Blinded by Science Part I

 Episode Name:  Blinded by Science Part I

   Written By:  Starfleet

         Cast:  Balin, Haven, Nilee, Shamash, Starfleet and Torin.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Starfleet

     Aired On:  Sun Feb 13 14:37:22 2005

     Stardate:  54752.3

Time: Sat Feb 12 20:36:55 2005

Stardate: 54750.5

It is a rather ordinary evening in the science lab. Those obsessive-compulsive (and otherwise) scientists are always fiddling with something or another...

Nilee is crouched over a console, punching a few buttons as he talks, shooting a sideways glance at Torin briefly, "It looks like we're getting close here. I'm just a little concerned about the fluctuation adjustments... you said the computer verified our hard data with 98 accuracy?" Galen shoots another glance Torin's way, curiously.

Torin nods, quietly his eyes flicker over a variety of outputs studying them, even as his hands each do independent adjustments he hrmms, "Ninty seven point nine eight two." He responds with a shrug, "That should be good enough at least for a first try to get the bubble to form sir and get some prelimenary readings, nothing too fancy...yet. I hope."

Haven has a stack of PADDs at one elbow, a computer terminal before her along with a scope and sample, with a sealed mug of something hot and chocolaty at the other elbow. One slide is switched for another, the scope is peered into, then a PADD is refereed to. It's lots of fun to recreate test results.

Shamash is surrounded by a half circle of terminal screens showing various curves, digrams and oscillating wave patterns. He is half reclined in his chair, elbow resting on the desk and his hand comes up under his chin, a finger playing over his lips now and then.

Nilee stands up straight, lifting a hand up to stroke his hairless chin, and folding the other one in the nook formed by his folded elbow. He hmms quietly to himself, "It should be enough to form the interphase pocket, yes. You're right on that note. Stabilities the only issue." He falls silent for a moment, dropping both hands and reaching over for the mug of coffee he had discarded earlier, instinctively taking a sip, and grimacing, "Cold.. ugg." He places it back where it was, "All of our safeties are in place for the experiment?"

Haven sits up to shift a look over that Torin and Nilee. Without a word, she gathers up the slides she's working on and begins to file them back into the protective casing. She adds a few of the PADDs from her stack then seals the case, sets it aside. She shifts back to the PADDs that remain and frowns. She takes a drink from her Warp Core mug then hmmms softly before murmuring aside to Agrim. "We /really/ need fresh samples from Fimdari."

Torin nods quietly, and hrmms, one hand lifting running through another display he glances over it and nods sharply, "Yes, sir. Safeties are up." He offers, "Well only one way to find out sir, we make it and see how long we can form it. If it was an exact science it wouldn't be new, neh?" He offers brightly. He's enjoying this, in something he's studied his confidence is far from the usual quietness. His eyes dance as he flickers over outputs.

Shamash reaches over to the console at odd intervals to change a few controls resulting in a change of what the terminals display. His commands to the computer come subvocalized, having long learnt not to speak out aloud when several projects go along side by side. Pressing the pause key, he leans back on his chair, looking over to Haven "Talk to me tomorrow in the office, I am too deeply in my current project. Say 1500?"

Nilee rubs his hand together and nods, "Indeed it wouldn't." He nods once, firmly, "Alright, I want you to do a final check of the safeties, I want to examine some of the fluctuation data once more before we begin. Double check the safeties one-by-one just to be sure they're online." Galen's own tone is showing some excitement, but he waits, sitting down after pulling a nearby chair to the workstation.

Torin hrmphs a bit, at that but nods. "Sir." He says, and takes his time reading them off checking them through.

Haven shakes her head lightly, fingers pushing a free strand of hair behind an ear. "No worries, Agrim. Just a thought spoken out loud. Commander Ghorev understands where things stand with the project." Then she too is silent, returning to her work after glancing the way of the other two across the lab.

<PROVE> Nilee has the flaw of Impulsive at -1.

GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.

Shamash nods to Haven, then pulls himself towards his screens again, a short look at them, then a sigh. "Computer, reset simulation 106-5B at timeframe 0504 and resume." The diagrams blink out and are replaced with others again.

Nilee reads over the last of the data, and then looks up at Torin, pushing the chair away as he stands, "Alright, I'm ready, Mo. Have you got those safeties checked?" The Trill waits for an answer and then nods, "Alright, let's begin." The Trill turns, and punches a few commands into the computer, "Computer, engage safeties for experiment Nilee-Gamma-Twelve." The computer responds in the affirmative, and Galen glances to Torin with a grin, "Prepare to begin experiment following set parameters."

Torin nods as he calls out the last one, "Yes, sir. All settled in." He nods as he finishes checking and nods, "Off we go." He offers, attention locked in to the action but still his focus is quick enough to check various display outputs visually making sure they stay inside safety norms as he does his part for starting it up.

<CONTEST> Torin contests his Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

<PROVE> Shamash has the merit of Mathematical Ability at 3.

<CONTEST> Shamash (claiming advantage) contests his Physical Sciences (Physics) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!

<PROVE> Nilee has the merit of Scientific Genius at 3.

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Haven contests her Life Sciences (Bioengineering) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!

Torin hrmphs, "Don't tickle, you never know what'll come out, it could be nothing but trouble." He says helpfully retaining an amused look. He then turns a bit towards Anna, "So what was the troubles with you and Jess earlier, was it about Sith?" He asks curiously.

The button is pushed. The readings on Nilee's terminal are steady and anticipated... Except for... What's that? Oh, never mind. It stabilized.

There is a blinding, blue-white flash of light from the consoles that Nilee and Torin are occupying. Or rather, it should be said /were/ occupying. Because they're... gone.

Since Haven was watching Nilee and Torin, she sees the flash and the .. vanishing act. With a frown she freezes, the PADD help in her hand. A hand reaches out to grasp Agrims shoulder slowly as she speaks softly to the computer. "Computer, locate Cadet Torin and Lieutenant Nilee. Seal the lab."

The computer buzzes in the negative, "There is nobody by that name located on board the station."

Shamash closes his eyes briefly as the flash of light passes through the lab, "Galen! You could have warned us that there was such a light." he blinks his eyes, trying to refocuss them. "Galen? Mr. Torin? What..." brief pause as he pulls his chair back to look over to where the two were standing. "Computer. Locate ..." Then Haven touches his shoulder and finishes for him. He stands up from his seat to look over at the console. "Computer, is Lt. Nilees experiment still running, confirm status and parameters."

"Negative," the Computer responds. "Experiment was shut down when safety parameters were exceeded."

With Shammy getting that information, Loni taps her combadge, "Operations, this is LT Haven. We've had an incident in Science Lab 1. Both LT JG Nilee and Cadet Torin are missing from the station according to the computer, the experiment has been shut down when it tipped the safety protocols. Stand by for more information." Then she glances over at Agrim. "Do you know what they where working on.. /exactly/ what it was?" She rises as she asks, seting aside the PADD in her hand. "Computer, confirm the lab is sealed off."

The computer chirrups affirmative. "Confirmed."

<CONTEST> Shamash (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Shamash walks over to the console to try to figure out what has happened. "Computer, access notes regarding the previously run experiment on this console. Display text only." He scans through the data that presents himself there, then nods. "Hm.. as I thought. He was working on his Subspace research project. Apparently he was... trying to create a subspace interphase pocket in order to experiment with his detection theories and scanning inside the pocket." He looks up. "Well. one theory might be that he was indeed successful in creating one, and ended up inside." He turns around to Loni again "Considering that the projects purpose was to modify our sensors so they can penetrate said subspace bubbles and currently do not, it would be a plausible explanation why they are not to be found. Have you any experience with space sciences, Loni?"

Haven frowns as she listens, making her way towards the table where Nilee and Torin where working. "Some. Mycroft and I were working on some things a while back. Long story. Let me take a look at that text to see if I can make heads or tails of it. Keep Ops up to date on what's going on. Why didn't the safeties snap up when the bubble began to form rather then after it formed? I'd suggest getting someone on sensors and looking.. just in case."

<CONTEST> Shamash (claiming disadvantage) contests his Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Dramatically Fails!

Shamash starts reviewing the information, and the console crashes. It doesn't reset - it just goes totally black. Experiment data gone.

Shamash turns to Loni and partly repeats her words since he did not get it right "You will keep Ops up to date? Yes. do that, also request both an internal as well as external sensor sweep, good idea." he gestures to the console "Go ahead and take a look at it, I'm going to access the logs of the experiment therewhile." He does so, starting to review the information. Okay, first all looks good then the limits go yellow "Hmm. Computer, slow down repla..." And just before it gets interesting, the console crashes. "What the.." Shamash blinks, "Computer, reset replay, half speed."
Nothing happens.
Shamash frowns again. "Computer, cold reset console."
Nothing happens.
Shamash curses in a strange language then moves to a different console, trying to get the data reassembled.

. o O Shamash agitated and suprised at the behaviour of the computer, the otherwise trusted friend.

<PROVE> Shamash has the merit of Mathematical Ability at 3.

<CONTEST> Shamash (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Data Alteration) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!

Haven blinks at Agrim, a tad confused at what he's saying. With an odd look she shakes her head and begins speaking into the comm. "Ops, LT Haven again. Neither officer have been recovered. I'm requesting an internal and external sensor sweep if you haven't began those yet." She pauses there as the screen flashes blank, the computer crashing. She watches as he tries to pull them back and nothing. With a groan, she continues. "Send security to the quarters of Torin and Nilee to look for PADDs. Looks like we might have lost the data we needed. Speak to command about looking into the PADDs found, looking for anything on an experiment on trying to create a subspace interphase pocket. We're still working here. If anything is forth coming, let me know. We're on stand by for now." Then she joins Shammy. "Anything?"

The console Shamash is working on now is much better behaved. No crashes here. The screen on it starts to fill with blocks of data, though parts of them are simply blank. "Well...", he informs his colleague, "Seems as if we can at least reconstruct some of the data, from the residual imprint of the memory engram but it will be a patchwork. I copy it as i proceed with the reassembly."

"Balin to Science Lab One," comes the Captain's voice. "No subspace pockets are detectable on sensors. The officers are not showing up on internal sensors. Security has been dispatched to their quarters. I think we have the information you're looking for. Computer, release subspace scan files Laco Gamma Five Five Six to Science Lab One, Balin Alpha Four. Execute." The terminal boots up with a CLASSIFIED logo. "I assume you see that the files are classified, Lieutenants. I expect them to remain so."

Haven nods as if Balin could see her. "Yes, Sir. Understood. LT Shamash is trying to piece together data now. Thank you. S1 on stand by." Then she turns to terminal and begins to read, the toes of one foot tapping silently. "Keep going Agrim since we don't know how complete these files will be or will them hold actual experiment raw data."

. o O Shamash feels partly intrigued at the sudden release of the data, partly a bit smug.

. o O Shamash thinks, "Somehow that strikes me as it might be the data i requested access to not long ago"

"Acknowledged, Sir" Shamash addresses the Com by Balin, but then continues his work just looking over to Haven "This will take a while, review Lt. Lacos file in the meantime, give me a summary if you can please." He notices the foot tapping "Nervous?"

GAME: Haven spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Haven (claiming advantage) contests her Space Sciences skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

"Too much energy in too small a body. It keeps me on track." Loni replies then she's silent as she reads through the files. "Wait a minute.. " Into the comm she asks, "Captain.. given the information here, is it possible " Another pause and a frown as she makes at her terminals before her then she blinks. "Sir, can I speak freely over this comm?"

"Go ahead," Balin says over the channel.

Haven nods, "Sir.. the object Nilee was 'lookiing' for. Is it still hidden there?" She's careful with her words, just in case.. cause she's a wee bit paranoid.

"We're confident that Sinclaire is never far from the station," Balin states.

<CONTEST> Shamash (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Dramatically Fails!

Haven looks a bit puzzled. "Sir, I don't remember the sensor particulars of the Aegis but can she scan with subspace if she's submerged?"

"One moment," comes the Captain's voice.

"Affirmative, Loni," Balin says. "According to reports, the Aegis can scan while in subspace, and pick up other submerged vessels. Do you think that Nilee and Torin are submerged?"

Haven sighs, "I'm not positive, Sir. We're trying to sort through all this data on the fly. If they are, indeed, caught in a subspace bubble .. and if I understand submergence correctly and the Aegis /can/ scan subspace from within it... That might be an option. Having the Aegis submerge, scan for very specific things. Namely Nilee and Torin." She looks over at Agrim to check on him before she looks back at her terminal, trying to figure this out.

There is a low Betazoid curse over the comm, then silence from Ops.

Shamash smirks at the answer from Loni and looks back at the console on which he was doing the reconstruction. And... well... an already familiar picture is displayed. A void emptiness. Nothing is visible on the terminal "Not... again.." Shamash groans. He fiddles with some of the controls, but the screen stays blank. "It is as if there is a counter program running to defy the work.. this is not... normal."

Nilee glances around as he steps, literally, right through the door. "Alright, we're here." He says, looking over at Torin and then turning his gaze to Shamash and Haven, "Looks like they're working on things..."

"Negative, Science Lab One," comes Balin's voice over the comm. "You're asking us to tip our hand. No." The final word is said with an adamant tone that only someone with four pips can effect (well, perhaps four pips and a box, too).

Haven wince but then, she doesn't know what the Captain knows. "Understood, Sir. We'll keep working and see if we can't find another solution." Then she looks over at Agrim. "What happ.. Prophets, again? Damn." She sighs and turns back to her terminal. "OKay, Phillip. Help me out here.. what am I missing?" she asks of the computer.

GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Torin contests his Personal Equipment skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

Torin hrmms as he nods glancing around as Nilee comments, "So it does, hmm the Aegis...submerging. Do you thing that other craft was a shadow of it. I didn't even know the ship could do stuff like that...Hey...if we could get across to there maybe we could affect things?" He asks curiously, glancing around, "Maybe something in here was affected and got shifted with us?" He suggests hopefully studying the consoles.

Shamash sighs and goes over to Loni. "Okay, the log of the experiment is gone. Two cascade failures on the same data, count in the console which originally malfunctioned when Galen and Mr. Torin vanished, thats three." He nods to her, then looks over her shoulder "What have you found so far from the text?"

<CONTEST> Nilee contests his Intellect (Logic) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Nilee takes the communicator off his chest and examines it, "You know... I think if we gathered all of our equipment together, and dumped all the power into one of the communicators... it might give us enough juice to communicate... atleast with something else that's in our state."

<CONTEST> Haven contests her Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

<CONTEST> Shamash contests his Intellect (Perception) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

Torin furrows his brow and rubs his chin, "Hmmm...true...possibly. But what would we want to affect. Hmm...if the Aegis has equipment capable of moving in and out of subspace. Perhaps something aboard could help on there...Mayhaps we could induce it to do something. If not actually shift, since it seems we'll probably be reprimanded for doing that. There must be something we can affect?"

Haven rubs her hands together then turns to look at Agrim. "OK. Talk this out with me. We can't submerge to scan.. which is why Nilee was trying to create a bubble and scan it from the inside here on station. So where does that leave us? If they are caught in a bubble in subspace, we don't know how long they'll have air, how big it is, where it is, if it's stable, if they are injured..." She frowns, "I'm missing something though" She curses something in Nausicaan and rubs her temples. She turns back to the computer and continues to review the information.

Nilee nods his head slowly, "We could communicate with the second Akira. I'm hesitant to do so. Only as a last resort. Let's just wait and see how the Lieutenants do with our situation. I'll start transferring the power to my communicator though... give me your equipment." Galen looks to Mo, as he sits down, cross legged on the floor and starts to take the powercell out of his tricorder.

Torin doesn't seem quite capable of, just sitting down calmly. He does remove his equipment and offers it over. But then he begins walking along the equipment trying to see if there's any of the consoles his hand doesn't pass through.

Shamash looks at the text as it unfolds over the terminal and tries to catch up on Lacos findings and equasions. When Loni speaks he listens to her worries in silence and nods, only to the last remark he offers a comment. "Then let us page back and go through this once again, it is still the best lead we currently have. Besides starting from scratch and we won't want to do that."

Shamash's finger goes out to the screen, "Look here, Laco wrote also about the Sinnogans? You know what is just frustrating? Every bit of technology about them ends up classified. And i could have done so much more when..." He pauses his rambling and looks over to Loni, "You did check in there, did you?"

GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

Haven's head snaps up and she blinks, eyes flashing to the screen. "Sinn.. " With a shake of her head she starts to read the subcategory she missed. "Their technology is primarily Lepton based." Then she trails off, reading through the text.

Nilee tilts his head to the side as he starts taking the rest of the power cells apart and lining them up to one side, "I think I could piggyback a signal onto an incoming subspace communication... it will be much less effective though..." He remarks aloud, for Torin's benefit.

Leptons... Leptons. Siinogans used a Lepton-based torpedo to jam communication signals. Laco created a successful model that showed it could be used as a depth charge to rip something submerged in subspace /out/ of subspace. It's all right there on the screen. But there is no mention of the effects it would have on human tissue.

Torin hrmms as his hands pass through all the consoles. A faint sigh, "Hmm, could we write a program to deliver a message? Perhaps we could send them a message to submerge some kind of permanent communication gear to work on this problem from both sides?" He suddenly pales, "Rip...out...depth charge." He gulps.

Shamash nods to Haven. "Exactly. I worked on an experiment, trying to create a system that punched through the lepton radiation of their sensor jamming devices. But the Siinogan device i needed to test my theories was classified. Its still unfinished." he looks at the screen reading. "And apparently it was because of the other ... uses" He nods at what he reads. "If it didn't get dismantled yet, I think we even have an emitter on station. A lead. at last."

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

Nilee starts putting the assembled power cells together and manages to link them, "Alright... this should do it," he concludes, looking to Torin, "That's a possibility... though I don't know what the effects would be of trying that experiment all over again, it might submerge both of them..."

Torin pauses, "Well possibly they could rig the system to do it by remote. If the Aegis can already do what we're trying to do on a larger scale. It probably has a more effecient way of doing this." He hrmms, "Well do we just want to tell them where we are and status then. Perhaps we could pre-program multiple responses?"

Haven sits up, "Whoa. Wait a minute, Agrim. We could kill them doing that. When we submerged the Aegis I had to beef up radiation shots to protect us because our shields where not adequate enough to do the job. We could kill them trying to save them. Using that as a weapon, as a way to blast a ship out of subspace is one thing.. but these are people in a bubble as best we can tell. I'd need to run a test on humanoid tissue exposing it to lepton radiation before I'd know. I realize we might not have a choice because leaving them there.. they'll be found in Sinclair is really out there but lets try not to kill them to save them.. "

Nilee holds up the communicator, "It's only a communicator, it doesn't have that kind of interface." He shrugs, "Not to mention power is limited, we could run out mid-programming."

Torin hrmms and furrows his brow, "Right." He sighs, "I'm used to more equipment." He nods, "Well what should we tell them, just where we are, that we can hear, and if we have time, what we believe our situation is?"

Nilee picks up the modified communicator and holds it in his hands, "That's an option." He looks to Torin, "The other vessel out there, is phased the same as us... we could communicate with it as well, but I am hesitant."

He was just going to call Ops to request some information, but his hand hovers over his combadge. "What is out there, Loni?", Shamash repeats with a frown and slight suspicion forming "And come to think of it, what is the object Galen was looking for?"

. o O Shamash feels the possibility of being deceived.

Torin furrows his brow and rubs his chin, "Are you sure it is?" He asks with faint surprise, "it's not just a shadow of the Aegis? Do you know anything more about it?" He asks curiously, "If you think that's our best bet sir." He hrmms furrowing his brow in thought reaching up to tag his ear once more in thought.

Haven waves a hand, "That's not the concern at this point. The point remains, if we detonate a lepton charge in subspace, what will be the result? Lets focus on that for now, okay?" She offers a bit of a smile and a pat on the arm. "Lets stay focused. Now. What like of disruption will it cause? What will it leave behind to be found should someone scan within subspace? Will it collapse the bubble? Will it kill them? These are questions we need to answer." She pauses then tips her head at the terminal. "Lets find those answers, all right?"

Nilee purses his lips as he looks between Haven and Shamash for a few moments, speaking as he does, "I don't think that vessel's crew is nessecarily... friendly. They may not be directly malicious, but I don't think contacting them would be the best idea... I want to focus on finding a way to help the Lieutenants here..."

. o O Haven thinks, "I'm beginning to feel like the kid standing before the dike as it starts to spring leaks. Classified information begins to drip and I'm trying to plug up the holes and still get the job done while hoping it's not going to break and drown us all."

Shamash crosses his arms before his chest and starts to frown deeper. "Lieutenant Haven. Explain your words please. I repeat: Who or what is Sinclair and what do you know about Lieutenant Nilee's experiment. You are trying to evade my question, i will not tolerate this."

Torin nods quietly, "Perhaps we should save that as...a back up plan." He glances towards the hull studying where the ship hovers, despite not being able to see it and shrugs eventually. "Well what can we do to assiste them, what in our observations on this side might give them assistance on how to send us something or retrieve us. Perhaps first we should take into account what resources they have availible, our tests, the pre-plans, the equipment? Perhaps the Aegis, or Stations sensors picked up an anomaly?"

Haven doesn't miss a beat as she says, "Then I suggest you speak directly to Captain Balin, Lieutenant because we all operate under restraints. I told you what I think Nilee was trying to do. If you don't understand then tell me and I'll try to explain it in a better manner." She sighs, "I'm sorry but I'm not cleared to break classification with express permission. So lets concentrate on the problem at hand. Getting our people back.

Nilee sits back down on the floor, "Ok, give me a few minutes." He folds his legs and places the communicator down on the ground before him, "We've got a rigged communicator that will give us literally a few seconds of communication with our people. Or maybe half a minute with the submerged Akira outside..." The Trill rubs his temple briefly, "We can't interact with anything beyond what was directly on our person when the experiment happened..." He trails off thinking.

Shamash inclines his head very slowly. "Yes, this is neccessary at this point, for in the current situation i can not be sure if the procedure is in the best interest of Fleet and the Federation." He ultimately moves to tap his combadge. "Lieutenant Shamash to Captain Balin, Sir."

"Ops," the Captain says.

Torin nods, "But we can see, hear, and breath, which means that on some level we still have some relation with our original location." He pauses, "Or...hmm well we were forming a bubble, perhaps the bubble is simply moving with us. Or was large enough to include this location and the Neutral Zone?" He says thoughtfully.

Nilee shakes his head slowly, "I don't think so. I'm more inclined to think that we were actually submerged in subspace. This was a byproduct I was hoping to come out of the research... just not like this... more controlled, obviously."

GAME: Haven spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Haven (claiming advantage) contests her Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Shamash speaks into his badge: "Sir. Please confirm to continue our efforts to retrive Lt. Nilee and Cadet Torin, Sir There has been indications that Lt. Nilee is either involved in a classified operation or, in the hopefully unlikely event, an unauthorized retrieval operation.

Torin blinks at Shamash's comments and glances towards Nilee, "You were looking for that ship?" He asks curiously and hrmms, "Okay, so then moving on to the assumption of being submerged into this subspace. What are the properties of submersing, do we have any postulations on why our equipment has lost most of it's power?" He moves methodically into this keeping his own brows furrowed in concentration, his hand tugging on his ear. Like someone pondering a riddle, rather than someone worried about their physical danger of being...you know like left in non-existance.

"Mr. Nilee was not working directly on the classified subspace project, but he was working on it indirectly on my authority," Balin replies. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant?"

Nilee glances at Torin and starts to shake his head, but pauses when he hears Balin's words, tilting his head, maybe with slight confusion for a moment, but he nods once, "I wasn't directly looking for it, no." He responds, a bit cryptically, he picks up the communicator examining it, "The experiment submerged us into subspace... so how can we tell our friends in real-space how to use it to emerge us back into real-space... could it even do that..."

Shamash continues speaking to the combadge "That is all the clarification I need at this time, Sir, however once the crisis situation is over, I respectfully request to address some concerns to you in person. Thank you, Sir." pause "However... We still have an Lepton Emitter on station unless it has not been disassembled. Can you have station operations call me back if it is found, and where? We need it operating if possible."

Torin arches a brow at the response. He lets out a heavy sigh, "Whatever, I don't want to know. I'll just get in trouble." He hrmms, "Well, I'm not sure if the theory applies, but if we generated a bubble that submerged us, could we use to re-phase us. Inverse the forces applied, at the same locations, and hit that locations with said inverted forces?" He offers.

Haven speaks up over the comms. "Captain. We have another option. However, there are some concerns that you'll need to be made aware of before we were to try it out and it involves LT Laco's work on the Paine."

The captain replies, "You can address your 'concerns' with Commander Ghorev in person, Mr. Shamash... Oh by the Four Deities. The emitter is on board the Paine. Do you think it could be used to pull them from subspace?"

Nilee shrugs his shoulders, "I'd need access to my research data to determine whether we could do that." He lets out an exasperated sigh, "Maybe the lepton idea will work... it's about the only thing we've got going right now..."

"Stand by, Science Lab One," Balin says.

Torin shrugs, "Well perhaps we can transmit to them, to look into your data. On the other hand, if you were looking for that craft. Should we try and get a relative bearing, and location of the craft? If it's important to find it."

Shamash, into the combadge: "From what i know of Lepton technology, it is at least possible in theory, yes. Whether or not the radiation will have a reaction to humanoid tissue is Lt. Havens metier" He glances over to her but waits with any further explanation as he was bidden to wait.

Balin comes in from the central Labs area.

Balin has arrived.

Nilee glances over at Torin, "That's not a bad idea. I'm hesitant to use up our communication time just to let them know we're alive, unless we really need to." He glances around, "Let's find a viewport and see if we can determine that..."

Balin walks in with determination in his step. He walks right through Torin without realizing it. His hands go to his waist and he comes to a halt before the terminal that Shamash and Haven are working at. "Report," he says sternly. He does not look at all happy in the slightest bit.

. o O Balin thinks, "Is there anything Laco /didn't/ put in his damned report?"

. o O Balin is one hundred square yards pissed off.

Haven says with a blink, "LT Laco's work shows that it's possible to force an object in subspace out of it. However.. here are my concerns with trying it, Sir. We have no idea what the result could be on the officers, we could kill them as soon as rescue them. We have no idea if it'll leave any kind of a trace for someone to find. Or what kind of a disruption it would cause that could be detected. But on the other side of it.. leaving them there is leaving them to death and leaving something to be possibly found and thus, tipping our hand in a different way."

Torin jumps a bit and lets out a faint squeak as he gets passed through. He coughs, "That's...Hrmph...not..nice." He pauses, "Should one of us go while the other stays here and keeps an eye in case we need to contact them immediately, sir? What's the best chance of being able to handle locating it, Ops?" He pauses, "And if we don't contact them, before they try their experiment. We can try and get the com to hold a message in it's buffer? Make sure they learn what we learned if there's a mishap?" He offers.

"Sir.", Shamash faces the CO as he enteres, just a tad flustered at the sudden entrance. "We have reason to believe, that Lt. Nilee and Cadet Torin are caught inside a bubble in subspace, we are unable to locate its whereabouts due to a lack of sensor capabilities. We have the theoretical proof that a lepton based emitter field will destabilize the submergence bubble. Next step was to determine the damage on cell impact as one point, the other being the area to cover in a blind bombardement of leptons and how to accomplish it."

. o O Shamash thinks, "..what did she say? ~a trace for someone to find~ it is not that we need to hide what we do, is there"

"The emitter is designed as a forced pulse. Its effects cannot be ramped," the Captain says in a near-hot tone. "It was designed to /forcibly/ remove something from subspace, not gently. And even the /existence/ of that emitter is such a secret that if I hear of any of you mention it after this situation is over I'll have your hides flying from transmitter array at the top of the station and you'll be scrubbing floors on a transmission array in the backwaters of the Federation as your next duty assignment."

Nilee shakes his head slowly, "We don't split up. If we go anywhere, we go together." He nods once, "We'll send that message just before they decide to perform the experiment." He pauses and thinks, "Or we could tell them we're in the room..." he pauses, looking to Torin and then back, "We need to include more though. We are both safe and in the lab. There is an Akira outside, submerged. Maybe we could roughly triangulate it's position based on the anomaly and the station's position..."

Haven's jaw sets and she turns back to the terminal with a firmly noted, "Yes, Sir." Annoyance tightens the muscles along her shoulders but she pushes it down and moves on through the files before her. There has to be something she's missing. Something that won't kill her fellow crewmen.

Torin nods quietly, "Whatever you think is best sir. Without access to ops, our best would be to take two points, that have line of sight on it, and make a calculation of degrees off from a point it is. Then since it's the same size of the Aegis we could use it's apparant size with relation to the Aegis, to estimate distance. Using ops we can probably get a bit better, but either way. We don't have to do the math on our side if we feed them raw data I'm sure Lt. Shamash can extrapolate a range of positions where it might be. It's not a small craft after all." He offers. "If they can't use the Leptons, perhaps we should offer using your data to reverse the affect? Maybe at least give them somewhere to start."

"Aye, Sir. I will try to procure an alternative idea." Shamash responds, even as he considers that the emitter must have been reworked since he last used one. he had a small, experimental one in mind. He in turn moves towards one of the few still operating consoles, pulling up some text.

Balin states, "Ideas. I want these two crew members found, Lieutenants. Keep me apprised." He turns on his heel and walks out the door.

Balin heads out.

Balin has left.

Haven half turns in her seat, "How shielded is this lab from the rest of the station?" Her gaze follows Balin out and she looks at Agrim. "Can we not do that again?"

Shamash peers up from reading his data. "What that? The experiment? not without some notes or two months time."

Haven sighs, "No. Lets not do the 'Ugh, me demand to know cause she does' thing that leads to the 'yelled at by the boss' thing. We're working together here. Lets do that, all right?" She rolls her shoulders and stares at her screen. "How shielded is this lab from the rest of the base?"

Nilee nods his head slowly, "Alright, there should be some viewports in the offices outside... let's go take a look and see if we can get a general idea on the second Akira's position... we'll try and be quick, so we can get back here and pass along the information."

Torin nods quietly, "Very well sir." He nods quietly, another quick glance around and he prepares to follow.

Nilee turns and heads for the door, he moves quickly, his pace a very brisk walk. He clearly wants to miss as little of the other officer's conversation as possible.

Shamash shakes his head "I can not say i will not repeat this. It is an officers right and duty to weigh a situation against all eventualities. And this one would have have had the possibility to be an illegal act against the federation. I would not change my decision, if anything I have to blame myself for not speaking up earlier." However, his tone grows a little softer now "And I trust you would have acted similar, Loni, so there is no harm done." another pause, then more absent as he concentrates on the task at hand "Its somewhat stronger, especially around the computer core, you will find it in the design specs for the station"

Don't be so sure about that Shammy-me-boy. Outloud Loni asks, "What are the odds, really, that a bubble formed and shot them off something in the distance? Correct me if I'm wrong but when a warp field forms it's around the item in one spot.. right?"

<PROVE> Nilee has the merit of Scientific Genius at 3.

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Astronomy) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Shamash contests his Intellect (Logic) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

Shamash looks to Loni again, "No, there is no bubble, they are submerged in subspace. With all likelyhood they are still in the vicinity of the lab." He continues to look at Haven blank. "shot them off... Thats it, Loni! Instead of shooting /them/ off, we put the lepton burst so far out that the field is weak enough." he grins. "Only that we should not use the Paine in order to keep the Captains little secret... but there is still the torpedo i used on my original experiment in storage"

Haven gets that look. You know the one. When you say just the right thing to give someone that last piece to create the puzzle but you're still a little lost yourself and you just want to smile and says 'hey, glad I could help'. She repeats it to herself then says, "But we still don't know if it'll leave a trace the others can pick up."

Nilee picks up the modified communicator and opens up the back, changing some of the delicate internal workings. He hmms quietly to himself and then taps it, saying in one smooth continuous sentence, "Both safe. My rsearch can reverse submersion. 156 from fore 500 meters, Akira."

Shamash nods to Haven "Loni, I do not know what 'others' you are talking about, and you keep repeatedly mentioning this. I will not press you this time, and I will mean this in a very caring way, but i do not care if it can be picked up at this point, if it is something special, then i suggest you talk to the Captain this time.

Shamash adds "I want to get Galen and Mr Torin back, nothing else.

"You won't press me about any classified material at any time, Agrim" Loni says softly before saying, "The Captain will have to make the final call. Our job is to come up with the best idea possible and give him the particulars. He makes the final call. So, do you have this item you're talking about?"

Torin wets his lips quietly as Nilee makes the changes and adjustments and sends the message. He chuckles, "Well here's to hoping, hmm sir?" He offers, "Do you think I could use one of the PADD's? I'm curious to see what happens if I try and wave one past the hull."

"Ops to Science Lab One," comes the feminine voice of Lt. Whittington, an Ops officer. "We've picked up a piggy-back signal that might be from our two missing officers. Routing it to your location."

There is brief static, then the voice of Nilee comes over the comm: "Both safe. My research can reverse submersion. 156 from fore 500 meters, Akira." More static, communication ends.

Nilee shakes his head, "I'd advise against it. I don't want us taking any unessecary risks at this point. Just sit tight, Mo."

Torin nods quietly and sighs, "I suppose." He looks disappointed.

Nilee folds his arms across his chest and waits for the reaction from the two in the room, watching each of them carefully.

Haven takes a moment to refer back to all the files before her then she frowns, "Coordinates.. That's what those are. Computer, put up a map of the coords that station is at in space then mark the coord that we're transmitted. Lets see where they are."

Shamash looks at Haven for a long time, his features starting to look increasingly sad as he watches her. He sighs. "You are both right and wrong." Then stands up from his console and towards the door. "I will be in Ops, explaining this choice and setting the fire coordinates from deck one directly."

A local space map appears on the screen, with a flashing red blip where the coordinates were marked.

. o O Shamash thinks, "I wonder if i have lost a friend today"

Haven shots a look at Agrim and frowns. "Better make sure you explain the repercussions as well. He needs to know all the information. Not just what we can do to get them back."

Nilee glances to Torin with a frown, "They're not getting it. Why aren't they looking at our research??" He shakes his head, "It's not that complicated a procedure, all the information is in my files!" He's growing a little heated, frustrated. He takes a breath and looks to Torin, "We have to find a way to get them more information... how?"

Torin pauses quietly, "Wait for it. Captain Balin, may understand. If he knows what he's looking for. He may be able to understand the location. But the only other option is I see is we need something to touch, three things, the core, or the Aegis, or that other craft. I don't know what would happened if we tried to displace one of the items with the energy of the warp core...but." He shrugs quietly, "A possibility, perhaps we could try one of the smaller reactors on a shuttle?"

Shamash heads out.

Shamash has left.

Balin comes in from the central Labs area.

Balin has arrived.

Balin comes in, looking a lot less ticked off. "Report," he says.

Nilee looks at equipment he's left scattered on the ground before them, he looks to Torin, "What are you thinking exactly? That the energy from the reactor would force the objects back into real space?"

Haven frowns up at the CO as he comes /back/ in. Didn't she tell Agrim /not/ to piss him off? Oy. "Sir, part of what we received from Nilee were corrds." She taps the map up. "Here. Now we thinks it's possible to use Agrims smaller device to detonate at these coords making it far enough away to keep them safe but force from from the submergence. Nilee told us to refer to his work, which we can't so this is all theoretical. And again, we have no idea if doing this will leave anything behind that Sinclair can zero in on. If it does, she knows where capable of doing it and that it's a possible weapon."

Torin shrugs quietly, "One possiblity, or that the energy will cross over through the subspace. Just that we'll get SOME reaction, charge it or transport it. I'm just going with my gut here sir, we need some more information, the only way to gather it is to experiment. Try something and react is the way I see it." He offers.

Nilee nods his head slowly, "I don't have a lot of engineering expertise... but do you think we could fashion some sort of basic energy shunt to charge our power cells?"

"Detonate /at/ those coordinates?" Balin asks. "Are you certain about that? The message mentioned 'Akira' at the end. It sounds to me like he was indicating that Sinclaire was there. Firing a lepton torpedo there is a bad, bad idea." He tracks his finger down the map to the opposite side of the station as the red dot. "Here would be the wiser target."

Torin glances about at the equipment at hand. And then, this may be a disturbing thing, he grins, "Only one way to find out sir, they all have power cells, and with enough electronics I should possibly be able to create a transformer. But...well it might take a /bit/ of jury-rigging." He glances over towards the map studying it, "On the other hand maybe we should or shouldn't go there, or at least leave a message there?"

Nilee tilts his head, showing a little bit of confusion as he looks at the map, "Go where... to the second Akira?

Haven shrugs, "I wasn't aware that was what Akira stood to represent." Then she frowns, "Sir.. if they see her.. why isn't she seeing them? And if that is here.. she'll know .. won't she.. she'll figure it out what we're doing?"

Torin shakes his head and points, "Look where he pointed, the red dot is the second Akira. That's opposite it. What I understand is they want to detonate the emitter from that point and hope enough of it's field will reach us to force us out of submergence? So if we can send a message at that point one of the PADD's perhaps. Maybe they can pick it up on sensors if it reverts? Or some form of message if it doesn't work."

Nilee nods his head slowly, "It's a thought... but we still don't have any power to leave a message on the PADD." He strokes his chin, "Why don't you see if you can get that transformer put together with what we have... if we can get powercells, we could communicate with them directly."

"Possibly," Balin says. He corrects himself, then. "Probably. Sinclaire captains an Akira class ship... And she's never far from Wendy Tyler. I don't know if she can see them or not, but I've got two crew members who need our help. The Siinogan torpedo is known technology to Sinclaire. I'm going to bet the black queen doesn't know what the white king is actually up to." He taps his com badge. "Balin to Ops. Prepare the torpedo."

<PROVE> Balin has the skill Gaming (2d Chess) at least at level 5.

Torin nods quietly, "Very well." He hrmms, "This should be interesting." He offers wryly as he wets his lips and begins seeing if he can open up the equipment seeing what he can and can't use.

Nilee rubs the bridge of his nose quietly, as he sits down on the floor, "It sounds like they're moving ahead with the torpedo... we just need to wait."

Haven doesn't waste any time once the order comes there. "Computer, seal the lab.. again." Then she starts to set up safety protocols. Not that we worked overly well before but this is a bit different. The last thing is to grab a med kit from the far counter. Radiation is her concern here. "Computer, if there is any rise in radiation get a containment field up around it."

The computer chirrups acknowledgement at Haven's request.

Balin says into his com badge, "Mr. Shamash, fire on Lt. Haven's order." He gives Loni a single, encouraging nod, and watches the viewscreen.

Oh dear Prophets, don't let them be at those coords. She nods back, takes a breath then orders, "Fire now, Ops." Then she waits, hands pulling a medical tricorder from the kit by long standing habit.

Torin hrmms and frowns, "Don't think this will work. Well here's to hoping sir. If not it's been fun."

Nilee just remains sitting on the ground, "Good work, Mo. I'll see you on the otherside." His tone is reassuring, as best he can manage atleast.

Torin pauses, "Hrmm, if this room is being sealed...will we be unaffected if we remain here?"

A blip appears on Loni's map, and it arcs out toward an area close to where Balin indicated. A larger flashing white dot indicates it explodes about 100 meters opposite of the flashing red dot. "Torpedo away," says someone in Operations.

Haven seems rather calm, all things considered. It's all an act, of course but hey, she puts up a good front. A glance is sparred her med kit before she's watching the screen again.

Balin's calm isn't an act. He just waits for his report, looking over to Haven and giving her another reassuring nod.

Nilee lets out a loud yelp of pain, as he falls on his side, pulling his arms down to cover his kidneys in an instinctive maneuver.

. o O Haven is scared this might end in the deaths of her friends. She's worried this might cause an answering action by the Akira. But then, she's not the one making these calls.

Torin blinks, for a moment and then lets out a squeal as well, "AAAAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE." He lets out what can only be a shriek of pain, even as he curls up into a fetal position on the floor.

"Damnit" is the first thing to come from Loni's lips as she turns to stare at the spot where the two appear. "Computer, give me a radiation check on LT Nilee and Cadet Torin, stat!" she calls out before telling the two. "Hold in there guys. Hold on. You're back. Just stay there."

"Lepton radiation levels at 200 rads," the Computer says.

Haven taps her com badge. "Lieutenant Haven to Lieutenant JG Albertz."

Nilee pushes against the ground so he can look up, peering through his eyes, "Agh." He groans a little more quietly this time, "That was not pleasant, Loni." He manages to get out, looking up at the other science officer.

Torin just groans a light whimper of, "Eiiiit buuuurnnnnns." Is mildly audible as he remains curled up. Then eventually it subsides as he seems to relax the pain apparantly subsides he uncurls if slowly and stays on the ground.

"Welcome back, Gentlemen," the Captain says, putting a smile on for them. "I think this time, we'll forego the AWOL charges."

Haven nods as she hails the ACMO. "I know guys. I know. You did good with the message though. You're going to spend a day or two in the infirmary but you'll be ok. I lost you once.. that's enough for me." Then she blinks over at the CO. "Wow" she adds, grinning. "You're getting off easy."