Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Dec 10, 2016 8:01:29 GMT
Ghes was tempted to get the team as far away as possible from the hamlet, particularly with belerium particle concentration levels continuing to climb... However, this planet potentially held the key for what had caused the Enzio to be dragged towards the Barrier, and most importantly what'd caused the previous visions and how that linked to the Oberth crews' insanity. To leave now would make matters worse.
=/\=Admiral Gheskori, this is Commander V'Maz. We're receiving another buoy message, this one dropped by the Oberth USS Sydney. There's another carrier wave on the message, for Admiral's eyes only.=/\=
=/\=I'm going to have to come up, aren't I?=/\= he asked the bridge after a pause. V'Maz responded affirmative as Ghes looked around, eyes settling for a moment on Vren still writhing in the dust, just now being picked up by the CMO and two security. =/\=You replace me, Commander, direct the team along with Commanders Galwyn Cet and Daya.=/\=
* * *
Arriving on the ship as V'Maz's own transporter column took his place on the surface, Ghes entered the ready room and switched over the terminal - that a yeoman had prepared for him - to receive the Sydney's message. Captain Reighting's recorded face appeared - the man was now dead, hanged in his room in a psychiatric institute, San Francisco.
"Flag officer of Starfleet, this is Aaron Reighting... We've encountered a being on this world. Extremely powerful. He lies behind many of the mysterious phenomena the crew - of my vessel and of Themmis's, the Crazy Horse - have been experiencing since our arrival here, in this forsaken region where many good officers have lost their minds... but none as we have been - or are - losing ourselves..."
Ghes frowned as Reighting's thoughts seemed to wander, the Captain losing focus and - very bizarrely - the video screen being chopped up at the same time, as if interference had occurred at that exact moment, "Find the being on the surface, Admiral, and discover what he wanted with us. It's too late for us now. We're already outbound, never I think to return..."
<TBC>
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Dec 11, 2016 7:58:25 GMT
The screen went blank and Ghes pondered, scratching his chin and his aspect turning dark; long shadows were cast over his face's architecture. It occurred to him - only now strangely - that the ship's new Chief Engineer was due to arrive in a shuttle, having taken the warp highway the day after the Enzio.
"Send subspace message, omnidirectional broadcast," he directed the computer, "Ensign Simon Clark, this is the USS Enzio. ETA 'til arrival, over."
<Tag Simon Clark>
* * *
Having arrived near the hamlet, Commander V'Maz strode through the dust, the rest of the team - set in a rough circle, more like a jagged rhombus around the motley collection of the half-ruined structures - becoming visible across the windswept terrain. "Commander Galwyn Cet," he stepped up beside the Science Officer, "The Admiral sent me down to take his place. Urgent message from a buoy of the Crazy Horse."
They closed further on the hamlet, approaching the building from which Tiana had detected the belerium-13 emissions - could this be the same particle output that'd somehow effected the Enzio's being pulled towards the Barrier? Now at the door of the building, the leading security guard nodded an indication it seemed safe to enter, and at that moment Gheskori rejoined them on the surface, materialising some metres behind.
V'Maz watched Ghes hurrying to catch up as he began stepping through the entrance - a fierce migraine attacked the Commander's temples as he crossed the threshold. Stabbing pain and unlikely colours besieged his visual field, and he saw Vren once more sprawled on the floor, tearing at his skull and seeing once more the instant the silhouetted eagles leapt from the eaves of the large structure, frozen on the threshold between thought and sound, between deafness and normality, the instant before the bullet reached... V'maz watched Vren's eyes become puddles of infinite depth, and Ghes reached the threshold himself and saw the semi-corporeal figure inside the small room - sitting on its small chair beside an antique fireplace - now turning to look at them.
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Dec 11, 2016 18:31:37 GMT
If he had been five hours earlier arriving on Starbase 47, Ensign Simon Clark would have been transferred to the USS Enzio. He would not have been met in the transporter room by a greying Admiral, who skipped him through the normal arrival paperwork, welcomed him back to active duty like an old uncle, and asked him how had been his recovery, if he had enjoyed his second trip through the academy’s second and first classes, and how sorry he was for the loss of Simon’s mother. Simon had no memory whatsoever of this man, or of the events that led up to his previous assignment on the USS Hanson, and he parried the questions as best he could as he was ushered from the turbolift into a large office, and physically pushed into a deep brown armchair.
“Now. Ensign. As you will have gleaned from the various news feeds, something is up, the details of which remain classified at this time. The Enzio’s mission is of the utmost urgency, and their departure could not wait. Neither can yours. You are ordered to deliver this message,” he had selected a small data chip from the desk and placed it into Simon’s hands, “directly into the hands of Admiral Gheskori. Without delay. Confirm your orders, Ensign.”
Simon had repeated the order exactly.
“Very good. There will be no entry of this order into the mission log. It is good to see you back on Starbase 47, I hope you enjoy your new assignment. Computer; energise.”
There had been the briefest shimmer of unexpected light, depositing Simon directly and without protocol into the pilot seat of a familiar craft, and then followed the most expedited shuttle launch sequence Simon had ever seen or heard of. Once he had reached warp, he exchanged a subspace communication with Admiral Torek, who congratulated him on his assignment to the USS Enzio, and briefed him on the exploration mission that lay before him. The data chip was not discussed. The accurate telemetry provided in the transmission located the entry to the warp highway, the aperture’s position not having had time to shift in the last four hours. The computer completed the alignment of the Tree Star’s deflector as if it was routine, and Simon adjusted the parallax to avoid a small turbulence around the marked coordinates.
“Computer; engage warp engines on the plotted course, maximum sustainable velocity. Enable audio notification.”
“Acknowledged. Warp Factor three-point-four engaging in five seconds.”
Simon grinned as the vibration of the charging warp coils thrummed through the deck. He was about to cross the entire galaxy in a type-9 shuttle, with a thirty-eight hour front seat view of a unique subspace anomaly.
“Warp engines engaging,” the computer said.
***
A warp highway, it turned out, was especially dull. The limited computer core of the shuttle was not large or fast enough to process even a fraction of what the small sensor net could collect from subspace, and the view from the window was no different from any other experience of faster than light travel he had ever seen. Simon passed the time reading schematics on the Prometheus class, slept a shift, and eighteen hours into the flight, pushed the engines up to warp factor four, reducing the remaining travel time from twenty hours to twelve – and slowly building up thermal energy in the reactor. Without delay, the Admiral had said.
***
"Send subspace message, omni-directional broadcast," he directed the computer, "Ensign Simon Clark, this is the USS Enzio. ETA 'til arrival, over."
“Shuttle craft Tree Star to USS Enzio, this is Ensign Clark. I have arrived in system and have you on sensors, a billion kilometres from my position. I will rendezvous at your coordinates in one hour at low warp… no wait… what can you tell me about that debris field?”
<Tag Ghes>
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Dec 14, 2016 13:40:31 GMT
Ghes walked through to the bridge and had the comm with Clark opened up to receive another participant, then nodded to one of Tiana's assistants as she listened to a replay of what'd already been said. He settled in the command chair as the junior science officer cleared her throat,
"Ensign. The debris is mixed in with an asteroid field half a parsec across at its outermost limits; a core region of uniform higher density obscures the view of the Galactic Barrier from the point of view of someone emerging from the warp highway. The metals constituting the debris occupy only the core region of the field, and interact with one another in a way such that they construct what Commander Galwyn Cet has termed a recording device, a diffuse structure existing only via its interactions."
She continued, "We didn't detect the debris at first, nor by extension could we understand how it combines with itself, which made any hypothesis about what has been causing the visions impossible... But once we found the debris we could postulate..."
Ghes realised her difficulty, "We beg your pardon, Ensign, more will be explained to you when you arrive. Suffice to say that the debris 'may' be involved in something causing mental disturbances amongst the crew; long-ago memories, sensations, and what you might call visions, have been experienced by a substantial number of the crew over the last two days. We do know that the origin of the debris identifies with the materials used to construct the habitat on the planet."
"Sir." Ghes jerked his head aside. "He won't know about the planet yet," the junior science officer said.
"Ah yes, excuse me." He cleared his throat. And none of them knew what could've possibly caused the destruction of whatever the debris had originally constituted...
<Tag Simon for any of above>
* * *
Ghes collected Commander V'Maz from the floor and watched as Vren, the quartermaster, was taken out of phase. He recognised that effect, having experimented with such technology as part of the research institute on Denobula before joining Starfleet. Now he stood frozen - partly in fear, partly in wonder - at the seemingly semi-corporeal being in the ancient chair before him. The rest of the security guards and the CMO entered the room, Ghes ordering two security to wait outside and glancing at Tiana and the CMO, saying quietly,
"I thought you said this place was uninhabited."
"Whoever that is, he isn't there," Tiana said, checking her tricorder. The misty being smiled knowingly, flickering as light from the fire played off his indistinct sides.
=/\=Admiral Gheskori, this is the Enzio. Simon Clark's shuttle has docked, sir.=/\=
=/\=Bring him up to speed and see about sending him to the surface as soon as possible,=/\= the Admiral responded.
"What have you done with my officer?" he asked the being and gestured to the space on the floor where Vren had been, daring not move too much more in the presence of this perhaps powerful creature. The latter didn't respond.
<Tag All>
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Tiana Galwyn Cet
Commander 1C
Ever journy starts with a dream
Registered: Jun 4, 2007 13:33:11 GMT
Posts: 420
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Post by Tiana Galwyn Cet on Dec 30, 2016 10:50:51 GMT
Petty Officer M'Rell
M'Rell was not usually responsible for being the science officer on the bridge but her expertise in warp physics meant that on this particular mission Commander Galwyn had shuffled the rosta. This was her first shift and she was a bit nervous. This This had been helped by the Admiral being of the ship. He was down on the surface with Commander Galwwyn. M'Rell hoped they were all right.
Then the Admiral returned. M'Rell did her best to focuss on her screens. She prodded at her fur, her blue-grey coat was fluffing slightly in response to nerves. She knew her science, she knew what she was doing. It would be all right. Besides the Admiral would only talk to her if he was requesting an update or something changed.
M'Rell had not expected to brief the new CEO , over the comm in front of the Admiral and the entire bridge crew no less. 'Breath' she reminded herself 'don't talk too much'.
"Ensign. The debris is mixed in with an asteroid field half a parsec across at its outermost limits; a core region of uniform higher density obscures the view of the Galactic Barrier from the point of view of someone emerging from the warp highway. The metals constituting the debris occupy only the core region of the field, and interact with one another in a way such that they construct what Commander Galwyn Cet has termed a recording device, a diffuse structure existing only via its interactions."
She continued, "We didn't detect the debris at first, nor by extension could we understand how it combines with itself, which made any hypothesis about what has been causing the visions impossible... But once we found the debris we could postulate..."
Ghes realised her difficulty, "We beg your pardon, Ensign, more will be explained to you when you arrive." M'Rell swallowed hard, she had been babbling hadn't she. She had gotten too excited about what she had been talking about and just gone on and on. She stared are her screen and tried to ssmooth her fur down.
"Suffice to say that the debris 'may' be involved in something causing mental disturbances amongst the crew; long-ago memories, sensations, and what you might call visions, have been experienced by a substantial number of the crew over the last two days. We do know that the origin of the debris identifies with the materials used to construct the habitat on the planet."
"Sir", M'Rell said. Knowing that it would be easier to get the words out if she did so quickly rather than over thinking it. Ghes jerked his head aside. "He won't know about the planet yet," she continued.
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Jan 7, 2017 1:52:47 GMT
"Who are you?" Ghes asked the being.
"Someone who's been trying to help you." The being stood and quite suddenly became solid, at the same time Tiana's tricorder beeping letting them know it was now detecting another lifesign, "I'm glad your ship was receptive to my belerium emissions. Otherwise you might never have found me. Admiral Gheskori. Something about this place has been driving your crew insane... It happened to others who came before; those, I wasn't able to help, however your ship is different, more responsive to my commands."
The Denobulan didn't respond; he instead turned to his officers with the tricorders, "Where's he come from?"
"According to this," the CMO said, shrugging her shoulders and raising an eyebrow, "... Outside of time." She turned on the man agressively, intoning as she tapped her temple, "We are sovereign individuals. You had no right to do this. It's you who're clearly responsible for what's affecting our minds."
"I'm responsible for what you've been terming the visions, yes," the man agreed, sitting back down and exuding an extremely casual air,
"Know, however, that my interferences, bestowed images, are the only things keeping you from losing your minds, such as what happened with those who were clearly your friends -" he made a show of surveying their uniforms, indicating by his recognition of them that he'd seen such things before, "- Captain Reighting and Captain Themmis. It's happened also to the officer who disappeared as he entered this room, Vren you called him; his mind has become lost in its own chassis, and rendered susceptible to being taken by the others, those - where I've come from - I've been trying to ward off from you. Vren should reappear in your region of space soon," he concluded, "But know he won't be the same person he was."
Ghes glared at the man as he prodded the low-burning fire with a prodder, sending sparks flying over shifted logs, "I am Malakai," he said, "I've been trying to show you how you're being exploited by the species in this region of space, who are my own species' bane. I've tried to do so in the only way I know how, which is incidentally the way I might get off this planet they marooned me on... 'They' being my bane, and your tormentors. When I say they occupy this region of space, I do mean 'space' and space only, for they intersect all times back and forth for eternity."
No longer willing to hear their interlocutor, Gheskori scowled and quit the structure, standing in the milky dust and looking at the pale grey globe of the local star casting its rays. Most of the team joined him.
"Theorise... Vren's out of phase. If what our friend Malakai tells us is true, is it possible what's happened to Vren is the same as what happened to the Oberth crews? They were sent back to Federation space by an unknown agency, their short term memory wiped, rendered dangerously unbalanced. Whether it was - and is being - done by Malakai or, if he can believed, these timeless beings he talks about... could their being put out of phase facilitate such a transportation back to the Federation?"
<Tag All>
As he spoke the air seemed to ripple around them, as if made suddenly fluid by the harsh light of rays piercing through the weak cloud cover. Dark patches took up residence in the rippling areas of the sky, beings seeming to shimmer into existence. Yet this was no transporter, at least none they'd ever encountered. "What's happening?"
As he whispered a security guard came charging out of the small dwelling, indicating that Malakai had disappeared. "If these are initial manifestations of the beings he spoke of," he shrugged towards the distorted pockets in the air, clanging metallically as they interacted in an unknown way with their surrounds, "Perhaps his absence has lifted some block on their intervention in the vicinity..." Ghes mused out loud, "Is it possible he's letting them come at us so that we come to believe how much we need his assistance?"
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Jan 24, 2017 23:10:32 GMT
"One moment, Ensign," the Admiral said. The display cut to black, though the panel indicated the connection was still active. After a few seconds, the feline form of a Caition in science officer blue flicked onto the screen, with the Admiral settled in the command chair on the bridge. The junior science officer cleared her throat.
"Ensign. The debris is mixed in with an asteroid field half a parsec across at its outermost limits; a core region of uniform higher density obscures the view of the Galactic Barrier from the point of view of someone emerging from the warp highway. The metals constituting the debris occupy only the core region of the field, and interact with one another in a way such that they construct what Commander Galwyn Cet has termed a recording device, a diffuse structure existing only via its interactions."
"A computer?" Simon asked. Half a parsec?, he thought. "It's not light based over that distance." The uniform field density was unusual. This sort of natural astronomical feature would normally be irregular gaps and clumped groupings. He tried to visualise the gravitational interactions, and could not reconcile it with the space ahead of him. He started to feed the parameters for a simple model into the shuttle's computer.
"The core region does appear to have some the characteristics of a data-manipulative structure, yes. The debris is showing on your sensors?"
"Yes. I am transmitting a low bandwidth sensor feed." Simon directed the computer to filter a high-aliasing sample of the model parameters and direct it through the data channel.
"Interesting. We were at a much closer distance before the sensors picked up the central 300km field core, it may actuate based on the stimulus of... that is, if a computational capacity exists in the..." she took a deep breath, her eyes passing briefly over the console in front of her.
She continued, "We didn't detect the debris at first, nor by extension could we understand how it combines with itself, which made any hypothesis about what has been causing the visions impossible... But once we found the debris, we could postulate..."
The Caition appeared agitated, she stared at her screen and was brushing at the fur on her neck.
"Er... visions?" Simon asked.
"We beg your pardon, Ensign," the Admiral said, "more will be explained to you when you arrive. Suffice to say that the debris 'may' be involved in something causing mental disturbances amongst the crew; long-ago memories, sensations, and what you might call visions, have been experienced by a substantial number of the crew over the last two days. We do know that the origin of the debris identifies with the materials used to construct the habitat on the planet."
"Sir", the junior science officer said. The Admiral jerked his head aside. "He won't know about the planet yet," she continued.
"Ah yes, excuse me." He cleared his throat. "Ensign Rivers, notify me when the engineering chief arrives."
"Yes, sir," said the next bridge officer on the display, tapping at her console without looking up. "Ensign Clark, I see from your file that you have qualified as a shuttle pilot not once, but twice. I look forward to hearing how you achieved that."
Simon did not think she meant the whole story, immediately, over the comm. "It's not much of a tale." He replied.
She glanced up, giving the screen an indecipherable smile, "I suggest you use the autopilot for the remainder of your journey. Some of the visions experienced by the crew came with a temporary loss of consciousness, and with the ship held in whatever is pulling us toward the galactic barrier, we are not in a position to mount any effective rescue."
"Noted," Simon replied.
"We'll see you shortly, Chief. Enzio out."
He realised his face held an inane grin. Idiot, he thought to himself as he punched up the automated navigation routine. He had not yet set foot on the ship and was already tongue-tied talking to his colleagues.
+++
Simon took in a brief glimpse of a debris-crowded space as the nacelles gently released the ship from the collapsing warp field, and reached forward to tap the comm...
...and found himself looking at himself in a hazy jungle. Around him Starfleet officers he recognised from their visits to his rehabilitation centre were rushing. A medical officer was running a medical tricorder over a fresh bite mark in his hand. There was a flash. He was in a medical facility, on a biobed. Someone who looked a little like Admiral Drew was leaning over him, half of his left shoulder burned black. Behind the Admiral a plaque suspended in mid-air read 'USS Hanson'. Behind the plaque was an open plaza of sandy ground, surrounded by buildings with tall pillars, and great stone arches held in place by the dead roots of ancient plants. Now Simon was in the square, sand blowing in his eyes, devoid of life of any kind. A scream rattled from one of the arches. A child fled an unseen fear, feet slipping on the sand. A flash of darkness obscured his vision. A cloud filled the proximity, with eyes boring into him. Reaching for him. "Yes." it said, directly into his mind...
"Ensign Clark? Are you all right?"
Simon was sat in the cockpit of the shuttle. What was that?, he asked himself, Where am I?. Ahead of him were the grey tritanium walls of a Prometheus class shuttlebay. Instinctively, he tapped his comm-badge. "Clark here."
"Behind you, Chief."
The Ensign from the bridge came into his field of view. Rivers, some part of his brain prompted. He realised he was damp with sweat. "I... think I just experienced a vision. It was unsettling." He shivered.
"You've fared better than some," she said, "best let the CMO check you over, just in case." She tapped her badge.
=/\=Admiral Gheskori, this is the Enzio. Simon Clark's shuttle has docked, sir.=/\=
=/\=Bring him up to speed and see about sending him to the surface as soon as possible,=/\= the Admiral responded.
=/\=Aye, Sir. Enzio out.=/\=
"Medical will wait. Sick bay may be a little busy right now."
Simon mentally dusted himself down, and tried to shake off the feeling of dread that had settled in his mind. He stood, and gave a rather stiff salute. The familiarity of it strengthened his basis in reality. "Ensign Simon Clark, requesting permission to come aboard."
Rivers returned the salute. "Welcome aboard the USS Enzio, Chief. Duty calls, I'll brief you as we find the transporter room."
+++
Simon materialised within a ruined dusty settlement. He shuddered. It was all eerily similar to the vision he had experienced in the shuttle. Several Starfleet officers were standing around a scowling Denobulan.
As he spoke the air seemed to ripple around them, as if made suddenly fluid by the harsh light of rays piercing through the weak cloud cover. Dark patches took up residence in the rippling areas of the sky, beings seeming to shimmer into existence. "What's happening?"
A security guard came charging out of the small dwelling, "If these are initial manifestations of the beings he spoke of," he shrugged towards the distorted pockets in the air, clanging metallically as they interacted in an unknown way with their surrounds, "Perhaps his absence has lifted some block on their intervention in the vicinity..." Ghes mused out loud, "Is it possible he's letting them come at us so that we come to believe how much we need his assistance?"
No time for introductions then, he thought. Simon raised his tricorder, held it out in the air, and started reading out the display. "No electromagnetic readings, no thermal readings, no subspace readings. They are physically interacting with the particles in the air, creating both wind and sharp sound. They are absorbing around 64% of ambient light with minimal reflection, and transparent to the rest. Should you need it, I would think they would react similarly to phased energy." The dark beings moved slowly through the air, around them. The wind picked up speed and dropped, and then sped the other way, and stilled.
<Tag All>
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Jan 31, 2017 8:05:20 GMT
Ghes took stock as Tiana received a call from the Enzio to the effect that she had to depart immediately. Feeling a pang of regret at the loss, the Denobulan steeled himself once more and returned focus to the, now critical, situation. He ducked back inside the small building, accompanied by two security guards who followed without an order, finding - as before - the rocking chair next to the fire empty, swaying to and fro still perturbed by the non-corporeal being's recent departure.
"If he's here... and if he's honest, he will help us," he mused, crouched over the chair.
"Sir?" Ghes shrugged and said that to the security officer that it was nothing, returning to the perplexing scene outside. The remnant of the team (that was, minus Tiana and Vren) stood about dazed and seemingly at a loss, all except the resourceful Clark whose acquaintance Ghes had just met, who stood scanning the air-distorting living anomalies.
"Is there any imminent threat from them?" he asked them all collectively, not placing any great hope in their knowing how to read anything but the most basic of signs in these possibly organic, timeless beings.
"Ok, Clark..." he murmured, "Let's try the phaser. I wouldn't think we'd be able to harm them, but it might spur them into activity one way or the other."
Clark nodded and signalled to a security NCO, who didn't seem best pleased to be taking this course of action: nevertheless, he took aim, grimacing, and fired at the nearest anomaly.
Most of the beam seemed to shoot straight through Ghes noticed, but it did lose some of its thickness, indicating some of the energy was imparted on the substance - whatever there was of that which interacted with the physical environment - of the being. It was particularly obvious that some damage had been done in hindsight, as seconds later the causality-defying lifeform emitted a horrendous shriek. Like glass scraping over metal and filling an echoing chamber, in which all points of incidence of sound reflected it back perfectly onto the group of officers witnessing the terrible sight, the creature's moans seemed to come from everywhere.
Ghes took a half-step back in near-fright, and two of the transparent beings, pockets of distortion in the air, drifted over to their wounded comrade, while the others... the others seemed to be solidifying, in a similar manner to the way Malakai had taken on physical form. About a dozen of them situated themselves around the abandoned settlement, arranging themselves in an awfully familiar architectural pattern, and soon planted themselves in the blasted earth and grew to a height of several metres, Mayan-style pillars and other elements of architecture becoming apparent in their forms. Now the injured being had been seen to and seemed to dissolve in the air, while its helpers came towards the team, setting themselves around them.
Ghes now looked about, and had to wonder if he hadn't slipped into one of his visions, of the temple square with its sacrificial altar in Yucatan, Earth... The place now looked virtually identical, only obviously a different world when one cast one's eyes to the far distance. "We're here..." he whispered, "I'm here. This was the vision. A premonition..."
"They've read my mind," a disembodied voice spoke to him, to all of them it seemed, as the others looked round at each other. Malakai was speaking. "I constructed that place in your minds for you based upon your memories, your shared knowledge and experience. Now they've taken it from me."
"Why are they doing it? What do they want?" the CMO called to the sky.
Malakai apparently heard her; there was a delay in his reply however and when he spoke he was not reassuring, "I don't know..." Then another pause, and somehow Ghes got the impression that Malakai, wherever he was, was looking straight at Simon Clark, and spoke so they could all hear, "There is another one of you here now, whose memories I haven't been able to penetrate as fully. If he has experienced any 'visions' as you call them, then they were given him by the beings around you, for whom time is no matter."
<Tag Clark>
Ghes then noticed in his periphery a structure - surely made to seem different and more intact by one of the timeless beings - that approximated the 'school' he'd found himself in under the supposed tuition of the maniac Lieutenant Korcawski. He drifted towards it, entering, and found his young wife Mwv'mci. Now was this a vision or was this real?
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Feb 3, 2017 16:44:15 GMT
"Is there any imminent threat from them?" The Admiral asked.
There was shuffling amongst the officers, faces communicating what no one had said. They just don't know, Simon thought. Out in the far reaches of the galaxy, faced with an alien species so unusual, a group of the Federation's finest officers, and we do not even know if we are being threatened. The dark patches in the air held an uneasiness about them, or perhaps it was just his own fear of the unknown.
"Ok, Clark," he murmured, "lets try the phaser."
That was not what Simon had expected. He had not meant to suggest aggression, but communicate to the team that these beings were unlikely to be immune to phaser fire. Should we need it. Should it be required. He had only been on planet for a few minutes. He had not seen any of the situation that had occurred up to this point. Maybe this was the best course of action. Should he voice his objection? Or follow the order of the commanding officer. The dark patches hovered around them, his tricorder revealing nothing as to what they were. He did not know enough not to trust the decision.
"I wouldn't think we'd be able to harm them, but it might spur them into action one way or the other."
He nodded toward the Admiral, and got the attention of one of the security team, and gestured in the direction of the shape with his tricorder. He didn't even know the man's name. "Minimum setting," he added, hoping this was going to turn out well.
The security NCO didn't seem best pleased to be taking this course of action: nevertheless, he took aim, and fired at the nearest anomaly.
Most of the beam seemed to shoot straight through, but it did lose some of it's thickness, indicating some of the energy was imparted on the substance - whatever there was of that which interacted with the physical environment - of the being. It was particularly obvious that some damage had been done, as seconds later the causality-defying life form emitted a horrendous shriek, like glass scraping over metal, and filling an echoing chamber, in which all point of sound reflected back perfectly on the the group of officers witnessing the terrible sight. The creature's moans seemed to come from everywhere.
The shriek was horribly familiar. It was the scream of the child in his vision, as he had arrived on the Enzio in the Tree Star. Amplified, fearsome. Simon covered his ears to block it out, closing his eyes against that rush on his mind.
When he looked up, all of the life forms seemed to be solidifying. About a dozen of them situated themselves around the abandoned settlement, arranging themselves in a familiar architectural pattern, and soon planted themselves in the blasted earth and grew to a height of several meters, pillars and other elements becoming apparent in their forms.
Simon watched as the pillars extended into arches, shapes of ancient tree roots clinging to the structure. This was what he had seen in the shuttle. But how could it be?
The being who had been shot seemed to dissolve in the air, while its helpers came towards the team setting themselves around them.
"We're here..." he heard the Admiral say, "I'm here. This was the vision. A premonition..."
"They've read my mind," a disembodied voice spoke to him, to all of them, it seemed, as the others looked around at each other. "I constructed that place in your minds for you based on your memories, your shared knowledge and experience. Now they've taken it from me."
"Why are they doing it? What do they want?" The medical officer called to the sky.
The speaker apparently heard her; there was a delay in his reply, however, and when he spoke, he was not reassuring. "I don't know," Then another pause, and somehow, Simon got the impression that the speaker, wherever he was, was looking straight at him, and spoke so they could all hear. "There is another one of you here now, whose memories I haven't been able to penetrate fully. If he has experienced any 'visions' as you call them, then they were given him by the beings around you, for whom time is no matter."
The wind picked up, shifting and gusting, blowing sand into his eyes. Simon lifted his arm to protect his face, just has he had in the vision, as the remaining anomalies in the air drifted downwards toward the ground. In his periphery, Simon saw one of the security guards collapse to the ground. The medical officer made no move to help him, and had lowered himself into a crouch. The Admiral was glassy eyed, staring into the distance.
"Admiral?" Simon asked, "What does he mean?". The Denobulan did not respond, and started walking towards one of the ruined structures. Apart from the Admiral, he could not see any of the other officers standing. Panic rose in Simon's throat, and he tried to force it down. In his vision, next had come the dark cloud with eyes. He shuddered. There was something here, a connection between these timeless beings, and that voice, and what was happening to the officers around him, and a vision that somehow was coming true through time.
"The visions were constructed?" Simon asked into the wind, his voice shaking, "Did you construct the debris field, also?" The asteroid belt had seemed unnatural when he first saw it, with it's regular distribution and geometric symmetry, and had set that model running to analyse it. He had not considered the possibility that the debris might have been arranged intentionally by a being that still lived.
"Not I," the voice replied, "It is theirs, a focus point in time and space. An anchor of memory."
"In time?" He asked. A recording device, M'Rell had said.
The wind was the only reply.
The debris was temporal it must communicate at some other level, and if it was a focus point for these beings, perhaps it could be somehow unfocused. He vaguely recalled the opening lectures of the temporal mechanics course from his first pass through Starfleet academy on the science track. Tachyons. He had an idea.
=/\= Clark to Enzio, =/\= The response was not immediate, and it was agonising to wait, watching one of the anomalies darkening steadily in the air above them.
=/\= Rivers, here. Not good timing, Ensign, half the crew has just collapsed, or is talking to the walls. We need the doctor. =/\=
So, that medical officer was the CMO, and everyone affected at the same time. Both on planet and off planet. Not good, he thought.
=/\= Admiral and the doctor are the same. Can you beam us up? =/\=
=/\= Negative, I can't get a lock, and the transporter chief isn't responding. =/\=
We are stuck here. He looked around. The arches surrounded them completely, dark semi-solid shapes. There was nowhere he could run to. He started edging to into the largest empty space.
=/\= Who was the science officer on the bridge when I arrived? =/\=
=/\= M'Rell =/\=
=/\= Is she available? =/\=
=/\= Yes, Ensign, though she's a little unsettled. Patched in. =/\=
=/\= M'Rell, did you review the data I sent from the shuttle? =/\=
=/\= Yes, in some detail. The focus of the readings on the wider debris gives an interesting view that was not picked up when the Enzio entered the- =/\=
Simon interrupted. He felt for it, but he didn't have time. That cloud had reached the ground. Getting bigger and darker, thicker and closer.
=/\= The data came from a model in the shuttle Tree Star's computer. I think I left it active. Get it in the main computer, fast! =/\=
=/\= Transferred, Ensign, and running as Clark-One. =/\= said Rivers.
=/\= M'Rell, can you see any way of the debris interacting, or detecting emissions from it at all? =/\=
=/\= N-No ensign. In theory t-the- =/\=
=/\= Put the computer on comm! =/\=
He was really scared now, there was an urgent tone in his voice that didn't sound much like his own, and there was no where to run. He had to think. He had to think.
=/\= The computer? =/\= asked the Ops officer.
=/\= Now! =/\=
He might have shouted. Maybe he had. It was so windy. His heart was thumping in his ears.
=/\= Ready, but I don't see how- =/\=
=/\= Computer, calculate likelihood of the debris field functioning as a computational device. =/\=
=/\= two percent likelihood. =/\=
No. He had expected that. But if time wasn't a factor in the equation:- instant communication!
=/\= Computer, set light speed constant to infinity, and re-run model Clark-One, fastest approximation. Answer same question. =/\=
=/\= Working. =/\=
It was a fairly simple model, it shouldn't take long. The eyes appeared in the darkness, just as they had in the vision. Red. Unsettling. Was it done yet? Simon backed away, and found that he was right up against one of the pillars, and it was solid, unyielding.
=/\= seventy two percent likelihood. =/\=
Close enough, he thought.
=/\= Enzio, connect a tachyon emitter to a phaser array and target the debris, wide beam, low intensity, it might disrupt- =/\=
... Simon was standing in a jungle, tall trees, moist air, green foliage with great big floral heads in pink and blue. The wind had gone, the sand, the buildings. Starfleet officers from the USS Hanson, and some he half recognised from his time spent in Starfleet medical were moving around him. The dark cloud hung in the air exactly where it was, entirely opaque. His back was against the semi-transparent pillar, the arches towering above him. A tendril of the anomaly reached forward. Red eyes bored into his skull. He couldn't look away. A painful burning tore his shoulder. He didn't scream. He could not work out why he didn't scream. He couldn't move. The datachip in the shoulder pocket of his engineering uniform lifted away, floating on the edge of solid darkness.
"Yes..." it said, a deep booming voice, resonating triumph. It drew the chip towards itself...
Simon saw the village, desolate, barren, sandy, the Admiral standing in the centre of one of the buildings.
...The jungle, deep, and moist, flowers and foliage, dark cloud slowly withdrawing, reaching downwards...
Simon was face down on the sand, surrounded by silence. No wind. No screams. He lifted his head, and found pain in his shoulder. He added a moan to the silence, shattering it. The datachip lay in the sand in front of him. He reached forward, careful not to put any weight on the shoulder, and closed his fingers around it.
...the jungle, the dark cloud occupying the same space as he, searching for his hand. Panicked, Simon fell sideways into the foliage...
He rolled without grace to his knees in a dusty heap, clutching his shoulder. Why did they want the datachip? What was so important about whatever information was contained within it? Something that related to federation space? He had no idea.
Around him his crew-mates were sprawled in various positions of recovery. The Admiral was standing still in the ruined structure, his expression shifting from something discordant to one of intense focused control.
"What's going on?" Simon asked, to no one in particular.
<Tag All>
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Feb 6, 2017 11:51:29 GMT
He walked in a trance towards his wife, calling her name but getting no response. Eventually he tired of the exercise and turned to look out the window at the rest of the small settlement - it had changed to resembled a jungle... the scene flickered back to the fields of grey sand before being overlaid in several places by a truer representation of the temple complex at Yucatan, spliced together with the hamlet and the bleak grey surrounding expanse.
Deciding that he was definitely experiencing the visions again, the Denobulan walked through the room uncertainly, ready for any change in his apparent environment and the possibility a wall or other obstacle could materialise abruptly in front of him. Nothing did; instead, Mwv'mci, hereto keeping busy in a corner, turned and marched towards him, losing cohesion and reintegrating in the familiar form of Malakai,
"Your team has been taken by the beings to the same place as Lieutenant Vren, except for him you call Ensign Clark and, of course, yourself. Drawing you here I was able to protect you from the bane. They've taken something from your colleague."
As Malakai spoke the scene dissolved and they were situated atop the main pyramidal structure of the complex, overlooking the buildings and plain. From the eaves about them birds took flight, disturbed by the sudden manifestation. Again, Ghes wasn't sure if he was experiencing a vision, or if the scene on the planet was just being substantially changed by the beings or by Malakai, or if there was actually no distinction between the two...
The Admiral heard one of the away team far below - Clark - speak a few words; the rest of the team had disappeared, the grey plain was clear, except for Lieutenant Miak and two green-uniformed figures <Tag Tavik?> who'd just now beamed in. The three explored the area and went searching through the foliage. Ghes's sight was lost to him again as Miak found Clark,
Explaining the tachyon beam had been sent to the cloud, that it'd allowed the crew to beam down and had also released the ship, for the time being, Miak helped the injured Clark to his feet, noticing he had gripped in his hand an isochip, "What's on that?"
"He once more has the physical object of a data chip, but the information on it has been stolen," Malakai told Ghes, "Duplicated, rather. He retains a copy." A copy of what? What datachip? Ghes was brusque. "I didn't know before and it's still unclear to me despite consulting the only other member of my species still surviving; the rest were obliterated - though not in the sense of an explosion like I suppose you may imagine - by the beings all about us now, in this very stone..." He hesitated and ran a hand along the pinnacle's rough surface, it apparently being one or some or a part of one of the creatures. "As far as I can ascertain, a chip the Ensign has contains instructions for 'doing something faster' which related to crews of the two Oberth class Federation starships, also allowing that same something to be transmitted to Earth."
Ghes made a series of quick deductions, "The debris field recorded the memories of their crews and reinterpreted them, and did the same with my crew? But that's too slow to change their personalities?"
Malakai said it was probable; he began guiding Ghes down the face of the pyramid to the intersection of plain and rippling semi-corporeal jungle, "Despite the debris's processing of information faster than is allowed by physical laws applying to spacetime-dwelling lifeforms, the insanity eventually induced via the visions is, admittedly, still a slow process."
Incredibly, Ghes hadn't thought of the following immediately, "How did Clark get the datachip?" Malakai explained improbably it was given to him at Starfleet Medical while he'd been recovering from an injury or ailment, and that through the realisation of his thoughts in the space of the visions - suspended somewhere between imagination and reality as Ghes had suspected - the memory of the chip had taken on actual form and manifested itself in a restored physical reality.
"You're unsafe as long as you remain here," Malakai told him as they neared the level of the plain. Ghes turned round as he reached the surface; the temple and Malakai had disappeared.
"Let's get back to the ship," he said after looking around briefly. Once there, (edit)he called a briefing(edit), and explained to the staff what Malakai had told him atop the temple, inquired about the health of Corporal Chang, ordered the helmsman put distance between themselves, the planet, and the debris field, in case the beings reacquired a lock on them. If Korcawski was still on the loose and the towns in Mexico were still in peril, they had to initiate an entry into the warp highway as soon as possible.
<Tag Clark, Tavik?>
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Feb 9, 2017 23:24:13 GMT
(OOC: Not a full post! More to follow...)
"What's going on?" Simon asked, to no one in particular.
No one responded. The security team, the medical officer. They were gone. Vanished.
Simon rested a moment, bracing himself against the pain in his shoulder as he slowly tested the function of his left elbow, his fingers. He winced as the movement tugged at the burnt-black uniform fused to his skin. They still worked.
He jolted, sending another spasm of pain through his shoulder as the scene around him shifted to a dark jungle foliage. Not like it was before; crisp, green, and real - now it was fuzzy, with no colour, no moisture. It was unsettling, and a little oppressive. The grey sand on which he was kneeling extended around him beneath the semi-transparent fronts. The cloud-like life forms had not reappeared. He tried to calm he thumping heartbeat in his ears.
The distinctive thrum of a transporter beam formed in the near distance. By sound, he could not tell if someone had arrived - or had left him. He reached to his combadge.
"Ensign Clark?" someone asked with an eastern European edge.
"Yes?" he replied, hand just short of the insignia on his chest.
"Lieutenant Miak. You hurt?"
"Yes, my shoulder." For the pain, he did not turn around.
Footsteps brought the trousers of a green marine uniform into his field of view, and a brief inspection.
"Cauterised. Hand up?"
Simon took the proffered limb in his right, and was lifted to his feet.
"Steady?"
He was pleased to find that his knees would hold him. He nodded.
"What's on that?" Miak asked, noticing the datachip.
Simon mentally pulled short at the question. It was highly classified, not to be spoken of to anyone except the Admiral. He blinked. He did not know what to say. The marine watched him. He had to say something. "A message," he replied. He did not know even then if he had said too much. Would that go on the official record?
Miak nodded. "Good job with the Tachyon Beam, Ensign. The ship is free, and visions stopped, for now. We are beaming out. Where is the team?"
"I don't know," Simon replied.
The jungle vanished, revealing Gheskori and two other Marines standing a few meters from them.
<Tag Tavik>
"Let's get back to the ship," the Admiral said.
"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Miak responded.
=/\= Miak to Enzio. Five to beam up. Ensign Clark to sick bay. =/\=
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Feb 16, 2017 23:00:11 GMT
"There you are, all done," the nurse said, pulling away the dermal regenerator.
He sat up from the biobed. "Thank you, nurse... er..."
"Walker," she said, "that shoulder will be sore for a few days, after a burn like that, so don't do anything too strenuous. We know what you engineers are like," she gave a brief chuckle, and patted him on the good shoulder.
"What's that mean?"
"Nothing. Nothing." she chuckled again, and handed him a fresh shirt "here, you can't see the captain looking like that."
Simon had the unpleasant feeling of being spoken to as an ignorant child, and he decided he didn't like this particular nurse. He thanked her again and left sickbay. He asked the computer for the nearest unoccupied compartment, where he changed, and folded the damaged uniform into recycling. With the computer's help he located the turbolift, and arrived at the briefing room, without having passed any other members of the crew. He felt the slight shift in the inertial dampening system as the ship went to warp. He pressed the door buzzer, and the door slid open.
"Ensign Clark," Ensign Rivers said, mocking surprise with a small smile, "Have a seat."
Simon found one between Rivers and the Marine officer he had seen on the planet surface. Given his last assignment was on a training vessel as a science cadet, being on the senior staff of a starship was a little daunting. Admiral Gheskori gave him a brief nod, and continued the debrief.
Gheskori explained how Malakai had screened him inside one of the structures so that the beings could not reinterpret the visions that Malakai had constructed in his mind, and use them to shift his personality, as they had for the crews of the Sydney and Crazy Horse.
"Lieutenants Marin and V'Ren, our Chief Medical Officer, Commander V'Maz, and three of our security contingent were taken by the beings who surrounded you on the planet. We must hope that they will return to federation space." Ensign Rivers added.
The officers paused to reflect for a moment on those they had lost.
"And the jungle you saw?" a science officer asked the Admiral.
"Malakai suspected that it was a realisation manifest of a combination of Ensign Clark's thoughts, and the memory of an isochip in his possession. The beings were particularly interested in it, and duplicated it's content. The isochip, Ensign?" the Admiral asked.
"Yes, Sir," Simon removed the isochip from his pocket, and placed it on the table, "for your eyes only. It's not on the official record, Sir." Simon was careful to be formal, this was his first briefing, and he didn't know what was expected. When the others watched him expectantly, he continued, "I am told that the jungle is a scene from my past, I've seen a holodeck recreation from the sensor logs on the USS Hanson, but I have no memory of the event itself. I was serving on a training ship with Admiral Drew as CO, and I contracted Drafaria on an away mission, and lost about 18 months of my memory; my time on the Hanson, and a year at the Academy. The virus wasn't picked up in the transporter biofilters at the time, though I'm told that all starfleet systems upgraded since will detect it. That was an away mission, in 2394."
"2394? That was nine years ago. Your file gives your age as 26. Surely you weren't 17 as a Cadet." Ensign Rivers asked.
"I was 23. Starfleet medical kept me in stasis for over six years while they developed the cure. I recognised the jungle from the holodeck program. I didn't know it was on the isochip, and I don't know what else is on it, only that it is important, and relates to our current situation."
<Tag Gheskori, Daya?, Tavik?>
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Feb 17, 2017 16:05:52 GMT
Shortly before the briefing concluded and given what had been expounded therein, Ghes had the ship jump to warp to intersect with the warp highway. The briefing ended up being extended, as new ramifications were discussed, and the vessel entered the warp highway, now accelerating by orders of magnitude back towards the Orion-Cygnus Arm. They watched false stars shot past the transparent aluminium window of the conference room.
"So you're in fact 32 years old?" Ghes said with interest, though realising that Clark was of course in terms of biological age 26. Also realising that the expectation was on him, it being clear he had further information to give them that'd been passed on by Malakai, Ghes thought back again to those minutes atop the temple, observing the wraithlike rippling jungle below...
"Malakai also said," he paraphrased the words, "Something to the effect of, 'as far as I can ascertain, the chip contains information pertaining to mind alteration of Federation citizens on a larger scale than that which was achieved with the crew of your Oberth class starships and with, since then, four members of the United Federation of Planets' Council.'"
He was astonished with himself that he could've forgotten such an important detail, but then his team had been beset by the shadowy beings on the grey plain below - he'd been somewhat distracted.
* * *
He thanked Clark and slid the isochip along the table, taking it to a small compartment with a console to the side of the conference room and requesting the officers remain; finding out that the chip contained personal data on Clark as well as a surprising report from the Crazy Horse and Sydney shortly before they fell out of contact - useful indeed - he blocked Clark's medical records, sending them to the assistant CMO, then fed the Crazy Horse and Sydney's information to the main viewer in the conference room, returning...
* * *
Studying the data, it appeared to them Malakai had been right: the mind alteration - inducing insanity - had been discovered by the two Oberth captains while they themselves were losing control of their psyches, and the debris device was trying to accelerate the process and extend its range to Earth. It'd been a desperate warning by people trying to retain their sanity for long enough to send a coherent message, before they - including Korcawski - became utterly lost.
It was Ghes's initial impression that the Federation councillors had been kidnapped by Korcawski and held as hostages, but it was equally explanatory that they were conspirators with Korcawski's 'death cult'. "Could it be that the Federation councillors who are with Lieutenant Korcawski, and the other escaped Oberth crewmembers in Yucatan, are the same as the four councillors mentioned to me by Malakai?" the Denobulan asked.
"It would fit, certainly," Ensign Rivers said, "A beam directed - having to be confined incredibly narrowly - towards Earth from the recording device could operate in a similar manner on Federation councillors and any others as it did on the Oberth crews." It was speculative but it was logical.
It was also logical the tachyon-loaded phaser beam had disrupted the flow of information from the debris field to Earth, as well as from it to the surface of Malakai's planet. If the device's insanity-inducing beam had returned to its operation since the lifting of the tachyon blanket, more and more people may be being affected on Earth (they'd received no communiques; could that in any way be significant? he thought).
"Refamiliarise yourself, Simon," he said to Clark, handing him back the isochip, "The doctor will have the same information." He called an end to the briefing; on the way out, he stopped Aeryn and tried to joke with her, "You were subdued in there. How's Chang holding up?" As they returned to the bridge, tactical reported that several hundred lifeforms matching the characteristics of the beings, and one distinctly different (Malakai?), were in pursuit of the Enzio along the highway...
<Tag Clark, Tavik, Daya>
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Feb 28, 2017 23:33:02 GMT
OOC: Hi everyone, let's finish this up ultra-quickly now, ideally within a week (7 March); we'll be moving from tomorrow - at earliest - to Starbase 47 to join in the collective thread with the other ship crews - exciting times ahead!
As they neared the three-quarters marker on their way back along the warp highway towards Federation space, there was a gasp from the upper deck; Ghes was already turning around, and there he saw standing Malakai, a terrible gash across his forehead, leaking blood over the pale features of his face. "It's not real," he said unnecessarily, stepping forward to look over the Ops officer's shoulder, "A representation, of what my 'friends', are doing out there."
"What are they doing?" Ghes demanded, "Just attacking you? Stopping you from reaching us?" Then they've failed, at least for now, he thought.
"First, Admiral, I'm not actually here; this is a projection... my true form is currently being pursued by our 'friends'." He'd read Gheskori's mind seemingly. "They want to use you to commandeer your ship for them; in reaching through the hull they'll leave the vessel open to being affected by the beam sent from the recording device. Once they've created that breach, the narrowly-confined beam's energy will combine with the neural energy of your cortices, resulting in - an accelerated version of the normal effect, as experienced by the crews of your Oberth class starships - your permanent insanity.
"It is in that state that you'll arrive at Earth, still in control of your ship but no longer in control of who or what you are..." Malakai let the words saturate into the Enzio bridge officer's minds, Ghes also having had the being's words fed through the intercom to the whole ship. Someone asked the being how they may stop them, her voice emerging small and mouselike. "Only I can," the being responded, "But you have to assist me. Once you've reached the end of the warp highway - if, that is, it's terminus has been repositioned successfully to the 'Kepler Belt' of your home star system - you will have to close the highway, permanently, by firing a burst of your quantum warheads with the following modifications..."
He went to Simon Clark's console, leaning over the CEO and indicating to him necessary changes that'd have to be made to the deflector, the warheads as they left the tubes to be scanned in turn by the deflector and modified during their flight towards the target: the highway terminus.
<Tag Clark>
"They will be trapped inside and will perish," Malakai said conclusively, "I'll attempt to escape in time, but it may well be that I am caught on the highway once you create the permanent... 'road block'." He smiled, "Please don't hesitate to fire upon the terminus whilst I'm still inside. It's a difference between me, one of two surviving members of my species, perishing, or, your entire species being destroyed and associates in your interstellar civilisation potentially being at risk."
Fifteen minutes later, Malakai's apparition having vanished, the Prometheus class Enzio shot off the swirling - x-ray visible only - terminus of the warp highway, making a broad turn to bring its deflector and forward quantum torpedo tubes in line with the terminus... they had mere seconds. Behind them, the planet Neptune was coming into alignment with them and Sol. Beyond that icy cerulean sphere of gas and others, lay Earth, now receiving transmissions from the distant debris field near the Galactic Barrier causing several people in the American Northern continent to begin to lose their minds.
"Let's get ourselves prepared, Ensign, everybody," he said, looking at Clark who sat at the suddenly very important engineering station. "Colonel Tavik. Take a shuttle, our best pilot and two marine units. Make for Earth as fast as you are able and contact Starfleet Command; request an update of the progress against Lieutenant Korcawski's cult and - wherever he is, if he's still in Yucatan or not - land there and assist Starfleet as best as you're able." Assuming Starfleet had been able to combat Korcawski at all... he thought.
<Tag Clark, Tavik>
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Mar 10, 2017 20:33:06 GMT
"It would fit, certainly," Ensign Rivers said, " A beam directed having to be confined incredibly narrowly towards earth could operate in a similar manner on federation councillors and any others as it did on the Oberth Crews."
"A beam from the debris field at the edge of the galaxy, all the way to Earth?" Simon asked.
"Sure, why not? It's speculative, but it is logical."
"I just can't see how a beam could cross that distance, and accurately intersect with the Sol system. If there's a beam coming from somewhere pointed at earth, it must be coming from somewhere closer than that. These beings have already demonstrated that they are able to move outside of time, they could have placed an emitter in say, the Kepler belt, or the inner asteroid belt of Sol at any point in history. If it's the same as what the debris field emitted, then it's not something we can even detect."
"The makeup of the Kepler belt is similar to and much smaller than the debris field." M'Rell said, the first she'd contributed to the discussion.
"Perhaps it's a repeater? A relay?" Simon said.
"Also speculative, Ensign, though logical. We just don't know enough." The Admiral said, "If Earth is being affected, we need to be careful. It may not just be earth, given the evidence of the Oberth crews, we don't know who we can trust, even on board our own vessel. What can we do to secure the crew?"
"The tachyon blanket on the debris field was effective, could something like that protect us?" Ensign Rivers asked.
"Could we lace the shields with tachyons in the same way as we did with the Phasers? Or work something into the warp field?" The Admiral asked.
"It's worth a try," Ensign Rivers said, "What do you think, Chief?"
"I don't know about effective, but it should be possible to inject tachyons into the shield matrix." Simon said. It should, he thought, given that someone on this ship had the wherewithal to work them into the phaser array at very short notice. He had no idea who that was, and that worried him. In fact, he had no idea who anyone was on what was now his staff, and he was flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants. His mother used to say that. He felt the familiar pang of regret that he had missed her final years.
The Admiral handed him back the isochip, and concluded the meeting. "Refamiliarise yourself, Simon," he said, "The doctor will have the same information."
Simon followed Ensign Rivers out of the briefing room, and down the corridor that led to the bridge. Rivers introduced him to the current set of bridge officers, and there was the customary shaking of hands, and a friendly shoulder slap from the officer at tactical for his last-minute handling of the debris field with the phaser array, and how he was looking-forward-to-seeing-what-the-new-Chief-Engineer-came-up-with-next. The bridge was impressive, and he found the markers that made up the engineering station, with it's displays and readouts of ship systems and energy flows. Ensign Rory Heath, who was manning the station, greeted him enthusiastically, and introduced him to the engineering consoles.
"We're short-staffed, and weak in several technical areas, phasers particularly," he said, "but we've got some good people."
"Who rigged tachyons into the phaser array?" Simon asked.
"Crewman Brexon. Bolian, good technician. She was one of the only ones who wasn't losing her mind. She ripped the tachyon generator out of some stuff we picked up on that Romulan assignment, and fed it into the retrification chamber. The phaser array overheating blew out primary power conduits across half of the deck, so the port-dorsal array is low intensity only until we get some replacements in. Nice idea, by the way. You two saved all our heads."
"My first ten minutes on the job."
Rory laughed with him, and Simon found himself warming quickly to this engineer.
"You're an Ensign, right? And Chief Engineer? How'd you swing that?"
"I'm still working that one out myself."
"Almir never really wanted CEO, but V'Maz insisted."
"Almir?" Simon asked, struggling to match up the stream of faces and names from the last two days.
"Lieutenant Marin. I hope he's okay. I liked him, though he wasn't much for being on time."
"My record isn't great on that count."
Ensign Rivers announced Admiral Gheskori as he came onto the bridge, followed by Aeryn Tavik, the Military Officer from the briefing. Another officer relinquished the centre seat, and the Denobulan sat down.
"It's a crazy mission. We'll forgive you," Rory gestured to the engineering station, "anything else you need?"
"I'll be fine," Simon replied, "I'll hold the fort, and read the manual."
"See you later then, Sir. Welcome to Enzio." Rory snapped him a salute, and went for the tubolift.
+++
Simon introduced himself to crewman Brexon over the comm, and directed her to fit low intensity tachyon generator to each of the ship's shield generators. He then explored the isochip from Starbase 47. Someone had painstakingly reassembled the sensor feed from the Hanson away mission into a holo program, which had been intended as the starter for his memory recovery course. As the disease had progressed, and he had gone into stasis this now formed just another part of his file, should the medical staff need it. He made sure the file was in the main computer, and removed it from the isochip.
"Intruder alert. Security to the bridge." someone said. The translucent form of Malakai, a terrible gash across his fore head, leaking blood over the pale features of his face, stood on the upper deck. The tactical officer had a phaser trained on him immediately.
"It's not real," Malakai said calmly, stepping forward over the operations station, causing Rivers to tense.
The Admiral took their guest's appearance without flinching, and immediately struck up an interrogative stream of questions.
"I'm not actually here, this is a projection. My true form is currently being pursued by our 'friends'. They want to use you to commandeer your ship, in reaching through the hull they'll leave the vessel open to being affected by the beam from the recording device."
If he is not actually here, what are we seeing, Simon thought. As Malakai's form moved away from the operation station, he sent that thought as text to the operations console. Rivers met his eye, briefly, and glanced at Malakai. Simon hoped Crewman Brexon was going to move quickly with those tachyon generators.
+Nothing on sensors. No thermal. No visual+, she responded.
So we can see him and the computer can't. +In our heads?+ he asked her station. She nodded very slightly. That worried him, he did not want another being in his mind.
"How can we stop them?" M'Rell asked, small and mouse-like.
"Only I can," the being responded, "but you have to assist me. Once you've reached the end of the warp highway if that is the terminus has been repositioned successfully to the 'Kepler belt' of your home star system - you will have to close the highway, permanently, by firing a burst of your quantum warheads of the following modifications."
Malakai walked right up to Simon at his station, who felt rising anxiety. While Gheskori seemed to trust this being, Simon did not. His experience on the planet, had not given him that. They had had only Malakai's word for the ill intent of the beings following them through the warp highway. How did they know that Malakai was not the ring leader in the whole affair?
Malakai's modifications for the deflector were somewhat beyond Simon's comprehension, not only because the science and the methodology did not make immediate sense, but that he had never been particularly well versed in the behaviour of the wide range of subatomic particles within a subspace environment. A beam of graviton particles would somehow disrupt subspace and make the highway inaccessible, delivered by the expanding warp field of a spread of torpedoes breaking the light speed barrier.
"Quantum torpedoes have a micro warp engine that allows them to sustain warp velocities when at warp speed," Simon explained, "from sub-light speeds they are incapable of achieving warp."
Malakai ignored the comment, and turned back to Gheskori, "You will need four of your quantum torpedo devices to close the artificial construct you refer to as the 'warp highway'. It was built for this purpose by our 'friends'. They will be trapped inside and will perish."
Simon scanned the database for the skill-sets of his engineering team. Ensign Rory Heath, deflectors and communications. Lieutenant Max Kempton, torpedo systems, special interest.
=/\= Clark to Heath, =/\=
=/\= Rory here, Sir. What do you need. =/\=
=/\= We need the deflector dish to produce a graviton beam. =/\= Simon told him, and checked the navigation display. =/\= In twenty-two minutes time. =/\=
Simon did not know if what he was asking was reasonable. He did know that that was what he needed done.
=/\= Get me there, =/\= Heath replied.
Simon turned to Rivers.
"Site to site. Energising." she responded, "Heath is in deflector control,"
=/\= Clark to Lieutenant Kempton, =/\=
=/\= Lieutenant Kempton here, Ensign. I'm a little busy, can it wait? =/\=
=/\= Er... we need four quantum torpedoes modified with warp capability in twenty-one minutes time. =/\=
=/\= Ensign, quantum torpedoes already have warp capability, they draw energy from the launch tube as they exit, and maintain warp with a small on-board antimatter engine. Kempton out. =/\=
Simon was taken aback, that wasn't how he had expected the conversation to go. "Computer, where is Lieutentant Kempton?"
"Lieutenant Kempton is in Main Engineering."
"Patch engineering station to the display nearest his location. Show visual on Bridge."
An image of three engineers standing around a console came into focus. None of them looked very occupied.
"Lieutenant Kempton, please view display screen at engineering station 4." Simon said.
Kempton turned, and attended the display. The expression on his face did not indicate pleasure. "Ensign, I told you I was busy."
Simon tried to keep his voice steady. "Lieutenant Kempton. According to your record, you are this starship's most experienced engineer with torpedo systems, and to prevent our impending insanity from the life forms in pursuit of this vessel, you and whoever you need - I've not had a chance to search through everyone's skill sets yet - will have four quantum torpedoes with the warp drive systems from some long range probes installed and ready for launch within the next twenty minutes."
Kempton's face soured further, "Just who do you think you are, Ensign, to be giving me orders?"
"Lieutenant Kempton." Admiral Gheskori said from behind Simon's shoulder, "If you had read yesterday's mission briefing, you would know that this is Ensign Simon Clark, serving as Chief Engineering Officer at my request."
"I... Chief? but... he's an Ensign, Sir. This is most irregular, I outrank him, Sir."
"There are two ways in which I can rectify that, Lieutenant. You can argue irregularities later. In nineteen minutes we will drop out of warp, and come about. Our options at that point are torpedoes, or death. I want torpedoes, Max. You have full site-to-site transport authority. Use it. Bridge out."
Simon turned around.
"We don't have time for this," the Admiral said, sternly, "get crewman Brexon in that torpedo bay. We've no-one better at plumbing antimatter. Or tachyons, it seems."
"Yes Sir," Simon replied, thinking he should get down to deflector control himself.
Gheskori seemed to read his mind, or maybe he had moved as if to get up, "Stay on the bridge and monitor from here, Ensign."
+++
Fifteen minutes later, the Enzio made a broad turn to bring it's deflector and forward torpedo tubes in line with the terminus of the warp highway. They had mere seconds...
"Let's get ourselves prepared, Ensign, everybody," the Admiral said, looking across at Simon, "Fire."
Three torpedoes fired, gliding through space. In the available time, that was one fewer than Malakai had suggested,
"Torpedoes away,"
"One of the torpedoes is leaking antimatter," Rivers said.
Simon checked the internal sensor readout, "Annihilation damage to torpedo tube three,"
"No injuries," Rivers replied.
"Graviton beam is active," Simon said, as the display screen visualised the particles in a pale green. The torpedoes arched slightly as they entered the graviton beam, and then three flashes as they broke through the warp barrier. The view-screen showed the blackness of space, dotted with stars. There was no evidence of the warp highway.
"Detecting increased X-ray in the vicinity of the terminus." Rivers said.
"Shields," the Admiral waved his hand dismissively. The terminus exploded in a rush of photons, gravitons, and quantum plasma residue. The ship rocked under the stream of particles, pitching up by twelve degrees as the forces exceeded the stable tolerance limits of the inertial dampeners and thrusters.
"Shields are holding, ninety-two percent," the tactical officer said.
"No damage,"
"Disengage graviton beam, and back us off," Gheskori said.
The ship turned and moved away under impulse, steering from the pulsar-like stream of X-rays that were shooting out into space.
"The X-ray signature is consisstent with that of the warp highway." M'Rell said, "I would postulate that it is collapsing under the graviton wave from the torpedoes,"
<Tag Gheskori>
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Aeryn Tavik
Command Staff ..
Members Representative
Lieutenant Colonel
Registered: Sept 9, 2010 12:14:15 GMT
Posts: 95
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Post by Aeryn Tavik on Mar 14, 2017 10:46:37 GMT
Aeryn sat in the co-pilot’s seat of the shuttle Tigris. The marines were behind her, including Corporal Chang, who had finally been “rehabilitated.” The shuttle entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Yucatan Peninsula. Surely they would have been seen by just about anyone looking up, but they didn’t have much of a choice on the approach. The co-pilot’s console beeped, signalling a hail from the planet’s surface. It was Commander Jessup of Starfleet Security.
“Go ahead, Commander,” Aeryn said into the comms.
“Welcome home, Colonel. We’ve got a real barn-burner on our hands down here. So far, we’ve recovered twenty-five of the warheads, spread across seventeen towns of varying sizes. None have gone off, thankfully,” Jessup said with a somewhat relieved tone.
“Don’t count your eggs yet, Commander. All that means is Korcawski either doesn’t have the manpower to set them off at once, or they are not the intended targets. How many does that leave us with?”
“Twenty,” came the reply. “And we have no way of tracking them. He’s keeping them offline until the last second.”
“Acknowledged. Send us all your data on Korcawski’s movements. Tavik out.” The data burst came within seconds. She relayed the intel back to Simmons. “Give me a location.”
Simmons analyzed the data and cocked his head sideways, making a face. “Well, based on the progression of activations, the next warhead to be activated is likely to be in one of these towns.” He pointed to map of central Mexico. “Likely, all four of these towns have warheads in them.”
“But you’re making a face,” Aeryn said matter-of-factly.
Simmons grinned. “Base on the areas of troop capture, they’re moving in a straight line northwards. I would guess they’re target is really Mexico City.”
Aeryn shrugged. “What the hell is in Mexico City that would interest a death cult?”
Simmons shook his head. “I don’t know, but it’s likely that at least seven of the warheads would be there. Based on the intel provided, the warheads only had a limited yield. Assuming his task is to level the city,” he tapped a few calculations in, “these would be the optimum locations.”
Aeryn nodded. “Ok, relay that to Jessup, as well as potential locations for the remaining warheads.” She turned back towards the front and said, “Set a course for Mexico City.”
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The shuttle entered the airspace surrounding Mexico City. Commander Jessup had given acknowledgement of the report made by Simmons and recovery teams were already en route. Aeryn was more concerned with occupying Korcawski before he had an opportunity to blow anything. Given his pattern thus far, it was likely Korcawski planned to be within Mexico City when he blew it, with the full intention of going down with the city.
“Find him!” she ordered. Simmons frantically began searching streets and buildings for an appropriate staging area for Korcawski to be setting his plan in action.
Simmons exclaimed, “Oh! Ok. Given the expected positions of the warheads, and the type of detonator he’s likely to be using, he’d have to be in this four block radius.” Simmons pointed to the console screen. “There are only three buildings that could house a project like this. And two of them are empty.”
Aeryn snorted. “Seriously…” She went back to the co-pilot’s seat and initiated a soft scan of the building. “Surprise, surprise, the inner corridors are shielded.” Looking through the building designs, she saw two reasonable breach points. “Alpha squad breaches here, Bravo squad, here.” She indicated the points as she said them. “We will wait as long as we can until Commander Jessup secures the warheads., but we need to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.”
Walking back to the pilot, Aeryn said, “Beam us within a hundred meters of each access point, preferably under cover.” The pilot nodded. Turning back, “All right. Everyone set?” she asked. The marines all nodded. “Two at a time.” The marines all got into pairs. Aeryn walked into the transporter area first, with Simmons. “Energize.”
The familiar sound of the transporters started her almost instantaneous journey to the staging area of the first access point. As she gained her senses and viewed the area, she realized they had been transported into an alleyway with admittedly a LOT of cover. It was unlikely anyone, much less Korcawski or his men, saw them beam down. Aeryn walked to the end of the alleyway and peered into the street. She saw three men walking on the far side of the road, near their intended access point. It was unclear whether or not they were sentries. A flash behind her signalled the presence of the rest of her squad appearing behind her. They all began to take their positions. She signalled to one of the newcomers to view the potentially unfriendlies that blocked their approach. The marine looked toward the men and shook his head, indicating he could not tell if they were hostile or not. Aeryn motioned them forward.
The squad pushed forward, almost invisibly. The men did not take notice, or at least, didn’t to Aeryn’s knowledge. Pushing forward and concealing herself behind a meter-high concrete wall, she raised her head ever so slightly and peered over the top. The men were still talking and began to whoop and holler as the conversation appeared to turn to one about their favorite sports team. Aeryn rolled her eyes. She was about to order the unit to take them (stun only, of course), but as she made herself visible to the rest of the squad, the men began to move off in the other direction. Aeryn motioned to secure the access point, which was a reasonably large sliding door along the wall. Though they could not physically see inside, they were able to scan the interior. Simmons looked at Aeryn and cocked his head to the side, as if to say, “Its empty, I guess.”
Suddenly a call came over the comm. “Commander Jessup to Colonel Tavik. Be advised, forty-four warheads have been accounted for. I repeat, forty-four warheads have been accounted for. One is still missing. Good luck. Jessup out.”
It got serious. “[word deleted]…” Aeryn said, before accessing her comm unit. “Chang, they have a warhead inside. Stay sharp.” He acknowledged. Aeryn took a deep breath and nodded at Simmons. “Go.”
The breach was louder than she wanted, but that was almost always the case. The squad pushed through the door and entered into what appeared to be a medium sized storage room. It was far from a closet, but it was enclosed and there were no windows. In front of them was a series of shelving units with about a meter between each and the walls. Aeryn and Simmons proceed up the left path and the other two came up the right, leaving the center clear. There were doors on either side and a set of double doors in the center. Aeryn reached the door and slowly opened it, peering through. She saw a long hallway, with a single sentry walking away from her to the far end. She saw one of the other marines do the same to see the other end of the hallway and he gave the all clear signal. Closing the door most of the way, she watched as the sentry turned around and began walking back towards their position. She signal the other marine to take him out silently as he walked past. As the sentry walked to the spot, the marine burst through the door, grabbed the man, and pulled him into the storage room, where they quietly dispatched him. Luckily, he did not make a sound. Aeryn quietly opened the door again and when she determined that the coast was clear, she moved through the door and into the hallway. They were still outside the shielded area at this point, so their primary task was to get inside and get the lay of the land.
Aeryn’s squad had passed silently through a few more areas, hopefully undetected until they came to a blast door. Simmons identified it as where the shielding began. “We can get through the shield, but busting this door open is going to cause a lot of racket. Let me see if there is another way in.” He looked at his readings and layouts. “Here,” he said, pointing to a system of air vents. “You’re tiny enough,” he said to Aeryn, smirking.
“Watch your mouth, grunt.” She peeled down the hallway and entered the room that housed the vent. There was a desk right in front of it, so it was rather easy access. She unfastened the bolts and pulled away the cover. Climbing up in, she crawled her way northwards about twenty meters. She had to be on the other side of the shield now. She started looking for an exit hatch. Crawling to the end of the ventilation duct, she heard the sound of voices, coming from a room closer to her position. She quietly creeped towards the sound and came to a hatch that had slits. She could see into the room! Inside, three men, none of whom she recognized, were deep in conversation. She crept a little closer to make out what they were saying.
“Jackson and Carter’s teams lost control of their warheads,” one man said.
“As did Ashley’s,” another replied. “We’re losing control of this.”
“Its of little consequence. All we really need is our primary and the leader will not allow it to fall.” The third man seemed absolute in his statement.
The men said a few more words and exited the room. Aeryn took her chance and slowly eased the hatch open and lowered herself to the floor. The room was small, as she looked around, and had only a single entry point. She walked towards the door and put her ear up against it. She heard footsteps walking away. She slowly opened the door and when she saw they rounded the corner, walked out and towards the blast door. She found it surprisingly unguarded. It made her feel uneasy, like she was falling into a trap, but she went to the controls anyway and manually opened the door. Her team was absent but she called out to them and they appeared.
Once through Simmons began scanning underneath the shield. “Ok, I see the warhead. Its about ninety meters that way,” he pointed in the direction. “But I’m picking up sixteen life signs. What’s the play?”
Aeryn thought for a split second and said, “First priority is that warhead. We need to take out the shielding so the Tigris can beam it out. Second, is take them down. Set to maximum stun, we want the knocked out but alive. They are Starfleet Officers and innocent civilians after all.”
Simmons, finally able to scan underneath the shield, provided them with the safest, and quickest, path to the warhead. “I’m not picking up anything outside of the field, though, and I don’t read Corporal Chang’s squad.”
Aeryn shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We have to move.”
The squad pressed forward, quietly entering into a large room. It was a large space, much like an aircraft hangar. In the far corner, a series of consoles and generators, likely controlling the energy field surrounding the enclosure, were humming loudly. Simmons, obviously already on point, took his squadmate to a better vantage point on the console. Aeryn and her squadmate moved towards the voices. As they moved, the scene before them became much clearer. Peering around the corner, as many as there were, Aeryn saw the group in full view. There were eighteen men and women surrounding Korcawski and the warhead. They surrounded the warhead in a pattern that made it look like they were worshiping the warhead. It was more than she really wanted, but Aeryn hoped that some would run in the face of adversity. What she really needed was Chang’s team, but they still had not arrived. She scanned the far side of the room, looking to see if Simmons was in place. He was, and was looking back at her, waiting for the command. She nodded at him and they simultaneously threw a grenade a piece into the mix, Aeryn a stun grenade and Simmons a unit that would set off a short range EMP pulse to knock out the consoles and the generators.
The EMP and stun grenades went off almost simultaneously. Korcawski responded almost immediately, retrieving a tricorder from a side holster. He began to enter a command into it. The warhead started to activate. Aeryn stepped forward and took aim at Korcawski. She fired and hit her mark. The beam from her rifle hit his hand and blew the tricorder away. As if on cue, the men closest to the warhead and farthest from the stun grenade drew arms of their own and began firing in Aeryn’s direction. She quickly ducked behind cover and returned fire. At this point, two on four were reasonable odds, but it would not last long. They needed to take everyone down as quickly as possible.
A few moments later, the crossfire was set up. Simmons was on the far side of the room, laying down cover fire, while Aeryn moved to a better vantage point. Only three of the eighteen had been rendered totally immobile by the stun grenade and four had been taken down by the marines. Leaving eleven left, the marines were spread out. This was an unusual positioning for them, but the situation had drawn out this way. Aeryn, ducking behind a large crate, caught glimpse of a target aiming at Simmons. She aimed and fired, stunning the man in the back. She heard the firing of phasers, then a loud creak. She looked behind and saw a scaffold being brought down on top of her. She jumped forward, avoiding the scaffold debris, but is in full view of at least three of the enemy, all of who saw her and began firing. She ran forward towards another set of crates, but did not make it fully. A phaser beam caught her in the right shoulder and she tumbled to the ground. Still having enough sense to make it to cover, she dove behind the crates and let out a loud string of obscenities.
A call came over the communicator, “Colonel, was that you?”
Aeryn cocked her head to the side angrily. “Where the hell have you been?” she yelled loudly, while firing her weapon with her left arm.
“We ran into some friends in the foyer. Problem taken care of. How can we help?” Chang asked.
Aeryn breathed. “At my last count, ten targets remain active. Take the down.”
“Understood. Do you need assistance?”
“I swear to god, Chang, if you don’t fire on the targets…” she was interrupted by flurry of shots from marine auto rifles. With the odds much more balanced, taking down Korcawski’s following was a much easier task. The marines took down the enemies, one by one, until only Korcawski remained.
“Hold your fire!” he called out. The marines stopped firing and Korcawski slowly stood in full view, with his right hand in the air. A whir of beeps and the sound of something powering up caught Aeryn’s attention. The warhead was powering up again! Korcawski threw the remote in the air and shot it with his phaser, irreparably damaging it. He then turned his phaser on himself, but before he pulled the trigger, a shot hit him full on in the chest. Aeryn had fired at him.
“Simmons!”
He had already run up to the warhead, furiously trying to tie his arm padd into it. “I can’t get in, Colonel. There’s nothing I can do…”
“How long till detonation?” Aeryn asked.
“Twenty seconds,” came the sad reply.
The marines were all standing around the warhead, knowing full well this was the end. There wasn’t enough time to even emergency transport out. Aeryn looked at her team, all accounted for as expected. She smiled. “It was an honor serving with you all.”
The warhead continued its charging cycle and flared up, brightening the room. The whir of the energy being charged got louder and louder. Aeryn smiled again. ~Could be worse ways to go…~
Suddenly, a transporter beam cut through the noise and the warhead disappeared. Aeryn heard a loud bang from outside. They ran to the nearest window to see the warhead blow in the upper atmosphere. Aeryn let out a sigh of relief.
A call came over the comm, “Tigris to Colonel Tavik, do you read?”
“Loud and clear, Tigris. Way to swoop in at the last second.” Aeryn leaned back on the wall next to the window. “Advise Commander Jessup that the final warhead has been neutralized and all parties are accounted for.”
“Understood.”
Aeryn looked around at her marines. “Well, looks like we get to go again!”
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Mar 15, 2017 14:46:58 GMT
The x-ray count increased dramatically for a few seconds before its rate of accumulation began to decelerate, finally levelling out in the 1021s, each around 11keV. No one on the bridge spoke for a while before an NCO finally uttered, "He was true to his word." He was talking of Malakai, "He's allowed himself to be destroyed for our benefit."
"Could he have even been a member of the species that'd been - according to him - attempting to alter our minds to commandeer the ship, attack Earth, perhaps together with Lieutenant Korcawski?" someone else speculated.
If that was so, Ghes thought, then it was possible Malakai felt remorse about the rest of his people's actions, had set about trying to sabotage their efforts, and had led himself and them to their deaths rather than for them all to perpetrate atrocities on other species.
Shortly after, they received a message from Starfleet Command that the immediate crisis in Yucatan, throughout Mexico, and apparently in Mexico City itself where the Enzio's marines had been engaged in an operation, had been averted. Korcawski was in custody, only one of the 'cultists' was dead, and all 45 weapons of the Litac Armament had been recaptured or, in the case of one of the warheads, destroyed in the airspace above the Mexican capital. Ghes sent his thanks to his resourceful marine officer. It was thought that the states of mind of the cultists, the fragmented collective psyche of the Oberth crews, were irrevocable; however, perhaps in studying the debris field and the exact form its neural corruption took, Enzio crew and/or others would be able to reverse the process.
The 'immediate' crisis was defined as such as apparently one of the Federation Council members - insane him or herself or no (the alternative was he/she'd been captured by the cult) - was still missing, last seen wandering south through old Colombia towards the rainforest conservation of the Latin American continent. The Councillor had apparently been armed but perhaps no longer, for along the path he/she had travelled, a bag of plasma grenades and an old-model phaser rifle had been found, in an inn on the outskirts of Bogota.
Ghes had the helmsman set a course for the inner planets, passing the mighty trident projected out of the rippling seas of spacetime that was the deep azure sphere of Neptune. Collecting some PADDs he'd given to the tactical officer, he stopped by the engineering station, "Ensign Clark. Would you join me in my ready room?"
He entered and sat behind the desk, Clark standing attentively before him. "Ensign, I would like you to know that I thought your performance in this assignment, as well as your handling of your subordinate Lieutenant Kempton to be admirable, exemplary even. I have complete assurance that you will be able to handle the engineering staff, amongst which Kempton and also Lieutenant Marin, if we can ever recover him, are technically your seniors.
"The situation regarding the command hierarchy is irregular, however, and to preempt any difficult scenario that may later arise, I should like to offer you an immediate promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, with all the rights and privileges of that rank."
<Tag Clark>
Ghes clicked his fingers and two glasses appeared in the replicator. At last! he thought (he'd been trying to get that particular system to work since the last refit). "Please don't ask for your new rank pip. I am yet to contact Starfleet Command."
They mustn't delay. Ghes was due to be at Starbase 47 to inaugurate a new and experimental hydroponics lab.
A curious thing happened a few minutes later; connecting the Enzio's computer with Earth's most comprehensive central database, and searching for information on any being ever encountered called 'Malakai' which matched the description, the Admiral found a clear and unmistakable note left in that file by Malakai to him, the particular update added to the file 77 years ago:
Admiral, if you come to read this as I expect you will, I express my thanks to you and your crew. I escaped, due to an excess of chroniton-like particles in one of your torpedoes; it caused an antimatter leak in that torpedo, and gave me an exit point from the highway terminus. A hole was created in the fabric of a reality corresponding to a subset of spacetimes connected with the terminus. Unfortunately, I am now stuck in time, but at least I endure. I would like to say we'll meet again in the future, but next year - 2326 - I will take a shuttle to the Galactic Barrier to... Ah. Well, then, perhaps we will meet again on that barren world. You must forgive my lack of certainty; being restricted to living one second at a time does confuse matters when one attempts to think in four dimensions.
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Simon Clark
Lt. Commander
Registered: Dec 1, 2016 22:21:10 GMT
Posts: 153
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Post by Simon Clark on Mar 18, 2017 12:29:49 GMT
Simon was looking through the repair reports for the power conduits on deck five. Crewman Brexon was making excellent progress, and estimated complete function restored to that phaser array within four hours. He turned to inform Ops, and found himself face-to-face with Admiral Gheskori.
"Ensign Clark. Would you join me in my ready room?" he said.
"Yes, Sir." As protocol required, Simon tapped the button on the console that would call the relief officer to the engineering station, and stepped through the door to his right into the commanding officer's ready room.
The Admiral sat behind the desk. Simon was not invited to sit, and so stood to attention beside the facing chair, conscious of the apprehension in his stance, and tried not to let it show. To avoid looking down at the Admiral, he let his eyes rest on the blue-green image of the planet Denobula on the wall behind the desk.
"Ensign, I would like you to know that I thought your performance in this assignment, as well as your handling of your subordinate Lieutenant Kempton to be admirable, exemplary even."
"Thank you, Sir." Simon had had several engineering conversations with Lieutenant Kempton in the time following the closure of the warp highway. "I have found it... er... challenging, Sir."
The Admiral nodded. "I have complete assurance that you will be able to handle the engineering staff, amongst which Kempton and also Lieutenant Marin, if we can ever recover him, are technically your seniors."
"Ensign Heath has spoken highly of Lieutenant Marin, Sir. I should like to meet him. Has there been any word of their re-appearance?"
"There has. Commander V'Maz, Lieutenant Marin, our CMO, Quartermaster V'Ren and three members of our Security team materialised inside a cafe on Jupiter Station, much to the surprise of their customers. Our crew were understandably confused, and were still suffering from the effects of Malakai's planet. V'Ren was taken immediately to the station's medical facility and sedated, while the others were quarantined until their mental state can be determined. You have showed an astute insight of the function of the debris field, and so I have told Starfleet Command to expect a preliminary report outlining our suppositions within twenty-four hours. You will forward them your computer simulation as well, Ensign. While the Oberth crews may be completely lost to us, Starfleet would restore our crewmen to active duty if possible. Your input thus far has been useful."
"Yes, Sir," Simon replied. While he appreciated the confidence in his abilities, he was not not sure he appreciated being loaded with a lengthy report to write when there was so much work to do to get the ship back into working order, "May I draw on other members of the crew to assist?"
"It's your team, Ensign, you are the Chief Engineer. Deploy them at your discretion. The situation regarding the command hierarchy is irregular, however, and to preempt any difficult scenario that may later arise, I should like to offer you an immediate promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, with all the rights and privileges of that rank."
Simon jolted. A promotion, after only two days in the job. It was unprecedented. He did not know what to say.
Ghes clicked his fingers and two glasses appeared in the replicator. He smiled, as if he had perfected a complex conjuring trick. "Please don't ask for your new rank pip. I am yet to contact Starfleet Command."
"Thank you, Sir. I shall try to be worthy of the position." Simon gave a salute.
"At ease, Lieutenant. You wouldn't have been offered it if you weren't. Bring those glasses, and sit down."
Simon did so, and sat. He felt awkward, sat with the Admiral, and so asked awkwardly about Denobula. The Admiral described some of the delights of his home world and his family, and asked Simon for his ideas for ship systems. It was some twenty minutes before the Admiral dismissed him to the Bridge, and in that time Simon found that he liked the Admiral.
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Mar 19, 2017 2:45:53 GMT
Ghes smiled, pulling down on his uniform jacket as he retook his seat after having shaken the hand of Ensign - soon to be Lieutenant JG - Clark and let him go from the ready room. He swung about in his seat and found himself reflecting - those memories bounding into his mind upon their transmutation from words he'd spoken to Clark - on his immediate family. Yes, after a brief and privately unhappy period of only having one wife, he now had two (but not three) beloved ones again, had in fact for over a year, though the pang of the absence of his first wife - who'd died of an extremely rare Denobulan affliction, a rough equivalent of the human motor neuron disease - still lived with him, and too literally at that. Ancient psychiatric, psychologists' theories posited that as long as the lost loved one remained in the mind in all too real form, haunting sleep as well as waking periods, a spectre over all thoughts and actions, observing and inducing agony, the mental torment could never be abated. The goal was - according to these occasionally 'crackpot', as the human expression went, theorists - ... the objective for the sufferer was to integrate that 'spectre' to such a degree that its anthropomorphic features melted away, dissolved and no longer represented the actual living memory of that person within the sufferer's psyche, so to ultimately absorb her into the sufferer's very being whereby she became entirely internalised. Therefore the memory of the person was preserved as stitched into the sufferer's essence, and no longer hovered in the background, as a shadow of the dead cast over the sufferer from behind, dictating the fearful actions of the bereaved in his continued, agonised neurosis... After an hour of sending and receiving subspace communiques and then having returned to his quarters, Ghes, prompted by hearing the sound of his wife's sleep (unaware shifting of the bedding, occasional snorts and gentle laughter - hmmm! Odd! he thought), returned to his earlier musings on his efforts to forget his deceased first wife. Gheskori wasn't sure what he made of those psychoanalytic theories and other ideas. Surely to continue the process of internalisation of a beloved's memory to its logical endpoint would only make the suffering even worse, such that she would come to fully inhabit his 'soul' (if such dualistic nonsense could be used for purposes of metaphor). He'd rather keep her image separate within, unintegrated, or else banish her totally. Fortunately, he'd heard there was a group of Denobulan scientists currently visiting Starbase 47 who were friends of Ghes's extended family, specifically of his paternal great aunt's husband's descendants by two of that husband's wives. That non-blood great uncle's son was amongst the scientists, and had promised to Ghes half an hour ago via subspace that he'd be able to arrange a meeting with one female scientist he'd insisted Ghes would take a liking to. But would Ghes have time, with the opening of the hydroponics lab? Mission 8: Wreath of Visions concluded
Thanks very much for the outing, everybody, you've been all excellent. Now we can really get going with the new assignment on the Starbase.
I'll leave the thread open in case anyone's got anything else to add. There are some things we could finish tying up but they're absolutely by no means necessary. Posts on here would still be welcome if anyone wants to address a last few things or even do a couple things round Earth, our last chance to breathe terrestrial air IC before being plummeted into the unknown!
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