Posted by Lieutenant Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief Tactical/Lead RTF Officer) in Onboarding: Meet the new boss

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Ryland Kael Thorne (RTF Officer) in Onboarding: Meet the new boss

Posted by Lieutenant Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief Tactical/Lead RTF Officer) in Onboarding: Meet the new boss
Posted by… suppressed (41) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Ryland stood infront of the CTO’s office woundering if he was in the right spot. This was where he had been directed so it had to be. He took one last look at his watch and his uniform. He was not one to be nervous about meeting a new boss , it happened regularly for him. His mind drifted momentarily to his former team and how they were faring on mision. He knew he would not hear one way or another for weeks or even months. Instead of using the chime, he gave the door a solid, double knock.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade. RTF Officer

“Enter.” The CTO’s voice carried easily through the door. “Lt. Thorne, come in, have a seat.” The woman seemed young and unscathed for such a posting. She had long, natutal red hair with a slightly wave and all black eyes of a Betazoid. She spoke however with a slight Appalachian accent from Earth. “Yes, in case you are wondering, I’m Lt. Gadi, RTF commander and the CTO. Yes there is a separate RTF office. No it is not efficient and makes no sense to me either. But it is what it is.” Either others had asked the same thing or she was thinking it herself.

The office was bare except for a small crate of unknown items. Like the woman had only been there long enough to find the office herself.

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryland stood and looked lost for a moment, then realized he was not in the Marines anymore . “Thank you Sir” he said and sat down in the chair, he was rigged sort of feeling out the level of protocol he was supposed to follow.

“Its nice to meet you sir,” he had been pulled from the brass from his team and highly encourage to retire from the Marines and join fleet, and he still really had know idea why, The Lieutenant seemed capable enough she had a good build, seem relativity in shape. “To be honest i’m not really sure what my assignment is, I’m used to ambiguous but ” he trailed off his thoughts again to his former squadmates.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer.

Gadi sat down across from him. She preferred to be called by name or ma’am, but it didn’t offend her when people used Sir. It was said out of respect, and there was never a reason to get upset over respect.

“Well it’s about to get a lot more ambiguous and weird. You have been assigned to the Recovery Task Force of the Anomaly Recovery Unit of Star Fleet. RTF and ARU respectively. RTF works as a rapid response team. We deal with recovery and protection of assets, protecting innocents, taking out dangers, and safely and securely returning with target artifacts.”

“I have not determined your role within the task force, yet. I’ve only arrived a week ago myself.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

He leaned back, “I see” he said. “I was encouraged” he said, she could tell he was less than happy about it. “To take this position, something about needing my talents over here. “Sorry for the obscurity, but what did they tell you about what I do?” he asked. He had to be careful the last 9 years of his life was basically classified and if he told the wrong person anything then things would not go well with him, or them for that matter.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“Officially, a very redacted personnel file. I’ve been in this work awhile, and can read between the black splotches of a redacted file in my sleep. Unofficially, I was told you are theype of person to run in when others run out. And you think outside the box. Often unorthodox, but highly effective.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryaland smirked. “Sounds like command, here take this box, doesn’t matter what’s in it. Just pull out what’s in side it works well.” he said laughing a little. “course they never really tell you much. Things seem less , ” he through ta moment. “Formal here” he said. “I’m am SO so we tend to be pretty relaxed unless the boss is around, how do you want me to engage with you?” he asked so far she seemed to want to keep thing relatively informal which was fine by him.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“Star Fleet is more informal than the Marines. That’s something you’ll either get used to or will always be strange. RTF is much more military. We have to be. However, I tend to be laid back. I firmly believe keeping my people in a constant state of hyper awareness is not going to improve their performance. Just accelerate burnout.” Gadi gave him an appraising stare. “However, your file speaks of a man that knows when to be serious and get things done, and when to relax and let life just be. Besides,” and she gave what he would come to learn was her signature playful grin, “No one would take me seriously if I had to be serious all the time.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryland listened she had it right, honestly with what he had been doing for the past almost decade he had learned to turn it on and off with little effort. It was the only way he remained sane.

He snort laughed, “That all sounds about right”. he was not sure what to talk about. “Anything you want to know, that you have not figured out?” he asked

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

Gadi stood, “Let’s see what you make of our targets.” She motioned toward the door and led the way down the corridor to a lift. “Containment Deck.”
Ryland stood up and folded his arm, which looked like giant rocks, behind his back and followed her.

“ACCESS RESTRICTED. ACCESS CODE REQUIRED.”

“Gadi Alpha Romera Koosevbitz.”

He was used to having to go through layers of security but not on a starship his curiosity had certainly been peaked. He looked down at her as she recited the code. Taking a quick look around the elevador he looked for maintenance access panels or anything else that could be exploited. If we was going to protect the space he had to know the space.

“ACCESS GRANTED,” and the lift began to move. The doors opened to a very cold and bare room. The walls were plain metal bulk heads, the same with the floor, except for the pulsing energy grids just under every surface. “Constant scans for unauthorized weapons and life forms. Equipped with electroshock, and will automatically disperse anesthazine.” The only furniture in the room was a sort of desk. There were two heavily armed and armored officers at a door behind the desk, and two at the lift they had just exited. A fifth manned the desk. “Lt. Gadi,” the man stood up with a crisp at attention.

“At ease Lorik. This is Lt Ryland Thorne. New RTF officer. He’s getting the tour.”

He watched the guards and assess them, they seemed disciplined and capable, there it was again the look, it was not the stare that you get in the field but something else, like they were waiting for something to come from nothing.
Lorik did not take the permission to relax. “Of course, Lt. If you would both submit for scans.” Gadi stepped forward pressing her palm to a scanner, then an iris scan, and then there was a brain wave scan. “IDENTIFIED - LT. GADI, BETHANY. CHIEF TACTICAL OFFICER AND RECOVERY TASK FORCE COMMANDER. AUTHORIZED FOR CONTAINMENT DECK ACCESS.”

She stepped back and nodded for Thorne to take his turn.

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryland stepped to the device and placed his hand on the scanner, and waited for the two other scans to complete.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“IDENTIFIED - LT. JUNIOR GRADE THORNE, RYLAND. RECOVERY TASK FORCE OFFICER. NOT AUTHORIZED FOR CONTAINMENT DECK ACCESS.”

Lorik looked at Gadi, “He’s not been to medical yet. We don’t have current neural scans.” Gadi nodded. “I’ll sign him in under me. He’ll be my responsibility.” She had to put in an authorization code - this time she input it manually after walking around behind the desk and accessing the computer. Then she walked over to the wall and pressed her hand to it. A hidden access panel lit up and another code was put in. The bulkhead opened to reveal a weapons locker. She took belt with a gun holster and buckled it around her hips. She slid what looked like an old Earth military issue SIG Sauer M17, except it had a double vertical barrel. She slipped one into the holster after checking it thoroughly and loading it, and then took what looked like an old fashioned police baton and slid it into a loop on the other side of the belt.

Ryland paid attention to ever thing she was doing, including how she checked and prepped her weapons and gear. It was not the first projectile weapon he had seen or used. His head tiled a few times to watch her hands.

“You’ll get equipped with your own, but for now, here.” She handed him the same get up to put on. “The baton is a Mark VII Electric Shock Baton SD. It was developed specifically as a Self-Defense weapon that is considered a special weapon and utilized by Tier 1 and Tier 2 operators for self-defense purpose. It is unique to the RTF branch, Features includes: a new dilithium-based battery for a total of 250 shocks before recharge (on medium settings), 1-14 power setting, reserve battery container, new manufacture material (lighter and stronger than typical weapons) and emergency overload mode (after 3 seconds the baton, if set on this mode, will release the whole battery energy and discharge a stunning shock that knock out all unprotected individual in a maximum radius of 4 meters).”

He took the gear and checked it the same way she had and holstered the weapon, it was simple enough to operate, all great weapons were. No time to figure complex breakdowns when your life was at stake. He stayed quiet as she explained, listening was something he was very good at.

“The gun is a Rail-Hand Gun Marauder Mk. I. It’s the first of its kind the Marauder is a pocket railgun side-arm that fires Tritanium-Led alloys projectiles for conventional weaponry. Designed for the RTF branch it’s use have been expanded through ARU personnel but in limited numbers. These have been modified here on the Leviathan to also house a phaser. Hence the double barrel. The Marauder is an alternative to phasic and laser weapons and it’s lightweight polymer structure allows light loadout. Advanced tech can help with aiming and the weapon will not fire if the user does not hold a combadge on the uniform. The weapon itself can hold a maximum of 26 9mm solid rounds and the range can arrive to 3.9 klicks (muzzle velocity: 2 klicks/sec), while its battery can last up to 50000 shots.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

As she finished he spoke, “Interesting weapon, i have never seen a railgun this small. Last one I used was a large rifle, heavy and unwieldy, anti vehicle. ” he said checking the weapon out and sliding it back into the holster. “Supersonic rounds, and respectable range for a sidearm.” he noted. “Why would we need these on the ship Sir?” he asked.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

Gadi met his stare straight on, “Because of what is contained past those doors. When an anomaly gets out, there is no time to get geared up.” Gadi stepped over to the door and nodded to the two guards. Both turned to watch as the doors slid open. Two more were waiting inside with a set of doors behind them. Stepping through the doors closed behind them. It was like an airlock. Thorne could hear the air pressurize and a light on the other end changed green and the second set of doors began to open as the guards turned to face it, weapons down but ready.

Gadi led him through. “Welcome to the containment decks. We are on deck 11. The room we arrived in was our Containment Control Centre. It has access to real-time audio and video feeds, environmental controls, containment power levels, rapid response quarantine and tactical systems all provided from the circular bank of terminals at the desk. It is staffed at all times by at least three RTF Officers of rank Ensign or higher and minimum clearance level of ARU-DELTA-01. Hidden by the bulk heads is the Containment Shift Leader’s Office. It is a small, soundproofed space off the main Containment Control Centre area. Primary access is restricted to Containment Shift Leader’s only and they must hold minimum rank of Lieutenant (junior grade) and a minimum clearance level ARU-DELTA-05. Office also features a secure loop level 1 communication device. With in the containment area itself are two bays. BLUE Containment Bay 1 and 2: For holding Blue (Inert) level anomalies only. Also through the Control Center is another access door to the RTF Barracks.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Small whistle escaped his lips, it took a lot to impress him he had seen some pretty strange and secret things, but this was different. What he had been noticing in people on the sip was explained by this deck. No wonder everyone was on edge. “This is something else” he noted. “What kind of Anomalies are we talking about?”

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

Gadi began walking down the corridor. There were lots of doors, with viewing windows here. Small standalone PaDDs on pedestals stood outside each room, with information about what was inside. “While space anomalies are usually well studied by normal research vessels, special objects that causes space anomalies are considered Type Einstein items. They range from little rocks with weird blackhole properties to entire planets capable of eating entire systems. Artifacts and planet-found articles are considered Type Newton items and are to be considered weapons. Living beings anomalies, instead, covers the majority of the anomalies recovered by the ARU, roughly 68%, and are divided in Type Darwin and Type Curie anomalies. While Darwin are made of organic molecules, usually Curie living anomalies are made of non-organic molecules and compounds. Type Feynman items are all subspace anomalies found in our Galaxy without distinction between living or non-living beings. All anomalies are categorized within 4 Threat Conditions: Blue are inert, which are on this deck. Then we have Green (safe), Yellow (risky anomaly), and Abell (hazardous anomaly). Those are on lower decks.”

Bethany waved toward the various doors. “The PaDDs are stand alone and do not have any connection nor the ability to connect with the computer’s systems. All information on them is updated manually every shift. Feel free to read.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryland stepped up to the closest PaDD, this assignment was getting more intriguing by the minute. He still could not help but think about his former element and the battle that they were headed into without him. He paused for a short moment, he looked back at his CO for a second and then decided to read first and ask questions later.

Tapping the screen he began to read and take in as much of the detail as he could

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

ARU RETRIEVAL FILE, # BF67059[Insert anomaly designation]

PROJECT HEAD RESEARCHER - Lt. Marvin Gnasher[Assign Researcher to Anomaly for research]
ASSISTANT RESEARCHER - En. Shirley Temple[Assign Assistant Researcher]

PHOTO(s)

NAME - [Davy Jones’ Paddling PoolGive a name to the anomaly]
TYPE - Feynman
CONDITION - Blue, when empty. Green when filled with water.

PERSONNEL CLEARANCE - Delta

CONTAINMENT - Containment unit contains scans to prevent anyone under the age of 20 or below a height of 4 feet from entering as the anomaly will react as if they are children. Room is a moisture free area to prevent the pool from refilling. All those that enter must wear EV suits.

DESCRIPTION - A child’s paddling pool filled with water - but occasionally when entering into it, the water becomes fathomless and the occupants are swallowed to the depths. Several dive teams have been sent down during an anomalous episode but so far no evidence of the missing children have been found.

EXPERIMENTS LOG - Radiation exposure, radio wave exposure, electromotive pulse exposure all conducted to try and determine what triggers an anomalous event. Divers have entered during event in an attempt to find the missing children or to be captured themselves. Despite an on going event adult researchers and rescue teams have not been taken. RTF Agen Millie Povika missing. 20 years of age but 3 foot 7 inches tall. Hypothesized the anomaly assumed she was a child due to her height.

POST SCRIPTUM - [For already compiled and old logs. This section serves for additional post-compilation comments]

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Looking through the information he stared in disbelief, it read like a sci-fi novel something he rather enjoyed, but certainly they were pulling his leg. Like asking a new soldier to go get something that did not actually exist, or snipe hunting. He looked over at Gadi and then back to the PaDD. His eyes narrowed, the thing is there was a containment unit, it was a high security area and it was not the only one. So unless they kept it running only when a new person came on. He looked at her again. “How does this kind of thing even exist” he finally said half to himself.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

Bethany shrugged. “I didn’t quite believe it until I got to the bottom two decks and saw active ones.” She moved down the hall, “As to how they exist? No idea. I leave that to the science folks. Part of our job is escorting the researchers when they come in, or going with them when they take an anomaly out to the labs.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

He rested his hand on his pistol grip. “I’m not sure these will do much” he said “Though I guess we can stop people from trying to take them or worse” he looked around.. “Why on a ship, why not on some remote moon or something?” he asked though somewhere he knew the answers, a ship was could be kept moving around and harder to find.

“Oh there is. Every so often the ship stops and we off load the anomalies and then go out o collect more. But in the mean time…” she gestured around the area. “We have this.”

“Im not sure that I don’t like being shot at better.” he laughed a little. “At least I know how to address that”

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“I know exactly what you mean,” Gadi said seriously. “Let’s continue.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

“Lead the way SIr” he said, Falling in next to her he looked around at the containment area, not really sure if we was happy with the assignment. He had done and seen some pretty messed up things but this had to top it. “So assuming that is not the strangest thing you have seen, what would you say was?” he asked

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“Doctor Schnabel. It’s a Darwin type anomaly. It bears a resemblance to the ancient ‘Plague Doctors’, although the creature’s ‘nose’ appears to be formed of biological matter. It has to be given a dissection specimen daily to prevent it from dissecting itself. It’s two levels down.”

She stopped in a cross section. “We are on deck 11. In a standard Mjolnir-class ship we are in the hanger bay for the marine air group. Since we don’t host a marine contingent the hanger bay has been converted into the Containment section of the ship. Deck 12 hosts our green anomalies and deck 13 houses the Yellow and Red ones. The turbolift we took to get here is the only one that accesses Containment. The lifts between the containment decks are all houses within the containment decks to prevent breaches onto the main part of the ship.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryland looked at her not really sure what to make of all she just said. “That makes sense, makes it more secure” he noted. “What about manual access?” certainly there had to be access pathways to get betwen decks. He was still trying to really figue out what his role was going to be in all this. He took note at the security and personel to see how they were conducting themselves.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“Manual access is the same as any other ship. Through the jefferies tubes. But the junctions are reinforced tritanium along with randomized forcefield harmonics. Normal access requires a passcode input from outside the containment areas. During a breach, all of that gets shut down and reinforced emergency bulkheads engage at all manual access points.”

Bethany looked at him shrewdly. “You have questions Lt. Ask them.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

He stopped and looked at her, his face said most of what he was about to, this was far more than he had been expecting from the assignment. “Well I must say, this is all a bit much to take in. ” he noted as he looked around some more. “I’m sure I have a million questions, but sadly they elude me at this time” he looked at here. “I must say my carrer has been filled with a lot of mystery, but this” he said pausing. “This is a whole other level of strange”

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“It is. The anamolies on this level are all blue. Which means they are safe. The one you looked at? As long as the pool stays empty it’s considered blue. If water gets into it, it’s safety level is increased to Green. It’s dangerous but only if you interact with it. So don’t get in the pool and nothing happens.” She continued to move nodding to each of the officers as she passed. “Green are down a level. Yellow and Red, are two levels down. Those are the scary ones.”

Ryland gave a nod and continued to listen, it all made sense , but did not at the same time. He was not sure if he would make it long here, but for now it was where they had put him.

“It’s all very out there. Honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I get wanting to lock these things up safely, but to experiment with them…” she shuddered, “I think is insane.” She stopped at a lift. “Within the bulkheads of the containment decks, our job is to ensure safety of the crew and the security of the anomalies. Think of us as prison guards at a high max black site prison. Outside of these walls, our job is to capture and safely contain the anomalies and return them to the ship. Most of the time, that means protecting those that are being hurt by the anomaly.”

She stepped onto the lift and they went down one level. “Deck 12 or Green deck.” She waved him forward, “Have a look.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

“I feel like calling us prison guards is a little miss leading.” he looked around a bit his eyes locking and noting everything he could see. “I don’t think the Marines would have let me go to come play baby sitter, waste of my training.” he noted.

“It is a bit misleading, but on the daily that is what it is like. Your training comes in with the retrieval part and if there is a breach. I have security footage to show you of a containment breach when we are done here,” Gadi said.

Ryland stepped onto the deck. “So everything on this deck is considered safe?” he asked stepping forward to one of the PaDDs and reading what was in the containment area.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“They are not considered safe exactly, but they are as long as they are not activated or engaged in the specific way that triggers what makes them anomalous.”

ARU RETRIEVAL FILE, #24601

PROJECT HEAD RESEARCHER - Senior Researcher Victor McIntosh

ASSISTANT RESEARCHER - Novel Researcher Cameron Hugo

NAME - Runaway Cart

TYPE - Newton

CONDITION - Green

PERSONNEL CLEARANCE - ALPHA-02

CONTAINMENT - Tests show that Item #24601 gains weight when it is in contact with the ground or floor. Consequently, the best form of containment for the Runaway Cart has been determined to be held in a forcefield above the ground.

DESCRIPTION - Item #24601 is described as a cart circa the time of the French Revolution on Earth. It possess the ability to increase and decrease in weight, trapping unfortunates who mistake it for an ordinary cart beneath its weight.

Russell Jackman, Hugh Crowe and Amanda Hathaway, the Director, Stage Manager and Prop Master respectively of the Yataran III Players, a dramatic society known for its cutting edge and new takes on traditional dramas from Federation and non Federation worlds. The three production crew members discovered the cart while they were looking for a suitable prop for the society’s 2391 performance of Les Miserables, the first such performance to be performed in Cardassian. They needed a cart for the performance and it was their misfortune to find this one. There were unaware of the cart’s special properties, and if they had been aware of them, they would have left it behind. They had Pakleds with them who moved the cart and who made no comment about the greater than expected weight of it as they dragged it along the ground behind them to the vessel that the Players had with them.

ARU Officers from starship 14 were on a mission to Dectus VI when the Yataran III Players were performing Les Miserables on the planet and were able to watch the show. They were in attendance due to the unusual number of accidents that occurred at the show in the scene with the cart, both with the actor ‘run over’ by the cart and the actor who lifted it to save the victim. After a certain show in the season, the cart became impossible to move and the ARU became interested. The team determined it to be an anomalous object that was designated Newton (meaning it was a physical (inert) item) and was condition green (meaning it was a possible threat to life). The threat to life is less prevalent now that the researchers have learnt that its nature is to increase in rate and so they know to elevate it before trying to move it.

EXPERIMENTS LOG - Numerous experiments were carried out on Item #24601 by Senior Researcher McIntosh, Novel Researcher Hugo and their team of researchers and security officers. The experiments were designed to learn the rate at which Item #24601 increased in weight, and how to get it to decrease in weight. It was discovered that it increases in weight by 4.7 kgs every 4.7 seconds when it is in contact with the ground and that the increase continues whenever any part of it is in contact with the ground. When it is fully suspended in the air or in the water, it decreases in weight by 4.7kgs every 4.7 seconds. The maximum weight it gets to is 470 kgs and its minimum weight is 4.7kgs.

POST SCRIPTUM - Research into object #24601 continues by myself and Novel Researcher Hugo. Provided we keep it away from those who don’t know its special characteristics, it should be safe to use to store equipment and supplies. Further research is required to see if there is a way to increase the weight of object #24601 in a safe way so it can handle extra weight.

Submitted
Stardate 69475.1 by Senior Researcher Victor McIntosh

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

He looked back at here his mind filled with uncertainty , “Why on earth would be not just destroy these things, messing with them seems like a really bad Idea!” he explained as he moved on to the next one.

“I mean aren’t we risking too much?” he asked.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

Gadi walked along beside him. “Personally I agree, but we all have orders, and we follow them. In some cases, we have to destroy them, but attempts have proven fatal. Not with the cart. They have never tried to destroy the cart.” Her look became dark, but not angry at him, “The risk is very great, Lt. In some cases the risk is too high a cost, but yet we still have our orders.” Security was a bit higher here. More guards with the scientists. At least two compared to the one on the deck above, and still stationed throughout the deck.

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Rylands eyes looked stone cold like he was trying to look at something that was not there, “Orders are only valid if lawful, Sir” he said mater of factly. “Some of this seems.” he paused thinking on the right word. “Borderline”. He kept moving not wanting to address whatever loss she was remebering. The dead remembered themselves as far as he was concerned. He did not think about those he lost, it ended poorly when ever he had done so.

“Don’t get me wrong Sir, I will follow and believe in orders, but there are limits!”

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“There are limits, and I never expect you to cross the line of those limits. As we both know, often that is a matter of situational relevance. You can always ask to be excused if you have a moral or ethical objection. But in this case I’m referring to that we may not want to go in and retrieve and contain the anomaly. The risk to our team is too high, but the cost and risk to the civilians being tormented by them is much much worse.”

She continued to walk, “As for borderline, well you are not wrong, but on the other side of that line, where we destroy these things, is the fact that some of them are sentient.” They stopped at a lift and waited. “On to deck 13.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Taking in what she said he stepped onto the lift, “Sentient, well that posses a problem.” he noted, now he really wanted to go back into the field this was getting to be to much, he had seen a lot in his carrer but this was different. “Though I have killed, a lot, certiannly more than most starfleet, we in special operations get the dirty, dirty jobs” he said remember a couple that he wished he didn’t. “I can do what needs to be done, but that choice would be hard if we don’t understand the mind that’s driving something to know if it deserves it” he said in air quotes

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“That’s where things get tricky. It’s like Captain Kirk’s first encounter with the Horta. They didn’t know why the mother was attacking and killing them. Once they understood, a solution could be found. Sometimes we don’t know if that is the case here or not. Until we know, how do we justify violent action?” Bethany could see the hesitation on his face. This stuff was weird and a lot was like the stuff of nightmares.

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

“I completly agree” he noted, “I feel like the line might get blury and that concerns me” he said looking off into the distance remembering something. “I don’t like killing” he said, “How many?” he asked wanting to know how many had been lost but the question seemed to be directed at the annomilies.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“I don’t either,” Gadi said in a way that told him she had experience with it. “Hundreds, thousands,” she said looking around as they stepped into the 13th deck. “Most are considered missing. Like Davey Jones’ pool. We don’t know if the children died, only that they are missing. They could be perfectly healthy wherever they are. We just don’t know.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

He looked to his feet but only for a moment as they stepped of the lift. It was now very clear to him why everyone on the ship had a look about them that was similar to a soldiers stare but it was different, like they were always waiting for a ball to drop. It made total sense to him now. “Children,” the word escaped his lips in more of an escaped thought. “So do we have any tools that typically work to neutralize these things or do we have to figure that out everytime?”

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“In addition to the shock baton and the rail hand gun we have two other standard pieces of equipment. The Recovery Personnel Modular Plating: The Modular Plating is a special protection gearing used by recovery personnel. It consists mainly by light but physical and electric shock-proof plates that guarantees basic protection from bullets, shrapnel and up to setting 12 phasers hits. What makes this gearing special is its modularity and the fact that can be adapted to any surface. It also have energized grids similar to the most recent ablative armor to make the whole suit even more protected for brief time frames whenever it is needed (maximum on-line period before battery recharge: 20 seconds). The other is the multi-phasic deployable force field: The device is standard issued within the RTF and ARU ranks. Alternative to normal force fields generators, this Deployable Force Field uses the multi-phasic tech to provide even stronger containment to wider anomalies. Equipped with a self-powered generator this device can work for 128 hours before discharging and passing to regeneration mode (12 hours until maximum battery). It is not subject to EMP effect due to the material chosen for the construction.”

Ryland made notes, the armor sounded similar to what they used in the marines for entry work, but more advanced in someway.

“After that, we make a lot of our own gear as needed depending on the situation. Reconnaissance is a lot of what we do as well. Gather information and bring it back and hope the R&D and Engineering folks can make us what we need.”

He looked at her with a smirk. “I’m afraid Sir that, my engineering skills are not great” he noted. “I can repair and operate, but inventing, not so much”

“There is one final piece of equipment, but no one is trained on how to use it. Maybe you are? It’s a Artificial Artifact Recovery Mech, or A.A.R.M. The onboard AI is a 9th Generation Keeshond AI. It’s never been set up. The original one given to the ship – the handler disappeared, and the AI was sabotaged. Another was sent, but ARU forgot to send us anyone qualified to operate it.”

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

“They sound like the Entry mechs we use in the Marines, if it is i can likely operate it, want me to take a look?” he asked her.

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“We’ll go there when we are finished. What I’ve read of the logs, he was quite invaluable to the ship and RTF.” This deck was much more armed and guarded. Double, almost triple the security. “Yellow level anamolies.” Gadi waved toward a containment unit.

The PaDD read:

ARU RETRIEVAL FILE, # 00064

PROJECT HEAD RESEARCHER - Kara Nakuto
ASSISTANT RESEARCHER - Crewman Jonathan Durheim

NAME - Oatmeal spoon; ‘Last breakfast’ Spoon
TYPE - Newton
CONDITION - Yellow

PERSONNEL CLEARANCE - Delta

CONTAINMENT - Store separate from other flatware, in a VERY CLEARLY MARKED container; large enough to provide minimum 30 cm clearance on all sides. Encourage use of stasis fields to suspend item in center of container, but testing suggests this may not be necessary.

DESCRIPTION - Appears as a normal spoon; standard Federation issue. Note: Testing suggests that it can alter form to match the aesthetic of other dining implements in its vicinity; always taking the form of a spoon or spoon analogue.
Item transmutes anything the bowl of the spoon is enveloped by into unflavored oatmeal/porridge, out to an approximate maximum radius of 25 CM. This appears to be somewhat selective - the spoon can be safely stored, but can cause loss of hands when testing. If placed into a bowl of something, contents are transmuted to oatmeal - but rarely the bowl or container itself. Death is the typical result of eating with the spoon; as subjects’ heads are effectively destroyed.
The item appears to have a mental effect on the user as well - when used as a food implement, subjects report a mild ‘mental fog’ and increased appetite upon their food turning into oatmeal - almost universally resulting in an attempt at immediate consumption. This occurred regardless of how well-informed about the anomaly and its effects the subject was. Subjects can be easily roused from this state, but do appear to require external stimuli to do so.

EXPERIMENTS LOG - [List all experiments]

POST SCRIPTUM - Despite this item’s somewhat innocuous appearance and nature; it is extremely deadly. No less than eight crew members have passed away as a direct result of using this spoon.

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

He blinked a few times, not really sure he read what he had just read. “Sir, I get that we were able to contain this object and find a way to deal with it, but” he paused. “How on earth did we find out about it in the fist place?” he asked

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer

“Rumors and reports that pop up in searches,” Gadi said.

Lt. Gadi, CTO/RTF

Ryland had been expecting a long explanation of all these advanced tools they had and how they could detect them anywhere in the Galaxy and in stead they were basically searching the news for ‘weird’ . “I have to admit Sir, I was expecting more than that, with everything else you have shown me” he turned to face here, “There really isn’t a better detection system?” he asked

Ryland Kael Thorne
Lieutenant Junior Grade, RTF Officer