Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jun 5, 2019 0:25:43 GMT
"..... Wait a minute ....." Koni interrupted, clearly confused, "How are we here ? ..... The last thing I remem ....." "I'll bring you up to speed as soon as time permits." Daniel whispered, hoping her perplexed query hadn't attracted the attention of the 'Hodge' entity. "So why these again ?" Laporte repeated. "It's clear that whoever these being are, they have gleamed information on Earth history from one or more of us, for whatever reason, they have clearly made an error." Daniel began explaining, a pleasant smile on his face in case the 'Hodge' entity should turn in their direction, "If they had concocted this from one person the timelines would be more definitive. But ... If they have taken random memories from several of those taken, that could explain the discrepancies .... The Arthurian theme, let's say the namesake of our Captain Fyles from the Sir Lancelot, was prominent around eleven seventy or so. While anyone famously brandishing these pistols, for example Edward Teach, better known as the pirate 'Blackbeard' was plundering anything afloat in say the sixteen seventies or eighties, some five hundred years later." "I assume that these weapons are going to be as deadly as the swords should they be fired at anyone ?" Laporte queried. "I'd rather not test the theory out if that's alright." Koni muttered. "Keep talking as if we are still trying to figure things out." Daniel said as the 'Hodge' entity approached. "I believe you are ready to commence. Heed my warning, any further descent will be punished instantly !" Daniel had been trying to focus on his peripheral vision as 'Hodge' was speaking. But every time he tried any subtle alterations of the horizon ceased, but yet things again had changed ... The buildings were still in a state of disrepair but had 'aged' significantly. He could see one or two spires rising through the hazy gloom, he was almost convinced that one of the buildings had acquired something approaching a 'drawbridge' and no doubt a moat to span, while buildings scant meters away now seemed to have something approaching ....." "You are wasting time !" the 'Hodge' entity spat. "Correct me if I am wrong ...." Knutsen said, stepping forward to get the entities full attention, "But you have yet to inform us of our task." the entity seemed to have been waiting for someone to question his actions. It walked around the group as if speculating on which to place a wager on in a fight. finally it took a few paces away then turned: "You have a 'quest' of sorts ......." Schirra suddenly realised what he had been seeing in his peripheral vision, it wasn't the fact that the distant buildings were being obscured by the dense haze, they were disappearing ! "....... Indeed, it is no less a 'quest' than one to ensure your very survival. The environment you are currently occupying is diminishing in volume, and as such is reducing the life supporting atmosphere available for your collective survival. Should you not complete the task at hand, you may be forced to decide between the survival of the majority by means of the sacrifice of the minority." the 'Hodge' entity said, seemingly pleased with his scenario, "So ... There is a device, should we refer to it as your 'Holy Grail' ... Which if located, will restore the means of your survival. I might add, though I should not be aiding you, that the device will also allow you to return to your vessels. There is of course a further consequence, should you fail, then you forfeit not only your lives, but those of the people above." The entity vanished without further comment. Everyone was silent, each absorbing the possible consequences of their failure. "So we are going to search for an eleventh century mythical chalice, which in reality is whatever is keeping the envelope above us from vanishing, using flintlocks." Psonoir asked. T'Gor suddenly let out a yelp as he spun around before dropping to the dusty ground. Everyone ran to the fallen man and Koni dropped to her knees beside him. There was a copious amount of blood flowing from a significant rip in his uniform just above the right elbow. She pulled the tattered remains of the sleeve off then wrapped it above the wound, tying then tightening it to stem the flow of blood. A meter away, Daniel noticed something, a glint in the sunlight. he reached forward and picked up a metallic orb, small, almost spherical, and coated in a red substance, clearly blood. At least now they were fully aware of the resultant circumstances of being hit by one of the flintlock shots ... Had the ball slammed into the mans shoulder, Daniel was confident it would have removed the whole arm ! ... As it was, as Koni and Laporte stemmed the blood flow and tended to devastating the wound, it was clear that he would loose it unless they could get him to medical facilities on either the Excalibur or the Avalon. Schirra looked up to where the shot may have come from. There, approximately fifty meters away, stood a man in the middle of the large causeway between the ever-changing buildings. He was patiently reloading the flintlock pistol, glancing up now and then as if to confirm where his targets lay. Daniel had to look again at the figure, who to all intents and purposes, resembled one of the Spanish Conquistador's of the fourteenth fifteenth century ! ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jun 15, 2019 23:43:39 GMT
The 'Hodge' entity seemed to be viewing events with something approaching amusement .... Daniel got to his feet and walked toward him, but the sound of a shot, followed quickly by a spray of dust from the ground inches before his feet stopped him in his tracks .... He looked from the entity to the Spanish Conquistador, who had taken several paces forward and was once again reloading his weapon. Daniel tried to weigh up the odds of him reaching the Spaniard before he could complete the loading process. "I do not believe you would make it, but please feel free to attempt your run." the entity said.
"You can read our minds, at least that's a start." Schirra said, returning his attention to 'Hodge'. He suddenly realised that the shooter was eyeing up the small group around the fallen T'Gor, "Pick him up, NOW ... We need to put some distance between us and the Spaniard before his aim improves." The others reacted quickly, dragging the still bleeding T'Gor to his feet and shuffling off towards one of the buildings close by. The Conquistador changed his direction until he was walking toward the fleeing Officers. He raised the weapon once again and fired without breaking stride. The ball shot hit T'Gor in the left side of his neck, exiting from the right, the Boatswain dropped to the ground as the others released their hold. It was clear the Gawain Officer was dead, and this time there would be no reprieve, dead, was indeed, dead ! "LEAVE HIM ... We can't do anything for him now." Schirra ordered, looking back at the still approaching Conquistador, who was again reloading. Finally, and thankfully without further incident, the group reached the relative safety of the line of buildings lining the with thoroughfare. Entering the first building they ran out the back before moving parallel to the road and hopefully in the opposite direction of their would-be Assassin .... After several buildings Daniel needed to check on the Spaniard. He told the others to move three buildings down then find cover, he in turn moved gingerly along one of the walls towards the front of the building. Tentatively, he peered around the weathered brickwork back along the road. He was relieved to see the Spaniard, now almost one hundred meters away. He was peering into the buildings on their side of the road, head moving slightly as he shifted attention from one building to the next. Daniel realised that the 'Hodge' entity was nowhere to be seen, was he leaving them to their own devices, waiting to who, if any, would survive ? He was about to return to the others when he noticed a tall thin pillar in the middle of the street, an object, glinting in the sunlight was atop. It didn't take a genius to know what the object was ... A second flintlock ... "You expect me to go out there and face the Spaniard ?" Daniel muttered rhetorically, "Well you're going to be disappointed." he finished, resolving to cease speaking to himself as he retraced his steps then headed for the others. "I believe the entity has given us a means to defend ourselves Captain." Lieutenant Moore said as he entered the abandoned building. "Sorry ?" Daniel replied confusedly. Moore brought his hand from behind his back, something Schirra hadn't noticed when he came in, and raised an immaculate copy of the flintlock being wielded by the Spaniard. "Where did you get that ?!" he asked quickly. "Where is of no consequence my dear Captain ...." Roger Fyles answered for his First Officer, ".... That we have it is more relevant do you not think ?" "You can't seriously think you would win by going out there to face that Spaniard, do you ?" Karka Psonoir asked. "The odds, as they say, are even ... That we have the means is what counts." Moore said, turning to his Commanding Officer, who nodded. Moore began to move to the door but Schirra blocked his path, "With respect, Captain, I believe that if my Commanding Officer has granted permission for my attempt at stopping this Assassin, then you have no right to prevent such action. Now, if you would ? ...." Moore asked, making it clear he was going through the door regardless. Schirra had no option but to step aside and allow the man to leave. "He'll be killed Captain ?" Koni insisted, but the man had already gone. The others had little option but to wait for the resulting duel, which possibly fortuitously for the Sir Lancelot Officer, didn't materialise. Moore re-entered the building after fifteen minutes to say the Conquistador was nowhere to be found. "So why try to goad us into a fight ?" T'Seng pondered. "There's some kind of square further ahead, we'll make our way there going from building to building. If we happen to get within arms reach of that 'Moore' entity, i'd like a word." Schirra said defiantly as he stepped out the back of the building and began moving forward, eyes darting from one shadow to the next, half expecting the Spaniard to step out and confront them ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jun 20, 2019 21:23:23 GMT
Karka glanced back down the alley that led behind the rear of the buildings. They had left the castle-like structure far behind and - hopefully - the conquistador with it, but he had a feeling they would soon once more be encountering the structure, considering it held a replica of the reputed holy grail (or so Hodge had given them to believe). With the dimensions of the city - as they had been told - shrinking around them, the place holding the grail had to remain intact and have its location reconfigured spatially to keep it within the breathable atmosphere, else Hodge wouldn't have presented them with a fair test.
Raising his eyebrows as Moore produced the weapon, he watched the man go and return, and then followed the whole group back out into the alley in the direction of the plaza.
Continuing along the passage, they reached a kink, and around the bend, they found the way blocked by sandbags and overturned barrels; behind the obstruction were four conquistadors with muskets held steady over the sandbags. "Cover," Karka barked, and watched Laporte's acting XO So-yeon get struck in the shoulder as the officer dived away to the right. Psonoir fell towards the left with Fyles, T'Seng and Unwin who had made planetfall on Laporte's shuttle. Schirra, Laporte, Moore and Knutsen had made it into cover in a narrow right-hand side alley.
"Commander Psonoir has surmised correctly..." a mocking tone washed over their consciousnesses, not heard on the heavy air but sonorously in their minds, "You will come upon the moat and castle and its temporary island shortly, just beyond the square. That is, if you can defeat your current opponents."
"Watch your six, Psonoir," another voice in his head said. Lirwa... he thought; he turned and noticed the Spaniard who'd killed T'Gor approach behind them; he pointed out the apparition to Fyles and T'Seng before replying to Lirwa, "I told you to stay away."
"How could I?" came the reply, as Karka, keeping to the wall and somehow missing a renewed salvo of musket shot, dived towards the lefthand conquistador - Schirra and the other two (with So-yeon down) did similar from the right.
Karka mounted the sandbags and drop-kicked the conquistador, entering consciousness acceleration so as to react more quickly to all that took place around him. Ducking out of the way of a slashed sword, he clenched his fists together and elbowed a second Spaniard in the abdomen, the apparition gasping in pain despite his late medieval armour, sending him sprawling. "He's at the height of his powers!" Lirwa crowed.
"Silence," Karka replied inwardly as the group finished subduing the fourth Spaniard, Unwin covering Karka's rear as T'Seng attempted - without success - to apprehend the murderer of T'Gor who now disappeared as if magicked away by the wind. Moore belatedly took aim at the empty space with his flintlock pistol but the weapon failed to fire. Still, they had subdued the group of four with just one loss.
"Another glorious victory," Lirwa chuckled. "I'll incapacitate you next time we meet," Karka informed his friend.
"You could try, but in any case it would not be me. I am your past. It is your truth." "No games. Away with you."
A sigh resonated through his mind before his friend again laughed, "As you wish!"
They moved on towards the plaza, having little choice but to trust in Hodge that they'd indeed find the moat and castle once more, despite last observing it hundreds of metres directly behind them. The city continued to change and reconfigure in their periphery, and yet every time each of the team attempted - following Schirra's advice - to focus on their peripheral vision objects and other phenomena remained resolutely still; it was Hodge continuing to rearrange reality behind their backs, presumably shrinking it more and more so as to suffocate them and - he hoped - turn them against one another.
They reached the plaza and a nimbus of light began approaching them from its centre. Moore raised his still-unused flintlock pistol and they began to take cover behind whatever they could find. They watched the approaching form - it soon revealed itself to be the old man/entity they'd first encountered.
"Why have you broken our pact? We had an alliance..." it shouted once within distance, "How could the fact escape you? I gave you implicitly to understand that the other entities cannot be trusted. One of them - whom we both believed to be your crewman Hodge - had me surrender your T'Seng. Know that it could not simply take, it required me to give. I gave her to Hodge in goodwill, giving up she who'd been my insurance and trusting you would keep our alliance. Now Hodge has returned T'Seng to you and, doubtless, promised you rewards to betray me. What has it said to you?"
Karka replied while Schirra marshalled the others to keep watch for the flintlock pistol-bearing Spaniard, "We've been promised no rewards. We'll return to the alliance, but no insurance policy, this time you'll leave our crew... our crews alone." He looked over the old man/entity's shoulder, having espied the hazy outline of the castle off the other side of the square.
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jun 23, 2019 22:38:35 GMT
"..... Don't tell me ..... Camalot !" the Exec' of the Sir Lancelot said. Everyone turned in the direction Karka was looking, they could see the old man entity, stood in the middle of the empty square, but there in the gloom was indeed a castle. Daniel looked from the gothic structure to the old man then back, yes, it was there. At first he thought is was some kind of illusion the entity had fabricated. "I'm assuming that's our goal ?" Schirra asked Psonoir. "I would say so." "So, options ... Do we simply walk across the square, or skirt around until we get to the other side ?" Captain Laporte asked no-one in particular. "I can only ask ....." Karka said, turning to the old man entity, "..... We need to reach the structure opposite. Will we be in danger if we cross the square ?" the old man entity simply stood watching them inpassively. Psonoir turned to the others with a shrug, it was a given that if the old man entity wasn't going to help them then why form any sort of alliance ? "As agreed, your group are free to pass." "I don't trust him." Lars Knutsen said defiantly. The open space between them and the castle was approximately two hundred meters square, they would be sitting, or rather, running, targets all the way across. Daniel was still undecided as to how to proceed, if they trusted the old man entity, then who was to say that the 'Moore' entity wouldn't appear half way across ? ... The same could be said for the old man of course, he could simply wait for them to reach him then attack. "There's no sence in splitting up. So ... We all go across the square together." Daniel decided. He stood, eyeing the old man entity, was was still patiently waiting, he instructed everyone to follow single file. He stepped out of cover and took a few paces onto the dusty almost white earth of the square, looking back he could see everyone was doing as instructed, forming a single line. It didn't need to be said that if the Spaniard appeared at least one of them could be injured of killed before reaching the opposite side, but they had no other viable option. Daniel began walking towards the old man entity ...... "Everyone keep your eyes open, I don't want that damn Conquistador to surprise us." Schirra whispered. They were half way across and it was beginning to concern Daniel that the castle was not getting any more solid than when they first saw it. Looking back the way they had come, the buildings there now seemed to be in a semi-translucant state, as if desolving away with every step they took. They approached the old man entity, who still insisted on watching their progress dispassionately, speaking not one word as the group passed. Eyes flicking left and right, the group were almost at the threshold of the castle wall when they heard someone shout: "Todavía estarás para que no te derribe !" Looking around they could see the Conquitsador, he was standing ten meters from the old man entity, his eyes locked on them, but his flintlock pistol aimed at the other entity. "He is demanding you stop, you must reach the castle bef ....." The sound of the Spaniard's weapon discharging was clear. As they watched, the old man entity fell sideways, clearly missing the uppermost part of his skull. "RUN !" Schirra ordered. No-one needed a second urging, they sprinted towards the castle. Schirra watched the Spaniard as he passively began walking toward them reloading his weapon, then he too turned and ran after the others. With meters to go a shot rang out, Yi So-yeon reacted instinctively jurking to her right as the shot passed through her hair beside her left ear. finally they reached the castle, or rather, the moat ! "I don't bloody well believe this." Roger Fyles said in his impecable English. Before them, across roughly five meters of murky warter, a large wooden structure was suspended by chains. Daniel looked around, hoping to find something to activate the drawbridge but there was nothing. The Conquistador was still approaching, raising his flintlock once again. He fired, the ball slamming into the wood of the drawbridge. He was less than thirty meters away now, and it was a given that they would need to run again or be cut down one by one. Edwin Moore turned to face the castle and shouted up towards the Embrasures, the spaces between the raised castle wall: "In the castle. We have come from Sir Lancelot. We beg entrance." he shouted, looking at the others, "The middle ages are a kind of hobby of mine." he explained. Surprisingly, a figure appeared atop the wall, he looked down at the people on the opposite side of the moat then up, presumably looking at the oncoming Spaniard. "From where do you hail ?" the armoured man demanded. Moore thought quickly then replied: "We hail from Winchester with news for your Squire." The guard appered to mull this reply over as another ball of shot slammed into the drawbridge. Daniel looked back the the Spaniard, who had now halted his approach and was again reloading. He had the feeling the Conquistador was either toying with them, or had for some unknown reason lost his ability to shoot straight. Judging by his expression, Daniel favored the latter, though why, he couldn't explain. "You have travelled on foot ?" the guard commented suspisiously. "We were attacked, our mounts perished in the fighting." Moore answered, hoping the guard wouldn't ask what they had fought with. He seemed to be deciding on his next action, then seemingly satisfied, he waved to someone out of sight and the drawbridge began to noisily decend. This spurred the Conquistador on and he began to approach them once again. The bridge slammed into the floor and they ran across it, hoping the Spaniard hadn't reached it too. The chains began to groan as the massive drawbridge began to ascend, finally slotting into place barring further access to the castle. Daniel's sigh of relief was shortlived as he felt the cold metallic tip of something against his throat. He turned to see the business end of a long sword, the other end was hald by the guard who had recently questioned them. Behind him, six other guards were watching the group, swords drawn. "You will yield your weapons." the guard demanded, eyeing the two Female members of the group with distaste. Reluctantly, they handed over what they had. The guard, finally returning his attention to the task at hand, inspected the flintlock curiously, it seemed he had never seen such a weapon before and seemingly wasn't interested in expanding his knowledge base, he threw the flintlock aside, eyes still locked on Schirra's, "My Lord will see you now." he said, removing the sword before waving them forward ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jun 27, 2019 22:51:45 GMT
A fragment from the conquistador's flintlock shot had in rebounding from the drawbridge lodged in Psonoir's shin; he's gasped, reaching down instinctively, but he had no time to inspect the wound as Moore was questioning the guard and it seemed they were about to be let in - they had to run, the conquistador was near. Making it in, Psonoir surveyed their own number, So-yeon and himself wounded, the rest not so worse for wear, only a little exhausted: He wished he had his tricorder about his person - bulky thing though it was - to scan this castle and discover what exactly it was constituted of: there had to be something other than magic energy given physical form that the entity (or entities) were using to generate all this, something that could be empirically measured... When they regained contact with the ship, he'd see about the stand-in Science Officer perhaps scanning this location - if she hadn't already. "My Lord will see you now." Karka nodded to the medieval-armoured guard and followed the group in; he recognised - courtesy of Lirwa's constant primers on Earth history - the regalia and coat of arms of the House of Wessex. Indeed, Moore had been wise to suggest the visiting group were from Winchester, that name would hold weight with the castle's occupants (illusions though they were) whose overlords would live in that city. They were led up a shadowy spiral staircase, footfalls echoing up and down the stone tower, and into an audience chamber. In the Lord's chair at the far end of the hall, atop a modest dais, sat an extraordinary likeness of Captain Shen of the Avalon. Psonoir again wished he had his tricorder. "There's no need for such, Commander," Shen intoned, standing; his red-gold cloak and armour shimmered about him, "Yes, yes, I can read your thoughts..." he waved a hand dismissively, "I compete with and mediate between the two others you've met, those you know as Hodge and the decrepit old fellow you first met. I'm the third 'entity', and this is my domain."Karka glanced at Schirra who seemed to comprehend something, "You're responsible for the dispersion of the Spanish infantryman's flintlock fire, his loss of ability when approaching the castle...?" Shen shook his head, signalling meanwhile to eight heavily armoured halberdiers that approached from behind and either side of his chair; they took up position near the human group. Shen frowned at his guests, "No, you're mistaken. Ah, perhaps it was the old man that deflected his shot. What? Did you really think such a being could be destroyed by the shot of such an illusory Spaniard, even if it was the creation of the Hodge entity? Now, if it was created by me, perhaps that would've been a different story... Ha ha, yes!" He seemed to consider this, his eyes pearlescent."You, Shen, were one of these entities all along?!" Laporte called from near the back of the group. "No, Nicole, do not worry," Shen laughed, "I took your CO's form after he expired on the orbital platform created by the old man. Now, to business. The 'entity' Hodge sent you here, I presume, to locate the grail. His price for not doing so or failing: death by suffocation in this shrinking universe of his design, I assume, hmm?""It was something like that, yes," Karka said quietly. "Well, he had no right. The grail belongs to me. Yes, that's it, Lieutenant Moore, I see you more than the others recognise it... Behind and to the left of my chair, you fools," he apparently addressed Karka and the others. The chalice gleamed gold and platinum, scarlet and indigo gems reflecting starlight from a thousand impossible angles. "I suggest you join me. I cannot give you the grail, but I can protect you from the cost of your failure to acquire it, I can shield you from Hodge. But in the meantime... Guards!" The halberdiers stood close and gripped them by the shoulders. Karka tensed and was about to respond with an elbow in the abdomen of the guard who held him; Schirra advised against it, they were unarmed, while the guards carried two metre halberds. "Away to the best appointed 2 by 2 yard cells you can find for our distinguished guests," Shen instructed. Karka et al looked aghast, Knutsen screamed an obscenity and was struck across the face by the guard who'd first answered Moore's call up to the battlements. "Ah, don't worry, Captains!" Shen cried, "You can rest easy, you have your food provided for you. I and my forces, meanwhile, will fight off the Spanish commanded by Hodge. You see, when he realises you have failed in your endeavour to take the grail (or been prevented by me) he'll attack me in order to destroy you - I am your only line of defence, because trust me I am not going to surrender the grail to you. Now, Master of Foot, how stand the regiments. Is Gloucester in position, the Duke of Marlborough?""Aye, my liege." "Hodge's Spanish will taste death today, new-fangled gunpowder weapons or no. Now, Salisbury will take the northeastern spur, there the fighting will be thickest..."What is that grail made of, really? Karka wondered as they were led off to their accommodation (quaintly designated). Shen's voice faded as they exited the audience chamber and were marched through halls. Karka turned to the Excal and Avalon COs, the three standing in the middle of their group so as to be as far as possible from their halberd-wielding escort, "I'd like to be able to contact the ship, find out the molecular constituents of the grail. Shen guards it and is willing to fight another of the entities to keep hold of it, perhaps it's an energy source, something that gives these entities their power and abilities." They weighed up his words; he continued, "Think, this entire contest between the old man, Hodge and Shen may be a struggle over a resource, over the only thing that gives them their near omnipotence. Shen would be the most powerful of them currently - perhaps he would be willing to cooperate in giving us communication with our ship? As long as we don't tell him too much, such as how we'd like to discover whether or not the grail's a power source." Laporte nodded, "Then, if our ships prove you right about the chalice, your ship or mine can blast it from orbit." Both turned to Schirra to learn his view as they reached their cells. <Tag Daniel>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jun 29, 2019 16:17:02 GMT
"..... I would like to be able to contact the ship, find out the molecular constituents of the grail. Shen guards it, and is willing to fight another of the entities to keep hold of it, perhaps it's an energy source, something that gives these entities their power and abilities ...." Karka was saying as they waited, ".... Think. This entire contest between the old man, Hodge and Shen may be a struggle over a resource, over the only thing that gives them their near omnipotence. Shen would be the most powerful of them currently - Perhaps he would be willing to cooperate in giving us communication with our ship ? .... As long as we don't tell him too much, such as how we'd like to discover whether or not the grail's a power source."
Laporte nodded.
"Then, if our ships prove you right about the chalice, your ship or mine can blast it from orbit." Both turned to Schirra to learn his view as they reached their cells.
"Enter !" one of their guards instructed.
"We need to take these guards. Once in the cell's there is no telling how long the Shen entity will keep us here."
"It's risky ...." Nicole whispered, "If one raises the alarm we could be in seriou trouble."
"I'm open to suggestions." Daniel said as the guards approached, forcing them forward.
As Schirra, Psonoir, and Laporte were prodded towards the cells, the Avalon's Commanding Officer bent over double, groaning in pain. The closest guard punched her in the back, demanding she rise and enter the cell, a second guard, watching the Excalibur Officers, turned to his companion, it was then Karka sprung forward, his fist slamming into the neck of the guard knocking him off his feet unconscious. The first guard, suddenly aware he was in trouble thrust his halberd towards Laporte, who had dropped to the floor in a roll. Daniel ran forward, antisipating the man's change of attack. As the halberdier swung his weapon Daniel grasped hold of the business end trying to drag it from his grasp. Laporte, now on her feet punched the guard hard, Karka threw an arm arond the mans neck applying pressure, the man slumpped from Psonoir's arms to the ground.
The other guards, now all subdued by the others in the group were dragged, bound and gagged, into the cell's recently assigned to the visitors.
"What now ?" Captain Fyles asked.
"Backtrack ...." Schirra suggested, "If we can make it up to the Great Hall there's a chance Shen will hear us out."
"They are reenacting old battles from Earth's history." Lieutenant Moore commented, "He made refference to 'Master of Foot' ... Gloucester, the Duke of Marlborough ?"
"History wasn't my strong point at the Academy." Daniel replied.
"The Monmouth Rebellion, The Battle of Sedgemoor ? .... As you said before Captain, there are inconsistancies, the Spaniards, Sedgemoor, the flintlocks, all essentially from diffeerant periods in history. It's almost as if the entities have only been able to gain snippets of historical information and are piecing them together haphazerdly."
"How does this help us Lieutenant ?" Schirra asked.
"To be honest Sir, I'm not completely sure .... But if Shen 'is' extracting information from one or more of us, then maybe we can influence how things go ?" the Lancelot Exec' said, unconvincingly.
"Can't hurt to try." Koni T'Seng speculated.
"Just 'how' do you propose we go about this ?" the Excalibur's Operations Chief asked.
Before Moore could answer a troop of guards came running towards them. It was clear their fracas had been overheard and Shen had sent reinforcements.
"WAIT !" Moore shouted as the men approached. Daniel had been certain the Lancelot Officer was going to be run through but Moore shouted again, "I HAVE INVORMATION YOUR LIEGE REQUIRES ... Kill us and his battle will be lost !" The head guard stopped, the tip of the halberd only centimeters from Moore's throat. He seemed to be mulling over Moore's comment, most likely trying to discern which option ensured his continued survival at the hands of his Liege.
"Lock them away. We shall deliver this one to my Liege." he ordered. Everyone looked to Schirra, who could only nod.
"These three must accompany me." Moore demanded, "They too can help your Liege defeat the Spanish. His forces will be overrun by the Rebel forces and his close friend Sailsbury will perish at the hands of Henry Fitzroy !" again the guard hessitated, he had never heard the name of Fitzroy, but then, he wasn't privvy to the decision makings of his Liege.
"Bring them." the guard decided, "Ten of you will remain here to guard the cells, any further escape attempts will result in each of you visiting the exicutioners block !"
With the ten remaining in the cells, the remaining guards surrounded the Officers and led them back through the miryad of dimmly-lit corridors ..... Finnaly they entered the Great Hall of the castle. Almost one hundred meters away, Shen was surrounded by what was clearly High-ranking Officers, as they approached, Moore muttered something about 'Knights' but was prodded with a guards halberd for his trouble. They stopped twenty meters from the group, who had either been oblibious to their approach, or deemed they unworthy of attention. Behind them a talbe was clearly visible, almost thirty meters in diameter, twenty four swords rested atop, each hilt toward the edge of the table, while the business ends of the waepone all pointed towards the center. Daniel could see one more sword, this one more decorative than the others. He almost laughed as 'King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table' sprang to mind.
The Head of the guards stepped forward, dropping to one knee, his head bowed behind one of the Knights and spoke in a whisper ... The Knight then spoke to Shen.
I did not request these be brought before me." he said to the guard dangerously.
"My Liege ... These men claim to have information vital to the coming battle. They believe your Lord Sailsbury is to perish without their aid. Thus I thought it wise to bring them to your attention." the guard said, head still bowed.
Shen spoke quietly to his Officers, who turned away, presumably to continue discussing battle tactics ... Shen spoke to one of the Knights, who retrived his sword from the table, before silently sheething it. Shen and the Knight approached the Officers. Stood two paces behind his Lord, the Knights' gaze remained locked on the newcomers, his hand resting casually on the hilt of his sword. Daniel had no doubt he could use the impliment with undoubted expertise if required.
"I did not intend to speak with you yet." Shan said, "As you can see, we are in the midst of battle."
"You said you would help us." Daniel replied.
"I believe I stated I could shield you from the Hodge entity, there was no mention of aid." Daniel glanced at Moore, who had his eyes locked on Shen, was he trying to influence the entity,' perception of their surroundings, Shirra couldn't tell. He torisked taking a step forward, seeing the Knight tighten his grip on his sword a fraction:
"It is clear to us that you are in conflict with one or both of the entities beyond these walls ...." Schirra said having returned his attention to Shen, "If you were to allow us contact with one of our vessels, it is possible we could supply more accurate information on the strengths and locations of those attempting to take this stronghold, and your Grail."
"You believe you are better suited to influ ....." Shen began, but Lieutenant Moore interrupted him:
"You cannot see them, can you ?" the Lancelot Officer stated. Shen's expression suddenly grew dark, "Fitzroy's army, The Jacobites, hodge has pursuaded Sir Charles Wills to bring his Jacobites, they approach from the East as we speak." Shen spun to his Knights.
"Can this be true, or is this man speaking falsely ?" he shouted.
Again Daniel looked at Moore, who seemed to be sweating profusely now. Was he somehow trying to sway the man by confusing his memory of events from Earths distant past ? ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 2, 2019 21:09:03 GMT
Karka had been dragged through sepulchral halls back into the audience chamber with Schirra, T'Seng and Moore, the rest of their team locked away in those cramped cells; he approached the table from his position on the left, skirting round where the knights were positioned in a rough crescent near Shen - they seemed happy to let him do so, but kept a watchful eye; from the elevated position he could see out the arcanely decorated windows opposite: Spanish in gleaming armour and brandishing tall pikes were advancing in tercio formation across grey-green plains... He raised an eyebrow; it seemed the city layout - or just the immediate exterior about the castle - had changed again.
"Can this be true, or is this man speaking falsely ?" Shen shouted at his knights, referring to Moore's misinformation. The entities' knowledge was already confused, hopefully the Lancelot XO's efforts would add to this.
"It is possible, my liege. Our outrunners and scouts have been unable to confirm either way the presence of additional forces."
"Hodge is the devil, the devil himself!" Shen slammed the roundtable; a sword was dislodged and clattered to the floor, the herald of Alfred, Crown Prince of Wessex ran to collect the weapon. "Fine, we'll deploy additional forces to the northeastern spur... If your 'Fitzroy' is truly part of Hodge's right flank, he'll come to rue the day he took up arms against Wessex. Still, considering I do not know the full disposition of the enemy forces..."
Karka considered it possible that Moore through his willful reinterpreation of history may be (or may already have been) able to influence the entity Shen's perception of his tactical position.
Psonoir had a wealth of fragmentary information on Earth history from the 12th to 30th centuries stored in his partitioned mind, though without Lirwa's assistance he could only recall individual incidents (likely imperfectly)... Perhaps therefore he was one of the humanoids of the four visiting ships from whom the entities were drawing their (a)historical information, perhaps the primary one. He, and Moore he supposed, should attempt to alter their own internal histories and memories, thus manipulate events to their will.
"Then," Schirra began in response to Shen, "You'll give us the means to contact our ships? We can get what you want by means of a tactical overlay of the battlefield that we - or our shipmates - can transmit to you from orbit."
"Very well..." Shen muttered, then turned when the Excal officers and Lancelot XO didn't react, "Very well! You may use this station," and directed the three Excal officers (while Moore continued saturating the Wessex courtiers with misinformation) to the far wall where a comm station disguised as an Iron Maiden torture device stood.
As he began accessing the station, Karka considered that, of course, neither the Excal or Avalon intended to send down such a tactical plan, but it would help their cause if the English and Spanish ghost legions were at least detectable - if they weren't, then in case the Excal and co did have to make a transmission they would have to demur and Shen would realise he'd been fooled.
"Channel opened, I think, sir," Karka turned to Schirra who nodded for him to go ahead; Karka took a breath, =/\=USS Excalibur, USS Avalon, do you read me? This is Commander Psonoir, I'm on the surface in one of the entities' cities - yes, there is more than one entity...=/\=
A series of distant, muffled explosions were heard, followed by a whistling in the air outside the castle that might signify incoming airborne projectiles; they thundered from the skies and pounded against the castle walls; the whole edifice shook about the occupants, grit and dust dislodging from the ceiling rafters and skittering to the stone slabs of the chamber floor. The battle had begun in earnest.
Karka continued, =/\=Excal, Avalon, we believe the entities are at war with one another over a singular resource that they are referring to as the Holy Grail, which we suspect might be the key to their power. I'm transmitting approximate coords for the Grail now - you should be able to identify it -, please scan and transmit its probable matter constituents to this console; we'll send you a comms signal when we're ready to receive the information.=/\=
=/\=We're on it now, Commander,=/\= Yukigori and the Avalon's acting second officer chimed in simultaneously. =/\=If our scans of this Grail confirm your theories, you want us to destroy it?=/\= the Avalon officer added.
=/\=Affirmative.=/\= Psonoir sighed and closed the channel just as a clutch of Shen's knights led by the herald of Prince Alfred (the future Alfred the Great, Karka believed) were approaching. The guards stood facing the three of them. "Read any good books lately?" T'Seng asked the herald amicably as Schirra smiled; the herald growled and bared his teeth.
"Now, you must do me another favour, Earthmen!" Shen cried, turning from the table and nearby dais, "You said you could help me as regards Salisbury, I'm afraid I want more ready evidence of that. Now, follow Gloucester's regiment and reinforce the northeastern spur; I understand my friend is already hard pressed; you'll march in the front rank, places of honour for my munificent benefactors!" The sarcasm and derision in his tone were clear.
Guards were suddenly all about them; with maddeningly little choice, they were led via an opulently appointed ante-chamber into an armoury and told to arm themselves: chainmail, greaves, spears and shields.
Shen entered as the dismayed Psonoir, Schirra and T'Seng (Moore by now had gained the ear of Shen and was in the midst of the knights) completed donning their gear. The entity spoke, "Out into battle, I want Fitzroy's head! If your regiment succeeds, not only will you have a place of honour at my victory banquet, but with Hodge vanquished... I'll even let you live."
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 6, 2019 18:36:49 GMT
=^= We are on it now Commander .. .. =^= Yukigori and the Avalon's acting second officer chimed in simultaneously.
=^= .. .. Commander .. If our scans of this Grail confirm your theories do you want us to destroy it ? =^= the Avalon officer added. Karka risked a glance at Schirra, who had been listening to the Comm. Daniel nodded.
=^= Affirmative =^= Psonoir replied, closing the Comm ..... Shen, far from allowing them to remain in the castle, had other plans ... They were taken to a room to be armed, garbed in chainmail and sent out into battle. The chances of their survival were practically zero and they all knew it. "You are making a mistake." Daniel said as equerries brought forth large horses. He was pushed uncerimoniously toward the gray, which looked anything but aimiable. Suddenly a guard ran into the room: "Our Liege has been attacked. It is feared he could close to death !" Everyone began to run, seemingly ignoring the Officers in their charge, Daniel didn't waste any time, he motioned for the others to follow ..... They followed two of the Knights into the Main Hall where the others had surrounded the fallen Shen. Three of the Knights were holding someone off to one side, razor-sharp tips of their swords almost penetrating the captors' throat. As they approached the Knights parted, Shen, clearly suffering from a deep wound in his side, pointed at them ! "YOU ! .... You were aware of this tretchory. You goaded me into sending you into battle while this, this, 'SPY' remained in my court." "I have no idea what you are talking about." Schirra replied, looking over to the prisoner, "You need medical help." he finished, realising how ludecrous the last comment was, given these were 'entities' in Human form, nothing more, he did wonder why this entity hadn't simply healed itself and continued toward it's goal. "I believe you are in league with the Welsh giant, Ysbaddaden ...." Shen continued as a Physician tended to the bleeding wound, ".... That man yonder claims to be Culwch, a scholer of note, but is in fact a servant of the giant. Your plot to be rid of me has failed. You, and your vessels above will all die at my own hand for this, I assure you." Schirra glanced at Moore, who again seemed to be deep in concentration. He turned back to the prone Shen: "We have no knowledge of this man. Is it possible one of you own attempted to remove you ?" "The Grail ... THE GRAIL !" Shen suddenly shouted, "Guard it my Knights." several of those looking down on their Liege ran towards the glowing chalice, swords drawn, eyes scanning around them. Three Knights still holding Culwch. Laporte got Daniel's attantion, nodding towards the location of the communications array, it was illuminated, one indicator flashing on and off persistantly, either the Excalibur or the Avalon were attempting to contact them. Karka was backing slowly away from the group, trying not to attract the attention of the Knights watching their fallen Liege. Reaching back, he managed to activate the Comm. =^= Captain Schirra .. This is Lieutenant Commander Walsh .. USS Avalon .. We are having trouble locking phasers onto the artifact .. .. =^= =^= This is Commander Psonoir .. Can you get any transporter lock on the chalice ? =^= =^= Possibly .. .. .. Yes .. We have a partial lock =^= Walsh replied after a moment. =^= Transport it ou .. .. =^= Psonoir began, but was suddenly knocked off his feet by one of the Knights who had seen him speaking. =^= Commander ... Repeat your last message =^= =^= TRANSPO .. .. .. =^= Karka began, but the consciousness was knocked out of him before he could finish. Daniel looked beyond the now healing Shan to the plinth where the chalise was situated .... For seconds it remained in place, then he saw the transport begin. Shen too had realised what was happening, he cast the physician aside like a rag doll,his Knights stepping back in awe or fear as their Liege raised his hand, but the chalise disappeared ... Shen screamed ! "NOOOOOOO !" he turned to glare at Schirra and the others, Daniel realised he was looking at an expression of pure hate. Shen rose, but only to one elbow as the blood began to flow from his wound once again. He looked towards the cieling then smiled, raising his hand once more. There was a sound, unlkie any other, as if every thunderclap in history had sounded in unison. They fell to their knees, ears and eyes bleeding from the pressure wave created. As Schirra looked on consciousness, a newcomer materialised in the court ..... T'Gor ! He looked at the visitors, sadness in his eyes, then turned to Shen. Raising one hand he mouthed something, Shen, realising he was under attack, tryed to fend off his enemy, but succumbed to the power of the uninjured entity. T'Gor, dressed as a Knight himself, bowed his head as one of his own perished, then turned to the Knights: "Your Liege has been defeated in honorable combat. You have two roads to walk, you can kneel and sware fealty to me, or you can accompany you Liege on his path." The Knights didn't need any further encouragement, they dropped to one knee en-masse, swords held out before them, hilt first as was required. Nodding, T'Gor approached the visitors. "Your actions have proved, unfortunate." the T'Gor entity said as everyone began to climb unsteadily to their feet, "My enemy was intent on destroying you all when your attempted to steal the chalice. I was able to prevent this action, but not entirely. Your theft of the Grail will have concequences for all of us, both my race, and yours." "What happened ?" Daniel asked, wiping blood from his mouth and neck. "Your pilferage of our most sacred artifact has resulted in many deaths. Your vessel, the Sir Lancelot, is no more." It took a moment for what T'Gor had said to thoroughly sink into the injured visitors. "What ? .... No, I cannot beli ...." Roger Fyles said, climbing to his feet, "You must be mistaken. We don't even 'BELONG' here !" he screamed in the face of the entity now known as T'Gor. "It is done." T'Gor answered, a note of sadness in his tone. Fyles snatched hold of the entity, shaking violently, T'Gor held up a hand to halt the Knights who were coming to his rescue. He allowed himself to be shook and screamed at until Fyles ran out of his adrenaline-fueled anger. Finaaly, Flyes released his grip and walked away. "You can restore the Lancelot." everyone loked at Karka Psonoir. "I cannot." T'Gor stated simply. "You need the chalice ...." Daniel said. T'Gor watched them without reply, so he continued, ".... Your power, eminates from the chalice, without it you are nothing but, immitations, ghosts. You may well have some abilities, possibly in your natural form, but without the chalice, you and limited, right ?" T'Gor remained silent for a moment then had little option but to reply: "We are, in your terms, omnipotent ... But in a time predating the birth of manki ....." "You will 'DIE' without it, isn't that fact !" Captain Fyles screamed from the floor, when T'Gor refused to reply he continued, "Good, I hope you enjoy your last moments." he spat at the entity. "Captain. While my knowledge of the vessel known as the Sir Lancelot is sketchy." Karka whispered, "I do know that it survived well after the date Captain Flyes said he was displaced from." Daniel realised what his Executive Officer was saying: If the Sir Lancelot was indeed destroyed here, then Earth history would have no recored following the date Fyles had stated. He turned to T'Gor. "You need the chalice. Why have you not simply retrieved it ?" he asked cagily. "It appears that your Officer was 'creative' when taking it." T'Gor answered reluctantly. "Meaning ?" Dan insisted. "We failed to anticipate your taking of the chalice, as such we were too late to prevent it. Had it merely reappeared on one of your vessels, we would have simply taken it back with ease ..... Alas ....." but then, startling realisation suddenly hit Schirra. "They didn't rematerialise it !" he said, almost gloating at the enginuity and genious of the Avalon's Second Officer, "...... So, if we were to 'return' the artifact, you could restore the Lancelot ?" "...... Possibly." T'Gor replied, a sudden darkness in his expression ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 12, 2019 18:01:20 GMT
OOC: Hi, just to check, is the number of entities now four: the old man, Hodge, Shen, T'Gor?
Karka wondered if the apparition known as Culwch (or according to Shen a servant of the giant) was himself an entity, considering he'd been able to wound Shen so severely; he had little time to think on this however - seeing how Shen was screaming about the chalice, blood gushing from his side - and Psonoir found himself stepping back instinctively towards the comms console.
Receiving the ships' communication, Psonoir began seeing to it the chalice was transported away; how far would the entities' power extend now they no longer had the chalice in their possession? Was it even a matter of spatiality, temporality - was there some plane of existence to which only the entities had access and which facilitated their powers?
This line of thought was disrupted, too, as Karka received a blow to the head from the haft of a halberd; he passed from the light of this world of apparitions, just after he witnessed the Grail dematerialise.
When he came to, it seemed the roof was exploding. It managed to hold firm, but the pressure wave resonated across the battlefield outside, knocking combatants - mostly the English due to their proximity, and at this Hodge's Spanish rushed forward - to their knees. Passing once more out of consciousness and seeing Lirwa's visage floating before him - for this particular partition of his mind was where his subconscious self retreated to in moments of shock, to a place where the eternal counsellor that was his sardonic Hybrudean friend kept his vigil...
"You robbed Shen of his power, of all of theirs," Lirwa observed. Karka's dream persona rolled its eyes and told him it'd been necessary. "You've got to return the so-called chalice, Karka, at least temporarily - it's the only way to save the humans, to restore the people's history." Obviously Lirwa was referring to the past or current population of Earth - his friend had always held an affection for the species - but he was unclear on why they needed saving. "Shen has destroyed the Lancelot vessel; it'll change history. Now unfortunately, I don't know much about naval affairs, but -"
He had no time to finish as, regaining consciousness once more and hearing what was being discussed, Karka barked abruptly, "You can restore the Lancelot." Lirwa's information was borne out by what was said subsequently, and Psonoir was impressed by the quick thinking of the Avalon officer responsible for keeping the chalice in the matter buffer.
"Possibly," T'Gor was saying, "Yes, Fyles is correct: we need the chalice to live... Without it on this planet, or in low orbit, we will fade. Understand that we are a peaceful people; a few of us wish to play games: the 'entity', as you call each of us, of he who posed as Crewman Hodge, the entity who impersonated Captain Shen... these are amongst those who take part in these contests over our power source - stolen from the responsible members of our race 78 of your years ago - and are the same who draw in unsuspecting targets from all over the galaxy and beyond. Their recklessness has brought about this catastrophe, for us, for you and for Captain Fyles' crew."
The knights swept round them at T'Gor's order, "Now, give the Grail into my keeping, and I will restore the Lancelot. I, and a few others, are the only beings who can be trusted with its keeping. I know you've heard this before, but you must believe me: we are twelve in number; when one of us perishes after an aeon or more, that one is replaced, and so the tradition of the keeping of our energy fount is handed down through the millennia." His peaceful visage darkened slightly once more, "Be warned, however, in the past we've often had to resort to force. Please, send down the Grail."
Swords were unsheathed by the ring of knights about the officers from the four crews. "Never," Knutsen stated. Captain Fyles blanched and turned on Knutsen angrily as the Gawain skipper was then run through by the herald of Arthur; gasping he fell, dead.
At that instant, Culwch (or whoever he might be) stole the officers away out of T'Gor and the knights' midst; the human officers and crew were dissolved into so many particles of dust and whisked away on the air high up into the chamber, out the smashed windows.
Psonoir had felt himself dematerialise, indeed now experienced a strange splitting within his partitioned mind - what the hell, Lirwa?, he thought briefly - before he realised the Excalibur was trying to grab them all at the same time as Culwch exercised his own transportation powers!
The latter won out, and the group now found themselves standing in the middle of a barren plain in utter darkness; far off in the distance, they saw the city - in which was the castle of the deceased Shen - burn incandescent with ethereal fire; within minutes - spires and dilapidated, abandoned buildings having toppled - it was nothing but cinders and ash.
Schirra nodded to Psonoir and the Hybrudean flipped open his communicator, his voice rushed and terse, =/\=Excalibur, this is Psonoir - ten to beam up at your earliest convenience.=/\= There was no response; he assumed the entities' interference layer was back in place. Then they noticed Culwch standing before them; he told them how he also was a member of the Twelve keepers of the chalice. He apologised for T'Gor's conduct, offered to lead them to meet the rest of the Twelve to find a peaceful resolution.
"Which way?" Schirra asked. Culwch smiled and pointed up to the stars: in the foreground appeared an indigo moon, perhaps having by osmosis entered from the plane of existence the entities normally inhabited.
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 12, 2019 23:23:52 GMT
OOC : Sorry, I had meant to explain the T'Gor entity in my last post but clearly forgot ... I'm working on the premise that there are still only the original three entities ... My thoughts being: The entities have been taking over the bodies of the dead Officers, so, when the Spaniard shot the original (the old man) in the head, that entity returned in the now reanimated body of T'Gor, who had died earlier. Obviously we now know there are others following your post ... With the disappearance of the chalice, all hell had broken loose, the entities vying for superiority ...... "Now, give the Grail into my keeping, and I will restore the Lancelot. I, and a few others, are the only beings who can be trusted with its keeping. I know you've heard this before, but you must believe me: we are twelve in number; when one of us perishes after an aeon or more, that one is replaced, and so the tradition of the keeping of our energy fount is handed down through the millennia." His peaceful visage darkened slightly once more, "Be warned, however, in the past we've often had to resort to force. Please, send down the Grail." "Never !" Knutsen had shouted in glee as T'Gor strode toward the man sword raised. Daniel couldn't react as the owner of the Gawain was run through by one of the Knights. Satisfied, he withdrew the sword and watched in obvious satisfaction as the man fell to the stone floor dead ..... Everything happened quickly then, as he felt the caress of the Excalibur's transporter. But something was wrong, nevertheless, they were taken from the Great Hall ..... Darkness surrounded them, the only light coming from the burning citadel seemingly miles distant. He heard Karka attempting to contact the Excalibur: =^= Excalibur .. This is Psonoir .. .. Ten to beam up at your earliest convenience =^= =^= .. .. .. .. =^= the reply wasn't forthcoming. Culhwch appeared before them, explaining his lineage as one of the Entities. Their ace had never had need for a name, thus non was forthcoming, enough to say they were to be called 'Entity' .... Daniel had begun to think that each of the entities were trying to convince the Human's to surrender the chalice, each in turn making promises, some Schirra doubting they would keep. But the loss of the Sir Lancelot, and that of Knutsen, was something they could not allow if there was a means at hand to reverse the tragic events, but to give up the chalice would leave them open to the entities' whim, he thought. After a moment he spoke: "Which way ?" he asked. Culhwch grinned, pointing behind them ... They turned in unison and begun climbing the stone steps as if trying to reach the indigo moon ahead ... The room was white, or rather not quite white, Daniel turned his head left and right as he became aware of something just on the edge of his peripheral vision, yet each time there was only the not quite white. He had no way of knowing how far they walked in the 'room' but eventually, Culhwch again appeared before them, this time, a hint of translucence seemed to envelope the entity. "We are twelve." he said, holding both hands out. Daniel again turned to focus on the spectre on the edge of his vision, but again, saw nothing. He returned his gaze to the Culhwch Entity. "I can only see you." Schirra commented. "We are here, you have no need to perceive us in solid form, it is unnecessary ... We require the chalice, this we agreed upon." "Captain, you cannot surrender the chalice, if they regai ...." Nicole Laporte began, but Culhwch waved a hand to silence her mid-sentence. He turned to Schirra: "Restore the chalice to us." he said, his expression darkening. Yi So-yeon, the Avalon's Executive Officer had clearly realised what had occurred, she stepped forward to address the entity. "You are powerless to take it from us ....." she began as Culhwch began to raise his arm but Schirra spoke quickly: "Let her speak .... Or any agreement will be void, regardless of your threats !" the entity appeared to think for a second, them lowered his arm, Yi continued, albeit hesitantly. "..... Had you the means to retrieve it, you would have. Despite your non-corporeal state, you still cannot take the chalice back of your own accord .... There is no point in trying to deceive us further. Threats will have no effect. You cannot know which vessel is responsible for taking the chalice, and even if you did you could not know if it had been moved. Therefore, Should you attempt to destroy one or more of the vessels above, you fear destroying the very item you cherish and desire so much." She fell silent, as had everyone else in the group, all waiting to see what the entity would reply. "We could render all those vessels devoid of life. In time we would discover a means to retrieve our chalice." "I do not think so." So-yeon replied, almost defying the entity to prove his statement. The Culhwch entity regarded them with something approaching loathing, yet even now there was a hint of respect possibly. "We have undergone these trials many times, you are the first of your kind to, progress." he said, the comment making Daniel suddenly wary. "Progress ?" he asked. Culhwch smiled then waved his hand ..... The group appeared within the dome, the planet far below them. Culhwch, his appearance altered, stood before them silently waiting. Daniel turned through a full circle. The twenty fourth century USS Avalon was there, as was the Excalibur, the Gawain too, alas, the Sir Lancelot, once a grey-hulled twentieth century vessel, was now a burned out twisted husk .... "You are allowing us to return home ?" Nicole Laporte asked. "Alas, no ... We have further use for you." "Not much you can do without the chalice." Laporte's Exec commented. "Oh, we still retain much of our abilities .... True, we need the chalice, but our abilities, albeit somewhat diminished, will last long after your natural demise. So, to our agreement. It is felt that we should inform you of your next task, one which will test you beyond even your abilities I fear, but task you must undertake nevertheless." Edwin Moore, who had long since given up trying to influence the historic memories the entity had access to, was studying the entity closely. He took a step forward and frowned, "You have discovered my new identity I see." it said with a smile. "Who is he ?" Daniel asked, but the entity was talking again: "You are right that we require the chalice, but that too requires something, a home, a place to rest." the entity was saying, completely ignoring Schirra. He turned to face Moore: "You may address me as Hugues de Payens." "Who the 'HELL' is Hugues de Payens ?" Laporte asked, her frustration and annoyance all too clear. Again ignoring all others, he approached Moore, handing him a stone tablet Daniel couldn't remember him holding seconds earlier. Edwin looked at the tablet: אָרוֹן הַבְּרִית For long moments he struggled to decipher the text, then, as realisation dawned, he looked up at the entity. de Payenes smiled. "Lieutenant ?" Roger Fyles urged. Moore looked at his Commanding Officer then explained: "I'm sorry Captain, I cannot be one hundred percent certain without looking it up in a book, but, if I'm right, this can refer to only one thing ..... The entity has taken on the persona of one Hugues de Payens ..... He, along with a Monk named Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, formed a new order within the church of the time, somewhere around the time of Louis the Sixth, I think. They pretty much wrote something called the 'Latin Rule' eventually, the Knights Templar !" "Hold on ..." Laporte said, trying not to laugh out loud, "Didn't these Knights go around killing everyone who didn't drop to their knees, while searching fo ......" "The Arc of the Covenant .... Yes." Moore interrupted her. "You have to be kidding !" Yi So-yeon said dismissively, "Everyone knows the Arc was a myth, as were the disolousio ...." "The Knights were real, Commander." Moore said in a tone that stopped her in her tracks, "You would do well not to mock." "Your Lieutenant is correct ...." de Payenes said, getting everyone's attention, "We do indeed seek the Ark. The chalice must be returned to it's place beside the tables of order. Alas, it has been lost to us for many millennium in your understanding of time. Our only hope for survival is the return of the Arc, so you see, we have a mutual interest in regaining the Arc. Alas, several of our kind feel it is best to meet our demise with inevitability." It was a revelation no-one had been expecting, and one that no-one had the first inkling of how to resolve ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 14, 2019 13:37:53 GMT
".... You said you would restore the Sir Lancelot ....." Daniel stated. "We had an agreement, did we not ?" de Payans replied amicably. "Well, no, we didn't ...." Schirra said, glancing at the others, ".... You said you 'may' be able to accommodate us. That I'm afraid isn't good enough. I want you're assurance you will restore the Lancelot." de Payens held Schirra's gaze for a long moment before he finally ceded compliance. "I will restore the Sir Lancelot." the entity said, bowing his head. "Good. We shall try to help you locate and regain possession of your artifact ... Tomorrow." everyone looked at the Excalibur's Commanding Officer, then at the de Payens entity, who seemed to be trying to understand what he was being told, "Unlike you, we require rest, and sustenance to continue effectively. We will return to our vessels to eat and rest, we shall meet here in eight hours from now .... Captain Laporte, we shall convene on the Avalon if that is permissible ?" "Wait, you must begin now." de Payens demanded. "No ... Tomorrow ... You have, as you said, waited countless millennium to go in search of the Arc, I don't believe the loss of a minuscule eight hours will make much difference in the grand scheme of things." Schirra retorted, "It is not up for debate. We cannot help if we collapse one by one, so we must rest. we will return here at dawn tomorrow, you in turn, will have fulfilled your agreement to restore the Sir Lancelot, and her crew, intact." he motioned for Nicole Laporte to continue, she tapped the Comm badge on her jacket and spoke: =^= Laporte to USS Avalon =^= =^= Avalon .. Lieutenant Walsh Captain =^= =^= Lieutenant .. Transport everyone at my location to the ship .. .. Now =^= Schirra watched the entity as the group de-materialised, reappearing almost instantly in the transporter room of the USS Avalon ... Stepping off the platform the ship's Second Officer approached. "Iv'e taken the liberty to assign quarters for our guests Captain." "Thank you Lieutenant." Laporte replied, "We'll go up to the Observation Lounge first, have the Galley send us up some supper please." "Yes Captain." Observation Lounge USS Avalon :: Seated around the long curved table, they began to discuss options for their upcoming search ... Daniel couldn't help glance at Lieutenant Moore of the still missing Sir Lancelot, it hadn't gone amiss that Captain Fyles too was taking a sudden interest in his Executive Officer. During a break to eat, Schirra approached Fyles and took his discretely off to one side: "If I may ask Captain, how long as Lieutenant Moore been with you ?" Fyles frowned, then replied. "He was assigned approximately two months ago, my First Officer was injured when cargo slipped from a gantry crane, almost killed the man ..... Why the interest ?" "He seems to have quite an extensive knowledge of the period the entities have chosen to represent themselves." Daniel replied quietly, "It my be nothing, but I feel he is worth keeping a wary eye on." "He did say that he had studied history at Cambridge prior to joining the service." "Hmm, maybe I'm just over-thinking things." Daniel admitted with a slight shrug. "Possibly ... Possibly ..." Roger Fyles replied contemplatively, glancing up to see his Exec' chatting amiably with Yi So-yeon of the Avalon ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 14, 2019 21:40:12 GMT
Led up the stairs in this fantastical landscape towards the indigo moon, Karka felt for a moment he was back on the Hybrudean homeworld - where such idyllic, exotic settings were commonplace. The translucent Culhwch, representing all of the Twelve Keepers of the Grail, carried on an exchange, full of subtle threat, with Schirra and So-yeon.
The pitch-black of planetary midnight was let in through a suddenly materialised portal in the side of the off-white space; peering out, Karka saw far below the destroyed city. He believed these people were or had been peaceful, as the old man/T'Gor had claimed; he assumed T'Gor (and Culhwch, unless the latter really represented all of them) were two of the Twelve Keepers. The rest of the entities - if Karka was right about their number - wanted it for themselves... this devastation was where that rapacity had led them.
On the dome suspended above the cloud-shrouded world, he and the team considered the coming dawn.
* * *
Karka spoke hushedly to Schirra on the way out of the Avalon transporter room, "Captain, if we want de Payens to restore the Lancelot, we have to give back the chalice, without it the entities don't have the necessary power. Now, we must consider with it in their hands they could obliterate us and -"
"It's a risk we'll have to take. I don't trust Culhwch, but neither have we a choice in the matter." Karka nodded, understanding: it was the Ark, not the chalice, that ultimately sustained the entities' fading race; if the human crews couldn't fulfill their role and locate the Ark they'd likely be annihilated anyway.
In the conference room of the Avalon - Psonoir being careful not to betray his knowledge of the tech of this century - he studied a PADD's ancient Hebrew script over Moore's shoulder.
Edwin glanced at Karka, "de Payens, Culhwch... is this really all a game of theirs... These people are powerful, what other overarcing powers might they have?"
Psonoir found it extraordinary how these entities could inhabit humanoid bodies - their ghosting into those deceased members of three of the crews (not too dissimilar from his own Hybrudean mind being inserted into an otherwise wholly human physiology, he supposed). These entities may be akin to primordial archetypes of various species, manifesting by accident or design as historical phenomena of both Earth's past and others'.
Moore pointed to the PADD, "See, the Crusaders lost Castle Montferrand the year after de Payens' death; there was mourning throughout the ranks of the Templars, despite their lack of involvement in the battle... Well actually, as I recall..." he went on.
Schirra was correct: Moore knew a good deal of 1st and 2nd millennium Earth history, more surely than could be expected for someone who'd originally made claims to ignorance (those few short days ago when the Excal had sent its away team to the Lancelot; until recently Karka had assumed Moore had been being modest, given his latently apparent knowledge on the subject.
The Avalon bridge reported the chalice had been returned to the surface; true to de Payens' word, the Lancelot was restored 20 minutes later. Pensively, the crews of the four vessels waited for the apocalypse.
* * *
Karka requested he and the other executive officers (including the new boatswain of the Gawain, but excluding Moore who was absorbed with his PADD) and the Captains of the four ships take private conference. They headed out across the bridge to Laporte's ready room. "Yes, Commander?" she asked after seating herself behind her desk.
"The entity T'Gor told us how the chalice was robbed from the Twelve 78 years ago... Given the battle we've witnessed, perhaps Hodge and Shen were amongst those who took it, they and others outside the ranks of the Twelve warring for it ever since," Karka said, speculating he thought convincingly, "It may be surmised we're dealing here with a very numerous race of beings - thousands, perhaps millions; the Twelve kept the chalice and used it to provide energy to all their people."
"So there are so many of these folk -" Fyles began.
"That some may be among us now, and not only in Lieutenant Moore," So-yeon coughed. She went on before Fyles could object, "If you're right, Commander Psonoir, I imagine not a few of the race of entities will be disaffected by their Twelve's traditional guardian role, and will be hungry for the chalice themselves. They may seek - through inhabiting our crew - to sabotage our efforts to find the Ark and thus work to counter the Twelve's objectives."
"Or they could attempt to commandeer our ships," Karka said. "The entities of the Twelve now have the chalice and could if they wanted eliminate us (though it would mean their eventual death), but with our ships under the control of fellow entities..." It would mean war, he finished for himself, between near omnipotent and indestructible enemies, and the four human vessels would be trapped in between.
At dawn on the planet the next day, de Payens told them how a planet - in the manner of a counter-Earth - had been created the opposite side of this system's star; that was where they should begin their search - past that he could give them no information, else the Twelve would've found the Ark long ago. The next stage had begun. Laporte was maudlin, "Well, we've been told the Ark has been missing for millennia... Perhaps it's time we started."
"I may be able to help there," Lirwa's voice resounded in Karka's head. "What?" he asked as Laporte and Schirra contacted their respective bridges to have a course set for the counter-world, the Gawain and Lancelot under tractor beam. "I had a hand in taking it."
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 15, 2019 22:36:41 GMT
..... Had there been other options open to them, Daniel would never have surrendered the chalice .... It had been their only bargaining chip, yet they were relinquishing it. It hadn't been lost to him that there could be consequences to his action, but the group had deemed in necessary .... They were sat in the Recreation Lounge of the USS Avalon when the Comm chirped to life:
=^= Bridge to Captain =^=
=^= Laporte =^= she answered.
=^= The chalice has been returned to the surface Captain =^=
=^= Thank you =^= she closed the Comm by tapping the insignia on her tunic, then turned to the others, "Well ... Now we wait." she said, picking up her glass. Twenty minutes later they were informed of the return of the Sir Lancelot.
"Captain ..." Roger Fyles said, "... I would like to return to my ship." After arranging to meet on the platform at zero eight hundred, Laporte asked one of the crew to escort the two Officers to the transporter room.
"It appears de Payenes has held up his side of our bargain." Knutsen said, downing yet another tall glass of alcohol.
~~~~~~~~~~
Again on the surface, they listened as de Payenes explained their next task .... They were to travel to the far side of the System .... So, with the Gawain and Sir Lancelot under tow, by the Excalibur and Avalon respectively, they traversed the System, finally entering orbit around a blue green planet not dissimilar in size to Earth itself.
"So what next, do we sit around waiting for the good de Payens to appear ?" Karka commented.
"No, I've asked the others to join us on the Avalon, she can handle multi-transports better than we can." Daniel said, informing the Excalibur's Security Chief, Lieutenant Yukigori, that she had the Con during their absence. He asked Koni T'Seng, Mark Unwin, and Sarah Wentworth, to meet Commander Psonoir and himself in the transporter room, Once together they beamed over to the Avalon.
"Everyone else is here Captain." Laporte informed him as entered the Bridge, "What's our next step ?"
"We transport to the surface." Schirra replied.
"I had the Bridge scan the surface overnight, unremarkable, Earth-like, effectively an unoccupied ball ..." Nicole informed him as one of her Bridge Staff brought up a tactical readout of the surface on their view-screen, "As you can see, scans were inconclusive ... We did pick up three possible regions were the scans picked up abnormal readings, nothing we could identify, which in itself was somewhat unusual, could simply be the geology of the planets sub-surface, the three area's are approximately six square kilometers in total. Despite the best efforts of my Staff, we couldn't penetrate the surface more than six hundred meters. It's possible that there is something beneath the surface, but as to what ....." she finished with a frustrated shrug.
"Well lets get down there then !" Lars Knutsen said decisively.
"Which one ?" Koni asked the man.
"Excuse me ?" he replied, then thought he'd heard a hint of sarcasm in her tone, "I don't appreciate being questioned. I am simply saying we are doing nothing up here, the obvious action would be to go to the surface. As to 'which' of the three area's we should begin with, then if I'm not mistaken, 'YOU' are the Military, not me."
"It was a valid query Mister Knutsen." Karka said. Knutsen simply turned away as if no longer willing to contribute to the conversation ... Daniel turned to Nicole, who looked at the tactical readout.
The Surface Faux Earth ::
"It's warm ..." Koni commented when they materialised.
Laporte had, albeit reluctantly, furnished the Excalibur Officers with tricorders, both she and Daniel were a little skeptical about this, but needs must they agreed, and it was a given the devices would be returned to the Avalon once they had completed their task. The group had begun to separate, all scanning as far ahead as the tricorders would allow. Finally they picked up a stronger reading and made their way towards it ...... In a valley, they realised technology wasn't going to help, so it became a visual search ... After four hours, pacing out a grid pattern, Yi So-yeon shouted the others over.
"Commander ?" Laporte and Schirra shouted in unison.
"There's an opening, there, at the base of the rocky outcrop." Everyone congregated twenty meters from the darkened entrance, it could be five meter deep, or five kilometers, without going in there was no way to tell.
"Isn't anyone else a tad concerned about the whereabouts of the entity ?" Knutsen demanded. No-one replied, though it was obvious everyone was wondering the same ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 25, 2019 15:58:58 GMT
Karka peered down on his haunches at the opening. The darkness, the absence of any features inside the gap - besides a rusty ladder... - seemed to suggest a recession to infinity. While he used the 24th/25th century tricorder to obtain what readings he could, several others of the group took note of a sudden but limited rockfall from the precipitious slopes above. Wentworth and Unwin were forced to duck out of the way as a sandstone boulder struck near them; they heard laughter - echoing through the valley - from the heights...
"I think I can see a way down," Psonoir was murmuring as the trouble subsided; he'd activated a palm-light, following the line of the severely rusted ladder to an opening in the side of the apparent tunnel, perhaps 20 metres down. They all decided to risk it; the heaviest - an Avalon security officer - took the lead so as to test the ability of the ladder to take their weight individually; after gripping the first few rungs hesitantly, he descended the ladder and was soon in the level-ground opening, the rest then followed.
Karka was bringing up the rear and scanning the heights with his tricorder. About to snap the device shut and follow Wentworth in her own descent, he saw a mirage, a flitting of a shadow, manifest itself in the middle distance halfway up the scree-slope. He squinted in the heat, his sight dissolving in the mirage, and followed after it, glancing back to make sure he wasn't falling too far behind.
The shadow took on more definite form before him. It was one of his fellow species. "Lirwa," he nodded, "At least you're not in my head this time."
Lirwa tutted, "Psonoir... You and these 23rd century types... Did you think that was me in your mind? Well, yes, it was, but it would've been another instance." A Lirwa of a different world-line, Karka realised, and sat down on the slope. "Yes, I took the Ark, as the entities are calling it," his friend went on.
"Why? What possible use could you have for it?"
"What possible use? We were vigilantes, Karka, you and I, and another with whom I resolved to take the Ark once we travelled back here. Know that the time period in which we took the Ark is the same as the furthest back in history our species is able to go." Seven thousand years approximately, Karka knew, he'd never attempted it himself. "It was an experiment: we arrived, myself and another of us called Xirta, you remember him?"
Karka nodded; his friend Lirwa rounded a boulder and sat by Karka's side, "Well, we decided... Why not? We'd take the Ark - the fount and energy source of the entities' life - and see where it led us, where it led the strands of history, and if it didn't work out for the Hybrudeans of the 29th century - for instance in our war against the Raiders and others - then we would undo our tampering. We found a willing accomplice in a disaffected entity of the Twelve, and together with him we took the Ark. Once we reached this place, this alternate world made to resemble Earth, the traitorous entity repented of what he'd done and tried to take the Ark from us. Xirta had been carrying it, there was a struggle and - due to the entity's power - a cataclysm, an earthquake that created this valley..."
Lirwa continued, "Xirta immediately found a null marker and returned to the 29th. I vanished, too. The Ark was lost, the entity - unable to find it - returned to his world." Karka asked Lirwa why he hadn't tried to repair the damage and travel back to prevent the Ark being taken in the first place, Lirwa laughed, "You know our Hybrudean Executive Board! If I'd meddled again in the same time and place - in all likelihood creating several Lirwas - I would've been exiled. No, I absolved myself of all responsibility, I wanted no blame attached to me for the incident. But I have on numerous occasions travelled back here - visiting various time periods of the last seven millennia - to attempt to find the Ark and in that way return it to the entities."
"That's how you avoided the attention of the Executive," Karka understood, "Their focus was on the source, the original rupture in the timeline that was the taking of the Ark. Could you give us some advice on -"
"The only thing I know, Karka," he said, anticipating the question, "Is that what you're looking for is nowhere in the planet's crust, perhaps not even the mantle. I've combed the subterranean passages in all three regions with no success, and that over seven thousand years." Lirwa grimaced and vanished, dropping into a spacetime null-marker at his feet.
Catching up with the other team members now all located in the subterranean passage accessed from the ladder, Karka reported, "My scans, sirs, they indicate..." He sighed and improvised, "We won't find the Ark in the subsurface regions that the Avalon's sensors were able to penetrate. This valley... it seems we're on a fault-line. It's eminently possible that long ago there was an earthquake here, and the Ark fell into the resultant trench."
Above they heard the distinctive cacophony of warfare; pike and shot, sword and buckler clashing in combat. Descending from opposites sides of the valley, the resurgent forces of Hodge and 'Shen' who'd found a new form - those entities who lay outside the Twelve which was embodied by de Payens - resumed their war.
They progressed along the cramped subsurface passageways, often they had to crawl to find a way forward and the palm-lights were always necessary. Despite the team's steady descent, the sound of battle intensified above. "Is de Payens really playing another game with us, or does he actually need this Ark?" Unwin complained as he struck his knee on an outjutting formation of granite.
Laporte replied, "They're a dying species without it, he told us."
"No, this is likely another trick. If de Payens is serious about the Ark's loss and how crucial it is to the survival of his species," Schirra rebutted, "Why would he allow another farce?" the Excal's CO referred to the combat far above, heard ever-more faintly through the tonnes of bedrock that dripped with rare liquid sulphur.
"And a combat in such close proximity," Karka agreed, but he was pensive. Lirwa had told him how critical the Ark was to the entities' survival, but could he be trusted? He had to trust in Lirwa's word, they'd known one another for decades.
"But have you kept the Covenant?!" a voice cried from nowhere. The tight passageway opened out unexpectedly on a deep and wide chasm; So-yeon teetered on the edge, about to fall... and below, visible in the gloom and suspended in mid-air, was de Payens/Culhwch, the two forms morphing into one another, constantly changing, fusing, transmuting and rising, laughing...
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 9, 2019 18:59:17 GMT
"But have you kept the Covenant ?!"
Daniel, having grasped So-yeon's arm, looked at the morphing entity hung beyond the rim of the ledge .....
"We do not have it !" Laporte answered the statement.
"There's no way down." Unwin said, getting up from his knees.
"If we were meant to descend, wouldn't they have provided us with a means to do so ?" Fyles speculated.
"Well, it's find a way down, or backtrack and look elsewhere." Schirra decided, glancing back at the still morphing entity, "Besides, he, it, looks like it's having issues of it's own. So call it ..."
"I say we backtrack. There were options, I think we should explore one of those." So-yeon said.
"Agreed." Daniel decided, turning away before walking back the way they had come.
~~~~~~~~~~
In the sunshine of the valley, the group formed a makeshift circle to discuss options. Daniel was admittedly at a loss, he had half expected help from one of the entities, but apart from the disturbing scene of the de Payens / Culhwch entity, none had approached or communicated with them in hours ... They had tried contacting their respective vessels, but it seemed they were being forced to resolve their issue without further assistance.
"If we stay put, isn't is a given that one of the entities will show itself to get us moving ?" Laporte commented, her frustration shared by the group.
"Erm ..... What's that ?" Moore asked, pointing off into the distance. Everyone turned to look in the direction indicated, something on the valley floor was reflecting the mid-day sun !
"I'm guessing were going that way then ?" So-yeon commented. All Schirra could do was shrug and begin walking.
~~~~~~~~~~
Following an hours walking they reached the source of the reflection, it appeared to be a large metallic raised cover, approximately three meters in diameter ... Koni T'Seng approached slowly until she began to see over the raised lip ... crouching then dropping to her knees she moved the last meter and peered down into the semi-darkness:
"It's a shaft." she informed the others, "I cannot tell the depth, but there are protruding rungs fixed to the inside." Everyone else moved closer, each leaning forwards to peer into the gloom.
Iorte turned away, eyes scanning the surrounding ground. Finding what he was looking for he returned to the shaft and held out one hand. He dropped the large stone and waited ...
"Seven seconds, give or take, that means the shaft is something like two hundred metes deep." he speculated.
"That's one hell of a climb." Sarah Wentworth commented. Daniel walked over to the shaft and began to swing one leg over the lip when the Excalibur's Operations Chief grabbed his arm, "Wait ..... Everything we've witnessed thus far has pretty much been set in Earths Arthurian period, or thereabouts ...."
"Your point Lieutenant ?" Commander Fyles prompted.
"The mechanism on the underside of that cover is at least nineteenth or twentieth century ...." everyone stood in silence so she continued, ".... Sooo .... Why the change ?" Sarah asked.
"You think it could be relevant Lieutenant ?" Psonoir asked, taking another look into the depths of the shaft.
"Possibly, but to be honest I can't justify my observation with fact." she said.
"Then we go." Daniel said. This time he wasn't prevented from climbing over the lip, a second later he disappeared from sight, only the sound of his boots landing on the rungs as he descended. One by one the others followed Lars Knutsen, the last to begin the climb downwards couldn't help glancing back up the shaft every few moments, half expecting the massive cover to suddenly slam into place, sealing them in the shaft with no means of returning to the surface, alas all that happened was the appearance that the opening was getting smaller and smaller as they climbed down .....
"I can see the floor." Schirra informed the others. A moment later, his thighs and arms burning from the exertion, he stepped off the last rung onto solid ground. He moved aside to allow the others to do likewise. Daniel looked left and right, they were in a long tunnel extending out of sight in both directions, he walked over to the wall, it appeared to be constructed of interlinking bricks, thousands upon thousands must have been required for the construction, had this not been a conception of the entities.
"Well ?" Schirra asked, glancing both ways.
"Do these entities really need to make us walk so far every time they come up with something ?" Laporte said, striding off down the tunnel. With nothing to say, the others followed ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 25, 2019 22:42:12 GMT
Two hundred meters along the dimly lit corridor Daniel noticed the doors .... Metallic, large, had their situation not been as it was he would have almost described them as foreboding .... "Nice." Knutsen said as he eyed the portal. It was a given that they had little option but to go through, so Schirra took hold of the large handles and pulled. The doors silently opened as if weightless, each continuing on it's arc as he released them. Daniel took a step forward, the room beyond was almost circular in design, sixty maybe seventy meters in diameter. In the center were three objects resting on raised plinths. Schirra couldn't make out what they were but something in the back of his mind said he recognised them. The illumination raised slightly as the group entered, and what at first seemed a simple task to walk to the center of the room became instantly more complicated: "It appears we have a problem." Yi So-yeon said as she leaned forward to peer over the edge of the rim into what appeared to be a bottomless drop. The plinths, lit by some hidden light source, were on a base approximately three meters in diameter, the intervening distance from just inside the door, was in the region of twenty five meters. Alas, as So-yeon had surmised, there was no obvious means of reaching the plinths ! "This is getting completely beyond a joke." Captain Fyles said. "Karka, take Commander So-yeon, move clockwise around the circumference, Commander Unwin, take Commander Moore and Lieutenant T'Seng, go anticlockwise, lets see if there is a simple solution to this before my patience completely runs out." "I assume we have to get over there somehow." Fyles said, clearly agitated. Daniel approached the man. "I know this is all beyond anything you have come to expect Captain, but we need to show some composure, if not for yourself, for all the more Junior Officers from every vessel." he said quietly. After a moment of contemplation, Fyles nodded, apologising for his unprofessional behaviour. Unwin's group was the first to get back to their starting point: "We found three small indentations in the walls, equidistant around the circumference .... " he was explaining as the other group returned, ".... There seems to be a set of, hieroglyphs, possibly corresponding to the tips of fingers ?" "Combinations maybe ?" T'Seng speculated. Daniel began walking around the walkway, on reaching the first indentation he placed his left hand on the stone, fingers on the corresponding 'glyphs. the alcove glowed a soft blue but nothing further happened. He instructed others to do likewise with the remaining two indentation. Two blue, one green, but other than that, nothing ... "It's clearly a combination." Laporte said, expanding on her hypothesis as the others turned to her, "Maybe we need to find the right people, all greens ?" she said with a shrug. "Well lets get to it." Schirra said. All they could do was place their hands in the indentations in combinations of three in turn until they finally managed to illuminate all three of the sets of hieroglyphs in green. Which turned out to be two women and one man, but each needed to be in the right alcove, not randomly placed, so it took some time to achieve. As Koni T'Seng placed her hand in the third of the alcoves, the room dimmed until only three small, almost invisible beams extended to the central dais. Edwin Moore began to walk towards the nearest of the walkways when his Commanding Officer stopped him: "Maybe it requires the most Senior Officers ?" he asked, unsure as to why it occurred to him. Laporte, Fyles, and Schirra each took a walkway and began approaching the central dais, as they neared, Daniel realised how wrong his initial thoughts had been, for there, before their eyes, were three one meter diameter orbs. From the outer walkway they looked like illuminated globes, but now, a meter away, Schirra suddenly realised what he was looking at ... For there, suspended before them, were three Galaxies ! .... Were these real, it was obviously impossible to ascertain, but given how the Entities had performed thus far, it was almost impossible to believe they couldn't achieve what was before the Humans. Despite his admitted scant knowledge of the laws of physics, Daniel didn't for a second believe he was looking at a representation of not one, but three, real, living, breathing, life-sustaining, Galaxies, he believed wholeheartedly that he was looking at the real thing. "Somewhat of a conundrum, is it not ?" They spun in unison to where the voice had emanated, there, suspended in midair was the entity in the form of Hodge. He, it, was grinning inanely. "You must use caution my friends ....." the Hodge entity warned, "..... a wrong decision could prove, somewhat damaging. Though your quest is still at hand ... What to do ... What to do ?" "Captain !" Koni shouted. Pointing at the walkway. It took him a moment to realise what she was getting at, but then it dawned on him that the whole circumference was slowly reducing in size. eventually it would disappear into the outer wall, leaving everyone with nothing to stop them falling into the abyss ! ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 26, 2019 22:49:04 GMT
Lirwa, what is this? Karka asked inwardly; he knew he was there in his mind again, the other instance at least. He looked across the 25 metre abyss at the central dais with its three plinths, I don't know... these beings have powers greater than even I envisaged..." Lirwa was for once pensive, despite his inconspicuous claim to special knowledge apparently denied to other Hybrudeans.
Those galaxies, as Laporte had called across to them that they were (or represented), showed perhaps the fullest extent of the entities' power. Could the sweeping of a hand across the mirage, the image, the real thing... bring about that entire galaxy's destruction? It implied something else besides the awesome destructive power invested in the entities: that such ability could be channelled through a human being, perhaps to his or her own destruction? Would the destroyer end themselves along with the galaxy?
As he mused over these dubious necessities, the walls started moving inwards; Koni called across abruptly to Schirra, what space they had left to them (about 3 metres width) was rapidly vanishing, and their only choice (those of them still on the outer circumference) was to find a way along the edge quickly enough to reach one of the walkways leading towards the centre...
But was Fyles right? Could only commanding officers take that route, or were the entities truly only playing with them, allowing Fyles his whim and implicit suggestion, when in fact all were able to pass?
Karka scampered along as he thought these things, So-yeon and Wentworth immediately behind him; he steeled himself as he ran onto the nearest walkway - just in time, the ring circumference was reduced now to just 50 centimetres and the officers behind him had little or no room to move - and hoped he didn't fall right through the ephemeral path... His foot fell on solid ground, and he kicked off with the sole of the boot and was soon at the central dais, observing up close the galaxies.
"Captain! Argh, Captain, anybody... - "
Moore. Moore had fallen into the depths having not reached a walkway. Fyles peered down in despair at the disappearing form of his first officer. He turned away, aghast, and rested his head and arm dangerously close to the galaxy on the left.
"Captain Fyles..." Psonoir began.
"Leave it! Enough!" Fyles barked, "I've lost my first officer, I don't need..." The rest were all about them, and the walls - while they hadn't stopped at the circumferential ring - had at least ground to a halt halfway along each of the three paths; however, that now meant they'd no route for escape: they had the central dais, 12.5 metre walkways (equidistant spokes) and the abyss above and below.
Entity Hodge appeared the other side of the dais, his face framed by the central spherical galaxy. He wore a long robe of deep maroon with gold embroidery and a diadem in the manner of ancient kings. "Which choice to make, then, hmm?" he asked nonchalantly and stepped round the dais; with the back of his hand, he hit Karka - who happened to be standing nearest - about the head.
"You son of a -" Unwin began, about to dive forward with the intention of throwing Hodge off the platform but Karka held up a hand.
"Look, fellows," Hodge intoned commandingly, one hand tucked inside the fold of his robe in magisterial manner, the other pointing to each galaxy in turn, "This," he pointed to the galaxy on their left, "Is what you call Triangulum, third largest in our section of the universe. This, hah, as if you need to know, is your own Milky Way," he pointed to the galactic structure on the right, lingering amusedly, and then indicated the central galaxy by which his face had been framed, "And this is Andromeda, largest galaxy for about 4 million parsecs outside this cluster."
He drew himself up, "Now, which would you prefer to annihilate?" They looked at him in silence; Karka felt his features pale. "You must choose one," he shook his head and waggled his fingers, "Or you'll never get out of here."
"Hodge's not a member of the Twelve, he's not in control, Karka," Lirwa warned. I know, I know... What his friend was suggesting was that de Payens/Culhwch (he who embodied all the Twelve) may appear at any moment to avert any catastrophe, that Hodge was - possibly - acting without the authority of the Twelve with whom he'd purportedly been at war for many years. "And Andromeda, Karka... could that be the Ark itself? It's changed, I'll admit."
Fyles coughed, his face pallid and his eyes bleary, "By utilitarian principles, as promoted by certain figures of our history, amongst them Jeremy Bentham," was the man delirious? Karka thought, "The best of principles is what engenders happiness for the most. So seeing that... Triangulum... is the smallest of the galaxies, I recommend we annihilate that."
The rest stood in silence, not knowing whether to find these events tragic or comic. Hodge stood impassively, arms folded in his robes. He stood there. They stood there.
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 27, 2019 2:10:48 GMT
Daniel watched, almost resignedly, as Commander Moore fell into the maw ... His screams echoed for long moments ... He looked up at the impassive Hodge entity, anger and frustration vying for supremacy. He turned at the orbs, each supposedly holding a Galaxy, his own included. He couldn't even begin to speculate on the trillions upon trillions of beating hearts spread throughout those astrophysical phenomenon.
"No ....." he said simply, no raised voice, no threat, just a simply reply to a question he didn't want to answer. The Hodge entity took it's time to give Schirra it's full attention, then it spoke:
"No ?"
"I'm pretty sure you heard me first time around, but just in case you didn't, then ..... NO ....." Daniel repeated. He could see the eyes of his companions boring into him as he returned the stare impassively.
"But you must. Finding the Ark is dependent upon you completing the assigned tasks put before you." the Hodge entity said, clearly taken aback at the turn of events, but Daniel was shaking his head:
"No, I will not be responsible for the loss of life that may, or may not, occur should I destroy one or more of the orbs, so you and your 'council' are going to have to find other means to force us."
"Captain ?" Fyles asked, but Schirra just held up a hand to stop the Sir Lancelot Commander from speaking further.
Unnoticed, the walkway, a moment earlier, mere centimeters, had expanded to almost two meters .... A door appeared and Hugues de Paynes entered the auditorium. He shook his head as if in disappointment, eyes passing over everyone in turn until resting on the Hodge entity. The two appeared to be holding a silent dialogue, one frowning then the other as they circled the plinth.
"STOP THIS !" Daniel finally shouted. The entities, as surprised by his outburst as those with him, slowly focused their attention on the Excalibur Captain, "You are 'PLAYING' with lives that do not belong to you, you hunt something that will undoubtedly allow you access to powers you lost long ago. Why you have chosen Human's to hunt down this artifact is beyond me, but that said, I have the distinct feeling that if we were to refuse to play your morbid games, you would be no stronger tomorrow than you are today."
"You believe you are the first to be brought here, or indeed the first time you yourselves have graced us with your, presence ?" de Paynes asked, clearly amused. He fell silent allowing Daniel and the others to fully absorb the last comments.
"I do not believe you have such abilities." Roger Fyles spat infuriated.
"You are wrong ...." the de Paynes entity replied with a small laugh, ".... While our time is indeed 'linear' that of you and your race is somewhat 'flexible' .... You yourself have been here numerous times, and have perished in each and every one of those visits."
"So you have the power over life and death ?" Yi So-yeon asked.
"Not as you understand it, but in essence, yes .... You see, the 'Ark' is just a physical representation of what we seek. Without it, as you have surmised, we are less than whole. It was hidden from us long ago, and we have endeavoured to regain possession ever since. We ourselves cannot physically search for it would be detrimental to our continued existence, thus our need for you." the entity fell silent for long moments, as if composing his reply before voicing it. Once ready he/it continued, "I can say that despite odds against you, this is the furthest you have achieved, making us confident you will eventually succeed in your quest."
"Furthest ....?" Daniel repeated, ".... So we have been in this room before but do not remember ?"
"As I attempted to explain, yes, you have been here many times before. But now you must press on."
"I have never been here before !" Larson said defiantly. Something was worrying Dan about the conversation and he finally put his concerns into voice:
"The Ark .... How did you loose it ?" Daniel asked, the de Paynes entity seemed to be conversing with the Hodge entity but Schirra lost patience, ".... HEY ! .... I'm asking a valid question, as in my 'humble' opinion, you should be chasing after whoever stole your precious artifact, or power source or what the hell ever you want to call it. So why us ?!" he fell silent as the de Paynes entity seemed to be trying not to laugh, or smite him from existence, he couldn't quite tell, but the reply was anything but what he was expecting:
"But it was you." de Paynes replied almost casually.
"WHAT !" Nicole Laporte spat. But Daniel, for reasons he would never be able to explain, knew the entity was telling the truth.
"Yes ... Thousands upon thousands of years hence, as you perceive time, you yourselves will attain the ability to enter our realm at will. Despite your advancements, your underlining, yet deeply hidden need to possess what is not yours at any cost, will compel you to discover the means of our longevity ....." de Paynes explained, a sadness in his voice Schirra had not heard before, "..... Your insatiable thirst for knowledge, power, advancement, will bring you here to deprive us of the one thing that sustains us."
"That is bloody ridiculous !" Knutsen shouted, but the de Payens entity could only shrug.
"In your future, you will develop the ability to traverse space at vast velocities, but you will also achieve the one thing your race has cherished from your first upright steps ... To be able to traverse the multi-realms of our Universe, moving from one time-frame to another in your own history at will. But with that, you discover new, unexplored realms, one of which was ours ... Here you will discover the Ark, and when we refuse to share it's properties, you steal it !"
"You seriously expect us to believe that 'WE' came here and stole you precious Ark ?" Knutsen said, getting increasingly irate by the second.
"You may believe what you wish, I merely present the facts. Facts I divulge despite the objections of the Twelve I may add ... Tens of thousands of years from now, in time as you understand it, you 'WILL' come here, you 'WILL' take the Ark, and knowing you cannot return to your own time with it, you choose to hide it before we were able to prevent your attempted return home !" The full implications of what de Paynes was saying was dawning on everyone rapidly.
"You killed those responsible, and now you need to ......" Unwin commented.
"I fear you begin to see our dilemma ...."
"So why not bring them back and ask ?" Mark persisted, though Dan already knew he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Alas, they were, erased, before we realised our error." de Paynes said sincerely ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 4, 2019 23:26:32 GMT
"I'd advise against telling them anything further..." Hodge was warning de Payens; Karka looked up, surprised that the two were speaking aloud to one another, only to discover that they weren't, they were holding their continued silent dialogue which somehow Psonoir was now privy to.
"So that you can continue your petty wars for domination of all that lies outside the Twelve, of all that paltry realm?" de Payens retorted.
"Hardly," Hodge replied. "The rest of the Twelve will never approve of what you've done and said here, 'Hugue'. How much you have told them..."
Karka thought back to a few minutes earlier: "But it was you." As de Payens had spoken those words, he'd glanced and grinned surreptitiously - Karka was sure - at himself, and at that the instance of Lirwa his fellow Hybrudean and friend had quailed, "Ah, I'm discovered... They can hear me, old friend." And I can hear them, Karka told him in return.
As de Payens' story had unfolded and Knutsen continued to express frustration, Psonoir had once more found himself looking inwards, the internal eye of blame landing squarely on his colleague, Now what's this tale, Lirwa? There was a pause, "Ah, I must've lied to you. What was it all about?" Karka told Lirwa how the latter's other instance (another temporal self) had - on the scree slopes above the cleft in the valley floor - spun him a yarn of how the Ark had been taken approximately 7,000 years ago by Lirwa, another Hybrudean named Xirta and a disaffected member of the entities' Twelve. All nonsense then, I presume? Karka asked. Lirwa's imago shrugged, his form multiplying itself hundredfold in the multispectral dust of his preconscious, "Must be. It sounds like something I might invent."
It seemed then the entities couldn't fully integrate themselves into the physical world in order to search for their lost object, and they were trapped on two fronts: by the removal of those future humans who would find and hide the Ark before they could discover from them its location, and by their own incorporeality.
Is there a null-marker in here, Lirwa? Karka asked inwardly, hoping for the possibility of escape back to the 29th century leaving - unfortunately - his fellow crew behind, at least for now. "Negative, you're lying outside of spacetime as we know it, and as you're well aware, we're limited in our own space to the Standing Wave; any way we may utilise the central station to break through spacetime's fabric and visit their fabled multi-realm is beyond us. I'm out of here," and his friend's voice receded, echoing into the partitioned depths.
"Then the humans will outstrip us at the last, or at least find a way to the multi-realm faster..." Karka whispered; Knutsen glanced at him briefly before shrugging, thinking darkly of madmen from the 23rd century.
"It is on this planet," de Payens announced, "Or somewhere else in this system with the exception of the world into whose orbit you were drawn upon your arrival here."
"What about these galaxies?" Psonoir asked, pushing past Fyles whose despondency had dropped him into an immovable stupor, "Are they as you'd have us believe?"
de Payens tilted his head and stepped forward, Hodge furious as the other entity began again, "What you see is a representation of the three major galaxies of your Local Group as they exist in all realms of the universe, that is in all parallel dimensions in which exist the independent worldlines of every being that has ability to exercise free will. The multi-realm universe intersects these galaxies, as it does all matter and void throughout spacetime. We ask, quite simply, that you eliminate only one, that is to say - despite Hodge's obfuscations - you destroy the possibility of one future." There was a pause, more looks of horror.
de Payens waved his arms in exasperation, "One possibility out of... out of what you may as well regard as an infinite number! And before you get any ideas, you cannot destroy the timeline that has you trapped here, we've tried to ourselves many times. You see, when we first brought physical beings to this system to have them solve for us our eternal riddle, we inadvertently set up a feedback loop: people like you would be forever returning to us whether we liked it or not - all we could do every ten or so of your years was shift the loop on a few sectors of space at a time, and thus it eventually landed on your world..."
Which would further explain why only Earthmen are involved and not Federation or Starfleet species at large, Karka thought, that and the species advancement tens of thousands of years hence.
"... This is the 712th recurrence of your being here, and we should've liked to move the loop on after your last effort," de Payens continued and shook his head in bitter remembrance, "But we were unable, and because this time you've unexpectedly come so far... Now, destroy one future. We can direct but cannot ourselves take action."
"OK!" Knutsen cried and lunged forward; he swept a hand at the Andromeda galaxy and, presumably, removed one of its timelines - surely though the alteration of a possible future in one galaxy would affect another? Psonoir had considered, as in vain he and Schirra had attempted to prevent the Gawain skipper's act.
The orb flashed cerulean light and all three dropped and dissolved into their plinths. The dais the people stood on fell away into the shadowy depths - they were headed for the core, all except Hodge and de Payens who remained levitating in the air: their voices knifed as one into the humans' minds, for once the Twelve and an entity outside of it in concord, "This is the furthest you or anyone else has ever come, we don't know what lies beyond. We only witness physical beings' efforts and learn the game retrospectively."
Perhaps there'd been a kernel of truth to Lirwa's yarn, perhaps the Ark had fallen below the crust in an earthquake - in this case precipitated by the humans of the future - into some hidden recess. The dais dived through the mantle, and in perpetuity the voices resounded: "Earthmen, you are on your own."
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 9, 2019 16:02:03 GMT
"This is the furthest you or anyone else has ever come, we don't know what lies beyond. We only witness physical beings' efforts and learn the game retrospectively." As the dais began to fall, Daniel didn't realise at first the weight of the comment from de Payens, "Earth men, you are on your own ....."
They were all looking up at the receding source of light and the entity now seemingly gliding out of view .... No=one could tell how far they were dropping, it could have been meters, and the opening above them was shrinking into nothingness, or they could be dropping hundreds of meters every second. Finally the light above vanished from sight and he looked downwards to the dim glow below. Slowly the light brightened until Daniel could see the ground beneath his feet, everyone stood looking around them, some confused, some simply accepting their fate.
How long are these 'entities' going to use us for their enjoyment !" Knutsen said, his frustration clear.
"Over here ...." Yi So-yeon shouted. Everyone turned in her direction then made their way towards the Avalon Executive Officer, "It's a labyrinth." she explained, tentatively walking toward the edge. Rather than it being a raised maze, this was on floor level and stretched off into the distance, it could be a hundred meters across, or thousands, it was impossible to guess. Dan looked at the walkways, each around a meter wide, with drops that disappeared into darkness. He walked several meters onto the closest one, then turned:
"Sir .... There is no way of knowing we picked the right one here." Lysia said hesitantly, "The gap is too big to jump from one to an alternate."
"Well, it appears we have no alternative but to cede to their 'WHIMS' ...." Knutsen said angrily striding onto the path next to Daniel, he went for ten, twenty, then thirty meters before they began to loose sight in the ever-present dew. Daniel was making his way back to the others when they heard the Avalon Commanding Officer.
"There's someth ..... Arrrrrrrr ....." they stood in stunned silence as the scream diminished.
"He fell !" Nicole Laporte stated needlessly.
"What did he shout ?" Sarah Wentworth asked.
"I don' know." Daniel said a little too quickly, "Either way, we need to be careful."
"We at least know that some of the options lead to dead ends, no pun intended." Mark Unwin said.
"So how do we do this, each take one and whoever gets to the other side tells everyone else to backtrack ?" Lancelot's Exec' asked. Karka looked around until he found a loose stone, he walked to the channel Knutsen had taken and scratched a rough 'X' at the junction. He threw the stone into the mist hearing no sign that it had impacted anything solid.
"I don't see that we have any other options." Daniel said, raising his arms. He stepped back onto the walkway he had previously vacated and told the others to do likewise. There was only six alternatives, so a couple doubled-up ... Dan looked along the line, then out into the mist, finally, he took his first step ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 15, 2019 13:35:13 GMT
Daniel had gone approximately ten meters along the one meter wide path when he stopped ... Everyone was trying to keep level rather than someone surging ahead, especially given the blood-curdling scream from Lars Knutsen before he fell to his death ... "Any signs of anything ?" he asked, everyone thus far confirmed that their path was clear, though that didn't mean that there wasn't something waiting for one or more of them up ahead !
With no option but to continue, Daniel waved everyone forward in the gloom of the massive cavern.
"I've hit a dead end." Mark Unwin shouted from the gloom, "I'm going to back-track and join one of the others." The rest continued on as the Excalibur's Engineer made his way back to begin again.
On her path, Koni T'Seng stopped in her tracks ..... In the blue grey fog, she was convinced she had seen something. She looked to her left and right, the paths weren't straight, but jigged from left to right as they traversed the unimaginable depths below. Where she stood, the path to her left was clearly out of reach, but on her right, the path was less than two meters away. She noticed Yi So-yeon watching her silently, Koni pointed ahead but the Avalon Officer couldn't see anything, she could see that the woman was considering jumping across the gap and waved.
In the gloom Edmin Moore from the Lancelot was also stood completely still, he hadn't seen anything but was convinced he heard a low, guttural sound ahead of him.
"Jump ....." So-yeon whispered.
T'Seng held up a hand then took two tentative steps forward. It was clear that if there was something trying to prevent them from getting to the far side of the paths, it wasn't going to be content with just Knutsen ..... So-yeon was now moving, matching Koni's steps, trying to peer into the semi-darkness ahead on the chance she saw something before it reacted, but she could barely make out the Excalibur Officer, let alone what was more than two meters ahead of her. Wary of the peril she was facing, T'Seng took another step, then another.
Daniel had now convinced himself that whatever was in here, if there actually 'was' something in here, and it wasn't his mind playing tricks, then it was here to drain their confidence through mental anguish before attacking them. It was clearly enjoying terrifying the Humans almost to the point of paralysing them with fear ... As if to confirm his fears, a shriek rang out from his right !
"Who was that ?!" he hissed.
"Me Captain, Laporte, something just crossed behind me I'm sure." the Avalon Commanding Officer said shakily as sh tried to regain her composure.
"Anyone else see anything ?" Schirra queried. There was a hesitant chorus of 'no' from the others.
"Wentworth, you're behind the Captain, you didn't see anything ?" Schirra prodded.
"Nothing Sir, though admittedly I 'was' looking at the path at that moment, and not ahead at Captain Laporte." the Excalibur's Operations Chief admitted.
"Then, may we 'PLEASE KEEP MOVING' ... This place is giving me the damnable heebie jeebies." Edwin Moore said, no-one argued. Despite their dire situation, Daniel couldn't help smile at the stiff upper-crust English accent of the Lancelot Officer. Alas his amusement lasted seconds as he instructed everyone to cautiously continue along their paths. Mark Unwin, having returned to the start of the labyrinth was now behind So-yeon, both nodded acknowledged each other silently.
Once again the group began to move forward .... In the murk, Schirra thought he could see the end of the path, he increased his pace slightly, not wanting to loose his step. Within minutes he stepped off the labyrinth onto solid ground:
"I've reached the end." he informed the others, eyes trying to peer into the gloom. He saw Karka stepping off his path, followed by Moore and Koni, So-yeon and Mark Unwin came next, relief in their expressions. They waited for the others nervously, then there was a yelp in the distance.
"Captain, Lieutenant ?"
"We're OK Captain ..." Sarah said relieved. Had she not been looking just past where Laporte was stepping neither would have seen the sudden end to their path, she had reached out and grabbed Laport's jacket just as her lead foot went out over the bottomless void. Both looked to where the others were now congregating .... The gap was almost two meters, easily clear-able under normal circumstances, but with the mist, and the distinct possibility that something was coming for them from the darkness ...
"You can jump that." Mark Unwin coached.
"Want to come over here and demonstrate ?" Wentworth asked, the sarcasm obvious.
"I'll go first." Laporte said as the two took several steps back to give them adequate run-up. Without delaying what had to be done, the Avalon Captain ran, hard, conscious of the narrowness of the path, she jumped high and long, arms were there to grasp her as she passed the threshold, relieved she turned to Sarah.
Wentworth stood for a second, gathering her nerve, but a deep growl, seemingly inches from the back of her neck, spurred her into action. She too ran, fast, her imagination already feeling the hot fetid breath of the beast about to pounce upon her. In the air she could see those waiting, then suddenly realised she was going to be short. In that split second her worst fears emerged as several hands grabbed at her clothing. She felt her shins slam into the rough stonework as she was pulled onto solid ground, her head spun to where the beast was following, but there was nothing but the dank gloom of the cavern ... breathing a sigh of relief she got gingerly to her feet, rubbing her shins silently giving thanks that while she would have some serious bruising, nothing was broken.
"Attention seeker." Mark Unwin whispered, receiving a dig for the comment.
"WHEN everyone is ready ?" Edwin Moore commented dispassionately ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 25, 2019 12:22:45 GMT
OOC: I think Lieutenant Moore fell into the chasm when the walls closed in and removed the path, in the room with the three galaxies on separate plinths
IC: Karka had bounded along his pathway having seen Schirra reach the end of his, he knew there were no more sudden pitfalls in his way between here and the gate, having made a close study of the way for signs of the unplaceable light reflecting as a sheen off the grey surface. His study was important, as he didn't want to be caught out again: he'd begun to fall, but had been caught in an updraught from the unimaginable depths, a fierce fiery wind had borne him aloft and over the rest of the three metre gap.
This had given him a clue that the way down might lie under his path, and so when the group reconvened, he asked them to direct steps to find the chasm that'd yawned beneath his feet, but what made him or anyone else think there would be a way down, a clear route and a flight of steps?
They were on what seemed to be an infinite plain within these infernal depths. A reddish glow dominated the horizon in all directions and cast a meagre pall over the surrounding grey desert. "If only we could contact our ships," T'Seng was saying, "Perhaps de Payens would let us if we told him we wanted to use our instruments to search for the Ark?"
"That might be what we would have to do anyway," Unwin said, "Because there's no way we could use the Excal or the Avalon to escape, unless one of the entities was to permit it. We could try to get one of the entities on side, I mean genuinely on side." His face fell and he replied to his own suggestion, "But they've told us we're on our own."
"Only in the 'game', or the task or quest," Karka said offhand, "They cannot help us any further down here, or elsewhere in the system in our search for their Ark, hidden by humans from the future. However, if were to forfeit the task an entity might be able to assist us in escaping... Many of us have failed before now in trying to find the Ark, we would just be one more group to do so. And, while it may be true they can no longer help us in the search, how do we know that they are being truthful when they say no one else has ever come this far? They wouldn't be giving up much, if we were to quit the quest now."
"All of that is assuming we can get one of them on our side, Commander Psonoir," Laporte said, striding ahead as she located a valley that may lead towards the chasm Karka had found himself flung over. They followed and hoped that somehow one of the entities - one more sympathetic to them - was able to listen and give them a way out.
They found a way downwards eventually, at least at a shallow decline into a cavernous opening that gave off a diffuse glow of hellish scarlet. Before them, casting a wide shadow at their feet and crowning an outjutting of rock that spurred out into the path, was a sphinx-like sculpture, it ground a mechanical jaw and spoke three words, which - once the grating audio had faded and they were left only the resonating echoes - they understood to be questions , 'Why? Who? When?'
Karka was given leave by Daniel to address the sphinx, giving what seemed to him straightforward answers assuming no trickery on the sphinx's part or any expectation of a riddle, "The Twelve demand it; we are humans from various time periods, covering the 20th to 24th centuries; we are in eternity."
The sphinx vibrated and shrieked; it fell into the wall to their right and out sprung more of the ragtag mercenaries they'd initially defeated in the morphing city during the time of Koni's capture, led by the conquistador who had slain T'Gor. Karka assumed they had guessed incorrectly.
"I heard you," the conquistador said, "He speaks through me, the entity Shen, killed but never destroyed. He will set you free from the task of the Twelve and allow you to return. Follow me," he said to the stunned group, and turned his back; conquistadors flooded in behind him, pikes lowering to protect their leader should any of the humans decide to assault him. They were led along, but how could Shen have penetrated where the Twelve were unable to go, where Hodge as well had claimed he had no access?
Being led into a castle-like centre and into a throne room, Shen greeted them, "Welcome to my court in exile! You want to contact your ship? Our species has the Chalice, the Twelve - and admittedly all of us - still lack the Ark, but such has been the case for millennia. Give yourselves to me, and you shall escape and have victory!" Shen walked away then slammed a table laden with masses of old paper, "Proof! Proof? Here, Captain Laporte!" and from the table he took what Karka recognised to be a 24th century commbadge, he handed it to the Avalon's captain, "This one works. You may contact the Avalon, but you will be down here a long while yet, while I consult the Twelve through intermediaries. They won't be happy about this but they will see reason, eventually."
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 25, 2019 22:16:45 GMT
OOC :
Sorry Andy, I seem to be forgetting more and more of late
IC :Daniel had listened to the comments from the group as they found their way down into the cavernous expanse .... Coming across the sphinx-like effigy, they all came to a startled halt ! .... As the almost deafening echoes subsided they realised the simulacrum had asked them questions: 'Why ? ... Who ? ... When ? ...'Daniel looked to the others, who almost as one took a metaphorical step back, Karka was watching him closely and he realised his executive Officer wanted the opportunity to converse with the Sphinx: but no sooner had he began speaking when the effigy shrieked as if in mortal fear and vanished into the rock face to be replaced by the Conquistador and his men ! ... It appeared that their speculations on being freed by not fulfilling their task could be right. They were led, unceremoniously into a castle-like structure, had it been of the surface it would have been a spectacular construction, so the fact that it was tens, or more likely hundreds of meters below the dusty barren surface was even more awe-inspiring, but what no-one had expected, was the appearance of the Shen entity ! "Welcome to my court in exile." the entity said, arms outstretched as if to encompass the impressive structure ... As he continued to speak Daniel was again beginning to wonder if anything at all they had been told was indeed truth, but he wasn't the only one among the group having doubts, but as Nicole Laporte took the offered communicator badge and spoke to the Avalon, his concern began to increase: Were they simply toying with the Humans, playing on their emotions, curiosity, thirst for advancement ? ... The Shen entity vanished, leaving the Conquistador and his men to watch the Humans. Unsurprisingly, Shen had been right, though he hadn't expected anything else as Laporte confirmed that the Avalon could neither locate the Arc, nor could they transport everyone from the caverns. "Captain ...." Sarah Wentworth said quietly getting his attention. "Lieutenant ?" "I know this might sound, insane .... But if these entities are so desperate to find this 'Arc' then isn't it obvious that they will continue to take people from time to do their bidding ?" "I can't comment on that Lieutenant." Schirra answered, knowing full well that they would indeed continue their quest using the Human race. "But you know I'm right." she replied, more statement that query. "You clearly have something on your mind Sarah, so go ahead." Daniel said. "OK, well .... If, and I know it's a big 'if' .... They do let us return to our own times, they will take more, so .... If they agree to send us back, why can't we opt to remain here under our own terms, try to locate the Arc and stop them from continually using the Human Race ?" Daniel turned to look directly at his Operations Chief: "You want us to stay here of our own free will ?" he asked quietly, glancing at the others in case any of them had overheard their conversation. "We could go home, all this will be removed from our memories, I know that Sir, but here, and now, we 'know' what they will do once we're gone." Sarah said, clearly affected. Her suggestion was giving Daniel something to think about. "Just how long do you expect us to remain here ?" Laporte asked the Conquistador after speaking to her ship. "You will abide by My Lord's command until such time that he returns ..." the Spanish Knight answered. Food was provided some time later, and they reluctantly partook of the rich fare, but they were all getting frustrated at the absence of the Shen entity ... With Knutsen, Fyles, and Moore all dead, two vessels were now without Command, although, given they entities had promised to restore the Lancelot, Schirra hoped that promise extended to the individuals lost too. given the impact of their loss on history, he couldn't convincingly see how they couldn't be restored to life, but then he suspected the entities would, as before, demand the Arc to carry out their commitment. While they were eating, the Conquistador entered: "You are to remain here. Beds have been provided." the Knight said, already turning to leave as Mark Unwin spoke: "HEY ! .... Who the hell said we were staying the night ?" the Conquistador turned, too casually for Schirra's liking, and approached the Engineer. It was more than clear Unwin was ready to react should the Knight attack, but he just grinned at Mark as a parent would to an offspring. "Commander ...." Karka said, almost a whispered warning, realising the Engineer's patience was wearing thin, as was everyone's. Two hours after partaking of the feast provided, they were led to a small room, wooden bunks, covered in what could have been animal hide served as their beds .... The next morning they were fed then escorted back to the throne chamber, where the Shen entity was waiting ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 29, 2019 15:13:06 GMT
Truth be told, Karka was glad for the opportunity to rest, he and the makeshift team were exhausted from having been on the move ever since they were brought to this counter-Earth by de Payens, first the valley floor and the shafts below, then the spherical room with the three plinths and the journey underground; they'd then had to contend with the maze and most recently a new valley floor and a sphinx on guard, conquistadors and associated squires had then escorted them into Shen's underground palace.
Karka lay back on his imperfect bunk and closed his eyes, Unwin cursing from nearby as he hit his head in the gloom. Perhaps in his sleep, in whatever dreams would come to him, the answer would be revealed of how they may escape from this fruitless task - it was certainly possible he would experience a visitation, his mind not being constrained in the same way as those of humans; he had several conduits to the spacetime highways throughout the 3rd millennium open at all times, it was possible someone from his own time may find him once again.
The entity Shen awaited in the central throne room, beckoning them forward as the toothy conquistador led them over the threshold and prodded the butt of his arquebus at Karka's back, "Move it!"
"Friends, friends, please, have a seat. You'll be hungry," Shen gestured towards the massive rectangular table they'd eaten at the night before. Schirra let him know they'd already had their 'breakfast', if gruel could be described as such.
"As you wish!" Shen laughed maniacally and swept up his dais to sit on the throne, his cloak billowing out behind him; he pushed back the cloak and sleeves to reveal fingers crowded with gold, pearls and rubies. "My intermediaries have spoken to the Twelve - it has taken them four years... Yes, time flows strangely in this system, if it can be said to flow at all... I've spoken with the Twelve and though they are loathe to let you go, they admit they can't keep you here any longer, particularly as you wish to leave and as you've stalled in the quest of late. Have you stalled? Yes, take your very arrival here - you failed the test of the keeper of the vaults."
The sphinx, Karka realised. "We can't trust you," he said simply, and noticed out of the corner of his eye Wentworth seeming to become exercised.
"I am your champion in this, take the chance while you can and leave. I'm giving you the key... you will return to your vessels. The Lancelot, Commander Fyles," he looked towards the RFA officer, "Will be restored, sans your first officer - remember we can't bring this body back either," he gestured to himself, Captain Shen's body. "Set a course for the system's star and a hundred thousand kilometres from the corona you'll pass from this suspended bubble in spacetime; you'll remember something of having been here, but you won't remember having met personnel of three other ships. All timelines will be restored, and -"
"What if we don't want to leave?!" Wentworth burst out suddenly.
After a lengthy pause, Shen's animated face fell, "What?"
"We don't want to leave. You'll only take more of us, or the Twelve will at least; why do you think they're apparently so willing to give us up? They can simply steal away more of our species to have them engage in the eternal reparations your species thinks its due. No, we are humanity's insurance against not having any more -"
"Lieutenant!" Schirra snapped, keeping calm but unintentionally barking, "We haven't agreed to it... We still have more to discuss -"
"I'm sorry, Captain, but I have to speak my mind. If we are returned, others will suffer the same as us, and others will die. He says he can't restore the real Shen or Moore, the same will go for Knutsen, T'Gor, Hodge... People died in the game to find the Chalice, people are dying in this search for the Ark..."
"I see," Shen's features had slowly twisted into a sneer, "A sacrifice for the greater good of humanity, I suppose? Oh, the Twelve will like this! But, ah!" he stood suddenly and clapped his hands twice, the lights dimmed and stained-glass windows faded to a dull ochre and indigo, it was dusk at mid-morning; Shen gestured in his finery towards the conquistador at the room's edge; the latter and a handful of halberdiers moved into the room and took up position near the humans. "We are now shielded from the Twelve, it's a blackout, they cannot hear or see us. Now they know there's a chance they could have you stay, they'll never surrender you. I'm still willing to send you back, your Operations officer not withstanding, Captain. I'll still need the Twelve's authorisation for you to be able to escape through the spacetime bubble and out of this eternity, but I may be able to crack one of their codes. Why do I do this? Being able to send you back may give me a fraction of their power."
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Oct 4, 2019 22:49:06 GMT
Having been 'summoned' to appear before the Shen entity, they were informed they were to be released and returned to their own time .... He was giving them instructions .... "..... Set a course for the system's star and a hundred thousand kilometres from the corona you'll pass from this suspended bubble in space-time; you will remember something of having been here, but you won't remember having met personnel of three other ships. All timelines will be restored, and ....." "What if we don't want to leave ?" Schirra's Operations Chief suddenly asked. "What ?" Shen replied, clearly thrown by the sudden turn, Daniel spun to face his Officer, he tried several times to quiet the woman but her obvious passion for what she was saying got the better of her. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I have to speak my mind. If we are returned, others will suffer the same as us, and others will die. He says he can't restore the real Shen or Moore, the same will go for Knutsen, T'Gor, Hodge ... People died in the game to find the Chalice, people are dying in this search for the Ark ....." Wentworth said, her eyes remaining steadfastly locked on his. Shen was already replying: "..... Now they know there's a chance they could have you stay, they'll never surrender you. I'm still willing to send you back, your Operations officer not withstanding, Captain. I'll still need the Twelve's authorisation for you to be able to escape through the space-time bubble and out of this eternity, but I may be able to crack one of their codes. Why do I do this ? ... Being able to send you back may give me a fraction of their power. You will leave immediately, you must understand, I cannot help you further now you have committed to continuing the search for the Ark, You will all be los ...." "No." Daniel said, looking at those around him before turning his attention to Shen, who had ceased speaking at his comment, "Only us." "What are you talking about ?" Nicole Laporte demanded. "I can't be responsible for any further loss of life." Daniel replied. "This is not your decision 'Captain' I believe we can all make our own choices." the Commanding Officer of the USS Avalon said defiantly. Schirra looked at Shen, who seemed to be enjoying the interchange with some amusement. "You agreed that I would have overall command, I'm exercising that command right now." he said before turning again to Shen, "We will remain and continue the search for the Arc, but only if everyone else is returned to their respective vessels, that of course will require the restoration of the Lancelot and her crew, along with the others who have perished during your little game." "Alas, I do not have the abil ...." Shan began, but Daniel interrupted the entity mid sentence: "Then the deal is off tell them." he shrugged, as Psonoir held his hand up to silence Sarah Wentworth before she could speak. ".... And if the Twelve decided to simply keep you here ?" Shen asked. "That of course is the prerogative." Schirra replied. It was clear they were at am impasse until one of them ceded. It wasn't going to be him regardless of the protestations of the other members of the group. Shen appeared to be mulling the prospects over, finally coming to a decision. "What you ask is impossible .... But I can give you my assurance that if you pursue the Ark, those remaining will be returned to their vessels to await your return. The Lancelot, I cannot restore alone, but again I pledge my word that on your return the Twelve will return everyone to their rightful place. Once the Ark is in our possession once more, you will all be returned to your timelines following your passage through the space-time bubble." "Captain, I respect and understand what you are doing, but you need us." Nicole Laporte whispered. Daniel turned to face her and smiled before shaking his head. "We are in agreement ?" the Shen entity enquired, a smirk appearing on his face. "You have done nothing but lie to us thus far, and I have no reason to believe anything you are saying now, but if you give your word ...." Schirra replied, knowing everyone, including his own Officers, were watching the interchange closely. "I have helped you Captain. Maybe not in any way you would deem productive. But yes, I give you my word ... My abilities will return you to your vessels and ensure your safe passage to our Star ..." "The Sir Lancelot ?" Schirra prodded, but the entity could only shrug having already given his answer. Daniel stood deep in thought for several moments then nodded, "Return everyone to their vessels, when, and 'ONLY' when they each confirm that they are en-route to the Star unhindered, then we will resume our search." Now it was the entities' time to pause, finally he closed his eyes and raised a hand, fingers outstretched, Schirra just heard Nicole beginning to protest when she and everyone else not connected to the Excalibur disappeared. "Thank you Captain." Wentworth whispered. "I wouldn't thank me just yet, I'm still trying to decide whether to bust you to conduit scrubbing for the rest of you time in Starfleet, or to promote you." Dan replied. "Food will be prepared, your people will contact you in due course. Once you are sated, you will depart. My Conquistador and ten of his most tru ....." "We go alone or we don't go at all." Schirra interrupted again. This time the Shen entity almost lost his patience as he glared at the Excalibur Commanding Officer, but he finally gave in and waved his hand as if dismissing the Humans. The Conquistador stepped in front of Schirra making it abundantly clear he was to turn and leave the throne room. It their rooms food was already prepared and despite their situation everyone eat heartily. Mark Unwin approached him: "Sirs, you might want to come see this." he said. Daniel and Karka followed the man into a second room no-one could remember being there earlier. On a stone table, the only adornment in the otherwise empty room, were their weapons and communicators. Karka picked up one of the phasers, turning it over in his hand as he checked the weapon over. Without actually firing it he couldn't confirm it was functioning, but then why would Shen give them inactive weapons. More worrying, why give them weapons at all ! One of the Communicators chirped to life, Daniel picked it up flicking it open: =^= Captain Laporte to Captain Schirra .. .. Laporte to Schirra =^= =^= Schirra Captain .. What is your status ? =^= =^= We are holding position one half million kilometers from the Systems' Star .. It has been made clear that any attempt to move will result in immediate termination of your agreement =^= =^= Understood .. Any sign of the other ships ? =^= =^= The Gawain is off our Port .. No sign of the Lancelot .. I assume the Excalibur is awaiting your return =^= =^= We have no way of knowing of communication will be possible or allowed following this conversation Captain .. Remain where you are until informed otherwise .. .. Is that understood ? =^= =^= Understood Captain .. Good luck .. Avalon out =^= the Comm fell silent, by force of habit he tucked the communicator into his sleeve pocket and picked up a phaser. He shouted for everyone to join them and told each of his Officers to equip themselves. In the outer room Shen had appeared, waiting patiently for them to return: "Ah, you have your devices, good. I fear that whatever lay's ahead will require your, ingenuity to surpass. Once your task is complete you need only return to this chamber ..." Shen vanished from sight without another word. In the doorway Koni T'Seng was waiting for them. "The corridor has changed configuration, I assume we're going that way ?" she said, pointing towards a light further along the dim corridor ..........
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