A Slow Infiltration
Posted on Tue Oct 23rd, 2012 @ 1:37pm by Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson & Master Chief Petty Officer Apu Barnum & Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga (Hel) Lowe & Major Leroy Mangalia & Ensign Mak Free [Lynx]
995 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: The Enemy Within: Lying in Wait
ON
Helga was very careful not to stand out, or to make the transformation too quick. It would do no good at all if people were acting strangely when they left sickbay. So, instead of creating the xenomorphs, she replicated a batch of nanites to introduce through ice tea. They were slower acting, taking 24 hours to fully integrate into their host. But these nanites would lie dormant, waiting for the right moment to take over their host. They would gather information and send it back to the hive.
Before anyone knew what was going on, the ship would fall and the crew would add to the Collective.
She smiled comfortingly as she passed out the tea, talking to patients here and there and answering questions. She was careful to avoid senior staff, preferring to infect the less-observed personnel.
[Arboretum]
LIzzie knew they orbited Tiberius IV. Knew that teams were on the planet, looking for survivors. There was little she could do. So, she continued to do what she did every day. She worked in the arboretum, worked with her trees and plants.
Apu walked in, bringing a rare plant. "Lieutenant Jackson," he called. "I bring a gift."
Lizzie popped her head out of a tree. "Hi. What do you have?"
Apu walked up to her with the cutting. "Rosewood."
Lizzie dropped to the ground and walked quickly over to see the twig. It looked like a twig, but she knew that with care it would blossom and grow. "Wonderful." She cocked her head to one side. "What do you want in return?"
Apu laughed. "Nothing yet. A favor? I give you this for a future favor."
It was risky, knowing Apu as she did, but Lizzie nodded. "Agreed." She really didn't have that much of value, so she felt safe in striking the bargain. She took the stick into her workroom to plant.
Apu followed her, curious to see her workroom.
Lizzie found a pot and prepared it with small rocks, loam and dirt. Then she carefully planted the stick and watered it. She placed the pot on a long table filled with other such pots. Some had clippings, some had saplings.
A sound made her turn to another table. A large spider-like creature climbed from behind a small pot of herbs. "Hello. What are you?" she asked, curious. She'd never seen such a spider and wondered how it got into her workroom. She walked over ot it to have a closer look.
Apu grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "I think not." He pulled out his knife and, in a flash, had skewered the creature. "I do not think it so harmless." He couldn't tell her why he felt so. He'd never seen anything like it. But there was something about it that seemed...unnatural. He lifted his knife and looked at the creature. "Have you seen anything like this?"
Lizzie shook her head. "No. Have you?"
"No. Let's take it to a lab and see what we can find."
[Engineering]
"Sir I'm getting fluctuations from one of the Arboretum's workrooms, it appears to be something wrong with the circuitry."
Mak looked at the random engineer. "What?" He checked the readings the engineer had on the display. "Yeah that's odd. I'll go have a look." He grabbed a toolkit and headed to the Arboretum.
[Arboretum]
Once inside Mak looked around the lovely garden and with the schematic he reviewed on the way, on a padd which he had put back into the kit, he headed to the workroom.
"Hello," Mak called as he heard talking in the room.
"Back here," Lizzie called. When she saw Mak she gave him a half-smile. "What brings you here?"
[Sickbay]
Leo stepped inside the room, looking at one of his men that had twisted his ankle during a run. They had only come in a few minutes ago, but it was nice for him to check up on them. "Hey 'Doc," he said passing Helga and moving to the mans bed. "Simmons, you feeling better?"
"Yes sir, nothing a little scan and probing doesn't cure. I'll be back up and running that course again within the hour I'm sure."
"He's doing much better," Helga assured the Captain. "Would you like a glass of tea?" she asked, holding up a pitcher.
"No, but thank you Doc," Leo said looking over. "When did..." Looking at the pitcher he let his head go to the left and completely sideways. "Medical is handing out drinks now? Hows that supposed to help?"
"It helps both the patient and the visitors feel better," Helga assured him. She was a little disappointed that he didn't want a drink, but as he was the Marine CO, it was probably for the best. She preferred to go after lower-ranking officers and enlisted.
"He can leave here as soon as we run a final scan," she added, putting her pitcher on a side table.
She looked at her chronometer. "It's a little early, but I can run the scan now. If he's good, he can leave." The nanites would have had time to settle in, although it would be a day before they were fully integrated. There was plenty of time for that. Slow and subtle. The Borg had learned from their encounter in the Unimatrix. The bold, frontal assaults and assimilations didn't work with the Federation. Instead, they needed to work from the inside out.
She ran the scan carefully. Good. No sign of nanites. "You're cleared to go," she said, smiling at the two men. "Just be more careful next time, yes?" She spent a moment putting everything away, then picked up her tea and headed out to visit another patient.
OFF
Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga Lowe
Nurse
USS Calypso
Lieutenant JG Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jackson
Botanist
USS Calypso
Master Chief Petty Officer Apu Barnum
Quartermaster
USS Calypso
Ensign Mak Free
Engineer
USS Calypso
Captain Leroy Mangalia
Marine CO
USS Calypso
Simmons
Marine
USS Calypso
RSS Feed