Ensign Amelia Semara - Lullaby Lightshow

[Randal Shayne]

Quote

I could write a book about why this sim is awesome, but it wouldn’t come close to experiencing it. Absolutely top-notch, beginning to end. 

(( Flashback - Casperia Prime, Nantahala Valley, Semara Family Home ))

 

Hereditary factors in relative telepathic capability had been perceived far before Betazoids even conceived of genomics.  For evidence, one needed look no further than the early formation of class and family structures very early in Betazoid societal development along the lines of telepathic prowess. While certainly not entirely determined by lineage, the likelihood of having strong empathic senses was high when born to two parents with acute capabilities. Amelia was hardly an exception. Even though no one in at least three generations knew exactly how the Semara matriarchal line connected to the great houses of Betazed (consulting the family tree was considered too time consuming, and privately thought too potentially disappointing), she displayed an early aptitude that was considered proof enough she descended from a long line that had once claimed to be touched by one of the goddesses themselves.  Even more than any land or titles, that was her inheritance.

 

As any Betazoid parent knew, while empathic abilities didn't manifest right at birth (something that allowed infants to form a sense of identity), it could begin to form as soon as a child began learning to speak, even if full telepathy typically waited for adolescence.  This was not without problems.

 

It was not long after Amelia learned her first words when her pale green eyes began to be stained a few shades darker by the first production of the various neurochemicals that allowed perception of the psychic world around her.  The tiny, precious knee-high blonde quickly discovered she could totter around her family home and babble and butcher the very silliest words she knew at the nearest adult and she'd win the happy roller-coaster rush of feeling that accompanied the music of laughter.

 

The complication came when she said the wrong thing to the wrong adult.  It happened when some unremembered Human dignitary had come to stay and experience the snowy, ring-framed mountain majesty of Casperia in the company of her family.  She was far too young to understand what exactly was happening or why between her family and the man, but she could perceive the rank stomach acid of tension wafting in the air easily enough.  And she knew enough to not like it.  So she decided to take matters into her own little pudgy hands, and she knew exactly how to do it.

 

One evening, when the tension was particularly chunky, she tugged on the pant-leg of the guest, gave her biggest smile, and started babbling.  She didn't know precisely what she was saying but it hadn't mattered before.  If she could just get the man to laugh it would all be okay, she thought.  But the sound and feeling never came.  So she persisted - until a whip-crack of needle-sharp fire poured out with a shout from the man.

 

Amelia reeled back, uneven legs failing under her in the intensity of novel, painful feeling.  She started bawling an instant later.  It took her mama quite a bit of hugging and no small number of tissues to dry the crying that ensued.  Even hours later into the bright ring-lit night, after numerous attempts to explain to Amelia what had happened and why, peace and sleep still eluded the tiny Betazoid who was only beginning to grasp how to communicate.

 

Eventually, her daddy took the night shift watching after her as the third moon was skimming the arc of the rings overhead.  Little Amelia had nestled herself against his comforting, solid frame which had brought quiet so many times before, but still sleep stayed far-off.  Then his chest began to vibrate as his voice seemed to softly lift her up.

 

She couldn't quite grasp the meaning of the words when he started singing, but she felt the shape of the melody inside her unwinding the events of the day.  It was a song of water: remembering the cold rains it rose from and the hot springs it joined.  As she washed downstream, she passed rock and mud and dallied in pools and fens.  Even as she tumbled and gathered into a great slow river, she never forgot where she came from, but still she pressed onward, ever toward the sea.

 

As the song of the sea rocked ancient sailors to sleep, Amelia finally nodded off.

 

(( Present Day - USS Khitomer, Deck 1, Bridge ))

 

Semara: Any of y'all ever seen two barn cats play rough? :: silence :: Eridani hasn't actually done much damage to Khitomer. Hasn't even hit much. And we haven't fired back. Maybe we are communicating already. Perhaps we're meant to fire back with equally bad aim? For that matter, there's plenty of species with rather aggressive mating practices. Klingons, for instance. If you thought you were a starship, sending over an away party could be viewed as an attempt to procreate. No matter the intent, I do believe the phrase "actions speak louder than words" applies here.

 

Captain Shayne seemed to take a moment to process the latest theory, his creased brown eyes expressing a quiet desire to un-hear what had just been said.  It was odd - for a fleeting moment just before, Amelia could have sworn she had sensed an emotional smell of a sweaty men's locker room coming from the Captain... Where had she felt that before?  A non-sequitur memory of going skinny-dipping with mixed company in college flashed in her mind's eye.  It didn't make sense.  No one was even slightly undressed on the bridge.

 

A torpedo floated by, interrupting the temptation to focus on the minute psychic flickerings on the bridge.

Jacin: That’s a big gamble to take with the lives of the away team. We’ve no idea if that theory is correct and if we take offensive action logically it will retaliate.

 

Amelia shrugged in acceptance.  It was entirely true she couldn't prove the theory.  Then again, in the study of biology it was exceptionally hard to prove anything.  She had to admit her recent yearlong study had colored her perspective, and that she'd need to adjust her thinking in moments of urgency like these.  There simply wouldn't be time and opportunity to perform rigorous trials with several independent variables and tens of trials and re-trials to find out what actually worked.

 

Amelia didn't believe her theory had been improperly offered, but she noted the different perspective anyway for future use.

MacKenna: Response

Jacin: If we take offensive action it is going to be difficult to come back from that without a fight. All I’m saying is that perhaps we should try talking to it before we open fire. The away team is in danger. Let’s not make them more so.

The Captain vibrated, "no" in form and feeling.

Shayne: Lieutenant, you’ve got a good point. But it’s not allowing us to talk to it. Jamming communications is an act of aggression, no matter the motivation. It’s got our people, and it’s an active danger to them. I’m not saying we have to blow her to smithereens, but a firm, gentle flick on the hindquarters is in order.

 

Amelia felt herself waiver.  The Captain was very close to coming around to the way of thinking that she'd just proposed, but she felt something inside the Lieutenant that was even more persuasive than the words she was using.

The Captain turned to the intelligence officer.

Shayne: Unless the prefix codes are still a possibility. 

MacKenna: Response

That didn't sound promising for the here and now.

Jacin: Virtually all of what we are dealing here is based on conjecture. We don’t actually know for sure what has happened and why.

Michaels: There is somewhat more than simple conjecture. But there is no shortage to assumptions within our thinking. ::beat::

Another big mental red X from the Captain.  Amelia could feel the rising tide of overload tightening around everyone.  Perhaps it was time to focus on the basics.

 

Semara: How 'bout we keep it simple, then?  What's the most obvious thing we can dowithout escalating if talkin' proper ain't an option?

MacKenna: Response

Shayne: We lower the shields, we get our people back. Then we can deal with the Eridani from the upper hand. 

Jacin: Right but that’s a risk. Shouldn’t our immediate concern be to stop the Eridani’s erratic behaviour?

 

This Lieutenant Jacin was certainly nothing if not persistent.  Amelia reinforced her first impression of the Bajoran-looking woman: there was a hearthfire of hot passion and belief inside of her.  Experiencing the interplay in point-and-counterpoint was fascinating, but Amelia wasn't positive everyone on the bridge was enjoying the educational experience as much as she was.

Shayne: If we had the means to, certainly. But we don’t yet. Something far more involved is going on over there- I’m becoming more and more convinced that we are dealing with something of a skinwalker. For the moment, stopping it means either killing it, or incapacitating it and we just don’t know how yet. 

MacKenna:Response

Jacin: Something terrible happened not only on that ship but to it. If it is sentient, then we should treat it like we we treat any frightened and antagonistic life form.

 

Amelia had a knack to trust her instincts about a problem, but she knew positively when to trust someone else's instead.  In this case, there was a lurking, toothy sea creature of fresh experience sending ripples across the Lieutenant's interpretation of events.  It was as if Jacin had identified something of herself in the Starship's behavior on a primal level that went beyond instrumentation and observation.  The power of her assertion was irrefutable.

 

She made up her mind.  The counselor was most likely right.

 

Semara: I agree.  But ya can't exactly talk down a screamin' toddler.

Michaels: Communication is a near zero risk approach that should not be ignored. The question then, as the Captain said, is how do we get through to something that is, as Lt Jacin put it, afraid of us, views biological lifeforms as a lethal threat, and is jamming our communications.

 

Amelia put her focus back on Shayne, determined to glean any insight she could from how the rather remarkable CO came to a decision.  The struggle inside him was a rather muscular wrestling match, and equally smelly to her empathic senses.

Michaels: Jamming may make Eridani deaf but it does not make her blind. We use a beam of light so weak it can not be mistaken for a weapon. We send a short message to Eridani in Morsex code and we put it on a repeating loop. Eridani will eventually recognize it was communications. It will eventually find Morsex decryption in her databanks and decrypt our message. Our message could be something like "We mean no harm. Respond if you understand.."

Of course!  Why hadn't she thought of that?  Plenty of creatures communicated via light rather than sound or thought.

Shayne: Ensigns Semara and Michaels- configure our running lights to transmit the first ten numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence. 
 

Amelia beamed, proud her captain had already thought of the point she was going to raise.  Morse was rhythmic - which was good - but there was no guarantee the receiver would understand the letter-encoding, let alone the meaning of words they turned into.  Whoever or whatever controlled Eridani hadn't read enough of the databanks to figure out how to shoot straight, so it seemed too much to hope it would figure out how to talk in the coming seconds.

 

She set to work, a rush of excitement and anticipation energizing her panel-pushing.

 

Semara: Aye, sir.

Michaels: Response 

Jacin/MacKenna: Response

Shayne: Pulling alongside her. 

To the Captain's credit, he skillfully piloted the Khitomer alongside in a motion that was smooth but assertive.  Clearly a master at work.  In the side-on view of Eridani, the running lights low in view had started to flick on and off in the steepening staircase pattern of the Fibonacci Sequence.

Jacin/MacKenna: Response 

Shayne: Old Earth aircraft would intercept suspicious and non-communicative planes like this. Pull up alongside, give them a wiggle with the wings. If the plane wiggled back, they’d be escorted to a landing strip nearby. 

 

oO Weird what non-empaths come up with to know what the other wants... Oo

 

The thought came unbidden, but it reached a place in her when her empathic senses hadn't yet fully formed.  She supposed a species had to come up with something.  Hers had, but it was traditionally reserved for children.

 

Several tense moments passed while the tangential thought played out in the back of her mind.  The wait to see what happened had a similar feeling to sitting ravenously hungry in front of a feast after an all-day hike but being unable to eat until everyone else sat down.

 

Nothing happened....  No, nothing happened!
 

Semara: Sir!  Eridani stopped shooting!  :: Turning to Michaels, beaming. :: Any change in power levels?

 

Well, it stopped shooting for now.  Who knew when it would start again?  Either way, the Ensign's idea had been good enough to get somewhere.

Michaels: Response

 

Amelia cast her dark eyes back at the viewscreen.  For some reason, a distant memory combined with the rocking motion of the Khitomer and the Vulcan Ensign's idea about using running lights to recall an old childhood memory she hadn't remembered in a long time.  But she still remembered the song sung to her many times.

 

An idea came together in a flash of inspiration, but she'd need help.

 

Semara: ::Speaking excitedly to her peer. :: Do we have any specs on Constellation-class sensors?

 

Michaels/MacKenna: Response

 

That was exactly what she needed to know.

 

Semara: Captain, Lieutenant - What if we tried a lullaby?  That's nice and relaxing.  Starships are real sensitive to light wavelengths.  Have to be for lookin' at the composition of stars and planetary atmospheres and everything in between.  A song ain't nothin' but a bunch of timed wave patterns and harmonics.  If we encoded the waves as light frequencies Eridanican see - infrared through UV - we could make Khitomer sing.  Could even rock - sorry, wiggle, sir - to the beat.

 

Jacin/Shayne/Michaels/MacKenna: Response

 

Semara: Sure it's a shot in the dark, but we got a simple response to a simple tactic.  Might try something a bit fancier.  Even if Eridani's just plain confused, it gives us time.  And I know just the tune to hum...

 

Amelia was already calling up the music from the database, adjusting it to the version she remembered, and sequencing a series of commands for the exterior lights.  If it wasn't ordered, she could delete the program, but she'd rather be ready.  She genuinely hoped there was still some wisdom left to Old Woman Water, and that whatever being on Eridani found the ancient lullaby as soothing as she once had.

 

Tag/TBC...

 

Ensign Amelia Magnolia Semara

Science Officer

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0