Know Thine Enemy

Posted on Mon Sep 16th, 2024 @ 1:47am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Commander Chisato Nishikigi

1,469 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Nursery
Location: USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)- Captain Aisaka's Ready Room, Deck 1
Timeline: Approximately 1.5 hours after "Immediate Recall To The Tokyo"

Taiga sat in her ready room. Ryuuji had come up to visit her and the two were deep in conversation.

Their conversation, however, was cut short when the door chime sounded off, alerting Taiga to the fact that there was someone outside wanting to speak with her.

"Enter," Taiga called.

The doors to the ready room opened and in stepped Commander Nishikigi, now more appropriately dressed in her Starfleet Intel uniform.

"Sorry to bother you, Captain," she began as she unclipped her PADD from her belt. "But I managed to obtain those star charts of the Remella System that you requested earlier."

She made her way over to Taiga's desk and set the PADD down for her Captain to review. "I was practically scraping the bottom of my contacts list for any shred of information we have on the Elachi, so that should give you an idea of just how difficult it is to find anything on these guys..."

"Well," Taiga said. She looked over at Ryuuji. "I should go through this with the Commander," she said giving him a smile. Ryuuji rose to his feet, gave her a nod and made his way out of the ready room. Once Ryuuji had left Taiga turned her attention to the Intelligence Officer. "Go ahead. What have you found?"

"Well, most of what we have on the Elachi comes from our encounter with them over Gamma Zendor," Chisato proceeded to explain. "The data that Commander Shimada's team managed to recover from the Elachi ship contained several transcripts from their interactions with the Tal'Shiar, which were fortunately backed up in both Romulan and their native dialect. Using this information, we were able to run the transcripts through the universal translator, so not only should they be able to understand us now, but we should be able to understand them."

"Thats lucky for us," Taiga replied.

Chisato pulled up an image on what appeared to be an anatomical diagram for an Elachi. "So, as for the Elachi themselves- according to the data we've managed to obtain on them, they appear to have originated from the Mycellial Network, which was a long-hypothesized subspace domain that threads the multiverse together."

"The what now?" Taiga asked her head cocking to one side in confusion.

"Think about it as a universe between universes, if you will," Chisato elaborated. "A group of researchers from the Daystrom Institute first attempted to access the network in the 2250s, but the only thing they successfully achieved from that endeavor was making themselves sick, so it's basically remained a concept ever since. Now, why exactly the Elachi chose to leave this network is up for debate- given no one's been able to access the Network so far as we're aware, it's not like they would ever be under threat of conquest. So if I had to wager a guess, maybe the Iconians found a way into the Network and bribed the Elachi with something they need?"

"We know that the Iconians have technology that far surpasses ours and even the Borg." Taiga stated in response. "They may have a way to access this 'network'. But why build this 'nursery' in our realm of space and not theirs?"

"I think the better question we should be asking is what exactly the Elachi stand to gain from it?" Chisato was quick to point out. "If you'll look at the diagram, you'll notice that the Elachi don't have reproductive organs- rather, their means of reproduction come in the form of infecting a suitable host- or, in other words, a humanoid- that gradually consumes the host body and coalesces it into a newborn Elachi. So based on their physiology, they have nothing to gain from forcibly impregnating the host- and even if they did, the developing Elachi would likely release spores into the womb, which would eventually infect the host and turn them into an Elachi anyways. So if we're to presume that at least Captain Nakamura has lived this long, then that would mean that the Elachi would have to have either genetically modified her to be resistant to the spores, or modified their young so that they don't emit spored until a certain point after birth- which seems like a lot of trouble for a process they don't stand to benefit from."

Taiga pondered for a moment. "Well, think of it more logically." She said. "One Female can produce multiple soldiers and offspring for them. It's probably more efficient this way." she shrugged. "However we won't know for sure until we find out I guess."

"But that still doesn't explain their motives in all this," Chisaro remarked. "Why go to the trouble of going to another universe and forcibly breeding with a species that you're not even likely to cross paths with?"

"Clearly they need more Elachi for something." Taiga replied. "Of course we can't be sure. But from what we've seen, we should presume they want to raise their forces. Either to assist the Tal Shiar or for some other purpose. Maybe this is the quickest way to raise an army?" She paused. "At least for them."

"And speaking of their army," Chisato continued as she pulled up another file. "The data we managed to recover was also very generous in providing us with comprehensive database in regards to their fleet operations: star ships, ground forces, weapons, and even battle tactics. It's not complete by any means, but it gives us just enough that we can formulate some counter-strategies if and when needed."

"I want you to go over what we do have with a fine tooth comb," Taiga said. "Pick apart everything. The more we know, the better. But remember, read everything presume nothing."

"Already one step ahead of you, Captain," Chisato winked. "The data shows that the Elachi make use of fungal bio-technology with trace amount of spores present from their presence. They're capable of using powerful passive scanning technology that can disrupt enemy starship operations, and of hiding entire starships from detection through the use of spatial anomalies- much like how they were able to remain undetected for as long as they did over Gamma Zendor."

"That puts us at a disadvantage..." Taiga muttered. She nodded allowing for Chisato to continue.

"One distinctive piece of technology that the Elachi have at their disposal are insect-like automated drones," Chisato continued, as she pulled up a diagram of what could only be described as a spider-like automaton. "These come in a variety of types depending on their function: some are built for planetary combat, while others can grab humanoids during battle and carry them to a nearby mother ship- which is likely the tactic that they would've employed over Gamma Zendor had we not caught them with their pants down and destroyed their drones."

"We need a way to combat these drones," Taiga said. "I have a funny feeling that you're going to tell me that our phasers will have little to no effect on them?"

"It depends on the type of drone," Chisato explained. "Smaller drones, such as this one here..." -she proceeded to pull up a schematic for a spider-like drone that was only about as tall as Taiga's knee, if the dimensions were to be believed- "...they're very lightly armored, and are likely intended to function more as roving I.E.D.'s than they would be as effective combat units. Others, such as this one..." -she switched to a schematic of a much larger, squid-like drone that was easily as big as Ryuujii- "...utilize some kind of rotating shield frequency, so it can take a good few shots to take them out- which, in turn, wastes valuable time and allows the smaller drones to pile up on you, if you're not careful."

"I want you to work with the Marines and Security." Taiga replied. "Obviously I won't be going over there. However, they need to be briefed and informed about these. I want you to find ways of combatting them before we arrive. We need to be ready for anything."

"Aye, Captain," Chisato nodded. "Will there be anything else you need?"

"Once you have a way of fighting these drones and the Elachi. I want you, Major Shimada and Lieutenant Leon to present it to the senior staff." Taiga stated simply. "We should consider the possibility of the Tokyo being boarded again. I want to be prepared this time."

"Certainly, Captain," Chisato replied. "I'll speak with Major Shimada and Lieutenant Leon right away."

Taiga nodded. "Keep me updated. Dismissed."

Chisato nodded and turned to leave, passing Ryuuji with a smile and a nod on the way out.

Posting by:

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Commander Chisato Nishikigi
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

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