Trying to get inside the monsters head

Posted on Thursday 20 June 2019 @ 14:41 by Commander Caroline Miller & Master Chief Petty Officer Harris Zim

Mission: The New Collective
Location: Holodec 2
Timeline: After "getting answers"
3215 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Caroline entered the holodeck to find an Breana tinkering with something.

"Hey," she smiled at them before asking. "So how's this going to work?"

Zim looked up at the Counselor as she walked in. "In truth I am not exactly sure. The technical stuff escapes me. I just want to make sure that this whatever it is does not get out again."

Caroline nodded. "Agreed Chief Zim. I'm apprehensive too but if theres a small chance we can get an inkling of intel or understand it ….. I think its worth an attempt. I do feel better having you here with us."

Tinkering, she seemed to suddenly find herself doing a lot of that lately, then again, she enjoyed it so all was good. Having sent Doyle with the AT, James watching the turbolife, and Abby on the bridge... Bree had made sure the three important spots where covered by people she'd grown to know and trust before she'd slipped off to help with this side project. Lower lip was held lightly between her teeth as she altered a few things in the holodecks computer system.

Having heard the two voices she glanced over her shoulder a moment with a smile to the two other officers. "Afternoon." She paused with what she was doing and turned. "Ok.... so just to let you know I have a level 10 forcefield set up around one of the turbolifts. So anything that may be brought up we might be unsure about will be in that one. Then it can be transported safely into this room.... Oh..." She paused and grabbed her PaDD a moment to jot a note to make sure not just anyone could come in and accidentally mess something up.

"I've set this room up so that all safety measures are locked into place. I've also have it set so that if anything attempts to back it's way out of this computer system, like a virus, the whole thing will instantly shut down. I know that was the Commanders biggest worry, so I wanted to make sure there were a few fail safe things set up." Bree said, slightly rambling.

"Alright, so what exactly are you wanting to learn? Are we setting up... a holographic borg that you can run some test on?" Pausing she glanced between the two of them again, that slightly sheepish look touching her cheeks. While she'd had to study and learn about the Borg at the academy, actually dealing with them had been something she'd not really done, so this was a bit of a new time for her also.

"Ermmmm no, " Caroline said. "I was wondering if we could set up a holographic being with its programme so I could try again to talk to it. Like I said not an engineer so I don't know what's possible or not. I don't believe its a borg Ensign. The way it acted, the way it thought. It wasn't part of a collective. It was menacing like a borg yes but not a borg. It didn't want to assimilate. It only wanted to destroy."

Listening to what tactics were being employed to keep the puppet master at bay, Zim thought there was one glaring gap in their planning. Luckily he thought a few steps ahead and discussed this opening with Dr Ki a little while ago. "Computer erect a level ten bio memmetic field around the holodeck. Alpha Two Clearance only to remove the field. Enable when ready." A moment later the computer responded that such a field would not allow any living being, or thought to leave the room, that a task such as that required security access code. "Computer authorize the field Master Chief Petty Officer Harris Zim, Chief of the Boat, security code Delta-9-0-0-7-highlander-1 enable." Zim responded, the computer chirped and the field went up. "This way if this puppet master is capable of traveling at the speed of thought he can only take one of the three of us and then be contained." He explained to the two officers present.

A slight nod of her head, holographic something.... Wait... she nipped at her lower lip a moment in thought. Grabbing her PaDD she typed in a few things, checking her idea's, before she plugged in a few things into the computer. Suddenly in the middle of the room stood Lieutenant O'Hara. "Computer, program hologram O'Hara with the medical stats she had before her last brain surgery."

"Program complete" Came the response after a moment.

Looking to the other two with a slight nod. "She should be set as she was when she was the puppet Master. I can't say how much information you will get out of her, but it was an idea."

Caroline twitched. Actually physically twitched as the imagine of the Irish lady materialised in front of her. The memory of watching that programme she had created with them in a boxing match flashed through her mind. It had been so over the top. How someone could hate her that much for doing her job.

"Thank you Ensign," she said after a moment. "Who are you?" she addressed the hologram.

"I am a Puppet Master. This naive, willful little puppet handed me her strings." The holographic O'Hara said with an evil smile.

Zim was curious about this being however, he knew it best for the time being to let Caroline do the talking. He took a step behind her and made ready for anything.

"What is your purpose?" Caroline continued.

Harris' thoughts wandered for a moment. It was a decidedly human trait to want to understand why something did what it did. A Capellan would kill and or render the enemy incapacitated there was no need to know why. It was this difference that made Zim want to be in Starfleet and made him pay all the more attention to the Puppet Master's response.

Hologram O'Hara's eyes stared back unblinkingly. "I am a Puppet Master. This naive, willful little puppet handed me her strings. In turn, I have pulled all of yours. In her hubris, she thought she could overcome me in my own domain. You will all pay the price for her arrogance.... But none will pay as dearly as she. She goes to her death knowing that she was the instrument of this ship's demise. She dies feeling the pain I inflict upon her. She dies with every last living being on this ship as a black mark against her soul. She dies knowing you all die because of her. She dies knowing that she was too weak to stop me."

Bree stood back silently, watching the interaction and listening. A check every so often on the computer panel to make sure everything was still running normal.

Zim decided that he would try to beat the thing at it's own game. "Puppet Master may a propose a hypothetical. What if you were already beaten? What if O'Hara lived and you were contained. What would be your next course of action given those circumstances?"

Caroline watched Zim for a moment. It wasn't the direction she was going but it was an interesting question. Her eyes flicked back to the hologram and they all waited.

There was a fleeting moments pause, almost as if there was a hic-up in the program before the response came. "Impossible, She dies feeling the pain I inflict upon her. She dies with every last living being on this ship as a black mark against her soul. She dies knowing you all die because of her. She dies knowing that she was too weak to stop me. " There was another slight pause before O'Hara added " Her cooperation is not mandatory"

"Its rehashing. Theres nothing new," Caroline commented. "Just the same as when we encountered it in O'Hara and what she told me in our sessions before she left. Is that because thats all you are or because we haven't enough of its programme to see anything different?" she wondered looking at her other two colleagues for their thoughts.

The holographic O'Hara hadn't moved only responded to the talking of Caroline. "If I knew your species was this entertaining, I would have done this years ago. You know nothing. I will tell you nothing. You will leave. Now."

Hearing the Commander, Bree nipped on her lower lip a moment in thought before giving into a soft sigh. "It is possible that because we don't have anymore of the program that may be all we get. When making holographic people we usually have enough information about the person or species to be able to build on that to get the hypothetical responses from them. This Puppet Master is a new thing, and therefore I'm going to suggest we at least keep what we have in case we ever get the chance to learn more and build this.. profile... up?"

It was the hic up in the program that got him interested. Zim did not think that they only had part of the program, he thought they had it all and he showed the puppet master that it was flawed. "Now Puppet Master suppose I told you that was not a hypothetical, that it was true. That Stephanie O'Hara is secure in her quarters. By the way I am not a human, I am not of the same species as you put it. I am incapable of lying, so I tell you again it is all true. You are contained and O'Hara lives, and we all live." Zim began to boldly walk toward the hologram.

Caroline was more inclined to agree with hers and the engineers conclusion but walked behind him. Surprisingly the twitch occurred again in her face as she got closer to a holographic O'Hara image.

Zim now emboldened by the lack of response from the Puppet Master thought two things. The first would be that he would continue this line of investigation until he won or was ordered to stop, and the other was that he would not give the Puppet master time to process. His voice got louder as he walked ever closer to the hologram. "Come now great Puppet Master, you are one who is supposed to be in total control and knowing all. How is it that you did not know that this ship had non humans aboard. That Stephanie O'hara is alive, that her friends, her crewmates took her from your clutches. That you are nothing now except a computer data file to be examined. Tell me answer me or will you let me, a lesser being win..." Harris Zim was practically shouting and frothing at the mouth as he spoke. When he finished he was nose to nose with the hologram.

Bree had seen Caroline's twitch and frowned, inching closer she spoke softly. "Are you alright Commander?"

About that time The Puppet Master seemed to come to life once more as a low evil laugh was heard. "You wish to push me Chief Petty Officer Zim? You may have separated me from the week body I controlled before, but you gave me more, so much more. I should thank you imbecile, you may not be human, but like the rest of this crew. You are nothing but lessors to be dealt with strongly and swiftly. And now that I have this body back I can finish my plans and make the weakling and you all watch."

In that moment Zim knew they had him, they had this puppet master right where they wanted him. He turned toward Breanna and mouthed the words "isolate the holodeck and sever it from the main computer." "Somehow puppet master I think you are a little off. Why don't you have another check? That body is not real. We can make that body go away with the flip of a switch. And what exactly have we given you?" Harris had to keep the entity talking while Rathburn did her magic. With any luck they would be done with this within the next few minutes.

Catching that silent command, Bree made her way back over to the wall panel. While part of her attention was still on what was going on, she was also focused on serving the holodeck from the main computer.

"You're Doctor gave me access to the main computer when he took me from this body. When he did that, do you honestly think I sat idle?" That wicked laugh of the holographic O'Hara was heard once more. Of course the scan was done by the puppet Master to discover that he was indeed only in a fake body, but the PM was also smart enough not to let on that he had learned that.

That was something that Zim did not know and he shot Miller a look that relayed that much. Harris knew that it was possible that this entity did something to the ship. However, Zim was willing to hedge his bets, something told him that the entity was bluffing. "Oh we know exactly what systems you accessed and what you did. You see the Master has become the student. Go ahead keep scanning, I will wait, keep learning that what I am saying is the hard truth. Do it?" Zim was shouting and as he spoke the hologram hiccuped again. Harris was like a boxer who had his opponent on the ropes, now he needed to finish the job.

Caroline wasn't sure if Zims idea was right but it seemed to far in not to see it through now. She decided to test if it might try self preserve. "When we took you out of O'Hara, we also put something into you. Polluted your code."

Hologram O'Hara was indeed running scans though the system, keeping up with everything that was being thrown at the Puppet Master. In the meantime, he was also keeping up with what was being said by Zim and then Caroline. "You both lie, do you think I am lessor then you? As for what I did to your precious ship, you will only have to wait and see."

There was a slightly evil curve of a smile as the PM said that before turning his attention to Caroline. "The minute your doctor hooked me up to the main computer to temporary remove me from this body I had all the access I needed. Your idea that something was put into me after, even if you spoke the truth it would have been to late.

Hearing all this, Bree was silently sending a message to one of the engineering officers she knew well. Alerting Doyle that she wanted a full diagnostic scan ran though the whole system, highest level without shutting the ship itself down.

"You are the lessor being oh puppet master as I said the master has become the student. We can put you into any form we want. We chose Lieutenant O'hara so that we can talk easier. Ensign I think this thing would love to be a targalian eel for a moment. At your leisure please. You will find that there is no end to what we can do to you. You will find that while you think we are too late, you have already lost. The fact that you cannot detect this proves what Commander Miller has said. That you are infected..." Zim stood nose to nose with the hologram shouting in it's face. His goal here was to berate the being into submission. Similar to what his trainers back on Capella IV would do.

"Yes Sir" Breana said to hearing Zim. Hands moved over the computer panel as she got ready to switch the hologram...

"Touch it and you'll regret it" Snapped the PM as holographic eyes looked instantly towards Breana before looking back to Zim. Submission was not something the PM knew, and rather then give in he responded once more "You'll be sorry for doubting me". Then suddenly sparks snapped from the computer panel as the holographic image started fizzling out.

"Sonofa...." Bree blurted out, jerking her hands away from the panel as she stumbled back.

"Are you okay Breana?" Caroline asked concerned walking to help her up.

Taking Carolines hand to be helped up, she flinched slightly. OK, note to self... careful of burns on hands. Blowing it off for now though she gave a slight smile. "I'm... fine. I don't think that thing liked the idea of being turned into an eel."

"What happened. Has it actually got into the computer?" Caroline asked worried. She could imagine Melody would not be happy if she had to explain to her that had happened.

"With the safety's that where set I don't see how. And likely why it seems to have... imploded." Rathburn answered with a glance to Zim as he'd also added a safety net to things.

Zim quickly shielded his eyes from the static of the hologram. As close as he was the light was pretty intense. He heard the shout from Rathburn and instantly regretted his course of action. He was confident that the Puppet Master was on the proverbial ropes, however, he would never forgive himself he hurt a fellow crew-member while pursuing this course of action. Zim jogged over to where Rathburn was and took a look at the data over her shoulder. A broad smile came across his face. "I love it when a plan comes together. If we just let this run it's course the program will decompile and we will win the day." Zim could see the burn marks beginning to form on Breana's hands. He was impressed with how she ignored the injury.

"Lets get you to sickbay," Caroline said. She wasn't sure it was a strategy that could be done again if they faced more of the Puppet Masters consciousness but it seemed the ability to certainly manipulate and confusion it was a possiblity. That could be useful.

Breana gave a slight nod, but muttered. "I'll be alright... " Sickbay just wasn't one of her preferred places to be, yet she figured the head doctor likely wouldn't let it go so she gave in willingly. One last glance to the computer as she made a mental note to check it later for any repairs it would likely need after it's little sparkfest.

Zim helped the Engineer to her feet. "Well done ma'am well done indeed." He turned toward the hologram and watched as it fizzeled and twitched. Part of him felt bad for this was a sentient life. The other part of him felt overjoyed at ending this threat. "It would be my honor to escort you to Sick Bay Ensign." As soon as Harris had finished speaking a small and contained explosion of sorts had occurred on the holodeck. This explosion did no harm to anyone or anything. However, the hologram and the puppet master were gone in burst of smoke and sparks. "Well I guess he couldn't master those concepts." Zim said dryly.

OFF:

● Ensign Breana Rathburn
Chief Engineer
USS Merlin

>>>> Master Chief Petty Officer Harris Zim
Chief of the Boat
USS Merlin

●●● Commander Caroline Miller
Chief Counselor
USS Merlin