Sonya Finds out she’s a Dreadnought Candidate

It had been two days since Stephanie had been assigned to the Avenger.  She had quickly taken over the unused lab section, and seemed to spend most of her time there, barely coming out to eat.   Sonya stepped through the door to the largest of the labs and causally looked around the room as the door slid shut behind her and the security lock reengaged. She was still amazed at how quickly Stephanie had setup all the equipment and seemed to have settled right in.  Several pieces of the alien looking equipment that had been stored in this section had been turned on with datapads either on top of them or beside them as if Stephanie had been tinkering with them.  “You wanted to see me?”

Stephanie didn’t look up from the monitor screen as she pointed to a glass container of swirling multi-colored liquid. “Take a drink of that and tell me what you think.”

Sonya walked over to the container and picked it up sniffing the strong smell of alcohol from it. “Uh, I’m going on duty in a few minutes.”

Stephanie sat up and rubbed her forehead just under her goggles that she had pulled up there, “Just a sip then, I didn’t take you as a lightweight.”

She took a careful sip and was surprised at how good it tasted.  “Pretty good.”

Stephanie gave a thin smile, “I can’t stand that synthahol crap they serve on military ships, never worked to get me to even think I was drunk.  Some days a stiff drink or five was the only thing that helped get me though, and before you say anything I whipped that up while I had a few other things processing.”

Sonya smirked as she set the drink down, “As long as you set me up with a supply of it, I won’t say a word.”

Stephanie chuckled softly as she got up and walked over to her grabbing a syringe with a strangely colored needle from one of the lab tables as she walked past.  Sonya noticed that Stephanie still wasn’t wearing a uniform instead opting for the black bodysuit style outfit she was wearing when they had recovered her and a white lab coat. Her ID card was clipped to the coat, and she had a blaster strapped to her hip.  “Done.  Now for why I asked you here, could you roll up your right, you are left-handed?”  Sonya nodded, “Right sleeve for me?”

Sonya rolled up her uniform sleeve displaying her muscular arm.   Stephanie started checking for a good vein to draw blood from.  “FYI, Docs had a rough time getting samples from me.”

Stephanie nodded holding up the syringe, “That what this is for, hopefully…”  She brought it down onto the skin, “Here’s the bite.”

Sonya didn’t wince as the needle poked through her skin and into the vein.  Stephanie quickly drew blood into the attached container, after it filled, she replaced the container with a new one and filled that as well.  “Wow first try.  Doc broke seven needles.”

Stephanie smiled, “My own creation, needed it to penetrate the skin of what the Emperor referrers to as Enhanced Beings.” Stephanie withdrew the syringe and handed Sonya a small bandage.  She started over to a test tube rack that was set far away from everything else in the room as Sonya applied the bandage watching her curiously.  “What are you testing?”

 “A theory…you see the science of that super soldier project you were involved in doesn’t add up.  I think they didn’t really know what they were doing or what they had.”

Sonya gave Stephanie a look as she walked over to join her.   “How’d you manage to get that information?  I thought it was destroyed when the Empire attacked Earth.”

Stephanie shrugged, “I’m the wrong person to ask on that one, it was just in the data we were given.”

Sonya saw the rack had 2 vials in it.  One had a clear solution; the other had a glowing blue solution.  She gave Stephanie an incredulous look. “And the science of how this stuff works does?”

Stephanie pulled down her goggles and handed Sonya another pair which Sonya quickly put on.  “Strangely enough from what I had access to, yes…It’s odd, the original text is apparently in one language but there are addendums and notes in another and those were the ones that suggested to use Reflex Energy types One and Three to widen the potential pool and to enhance the potency.  Thankfully the equipment in these labs allows us to do that.”

Stephanie removed the vial with the clear liquid in it and put that vial in a rack on another table as Sonya asked, "There are types of Reflex energy?"

Stephanie nodded as she removed one of her gloves and produced two small crystals, "Yes, it really is fascinating how little we actually know about it, if not for this manual we would..."  Stephanie dropped the crystal into the vial with the glowing blue liquid, the liquid bubbled and churned violently causing Stephanie and Sonya to step back quickly.  “Well, that’s interesting…Let’s use the remote for this one.” Stephanie said as she pulled her glove back on.

Sonya nodded in agreement as Stephanie put the syringe into a remote plunger, carefully moving everything into position so the needle was just over the vial.

Stephanie quickly walked over and around to the other side of the nearest table twenty feet away as Sonya followed her.  Sonya gave Stephanie a look, “This isn’t going to blow up the ship, is it?”

Stephanie looked at her, “No but I’d rather not get a face full of glass if something does happen.  This is the first time I’ve been able to use such a concentration of the Reflex Energy and the pure form of the catalyst.  By my calculations we’re well more than safe distance away.  A battleship candidate at most makes a 1-meter radius reaction and we’re six meters away.”

She activated the remote control, and it slowly squeezed out a drop of blood.  As soon as the drop hit the solution there was a strange blue and white energy molecular distortion explosion destroying the table and a large part of the room, nearly making it to the table they were behind.   Sonya reacted out of instinct as the molecular explosion started, tackling Stephanie to the ground behind the table covering Stephanie with her own body.   After a few seconds to be sure there were no secondary explosions, Sonya got off of Stephanie and they pulled themselves up, carefully wiping the dust and shards from their face as the room alarms blared out.  They surveyed the damage as Sonya glanced at Stephanie as she brushed her uniform, “You were saying about the ‘face full of glass’ and that it wouldn’t destroy the ship?”  Her expression changed to concern, “You ok?”

Stephanie nodded, coughing a little.  Sonya called out, “Striker, cancel the alarm please.”

Striker’s concerned voice came over the com as the alarms shut off. “Are you alright?”

Sonya rubbed her neck, “Save for a few bruises from hitting the deck we’re fine, thanks for asking.  We’ll need a DC team to patch up all the damage.”

“I’ll put it on the list.”

“Thanks.” Sonya ran a hand though her hair brushing out pieces of debris and glass shards.  "So, I take it that was bad?"

Stephanie looked at her still slightly in shock, "Actually a positive result creates a reaction.  The more ‘excited’ the reaction the more activations that individual can handle and in theory the more powerful the individual will become and your test reaction was around 5 meters.”

Sonya gave her a questioning look, “What does that mean for me?”

Stephanie looked at her in awe, “I have to run some more tests to confirm but it means you are a candidate that far exceeds a ‘battleship’ class. If you agree to undergo this treatment, you’ll be spending a lot of time here with me if not out in the field and become more powerful than anything I’ve read in the manual.”

Sonya nodded as Stephanie continued, “I’m not going to sugar coat anything.  The first treatment is excruciatingly painful, thankfully you will probably black out quickly.  They do slowly get less painful, at least it was when I went through it.”

“How many did you go through?”

“Only two…Most who test positive can only have four activations.  My treatment focused on the ‘halo’ effect so it wouldn’t change my size.  Technically I have two activations left but I am stable.”

Sonya nodded again looking even more determined, she thought this might be another way to atone for what she had to do.  “If it will make a difference in this war sign me up.”

Stephanie nodded, “Ok I’ll schedule with Dr. Richardson to have your first treatment this afternoon after I get the equipment setup.  It will incapacitate you for three hours."

Sonya started for the door, “Let’s schedule it for after my shift.  I’ll let Greg…I mean the captain know.”

Stephanie began jotting notes down. “Sounds good.  I’ll have everything ready in five hours in lab 3, bring some PT gear to change into.”

Five hours later Sonya, already dressed in her PT gear entered lab 3 and marveled at the setup.  There were several strange pieces of high-tech equipment and sensors setup around what looked to be a heavily reinforced large interrogation chair that had been welded to the deck.  Next to it Dr. Donaldson was checking the restraints while grumbling, an unlit cigarette hanging in his mouth.  Stephanie looked to be finishing setting up some kind of emitters that were pointed at whoever would be in the chair a synth-cigarette in her mouth as well.  She looked over at Sonya as the door slid shut and locked.  “Ah good timing, we’re just finishing up.”  She gestured to the chair, “If you would have a seat?”

Sonya looked at the chair for a moment hesitating, flashes of being chained up and attacked in that cell ran wild in her mind.  “Do we really need the restraints?”

Stephanie nodded, “It’s for your safety, the treatment will cause you to convulse violently...”  Her expression quickly changed as she realized why Sonya was hesitating.  “I’m sorry, I’ll see if we can figure out a way to do it differently next time.”

Sonya took a deep breath and forced herself forward looking at the emitters to take her mind off of the restraints.  She gestured over to them before sitting down, “What are those for?”

Stephanie walked over to one of the terminals, checking its readouts.  “They will baith you in type 1 and type 3 Reflex energy.  And to your next question according to what I’ve been able to decipher type 1 has to do with energy that helps with genetics and type 3 has to do with evolution.  In the notes it indicates that this helps with not only expanding the group that can be enhanced but also help stabilize the subjects during activation.”

Sonya struggled to keep her hands and legs steady as Dr. Richardson set the restraints.  “So why wasn’t the Emperor using this method?”

Stephanie finished what she was working on and started walking over to an exam table that had a lockbox on it as the emitters hummed to life.  “Well, they would have to create special emitters like these and figure out how to separate the types of energy.  The tech on this ship is unlike anything the Empire currently has that I’m aware of.  I shudder to think of what horrors I would have had to witness if Dr. Wilhelm had access to this under Imperial control.”  Stephanie put on long rubber gloves and then opened the lockbox pulling out a small sapphire crystal that looked like it was tinged with obsidian and gold.  She turned to Sonya as if she was going to say something but then just continued over to Sonya as Dr. Richardson patted Sonya on the shoulder.  “Steph explained to me the basics of what’s going to happen.  You sure you want to do this?” he asked.

Sonya glanced over to him, for some reason she was feeling less stressed about the restraints, like the energy around her was comforting, “Well I would nod but you’ve got my head strapped to the chair so yes, I’m sure.”

Dr. Richardson chuckled nervously as he stepped away from her as Stephanie stepped up to Sonya and placed the crystal onto Sonya’s forehead. Steam immediately rose from it as it glowed brighter and Sonya wordlessly screamed out in pain and began convulsing and thrashing against the restraints.  Dr. Richardson wanted to rush to her but Stephanie stepped between them, “There’s nothing you can do, it has to play out.”

Dr. Richardson grimaced looking at Stephanie, “This is going to be a long five minutes, tell me they’ll lessen with each bout.”

Stephanie made a face, “It’s going to be a rough couple to start but they should level out.”

Dr. Richardson sighed, “Is it going to affect everyone like this?”

Stephanie shrugged, “It effects everyone differently but usually they are done with the major convulsions in an hour.  Thrawn wanted me to test everyone on the ship, but with our limited amount of catalyst I have to restrict my testing to likely candidates.  I have to get back to it, but I’ll come back in a couple of hours to see how she’s doing.”

It had been close to three hours since Stephanie had applied the treatment, Dr. Richardson was checking Sonya's pulse again as Stephanie watched the display that was compiling the data from the blood sample she had just taken from Sonya's unconscious body, the restraints that were supposed to hold her nearly torn off of the chair from her thrashing. She took a drag on her synth-cigarette "The more I figure out the more I'm glad the Emperor doesn't have access to this equipment, if he had figured out how these things worked..."  She glanced over at Dr. Richardson who was absently chewing on his synth-cigarette, "She'll be alright.”

Dr. Richardson sighed, "I know you told both of several times what was going to happen, it doesn't make it any easier."  He gestured to the equipment Stephanie was working on.  "I'm surprised you got that equipment all figured out.  We've been trying to make heads or tails of that stuff in our spare time for a while now but we were not getting anywhere.  That's why we moved it all to this section."

Stephanie nodded, “I've got a knack for alien tech, and this stuff is definitely alien.  I wouldn’t say I’ve got it all figured out.  It’s helpful that the labeling appears to be in the same language the notes in the manual are.  I’ve at least managed to get some of the displays to translate some of the information into Galactic Common."

The terminal beeped and Stephanie looked at the holo-displays showing in ultra-detail the analysis of Sonya's blood.  Stephanie shook her head looking shocked, "Striker, are you sure these results are right?"

Striker's voice came on, "I am as certain as you are.  I can start a new run if you'd like?"

Stephanie nodded trying to regain her composure, "Please.  Dr. Richardson, come take a look at this."

Dr. Richardson walked over to the displays, "What’s..."  He quickly leaned into the get a better look.  "That, that can't be right!  Can it?"

"Striker will let us know if the second run comes up differently but I don't think it will."

"I thought you said the changes would be more noticeable after the second treatment?"

Stephanie started manipulating the images.  "Maybe she's already undergone a treatment?"

"But how?  I think she would have remembered something like this."

Stephanie shook her head as she continued to study the images, "No, not a treatment...something with that super soldier project?  Striker, could you please load the information from data file 88 to this terminal."

"Transferring and Converting."

"Thanks."

Dr. Richardson watched the data appear on the screen and then looked at Stephanie with shock.   "This is...how?"

Stephanie continued to look at the displays.  "The Emperor is fascinated with her and when the Nathal Empire occupied Earth he ordered troops to find any and all the data related to Sonya that they could given the enhanced abilities she displayed at the time.  It was transferred to my research cell after the Avenger disappeared and the Emperor learned of Jarad's defeat at her hands.  He wanted to see if her results were duplicable."

Dr. Richardson glared at her, "You didn't think to make this available to me earlier?"

Stephanie shrugged as she studied the information not looking over at him, "Figured you already had it."

He shook his head, the temporary frustration fading.  "Nothing of this extent."

She nodded, "Oh, sorry, didn't know that.  Striker could you copy that data from my personal files and transfer it to Dr. Richardson when you have a sec?"

"Will do."

Stephanie shook her head in disbelief, "If I'm understanding this her entire genetic makeup is acting almost metamorphic right now.  Maybe whatever that initial experiment was set something off, or maybe it activated something that was recessive or hidden inside of her, but it’s not showing up in any of the analysis they did back then." 

Dr. Richardson nodded as he pointed to one of the images from the new blood work, "It's absorbed the Reflex Energy like a sponge and adapted to the compound…"

Stephanie enlarged another image, "You’re right.  It's like the energy infused cells figured out the best way to interact with the changes the compound introduces.  What’s even more fascinating is that her genetic makeup seems to have discarded the changes that are not beneficial and integrated the beneficial changes in.  No other test subjects displayed this."

Dr. Richardson looked at her, "Without this tech we would have never seen it either, it would have just shown as extraneous data at best.  But what does all this mean?"

Stephanie glanced at him, "I don’t know, if I were to have looked at this in a vacuum I would have said that she wasn’t fully Terran but her past scans show her almost conclusively as Terran.  What do you know about her parents?"

He looked at her skeptically, "According to the records we have her parents were killed in a plane crash shortly before the super soldier program."

Stephanie nodded, "Same with the Imps.  There are no detailed records on her from before the experiment that the Imps could find.  It's almost like she popped into existence after the experiment...maybe it was all a cover for some genetic creation."

"Perhaps.  She isn't that forthcoming about her past."

Sonya's hoarse voice startled both of them, "I have my reasons for that."

They turned to see Sonya coughing in the chair, looking at her deformed restraints, sweat still dripping down her body.   “You mind getting these restraints off of me?”

Stephanie nodded as she quickly walked over to her and started undoing them as Dr. Richardson took her vitals.  “How are you feeling?”

Sonya rubbed her wrists and then tried to wipe some of the sweat off of herself, looking a little out of it.  Her athletic top and shorts were almost completely soaked in sweat and spatters of blood.  “Like I had about ten too many gunrunners last night.  My throat still feels like it’s on fire.”

Dr. Richardson quickly brought her over a bottle of mineral water, “Here drink this.”

Sonya carefully started sipping the water, testing her throat.  Satisfied it wasn’t going to make her throat worse, she greedily gulped the rest of it down.  As Dr. Richardson resumed checking her vitals Stephanie picked up a data pad, “How much did you hear?”

Sonya set the now empty bottle down, her voice still hoarse. “Just about when Doc mentioned my parent’s plane crash.”

Stephanie looked sympathetically to her, “It would help if we knew more about your parents.”

Sonya nodded, still looking slightly out of it.  “It can’t go past the three of us and those who already know, they're still alive.  Elaine & Herman Morgan…I was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital as Sonya Morgan.”

Stephanie nodded as she walked over to another terminal, “Why do those names sound familiar?”  Stephanie thought for a second, “I remember now.  They were in that batch of prisoners the Emperor was going to have us test on but then held off when the Wraiths surrendered.”

Sonya and Dr. Donaldson looked at her funny.  She glanced back at them and sighed, “Eidetic memory, it’s a blessing at times but after what I’ve seen and done it’s more of a curse.”  She quickly typed in commands into the terminal and after a moment it the terminal beeped and she quickly activated the holo display showing an older man and woman.  “Sonya are these your parents?”

Sonya wearily got up and walked over to the terminal, “Yes.  You mean to tell me Carthain would have taken all those prisoners…?”

Stephanie nodded as she transferred their bio information over to the alien machine, “Your fake defection saved them from a horrific death if they weren’t potentials…well that and their eventual rescue.”

Stephanie walked back over to one of the alien terminals entering a few commands and three sets of detailed genetic structures came up.  “The two Terran genetic structures on the left display are your parents.  The one on the right was yours before the treatment.  Note how while it deviates significantly to account for your abilities you still would be an obvious match as the offspring of your two parents.”

Sonya nodded as she shrugged. “I guess…I believe you Stephanie.”

Stephanie looked at her and then at Dr. Donaldson, “You see it right?”

Dr. Donaldson nodded, “Yes.”

“Ok.”  Stephanie entered a few commands and the genetic structure on the right was replaced with a vastly different one.  “Here’s what we took from you a few minutes ago.  URF and Imperial medical equipment would find the closest genetic marker match in the system's database and work from there.  In this case you’d still show up as a genetically modified Terran it would probably also link you back to your parents though with a much lower probability that would be easily dismissed as an error in the equipment by the technicians looking at the report.  This equipment however doesn’t assume anything and just displays the results so as you see it's vastly different from the previous sample, I’m still working on translating the language so not all of what it’s saying is clear.  There’s a mention of a possible Tam’balic match, but I have no clue what that means."

Sonya looked concerned, "Break it down for those of us who just had basic college educations.  Did the catalyst do this?"

Stephanie looked at her sympathetically. "No, it didn't, it just brought it to the surface as part of a genetic defense mechanism for lack of a better term.  I'll have to figure it all out, but you had the right to know."

Sonya looked shocked and confused, “So what does this mean?  I have Terran parents, for fack’s sake they have a video of the birth.”

Stephanie shrugged still looking sympathetic, “Like I said I don’t know, it could be a lack of our understanding of how these devices work or the integration of Reflex energy.  We need more time but trust me, I will get you answers.  For now, you need rest and specialized nutrition.”  Stephanie quickly walked over and grabbed a case sitting on another counter.  "Your new meal plan"

Sonya walked over to her, "What is it?"

Stephanie handed her the case, "Glucose paste with specialized supplements.  Take one tube now you and then take one if you start feeling sluggish or tired.  After that it’s one tube for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Sonya took the case and pulled out one of the tubes, "Thanks, when do we do the next treatment?"

Stephanie pointed over to a medical gurney “This evening, but I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here to be monitored.  Once you get the second treatment you should be stable enough to return to your quarters, for now you need rest.” 

Sonya wearily walked over to the gurney and set the case down next to it before laying down on it with a sigh, “I don’t suppose you have any old magazines for me to read?”

Stehanie chuckled, “I’ll see if I can find something for you, but I’m guessing you’re going to probably pass out in a couple of minutes.”  She turned to Dr. Richardson, “Let’s give her some quiet, we can talk about the results in my main lab.”

The two of them left the lab as Sonya yawned as she tried to get comfortable.  Strikers’ voice quietly came over the com.  “Lieutenant, I’m sorry to bother you but do you have a moment?”

Sonya rolled herself over onto her back, “Certainly, please call me Sonya.”

The holoprojector activated, displaying a young man in an Avenger’s uniform that didn’t have any rank on it.  “I appreciate it ma’am, I mean Sonya.  I wanted to ask you before I brought this to the Captain’s attention but I’ve noticed some ‘interesting’ outgoing messages from you.”

Sonya sighed and rolled over to face the hologram, “Yeah, I can imagine.  It makes sense that we need to bring you into the loop.”

The Striker smiled as he gestured for her to not say anymore, “Ah say no more, I’ll do what I can to facilitate the operation.”

Sonya smiled weakly, “Thanks, the circle is very small on this one.  On the ship only Greg, Martinez, Steph, William, and Blasius know and even if it seems like I’m going to be caught we have to keep what truly is happening quiet.  I’m sure Thrawn has plans for that contingency.”

Striker nodded, “I’ll do my best.  One more thing and I’ll let you get some rest, while trying to find more fragments that might give a clue as to the ship’s true origins I stumbled on a failsafe.  Apparently, there is a backdoor into the ship’s systems that allows for you take control of the ship and override lockdowns.  I can’t even override it.”

Sonya looked at Striker curiously, “Any ideas as to why?”

“As near as I can tell, the Emperor was going to eventually give you command of this ship but the code is deeply imbedded, I’m not sure even the Ta’charin technicians would know how to do that.”

“More and more mysteries.  Let’s keep the circle who knows about this very small, pretty much the same people who know about the double mission with the exception of William.  Outside of this circle we’ll bring Thrawn in as well.”

“Will do.  I’ll let you get some rest.”

The hologram flickered out and Sonya rolled back over onto her back and closed her eyes, drifting into a restless slumber.

Commander John Wislon keyed the door chime for Captain Gregory Westner’s office.  A moment passed and he was about to hit it again when the door slid open.  He quickly stepped in and looked over to see Greg looking tired as he read one of the datasheets on his desk.  Greg looked up and John stood at attention, “At ease John, have a seat if you want.  How are the repairs looking?”

John walked over to the desk and sat in one of the chairs across from Greg, “Last update was we’ll be back underway in two hours.”

Greg nodded as he passed a datasheet over to John, “This catalyst thing has command spooked.  We’ve been ordered to do some deep strikes to take out a couple of known production centers, see if we can’t also recover some of the catalyst for our own use.”

John took the report and looked at it, “Those systems are deep in Imperial held territory.  No way to slip into them via hyperspace.”

Greg shrugged, “That’s what the fold generator is for.”

John looked concerned, “Do you think that’s wise?  The last time we tried to use it we ended up in another reality.”

“Maria has got the kinks worked out and is confident that we can be fold with a decent degree of accuracy.”

John handed the data sheet back to Greg, “If you say so…we’re going to be on our own out there.”  He looked at Greg for a moment, “I have another concern.  We’re a warship not a research vessel yet Thrawn wants this ‘Stepanie’ to stay onboard and do exactly that.  I did some digging and she’s not URF intelligence.”

Greg shrugged, “Thrawn vouched for her.  Maybe she had her own intelligence network inside the Empire before she defected.  Plus, we’re short staffed as it is, we couldn’t have Sonya staying in some research facility while she undergoes treatment and I certainly don’t want that Wilhelm character stationed on the ship.”

Wilson looked agitated as he spoke, “That’s the other thing, should we really be making her more powerful, given her history?”

Greg sighed, “I know you’ve read the real reports.  The Wraiths did what they did to save those civilians and even while they were forced to work for the Empire they still managed to pass along valuable intel, and last but not least, we have the Avenger because of their efforts.”

Wilson gestured angrily, “And we’re just supposed to welcome that back with open arms?  They did a lot of damage and killed a lot of good people.”

“I know they did, again there were mitigating circumstances.”  Greg shook his head, “It’s a moot point anyway, Thrawn approved the procedure and it’s happening now.”

John shook his head in frustration as he got up, “It’s going to bite us in the ass I just know it.  I should get back to CIC and make sure the final repairs are on schedule.”  He quickly saluted and headed out the door.  Greg watched it close and sighed, he couldn’t get a read on why John hated the Wraiths and Sonya so much.

That evening Sonya was recovering on the medical cot from her second treatment she was just staring at the ceiling but she wasn’t focused on it, the quiet settling in the way it always did after something tore through her. When Striker’s voice came over the com she answered automatically, the controlled tone already back in place.

“Sorry to interrupt but I have Grand Admiral Thrawn on secure channel 317 for Sonya.”

Stephanie grimaced as Sonya spoke, noticing that Sonya was trying to look confident, "Put it though down here."

Grand Admiral Thrawn appeared on the holoprojector.  "Lieutenant.  I have a mission for your team."

Stephanie stepped forward, "Ma'am, she recovering from her second treatment.  I wouldn't recommend sending her, she still has to undergo another treatment to stabilize things, the whole process takes a month for a basic enhanced, longer for someone like Lieutenant Blade."

"Ma'am I concur with Stephanie.  We don’t know what exerting herself will do at this stage."  Dr. Donaldson added.

"I can understand that Stephanie, Doctor Donaldson, but this team is the only asset available I can trust that can be mobilize quickly, and time is of the essence.  I expect that their presence will sufficient enough to prevent conflict from escalating.  A jump capable dropship will be arriving in twenty minutes with your new armor and weapons.  Lieutenant, do you feel up to this mission?"

Sonya nodded wiping sweat away from her brow. "I will be ma'am."

"Very good.  Lieutenant Kerrigan will have the mission assignment, Thrawn out."

Stephanie and Dr. Donaldson looked concerned as the holo image winked out, "I could force you to stay."  Dr. Donaldson said.

Sonya gave him a look, "And I'd go AWOL."

Stephanie grabbed her shoulder, "Do not try to use any powers!  Especially the ones we talked about."

Sonya nodded as she hopped off the cot, "I won't. I better get cleaned up if that dropship is going to be arriving soon...I'll be fine.  I recover quicker than most people."

Stephanie quickly walked over and grabbed a case sitting next to the cot.  "If you're dead set on going at least take the glucose tubes with you.  It might help prevent you from making your head explode or ripping yourself apart."

Sonya took the case, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

As Sonya walked out Stephanie looked at Dr.  Donaldson, "Let's go over this new data again, we've got less than twenty minutes before the dropship arrives to figure out if she really is going to be 'fine'."