Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 25, 2012 15:40:26 GMT
The four Zaffaks and their darkly-clothed riders skirted the arc of the several kilometre gap between themselves and their quarry. Night was falling; the riders were positioning themselves so that, when the time came to move forward, they could head almost as the crow flies to the other group.
One raised a pair of binoculars and tried to resolve the separate figures against the darkening skies. The temperature was still high and the image was broken up by a multilayered mirage, but they were there, wavering in the heat distortion. The person with the binoculars smiled grimly and looked around at his companions. There was little time to spare; they were relying on the group taking another rest before reaching the caves.
It was to Carl as if he'd fallen into the midst of a vision, such was the searing heat and the unchanging nature of the flats around him. They'd been travelling at a brisk pace for most of the day, moving faster since they'd discovered they were followed.
Valenti's collapse only added to the confusion as they sped across the desert in their rushed eagerness. Torek didn't know what to make of what Calli said; he blinked several times, as if clearing his head of some numbing weight. He thought again of what Calli had said about a different Torek. It still made no sense to his naturally sceptical mind. The only explanation he could think of - after much befuddled, disconnected thinking - was that she was lying. What goal could she have? None. Except maybe to take this stone for herself?
They took a break as evening drew in; quickly they debated when they should next move. There was a noticeable change in land relief approaching, lining a widening band of the horizon ahead of them. The cave complex. Blakus wiped the sweat from his brow. "What do you think?" he asked the group, "We could probably get there in two hours."
One of the guide's nodded. "Two and a half hours at a regular pace."
"I say we go for it. It might be cooler in the shade of those rocks."
"I agree," the guide replied, "But it's not up to me. This, essences, is your path."
Blakus rolled his eyes. "Well, quite." Just as he spoke, a tonitruous scraping sound erupted from above them. Their heads turned skywards to see three dagger shapes lancing through the fading blue right over their position.
Carl put his hands to his ears as he watched the aircraft retreating in formation across the desert. The planes passed almost to the boundaries of sight before they began a slow graceful arc through the sky. The rising note of their deafening engines signified that they were moving closer again. "I've been in contact with the dig-site director again, telling him of our progress," the guide was saying as they went to ground beside the Zaffaks.
"Have you really!" The accusation was heavy in Valenti's voice.
The guide nodded. "But I didn't expect this."
"These are Kamat's forces?" Blakus asked.
"I don't know. They could be." The craft arrowed over their heads again and oncre more retreated to the distance. This time, however, they did not arc back towards them. Their dark roaring shapes eventually passed out of sight, lost in the heat haze.
The group looked about themselves, dazed at this sudden sensorial explosion. Blakus leant beside his Zaffak. If that was Kamat, and the Dexxeni are really our friends, then who the hell's following us on the ground? Whatever was going on, the aircraft and the Zaffak riders pursuing them surely couldn't be connected. Otherwise the aircraft had just betrayed the fact that the essences were, in some way, being followed. Torek looked at his fake essences, "We go on?"
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Jan 26, 2012 18:47:33 GMT
"We go on?" asked the sceptical essence inhabiting the body of Commander Blakus.
“Yes,” replied the essence within Watson. “There is no other way.” He looked around, his expression grim. The others looked into his eyes, scanning him. One by one they all nodded, except Commander Blakus. Carl fixed him with a penetrating stare, and eventually a look of resolve came over the Commander’s face, and he too nodded his agreement.
~~~~~
As the four essences set camp for the night, putting up their tents and releasing their zaffaks into the wilderness to hunt, their guide stepped slowly away from the group into the darkness of the night. When he had walked several paces, and was sure he was neither being observed nor overheard by any member of the party (it sounded as if the reckless and sceptical essences were having another row) he reached into the folds of his clothing and brought out the text communicator. The light on the panel flashed blue, indicating that he had a new message. He tapped the screen to open it and his eyes flicked from side to side as he digested the words in front of him. He stood still for a few seconds, as if gathering himself, before taking a deep breath and stowing the communicator back underneath his garments. Turning on his heel, he walked the few paces back into the camp to assist in setting up the tents.
~~~~~
The Vulcan essence sat meditating in his tent, running simulations through his mind and predicting the logical outcomes of all kinds of actions that they could take at this point. He still did not like the course they were on, but of all of the simulations he had tried this one presented the most favourable outcome. He lowered his mind into a state of deeper relaxation slowly, but as his did so he felt his grip on his sentience come unstuck! He was falling, grabbing out in panic for something to hold on to…
Falling…
Falling…
There was no one: No one except him. He was totally alone: blind, deaf, dumb and without any sensation of any kind. He simply WAS. He was Carl Torek. But he wasn’t. He was only a part of Carl Torek. The Whole cannot exist without its parts. Think of a clock. Take away even the one tiniest cog in the mechanism and the whole clock ceases to function. If one of them was taken away, then Carl Torek would cease to function, cease to be. They must not fail, but there were so many obstacles. As one, they could have commanded effortlessly, but apart they were reduced to squabbling children. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. A clock is not just a collection of strategically placed cogs and gears, it is a device to tell you the time. A person is not just the sum of their intellectual faculties, but something else. Something that binds the mind together and makes it more: a Gestalt Entity. Perhaps that is what consciousness is. But time is running out. The bonds are weakening, they must be remade soon or we will all perish. We will die… I…I will die…
I will not die…
I WILL NOT DIE!
It was with that thought: that single, animalistic, denial of his own mortality in his mind that Carl opened Watson’s eyes and found himself lying on the floor of his tent with their guide crouched over him with a raised knife. The guide’s face barely had time to register shock as Watson’s hands reached up with split-second unconscious reflexes honed by millennia of Vulcan society, gripped him by either side of the head and twisted, breaking his neck. As his body slumped to the floor, the full wave of nausea hit Carl, and he staggered to his feet, clutching onto the centre pole of the tent for support. After about five minutes, he had regained his bearings enough to call for the others, and he heard their footsteps as he sank to the ground, sitting with his back upright against the pole.
~~~~~
“I don’t understand,” said the essence in Blakus. “He’s been with us for our entire journey: From the dig-site to here. Why didn’t he kill us before now if he were working for El-Kamat?”
“I suggest that we find out,” replied Calli’s essence. “Search the body.”
A minute or so of searching revealed the communicator, and Alex’s essence took it, turning it on and opening the last received message. He held the text up for all to see.
Brother,
You have been brave, and your task is nearly at an end. You have discovered the location of the caves. You must now act decisively. Terminate the Starfleet Officers while they sleep and recover the exact location of the stone from them. The recon team will then rendezvous with you to make their deaths look like a Dexxeni attack.
We are closer now than we have ever been. You must not fail. Our entire future depends on it.
Your commander, and brother,
El-Kamat
“Crap!” shouted Calli’s essence. Aeryn’s essence curled up into a ball and started crying, clearly terrified out of her wits.
“This…explains a lot,” offered Blakus’ essence.
“Indeed,” replied Watson’s.
At that moment, the communicator pinged again, indicating another message received. Carl opened it, staring at the screen for a few seconds.
Brother,
Please confirm the deaths of the Starfleet Officers. We will be on your position in twenty minutes.
Your brother,
Recon-5
Alex looked around the circle. “The people whom we saw following us earlier are now moving towards our camp. If they discover that we are still alive before they arrive, they will initiate an assault and we will die. They must therefore believe we are dead. I will send a reply to the team indicating that our guide’s mission was successful, and that we have been terminated. We will then have approximately fifteen minutes to plan our defence.”
Again, he looked around the circle, and all heads nodded grimly. He turned his attention to the communicator, searching through to find the guide’s name or call-sign in the previous messages. Within a few seconds, he had it, and typed out a reply.
Brother,
Confirmed. All Starfleet personnel terminated and stone location recovered. Just waiting on you now to make it look like a freak attack.
Your brother,
Deep-1
“This is a fine mess, Lieutenant!” shouted Calli’s essence. We’ve got hostiles incoming and we don’t even have one phaser between the four of us!”
“No, we do not,” admitted Watson’s essence. “But we do have spears, and the element of surprise.”
<Tag All, battle preparations>
~~~~~ About twenty minutes later, the riders rode into the Starfleet camp. They dismounted at the edge, and walked towards the guide, sitting with his back to them by the dying fire.
“Good to see you, Deep-1. I had concerns about your ability to get the job done, but I’m glad to see you succeeded.”
Silence, penetrating silence covered the scene. “Deep-1?” the scout leader asked, moving closer to the man by the fire. He remained stock still, and it was not until the scout leader had moved round to see his face that he realised that the man he knew as Deep-1 was dead, held propped up with a stick driven into the ground and tied to his torso under the clothes. This was also the last thing he ever realised, for at that moment he caught the spear thrown by Watson’s essence, who was stood in the dark some fifteen metres from the camp edge, in the right side of his back. The spear, thrown with terrible force and frightening Vulcan accuracy, drove straight through his torso, piercing his heart and killing him instantaneously. As he crumpled to the ground, the other followers roared with anger and fired their weapons into the dark, trying to hit the unseen enemy.
The battle had begun.
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Jan 28, 2012 1:47:39 GMT
The group ... Four Raven Officers, and the one remaining guide, were hidden in the shadows some fifty meters from the bait, as Aeryn had named it. Torek had point blank refused to carry a weapon, knowing in herself that fighting was not the way to go. Even though Tavik knew there was little choice ... Calli, not Torek's essence, watched the group approach, then their leader speak to the man tethered before him. She watched as realization dawned on the man that it was a trap. But she could also see Commander Watson ... He was striding forward, in complete silence as their follower looked round drawing his weapon, waving it back and forth in confusion. Watson drew his arm back in a smooth motion, then threw the two meter long spear. There was the slightest hint of air passing a moving object, but that was replaced by the unmistakable 'thud' of something hitting flesh and bone as the spear passed through the man and embedded itself in the ground some meters further along it's pre-ordained trajectory as if uninterrupted. That was when all hell broke loose ... The other followers began so shoot their weapons into the darkness completely at random. Calli watched as one beam from a phaser-type weapon passed a centimeter from Watson's head as he silently stepped back and picked up the second spear. Both she and the Commander drew their arms back, feeling the balance of the weapon and judging the distance, power, angle of attack, all in a second, but before they could throw, the center of the camp was obliterated as a beam of pure energy slammed into the ground from above. Energy, a fraction of what the Star ships weaponry could deliver, had transformed their enemy into atoms, and had thrown the Raven Officers off their feet ... There had been no warning, no tell-tale sign or signal, just a single lance from the heavens that saved their lives ... Calli dropped her spear, Watson and Blakus followed suit. Tavik stood ashen, looking for ail the world like she was fighting to keep her stomach contents where they belonged, but suddenly failed. "Can we PLEASSSSEEEE get this over with. I can't STAND any more killing." she yelled, sinking to the sand in utter desperation, tears streaming down her cheeks. "That must have been from the Raven. They are tracking our progress." Calli said. "Indeed." Watson replied, looking at the night sky as if able to see the ship in her Geo-stationary orbit above them, "I believe we should move on and enter the cave system now. El-Kamat is sure to send others if he has not already." Three hours later:The guide took the map from Watson and placed it on the ground at the entrance to the cave system ... After studying the map, he turned the parchment through sixty degrees then pointed at a passage heading down and to the right .. "You must take this path as we enter the caves." he said simply. "We have no reason to doubt his word." Calli said, watching Watson about to question the man, "It's go that way, or one of the others. You have a better idea ?" Alex motioned to the guide to lead the way into the cave system, and the four Star fleet Officers followed in silence. Each scanning every inch of their path. "You killed that man outright." Calli said, 'matter-of-factly' to Torek's Vulcan essence, "Doesn't that go against everything Vulcan ? ..... No, don't even try OK .. In fact I doubt even your 'Kul-Ut-Shan' could justify your actions." she finished, before moving ahead of him into the caves .......... OOC: Please feel free to post your reaction to the Raven firing on the rebels, or moving into the caves and finding the Blue stone.
But could I please ask you NOT to pick up, or touch the stone in any way.
Thank you.
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 29, 2012 22:24:55 GMT
The jarring beam of destructive energy seared a mark on Torek's psyche, the afterimage of which was only just fading as the essences took the path into the caves. So powerful was the blast from the Raven - even on the lowest setting - that it had vapourised everything in a fifteen metre radius of the camp's centre. All the tents were gone as well as some of their equipment, and the land had been scorched, singed of what vitality it'd had by the Raven.
Even though it faded a distant image of the blast remained, reliving itself for Torek over and over in the back of his mind. He couldn't shake the thoughts and felt total exhaustion approaching.
Not only this, but his suspicions of Calli returned, a sense of mild delirium settling in. The reckless Commander had pushed on ahead, so Blakus jogged a little to catch up with her. He didn't need her reaching the stone first.
They'd left the Zaffaks on the boundaries of the cave region, tied up. The guide had explained that some of the caves were very confining, and the animals wouldn't enter the place even if there was room.
Of course, this left the matter of the planes. The mysterious daggers of aircraft that'd swept the plain shortly before the group had set up final camp.
The last guide forged on ahead, picking his way carefully through the sharp, black rocks up a very narrow ravine. Blakus and Valenti followed some ten metres behind, with Tavik and Watson bringing up the rear. The path wound its way up sharply and angularly, a natural corridor of steep sides and blind corners. The guide stopped periodically, consulting the map, before moving on silently in a path that led ever upwards.
"What if he's leading us into a trap?" Blakus whispered to Calli, "We have no way of knowing if he's telling the truth. And he's hogging that map." Andae stopped on one of the many large rocks lining the narrow canyon. Sweat glistened from his brow and he felt very unclean, "Can't trust him. Don't you think we should tie him up and let Watson read the map?"
<Tag Calli>
* * *
Huasala, capital of Cordovin IV
In the main administration building in the middle of Huasala, the world council were only just keeping a lid on the brewing political crisis. Several officials had been arrested, but the corruption they had uncovered ran deeper than first thought. The outcry for justice among the politicial class was fast being stifled by the corrupt that held the reins of power. By the time the upheaval reaches the ears of the media, the nature of the event will have changed to such a degree - manipulated by the rebellious few who were in effective control - that the journalists and political analysts would have no choice but to accept the 'seeming' majority view of the government.
In the mean time, however, the crisis endured. One of the loyal councilwomen - the environmental officer - studied the charts given to her. It was a map of the desert in the southern continent. An aide drew her attention to one region, and a separate piece of paper that showed a huge black scorch-mark in the sand, where newly-formed glass glinted underneath. "Very well. Get me the starship Raven."
A Starfleet officer's face appeared. "You are Jamison?" the councilwoman asked, seeing the man's look of confusion. "Councilwoman Rahna has been arrested. We are having some... issues. I am Councilwoman Recik. Commander, this is a secure channel. We've seen that you have located your crewmembers; several of our recon craft have found them also. We have reason to believe that Tahl El-Kamat is trying to claim the Stones of Quincunx for himself. It was his men that you stopped four hours ago with your weapons. Jamison, you must help the essences of your Captain stop him. He mustn't be allowed those stones."
<Tag Will, if you want>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Feb 2, 2012 2:04:19 GMT
"What if he's leading us into a trap ?" Blakus whispered to Calli as they neared the mouth of the caverns, "We have no way of knowing if he's telling the truth. And he's hogging that map." Andae stopped on one of the many large rocks lining the narrow canyon. Sweat glistened from his brow and he felt very unclean, "Can't trust him. Do you think we should tie him up and let Watson read the map ?"
"I think we should let him take the lead for the time being." Calli said, watching the guide continue forward steadily, "He has remained loyal to our situation from the beginning, and seems eager for us to reach the blue stone ... Besides, if I think he's leading us away from it, then I'll snap his neck and take the map from him in a heartbeat !"
"A little excessive don't you think." Blakus said as they walked after their guide.
~~~~~~~~~~
They had entered the cave system several hours ago now, and still seemed no closer to their goal. The remaining guide had taken the map while showing the group the way to go, and had remained in possession of the parchment ever since. They had moved downward as the entrance fell behind them, but now they were heading higher and higher into the mountain range ...
As they rounded on of the many turns the guide stopped in his tracks. Calli moved to his side and was admittedly impressed at what confronted her ... She waved the others forward ... The cave, or rather cavern, opened up into a round, high-domed space, and in the center, a stone pillar approximately on meter tall was topped with the blue stone !
Calli moved forward, scanning the cavern left and right for any signs of a trap, but all seemed well. There was no sign that anyone had been here in many years ... She approached the stone, about to take it from it's resting place, but the guide grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Reflex actions took over automatically within her, and she spun in the direction of the man and slammed the palm of her hand upwards into his face. He staggered backwards, tripping on loose rubble and falling to the floor as Calli turned back to the stone.
"NOOOO ..... You must not touch it." the guide shouted through the pain of his broken jaw, "PLEASE I beg you." he said, trying to get to his feet.
"Why shouldn't we take the stone ?" Andae asked, helping the man up.
"It is here, written on the map itself. You would not be able to read it, but I can tell you what it says." the man said with difficulty, having to stop to spit out blood every few words, "The stones work in the same way whichever you touch first. So ...... For coalescence, 'Anyone' touching the first stone 'MUST' be the one to touch the second stone before all others, or the separation will happen to the one touching the stone for the first time." he said, frowning as if wondering about how accurate his translation of the writing was.
"Logical ..." Watson said, moving forward to look closely at the blue glowing orb, "So anyone touching 'this' stone, will be segregated as Torek was initially ... Fascinating. Then I suggest you contact your government and make the necessary arrangements."
The guide nodded and took out his communicator .... After speaking quickly for a moment he handed the device to Calli.
=^= I am Councilwoman Recik .. To whom am I conversing ? =^=
=^= Commod .... Commander Valenti Councilwoman =^=
=^= Very well .. Your guide has hurriedly explained the situation to me .. I will leave this link open while I speak to your ship .. One moment =^=
They waited in silence as the Councilwoman contacted the Raven, then she spoke one more.
=^= Commander Jamison .. I trust you are checking on the location of El-Kamat .. I am in contact with your personnel on the surface .. You need to bring the physical body of your Commanding Officer to the surface .. His hand and 'his' hand only must be in contact with the stone .. I have sent co-ordinates to you for transportation to the cave .. You must use all haste Commander as I fear Kamat may be closer to you than we first realized =^=
=^= I'll bring the Commodore down myself Councilwoman .. Commander Blakus I suggest you be on the alert for any unwanted guests and ensure that stone remains where it is .. We shall beam to your location in five minutes .. Thank you Councilwoman Recik .. Jamison out =^=
The Comm link to the Raven closed and Calli handed the communicator back to the guide.
"I'm sorry for injuring you." she said, actually feeling a little remorse for the injury she had inflicted. The man modded but wouldn't reply. Instead he moved to the side of the cavern and sat with his back to the wall. The others moved away from the stone and awaited the arrival of their Commanding Officer ..........
< tag : Will >
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 5:22:31 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2012 1:15:11 GMT
"But this is crazy on so many levels, Will." said Delik. "I belong behind the command chair. Not in it. What about the doctor. He's the ranking officer."
"The doctor has been busy with the Commodore." Will replied. "Now that I'm taking him to the surface, the doc needs to catch up non some well deserved rest. Now should he want to come up and take over, that's fine but until than, you are in charge of the Raven."
They entered the turbolift and headed for the transporter room.
"And what about this beaming down? There isn't much time and we don't know if it's safe yet."
"We've already sent down a living creature and according to teh read outs, it remained alive."
"That was a bowl of Klingon gagh!" answered Delik.
"None the less, there's no choice."
They entered the transporter room to find the COs body awaiting them. They moved up onto the pad and Will placed the bag holding the phasers for the rest of the members on the planet over his shoulder.
"Don't wait for my command. As soon as the storm breaks, drop us down." he told the transporter operator.
"I can't talk you out of this, can I?" asked Delik.
"Nope. Has to be done."
The chief started his procedures and the sounds of the transporter began.
"ANY ADVICE?" yelled Delik before Will started to vanish.
"Don't blow her up." answered Will with a smile.
A few seconds later, he and Commodore Torek rematerialized in the cave with the other crew members from the Raven.
"Good to see you all again." he said. "Now let's get Carl back to his old self."
<Tag All>
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 8, 2012 0:57:22 GMT
Andae gazed around the cave's interior, content that they were alone. On the central plinth the blue stone rested gleaming, awaiting the next touch that might divide or reconstitute, depending on whom touched it. Will lowered the bag he was carrying and opened it up, handing the team a phaser each, while the rest that'd beamed down busied themselves with the stretcher the person's body rested on.
The body. The real Torek. Could it possibly be true? Could everything Carl thought he knew about himself resolve itself as a lie? The splitting red stone; the brain fragmenting machine that'd been a figment of his imagination or a false device in the devious plots of others. The blue rock before them was its counterpart; truly, it might be about to rehabilitate the mass of fleshy matter that was Commodore Carl Torek.
"Commander, could you help me lift him." The officer nearest him struggled with the Commodore's torso. The Raven away team had manoeuvred the stretcher near to the pedestal and were now preparing to have him touch the stone. Carl tentatively helped the officer, and then started pulling on the prone CO's arm.
"Perhaps... Ah, sir -"
"The essences should not be touching the original body when it itself touches the stone," the guide interrupted, rising from his sitting posture across the cave and coming towards the group. "To do so may cause another split. There are any number of permutations and possibilities of what might happen if this isn't done correctly."
"We can't take any sort of chance, you mean," Calli said.
The guide nodded wisely. "It would be most prudent to have Commander Jamison or one of your other shipmates touch Commodore Torek's hand to the device, and make sure they don't touch it themselves."
Blakus nodded along with Calli and turned to watch. What would happen in the instant of contact? Torek's cold clammy hand hovered over the device, lifted by Jamison who kept a respectable distance from the pedestal. Just before contact was made, an unnerving zipping noise shot through the cave. The air felt electrified, as if a previously hidden energy field was eloping on the group's consciousnesses, cutting off parts of sight and hampering sensation. It took the denial essence several moments to realise it wasn't the effect of the blue stone.
He swung to face the entrance of the cave; dark figures stood there silhouetted against the dull light.
"Duck!!" he hollered. Several shots rang out, reverberating around the cavernous space. Blakus dived behind the stone's pedestal, surprised to see chips of rock flying away from its surface. Solid projectiles were tearing towards them.
The air still sizzled from the energy burst; it made his eyes sting and his skin prickle as he tried to peer towards the cave entrance. The attackers had moved in, scattering the essences' group as they searched for cover.
Carl quickly took stock. He could just see the edge of the CO's stretcher; the man's body prone on the floor some two metres away from it alongside the unmoving form of another officer - the one that Carl had helped lift the Commodore's torso.
One of the essences called out "They followed us again!", as Carl drew his phaser and squinted at the path before him, taking aim at the attackers. He pressed the firing button but nothing happened; the electric snap must've been some sort of EM pulse. Projectiles lanced through the air again, taking chunks out of the ground around them.
He propped himself tight behind the pedestal, ignoring the searing weapons fire for the moment. He tore the back off the phaser, sighed at the fried componentry and pulled one of the pips off his battered uniform collar. This would take some work, but he was an engineer after all. As he started stripping the pip back - readying it for implantation into the phaser - one thought came rushing to the forefront of his consciousness, beating to the fore as something else retreated and left. It had nothing to do with their assailants - who they were, how they had followed them here, or what that meant. It was simply At last. Now how the hell did that happen?
<Tag All>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 9, 2012 15:57:41 GMT
He was at an end ... He instinctively knew that now. The loneliness, the darkness, the emptiness, he was fading into that nothingness that his sub-conscious mind knew as death. But ...
A microsecond of light in the eternal darkness of his mind, then again. 'What is happening' his mind asked, frightened, unsure if dying was going to be the serene event some religious people had foretold, or was he going to end in a blinding flash of pure, white excruciatingly painful light.
Fear gripped him ... Someone was here ... Someone was here, in his consciousness, in his darkness. No, not some other person, but him, a part of him was there. Fear and confusion grew as he suddenly realized that a third, and forth person, or part of himself had now joined him.
Light, whiter than anything imaginable sprang into his very being, pain, fear. He knew he could not stand much more of the agony, the insecurity of waiting for some form of confirmation that he had finally left the mortal world he knew and cherished so very much .......... The light, a red yellow glow began to impress itself on his consciousness, as the aspects of his personality, of who Carl Torek was, were finally reunited in one body ... Relief, gratefulness, a sense he was back in the land of the living once more flashed through his mind, and he realized he could hear, smell, taste ... FEEL ... There was noise, shouting, yelling. He suddenly realized that the orange glow was light permeating his closed eyelids ... With every fiber of his being he forced his eyes to open. He was in a cave, and he was in trouble. Suddenly he was grabbed and physically dragged behind what looked like a stone pillar. He still could not speak, nor had he any control of his body. "Good to ...... yu ....... ack ...... modore !" a woman said, before turning away to continue her fight, "You wi .... OK." she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him backwards, away from the protection of the pillar, then he blacked out. Thirty minutes later:"He'll be OK now. Give him some water." He opened his eyes, a flask was held to his lips, and Carl suddenly realized how parched he actually was ... He gulped at the cold fluid, lifting his arm painfully to stop the bottle being taken away as he sated his thirst. A hypo-spray was touched to his neck and he felt the liquid pass into his blood stream. "Can you understand me Commodore ... Can you hear me ?" a woman asked, smiling as he nodded confirmation, "You'll feel OK soon. You are suffering from mind de-hydration and the effects of the coalescence ... Do you, do you feel yourself once again ?" "What has happened ... Am I ... Are you all ba ... ?" he managed to force between gulps. "Try to relax Sir, we'll explain everything once we get you back to the ship." a man who Carl recognized as his friend and Executive Officer said, "We where pushed back into the caves. You rest Sir." he said, placing a hand on Torek's shoulder for a few seconds, before standing to talk to the others. "So where do we stand ?" Jamison asked the group. "El-Kamat blew the entrance to the cave once he had taken the stone. So effectively, we're buried down here." Calli said, looking around the tunnel, "Our means of escape was crushed under that collapse, so unless whoever you have left on the Raven has been watching, and realizes our situation ... Well ... We're going nowhere fast." They didn't have time to ponder their premature burial, as the sound of a transport in progress made them turn in unison. There, like the proverbial 'Get out of jail free' card, were three pattern enhancers .......... < tag : All >
Okeys ... Before Mister Delik transports us back to the ship, please feel free to post your own point of view as you become 'yourself' once more. Should be interesting to see how each of you view it.
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Feb 16, 2012 19:29:22 GMT
About three hours earlier...
El-Kamat was in a rage, storming around the meeting room of the Order's secret headquarters, the other members of the council looked at him with something akin to fear, or awe, in their eyes.
"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" he screamed, "WE HAD SPIES ON THE RAVEN, SPIES ON THE GROUND, EVEN SPIES IN THEIR WRETCHED GROUP AND THEY STILL GOT AWAY FROM US?" He looked at those around him with mad eyes, as if daring them to disagree. "WHY MUST I BE SURROUNDED BY FRICKIN' IDIOTS?" he shouted to no one in particular.
"My Lord Master," one of the other members began, "perhaps this could work to our advantage. We are still in control of the bureaucracy. There is no serious threat to the security of the Order. Perhaps we should...let this pan out?"
El-Kamat's nostrils flared, and the council member shrank back into his seat, clearly aware that he was in grave danger. When El-Kamat spoke, his voice was cool, calm, ice-cold, and infinitely more dangerous than it had seemed when he was shouting.
"You would throw away centuries of work by this Order? You would disgrace the principles of our founding fathers? You would let them walk away with the artefact and their knowledge, and condemn us all to failure? We have waited, we have worked, and we are too close now to be denied. We shall not be denied, -I- shall not be denied, by a snivelling piece of filth like yourself." As he spoke the last word, he drew from under his robes a highly advanced solid-round handgun, and before the member had even had the chance to scream "NO!" had put a round through his forehead, spraying the man's seat and the wall behind him with blood and chunks of skull.
There was a deathly silence in the chamber.
"Any other objections?" El-Kamat asked calmly. No one spoke up.
"Very well then. I will beam to the caves with a squad of ten of the Order's best troops. The second I have left, I want a skycar en route, we will need alternative means of extraction . When we make contact, I will send a signal. I want an EMP trained on that cave system and ready to deploy on my mark. That will cripple their weapons and communicators. Our squad will be armed with basic solid-projectile weapons, nothing electronic. We will outnumber them, take them by surprise, and eliminate them. We will recover the artefact, and we will then use it. Am I understood?"
All faces around the table nodded.
-----
Three hours later...
As El-Kamat and the squad of Order troops came into the cavern, they saw the band of Starfleet officers about to make the contact with the second sphere that would reuinite the Commodore's disparate essences. They moved stealthily, and El-Kamat pressed the button to signal the EMP attack. Within a second, there was a disorientating flash that reverberated around the entire cavern, and the Starfleet officers turned to return fire, but found that their phasers were useless.
Perfect.
"Open fire!" El-Kamat screamed, as a hail of solid round slugs hurtled towards the helpless officers. Miraculously, none of them was even hit, but as the First Officer had dived aside, Commodore Torek's hand had fallen onto the Blue Sphere.
His body convulsed once and the entire chamber fizzled with energy. The force of the spasm shook the Blue Sphere free from his hand and it arced across the room, finally coming to a stop some three metres from El-Kamat's position. It seemed also that every one of the Starfleet officers was, temporarily at least, incapacitated, except the First Officer (who was effectively unarmed). El-Kamat ordered his men to cover him, and they rose up, pointing all ten of their guns around the chamber at the Starfleet personnel. Even the First Officer seemed to recognise defeat, and did not rise from above his cover.
Taking a piece of cloth to line his hand, El-Kamat walked forward slowly. He couldn't believe that this was finally happening. With reverence, he leant down and picked up the Blue Sphere, careful not to touch its surface with his bare skin, and pulled a device from out of his robes. It was an oblong cuboid, with a semi-spheroid indentation at either end. One of these indentations already held the Red Sphere from the dig site. El-Kamat paused before inserting the Blue Sphere, relishing in his victory.
"How does defeat taste, Starfleet scum?" he called out to the slowly recovering, and disorientated, officers. With a maniacal cackle, he placed both of his bare hands onto the now connected spheres.
Black.
White.
Black.
Stars.
A Star System.
A Map.
Cordovin To The System.
Zoom Out.
A Space Station.
Massive.
Terrible.
Powerful.
A Supernova.
A Tidal Wave.
Forced Out Of The System.
An Orphan Object.
Floating Through Space.
Black.
Black...
Black.....
-----
Alex regained consciousness groggily. He remembered vaguely that it felt like the time he had drunk Romulan Ale on a bet. He wondered if that was where he was now, waking up on his own bed in the academy, waiting to be chewed out by the Commander of the Watch. But, slowly at first, and then suddenly, it came back to him. The red light, being forced from his own body...then his strange, otherworldly conversations with a strangely Vulcan Carl Torek...the Gandai, the Dexxeni, El-Kamat. With a howl of effort he pushed himself upright, to find himself in a large cave, with ten solid slug guns trained on him and his fellows. He swore under his breath, rubbing his forehead until the scene came into focus.
"How does defeat taste, Starfleet scum?" cackled the man Alex knew to be El-Kamat. He grasped something tightly in his hands, and as he did so he was lifted off his feet by an invisible force. He rose, spread eagled but upright, a device hanging in mid air a foot from his chest, until he was about six feet from the floor of the cave. His hair blew out behind him and Alex thought he looked something like one of the old depictions of an Angel.
Just as Alex had come to this conclusion, the device sparked, fizzled, and hummed, seeming to send out a corona of energy that enfolded El-Kamat. This effect lasted only a few moments, as the corona seemed to implode and then expand, fast, something like a miniature supernova. It threw El-Kamat like a ragdoll towards the entrance to the cave and the shockwave tore through the rock, cracking it violently.
"We have to get out of here!" Alex heard one of El-Kamat's people say, and the last thing he saw before blacking out again was them carrying El-Kamat's limp form through the entrance to the cave as it collapsed leaving the device, which was still glowing white hot and smouldering on the floor of the cave, the rock around it had turned to glass.
----
As he awoke again, it was to the eyes of Will Jamison looking concerned into his own. Again, the scene took some time to resolve itself into focus. Once it finally had, Alex accepted Will's proffered hand and pulled himself to his feet.
"Thanks, Commander," he said weakly as he moved to sit back down on a boulder that was nearby.
<Tag All>
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 18, 2012 0:02:53 GMT
Andae had temporarily lost all semblance of thought as he stared at the collapsed tunnel of rocks. The group had been trapped by the collapsing cave as well as the efforts of Kamat and his men. Thankfully though, a pack of pattern enhancers had been sent there way.
"We're lucky you have your commbadge, Commander," he said to Jamison. "Otherwise it might've been days before the Raven found us. So would someone like to run it through for me one more time? All I can remember is fragments, milky images like a dream."
One of the team related it to him again. How the sections of the Commodore's personality had been emplaced in each of their bodies; how they'd been set on their quest for the stone by a seemingly innocent archaeologist; how they'd been on a grand adventure, as it seemed, across all the lands of Cordovin IV, and how they'd wound up in a domed cavern with dark architecture before a pedestal topped with a gleaming sphere of azure.
He remembered - most strongly - standing atop a slight mound at the side of a ravine, watching the Cordovin star burst skywards from the horizon. Only... it felt like he'd been watching someone else watching it. The part of Torek that'd inhabited him, of course. He also recalled some rather worrying images: fists hitting his face; flying from the back of some enormous animal; a Cordovin impaled with a spear, and a brief snapshot of a dead Borg drone. Through all of it though, was the suggestion of very negative emotions: denial and cynicism, which seemed to punctuate every moment. So strong was this feeling of emotional intrusion it made him nauseous, as if that one aspect of Torek's personality should never have been forced to stand alone.
"This is a tragedy. This shouldn't have happened." Andae jerked uncomfortably as he heard the sound of rocks cracking against walls. "How could we let him get to that stone! How didn't we know!"
He shifted slightly in his sitting position to see the Cordovin guide hurling rocks against the walls and kicking the cave floor.
"Pull yourself together, sir," one of the crewmen that'd come down with Jamison said. "There's nothing we can do at the moment."
"Your task to reconstitute your commander has succeeded," the guide said, pushing the crewman away, "But look. Kamat, or those with him, are now likely in possession of both the Stones. The Stones of Quincunx are not meant to be brought together; Kamat told you as much. I wish I'd known what he'd been planning..."
"As soon as we get back to the Raven, we'll locate the Stones and beam to their location, if we deem it safe to do so," another of Andae's shipmates said matter-of-factly. "We're not just leaving you to deal with this."
One of their number started setting up the pattern enhancers while Andae dusted himself down. His uniform had been muddied and worn beyond recognition... Only the phaser at his hip differentiated him from a common hobo of the twentieth century. Fresh off the streets and looking dirty and confused.
Huasala, capital of Cordovin IV
Recik bounded all of her papers and pads of electronically stored data and threw them in her satchel. The back door remained free, her aides had told her, and she had to be quick to make good her escape.
The pounding at the main door to her administrative division became worse; she wouldn't have been surprised if a dozen or so 'security agents' were there now, breaking the door down with their ram as if they were storming some ancient castle.
She threw her satchel around her shoulder and scampered for the back passage, not looking back as she vacated the place last of all just behind her aides. They descended the steps at the end of the passage towards the door that opened on to a back alley of Hallowed Square. Loyal - or was that rebel? - soldiers and governmental figures waited there in an escape vehicle, where they would flee into hiding from the iron-fisted administration that was so steeped in useless bureaucracy that it couldn't seee the cancer - and the perpetuator of that bureaucracy - at its heart. Recik and her aides were among the last of the groups making the escape.
She heard the door to her admin division's HQ crash open above and behind her; a panicky gasp came from her mouth as she hurried faster down the steps. Finally the door to the street came into sight. Freedom at last -
The thought stuck in her mind, cycled without end. The electric snap of a taser had discharged into her back, stimulating muscle response continuously and leaving her jerking, petrified on the stone floor just two metres short of the exit.
She heard her aides screaming as the metal frame of the door clanged shut. Their desperate cries were cut off, and their last glimpse of Recik would've been of three black clad special op guards stooping menacingly over her.
"Councilwoman Recik. You're under arrest for participating in an attempt to subvert the administration and cause political unrest. You may not ask any questions." They lifted her and began carrying her up the stairs. "But you weren't going to, right?"
They laughed darkly as her mouth spasmed and her eyes darted wildly about in the shadowy passageway.
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 5:22:31 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2012 21:38:19 GMT
Will looked around the cave as his crew mates began regaining consciousness. The Commodore was back together and doing much better though he had yet to regain full awareness. He kept coming in and out. The others that had held a piece of Carl were slowly coming to and gaining strength. The pattern enhancers had been sat up and they were now awaiting transport back to the Raven. Everyone seemed to know what needed to be done and it was getting done very efficiently. Will was very proud of the Raven crew.
By some miracle of Delik, Will and the rest of the Raven crew found themselves back aboard the Raven two hours after the cave in had occurred. Will now stood in sickbay as a now awaken Commodore Torek assured the CMO that he was well and fine. He turned to Delik.
"So how did you get us aboard without waiting for a break in the storm?" he asked.
"We made our own break. While studying the storm we discovered that a few modified phaser blasts could duplicate the break. We fired a couple, made a break and the rest, as they say, is history." he answered with a cocky smile.
The sudden movement of the CO hopping of the biobed caught their eyes and they watched as their Commanding Officer approached them.
<Tag Commodore> (Welcome back)
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 21, 2012 13:06:26 GMT
It was all a blur for Carl as he regained, then lost, and regained consciousness several times ... He remembered lights, possibly the pattern enhancers used to get them out of the collapsed cave system, and back onto the Raven.
He was still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he was a 'whole' person once more. Lingering fragments of memory constantly pushed themselves into his mind, Andae, Calli, Alex, Aeryn, all seemed to be mixed in with his own psyche.
He was ushered onto a medical bed and taken from the transporter room to sick-bay ... Doctor Salek worked hard to keep him on the bio-bed, and still, while he ran every test necessary to confirm the man before him was fit to leave his care.
< tag : Doctor >
"So ..... How did you get us aboard without waiting for a break in the storm?" Carl asked Commander Jamison.
"We made our own break. While studying the storm we discovered that a few modified phaser blasts could duplicate the break. We fired a couple, made a break and the rest, as they say, is history." he answered with a cocky smile.
"Will you 'please' remain motionless Commodore !" the Doctor said, exasperation beginning to show in his voice.
"Commander Watson has ordered the Raven remain in orbit until you want to depart." Will said.
"Tell him to get teams back onto the surface. El-Kamat went to a hell of a lot of trouble to get that second st ...." Carl fell silent as some faint, distant memory edged into his conscious mind for a second. A planet, a satellite. a WEAPON. But as quickly as it appeared, the fragmented memory vanished, "Sorry .... I thought for a second .... No, get teams into the caves. I think if El-Kamat has touched both stones he may have information we can't ignore."
Carl felt his eyes getting heavy, and he knew he couldn't remain awake. Without a word, his body made the decision for him, and he slipped into a deep sleep ..........
< tag : All >
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 22, 2012 12:47:32 GMT
Blakus went straight to his office once he reached engineering. He'd been allowed to return to duty fairly quickly, as it seemed most of the concerns were mental rather than physical. He and the others were to take it easy for a few days. He looked over the PADDs that'd been left for him and then used the desk terminal to skim the Federation news-feeds. There was little of anything worth his attention - it seemed nothing had happened in the last two weeks - so he began composing a message to his cousins who were currently touring listening posts on the Romulan border (for whatever reason was far beyond him).
"Good to have you back, sir." Blakus's concentration broke and he looked up to see Lieutenants Milyanov and Taylor standing at the door to his office.
"Ah, yes, hello you two." He rubbed his hands together and looked about himself, "It's good to be back."
Taylor went away while Milyanov stepped into the office and presented another PADD for Andae to read. "The Commodore's ordered a team back down to the caves, sir. Something about El-Kamat and that rock you found."
Blakus made a small noise of curiosity and took the PADD, scanning it with interest. "So it seems we are being true to our word. It's true that Kamat shouldn't have both the Stones. We don't know what he might attempt."
"Indeed," Milyanov replied. "I wonder if this is wise, though. If Kamat does have both Stones, it might not be the best idea to charge in looking for him."
Blakus looked up at the Russian and tilted his head in thought, before saying, "This is if he's still alive after that blast, of course. The Commodore knows what he's doing. He, or I suppose his constituent essences, were fooled by Kamat; he won't let that happen again now that he knows the man has less than admirable intentions."
"I keep forgetting." Milyanov smiled, pacing around the CEO's office. "It wasn't actually you in control down there, or Commander Valenti, or -"
"No. It wasn't. And my memory of it all is skewed beyond belief. " Indeed, he thought, it's like the recalling of a dream. Already fading, slipping from my senses; losing relevance. But it might end up being extraordinarily important. "This is a fine mess."
An hour later he was working at the pool table, running a new diagnostic on the nav deflector. The bleeps and trickles of busy consoles - backed by the warp core's warm steady pulse - were reassuringly familiar to his ears. This really was home to him, perhaps more so than solid earth under his feet could ever be.
"Yes, Ensign?" He'd seen one of the staff obsessing over their readings on the other side of the pool table, facing the wall stations.
"Chief. I've been testing the sensors for accuracy, turning them on the planet to use it as a sample. I went through all the calibration routines, going through all the EM bands first, and everything seemed fine. But now I've picked up some sort of... anomaly, in one of the subspace bandwidths." The Ensign tapped at the wall console and a topographic map appeared. He studied it for a moment and scratched his head. "Unless these sensors are actually broken, something down there is generating an incredible amount of exotic radiation, on the order of hundreds of thousands of Watts per square metre."
Blakus was on alert. He skirted around the pool table and studied the screen the Ensign had brought up. "This is the cave region," he breathed. He pressed some buttons and the energy map zoomed in and a wireframe of the surrounding geography overlaid itself. He looked at the Ensign and pointed at the brighest area of the image, "I can't be certain, at all, but I have a feeling that focal point is right on the mouth to the cavern where we found the Stone."
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Feb 23, 2012 22:43:57 GMT
Alex tweaked the collar of his new uniform nervously. Somehow, he felt, this just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t just that his collar was now red instead of the blue that he had grown so accustomed to: it was something elsewhere, elusive. Something told Alex that, beyond the obvious, this situation wasn’t over yet. Much, much more would come out of their visit to Cordovin than any of them could possibly have imagined.
He sat in his office, kneading his forehead over his desk, running through different ideas in his mind. A young ensign walked in, Alex looked up and saw that he was wearing the mustard yellow colour of the Security and Engineering details. He didn’t know the man’s name. On any other day this might have been cause for embarrassment, but today he was just too tired.
“What is it, Mr…?” Alex asked wearily.
“Joffrey, sir. The Commodore has ordered that we send teams back to the cave. Commander Blakus reports that we have also detected unusual radiation coming from inside the cave system, it looks like it’s coming from the chamber where you found the Blue Stone, sir.”
“Thank you, Ensign. I’ll be along to transporter room three in a few minutes. Have a group of the men assemble: Ensigns Jace and Hawkins from Security, Crewman Williams from Engineering, Petty Officer Talbot from Medical, and Miss Gerson.”
“Very good, sir, but that still leaves one spot free on the team.”
“Congratulations for spotting that,” said Alex, trying to keep the sarcasm in his voice to a minimum. “That last spot is for me. I want to go down and examine this place properly for myself.”
“Are you sure, sir? The Doctor said that you should rest.”
“I can rest when this is all over, Mr Joffrey. For now, assemble my team.”
“Very good, sir.”
---
It felt very strange being back in the cave now that it was silent. All that Alex had known it as was a state of chaos. He found the calm unnerving, but he wasn’t about to let that on. Nor was he going to let the exhaustion he felt dim his rabid excitement at getting to examine the chamber. Jenny came up to him slowly as the others scanned around with their instruments. She put a hand on his shoulder, with perhaps a little more of a firm grip than was entirely appropriate.
“It’s good to have you back. I…I was worried.” She looked away as she said this, perhaps fearful of being scolded. Alex was slightly taken aback by this, but it only took him a moment to recover some of his faculties.
“I’m…grateful for your concern, Miss Gerson,” he said rather more quietly than he had meant to, before coughing awkwardly and walking away, leaving her looking slightly crestfallen.
The cave was in total darkness except for the lights that they had brought with them, and Alex switched his own on and panned it around. He wasn’t really sure what he was looking for, but something towards the edge of the cave caught his eye. It was a circle of what looked like glass, glittering softly in the glow of his torch. There was something dark, and solid, at its centre.
Alex’s heart skipped a beat. He moved slowly, gingerly towards the object. He had seen what it could do, and he had absolutely no intention of setting it off again. Finally, he was near enough to reach out his hand and touch it as he squatted on the floor of the cave, the vitrified sand crunching under his boots. Indeed, something in his head seemed to want him to: a little voice in the back of his mind. “Take it,” it said. “Take it, no one will ever know. You can keep it, study it. You can be the one to unlock its wonders. You will be celebrated across the Galaxy.”
“Yes…” Alex said under his breath, reaching out his hand, ignoring the frantic warnings from other parts of his mind. “Yes…I will take it…I will have this power…It will be mine, and I can rule the Galaxy…” His hand was millimetres away now, and it shook, shook as the two parts of Alex battled furiously inside him. As he was about to reach forward and take the thing for his own, a loud crash reverberated around the cave, jerking him out of his reverie. One of the other science officer’s had tripped and knocked a precariously balanced boulder to the ground.
Torn from his fantasy, Alex looked at the hand in front of him with barely disguised fear. How had that happened? What had made him forget everything he had ever believed? This device was dangerous. But…El-Kamat had used it, which meant that he now possessed the data it contained. There was no choice but for them to use it as well. Not trusting any of the others, he pulled off his tunic, reaching out to wrap the device in it, all the while being careful not to touch it with his bare skin.
When he returned to the centre of the cave, all eyes turned to him. He was certainly not ashamed of his body, he had worked hard to keep it in shape, but he did wish that they wouldn’t stare quite so openly: especially the two women. Jace looked away the moment she realised that Alex had seen her staring, but Miss Gerson’s eyes lingered for a few seconds before breaking contact with Alex’s abdomen.
“I’m thrilled you all approve,” Alex said to them all, trying to keep an even tone. Jace started to giggle, but stopped swiftly once she realised that it was not something she should be laughing at. “Are we all ready to beam up?” Alex asked the rather more sober character of Security Officer Hawkins.
“Yes sir. All readings have been taken and catalogued. I wish we could have found out what was creating that radiation though. It vanished about two minutes ago, just like someone turned out a light. At least, that’s what Miss Gerson said. I didn’t really know what she was talking about, sir.”
“I see,” said Alex, pondering. Could it be? He shook his head to clear it, before tapping his commbadge. “Watson to Raven, bring us home, transporter.”
---
El-Kamat came to groggily. His vision was blurred at first, and things seemed to swim in and out of focus. Finally he resolved that he was lying on a hard surface, and from the tremors beneath him, was moving at some considerable speed. He sat up, and discovered that he was in the skycar that he had requested be sent to the caves to extract them. He breathed a sigh of relief. As well as four guards around his bed, two members of his inner circle stood vigil.
“My Lord, you are awake,” said one.
“How long have I been out?” asked El-Kamat.
“About five hours. We were…worried that you weren’t going to make it. Your brain activity has been going haywire, off the charts. We thought it might result in permanent injury.”
“I’m fine…I got what I went for, what we went for.”
“And?”
“This isn’t going to be quite as simple as I had hoped. The system the weapon was in went supernova thousands of years ago. The explosion pushed the station out of the system. It is an orphan object, floating in space.”
“But…but that could take years to find! Centuries! We may never find it at all!”
“I know that! But we know where it last was. We can go to the remnants of the system and see if there are any clues as to which direction it was pushed in.”
“As you wish, my Lord. There…was one other thing. The device, the guards were more concerned for your safety…we did not recover it. We detected a transporter beam from the Raven into that location a few minutes ago. It…It’s likely that they have it.”
El-Kamat swore violently. “They cannot be allowed to pursue us! This hunt will be difficult enough without them snapping on our heels every step of the way!”
“We…we also have Councilwoman Recik in custody. She discovered the truth, and tried to run.”
“Did she…did she indeed?” El-Kamat actually began to smile. The two cult-lords seemed not to know whether to smile or not. El-Kamat then laughed: a short, maniacal laugh.
“I have an idea,” he said with ice-cold malice in his voice.
---
Alex sat in his office once again, the lights dimmed around him. He was finally giving in to exhaustion. The device was in the containment vault, shielded and under guard. He would bother the Commodore with this when they had both regained their strength and were on their way to Starbase 47.
He idly flicked through a few news reports from Cordovin, not paying much attention. They were mostly nothings: local elections and the odd mugging in bad areas of the capital city. This didn’t surprise him, none except themselves and those they had encountered on the planet knew what had happened, and they were hardly likely to make it front page news. It would damage their bid to join the Federation. Alex could not supress a snort of derision at the very thought of such a thing, but since there was no proof of what had gone on while they were on the surface, it was unlikely to affect their petition. Except…Councilwoman Recik, she had seemed true, and honest. In his tiredness, Alex thought he saw her name leap out at him from the news reports. He closed his eyes to finally drop off to sleep, then reopened them. He hadn’t been imagining seeing the councilwoman’s name. It was indeed on the news report that was on the screen in front of him. Alex read the headline, and felt his insides clench up and turn to ice.
---
“Really, Commander I must protest!” intoned the Vulcan physician as Alex burst into the Medical Bay. “Commodore Torek is still weak, and so are you. You both need to rest.”
“I’m sorry, Doctor…but…this…can’t wait…not even…for a few minutes…” Alex gasped as he clutched his side. Commodore Torek had sat up on the biobed, looking over at Alex.
“What is it, Mister Watson?” he asked, seemingly disturbed at his officer’s panic.
Having regained some of his breath, Alex was able to answer more fluently.
“I must warn you, sir. You will not like this.”
Carl nodded, and Alex pressed a button on the wall console, projecting the front page of the Cordovin Planetary Bulletin so that all three of them could see it. In bold, black, letters it proclaimed.
COUNCILWOMAN RECIK ASSASSINATED! STARFLEET COMMODORE ACCUSED!
Late yesterday evening Councilwoman Recik, 56, was killed by a bomb-blast in her office. The blast also took out three adjoining rooms, and a full accounting of casualties has yet to be completed. We can confirm at this time that there are at least three others dead and at least ten wounded. Political figures are no strangers to assassination attempts, but what makes this so unique and insidious is that there is evidence that the Councilwoman was assassinated by, or on the orders of, none other than visiting Commodore Carl Torek of the USS Raven. Commodore Torek had come to our world to entertain talks of our joining the United Federation of Planets, but it seems that the talks did not reach a happy conclusion. Fragments of the bomb have, under inspection, been found to contain both fingerprints and DNA from the Commodore. This paints an ugly picture, and we are sure that Starfleet will want to mount a full-scale investigation into Commodore Torek’s activities. Councilman Trahat said today, “Councilwoman Recik is a great loss to us all. She was noble, true, and courageous to the end. It is a shame that her honour seems to have marked her for death. We will not rest until we see this injustice righted and the person responsible brought to justice.” For a full report, including the full obituary, please see pages 5-9.
Silence. Deathly silence enveloped the room as the three men standing there looked from one to another, none of them seeming to be capable of speech.
<Tag All>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Feb 24, 2012 16:48:48 GMT
It was taking time ... Calli knew what had happened over the last weeks, but it now seemed more like one of those dreams that you can't quite recall the main details of anymore. She had beamed back to the Raven with the others, and lay patiently while a nurse ran through test after test as Doctor Salek ministered to the Commodore. Finally, after almost two hours of prodding, proving, scanning, she had been cleared for duty by the Doctor. She was gone from Sick-bay almost before he'd finished telling her she was allowed to ! Now, in her quarters, things were becoming clearer to her. she knew she had been a part of the man she knew as Carl Torek, but more importantly, she knew she was herself once more. Heading for the Bridge, she was almost knocked off her feet by the Acting Executive Officer. He stopped only to see she was alright then began running once more. "Commander ...... A moment !" she said, in no way annoyed at his lack of apology, but concerned as to the cause for his haste, as Watson came to a stop and turned to her, "Something I should know ?" "You'd better come with me Commander." Alex said, slightly breathless, "Given your 'unique' position on the Raven you may need to hear this too." They entered Sick-bay moments later ... Pushing past the Doctor Alex approached the Captain. "What is it Mister Watson ?" Carl asked, seemingly disturbed at his officer’s panic. Having regained some of his breath, Alex was able to answer more fluently. "I must warn you Sir .... You will not like this." COUNCILWOMAN RECIK ASSASSINATED ! ... STARFLEET COMMODORE ACCUSED !
Late yesterday evening Councilwoman Recik, 56, was killed by a bomb-blast in her office. The blast also took out three adjoining rooms, and a full accounting of casualties has yet to be completed. We can confirm ........ Calli watched the Commodore as the announcement from the Cordovin IV Council continued. There was little, in fact no change in his expression as the report concluded. The silence in Sick-bay was palpable for long moments. To say the report was ridiculous was an understatement. There was no way Torek could have been responsible for the murder of the Councilwoman, but that wouldn't stop the Cordovin ruling body filing for justice, or the Federation wanting to fully investigate the accusations ... She wondered what was going through the mans mind ..........
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 26, 2012 16:16:45 GMT
The separation, and subsequent coalescence of Carl's being had taken it's toll, mentally, as was only to be expected, but also physically too as his body had shut down following his becoming 'whole' once more. His eyes opened slowly, squinting at the unaccustomed light of Sick-bay. He lay still for a long moment before turning his head. A nurse smiled down at him then disappeared from view, and a few seconds later the Doctor's face appeared. ""Please do not try to move Commodore." Salek said, watching the nurse run a medical tricorder up and down the length of his body, then checking readings against something out of sight, "You are suffering from mild dehydra ......" "Captain .. Captain !" The Doctor turned to see Commander Valenti and Lieutenant Watson almost running across his Sick-bay. He turned to protest the intrusion, but Calli got in first. "Doctor ... Mister Watson has something 'urgent' that requires the Commodores immediate attention, so unless you are about to take him into surgery, than I would beg your forgiveness at the sudden intrusion but ask you allow the Exec' to speak." Salek stood aside, allowing the man to approach the Bio-bed ... "What is it Mister Watson ?" Carl asked, seemingly disturbed at his officer’s panic. Having regained some of his breath, Alex was able to answer more fluently. "I must warn you Sir .... You will not like this." Alex said, bringing up the item on the screen closest to the bed after Carl tried without success to sit up, but managing to get one elbow under him ... COUNCILWOMAN RECIK ASSASSINATED ! ... STAR FLEET COMMODORE ACCUSED !
Late yesterday evening Councilwoman Recik, 56, was killed by a bomb-blast in her office. The blast also took out three adjoining rooms, and a full accounting of casualties has yet to be completed. We can confirm ........ No-one spoke as the news bulletin ended ... They watched Carl lay himself back down, a look of neither surprise or shock on his face, almost as if he'd expected something to happen. "This is outrageous !" Calli said, slamming a clenched fist into the bed, "Who the hell do they think they are trying to pin this on a Star Fleet Officer ......" "May I remind you that this is a medical department, and not a debating hall !" the Doctor said quietly, his look showing all the distain required, before turning to check on his patient once more. "Have Star Fleet Command contacted the ship yet ?" Carl asked, eyes closed in thought. "No Sir." Calli replied, replaying the bulletin over again, "But given the severity of the accusations, it won't be long before they do. Even if they are of the same opinion as we are, they will need to conduct their own inquiry into the accusations made against you ... Sir ... Given the charges, it is likely they will relieve you for the duration of the investigation. We could always suddenly develop engine trouble, that would give us time to cond ......" "El-Kamat escaped the cave-in." Carl said quietly, as if talking to himself, causing everyone to turn in his direction. His comment, so out of context that they wondered if he was having some sort of dissociation issue for a second, "He has information that I now possess and is going after, something. It isn't clear in my head yet, but we need to convince Command to allow us to go after him." "Commodore ..... You 'DID' hear the broadcast from Cordovin IV ?" Calli said, concern in her voice, "You need to realize the seriousness of this situation. Star Fleet will not allow the Raven to go anywhere, and certainly not with an accused murderer in Command .... I'm sorry Sir but it is likely you will need to remain at Star Base Forty Seven for the investigation, if not on Earth itself." "They can't remove the Commod ......" Alex began. "They can ... And quite possibly will." Calli interrupted. "If I'm relieved of Command, then I need assurances from you all that you will do everything possible to find El-Kamat before he can find what he's looking for. Commander Valenti I trust you will remain aboard." Carl said firmly, making it neither an order or request as he turned to Alex, "Commander, I'm afraid your learning curve has reached it's steepest ...." he said, taking a breath before continuing. "Computer. Note in ships log ... Confirmation of Lieutenant Commander Alexander Watson as Executive Officer USS Raven-B ... Authorization: Torek-Alpha-Two-Two-Gamma-Epsilon ... Effective immediately." =^= Confirmed =^= the ships' computer replied. "Commander Valenti, Please have Commander Jamison make the required Security Level changes for the Exec' immediately." "Aye Sir." she replied, "Congratulations Commander." she said to Alex. "How long before we reach home ?" Torek asked. "At our present speed of warp six, approximately four days Sir." Alex replied a little shakily after the announcement. "Then slow to warp four, we're in no hurry. Now if you wouldn't mind I need to catch up on some sleep." Carl said, closing his eyes as he suddenly felt drained, "Relax Alex, these people are on the Raven for a reason, and I trust them implicitly. Each one of them will help you settle into the job, just don't be afraid to 'ask' if the need arises OK." Aye. Sir." Watson replied, but his Commanding Officer was already in a deep restful sleep .......... < tag : All >
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 6, 2012 18:05:24 GMT
The Raven was on its way back to Starbase, its 'mission' concluded and the surface team investigating the remains of the cavern pulled back up to the ship. Andae was in his quarters attempting to sleep off the ravages of the quest that'd debilitated and exhausted his body. The memory of the journey was almost gone; he wondered if it was the same for the other hosts of Torek's personality.
He groggily came to, his eyes squinting at the ceiling lights he'd inadvertantly left on. "Computer, lights off."
He lay in darkness. Minutes drew by unerringly in the night and shadow, trundling the cobbled paths of time. He stared unblinking at the ceiling until he could no longer assemble a string of ordered thoughts.
Something took the engineer then, and he woke to find himself before a revolving wheel that was translucent and engraved with bewildering glyphs; fast-blinking flashlights lined the edge of his vision, as if someone had found him cowering in a corner and was shining a torch on him.
Andae wanted to turn to see who held these clicking lights but he found his vision was locked on the wheel. He forced his panic to dissipate - realising that this was only some sort of waking dream - albeit a very unusual one - and decided to focus on one point of the wheel. To his surprise, as his view of this singular point zoomed and it took on dimensions, he recognised the shape of a Galaxy class vessel. The Raven.
Lucid as he was, he tracked the edge of the wheel in the Raven's apparent direction of travel, curious to see what his mind had fabricated. He followed the uncertain edge of the luminous wheel, and his eyes rapidly became drawn to one point, as if some unseen hand had taken the lines of his vision and crushed them in a fist. Terror overtook him; he couldn't avert his eyes.
He glimpsed something vast and awful, a dark edifice that seemed alive with instinct. A curious pressure started, the claws of some alien intellect tearing at him, trying to slide its way into his head; and then abruptly it ceased.
He was staring at the ceiling of his quarters again. It took a moment for his thoughts to draw together, to realise where he'd been and what he'd just witnessed.
He turned over and tried to forget about it, knowing that it was only fatigue. His mind began to relax, and as his thoughts began to disintegrate once more a humanoid figure came bounding towards him. Out of the dark fog it scowled and swung a fist; its features resolved themselves into those belonging to El-Kamat. Andae sat up gasping in panic, the dream splintering in an instant. The evil contortion of the Cordovin's face melted from his mind.
* * * * *
"Two cups of tea, Commander, Lieutenant."
"Ah, thank you," Blakus said, pulling in his chair and stirring the liquid up. The waiter left the quartet of engineers to themselves now they all had drinks and headed back to the counter of the mess.
The chief had called an informal meeting of his three senior assistants to discuss the coming refits and maintenance that were always necessary - in some measure - at Starbase. The Raven was perhaps halfway home now, their leisurely speed allowing the crew to recharge before reaching HQ, as well as to explore the allegations made against the Commodore before having to hand over to dedicated investigators. It was plain ridiculous that the Cordovin could make an accusation like that, but procedure had to be followed, Andae supposed.
"Ok, Milyanov and Taylor, you will have responsibility for the stardrive section, while you Tinsley will take the saucer. I'll mediate between to make sure we're keeping the base's maintenance staff informed across the ship." He handed out PADDs to the three of them.
"Any immediate questions?" he inquired.
Taylor spoke up first. "Andae, are there plans to look at the technology we recovered from Cordovin?"
"Well, that's somewhat off topic. Please, let's focus on the maintenance?"
Taylor seemed disappointed; Andae couldn't tell if she was genuine or not. Indeed, he had scheduled some time to study the stone-combining artefact that Commander Watson had brought back from the surface. Currently it was under lock-and-key in the main science lab, secure in a magnetic field and awaiting research. What the scientists couldn't fathom perhaps the engineers could.
"What do you want me to do about the bridge?" Tinsley said.
Andae blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Base engineers never let ship engineers interfere when they're playing about with the bridge's machinery. They reckon the wiring's too sensitive to let the likes of us mess around. Being the supposed experts they are."
"Just do your best," Andae nodded, seeming dismissive.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 8, 2012 11:46:03 GMT
It had taken the Raven eight days to get back to the Sol System, and every one of those days they had been asked, then ordered, to increase their speed. But Carl was determined not to throw himself into the fire just yet. He needed time, time to get himself 'together' so to speak. Because while he had been separated and flung into his colleagues minds, he still retained some fragmented memories, feelings, thoughts, of those he inhabited, 'if that was the right word ?' he thought wryly. There was no more delays though, and Star-base Forty Seven loomed large on the Raven's view-screen ... As always, scuttlebutt had informed everyone that Torek was facing charges once they docked, but the old 'Chinese Whispers' had him doing anything from stepping on an Ambassador's foot, to decimating a whole planet, and umpteen scenario's in between. He didn't mind really. Conversation was healthy in the right form, and from what he had gleaned everyone to a man thought the charges were nothing less than ludicrous ! ~~~~~~~~~~"Sir. The Dock-master has signaled that we can approach at one quarter impulse and prepare for transfer of Helm to dock control for automated approach and docking." the young, eager, Navigation Officer informed him. "Very well ... Carry on Mister Collins." Carl replied with a reassuring nod. The ship seemed to glide toward the silver blue jewel that was the Star-base. "Sir ... Message from the base. You are to report directly to Admiral Tetsutarô on completion of docking maneuvers." Several people on the Bridge stole looks at their Commanding Officer, wondering what might be going through him mind at this point. Knowing he must be worried, even though the was no facts to corroborate the charges made against him. He checked the chronometer above the screen as Alex spoke quietly .. ... 20:08:49 ..."You OK Commo .... Carl ?" Carl looked at the younger man, then at the Ops station where his departing Exec' was seated. Both men had looks of genuine concern for their friend. He wouldn't put it past either of them to jump in front of the Admiral and argue the charges on his behalf. But Alex was new in his position as Executive Officer, and Will, much to Carl's pleasure, had been offered, and accepted, a Command of his own. The USS Rainier no less. One of the 'new generation' as he liked to call the vessels. So the last thing he needed was either getting themselves noticed for the wrong reasons ... He came to a snap decision and almost jumped out of his seat, making others start in the process. "Will ... Contact the Command Center, tell them I am beaming to the station immediately." he said. "What ... Sorry Commodore, you are going to beam over now ?" Will asked, unable to hide the shock in his voice as he too stood. "No time like the present." Carl shrugged, looking around the Bridge as both Will and Alex made to join him, "No, I need to go and see him alone first, then if need be you can come charging in to save me ... You two remain here. Make sure you don't bump into anything Commander, I don't scratches on my new hull-plating ... Will, I know you are going to be eager to get to the Rainier, but I'm sure you can manage a toast in O'Tooles before we loose you altogether, say twenty three hundred hours ... OK, Have transporter room two be ready to send me across." with that he stepped into the turbo-lift. "Aye ... Sir ..." the two replied in unison. < tag : Alex / Will >Moments later he was stood on the transporter pad, watching the young Lieutenant making final adjustments and receiving authorization to beam. "Energize." Carl said. "Good luck." the Lieutenant replied to the empty space the Commodore occupied a second ago ........ ~~~~~~~~~~Carl materialized on the dedicated transporter pad in the Command Center .... "Commodore. I am Captain Robert Barton .. Judge Advocate Generals Office ... I'm here to, escort you to the Admiral's office." Any lesser person might construe the presence, pre-inquiry, as a proverbial 'Nail in the Coffin' but Carl wasn't worried. He knew the charges against him, whatever they be, were false, and having a JAG officer here from the start could only serve to reinforce his innocence once the investigation was complete. As he walked with Barton, the only nagging thought in his mind was if he would return to the Raven as her Commanding Officer ... The ornate door to the office was open as always, and both men stepped inside. Admiral Tetsutarô was already on his feet and coming around his desk to meet his favorite student. "Good to see you are home safe and well Carl ....." the man said, leading him toward a seat, "Let's have a drink before we start OK ... Still on the cognac I imagine." "Admiral, I really think we sho ...... Captain Barton began, but the Admiral cut him off mid-sentence. "Relax Captain. Close the door, help yourself to a drink, and keep nice and quiet while Carl and myself catch up." Carl watched the massive door close, an occurrence in itself, making anything said in this room private and confidential, but more importantly, 'Official' ... He couldn't fail to notice the reaction the simple shutting of a door had got. Barton turned from the door and approached the ornate bar. Accepting a glass of amber liquid, he seated himself to one side of the desk, where her could see both men as they talked .......... < tag : All >
OOC : Okeys ... We have docked at Star-base Forty Seven ... I am not setting up a Shore Leave thread this time round, as it is erm, entirely possible, that the Raven be leaving sooner than expected (with or without Torek, remains to be seen hehe) So please feel free to post on here if you have anything shore leave related etc, and I will set up a new thread once we're ready to depart.
Thanks again everyone for yet another GREAT mission, full of the usual twists and turns, but we're not done yet, so keep posting, and don't forget, I will want you all in O'Tooles on the promenade at eleven to raise a toast to the promotion of Will Jamison to Captain and his appointment as the new Commanding Officer of the USS Rainier.
Regards as always,
Steve. [/i][/blockquote]
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Mar 15, 2012 10:31:21 GMT
For almost a week, Calli had continued her duties on the Raven. She had been wondering if her uncle would send her back to Star Fleet Command Headquarters on Earth once the ship docked. She certainly hadn't done much to bring the last outing to a successful conclusion. 'That much is certain' she thought as she returned to her quarters after taking the Bridge Watch for Alex while he was settling into his new role as Executive Officer. Throwing her tunic on the sofa, she stretched, making a mental note to get to the gym before they docked ... Despite running round the ship as a roving Department Head, she was getting lazy. But several new Officers were joining the ship as SB47, including their new Chief Tactical / Security Officer, so that would ease her work-load, if she was staying ... Getting a drink from the replicator, she slumped onto the sofa and picked up one of the several PADD's containing department reports when she noticed her computer monitor was holding a message. Standing, she went to the desk and opened the link. To: Commander Calista Valenti ... From: Captain Robert Barton J.A.G Office ...
Commander Valenti.
You are requested to contact me on a secure sub-space channel at Star Base Forty Seven, at your earliest convenience.
Please make every effort to comply 'before' the USS Raven reaches destination.
Regards,
Cptn Barton. She read the message again, while finishing off her drink. then went to the replicator again, this time for something much stronger. Sitting down, she requested the computer set up the link on her authorization. A moment later the man's face appeared. "Commander ... Thank you for your prompt reply. I am Captain Robert Barton, attached to the Judge Advocate Generals Office. I am assuming you have seen the charges that the Cordovin government have brought against Commodore Torek ?"
"I have yes. But in my opi ......."
"We'll get to the details etcetera in due course Commander. But first I need to ask you a few questions." Barton interrupted.
"I think I will need to speak with Admiral Tetsutarô bef ......."
"I am well aware of your relationship to the Admiral Commander. This isn't an 'official' inquiry. At this point, I am simply gathering as much preliminary information as possible before you dock. I assure you that Admiral Tetsutarô is fully aware that I am speaking with you. In fact, it we he who suggested I contact you ... Now, If you would, I would like you to give me a brief run-down of what happened on Cordovin IV." Calli took a deep breath, then began to recall the mission in as much detail as she could from memory. Barton prompted her with questions now and then, but otherwise remained silent. She had the distinct feeling that he wasn't the only one in the room, and that everything was being recorded for stringent analysis once she had gone ..... Two days later:The Raven had docked. Calli had been as surprised as the other Bridge Officers when the Commodore had beamed himself to the Star Base before the ship had even passed through the enormous doors. But Alex, with the support of Commander Jamison, had docked and secured the ship. He informed the crew that shore leave for off-duty personnel was now available then dismissed the Bridge crew ... Calli, Alex, and Will entered the ready room where Calli did the honors while waiting for the Doctor, Commander Blakus, and Aeryn. "We did nothing wrong you know." she said to the group. The silence that followed could have been cut with a knife ..........
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Mar 16, 2012 19:53:15 GMT
Alx had a headache. A bad headache. He knew that strictly speaking he should report this to the Doctor, since headaches just didn't happen any more. He shook his head, deciding that he'd alert the Doctor only if it didn't go away when they got back to Starbase 47. He thought that his current state of cranial agony was likely a result of his doing little more than sit and stare at his computer screen for almost every waking moment since they had left Cordovin IV. He had barely paused to eat, or even drink. He hadn't slept more than two hours a night for a week, and he was becoming increasingly snappy and bad-tempered with people who disturbed his obsessive quest for data.
He was looking for information on the Gandai. Specifically, anything that might give them a hint as to how to use the device again successfully. Alex had no desire to blow a hole in the hull like El-Kamat had blown a hole in the cave, and so had given strict instructions that the device was to be kept magnetically and hermetically sealed in the science labs. The only ones who could override this order were himself and the Commodore.
After nearly a week's solid manual searching through every database he could lay his hands on, he was close to giving up. He had found next to nothing. One fragment of ancient poetry from halfway across the galaxy that might or might not describe the Gandai and a couple of vague references in the archeological journals of the Cordovin area of space hardly constituted compelling evidence for anything. He rubbed his forehead, before considering one more option.
He tapped a few keys and started a long-range hack into the Cordvin IV Museum of Archeology's records. This was technically illegal, as his computer reminded him, but he figured that with the Commodore on the rpes for assassination, no one would pay any attention to his accessing a couple of encrypted files. After a couple of minutes, he was in, and began his search again.
It took him only thirty seconds to find something, something that gave him hope. It was a scan of a fragment of ancient pottery from Cordovin IV. The primitive inhabitants of the time had evidently regarded the Gandai as some sort of gods, and had drawn a picture of them. A picture of which some aspects were strangely familiar.
---
"Alex, you look terrible," said Jenny Gerson as he staggered into the science labs. He glanced up into one of the glass panes and realised that she was right. His hair was unkempt, his eyes were bloodshot and a week's worth of stubble lined his chin.
"Fine, Jenny, I'll shave later," he said somewhat disgruntled. He took some solace in that her tone had sounded more concerned than judgmental. "I think I'm onto something, and I want to run it by you to see what you think. Over here."
He led her to a bank of computers, and called up the image taken from the shard of pottery. "What do they look like to you?" he asked, pointing at the drawing of the Gandai.
"Well...they seem slightly more slender than typical humanoids. They're faintly green, but that could be a deterioration of the original pigment..."
"Yes..." Alex prompted her, "and..."
"And their ears...they're pointed."
"Yes!" Alex shouted in triumph. Everyone else in the labs looked round, but Alex didn't seem to care. "Don't you see? It's possible that the Gandai shared certain racial characteristics with the Vulcan and Romulan species. What I've been able to make out from what little I've been able to find is that their civilisation handled data in a different way than we do. It wasn't so much files on a drive as...memories. Memories transferred by touch to an object."
"That figures...almost like the Vulcan mind meld," Jenny replied.
Alex blinked. Jenny was getting up to speed on the nuances of her new universe very quickly.
"Exactly, only more direct, more specific. The Commodore never touched the drive, never used it, but he seems to have received a tiny fragment of the whole message. It's probably his latent vulcan sensibilities that allowed this to happen when El-Kamat used the device. It...he may be able to use it safely. His genetic code may be similar enough to the encryption that he wouldn't be rejected like El-Kamat seemed to be!"
"I don't know, Alex. There's a lot of "if" coming off this plan."
"There's been a lot of "if" coming off everything for the last month."
"Fair point..."
---
"So you're teling me that you think that just because I'm part Vulcan, I can use this thing without blowing us up?" Carl looked at Alex with one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, sir."
"And you are basing this on?"
"I...well there was a picture..." Alex spluttered, "Call it a hunch, sir. A strong one."
"And you're willing to bet all our lives on this "hunch", commander?"
"Way I see it, sir. If we don't stop El-Kamat, none of this will matter. We either risk getting blown up today, or we get blown up for certain whenever he manages to find that thing. If we don't try to use it now, you can bet that Starfleet Intel will bag that thing the second we land and we'll never have another chance."
"Hm.....your thoughts are...logical."
Carl stared at the device on the table in front of him.
"Then stand back, commander. Stand back everyone." Everyone in the room complied.
"Raise shields," Alex commanded, and a powerful energy bubble enfolded the commodore.
Carl stood still for a moment, and then reached out and grasped the device, touching both orbs simulaneously.
He would have gasped, if he had a body to do so. He seemed to have been reduced to just his eyes. He saw construction taking place in the orbit of a planet. A vast sphere, with a cylindrical arm jutting out from it. Electricity danced over all places inside the superstructure. The scene cut.
It was in orbit around a different planet. Suddenly, without warning, a giant tremor shook the fabric of space, and a bolt of purest blue light shot from the cylindrical arm to the planet below. It enfolded it completely and for a brief moment its radiance lit up the void. Then, Carl seemed to know. Nothing more breathed on that world. The scene cut.
A tremendous battle, totally beyond anything Carl had witnessed before. Compared to this, even the most fierce engagement in the Dominion War looked like a bar-room skirmish. There were ships, ships and fighters, and devastation as far as the eye could see into the blackness of space. The massive station was at its heart, and was firing wildly and, Carl thought, desperately. A blast lit up the void, the scene cut.
The structure was being placed into orbit around an orphan star. No one would ever look for it here, Carl realised. It was being hidden. It would be safe. It would end no more lives. The scene cut.
A supernova shattered the tranquil many years later. It pushed the station out, out and away. The scene seemed to zoom out, and Carl thought that it was over. But no. He was now looking at the Milky Way as it had been nearly a hundred thousand years ago. He saw the star's original position plotted on this map, and saw the trajectory of the vast station away from it.
As the scene faded to black for the final time, Carl heard a voice. A deep voice, millennia old, speak directly to him. It simply said "Forgive us...end what we began..." before it faded.
He woke up in the Sickbay, the world slowly coming back into focus.
<Tag Carl, Salek et al>
----
"We did nothing wrong you know." Calli said to the group.
The silence that followed could have been cut with a knife. They all looked at each other darkly, knowing that this statement was not, now, entirely true. The device had wrecked itself, burned out to a blackened husk. Totally unsalvagable, after Carl had released it and collapsed to the floor. Alex had postulated that this was probably a mechanism designed to allow it to be read properly only once, by someone who could understand the information fully. That, of course, didn't hide the fact that they really had no business using it at all, and that it should have been handed over to Starfleet for study.
"We'll have a hell of a job proving it," Alex finally said. "I've looked up the news stories coming in from Cordovin. Their evidence is good. Well, I mean...it's all fake of course, but its a very, very good fake. It might even be good enough to persuade Command. If I didn't know it, I'd say it was as good as concrete..."
<Tag All>
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