Stage-One

July 19,  2410, 15:32 Hours:

Stephanie made her way to her quarters almost as if in a daze. The repercussions of her presentation and the captain’s logical reasoning that she should be on board during the shakedown cruise were racing through her mind. After the door to her quarters slid shut she started shaking again.

She carefully retrieved one of her most prized possessions, a small Vulcan meditation lamp given to her during her second year at the Academy by one of her favorite professors. He had given it to her after spending more than half the year training her on meditation techniques. She placed the lamp on the ground before lighting it and almost collapsing to her knees in front of it.

She straightened her posture and clasped her hands together in front of her while she focused on the small flame coming from the lamp.

Twenty minutes later she was still kneeling there, perfectly still except for her breathing. She had subdued her emotions, analyzing them one by one and had realized that the only logical course was to speak to the captain in private about her problem. However, she reasoned, I have several days to work on my assignment before it becomes imperative to convince him that my place is here. She bent forward and picked up the lamp, examining the barely moving flame before blowing it out.

She arrived in the lab a little after 1840 hours and greeted T’mur.

“Good evening, Lieutenant.” Her Vulcan friend responded to her entrance, barely looking up from her work.

“How’s it coming along?” Stephanie asked walking up behind T’mur to see how far she’d gotten in replicating and building the nanites required for the Phoenix project.

“We only need to create another 1.78 billion nanites.” T’mur responded. She was in the middle of a quality-check on the last batch of several million nanites. They needed to check each batch for quality control and to ensure that the fail safes would work as intended. It was tedious work, but the result promised to be rewarding. “How did your meeting with Captain Syntron go?”

“I don’t even want to talk about it….” Stephanie said in a groan. She had control of her fears, but her frustration was still at the surface. She didn’t have the hundreds of years of training that Vulcans get in controlling their surface emotions…after all, she was trill.

“I assume since you have not ordered me to stop the production that we will be moving forward with the modification to his ship?” T’mur asked, taking a break from observing the data streaming across her console during the test to look at what she considered her closest friend on the station.

“Yes…he made me give the proposal in a senior officer’s briefing.” Stephanie said, sitting on a stool in front of another console and started to prepare the computer for another replication cycle of a few million more nanites.

“That…must have be challenging for you.” T’mur said. She had thought that most junior officers would be delighted at the chance to present such an outstanding project as this, especially if it was their own work that made it possible. But knowing her Trill friend, T’mur knew that it was among Stephanie’s worst nightmares.

“You could say that. Right after my proposal the staff took turns attacking me without even going over my data… and don’t even get me started on the doctor! Apparently the CMO is a Deltan…and one that doesn’t really care about consent that much!”

“You must be mistaken. Deltan’s may be impulsive and overly emotional, but they Starfleet would not allow a doctor who-“

“The bastard was emitting pheromones to try and alter my chemistry. Then he had the gaul to say we hadn’t thought about the impact of our project on the sentient EMH and I felt like he was attacking me for not wanting to get the consent from the EMH!”

“Did you not explain that we have already accounted for that and that it was our recommendation that the ships integrated sentient be consulted?”

“I didn’t get a chance, T’mur. It was like a firing squad. Then they were asking all the rookie questions about our fail-safes. I felt like they thought I was some first year cadet!”

“They may have not known you were Joined, and your physical appearance does deceive-“

“Yeah, yeah, I know, ‘vertically challenged’ is what all the Deltans teased me about in the Academy. Then the Security Chief all but accused me of trying to sabotage the ship.”

“Stephanie, you must remember that not everyone is an expert on this technology. Also remember that you do appear younger than you are, even if you were not joined. As for their security chief, allow him to look into Decatur’s past hosts and he will trust you.”

Stephanie thought for a moment about what was going on as she worked. She turned to T’mur and spoke in a much quieter tone, “The captain wants me to accompany the ship on it’s shakedown….”

T’mur sat quietly contemplating what the her trill friend had just told her. She was probably the only person on the station that knew about Stephanie’s irrational and overpowering fear of deep space travel. “I see.” She said calmly.

“That’s it? Just ‘I see’?”

“Have you consulted the captain about your problem?”

Stephanie paused with that ‘deer-in-the-headlight’ look. “I...I can’t...you can’t!” she said quickly.

“It’s hardly my place.” T’mur said looking back to her own work, “However, it is logical for you to speak to the Captain...especially should the prospect of a permanent posting come to fruition.”

“T’mur...I...I can’t allow this to jeopardize my career. Besides, this is just temporary; just during the shakedown.”

“Of course.” T’mur said in that Vulcan tone that spoke of being presented with an unconvincing argument.

“T’mur...I...I want to request that you’re transferred with me during the cruise then back here again to help modify more ships with me.” She took a small breath and breathed the last sentence in a nervous blur: “I won’t do it if you don’t want to though.”

“I see no logical objection to that plan.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

T’mur only nodded in response, not looking up from her work.

July 20, 2410, 00:54 Hours:

T’mur had left Stephanie in the lab alone more than two hours ago at Stephanie’s request with the promise that she would head for her quarters for sleep soon. It wasn’t long before she lost track of time. She looked at the corner of the LCARS display and sighed, she had just finished her last quality-control test.

At least we’ll be able to start first thing in the morning.She thought to herself as she tapped away on the console for several more minutes. She was scheduling a beam-in to the Phoenix for 0615. She figured that 15 minutes would be plenty of time to get herself and T’mur set up for transport.

July 20, 2410, 06:00 Hours

After only four short hours of sleep Stephanie ran into T’mur on her way to the science lab and filled her in on the plan. “I thought you were going to be in your quarters by midnight….” T’mur said with a raised eyebrow. She was familiar with her friends habit of working what most would consider insane hours due to her forgetfulness about the little things…like what time it was. At the academy she had apparently been nearly tardy to most of her classes due to her bad habit.

“I…. got sidetracked.” Stephanie said as they entered the lab. The two went quickly about the work of preparing the nanites for transport and making sure they were all in stasis. Thirteen minutes later they were standing on the transporter pad after being transported to the Phoenix.

She allowed the two security crewmen escort her and T’mur to engineering thanked them. Apparently I’m still suspect. She thought with annoyance, This shakedown cruise is going to be fun… the sarcasm in her thoughts was displayed on her face as she approached on of the junior engineering officers just starting their shift.

“Ensign, where is Commander Rodgers?” She asked a little more rudely than she meant to.

“I believe Commander Rodgers is attending the Horizon ceremony, Lieutenant…” She said calmly, looking a little confused by Stephanie’s tone.

Damn it, I should have checked first...she thought as she turned to T’mur and rolled her eyes at her vulcan friend. “I guess we’ll wait then…” she said.

“Indeed,” Responded her assistant. The two spent a little time preparing their gear before they were forced with nothing left to do but wait for the Commander to return.

 Lieutenant Sean Andrews, the Phoenix's assistant chief engineer, entered the main engineering room promptly at his shift start of zero six thirty hours to find two science officers mulling about the pool table. Their attendant stasis cases placed neatly nearby recalled to his mind the planned infusion of the nanite technology today. Smiling warmly, Sean approached the pair and extended his right hand in greeting.

"Hi. Lieutenant Decatur I presume? Commander Rogers told me to give you a hand today. He felt it prudent to attend the Horizon commissioning along with the rest of the bridge officers."

Glancing at the Vulcan Ensign standing beside the Lieutenant, Sean added an expected question.

"How can we assist you today?"

Stephanie shook the Lieutenant’s hand. It didn’t occur to her to ask for his name, since it wasn’t immediately relevant. “You’d be right in your assumption.” She said when he paused after greeting her. Then she learned from him the whereabouts of Commander Rogers and rolled her eyes. To her, social gatherings like that only served another avenue for her to humiliate herself.

“Well, in that case, we should get started. These stasis cases contain all the nanites we will require for installation into the secondary computer core and secondary sensor data relays. The captain was concerned about the sentient EMH being protected; our work today won’t interfere with any of the systems used by him, just the backups and secondary data relays. Speaking of the doctor, Has the EMH been given a chance for informed consent yet?” She asked, I bet the Deltan hasn’t even brought it up to the ‘patient.’ He certainly doesn’t seem too interested in moral consent for treatment anyway…  she thought bitterly to herself.

"I am confident the Doctor would have informed the EMH," Sean replied matter-of-factly, "But Obviously I am not aware of that for a certainty."

She didn’t want to actively mistrust Deltans, it was just a prejudice she had picked up in the academy due to mistreatment by a few more boisterous Deltans and been unable to shake.

“And since your captain wants engineering to baby-sit me, I’ll be requiring two engineering officers with some basic knowledge of nanotechnology. If they’re going to be looking over my shoulder they may as well be helping me make some progress. It took my assistant and I nearly twenty hours to finish modifications to a Nova class ship. The Phoenix is much larger, and with the delays that have been ‘modified’ into the installation plan we’ll be lucky to get it done by your launch date without significant help from your team, Lieutenant.”

As soon as she was given the two officers that would be ‘assisting’ her and T’mur she looked at her Vulcan friend. “T’mur, you and Ensign MacGyver start on the secondary sensor data relays. I’ll isolate the secondary computer core. Meet back here when you’re done.”

“Aye.” Was all T’mur said before heading toward a turbolift with Macgyver in tow and stasis case in hand.

She looked to her own ‘assistant.’ “Let’s go Ensign.” She said heading for an engineering lift after grabbing her own stasis case. The two rode the lift down one level to the main level of the secondary computer core where they went about isolating the core in preparation for the installation.

Sean watched the Lieutenant recede with Ensign Brady in tow, shaking his head in wonderment. Obviously, Engineer's took basic nanite tech course's supplied at the academy. Although MacGyver was more up on the technology, Brady was sufficient in the technology to assist. Turning back to the master systems display, he manipulated a few icons to isolate the required secondary core and sensor relays from the mains, then tapped his comm badge.

"Bridge? Engineering. The secondary computer core and sensor relays are now isolated. Inform all station's they are locked out until further notice."

"Acknowledged" came the voice of Andorian Ensign Garvex P'Trell manning the Ops station on the bridge.

"I will send notification to each department at once." he concluded before closing down the communication.

 P'Trell then immediately sent the announcement.

 With a quick look at the MSD to double check Sean moved off and, grabbing a tool kit from a nearby locker, went off to follow Lieutenant Decatur to the secondary computer on deck fifteen. Unlike the main computer core which spanned three decks, the secondary core only rose through two decks, fifteen and sixteen.

As Sean came down to the first deck of the secondary core, Stephanie was running a quick diagnostic to ensure that the core was sufficiently sectioned off from the rest of the network of the ship. She heard him coming and barely turned her head to acknowledge him. “Just double checking…The last thing I need is for this to go wrong.” She seemed a little agitated, and if anyone looked too closely, they’d notice circled forming under her eyes from fatigue. She hadn’t slept more than a total of nine hours in the last three days, she had to make sure everything went perfectly.

“Computer, activate EMH.” She was aware that the ship was integrated with holo-projectors throughout. She wasn’t aware, however, that Commander Rodgers and Doctor Grey were at that moment finishing their discussion above decks in sick bay.

Therefore, nothing happened, to her surprise.

Before she could inquire further however, the chief engineer walked in with a middle-aged man wearing a blue collar with the pips of a Lieutenant-Commander. 

With his kind face and easy smile, he was almost as charming as Elliago and his voice was just as calming.

 Having left the medical bay literally a minute ago, Doctor Grey and Commander Rogers had caught a lift down the two decks to the top of the secondary computer core on deck fifteen and had entered the control room to come upon Lieutenant Decatur working at a fevered pace at the core interface. Lieutenant Andrew's and Ensign Brady stood almost uselessly to one side. The two commander's had overheard the call for the EMH from the short hallway as they approached and entered the control space. Before David could make an introduction, Doctor Grey broke the ice in his own, seemingly gracious, manner.

"You rang?"

“I’m not sure if anyone has told you yet, but there’s a plan in place to upgrade the ships data network via specially designed nanites.” She began speaking before the EMH had a chance to say anything, and kept going even as she was ensuring that the secondary core and sensors were completely severed from ship systems and properly isolated. She was speaking too fast to call it anything other than a ramble. Rambling was a habit that Stephanie had due to her quick her thought process was, and handicapped her with most social interactions.

“The project will not go forward at all without your consent, Doctor. I understand you’re a sentient being and I respect the right of any ‘patient’ to consent to treatment, even if some doctors aboard clearly don’t. Details should have been made available to you, if not, I will ensure that you have all the data involved in the project immediately. Rest assured doctor, I will not release a single nanite into this ship, even in a separated system like this," She was gesturing  to the computer she was working on. "unless you give an informed consent. To me, there is little difference between you and the Lieutenant here. Just as I’d be appalled if some Deltan altered his body chemistry without his consent I’d be equally offended if anyone hasn’t already given you the information regarding this project.” She turned to face the Doctor as she finished her check, taking a deep breath to make up for rambling in what seemed to be one long breath.

The sentient hologram patiently let her finish before smiling again at her.

"And good day to you too, Ensign Decatur. Yes, Doctor Nasaro-Myth informed me of the situation. He was very concerned about my welfare, as he is with the welfare of each and every person on board. You might judge his worries unfounded, but that is how we are, us doctors; worrying is our middle name. And as I explained to Commander Rogers here a moment ago, I am directly linked to all internal ship sensors and to the main computer core; I have constant and instant access to any piece of data put in there and I can download any desired one into my own memory matrix so that I can function independently of it as well. Oh, and before I came aboard, I had been connected to the starbase system; I knew about your project even before you came aboard to present it. "

He looked quickly at the set up already made and nodded.

"Your data research seems quite sound, Ensign. But so are the CMO's concerns. And incremental testing steps are the proper scientific approach to any practical application, with caution as the primary concern. Therefore, I have made a back up of my programming and stored it in the portable holographic emitter Commander Riker kindly got from the Daystrom Institute for my benefit in serving this ship. I will be quite safe even in case of catastrophic failure, which I don't anticipate... but then again, who ever did?  So now you have my full consent, sound of mind and body, to proceed. I'm eager to see how it turns out."

Stephanie looked at Dr. Gray as he spoke, and realized that once again she had let her presumption get the better of her.  Great….why can’t I just go a day without putting my foot in my mouth? She asked herself as he finished. “I…” She paused, composing herself, “Thank you, Doctor. I… just wanted to make sure you were informed before we did anything.” She was obviously trying to get past her embarrassment at her own presumptuous attitude, made obvious by the pinkish hue crawling up her neck that was threatening to turn into an all-out blush.

"Thank you for your consideration, Ensign. It is much appreciated, " the artificial doctor said with a small bow of the head.

She tapped her combadge, “Decatur to T’mur, begin when you’re ready. The secondary core is isolated and the Doctor has given consent.” She barely heard her Vulcan friend’s simple affirmative reply. Opening the case revealed several small cases that appeared to be some sort of greyish cloud of gas, except that the small semi-transparent cloud in the cylindrical stasis tubes didn’t move.

Carefully Decatur removed one of the cases and went to the panel she had been working on, on the outer shell of the secondary computer core. After kneeling and opening the bio-neural access panel she unsealed the stasis pod and began introducing the nanites into the ships circuitry. After a minute she looked over her shoulder at the men standing there and nodded to the ensign and lieutenant who were supposed to be assisting her, “Well, don’t just stand there. There are two other access points in this section.” She said, “Just make sure you don’t lose them, they’re hard to find.”

Once her small stasis cylinder was empty she resealed the access juncture and went to observe the two officers assisting her, making not-so-tactful corrections to their work.

Standing beside Doctor Gray, Rogers observed the careful introduction of the nanite's by Decatur. The Bio-Neural gel packs, slightly visible to him from his vantage point, seemed not to change in the least as the miniscule organisms were released. The gel-packs' blue glow continued on in a seemingly unchanged state, but David also know that the capable Lieutenant would be following the nanite's progress extremely closely as they operated. Catching Lieutenant Andrew's eye, David indicated an assent that he should carry on, trusting the young man's expertise; as well as the short Lieutenant Decatur's obvious carefulness as she watched over Andrews' and Ensign Brady's assistance.

Looking at Gray again Rogers indicated, with an inclination of his head, the outer hall way. Then as silently, he lead the way out of the secondary computer core control room and into the outer hall.

July 20, 2410, 1840 Hours

Stephanie had let the time get away from her, again. She just kept working even after her two assistants pointed out that the shift had ended some hours ago.  She and T’mur had just finished the installation and she was emerging from a Jefferies tube back into the first level secondary computer core. T’mur and Stephanie immediately went about running passive diagnostics on the system and making sure they would be set up for testing before contacting the captain.

At 2014 Hours Stephanie, without considering the time, tapped her comm badge, “Decatur to Commander Rodgers.” She said calmly, she was feeling the fatigue, but needed to get permission to get the system activated and begin testing.

Having inspected main engineering on his way to his quarters, David had noted the progress of Lieutenant Decatur's project with tepid amusement. The young woman and her Vulcan assistant seemed to have no concept of time, He had discretely asked around and found out that neither of the pair had taken a break all day, even after being reminded of both the Alpha and Beta shift changes. Regardless, Rogers felt that if the pair were capable of non-stop work, he would not step in and order them to rest. As long as fatigue didn't impair their installation. Thus, as his comm badge chirped, David had just finished a late meal and had been reading the reports sent to him from the Aunis. This Nova class ship had received the first test implementation of Lieutenant Decatur's nanite's. looking up from the PADD, David answered the young Trill.

"Yes Lieutenant?"

Stephanie spoke as she triple checked her results from the diagnostic, “We’re all set down here to begin the activation of the nanites for testing in the isolated system. The captain had mentioned that you had the set of tests we’d run these through to prove they aren’t hostile to the ship?” Her voice was slightly strained, which was to be expected of someone running on fumes, “Give the word, sir, and I’ll let the captain know and we can get your tests done.”

David recalled in his thoughts the procedure's he'd set up prior to Decatur's beginning and nodded to himself.

"Understood Lieutenant. The word is given."

"Aye, sir. Decatur out." She trapped her com badge again and took a breath, "Decatur to Captain Syntron. The installation of nanites in the isolated secondary computer core is complete, we are ready to begin activating and stress testing them on your command." She checked the chronometer at her station and mentally kicked herself for calling so late but it was too late. Still, she wondered how he would react to her being done and ready to continue so quickly.

From the desk chair in his Ready Room, the Vulcan commanding officer immediately responded.

"Acknowledged Lieutenant. According to the current chronometer reading, you are also ahead of schedule. This noteworthy to an expeditious implementation of a rather involved process."

Looking over digital schematics of the project as it now stood, he added "Proceed Lieutenant Decatur, but also keep me posted of your progress as this course of action proceeds." 

“Aye, sir. I’ll continue to send all data to your ready room terminal as the test results come in.” She responded, “Decatur, out.”

She began running tests of the fail safes designed into her nanites. First she simply started them up and shut them back down with the emergency command one small group at a time, then larger groups, and eventually, by just after midnight she had every nanite in the system running and shut them down again, proving that her emergency “kill” switch was functioning.

She was about to start up the next set of tests when T’mur, who had silently been working at her side broke her concentration. “Lieutenant, you should get some rest…we can finish tomorrow.”

“I just want to get this last test done.”

“That was your argument an hour ago.”

Stephanie looked at her friend, and stared for a moment. Fatigue was written on stephanie’s face, and she could feel herself starting to crash. Sighing heavily, she admitted defeat.

“All right.” The trill said as she logged off her console and led the way back to the transporter pad to return to her quarters on the starbase for a few hours of much needed sleep.

((This concludes Stage-One. I'll be posting Stage-Two of the installation shortly))