Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Oct 20, 2019 20:37:42 GMT
Daniel turned the phaser over in his hand, it was almost comforting to have a something there if he was honest ..... Following the others out of the room the group headed along the corridor. Almost fifty meters further the corridor began to widen, and they came upon a vast plateau ... Trees, a winding river, blue skies, and off in the distance appeared a structure. Even from this distance it was colossal, from their vantage point the structure appeared octagonal in design with high walls on each side. "I'm guessing that's where we're going ?" Koni asked. "It would appear so." Schirra replied, looking down into the valley, "At least they provided a path." he said, pointing over to his left ... The Excalibur Officers proceeded, moving further and further into the dense undergrowth which was eventually replaced by a dark and foreboding forest. "You have to say one thing for these entities, they do have a flare for the dramatic." Unwin commented from the rear of the group. Six hours Later :: They came across a stream, cool, almost cold fresh water cascaded over a myriad of small rocks. Had it been on any other planet it would have looked picturesque, but they were on the entities' world, one manufactured, not evolved. Daniel told everyone to rest and he sat on a large rock watching the water flow by. Koni and Mark had gone into the forest and had returned with fruit and what appeared to be dried husks. T'Seng scooped water from the stream and was about to try it when Schirra stopped her. Koni commented that if the entities wanted them dead there had been countless opportunities to do so. Daniel got up and took the water-filled husk and tentatively took a sip. Having not collapsed to the ground a quivering shaking body, he took a deeper drink, nodding that it seemed drinkable, so one by one everyone took a drink before tucking into the fruit Koni and Mark had gathered. "Do you think we're on a time limit here ?" Karka asked. "Hard to tell, they pretty much control time as we know it, at least here, but I'd not want to take a long holiday before moving on." Schirra replied as he realised something else was different .... Since their arrival, regardless of scenario, the Sun had always been high above their heads, but now, the Sun was setting, "They said they had no control down here, or at least, none of them had made it this far, so what do you make of that ?" he asked, pointing at the setting Sun. "Does this mean we're expected to continue in darkness, or wait it out for morning, if this place has one ?" Koni asked. "We can't risk moving in darkness, one of us could fall or trip over something before we know it's even there. We can't afford injuries, we'll stay here then move in the morning." Schirra decided. Dawn - Day Two :: Gathering fruit and water, the Excalibur Officers continued their trek towards the massive structure. The going was slow, the dense foliage causing them problems every step of the way. An hour into their walk, Mark unwin, who had been some ten meters ahead of the group, squatted suddenly and raised a hand making everyone follow suit. He inched back and spoke to Schirra: "I think there's someone ahead of us."
"How many ?" Daniel asked, eyes trying to pierce the undergrowth.
"Can't say. I thought I saw something earlier but put it down to paranoia."
"And now ?"
"There's defin ...." His comment was cut short as Schirra heard the distinctive sound of something travelling fast through the air then a 'thud' it whatever it was slammed into Unwin's shoulder protruding out the other side. Daniel was mortified to see a large, rough-hewn arrow. it had entered below the clavicle, exiting just above his scapular. The arrowhead was rough and Schirra realised it was stone or more likely flint ! ... He lowered the Engineer to the ground in a seated position a fraction of a second before a second arrow impaled itself in the tree directly behind him. He motioned for Sarah Wentworth to attend to Unwin while the others drew their phasers and began scrutinising the forest. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something, perhaps a glint of sunlight off one of the arrowheads, he spun, but Koni had moved faster, the beam from her phaser lancing into the thick forest and clearly impacting something. He ordered all of them to fire simultaneously arcing across their line of sight. moments past with no further attacks. they returned to the injured Unwin. "We need to get this out." Wentworth said. Daniel looked at the arrow realising how lucky the man had been, centimeters lower and right it would have passed through his heart, killing him instantly. He knelt beside Unwin, it was clear the arrow couldn't come out the way it entered, he told everyone to restrain the Engineer. grasping the shaft between the fletching and Unwins' chest with both hands, then quickly snapped the shaft, he then reached forward to grasp the arrowhead. with a nod from Unwin he pulled the shaft through the wound and out, Sarah Wentworth quickly began to stem the flow of blood. "He could begin to show signs of infection if we don't get the wound treated aboard ship." she pointed out. "I'll live." Unwin said, Schirra didn't doubt it. "Patch him up best you can Lieutenant. Karka, lets go see who we shot." They cautiously made their way to where they thought T'Seng had shot one of the attackers. Within minutes they found the body ... Daniel and Karka looked at the man, he was dressed in blue, with boots and a lighter blue with white bordered bib over his shoulders. Karka picked up a cap, white with black headband, the name embroidered in gold: RFA SIR LANCELOT "At least we know what happened to the ships crew." Psonoir commented as he reached down to check for a pulse before shaking his head, "Just how many people do you think the Lancelot had aboard ?" "No idea, sixty, maybe seventy Officers and Crew." Schirra replied, turning the cap over and over as if it would provide the answers they were searching for, "One things certain, if they put all the Crew down here and modified their behaviour to act as he did, then we're in trouble. Let's get back to the others before our 'friends' come back for round two." They returned to Unwin, Wentworth and T'Seng, who was scanning the undergrowth continually. They informed them of their findings. "So we're going to have to kill what are essentially our own people to complete this task ?" Sarah said. "Well, I'm not going to stand around, again, to be picked off by some caveman !" Unwin replied defiantly, "Besides, the entities did say they would restore the Lancelot and presumably it's Crew, so maybe their demise will be temporary." "We can't be certain of that." Wentworth insisted. "We can't leave them standing. being shot is one thing, being shot in the back by someone we let go isn't going to happen." the Engineer retorted. "Look, it's a given that the entities have pitted us against the Lancelot. Given there's five of us and we're likely outnumbered by possibly ten to one or more, we have no option but to fight our way to the structure." Schirra informed everyone, realising he was essentially signing the death warrants of any of the Lancelot crew that got in their way ! ..........
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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 Oct 25, 2019 23:29:13 GMT
The group proceeded further along the valley floor, the sun now having reached its apogee in the sky and descending once more to the - for the sake of argument, Karka thought - western horizon. They'd found their way from the small stream to the larger river that they'd seen from their initial view of the plateau, and were now keeping by its left side in their efforts to reach the octagonal structure.
Karka considered their problem: so the Lancelot crew or what remained of them were hunting the five Excal officers, having been in a sense programmed by the entities to do so. He saw an alternative explanation however, and related it to the others,
"Now, wait a moment," he had them halt by a group of closely-set trees whose trunks and branches intertwined. From here they could see across the valley to the 'north-east', the shining river in the foreground, "If the entities really have no control over this place, despite the moving sun, could they have really brainwashed the Lancelot crew?"
"We have no evidence they truly have no control here," Wentworth shrugged.
"Then how about this, can we know for sure that their behaviour is a result of brainwashing, or having been programmed, indoctrinated, whatever we may wish to call it?" Psonoir asked. Explain, Schirra said. "Did you take a good look at that Lancelot cap belonging to the midshipman Koni incapacitated? It was completely worn out. And the growth of hair on his face? It seems to me he had been down here for weeks, perhaps months or longer. Is it at all possible that since they were stranded down here after the Lancelot's destruction they've formed a roving band, out for survival? They may not have recognised or even have got a good look at us before shooting Unwin. They saw us as nameless hostiles, possibly competitors for basic resources, and acted of their own volition."
"Time flows strangely in this system," Unwin murmured, nodding, "Something Shen said. For the Lancelot crew, several months may well have passed."
"Ok, either way we have to fight our way through them, kill them if need be, unless we can convince them that we are old allies," Schirra said, calling time on the talk and gesturing for them all to move forward, following the treeline close to the leftbank of the river that swept ever onwards towards them.
The late afternoon air became fragrant with a wind blowing westwards carrying the scent of exotic flowers across the river towards them; it was shortly after this that Karka began to hear music, of an old sort and sounding very much like a product of Earth's history. The light around them deepened into various shades of purple and before long, following the sound of music, they came upon a clearing a little way into the forest. They approached the instrument in the middle of a clearing: a harpsichord, playing itself. Disbelieving of the sight, Karka moved on past towards the far treeline; something in the way the trees were situated there gave him pause, an uncanny feeling that made him believe he'd seen those contours before. The other four pressed in after him, the baroque notes from the keyboard streaming in in their wake. Nearing a dark patch in the undergrowth that seemed to rise for several metres and stretched out in either direction for many more, Karka froze in suspense, he reached out a trembling hand and pushed aside bracken, ivy and tangled branches: a ship's hull, the ruined hull of the Lancelot.
"I cannot believe it, I thought she was utterly destroyed..." Unwin began, approaching alongside him.
Karka turned to him, "Ok, we can't get drawn in by -"
He didn't finish as arrows scythed from the woods all around them except in front (the hulk of the Lancelot itself). The five realised they were completely surrounded as they hunkered down to find what cover they could behind moss-covered boulders and patches of shrubbery. It seemed they had little chance, despite their taking down three Lancelot crew who hadn't concealed themselves properly behind their respective trees (though it was clear going by their tactics they'd had a lot of practice). The royal fleet auxiliaries continued to move in, an arrow grazing Wentworth's left shin; she went down with a grunt, rolled and aimed her phaser and struck the Lancelot crewman in the shoulder; he spun and fell.
Just as it seemed all was over, from the crest of the shallow incline to their left - a bare spot protruding from the trees - three unearthly roars came. Karka had a moment to take in the sight: indigo and mauve serpentine beasts, their bodies undulating atop the crest, reared their devillish heads and screaming, propelled themselves into the forest down the slope in the direction of the combat. The Lancelot crew began to flee, and out of the undergrowth came with them a bedraggled and quite changed Excalibur officer, Karka Psonoir!
Stunned, the 'actual' Karka watched from the forest floor as this other Karka cast about the clearing, a sharp if weary gaze, taking in the scene, before his glare fell briefly on the 'actual' Karka, "You, I knew you'd get here eventually, you..." he trailed off in mumbles as he darted away with his apparent Lancelot allies.
The 'actual' Karka scrambled to his feet and ran with the other four Excalibur officers, "Don't tell me I get stuck here," he murmured to himself and groaned. Escaping the carnage, they took stock once more amongst the trees close to the river, being now that bit closer to the distant structure.
From here they could see what appeared to be semi-pastoral nomads, horsemen, prowling on their steeds the other side of the wide river. Behind them, it seemed the serpentine creatures had prowled for a few minutes the clearing with the ruined Lancelot before returning to their hilltop crest. Perhaps the Lancelot crew would now be pursuing the Excal officers, or perhaps they'd be happy to leave them alone now the 23rd century crew were drawing off.
"Is it possible," the still injured Unwin addressed the current concerns, "We are seeing people from our future: the Lancelot crew and that... Karka? And if so, what about the four of us?" he signalled himself, Schirra, T'Seng and Wentworth. "Karka, let's say at some point in the future you ally with the Lancelot crew that are stranded here... So will we all at some point meet versions of the Lancelot crew that have only just arrived here, cooperate with them, and at some point the four of us are lost and only you remain?"
"Well, if there are indeed two separate time periods co-existing in this place, we can't rule out that we simply haven't yet encountered you four's future selves yet. We only saw my own apparent future-self briefly."
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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 Nov 5, 2019 11:20:02 GMT
They had been moving through the woods for several hours when they had come across the wreckage of the RFA Sir Lancelot ..... Before they could investigate further the had been attacked .... Unable to fight off the crew of the Lancelot, they suddenly had heard the inhuman sounds of the beasts far in the distance, it was this that forced their attackers to flee. But the biggest shock had come when another Karka Psonoir, this one bedraggled and filthy, had come running through the thick brush right in front of them ! "You, I knew you'd get here eventually, you ..." the man cast about in fear then ran after his Lancelot allies. Deciding to move further along the river bank before resting, they finally found a small clearing and dropped almost exhausted to the plush grass. The inevitable discussion ensured, speculation about alternate timelines, time differentials, possible paradoxes that could and undoubtedly 'would' affect the Excalibur Crew at some point. The idea of going back to further investigate the downed Lancelot was shelved for the time being, they ad more important things ahead. During the conversation Daniel had pointed to the Sun now low in what they assumed was the West. "Has anyone else noticed that ?" he asked, the others looked from the Sun back to their Commanding Officer, The Sun is setting ....." "Hold on, didn't it only rise a few hours ago ? ... Surely we haven't been trudging through this damn forest all day." the injured Unwin said. "The days are shorter ?" Koni asked. "Possibly ..." Daniel said, clearing up the packaging from his field supplies, "Either way, we need to get moving. We could make several kilometers before the Sun sets completely." The group got to their feet and once again began trekking along the river bank, Schirra was point, with Karka bringing up the rear, his eyes constantly glancing back the way the had come, half expecting the bedraggled Psonoir to reappear. Daniel moved a thick section of bramble to one side and stepped through the gap ... "You are going the wrong way." Daniel spun, dropping to one knee, his phaser aiming in the direction of the voice. He stared at the speaker, his eyes flicked to his left and right expecting others to spring from the foliage. He glanced behind him, expecting Koni and Mark,who had been only three meters behind him a second ago, to be right behind him. "You are going the wrong way." He returned his attention to the speaker: She was seven, maybe eight years old, and was holding the hand of a boy approximately the same age. "Who are you ?" he asked. "You are going the wrong way." the girl said as the boy pointed to his left. Daniel looked where the boy was indicating and could just about discern a path into deeper woods. He glanced in the direction they had been going and could see the river, but this path was going to take them away from their goal. It was always possible that the children 'knew' where the Excalibur Officers were going, and knew abetter, possibly safer, route. "What's your name ?" he asked the girl, lowering his phaser a few degrees so it wasn't aimed directly at her chest. "You re searching for the citadel. You are going the wrong way." the girl said, beginning to turn away, the boy following suit. "WAIT !" Daniel said, immediately regretting his raised tone, but the children halted and looked back at him, "I'm sorry, but how do you know where we are going ?" he hoped the two would remain here until the others came into the clearing, though he was already suspecting they wouldn't. The children were dirty, hair tangled, the girls dress was torn in several places, possibly caused by running through the unforgiving forest. Same with the boy, shirt ripped, pants torn knees worn away through prolonged wear and tear no doubt. But how ! ... The girl removed her hand from her companions, the boy reached forward trying to retake it but she had stepped forward and left him looking as if he was frightened half to death at the prospect of being left alone. She walked towards Daniel, her trainers and socks grubby from the woods, he could see old and new cuts along her bare arms and legs. "You must take the path." she said quietly, before placing a small hand on his cheek for a long moment. he reached up slowly with his free hand and placed it tentatively on hers. Smiling she removed her hand and turned back to her friend. At the edge of the clearing they turned to give him one final caution. "Take the path, do not stray." then before he could reply they stepped back into the woods disappearing from view in seconds. Simultaneously, the others entered the small clearing from the other side. "Captain ?" Koni T'seng queried as he rose to his feet. It was then he realised who he had just spoken to, "Something wrong ?" she persisted. He looked back to where the children had re-entered the forest, then at Koni, who was frowning. "We're taking the path there." he said, pointing to the small brake in the thick vegetation. Karka, who had been moving around the small clearing had knelt and was looking at something. "So we have pygmies in here too ?" he asked with a 'whatever next' expression as he pointed out the footprints. "Children ....." Daniel replied, as he glanced at Koni again, "They were stood waiting for me as I came into the clearing, it was them who said we were heading in the wrong direction and pointed out the track over there." "Children ?" Koni T'Seng repeated. "I can't be one hundred percent certain, but I think it was you, you and Mark, but aged seven or eight." his revelation stunned everyone into silence, not least his Tactical Officer and Chief Engineer. "Where did they go, we must find and help them." Koni said, "This is no place for children to be alone." The Sun was setting yet again and it was clear they could not risk following the path in darkness, so it was decided they would rest here until Sunrise, but Koni was more worried about the children and insisted they go look for them. Daniel had the feeling that the girl and boy were safe and well, but he couldn't deny that T'Seng was right, leaving two children in the woods alone simply wasn't done. He told her and Karka that they could search for an hour, if after that time they had not found the children, they were to get back to the others ... Almost two and a half hours later, and in almost complete darkness, they returned. "No luck I take it ?" Mark commented as Koni approached Daniel and handed him what looked like a small piece of material. He recognised it as the hem of the little girls dress, on it, in a shaky childish scrawl was: 'Please take the path' Truthfully, he couldn't help but worry about the two children, but they had more pressing issues ... Having been confronted with at least two differing timelines, he was worried as to how far this place would go to prevent them reaching their goal. As they readied themselves to bed down the Sun vanished below the treeline and night fell. Next morning, everyone was preparing to leave, when Koni picked something off the jacket she had used as a makeshift pillow ... It was a small, blue red flower. The children had been there during the night ..........
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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 Nov 24, 2019 15:52:25 GMT
Shell of RFA Sir Lancelot
The two enlisteds entered the darkened clearing in the midst of the hull and waited in suspense. Neither liked meeting the Hebridean, the strange visitor who'd imposed himself on them seemingly. Both agreed his accent wasn't particularly Scottish, and they had to assume he'd made the western shores from North America, perhaps the survivor of a shipwreck, for he wasn't able to produce any of his papers, provide them with a satisfactory explanation or give even a name that sounded vaguely, well, human.
They'd returned from their latest observation of the new arrivals, those who'd attempted to steal their food and capture their other resources. Petty Officer Barry had watched them, "Who's to say these aren't the same we saw, well, you know... a while back. We all remember those uniforms. You know... when we were in sp- "
"I'll hear no more of it!" Dutton whispered harshly over his shoulder as they observed the quintet, "You heard what the new skipper said, that it was all some sort of... mass hallucination, deprivation of food and sleep, captured by the Argentines as well, by all accounts."
"If you say so, mister, it seemed real to me," Barry shook his head as one of the team split from the other four to find firewood, "They're from the ship Excalibur. And that chap there," he pointed to the person walking away from the others, "Looks like the Hebridean."
"That's rubbish, Barry. Lieutenant March's told us they were part of an elaborate illusion. Look, we're nearly at the Chilean border; as long as we see off these leeches," he pointed through the shrubbery at the group. "What is real though, is the fact of time travel. Yes, you heard me! The Hebridean, I'm telling you he's from the future, or some time. Says he remembers himself, says he remembers accidentally killing his friends after killing himself."
"I'd say that's rubbish. But then who's that there?" he again signalled the 'Hebridean', a more clean shaven and less ragged instance of him.
"Yeah, you may have a point!" Dutton said. Barry thought back on this as he stood in the clearing with Dutton, and soon enough a cloaked and ragged figure entered. The figure strode back and forth, barely having noticed the two or at least deciding to give that impression, waiting for Lieutenant March, the former second officer to Fyles and Moore and now the CO.
Finally March arrived and he and the 'Hebridean' (Psonoir) discussed the coming important events. Barry strained to hear, it seemed the Hebridean said that a moment of reckoning was fast approaching, that he would soon meet his past self and that self's fellow team members, that he knew this because he was once that past self and had killed his future instance but lost his team members, leaving him with no sensible choice but to join the Lancelot crew who would help to ensure his survival - until assistance from something called the 'Federation' came.
The ragged Karka spoke, his voice doom-laden, "What I suspected may occur is soon upon us: the loop is nearly complete, my past self has come to kill me. March, we will never have a chance to return home, because each time I myself will unwittingly prevent it!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Scotsman," March's abrasive voice scratched through the amphitheatre of the ruined hull, "But I and my men are with you, if our survival depends on it. Never reach the border with Chile, stuck in Argentina forever?!"
"I have to choose something different from how I remember him acting..." Psonoir murmured to himself, "I mean my other self," he explained. "I and my four fellow officers encountered us at a cliff edge; we had simply to drive him and the Lancelot crew off - we had no choice, it was that or our own deaths. We can't make the same mistake, perhaps instead we can meet him at the octagonal temple."
"No one's been by that in years, Hebridean! But aye, the cliff, that was my very plan! We'll lure them forward, turn about and throw them over the -"
"No, the temple is where we should go. That was our target..." Karka again remembered. "We'll ambush them from the sides of the entrance, just as they're entering to take the Ark..."
"The Ark?! It's long since gone!" March cried. Psonoir reminded him the Excal officers weren't to know that.
* * *
The temple
At the entrance to the valley on the far side, up a long and gradual slope, was the temple. In its ivy-wrapped main facade was set a hectagonal doorway five metres tall, and inside a cavernous space larger than the volume of the building seen externally would seem to allow. At the very centre in the middle of a small maze was a wooden casket, inside which was indeed contained the very object the Lancelot crew had thought missing, forever lost in a cataclysmic earthquake, the Ark of the Covenant, the key to the Twelve and their race of entities' survival.
* * *
On the move, the Excalibur crew
Unnerved by the discovery of the children's visit but pleased they were safe for now, they made quick progress, morning seemed to grow ever brighter despite the star having almost reached its zenith, until their surrounds - the narrow path pointed out to them by the children, the glowing river, the flora and fauna - seemed to the Excal officers infeasibly luminous. They neared the edge of the forest, and just beyond the treeline some 200 metres from the river were a dozen large horses, these seemed to be the animals rode by the pastoralists they'd seen the day before yesterday.
They chose to ride the horses up river, drawing now ever closer to the octagonal structure they guessed was there objective. The afternoon and then evening arrived faster than they anticipated, perhaps the days were accelerating. The Hybrudean Karka rode ahead while Koni brought up the rear. Off to the left closer to the trees and the elevation, Schirra and Unwin cast glances up at the heights, seeing a conspicuous cliff upon which Unwin was sure for an instant he saw movement, then realised it was only a deer bounding about the boulders and trees - he didn't much want to encounter wild Lancelot crew or large ophidians again. To the right, Wentworth with her steed picked through the marshy plain close to the river. Day became night became day became night, and they were ascending the miles long slope at the end of the valley, yet only four or five hours seemed to have passed.
A stillness came upon their surrounds on the slope, and an uncanny feeling of the suggestion of hidden movement, a masked energy. Karka looked over to the Captain, and they nodded to one another, "Halt," Karka called to the other three and they paused their steeds on the slope, scanning the treelines to left and right. Karka noticed two diminutive figures - the children? - running along by the trees to the right.
Ahead and above, perhaps two miles away and partially hidden by mists, was the octagonal structure. Psonoir experienced bad omens looking at the building, and thought again of the previous meeting with his future self... If he was destined to become that man, what would become of him? At that moment the pastoralists whose horses hadn't been robbed rode up behind the officers, taking aim with bow and arrow.
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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 Dec 6, 2019 15:28:53 GMT
The journey towards the temple was uneventful, something that was increasingly worrying Daniel ... As day passed into night then back to day, it seemed time had indeed been advancing throughout their endeavour. Several times one or another had thought they espied company, but each time it was dismissed as fauna enjoying their own lives in the vast forest. Still, Daniel and evidently his Executive Officer, both felt the uneasiness building as they continued their traverse towards the temple, and hopefully their goal .... Finally, it was apparent that despite the swift passage from day to night to day, the group needed to rest. "Halt," Karka instructed. Everyone dismounted, Daniel followed Karka's gaze up the slope and he too noticed that someone was high above them and on foot. He mused it was the children but had no logical reasoning behind the thought. They tethered the horses making sure the reins were tightly fastened. No-one heard nor noticed the unwelcome follower as he climbed down from his horse and took the bow off his shoulder. standing completely still for a long moment, he finally took a single arrow from the makeshift quiver, placing it on the string and slowly began to pull back ... "How long before we reach the te ..." Koni was asking as something passed by her face so close she felt the wake on her cheek. There was a dull 'thud' as Karka expelled a gasp before dropping to the forest floor clutching the shaft of an arrow. Daniel and Mark Unwin spun, their phasers drawn and fired into the dense cover. Koni and Sarah Wentworth had dropped to their knees either side of the stricken Exec' Wentworth already easing the man onto his side. She could see the arrowhead protruding from below his armpit and placed her knee against the mid section of his back. She glanced at Schirra and Unwin who were already making their way cautiously in the direction the arrow had been loosed from. She glanced at T'Seng who grasped the shaft and snapped it in two. Instantaneously, Sarah pulled on the arrowhead dragging the remainder of the shaft through the wound and out Psonoir's back. Discarding the broken projectile both began to stem to flow of blood from the wounds front and back. Koni couldn't help but for the aim being off the arrow would likely have passed through the man's heart. Instead, it seems to have glanced off his ribs leaving the business end exposed .... Schirra and Unwin came back into the clearing. "Whoever it was fled before we could grab him," Mark said, kicking the ground in frustration as Daniel knelt beside his friend: "How is he ?" "I'll live." Karka wheezed painfully. "Koni, take this ..." Schirra handed her his phaser, "Keep an eye out with Mark, I don't want any more surprises." he said, glancing up towards where he thought he had spied the children earlier. "Sir ... Does it not strike you as 'odd' that every time we have been attacked it has merely slowed our progress?" Wentworth asked as she bound the wounds to Psonoir's side. "Lieutenant?" Schirra responded. "Well, couldn't whoever shot that arrow as easily hit the Commander square in the chest, he, or she, had time, we were all stationary?" she finished speaking as she tied off the makeshift bandage. It hadn't occurred to Schirra before, but now the suggestion had been voiced he began to wonder himself. True, their attacker had very easy targets, each and every one of them was either stood or sat in the open, all easy targets for even the most amateur of protagonists, so why just wound again? ... It was obvious that the person firing was one of the Lancelot crew, there was no-one else it could be in his eyes. But why, it came back to that question again and again! "Can you move?" Schirra asked his Exec' "Sir, he needs to rest, he's lost blood." Sarah insisted, but Karka was already scrambling painfully to his feet. "We have maybe two, three, hours of daylight," Schirra speculated, eyeing the sky for no fathomable reason before continuing, "I want to reach the temple while we can." without another word he moved towards the horses, the others following suit. Psonoir had to be helped to mount, despite his protestations, and then they set off, Unwin and T'Sent taking up the rear of the group, heads constantly checking the way they had come for signs of a pursuer. ~~~~~~~~~~ Stopping short of the ramp they dismounted and again securely tethered their horses .... "Wider than I first thought," Schirra commented in regards to the open space between them and the doorless opening into the temple. "We could go one at a time," Sarah suggested. "There's no saying our friend isn't sat out there waiting to pick us off like fish in the proverbial barrel," Psonoir said, wincing at his aching ribs. "No, we go as one ..." Schirra decided, "... That way he'll have to make a decision on 'who' to go after." he looked across the clearing and then the surrounding forest. it was so dense that their attacker could be meters away and they wouldn't know it unless he chose to reveal himself. With little option open to them, they ran from the forests' protection and sprinted the fifty meters of open ground to the base of the ramp, ten long seconds later they made the safety of the temple and scattered out of the bright sunlit hexagonal of the doorway. After a few seconds, Daniel risked inching toward the opening. When no second arrow lanced towards them he speculated that either they were meant to enter, or their erstwhile attacker planned to follow them inside. As he began to move away from the door, a movement high up in the trees caught his eye. Straining against the glare of the sunlight he tried to focus on the area, almost positive he saw two tiny figures in the branches before the glare got the better of him. When he tried again it was if they were completely alone. When he returned to the others Wentworth was already changing the makeshift bandage, discarding the blood-soaked one for another piece of her vest. After resting the group got to their feet, Koni had suggested she remain behind to 'delay' their attacker should he choose to follow them inside the temple, but Daniel said no, they would stay together ... As they made their way along the high passage they approached what could only be described as a spectacular vista ..... The hexagonal chamber, some seven maybe eight hundred meters across, tapered into a dome-like ceiling, at which a large opening at the very top allowed both sunlight and ambient light to enter, lighting the vast ivy-clad space. At the centre of what appeared to be numerous intertwined pathways forming a maze of routes, there, in the middle of the raised platform, stood a dais. "Let's go," Schirra ordered, glancing back the way they had come for any signs of their pursuer. Forty minutes later, the Excalibur Officers were stood in the centre of the cavernous space, before them, black on black, inlaid with copious amounts of intricate gold scrollwork, sat what they had come for ..........
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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 Dec 11, 2019 16:26:57 GMT
Alternate Karka
In the forests about the clearing, the ragged figure of Karka and his Lancelot allies prowled, moving ever closer and tightening the noose about the Starfleet officers just now beginning to sprint across the open space. March and Dutton had been detailed by the Hebridean (Psonoir) to take out the Excal CO, or failing that finish the job on the 'other' Hebridean, who'd already by all accounts - it was probably the pastoralists - suffered an arrow through the ribcage.
The Hebridean couldn't bring himself to personally do away with his counterpart, his own shadow from the past come to haunt and - possibly, if the loop continued - replace him. The future Karka had assigned for himself Lieutenant Commander Unwin, colleague though he'd been, and good friend whom he'd inadvertently killed already, along with the other three in the encounter with the serpentine creature those years ago.
All was set to remove the possibility he'd be replaced, when the Lancelot officers fell to arguing. "What's happening?" Psonoir flicked his dark eyes in their direction, picking out the group amongst the undergrowth.
"He trashed my mother, so he did, Hebridean!" Midshipman Collins cried.
Lieutenant March replied, "Rubbish. Get back in line, we're going to miss the -" And then the pastoralists were upon them. Other competitors for food and resources besides the newly arrived Excalibur officers, they'd attempted raids on the Lancelot hulk several times in the last six months. Arrows flew by, the Lancelot crew were scattered.
Cursing, Psonoir made his way off into the undergrowth alone, ducking away from a red-fletched dart and turning hurrying steps towards the temple - his counterpart and that officer's four colleagues were already making their way inside...
In the temple
The casket lay before them, bathed in the light of a seemingly constant high noon that shot its beams through the opening in the domed roof - every detail on the casket's surface was clearly picked out, seen in its totality, while uncertain shadows moved amongst the pillars situated about the hexagonal chamber half a mile across. The maze around the team dissolved, clearly designed to do so once the dais was reached.
"I believe this is the Ark," Karka said drolly, "Should we open it?" They had half-hoped since arriving at the centre of the maze that one of the entities would appear to take the Ark from them, their ancient lifesource finally rediscovered, but perhaps the beings were unable to penetrate into whatever domain the officers had landed in.
"You know," Unwin began, "We've been given the impression the entities have been guiding us on our way, telling us where to go, setting the path before us... But how could they possibly find that path for us if as they claim they don't know where the Ark is, if they've been searching for it for millennia?"
"You believe somehow our senses have been deceived," Karka nodded, knowing his friend's mind, "While it appears to us that the Twelve have assisted in every way possible, they may actually have had very little to do with our 'quest'... No, whatever it is that has brought us inexorably to this point - perhaps some intelligence, other than the entities - has at every turn deceived us and presented us with simulacra of our real situation. Perhaps it presented mere mirages of the Twelve, assistants that it believed we trusted." A disquieting thought came upon Karka and he remembered the old-Earth thought experiment Lirwa had told him about, of brains in vats, "Where actually are we?"
"The intelligence that's guided us here wanted to help the Twelve in its recovery of the Ark, but not being able to do so itself it needed agents, namely ourselves and Laporte, Knutsen and co?"
T'Seng opened the Ark with a key that lay helpfully alongside and raised the lid with both hands; before the group could peer inside a phaser beam shot across the vast space - T'Seng was hit in the abdomen, she fell backwards down the dais.
A ragged figure of grim aspect, cloak billowing behind him and revealing the battered blue Starfleet uniform he wore underneath, was charging forwards, firing wildly. Karka turned sharply his way and saw it was his future self, about fifty metres away and closing. He rolled away to the left to the cover of a pillar, Schirra doing likewise. Crying out with the pain in his ribs and armpit - result of the arrow strike - Karka with partly debilitated hand drew his phaser, fired round the other side of the pillar and missed. Now Unwin fell to the dust of the huge space's cracked limestone floor, he groaned and rolled over, a phaser burn in his side. Future Karka had reached the central dais and hollered in surprise as he saw the Ark was still in place; he'd believed it lost several years ago, he and Lieutenant March had checked many times.
"Karka Psonoir!" the Hebridean screamed as he took cover round the dais, the fallen Unwin next to him; the sound of his voice was wretched, ruined, it echoed infinitely round the dome with its sinuously weaved ivy. "Show yourself, Hybrudean. How does it feel to be cut out of time and space, from the two of ours' future?" Karka waited in silence, phaser in hand and tried to espy Schirra and Wentworth. That cracked voice came again, laughing abominably, "Yes, I mean ourselves, Psonoir, our own futures. Not yours and your shipmates'. I remember thinking at the time, when I was in your place at the time you are now... 'Surely they must know now I'm not what I appear to be? I'm not human, I'm not from the 23rd century... I'm from the 29th century!' Do you hear me, Captain Schirra?" he called after a pause, "Your first officer's an impostor!"
'Impostor' was a strong word, but Karka resisted the urge to rebuff this basically true claim; he would give away his position, and potentially Schirra's if the CO involuntarily replied having heard the terrible truth. Was it so terrible? Psonoir considered briefly, there'd been unexplained incidents involving Karka in the past that the Excal Captains - both Ryat and Schirra - had let go.
"Look, Captain Schirra, Lieutenant Wentworth, and 'Commander' Karka Psonoir," the ragged figure spat as he crouched beside the dais, "If you don't show yourselves in the next five seconds, unarmed, I'll shoot unconscious Unwin here in the head."
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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 Dec 17, 2019 1:19:59 GMT
In the Temple :: Now they were stood before the fabled 'Arc' Daniel was having issues satisfying his doubts: As the conversation progressed, more doubts and questions began to arise, but that aside, they needed to return the Arc to those who had said it was their's by right. "We need to see inside," Koni said. With no viable objections, Daniel nodded and watched as she inserted the ornate key provided. But before anyone could see the contents a phaser beam lanced across the dais! ... The fire-fight, albeit short, had resulted in injuries, but worse, one of their own had been taken. As a forced stalemate ensued, Daniel listened intently as his Executive Officers' copy, duplicate, doppelganger, made his accusations and demands: "Surely they must know how I'm not what I appear to be? I'm not human, I'm not from the 23rd century ... I'm from the twenty-ninth century!' Do you hear me, Captain Schirra?" he called after a pause, "Your first officer is an impostor!" Given the 'original' Excalibur Officers were hidden from view to avoid being shot, Daniel could only remain completely silent as he attempted to triangulate the location of the 'other' Psonoir, but finally, he gave the ultimatum Daniel had been expecting: "Look, Captain Schirra, Lieutenant Wentworth, and 'Commander' Karka Psonoir," the ragged figure spat as he crouched beside the dais, "If you don't show yourselves in the next five seconds, unarmed, I'll shoot unconscious Unwin here in the head." Schirra could tell his Officers were looking at him but he didn't move his eyes from the Dais, hoping that the other Karka would show his face and allow a shot, however speculative. Daniel had to think quickly, and he realised that if he ceded to the man's demands, none of them would survive. "Go ahead," he replied as the fourth of five seconds passed, then six, seven, eight ... "You believe I would allow him to live if you dismissed his life as worthless?" the duplicate Psonoir asked darkly. "That is your choice. I'm not giving up my Officers to you, so do as you please ...." Schirra replied, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible, ".... Each and every one of our Officers know the risks they take. We'll wait for you to fire then blast that dais to atoms and you along with it. Once you are gone we'll return the Arc to the Entities as agreed. Then, they will restore everyone lost. So go ahead, shoot him." "You would allow one of your own to perish?" "I would .... You may well be from the future, I can't say one way or the other, as for my Exec' ..." Daniel looked over to where he thought Karka was concealed, then returned his attention to the other, ".... I have no evidence that he is from anywhere other than where we're from. So ... I'll say again ... If you think killing my Engineer in cold blood is going to get you anything other than killed, feel free to go ahead. I can wait." During this exchange, Unwin was slowly regaining consciousness. He lay motionless, finally risking opening his eyes a fraction to see the wrong end of a Starfleet issue phaser centimetres from his forehead. closing his eyes he listened to the ongoing conversation, surprised and shocked when his Commanding Officer said he could be killed. "We could help you." Schirra was saying now. "Why would we need help from the past?" the future Psonoir asked. "Where will you go, once we leave?" Daniel asked. "Who is to say you will leave and not us?" the future Psonoir asked with a snigger. Slowly, after a long internal discord, Daniel began to rise from his crouched position. He saw the other Psonoir immediately and couldn't miss the phaser as it arced from the prone Unwin to point directly at himself. He raised his hands but didn't relinquish the hold on his own weapon. "Let Unwin go .... We can talk .... If you fire on us no-one will be leaving, though I suspect the Entities will intervein to ensure they regain possession of their Arc, so, I'm going to assume that given our current situation, and the fact that, despite their assurances they cannot see us, the Entities are indeed watching proceedings, so if we were to settle our differences, or at the least be able to compromise, maybe both of us could return home?" "But we can leave as we wish." the other Psonoir replied. "Really? ....." Daniel retorted. The hesitation from his opponent all he needed to confirm his suspicions, "..... We can all leave here if we work together. We have their 'Arc' something they seem to need for their very survival. So if we can put aside our issues, I think we can assure our mutual survival." "You flatter yourself, Human." "Fine. Murder Unwin, we'll get the Arc back where it belongs. They have already agreed to restore anyone lost for the return of the Arc, so shoot him, we'll shoot you, and go from there." Daniel said with a distinct shrug as he lowered his phaser to the duplicate Psonoir's midriff. After a long moment, the other Psonoir seemed to have made his decision. Slowly he moved his weapon away from the prone Unwin and nodded to Schirra. Daniel returned the nod then raised his own phaser. firing, the beam of almost pure energy lanced across the distance between the two and the other Psonoir vanished from existence! "Koni, Shut that up ... We're leaving!" Daniel confirmed as the Children appeared. "The others are fleeing. They will not allow you to return the Arc, but I feel that without the one leading, I believe they will resign themselves to their fates." the boy said as the girl ran to Daniel, throwing herself into his unexpected arms. He could feel her sobbing silently against his shoulder ..........
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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 Jan 3, 2020 0:26:02 GMT
"Koni, Shut that up ... We're leaving!" Daniel confirmed as the Children appeared.
"The others are fleeing. They will not allow you to return the Arc, but I feel that without the one leading, I believe they will resign themselves to their fates." the boy said as the girl ran to Daniel, throwing herself into his unexpected arms. He could feel her sobbing silently against his shoulder Mark Unwin was slowly rising, albeit unsteadily, to his feet... He looked around at the others while trying to control his breathing. "That was one hell of a bluff if you don't mind my saying Captain." the Chief Engineer said. Daniel looked at him for a long moment, asking Sarah Wentworth to take the girl from him before replying: "Good to see you back on your feet Commander." He walked over to where Koni was closing the Ark ..... For a second he was convinced he had seen 'something' within the depths of the casket. It was ridiculous of course as the Arc was completely empty, otherwise, Koni herself would have notified them of there being something inside. But even as she had begun to close the Ark she felt resistance as the lid was lowered, for a second it was as if something was trying to prevent it being closed once more, but she persisted and the Ark was once again sealed. Relieved, she slammed the ornate clasps shut! Daniel looked around, trying to see if any of their attackers were still close by, but apart from the children, who were watching him closely, they seemed to be alone ..... The Ark, approximately one point three by point eight by point eight in size, was gold, the cover plate embellished with two eagles, wings outstretched, but it weighed much less than Schirra expected: four people could carry it with relative ease. Mark Unwin, now recovered, found two long poles maybe three meters in length, these could be fitted either side of the Ark to facilitate moving it around. "We have a long way to go," Daniel said, glancing at the children, he knelt before them, allowing the girl to once again hug him, "You can come with us," he said, seeing the expression on the boys face change almost imperceptibly. "We are in this place." the boy said as if his comment explained everything. "I want to go," the little girl said. "You cannot!" the boy retorted. Daniel felt her grip on him tighten, "There will be, consequences....." "I don't care. I want to leave with these people, they are honourable, willing to help, willing to sacrifice!" the girl said between sobs. The boy walked forward, grasping the girl's arm roughly, but she wasn't going to be led away and slapped him harshly, making him step back in shock, eyes wide with anger and confusion. Sarah stepped between the two, kneeling to grab the boy as he again tried to grasp the girl. "Why can't you leave here?" the Operations Officer asked quietly. "We cannot. We are of here." the boy said again. "But wouldn't you want to come to a better place, somewhere where you would be cared for?" Sarah persisted. "OK, well why not accompany us ..... You could help us get back with the Ark?" Mark Unwin asked. The boy looked at the girl, still clinging to Daniel, then appeared to make up his mind: "We shall accompany you," he said. Daniel stood, reluctantly lifting the girl with him as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Koni smiled with a shrug as if her Captain had become a surrogate father to the child. With Karka, Koni, Mark and Sarah each taking hold of the poles, they lifted the Ark off the floor, Daniel, with the girl in his arms, and the boy close by, eyes flicking between Schirra and the path ahead, they began to backtrack from the structure... In the open, the boy pointed to a path... "We didn't come that way," Psonoir said. "You wish to return the Ark to the entities, do you not?" the boy asked. "Yes, we do," Daniel replied. "Then going this way is safer." the boy explained. Schirra dropped to his knees, telling his crew to lower the Ark while managing to get the girl to release her grip and sit beside him. He looked at the boy, then at Mark Unwin... Granted, there was no way he could say for sure that this was a younger version of his Engineer, but the resemblance was undeniable. He asked his Tactical Officer to come over, and he looked from her to the girl, approximately eight years old, and again, he had no means by which to confirm it, but the child did resemble T'Seng. "So you cannot leave because you are duplications of my Officers, albeit younger?" he asked the children. But he didn't need to wait for their confirmation as he looked at Mark and Koni, who seemed to have realised seconds ago that they were looking at their younger selves... "We cannot both be." the boy said almost matter-of-factly. "We'll see about that!" Koni said defiantly as they all head a distinctive 'THUD'... Heads spun to face the Ark! "Erm, did anyone else hear that?" Sarah Wentworth asked nervously. "There's no one in there," Koni said. "OK, let's not let our imagination run riot," Daniel said, beginning to rise as the child Koni again latched onto him. They once again picked up the Ark, trying not to keep looking at the ornately engraved cover with its golden eagles, wondering if they were, in fact, carrying someone, or something. With the boy, or younger version of Mark Unwin walking four or five meters ahead of Schirra, all the while glancing back at the girl, they continued along the path that would hopefully lead back to their destination, where they could hand over the Ark to the entities and return to their ship. Daniel had already decided that if either or both children wanted to leave the faux Earth and return with the Excalibur, he would make it happen ..........
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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 Jan 13, 2020 16:56:43 GMT
Descending the path from the octagonal temple and branching off to the right back into the undergrowth, the Excal officers began making their way back towards the point from which they'd started out, this time by an alternative - presumably safer - route, though Karka, while not wanting to cast judgement to quickly, did not trust the boy.
"Were you a troublesome child?" he half-joked with Unwin who was carrying the Ark ahead of him. Psonoir was carrying the right-hand pole near the rear.
"Very good, Commander," Unwin sighed and crouched to reposition the pole on his left shoulder once more as they began descending into thick undergrowth, "I was thrown out of one or two classes at the academy for unruly behaviour - Admiral Metterly didn't appreciate my interjections on theory in warp mechanics that would allow ships to travel at warp 9.5 for five hours, believe it or not... But I was a well behaved boy at junior high."
There were two more thuds from the Ark, as disconcerting as they were perhaps more unnerving were thuds that suddenly came at them from a different source. Five arrows in quick succession struck the side of the casket, three becoming stuck there and two rebounding - the arrowhead one of these latter two rotated away from the Ark in such a way that it caught the boy in a hand.
He yelped and cried for pain, gripping his injured hand; blood seeped between the fingers. They lowered the casket once they'd found appreciable cover; Wentworth and Unwin rushed to the weeping child.
"Lancelot crew," Psonoir notified Schirra and pointed as they crouched amongst the shrubbery. There were perhaps four or five of them, all but one with bows and arrows, the last wearing tattered insignia of a full lieutenant (the new CO?).
"It seems the boy was correct about how the crew would scatter once they lost Psonoir," T'Seng observed, "The 'other' Psonoir, sir," she nodded to Karka who dismissed the issue. He too had been unnerved - at one point distraught by the appearance of his ragged double. Now that that man was dead, Karka only hoped history didn't repeat itself and he didn't take the dead Hybrudean's place (who could know, perhaps one day he'd be the one in that temple confronting the Excal officers and holding Unwin at phaser-point).
It was decided to rush the small clutch of Lancelot crew. Psonoir, Schirra and T'Seng crept through the undergrowth and came upon the five of them unawares (the latter had lost sight of the Excal crew after their initial arrow salvo). Incapacitating them all except one (the lieutenant who managed to scamper away), they began questioning. A RFA man named Dutton told them that there remained just a dozen Lancelot crew, the rest having scattered and been killed by a group they called the 'pastoralists'.
Returning to the casket, the three were appalled to find the casket on its side. Unwin, Wentworth and the boy and girl were keeping their distance as from the Ark resounded an unrelenting storm of rattling, thudding, smashing, as of a barrel with a live person within being cast down Niagara falls, Earth.
"Are you there's nothing inside, Koni?" Karka said dryly.
"Let's keep going... If this is a shortcut," Schirra glanced at the boy, "It shouldn't take us too long to reach our goal."
They gingerly picked up the Ark and attempted to carry it some distance, before the tossing and rattling became too much; as Unwin began to complain that his shoulder may become dislocated, they virtually dropped the Ark with a crash and it again fell on its side... the clasps had come loose. Karka and Koni dived into the muck and made to fasten the double-eagle headed cover but it proved impossible - in fact whatever effort they applied only seemed to cause the lid to open further, and a ghoulish presence rushed past them, escaping with an ethereal distant scream into the upper atmosphere before seeming to settle over a wide area about the path ahead of them. That was not however the last of it - crawling now from the upturned casket was a strange, globular creature with short spindly arms and legs, it mewled at them and rolled over, a grotesque thing seemingly only just given life. It crawled a few feet before scampering off into the forest faster than the Excal crew's phasers could track.
"It has reborn once more, yet it is decayed..." Hodge was saying from his celestial abode.
"Indeed," the other entity, watching from Shen's subterranean domain worlds distant from here, replied, "A rotten thing, encased within for so long. The Ark, a lifesource for our species and yet a prison for that which nearly caused our extinction. And its incorporeal minions, they will waylay our venturers in their efforts to return." To the entities the creature was deadly, they'd dared not attempt recovery of the Ark themselves for that reason, and yet - they hoped - the humans would prove impervious.
"Is this path still safe??" Unwin asked his younger self, but the boy could only cry. Psonoir glanced at Schirra, they'd little choice but to press along this short cut.
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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 Jan 16, 2020 1:23:38 GMT
The group had been travelling for only four hours, in which time dawn had come and gone fro the second time, but it did appear that the further they got from the original resting place of the Ark, time seemed to be slowing to something more normal, whatever passed for 'normal' on the Faux Earth...
Yet again they had been attacked out of the blue, injuries were sustained, but at least no further fatalities ..... Pulling themselves to their feet they had retrieved the Ark yet again, but whatever had been trying to escape it's confinement finally achieved it's goal and sprang from the Ark. Everyone had scattered as the unholy form spun to face them. It seemed to glare at them, almost as if trying to come to a decision, then, it sprang into the thick wood and out of sight, it's bloodcurdling wailing heard for long moments only to be replaced by another:
"It has reborn once more, yet it is decayed..." The Hodge Entity was saying from his celestial abode.
"Indeed," the other entity, watching from Shen's subterranean domain worlds distant from here, replied, "A rotten thing, encased within for so long. The Ark, a life-source for our species and yet a prison for that which nearly caused our extinction. With its incorporeal minions, they will waylay our venturers in their efforts to return." To the entities the creature was deadly, they'd dared not attempt recovery of the Ark themselves for that reason, and yet - they hoped - the Humans would prove impervious.
Daniel turned as Karka asked his younger self about the safety of the path ahead, but in reality, they had no other option open to them unless the Entities chose to extract them, so onward they went, the now-empty Ark held between them ..... hours passed with no further attacks, nor did they see anything of the Gargoyle-like creature that had burst forth. But it was near, they heard it's low guttural growl now and then as if it was taunting them every step. Finally, they reached the sand-covered ground and knew they must be close to their goal ...
"Why persist in this fruitless endevour?"
"The group stopped dead in their tracks, eyes flicking from tree to tree, the Hugues de Paynes Entity asked casually.
"You demand the Ark..." Daniel spat, taking several steps in the Entities' direction, "...You never stipulated contents,"
"You believe us so neieve as to accept a now usless item?"
"If it was the contents you were in need of, and not the container, informing us of the fact beforehand might have proved useful," Koni T'Seng commented, "What 'was' that, thing anyway?"
"Well, I cannot find any reason not to indulge your curiosity, so... That, 'THING' as you call it, is the oldest of our kind. Millennia upon millennia ago, we were much like you, but we, progressed beyond the physical, to what you see today. Alas, we found that there was a price to pay, and that was out extinction... It was decided that three would venture out in search of a means of salvation. Hundreds of thousands of years as you know them passed, eventually our adventurers returned, but they were, changed ..... They demanded loyalty, feilty, and in return, they would bestow upon us the means to survive. We fought, what do you Humans call it, hmm, I suppose 'politics' would be the closest comparison. Some were happy to accept their fate, while the lure of everlasting existence was too strong..."
"What happened?" Sarah Wentworth asked.
"The reaction was to destroy all those who opposed them without mercy. Billions perished in those first moments, but so did two of the three ......"[/font] the de Payens Entity stopped as if in reflection.
"So why not kill the last?" Mark Unwin asked, glancing at his younger self.
"Ahh, there in lays our conundrum," de Paynes said, seemingly amused.
"Yes?" Schirra prompted.
"You see, our very existence depends upon the charity of that fiend. While we want him disposed of, extinguishing him would mean we sign our own lives away in the bargain ..... Holding it prisoner, we could dictate it's surroundings, reward it, or punish it as we deemed necessary. It would have no option but to bestow upon us the secret it attained whilst away. But with it free to take revenge upon us for its millennia of captivity, I fear it will take time and revel in every entity passing into the abysm,"
"So our usefulness is void, you will no further honour our agreement?" Schirra asked, dreading the Entities' reply. de Paynes tuned and pointed, in the distance above the trees, they could see a spire, given the height of the surrounding canopy, it must have been many kilometres tall, in fact, a section of the structure was hidden in the cloud cover. ' "We are not without cunning Captain ....." the de Paynes Entity replied, addressing Daniel for the first time, "..... You see, while the 'First One' holds our existence in its claws, we likewise hold its in ours. You see, we made it impossible for the 'First One' to survive outside the confines of its prison. It will return, it must, or it will, like us, perish. While it can extinguish our life essence, our combined efforts would do the very same! ... So you see, mutual continuation is required,"
"Hold on, I don't get it," Mark interrupted, "You're saying that either you both die, so to speak, or you all live. Where's the issue exactly?"
"It is here!" the Entity whispered.
"Good, maybe 'he' can give us some straight answers," Karka said, finally losing patience. For the first time, Daniel realised he was seeing actual fear on the Entity-occupied persona of de Paynes ..........
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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 Jan 20, 2020 13:39:59 GMT
Karka still felt the discomfort in his chest and under his right arm-pit from the arrow strike he'd suffered on the group's approach to the temple, but now he had more pressing concerns...
"It is here!" de Payens hissed.
After a sardonic response, Karka glanced around at the surrounding forestry and undergrowth; at first he could see nothing - was this First One as incorporeal as Hodge and the other entity had suggested its 'minions' might be? Before he could decide one way or another, the thing bounded down from a branch to the team's right; it impacted the ground, sickly joints squelching as it cushioned its fall, and cast a glare up at them - something about those dark globular eyes filled Karka with the horror of the abyss, the abyss into which these entities would eventually fall if the First One did not in the end surrender its secret in full.
The First One 'spoke'; what at first seemed a dry rasping cough, a harsh wind through metallic trees, revealed itself as its voice, "For once it tells the truth," it cackled and turned its globular head towards de Payens - the latter backed away, and Karka saw the same abyss in his eyes as the creature had in its - a shared fate and history, intertwined existences on an incorporeal plane.
"You are, then, what de Payens and the Twelve of the entities say you are?" Unwin asked it.
"With the simple difference that one of my two companions still lives," the First One replied. The Excal officers - and de Payens, too - regarded one another in shock. "Oh yes... It's coming to rescue me at this very moment; it will sustain my life, I have no need of the Ark..."
The creature's hissing vocalisations were unbearable, though Karka had encountered worse in the 30th century (but that was a story for another time, he thought to himself). He cast aside thoughts of the new terror revealed by the First One and took a step towards it. "Commander..." Schirra warned, "What are you doing?"
Karka raised a hand to suggest he knew what he was doing, "I don't understand," he addressed the creature, "If you've been locked within the Ark by the Twelve and the other entities, fed, sustained and amused, yet ultimately imprisoned by them, in the hope you'd eventually reveal the whole of the secret to their salvation, then why the need for us? That is..." he spun on de Payens, "Why did we need to go on this quest for you? You have a - admittedly uneasy - co-existence with this being - you keep each other alive, if only barely. Yet you live and are happy with your arrangement..."
Wentworth nodded, understanding Karka's chain of thought and continuing to de Payens, "So you wanted the creature - your ultimate key to eternal life - brought to you? That was the goal of our quest wasn't it? The return of your life-source to you, whatever may be the whole truth of it?"
Karka and all of them admitted it didn't add up; perhaps it was all a game of the entities, perhaps they'd been played. And while they now knew the truth that these people - the First One on one side, the rest of the entities on the other - depended upon each other for survival, it seemed a great deal to have gone through to discover it.
"Where is the other? The one you say survived...?" de Payens was saying, his voice low and trembling. Schirra asked him to repeat what he'd said but he could only gesture with trembling hand at the First One, "The other, I say, you abomination! Where is she?!"
The creature seemed to grimace, but Karka realised it was smiling, "She is within all of you, my slave."
de Payens suddenly clutched at his chest; his limbs became rigid and his body convulsed. From the centre of his thorax an ethereal flame became visible, it'd pierced the surface of his epidermis and now it began to spread; Karka realised he was being consumed from within, a transcendental conflagration of his very spirit and being.
The team could now hear a chorus of howls from the skies, gathering in intensity like stormclouds - the upper air caught fire, an aether illuminated by sudden inner turmoil expressing itself as combustion of the unreal. The entities - perhaps many, or all of them, were now dying...
"Your death is my life, de Payens, and all you of the Twelve," the creature rasped, and from within it the same ethereal glow began to emanate until the First One was encapsulated and transformed into something that in size was monstrous but in form was something almost humanoid... Towering above the Excal team now was a five metre tall human - that which had been the creature, while de Payens lay a shrivelled mess of ash and incorporeal dust on the forest floor. A gust of wind blew away his remains through the tangled roots and bracken.
"That was immoral," Karka said to the behemoth; the comment seemed droll in the circumstances, absurd almost.
"Is there any way - if your fellow entities were to give you what you truly want, whatever that may be - you could return them to life? You are their life-source, after all, you hold the secret to their eternal life," Koni said.
The five metre creature swung a huge right arm groundwards; it crashed into Unwin who was sent hurtling into a tree trunk. Karka and the others ran this way and that, trying to escape the laughing, bellowing First One. Schirra and T'Seng opened fire with phasers on highest setting but caused only flesh wounds. Karka took cover and something occurred to him: with the entities dying, perhaps their powers and the bonds that'd been tying the Excal crew here in this - possible - game had been loosened; perhaps they could attempt communication with the ship, and with the Avalon... He flipped open his communicator and spoke quietly, =/\=USS Excalibur, USS Avalon, this is Commander Psonoir, do you read me?=/\=
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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 Jan 20, 2020 17:40:08 GMT
The attack on Mark Unwin was so unexpected that it shocked everyone into a state of immobility for a second, before they ran left and right, hoping to avoid the same fate as the Excalibur Engineer! Daniel could hear the Children screaming in fear, cowering behind a boulder he was sure the ranting First One could crush with ease, the two young ones too .... He could see Karka behind one of the larger trees, he too was clearly hoping to save himself as Daniel sprinted across the gap to the Children, both grasping hold of him for their lives. Karka was firing along with Daniel until both realized their efforts were in vain. The Excalibur's Executive Officer withdrew his communicator and flicked it open: =^= USS Excalibur .. USS Avalon .. .. This is Commander Psonoir .. Do you read me? .. .. .. =^= Daniel was as shocked as the others when his comm received a reply. =^= Commander Psonoir .. Taka Yukigori .. Are you safe? =^= =^= We're alive Lieutenant .. How soon can you make orbit? =^= =^= We are on the edge of the System Commander ... We can be in orbit in moments =^= =^= Then do so .. Psonoir out =^= "They're coming!" he shouted over to Schirra, he, in turn, told the Children they needed to move, both said no, the fear in their small voices obvious, not that he blamed them, he was hardly the picture of calm himself. He managed to get to his knees, the younger Koni on his left, the younger Mark on his right. He was about to tell them to run when the woods fell completely silent. He could see Karka who was trying to look in the direction of the First One, he was pointing and Daniel looked in the same direction .... Where the First One had stood, all five meters of him, now stood two, a little over two meters with vaguely Human features, but it was clear that one of them was Female. Before anything could be said, Karka's communicator chirped to life: Karka flicked it open... =^= Excalibur to Commander Psonoir =^= =^= Psonoir .. Go ahead =^= =^= We have established geostationary orbit above you Sir .. We can transport when you are ready =^= =^= Stand by Excalibur .. .. .. =^= Psonoir replied, looking at Daniel, who took the risk of raising his head above the rock. The Female entity turned in his direction, she spoke in whispers to her companion and he too looked at the Excalibur Officers. Daniel could see Koni T'Seng and Sarah Unsworth, he knew where his Exec' was, and after a moment he located Mark Unwin's shattered body. "You have what you desired now....." Koni said, defiantly moving into the open, taking a long look at Unwin's body before returning her attention to the First Ones, "We should never have been part of your feud, should never have been brought here to satisfy your yearning for what, amusement!" They could hear the Children crying as they huddled for comfort behind Daniel. "You know nothing of our struggle, despite your efforts to do so." the Male replied, anger growing on his face. "Struggle!... How many have lost their lives, not only today but on the countless occasions you have brought people here against their wills?" she wasn't going to be silenced and Schirra wondered how much the Male would take of her before quashing her from existence, "Promises were made, are you going to tell us you are not going to honor those promises?" "We made no such promises... To you... Or any others. You were a tool, nothing more, you were used in completing a task. Shall we allow you to leave, or would it be better to snuff you and your ships from time?" the Male asked darkly. Slowly Karka raised his communicator, instructing the Excalibur to remain ready. He hoped it was to retuned the crew to the ship, but it could also be that they need to flee. "I believe we can allow these, people, to depart our realm, my beloved," the Female One said quietly. "You deem I should uphold the concord between these and the Entities?" the Male One asked. "I do... They are of no matter to us, they will better serve their own kind. You forget my beloved, the twelve, now eleven, are ours to do with as we wish. Would you not enjoy their agonies more than you can the Humans?" "You may return to your vessel..." the Male One said, eyeing them with a hint of suspicion, "But first..." he walked over to the shattered body of Unwin and looked upon it for a moment, Everyone gasped as the Engineer coughed then slowly lifted himself into a sitting position. Confusion ran across his face, and it was clear that he remembered, for a second the blow that sent him smashing into the tree that killed him. Before his expression changed and he clambered to his feet, Koni and Sarah going to help steady him. Daniel looked at the Children, then at the First Ones: "You are concerned for the Children..." the Female One said, almost softly, "They too can leave, your lifespan is a fraction of a second in your measurements, they are of no use unless of course, they wish to remain?" Both Children clung to Schirra with such force he pondered the likelihood of the circulation being hindered in his legs. "They will come with us," Schirra said decisively. It hadn't passed him by that, in reality, these were exact duplicates of two of his Officers, as to their 'arrival' he would need to explain that once they were home. He was about to comment further when the Female One smiled before waving a hand, everyone but he vanished. He spun around then back to the two. "Fear not... We, in our way, are grateful to you and your people. You are right in thinking that we need each other to survive, but not in the way you think. There are only two of us left, no more of the First Ones exist, so we are alone. As for the remaining eleven, well as time passes we will come to terms about our mutual survival until such times that we no longer need the symbiosis," "Then you will dispose of them as you have done countless others." Daniel didn't make it a question, he neither needed nor wanted an answer. He took his communicator from his sleeve pocket and called the Excalibur: =^= One to transport .. .. =^= he said, looking at the First Ones with something approaching sympathy, then the tell-tale caress of the transporter took him. The last thing he saw on the surface was the Male One holding the entity they had known as T'Gor by the throat, it was clear that its life was forfeit ..... Materializing on the Bridge he was met with a chorus of well wishes. Koni T'Seng shouted for quiet, then turned to Schirra. "Sir, the vessels previously destroyed have reappeared," "... and their crews?" "All present Captain," she confirmed. "Ensign, please take the Children to Medical, have the Doctor give them a thorough check," Schirra began, he knelt, with difficulty, then spoke to the two, "It's going to be alright, I promise. This young lady is going to make sure you are both fit and well, then you can come back, alright?" he finished in almost a whisper. Both Children reluctantly released their holds on him and took the offered hands of the Ensign. Looking back every step they were coaxed off the Bridge. "So how do we get the hell out of here?" Mark Unwin asked. "We shall guide your ships to a vortex, each will enter and be returned to your own time, alas, all memory of what has occurred will be erased," the voice of the Female One said. "No, remove the memories of those returning to other times. I ask that we are allowed to retain ours," Schirra said to no-one. "All I can promise is that you will be aware of what happened, but will never be allowed to recount your part, or that of any other, We wish you and your race well, Captain, we will be forever grateful," Before he could reply, the ship, seemingly of her own accord, began a slow turn and increased her speed, the three other ships in close formation. Ahead, a swirling mass of matter/antimatter began to form, growing in size as each second past. Despite all efforts, it seemed the First Ones were not allowing them to speak with the other ships ..... The USS Avalon, the twenty-fourth-century Starship, moved ahead, passing beyond the horizon of the vortex and was gone. Next, the private yacht the Gawain, passed through, closely followed by the twentieth century Merchant Navy vessel, leaving only the Excalibur. Seconds past as the Starship approached the vortex, finally, it too entered ..... Time seemed to stand still as the ship traversed the passage, a myriad of colors, feelings, senses, almost overwhelmed the Officers and Crew until finally the first star could be seen. "Helm, check our location," Schira ordered. "Sir, we appear to be exactly where we were when...." his reply filtered off as he frowned, realizing he couldn't remember, he looked at the ships' chronometer, "Captain...." The last thing Daniel could remember was the Excalibur approaching a vortex, but as he remained silent, looking at his Senior Officers, he knew that what had happened would indeed remain unspoken. "Set course for, Home... Warp four." Daniel ordered, dropping into the center seat as the USS Excalibur made a slow turn to achieve the required heading, then slipped into the nether-realms of warp velocity. "Sir..." Koni said as she approached the Captain and Executive Officer, "What is going to happen to the Children?" He remained silent for a long moment, scenario's going through his head as to their fate, but truth be told he had no answer for her. It was likely they would be given to a family who wanted Children. He would ensure they remained together. "You could adopt them Koni," he said finally, "Well, you and Mark?" he said with a wry grin as the two Officers looked at each other then at Schirra wondering if their Captain was joking! As he laughed at their obvious embarrassment, the Children emerged from the turbo-lift, both now dressed in cream-colored trousers and top. They jumped up onto his knee as the Doctor approached. "They are healthy, fit, and well. Both have had well-needed showers and have eaten, so there's no need for them to be in Sick-Bay any longer, shall I arrange a couple of bunks to be set up in your quarters, Captain?" Ki Wundt asked with a grin. Daniel tried to avoid looking at his Bridge Officers as the grip from the Children tightened again ..........
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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 Jan 22, 2020 10:09:19 GMT
As much as Karka tried to sieve his memory for the particulars of their unexpected expedition to the entities' worlds, he came up with little but the occasional snapshots that were a common feature of human psychic retention. While his mind was in fact Hybrudean, it existed inside a brain wholly human, and the eidetic memory that belonged to every member of the Hybrudean race availed him little here as evidently the power of the Twelve and of the two remaining First Ones was more powerful than his own species'.
Ah, but there it was: a vivid snapshot, a glimpse into the barely remembered events on those two worlds... the Twelve, embodied in part by de Payens; the First Ones, the male's initial ghoulish appearance replaced by a severe case of giganticism... It was all there in his memory, accessible to all the crew in fact, but something stopped up their mouths, their silence not enforced by common consent but - perhaps - by the higher power that now held dominion over those worlds outside time and space.
He watched from the starboard-side science console as the children re-entered the bridge, hugging themselves to Daniel once more. What would become of them, indeed? Of course they would grow up to be identical (in appearance at least) to the Excal's own Unwin and T'Seng, and by the time they reached the age of the two officers the latter would be in their late forties or early fifties. Who could know how the younger versions' lives would develop after that, who might be their descendants, how would their lives branch off from the Excalibur officers' own?
"You've taken enough paths yourself, Karka Psonoir," Lirwa said in his mind, "So many lives of yourself, so many world-lines, how do you keep track?" The same way you do, friend - I try not to think about it and let Xetleti take care of the rest, he replied inwardly.
"I would've helped you, you know - I had hidden the Ark of the Covenant originally, remember?" A pause, "Remember...?"
Karka paused; yes, he did, just barely, and yet the mysterious injunction against speech upon all the crew renewed itself with all the more vigour as he attempted to speak out to his friend across the centuries. He wanted to tell Lirwa that he'd lied to a friend, misled him as the entities had - the whole tale spun to Karka by Lirwa had been a fabrication, how he'd joined with a disaffected member of the Twelve millennia ago when the Ark had first been stolen. And yet what'd been the true nature of the Ark's contents, what'd been the species' life-source? Something locked within the mind of an horrific creature, changed and mutated from its own quest in search of its species's salvation those thousands of years ago. Lirwa hadn't related to him that, nor could he have done, for reasons to trivial for the Hybrudean to explain to himself.
The Excalibur was four hours out from Starbase 47, the relatively new Ournal class station rotating in its perpetual dance about the planet Selah (albeit at a distance of several milliparsecs). Karka had for the meantime retired to his quarters - the introspection which had taken hold of him in the last few hours inclining him towards privacy, indeed retrospective impulses began to dominate him, and thoughts of his distant home seemed to be ever-returning as he lay and read the latest departmental reports. Forcibly his partitioned mind with its myriad links to null-markers allowing access to the spacetime highways recalled for him his first adventure back here to the 23rd century: the year had been 2808 by Earth-reckoning; he remembered how enthusiastic, if stoically determined he'd been to make the journey, and how dissatisfied he'd been with the result: a human body, its natural limitations, were only just made up for by the friendships he'd made in this century, and yet his original mission? To recover duotronic tech to fight the Raiders and other malcontents? It'd been all but forgotten. Nevertheless, despite this lack of completion of his original mission, he was now forced to admit to himself - or rather had it forced upon himself - he felt ready to return.
But yet another Karka would take his place... Perhaps he'd appeared already, perhaps it was another Karka who along with the Excal crew had rescued those billions of people frozen in stasis beneath the surface of that blasted world a few years ago, perhaps it was another Karka who'd played his part in bringing an end to the isolationist movement in the Eyrie Syphax system... Could Psonoir's own history be trusted?
He remembered for certain sweeping into his apartment in Ashbury Heights, San Francisco; his wife, just departed with all their belongings; the pursuit of the shapeshifters a few months later in the eastern outskirts of the city (when he'd first met Captain Schirra): these were truths of this instance of himself, of the Karka of his own world-line. Where in the time between past and present, in the tangle of conflicting world-lines, had the unrolling thread of his own become lost? Had he returned already to the 29th century?
One thing he could recall for definite - from the ship's sojourn within the timeless trap of the entities: the entry into the vortex... the four ships, one by one crossing the threshold in staggered diamond formation.
As they'd passed sequentially into the storm it'd seemed to Karka and all those aboard the four vessels that the matter-antimatter circumferential ring of the vortex, the vacuum around them, their own ships' welcome air, and their very minds had resounded with quartal harmony. Despite the cost to the majority of the entities' species, cooperation between the quartet of vessels had at the last been achieved.
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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 Jan 31, 2020 20:53:26 GMT
OOC: This could be considered the last post of the mission, and as first post of a shore leave?
IC: The Excalibur made its gradual progress back to Starbase 47 and, beyond that, Earth, where the crew could catch up with loved ones - many of whom - as was usually the case for a predominantly human crew - still remained on the Federation core world. Karka no longer experienced the need to make his periodic returns to France to visit and console the parents of the deceased science lieutenant: they'd said their final goodbyes, understanding passing between them that'll that could've been said had been said, and that it was time for them all to move on and put the memory of the dead son to rest.
Schirra, Karka considered, might take up his residence in Frisco again - in past times partly destroyed by Karka and Alyana Ryat, due to the ensconcement within of a terrorist sect. Would he find peace and happiness there again, as he'd had before the aforementioned senior officers had done their best to obliterate his house?
The Excal arrived at Starbase and found its docking berth, the LSO directing them to Bay Epsilon; she sidled with a burst of port thrusters to starboard to align herself with the dock and slipped safely into her moorings. "Ahhh..." Karka exhaled gently. The Excal was home.
Schirra tapped a button on his arm-rest, =/\=All personnnel, this is Captain Schirra. You recent graduates, ensigns, commissioned cadets... Your performance on this unexpected mission has been exemplary. You should be proud. Standard shore leave commences for all crew. Thank you, all. Schirra out.=/\=
Karka stood from his chair at the starboard-side science console and faced Schirra, "Do you remember much about it, sir?"
Schirra looked at him abruptly, sternly but with words seeming to want to form. "Karka, we can't talk about what happened in that system - ... I mean nothing happened. We were..." he trailed off, whatever words might've been forthcoming possibly stopped by the unseeable, quasi-divine injunction against divulging and discussing anything of their trip and travails in the system where they'd met the Avalon, the Gawain... and was it the Lancelot? the Hybrudean searched his partitioned mind.
"If you'll excuse me, sir, I must head to the station. There is a... meeting, I must attend." From Karka's demeanour Daniel 'may' have guessed it'd something to do with the future Karka's claims as to Commander Karka Psonoir's illegitimacy, his status as an impostor, but Karka felt his CO would be letting it go for all the good he'd done the ship over the years.
Their sojourn on SB47 was brief; soon they were headed for Earth and - for the humans - home (though all Federation members in theory had free use of any of their fellow member worlds, besides cursory checks carried out on the border between the five founding members's region and the rest of the Federation).
Earth wasn't home for Karka the Hybrudean, though he'd lived here a number of years and had even had a family (wife and child; lost to him, different futures for his wholly human kin); he thought of these now as he banked in on a suborbital craft, luminous wispy streamers of the air pierced by afternoon sunlight diffusing through the window to his left. His craft made landing near the Presidio of San Francisco.
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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 Feb 1, 2020 2:01:57 GMT
With hours until the Constitution Class USS Excalibur arrived at Starbase Forty-Seven, Daniel sat in the center seat watching the stars beyond the 'window' .... Deep in thought, he couldn't help wonder if they had done the right thing or if they could have even done anything differently. Every now and then he would look up at his friend, something making him wonder if Karka was having his own doubts. But then, they had been warned about speaking of past events, so it wasn't as if he could simply stroll up to the man and ask. His thoughts thankfully drifted to his family ... Lana, and his Children, Kendal and Kenzi ... Docking at the Starbase went almost without him noticing, it was only when people began moving around the Bridge itself that he realized that Karka had handled their arrival home, almost without thinking he tapped the Comm-link in the armrest: =^= All Personnel .. This is Captain Schirra .. You recent graduates Ensigns Commissioned Cadets .. .. Your performance on this unexpected mission has been exemplary .. You should be proud .. Standard shore leave commences for all crew .. Starbase Maintenance Personnel will be boarding shortly .. Could all Department Heads please ensure repair schedules are ready prior to departure .. .. Thank you all .. Schirra out =^= he tapped the Comm then closed his eyes for a second When he opened them Karka was stood before him. "Do you remember much about it, Sir?" Psonoir asked, seeing Schirra's eyes harden for a moment. "Karka, we can't talk about what happened in that System... I mean nothing happened. We were..." he trailed off. "If you'll excuse me, Sir..." Karka replied, hesitating for a second before continuing, "...I must head to the station. There is a... Meeting, I must attend." "OK, thank you Karka." Schirra replied, watching his Exec' go ....... The Excalibur remained at Starbase Forty-Seven for almost two days then made the relatively short transit to the Sol System, and home ...... SD: 2266.0131 ... Spacedock Geostationary Orbit above San Francisco EARTH :: Lana and the girls were not due back from their holiday off-world until the following day, so he had thought to make himself useful here, or a complete nuisance, whichever way you look at it. He walked to the massive 'window' smiling at the blue-green jewel that was Earth and found himself wistfully thinking of the future and whatever that had in store for them all ..... He heard someone speaking to him, at the same time he realized that he had subconsciously been stroking the gold braid on his right sleeve with his left hand. Ceasing the activity he turned: "Commander?" "...Philips, Captain... Starfleet Engineering Corps... I just wanted to inform you, we will need to take the warp core offline for replacement. I have a work schedule Commander Psonoir forwarded to us prior to arrival. Our main priority is the substantial hull plating loss you have suffered, we have teams beginning work there already, is there anything you need to add at this point, Sir?" "Erm, no, thank you, Commander, please, the ship is yours," Schirra replied, then spoke again as the man walked away, "Oh, I'll be around for the day, then I'll be on the ground." "Understood Sir, looking forward to getting back on solid ground?" the man asked pleasantly. "Yes, I think I am," Daniel replied, turning back to the view beyond the Federation Flagship .... Koni T'Seng came to the Bridge to speak with him: "Sir, I've arranged to accompany the children down to Starfleet Medical, Sir ... They are anxious to know what's going to happen to them?" "Let's have Medical give them a thorough look over then we'll have to sit down and make arrangements, I can't really say more than that at this point Koni," Daniel replied, seeing the younger versions of Mark Unwin and Koni stood inches from the turbo-lift. He waved them over, accepting the hugs before kneeling to speak to them: "You are going to go with Koni as you know, to be checked out by some Doctors, they will make sure you're OK." "Then can we come back?" the younger 'Mark' asked. "I don't know, but whatever happens you will have loving parents who will take care of you, and we'll be ....." he had to stop because the last thing he wanted to do was promise anything he couldn't deliver, "I'll see you both tomorrow or the next day for sure, I promise, OK." Koni took the children off the Bridge and he wondered about their fate ...... Next Morning :: Almost by habit, Daniel rose, shaved, dressed then ordered breakfast ...... Glancing at the chronometer he was surprised to see it was already past ten. On any other day, he would have been on the Bridge for at least a couple of hours by now at the commencement of Alpha Shift. It was then he realized they were in orbit, encased in a Dock-cradle, and his family were due home later that day. Grinning to himself he left his quarters and made his way to the Bridge. It looked as if someone had been in overnight and dismantled most of the stations, where the long combined Operations / Helm console used to be was an empty space, his chair had vanished, and the 'window' now seemed to be coated in some opaque film. The Bridge was also seemingly overrun with complete strangers! "Bit of a shock seeing it like this," he heard someone say, turning to see Commander Philips. "Yes, yes it is..." Schirra replied as he watched two men carry out one of the vertical display panels so vital to ships running, "I think I need to get out from under your proverbial feet, so to speak," Philips smiled almost knowingly. Almost feeling like an intruder, he nodded to the man and left the Bridge. He had intended making a tour of the ship to check on progress, even though he knew that work was being done as it should. Instead, he returned to his quarters and changed out of his uniform into civilian clothing. Ten minutes later he stepped onto the Excalibur's transporter pad, materializing seconds later on the front lawn of his home on Marina Boulevard, San Francisco .... The air was cool, and fresh with a slight chill to it, but he didn't mind... He dropped his bag and looked out over the Marina and across the bay where Starfleet Headquarters stood. Technically he should have gone there to report to the Admiral, but they had spoken via Comms and his longtime friend had told him it was more than his life was worth to keep him away from Lana and the girls any longer than necessary, so he had been told to leave it a couple of days. He stepped back as the auto-mower drifted across the lawn, grinning at the ' old mechanical monstrosity' as Lana always called it, then picking up his bag before the 'gardenbot' as Kendal and Kenzi had nicknamed it, destroyed it, he turned and headed for the house. Inside he walked to the bedroom and threw the bag, then headed back to the living room... Pouring himself a brandy he sat on the long white settee and took an appreciative sip, allowing his head to fall back he closed his eyes, instantly droppoing into a deep sleep .... "DAAAADDDDDYYYYYYYY"He almost suffered a heart attack as the shock of the combined weight of two pre-teen girls landed on him, likely ruining any chance of them having a younger brother or sister anytime in the future in the process. Somehow, the glass he was holding had disappeared as he regained his senses hugging both his girls. He managed to look up through the masses of his children's hair to see Lana, stood behind the settee enjoying 'his' brandy, a warm, welcoming, amused smile on her face. "OK... OK..." he wheezed, at least one octave above his normal voice. The girls, having finished trying to rupture every organ in his body, slid to either side, both holding him tightly. "You're lucky, we usually beat up intruders," Lana said with a grin before leaning over the back of the settee and kissing him warmly. "EEWWWWWW .... YUUCCCCKK." Kendal and Kenzi said in unison, screwing up their faces as if shocked, Daniel tickled both of them while trying to keep contact with Lana's lips ..... ~~~~~~~~~~Much later that evening, after they had taken the boat out on the Marina, they had enjoyed some good in one of the shore restaurants, enjoying being together as the Sun began to set... Back home, Daniel had poured himself and Lana a glass of wine then went to wish his daughters goodnight, kissing them both lovingly on their foreheads. Back in the living room, Lana had retracted the full-length glass wall on the Marina side of the house leaving it open to the view. He sat beside her, her arm draped around his shoulder as they enjoyed the late evening breeze. "How long are you home?" Lana whispered. "Could be a while. The ship is pretty beat up, and, if I am completely honest, we need the rest," he replied. She knew better than to question him further. She turned towards him, her leg moving over his until he let out an involuntary wince. "Aww, I wonder how your Officers would react to finding out their Commanding Officer had been crippled by two children," Lana said laughing. She got up and refilled their glasses. He took his glass, looking out on the moonlit lawn and the Marina beyond. The combination of the sea air coming off the Pacific, the food, the drink, and his tiredness was getting the better of him. As Lana snuggled beside him he had a thought: "You have nothing planned for the weekend do you?" he asked drowsiness getting the better of him. "No, we didn't expect you home obviously, but we had nothing planned that can't be changed, why?" "You think the girls would like a couple of visitors tomorrow?" he asked. "I expect so... Who?" Lana replied, then realized Daniel had already succumbed and had slipped into a deep deep sleep. Taking his glass, she set both aside then returned to the settee, part of her wishing that this could be their lives from now on as she took let the night air lull her into a contented sleep .......... Mission 14 : Quartal Harmony is now completed
* Shore Leave posts will continue on this thread until the USS Excalibur begins he next outing *
Regards and thank you to all our Offcers
I look forward to our next adventure
Captain Daniel Schirra Commanding Officer USS Excalibur
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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 Feb 12, 2020 21:50:50 GMT
Shore Leave - San Francisco, Earth
Karka wished just for a moment that he was residing entirely out of time in a place empty of malice, perhaps for once on that central station which sat at the heart of the Standing Wave - that which regulated temporally Hybrudean society.
He was sitting on a couch in what was something of a cross between an officer's lounge and a catering hall in one of the many wings of SF HQ. Just behind him was a window with a view out across the south-western section of Frisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge's northern end just visible from this angle; behind and to its left, the sun set in fiery shades of red and ochre.
Another Hybrudean entered the lounge, walking towards Karka though stopping along the way to talk to others as if he wished to pretend Psonoir wasn't his target. Karka recognised him: Xirta... And, ah! something about the name correlated with what the crew (and crews) had just experienced in the system outside time and space, Xirta, yes... And he felt a sudden mental block as the giant male and female entities' injunction against him and the rest came down on his mind once more.
The Hybrudean Xirta had had something to do with the Ark of the Covenant. "Or pretended to," a voice in his head said, "As did I." Karka recognised the voice of Lirwa, that Hybrudean's mind-essence in a sense present within the Excal officer's partitioned mind (though Lirwa could only access others of his species' heads when plugged into specialised equipment on one of the archives). I'll meet you and the others in the meadow some time soon, unless I have already, he replied inwardly. There was no response.
"I know you, don't I... Yes, Karka Psonoir," Xirta said, nodding after a short pause and sitting beside him - he opened a carry-case and took out several large bulky PADDs. Besides returning the greeting, Karka remained impassive; such Hybrudean vigilantes as Xirta were quite common, Karka regarded him with the barest of curiosities. "This damn technology..." Xirta muttered as he flipped switches, "The Federation should wait 'til the 26th century - then they won't even need to think their entries into their logs..."
He would've been bemused if it hadn't been for the semi-regular encounters he'd had with other vigilantes in the past. It was a closed circle, in a sense, though a wide one. There were certain unwritten rules when one met another in space and time: most obviously, don't break cover; don't evidence unusual thinking power or physical ability (which could only be augmented beyond that of the host body via consciousness acceleration), and don't mention Xetleti, that Archive in orbit about the homeworld that took a dim view of vigilantes, or indeed any of the other archives, regardless of whether they were engaged in the various wars with the Hybrudeans' external enemies.
"We're quite different, Psonoir. You keep as low a profile as possible. I'm one of the leaders in the hunt for those generating misdemeanours on a galactic scale. True, you saved those billions trapped in stasis, and another instance of yourself - am I right? - even single-handedly defeated the greatest hand-to-hand fighter in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of the 25th century."
"Mm hmm, all you say is reasonable, in some cases even true." He turned towards Xirta slightly, "Tell me, were you on that planet? You know the one I'm referring to, Xirta. Perhaps in the distant past? The... Ark?" Karka managed to add eventually, despite all the barriers (created by the entities) that kept rising and screaming in his mind to stop him.
Xirta's face drew a virtual - and Karka believed a genuine - blank. Xirta blinked and shook his head, reaching for coffee, "That must've been a me of a different world-line..." He supped noisily, "Either that, or I in my own world-line haven't gone there yet. What planet is it? Where?"
"It's outside of space and time; the only way you or anybody else could reach it would be at the entities' volition - those who control the place." Karka paused, "If it was accessible to you, what would you do there?" Xirta glared at him, smiling. Karka shook his head, "I'm certainly not going to tell you anything about it; I wouldn't even if I could."
Psonoir thought about returning to the ship briefly to check what progress had been made with the repair schedule. Finishing his own coffee while talking somewhat irreverently and yet seriously with Xirta - who soon moved to a null-marker and escaped Earth and the 23rd century - he beamed himself back up into orbit, meeting on the bridge Unwin, Wentworth and a seemingly infinite number of maintenance crew.
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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 Feb 14, 2020 0:10:50 GMT
SD: 2266.0213 ...
The USS Excalibur had been in Spacedock in geosynchronous orbit above San Francisco for over a week now... Daniel had been making trips to the surface to see his Family almost daily until his Exec' practically threw him onto the transporter platform instructing him lightheartedly to stay away until he had taken some time off.
So he beamed back to the surface ..... It was almost fifteen hundred, Lana would still be in the city, so rather than go to the house he contacted the young girl who babysat and told her he would pick up the girls up from school. His Daughters, Kendal, seven, and Kenzi, five, walked out looking around for Joanne until Kenzi suddenly shouted and began running. As Kendal realized what she was running for she too ran, catching her younger sister as they both reached Daniel.
"What you doing here Daddy?" Kenzi asked.
"Hey, don't you 'want' me to pick you up?" he asked feigning sadness as he reached for his communicator, "I could always get Joanne to come and I'll go back up there," he said, pointing skywards dramatically.
"NOOOOO." the girls said in unison.
"OK, so, what have you been up to today?" he asked as they took a hand each.
"Oh, reading, some maths, games, we saw some animals the zoo had brought in, but they smelled," Kenzi said, wrinkling her nose to strengthen her point.
"We, Mum isn't going to be home for a while, so what do you think we should do?" he asked.
"Beach!" Kenzi said, looking at her big sister for support, Kendal said she would enjoy going to the beach too... Walking through the picnic area, Daniel allowed them to pick out snacks and drinks for each of them, then they walked onto the beach itself... He always enjoyed bringing them here, it was never busy, and he could keep a wary eye on their antics. It never failed to amaze him how they always seemed to know what to pack into the bags each morning... No sooner had the picked out a spot on the almost deserted beach, they ran to the changing rooms, reappearing a moment later in bathing suits. Dropping their bags on the run they waved and entered the water. Watching them play it struck him again how much he was missing by being out in space, but knew it was his job and both Lana and his Daughters understood.
Suddenly feeling peckish, he dug into the bag of snacks, eyeing the contents of the packaging warily:
"Sliced apple, sliced pear, and grapes," he said with a grin, "It's hardly steak medium rare," he said with a resigned shrug, then opened the lid and took out a slice of pear before popping it into his mouth. The girls were waving so he waved back picking out another slice, this time apple, pleasantly surprised at how much he was enjoying the snack. Leaning back against the small dune he put his hands behind his head, enjoying the warmth of the Sun and the breeze coming off the Pacific ..... He realized that the girls were throwing a ball back and forth and he wondered where it had come from, Kendal purposely threw it just a meter too far so Kenzi's feet didn't touch the sand, but the petite five-year-old wasn't going to be beaten as she jumped/swam to get the ball then threw it with all her strength over her Sisters' head before scrabbling back to a firmer footing.
"So 'this' is what you get up to when I'm not around is it?" he turned and looked up to see Lana stood behind him hands on hips, "Joanne told me you had picked them up, I figured they would drag you here rather than go home," she said, kicking off her shoes before dropping down beside him. He leaned over and kissed her warmly, both surprised and happy that she had come.
"Thought you would be working late," he said, offering her something from his snack feast. She picked a slice of apple and a couple of grapes.
"Healthy eating, what next?" she asked with a grin, "Yes, I should have been but Commander Branch is waiting on more information in the case we're working, so ...." she shrugged, enjoying the cool grapes... Kendal and Kenzi had noticed the arrival of their Mother and were running towards them:
"MUMMYYYY!" they said, dropping to their knees digging into the bag for a drink each, "You should come in, the water is LOVELY,"
"Think I will at that," Lana said, standing before removing her top and shorts to reveal a bikini. She dug into her own bag and plucked out a pair of swim shorts and threw them to Daniel.
"Where am I supposed to change?" he asked as the girls giggled.
"Go behind the dune... I'm sure anyone spotting you from orbit won't deem it an interplanetary incident," she said innocently. He looked from Lana to the girls then back.
"Sometimes you know, I think you plan all this just to embarrass me," he said, reluctantly getting up and headed for the dune.
"Daddy's getting undressed... Daddy's getting undressed... Daddy's getting undressed..." the girls sang in unison. MUCH too loud for Daniel's liking ..........
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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 Feb 25, 2020 16:13:09 GMT
Deciding it would do no good to be in the maintenance crews' way, Karka, Unwin, Wentworth and Yukigori had decided shortly after the XO/CScO's arrival back on ship to make for the surface.
Karka hoped the others didn't have Frisco in mind again: the place brought back too many unhappy memories: arguments with his wife, though muted they'd cut deep - whispers in the dark that wounded unknowingly, a child left bereft of its parents during these silent wars of aggression and eventually abandoned to the self-imposed fate of the mother: voluntary exile to southern Asia and eventually Alpha Centauri where she still lived. It was to his relief then that Wentworth suggested they visit the historic township of Prague in old Europe.
Karka collected people along the way, as did the others until they had a group of roughly twenty making for the old Czech capital. They landed on a civilian shuttlepad. Karka surveyed the 'Old City' area from his vantage point: all was colour muted and faded by time, and progress. Regardless of the changes, the old Czech population, long-since having received admixture with other Federation member species - and those of some non-aligned worlds, too - had lost none of its conviviality and innate good humour. Lirwa would be able to tell him a good deal more about these things.
The Excalibur troupe and friends and family promenaded the streets of what was left of the Old City. Of course it'd been rebuilt long since, but the previously vibrant Prague had suffered terribly during humanity's Third World War, being almost completely destroyed, a shell eventually completely abandoned when pestilence from lack of fresh water, etc, had taken hold, and as the frontline had moved eastwards against the Coalition.
They found an old establishment - one of the few survivors of the previously ruined tangle of the pre-war city - and made their way in to take tables by the windows. Several found themselves watching pedestrians amble by. Unwin, Karka, Wentworth and a junior crewman took one table. The former two headed for the bar while Wentworth whispered about one of them to the crewman. Yukigori kept herself to herself for the most part, though would occasionally burst out laughing boisterously at something said by one of her colleagues - departmental heads of hers she felt most comfortable with.
Unwin glanced at Karka, "A synthehol?" he enquired.
Karka cleared his throat, "No, no... Czech barley and hops-based product, please, I've been reliably informed... it's a good beverage."
"Karka, you surprise me," Unwin shook his head and chuckled. Karka was split between saying he was no less normal than any other human being (he was indeed normal and of stable mindset, confidence coursed through him as an unstoppable stream, a river that'd burst its banks) and suggesting there was something of him out of the ordinary. If he'd admitted a peculiar and genetically advanced edge to his character Unwin and the others would've nodded in confirmation to themselves, taking it as just another of Karka's airs and affectations, but of course the real reason for his difference from the others was that he wasn't human at all.
Of course a burst of consciousness acceleration might betray his non-human nature. His fellow crew had had plenty of evidence of such things in the past but - having been in the midst of assignments involving immediate danger and threat - they'd either forgotten such things or let them slip by. He wondered what notes Schirra, and Ryat before him, and even Diplomatic Advisor Santos had made on him regarding this matter... He imagined this triad of senior officers' PADD styli pausing in their run across the page as they wrote out their mission evaluations of Psonoir's performance, deciding whether to be entirely honest or use discretion to protect their crewmate.
Perhaps the use of his partitioned mind's abilities weren't appropriate for this occasion, he thought amusedly as he and Unwin returned to the window seats with beverages. They retook the table, Wentworth and the junior crewman sitting opposite, and went about the business common to citizens of Prague on a Saturday evening.
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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 Mar 21, 2020 22:37:37 GMT
SD:2266.0321 Earth :: The USS Excalibur had been in Spacedock for seven weeks now... Her warp nacelles, damaged during their last mission, had needed replacing. Starfleet had taken the opportunity to upgrade the nacelles and the warp core whilst viable ..... Daniel was admittedly enjoying the extended time at home with his family, Lana, his partner, an officer in the Judge Advocate General's office, had spoken to her superior, Rear Admiral Natalie Clough, who had pointed out that she had months of back leave accrued, and was happy for her to take the time while she could. Lana had agreed to go in three days of the week, taking leave for the other four while the Excalibur was home. His children were in school during the day, this allowed Daniel to spend time aboard ship, though he had a distinct feeling that everyone was trying their hardest to point out that everything was on schedule and 'maybe' he should spend time with his family while he could. The main advocate of this idea was his Executive Officer, who while taking time on the surface, was also spending time overseeing the repair and refit of the ship... Walking out of the water he made his way back to where Lana was sunbathing ..... Chrissy Field Beach was always pretty empty at this time of day so he tried to take advantage and swim at least half an hour. Approaching Lana he realized she wasn't alone, Koni T'Seng was sat beside her, the two enjoying the morning Sunshine. "Koni," Daniel said with a smile as he dropped down rubbing the wet out of his hair. "Admiral... Good swim?" "Yes, chilly, but then you can't have everything, and let's make it Daniel, we've known each other long enough to be on first-name terms while off duty," he said with a wry smile. "Told her time and time again, a force of habit I suppose," Lana said grinning as their friend tried to apologise. "Did you need me for something?" Dan asked. "No... No," his Tactical Officer said, a little too quickly as both women chuckled, "I was going to ask Lana about taking the girls over to Lake Ashi, in Hakone, Japan... My family have a cabin on the lake, and there are going to be a few things going on over the next few days. I thought it might be a break for everyone?" "Well as far as I'm aware you don't have duty shifts, they are not going to be working on Tactical for the next few days anyway, so yes, as long as you're off duty, I'm sure Lana and the girls will love it, is that old Pirate Ship still there?" Koni nodded as Daniel climbed to his feet, "In fact, I'd better walk over to the school, they'll be coming out shortly," Koni got up but Dan told her to sit back down, saying they could sort the arrangements while he picked up Kendal and Mackenzie. He was walking away when Lana shouted after him: "You don't mind us going then?" she asked, feigning hurt with a dramatic pout. "I'd be glad of a few rest days..." he said as he walked away grinning, the sand Lana threw missing him easily. ~~~~~~~~~~ "So what do you think?" he asked his Daughters as they entered the beech. Needless to say, they were already running full-tilt for Koni and their Mother. "KONNNIIIII," they shouted, dropping to the sand hugging their surrogate 'Big Sister' warmly, will we be able to go out on your boat?" seven-year-old Kendal asked excitedly. "I'm sure we'll find the time," Koni replied. "..... And the ship and scooper driving too?" five-year-old Kenzi asked, getting it wrong as usual. "It is called 'Scuba diving' you ninny," Kendal admonished her little sister, who pulled a face in return for the correction. "When you planning on leaving?" Daniel asked as he sat down. "You're welcome to join us Admi... Daniel," Koni said, realizing she had left him out of the arrangements, but she needn't have worried. "HA!... and miss out on some quiet time, thanks for the offer, I'll decline if that's OK," he said, receiving a punch in his arm from Lana. "Can we go swimming Daddy?" Kendal asked, already helping Kenzi pull Koni to her feet. "Well, it's alright with me but what are you going to wear, I don't think we've brou ...." Daniel began but the girls were already stripping off their school uniforms to reveal swim costumes. It didn't surprise him that Koni had come prepared too as she removed her top and shorts. He looked at Lana then shook his head as she too ran off, turning after a few steps: "You coming?" "Nope, I'm going to have a well-earned rest, all this running back and to to school is taking it out of me," he said, resting one of the girls' skirts atop his head to shield the hot Sun, Lana laughed, saying he looked idiotic, but he just waved her away dismissively with a shrug. He watched with a smile as the four of them ran into the clear blue water he'd recently vacated, realizing how lucky he'd been to have a family and friends like his. 'Seven weeks' he thought, it was the longest the latest incarnation of the Sovereign Class Starship had been forced to remain at home and one part of him was beginning to ponder how long the enforced downtime was going to last. Latest reports said another five to six weeks, not long in the scheme of things, and given they could never envisage how long their next tour might last, it was good the crew had time home with their families, even the Vulcan Officers had taken transports home to see their own families. "Relax," he chided himself as he watched Lana, Koni and the girls enjoying the warm water of the Pacific ..........
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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 Apr 7, 2020 0:07:00 GMT
SD:2266.0406 ... The Excalibur had been out of spacedock for three days running tests on her new warp drive systems ..... Daniel had to silently admit, that while he had enjoyed his extended leave, it 'was' good to be back on the Bridge. They had carried out the majority of the tests when the Excalibur was recalled to spacedock: As the ship docked, Daniel was informed that he needed to return home. Thinking it was something with his Daughters, he asked Karka to continue the certification while he went to the surface ..... **********Given the circumstances, he transported directly onto his front garden, surprising his elderly neighbor in the process. "Captain, I thought you and your family were away?" she commented. "Quick visit Margeret..." he said with a smile, then turned to the woman again, "... You were under the impression we were all away?" he asked. "Well, yes, thus my surprise at your appearance, but then, my faculties are a little suspect at my age ..... Nice to see you again anyway," the woman said with a pleasant smile before returning her attention to her pruning. Daniel looked at her for a moment then turned his attention to the house. Nothing seemed out of place, Kenzi's bike was on the lawn, no change there, the hanging plants had been watered. He looked around him hoping to see something amiss, but nothing stood out. Trying to convince himself he was reading something into nothing, he headed for the house. Stepping inside he could smell the coffee Lana always made when she knew he was coming home. Walking into the living area he saw Lana, she was sat on the long settee in front of the fire, her expression was one of someone worried but trying hard not to show it, then he turned his attention to the man sat beside her! "Captain Schirra, please, take a seat .... I would much prefer this conversation to be, amicable," the man said casually. He looked at Lana who shook her head almost imperceptibly. "Who are you?" "Please Captain, I am a guest in your lovely home, I require a small amount of your time. My name, though not important at this juncture, is Nalom. I would take your remaining standing as an insult, so let's not get off on the 'wrong foot' as you humans are quaintly saying, shall we." it took Daniel a long moment to comply with the request. When he did the intruder smiled, "Good, see, I informed my superiors that this would indeed be amicable, they believed an example would be needed to ensure your compliance, but here we are," "What do you want?" "Oh, just a little 'assistance' on your part Captain, you see, my colleagues and I are in the midst of, well, let's say we have issues in our System and are at somewhat of a stalemate if you will. Which is why it was suggested that outside help should be solicited. Despite numerous requests to your Federation, it appears their 'none-interference' policy is somewhat set in proverbial stone. Oh, they are more than willing to provide ambassadors, adjudicators, referee's, whatever title you want to give them, but the time for talk is alas, past, and we need something to strengthen our negotiating position if you will." "Where are my Children? ..... If you have done anyth ....." Daniel hissed quietly. "They are safe and well, you have nothing to fear Captain, they do in fact believe they are on an adventure with the very pleasant and understanding Koni, your lovely wife here accommodatingly agreed to remain to keep me company until your return. I have to say, I have never imbibed a beverage called 'coffee' before, it is very pleasant indeed," "What do you want?" Daniel said, rising out of the chair, he saw Lana begin to wince in pain and lowered himself back down. "There, see, amicable..." the man said s if to others in the room before releasing whatever hold he had on Lana then standing, "... We shall contact you in the next, shall we say forty-eight of your hours, at which time you will make your vessel available... It goes without saying, of course, that should this 'arrangement' be divulged to anyone else, it would mean the immediate life forfeit of those close to you Captain," "How the 'HELL' do you expect me to comply, there is 'NO WAY' I could take the Excali ....." "Oh, I am fully aware of your, protocols, Captain, and it has been decided that you will be allowed to take one other into your confidence. Either way, you will confirm your willingness to aid us or we shall simply look, elsewhere," the man held out a hand, clearly expecting Lana to take it. With little option she stood and took the man's hand, a tear rolling down her cheek as she looked at Daniel, then the two disappeared! .... Running to the desk he slammed his fist onto the Comm panel. Contacting the Excalibur he asked his Friend and Executive Officer to transport to his home. =^= Captain .. Is there a problem? =^= Karka Psonoir asked. =^= Now please .. Commander =^= Schirra said, closing the Comm before anyone picked up the tremor in his voice ..........
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