I understand completely

Specimens are living, feeling beings

You’re a doctor

Admit your own incompetence

It's more convenient to take what you need

You get off on having complete control

You abuse them

You’re fucked up

Duuarn’s eyes slowly opened. His retina burned in the harsh light of the patient room, and he was thankful he could still feel pain. Familiar sounds of equipment hummed in the background, the cold solution of stim repair flowed into his spine. Something was tapping his side, but he couldn’t move his head to see.

He closed his eyes again.

‘I understand-’

His eyelids ripped open, the voice was still there, how? HOW?

His jaw ached as he wrenched it open, but no sound came, just the light wheezing of air past his tongue. The tapping continued.

“Dr. Duuarn?” Pa, the assistant, came into view. He couldn’t answer her, he closed his eyes lids.

The voice was gone this time.

“Dr. Duuarn? You are in the second patient room of the medical department,” Pa’s voice was pensive, “You were hit with a Freq-bomb in the hallway, do you remember?”

“I…” His throat shivered as the words were slowly pried from within “...Remember, I remember everything.”

“Ah, and here I thought I’d have to send your body to Head Quarters…” Krydon’s discourteous growl slapped Duuarn’s senses harder than usual. “Thanks for saving me the the displeasure.”

“I want, to sit, up” Duuarn managed, his left arm reached for the pod rails, his right hand did nothing.

The tapping continued.

Pa came over and helped him lurch forward, double checking that the needles which fed pain meds and regenerative solutions were not pulled out.

“Your vitals are responding well,” Krydon continued unprompted. “I doubt you’d be recovering as well if the incident had not occurred so close to my office, almost 40% of your nerves sustained damage and extra scarring across the frontal lobe has me hopeful your personality has suffered somewhat.”

Krydon paused and looked at Duuarn expectantly, but Duuarn’s focus was on finally being able to see the source of the tapping.

His right arm was twitching, hitting the side of his thigh. He lifted his shoulder, and his arm eventually followed commands, his hand flexing, but he had lost its smooth, flawless control.

“My dataslate…” he forced his voice “I want, my, work…”

Pa looked over to her superior, who gave a shrug.

“Check his coat,”

Pa reached for the once beautiful jacket, now sliced in two, the dataslate's plastic case was scratched but still functional. She handed over the device to the doctor’s shaking hands. The left held the pad firm, but his right trembled and only with patience did it respond.

Krydon and Pa watched on.

The ageing surgeon ran his tongue over his sharp teeth.

“Well, personally I think it’s an improvement.”

“I think... it’s too early to confirm,” Pa responded diplomatically. ”We should notify Isk of Duuarn’s consciousness.”

“Not until you download his vitals onto my ‘slate, the Director is going to want specifics on his condition.” He scratched the underside of his chin in thought. “Compare the data to his previous check up, and run him through some Cognitive tests. While I might enjoy Duuarn’s new found sense of inversion, if he can't perform to standard he might be replaced with someone even more insufferable.”

“Of course doctor.” Pa nodded her head gently, leaving the room to retrieve her superior’s dataslate from his office.

Nu sat at his terminal, studying the Human’s neural recordings and on her return, Pa overheard her co-worker mutter under his breath

“This can’t be right.” Nu stared at the screen.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Her Grace is, she is broadcasting an Engine Frequency?” Nu looked over his shoulder, stepping back so Pa could see the terminal screen.

“Engine Frequencies?” Pa asked confused, turning her attention to the data.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s what the data says,” he muttered, returning to the sensor board and bringing up a ship’s vitals for comparison. “It has the same activity waves, nowhere near as intense but... it’s still there.”

“How can that be? She should be unconscious? Nothing but involuntary functions should be active.” But Pa couldn’t deny the data before her eyes, “Perhaps she's damaged herself? Princes and Princesses suffer VEFS in the battlefield from time to time, and it was a powerful pulse she inflicted on Duuarn.” she tried to shake the vision of Duuarn’s wrenched open jaw.

Nu nodded.

“Yeah maybe. That sounds plausible.” Nu turned to the database, opening the diagnostic scans of the human's brain from the main terminal. “It's so hard to tell without a known comparison, when she's awake her brain looks like it’s suffering from VEFS constantly.” Nu began to match up the three sets of data. Jasmine awake, Jasmine at rest and the recordings of a functional ship brain. He sat back, dumbfounded by the discovery. “The wavelengths match up. She’s producing the same Frequency as industrial equipment.”

Pa blinked.

“Industrial equipment.” Pa walked over to the medical records kept on subject Jasmine. The main terminal stored the visual files of the very first scans made of Jasmine in the medical department. Before they understood her intelligence or the Frequency abilities hidden in her dense calcium casing. When they pulled her shaved and sterilised body from the stasis pod, they thought her an animal at best, an experiment at worst. The number scarred on the side of Jasmine's head, the only place hair did not regrow. F17. Pa’s hands began to tremble at the very thoughts compelling her to speak.

“Nu, the numbers on the side of Subject Jasmine’s head.” She drew her arms in close, her voice growing soft. “What if it’s not a batch number, but a serial code?”

Nu stared at Pa.

“No, it couldn’t be.” he dismissed hastily, returning to the datastream. “If she were equipment, the Rajava wouldn’t have left her consciousness intact. She’s an unknown Xeno, they all have weird anomalies like this, the Savori couldn’t handle radio waves until they were fixed. I'll compare the scans to battle worn Princes.”

A small sense of relief passed over Pa.

“Yes, you’re right.” The Rangers saved her Grace from an awful existence.” she reassured herself before looking down at Krydon’s Dataslate, “I’d best download this data too,” she plugged the Dataslate into Nu’s terminal and collected everything. Krydon stepped out from the patient room muttering under his breath.

“The Director has called an emergency meeting, I’ll need to leave as soon as the data has been uploaded.” He snatched the dataslate from Pa’s hand, skimming over Jasmine’s data. “And take some suppressors while you’re at it, Duuarn’s surgery was almost an hour ago, and you’re still far too jittery.”

“Yes Doctor.”

-*-

Isk entered the Director's office. Laandi had since changed from her rest clothes to the more formal politician suit, a long plum cape hung from her shoulders, concealing her body. She was staring out her window to the planet below, she had not even noticed his arrival.

“Director?” The operations manager informed her of his presence. The Director hid her surprise well, using the flourish of her cape as a distraction as she turned away from the window. Walking over to a pair of gloves laid neatly on her desk.

“Everyone is due to arrive shortly, shall I leave your door open?” Isk suggested.

Laandi slipped on her black gloves and nodded her head.

“Yes, thank you Isk.”

Isk's eyes narrowed, but he turned to the door and ran his hand over the sensor.

Dr. Jess pushed her way through first, itching for a confrontation.

“Why is Marsen in intensive care?!” she snapped.

Laandi held her hands together.

“There was an incident, the details of which are undetermined. That is why we are having this emergency meeting, Dr. Jess.”

“Do not try and feign ignorance Laandi,” Jess hissed, stomping a foot for good measure.

“we both know there is only one thing that could have happened.”

“Miss Howe has been nothing but reasonable with us Dr. Jess, I know it is your prerogative as a scientist to find the the fastest answer, but this is not the same as other reclamation projects, this is First Contact.”

“It doesn’t matter how reasonable she is. We won’t be able to reap the benefits if the Subject reduces all of us to incontinence-”

Isk stepped in between the two.

“Director, Dr. Jess, please take your seats, I will not allow this to escalate into a snarl.”

Laandi swept past and took her seat, denying Jess any sort of reaction.

Jess took her seat in a huff, preparing her dataslate as the rest of the attendants filed in. Xant hastily shuffled in, taking his seat without even a glance up. Rynard, who was too large to even take a seat, stood behind the head of research. Suk stood to the side of his Captain, and for the most part was trying to avoid the stares of Isk and Jess.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

They all waited silently for Krydon, who waltzed in and plonked himself down.

“Well Director, get on with it, I’ve got more data than time,”

Laandi swiped her hand over the recorder.

[These transcripts are for office use only. Unauthorised distribution will result in immediate termination and a fine in accordance with the Conglomerate Espionage Act 26.051. Transcripts are official property of the Esaander Corporation.]

ED Laandi: It is 0700 [hours] the 27th [day] the second quarter of [year] 306, Rejuvenation dynasty. I, Executive Director Dr. Salhor Laandi will be conducting this emergency meeting with my Department Heads, and members of security.

DH Xant: Dr. Uru’Nav Xant, Head of Research.

DH Jess: Dr. Kyda Jess, Head of Behavioral Studies.

CMO Krydon: Dr. Tend Krydon, Chief Medical Officer.

OM Isk: () Dr. Au Isk, Operations Manager.

CPT Rynard: Captain Rynard, Head of Security.

Private Suk: () Private Suk, speaking on behalf of myself and Private Arc.

ED Laandi: The topic of today's agenda is the confrontation between Dr. Duuarn and Subject Miss Howe. We will be discussing what happened and what measures shall be taken in regards to Employee safety, Subject’s safety and Protocol. Rynard, if you would play the recording.

[Note: Captain Rynard transferred the recording in question from his personal Dataslate to the holo-projector]

[Note: DH Duuarn leads the way in front of Private Suk and Private Arc, holding the sedated Specimens. They are stopped at the ‘T’ section of the hallway by Specimen Sieglinde. Sieglinde actively incites unrest within the other specimens. Arc attempts to restrain Specimen Sieglinde while holding Specimen Kimiko. Subject Jasmine approaches from the north hall, delivering a Frequency aggression order. Arc, compelled by her, releases the two specimens. The third, Specimen Spades, escaped restraint and follow after the other two into Subject Jasmine's proximity. The Subject embraces the Specimens. Subject confers with Specimens, before launching a Frequency pulse against DH Dr. Duuarn. Private Arc and Suk restrained DH Dr. Duuarn under the Frequency aggression of Subject Jasmine. Subject continues her attack until Captain Rynard ejected her from range. End recording]

DH Jess: Absolutely appalling.

ED Laandi: Dr. Jess, please refrain from commenting until all the facts have been presented to us.

DH Jess: Yes Director.

ED Laandi: Private Suk?

Private Suk: () Yes ma'am.

ED Laandi: I believe you were at the incident in question. Please relay the events leading up to the incident as accurately as you can.

Private Suk: () DH Dr. Duuarn wanted to arrive at Medical before his scheduled appointment and have the specimens prepared for the Perception tests as soon as they were able. The creatures have been resistant from the beginning, willing to attack staff. We were told to sedate them and then escorted them to Medical.

ED Laandi: Attack staff? How serious were these threats?

[Note: Suk turned to his Captain who nodded his head in approval, Suk presented his arm to the committee members]

Private Suk: () The Specimen I restrained latched onto my arm. His teeth punctured the armour and crushed a plate of my chitin. Had he done this to a Citizen the Specimen surely would have taken an arm.

ED Laandi: I see, and during the incident, did you not try and confront the Subject?

Private Suk: () Her Grace’s assault was seamless Director, she held true to her conviction and target, but it is in my opinion that her Grace had no intention of inflicting the amount of damage on the doctor as she did-

DH Jess: But she did not stop the attack when she saw him in pain?

ED Laandi: Dr. Jess, it is not the time for questions, please remain quiet until I open the floor for discussion.

DH Jess: Yes Director.

OM Isk: () ...

ED Laandi: Thank you private, your statement has been accepted. You may stand down.

Private Suk: () Yes Director.

ED Laandi: CMO Krydon, do you have an update on DH Dr. Duuarn and the Subject’s condition?

CMO Krydon: At this time Duuarn has regained consciousness, retaining 95% cognitive capacity. His right arm has only partial functionality with periodic tremors that focus on the wrist and forefingers. The condition could be eased with depressors but will not be able to fully function unless a complete nerve transplant is initiated. We have not been able to attest to his conscious state, but he has not uttered a complete sentence or single insult since waking, this could be attributed to the depressants in his system, however.

ED Laandi: And the Subject Miss Howe’s condition?

CMO Krydon: Ah yes, we were very fortunate indeed. Dr. Xant had managed to place a Freq-band on the Subject before the incident. We were able to witness the assault in real time, and it was extraordinary.

[Note: CMO Krydon projected the neural recorder data to the holo-projector]

CMO Krydon: As you can see the Subject’s cranium, while the proportion to our own, is almost doubled in contents of nerves. I believe this is why the Subject is able to recover so quickly from Frequency Aggression and VEFS. There are more receptors to disperse the surge of energy, distributing the load as it were. Several chemicals were also released during the assault, many we replicate in our own body armour, [adrenaline] and [endorphins] to name a few. All of these to a lesser degree than our suits, mind you. The Subject’s biology sits well above any commissioned Citizen and would rate highly among many Freq assault units. However, her size and strength are no match for regular soldiers such as the Captain.

[Note: CMO Krydon displayed an X-ray of Subject’s arm]

CMO Krydon: As you can see the simple physical attack by the Captain was enough to fracture the Subject’s, admittedly impressive, bone structure. The Citizen armour she is wearing is little more than a Nerv-shot shield and mild pain relief admin, if she were set upon with harmful intent I have no doubts a soldier such as the Captain could rip her in two, but she could just as easily return the favour to any unarmed Citizen.

Captain Rynard: [Low displeased growl]

ED Laandi: Is the Subject’s arm treatable?

CMO Krydon: Certainly, I should have a regenerative solution formulated in a matter of hours. The Subject’s body is already beginning early stages of self-repair, and with continuous pain medication, she will be back to full health in just over 3 [quarter periods].

ED Laandi: Will she be fit enough to resume the tests?

CMO Krydon: Certainly, in fact the Subject expressed a desire to complete both the Physical and Frequency tests as soon as possible. I propose a motion to delay other interviews in favour of a complete [day] of testing.

ED Laandi: The motion shall be voted upon after I open the floor, thank you CMO Krydon. Dr. Xant?

DH Xant: Yes Director?

ED Laandi: In the time you have spent with the Subject Miss Howe, was there any point you felt that the Subject was capable of this behaviour?

DH Xant: () I believe that Subject Jasmine may be capable of much more.

OM Isk: () You’re serious?!

DH Jess: More?!

ED Laandi: Dr. Xant, if you would elaborate, please?

DH Xant: With all of my interactions with her, Jasmine has shown incredible restraint when it comes to her emotions, especially since learning of the physical impact they are having on staff members. It is my understanding, and medical scans support me in this, that unlike the rest of the GC races ‘Humanity’ is without any kind of broadcaster or receptor to either the Natural Frequency or Emotional Frequency. Jasmine wishes to work with us and is doing everything she can to provide us with the data needed to categorise her species as Creator level and to one day join the Galactic Council.

ED Laandi: When you say that the Subject Miss Howe is capable of much more, are you suggesting she is a danger to the station?

DH Xant: No more than any visiting military commander would be, Director. I am confident that this is an isolated incident that will not be repeated once Jasmine has been outfitted with translator capable of withstanding Human potential.

ED Laandi: Thank you Dr. Xant. Now then to questions-

DH Jess: Director!-

OM Isk: () Questions of which I have many. Firstly Director, I find it very odd that you did not question Dr. Xant's whereabouts during the incident, he is responsible for the Subject, and yet he was not present in the recording. Why was she unattended?!

ED Laandi: Dr. Xant would you care to answer Isk’s enquiry?

DH Xant: We were in the middle of a rather important practical. The Subject, knowing the impact of her outbursts, informed us that distance would be needed while she conversed with Specimen Sieglinde through a translator for the first time. A topic I will actually need to seek the professional counsel of Dr. Jess.

DH Jess: You intentionally left her!?- Wait what?

DH Xant: While I am the Head of Research, my proficiencies are with floral biology, not behavioural responses or cultural nuances. The relationship dynamic between Jasmine, and the ‘dogs’ as they are known, is something beyond comprehension at first glance. I believe this was what lead to the incident in the hall and the confusion during her first attempt at the Perception Test. Our scheduled sessions with Jasmine have me in a purely observational role, I would instead prefer to take a more active lead, learning from your example.

DH Jess: () I, uhh, Dr. Xant that is, I mean-

ED Laandi: I must agree with you Dr. Xant, while discussing the schedule with Miss Howe, she was willing to discuss safety concerns, and we had organised a time for the dogs to meet with Miss Howe that did not interrupt research times. While unfortunate and avoidable, Dr. Duuarn’s condition is stable. Captain Rynard?

CPT Rynard: Yes Ma’am?

ED Laandi: You will be escorting Miss Howe until further notice, to ensure the safety of staff and the Subject herself.

CPT Rynard: Yes Ma’am.

ED Laandi: Now then, the motion to have the Physical and Frequency Test brought forward-

DH Jess: Wait! No! I- I had more questions!

OM Isk: () As do I Director!-

ED Laandi: Then speak, Dr. Jess you have the floor.

OM Isk: () ...

DH Jess: Yes, I- I... Private Suk!

Private Suk: () Yes doctor?

DH Jess: What was it that the Subject took grievance with Marsen over?

Private Suk: () Her Grace was angered that Dr. Duuarn had sedated the specimens over opening communication with them. Accusing him of abusing her subordinates for the sake of convenience.

OM Isk: () But the specimens in question were dangerous, and there was a need for sedation?

Private Suk: () … Yes, The specimens were unresponsive to Dr. Duuarns orders, but they are completely compliant to her Grace. () They will not be a threat so long as they are by her side.

OM Isk: () Unless she sees fit to order them on us? I’m sorry private Suk, but I will not be convinced of my safety by a Guard so easily swayed by another’s Princess’s orders.

Private Suk: () How dare you!-

ED Laandi: Isk, you are becoming needlessly hostile.

OM Isk: () Are you even listening to yourself Laandi? You’ve been skimming over disturbing details in favour of character testimonials?! Right now I have serious concerns that prolonged contact with the Subject has warped all of your perceptions of her.

ED Laandi: Isk, calm down-

OM Isk: () Correct me if I am wrong but the information I have is that Subject has forced Xant into VEFS 3 times since her arrival on the station. Threatened staff twice, incapacitating one and overrode the loyalties of two guards. She has demonstrated Military Grade Freq in both Bomb and Commander classes. She has complete control over three specimens which have not only successfully attacked staff but have broken through Military Grade body armour, and now doctor Xant says she’s is capable of more? () If you are saying she has the power of a Princess then it only stands to reason that we inform Lieutenant Commander Nako that one of the stasis pods he dropped off was containing an organism unfit for Citizen contact!

DH Xant: She lashed out at Nyk because she feared he was causing pain to others, she attacked Duuarn for the same reason, Jasmine brought on my last VEFS because she shared the fear she had of her Rajavan abductors.There too many questions we would all like the answers to and not enough time to ask them. Informing the Lieutenant Commander before the Citizenship formalities will leave all of those questions unanswered.

OM Isk: () They will not be unanswered, the CGR will be asking the questions and Esaander can make do with research we have. () Things were different when it presented that she was Intelligence Class individual. It is my duty to uphold the Esaander Corporation protocols. This Subject is clearly beyond our control. We have enough data to profit from the venture, if the Subject decides we aren't worth listening too she could go rogue and jeopardise the entire operation.

DH Xant: Jasmine will NOT go rogue as you suggest, but having the benefit of another trained Freq specialist on board could be invaluable. Once we have her Citizenship formalised.

OM Isk: () NO, as soon as possible. I can tell even by the surface data she won’t be classified as Citizen, she’s mil-eslt = g.sed(rlt)le"/mk/wo//pgis/ats-py",ine63,ineate prntml5lib.parse/.ment,r="lxml")File/lib/th9on2.6/dist-ckas/67tib-0.90-py2.6.g/hl5lib//,lin38(doc,encoding=encoding) …

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