev says "That's what we're trying to determine, Lt. Edwards. it appears as though at specific intervals, the Dicosilium erupted from the ground, forming columns of light which then formed into solid dicosilium as a result. This disturbs me."

Bela glances between Laco and Ghorev once, and returns her gaze to Laco. "Are we boring you, Ensign?" she asks.

Edwards feels very much in over his head now. "Maybe I'll stick to the fighting..." he mutters. Idly, he looks between Laco and Bela, when it seems that there might be a mini-confrontation.

Laco says "I missed out on the first part of this mission, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.""

Bela frowns. "Then you should be paying attention, Ensign, as this is the mission briefing. And in the future you will address superior officers as 'sir'."

Ghorev says "Ensign Laco, there is something you can do. The Iridosians kept referring to something or someone called 'Nialet'. By context, a deity or some higher power or guardian tutelary spirit. I will give you access to our initial logs and I want you to see if you can piece together anything from that context."

Laco seems to get a little irritated, but before he can say anything Ghorev speaks, "ALright, sir, I'll try."

Bela shakes her head and goes back to the controls of the ship.

O'Doherty pops his head out of a floor panel in the rear compartment.

Ensign DuPrie says, "Approaching the Irdosia System, sir."

Ghorev says "Excellent. I'm giving you the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of the village we surveyed. I want you to assume a geosynchronous orbit with it, at a height enough that we won't be seen, not even as a shooting star. If that's not possible due to weather conditions, let me know."

Laco is still reviewing the logs Ghorev gave him access to, and only glances at the viewport for a second before returning to work.

DuPrie eases the runabout out of warp and approaches the given coordinates. "Scanning the surface now, sir."

Ghorev says "Excellent."

Edwards does a whole lot of thinking to keep his mind occupied. Think think think. Eventually, he looks toward Bela, and asks, "So you don't think it was the tachyon particles? I sorta liked that theory."

Duprie says, "Surface conditions optimal. I can enter high orbit."

Ghorev says "Do so, Mr. Duprie. Lt. Bela, while he does so, I want a more detaile dscan of the surface where that village was. What is there now, and are there any living things within the usual three to five mile horizon range in any direction of it? The first thing we *must* know is what kind of potential witnesses there will be within contact range if we do suit up and go back down there."

Bela doesn't look at Edwards as she is busy copiloting. "It's possible, sir. Unfortunately I'm not as well versed in either to be able to make that determination. I've never tinkered around with dicosilium, sir."

O'Doherty groans and stretches after being in such a tight spot for so long,"Found what was rattle'n'."

Ghorev acknowledges O'Doherty. "Excellent, Chief. I've had a few of the original tricorders we brought to the planet brought along. How are you with tricorder microcircuitry?"

Bela glances back to Ghorev and nods. "Aye sir," she says at his orders. She starts scanning the surface, starting at the center of the village and making concentric sweeps from that point as orbit allows.

Edwards allows the others to go about their work quietly. He just taps his fingers against the side of his seat and waits to see what they find out.

The ensign pilot does as ordered and the runabout goes into a geosynchronous orbit over the Irdosian village previously visited by Starfleet officers.

Bela monitors the scans for several moments and announces, "Four dicosilium columns. Village appears to be badly damaged but several structures remain intact. A few Irdosians are in the vicinity of the village, but not many. I can't give you specific numbers."

Ghorev says "Your estimates are fine, Lt. .... Are there any natives *within* the village, or just in the surrounding area?"

Bela double-checks the readings. "It appears to be only inside the village, sir, but I'm afraid that sensors aren't entirely in focus due to the dicosilium. I might can compensate, but it'll take me a little time, sir."

Ghorev says "You have that time, Lieutenant. End any focussing the minute you appear to be exacerbating anything that occurs, but otherwise keep scanning while we test a few more theories."

"Should I take the runabout lower to help boost the sensor readings, sir?" DuPrie asks.

Bela looks to DuPries. "I need you to watch the sensors, Ensign."

"Sure, sir," says DuPrie.

Bela slides down in front of her chair and pops the panel from under the console. She looks in for a moment, then straightens up and moves the back of the cockpit. She releases an engineering kit from behind a wall panel and moves back to the open panel under the copilot seat.

Ghorev says "Ensign DuPrie, if Lt. Bela requires the drop in altitude, execute such a maneuver, but only if you may do so without us being noticible. Lt. Edwards, I'll want you to take this console here and pull up tactical functions; on the off chance we need shields raised in a hurry, that's your primary responsibility." He gets up so Edwards can have his console. "Chief O'Doherty, the tricorders from the last Iridosia mission..."

The ensign rests his cheek against one hand as he stares at the sensor readouts.

DuPrie says, "Aye, sir."

O'Doherty hands Ghorev the Tricorders,"Aye Sir."

Bela pushes her sleeves up and goes to work modifying the sensors.

Edwards becomes alert and nods quickly after he gets his instructions, "All right." He moves over to the console that Ghorev abandoned and takes a seat, hitting a few keys on it.

Ensign DuPrie resumes humming his folk song quietly, which he had stopped some time during the trip here.

Ghorev looks up with a smile. "What's that tune you're humming, Ensign?" He takes the tricorders from O'Doherty. "Chief, how are you with microcircuitry, or will you stand by to assist Lt. Bela and Lt. Edwards while I take these little things apart and examine their insides?

The Orion Engineer slides out from under the console. "Ensign, shut down the sensors, quickly."

Laco finishes looking at the logs, and turns away from his console.

DuPrie does as ordered from Bela, and says, "Au Clair de la Lune, sir."

O'Doherty nods,"Best if I assist one of the Lieutenants,sir."

Ghorev looks up, his head whipping around, antennae bobbing. "Status, Mr. Bela?"

Bela looks to Ghorev after reviewing the logs of her sensor changes. "Sir, I think I've done it. The sensors, because of the pattern weren't focused at the village. However, we've got limited short ranged sensors now. I estimate two minutes worth before the SRS relays burn out entirely. We still have long range, though."

"It's an old French folk song," DuPrie goes on to explain, even though it seems that Ghorev is no longer paying attention to him.

Ghorev says "This is from the modifications you've made to focus past the Dicosilium?" He seems to want to confirm that. "We were using our tricorders on an extended basis -- educated guess as to possibility that some circuitry burnout may have occured from this same interference?" A pause. "Wait. Belay that for now. Make best use of ninety seconds worth of time with these modifications, then shut them down so we don't completely burn them out. When you're done with that, we can discuss my concerns."

Bela aims the sensors at the village. "I think we can operate them in bursts. Nine ten second bursts should do it, sir. Shall I scan the village again, sir?"

Ghorev says "Yes. In the meanwhile, I'll diagnose these tricorders. Chief O'Doherty, stick close to Lt. Bela and keep an eye on the diagnostic reading of the relay's she's patched. If anything goes wrong in advance of her estimate, I want to know a skilled engineer is at her back."

O'Doherty says "Think ya'll be need'n more power form the engine, sir?"

Ghorev says "I hope not, Chief. I hope not."

Laco drums a tune on his console with his fingers.

Ghorev says "Anything on the 'Nialet' angle, Mr. Laco?" He begins to open the side of a tricorder to examine its innards. "Or do you need more data?"

Bela, with her back to Ghorev, winces slightly. Isn't she a skilled Engineer? "I've got two Irdosians. Four columns that appear dormant. And three large canine like creatures inside the village."

Laco looks at Ghorev, "Just that it seems to be a deity if theirs. But I guess you probably already figured that out."

O'Doherty stnads close to Bela Looking over her shoulder and smiles,"Let's hope that thing holds, sir."

Edwards makes it look like he's doing something useful by hunching over his console and occassionally pushing a button. But he's really just passing the time. Thankfully, he takes care not to randomly fire the phasers or anything like that.

Bela nods to O'Doherty. "Yeah. Cross your toes, Chief."

DuPrie stiffles a yawn, but keeps alert for any quick orders.

Laco stands and steps over to Ghorev, he glances at Bela then...

Laco mutters to Ghorev, "... clear on what we're trying to...".

Bela stops her scanning and awaits further orders. She ducks under the console to check the relay.

"Anything else you need me to do, sir?" DuPrie asks anyone and everyone in general.

Ghorev seems to have his head buried in the guts of a couple of tricorders, but looks up to say something to Laco.

Edwards considers asking DuPrie to do some tap dancing, for everyone's amusement, but decides against it. Intead, he idly presses another button.

Ghorev mutters to Laco, "... to... caused... equipment... malfunction and... the disappearance... an... people.".

O'Doherty glances at the Master Display Panel,"Thats a good lass."

Laco nods to Ghorev, "Thanks Lt."

Bela slides out from under the console. "We've still got plenty of time with the relay. It's holding up a little better than expected. May be able to squeeze thirty more seconds out of it."

Ghorev says "Excellent. Let's keep that in reserve. In the meanwhile, I want to check out the cloaking suits we used the same way I've examined these tricorders."

Edwards looks up from his console and questions, "We didn't happen to, uh, take a sample of dicosilium from the planet, did we? Or anything with the dicosilium inside of it?"

Ghorev says "You were closer to that action than myself, Lt. Edwards. You may recall I missed most of the noisier parts when I went downstream to recon at Lt. Poole's request."

Edwards erms, "Guess not..." He shakes his head, "Damn. I wish we would've thought of that. Then we could just activate one of those cloaking suits and hold the object up to it to see what happens." Yep, he's committed to his pet tachyon theory.

Ghorev says "We're not without hope in that regard, you know. It wouldn't be difficult to collect a sample now that we have some advance knowledge of the possible dangers."

Ghorev turns from Edwards. "Mr. Bela?"

Bela looks to O'Doherty. "Chief, I think I've got the relay under control. Will you see if you can't beam up a chunk of one of those pillars?"

Bela looks back to Ghorev. "Sir?"

Ghorev nods a 'just so' nod in Bela's direction. "I was going to ask if you think your modified sensors can handle a transporter lock for just such a situation. Clearly the answer is 'yes'. Carry on."

"Aye sir." O'Doherty walks over to the tranporter control panel whistleing a Jig.

Ghorev eyes O'Doherty, and then DuPrie. "Gentlemen," he says, "is there some musical competition for which you are both in training or is this a hint that we might perhaps function better with some background melodies?" With a smile, he walks to the front of the ship. "Mr. Bela, if you could head aft and take care of replicating some tricorders and cloaking suits that are pristine I want to start with fresh ones if we have to beam down.

DuPrie looks at Ghorev and opens his mouth, but says nothing, a little embarassed.

Ghorev doesn't seem to have taken any umbrage at the music, mind you. He seems more amused than bothered by it.

Bela nods to Ghorev. "Aye, sir." She slides out from her chair and starts to head for the back. She nods to Edwards as she passes and enters the rear of the craft.

O'Doherty taps a few of the proper buttons on the control panel. A sparkling white blue light appears briefly over the transporter pad to reveil a piece of the cloumn 3/4meter in diameter and a 1/2 meter high

Ghorev claps O'Doherty firmly on the shoulder. "Fine job, Chief. You and Mr. Bela are doing my section proud tonight. Keep watch on those relays she's patched while I do some analysis on this little prize."

Laco takes out his tricorder and looks to Ghorev, "Lt, may I make a few scans as well?"

O'Doherty smile and blushes,"Twas nuthin, sir." He takes his place at relay monitoring.

DuPrie turns away from his console to look at the chunk of dicosilium sitting on the transporter pad.

Ghorev snorts lightly at Laco, a wide smile forming on his usually serious face. Clearly he's enjoying this little assignment, despite the gravity of it. "I expect, Mr. Laco," he says with a light dry tone, "that Lt. Kallan would scream at us both if I said 'no'. Scan away, but *cautiously*, while I review the transporter logs, and then we'll switch off."

Ghorev says, idly, while pulling up transporter logs, "Lt. Edwards, I hate to bifurcate your attention, but if you could manage to keep an eye on the sample, and erect internal force fields if necessary, I would appreciate it."

Laco taps his tricorder. "Huh....thats strange..."

Edwards looks up from his console, again, and blinks, "Biwhat?" Nevertheless, he seems to get the gist of it, "Oh. Sure thing." He looks toward the sample and prepares a forcefield, just in case.

Ghorev says "Status, Mr. Laco?"

Laco looks up at Ghorev, "Are these pillars anything new on the planet? Did previous teams report them?"

Ghorev says "To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Laco, no planetside surveying had ever been done before. All previous data was collected from on high; we were the first. I pray we are not the last. What have you found?"

Laco says "Well, unless I screwed up really badly, this sample is only a few days old. Did the natives you enountered consider the pillars strange?"

Ghorev says "The pillars *did* erupt from the ground, in our midst. Or, more appropriately, energy did, and the pillars solidified from that energy. I was downstream, but I remember hearing snippets of Lt. Poole's contention that perhaps they were created holographically."

Laco says "All right...could you tell me exactly what happened right before the villagers disappeared, sir?"

Edwards pipes up, "I say we put a forcefield around the thing and bombard it with tachyons." He looks around for someone to agree with him. His theory will not die.

Ghorev looks at Edwards. "Uh, no." A pause. He inclines his head to indicate Laco. "Tell Mr. Laco everything you remember seeing, please, while I try to gain us another sample. Chief O'Doherty, with your assistance?"

Laco looks at Edwards, "We could do that, but I'd recommend putting on some of those cloak suits, since they seemed to protect you before.

O'Doherty looks up at Ghorev,"What kind of sample would you like, sir."

Ghorev says "One like this, but from another column. I want to compare a few things."

Edwards mutters, "Well I did say put a forcefield up first..." He looks toward Laco, "But we don't know how. That could be dangerous. Maybe."

Laco says "Did anything else disappear, or just the villagers?"

Ghorev looks back from O'Doherty. "If necessary, we'll beam it into space and pulse some tachyons at it through our navigational deflector, so that we don't have to keep it aboard when we try that little trick. But not yet, gentlemen."

Edwards responds, "One of those canines tried to rip my throat out, but when it jumped toward me, it... vanished."

Laco says "Alright...did it have any effect on plant matter or their structures?"

O'Doherty returns to the transporter to get a lock on a suitable sample.

Edwards starts to respond, pauses, then frowns, "I don't think anyone scanned any of the vegetation..."

O'Doherty says "Jus tell me when, sir."

Laco says "Are scans of the area from before the incident availible? Perhaps we could compare them with a current scan...."

Ghorev says "Energize, Chief."

On the transporter pad appears a chunk of column 1meter high 1 meter in diameter. the chief notes,"Anymore samples and we'll need a bigger ship."

Ghorev says "Shall I have you start working on an addition, then, Chief?"

Edwards umms, "I'll look, Ensign." He turns toward his console and attempts to find out if there are any scans from before the wackiness ensued. Unfortunately, he manages to find himself into a game of Tetris. He frowns.

Ghorev says "Mr. Laco, upload your tricorder readings of the first sample to the Runabout's computer."

Ghorev runs scans, meanwhile, on the second sample.

Laco glances at Ghorev, then nods and taps some stuff into his tricorder.

Laco says "If I can get something to compare against, I can see whats missing, then see if those missing items have anything in common..."

Ghorev says "Well, these things are natural by all my readings. Access Federation databanks on dicosilium, then, by all means, and see if these things compare favorably on the submolecular level with what we know about the mineral." He frowns. "Lt. Edwards, we may have to try your little test idea soon enough."

Edwards finds his mood lifted after he shuts down the Tetris game and hears Ghorev's comment. "I bet it'll explain this mystery." he remarks.

Ghorev says "What concerns me, however, is that we are pursuing symptoms and not causes. Even if these dicosilium samples do react oddly, they are the result of an earlier reaction. They materialized from energy erupted from the ground, after all, or the stream. They are a byproduct and not the reaction itself."

DuPrie occasionally checks his console readouts, but his attention is mostly centered on what is happen in the rest of the cabin.

Laco nods, "Also, why was only animal life effected? Perhaps something they consumed placed some kind of trace element into their systems.

Edwards shakes his head and responds, "That planet is saturated in dicosilium, Ghorev. It's in everything. The shaman tossed dicosilium powder onto Poole, which shorted out her suit. It was in those necklaces. So on and so forth. It probably just attracted it from the ground."

Edwards snaps his fingers and points toward Laco, "Their food is probably full of trace amounts of dicosilium, at least. Therefore, their bodies must be."

Ghorev says "We have nothing to lose by trying, I suppose. Chief O'Doherty, on my signal beam the smaller of the two samples into space, a few hundred meters off our bow." He looks at Edwards. "Do you think you could hit that with a tachyon burst from the navigational deflector?"

Laco stops his search for info in the databanks, "That would also explain why none of you were effected.

Ghorev says "So our most exciting theory thus far is that this entire planet is effectively one big variant Kreiger-Wave generator?"

Edwards nods and looks over his console, "Should be able to. Shall I raise shields, once it's out there?"

Ghorev says "You should indeed. Before you do so, however..."

Ghorev steps to a console.

Laco pauses, thinking.

O'Doherty beams the first piece 500m off the port side

Laco looks like he has something to share, but sits still and watches the test, first.

The smaller of the two chunks of dicosilium begins to drift in space.

Edwards waits for a cue, since Ghorev seems to want to do something first.

Ghorev begins to speak to the computer, holding up a hand for a lessening of the background noise.

Ensign DuPrie checks over his sensor scans.

Ghorev dictates: "Ship's Log, U.S.S. Rhone, Stardate 51955.5, Lt. Akeen Ghorev, commanding. We have returned to Iridosia to investigate the conundra raised by the first visit, a mission commanded just a few days ago by Lt. Gwendolyn Poole. Thanks to some modifications to the sensors by Lieutenant Junior Grade Bela and some precision transporter operation by Chief O'Doherty, we have managed to pull samples from two different dicosilium pillars from the planet's surface." He pauses before continuing.

DuPrie says, "Sir, the dicosilium out there is losing orbital stability with the runabout and is being attracted to the planet's gravitational field. It's beginning to fall towards the planet!"

Ghorev looks up. "Tractor it." He frowns. "I don't recall giving the order to energize yet."

DuPrie says, "Aye, sir." A tractor beam lashes out from the runabout and catches hold of the dicosilium chunk.

Edwards erms and has his hand hover over the raise shields button, just in case.

Ghorev resumes his paused log, now more rushed than he would have liked. "Lt Edwards and Ensign Laco are theorizing that a saturation of the planet's ecosystem with dicosilium would cause the natives to have heavy dicosilium content in their systems, causing them to react just as oddly as the planet itself to whatever fields we or our equipment may have been generating. We are about to test that theory on one of the samples. End log."

Ghorev says "Mr. DuPrie, good work. Give that thing a bit of a nudge into a higher orbit, and then release it on my signal."

Ghorev begins to work a console.

DuPrie nods, smiling a bit at the compliment, and uses the tractor beam to push the chunk farther away from the planet.

Ghorev says "I think I've got the proper overrides set on the navigational deflectors, Lt. Edwards. Handing control off to you. Remember: on my signal, Ensign DuPrie will release the object and you will raise shields and fire the tachyon pulse."

Edwards remarks, "Gotcha." He prepares to do his assigned duties on Ghorev's signal.

Ghorev handles the sensors during this. "As Lt. Bela said, we should be able to get a bit more use out of these, so I'll handle the snapshot of the data in a 10 second pulse. I will give the signal on the 3 second mark, allowing us a full window of before, during, and after the pulse. Is everyone ready? Show of hands now.

DuPrie says, "There. At that distance, the chunk shouldn't be affected by the planet's gravity, at least not right away."

Edwards' hands are a bit busy, preparing do to their jobs quickly, so he just says, "I'm ready."

Ghorev says "Ensign DuPrie, we're lacking warp capability while these deflector modifications are in effect. Take your direction from Lt. Edwards or myself -- on either of our marks, take evasive maneuvers at full impulse."

Ghorev says "Beginning sensor scan."

DuPrie says, "Will do, sir."

Ghorev says "Three seconds. NOW."

The tractor beam disappears.

Edwards slams on the raise shields button, then fires off the tachyon pulse right after.

Ghorev says "Maintain that pulse, Lt. Edwards ... " A handful of heartbeats -- well, human heartbeats -- go by. "We're getting a reaction .... Yes, a definite reaction."

Edwards smiles brightly as he keeps the tachyon pulse firing. "Really?" he asks. Yes, he's excited. This is possibly his theory being proven correct.

Ghorev says "Putting it onscreen so you all can see what I see." Sure enough, the chunk is *glowing* heavily, the glow even expanding beyond the physical dimensions of the object. "Just a handful of seconds more...."

O'Doherty takes a seat at engineering.

Edwards just plain grins now. Sure, this caused a lot of hassle for him and everyone else, but it looks like he was right. And he's a security officer. The pulse is kept going, but he prepares to shut it down when the order is given.

Ghorev says "Chief, keep an eye on Mr. Bela's patched relays, as I have a feeling," through clenched teeth, "they're about to blow."

Laco says "Wait a minute....didn't the dust that his Poole's suit short it out?"

O'Doherty says "Aye, sir."

Edwards replies to Laco, "Yep. It was dicosilium powder. Must've overloaded it."

Ghorev says "Mr. Laco, train your tricorder on that object. Long range scan. It's not much, but it's beter than nothing if our sensors *do* blow from this overload."

The chunk is no longer visible, rather a bright white light fills the screen. Then the light disappears and the chunk comes back in view, much larger than before.

Laco takes out his tricorder, "I hope it doesn't do the same thing to the runabout." He begins to scan.

Ghorev says "Cut the pulse!"

Edwards blinks and cuts off the pulse after Ghorev shouts. "The hell?"

Ghorev says "Chief O'Doherty, damage report on those circuits!"

Ghorev says "Mr. Laco, I want a size and approximate mass reading on that thing. We can't risk using the runabout's sensors until we know the extent of any damage to them."

Too late. The navigational deflector begins to fluctuate when it is shut down, and surges of blue energy ripples through the chunk of dicosilium.

Laco looks out the viewport, slowly allowing his tricorder to drop "Uh oh..."

O'Doherty says "Christ almighty."

Ghorev says "Ensign DuPrie, evasive maneuvers, get us away from that thing."

Edwards eyes Laco, "Uh oh?"

"I'm on it, sir!" DuPrie says quickly, and hits the impulse and directional commands into his console.

Laco raises his tricorder and begins scanning the dicosilium again.

DuPrie says, "Moving out of orbit...it's a bit sluggish. The navigational sensors are dying on me."

Edwards tears his gaze away from Laco and looks toward Ghorev, "What about the planet? It's not going to be drawn in by the gravity, is it?"

Ghorev says "Lt.," clearly to Edwards, "keep the shields between us and it up on full. If you have to sacrifice a little shield power in facings away from the object, do so, but do not leave a single facing completely unshielded."

O'Doherty taps at the panel to get any damaged system back online.

Ghorev says "I don't know." He likewise goes to work on systems. "If necessary, we'll try a microtorpedo to blow it from a distance."

Edwards' fingers dance over his console, so he can route a bit of power from the other shields toward the one that's facing the dicosilium chunk. "All right..."

Laco glances at the tricorder, his eyes widening, "Umm....go faster!"

DuPrie says, "I'm already taking us away at full impulse, sir!"

Ghorev says "Working on re-routing the navigational deflector back to standard operating mode."

From the viewport at the front of the runabout, one can see a bolt of blue energy surge past the starboard of the runabout, missing by a few meters.

Ghorev says "On my signal, we can risk a jump into micro-warp. But wait for it. I don't feel like being arm-deep in relays when it --- what was *that*?"

Laco says "The sample's energy is increasing exponentially, we have to get out of here!"

Edwards winces, "That's what it did on the planet!" He clenches his teeth a moment as he thinks. "We ought to blow it out of the sky. Just in case."

Ghorev says "Is it going to explode, Mr. Laco, in your opinion, or simply keep leaking energy? Will it destroy itself or will we have to do it?"

Laco says "I don't know, but judging from that energy streamer, I'd say its pretty unstable and may blow on its own."

"Taking the shortest route out of this system," DuPrie announces.

Ghorev withdraws his hands from the wiring of the panel next to the console where he stands. "Navigational deflector restored. Take us to Warp 1, Mr. DuPrie.

Edwards umms and questions nobody in particular, "Were there dicosilium pillars in the middle of the village?"

O'Doherty puase for a moment to make the sign of the cross,"For what we're about to recieve."

"Aye, sir!" DuPrie says and sets the engines on warp one. Just as he is about to push the key for engaging the engines, the runabout is rocked about and surges of blue energy ripples through the hull.

Ghorev grabs the nearest surface. "Shield status!"

Edwards clamps his hands down on his console as the runabout rocks. "That was entirely unpleasant." he comments, while he checks the shields.

Laco is tossed about, and nearly falls. He catches himself on a console and begins scanning the runabout.

Ghorev says ""Did it hit us or are we generating that from within?"

O'Doherty checks damage.

DuPrie says, "I'm losing navigation!"

Edwards reports, "The shields are stable. It just tossed us about." He sounds pretty relieved by that.

The lights start to flicker for a few seconds, then return to normal, as with the systems.

DuPrie says, "Uh, scratch that, I've got navigation back."

Ghorev frowns. "How far from the object are we?"

DuPrie says, "Over four hundred kilometers, sir."

DuPrie stabilizes the runabout's course.

Edwards whews and resettles in his chair, "So, uh, now what? I think we pretty much figured out what happened down there..."

Ghorev says "Well, 'what', yes, but not 'why'. I think Commander Balin won't be satisfied with the one without the other and for that matter, neither am I."

"Should I continue on course away from the object, sir?" asks DuPrie.

Edwards remarks, "You always need to find that motive, eh? I can respect that." He flashes a smile at Ghorev. "But it seems to be that tachyons and dicosilium just don't go together to me."

Ghorev says "Set in a perpendicular course, Mr. DuPrie, but one that will allow us to jump to warp easily if necessary. Mr. Laco, I want to know what you read off that object before and during the incident."

"Aye," DuPrie changes course heading.

Laco says "Well, before it was just like it was on the transporter pad. But then it started to gain energy at a fantastic rate."

Ghorev settles into a seat, clearly riding the Andorian equivalent of an adrenalin rush through its highs and lows. "I'd agree, Lt. Edwards, if I weren't still worried about that Shaman's abilities to see right through the cloak. Was he simply more attuned to the dicosilium in his system than the rest of them? or was it something more? Did those people overload and implode, or did they shift into another state from which they can be retreived?

DuPrie glances over his sensor readings. "Uh, sir..."

Ghorev says "Chief O'Doher-----yes, Mr. DuPrie?"

Edwards shakes his head, "Nobody disappeared for good, though. Unless I'm forgetting something. That girl came back. Only the canine disappeared for good when it lunged at me... As for the shaman, wasn't he older? Maybe he just had more dicosilium inside him..."

DuPrie says, "That object, it's still...um, zapping things."

Ghorev says "Put it onscreen, if you can do so without damage to our sensors."

Ghorev says "Chief O'Doherty and I will handle the diagnostics in the meanwhile."

Edwards offers, "I could try to torpedo it." Knowing their luck with this whole Irdosia problem, however, he'd probably end up missing and bombing some village on the planet.

O'Doherty starts running diagnostic on the major systems.

Laco says "Wait..."

Ghorev says "yes, Mr. Laco?"

DuPrie hits a key and the dicosilium chunk in orbit around Irdosia appears on the screen. Energy ripples through the crystalline structure for some seconds before being discharged down onto the planet below.

Laco says "Is there anything we can send into one of those beams, to see what effect it has? Are we carrying any kind of probe?"

Ghorev says "A moment."

Ghorev says "I think I have a theory."

Edwards curses softly, "I knew it. It's attacking the planet. We have to move it, at least."

Ghorev says "Wait."

Ghorev says "It's attacking the planet *now*. Was it before?"

Ghorev says "Or was it simply focussing on *us*?"

Ghorev says "Mr. Laco, do your scans tell you that?"

Laco reviews his records, "One second. Hmm. According to what I have, a bolt came near the runabout just once. After that, we were moving out of range."

Ghorev says "Alright, then. Mr. DuPrie, I want to know how far that object is from the planet, and how far we are from it."

DuPrie says, "We are holding a steady course, currently a hundred kilometers from it. The dicosilium is in orbit 12.3 kilometers over the planet's atmosphere."

Edwards frowns as he thinks about this, "You think it'll attack us if we approach again?"

Ghorev says "Mr. Edwards, you and Chief O'Doherty will need to practice some timing on a lower-shields/transport/raise-shields maneuver if I am correct. I *hope* I am correct. If I am, the energized dicosilium seeks out other concentrations of the mineral, like an arc of electricity from positive to negative charge of ferrous metal ... If I am correct, we were attacked because we have dicosilium aboard and were in range, and noww the planet is the closest concentration. I want to test that theory, by beaming the second chunk of dicosilium to a 10km range from the object. Mr. Edwards, if necessary, we'll tractor both of those objects; start doing the work-up on whether we have the tractor beam capability to rope in two objects like that from a safe distance of 40 or so kilometers."

Ghorev says "*If* I am correct, we have some partial answers: the planet, energized by our tachyons, began seeking out the dicosilium in the bodies of the natives to bleed off some of the energy. It doesn't entirely explain the Shaman, but it's better than knowing nothing at all."

O'Doherty moves to the second compartment to operate the transporter.

DuPrie is carefully monitoring the runabout's course, ready to change headings or go to warp at an instant.

Edwards nods slowly and begins to see about how far away they can use the tractor beam effectively.

Edwards reports, "Well, uh, we can't quite make a safe distance of forty kilometers, but... we can make a safe distance of two." He frowns.

Ghorev says "Take the two minutes to run a quick simulation, then: Could you more easily destroy both chunks of dicosilium with a microtorpedo from this distance? Or are we going to need to come up with some other means of neutralizing or bleeding off the tachyon energy?"

Edwards presses a few buttons on his console and manages to stumble into that blasted Tetris game again. He grumbles and shuts it down. "It doesn't seem that there's enough information to construct an accurate simulation. Tachyon-powered dicosilium is too unpredictable." he comments.

DuPrie says, "Approaching the chunk."

Ghorev says "Are we close enough to beam the remaining piece of dicosilium, Mr. DuPrie?"

DuPrie says, "Aye, sir."

Ghorev says "You say two kilometers, Lt. Edwards?"

Edwards nods, "Two kilometers."

Ghorev grunts lightly. "Stop at 20km out, Mr. DuPrie. Chief O'Doherty, beam the remaining dicosilium to the 500m range from the unstable piece once we pause at the 20km mark. At that point, Mr. DuPrie, take us in to 2km while we observe the reaction between the two pieces of mineral. If this fails, Borva help us, I have one more trick to pull, and then we'll be fresh out of ideas."

O'Doherty watches the distance count down.

DuPrie nods and slows the runabout down.

DuPrie says, "Twenty kilometers."

Ghorev says "Cut propulsion. Energize, Chief."

The runabout comes to a complete stop.

Edwards lowers the shields so the transporter can work, and prepares to raise shields immediately afterwards.

O'Doherty slides two fingers up the panel, The object disappears.

Edwards brings the shields back up once he hears the transport finish.

The runabout's impulse engines start up again. "Two kilometers," says DuPrie.

After the second chunk of dicosilium materializes half a kilometer away from the first, the first charges up its energy and a bolt reaches out from it to hit the second chunk.

The first chunk returns to building up energy, then continues zapping the planet.

Blue energy begins to ripple through the second chunk.

Edwards hrms softly, "So, uh, does this mean we just unleashed a second one on those poor people?"

Ghorev says "It might. Unless we can bleed off the enrgy from both of them. Chief O'Doherty, Ensign Laco, how's either of you at theoretical physics? I hate to do surgery yet again on the navigational deflectors, but it's time for what we may now officially call, with deference to all of you, Ghorev's Last Gambit."

Ghorev says "Lt. Edwards, we may even need your judgement on this one, if my theory is completely correct."

Both chunks charge up and send a bolt of energy directly at each other. As the two bolts collide into each other, their combined energies arch outward and curve around toward the runabout, missing it by a few short meters.

"Whoa!" DuPrie exclaims. "Powering up engines!"

O'Doherty says "You just tell me what ya want rewired, sir."

Ghorev says "Pull us back a tad, Mr. DuPrie."

Laco says "I'm not too bad with physics."

Ghorev says "I'll make this quick, then."

Edwards glances toward Ghorev and waits to hear what this plan entails.

The runabout moves back several kilometers.

Ghorev says "We can now be 95% certain that what has occured here is a reaction between tachnyon particles and dicosilium. Clearly, the mineral reaches an unstable state when it absorbs too much. When this happens, when it reaches critical mass, it bleeds off energy by arcing some at the nearest *stable* dicosilium deposit."

The two dicosilium chunks resume raining their energies down on the planet.

O'Doherty throws himself under thefront console to unlatch the Deflecter access panel. "Could ya hand me a tool kit,sir?"

Ghorev says "Our only real chance at this point to save the Iridosians is to bleed off the tachyons from these dicosilium chunks in the sky."

Ghorev says "Which means .. well, anti-tachyons, frankly. Tardions, if you prefer. I'm weaker in that area of theoretical physics than I'd like to be. We'll all have too work together. Either by pulsing through the navigational deflector or by somehow placing them as the payload for a microtorpedo."

Ghorev does, in fact, hand O'Doherty the tool kit, while still discussing his idea.

Ghorev says "We *have* to get those things below critical mass."

Edwards blinks, "Tardions?" He looks around at the others, "Is that actually a real... whatever it is?"

The two chunks attempt to zap each other again, and again their combined energies are redirected toward the runabout. This time, it misses by a couple dozen meters.

Ghorev says "In thoery. But theory has given us some unusual realities in the past decade, Michael." There, that shows you how serious he's taking this-- Ghorev *never* calls anyone by their first name. "We have to hurry."

Edwards eyes Ghorev dubiously for a moment before he suddenly grins, "I like this plan." He looks toward the others momentarily, then back to his console, "This'll be fun."

O'Doherty tosses out an isoliner chip,"Don't know why we have that bugger."

Bolts of blue energy are now shooting out of the planet, noteably from the northwestern hemisphere where the last away team beam downed to.

Ghorev says "It beats storing data on carved stone tablets, Chief." To Laco: "Any good theoretical journals you can pull out of databanks to give us a starting point? We need this NOW."

Ghorev starts to work, himself, at another console, routing transporter/replicator circuits that are ostensibly used as the base technology for particle generation, which are then routed through the navigational dflector O'Doherty is busy modifying.

O'Doherty begins,"But..," stops as this isn't a time to discusse design flaws.

Laco says "Uh uh....let me check."

Ghorev says "We're running out of time, gentlemen. Mr. Edwards, prepare to be our sharpshooter yet again. Altghough the targets are bigger this time -- two large chunks of Dicosilium, and then the planet itself, if I am correct."

Edwards nods slowly and remarks, "Targetting sensors, don't fail me now."

Ghorev says "Borva willing, they won't." he begins to work out the data. "I wish I'd paid more attention to Professors Heisenberg and Telek at the Academy. If we survive this, remind me to send them gifts every year on their birthdays for as long as I live."

O'Doherty says "How do you want the subspace field distortion amplifiers set, sir?"

The two bolts of energy from the chunks in orbit converge and collide into a similarly combined energy from four bolts on the planet. The combination of the six bolts swing toward the runabout and hits head-on. The lighting and consoles flicker briefly before going completely dark.

The runabout is knocked out of its stationary position and spins out of control.

Ghorev roars, "Mr. DuPrie, get us under control!" as he grabs for the nearest surface.

A thud is heard form under the console, and a groan. Chief replies,"Alright, sir."

Clutching to the console in front of him, DuPrie shouts, "Trying, sir! The helm's not responding!"

Edwards mutters, "Just great." His fingers practically turn white as he clamps down on his console, in an effort to keep himself from flying all over the place.

Ghorev says "O'Doherty, can you reset anything from down in there?"

The lighting and consoles flicker back on after half a minute, and DuPrie works to get the runabout stabilized.

O'Doherty says "Everyting,sir."

Ghorev says "That's it!" His lips pull back from his teeth in a snarl and those who've forgotten the basically passionate nature of Andorians are reminded by his sheer *anger*. "We're out of time. Mr. Laco, I need what you've got."

Edwards announces, "Shields down to fifty percent!"

Laco looks frustrated. "I haven't found anything sir."

O'Doherty says "Sure glad I deguassed this before we left."

Ghorev says "Anything you can *remember*, then, even if there's nothing on the books."

Laco shakes his head.

Edwards glances toward Laco, then to Ghorev, "Well that's that. We fly by the seat of our pants and hope that we don't kill everyone."

Ghorev says "Looks like it, yes, or we have to face a board of inquiry to explain how we lost an entire Borva-be-damned planet. I'm not willing to try that, blast it."

Ghorev says "Mr. Laco, at least help me double-check these figures. If I'm missing something vital I want to know before we try it, thank you."

Laco says "I don't know what help I would be. I don't know much more than what they taught at the academy."

Ghorev looks *very* frustrated as he works over the console. You know the drill. He looks ready to tear it out of the bulkhead.

Laco gets up to look over Ghorev's shoulder anyway.

Ghorev growls and starts tapping on the console. "Alright, you," he says to the system, "if that damned game comes up again, I'm replacing you with a Klingon abacus! Now give me that data!"

Ghorev falls over backwards as something comes loose in his hand. He *was* tugging awfully hard, after all. He catches himself on a chair. "Chief O'Doherty, access all databases you can on tardions while I try to reinforce the shields." He is *angry* now. "If I die on this runabout, it will be because my plan failed, not because we didn't even get to try it, this I swear."

The two chunks of dicosilium in orbit are still emitting bolts of energy, but it is taking them longer to charge up now.

Ghorev says, as he works on the shield grid, "Whatever you get, feed to Mr. Laco for cross referencing, and then we'll see if this folly of mine bears any fruit."

Edwards mutters mostly to himself, "Lets make sure this is remembered as Ghorev's Gambit, not Ghorev's Folly..." He stares at his console, as if expecting that to help somehow.

O'Doherty Holding a PADD in one hand and a resonence decoupler in the other he modifies the deflector dish. "Thats got it by god."

O'Doherty crawls out from under the panel, There is a bruise on his forehead, carbon marks all over him an his uniform, and a pink puttylike substance in his hair.,"She's all ready sir."

Ghorev says "Close up the panel and grab onto a console for support. We're likely to only get one shot to make this work." He looks up from teh shield grid console. "Mr. DuPrie, get us in position so Lt. Edwards can take the shot."

"Aye sir," the ensign pilot maneuvers the runabout around.

Through the viewport, the discharge rate has dropped noticeably.

Ghorev says "Fire when ready, Lt. Edwards!"

Edwards slams his finger down on the appropriate fire button!

Ghorev's knuckles are white on the nearest support strut, as he holds himself in silent observation.

Edwards watches the reaction occur, then simply states, "I love it when they let me hit the fire button."

Fifteen seconds into the tardion firing, the last traces of energy from the dicosilium chunks disappear.

O'Doherty watches the viewport and sighs, and then looks as if nothing special happen. "Suppose we should be gitt'n back then sir."

Ghorev grunts an acknowledgement from his chest, to what Edwards and O'Doherty say, but it's more subdued now, like the anti-tachyons have drained something from him, as well. And then he renews his committment. "Checking shield levels. If we're good on shields, we're moving in to fire on the planet, as well. Target the site of that village, Mr. Edwards, but-"

Twenty seconds into the tardion firing, the navigational deflectors burn out.

Ghorev turns at the Very Bad Sound, from the console where he was checking shields. "What was that?"

Edwards uhhs and comments, "Well, um..." He just gives Ghorev a look that says: this sucks.

DuPrie checks his helm, "This doesn't look good."

O'Doherty ducks back under to check if he can do anything.

Ghorev looks at consoles until his face falls as the knowledge hits home. "It doesn't. O'Doherty, make room for me down there. It's time I earned my keep."

O'Doherty says "dere's not much room as it is, sir. come in from the other side of the Nav display, sir."

Ghorev growls. "We're too far out from 419 to get back without Warp capability or a rescue. Mr. Duprie, are you able to keep us stable on impulse for awhile, if this fails? We'll be stuck for at least a few hours while Commander Balin sends out a second team to pick us up.

"Stupid time to bring this up, I know," DuPrie says. "But it looks like the first dicosilium chunk out there is losing orbital stability."

"Hmm?" DuPrie starts. "Oh, yeah. Looks like the impulse is fine."

Ghorev says "It never rains but it pours dicosilium, apparently." He looks up with a sigh. "Mr. Edwards, can you blow that thing into smaller pieces? If it's going to fall to ground, we should at least let the atmosphere burn it up."

Edwards nods a little, "I'll see what I can do." He attempts to prepare one of those microtorpedoes he's been pretty eager to use.

Ghorev nods and turns back to his work. "Chief O'Doherty, remind me to send a memo to Utopia Plantia ... the next Runabout they send us should have a backup deflector."

O'Doherty nods, "Aye and where are they going ta put it,sir?"

Ghorev says "I'll gladly give them suggestions."

O'Doherty grins

Edwards fires off a microtorpedo, which does a good job of blowing the first chunk of dicosilium to several miniscule pieces. "Take out the second one?"

Ghorev says "If it starts to decay orbitally, yes. Not until then. Besides, it'll give you something to cut through the boredom" he lifts up his head from the console with a sigh, "while we wait for the pickup from Starbase 419. O'Doherty, this thing is dead from my end. Pack it in. Clean yourself up. I'll send in my report on a priority signal."

Edwards remarks, "Hey, you got a point there." He goes about waiting for the second chunk's orbit to decay, so he can pick it off. Blowing stuff up is fun.

Ghorev says "Mr. DuPrie, open a hailing frequency on a priority channel to Starbase 419, and patch it into the back." He heads for the back compartment. "I have a report to make. The rest of you, excellent work, and I'll be sure that word of it reaches the Commander. You've earned your rest."

O'Doherty says "If ya don't mind, sir, I got nothing better ta do. And no Runabout is going to beat me."

Ghorev's sigh can be heard from the back. "Chief, if you can repair the deflector in the time it takes me to make my report, do so; otherwise, my last request to the Commander is going to be for a pick-up."

O'Doherty grins ,"We'll race 'em back sir."