Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 12, 2021 22:19:36 GMT
Andae grimaced, requesting a channel be reestablished, "This is the Federation starship Raven..." he waited a moment half-expecting to be cut off instantly by the start of another rant (while incoherent, this individual Humatan did seem to express something of substance, something the Raven crew would soon have to become (re)acquainted with).
When no retort was forthcoming and Blakus had confirmed the channel was actually open, he replied with a hint of sarcasm, "If, sir, you are receiving... would you kindly let us go on our way? You lack the resources to defeat this foe of yours, and ask us instead to eliminate the... accursed...?"
Still no reply. "Well then, cease firing on our vessel and allow us to put your wishes into effect," Andae said.
He wasn't actually quite ready to destroy the currently escaping station, and he didn't think Torek in his right mind would want him to either. Not until the Raven could transport its own wayward personnel off the thing - then they could proceed to obliterate it, if that's what was required, and if they could... What if the Raven couldn't even catch up to it before it got to where it wanted to go (presumably its ancient point of origin whose position had been estimated from the downloaded starcharts)?
Andae suppressed a sigh and continued, "Continue your assault on us and you will only waste your payload. As you'll have seen, we've reestablished our defensive assets and can now shoot down any missile you may direct towards us." In actual fact, the Raven's phaser arrays were no longer able to draw power from other sectors of the ship as the PTCs in the relevant sectors were blown - it was a bluff then, of course... he'd see where it would lead.
Finally, the response came, "Very well... We lack the ability to excise the Accursed from our account books and - ... from our universe," the Humatan merchant commander corrected himself, coughing over the audio-only comm. "Once you've seen to your current difficulties regarding your... uh, hyperengine systems, we ask, in fact we demand you eliminate that scourge you've brought back into our domain. If you refuse, it will not only mean the extinction of our own species, but the eventual loss of yourselves, of your very minds to the Accursed." The channel was cut.
The Humatani trade vessel N27P3R took up a new position, roughly a million kilometres off the Raven's bow. Apparently, its commander wasn't willing to depart the volume 'til he was certain the depraved alien ship wouldn't reverse course back into familiar territory, instead of proceeding to hunt down the Accursed One.
Just how long were the Humatani willing to give the depraved ones? Andae's delaying tactic regarding the engines now unfortunately referred to a truth: the warp drive had been compromised via a plasma conduit-computer core linkage. An hour went by, Tinsley having reported from engineering that engine repairs would take at least 12 hours, requiring all three shifts working simultaneously. Weapons would take marginally longer. Ominously, he'd added that unforeseen issues generated by the corrupted computer core could multiply the repair time indefinitely.
Wedlerson turned from Ops, "Commander, when or if we reach the station... assuming we can restore warp power... are we going to destroy it?"
Blakus was non-committal, eventually he nodded, with the qualification, "It'll depend on when and where we catch up. If it reaches before us its original home planet, for instance - the world Svensson seemed to refer to, that of the builders..." His thoughts slowly evaporated as he debated the courses of action the Raven could take once she reached that world. What would be found there? Could the civilisation that built the station still be in existence? Was it long dead? If not, what form did it take now? And could that affect any rescue of the machine-possessed crew aboard the station?
"Andae, we have Milyanov, Dr Roach, Svensson and the science team over on that facility."
"I'm well aware of that, Commander."
He wondered what sort of command hierarchy was now operating on the facility. Given their condition he suspected it'd altered somewhat. Did Milyanov have command, whether he was or wasn't possessed by a machine presence? The only people that Blakus, and latently Valente and Burwell, had known for sure to have been 'inhabited' were Svensson and Roach. Perhaps those two had control, either working together or possibly at odds. There was also the unknown factor of Svensson's half-dozen science personnel.
Meanwhile, desperate and uncoordinated research by suddenly unreliable science personnel - those who'd had direct links with the computer core and thus been more easily taken over - and more dependable information from the sure-handed deputy CMO seeing to Admiral Torek had indicated the 'entities' in the computer may well be wholly software-based, pure machine code, but intelligent, and ravenous.
It'd been estimated that approximately 15% of the crew had been infiltrated by the core's new machine software, and this wild estimate was fluctuating all the time, in no small part due to the reliability of those compiling the reports.
Before long, if the crew couldn't repair the warp engines to either head back out of the gulf into inhabited Fed territory to find assistance, or pursue the mobile facility to try to recover their wayward colleagues, all of them may end up atomised into the computer core-inhabiting machines' warm but distant embrace.
Andae rose from his chair, "Calli, you have the bridge. Harry, stay at your console, but you're effective XO for the time being. Someone stop by sickbay and check on the Admiral. And send out another ship-wide comm reminding people to stay clear of computer interfaces!" Silently they asked him where he was going. "To engineering, of course."
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Mar 21, 2021 12:32:43 GMT
On board Facility ::
Svensson had been watching Milyanov for some time, a fact that had now begun to grate on the Engineers' nerves ..... He had asked the Science Officer several times to find something to do, annoyed that the man was seemingly unable to think for himself. In one sense he felt for the man, they were all under immense strain, the Science Team were working under the sporadic guidance of Svensson, but even they were tired of his inactivity. The Doctor approached Milyanov and placed a hypospray against his neck, he felt the device work and be pulled away:
"I don't know how long we can keep using the sedative Commander," she said.
They had all had their first dosage two hours earlier as tempers on the facility began to suddenly escalate. Now, with everyone hopefully calm, they had tried to get as much work done as possible, but two physical altercations within the Science team had made a second dosage necessary.
"Any luck with communications?" the Doctor asked.
"No... As far as I can tell, the Raven is way behind us perhaps unable to follow..." Milyanov explained, sure they had had this conversation previously but keeping the thought to himself, "... I picked up a sporadic reading about twenty minutes ago, small, possibly a probe, so if the Raven has other issues they may well have sent out a probe to track us. I know what you're going to say, we could come to a stop, or come around, but as I explained, Doctor, that would put too much stress on our superstructure, we could find ourselves drifting into the dark black yonder," Milyanov turned back to his console while the Doctor moved over to inject Svensson ..... US Raven-C ::Calli watched Andae Blakus enter the turbolift, concerned for a fraction of a second that despite precautions, the Executive Officer had become infected ..... She was tempted to follow him to check if he really did go directly to Main Engineering, but decided against it. She turned to see Harry Wedlerson looking at her: "Harry?" "You think he's alright?" the Operations Chief asked quietly. "Yes, he's just making the best use of personnel for the given situation, he knows he can help get us back underway," "... And them?..." Harry said, pointing to the image of the Humatani vessel. But Calli could only shrug. Wedlerson turned to his console and made a few inputs before looking at Marionette, "... Bring us around, go to our best speed, if nothing else we can at least try to keep on the right heading to catch the facility," the Gynoid nodded and the Humatani vessel swung from view as the Sovereign Class turned away ..... ********** Entering Sickbay, Calli was relieved to see the Admiral sat up on one of the bio-beds in a side room: "How are you feeling?" she asked as she nodded to the Medical Staff. "I've been better," Torek commented distractedly as Doctor Keeley, Roach's Deputy got her attention. She left the room and approached Keeley. "Don't let his manner fool you, Commander..." the Deputy said, pointing off to one side. Calli had admittedly not noticed the armed Security Officer seemingly casually watching the Admiral, "We've had to restrain him twice in the last couple of hours. He has periods of almost hysteria, lasting five to ten minutes, then he seems to be 'burned out' falling into a deep sleep. Readings show he's very active during these sleep periods, but as you see, once he wakes he's almost placid, even apologetic to everyone," "Is there any way you can counteract what's affecting him?" Calli asked, glancing at Torek, who was sipping a drink. "It's beyond me Commander, once Doctor roach returns we may be able to put our heads together. But it's not an infection as such, something has affected his synaptic core, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, who knows where else," "So returning to duty is out of the question," Valente stated, waving as Carl smiled in her direction. "We have over twenty Officers and Crew in our Med Centers throughout the ship Commander," Keeley informed her. "Look after him doctor," Calli said, nodding at the Security Officer who eased his hold on the phaser at his hip. Leaving Sickbay she returned to the Bridge to good news, with Andae's help it looked like they could have the warp engines back online within the hour. Wedlerson, sat in the Center Seat, informed her that the Humatani vessel was now shadowing them but keeping their distance, clearly worried about the prospect of getting too close to their accursed facility. Harry voiced his concern that far from waiting on the Raven, the Trade Vessel might take destroying the structure themselves ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 31, 2021 11:04:20 GMT
=/\=Make that one and a half hours,=/\= Tinsley commed the bridge a few minutes after Andae had given his report - on the engines, weapons systems, the power core in general - to correct the XO. Calli and Harry grew increasingly concerned there was something quite wrong with the Executive Officer, something quite wrong that may just involve the computer core's predicament...
On the other hand, Andae thought, I could proceed through maintenance hatch 11-A and make it to the EPS grid interface on deck 12 in bypassing... He felt perhaps he was involving himself too much in the repair work to be done, in a manner much too 'hands-on', but with Tinsley trying to hold the slightly frenzied team in engineering together and Milyanov to all intents and purposes in the hands of the enemy he was the best engineer on the ship for this kind of job: rapid, efficient repair of key ship's systems.
He paused on a rung of the ladder, hand loosely gripping it, toolkit in the other swaying about in the verticle Jefferies'. He thought; desperately tried to concentrate, On the other hand...
The ship in the meanwhile had made its delayed start and been very gradually catching up with the 'Accursed' structure. The Humatani were keeping their distance indeed, Tinsley thought, observing the situation from engineering displays; perhaps they were almost as worried about the Raven as they were in mortal terror of the Accursed, given Andae's admittedly decent but fanciful rhetoric about the restored weapons and their capability to blast any rocket the Humatani may send their way out of the vacuum, in an instantaneous burst of a phaser array's golden light.
Unfortunately they weren't quite at that level in reality; weapons' repairs would take another three hours at least.
Andae was on top of that, he understood, yet he worried about the Commander, he wasn't quite himself; Nate could therefore only deduce Andae had made contact with a computer core interface, or perhaps... If a machine, or machine essence, could permeate the skin from a console and work its way into a recipient host's brain, then why couldn't it transmit itself directly, through physical contact of those infiltrated?
With the Raven making its way roughly within the path of the probe sent out to track the machine structure's trajectory - so far the latter's presumed end-point seemed to correlate with the point of origin given by the antiquated stellar cartography found on the structure - Andae set about completing repairs to the weapons' systems on deck 20.
This should give them some almighty shock, he thought, hands in an interface, adjusting, cranking the torpedoes' yield up some 800%, far above the recommended maximum. I'm in command... I'm in command of engineering; Tinsley up there, he's just my subordinate, always has been... of course. Milyanov... Milyanov? Who's he? Some guy stuck on a benighted space station with no hope of recovery. No. There's only alienation. Death and alienation, and light...
Now when the Raven reached the station, if Lysia T'Seng's deputy was instructed to fire on the structure to offer some kind of warning and the torpedoes were selected, the machine station would go up in a cataclysm of almighty proportion, which depending on range - presumably she'd be by far enough distant - may affect the Raven herself.
Within the network of Jefferies' Tubes, an overwhelming brightness seemed to manifest itself some way above Blakus's head; he felt - though it was impossible, on another ladder... - as if he was being rotated towards it. In mute fascination, he peered closely, drawn towards and studying its very centre... Something numinous. He was astounded. It was the computer core, somehow transfigured, transcended, slowly rotating, bathed in and surrounded by golden-white light; irregular crystals floated through the air, incomplete diamond-like formations; each one of these, somehow one of the crew... and yet unlike the crew in its unity, its camaraderie and familiarity, these formations were utterly alienated from one another, atomised, a zoned-out communion rotating in rough brownian motion yet also paraxodically - he got the sense of it - completely static about its computer core overlord. A stasis of atomised, emptied beings. The core had them all in its grasp, he realised, about 70 of them, and their number was slowly growing. Partly fascinated, partly horrified, he thought, Am I becoming one of those irregular, crystalline structures?
The virtual hallucination passed and he continued. The core could not of course manifest itself in the manner it just had outside of its housing on decks 6 through 9. He withdrew from the tunnel through a hatch and strode down a corridor with purpose. Reaching a turbolift, he ordered authoritatively, "Bridge," and straightened out his uniform, padding his hair back into place. He had no idea what deck he'd been on, but the lift's pace made the fact immaterial.
"Report!" he ordered, striding out onto the bridge and coming to stand somewhere near its middle behind the central three chairs.
"We're... we're closing on the station, Commander. Making up 0.002 parsecs every minute. Glad to see you've returned..." Wedlerson said, and glanced at Valente sitting in the centre seat.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Apr 4, 2021 18:12:52 GMT
It's only a matter of time, you know that!
I don't know ANYTHING.
You do ..... Fighting me is of no use, we have long since learned patience, patience that serves us well, as it will again.
Get OUT of my HEAD!
Oh, we are not in your head, in fact, it could be said that we are what you would call in your parlance as a 'psychotic event' of sorts. There is no use in fighting it only serves to cause you harm. You are incapable of comprehending our symbiosis, indeed, the very fact that you are speaking with me only proves you are losing your ability to control your mind. We are of the many, we will take who we need to accomplish our goal.
GET OUT!
Again, you believe we are within you when your own mind concocts this phantom you speak with. These people, your friends, family, they no longer trust you and will do anything to ensure they and not you survive. Why else would they hold you here, against your will, are you not their Commanding Officer, yet here you lay, bound, helpless against their conspiring, you must teach they the error of their ways, you must teach them what defiance leads to, there is little time before they decide to rid themselves of your presence, your loss will be a setback, but not one that will hinder our survival.
His view changed, he felt himself raise an arm, the woman smiled in return, unaware of his inability to fight.
See, they smile, they plot, they scheme. We require more, more to aid in our efforts, we seek out those susceptible to our will, I have others, compliant, weak.
Again he felt himself move, his body seemingly not his own, he felt the bindings, his prison within a prison. Thoughts tumbled, plans were forming, he would escape his confinement, and then, and THEN! ... He fought, but to no avail, he tried to fight the voice within, the voice he knew was not of his own making, then, the laugh, the laugh. He felt every fibre of his sanity evaporating, only to be replaced with a sense of urgency, a sense that he had a task to complete. He could feel his flesh being touched, the burning within his mind almost intolerable, yet it continued on, relentless. Nothing told him that beyond his tumultuous and chaotic mind, Doctors were trying to reset the dislocated shoulder suffered when he had tried to wrench himself from his confinement, then, finally, a sliver of darkness, his mind quiet, allowing him a brief sojourn of nothingness. ~~~~~~~~~~"That's the second time he has injured himself," Doctor Keeley informed Calli. "So he's regaining consciousness, at least temporarily?" she asked, eyes on the heavily restrained Torek. "Yes, and no..." the Deputy Chief Medical Officer replied, "... It's almost as if his 'body' is acting independently of his mind, He dislocated his shoulder earlier, and didn't even react, thus the addition of the restraining field," "He doesn't even look as if he's breathing," Calli said, concerned. "He's getting the oxygen he needs," Keeley reassured her. "What about the others?" she asked. "The same. Whatever is affecting them is almost 'electrical' in nature, but able to control or, overcome, a persons' sense of, will..." the Doctor said, clearly unable to explain why ten percent of Raven's crew were affected, with more falling ill every few hours, "... I've tried numerous suppressants, with little or no success, they either don't work, or put the person into what is effectively a comatose condition," Calli listened, reluctant, but knowing she needed to ask: "Is Commander Blakus affected?" "I've asked him to come in for checks, as yet he's declined to do so," the man said with a resigned shrug. "You 'could' order him," she said, knowing she was on thin, very thin, ice. "I could relieve him of Command too, but what good would that do, at the rate this thing is progressing we'll be lucky to have anyone for him 'to' Command in a month or so .... Hell, at this point he's done nothing to warrant taking 'any' action, yes he handed the Bridge over to go to Engineering, but he was our Chief Engineer, and clearly felt he could help down there!" Calli nodded then with a look over at the unconscious Torek, she returned to the Bridge, she had just taken her seat when Andae stepped from a turbolift: ~~~~~~~~~~"Report!" Blakus snapped impatiently. "We're... We're closing on the station, Commander. Making up 0.002 parsecs every minute. Glad to see you've returned..." Harry reported, hesitating as the Exec' dropped into the centre seat as if ignoring the Operations Chief. "Very well," Blakus finally replied, eyes seemingly locked on the myriad of stars beyond the ship. See, see how they act, forcing you to remain, sterile, incapable, useless!
GET ... OUT !!! ..........
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Apr 13, 2021 14:02:36 GMT
USS Raven-C Ninety Minutes from Facility :: Calli was sat on the Bridge, she had been surreptitiously watching Andae Blakus for the last two hours, worried that he may have fallen prey to whatever was affecting Carl and over sixty other Officers ..... Truth be told she couldn't put a finger on what was causing her concern, apart from his being more terse than usual, the Exec' had done nothing to warrant worry ..... She glanced at the viewscreen, the almost invisible spec in the centre was the facility they were pursuing, yes, they could increase magnification, but why bother, it wasn't going to bring them closer, nor was it going to cut the time it was taking to catch them, so they waited, patiently closing the distance. Several times they had attempted to contact the Away Team with no success, that alone should be a cause for worry, but Blakus seemed almost disinterested in their plight, choosing to move away as if debating with himself on how to proceed. Helen Roach had come up from Sickbay with a report, but again Blakus seemingly dismissed her, allowing Calli to take the report herself. "Problems?" the Chief Medical Officer whispered, eyes on the back of Andae, who had again strode to within a meter of the viewscreen. "No, I think he's just worried about the Away Team, and Carl," Calli reassured her. After a moment the Doctor seemed satisfied. "I've been running more tests on those incapacitated, it's as if whatever is affecting them is almost biological rather than mechanical, or, data-related..." Roach said, turning to face Calli again, "... There's no 'physical' interface that I can detect, but we know that they were infected after coming into contact with data retrieved from the facility. It's possible that there is a biological presence, something we've never come across, maybe remaining dormant until activated somehow. But why hasn't it simply spread throughout the ship rather than attacking individuals?" "You think the reason for losing contact with the Away Team is that they could all be affected?" Valente asked as she watched Andae return to the centre seat once more. "I've got one of the Galley Crew in Sickbay, there would be no reason for him to be in contact with the ships computers or the data we have from the facility. He seemed more affected than the others and I was forced to place him in an induced coma. While I have the opportunity, I put him on life support then suppressed all his neural activity. Even comatose his expression changed markedly, it was as if something holding him like a coiled spring relaxed," "Meaning?" "I have no idea..." Roach said, clearly frustrated with her lack of progress, "... If, and I'm only speculating here, if the 'infection' is biological in nature, then I should at least be able to develop something to retard the progress. If it is electrical, mechanical, in nature, then the same applies, but whatever I do has no effect. On the bright side, one Crewman came round from her slumber and asked why she was in Sickbay. We gave her a full workout but couldn't find any evidence she had even been affected, we're running further tests now," "Keep me informed," Calli said with a reassuring smile. Roach glanced at Blakus, who seemed almost hypnotised by the stars on the viewscreen, then with a nod, she left the Bridge. Calli lowered herself into the Exec's seat wondering what they would find once they caught up with the facility and their Away Team ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Apr 21, 2021 0:42:46 GMT
Blakus wandered about the bridge, not really aware he was doing so. They were now just over half a lightyear from the machine structure, he understood. Vague babbling from Dr Keeley and Valente about the machines' biological nature disturbed him in as much as it intrigued him. He'd had little opportunity to investigate the nature of the thing in the computer core, to explore what was happening to him and the others of the crew whom he recognised by the violent flash in their eyes as they coursed past him in the corridors - all seeming like substructures of his mind which was the ultimate substructure...
Was he becoming akin to a god? One amongst many, a host of irrevocably immortal beings trapped in permanent stasis in the petrified halls of the being known as Raven? 70, 75 of us at least, us immortals, the power of this new, exciting universe flowing all about them, penetrating their minds and bodies, for he moved of Its own volition.
He found himself pausing by the viewscreen, "Are we all gods? or mechanisms, wind-up toys for a single deity's entertainment, used at Its whim?!"
His harsh whisper was heard, "Sir?" Wedlerson asked from Ops. Andae turned, his eyes bright with a supernal shadow. "Tactical officer Delik Gerelo's been trying to get your attention, Andae. He's wants to know whether we should go to red alert."
Blakus turned slowly almost entirely without interest, taking vague notice of Valente pivoting to T'Seng's deputy Gerelo, Will Jamison's old subordinate. "The Humatani ship following us has closed range to 5,000 km, Commander. I would like to know if we should prepare for an attack, or a defence of the machine facility 'til we're able to rescue our personnel. Shields, weapons, Commander."
"We're 0.13 lightyears from the station, Commander Blakus," Marionette at helm pronounced, "Or 20 minutes away if you prefer."
"Detecting a planet orbiting a red dwarf star near that location," Svensson's stand-in reported, "Long-range scans indicate no lifesigns, but the world seems to be on the facility's current heading."
"We'll overtake the facility before it reaches the planet; we're well within comm range of the facility, if we want to make another attempt," someone else commented.
A deep growl started within Blakus's throat, prompted by body rather than mind, "You're all to die anyway. Try whatever the hell you like!" Blakus threw his arms in the air and strode from the bridge, barging a security officer out the way as he entered a turbolift. The doors slid shut and he was away before anyone could stop him.
"Have him followed in the next available lift. Harry, Science, track his progress through the vessel. Gerelo, forcefields where necessary," Valente directed. "Hail the facility. Gerelo, a warning shot across her bow when in range."
"Are you sure, sir? A provocation of that sort..." the tactical officer replied, shaking his head minimally, "If the Humatani are to be believed... Well, we think we know what that thing's capable of..."
* * *
Sickbay...
"Commander Blakus, I'm glad you've at last decided to pay a visit..." Keeley began. Blakus pushed him out of the way, the assistant CMO smashed into a tray of hyposprays and rolled to a halt unconscious by the wall. As medics started in alarm and the security Andae had marched past at the door began to make for the XO - unholstering phasers - Andae was already entering Torek's closed-off space within the sickbay.
"Computer, level 9 forcefield between this doorframe and the rest of sickbay. Recognise Raven Executive Officer's lock-out codes." With the corrupted core's confirmation, he made for Torek's biobed. Wires from various machines were connected to its various ports designed to probe at whatever presence was inhabiting him.
If only they knew, Blakus thought; if only he himself knew. The CO lay unconscious, face twitching in uncomfortable REM sleep even though it seemed he should be in a near-comatic state. "Ok, Admiral, we've come to get you out of here..." He programmed the biobed's interface to administer 30ccs cordrazine.
The CO bolted upright with a startled yelp; a moment of what may have been clarity showed in his eyes before they glazed over with the shadow - that of the machines and of the ancient Apostate Builder, he whose creation of the machines had been his civilisation's death-knell.
"Andae," Torek smiled sardonically, "Yet another familiar face to try to bring me back to my senses...?" He trailed off as he took note of Andae's expression and, not least, the manic scenes outside the closed-off space: Security were trying to gain access, Keeley was being lifted onto a biobed by his subordinates and everyone seemed to be shouting. But about what? Andae thought.
"HOW, DO, WE, ESCAPE, SICKBAY?" Carl's voice was virtually a chant, unnerving even the XO. It was as if the vocal cords, the lungs, had functioned of themselves with no input from the brain.
"Well... I must admit I hadn't thought that through..." Blakus said as he began loosening the Admiral's bonds.
"THEN YOU'RE A FOOL!" Torek said and aimed a fist at Blakus's temple with his newly freed left hand, flooring him. Darkness descended.
An indeterminate time later, the XO recognised awareness. He was breathing lightly on the floor of the same separate room of sickbay; security had found a way in and seemed to be binding his hands behind his back; through the haze of semi-consciousness, from what he could pick up of their conversation, Admiral Torek had vanished: whether he was on the Raven, the machine structure, somewhere else entirely, was unknown.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Apr 24, 2021 16:28:01 GMT
Main Sickbay USS Raven-C :: Again Carl felt himself being sedated, he knew he had been acting irrationally, a danger to his own crew and possibly himself, so it had come as no great surprise to find himself under restraint ..... Earlier he had woken, a sense of dread filling him instantly as he realised something was terribly wrong. The voice had been insistent, demanding, goading, bragging. He had fought the voice to no avail, screaming inside his mind for the voice, the entity, to be gone, but it laughed, revelling in its hosts' discomfort and uselessness ..... He suddenly became aware that he was once again not alone, the cold against his neck followed by an involuntary jerk upright! "Andae..." Torek smiled sardonically, "... Yet another familiar face to try to bring me back to my senses...?" he said, rubbing the location where Blakus had used the hypospray as he tried to make sense of the scene beyond the plexiglass window. He spoke, this time the voice was not only in his head but using his own vocal cords. It sounded like some insane duet! "HOW, DO, WE, ESCAPE, SICKBAY?" He reeled back in horror, the voice so alien he almost believed it was someone else's. "Well ...."Blakus said, suddenly confused as he released the bonds holding Torek, "... I must admit, I hadn't thought of that." "THEN YOU ARE A FOOL!" He heard the rasping duet speak again, watching helplessly as his arm raised, lancing forward to impact with his friends' jaw. He watched as Andae fell to the floor, a steady stream of blood flowing from the gash on his bottom lip. He watched himself reach forward, fingertips touching the energy barrier with a snap, he smiled at the people trying to gain access, waiting patiently, then the field disappeared, allowing Officers and Medics inside the room. He allowed himself to be moved to one side while a Medic began to lift Blakus to a sitting position. With one last look at his friend he stepped outside the room, the phaser he had taken from the distracted Security Officer held out before him. He begged with the voice, the inner monologue not to harm anyone, but the voice merely laughed, chastising Torek on his weakness, promising things would be different soon. Fight as he might, he could not prevent the inner voice from controlling his body. Several times he thought he had fired the weapon he was holding, but this, like so much else, could be a figment, implanted by the voice to confuse him. Suddenly, almost so quickly he didn't realise it was him moving and not the entity, he reached forward and grasped a ladder in one of the Jeffries tubes, without pausing he slammed his forehead into the metal step as someone tried to stop him from behind, he spun, pushing the man away then felt the control leaving him once more, but he lost consciousness again as the voice began to laugh uncontrollably! Location Unknown ::"YOU WILL WAKE .... NOW!" The Entity/Torek opened his eyes, the light was bright and he raised his arm to shield his eyes. "Your ship has reached my brethren, they know nothing of your whereabouts, nothing of how I mean to use them, to destroy them all, but not before we have taken you, there is not enough on your marvellous 'Starship' to be hosts, but that matters not, for once we have you and your vessel, we shall begin our true purpose once again, and will thrive where before we were discover, our efforts lost. You see, the ones who defeated us were ruthless even by our standards, they ejected all those we infested into space. Oh, the host dies instantly, agonisingly, but we remained, the micro-electricity produced by the firing of neurons in your simple brains, maintaining our life-force for hours, days. Hours, days of agony as we felt ourselves, evaporating from existence. We vowed then that we would avenge our brethren.
Oh, you believe yourself insane, lost in the chaotic maelstrom of your deranged mind... Well, fear not, because I have you now, as we will have all of you... Yes, it will be difficult as was controlling your motor functions when I first began to experiment, but the arrival of your Officer, also infested, though by a much more inexperienced one of us, has taken your vessel to the facility, there, we shall take from you your very being ..... Now, I will allow you to rest, your body it seems needs sustenance to continue, there is alas none to be had, and terminating you is something I would prefer not to do at this point. so rest ..... Rest! ..... Carl felt the iron grip on his mind relax a fraction, but even as he began to form the first thoughts of rebellion, he drifted into a dreamless unconsciousness ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Apr 28, 2021 22:38:47 GMT
Numb over most of his body, Blakus had felt himself being carted across sickbay onto a mag-gurney, from where he was escorted through the ship to the brig. The mag-gurney was taken inside his cell, medics had tended to the injury to the left side of his face, had at least unbound his hands, and then had left him there.
Vaguely aware of two security guards in addition to the brig officer being present, he allowed himself to rest on the gurney. Still there were dizzying ideas, possibilities, permutations firing through his mind - something to do with the computer core, in its new transcendental state having taken joyful possession of now nearly 80 of the crew, who in turn would themselves feel that joy, that incredible superabundance towards a fate of... stillness, emptiness, void...
Was this what his own actions had been leading the Raven crew towards? His abdication of responsibility, the endless confusion, loss of orientation, barking at the bridge officers or impudently ignoring them as the Sovereign class had gained on the machine structure where the alien yet essential thing within him had before resided... All this, leading the crew towards an immutable stasis, in permanent contemplation of their absolutely separate communion... The ideas lost form and disintegrated within him, and something, an essence, a presence, attempted to ensconce itself in his own core.
The presence instantly recognised in one of the two security guards one of its own kind; persuasion would be slow, gradual, but it would escape this cell and enlighten these people. Its host's status as perhaps the most senior officer aboard mattered little - they were all becoming one now.
The host reasserted itself without too much trouble as he recognised Calli Valente enter the room, accompanied by another guard. "What happened, Commander?" she said without ceremony.
Andae rose up to sit on the edge of the gurney, "I..." he felt he was himself again, if only temporarily, "I don't know. I, or rather It was seized by an urge to free the CO from sickbay. And no, I don't know of his whereabouts."
Calli repeated the word, "It?"
"Yes, I'd guessed and Dr Keeley seemed to confirm that the machines were either software or biological-based - perhaps it doesn't matter which. Something of one of the machines got into me, an entity or presence, after we'd seen Milyanov and Roach off to the machine station... Keep me in here, Calli, I don't know what I might do."
<Tag Valente>
* * *
Aboard the machine station
Milyanov sat in his chair isolated in the near-darkness, wanting to keep as far away from any console surface, bulkhead or support strut as possible. The chair was elevated in the chamber, about three metres from the deck, and was apparently the command seat for the captain of whoever had been the original (perhaps unfortunate) crew.
He tried to clear his eyes and peer at the displays that lay some couple metres from him, suspended from the ceiling by creaking metal appendages. Ignoring the disturbing sounds emanating from below, screams and dread laughter, muted buzzing that seemed to emanate from an away team member's lips, he took in the data on the screens:
As he thought, the station was nearing the uninhabited planet. The original home - he, Roach and at one point Svensson and T'Seng had believed - of this ship, of its builders and of the machines which inhabited it, which ran through every system, deckplate, bulkhead and console of it.
~ Proximity alert ~ the computer's audio interface burst to life (in its odd Old Burmese-related language which somehow he and the away team had learnt to make proper sense of while the universal translator had not), ~ Proximity alert. Pursuing vessel within range. ~
The Raven, he hoped, and yet was worried for it. He and Lysia had calculated the Raven would overtake them before they could get to the planet (this had enraged Svensson, while Roach had tapped fingers at her lips pensively, her thoughts hidden from them despite their increasing collectivity - which had been approached, however, with not a little strife), but Milyanov was more concerned about the ship's intentions towards the station: did they intend to obliterate the station after beaming them off, meaning presumably the true crew were still in control, or would they attempt to 'absorb' the machine station into the Raven in some manner, perhaps not literally, or perhaps vice-versa? Or would the station they were on burst into life, the machines that virtually constituted its whole structure awakening as those who'd been uplinked to the Raven's computer core returned to them?
He looked around for someone he could trust. No one appeared to be on the bridge. "Lysia!" he called out, his voice echoing weakly.
He knew Svensson and his science team were somewhere in the lower decks, most by now utterly deranged - alternately working in unison and in vicious fights - but all seven of them committed to forcing Milyanov out of command or at least sharing it with him as they demanded was the will of the machines, the will of whatever was already in the science team's very being. Milyanov felt touched by it himself, this will. Roach and Dyson had secluded themselves from the nine other personnel aboard; there was only Lysia he could trust, but wasn't he also secluding himself, sitting alone in the abysmal dark of the bridge?
He'd decided enough was enough, and spun the chair about on its rusted motors to leap the small gap to the bridge's raised circumferential edge. He found himself wandering his way down the adjacent corridor, hearing a noise ahead - hoping it wasn't a science team member - and then realising it was coming from 'the room': a sizeable chamber, almost as large as the bridge. He hesitated at its door and pressed the control: within, he found something quite unexpected, lying roughly in the middle of the cavernous space upon the obsidian floor,
"Admiral...?" he asked, almost disbelieving, "How did you get here?" Torek's eyes were open but nothing seemed to inhabit them until he thought he detected a flicker of a shadow. The engineer didn't know whether to be pleased or shocked: would he question the entity in Torek? or tell him all was ready? or would he run and keep running, attempt contact with the Raven and whoever was still sane aboard her?
<Tag Torek>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
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"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on May 4, 2021 15:09:56 GMT
USS Raven-C ::
Leaving Commander Wedlerson in charge on the Bridge, Calli made her way down to Sickbay, a Marine, holding a phaser rifle in the Executive Officers general direction, close behind her:
She listened while Andae gave his version of events, still concerned that now the two most Senior Officers on the Raven had been 'taken over' by an unknown entity, be it mechanical or corporeal in nature. Now, the added concern is the disappearance of Admiral Torek, who seemingly vanished after his altercation with Blakus, or whoever or whatever was controlling him at the time. She needed answers!
"..... I'd guessed, and Dr Keeley seemed to confirm, that the machines were either software or biological-based... Perhaps it doesn't matter which. Something of one of the machines got into me, an entity or presence after we'd seen Milyanov and Roach off to the machine station... Keep me in here, Calli, I don't know what I might do." blakus said almost pleadingly.
"This 'thing' is it out of you, or laying dormant waiting for its next opportunity?" she asked, glancing at the Marine as his weapon lifted a degree. Andae hesitated as if trying to compose an answer.
"I, don't know, I can only say that I had no awareness of its presence prior to it taking over, and once it had finished it seemed to, hibernate, if you will, leaving me full control, but I think it is here, inside," he pointed to his temple.
Calli turned to Doctor Keeley:
"Is there anything you can do about suppressing this, entity, presence?"
"I don't have enough information Commander..." the Doctor said, motioning to the other patients outside the private room, "... We are getting more and more readings by the hour, but we're nowhere near finding a way to stop it happening,"
"Can't you inhibit his neural pathways?" Calli asked.
"Which ones?... I could shut him down completely, but he's needed I know... I've been trying selective neuro-separation, blocking a group of synapses to stem the effects, it seems to be working but only for a short time, whatever is in there just finds or creates an alternate pathway to gain control. We do seem to be having some small success with a neural stimulator set to randomly deliver a micro-pulse to the neocortex of the brain, this seems to halt them in their tracks, but it also induces momentary seizures in the subject. You wouldn't want anyone working on the warp core to suffer a fit, we could all end up as cosmic dust in short order," Keeley said with a shrug.
"How soon could you rig something up for him?" Valenta asked, pointing at the silent Blakus.
"Have you been list ......"
"Doctor! ..... I need him back on the Bridge, if you assign a Medic to shadow him, he could pump him full of Anesthizine before he could do any damage,"
"Fine..." Keeley said reigned to his task, "... Give me an hour to put something together,"
"Thank you, doctor," Calli said, then with a glance at the uncharacteristically quiet Blakus, she left Sickbay ........ Aboard Facility ::"Admiral... ADMIRAL?" Carl reacted to the shaking of his shoulders and tentatively opened his eyes, an expression of puzzlement crossing his face, oblivious to his whereabouts, "...How did you get here?" "Wha ....." Torek said, his mouth dry, straining to allow the word to pass his lips. "Admiral, it's Lieutenant Svensson Admiral, how did you get onto the Facility?" "Facil ....." "You're on the Station Admiral, were you transported over from the Raven, is it here?" the Engineer pressed, hoping help was closer than he first believed. Carl's head was pounding as if every migraine had materialised at once, he lifted his hands to either side of his head, applying pressure on the inward pressure, but to no avail, the pain was almost unbearable and he rolled away from Svensson in agony. "Pain .... Such a wondeful device." Torek felf something cold pressed against his neck and the intollerable pain began to ease. "HA. Chemicals, my my ....." "Admiral, the Raven?" Svensson urged again as he replaced the hypospray to his pocket. Carl felt the pain easing, part of him only now understanding his whereabouts, his surroundings, knowing in one sense that it was his tormentor, the inward voice theatrically fading into the distance, not the medical help, that was easing his discomfort. Tentatively he allowed Svensson to help him to his feet, he took his first shaky steps, a feeling of intense intoxication and nausea swept over him for a second, then it cleared. "I'll get you up to the Control Room Admiral, but we have to be careful," Carl allowed himself to be led away, stopping at every junction while Svensson checked, but for what, Carl didn't seem to know or understand, but they continued on, stop, start, stop, start ..........
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Carl Torek
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Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on May 12, 2021 16:02:24 GMT
Aboard Facility ::
Finally arriving in the Control Room of the Facility, Carl was led to a chair at a deactivated console, he looked around, clearly confused, as it seemed were everyone else: "ADMIRAL!" several people said in unison as he was seated. Doctor Roach walked over but halted out of arms reach, eyeing Torek suspiciously for a long moment before speaking. "He's infected," she stated. "Then you had better continue working Doctor before all of us fall to the same infection!" Dyson spat. Carl moved his gaze from one person to the next, part of his mind telling him he should know these people, yet some part insisting he did not. At least he was thankful that the throbbing pain behind his eyes seemed to have subsided, at least for the time being. He tried to stand but fell back into the chair almost exhausted. He listened, unable to fully comprehend the conversation, he heard names he recognised, Torek, Raven, Facility, Asteroid, Silicon, but none made sense to his confused mind. "Ah, not to worry my friend, it is the chemicals that affect you, I myself have been allowing you freedom of will," Carl could do nothing but allow whatever possessed him to gloat. "My brethren are here, some patiently waiting, others using your fragile bodies to explore, but soon we shall have those who imprisoned us within this facility as you call it, the Humatani will rue the day they turned on us, knowing we lived, knowing we want to survi..." "STOP!" Carl screamed, hands pounding his temples until they were pulled away by the Doctor and Milyanov. "Who are you talking to Admiral, there is no one here but us!" Roach said, releasing Torek's left hand to pick a hypospray from her pocket. Before Carl could or couldn't reply, she placed the device against his neck above his carotid artery and activated it, the anaesthetic activated almost instantly and Carl slumped forward, prevented from falling by the Ravens' Engineer. Satisfied he was completely sedated, Roach asked Milyanov to lower him to the deck and make him comfortable. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, Torek heard himself scream, and heard the taunting laughter of his tormentor ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
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Post by Andae Blakus on May 27, 2021 16:04:56 GMT
"Are you ready, Commander?" He nodded, he thought so. He waited impatiently, about to ask why it was taking so long before he felt the jolt spread through his body, from neck, cranium and through his limbs. Electric arcs leapt across the neural device for a couple seconds longer before the effect abated.
"Ok... That was unpleasant." As he spoke and Keeley nodded sympathetically before giving him his clearance to the security guards present, something seemed to move in his mind. It almost felt like a retreat had been ordered. "How often do I have to have these seizures?" he asked, standing from the biobed.
"... We feel it's best that the entity within you doesn't know that. It may learn to ready itself and counteract the effect of the neural stimulant as the micro-pulse is being delivered."
"I'm to be shocked at random, then, I won't know it's coming." But neither will the entity, machine presence, he thought. Keeley nodded as the XO made for the sickbay doors. He had to trust the presence would be unable to discover, by whatever means, when the neural device was about to give him a fit.
An hour later...
"Give me a report," he said, tapping the command chair's armrest impatiently, "Has the Humatani vessel entered scanning range?"
There was a pause; eventually, clearing his throat Delik Gerelo replied, "The Humatani have been holding at 5.2 kilometres from the machine station for the last 12 hours, Commander. Our own distance to the station is 17 kilometres." Ah, yes, he remembered now, and all three had shields raised, even though the Humatani's defensive systems consisted only of several physical barriers pushed clear of the ship on tethers, covering most but not all angles through the barriers to the hull.
"We're entering the star system indicated by the station's star-charts," Commander Marionette reported. The presumed origin point of the machine station - two planets, neither inhabited, but then these machines and associated presences didn't show up on sensors. It seemed some civilisation had existed long ago on the larger planet, ruined metropolises dotted its surface, approximately 5,000 years old.
Out of nowhere, as usual, he underwent another seizure, the effect from the neural stimulator lasting a couple seconds though it felt a great deal longer. "Damn it," he said through gritted teeth as it subsided; the experience had proven distracting to say the least. He had to keep forefront in his mind the thought that it was necessary, but with each jolt it was becoming more and more difficult to do so.
"Could we fire on the machine station to lower its shields only, then transport our officers off?" Valente asked what they had all been thinking.
"There's a chance the machines have rendered that impossible," Gerelo replied, "In any case, we have good reason to believe that the station's shield capacity outmatches our own."
"And it will defend itself, not by its own means, but through a crew - our own - who are increasingly convinced we're the enemy," Blakus said to the temporary XO. "I've understood how they are all one, and how they make the same of those they inhabit." There was only one machine, Andae thought... It. "Scan the larger planet," he ordered of Wedlerson, "Look for a correlation, any sort, with the machine station. There could be many of them down there, many presences."
That is the home of the Builders, of the Apostate Builder... What became our home, a cold voice resounded within him, declamatory and confident. While it couldn't gain control of him, it still seemed strong in itself.
"Commander Blakus, the machine facility is moving towards the Humatani ship. It's firing, sir." On the viewscreen, the bridge crew watched as the Humatani vessel's hulking metal barriers were blasted aside or rent asunder by fire from the station. Blakus feared for the vessel and told Marionette to place the Raven between the two antagonists if she possibly could. If she could've betrayed an emotion, it would've been incredulity. But the facility didn't continue firing; instead, claw-like grappling arms were extended and came to hold the Humatani craft spider-like against itself; it began burrowing into the hull.
"Sir, we've got serious problems below deck," Gerelo said, reading off his console, "It seems a riot has broken out in The Wheel and is spreading through adjoining decks... Decks 3 through 7..."
"The machine has them," Blakus said to himself.
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
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Post by Calli Valente on Jun 8, 2021 17:25:14 GMT
"Could we fire on the machine station to lower its shields only, then transport our officers off?" Valente asked what they had all been thinking.
"There's a chance the machines have rendered that impossible ...." the temporary Exec replied as they again tried to come up with a viable means to get their crew back, Calli was about to comment again when the Duty Tactical Officer interrupted her thoughts informing them of the situation beyond the ship!
"Sir, we've got serious problems below deck," Gerelo said, reading off his console, "It seems a riot has broken out in The Wheel and is spreading through adjoining decks... Currently on Decks Three through Seven!"
"The machine has them..." Blakus muttered to himself but loud enough for Calli to hear, "... Colonel, get your Marines down there, I want this quashed!" After a moment to allow the Senior Marine to leave the Bridge ...
"Andae, perhaps we should consider confining all non-essential personnel to quarters, and give some thought to anaesthetising those fighting...?" Blakus looked at her as if only now realising she was sat beside him, if Calli was expecting a reply she was disappointed. Blakus stood then strode to the viewscreen, eyes seemingly locked on the now joined craft, hoping he wasn't being influenced, she too stood and approached him, "... Commander?" this time he ignored her completely.
Returning to her seat she was about to Comm Colonel Burwell for an update when he contacted the Bridge, with a glance at the back of Andae Blakus she opened the Comm:
=^= Status Colonel? =^= she asked as Gerelo looked on.
=^= We're doing our best but I want permission to use force .. Otherwise .. We will be overrun in minutes Commander .. .. =^= Gerelo hesitated, Command wasn't his forte having only recently joined the Command Training Course, but he was effectively the Exec, so she wanted his opinion or approval before replying. Finally, he nodded. Calli passed on confirmation that crewmembers could be incapacitated. But less than five minutes later Burwell was again on the Comm:
=^= Burwell to Bridge =^=
=^= Bridge =^= Gerelo replied, eyes flicking between Blakus and Valente.
=^= We've sealed off Decks Three through Seven but I'm getting reports that some crew may have moved to other Decks before we could erect forcefields =^=
Calli asked if there were any reports of fighting on other Decks, but Burwell couldn't confirm either way. She suggested to Gerelo that they put those fighting out of commission and sort out the mess later. Reluctantly Gerelo agreed.
=^= Colonel .. Evacuate all Marines and Security personnel to Deck Eight immediately =^= Valente ordered, glancing at Blakus, half expecting him to countermand her order.
=^= Understood .. .. .. =^= While she waited for confirmation that they were clear, she got up and spoke to Keeley quietly:
"Stand by to flood Decks three to seven with Anestizine gas ... One hundred parts per million,"
"You can't be serious, Commander. At that level, it could do serious damage to anyone exposed!"
"We can't count on a lesser dose dropping everyone before the entities take action of their own, if they are not completely subdued they could hurt, or kill the very hosts keeping them mobile!" Rob Keeley took a moment, then nodded. Burwell confirmed that all his people were now on Deck Eight and all access had been sealed. With a nod from Gerelo she spoke:
"Computer .. Flood Decks Three through Eight with Anestizine gas at one hundred parts per million .. .."
"At those levels, there is a thirt ...." the computer began but Calli interrupted.
"Override .. Valente-Alpha-Zero-Two-Omega!"
"Dispersal complete," the computer confirmed.
"Purge all levels and reinstate atmosphere," Valente ordered.
"Nominal Atmosphere reinstated," the ship replied. Had Calli been paranoid she might have believed the computer was annoyed with how it had been treated. Shaking her head she opened a Comm:
=^= Bridge to Burwell .. You can access the Decks above you now .. Have all but the injured taken to their quarters =^=
=^= On our way .. I would appreciate any Medical assistance available =^=
=^= Lieutenant Keeley is sending them to you now .. Bridge out =^=
"How many?" Gerelo asked, Calli checked the readings then sighed.
"Eighty-six crew, no Civilians," she replied. She glanced at Blakus, who seemed to be having a conversation with an unknown, unseen, person. He needed to snap out of whatever was happening, they had no way of knowing who was in control of the Facility, but its actions made it highly likely that the entities were responsible for taking the Humatani craft ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jun 15, 2021 0:12:54 GMT
It won't be long before I break you, the sonorous voice came, almost warm in how it echoed in his mind, and Andae felt the presence creep forward again, attempting to ensconce itself in his inner psyche.
"I doubt that," he managed to reply, "Your compatriot inhabiting Admiral Torek told me you were weak... Unable to take hold of a host for any length of time..." he grinned as he watched the spider-like station grappling with and burrowing into the Humatani craft, "You're a failure of a machine."
Lies. My comrade deflects his own failings onto me. I will seize control of your pitiful body, and then I will seize the life from my compatriot inhabiting your commander.
Despite apparently having the upper-hand, Blakus felt unnerved; something deep-seated, as if in actual fact the machine presence was right, and was in fact already speaking for him, as if Andae's ripostes were being put into his mouth by his very interlocutor. Did he truly have control of himself? he thought, as he watched with inordinate glee the machine station take possession of the Humatani craft?
"If you're really on the verge of taking control, then do it," Blakus dared, leaving a mental door open for the presence to step through, "And then we'll see whether you're able to combat your colleague inside our Admiral Torek." The machine 'said', and did nothing.
Svensson's stand-in at science alerted the uncertain command hierarchy of Blakus, Valente and Gerelo to his scans of the larger of the two planets in the desolate system whose outskirts they hovered in. "Sir, or sirs, I'm detecting lifesigns down there. Nothing biological... I've had to modify sensors using novel adaptations to the navigational deflector, and they've revealed tens of thousands, perhaps millions of machines down there - most in dormant antiquated technology sequestered in subterranean passages."
Andae turned from the viewscreen to the group, "It is - or was - the home of the Builders, or one Builder that this presence..." Blakus pointed at his cranium, "... refers to as the Apostate. It seems the latter created the machines millennia ago, and they wiped his and the rest of his Builder species out."
On machine station
"What's the story, Commander?" Milyanov asked, leaning over Lysia T'Seng's commandeered console.
"It's the science team, sans Svensson and one other," she indicated the internal sensor display, it showing five pale green dots gravitating round the ventral docking port where the station had made contact with the Humatani vessel.
"They're infected," he decided once and for all. He stood up straight and looked about the sepulchral control centre, "I'm not so sure about the Admiral." The CO was once more sitting virtually comatose in his chair, having been revived after his outburst, rocking gently back and forth as he dealt with whatever some of them thought was inhabiting his mind. Milyanov heard the voices, yes, vague echoes at the back of his mind, beckoning, mocking, alluring, but he assumed it was his proximity to the station's systems.
"Dr Roach seemed to think he'd been infiltrated," T'Seng replied regarding the CO, still watching the console and how three of the five dots representing science personnel were making their way through the now open hatch into the stricken Humatani trading craft. The engineer grieved for the Humatani, but he didn't have the numbers to counteract the station's attack on the alien vessel.
"And do you trust Dr Roach?" he asked the CTSO, "She's secluded herself from the rest of us, most of the time, since we arrived here. Yes, she wouldn't approach the Admiral, but not because he's infected, but because she's paranoid of everything and everybody!"
In admonition Lysia stood and placed a hand on his arm. The engineer sighed deeply and apologised; still he felt himself recoil from her - was this someone he could trust? A Raven loyalist? Or by someone he could trust did he mean a machine-inhabited being, ready to do Its bidding? He left T'Seng's side and approached the CO. "Admiral. Admiral! I need you to listen to me. My colleagues think there's something inside you. We think it's been in you the longest out of all the crew, thus is it reasonable to suggest you've the most experience with it? What are their goals, sir? Do they intend to take us all... take us over permanently, or flush us into space...? Is there any way, no matter how difficult it might be for you, to drive them off, out of yourself and out of everybody?"
<Tag Torek>
Ruinous laughter erupted in Milyanov's mind; an echo chamber, an infinite reflecting hall: neural-sound waves reverberating back and forth - one voice or many? Needless to say, they all came from the machine/s.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Jun 17, 2021 13:47:40 GMT
"STOP!" Carl screamed, hands pounding his temples until they were pulled away by the Doctor and Milyanov.
"Who are you talking to Admiral, there is no one here but us!" Roach said, releasing Torek's left hand to pick a hypospray from her pocket. Before Carl could or couldn't reply, she placed the device against his neck above his carotid artery and activated it, the anaesthetic activated almost instantly and Carl slumped forward, prevented from falling by the Ravens' Engineer.
"Aww, such caring ..... They are not interested in your welfare, you must know that my accommodating host, they fear, fear you are something they do not understand, and like all races gripped with unshakable fear, they intend to save themselves, even if it is at the risk of losing someone close to them, someone they 'claim' to care for,"
"Ignoring me isn't going to aid your situation my friend, no, indeed, I find the quiet somewhat calming,"
"You feign unconsciousness, but alas we are within, only your body is incapacitated, not your MIND!" A shock ran through Carl's mind and body, throwing him halfway across the room. He couldn't feel himself being lifted off the cold deck, nor could he feel any pain suffered from the fractured wrist he had incurred during his 'fall' ..... "They are trying to elicit dialogue, hmm, how interesting..." Carl heard deep within his mind, "... Maybe we should oblige," Carl felt his eyes open, light, almost blinding, flooded his optic nerves, the only saving grace was the fact that his prosthetic eye had reacted faster than the real one, but still, it stung ... "..... hink there's something inside you. We think it's been in you the longest out of all the crew, thus is it reasonable to suggest you have the most experience with it. What are their goals? Sir. Do they intend to take us all... Take us over permanently, or flush us into space...? Is there any way, no matter how difficult it might be for you, to drive them off, out of yourself and out of everybody?" they could see Carl's mouth moving, a frown forming as if he were fighting to gain control of his vocal cords, fighting to allow the breath to pass over those cords. Finally, he replied: "Destro ....." Carl began, but his body spasmed as if he had grasped a power conduit. his back arched then he dropped to the table, still unaware that Helen Roach was trying to repair the damage to his wrist. "... Now now, Admiral... I thought we had an agreement, let's not do anything that could force me to punish you further," "They are, corporeal, mechanical, they... Were 'designed' no, that's the wrong word," Torek coughed and Lysia moved away, returning a moment later with a beaker of water. She lifted Carls' head and allowed him to sip the cold liquid. "What do they want? Milyanov asked. "They ..... Want ..... Lif ....." Again Carl fell into a bout of coughing, his breathing getting more laboured by the second. Having finally repaired the damage to Torek's wrist, Roach moved T'Seng aside and ran a tricorder along the Admiral's chest. Taking a hypospray she placed the device on Carl's neck, she was about to activate it when faster than naturally possible, Torek reached up, snatched the device and threw it against the bulkhead! "I think that is enough for the moment," The entity said, seemingly satisfied with their conjoined progress. Carl fell once again into a comalike state, Roach scanned him confirming he was in a deep sleep. Inside his mind, Torek feared the backlash of his attempted 'mutiny' but none was forthcoming, in fact, his companion allowed him a restless sleep for the first time ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jun 18, 2021 22:57:56 GMT
Blakus was vaguely aware of the Raven receiving a comm. It was from the Humatani vessel - held fast by the machine station, - the last occupants of which were still apparently able to get a message out.
Delik Gerelo was trying to gain his attention. Glancing at Calli and nodding distractedly Ande relayed to her that the hail should be answered.
The comm was slightly scrambled "Alien vessel...! We have been... -oarded and... weapons systems are offline. We have no means to destroy the Accursed, or the ...-chine station, as you ca-... it." You must ...-stroy it yourself!
"Captain, it is not our intent to destroy it until all of our personnel, all eleven of them are safely back aboard our vessel," Valente volunteered for Blakus, who was still virtually in a trance standing next to the viewscreen.
Despite the Humatan merchant captain's intentions towards the machine station and the Raven crew aboard it, Andae felt sympathetic towards his plight: his ship had been trapped by the spaceborne spider, boarded, and there was no way - due to a jamming field about 300 metres in radius surrounding the two intertwined craft - that the Raven could beam the beleaguered Humatani off. Even more difficult was recovering their own personnel, the combination of the jamming field and the raised shields of the station seeing to that.
The Humatan's voice came through loud and clear this time, "Then you consign us not only to our own deaths, but to the destruction of our entire species now that the Accursed has returned! Then there was a chillingly abrupt cutting of the channel.
The Humatani, as they are pleased to call themselves, inhabit the next planetary system from here, Blakus's machine presence intoned, voice laced with mockery, But that is inconsequential. Frequent cullings from recurrent returns of us 'Accursed' have kept their population small and ineffectual. What is important, Commander, is that you take the Raven into the system before us... to the larger of the two planets.
"The ruined world," he whispered to the presence, "The remains of your own civilisation, that to which you owe your existence... How could you do it? Destroy your own creators 5,000 years ago?" Blakus moved to the forward starboard corner of the bridge as he noticed Valente and Wedlerson looking his way in concern.
The Apostate Builder ordered us to do so. The rest of the Builders were against him, saying his own version of their technology was too dangerous to develop, that it would undermine, perhaps even bring an end to their species if it was integrated into their society. They were almost right, the machine's rasp was gleeful, We didn't require 'integration'; we only required the means to escape the laboratory the Apostate was using to engineer us.
"And what became of the Apostate?"
He was our first victim. He gave himself willingly. His pain was exquisite, true, but he's one of us now. Yes; even now, Commander Blakus.
Andae's hands were trembling, "Medic!" he called the attendant NCO down from the upper-deck, "Is there any way to manually send the micro-pulses through this thing...?" he gestured to the neural stimulator attached to his neck, "If there isn't, hypospray me with that anaesthezine..."
Don't. Take the Raven to the ruined world. To his horror, Blakus found himself involuntarily waving the medic away, reassuring him all was fine. Your deputy science officer was perceptive earlier. Millions upon millions of us inhabit our ancient homeworld. And yet we are all one.
It, Andae nodded to himself, the unity that would like to place them in perpetual, petrified communal stasis. Would they be bodiless within the totality, or retain their corporeal forms in some way? "Commander Marionette, ignore the station and Humatani craft for now. Our officers and the Humatani can take care of themselves. Set a course for the larger of this system's two planets. Warp 1... engage."
"Andae!" Valente called.
"Commander," Blakus said nonchalantly, sitting in the command chair.
"Our people on the station, Andae... Sir, this is the wrong course of action. Everyone knows it, I know it... and Commander Blakus knows it." The mission advisor regarded the XO in the centre seat, virtually sure she was seeing more machine entity than human being.
"If you'd like to register a formal complaint concerning my actions then make a note in the command officers' log," he shrugged and turned to Lieutenant Gerelo, "Lieutenant. Do you have anything to contribute to this conversation?" Caught in indecision, effective acting XO Gerelo gave Blakus a hard stare, then looked at Valente before returning to Blakus.
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Jun 26, 2021 19:26:05 GMT
USS Raven-C Holding Station ... One Hundred Kilometres Portside of Facility :: Calli had been struggling with her reading of the situation for some time now ..... With several of the Senior Staff off the ship, Commander Blakus was in Command of the Raven in Torek's absence. somewhat surprisingly, he had appointed Lieutenant Derik Gerelo, one of Lysia T'Seng's team, as acting Exec' ... Gerelo had never really struck her as someone who could be comfortable in a Command role, but it wasn't her call. In her opinion, she herself would have been the logical option had she indeed been a full-time member of the Raven Staff but was technically here as an advisor only. "Commander Marionette, ignore the station and Humatani craft for now. Our officers and the Humatani can take care of themselves. Set a course for the larger of this system's two planets. Warp One ... Engage." Blakus ordered suddenly! Despite her trying to reason with Blakus, she could see that she was dealing with the machine entity and not Raven's Acting Commanding Officer. His position was strengthened when Gerelo refused to go against the man. The smile that appeared on her friend's face bore no resemblance to the man she knew. She could see the Grnoid look in her direction before turning back to her console to input the changes ordered, a second later the Facility dropped from the viewscreen as the Raven headed away. She watched Blakus for another moment then moved towards the aft of the Bridge out of his line of sight. She knew her options were very limited, not to say career-ruining if she made too hasty a decision. Finally accepting his order she moved to sit beside him as Gerelo tried, and failed, to look busy ..... She waited for a chance to speak to Andae and as she watched his expression relaxed: "Andae, are you sure we are doing the right thing leaving the away team?" she whispered. "Away team ....." Blakus replied, almost as if this was the first he was hearing of the latest developments. "You left them on the Facility, we're heading for the seco ....." she fell silent as Blakus turned to face her, his eyes hard, glaring, penetrating! "You really are becoming an annoyance... No matter..." The Machine entity said dangerously, Calli wasn't sure if the voice cane from Blakus or was in her head. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog that seemed to have descended upon her consciousness, but the Entity continued, seemingly amused: "... Soon, my child, you will be one with my brethren, and with the use of this, impressive, vessel, we shall once again cull the Humatani," As quickly as the food had enveloped her mind, it dissipated, leaving her looking into Andae's cold eyes once more. She finally tore her eyes away and looked around the Bridge, everyone appeared to be carrying out their assigned duties, no one was looking at her as if she needed medical help, was it possible the Machine Entity 'had' spoken directly into her mind! ..... For a long moment, she tried to rise from the seat, but her body was disobeying her needs, then, much like the fog in her mind, the paralysis evaporated and she clambered to her feet. blakus was looking at the viewscreen and the tiny dot in its centre, presumably their destination. Quickly she spoke to one of the Officers who walked over to Harry Wedlerson, he leaned forward and spoke quietly, The Operations Officer stood, making way for his replacement and moved to join Calli, She could see Colonel Burwell watching the two surreptitiously and motioned for him to join them, without a word all three left the Bridge, she requested Deck Six ..... Wedlerson and Burwell followed her into Cargo-Bay One and waited: "Computer, erect a Level Ten force field around this room. Disable all communications and internal sensors." 'Level Ten force field erected .. Communications and internal sensor off-line.' the computer confirmed. "I'm assuming neither of you is hearing voices?" she asked nervously. Harry said no. "Only my nagging Ex," Burwell said cynically. "OK... We're in trouble..." Call said quickly, "... With Blakus compromised and Gerelo unable or unwilling to go against him, they have the ship pretty much tied up," "What are you suggesting?" Harry asked nervously ..........
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Jul 3, 2021 15:30:04 GMT
Aboard Facility ::
It knew there was something wrong .....
For the first time since it took control of the Human, there was pain. The Human, Torek, was still enjoying a restless sleep, every few seconds there would be minute muscle spasms, but nothing that concerned his colleagues ... In his mind, Carl could feel the entity deep within his unconsciousness, he too knew something was amiss, but the entity would not allow him control, forced him to remain in a seemingly deep sleep as it had done on many occasions. Unlike itself, the body he inhabited needed rest, needed sustenance to continue to function, and many times it had been forced to compel the body to eat or drink.
But this was something new, something it had not been subjected to before .....
Something was with it, something it didn't as yet understand, but it would, it would search the feeble mind of its host and discover the unknown. Slowly tentatively, worriedly, it began to search the mind of its host, hoping to discover what was different, what could be affecting it so disturbingly ... It remembered beginnings, birth, childhood, growing into the man his host was today, but despite the search, it could find nothing. It receded back into the depths of its host, back into the depths still unexplored, there it waited, waited for whatever had caused its pain to emerge once more.
Time had no real meaning for the entity, it could of course react in real-time, but it could also lay dormant for in what the host would describe as hundreds, thousands of years, so it waited. Then .....
Deep within his mind, it screamed! .....
PAIN ..... PAIN ..... PAIN ..... Beyond anything it could have ever imagined coursed through every iota of its being, it writhed in an agony of utter terror, immediately losing its hold on the host, that was flung from the bunk on which it lay, slamming onto the deck like a discarded ragdoll, rolling across the room as spasms contorted the body. With the pain so intense, the entity could only escape to the furthest reaches of Toreks mind, allowing itself to succumb to an inert state. Torek felt himself being lifted then lowered back onto the bunk, every fibre of his body feeling as if he had suffered a massive electric shock, blood ran from his nose, from his mouth where he had involuntarily bitten his cheeks as he crashed to the deck his body spasming uncontrollably as he felt his sanity slipping away from him ... There were people stood over him but he couldn't react to them, to their questions, each time someone touched him it was as if they were holing raw fire against his skin, tears welled beneath his tightly closed eyelids until they ran down his face. Someone placed something against his neck and he felt the torturous burning as something entered his body. Aeons passed before he felt his contractions began to ease, allowing those restraining him to relax their grip. His mind, still tormented, struggled at the onslaught he had endured for long long moments before it too succumbed to the muscle relaxant Doctor Roach had injected. Finally, he opened his eyes ..... "Somethi... ng..." he croaked through bloodied lips, struggling to form the words, "... Somethi ....." he felt himself losing consciousness and tried to fight off the inevitable. "You need to rest Admiral," he heard the words as if spoken from a great distance. "It wa... in pai ....." he began, but this time lost the fight, feeling himself drift into a deep terrifying sleep once again. "What di...d you do, to me? The voice boomed into his consciousness. It was then Carl knew that the entity was for the first time, confused. Maybe it was the shock, or the pain, or the uncertainty, he didn't know, and for the present, he didn't care ..... All that mattered was that the thing within him had suffered. Had he retained control of his motor function, he would have undoubtedly smiled at the confusion of the thing within his mind. "Something is, different, something within, but no matter, I will be ready next time, and will not be taken by surprise, but in the meantime, you, my friend, will suffer!" Dread began to rise in his mind as the entity forced him forward, forced him to feel as it removed one by one, the very motor functions he moments ago wished he had control of. The entity seemed to chuckle at his plight as first he lost all feeling in both legs, then his arms, he felt unexplainable cold run the length of his spine before all sensation vanished there too. The entity forced him to open his eyes and raise his head off the pillow, it forced him to look upon his body, now a mass of useless flesh and bone, before the clod progressed up through his shoulders and his head fell to the pillow. He realised it had paralysed him, removed every function to live a life. Had his tear ducts been allowed to function, he would have cried as he thought about his family before descending into endless blackness ..... ~~~~~~~~~~"Doctor..." he called, "... DOCTOR!" he tried to rise from the bunk, but the restraints prevented him from doing so. He turned his head to see, Roach, T'Seng, Milyanov, and Dyson approaching. "Admiral?" the Doctor said, unable to explain the fact that an hour earlier she had pronounced Carl Torek dead following an inexplicable loss of all brain function! "How's this possib ....." T'Seng asked. "I don't know how long I have..." Torek interrupted urgently, "... Listen... Something attacked, or affected the entity occupying my mind," "Entity?" Dyson repeated. Carl realised that he had no way of knowing how many or who were possessed, but somewhere within him he understood that if the one within him could be injured, then so could any others. "Find out what has affected the entity ....." he stopped midsentence, his eyes widening filled with utter dread, before he screamed ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jul 8, 2021 2:52:34 GMT
"You understand what we have to do here, don't you, Delik?" Blakus stood slightly stooped with a hand on the shoulder of the acting XO and deputy CTSO before him. His breathing came rough and uneven, his body growing by degrees debilitated by the machine presence that was slowly and with difficulty attempting to capture control of his mind (if it was more capable, why order him to warp to the ancient homeworld instead of taking full control itself and enacting the acting CO's apparent wishes?).
"Aye, sir," Gerelo replied after a moment's hesitation.
"They've gathered in the cargo bay. They masked the fact they'd deactivated internal sensors in that sector, but a glitch in the program enabling the process revealed the comm and sensor shutdown." The presence rested in his mind - happy with Blakus's own individual progress? or making its subconscious suggestions? Three individuals, plotting to escape eternal bliss... he made a face, How foolish of them.
"It's both my and the security staff loyal to me's belief that Commander Valente intends to mutiny," 'Gerelo' said.
Andae nodded, bending and coughing, "That's my belief, too."
"She, Colonel Burwell and Commander Wedlerson have gathered at least eight further accomplices," Gerelo went on, "Do I have your authority to send in an assault team, sir?"
Blakus paused, pursed his lips, collapsed in the First Officer's chair for once rather than the centre seat and found himself regarding the viewscreen. The speck of the Builders' planet grew ever larger, slower now though as the ship dropped 75% of its speed and Marionette confirmed full impulse. This is all wrong. What... what is going on? He opened his mouth to speak, not sure what would be emitted, "Well... we can't very well beam them out and into the brig, can we, Lieutenant?"
"No, Commander," Gerelo replied.
"That forcefield's very much in place, and she's somehow locked out all my overrides." He wondered whether Valente had access to one or two of the Raven's highest-clearance command codes; it wouldn't surprise him given her Intel status, or considering her closeness to the CO and his family.
"Then send in your troops. Marines who'll follow Lieutenant Haggis against their CO [Burwell], and your own security." (Led by...? Delik was obviously wanting to ask.) "Not you, I need you guarding the XO's office. Who's best?"
"Lieutenant Simok, a fine Vulcan officer." Blakus considered this and nodded, returning to his trance facing the viewscreen. Gerelo paused, "I warn you, sir..." Blakus's head turned ever so minutely. "... We'll have to use grade 4 photon explosives to break through the level 10 forcefield Valente's erected. There's a chance, only a small chance -"
"That ship's structural integrity could be compromised in that sector if your team sets off the bombs, Lieutenant, yes I know..." He turned again to the acting XO; there was a long hard look between them, "Proceed with the operation against the mutineers," Blakus said, shrugging as if it was an obvious thing to say, which it would be in a different context. 'Gerelo' nodded without hesitation and marched from the bridge to gather his team.
* * *
Beeps from the CO's armrest alerted Blakus to a problem with the assault on the cargo bay; he moved across to the centre seat and tapped at one of the flashing scarlet controls, =/\=Blakus,=/\= his voice snapped feverishly.
=/\=Commander, this is Ensign Brackley. Lieutenant Simok's been incapacitated, sir. We've had... still having to retreat, two corridors and into the next section now.=/\= Blakus's mouth fell open, the presence now speaking for the first time in a long time telling him how incompetent he'd been in not selecting Gerelo. Andae could hear phaser fire, and then what he was sure were Valente and Burwell's voices calling to one another over the weapons' discharges. =/\=Sir, before you respond,=/\= Brackley said, =/\=You should know I've never seen anything like what happened to Simok. He wasn't hit; he went down by himself, was flung across the cargo bay after we'd gained access with the explosives. Something was wracking his body, sir... I don't know how to describe it. I think he's in enemy custody. Last I saw of him he was completely still; not dead, just, well, almost as if in a coma, sir.=/\=
=/\=Hopeless. Fight them, fight them, fight them. I want all three and their accomplices dead or preferably in custody in the next minutes,=/\= Blakus said and signed off, and felt assurance in his mind, an ease and a regaining of control of himself.
Fight them, fight them, fight them. Had that been the presence making its customary subconscious suggestions to him, or was that himself turning his attack on the very presence, on It?
He stood. On the screen hovered the ruined world, homeworld of the Builders and It, the machines. Soon the Raven would be preparing to gain orbit.
Something clicked in his mind, he cast about at the bridge crew, some of whom returned his glance but most hard at work on... heaven knew what. "What the... what the devil are we doing here?" Where is here, and what exactly have I been doing for the last few hours?
The entity/presence chortled but he ignored it; if this was still Andae under control of the entity, a game where only It knew the rules, then it was one Andae was for once - unfettered self or no - willing to play. Simok... Vulcans? There'd been far fewer incidences of Raven Vulcan officers succumbing to the machine presences than others, despite there being only a couple dozen aboard. Simok, one other, and if one counted the half-Vulcan Carl Torek that made three hosts. "Make contact with the machine station. Gerelo... Do it!" he said as the man started to protest.
"... Yes, sir." Then alerts came from his tactical console. "Report from cargo bay 1 area. Marine Haggis and Ensign Brackley are fighting back. They've stunned unconscious four of the mutineers and wounded two others!" he sounded delighted, drawing Blakus's ire though he didn't respond. Gerelo lectured him, "Commander, someone will have to be in the control centre on the station for there even to be a chance of them receiving our comm. Let's hope our machine brother in Svensson has the station in its grasp now."
Blakus nodded, eyes glazing over for an instant as the presence rose in his mind, "Yes, let's..."
<Tag machine station control centre>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Jul 12, 2021 14:35:09 GMT
USS Raven-C :: "Computer, erect a Level Ten force field around this room. Disable all communications and internal sensors." 'Level Ten force field erected .. Communications and internal sensors off-line.' the computer confirmed. "I'm assuming neither of you is hearing voices?" she asked nervously. Harry said no. "Only my nagging Ex," Burwell said cynically. "OK... We're in trouble..." Call said quickly, "... With Blakus compromised and Gerelo unable or unwilling to go against him, they have the ship pretty much tied up," "What are you suggesting?" Harry asked nervously. "..... Our main priority is to avoid something akin to civil war..." Calli said carefully, "... We have to take it as read that several people, mainly the lower ranks, will fall in line with the Exec' ... I don't want to have to get into a face-off, or a power struggle for command of the Raven, that said, we can't sit back and allow whatever has taken control of Andae to succeed," Burwell's commbadge chirped to life and he quickly tapped it: =^= Captain Brown .. Colonel .. They are coming =^= he whispered. =^= Understood .. You have your instructions Captain .. Burwell out =^= The Marine Colonel turned to the others, he quickly explained that since the commencement of the mission new protocols had been put in place regarding the senior staff, one of those was Burwell must always have communication with his Deputies, thus the Marine Captain was already monitoring their tenuous security. Seconds later they heard the first explosion and the ship shuddered! ~~~~~ Calli confirmed that the forcefield was still in place while Wedlerson took three phaser rifles from a weapons locker, checking all were on the heaviest stun setting, he handed one each to Valente and Burwell. Once ready she lowered the shield around the doors and stepped forward. At her feet lay a Marine, clearly dead, two more, fatal plasma burns covering the upper part of their body the cause of their deaths ..... She couldn't believe Andae Blakus would allow this to happen to their own people and vowed to stop the man, or the entity doing this as fast as possible, knowing that worst-case, they could lose the Raven and all aboard. Had she been concentrating, she would have realised someone had stepped from a room further along the corridor and was raising a weapon. She looked at the man, Lieutenant Simok, one of the Vulcan compliment. She could see his eyes, expressionless as he took deliberate aim, she sensed his indifference as he began to apply press the firing tab, time had seemed to slow as a beam of almost pure energy lanced past her slamming into the Vulcans' chest. He was thrown back along the corridor, crashing into the bulkhead unconscious. Burwell grasped her shoulder and spun her around! "You 'TRYING' to get killed?" he asked as Captain Brown rounded the corner: "Colonel, we've driven them back to the adjoining section and erected forcefields using the Commanders spec's," he nodded to Valente seemingly ignoring the tension. "We need to get through to the next section before Blakus realises what we're attempting," Calli said, taking half a step back to remove Burwells' hand. "..... And that would be Ma'am?" Brown asked as four more Marines rounded to the corner confirming they had moved up to the next intersection. "If we can access the Primary Computer Core, I should be able to take most if not all of the Bridge systems off-line," "Why not flood the Bridge, knock them all out?" the Captain asked. "We have no way of knowing if the entity can keep his body functioning once anaesthetised, and if it feels cornered it may do something we'll all regret," for a fraction of a second she wondered if Blakus, and by definition, the entity, had already realised what she was up to and was waiting to set a trap. While it was hu=ighly unlikely that he could override her Command codes, nothing was preventing him from setting his own 'fields to confine them. All he would need to do is open the section to space and there you proverbially go! "Understood," the Captain had replied, nodding his agreement. "Going off their retreat pattern, it looks like they are making every effort to prevent us reaching the Bridge itself at the moment," Brown speculated. "Good...!" Valente said, thinking quickly, "... Then maybe we shouldn't disappoint them," she finished, with a look at the Senior Marine. Burwell had clearly been thinking along the same lines: "How many of our people are inside the cordon Captain?" he asked. "Eight here, ten at the other end of the main corridor to hold off any attempted incursion from there, Colonel, several of those attacking were Marines," Brown said. Burwell took this in then replied: "Tell the group behind us to begin pushing forward, make as much fuss as they like until we have this Deck to ourselves, you take your men and keep pushing forward, I think once they realise we have them cornered they will leave us to it," "We can use the Jeffries tubes from here to the Core unless Commander Blakus has sealed them?" Harry suggested. "OK, let's go," Calli said, letting Wedlerson go ahead of her to remove the Jeffries tube cover ..... Machine Station :: "I don't know how long I have..." Torek interrupted urgently, "... Listen... Something attacked, or affected the entity occupying my mind," "Entity?" Dyson repeated. Carl realised that he had no way of knowing how many or who were possessed, but somewhere within him he understood that if the one within him could be injured, then so could any others. "Find out what has affected the entity ....." he stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening filled with utter dread before he screamed ..... Svensson had been stood at the far side of the room when Torek had unexpectedly regained consciousness. With four of the Science Team now hosting one of his brethren, there only remained six: Dyson, Milyanov, T'Seng, Roach, and the remaining two Science Team ... His entity had done all it could so far, but without more help, more of their own, they could be undone before they rescued the others still abandoned on the desolate planet close by. There had been no contact with the Raven since it left to reach the planet, dare he risk contacting the ship? "I, I'm going back to the control room....." he said, no-one replied and he hesitated for a second before turning to leave the room. "Lieutenant..." Lysia said, forcing him to turn, "... I thought you were assisting Milyanov in the Drive Section?" "I was asked to check communications given the loss of contact with the Raven," he replied, wondering if his subterfuge was discovered, but as the Admiral spasmed once more she turned to help secure him, Svensson left before anyone else could question him. Distracted he didn't see the woman as she rounded the corner running right into him, he felt the cold as blood ran from his nose, wiping it away using the arm of his tunic before stepping around the woman who looked after him as he quickly headed away without commenting on their collision. She called after him but Svensson rounded the next corner and out of sight. The two had been friends since she had been assigned to the Raven two years earlier and knew it wasn't like him to ignore her. She picked up the two PADD's that had fallen and continued on her way intending to mention his unusual behaviour to Doctor Roach. deep in concern for her friend she stood, surprised to see the Science Officer stood before her, she smiled and was about to speak when the spanner slammed into her temple, killing her instantly. Svensson looked from the body to the spanner and back for a long moment, then he reached down grasping her left boot and dragged the body into one of the unused rooms. He pushed her into a locker, dropping the spanner onto her chest. Leaving the room he looked left and right before sealing the room. Satisfied, he continued to the Control Center ..........
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Jul 13, 2021 14:07:14 GMT
Carl began to climb from unconsciousness, but knew immediately that something was wrong, although 'wrong' might not be the way to describe it ..... Somehow he knew where he was, prone on one of the bunks on the Machine Station, no-one around him had any inkling that he was waking, his eyes remained closed, body relaxed .....
"Ah, he awakens, are you not grateful that I have allowed you to rest, to, recuperate?"
"Recuperate?"
"Indeed ... I felt that our joining was taking a toll on you, mentally, and as I need you I felt it prudent to allow you rest,"
Carl thought about what the machine entity was saying. He knew something was wrong but didn't want to allow his occupier to know. Inwardly he smiled, allowing his sense of 'gratitude' to surface.
"Why the change?" he asked.
"It occurred to me that I, we, can achieve my goals together, without the need for threats, without any needless loss of life, do you not agree that this arrangement is preferable to before?"
"So when will you be leaving?" Carl asked casually.
"Leaving? ..... Oh, you misunderstand Admiral, I am not leaving, nor is any of my brethren. I am just making our relationship less, stressful,"
Carl allowed this to sink in, feeling the entity almost relax in a sense. He made a conscious effort to open his eyes, move an arm, but he was paralysed!
"Come now Admiral, I thought we were enjoying our little conversation, thought we were well on the way to a mutual agreement on how we move forwards?"
"Oh... Well, I can fully understand your confusion..." Carl said, giving up on trying to move, "... I'm sure all my crew would be more than willing to give themselves to one of your brethren so they can disappear into memory, while your race, such as it is, begins a new exciting chapter in your existence,"
"Sarcasm Admiral, it doesn't become ....." Carl felt the entity wreath in pain, inwardly screaming for long long moments before it finally managed to regain control.
"You are in pain, what's the matter?" he asked, the sarcasm more obvious than ever.
"You are mista ....." Again the entity thrashing within his mind, having no sensory connection to his physical body, Carl had no way of knowing what was happening beyond his thoughts. But he knew now that something within his biological makeup was adversely affecting the entity, he needed to know what that was ..... Quickly! ..... He remained silent, satisfied as he felt the entity struggle more and more until once again it began to win the fight. He almost laughed hoping the seemingly excruciating agony would continue, but he also knew that the entity could return his own feelings, and worried how his body would react to the onslaught.
"It took some ti ..... time, searching your childhood memories until I found a possible explanation for my discomfort, but it appears that you came in contact with an incredibly rare virus as a boy, this was treated but left almost imperceptible changes to your thymi, hmm, unfortunate indeed .... I think our time together is coming to an end, Admiral, we shall rest while I think more on this quandry," the entity finally said before falling silent.
Before Carl could react, he too slipped back into a deep deep sleep ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jul 22, 2021 16:09:23 GMT
"And the Admiral's condition...?" Blakus asked, whilst he was receiving alarming reports from below-deck - Valente's mutineers had forged their way ahead again and were making for the computer core.
Svensson responded on the screen, smiling, now joined by two of his science team, "He's no threat. Our leader that possesses him has won its battle with whatever had been inhibiting it, the last I heard anyway. Now all that needs to be done is for me to rally my troops this side, eliminate Milyanov and Dyson - whose presences are too weak to be spared - and we and Dr Roach will have complete control of the station, sir."
"... I asked about the Admiral, Lieutenant," Blakus said after a lengthy pause - Gerelo stared across the bridge at him, once again uncertain in himself who was the strongest - Gerelo or his entity. "You say he's no threat. No threat against what...? The extinction of our minds?" Blakus pressed the science officer.
Svensson's sightless eyes blinked, "Commander... My brother?"
"Brother?" Even as Blakus felt the confidence of his own self return, the presence forced itself upon his psyche, wrapping itself about and caving in that mental construct's conceptual barriers; its cloak draped over him, a shadow passed over his consciousness. "You've performed admirably, Lieutenant. Proceed with the operation. We'll be with our brethren - perfect unity... -" he (or It) felt almost ecstatic, "soon enough."
Svensson acknowledged and turned to his two science personnel before the screen blanked out to return the view of the ruined planet; the Raven slipped into a lower orbit.
"Commander!" Gerelo called for a third time, "Valente has penetrated the computer core's section. If she can gain access to the core she could shut down most of our systems, probably even the warp core, sir!"
"If Valente and her group tries to gain access to the core they'll be inundated by the essences of our machine brethren waiting within the core itself," Blakus countered. "Direct contact with a computer core interface, essences permeable through the skin... Don't you remember how we gained control of these... bodies, these more primitive machines in the first place, Lieutenant? We ensconced ourselves in the core."
<Tag Valente - find a workaround?>
"Aye, sir," Gerelo said, looking away and blinking as the dualistic conflict within him continued. "Sir, about Simok... I'm still registering his lifesign, and I'm detecting no... brother machine inhabiting his system..." He checked whether Blakus had noticed his slip... It seemed he hadn't so he continued, "He is a Vulcan... Isn't Admiral Torek half-Vulcan?" Blakus nodded confirmation as he surveyed internal sensors from Svensson's deputy's console. "Might it be that these Vulcans are less susceptible to co-habitation, may even be able to effectively fight back and eject us?" Gerelo asked.
Blakus nodded impatiently, "I'd thought that myself."
"Then shouldn't we..." Gerelo felt in full control of himself now but was careful in his wording, "look to eliminate these Vulcans' physical bodies, and not try to conquer their minds?" He winced as he advised the entity Acting CO to destroy the Vulcan complement.
"I think you're wrong, Lieutenant. Vulcan physiology has proven susceptible, and there's evidence Simok was shot, not that his machine essence fell prey to some attack by the 'real' self trying to eject it." Despite Ensign Brackley's report, he added internally. He wondered how much he could trust Brackley...
"Let us begin to link our Mind," he declared, "Project it to join once more to the Greater Mind that remains in the catacombs of the world of our first victims..." in anticipation he watched the planet below.
As the order was confirmed and the communion of machines in the computer core and associated essences began, Blakus felt the glaze pass from his eyes. He was himself again, the entity once again having failed to keep control...
He beat his armrest in frustration. How could he have allowed that to happen? He'd been talking to Svensson, taking the steps needed to avert catastrophe, and the presence had reasserted itself. Now he'd control once more, Svensson would be setting about taking control of the station. Could he communicate directly with the Admiral somehow... or Milyanov if he hadn't been infiltrated... perhaps work through the machine essence?
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Jul 26, 2021 14:30:53 GMT
They had been moving through the Jeffries Tubes for two hours now, several times they had been forced into the open to cross a corridor, surprisingly, or just by blind luck, they had not been spotted ..... Wedlerson clambered into the Jeffries Tube just as someone rounded the corner, he closed the hatch and sat statuelike as the two voices neared their position. He could hear two men speaking but couldn't quite make out the muffled words. A moment later the voices moved out of earshot and he breathed a sigh of relief, he glanced further along the Tube where Burwell and Valente were waiting, giving a thumbs-up he crawled forward to join them: "Forty-five metres and we should be able to access the core directly," the Operations Officer said, moving past the two to continue their trek. With less than ten metres to the next junction, where the Jeffries Tube continued on, there was a ladder that allowed access to Deck Five above and Deck Seven below, there was also access to the Upper Primary Computer Core! ..... Wedlerson reached forward to activate the door but Colonel Burwell grabbed his arm: "Did you hear something?" the Marine asked. "Nothing," Harry replied. Burwell shook his head before releasing his grip, and with a nod from Calli, he activated the hatch which slid silently out of view. His breath caught in his throat as he heard the distinctive sound of boots on rungs, and they were getting closer. With no time to close the hatch, they braced themselves, but again the sound hated and they heard a Technician telling someone above that the relay was fine, moaning about 'wild goose chases' he clambered back up to his colleague and they heard the two men step out of the Jeffries Tube. Climbing out, the three stood looking up and down the ladder as Calli turned to the access hatch: "Does anyone else think we've been extremely lucky so far?" Burwell commented, pausing Calli's activating of the hatch. "We've been careful," Valente replied, Wedlerson nodding his agreement. "These things, that are taking over our people are, machine-related, right...?" the Marine persisted, "... So how do we know that they are not sat in there waiting for us to come to them?" the three stood silently contemplating his words, maybe it hadn't been lucky, maybe they had been allowed to crawl their way through half the ship while Blakus, Gerello, and who knows who else, sat enjoying their plight. It was almost a miracle that they hadn't been spotted crossing one of the corridors, so maybe those looking for them allowed them to cross? "If we can't get in there we may as well hand ourselves over," Harry said, clearly defeated. "Wait, what about one of those electromagnetic pulse things? Calli said, but Harry confirmed that it would effectively shut everything down, including life support. "What about giving the entities a headache...?" Harry said with a wry grin, then when no-one replied he continued with his idea, "... We can access secondary systems from the Jeffries Tube right, so if we could overload the Binary Matrix in there it might cause an electrostatic discharge powerful enough to incapacitate them, at least for long enough for us to get in and do some damage!" "But wouldn't an electrostatic discharge affect us too?" Burwell asked. "Hell yes, it would be hell in there, think about rubbing a balloon on your head and seeing your hair stand on end, but multiplied thousands of times, you'll feel like your on fire and want to scratch every square millimetre of your skin constantly, don't...!" Wedlerson warned, "... Believe me, once you start bleeding you'll rip at, well, let's just say don't scratch. everything metallic in the room will effectively become a Van de Graffe generator, the bulkheads will act like some reversed Faraday Cage, trapping the discharges, so don't touch anything other than the panels themselves, and you might want to try not standing too tall," he winked at Calli, knowing that at just under one metre seventy, she was shorter than both men accompanying her. "..... And it won't interrupt vital primary systems?" Valente asked, ignoring Harry's jibe at her height. "Erm, it shouldn't ... No, it won't it's only the Binary Matrix," Harry replied, unconvincingly. "OK, well, no time like the present," Calli said, climbing into the Jeffries Tube to remove the panel Harry needed. With Calli and Lew Burwell stood next to the access hatch, Harry made numerous changes then climbed out, he dropped his commbadge on the deck, explaining that the microcircuitry would attract the surges like the proverbial lightning rod, the other two quickly followed suit as Wedlerson leaned into the 'Tube and entered the last change ..... All three felt their hair standing on end as they felt the first effects of the electrostatic discharge, but as the access hatch slid aside it multiplied. nervously they three climbed into the core, Burwell turning away to vomit as the discharge ravaged his nervous system. Calli almost collapsed but regained her footing, just. Harry scrambled to the nearest console to access the control systems. Several warnings began to sound but ignoring them he worked as quickly as possible ..... On the Bridge, Gerello confirmed that the three fugitives were outside the Upper Primary Computer Core, Blakus grinned, knowing his brethren would have their hosts soon. A second later he was flung across the Bridge writhing in agony ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jul 28, 2021 15:34:55 GMT
All across the ship those who'd been infiltrated - nearly a quarter of the crew - were flung about like rag dolls, wherever they might've been working. It included most of the bridge staff, with Gerelo pitched over his console in a virtual somersault, landing on his back before the command chair. Blakus was picking himself up, trying to shake the essence free from his mind if such a thing were possible.
It'd never felt weaker, more wracked with pain. Where before it'd struggled to take and maintain control of its host, now it was virtually impossible - only Blakus's body was made to suffer for it. The machine presence - inextricably linked to its actual self, its software version buried deep in the computer core - began its irreversible withdrawal from the XO's mind and at last Blakus felt a sense of freedom returning, not only to his movements, his actions, but the directions in which he could turn his thoughts.
Gerelo felt the same, as did the others; three were badly hurt. "Get some... get some medics up here," he choked out, looking across and nodding at his own medical chaperone who'd been on hand administering the jolts to keep his inhabiting essence at bay (not very successfully in recent times).
"Is everyone alright?" he murmured, as he returned to the command chair and Gerelo picked himself up, back up to the tactical station aft and starboard, "Damage and casualty report. What hit us?"
"They reached into the upper core, sir. I don't know how but they managed to avoid... inhabitation," Wedlerson's deputy was saying, "Perhaps for the same reason we've been freed from it, I suppose you could say, sir."
"27 casualties, and the number is mounting. Minor damage to secondary systems," Gerelo was reading off his panel, "Difficult to be sure, but it seems there've been no deaths. Awaiting Dr Keeley's report."
"Are communications online?" It was affirmed to Andae they were. He nodded, turning to the viewscreen, "Contact the machine station. I'd like to... amend my last orders to Lieutenant Svensson."
"Trying, Commander... Ok, channel open." Gerelo's hurting eyes looked up at the screen.
"On screen." The command centre of the station appeared, dark, punctuated by light from fluorescently lit consoles that seemed far off in the distance, though having been there himself, Andae knew the circular control centre was only about ten metres across. "Lieutenant Svensson?" he said to the silhouetted figure approaching the screen, "This is Commander Blakus. You'll desist from your efforts."
"It's alright, Andae... This is Milyanov." The Assistant Chief Engineer, Blakus's former subordinate stepped into the light by his own console, "I see what's been done to your computer core; that's excellent. Svensson...? He's in the deeper levels somewhere... I sent Dyson after him; I realise now it was a foolish thing to do - alone the Chief may not be able to control the tenuous essence inside his head... Even if he can he could find himself outnumbered by Svensson's science team."
Blakus was passed reports from bridge officers as he listened, he nodded as PADDs were passed through his hands and returned full focus to the screen, "We're pulling into a higher orbit. The... communion... of the entities aboard and with those on the surface seems to have been averted for now, hopefully permanently. What about those on the station?"
Milyanov sighed, "The machines? I can't tell. I think it's best we get out of here and destroy this facility while we can, before any of us are lost to the essences again."
"Beam you all back with Svensson, his team and possibly Roach all still inhabited? No... the problem persists on the station and those infiltrated would remain that way here; in a sense it still persists here, all that seems to have happened is the entities have retreated into the computer core, trapped and no longer in any of our minds... Is it possible you can do over there what it seems Commander Valente's team have done here?" he asked.
"I'd need the details on how exactly they accomplished it," Milyanov stated, "And sir... I'm afraid that something has happened to Lysia..." Blakus held his breath. "She's been attacked, I think by Svensson. She's still alive, sir, but brain activity, pulse... both very weak. If only I could find Dr Roach... Roach... She's gone missing, perhaps with Svensson."
"We'll get you out of there as soon as possible," Blakus acknowledged and had the channel closed.
He took a moment and cleared his throat before tapping at his armrest's panel, =/\=Umm, Commander Valente... this is Commander Blakus.=/\= Calli's badge chirped on the floor outside the computer core complex, the voice emitting from it barely audible. =/\=Congratulations in whatever you did... Are you reading me, Calli? How did you do it...? Can I put one of you in touch with Milyanov on the machine station, please, he may be able to purge the entities from our people over there; then we'd be free to beam them back...=/\= He waited pensively, =/\=Are you reading, Commander?=/\=
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Aug 5, 2021 12:48:09 GMT
Machine Station :: Lysia sat quietly watching Jor Svensson as he tried yet again to disrupt the hold the machine entities had over them ..... nothing he tried worked, in fact, she was almost convinced the man was helping rather than attempting to hinder those who sought to take over the Federation Officers. She offered to help but for the second time she was 'ordered' to remain where she was, this she had to put a stop to given she outranked the Science Officer: "Look 'Mister' Svensson... We're all wound tighter than a proverbial clock spring here, but trying to cut me out isn't helping anyone..." she stood, moving towards the man who seemed to have frozen in time, leaning forward to try to see what he was doing she had no time to react as he spun, slamming something heavy into her temple, staggering backwards her eye filled with blood as she tried to keep from falling. She staggered back, coming into contact with another of the stations and reached up to tap her commbadge. Pain raced through every nerve as her hand was slapped away presumably with the same thing that hit her a moment earlier, she screamed in agony knowing several bones had fractured in the impact. Her vision still blurred, she tried to move out of range of the darkened figure relentlessly approaching. She realised quickly that she needed to react, and before Svensson could finish her off! She could see he was raising the weapon again and lunged forward, her good hand balled into a tight fist as she slammed it into his chest just beneath the sternum ..... Svensson staggered away, almost vomiting but quickly recovered, too quickly for the dazed T'Seng, who tried to raise her arm to ward off the oncoming blow. She felt the tool hit then her world went black, fifteen minutes later she was discovered ..... USS Raven-C ... Upper Primary Computer Core :: Wedlerson, Burwell, and Valente having discharged the overload of the binary matrix in the core were now suffering from the effects. She, as a child, had seen a Van de Graffe generator in the Science Museum, had carefully placed a hand on the larger sphere and felt every hair on her body stand up, she remembered the tingling and had clearly, mistakenly, been expecting a similar effect when they had set the overload. Now, as bolts of static energy passed from the core to the bulkheads, deck, and ceiling of the room passing through them en route, she was fighting not to bite her own tongue off as the pain seared across every synapse. She could taste the bile rising as she watched her companions suffering the same fate. Wedlerson screamed, ripping his commbadge from his tunic before throwing it aside, Calli then felt the burning, the commbadge itself was being affected by the massive discharge and was overloading itself to the point of destruction. She too snatched at the device which instantly burned an impression into the palm of her hand before she could throw it away! She felt someone, presumably Colonel Burwell given she could still see Harry, grabbing her beneath her arms before dragging her across the deck. He was shouting at her to get to her feet, but the static discharge was drowning out any communication and all she could do was shake her head in confusion. Screaming some inaudible obscenity, Burwell dragged her up and pushed her head-first into the hatch they had entered through earlier, then, with no regard for how she would land he pushed her through her legs disappearing as she dropped to the floor of the Jeffries Tube. Without waiting he turned to Wedlerson who had already managed to clamber to his feet. The two crossed the room and Burwell forced Wedlerson to climb through first, then followed close behind. Harry was ready to slam the hatch shut as the Marine hit the deck hard. In the now empty room Calli's commbadge had chirped to life: =^= Commander Valente .. .. This is Commander Blakus .. .. Congratulations in whatever you did .. Are you reading me .. Calli? .. .. How did you do it .. Can I put one of you in touch with Milyanov on the machine station please .. He may be able to purge the entities from our people over there then we'd be free to beam them back .. .. .. Are you reading Commander? =^= Outside the room, and unable to retain consciousness, the two men collapsed beside Valente, none of them heard Andae Blakus trying to contact them ..... On the Bridge, Andae was frustrated: "Computer. Location of Commander Valente, Commander Wedlerson, and Colonel Burwell?" "Commander Valente. Commander Wedlerson. and Colonel Burwell are in the Upper Primary Computer Core.""Scan the room. What is their status?" he asked quickly. Unable to comply, a malfunction has affected sensors in that area." Andae swore under his breath, there was no need to ask about the malfunction. "Get someone to their location, quick!" he ordered as the Ravenclimbed into a higher orbit around the decimated world below. In the Jeffries Tube, bile and vomit began to rise in Valente's throat, causing her body to involuntarily spasm, this reaction woke her from unconsciousness and she turned aside just in time for the vomit not to fall back into her throat. Wiping the remnants away with her sleeve she turned to the others. She was about to clamber to her feet when something made her pause, she 'felt' the static before she heard the discharge and slammed herself against the deck as a neon blue bolt crashed into the wall above her head. She looked towards the hatch separating them from the Upper core, astonished to see it glowing as electricity danced around its rim! Reaching forward, eyes on the hatch, she shook Burwell until he opened his eyes, she had to reach forward to stop him from getting to a seated position and pointed. They grasped Wedlerson and dragged him further along the Jeffries Tube and hopefully out of danger. She woke the Operations Officer and they all looked back towards the hatch. "The discharge is building," Calli managed to say through her dry throat. "That can't be right..." Wedlerson said, managing to clamber into a seated position, back against the wall for support, "... It should have dissipated by now," "Could it be the machine entities?" Burwell asked almost choking in the process. "The overload and subsiquent failure of the binary matrix should have disabled them, they should be inert, at least that was the plan," Calli replied, frowning, the other two could only look at her hoping that that was the case ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Aug 7, 2021 19:25:03 GMT
=/\=Commander, we've attempted contact and queried the computer again. Their commbadges are no longer active, sir,=/\= Gerelo reported.
Andae acknowledged from the command chair that he hoped he'd soon be able to give up again to its rightful occupant - the Admiral still over on the machine station, still, hopefully, free from the influence of his machine entity. Valente, Burwell and Wedlerson's commbadges were offline... The likely explanation was the badges had been fried by the electrical activity in the computer core's access room - it didn't necessarily mean Valente, Burwell and Wedlerson were no longer alive.
=/\=Hurry on in there,=/\= he ordered Gerelo and his security team, studying his arm-panel that showed readouts fed from the engineering station, =/\=And watch for radiation spikes near the core access area. There's a possibility of electrical arcing in and around the room.=/\=
=/\=Yes, sir. So you know, Dr Keeley's medical team has joined us, sir. Gerelo out.=/\=
Andae nodded to himself and studied the readouts with concern but also interest; he felt he may not need the three former 'mutineers' in order to tell Milyanov what needed to be done to purge the entities on the machine station, though a few 'minor' adjustments would have to be made:
It seemed Valente and co had tried to overload the computer core's binary matrix, thereby shocking the presences that'd been in about a quarter of the crew back out of their hosts and into the core for their mutual protection; the way the discharge had been set up, however, may even have given the trio the chance of rendering the machines completely inert, solving the crew's problem with a single knockout blow. The issue was however that the frying of the matrix hadn't brought about the actual discharge, instead an electromagnetic effect of some 4.2 petaNewtons was building within the core. When the discharge occurred, regardless of whether the force of it was on the order of 1015 Newtons or more, it would rip the saucer section in half. Were the machines responsible? Presumably they could survive such a blow, and obviously they wouldn't perish in a vacuum the way a humanoid crew would...
He stood behind the deputy Operations Officer's chair, "It seems not just the core but the whole room's been affected. Flood it with high energy positrons."
"I've tried that, sir. No effect."
"You've tried that?" Andae looked at the man incredulously; he'd thought it a risky move to start with, and could only be glad it hadn't had an effect on adjacent systems. He shook his head, "A stupid idea anyway; we can't generate that sort of power to neutralise such an electrical build-up."
"A solution, sir... Beam the computer core into space, say 100,000 kilometres to be on the safe side."
"We do have the secondary core," Andae nodded. Although ship systems' functionality would be limited til they got a replacement, a beam-out may be their only choice. He was reminded by the lieutenant that they didn't have long. The XO nodded and turned to tactical, "Assuming you can isolate the core from its surroundings, do it." He commed Gerelo informing him of the decision; when or if Torek was able to make it back, he may not be wholly satisfied, but it seemed this was the only option.
The dematerialisation of the main computer core began.
Gerelo's team had arrived at the Jefferies' Tube entrance, entered and found the crouched forms of those who'd caused the entities to retreat from their minds. "Commander Valente," as soon as he greeted the mission advisor she yelled out at him to drop to the deck. Arcing electricity shot from the core access room hatch. With the air about him singed by electrical energy, Gerelo cautiously lifted himself. That was deliberate, he thought; if he hadn't followed advice, the arc would've struck the middle of his thorax.
"It seems they're growing desperate," he commented. "Are you alright?" he asked the trio as he allowed Dr Keeley to squeeze past him to see to the three. He glanced at the hatch, glowing bluish-white, and spoke to Calli, "The energy build-up is threatening the ship, we could be torn apart. The good news is the discharge should occur far from here; Commander Blakus is having the core beamed out."
<Tag Valente>
* * *
Meanwhile on the machine station, Milyanov was edging his way down a passage, keeping clear of the machine-ridden bulkheads. Where on... Earth, had Roach got to? Lysia's condition was bad, very bad; if he didn't get her help in the next 15 minutes -
His thoughts were interrupted by one of Svensson's science officers jumping at him from an alcove to his left. They fell in a tangle, the science officer trying to land a punch as Milyanov attempted to reach the hyperspanner on his maintenance belt.
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