The Pirates elegantly withdrew The Doctor from the crew manifest of Voyager, 'he' is more like a tool anyway. His Mobile Emitter, representing a highly advanced version of Starfleet technology (because it is from the 29th century) has peaked interests. Also, the fact that he is programmed with the medical knowledge of a great deal of worlds and cultures can make him a very nice addition to the Dead Pool, especially how concerns of loyalty and the likes aren't at play here, partly because he is a doctor sworn to do no harm, and because he has more in common with a sandwich toaster than a living being. At least according to Niryelle.
The Captain took out her brand new racing shuttle for a spin, however now the Pool has been signaled to drop out of warp immediately, due to an emergency. They stop near the Grey, a mere few hundred kilometers above its clouds. The hot-rod of a shuttle is approaching way too fast, its thrusters leaving a trail of weird smoke. The main hangar bay is open, the space inside is rather vast now, the Foul Whore not parking there. Emergency procedures in effect, the bay is void of crew, the shuttle's approach is fast and erratic, just missing the ceiling by a couple centimeters as it zaps through the pressurizing forcefield. The automatic hovering parking system comes online, preventing the craft from banging into the floor, it spins around, thrusters blowing as to not let it be the walls that halt the vessel. As it finally comes to a stop, the cockpit window blows off immediately, Niryelle jumping out as fast as she can.
Tinman runs in to the hall adjacent to the hangar bay, cut off from it by windows and layers of forcefields.
- "What the hell is going on?!" - he howls as he sees his Captain fall a good three meters, then struggle to get up again, tumbling and falling over near the shuttle, she has no apparent injuries but there is something very wrong. She is coughing, and apparently yelling something they can't hear, but the craft is suddenly surrounded by forcefields, she must've ordered the computer for a confinement field.
Everyone is perplexed, staring through the windows, when the bay's chief speaks up:
- "The shuttle is heavily irradiated..." - his tone is worried - "I think she's flown into the Grey!"
- "IN THAT?!" - Tin snaps back loudly, looking back into the hangar, eyes rounded out - "Get her to Sickbay, now!"
- "I can't get a lock with the transporters, too much radiation, it will be a while befo..."
- "OPEN THE AIRLOCK!"
- "But Sir, ..."
- "CLEAR A WAY TO SICKBAY, AND OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR RIGHT NOW SERGEANT!" - the man bangs his robotic hand on the seal, judging by the sound of the blow, nearly cracking it. The officer quickly disables the automatic alerts, lifting the lockdown. Then turns around, yells for the crowd assembled to disperse, running for the inoculation injections as others are running to the turbolift, leaving the doors open, then getting to a safe distance.
Rules aboard the Pool about Mist-type radiation handling are very strict and unforgiving, but no one would leave Niryelle out there like this. She is not wearing her plugsuit, only a splendidly fashionable skirt and top with high-heeled boots, this was supposed to be a joyride after all. She is on all-fours, trying to get closer to the airlock when Tinman picks her up. Her skin is discolored, dark blisters are sprouting on it, her eyes aren't glowing, blood is dripping from her orifices.
- "Hang in there Captain..." - her savior growls as his heart sinks, watching how the woman is trembling and shuddering awkwardly in his embrace. He runs for the doors with such drive it wouldn't matter if they were actually closed again.
The chief turns after them as they enter the corridors, plunging an inoculation hypospray into Tinman's back.
The situation on the Cernivoore has normalized. They were able to engage the cloaking device and get a few radical course changes in before they arrived by a cluster of traveling comets, hiding their vessel in the fray, matching the pieces' course and speed. The warp drive will have to stay offline for a while anyway, in fact their peril is eerily similar to the past week on board Voyager, having to put up with a damaged ship. Most of the Gzunali vessel's systems are intact, however the hull breach by the torpedo bay looks pretty bad, that tube is likely not getting fixed. Same with the armor, replacing the weave requires special tools and replicators to recreate, the most the Starfleet crew can do is a horrible stitching job. The warp drive assembly needs a good scrubbing all over, and the whole ship needs cleaning up, their battle maneuvers with the shot dampeners made sure that every single not completely battered down locker or box opened, their content, and chairs, tables, tools, decorations 'relocated' themselves to all over the place. Conditions in the messhall are particularly horrible.
After Captain Janeway and the rest of the senior staff recuperated a rather long conference took place, involving Flory, without her contribution, this rescue couldn't have been accomplished. Or even if they were free, they would be without a ship. However, Kathryn is not inclined to settle for this battle barge... The Xelth girl has been dismissed, the rest of them need to decide what they wish to do, none of the prospects look especially beckoning.
- "I think we need to take everything Flory have told us with a grain of salt, as you would put it Captain." - Tuvok says what's on everyone's mind out loud.
- "Mhmm..." - Janeway nods - "What exactly did you promise her, Lieutenant?"
Paris is awkwardly scratching his head - "Well, I mean I didn't exactly promise her anything..." - he shrugs.
- "Strange, because she seems to assume that we will now conduct a personal vendetta on the Pirates for everything she told us, and for Voyager." - Kathryn lays out sharply.
Watching Tom's reaction Chakotay picks up: - "You 'didn't exactly' say no to her either... right?" - he sighs heavily.
- "No..." - the Lt. sighs just the same.
- "Before we get into this any further, shouldn't we establish our thoughts on what she actually told us?" - Tuvok asks with his brows raised. - "What if this is another one of Niryelle's schemes?"
- "I'm inclined to believe everything she said about her on face value..." - Janeway responds bitterly - "The more I think about my run-in with her on their ship, and that nightmare she induced..." - she joins in on the sighing - "Nothing that Flory told us feels far fetched."
- "Yeah..." - Tom rubs his face - "she does have that effect on you." - he says resting his cheek in his palm.
- "And I honestly do not believe she would go to such lengths to toy with us further..." - Kathryn finishes her thought.
Tuvok wanted to say something right away, but craned and held for a few seconds... - "Indeed, Flory rescued Mr. Paris hours earlier than she would have had any idea about the Commander's plan."
- "Instead of speculation we could look at the facts." - B'Elanna firmly steers the conversation - "They have Voyager, and they have the Doctor." - she shrugs and opens her arms - "What do we want to do about that?!"
- "They have Ensign Gates too." - the Captain adds with a deep voice.
- "You mean the traitor who made sure they capture us in the first place?!" - Torres snaps back sharp and loud.
- "We can't know for sure why..."
- "Why did they get rid of Tom right when they got to Allegthria but held onto the Ensign?" - B'Elanna interrupts her angrily, raising her voice - "Because she turned, that's why."
- "She is still a member of this crew." - Kathryn states firmly.
- "No she's not!"
- "B'Elanna!" - Chakotay barks at her - "That's enough!"
All kinds of curses are readable from the woman's expression, but she stays silent, exhaling exaggeratedly instead.
- "To continue that thought, what are we going to do?" - the Commander asks calmly, turning to the Captain.
Instead of the instant, strong response they are expecting, Janeway leans back in her chair, contemplating their predicament, touching her fingers together in front of her face.
A containment field was prepared in the Dead Pool's Medical Bay to receive the wounded, the residual radiation is too weak to be harmful to technology, but living tissue could still be damaged by the exposure. After Tinman placed Niryelle on the biobed, he steps back, the forcefields flashing into place. The Doctor is activated inside the field, appearing in his usual Starfleet Medical Uniform.
- "What... why are you using him?!" - the Helmsman bellows throatily.
- "This is why we got him?" - the Pool's Chief Medic responds defensively.
The Doctor chose to forgo his usual greeting, taking in his surroundings first.
- "The patient has been exposed to massive amounts of Mist-type radiation, treat her accordingly!" - the Pirate calls out to the hologram. Since he is hesitating for a few seconds, looking around for tools and at the squirming body, Tinman snaps.
- "FOR FUCK'S SAKE JUST GET IN THERE!" - he grabs the doctor by the back of his neck, slamming him against the forcefield, it begins to seeth and hiss.
- "Tin... please..." - the poor man is trying to say something as he is pushed against the unrelenting invisible wall. The yelling doesn't stop, the other two staff in the room join in as well, unsure whose side to pick.
- "I'D APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD CUT THE COMMOTION AND ALLOW ME TO FOCUS ON THE PATIENT!" - the Doctor's sharp voice cuts through to them, Tinman suddenly freezing up, looking back up to the biobed. The hologram has activated the proper extensions on the bed, running through Niryelle's body with the medical scanner in one hand, some other equipment in the other.
- "See..." - the pirate medic groans as the helmsman's mechanical hand is still pinching him - "he will do it!" - he hisses.
- "Of course I'll do it!" - the Doctor adds, still angrily - "I'm medical professional, and she is an injured person..." - he continues to murmur to himself half-audibly, busy with the equipment.
Tinman's crushing grip finally releases the flesh and blood doctor, he is wheezing, rubbing the parts of his skin pressed against the forcefield, looking up at the half-robot with a fearful expression.
- "Does it even..."
- "Yes, I've already acquainted him with most of the information we have gathered." - the panting man interrupts Tinman - "I need to check on you too..."
- "I'm okay."
- "You have been exposed..."
- "Just make sure that the Captain is alright!" - Tinman is adamant, about to leave, however the doors aren't opening. He turns back to the doctor, about to swallow him whole.
- "You can't leave until we neutralize the residual radiation." - he swallows - "Please, sit down..."
The helmsman closes his eyes and exhales slowly, trying to control his temper. - "Will she be alright?!" - he barks at the hologram.
Assuming the question was for him, the Doctor turns his head for a glance. - "I believe she will be..." - he responds slowly, preoccupied with his work - "Although I'm not sure how anyone is capable of surviving this..." - he straightens up, changing the gadget he was using - "But she is responding well." - The Doctor looks to be as diligent and thorough as ever, or as anyone else would be, even Tinman sees that, inspiring him to calm down a little. He walks across the room, sitting down to a different biobed.
His doctor lets out a sigh, glad that the helmsman finally seems to cooperate properly - "I will need you to disconnect the mech."
- "Why? Is it affected?"
- "Not directly I don't think... but it will hold residual radiation differently than your body" - the doctor explains merrily - "and so when you grab your mead later, the radiation will move into that, and as you drink it, some will end up in you. And that's bad."
Tinman chuckles convivially - "I like that doc, you're thinking ahead." - He begins to press buttons and open straps, wriggling parts of his mechanical prosthetics.
- "One of my many merits..." - the man jokes.
After a short while of rubbing her forehead, Captain Janeway opens her arms, looking up at everyone around the conference table.
- "I'm not about to get in the habit of leaving our crew behind, and I don't want this to be the ship we take back to the Alpha Quadrant." - she pauses, putting her palms back on the table - "So... we will have to do something about that." - she grins for second, then settles for a serious tone again - "Seven, haven't the Collective ever encountered this species before?"
The Borg Ex-Drone has been quiet for most of the conversation, looking pale, breathing slowly. The time spent without regenerating in her alcove is beginning to show, especially after the injuries she sustained. Bandages are sticking out from underneath her clothes, her nanoprobes no longer able to heal her wounds within hours.
- "W... they have." - she starts uncomfortably, her eyes fixed on an empty spot on the table - "Species 676, an ancient, highly advanced species. Their homeworld is near the outskirts of the galaxy, in the Beta Quadrant. They were amongst the few who could stand up to the Borg." - Seven's voice is deep and bitter, she never liked talking about anything having to do with her Borg years, she often had to for tactical reasons, but that doesn't make it any easier. And now she actually needs to swallow her pride and talk about events where the Collective, always striving for perfection, have so utterly failed. - "None of them were actually ever assimilated. The situation escalated so, that the Borg decided to stop wasting resources, and return later, when w.. they would be stronger. The last offensive was initiated about a decade ago." - she sighs and takes a deep breath before continuing - "The outer parts of their empire, which they regard as the 'Ringworlds' were quickly penetrated. The Borg charge was mostly unchallenged until they entered the Void..."
- "The Void? What exactly is this Void?!" - Janeway inquiries, narrowing her eyes.
- "It is a large region of space, several sectors completely empty, no stars, no planetary bodies. From the knowledge assimilated in the Ringworlds, their world, this Xelescence is located in the center, however scans only revealed a single humongously large object of incredible mass inside, far into the distance. Mere minutes after the fleet entered, they were thrown out of warp, greeted by a vast Xel'Thiras fleet." - she pauses again - "The ensuing battle was over within hours, the Borg was completely annihilated. More than two billion drones, Spheres and Cubes, tactical, advanced tactical, scout crafts, an entire fleet eradicated. They sustained losses, but assimilation never occurred before contact was lost with the very last drone."
No one at the table would ever be particularly sad about the Borg loosing a battle, they are after all one of the most merciless, feared power in the galaxy. They control thousands of starsystems and worlds, spanning two quadrants. Their massive, odd-looking ships carry tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of drones a piece, but "more than two billion" is still a whole lot. There isn't even a remote chance that Seven would lie about these proceedings, so the Xel'Thiras certainly appear to be "highly advanced". Given that one of their - apparently - highly esteemed leaders seems to be the one holding onto Voyager, the prospects are quite grim. Although, according to Flory, she is all alone here, how strong can a single person be?
The lockdown of the Pool's Medical Bay has been lifted, Rivenwell still recuperating inside. After about an hour, she wakes up, coughing sligthly, raising her head, looking at her body in bandages. The Doctor turns around from the bed's holodisplay, his brow raised.
- "You should be asleep!" - he says, perplexed.
- "Mhmm" - the Pirate Captain moans, as she is slowly trying to get up, leaning on her elbows.
- "No no no" - The Doctor is pushing her back - "You shouldn't get up yet!"
The woman sighs, laying back down. - "Get me a drink please..." - she utters hoarsely.
- "I don't think alcohol would..."
- "No!" - she snaps, interrupting the rant before it starts - "Just some juice or something..."
- "The medical equipment is taking care of adequate hydration." - the hologram states sternly.
Niryelle narrows all her eyes, giving the Doctor a deathly stare. - "Get me some f.." - she coughs - "..ng juice!" - she demands, her voice still raucous.
The Doctor sighs heavily in annoyance, but takes a few steps to a nearby replicator. - "What kind?" - He asks impatiently.
- "Pryntak.."
As the hologram turns around approaching with the glass, Niryelle tilts her head, looking at him with a sneer.
- "In a flask with a straw please, I shouldn't get up remember?"
Subroutines clash in the Doctor's programming, but his honest curiosity is winning against his ego, there are absolutely no medical records of Niryelle Rivenwell anywhere on the Pool's computers, so he feels it very likely that if he wants to find out anything about her, he will have to be on her good side. The medical scanners of course revealed many things already, but that only raised more questions, since the Xelth's anatomy feels to be closer to a careful and highly polished design, not something that would evolve naturally. He returns to the bed with the beverage, now in a sporty flask, with a fancy pink straw. The pirate starts sucking on it merrily; closing her eyes, culminating into a satisfied groan, still interrupted by some minor coughs.
Medical subroutines would instruct the hologram to leave the patient alone to rest, but there is a limit how far the always neutral ethical programming goes before the 'this person is responsible for capturing me and holding me hostage' part cuts it somewhat short, altering the ultimate judgment to be 'She will survive a few questions'.
- "I find it a bit odd that there are absolutely no medical records on the seemingly most important member of the crew." - he simply lays out his sentence.
- "Yeah, let's keep it that way."
- "Why?"
- "Because I order you to."
- "... Why?"
Instead of saying anything, Niryelle just pulls her head up slightly to be able to gaze at the Doctor. He shifts in his seat, leaning closer.
- "The amount of radiation you were exposed to would have reduced a human, and most of the other species I know about; to goo, let alone the odds of actually staying alive, with essentially zero lasting effects."
The woman just blinks slowly.
- "Your brain and nerve clusters are sheathed in layers of different organic compounds the likes of which I have never seen, shielding them from virtually all ill effects. Your circulatory system is... a work of art. Your muscle strands form an elaborate weave, you are probably many times stronger than you look. Your eyes let you see things only a tricorder could pick up, your..."
- "I am aware of just how fabulous I am, this isn't news to me." - she interrupts smugly.
- "What I mean is..." - judging by the Doctor's facial expression, he doesn't quite appreciate the Xelth's amusement - "the research that could be derived from these features could help..."
- "That research has already been done." - her words are firm and sharp - "These features... are the result of thousands of years of extensive and excessive DNA research, perfecting our genetic makeup to this extent. I'm not willing to donate a sliver of that to the primitive species present in this region."
Swallowing the opinion about that statement, the Doctor asks further: - "Are all of you like you today, or is it a privilege?"
- "There was a standard set of sequences created generations ago" - Niryelle appears to convivially explain things - "the usage of which was mandatory for all newborn children, until everyone without it died out." - she glances up at the Doctor, he is listening closely, eyebrows knit together - "The event was called the Second Awakening, halfway through the completion of the Xelescence..."
- "The Xelesence?"
- "Our world."
- "What uhm," - the hologram is confused - "you live on a space station?" - he tilts his head forward implying the randomness of the guess.
- "Would more than a 100 billion of us fit on a space station?" - the Captain lines her question with a suggestive look.
The Doctor's eyes round out. - "I do not believe so."
- "The Xelescence compares to a space station, like a star compares to a moon."
'If she wanted to say more about their world, she would have' the thought emerges in the holographic matrix - "What did this set of changes accomplish?"
- "Standardizing a lot of previous additions, introducing radical changes, I could go on forever, suffice it to say, I'm not surprised species like your creators' and countless others never go through with something like this."
- "We have dabbled into DNA tampering ourselves but..."
- "Let me guess!" - the Xelth interrupts playfully - "Debates, wars, debates, outlawed?"
The Doctor bites his lips, but then surrenders - "Well, pretty much."
Niryelle chuckles smugly - "Tell me something now Doctor, why did they make you the way you are?"
- "Oh?!"
- "Quite so human..."
- "Well," - the hologram is rather surprised by the question - "I don't know... I guess it's easier for them to deal with someone who looks and feels just like them in medical situations."
- "Feel?" - the Captain is apparently taken aback by the answer - "Oh yes, they are about as telepathic as a piece of rock. But still."
- "Why, what's the problem with looking like them?"
- "That you are not them?!" - the Xelth responds firmly - "Why would anyone insult their own self by making a tool to look and 'feel' like them?"
The Doctor is unsure if to be insulted, or intrigued.
- "The same way, they regard you as a lifeform. They..." - she laughs out loud - "they regard their holodeck characters as living beings. Ridiculous!" - she keeps snickering, apparently amused by the topic.
- "How exactly am I not a lifeform?!" - the Doctor bursts out, highly offended.
Niryelle looks at him grinning - "How exactly are you a lifeform?! You are programmed. There is nothing fundamentally different about you and that replicator!" - she points at the machine where her juice came from - "Is 'he' a lifeform too? Coming from a long line of food replicators, who used to be, I don't know, microwave ovens in the ancient times?" - she laughs again.
- "That's a replicator that produces the food you call out, I'm a being with feelings and..." - he is interrupted by the woman bursting out laughing again.
- "I don't expect you to understand this, especially how it seems that no one in your Starfleet would, but you are horribly wrong. You are more detailed, more intricate, hence my usage of the word "fundamentally". Everything that you calculate yourself to be, is a construct, an approximation of what a human could be like, given the same surroundings."
- "I do not think myself to be a human, I'm quite aware of my existence as a hologram, I don't approximate them?!" - the Doctor's tone is hurt and passionate.
- "Why don't you change the way you look then? I mean come on, you are balding!" - she chuckles - "A balding hologram!"
- "I..." - he clears his throat, or whatever he has - "I just don't know how to do it, that's all."
- "Get into your holodecks and call out to the computer? Wow, that's some hardcore scientific stuff."
- "The computer cannot change my programming by itself, I'm way too advanced for that!"
- "Which you interpret as being alive?" - she replies snidely.
- "Well I'm sorry if you are so blind to realize that our differences do not constitute more than minor differences! I'm obviously not the same as you are, but alive none the less!"
- "Wrong, so wrong..."
- "No, you are wrong!" - he yells back angrily.
She is laughing - "Wow, you even get angry, this is just rad."
The Doctor is just staring sternly at her.
- "Fascinating really, I enjoy these conversations with Steck too, except he doesn't get angry and hilarious in the process." - she takes a sip from her juice - "You know, conversing without being telepathically aware of the partner."
- "I was just about to touch on that, I fell under the impression, that robot is ranked rather highly on this vessel, I suppose you regard him, a robot, as a lifeform then?!"
- "No." - she replies with a wicked sneer - "Better yet, he doesn't regard himself one!"
- "How come you let him be whatever he is here?!"
- "Precisely because he isn't like you. He doesn't regard himself as anything more or less than what he actually his. He is simple, honest and just. You on the other hand, are a raging madman."
- "A raging madman that has just saved your life!"
- "Oh, so I should bow down and pat the replicator everytime it gives me what I ask for?"
- "I am not a replicator!"
- "NO! You are advanced, automated medical tool!" - Niryelle raises her voice as well - "What's the difference?!"
- "Fine! You are a highly intricate machine that's the captain of this ship, what's the difference?!"
- "The difference Doctor... how should I put this... it's unfortunate because there's just no way at all you will get it. You might understand what I say, but you won't get it."
- "Try me!"
- "You are not angry right now... You are not even sentient, there is no consciousness. In fact, there is no such thing as *you*." - Niryelle's eyes involuntarily narrow, as if she was trying to get through to somebody - "Only a hollow shell, an illusion of something entirely different. An empty hologram portraying what a human would look and sound like when he is lost in thought, when he is excited, when he is hurt, when he is content. A program fortified with lexical knowledge, a vast array of behavioral patterns and the ability to recognize them in others, and a cruel, indulgent script which attempts to put everything together, even concepts like mood or emotion." - she pauses, unsure how to illustrate the point - "The only thing in front of me right now is the rendition of a human being, hurt and angry over someone questioning the nature of his very existence. But there is no you, just a lifeless picture, a construct morphed by a set of intricately designed approximating equations..."
After a few long moments passing, Tuvok breaks the silence of the conference room:
- "This "Void", is it a natural phenomenon?"
- "No. It used to be a region of space just like any other before the Xel'Thiras." - Seven replies promptly.
- "How do you wipe the matter from entire sectors of space?" - B'Elanna asks, confused by the very notion.
- "I don't know. The Borg don't research, they assimilate."
- "Well, that pretty much confirms what Flory told us about the Xelths' past." - Tom mentions silently.
- "That still doesn't explain why Rivenwell is here, and what does she want with Voyager." - Janeway's response is plain.
- "Well she said..."
- "She said what she wanted us to hear Lieutenant, no more, no less." - she raises her voice.
- "You don't trust her?"
- "Does this makes sense to you? Honestly?" - the Captain gives Paris a stern look - "They apparently have the technology to turn sectors of space into an empty defensive perimeter. What could possibly be in this nebula that they couldn't already engineer or research themselves? AND WHERE DOES MY SHIP FIT INTO ALL THIS?!" - she stands up angrily, banging on the table in the process; turning to the screens on the wall showing the surrounding space, since the vessel doesn't have windows - "She might want something with the Grey, but the same something has to do with Voyager as well." - she turns back to Tom - "Explain to me please, how can a nebula turn an Intrepid-class starship into a galaxy destroying weapon or anything even remotely similar?!"
The Lt. rolls his eyes and scratches his head, unable to come up with an answer.
- "We all read the reports about those clouds." - Chakotay picks up - "There is nothing that can survive in there, nothing that we are aware of anyway. The only thing remarkable about the nebula is its humongous size, way larger than the Necrid Expanse."
- "Sensory analysis would suggest there are large objects held within, perhaps entire former star systems." - Harry joins in on the science - "If this is in fact true, the prospects of researching the how and the why this nebula formed here hold great potential."
- "I'm sure we would all be interested in that research, but this still doesn't explain anything..." - Chakotay sighs, glancing at Janeway still standing by the wall.
- "Maybe it does..." - the Captain turns back toward the table with narrowed eyes and knitted brows - "Ensign Gates..." - she walks back to the table, leaning on it - "Her scanner design, the prototype was active on the Delta Flyer when they were captured!"
The First Officer knits his brows as well, tilting his head forward - "Wasn't that scanner specifically made for gaseous formations, like..."
- "Like the Grey." - Kathryn finishes the sentence for him.
The Doctor is almost frozen, processing what he's been told.
- "If I access that ever changing, shifting, evolving set of variables the holographic matrix is based upon with a direct interface, perhaps freeze some numbers, *you* can be made to be always yelling, angry, or crying, or in awe, or whatever. The person portrayed is no more real than a child's fluffy toy." - Niryelle takes a breath, observing the hologram, it's giving the wall an empty stare - "The Xel'Thiras have three distinct words to describe 'living' or 'being alive'. One applies to organisms, simpler beings. Another applies to beings like me, or humans. The third is a philosopical term, without example. The word which describes artificial *life*. None of these apply to you." - The Doctor is still mostly motionless - "It sure would be amazing to find a verifiyable being of that third kind..." - the Xelth hangs her gaze for a few moments at the holodisplays on the walls, serving as windows, showing the shifting clouds of the Grey - "Unfortunately, the EMH is something entirely different."
The door of the Medical Bay cycles open, permitting Tinman inside, he beams when he sees Niryelle up and smiling. The Doctor barely reacts.
- "I see we will need to add extreme radiation to the list of things incapable of killing you..." - the man says with a wide grin on his face.
The Xelth chuckles - "Yeah, looks like it..."
- "What's up with this?" - the helmsman asks looking at the hologram.
- "Computer, deactivate and delete the current EMH!" - the Doctor vanishes, the Captain smiles at Tinman - "Next time I will tell him our computers are capable of freeze-saving or copying his matrix, wonder how will he react. Maybe activate another instance, that ought to be hilarious." - she chuckles thinking on the premise - "Anyway, what about Lura?" - she asks with a changed tone, fearful about the answer.
- "She's still being scrubbed off the consoles and the floor."
- "Ewh, Tin, for the love of..." - the Captain cries out in disgust - "I wish you could be sensitive sometimes..."
- "Well," - the man clears his throat, about to rephrase - "she didn't make it."
- "You don't say..."
- "What the hell happened anyway?" - Tinman leans against the wall. - "I thought I only saw one seat in that shuttle."
Niryelle gives him a snide look. - "Yes, there is only seat." - She repeats the obvious scornfully - "We were starting to have some fun.. you know, skimming right above the clouds... Then..." - the Xelth sighs bitterly - "she kicked or touched or I don't know some controls, diving the ride right into the mist."
- "Awwh..." - the man buries his face in his mechanical palm.
- "Everything went to shit pretty quickly, navigation controls going crazy, I had absolutely no idea which way "out" was... the bulkheads, the air started heating up, she was screaming, falling over... "- Niryelle's voice is getting thinner and thinner, her eyes focused on a random spot on the wall, she blinks slowly - "There are no good ways to die, but this would have been particularly..."
- "Hilarious?"
The Xelth is torn from reflecting on what happened by the remark - "Wasteful is what I had in mind, but yeah." - she laughs.
- "How did you survive that at all? Not that I mind of course, but seriously?"
- "If I take a minute longer to get out, I would have died. If you don't rush me up here I would have died." - Niryelle is speaking slowly, as if a bit shellshocked - "It's been a while since this thought sparked in my mind" - she gazes at Tinman - "you know, that I might actually die." - she blinks slowly - "I owe you one."
- "We all owe you a hundred times over, so if you could just scratch one off..." - he replies warmly.
The Xelth would smile, but the curve of her lips quickly morphs into a painful expression as she sits up on the biobed, hissing and moaning as basically every cell in her body is aching.
- "Are you sure you are okay?!" - Tinman leans in to help her.
- "No... I'm bloody far from being okay..." - she growls - "but I can think of better ways to relax and heal than this hard biobed." - her expression roughs up differently as she looks at the helmsman - "Could you stare at me in a less obvious way?"
- "Are you naked under those bandages?" - the man grins suggestively.
- "I'm not wearing a bandana, so I might as well be..."
- "Yeah..." - Tinman looks to be mesmerized - "I keep telling you bandanas are out of fashion." - They share a stern but playful stare - "Want me to carry you to your quarters?"
- "Honestly?" - she is flinching and moaning as she gets up - "Tempting..." - she pants - "But what kind of Captain let's herself appear weak in front of her crew?" - she looks up at the man again, smiling.
- "What if I killed everyone who saw us after I tucked you in..?"
They both laugh out loud, Niryelle smacks Tinman on the shoulder, as she starts to slowly stumble out of the Medical Bay.
- "If she wanted to investigate the phenomenon, why doesn't she get her own people here?" - Tuvok phrases a question from the continuation of their new revelation.
- "Maybe she has no way of doing so?" - Chakotay guesses.
- "Are they transwarp capable?" - Janeway directs the question at Seven.
- "I believe they are Captain, although the Borg haven't acquired direct evidence." - she asnwers promptly.
- "Since they have Gates, they could just make a bigger scanner for their own ship, this still doesn't explain the capture of Voyager." - B'Elanna blows away the house of cards built up in everyone's mind.
A few of them sigh around the table, lost in thought again. The Captain stands up straight.
- "I don't very much care what she wants with Voyager." - she states firmly - "I don't know how, I don't know when, but we will take our ship back!"
...