Welcome to.... Quarks??

Posted on Fri Jul 9th, 2021 @ 1:17am by Lieutenant JG Sheldon Parsons & Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant Chaali

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Holo-Lab; Deck Five
Timeline: Mission Day 5 at 0800

[Sojourner Holo-Lab]
[Deck Five]
[Mission Day Five; 0700 Hours]

"This came in on the last communications download," Chaali said. With a nuanced flick of a wrist, Chaali brought a PADD from her underarm up. Noah Balsam eyed it with a surprised blink. He wasn't expecting mail so soon. Maybe it was from Simon? Or one of his friends at Academy. Noah glanced at it only and it did in fact have the sigil of Starfleet Academy on it.

"Oh um. Th-thanks!" He said. "I'll read it later." Noah twisted and set the PADD on a nearby console table. His attention, however, returned to the bow-shape, semi-circle that dominated much of one end of the small Holo-Lab. It was a matte, unreflecting black with blue hexagonal grid lines across it. In front of them, a ghostly, half-formed figure was flickering. Occasionally flashes of texture or color snapped in to view and then obscured in the humanoid mist.

"So you were able to re-compile whatever it was?" Chaali asked curiously. Nosily she looked over his shoulder at his data. "Interesting."

Noah felt her presence- and her bleachy, nail polish-like scent- over his shoulder. He nodded. "I think so. Most of it. I was able to break down its-" Noah stopped when the hydraulic hiss of the lab's doors announced they were opening.

Chaali looked back and smiled, "Good Morning Sheldon," she greeted with her bubbly smile, "With Giorgiou on the surface, I thought his number two ought to get his hands on this."

Parsons offered a quizzical look at the flickering form in the holo-lab's assembly bay. "Good morning," he said distractedly. "Is this whatever it was that ended up in our buffers?" the engineer asked, half-preening as he skirted the table, eyes drinking in the glowing artifice before them. Parsons seemed in good spirits (for Sheldon, anyway) as he turned to talk with Chaali and Balsam.

Chaali folded arms under her breasts, "Apparently it is," she confirmed with a head nod. "How's the buffering coming, Balsam?" She asked. The dark-eyed one nodded a couple of times, fingers aflurry at his station.

"Almost there," Noah said. "I was um, able to breakdown its point of origin code. It was meant to... to interface with our Index or EMH. But it also tried for, uh, our replicators." Noah said. "I-I'm curious what it wanted to replicate. But that portion of the code was, um, badly fragmented by our countermeasures. But. H-here we go."

The computer chirped and the strangely undulating blob of semi-humanoid light-mass flickered. "Come to Quark's Bar and Gaming Consortium! Located at the Gateway to the Wormhole, Freecloud, and now Ferenginar!" The Ferengi visage stated with the wild-eyed enthusiasm of its owner. "Use the code Freecloud at the bar for one free spin of the Dabo wheel, or one free drink!" It flickered and flared strangely- golden light searing through it before the hologram recycled, "Come to Quarks Bar and gaming Consortium! Located at the Gateway of the Wormhole, Freecloud and now Ferenginar! Use the code Freecloud at the bar for one free spin of the Dabo Wheel, one free drink!" Again the holograph flickered and seared and repeated its message.

"I think that's enough," Chaali said, settling her hand gently on Noah's shoulder. The cadet promptly hit the pause key. Quark froze in a most unflattering position- mid-blink, sharpened maw open in speech.

As the hologram's light flared afore his eyes, Parsons blinked back the irritant, shaking his head. "Little bright there, Quark," he groaned, looking away. "Why do they always make advertisements so bright and damned flashy? We get it...you want us to come spend what little latinum we've acquired in a moneyless-society at your gaming establishment. But you don't have to be so annoying about it," Parsons rolled his eyes before they settled on Chaali. The Wigged Wonder evoked a sense of peace in him, the younger ensign drawing calm from her appreciable presence. "What would you like me to do?" he instinctively asked the woman, half-dazed from the light still.

Chaali chuckled at Parsons' fondness, "I guess we can lodge a complaint against Quark's but..."

Noah piped up, "I-I doubt it was sent by his company. I-I'm still trying to track down the exact origin points. But the, uh, the holo-file and subroutines were sent like an old fashioned torrent file. Lots of different seeds pinging at once from differently routed servers."

Chaali nodded, "Well, wherever it came from, lets get it completely out of our system. Go ahead and expunge it from wherever it was trying to get into." She instructed the Cadet.

"Yes ma'am," Noah nodded.

Chaali chuckled, "Thanks for the offer, Quark. But I prefer Bolian Casino Ships," she jested. "Come on Sheldon. I'm needed on the Bridge, and you're in charge of Engineering until Giorgiou is back." She again touched the willowy stick bug's arm, "Good job, Balsam." She offered. he nodded an enthusiastic thanks.

Parsons' eyes blink-blinked as the hologram seared again but, this time, it seemed less aggravating to him. "Of course," he said dutifully to Chaali, following in her footsteps as a course was set out of the room. "Thanks for all of your help, Cadet," the engineer said to Balsam before slipping into the hallway beyond. "Remind me," he said to Chaali, "never to visit a Ferengi gaming establishment again. Too many lights and the games are all rigged," he sighed, slipping into the turbolift. "This 'Quark' person must be really desperate for customers if he's beaming adverts out into open space like this. Ugh."

A Post By:

Ensign Sheldon Parsons
Engineering Officer

Lieutenant JG Chaali
Chief Operations Officer

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist