The Dual-Minded are Unstable - Part One

Posted on Fri Jan 1st, 2021 @ 2:13pm by Captain Kayden Nell & Captain Sarah Horner & Commander Tressa Brislan-Antilles & Commander Victoria 'Enyo' Yamaguchi & Fleet Captain Heather Walking Bear & Commander Alyssa Temetti & Commander Kolar, Son of Magh'tor & Commander Morae Stormstout & Commander Shaalari Zh'Terran & Lieutenant Commander Meslina Amakawa & Lieutenant Sapata M'Herris & Lieutenant Commander Ouros Yamaguchi & Commodore T'Shaamet 'Runt' Antilles & Command Master Chief Petty Officer Elizabeth Smithson & Colonel James "Gryphon" McTaggert

Mission: Mission 105: The Mirror, Shattered
Location: Various Locations - USS Infinity
Timeline: 0900Hrs - October 6th, 2393

Commander Shaalari Zh'Terran smiled as she finished her last series of checks on the small swarm of bugs that she and her fellow engineers had been developing for this assignment, small insect-like machines that were designed to mimic and appear like the local equivalent of an Earth mosquito, fortunately, Andor had never known such pests Zh'Terran reminded herself for the umpteenth time this morning. She cringed ever so slightly as she considered the small device on the display before her, as one of her engineers entered Main Engineering from another direction, a human male by his looks though Zh'Terran could never be a hundred percent sure of them, humans tended to look like way too many other species in the galaxy. He held a PADD in his hand and a big smile on his face. "Ahh, Chief. The final report you asked for." he paused as he handed it to her. "We're ready to go," he added.

Zh'Terran nodded her head in acknowledgement of what he had said while she regarded the PADD. "Alright. We should be arriving at our destination shortly... Head on back and..." she paused a moment "Soothe my paranoia would ya?" as she smiled, she wished for him to double-check his work without being an ass about it. The Engineer accepted the PADD back. "You got it Chief." and with that, the man turned and departed Engineering while the Andorian tapped her combadge. "Zh'Terran to bridge?" she asked.

"Horner here, what's up Shaalari...?" came the voice of the Executive officer.

"All systems are ready, we're good to go down here." the Andorian explained the purpose of her call to the bridge. "The bugs are ready for deployment and... so are my engineers... I think some of these guys like bugs way too much for my comfort, it's just creepy to me... I grew up on a world of ice and snow... the bugs don't want to drink your blood, they just want to kill you and use you for food..." the Andorian sighed softly.

Meanwhile, upon the bridge, everyone was at their posts and the bridge was almost a model of efficiency but a lot of people did way too much talking on the bridge, which tended to come from a certain level of familiarity with working with the same people for years on end. "What a wonderful world you come from." came the response from Horner, with her usual dry wit as she frowned ever so slightly.

Walking Bear turned her head. "Skipper, we're coming up on New Halana... Arrival in ten seconds."

"Alright." T'Shaamet came out of her chair, the uniform she wore revealed way too much of her flesh or so she thought. "How do these people get anything done, is at times, a great mystery to me," she commented as she felt her skirt riding up her leg, she took a moment to adjust it. "Maybe tomorrow, I'll just show up for duty nude." the Vulcan quipped to nobody in particular. "It'll save me so much trouble."

Horner smiled as there was a soft series of snickers from various people around the bridge. Horner tapped her display. "Are their defences reacting to us?" she asked of Kayden Nell, he had been monitoring from his post, he shook his head. "Nah, its almost like they don't care..." he then frowned. "Maybe they wish to see ur intentions... Before they attack us... Makes sense..."

T'Shaamet nodded her head as the starlines, which had been created by the warping effect of the Infinity's warp field, suddenly reverted to stars as the planet of New Halana went from nothing to taking up a third of the screen. "Alright begin deployment..." Horner ordered.

Within several of the ship's transporter rooms, several large canisters, filled with many thousands of these bugs were being readied for their mission, each one had a specific goal and a specific area to reach. They would deploy and begin harvesting samples from the local population, before returning to their hive which would be located near the various target cities, it was hoped that these would remain undetected but if they were detected then security measures had been put into place to ensure they did their jobs as planned and as programmed.

The transporter operator tapped his panel once. "Alright, sending to locations Sierra Four through Upsilon Three." as he activated the system and the assembled Engineers watched as the seven hives were all beamed to their various locations, upon arrival at their beam in sites, they all instantly deployed the tens of thousands of drones concealed inside the large hives, each the height and mass of the average human male. The mosquitoes themselves were little robots that were designed to act and operate much like the native versions of mosquitoes, some would get lucky and finish their service lives in the hives and others would not, it was hoped that the sheer number of them would provide a means to obtain the maximum amount of information as possible for the successful completion of their mission.