USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202007.10 ANNOUNCEMENT: . This is the eighth episode of Lt. Tibris' sim plot to aid the Ivorez and save the Wild Growth. While Mr. Tibris' direct involvement with the sim is slowly diminishing, it is still the idea he introduced. Bridge & Main Engineering: . The Penumbra was in orbit of the Water World where they'd first met the Kyrathian Noble Mother. They were expecting to meet the Ivorez and the Mother there, but the Kyrathians had not yet arrived. The Penumbra had 34 Kyrathian Eggs and 3 Larvae in their Cargo Bay that they were eager to hand over. . Capt. Zak Taylor was back in his chair on the Bridge, with Lt. Denovan Hawke at the Tactical Station and Lt. Tabeshk Tibris at the Operations Console. Ens. Filler was standing in at Helm while Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter oversaw the recalibrations of the last two Delta Flyers in the Hangar Bay. Lt. Col. Travis Patterson was also in the Hangar Bay securing the Cerberus after its recent firefight. . Down in Main Engineering, Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry was working to keep the ship at its recently restored optimal levels. . The Captain said, "OK, the Mother should have been here hours ago." . Tabby had been watching the power distribution networks to make sure all his jerry-rigging had worked. He looked up, "I agree, something's off." . Hawke reported, "I just checked again. They aren't on long-range scans." . Zak tapped his commbadge. "Shadow, how far can you reach the Mother with telepathy? Can you call her?" . The doctor's voice came back, "I'll try reaching her no matter the distance. They're right, the Eggs need a better environment." . Zak replied, "OK, call her and find out where she is, or more importantly, when she'll be here." . Shadow answered, "On it." . A few seconds later Hawke said, "Wait." He reviewed his board again, then flicked his fingers across it, rescanning and then reported, "Kyrathian Colony Ship in range."

. Zak turned to his Tactical Officer, "Swarm or friendly?" . Hawke answered, "I can't tell yet, sir." . Tabby added, "Should be a symbol on the ship. The Independent's symbol was green and more ivy-vine like, whereas the Swarm was red with a scattered vine pattern." . Hawke nodded silently at Tabby's information. He already knew how the two factions of the Kyrathians had differing markings. Apparently, the way the Swarm's tainted Plants "grew" their ships left a distinctive pattern on the outer hull, and the Ivorez's ships "grew" with a different pattern. . Zak said, "OK, go to Yellow Alert. Shields and MIRAGE until we know who's coming." . Hawke tapped his console and a klaxon sounded and yellow lights flashed around the Bridge. . Shadow's voice came over the intraship comm system, "Captain, Mama's on her way. She'll be here soon." . Tabby muttered, "We get to see a big ship again, yaay!" . Zak glanced at Hawke. "That could be her. Let's find out." . About that time the Kyrathian ship entered short-range sensors and could be seen on the main viewer. It bore the glyph of the Ivorez and not the Swarm. Tabby pointed, "Look! It's Ivy!" . Hawke rolled his eyes, "Evidently." . Zak turned back to Tabby, "Ivy? Really?" . Tabby turned and said, "What? It's cute!" He turned back towards the screen. "Hi, Ivy!" He waved at the screen as if they could see him. . Hawke asked, "Shall I hail them?" . But before he could get a response, all those with any empathic or telepathic abilities heard the Kyrathian Noble Mother's voice in their heads as she called, ~Apologies for our delay. We were forced to go the long way to avoid Swarm ships. The Ivorez says he can try to send our writing to your computer to help in communication. But we need to be closer. You're receiving bulb is very small.~

. Tabby, whose Romulan gift for telepathy was just beginning to manifest, muttered, "I feel like we are too far from the Independents, Captain. And I think I heard something about our receiver and it being small?" . Down in Engineering, Bevin, who was a gifted telepath, heard the message and began working to add buffers to the computer system connected to T'Lin's Bulb so they could enhance incoming signals to help clarify them. . Unfortunately, neither Capt. Taylor nor Lt. Hawke were so gifted and didn't "hear" the Mother. The Captain turned to Hawke, "Hawke, if you can confirm that's the Ivorez, we can probably stand down from Yellow Alert. I'll be relieved to have those Eggs and worms off my ship!" . Hawke nodded at the Captain's order then compared the scans of the incoming ship to previous scans. He nodded once more as he reported, "It's them. Standing down from Yellow Alert." He pressed the appropriate buttons and the lights returned to normal. . Suddenly, the computer-generated "voice" of the Ivorez came through the speakers as the translation algorithm developed by Lt. T'Lin received his projected thoughts in the Kyrathian Plant Bulb and translated them into Federation Standard. "Greetings, Federationers. Sorry for our delay. We had to avoid several Swarm ships to get here." . Hearing the Ivorez's voice, Zak gave a sigh, stood and straightened his uniform, and then started simply speaking out loud, hoping the algorithm would translate his words to glyphs and send them over to the Ivorez ... somehow. "Glad to see you made it. We have several Eggs and a few Larvae we recovered that we'd like to transport over." . Apparently, the algorithm worked because the Ivorez replied, "It seems the Swarm is very upset. Between you and the ... large insectoids you work with ... you have ... how would your people say it ... hit the bee-hive with a stick?" . Tabby grinned, "Poked it. It's poked the hornet's nest."

. Zak gave Tabby a glare and even through the back of his head, Tabby felt it. Quickly he ducked his head and muttered, "I'll shut up now." . Zak spoke to the Ivorez. "Yeah, I guess we did." . Suddenly, Relok's voice cut in over the comm system, "Captain, we can exchange small talk later. We need to transfer these Eggs quickly; they are not doing well here in our Cargo Bay." . Zak heard the concern in Relok's voice. He said, "Right. Ivorez, the Eggs aren't liking our cargo bay, they're not doing well. We need to get them to you as quickly as possible." . The Ivorez answered, "We have an incubation pod prepared. Can you use your magic transporter thing to send them to our ship?" Tabby snickered at the "magic transporter" phrase. . Zak tapped his commbadge, calling Relok, "Commander, stand by, we're going to be beaming the Eggs over. Make sure everyone is clear." Then he lifted his chin and said, "Tabby, get the coordinates for the transporter location on their ship and prepare to engage." . Relok called back, "All clear, Captain, ready for transport." . Tabby said, "Ready, beaming in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..., magic trick inbound!" . A moment later the Ivorez said, "We have them. Thank you, Penumbra." . Tabby muttered, "Whew, glad that worked." . Down in Engineering, Bevin noted the power transfer to the transporter and knew the Eggs had been beamed out of the Cargo Bay. She also knew that the next step would be for her and her HazMat crew to decontaminate the area. She indicated one of her Lieutenants to take over Main Engineering as she headed for the Cargo Bay. . At the Ops console, Tabby continued his thought. "Now to check those wires again to see if they are holding up. Sometimes a screen doesn't do enough justice." He crawled back under his console and removed the cover. . Hawke heard him and asked, "What wires?" . Tabby looked up from the floor, "The ones that zapped me!" He glared as if Hawke's question was dumb.

. Hawke returned the glare as he said, "Everything has been fixed before we got back up here." . Tabby responded, "I'm not messing with them, just pure observation." He took a look and gave a sigh. "As I figured, everything is fine here, just wasted time, but ... better to double check." He returned the cover and got back into his seat. . The Ivorez continued, "Now ... you are headed to our sick cousin?" . Zak mumbled, "Um, yeah, about that ...." . The Ivorez said, "Captain, you have stirred the Swarm. There will likely be many of them between you and the Homeworld. You must be careful." . The Captain asked, "Ivorez, do you have any information on where the Swarm is? How many would be on the Homeworld? Are we walking into the heart of the Swarm?" . The Ivorez answered, "From what we can tell, most of the Swarm has actually left the Homeworld behind, but there will likely be a cluster of them between you and there." . Zak asked, "Just what amounts to 'a cluster', Ivorez?" . The Ivorez responded, "There are likely a hundred or more Colony Ships scattered a few light years out from the Homeworld. You'd encounter a dozen or more at the thinnest point. Good luck to you all!" . Zak's mouth gaped. "A hundred? A dozen or more?" He turned to Hawke, "We have trouble dealing with one or two of their ships!" . Hawke made a disheartening expression, "Aye. Well ... great. Hmm ..." . "Okay," Zak said as he returned to his seat, "we definitely need to coordinate with our allies. Tabby, put a call through to Ambassador Android. We need his help." . Hawke said, "We can find a spot to set up a staging ground." . Tabby nodded, "Will do." He began making the connections to reach the Aslan Homeworld. Cargo Bay One: . Lt. Cmdr. Relok, Lt. T'Lin, and a handful of Marines were in Cargo Bay One where the Penumbra was carrying 34 Kyrathian Eggs and 3 Larvae, held safely behind a containment force field.

. Each Marine was wearing their enhanced Combat Armor, and the two Vulcan Science Officers were wearing the modified biosuits. The Combat Armor and the biosuits had proven effectively resistant to the Kyrathian Plant's corrosive Spores. . Relok stood just outside the containment field, a tricorder in his hand and a grim look on his face inside his helmet. T'Lin stood beside him, staring intently at the biochemical signatures on her tricorder. She finally spoke, "That ... is ... strange." . At that time, LtJG Katarina Hawke, the Head Nurse, accompanied by Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, entered the Cargo Bay, making another check on the status of the eggs. Kat greeted the two Vulcans as she entered. Kat did not use a biosuit, relying instead on her remaining Borg adaptive shielding, which, though not yet actually tested, was trusted to be effective against the Spores. Shadow, however, suited up near the entrance for protection against any possible Spores. . Relok responded to T'Lin, "Indeed. I think there are other eggs that should be ready to hatch as well, but ... I think the environment is incorrect. There's something .... not quite right." . Kat frowned, "I wish I knew what was wrong about it." . Then a call came over the comm system from the Captain on the Bridge, "Shadow, how far can you reach the Mother with telepathy? Can you call her?" . Shadow took a couple of steps away and tapped his commbadge and answered, "I'll try reaching her no matter the distance. They're right, the Eggs need a better environment." . Zak replied, "OK, call her and find out where she is, or more importantly, when she'll be here." . Shadow answered, "On it." He reached out with his powerful telepathy, seeking the mind of the Kyrathian Noble Mother and the alien plant-based intelligence known as the Ivorez. . T'Lin said, "The Mother said she needed her eggs to be on the water world. Computer, pull up all environmental scans of planet 4731B."

. The computer obediently replied, "Accessing files on planet 4731B." . Relok pointed out, "We know practically nothing about the Kyrathians' reproductive process. The Mother needs to get here quickly." . Kat frowned but said, "I agree, researching the water planet and getting them to the mother is necessary." . T'Lin said, "If we can replicate the water environment, the eggs and larvae may react better, and hatch." Then she muttered softly, "Not that I think that is smart for us." Then she continued in her normal voice, "If they do not hatch now, I am afraid they may mis-develop, or die." . Kat asked, "You want to fill the Cargo Bay with water?" . But it was Relok who said, "We don't need to replicate the environment, it's right outside the ship. We're in orbit now." Then he added, "The Mother had them in an incubation pod deep under the ocean. Perhaps pressure was necessary?" . Finally, the computer responded, "Ready." T'Lin began to skim through the environmental data, then pointed at a specific item, "The water pressure on this planet is over 100 pounds at sea level?!" She sounded incredulous because the standard pressure of an Earth-like planet at sea level was closer to 15 pounds. . Kat commented, "That doesn't sound safe for the rest of the crew." . T'Lin agreed, "We would all be crushed to death at their depth. We would not even be able to survive a depth of 10 meters." . Relok also agreed, pointing out, "Not even an EVA suit can handle pressure like that, though our shuttles would." Then he straightened and turned back to the eggs. "It is problematic to attempt to draw conclusions when most of our data are unknown variables." . Kat listened to them, still frowning slightly. She didn't feel she knew enough to supply any information. These Kyrathians weren't well known to the Borg, so she had no info on them in her Borg knowledge base.

. Finally, Shadow's mind finds the Noble Mother and she responds, though her response could only be "heard" by Shadow in his mind, ~Yes, doctor, I hear you.~ . Shadow sends to her mind-to-mind, ~We have some more eggs and a few that have hatched and need to know how to best take care of them, great Mother.~ . The Mother responded, ~This is good news. We are arriving now.~ . Shadow smiled, opening his eyes and turning to Relok with a nod. He tapped his commbadge. "Captain, Mama's on her way. She'll be here soon." . T'Lin continued, addressing the former Borg, "Kat, what do the Borg know about insectoids?" . Kat answered, "The Borg have never encountered the Kyrathians. There are no records of an encounter." . And then, those with empathic or telepathic abilities, and in the Cargo Bay at that time it would be Shadow, Relok, and T'Lin, heard in their minds, ~Apologies for our delay.~ . T'Lin straightened and said, "Odd. Oh! They are here. I must take a moment." She closed her eyes to block the sudden cluster of emotions as the ship full of a hundred or more Kyrathians, all telepathically connected to one another and their sentient plant, the Ivorez, almost overwhelmed her empathic senses. . Relok, much less sensitive than T'Lin (except for his bond with his Shayana, Shadow), said, "I thought I felt some kind of tickle on my psyche." . Kat blinked, "Did you?" She felt nothing. Her only telepathic connection was through the remnant of the Borg interlink she shared with her brother, Lt. Denovan Hawke. . Shadow answered her, ~Greetings, Noble Mother and Ivorez, it is good seeing you once more. We have the eggs and little ones where I am now.~ . The Mother continued, explaining for all who could hear her thoughts, ~We were forced to go the long way to avoid Swarm ships.~ . T'Lin spoke the emotion she felt from them. "They are worried. And stressed. Shadow, what happened to them on their way here?"

. Shadow answered T'Lin, "They had to take the long way due to some Swarmers." . T'Lin mused, "Must have been a close call for them to still be so tense." . Shadow agreed, "I think it was a VERY close thing." . The Mother continued, ~The Ivorez says he can try to send our writing to your computer to help in communication. But we need to be closer. You're receiving bulb is very small.~ . Suddenly, the computer-generated "voice" of the Ivorez came through the speakers as the translation algorithm developed by T'Lin received his projected thoughts in the Kyrathian Plant Bulb and translated them into Federation Standard. "Greetings, Federationers. Sorry for our delay. We had to avoid several Swarm ships to get here." . T'Lin jumped and whirled at the unexpected voice until finally she realized who it was. She responded, "Oh! Hello, Ivorez." . Shadow greeted the plant-based intelligence as well, "Welcome Ivorez, friends are always enjoyed to be in each other's company." . An odd thing occurred just then. Even though there didn't appear to be an open commlink, they could hear their Captain's voice as he had a conversation with the Ivorez, even though he was on the Bridge. Zak was saying, "Glad to see you made it. We have several Eggs and a few Larvae we recovered that we'd like to transport over." . And the Ivorez replied, "It seems the Swarm is very upset. Between you and the ... large insectoids you work with ... you have ... how would your people say it ... hit the bee-hive with a stick?" . Zak responded, "Yeah, I guess we did." . Relok had grown impatient, concerned for the Eggs. He tapped his commbadge, interrupting, "Captain, we can exchange small talk later. We need to transfer these Eggs quickly; they are not doing well here in our Cargo Bay." . The Captain responded, "Right. Ivorez, the Eggs aren't liking our cargo bay, they're not doing well. We need to get them to you as quickly as possible."

. Shadow said out loud and telepathically, "What do you need me to do Mother, Ivorez, to make sure the eggs and Larvae are in the best possible condition for you?" . The Ivorez answered, "We have an incubation pod prepared. Can you use your magic transporter thing to send them to our ship?" . Shadow answered, again out loud and telepathically, "Easily, we just need to know where it is." . Kat knew that she'd just be happy the Eggs and Larvae were off the ship, and not trying to feed on whatever they could get to. . Zak called Relok back over the commlink, "Commander, stand by, we're going to be beaming the Eggs over. Make sure everyone is clear." . Relok nodded and signaled everyone to move back from the containment field. Once he'd seen everyone out of the area, he tapped his commbadge. "All clear, Captain, ready for transport." . They heard over the open commlink Tabby's voice, "Ready, beaming in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..., magic trick inbound!" . As they dematerialized, Shadow telepathically sent a song of blessing and hope that they might know peace all their days. . A moment later the Ivorez said, "We have them. Thank you, Penumbra." . Kat said, "Nice to have the Cargo Bay clear again." The sensitive empaths Shadow and T'Lin could easily tell she was just covering her sadness at seeing the little buggers go. Shadow reached over and gave her a hug, like a brother might have. . Relok, impervious to Kat's emotional state, said, "I hope the Mother can stabilize the eggs. Now we just need Bevin and her hazmat team to clear the area of the ... residue." . Then they heard the Ivorez ask, "Now ... you are headed to our sick cousin?" . The Captain answered, "Um, yeah, about that ...." . The Ivorez said, "Captain, you have stirred the Swarm. There will likely be many of them between you and the Homeworld. You must be careful."

. Around that time, Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry and a team of specialists arrived in the Cargo Bay in their HazMat suits to do the decontamination. Relok said, "I'm headed back to the Bridge ... once I get out of this suit!" He started to take off the biosuit but Bevin stopped him. . In her strong Brogue, Bevin said, "Nae yait, sair, ye naid tae gae thraw daicantaiminaishun hair afair ye gait oot o hair." She was telling him in no uncertain terms (or perhaps a little uncertain considering her accent) that he'd have to go through decontamination procedures there in the Cargo Bay before she'd let him leave. She and her team started setting up decon booths right then and there. . Relok tried valiantly to suppress the emotional groan, but failed. "I suppose you're right, Commander. All of us are potentially carrying Spores." . She smiled at him. "Sairry, sair, jist trayin tae be tharaw." . Kat frowned and asked, "Wait, does that mean we all have to go to sickbay or quarantine? I mean if we're covered in spores?" . T'Lin had already moved to one of the decon booths but heard Kat's question and called, "Nope! Decon is right here!" . Relok said, "We stayed in biosuits ... well, that and your Borg shielding, Kat ... and on our side of the containment field. It is unlikely we're 'covered in Spores'. But, there is a risk that we shouldn't carry to the rest of the ship." . Then they heard the Captain ask the Ivorez, "Ivorez, do you have any information on where the Swarm is? How many would be on the Homeworld? Are we walking into the heart of the Swarm?" . The Ivorez answered, "From what we can tell, most of the Swarm has actually left the Homeworld behind, but there will likely be a cluster of them between you and there." . Shadow called out to the Mother and the Ivorez once more, both vocally and telepathically, "Can you send us maps of where you saw the Swarm so we can try to avoid them?"

. Before the Ivorez could answer, the Captain asked, "Just what amounts to 'a cluster', Ivorez?" . The Ivorez answered, "There are likely a hundred or more Colony Ships scattered a few light years out from the Homeworld. You'd encounter a dozen or more at the thinnest point. Good luck to you all!" . And they could tell the connection with the Ivorez had ended.

@everyone Latest Sim Log Narrative is posted. Enjoy!