Fenn was stunned silent by the captain's revelation. Feraan, for her part, didn't feel guilty. They hadn't known they were dealing with sentient beings before embarking on this mission, how could they blame themselves? There was also the Romulan attitude toward such things that remained fused to her subconscious, whether she liked it or not: intelligent or otherwise, these things had posed a threat to her and her crew, and they had been dispensing said threat. What exactly was there to feel bad about?

Throw in the fact that the damn things would soon be responsible for sending her to Sickbay for a second time in less than as many days, and her sympathy waned even further. After getting that close to a shoggoth- despite a relatively short exposure- she, Fenn, and Korduc would have to report in for radiation treatment, and she and Fenn would need a little extra help from there, unless they wanted to keep the massive bruising they'd earned.

Her expression was blank as she leaned forward to address the ship, though silently, she was willing Alexander not to feel bad about this development, either. What was done was done. Time to look toward the future, and use their newfound knowledge to address the situation to the best of their ability.

"The last one is heading for the command-and-control building," she reported. "Your orders?"

The shuttle appeared over the city, near the top of the "cavern" formed by the core of the Pillar planet. Teleporting a space-craft was always a cagey business, but it was the safest way to get a shuttle through the czitlang brone- the cargo system for this docking station was non-functional.

Neither of the shoggoths had gone dormant yet. Instead, they moved around the city, absorbing any trace of the crew's presence. They especially targeted the powered equipment- much of which was still operating even after being merged into the shoggoths. A quick flyby confirmed that they had also repaired the shuttle factory.

There was no response to the appearance of the shuttle, even after they descended to rooftop scraping altitude.

Goren and Korduc inherited the task of working with the library data. Korduc started with the overview of navigational systems, and chewed Goren's ear with enthusiasm. "There's a super-conducting mesh that does a lot," he explained as they sipped steeped Andorian Hach root over a pile of library objects and Federation PADDs. "For navigation, this interacts with the star's magnetic field. But there's also the cooling towers- their absorption rate is variable, and that can be used like a solar sail- sort of. The physics are totally different- we're talking only a few newtons of force." He paused, in awe. "It operates on the timescale of erosion." But that wasn't the only navigation system. "There's also a chain of fusion drives along the equator- barrier islands in the Equatorial sea, I guess? There's also a 'prime meridian' system."

---

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Dekospos was reviewing the data feeds from the sensor outposts left behind in the city. A rolling blackout had been occurring, and it had started at the shuttle assembly. "One of them is still online and roaming around." And it was headed to the NOC building. "Yeoman, schedule a staff meeting in the morning- I want to decide our next course." He wanted to give everyone some recovery time. "But I want to keep security on alert- there's a possibility that these machines can operate the czitlang brone."

There was a reason Steoso's team hadn't made their escape. A poorly shielded fusion reactor sitting against the hull causes the computer to either crash completely from the interference, or expel a chain of errors and warnings. In Feraan's case, it was doing the latter. Interesting point of fact- at this range, the reactor was shelling them with enough alpha radiation that, without the hull between them, the results would be lethal. As it was, Feraan could expect some radiation burns.

"Is alpha radiation the really bad kind, or just the normal kind of unhealthy?" McDowell asked. The hull was doing an admirable job of blocking x-rays and other EMF, but shuttle designs weren't usually concerned with high speed helium nuclei- the ramscoops and navigation screens handled that. "And do you think we can manual override the computer?"

Outside, Fenn and Dekospos led their teams up the lifts. The trip was painfully slow; the cargo elevators emphasized efficiency and utility, not convenience. This gave Dekospos more time to consider the situation. Fusion reactors depended on powerful magnetic fields- more powerful than any magnetic lifting equipment. Some portion of the blobs- shoggoths, as Trent christened them- would remain fluid. At best, their tactic would slow the shoggoths down- give them time to regroup. Perhaps Mayat's team would find something more devastating.

Security had things well in hand at point Bravo by the time Dekospos reached it with his sizable escort. Mayat caught up with him first, Nazeh half a step behind. "Good to see you, sir," the Bolian greeted. "Everyone's accounted for, they're either here or just a few meters shy. The only exceptions are Steoso's and Feraan's teams, but they should be rejoining us soon." He sure hoped so, anyway.

"Sarvan-joon, I've got a bead on these things citywide- the ones that are active, at least," Nazeh said, handing Alef to him. "Not much more information on what they are, but what we managed to grab, we sent to Feraan.

"I've got more control of things as the city's network boots up, but I'm limited by two things: no reliable power grid to keep these things going once reserves are exhausted, and the fact that these systems are unbelievably sluggy." In other words, slow and buggy. "The machine we ran into, I've boxed in with just enough security shields, no more. I've been trying to shut down as many nonessentials as possible, but it doesn't always take on the first attempt. This network needs a massive overhaul." She bit the inside of her lip with an expression that was worried and apologetic. "I've also been trying to see what I can do at that building where Steoso's group is holed up, but nothing's come up yet."

---

Feraan had briefed her team on what was known about their target before they had reached the facility. It was slow and didn't seem capable of a ranged attack, which meant they could chip away from a distance (behind cover, of course, because the latter was an assumption). It wasn't clear whether it could only focus its attack on one target, but they would attempt to distract it nonetheless. They were to aim for extremities. Somewhere in that mass was a reactor, which they'd do well to avoid hitting.

There were two targets at the facility, as it turned out, but this didn't change the strategy much. Without Feraan having to say a word, the team split in two, took cover near the hangar-like entrance, and opened fire.

"Steoso, this is Security!" Feraan shouted over the din and her own disruptor fire. "We're covering you, can you fall back to our position?" If anyone was injured and/or needed help, she'd head over to assist.

The transporter room crew had a hook into all of the data feeds coming off the away team. Even with the birds eye view, they were a little surprised by the request. "The next room looks clean. There's a big power signature moving in your direction from a few levels up though."

The server room looked like they all had for centuries. Stacks of equipment, racked floor to ceiling. The replicators they had given Wu had modern equipment programmed in- and this was high quality stuff.

"Wow," Trent breathed. "Wu is a bigger retard than I ever imagined." The system appeared to have been constructed by individuals with no experience or understanding of the equipment and could only go by what parts of the documentation they could understand. Which is exactly what had happened.

---

Korduc waved Goren off. "I was a relief pilot during the Cardassian War, it's nothing I haven't seen, or anything." He was visibly swallowing his gorge back down. "But I didn't exactly enjoy the experience the first time." Still green about the gills, he nodded towards the captain's chair. "Do you think that's Wu? Did he commit ritual suicide or something?"

A tricorder scan and a little computer reconstruction answered those questions- it was Wu. But unless he had discovered a method of suicide that resulted in multiple stab wounds, blunt force trauma about the entire body, and abrasions about the finger tips caused by dragging oneself some distance across the floor, suicide could be ruled out.

Footsteps at the door drew their attention- Dekospos and Feraan had arrived and were witnessing the scene.