Chapter Text
“Shit!” Ashley swore as the last of the ghostly Devedians were dispatched. “Those things are worse than husks. At least husks didn’t disappear and reappear again.”
“We’ve got to do something about their phase shifting.” Shelana concluded as she checked her weapon. “The lower down we go…the more of them we’re going to encounter.”
“Twes?” Nelia asked as she turned to the Betazoid science officer. “Any ideas?”
“Hmmm…” Twesata pondered the situation for several moments before a sly grin appeared on her face. “I think so…Rana?”
“Yeah?” The asari exclaimed, catching her breath as she recovered from the excitement of the recent fight.
“Your biotics…they allow you to set up a barrier…right?”
“Yes.” Rana replied with a nod of her head, “But it’ll be weak and I won’t be able to hold it long. Like I said a while ago…I’m not very strong.”
“You won’t have to hold it for long.” Twesata answered back. “I can augment your barrier with a burst of quantum radiation to create a makeshift triolic pattern enhancer. It’ll shift us into the same dimension as the Devedians, making it easier for us to take them out.”
“Okay…” Nelia nodded her head, “If you’re up to it, Rana?”
“Sure.” The asari scientist replied, “We can give it a try, but like I said, I won’t be able to hold the barrier up very long—a minute or two at most.”
“That should give us the time we need.” Ashley declared, “So…we ready to move out?”
“I want to check out these control relays first.” Nelia replied, “If they’re not damaged enough, maybe I can fix them and get the station’s environmentals back on track.”
“Go for it.” Shelana replied as she took up position near the door, “We’ll keep an eye on things until you’re done.”
“Thanks.” Nelia grinned as she approached the control panel, “It shouldn’t take long.” A few minutes later, the lights on the console flickered back to life as the Orion engineer announced, “We’re back…more or less. I’ve restored limited functionality, but we’re still going to need to go down to the computer core to completely fix this mess. I’ve also managed to salvage some log entries.”
“Play them.” Shelana urged, “Maybe they’re from the ERH.”
“Okay…here’s the first one.”
“Log entry, supplemental. The power fluctuations aren’t related to the problems with the power subsystems in the upper decks, so I’m looking into the possibility of feedback damage or system spikes in the environmental systems.”
“Logical.” Nelia nodded her head thoughtfully, “The repairs I just made should take care of some of that. I’m surprised the ERH didn’t think of doing that.”
“Would a VI…errr…ERH be able to think creatively like that?” Ashley inquired.
“Yeah.” Nelia nodded, “Photonic life forms are fully sentient. That should have been the first set of repairs he made.”
“So…why didn’t he?”
“Good question.” The roguish Orion replied, “Let’s see what else he says.”
“It could take some time to make repairs though—especially if I have to replicate parts and components. Belen is…reluctant…to use the replicators for anything not focused on guest entertainment.”
“That’s odd…” Nelia murmured, “Yeah, while Belen is like almost any Ferengi merchant in that he pays constant attention to his bottom line, he’s also smart. He knows that he’s not going to get any profit at all if the station falls apart because repairs aren’t made. While he would have grumbled and groused, he’d have given permission for the ERH to replicate what he needed.”
“This is dirty, uncomfortable, and thoroughly disagreeable work. Naturally, as soon as the job involves mucking around in recycled atmosphere and waste processing, I get the short straw.”
“Looks like we’re dealing with a repurposed EMH Mk. 1.” Nelia muttered, “This could be a problem.”
“Why?” Rana inquired, “Was there a problem with the Mk. 1s?”
“It depends on your point of view.” Nelia answered back. “The Mk. 1s have a reputation for being rather moody and temperamental.”
“It didn’t take long for Starfleet to develop a Mk. 2 EMH that was much more agreeable personality-wise than the Mk. 1.” Twesata interjected, “Once they began deploying the Mk. 2s, Starfleet began repurposing the Mk. 1s—reprogramming them to work in environments too dangerous or toxic for organic workers.”
“Kind of like what the quarians did with the geth.” Rana pondered, then, seeing the questioning looks on some of her teammates’ faces, explained, “The quarians are a race from our universe. They created an artificial life form called the geth to do hard, dangerous, and tedious work. Unfortunately, they did too good a job because their creations eventually developed consciousness and so the quarians decided to act proactively…”
“They tried pulling the plug, but by then it was too late.” Ashley declared, joining the conversation. “The geth threw the quarians off their homeworld and then the Council kicked the quarians out, forcing them to become migratory.”
“Why don’t the quarians just find another world and settle down?” Shelana asked.
“Besides spending several hundred years in a sterile shipboard environment…” Rana explained, “their immune systems were weak to begin with. Rannoch, their homeworld, didn’t evolve much in the range of pathogenic lifeforms. Added to that, what microbes and viruses that were there were for the most part at least somewhat beneficial to them, leading to the development of a symbiotic relationship with their environment.”
“That would make founding a new colony problematic for them given the type of technology in your universe from what you've told us.” Twesata observed thoughtfully with a nod of her head. “Combine that with an apparent lack of support from the other races in your universe…”
“Quarians and krogans are often regarded with suspicion by the other races.” Rana ruefully confessed, adding in a somber tone, “I can’t help but think that was one of the reasons why Saren was able to get a lot of support from the krogans.”
“I thought they were all mercs that he hired.” Ashley interjected, “I remember Wrex telling Shepard that Saren had hired him and a bunch of other mercs to take down a volus freighter. And, the ones that we ran into on Therum and Feros were also mercs.”
Shaking her head, Rana filled in the gaps for everyone, including her human companion. “Some of the krogan clans like Nakmor, Weyrloc, Gulnaz, and a few others joined up with Saren willingly. All it took to get them to join was for him to promise that he could cure the genophage.”
“They weren’t suspicious?” Nelia queried, “One of the first things I learned was that when someone promises you the universe, the most likely thing you’re going to end up with is a sack of shit.”
“All it took was for Saren to invite them to Virmire…” Rana answered back. “He gave them a tour of the facilities—showing them only what he wanted them to see while Sovereign…”
“Began indoctrinating them.” Ashley finished, her asari companion glumly nodding her head in affirmation.
“Right. After that, they couldn’t wait to give Saren all the genetic material and warriors he needed.” The asari scientist concluded grimly. “Those clans flocked to him once they thought that he was delivering on his promises, all the while not realizing that they were being used.”
“While this is a fascinating topic…” Nelia interrupted, “We’ve got work to do, ladies. So…”
“Let’s get to it.” Ashley agreed. “Sooner we’re done…sooner we’re outta here.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Twesata giggled as Shelana gave her former classmate a friendly punch in the arm.
“You’ll drink to anything, Twes.” The Andorian tactical officer teased, “Now, come on…let’s get going.”
“Door’s locked.” Twesata exclaimed as she tried without success to open the lift door.
“This was deliberate sabotage and the only one who could have done it is the ERH.” Nelia grimly concluded as she opened the access panel.
“If the ERH has gone psycho…” Shelana morosely noted before being cut off by her Betazoid classmate.
“Not only is Ara in danger…so is the station if he does something stupid like overloading the power core.”
“Then we better hurry and get that door opened.” Ashley agreed as Nelia nodded her head.
“Give me a moment.” The green Orion declared as she went to work. “Got it.” She announced, pausing for a moment to caution her teammates, “Be ready when I open that door because I’ve got a feeling all hell’s about to break loose.”
“Keep the barrier up just one more second, Rana!” Shelana shouted as energy beams fired from her and her teammates converged on the sole remaining phantom, a large and especially fearsome Devedian until, finally, overcome by the combined fire, the creature disintegrated.
Collapsing to the floor, the lovely asari scientist gasped for breath as both Twesata and Ashley rushed to her side. Taking out her medkit, the Betazoid science officer quickly administered a hypo. “She’ll be alright.” Twes said with a soft voice, reassuring the others. “I gave her a mild stimulant. That should get her up and going soon.”
“I’m feeling better.” Rana smiled at her teammates as Ashley and Twesata helped her to her feet. “I’ve never kept a barrier up that long against that much pressure before. I didn’t think I could do it. Matron Aethyla, my old fitness teacher in secondary school, used to call me her weakest link. Guess I showed her.”
“You bet your ass you did.” Ashley grinned, the asari woman smiling in response as she joked back.
“Speaking of which…” Rana quipped, “I think I bruised it when I fell.”
“Well don’t expect me to kiss it and make it better.” The human bantered as Nelia made her way to the console.
“Give me a moment and I’ll get this working again.” The Orion engineer declared as she began the laborious process of repairing the old relays. Several minutes later, she called out triumphantly. “Got it. Check the maintenance logs, would you Twes? Let’s see if any recent entries were made.”
“Found one!” The Betazoid science officer responded as she pressed a button on the console. “I’ll play it.”
“Log entry, supplemental: I’ve upgraded a few components on this level, including remote overrides for bleed valves on environment controls, holoemitters to expedite repairs, and security overrides in case of emergency…”
“Okay…” Nelia murmured as she listened to the ERH’s report, “So far nothing out of the ordinary.”
“I’m starting to suspect that the low-level radiation I’ve detected on these decks has affected the station inhabitants, and that some are showing signs of acute schizophrenia and paranoia. I’ll have to maintain contact silence for now so they don’t interfere while I repair the systems. Once I’ve cured the problem dealing with the radiation leaks, we can deal with the symptoms.”
“That doesn’t sound so good.” Ashley commented, “It sounds to me like it’s the one getting paranoid.”
“That’s why the old EMH 1s were phased out.” Nelia replied. “The original creator, Lewis Zimmerman, was something of an eccentric to begin with…”
“He was borderline paranoid.” Shelana wryly interjected.
“That too.” Nelia conceded with a nod of her head. “He programmed the original EMHs with some of his engrams…including his quirks.”
“When they’re working correctly, the Mk. 1s are kinda cute when they’re not being pains in the ass.” Twesata commented with a smirk, “But when they lose it…”
“They really lose it.” Shelana interrupted, finishing her friend’s statement.
“What model EMH do we have on the Princess?” Rana asked with a note of concern in her voice.
“Don’t worry.” Twesata giggled as she laid her hand briefly on her asari friend’s arm. “It’s not a Mk. 1. It’s a Mk. 4 patterned after Dr. Leonard McCoy, a famous doctor from the 23rd century. While he’s also a bit on the eccentric side…”
“Yeah.” Rana grinned as she mirrored the Betazoid woman’s earlier action by brushing her hand against her raven-haired companion’s arm, “I noticed that. I’ve heard some humans speak with that weird accent of his…”
“It’s called Southern.” Ashley replied, her initial good humor replaced by a sad smile, “I had a squadmate in the 212 from Georgia…good man…good shot with a rifle.”
“Anyway, our EMH is a lot more stable than those glitchy EMH 1s.” Twesata asserted as a voice crackled from the wall comm unit.
“Is someone there?”
“Who is this?” Nelia answered back as she spoke into the comm.
“It’s me…Ara!” The voice replied. Her voice now more panicked, the missing dabo girl pleaded, “I need help. Please! He’s here…NOOOO!”
Calling up a map of the old station, Nelia pointed. “She’s in Section 23…one floor down and to the right. Let’s move!”