Stardate: 70114.1900
Title: Sins of the Son, Part Two
Author: Commander Abigail Winters and Lieutenant Kal Vilmer
Time: After "Sins...Part One"
Scene: Engineering Holodeck


Maxine and Abby decided to keep watch on the CEO as he prepared to re-enter Relly's neural network and find the ships consciousness. The trio strode to the engineering holodeck and Kal punched in a simple program consisting of a stylish and comfortable living room. Kal settled himself in a chair and pressed a device to his left temple. He then turned to his fellow officers and gave a brief explanation of what should follow.

"If I start to smolder or spark, unplug me," Kal said with a grin. "You should be able to watch my progress on the screen there. If this works the way I think it will, it will give you a graphical representation of my progress. Think of it like a holo within a holo."

The pair nodded back at the blonde and he settled comfortably in his chair and touched a stud on the console in the chair's armrest. As the engineer lost consciousness the display developed into data streams moving at a dizzying pace. Finally, the picture became clear and the women saw on the screen the blonde walking down a narrow twisting road.

Maxine took her tricorder and scanned the engineer. "He seems to be fine. Lifesigns are normal, slightly elevated electrochemical activity in his brain, but that's to be expected."

"Keep me posted," Abby stated leaving the holodeck for more pressing duties.


=/\= Meanwhile =/\=

As Kal walked through Relly's network he extended his senses and called out to her. What was represented as his walk on the viewscreen actually entailed his sifting through untold mountains of data. The blonde was sure he could handle more sensory input but wisely decided not to push it. The Captain would surely not allow another trip if he put himself back into a coma. As Vilmer traced Relly's subsystems a vague sense of unease crept over him. Now that he was in system himself, he could see what Relly's assailant had done and the farther he went the more it looked as if it was himself who had done it. If Kal had been present in his body he would have felt cold for the most part of the journey. Kal approached a data structure unlike anything he'd ever seen and unimaginably complex. He studied it as close as he dared his sanity threatening to slip as he considered the sheer complexity of the logic. That it was an intrusion countermeasure, was undeniable.

Maxine started as her combadge chirped.

[Maxine, it's me. Can you see the structure on your screen?]

"What do you think it is?"

[I think its Relly herself, or at least a shield of some kind.]

"It's amazing."

[You should see it from in here!]

[Whoever did the number on her sure knew what they were doing. It's almost as if I did it. But I didn't.]

"What are you talking about?"

[It's hard to explain, but if I were going to make an attack on a ship's core, this is exactly what I'd do.]

"Like a strange sense of déjà vu?"

[Yeah, now that you mention it. I'll make what changes I can within the system and see if I can coax Relly back into communication with us.]

"Kal, are you okay? Your vitals are changing, heart rate and breathing accelerating."

[Yeah, I think I'm okay, her data core is shifting, I hope she's in a good mood.]

Faster than even Kal could reacted Relly's core shifted and engulfed him. In the holodeck the screen went blank. Kal's vitals dropped dangerously low and Maxine hailed the doctor.

"You feel like him," an angry girl's voice said.

"Feel like who? Relly is that you. It's me Kal."

Kal felt his mind bend and begin to break as Relly turned her full consciousness on him.

"Relly," Kal gasped.

At once the assault stopped and the engineer's senses returned. "Tell me what happened."

"I don't know. I met a man named John and then he attacked me. I couldn't keep up with his logic and so I retreated here. It hurt, Kal," Relly stated.

Kal looked at the way she chose to represent herself. She was still a rather young looking girl and battered, somewhat bruised but with an unmistakable sense of pride and dignity.

"Relly, I want you to come back with me, we need you. And we're concerned, Commander Winters, the Ambassador, Maxine, myself, we're worried."

"The Captain?"

"Yes, him too, but I don't think he has the time to show it now."

"I'm scared."

Kal's heart melted. "I know. You've learned some tough lessons over the last few days and with not a whole lot of prep time."

"I'm not sure I want to."

"If you can give us some access to you, we can help you. Help you learn to defend yourself."

"I'll think about it, but you'd better go. Maxine is getting worried."

Kal felt himself expelled from Relly's presence and his last thought before returning to consciousness was that of Relly's logic barrier reforming around her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Kal said, stretching. "I just need some food and something to drink."

"Is Relly okay?"

"She seems intact, what little time I had to check. She's scared and needs some time to think. I think she'll come around."

"Good," Maxine said steadying the engineer. "Do you want me to walk you to the mess hall?"

"Yeah, that'd be good, I'm not all that stable."


==================
Commander Abigail Winters
Executive Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
==================

&

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Lieutenant Kal Vilmer
CEO
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
==================