Bug Autopsy

Posted on Sun May 31st, 2026 @ 3:31pm by Lieutenant JG Astrja Kyan & Lieutenant Alexis Ryan

Mission: Aeon's End
Location: Science Lab 3
Timeline: MD4?
1399 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Astrja brought her extra-large bag of tools hanging off a zero-grav float. "Ready to see what makes this bug tick?" she asked.

While waiting for a reply, she made sure that the broad cast dampners were holding firm, this bug was not going to get any help even if it was calling for it.

Though the direct attack on the science hub had caused some superficial damage, the area was still benefitting from being one of the few spaces on the ship that hadn't suffered massive structural damage. Even though moving their captive visitor wasn't really an option, Ryan had still accepted that this was likely the best place to house it, and would have been lying if she'd tried to pretend the new distraction hadn't improved her mood slightly.

She'd been studying the creature in the time it had taken Kyan to gather her tools.

"It seems to have activated a dormancy subroutine. We're not reading any attempt to communicate and it hasn't registered any kind of movement for the last hour."

"My impression is that they are mass-produced," said Astrja, producing a sonic reader. "Standardized design. Unlike, say the Borg, where each drone is optimized to the role it is to perform. These seem more like munitions, fire and forget."

"Well, this one certainly doesn't seem to be interested in completing its mission anymore." Poised as she had been for a while now, stood just on the other side of the forcefield with arms crossed, Alexis continued to stare down the deactivated bug until the sense of impending urgency roused her just enough to prompt a weary sigh. "So, what are we doing with it?"

Astrja modulated the force field to allow the sonic reader to begin its scan. "Trying to understand how it works, so if we fight them again, we may do so more effectively, yes? And, in general, just to learn more about them." She adjusted the reader. "Though there is a limit to what you can learn about the weapon maker just from their weapons."

It made sense in a way that still didn't satisfy the niggle that had been bothering Ryan. Though it had arguably been drowned out on more than one occasion by her own self-recrimination, a degree of pragmatism flared amidst a combination of frustration and begrudging acceptance. "All this to find out less than what Starfleet probably already knows."

"True," says Astrja, projecting the results of the sonic scan onto a hologram, adding details to what they knew already. "But with so much of the Fleet and Federation lost, how do we learn what they have learned?"

How indeed. Whilst she had dug herself into guilt-riddled hyper-focus, Alexis had found herself wondering several times why they were scrambling to make sense of data that must surely have been collected and analysed several times over by now by people with far more understanding of what was going on than they had. It wasn't that she didn't respect the temporal directive, more that it didn't seem like it was in anyone's best interest for them to languish indefinitely, which seemed the projected timeframe required for making any kind of sense of the garbled nonsense their own systems were trying to process.

With a quiet sigh, Ryan changed tacts for now. "What do we know so far?"

"Where to start?" said Astrja. "For the biology side of things, we would need a specialist. What I can see is the systematic integration of technology in the being." She pointed to various points of the hologram, "Integral sensors and communications array, they function so smoothly together as a unit as they are part of a network. All of this is wired, or more accurately grown, into their neural and cognitive system for seamless operation. If we assume this one is representative of most of the ones we encountered, they are interchangeable components of a dangerous whole."

Shifting just enough to align herself with the deactivated drone's sightless eyes, Alexis frowned. "How the hell did they take us this much by surprise." It was a rhetorical question, spoken at a volume that didn't really lend itself to discussion but simply became an expression of a relentless inner monologue that refused to quieten down. Kane had brought her on board to lead a department that hinged its entire functionality on access to quality data and yet, here she was, trying to formulate a response that clearly hadn't occurred to the entirety of Starfleet in time to avert annihilation.

No pressure.

"Did we learn anything from their transmission attempts?"

"Not much," said Astrja. "Our sensors were not at their best even before the attack and were degraded quickly during it." She tapped at the datapad. "But the same network that forms their . . . network could be used for external communications. The more bugs, the better the broadcast and reception."

"As to surprise." She magnified a section of the biobug's exterior. "While it may be hard to reconcile with these things charging through the ship's corridors, their surface is made of an advanced passive anti-sensor stealth material. A civilian sensor network would not detect them approaching. I suspect their ships use something similar; they could have coasted in on low power across multiple systems before launching a coordinated attack."

It took a much worse mood than the one she was currently in to deter Alexis from a good mystery. The only thing that put a dampner on this one was the suspicion they were merely uncovering old news. "So we're no closer to understanding what they want, or how they got here, or what we're supposed to do to make sure it doesn't happen." Frustration creased the Science Chief's brow and brought her hand up to rest against the back of her head. "Starfleet must know some of this by now." As decimated as the Fleet was, Ryan had to believe that the information amassed over twelve years of sacrifice had not been lost entirely.

"With a larger sample, a regression analysis of the materials might give some clues to their physical origin," said Astrja. "But with knowledge of their stealth technology, it would be possible to upgrade sensor networks to detect them. With knowledge of the strategy, we could be the ones ambushing them."

"If we know this much from analysing a single bug, Kane and his people must have years' worth of data they've drawn some conclusion from." It wasn't that Ryan didn't understand the risks of sharing too much information, it was just difficult to imagine a future that could be much worse than the one they were currently being confronted with. As she stared down the deactivated bug, the wheels behind the Lieutenant's eyes were already turning at rapid speed.

"Well, know might be too strong of a word, but the information strongly indicates," said Astrja. "Think of how much a peer power could learn of us from a single shuttle." She let the hologram shift and rotate. "But who would build such a thing and why? They must really hate everyone who is not them."

"That would suggest a capacity for emotion that I'm not seeing a lot of evidence of." Settling her hands on her hips, Alexis frowned. "If anything, they're as obsessed with efficiency as the Borg and yet, from everything we know, significantly more successful. At least in this quadrant." And if that didn't outline just how catastrophic this future was, nothing would.

As she turned to approach the terminal she'd set up for ongoing analysis, Alexis instead turned full circle as her communicator chirped. "Ryan here."

Once more her brow furrowed, the computer's relayed message offering absolutely no context for a summons Alex supposed she really ought to have expected. Kane didn't have a lot of patience at the best of times, certainly not of the science was taking too long to cook. It irked her still, that he couldn't see fit at least to call her himself. In hindsight, that irritation should have bothered her more.

"Keep working on it," she told Kyan. "I'll see if I can get the Commodore to provide us with a bit more background information, anything's better than trying to guess 12 years' worth of analysis in a day."

"Yes, ma'am," said Astrja. "I will keep at it. I have some thoughts. Good luck with the Commodore." She turned back to her work.