Mission 32: Feeders

[Carl Torek]

~ Mission 32 ♦ Year 2 : Feeders ~

SD: 2404.02.0218

~ Synopsis ~

ooo000ooo

The USS Raven-C, now fully operational following damage caused in her reconnaissance mission, has been dispatched on her first assignment
She will travel to the Hador Star System, approximately Sixty Seven Light Years from Starbase Forty Seven

After twenty eight days of travel, they approach the first of the outline planetary systems and pick up a vessel on long-range sensors 
The vessel appears to be derelict and adrift but scans show it still retains a breathable atmosphere:

Boarding the ship they find one survivor on the Bridge, he is close to death but trying to warn them of something. With the universal translator unable to decipher the language, they leave the Doctor and one Security Officer to tend to the man while they begin a thorough search of the vessel. Within minutes they find the first bodies, gored and partially devoured. Their search finds that all others aboard have suffered the same fate ... As the search ends, the Doctor informs them that the survivor passed away but he is convinced that the man died of heart failure and not his his extensive injuries, which he believes were inflicted postmortem

While attempting to gain access to the derelicts' computers the Raven informs them that a second vessel is on long-range sensors and looks to be adrift. Leaving a small team on the first ship the Raven heads for the second, hoping beyond hope to find the crew still alive, alas this was not to be ... But they did find something that turned their blood cold

A corpse, this one much different to the others. It was approximately one point five meters tall, fur covered the body, the head was hound-like the jaw holding formidable fangs. The fingers of the hands were adorned with claw-like talons, they had recently been used as semi congealed blood had dripped to the deck beneath the body. It was clear the species was bipedal, walking upright, but clearly able to revert to all fours should the need arise. The most startling thing was it's condition: It had been impaled on a metallic shaft, likely part of the ships infrastructure, it also showed signs that it, like the other deceased aboard both vessels, it too had been gored, terrifyingly, by those of it's own kind ! ..........

Will the USS Raven crew and the sole representatives of the Federation in this region of space meet their first foes, and would they survive the encounter

Regards and Enjoy

Carl Torek

[Carl Torek]

Approximately two weeks earlier
Spacedock ::

The USS Raven-C hung as if by invisible thread only meters from the dock it had been tethered to for almost four months. All umbilicus had been retracted and the ship began to move, backing away until clear then executing a sedate rotation to Port until aligned with the enormous space doors now sliding aside ... She had undergone a myriad of tests to prove her readiness and now they were going out on their first assignment.

"One quarter impulse Helm, let's not scratch the paintwork before it's had time to dry." Cal said. There was a chorus of approving murmurs around the Bridge, everyone was ready to get back out there after so long a confinement on the Starbase ... Passing through the doors into open space the Raven increased speed to full impulse before turning on the heading that would see them heading for a far off star system.

"All systems nominal Admiral." Harry Wedlerson informed him from Ops.

"OK, let's give these engines a workout ..... Helm, take us to warp eight then transit to transwarp three."

"Aye Sir." Ensign Anna Fields confirmed. Seconds later the ship entered the nether-realm of transwarp.

Ten days later ::

"Lieutenant Svensson, you have the Con. Have all Senior Officers in the conference room in ten minutes please." he said as he left the Bridge.

He waited as they filed in, taking their usual seats. He had brought several PADD's into the conference room but all the information, scant as it was was already on the large screen opposite the panoramic window. Once everyone was seated be ran through the list of Department Heads:

Commander 1st Class Andae Blakus		Executive Officer
Ensign Anna Fields		Navigation Officer
Commander 1st Class Andae Blakus		Chief Engineering Officer
Commander Harry Wedlerson		Chief Operations Officer
Lt Commander Lysia T'Seng		Chief Tactical / Security Officer
Ensign Flynn Donat		Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant Jor Svensson		Chief Science Officer
Ensign Patrick Oleen		Ships Councillor
Colonel Lew Burwell		Senior Marine Officer
Commander Calli Valente		Mission Advisor

"Right we're all here, off into the perpetual darkness once again, so to speak .... As you know, for the last ten days we have been heading out to the Hador Star System, approximately forty seven Light Years distant from the Starbase. This is the first of the long-range missions we will be undertaking. El Salvador and Enzio will also be going on such missions once the El Alamein and the Maracanda are space worthy. We know practically nothing about what is ahead, but that isn't unusual in our line of work." he said, grinning, "We've checked and double-checked every system in the last two weeks so I don't want as much a bulb not working by the time we enter the first of the Hador Systems ..... That will be all for now, dismissed."

He watched them file out, his Executive Officer and Mission Advisor holding back:

"Can I get you something ?" he asked, getting up to go to the replicator. The Com chirped to life:

=^= Captain .. I'm picking up another vessel =^= ..........

[Calli Valente]

* Back-post to first ship discovery ::

They had picked the ship up on long-range sensors while still two days from the first of the Hador Star Systems ..... Calli, along with everyone else had been run off their feet for the previous ten days, ensuring the ship was completely ready following the extensive work that had been required, and just as she was looking forward to having a complete nights' sleep they found the ship.

It was derelict, adrift and almost devoid of power, yet surprisingly, life support and internal systems were still on-line. As they cautiously approached they scanned the surrounding space it was deemed safe. They began scanning the interior but due to the composition of the alien vessels' hull the scans were inconclusive, nevertheless it was decided to send an away team over to investigate the craft.

The team, consisting of Commander Blakus, Lieutenant Milyanov, Doctor Roach, Colonel Burwell, three of his Marines and Calli, transported aboard:

The first thing was the stench, the acrid odour of dead or dying ... Moving through the dimly lit corridor they reached the Bridge and found the survivor !

Burwell ordered one of his Medics to assist as Roach knelt beside the man quickly running her medical tricorder across the body, which was covered in deep bleeding gouges and several bites. She jumped back in surprise as his eyes opened. Quickly she began trying to stabilise but the man reached up, grasping her arm with his bloodied hand, the fear, almost terror in his eyes was clear for everyone to see. Blakus, Milyanov and Calli looked around the Bridge seeing the blood-spattered consoles, the fractured view-screen, the thing that was absent was the other crew members, where had they gone.

"I should get to engineering." Milyanov said, frowning at the readings on what he assumed was their version of a status board, "We could loose power at any moment." Burwell instructed two Marines to accompany the Engineer while he remained with the others. Cali approached a door off to the side of the Bridge, it slid aside to reveal what she thought could be the Captains office or ready room.

"We should get a team over here from the Raven, I can't make head nor tail of whatever these panels are showing us." she said having returned her attention to the layout of their Bridge, which seemed impractical at best in her opinion as apart from one chair in the middle all other seats were facing panels around the circumference of the room. She was about to say she something to Andae when one of the Marines came back onto the Bridge at the run.

"We've found them." he said, looking as if he was about to empty the contents of his stomach.

"Explain Lieutenant." Colonel Burwell instructed.

"The crew Sir, or what's left of them. They all look like him. Sir I've seen some things but ...." the man said, pointing towards the survivor, " .....But, if possible they are worse, Commander they all look like they have been attacked by some frenzied pack of wolves or something."

Calli turned as the survivor tried to speak, blood seeping from the gouge in his neck before Roach could stem the flow, whatever he was trying to say was intelligible, either due to his extensive injuries or issues with the universal translator, she didn't know which. The lights brightened before momentarily dimming, finally coming up to what they assumed was full. It didn't help the image now the blood and the sheer volume was evident to all. Milyanov contacted Andae requesting an Engineering team be brought from the Raven as the ship contacted them:

=^= Raven to Away Team .. .. Report Andae =^=

The Doctor told Andae that they had lost the survivor as he began informing Carl of what they had found when Torek interrupted him:

=^= I'm sending Lieutenant Tinsley with an Engineering team as per request .. We have another vessel on long-range sensors .. Looks to be of similar configuration as this one .. I want the rest of you back over here we are going to take a look at that second vessel .. We'll come back for our crew once we've checked the other ship out =^=

=^= Understood =^= Blakus replied.

"Doctor, any thoughts on what did this ?"

"Your guess, as they say, is as good as mine, though looking at the injuries, maybe the Lieutenant isn't too far off the mark, those wounds have most definitely been inflicted by something with claws, or talons, who knows, but whatever did it is strong, I only count four strikes on the man but the blood loss was significant, how he stayed alive this long is beyond me." she said.

"Colonel, let's get everyone back here for transport." Blakus ordered. Moments later they were back on the Raven heading for the second alien vessel, little did they know that those too would have suffered the same fate ..........

[Andae Blakus]

Having returned to the ship with the others, Blakus prepared to transport to the second ship just now closing to within nominal transporter range. Exploring the vessel, they discovered the condition of the crew was much the same as in the case of the first craft. Grimacing, Blakus pushed aside a trio of bodies fallen against one another to reach a turbolift, swinging a palm light back and forth through the doors as he opened them manually.

The lift was still functional, though at this reduced power level it transited the ship at a much slower rate. Part of the away team - he, Valenti, Roach and a marine - rode up to the deck on which sickbay - as identified by the Raven - was located. Was it at all possible that these people had known what they were dealing with before they were attacked? Could they have been working to counteract them on a medical - as well as a military - level?

Pulling the doors aside, Blakus's mouth fell open in disbelief as he witnessed the scene: throughout sickbay - on the beds, in caskets and smashed cryostasis units lined against the walls, crowding the floor space, pinned to the ceiling were crewmembers in various states of mutilation.

Some of them, Blakus noticed, were cut open with actual surgical precision, an attempt to mend the injuries suffered and/or being suffered. A robed individual bearing a surgical implement was still leant over her patient, frozen in the state of death as she'd been about to apply healing hands to someone suffering the same death in the same instant.

He cleared his throat, tried to force the bile back down, and turned to the away team which had spread through the bay, "Ok. Dr Roach, see if you can identify anything the crew may have been attempting - a technique, a salve, anything involving application of medicine either for defensive or offensive purposes - to counteract whoever did this. Marine, remain with the doctor. Calli, let's go." They made for the bridge to join Burwell.

It was a decent away team, Blakus decided. It was his understanding that the Raven had taken on board its new Counselor before getting underway; he saw the sense in not using the Counselor for this away team, not only would it be tough to break him in in this way, but the use of a Counselor here was perhaps not beneficial unless he had skills such as telepathy, telekinesis, other ESP related modalities of consciousness, etc. Still, he looked forward to working with their new officer when opportunity arose.

"Let's get some lights on in here," he called as he stepped into the near pitch blackness of the bridge, punctuated here and there by flickering magenta and green console lights.

It seemed that this ship had been running on low power for quite some time, perhaps being plagued over a long period by whoever had done this to its crew, unlike in the case of the first ship whose disaster could be compared to a flash flood.

The lights came up courtesy of Burwell's action at a Master console towards aft; Blakus saw how most of the bridge was unoccupied with one group of deceased towards the port side, near the internal sensor station he noticed. He approached and began pushing one crewman - slumped over the console - out of the way, "Excuse me, fellow." The man slipped to the floor - headless, Blakus realised. At that moment Calli was lifting a strange object next to the helm; Blakus heard her voicing surprise and turned to find her holding the skull of the crewman - for skull it was, most of the flesh and musculature seared away by some unspeakable and very sudden heat.

Disbelieving and turning away, he accessed the console, pleased to find that the power lines to the internal sensors were not amongst those depleted (thanks to emergency batteries creatively installed by the crew), "Let's see if any record remains of the intruders, or whatever it was that did this," he said to the mission advisor and the SMO, and soon enough he'd located several anomalous bio-readings recorded by the internal sensors intermittently over the last week and a half (a time period the ship's measurement system referred to as 17.2 Bokkrs).

"Contact between the crew and the intruders - though spread over ten days - was only for minutes at a time..." he observed, "It seems they were spending all their time trying to evade them."

<Tag Valenti, Burwell; All>

[Calli Valente]

Having left three people on the first vessel, the Raven had travelled to the second ... An away team had boarded but ha found only more of the same, bodies, some attacked in what appeared to be a frenzied rampage, while others seem to have been almost singled out for more specific deaths, decapitation was one of the means by which the crew perished.

As Calli made her way through the ship she could almost imagine the sheer terror ..... They had found the 'Feeder' as colonel Burwell had aptly named the attackers, impaled and attacked like those they had come to kill, attacked by it's own kind !

As she entered the darkened bridge she could see Burwell speaking to someone on Comms, he turned as Andae approached:

"The team on the first ship have requested pick-up. They managed to access their linguistics files, the universal translator has a working dialogue, it's being accessed as we speak. Raven has sent a shuttle back for them, should have them back aboard in one hour."

"OK." Blakus said, clearly as affected by the scenes before them as everyone else, "Let's see if any record remains of the intruders, or whatever it was that did this. "Contact between the crew and the intruders - though spread over ten days - was only for minutes at a time ... It seems they were spending all their time trying to evade them."

"You can hardly blame them." Cali said, the sarcasm obvious. She waited while Burwell placed a tricorder atop one of the consoles allowing it to upload a translation matrix into the alien vessels computer systems, seconds later the unreadable text changed to English. The Comm chirped to life:

=^= Raven to away team .. .. Andae .. We have detected a third ship on the edge of our long-range sensors .. How long do you expect to be over there ? =^=

=^= We're downloading the ships logs now .. Crew status same as the first ship we encountered Admiral .. No survivors .. .. =^=

=^= Get the logs then transport back .. Raven out =^= Calli had been going through the information flashing over all the screens as it was transferred to the Raven. Se put a hand on the screen in front of her, halting the progress. There was a reference to the attackers as well as the owners of the ship they were on currently.

"Andae, look at this ....." she said, waiting for the Commander to come over to stand beside her, "Looks like we've found something relating to this crew, and the attackers, see ... These, deceased, are called the Werim' if the translation matrix is reading their language right, they seem to be passive traders who haven't travelled much further than the neighbouring Systems. The others, the animal thing we found impaled on the first ship, are the Phorx-Ku .... Nasty little buggers who raid ships for food and supplies. We'll know more once our people on the Raven can study the records in more detail, but going off this they are one species we should avoid, like the proverbial plague !"

"What I can't figure out." Burwell said from another console, "According to the ships logs they never fired a shot off at the ship attacking them, and if they had been aboard for over a week how the hell did they manage to evade them for so long ?"

"Milyanov and Tinsley can look over the logs in more detail when we get back." Blakus said.

"No, hold on, the Colonels' right." Calli said frowning, "We know from the doctor that all those on the first ship perished within hours of each other. This ship looks to have the same lay-out, same facilities, so why the delay ?"

"Look at this." Burwell said, changing the screen to show what he was looking at, "Looks like the Animal races' ship ...."

They could see the small craft, roughly sixty to seventy meters in length, it looked like it was set out on one level only, it was wide, almost the classic arrow-head design so it would be fast, stealthy and extremely difficult to detect unless close up. It was decided they would take a little more time here before returning to the Raven ..........



TBC ...

[Calli Valente]

"Hold on ...." Calli said, clearly puzzled, "If the crew had prior knowledge of what the animal-race, and their ships, look like, how do they manage to allow them aboard unchallenged ?"

"They must have some means of approaching undetected, a cloak maybe ?" Andae said, skimming through the information on the 'Feeders' vessel as it was simultaneously uploaded to the Raven.

"Is it possible that the, Werim, were carrying something the, what were they called, the Phorx-ku, needed, because going ff our tentative search of both vessels it doesn't look as if anything significant is missing. Surely they can't be hunting through this region of space for food ?" Calli commented.

"You said nothi ....." Burwell began, then realised what she was getting at.

"OK, it's clear there are no life-signs aboard, let's get a good look around before we get back to the Raven." Calli suggested, Andae agreed and they split up. Andae would head down to Engineering with one of the Marines, Burwell, Valente, and another Marine would make their way Aft, while the other Marine would remain with the Doctor, who would be gathering as much information from the corpses as possible.

"Commander ..." the Doctor said as Blakus began to leave the Bridge, "I would like to take one of the bodies back to the Raven for detailed examination."

"You don't think there's any chance of contamination ?" the Senior Marine asked.

"If I do my job right Colonel, then no." Roach said, the sarcasm obvious.

< Tag : Andae (yes or no) >

"With me Colonel." Calli said, heading off the Bridge with one of Burwell's Marines in tow, she didn't wait to see if the man was following ... They moved from room to room on this level finding only what they considered living quarters, a small stateroom, a medical center clearly not equipped for anything major. She was getting the feeling that the idea of the Werim being passive traders was correct, they clearly didn't have the physical prowess of technological superiority to overpower anyone. The ship was lightly armed and had shielding enough to keep them from being disintegrated by a passing speck of particulate, but little else.

She had to wonder how they trusted the ships they were travelling in, they were hardly warships, that was obvious ... Something kept niggling at the back of her mind though ... If the Feeders, or Phorx-ku, were predators, which going off the carnage they left behind, seemed to fit, how did they choose their victims ?

More important though was the vulnerability of the Raven and the other ship's ! ..... Under normal circumstances, one or even several of the Feeder ships were clearly no match for the Raven, but then the navigation logs of the ship they were on showed no deviation from their computed course for the period prior to the attack, so again the question, 'how' do they get aboard. She tapped her comm badge:

=^= Valente .. Keep a look out for anything that could be an access point .. It's possible the Phorx-ku transported aboard, but they could have breached the hull somehow =^=

"You think it's possible they managed to attach to the outer hull and cut their way in ?" Burwell asked, glancing over his head.

"That's what we need to find out." Calli said, "We haven't found anything remotely similar to transporter technology on this ship thus far, maybe they put all their efforts into refining their warp capability, who knows. That is not to say the Feeders don't have it, but it still worries me that they could get aboard unchallenged, the Commander of this ship made no course changes, even when the things were aboard, that's got to tell you something."

=^= Raven to Away Team .. .. We have retrieved the team from the first vessel .. How long do you need over there ? =^=

< Tag : Andae >

=^= Understood .. We have a degrading warp trail on sensors .. don't take too much longer .. Raven out =^=

[Patrick Oleen]

"Yes, yes, fine, fine, no...no! No!! Not on there. Get off, off! Ya hear??! Down...! Sorry, my newest shipmate is climbing up the curtains again."

"Curtains?" Drake chirps, raises an eyebrow. "In starship quarters? Is that not against the regulations?"

"Yep, Regulation 274, paragraph whatever-the-heck" Patrick replies, grabbing his darjeeling with his left hand and taking a generous swig. "Anyway, we're so far from everyone else now it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Drake shakes his head but is smiling. "You'll meet a sticky end, Ensign, mark my words."

Patrick leans back. "Down this way anything could happen" he retorts. "Anyway, I need to meet my new crew. Well, those that are still on the ship, anyway. We've just stumbled 'cross some silent flotilla. Sounds bad at the moment."

"Get on with it then. You can finish unpacking later."

"Damn your eyes" Patrick groans, flicks the button. The screen reverts to the Starfleet insignia, surrounded by blackness.

Kind of like how it feels now, he thinks. Us. Here. Surrounded by this new night.

He gets up, runs a rough, affectionate hand over the neck of his tortoiseshell cat, Laertes; tells him to behave or he'll get no supper.

He leaves his new quarters and strolls toward the bridge. His console is to port, he knows that much. He arrives on the bridge, casts a cursory glance at the crew complement, a few of whom are currently absent.

The Ensign nods at Admiral Torek. "Hello, sir. I was hoping to get a bit more accustomed to the crew first, and now these ships...crazy, huh...? How are things up here?

(((tag Adm. Torek)))

Patrick approaches his console, straightens his uniform and takes his seat. The leather meets his back. Strangely comfortable.

[Carl Torek]

Carl had been anxiously watching proceedings on the view-screen ... The away team had been on the second vessel now for thirty minutes, in which time they had confirmed that all had perished, much the same as the first vessel. The Personnel who had remained on the first ship trying to decipher the complicated dialect were now en-route back to the Raven.

He had received numerous reports, all of them less than encouraging.

Standing he waled over to the Primary Science Station, watching as Lieutenant Svensson scrolled through the data being sent back.

"Any thoughts Lieutenant ?"

"Hard to say Admiral, from what we have so far they don't seem to have been warp-capable for long, I'd guess fifteen maybe twenty years. I can't see their ships achieving much more than warp five according to these files. There's plenty to be going through Sir, I'm sending it down to the Science and Engineering Departments as it's coming in."

"Anything on these 'Feeders' at all ?"

"Yes, but again there could be more but the predominant warning is to keep the hell away from them." Svensson said, shaking his head. Carl returned to the center seat and rested his chin in his palm. He contacted the away team:

=^= Understood .. We have a degrading warp trail on sensors .. don't take too much longer .. Raven out =^= he concluded as someone approached, standing off to his left.

"Hello, Sir. I was hoping to get a bit more accustomed to the crew first, and now these ships ... Crazy, huh... ? ... How are things up here ?" Oleen asked. Carl looked the man up and down, trying to remember if he knew him at all, finally he did.

"Ahh, Ensign ....."

"Oleen Admiral, Patrick Oleen, your new Councillor."

"I wasn't aware I needed counselling Ensign." Torek said, a wry grin forming as the man inched from foot to foot unsure how to reply, Carl put him out of his misery, "Sorry Mister Oleen, dry sense of humour, I'm sure you had your meeting with the Executive Officer prior to your first Duty shift, as you are aware, he's not here at the moment, he's leading an away  team to the vessel alongside .... You came aboard just before we departed I believe ?" Oleen nodded confirmation, "Good, well I'm sure your services will be utilised fully before we're done here. Take a seat Ensign, we'll talk later."

Carl watched as the young man tentatively took his seat. Then returned his attention to the situation at hand. His away team were due back and they had yet another vessel to explore ..........

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus and the marine arrived in engineering, finding the place deserted except for one technician collapsed near what he believed was the matter-antimatter reaction chamber. It seemed that one of the Feeders/Phorx-ku had worked its way through from the deck above - there was a large tear in the ceiling - pouncing on the one crewman present and dispatching him, unless others had been here and had managed to flee.

"Seems they use a standard intermix, nothing exceptional," Blakus said, surveying the equipment while the marine circled the part-spherical, part-cylindrical core, "M-AM really is the most common and easiest to manufacture FTL system in the galaxy." It had to be so, he reflected, considering that every species which the Federation had encountered in the Milky Way had used it at some time or another in its history.

=/\=Commander Blakus, Dr Roach.=/\=

He tapped his commbadge, =/\=Go ahead.=/\=

=/\=I've returned to the sickbay and have elected to transport three of the bodies, two of those having been operated on at the time. I believe the physicians amongst the crew may have been pursuing ways to combat the results of the injuries inflicted by the Feeders. Perhaps to aid in defence we can pick up where they were forced to leave off. The third expired only a short time ago - two hours before we encountered the vessel - of standard wounds caused by a Feeder... It should provide a good control against the other two corpses.=/\=

=/\=Acknowledged,=/\= Blakus nodded involuntarily, =/\=If as we hypothesised they were trying to combat the Feeders, we'll need pertinent data. Recover the bodies and transport back to the ship with your marine as soon as possible.=/\= He didn't want to stay here any longer than was necessary. Roach copied and closed the channel.

=^= Raven to Away Team .. .. We have retrieved the team from the first vessel .. How long do you need over there ? =^=

=/\=Returning now, Admiral,=/\= Blakus said, =/\=Have discovered these things - excuse me, Feeders, can burn their way through 3m thick, solid duranium decking. Could be evidence they made it through the outer hull.=/\= Carl acknowledged and closed the channel.

"Look at these letters," the marine lieutenant was murmuring, running fingers along an irregular series of spikes and arrows traced along part of the circumference of the spherical core section. Blakus approached and studied them; frowning and opening his tricorder, he gave a running commentary as he connected with Burwell's tricorder that held the information on the Werim's language and script system, uplinking the necessary data and scanning the lettering before them.

"The script reads - approximately - 'Servant of the Star's Patriarch of the Honourable Ship Vyk-vus-bahhtta'." He squinted at the tricorder, "According to the semantic analysis, the 'Servant of the Star's Patriarch' refers to the warp core. The 'Star's Patriarch', like Hyperion?"

"Hyper," the marine mused, "Over? Beyond?" Applying to a warp drive system a word meaning 'to exceed' (in this case to exceed the speed of light) was not unusual, but the exact words used implied an identification of folkloric concepts across two civilisations. "But in an Earth language -"

"Linguistic continuity. Could there be a common language origin? The same root -"

"Coincidence," the marine cut him off decisively. Blakus nodded but with some hesitation; it was of course a reasonable commonplace that advanced, warp-capable species made contact - accidentally or otherwise - with pre-warp cultures. Starfleet regulations prohibited such contact, but other species of the quadrant (and, it may be, in the wider galaxy) of course didn't abide by the same rules. He shook it off: whether or not there'd been contact long ago between the Werim and humans was an unimportant point - for now at least. "Let's return to the Raven."

[Carl Torek]

"Admiral, the away team have beamed back aboard." Harry Wedlerson informed him, "Sir. Doctor Roach has brought three of the bodies in Sick-bay."

"I hope she's got them quarantined."

"She's has them in level five isolation pending postmortem .... Commander Blakus has gone directly to Engineering." Carl got up, thankful that his Officers had returned safely.

"Harry you have the con. Keep an eye on that third vessel, I'll be in Engineering. Mister Oleen you're with me." The two left the Bridge heading for Engineering. Once there they headed over to where Blakus, Milyanov and others were going over the immense amount of data they had acquired from the Werim vessel. Within hours the Raven's computers had deciphered the linguistic nuances and had a fully working library in the language banks.

Milyanov and Nate Tinsley would have more than enough data to translate into working information on the Werim ship itself, but as the hours passed it was clear that despite the Werims' indigenous position in or around the Hadar Star cluster, they had almost zero information in regards to the Feeders, or Phorx-ku .....

Conference Room - Six Hours Later ::

"Lieutenant, in your opinion, is the Werim vessel flight capable ?" Torek asked Milyanov.

"To all intents Sir, the Feeders, sorry, the Phorz-ku, didn't seem to be interested in damaging any of the ships' systems. If I had to, I would say they got aboard for the sole purpose of, well, killing the crew. There doesn't seem to be any other logical reasoning behind the attacks, unless they were after something beyond our scope." the deputy Chief Engineer said.

"I would have to concur with Lieutenant Milyanov ...." Helen Roach said, "The Werim are carbon-based, nothing remarkable in their make-up, if I didn't know better it would look like they got aboard to feed, or at least attack and savage every living soul aboard, then they simply, left, apparently leaving the ship adrift but intact."

"Councillor, any thoughts ?" the Executive Officer asked.


< Tag : Ensign Oleen >


"So you think there's something else behind the attacks. " Carl said, nodding in agreement, "Which means there's something we are missing, or not looking for ... We are new here, so we cannot go off normal preconceptions, Let's face it Gentlemen, for all we know the Werim could be some domineering race that started a war they are loosing. Likewise, the 'Feeders' could be the victims here, victims that finally stood up to their oppressors. All speculation I know, but we can't rule out every plausible scenario at this point in time."

"That third vessel is still on the edge of our long-range sensors." Calli said.

"Yes, I know, but I think we should give some thought to the ship alongside." Carl said, glancing at the Werim vessel beyond the panoramic window, "Is it plausible to power the thing up and take it back to the Starbase for further examination ?"

"We could tractor it back ...." Wedlerson suggested.

"At maximum towing velocity it would take us six months." Milyanov countered, effectively ruling the option null and void.

"Does it not seem a little fortuitous, that we have been in this region of space for over a year, yet neither of these space-faring races have ventured in our direction ?" Calli asked the room.

"It took us almost two weeks at transwarp to reach this region." Milyanov replied, "From what we have so far, the Werim have been warp-capable for only five years, their maximum velocity is warp five, and then hardly sustainable, so it's not that much of a stretch to accept that they simply haven't travelled out that far."

"What about these Phorx-ku, do the schematics we pulled lead us to think they are possibly faster ?" Harry asked.

"We are still pouring over what data we have ...." Andae confirmed, ".... But it's likely they are, yes."

"At this point, we are almost half a light-year away from the nearest Hadar Star System, yet we have located no less than 'three' attacked vessels ... Why were they out here if not heading somewhere ?" Carl mused.

"There are numerous Star Systems reachable by a warp five vessel Admiral, we are only noting Hadar as it holds the majority of Stars capable of sustaining a 'G' Type planetary object. We have yet to do full scan on the lesser Star Systems in this region, so who knows."

"OK, well, lets dismiss for now and reconvene in two hours." Carl said, rising from his chair, the rest of the room following suit, "We'll stay put for the time being, unless that third vessel suddenly moves. I would like options regarding both the ship we've looked at and the possibility of getting t back to Starbase Forty Seven in one piece for study. I'm reluctant to leave it adrift, so if we can't take it back then we may need to think about either leaving it here, or even eventually returning it to the Werim maybe."

"Admiral I'd like to go to Engineering." his Exec' said.

"Yes, OK, oh, take our new Councillor with you will you, I'd like him to get some insight into how we do things."

"Aye Sir." Andae said, motioning for Oleen to follow him, but Carl called him back again: Andae told the Councillor to go with Milyanov as he turned back to the Admiral. Carl waited for the room to clear before continuing:

"Andae ... Any thoughts on what we discussed ?"

"Sir ?" Blakus replied.

"You are my Executive Officer, and while I have full confidence in the fact that you could hold down both positions, Exec 'and' Chief Engineer, we did speak, albeit briefly, about you stepping aside in favour of promoting Lieutenant Milyanov to Chief Engineer ... have you had any further thoughts ?"

"To be honest Carl, I ......" Andae began, but Torek knew instantly that he'd overstepped some unspoken agreement they had made when he appointed his friend as Executive Officer.

"Forget I asked." Carl said quickly, "It's not like the decision is paramount to the smooth running of the ship." he reached out to place a hand on Andae's shoulder for a moment.

"I will make a decision Admiral." Blakus said reassuringly.

"OK ... Back here in two hours. I'm going to 'try' to have a Family meal for the first time in ages." Carl said, leaving the room ..........

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus wondered what the data would show in the way of the sequence of events. He hoped to gain an idea of the chronology - which ship was attacked first, etc. - as well as extrapolate from the results whether or not it was likely the third ship had been attacked also. They would soon find that the three craft had been travelling as a squad with a fourth having recently left them (a freighter bound for the second nearest Hadar star system).

The meeting broke up and Blakus stood, about to head to engineering with Milyanov and Oleen, however prevented briefly by Carl. He believed erroneously he'd detected a hint of sarcasm in Torek's following words, complete with hand gestures, "... It's not like the decision is paramount to the smooth running of the ship."

"I'll make a decision, Admiral," he said quickly. Torek thanked him and he departed for the engine room. He entered engineering and bade Milyanov take the master console, the official Assistant CEO taking control of engineering and its staff while Blakus took Oleen on the tour.

"... And this is the warp core," he was twee, halting before the glowing column down which coruscated streamers of cerulean, blue-grey light phenomena, resultant from the deuterium's interaction with the constrictor assemblies.

"Lieutenant Taylor, meet Ensign Patrick Oleen, ship's counsellor; Oleen, this is Taylor. Tinsley, meet Ensign Oleen, our new head shrink," he used an antiquated term. The introductions continued interminably, increasing in proportion with Blakus's banality. "I believe you'll fit right in here, Ensign. The Raven is a fine vessel, a grand starship, still to be fully tested as compared to the old faithful, the USS Raven-B, Galaxy class.

"This Sovereign class ship may have more powerful weaponry, may be capable of higher velocity, but absent from it is the weight, literal and metaphorical, of the Galaxy: large and ponderous, a stalwart. Like an old top-heavy, Earth battleship of the early 20th century." He nodded, "Before we finish here, do you have any questions regarding ship systems?"

"Or on personnel, sir," Tinsley chipped in, knowing the XO/CEO sometimes forgot to include living, breathing people in his calculations.

<Tag Oleen>

With Oleen returning to the bridge, Blakus stayed in engineering for a while longer. He engaged in a full analysis of the data downloaded from the Vyk-vus-bhatta as well as what information they'd gleaned from the first vessel with its depleted power cells: the first craft's computer core had suffered massive failures rendering most of the data corrupt and/or irretrievable.

Two hours after the first conference, they reconvened. Blakus informed Torek of the fourth craft that'd recently departed - 1.5 days ago at best estimate - for the second nearest Hadar system. Considering the nearby vessel, Blakus suggested again - as he'd tentatively recommended in engineering to the other staff - that it be partly dismantled with large sections being brought back to Starbase in the Raven's cargo bays.

"Alternatively, we could have tugs brought out from the base," he suggested, "Without transwarp, it'd take them a long time to tow the ship back, but at least it would get there in one piece, and we would be freed up to conduct exploratory tasks."

<Tag Torek, Oleen>

Blakus was asked about the sequence of events. "The analysis seems to show that the ship nearby - as part of a three ship squadron - had been attempting to evade at least five different craft for over a week, based upon their sudden changes of flight path and small anomalies and damage registered at that time. The first vessel we boarded has drifted here after seemingly being boarded at the squad's first encounter with the anomalies/Feeder vessels. The status of the third vessel is difficult to discern from the two ships' records, but some of the Werim on board may still be alive. The Werim's sensor logs show four anomalies/Feeder vessels heading away, the fifth mysteriously missing. No sign of a destruction." [OOC: possibly still with the third ship, or disassembled with only its Feeders on board the third ship?]

[Carl Torek]

Carl sat in the Conference Room alone, the meeting was due to reconvene in fifteen minutes but he just wanted time to clear his thoughts ... They had examined both vessels and the third was still on the very limit of their long-range sensors, still alas seemingly like the other Werim ships, adrift and possibly lifeless. He had some decisions to make, among those was the decision of whether to continue onward.

It was clear that they would move on, that was never really in question, but do they go alone or call in the El Salvador and possibly the Enzio ?

He ran his hand against the highly polished surface of the curved desk, almost smiling inwardly as his confidence in both the Sovereign Class Raven, the forth to hold that prestigious name, and the confidence in his highly experienced crew ... People began to file in and take their seats ready for the meeting to continue .....

One hour later ::

"We've got what we can from the Vyk-vus-bhatta computers." Milyanov informed the table.

"The Vyk-vus-bhatta ?"

"The name of the second Werim vessel Admiral." the Engineer explained.

"We could cut sections away, take them back in our cargo holds." Blakus suggested, then realised there was another option so continued, ""Alternatively, we could have tugs brought out from the base. Without transwarp, it would take them a long time to tow the ship back, but at least it would get there in one piece, and we would be freed up to conduct exploratory tasks."

"I would prefer the ship be intact if it's going back for examination." Carl said, watching the drifting vessel one thousand meters beyond the plexi-glass panoramic windows, "What else did you get from preliminary readings ?

Andae explained the sequence of events and as he spoke Torek was getting more and more worried, it was highly possible that the group of five feeder vessels that attacked the three Werim ships was not the only group, if that was so, then there could be any number of these 'packs' as they neared the Hadar Star Systems !

"You said the drive systems were intact ?" Calli asked, jerking Carl's mind back to the meeting.

"Well, as far as we can tell, yes." Milyanov said, glancing at Blakus before continuing, "Though bringing them on-line 'and' figuring out how to use them would take considerable time, and resources. Manpower we cannot spare Commander."

"Could we tow it to warp then disengage, let it drift under it's own inertia while towing tugs come out to meet it, might cut down turnaround time ?" Colonel Burwell suggested.

"Already discussed and dismissed Colonel, apart from anything else we have no idea about the structural integrity of the Werim vessel, it might rip itself to pieces if we attempt towing. We would need extensive tests throughout the infrastructures to asserta ...."

"Got it Lieutenant." Burwell said with a grin.

"OK, we don't have time to sit here getting the Vik-vu, the Werim ship underway so let's contact the Starbase and have them send out tugs." Carl said, "Now, the third vessel ... At this range we cannot ascertain it's status other than to be confident it is no longer under powered flight. If it's adrift, like the other two, then we can be tentatively confident that the Phorx-ku have been and gone. But given the time-frame, I'm concerned that we could find ourselves walking into the proverbial 'lions den' no pun intended .... Do we have any definitive means of detecting the Phorx vessels yet ?"

"We are thinking they may have some form of cloaking technology Admiral." Milyanov began, "Though again we cannot confirm this, but it seems plausible given neither of the two ships we have so far examined made any sudden course changes prior to their being attacked."

"That said, they could have approached and attached themselves before the Werim could react." Burwell suggested.

"From information we have thus far, it appears these Phorx-ku vessels are small, fast, agile, almost zero sensor footprint head-on maybe, so would they have room for cloaking technology ?" Lysia T'Seng asked. All Milyanov could do was shrug:

"Without one to look at this is speculation at best." he replied as the Comm chirped to life. Andae answered:

=^= Commander .. The third vessel is moving beyond sensor range =^=

=^= Thank you Ensign .. Standby .. .. .. =^= he looked at Carl.

=^= Set course to intercept .. Warp four =^= Torek instructed.

=^= Aye Sir .. Intercept warp four =^=

Underside of the Vyk-vus-bhatta ::


The Alpha watched as the unknown vessel disappeared ...

"Who they ?"

"Unknown." the Beta answered.

"Formidable vessel." a subordinate ventured, receiving a slash to his throat from the Alpha that severed his main artery. He fell dead to the deck to be dragged away unceremoniously.

The Alpha licked her bloodied claws ..........

[Patrick Oleen]

"Councillor, any thoughts ?"

"I wouldn't say it's as cut and dried as that, Sir. We need more time at the moment, that's what I feel. We can't rely on speculation at this stage."

"So you think there's something else behind the attacks...Which means there's something we are missing, or not looking for ... "


Later...

"Lieutenant Taylor, meet Ensign Patrick Oleen, ship's counsellor; Oleen, this is Taylor. Tinsley, meet Ensign Oleen, our new head shrink," he used an antiquated term. The introductions continued interminably, increasing in proportion with Blakus's banality. "I believe you'll fit right in here, Ensign. The Raven is a fine vessel, a grand starship, still to be fully tested as compared to the old faithful, the USS Raven-B, Galaxy class.

"This Sovereign class ship may have more powerful weaponry, may be capable of higher velocity, but absent from it is the weight, literal and metaphorical, of the Galaxy: large and ponderous, a stalwart. Like an old top-heavy, Earth battleship of the early 20th century." He nodded, "Before we finish here, do you have any questions regarding ship systems?"

"Or on personnel, sir," Tinsley chipped in, knowing the XO/CEO sometimes forgot to include living, breathing people in his calculations.

"No questions regarding ship" Patrick says, trying to hide a smile. "Personnel-wise, I've been reviewing the ship's manifest and I can say with some certainty that I'm looking forward to meeting each and every one of you...those of you I haven't met already, of course." He puts his hands behind his back, straightening up. Engineering is not so comfortable - it rarely is.

Glad he is not an engineer, Patrick bids temporary farewell to Commander Blakus and returns to the bridge. Before he knows what's happening the conference reconvenes.

Patrick takes his seat. He sips distractedly from the replicated espresso - it is average at best. He listens to his new crewmates discuss the situation with the Werim vessels. The situation is far from light-hearted; he keeps his counsel until asked.

"I advise we make use of the tugs" he suggests, as the question is put to the table by Commander Blakus. "While we're out here it's the best option to keep an eye open...split the operation."

The conference is interrupted by contact from the bridge.

=^= Commander .. The third vessel is moving beyond sensor range =^=

=^= Thank you Ensign .. Standby .. .. .. =^= he looked at Carl.

=^= Set course to intercept .. Warp four =^= Torek instructed.

=^= Aye Sir .. Intercept warp four =^=

Patrick emerges onto the bridge. He approaches Admiral Torek.

"Sir, I would recommend that we proceed with caution. If any Phorx-Ku ships do have cloaks, as Commander T'Seng suggests, then we could be being drawn into a trap."

(((tag Torek)))

The Raven drops to impulse. Patrick resumes his seat, folds his hands.

[Carl Torek]

En route to third Vessel ::

As the meeting was concluded, everyone returned to their duty stations, Carl, Andae, Calli, and Patrick returned to the Bridge ... It was clear that there were new tensions now, but tensions the Raven crew were well aware of and had learned to contend with. Exploring the unknown was their trade, their role.

Carl dropped into the center seat, with both the Executive Officer and the Councillor on the Bridge, Calli took the seat at Mission Ops, checking the read-outs before turning her chair:

"Still nothing from the third vessel. It's adrift, systems seem to be completely off-line." she informed the Admiral.

"Sir, I would recommend that we proceed with caution. If any Phorx-Ku ships do have cloaks, as Commander T'Seng suggests, then we could be being drawn into a trap." Oleen said.

"I have to agree Admiral." Calli concurred.

"Andae ?"

"It's plausible, better to be safe than sorry." the Exec' replied.

"Helm, drop out of warp. Approach the derelict at full impulse, Long-range scans." Carl ordered .... For the next thirty minutes the Sovereign Class Raven closed the distance between them, all the time carrying out every plausible scan in an attempt to detect anything that could conceivably be the Phorx-ku.

"Sir ..." Wedlerson said from Operations, "I'm getting sporadic readings from the Werim vessel."

"Lifesigns ?"

"Can't say Sir." Harry replied.

"Helm. Close to twenty thousand meters. Adjust our heading to run parallel to the ship."

The Raven gradually slowed her rate of approach until the designated distance was achieved. It had been turning on a lazy arc to Port until matching the Werim ship. Carl ordered full scans to be carried out, not only on the drifting vessel, but on the region of space they were occupying. The last thing they wanted was anything unexpected to happen, namely a visit from the animal-like Phorx-ku ... Like the second vessel they had encountered, this too was devoid of power, save for partial life support and artificial gravity, both it was assumed would remain active despite the cores' complete shut-down.

"OK. Ensign Fields, lets close the distance. Make it five thousand meters, but keep a heading and velocity plotted, at the first sign of trouble I want to be able to put some distance between us in short order. Any signs that the Phorx are still in the area ?"

"Impossible to say Sir." T'Seng said from Tactical. Torek shook his head, admittedly frustrated at the lack of available information, but they had been here before, on numerous occasions. Decision-making was all part of the job, "I'm picking up two possible ingress points on the hull, one forward, just behind the Bridge if we assume the layout is identical to the first and second vessels. The second is towards the stern, mid level."

"On screen." Carl ordered.

The aperture showed as a blemish on the hull rather than the half-expected hole .... It appeared that the Phorx-ku attached physically to the target hull then made their way inside. Carl had to wonder how they managed this feat undetected. When they left, they seemed to 'seal' the egress point. He had to wonder why if all they were doing was entering, killing all aboard before plundering for what little they deemed worthy and leaving the ship derelict. Calli had been looking at the sealed rupture:

"Why seal the opening, unless ...." she mused.

"Calli, you have a thought ?" Andae asked.

"I'm just wondering why they would go to the trouble of sealing their ingress points. I can't see it being necessary for their separation from the target hull, so why bother. Unless they were readying it for others to return to maybe ?"

"Why would they need to return though ?" Harry asked.

"We've seen the results of the attacks on the first two vessels, the Phorx-ku gain entry unopposed, run riot throughout the target ship with such ferocity that those being attacked have little or no time to react. Each and every one have been mauled, in some cases partially consumed ...." Calli began, pausing to gather her train of thought before continuing, "So what if those attackers are the first wave, or say, scouting party for a larger family group if you will. They get aboard, kill all there, then prep' the bounty ready for those higher up to approach and plausibly consume at their leisure ... Like I said, just a theory." she said as everyone on the Bridge watched her in complete silence, taking in what she was suggesting.

"Bloody hell !" Harry muttered, voicing clearly everyone's thoughts at that moment.

"So there could be, more out there, on their way for their bounty ?" Lysia T'Seng said, the question needing no answer.

"There is no point in speculating until we have more to go on." the Exec' said.

"Admiral, I've been running through our sensor arrays to see if they come up with anything useful. Most are not configured for anything remotely like what we need, but I reconfigured the secondary Parametric Subspace Field Stress array, while the primary 'PSFS' array is being used to detect possible cloaked vessels, I can't confirm the readings, but it's possible that at least one of the Werim over there are still alive." Lieutenant Svensson said from the Science Station.

"One of the Werim ?" the Senior Marine Officer asked quickly.

"Impossible to say Colonel, for all we know it could be an echo from whatever they have over there, giving us a false positive reading." Tor said, resisting the urge to shrug.

"We need to get over there." Calli announced but Blakus was already standing .....

Away Team ::

Commander 1C. Andae Blakus
Commander Calli Valente
Lieutenant Lysia T'Seng
Lieutenant Milyanov
Ensign Patrick Oleen

Colonel Lew Burwell
2nd Lt David Scott
1st Lt Lu Yeng

< Tag : Away Team >

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus materialised with the others on the third Werim vessel beneath the forcefield-secured Feeder-made aperture, noticing a light flickering from round a corner at the other end of a debris and body-strewn passageway. Looking about his immediate surroundings, he found the intersection/room they were in was in no better state. He sighed, "Ok, let's split up, Calli take Milyanov, Burwell and Yeng aft," he jerked a thumb one way, before motioning with his morphing hand, now forming an arrow, forward down the shadowy passage.

Bringing up the rear as Lieutenant Scott led the way through confusing and badly-lit hallways, with Lysia T'Seng following and Oleen third - Andae shivered, imagining himself being dragged back by unknown hands, razor-sharp claws and carapaced skin cold and impersonal upon his shoulder.

Suddenly he was being dragged back! Feeling the temperature drain from his surfaces, he awaited the sharp pang, the bite, the scratch, however the Phorx-ku disposed of their victims, but nothing of the sort came.

"Oh, hello," someone mumbled ahead of him. Blakus demanded the person identify themselves - though of course he wouldn't know who they were - and the others swung about in the corridor, rushing to assist on their own initiative and picking up pace as they heard Blakus's yelp.

"Well, I..." the individual, now illuminated by Blakus's palm light, began; he'd backed away into a junction they'd just passed, from which evidently he'd come, "Rescuers... Excellent. I needed some help. Perhaps you could be of some use to my friend here..." The Weria (singular for a member of the Werim) flipped a mechanical light switch with a severely trembling hand, illuminating the junction intersection; a uniformed Weria with dried blood on his scalp and torso was slumped against the bulkhead.

The man introduced himself as Caltek. "Perhaps it wasn't imagined, you know. Perhaps you were injected by them the instant you materialised here, and none of this is real and you're now in their clutches." He was extraordinarily dressed, not a regular crewmember clearly or even an individual used to space, he wore a kind of cravat and a quasi-suede jacket, his manner was casual, irreverent. It was now shown that the Werim did indeed have drop-shaped horizontal 'fins' that protruded either side of their necks - perhaps they were excellent swimmers.

"We hear they're called the Phorx-ku, how long have they been attacking you? What did they want with your ships? And with the crews if you know." The three questions were asked by different members of the team, while Blakus commed Valenti and Burwell to inform them of proceedings.

"He may know," the man's aversion and terror were evident as he pointed at the slumped body, "He died just a moment ago, just before you arrived. If you hurry, and if you have the means, you might resurrect him. I'm afraid I - ... I'm afraid I know little." Blakus arranged to have the mauled, dead Weria transported to the Raven immediately.

"All I can recall is, they attacked the three of us, our three ships, I suppose you could say, taking us by surprise. The first ship was lost before we knew there was a problem. Ah," he laughed briefly, hollowly, "Yes, I'm a space tourist. A cargo vessel was supposed to receive me 1.74285 days before they pounced - " Blakus had to admire the translator's ability to convert units " - to transport me to the third, and outermost, planet of a nearby system."

Three planets... that will likely be the second nearest system to their current location, Blakus recalled. Caltek had ceased speaking. Blakus called aside Oleen, "Counsellor, there is more to what he knows, we can be sure of that, perhaps you can talk to him, try to calm him, put him at ease? That irreverence is armour, a defence mechanism, I'm sure of it. Report on what you find. T'Seng will stay here, I and Scott will find the other team."

<Tag Oleen>

"Oleen may have said something about what used to be called PTSD," Blakus said to Valenti, knowing Patrick was continuing to try to pry information from Caltek below deck. "Not sure how he survived yet, can't get much out of him except holiday plans. I think we should pursue the freighter link once we're done here, apparently it met with the squadron shortly before the attacks began. Any sign of Feeder presence apart from the bodies?"

<Tag Valenti, All>

[Patrick Oleen]

"Counsellor, there is more to what he knows, we can be sure of that, perhaps you can talk to him, try to calm him, put him at ease? That irreverence is armour, a defence mechanism, I'm sure of it. Report on what you find. T'Seng will stay here, I and Scott will find the other team."

Patrick guesses Commander Blakus thinks he will be of no use further into the ship. He is probably right - at least for now. He salutes at the retreating back of his Commander and gestures Caltek into a nearby room. It appears to have been living quarters, now scarcely inhabitable, but Patrick and the other man each have their own lights.

"Sit down" he commands, nodding at some sagging, torn-up furniture. Caltek adjust his cravat and attempts a kind of beam at the Counsellor, but his facial muscles, particularly around the eyes, belie a trace of fear and anxiety.

"I'm Patrick. I'd like to ask a few questions while my friends are busy - you say you're a space tourist. Explain...is this a - popular area for travel, this sector?"

Caltek nods slowly and then quickly. Gives a brief, tight smile. "Are you here in response to us?" he says finally. "I wasn't aware we'd put out a distress call - if we did, then..."

"No, we rather quite stumbled on your ships out here. We're explorers. We saw that you might be in trouble."

"Well, you were right." The Weria casts his face downward. "I trust you're looking for more survivors?" he says suddenly. "I can't have been the only one in this vessel..."

"They're going through the ship. Rest assured sir, they'll be careful and be on the lookout for survivors. Now-" Patrick ruminates - with their two small points of lights in the otherwise pitch dark he has the absurd notion he is stuck in some abandoned dilithium mine - "Can you tell me anything, and I mean anything at all, about these - Phorx-ku. Have you met them before?"

"No, not before, I have no idea who they are." Caltek becomes irritable. "I was in my quarters when it happened, when the first breach in the hull was made. That must have been about - oh what does it matter anyway? Some days ago! Anyway, I was en route to Yibeha III. Had a large cabin by the Pink Sea, ready to finish my paper, and then I'm informed the cargo ship is several days delayed. Some nothing reason..."

He goes on and on. Patrick continues to question and prod, trying to steer matters carefully towards more pressing subjects. He leaves him for a moment and reports to Commander Blakus. He suspects his new 'patient' may still be in a state of shock. He returns and decides to approach the problem from another angle.

"Did you make many friends here?" he asks, legs now crossed. "Any time to make friends? If this was a short trip, I can understand otherwise but-"

He leaves the question hanging in the air. Caltek shakes his head slowly.

"I ate in the mess with a few officers who I got to know a little, but no, not exactly" he replies.

"Then we're one of a kind" smiles Patrick. "I'm fairly new on my own ship. I hardly know anyone yet, except for my friends here and on the bridge of the Raven."

Caltek is deceptively quiet; Patrick can almost see his mind working furiously behind lidded eyes. He is quite aware that the facade has yet to drop. This man needs time, he thinks angrily. Get him back to the Raven and send him to sickbay. Get him sorted there.

He is about to tap his commbadge when he hears a rustling sound from out in the corridor, followed by a hoarse, guttural breath. Caltek immediatley jumps to his feet and crosses to look out of the jagged aperture. Patrick gets up and grabs hold of him.

"Shhh, stay here" he commands, pulling out his phaser. "Let me check it out. If it's who I think it is..."

"Then you're dead already." The Weria pulls him back. "Don't be a fool" he warns. "You've seen what they've done. What they're capable of..."

Patrick smiles. "If you'd rather we just stayed here - " he says, but the next moment he sees someone stumble around the bend in the corridor toward their position. A member of the ship's crew, by the looks of her, and very much alive.

She stops and reaches to her belt, where a crude knife is strapped. "You!" she hisses dryly, stifling a cough. Her eyes have alighted on Caltek. "What is the meaning of this?"

Caltek backs away. Patrick steps between the pair. "Excuse me, I don't know what's going on here - " He begins to explain who he is, but in the same moment the female Werim officer drops to her knees, bent double, coughing up blood.

"Get out of here now" she splutters, before collapsing on the ground. "And stay away from, stay away from..." she says no more. Patrick notices a large, bloody wound on her back. He gets to his feet.

=^= Oleen to Admiral Torek, we require urgent assistance. Another crewmember has just collapsed. She'll need medical treatment =^=

=^= Copy that =^= Torek replies. The Werim officer dematerialises at Patrick's feet. He looks up and then in the next instant sees what she'd been referring to.

A giant, hulking figure fills the corridor from bottom to top, clunks slowly toward them, two gigantic, crooked arms stretched out.

=^= Oleen to Commander Blakus, assistance required at the primary deck =^= Oleen yells, backing down the corridor, one hand shielding Caltek.

(((tag Blakus)))

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus had gone about the bridge once the greater part of the away team had made their way there, surveying consoles, accessing databanks and correlating data with what they'd discovered - what little of it, that was - on the first vessel and on the second ship the Vyk-vus-bhatta. He'd pried into exposed circuitry, wiring secondary electronics to see what lay in the back-up relays, when the wave hit him.

A scorching breath seemed to fill his mind, experienced indeed as sensation of touch and also taste, though it occurred within the realm of thought. He withdrew instinctively from the console, yet in actuality he knew not from where it'd come. A beast, an animal seemed to be invading his mind.

Suspecting a telepathic attack - and somehow unable to see - he twisted towards a probable location of Calli and Burwell, pivoting in the darkness to warn them, but the further horrifying consequence - mind control, also strongly suspected - didn't develop, rather the opposite.

"This is what we do. These are the movements we make." He opened his eyes that'd been shut tight out of terror and peered round: everything was glazed with a milky quality, edges were indistinct, his periphery glowed bright green and scarlet.

=^= Oleen to Commander Blakus, assistance required at the primary deck =^=

"This is our project; you will see what we do. You control and live inside one of us. See our special lives." Blakus looked down at his torso, his arms, his hands... - he was an organic machine, a beast, something squatting in the centre of a pack of Feeders.

He withdrew screaming, now on the deck of the bridge of the third vessel. "Something... something..." he was whispering hoarsely, hands trembling, clutched to his chest - he convulsed, breath coming raggedly, body contracting to form an embryo. "I went elsewhere..."

The others, despite attempts to rouse Blakus from his paralysed, petrified state, were unable - at least for the moment - to do so. "Commander... We've sent Burwell and Scott below deck. Emergency, Commander, emergency! If you can hear us... Something's been encountered by Oleen. He and Caltek are -"

"It's no good, Commander," Milyanov said to Valente, "Recommend he's transported back to the ship. Caltek's fallen colleague and the corpses from the second vessel have been beamed out already, the chief's got his finger on the button. It'll give Roach something to do, certainly," he added ironically.

Burwell and Scott had arrived on the primary deck, entering the corridor down which the apparent Feeder had dragged itself. It was immediately clear to them something was wrong with the Phorx-ku: a trail of blood and slime had been left behind, sinuously traced into the deck's carpet and ending with the immense body of the wounded Feeder itself. Left behind... Burwell thought, face going pale as he neared its frame. He glanced at Scott briefly - all that was needed.

Phaser bolts tore through the air into the Feeder's back; hardly an ideal first contact situation, could they even be sure the Feeder posed an immediate threat? Yet they couldn't afford to take the chance. "Counsellor, report! Are you alright?!" Burwell called as the Feeder, swaying back and forth, eventually fell to the deck. "Cease fire!" he demanded of both Scott and Oleen.

He surveyed the unconscious, possibly dying Feeder, stepping round it with phaser rifle, just as a half-dozen marines materialised in the passage from the Raven. Burwell glanced at them near-contemptuously, "We should've got out of here... This was a near-disaster. Let's hope there are no more Feeders aboard. Counsellor..." he nodded, then frowned, casting about, "Where's Caltek?"

The space tourist was slumped against the wall, missing an arm; unsurprisingly, he was very faint, "On the other vessel, the Phorx-ku left three behind. Let's leave, I must get to Yibeha III... you don't understand, my research is very important, could be important to this..."

"Obviously the best we can do is get back to the ship," Burwell agreed, "The XO's a gibbering wreck. And we're too exposed here. I'll suggest we leave quarantine markers in this subsector, near one of the three ships. We'll transport the Feeder into a cargo bay."

[Carl Torek]

It was all Carl could do not to pace impatiently around the Bridge ..... he could see the ship, less than one thousand meters away, listing at almost thirty degrees, adrift but airtight. His away team were making their way through this ship as they had with the first two, but on this one they had found at least one survivor !

=^= Oleen to Admiral Torek .. We require urgent assistance .. Another crew member has just collapsed .. She will need medical treatment =^=

=^= Understood Ensign .. I am sending additional Medical and Security personnel as we speak =^= Carl said, nodding to Harry at Operations.

five minutes later the Comm chirped to life yet again, this time it was Calli requesting Commander Blakus be transported back to the Raven with all due haste, having possibly been the subject of an unseen attack. In Sick-bay Doctor Roach instructed the Exec' be placed on a bio-bed, but Andae had other idea's, insisting he be allowed up and returned to the Werim vessel.


< Tag : Andae >


"What the hell is going on over there !" Torek said, his frustration building.

"Sir, sensors are picking up something else, in the vicinity of Ensign Oleen." Lieutenant Gerelo said from Tactical.

"Something else, like what ?"

"Possibly one of the Porx-ku Sir. It's approximately fifteen meters from the Ensign and the injured Werim."

"Can you get a lock ?" Torek asked quickly.

"Trying .... Colonel Burwell and Lieutenant Scott are approaching from the rear. Sir, the Phorx is no longer advancing, it's stopped in it's tracks."

"Open a comm !" Carl said, continuing when Lieutenant Ny Lee confirmed she had done so:

=^= Torek to Burwell .. Whats happening colonel ? =^=

=^= We have an injured Phorx .. It's attempting to rise .. .. .. =^= There was a volley of phaser-fire until Carl could hear the Marine Colonel ordering cease fire. A contingent of Marines materialised and he ordered them to cover the injured but somehow still living Feeder, while he approached Oleen and the Werim to ascertain their condition.

=^= Raven .. Scan this vessel for Phorx bio-signatures .. We need to know if there are any further surprises =^= Moments later he was told that the injured one was alone.

=^= If you have completed your search I want everyone back aboard the Raven Colonel .. Long-range sensors picked up what could have been a Phorx-ku vessel moments ago but it has moved out of range .. I would rather not be sat here if it should return =^=

=^= Understood Admiral .. Have transporters lock onto the Phorx .. I suggest one of the empty cargo-bays .. Once it's aboard you can bring the away team back =^=

=^= Stand-by .. .. .. =^=

The gravely injured Feeder vanished in a transporter beam followed by the Marine contingent, each likely hoping that they didn't have to face the wrath of their Commanding Officer for something out of their control, but it hadn't stopped the man venting his anger before they thought en-masse. Burwell and Valente were the last to return to the Raven ....


Cargo-bay Two ::


"Any chance it's going to survive ?" Carl asked, looking at the Feeder, now lay in an uncanny version of the fetal position.

"How the hell would I know." the doctor said, instantly regretting her tone of voice and apologising, "It's physical make-up is almost wolf-like, organs are roughly where you would expect to find them, it has several redundant organs which may, or may not be able to substitute for damaged organs, but I'm only guessing at that obviously. The wound in it's back is going to kill it, eventually. It's lost several vertebrae, blood loss was substantial from what Burwell told me so no, you're not going to get the chance to have a conversation with our almost dead friend."

"How about stasis ?" Calli suggested.

"To what end ? .... We can get almost as much information from a corpse, and even if we did place the thing in stasis it would die the second it was released." Roach shrugged, "One thing that surprised me was this, you see the gashes made by the claws, talons of one of it's kin, that's what took out part of the spine, but here, around the edges of the incisions, looks like acid burns, possibly secreted from their talons to incapacitate a victim prior to feeding, they must like their meals warm I suppose."

"This isn't the first we found that had been attacked by it's own. I wonder why they do it." Calli mused. But while they were talking one of the Marines noticed the beast had fallen still. Roach didn't need the tricorder to confirm it had finally succumbed to its devastating wounds.

"You two, get this thing on a mag-lev bed and move it to Med-lab Two. I'll continue my examinations there ... BE CAREFUL !" he said as one of the Marines took hold of one of the hands close to the talons, "DON'T get scratched, it's unlikely to end well."

The Comm chirped again, this time it was Wedlerson confirming the quarantine buoy had been activated as per the Senior Marines' instructions.

"Where's this Caltek gentleman ?" Carl said as he watched the corpse being removed before several Marines began to wash down the blood-stained deck.

"Main sick-bay. One of my Staff are treating him but I suspect he's in shock."

"I'll be on the Bridge." Carl said ..........

[Andae Blakus]

On the bridge for a short time, Blakus learnt that the Feeder had been moved to a medical laboratory, presumably for autopsy. He decided to observe the being, gaining leave to interrupt his shift - started late anyway due to his being on the Werim ship now left far behind with the warning buoy dropped - and make for the med bay.

There'd been a period of black-out from the time he'd been invaded by - or rather had been 'invited' into - the mind of another species (as he believed) to twenty minutes after his arrival in the Raven sickbay. He'd certainly caused a great deal of annoyance when he'd finally come around. "What the devil am I doing here!" he'd shouted, flailing arms and batting at nurses. Suffice to say Roach had been glad to see the back of him.

He entered the medical lab, seeing Roach over the splayed corpse of the Feeder. Blakus experienced a heady mixture of sympathy and revulsion at seeing the dead Phorx-ku, the former because he thought he'd been inside one of their heads, understood their fears and motivations, at least to some extent; the latter mainly because of the odour being emanated by the decaying body.

The limbs of the Feeder don't seem right, he thought, stepping round the circular room and remaining behind the glass that separated the ring-shaped passage from the 'operating theatre' it enveloped. He nodded to Roach as he passed into her eye-line.

"That's not what I looked like," he said reflectively, glancing at the splayed limbs. The doctor glanced at him, she didn't seem impressed, or perhaps she was simply passive, focussed on the task. "Tell me, have you - ?"

"I have, Commander, there are no synapses or anything else in its physiology to indicate telepathic capability." Roach smiled behind her mask, "I was fully aware of what you thought you'd undergone. Your brain was showing indications, psychosomatic ones, that it'd experienced something akin to a telepathic assault. It's a memory, perhaps phylogenetic, of a previous occurrence of contact with a telepathic being."

"My father," Blakus murmured, "But still... I remember distinctly - of what I can remember at all, most obscure, confused - seeing the limbs of a being - myself - amongst Feeders. They towered over me, I was close to the ground. They walked towards me occasionally, seemed to be lifting things off me. A voice in my head, speaking to me, speaking to itself... it invited me across. I think, I think I was on a Feeder ship, or a station."

"You might want to tell the Admiral about this," Roach said tiredly.

"I have. He's busy with other matters now, tracking Feeder and Werim ion trails and arranging matters with Caltek."

Indeed, Blakus had met again the unusual Weria in sickbay, the man then having a prosthetic arm attached while Counsellor Oleen stood by. With the operation completed and Oleen departed, the irreverent man had called Blakus over, struck up a conversation with him while withdrawing from his suede jacket a small cylinder of something along with a miniature plasma torch, "Would you like one?" Caltek had asked, and had lit with the plasma torch what Blakus then - to his shock - realised was tobacco. With the flame of the plasma torch incandescent in sickbay, a fire hazard siren had begun blaring, Caltek had jumped out of his skin, dropped both the tobacco and the torch the latter which had seared a foot-wide scorch mark in the carpet. Roach had come over and without a word had taken away Caltek's smoking equipment and thrown it in the waste disposal unit.

He frowned as he surveyed the Phorx-ku's frame, "Strange that the being I briefly inhabited - courtesy of what must've been a very long range telepathic effect - was distinct from a Feeder. So the Feeders aren't capable of telepathy, but perhaps another species they have contact with, that they're allied to, are? And it spoke to me across the lightyears, or however far apart..."

Roach still didn't take his testimony seriously, for which, despite his annoyance, he couldn't blame her. Besides the Phorx-ku, she had the corpses from the Vyk-vus-Bhatta and the two dead crewmen from Caltek's vessel to see to, to learn what they may to aid in their future defence against the Feeders, perhaps extrapolate where the Phorx-ku may have originally come from out here - something that might be discovered from further contact with the Werim. Perhaps also - if he was 'invaded' again - the Raven had a way of knowing when the Phorx-ku were near.

[Carl Torek]

"They do not detect us my Monarch."

"Indeed ....." the alpha said, watching the unknown vessel. They were one thousand kilometers astern and below the Sovereign Class USS Raven-C ... They had shadowed the vessel since detecting it's crew exploring the second of the Werim vessels they had culled in this region, and now she was curious to find out who they were and importantly, what feeding they would provide, as while she was primarily responsible for those who served her, she had family on the Home-world that benefited greatly from her position, standing, and wealth.

Risking the fate of her former superior, the new Beta Female risked a comment:

"There would be much prosperity afforded should such a vessel be taken for our race." the Alpha glanced at her new Beta trying to read the expression behind her eyes. The Beta had been in her fold for many seasons, having been taken as a fledgling years earlier, she trusted her, but only as much as she dared. No-one in their race survived long by allowing others into their confidence, and those privileged enough to have been taken into the Hunters were more wary than most, knowing what could be lost should their guard drop for an instant.

"Indeed ....." the Alpha repeated.

The Beta knew she had said enough and backed away head bowed lest she show disloyalty to her Superior. Living she knew was hard enough without incurring the wrath of a superior.

The Alpha rose from her seat, prowling the Bridge eyes never leaving the gleaming citadel. She fancied she would be elevated to the 'Assembly of Five' the ruling Council of the Phorx-ku itself should she take this prize, but they were few, and calling in others would only show weakness, so for the time being she would wait ... They had gorged on the Werim of three vessels and had taken bodes to store should they find themselves devoid of targets, so, they would wait, and learn, and should the opportunity arise, they would take one of the newcomers for study.

And interrogation ..........

[Carl Torek]

Two Hours Later ::

"Any signs of company ?" Carl asked.

"One vessel Admiral but it is barely visible to long-range sensors and appears to be moving across us."

"Any signs it has detected us ?"

"No Sir." Lysia T'Seng confirmed.

"OK, set course for the planet Caltek mentioned ..."

"Yibeha Three Sir." Wedlerson informed him as Ensign Fields entered the co-ordinates.

"Warp two ... I don't want to attract any unwanted attention before we have to." Torek said.

The Raven jumped to warp, the journey at warp two would take them over three hours, but he wanted his teams to have every opportunity to go over the myriad of information they had gathered thus far, not to mention he wanted to give their 'guest' chance to part with any further information he may be keeping back ....

The Alpha watched as the unknown vessel vanished from sight, she glanced down at her Helm Officer waiting expectantly.

"The ship has gone to ultra-light my Lady, do you wish to follow "

"You suggest it better to remain here ?" the Alpha asked dangerously.

"No, My Lady, I shall pursue." the Officer said, feeling every thumping heart beat as if it were her last.

"Find me a means to enter the vessel undetected." the alpha said, waiting patiently for someone to enlighten her.

There appears to be several points at which we could gain entry, our cloaking system should allow us to attach our vessel providing they are not capable of discovering such action."

The Alpha mulled over the information presented to her ...... It was vital she gain control of the massive vessel, not only for her Family, but for her standing on the Council, not to mention the possibility of her ascending to the Assembly itself. She licked her lips expectantly at the prospect of such a climb, surpassing all others who wished likewise. she and her Family would be safe for many generations is she were successful.

As the Phorx-ku vessel closed the distance they were shocked at the information their sensors were showing: Almost nine hundred aboard, the means to feast for months if they were to keep the vessel to themselves. It was unlikely of course as the moment their triumph was announced, those who deem themselves more worthy would begin circling, hoping to cajole, coax, threaten, demand, their share of the spoils, but she would hold onto her prize with every fibre of her being !

Her Weapons Officer informed her that there appeared to be access ports to the ship at numerous locations, but those adjacent to what seemed to be storage area's afforded their best chance of entering the ship undetected. The Alpha grinned, her whiskers trembling in anticipation.

"Approach with caution." she ordered, watching as they first closed the distance then passed between the massive drive structures extending from the body of the vessel ... The Pilot narrated her actions as they closed, matching velocity, then after a moments' hesitation she began to move towards the hull of the unaware Raven .....

"Gently. You are not initiating a mating ritual." the Alpha warned.

The ship, gnat-like in comparison to her neighbour edged closer, slowing as the distance lessened, until it caressed the hull with an almost feather-light connection. Structures extended, securing their hold as an access walkway moved out to cover the docking port. The trick now, as with every other encounter, was to gain access 'without' allowing the occupants to be forewarned of the attack, this took time, accessing the port controls with a subtly that would be envied ... Finally, they informed their Monarch that access had been achieved ..........

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus stood on the bridge, glancing at the chronometer for the tenth time in the last hour, the minutes dragged interminably. They were a little under halfway to their destination, the tourist planet Yibeha III at which Caltek had his research papers or so he claimed. Questioning him further, Blakus and Oleen had learned he was a geodesics scientist and antiques collector, and split his researches between the two disciplines.

"Closing in at a rate of knots," he muttered to himself, and thought how - considering his perception of the distance they were covering - it wasn't an inaccurate statement.

He looked across the bridge, taking in the matte-black and cerulean, orange, red of the consoles, and as he turned back to forward he slipped into another world.

His periphery swam with jagged bright green and scarlet polygons, the centre of his vision was hazy, indistinct, dreamlike, and yet he knew he was awake. He was on a Feeder vessel, or its like, again. Feeders lumbered round him, towering, their jackal heads tilting and swaying, pearly eyes of intelligence falling upon their compatriots, surroundings, and upon him.

He tried to look away, shaking, perspiration drenching his segmented limbs, his biomechanical constitution. He was the same beast as before, and this entity had reached out across the lightyears (that far?) and invited him into its mind. What did it want? Was it trying to show him its own suffering? Or was it sadistic, giving Blakus and others amongst the crew it might be affecting a preview of his coming death (it hoped)?

He moved forward slightly, the Feeders watching his movement. They'd started at first, as if confused why he'd suddenly chosen to change position. The nearest Phorx-ku swung a distended limb at him; pain spread rapidly, he was forced back into position.

He completed the movement of his human head and slid back into his own body on the bridge of the Raven. Feeling faint for a moment and distantly worried that he may be about to suffer another episode of foetal emulation and general foolishness, he collapsed back into his seat in controlled manner.

"Andae?"

"It happened again, the same phenomenon as on the third Werim ship," he said distractedly, "I'm convinced now, some entity, perhaps subservient to the Phorx-ku and controlled by them for practical purposes, perhaps in war, is displacing my mind into its own, showing me its surroundings." Something clicked in his mind, "They may be near, Admiral." He recalled now - as if it were a fragmented and far-off dream - seeing a Phorx-ku panel, stellar coordinates and indicators showing locations of vessels, the Feeder's, and their own.

"That vessel was moving perpendicular to us, many parsecs distant, Andae."

He shrugged, his face pale and sweating, "Perhaps it's a decoy; give away their apparent position and get our guard down."

~ Intru- ~ The computer cut itself off. The bridge crew became alert as the computer's systems trickled audibly then grew silent.

"Computer?" Torek paused, "Harry, report."

"Accessing computer readback," Wedlerson at Ops informed, he frowned, "The log isn't showing an entry. Seems it's wiped its audio playback evidence, unless we all imagined it. Ah, it's returning an error report... Apparently there was a coding problem and it's now run a debug program. No indication of any issue, sir." Wedlerson completed his commands and swung about in his seat, seeming satisfied.

"What did it say?" Blakus asked rhetorically, "I'd recommend we go to yellow alert, ask all sections to report anything unusual," he glanced at Torek who nodded, while Wedlerson reported negative on the internal sensors.

Blakus moved to Engineering II and reported a minute later, "One of the aft docking ports is showing a programming error. I've seen these readings before; a Sovereign class test showed this docking configuration after a successful operation to repel a simulated boarding operation." The dock mechanism may have been tricked into thinking it wasn't set to 'docked', he thought.

<Tag Torek>

[Carl Torek]

The monarch looked around her expectant clan, she motioned for her Beta to approach:

"You have sampled their air."

"Yes, we can breath without dysfunction my Lady."

"Two shall enter." she told the female, "You will choose who accompanies you ... Once aboard the vessel you will discover the nature of the beings aboard, you will not touch anyone, nor will you feed ... Gain access to their computer systems, learn all you can about them. If we can wound their vessel all the good ... If we are fortunate there will be time and food aplenty before too long. Do not be discovered, am I understood ?"

"My Lady." the Beta said, bowing her head just enough to show respect.

"Go now." .......

'Intru .. ..' The computer cut itself off. The bridge crew became alert as the computer's systems trickled audibly then grew silent.

"Computer ?" Torek paused, "Harry, report." Carl waited patiently while his Operations Officer and then Exec' commented.

"Have someone from Engineering check out the docking port, send a couple of Security down there too." Carl said, not entirely dismissing the incident. They were in uncharted territory here and something seemingly as innocuous as a false reading could be much much more, "Where's that ship now ?"

"It passed beyond sensor range three minutes ago Admiral." T'Seng confirmed.

".... and there's no possibility that it turned towards us ?" Calli asked.

"Not unless it can fool our sensors." Harry said, little knowing that one such vessel had done just that and was currently attached to their hull !

The two waited while the docking port cycled. allowing them to enter the behemoth ...... Moving quickly to conceal themselves they waited while the lock closed. Only microscopic examination would betray their passage. They watched as the occupants checked the bulkhead, the two guards eyeing the corridor clearly suspicious of the unknown. The Engineers, satisfied all was well reported their finding to someone in a superior position, then the group left. The Beta and her companion stood, sniffing the air.

"Find a means to access their computers, the Monarch will be displeased if we return without information."

"Indeed." the companion replied, eyes narrowing on the back of her superior.

Finally locating something which could be an interface to the ships computer, the companion retrieved a small device from her pouch. in truth she knew little of the workings of the small piece of technology, it, like much the Phorx-ku possessed, had been purloined from their victims vessels. Nevertheless it serves a purpose ... She placed it against what appeared to be a panel showing information and set the device in silent motion, all the while eyeing the Beta who was prowling around the room nervously.

"Hasten yourself." the Beta demanded.

The companion glared at the Beta defiantly, knowing whatever happened she could not act upon her urge to attack for the defiance shown toward her. Alas, once they were back on their own ship that issue would quickly become something she would have to face. She felt confident she could defeat the Beta in combat and providing no-one came to her aid the companion would soon rise through the order and become closer to the Monarch. The problem with this strategy of course was obvious, failure would only serve to ensure she herself became the next meal of the Beta and her Monarch, so she would need to be successful - her life after all was dependant upon it.

"I'm telling you she's going to want to go to the party with you." the Ensign said to his best friend as they walked along the corridor approaching the docking port.

"Nah, she seems to like Forsha ....." the other said, stopping, mid-sentence as he thought he saw something up ahead. His friend grinned:

"Your just making excuses. You 'know' she likes you, and you like her so wh ...."

"Hush ! .... Did you see something up ahead ?"

"Only your chances with Alicia slipping away." They stopped beside the interface panel, both looking up and down the corridor.

"Someones been trying to access this panel, here, see ?" the first Ensign said, pointing to the semi-lit panel.

"Calm down, it's likely one of the maintenance crew who didn't shut it off when they were done. Stop fretting Geoff." he leaned forward and placed the access interface in stand-by mode then grabbed his friends' arm, "C'mon, we have a birthday party to go to and investigating mysterious panel activity is only going to make us late and give you less time with the lovely Alicia."

"We should return to the Monarch" ..........

[Andae Blakus]

Milyanov leant into the pool table, surveying the possibilities, the opportunities for learning more about the Phorx-ku vessel they detected at extreme range. The ship that'd vanished out of reach of sensors, travelling perpendicular to them, had displayed a mysterious engine configuration, glib and difficult of access to normal equipment. Taylor came rushing up,

"The engineers found nothing unusual at the airlock," she reported, "The reading suggesting it was set to docked has vanished, it seems Commander Blakus saw phantoms in the bioneural circuitry."

"Acknowledged." She'd turned to go and was halfway down the length of the pool table when Milyanov called, "Put together a team to construct a working model of the Phorx-ku vessels' engine system... We must know how they're able to approach those Werim vessels virtually unseen until Caltek's friends were being boarded." She nodded and departed, while he returned to his pensive regard of the warp drive temperature gauges.

* * *

Having found nothing to warrant further study in the docking mechanism of the aft saucer airlock, Blakus had returned to sickbay for his check up, post foetal crisis.

Caltek and his prosthetic limb - appearing very alien to the former, as if he was holding it rather than it being held in his shoulder socket - were propped up on their biobed, Caltek flexing the fingers and attempting to hold PADDs in them while Roach spoke, suggesting other manoeuvres he might use in actuating the new limb. Blakus smiled and approached, asking him about their destination: Yibeha III, a little over twenty minutes away now, the three hour journey from the site of the Werim ships' final graveyard nearly complete.

"I should tell you about the moon," Caltek said, searching around for his cigars before he realised once more Roach had disposed with them, disgruntled he continued, "It has an albedo of nearly 1, reflecting all light in the visual range perfectly. From the perspective of someone on the surface of Yibeha III, the moon will appear as another Yibeha III in the sky, because, you see," he grinned, "cunning engineers with too great a budget positioned two lenses between moon and planet, which refocus light rays to and from them; the whole hemisphere's rays are reflected into the eyes of its inhabitants, wherever they might be on the facing hemisphere."

Blakus blinked, not sure what these lenses were achieving except presenting a spectacle perhaps well suited to the tourist world, "I see." Caltek went on to tell him about his research papers, of how they could allow a resistance measure to be found against the Phorx-ku. Blakus asked him to explain, what kind of resistance could be offered that didn't involve refusing them the ability to board a target vessel?

"Surely you know their mechanism? The amnesiac gas?"

"What?"

"They release a toxin either at will when they attack, or automatically if someone not of their species enters within 2.3049 metres of them." That translator, Blakus gritted his teeth. "In attacks, the toxin is released as they're on the charge, 9.2194 metres away perhaps. It wipes the last 20 minutes of the victim's memory, such that if the Feeders are engaged in assault and they inadvertently or intentionally spare any of their potential victims, while stealing away with the others, those spared will not be able to recall - "

"The assault."

"Yes," Caltek allowed, "But perhaps just as importantly, they will not be able to recall how many of their own number were present before the Feeders attacked. They won't remember the assault, and they won't remember who of their own people were present beforehand... The Feeders could pick off a group one by one over several hours, and the group would never know there was a problem, even when down to the last victim, who would assume from the absence of everyone else that he or she was always alone. It's very important for them not to attack groups that've been communing for over 20 minutes."

[Carl Torek]

Still blissfully unaware that three crew members had seemingly vanished without trace, the Raven approached Yibeha III ....

"Sir, we are within hailing range of the planet." Ensign Anna fields informed him.

"Admiral, the planet has a number of orbiting satellites, my readings show they are defensive in nature." Lysia T'Seng added from Tactical One.

"Doesn't surprise me." Wedlerson commented.

"Hail them, request permission to approach." Carl ordered .... The planetary officials appeared hesitant at first, but finally agreed to allow the Raven's approach. "Standard orbit Mister Fields. Make sure our approach is steady, I don't want them changing their minds at the last moment."

The Raven turned on a heading that would close the distance between ship and planet, finally dropping into the assigned orbit.

"Admiral, message from the surface, they are requesting contact immediately." the Communications Officer said, Carl nodded and watched as one of the Werim officials appeared:

"Admiral, I am the Duty Flight controller, have you suffered any intrusion into your vessel since beginning your mission ? ...." the man asked, looking from the screen down to some out of view data before returning his gaze to the Raven Commanding Officer, "I only ask as there are raiders in the region and it is highly likely that your technology would be unable to detect them." it hadn't gone un-noticed that he chose to omit his name, preferring to use his official title.

"You are referring to a race you know as the 'Phorx-ku' I assume ?" Carl asked, glancing at Lysia, "Ask Commander Blakus to join us."

"Indeed Admiral." the man replied, seemingly waiting patiently for the Raven to run whatever checks it deemed necessary.

"We show no signs of intruders, We did however manage to rescue a survivor from one of the attacked vess ......."

"SURVIVOR !" the man said, suddenly cautious.

"Yes ?" Carl replied, nodding as Commander Blakus entered the Bridge and took his chair, "Is there a, problem ?"

"We would like our, we are obviously grateful for his rescue Admiral, but protocol requires he be quarantined until we deem he is safe to return to society."

"I can assure you, Controller, our bio-metric scans are more than sufficient to ......."

"With respect, Admiral. We have our own protocols in place and would prefer to use them than blindly rely on an outsiders' assurances, no disrespect intended."

"None taken, and I agree you should of course be confident there is no contamination. I will arrange for him to be transpor ......."

"No. I shall send a medical team to conduct him to our quarantine center at the main spaceport, if you will provide co-ordinates ?" the man fell silent, watching Torek expectantly.

"One moment Controller, I'll have to converse with my medical Officer." the man nodded patiently.

Carl had the feeling that they were being lied to in some way but couldn't find anything concrete to base his suspicions upon. he instructed Commander Wedlerson to speak to the Chief Medical Officer and arrange for Caltek to be placed in isolation temporarily. While the conversation had been progressing, Calli had been working at Science Two and was beginning to worry at what she was seeing ... Attracting Andae's attention she waited while he 'sauntered' across from his seat then pointed at the screen:

"What am I looking at ?"

"These are historic records, open for review by anyone, they're not encrypted or even restricted, though I have to admit that I may be stretching some regulation or other by looking at them without permission." Calli said with a wry grin.

"Again, what am I looking at ?" Blakus said, glancing at the screen then Torek.

"Well, if these early news reports are anything to go by, the Phorx-ku were far from being the ones who started all this ......"

"Log your finding, record what you have then get out of their database. We'll have to inform the Admiral ..." he said with a covert glance at the Controller, "... before we make any decisions on going down there."





< Tag : Andae >