Lovell 1
USS James Lovell
The USS James Lovell screamed into the area, went sublight, and swooped ahead on powerful impulse drives.
“Federation starship, your presence here is unwarranted. Leave immediately.” The Tholian ships said.
“We’re in neutral space, and our sensors say you’re cooking up something to do with temporal physics. We’d like to advise you to not do that.” Captain McGee said.
“You are Temporally Deviant! Your presence endangers all! You must flee! Immediately!”
“Power build up! Temporal energy spiking!”
“Shut your machine down! That sort of thing is extremely dangerous!” McGee said
“Impossible, this energy build-up has taken weeks. If we try to stop now, we will be vaporized. Your deviant quantum signature will have unpredictable effects, please leave now!” The Tholian waved its limbs and looked much more agitated than its computer voice suggested.
McGee thought about it “Helm. Hard about. Get us separation from that thing.”
“Too late! It’s detonating!”
A point of light blazed and then turned into a shockwave. The shockwave shredded the Tholian ships and creeped up behind the USS James Lovell
“Emergency speed, dump all batteries into the impulse drive! Engineering, We need warp speed now!” McGee said
“Aye, Sir!” Redska said
The shockwave caught them, and the Starship seemed to be hurled about like a leaf in a strong wind…
-*-
They found themselves screaming along near a pretty class M world.
“All stop! Sensors report!”
“Are we warping or not, Captain?” Redska asked
“I don’t know yet, Stand by.”
Dodza, the Tellarite Ops officer said “I can’t establish our position, yet. The stars… keep changing. Sensors detect three ships near the planet. Correction, two ships, and debris. I think it’s the Tholians.
“Scan and Identity,” Skip McGee moved to the helm and looked at the navigation readout.
It showed the James Lovell in a space near a class M planet. Sensor readings were coming in about the star they orbited. It was a standard generic, yellow, type-G star. There was a normal amount of rock and dust within range of their sensors.
But beyond that, the sensors couldn’t lock onto anything. No bouys or beacons. None of the usual navigation landmarks, black holes, pulsars, and magnetars the computer could use to fix their place.
They could see the center of the galaxy, but it was fuzzy. The edges were moving. The size and energy output of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way reported back changing, and fuzzy.
The navigational computer immediately discarded all such input and reported major faults with the sensor systems.
Skip said “Begin a level two diagnostics of the sensor systems. If we have to run, I don’t want to run blind.”
“Aye, Sir.”
Zestalaban ran onto the bridge from the turbo lift. **Captain, something is very wrong.**
His voice sounded distant and distorted.
McGee squinted ”Lieutenant, what’s wrong with your voice?”
**I’m not sure, yet, but this is part of the problem.**
“Any ID on the other ships yet?
“I’m seeing two ships that look Klingon-ish and parts of our Tholian friends.”
“What? On Screen.”
The screen showed a collection of debris, with large chunks that McGee could identify as parts of the Tholian Orb Weaver cruisers.
“Rescue stations. Let’s see if we can help them out. Helm take us to the Tholian ships.”
Tarsi said, “That’s a tall order with their life support requirements.”
The Lovell turned and moved toward the ruined Tholian ships.
McGee said, “My hope is that if we can find enough of a chunk of a Tholian ship, we can stabilize it and use it as a life-boat.”
“One of the other ships is hailing us, Captain.
“On Screen.”
The screen changed to show another starship bridge. It looked Klingon with old fashioned starfleet screens on all the display panels. McGee saw Humans, Orions, Klingons, and an Aneilog. Their uniforms were blue fatigues. McGee was reminded of the Starfleet Uniform of the 2150s. Similar patches and rank markings.
A red headed man stood in front of the Captains chair “This is Captain Spaulding Ashby of the EDS Atlantis. Please identify yourselves.”
“I’m Captain Skip McGee of the USS James Lovell. We are a starship of the United Federation of Planets. We’re on a peaceful mission.”
Ashby said “James Lovell? Like the Astronaut?”
McGee nodded “He’s a notable historical figure on my homeworld.”
Ashby said “Mine, too. Can you tell us what’s going on here?”
McGee said “I can not. We’re still working on defining it. But I suspect it has to do with the Tholians over there. They were trying something involving time travel when it exploded and we found ourselves here.”
Ashby looked into an old-fashioned scope “Ah. We were exploring a wreck that shared some elements in common with that debris. We’re reading life forms in that debris.”
“Yes, we’re heading to rescue them now.”
Ashby looked up “Molten lava crystal spiders?”
“I didn’t say it was going to be easy or that we’d succeed. I am honor bound to try.”
“We’re reading a Dominion ship here with us,” Ashby said, “But they haven’t moved.”
“The Dominion?”
“Our enemies. We’re in a state of war, Captain.”
McGee turned to Zwihasi, his Betazoid science officer “Is that a Dominion starship?”
“Not ours, Captain. That other ship looks Klingon, Romulan, and something else.”
“Show me.”
The screen showed a ship configured like the Romulans and Klingons liked to make their ships. A wedge-shaped main hull with a boom out front. Like a bird. The swoop of the design looked Romulan to Skip.
The scan showed metals, devices, and construction techniques used Klingons, Orions and Romulans. Along with something else. The whole thing was unified and run through a gothic horror filter. McGee was reminded of a Romulan ship designed by HR Gieger.
McGee said to Ashby, still in a smaller window “Is that your enemy?”
“Yup. Looks like the same guy who bounced us when we were exploring the wreck of the Tholian ship.”
“The Federation is an organization of peace. If you’d like we can try to negotiate a peaceful resolution of your conflict.” McGee said.
“If you think you stand a chance, please do. I’d love to see it.”
“Hail the other ship.”
No answer, Sir.”
“Alright, keep an eye on them while we rescue the Tholians. Care to assist, Captain Ashby?”
“I’d like to see that, too.”
Lovell - New Friends in weird places
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 2
“We are unable to escape. Life support is failing. We will soon perish.” The Tholian said.
“Can we help?” McGee asked
“Why would you do this when we’ve made our enmity to you clear?” The Tholian asked.
“It’s a Federation thing. There’s nothing we like doing better than difficult rescues in the nick of time.” McGee said.
Tarsi, his Andorian XO slid a wry grin his way.
“Accurate accounting of the mind-set,” The Tholian said “Very well, for now, enmity is set aside. We would welcome your assistance.”
“If we can find a good chunk of surviving Tholian ship and then support that with energy and supplies, that might work for a while.”
“An adequate solution. Our transporters are unlikely to have survived. Can you use yours to transport Tholians to the improvised life-boat?”
“Yes.”
“Then I recommend the forward section of the Crystal-Starlight-Edifice-Left-Gateway.”
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
“Indeed.”
-*-
Zestalatan raised his icon to the All.
What he saw was terrifying. There wasn’t just one. There were many. They wavered and shimmered like water and came and went. He saw them as if from a great distance.
Montaban, the Engineer from the EDS Atlantis was there **This isn’t good.**
Zestalaban shared his memories with Montban who returned the favor.
**We’re our own little All now.**
**This seems to suggest we’re in a space between spaces. We’re stuck between dimensions and timelines.**
Zestalaban considered his memories of Montaban **This is bad. I have to go warn my Captain.**
**We’ll be here.**
Zestalaban left the Ane of the Lovell and the Ane of the Atlantis reforming their community.
-*-
The Atlantis soon joined in beaming Tholian survivors into the front half of the ruined Tholian ship. The Lovell transmitted energy through a tractor beam that the Tholian crew used to stabilize it.
“Captain, the Dominion ship just cloaked.”
“Can we penetrate their cloak?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Hail them, Open channel.”
You’re live, Sir.”
“Your cloak is ineffective. I’d like to discourage violence. Let’s talk this out.”
The screen showed the bridge of the Dominion ship. It was dark and continued the HR Geiger style motif. McGee could see normal bridge stations, designed in an overly halloween style including a throne that seemed to suggest bones and skulls at the center, where the Captain chair was located in a normal bridge. At the front there were two stations, a Helm and a Navigation console.
There were two people in dark clothing, one in each seat. A Romulan and an Orion. Standing over them, another being. Humanoid, dark robes, a dark cloak with a high collar. Their skin was purple. They looked like an evil octopus decided to grow a humanoid body underneath it.
The being held their hands on the shoulders of the Romulan Helmswoman and the Orion Navigator. The purple being wriggled their fingers.
“More humans. Intriguing,” The Romulan Woman said. Her face was absent, her body was rigid. The purple being was using her voice.
“We seem to be stuck here. I hope we can avoid unwarranted violence.” McGee said.
“You speak with my enemies, You’re cooperating with them to rescue the crystaline ones.”
“That’s correct, We help those in need, when we can.”
“How do I know you won’t turn both your ships on me when you’re done? I should strike now. My disadvantage will only grow greater.”
“We will not initiate violence against your vessel. If attacked we will defend ourselves. Stay peaceful and we will, too.”
“You say my cloak is ineffective against your sensors?”
“That is correct.”
“I withdraw.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to negotiate? We could make progress towards ending your war.”
The purple being and the Romulan Helmswoman both looked surprised “Does the El-Nanth Alliance wish to surrender?”
McGee squinted “I don’t think so.”
“Then the war continues. We have agreement not to initiate violence at this time.” The channel cut.
The Dominion warbird backed away slowly.
Zwihasi said “Captain, if I’m reading this right. The Dominion warbird is operating with minimal systems. Something’s going on with them.”
“Keep an eye on them, for now. We’ll come back to them after we’re done with the rescue.”
Zestalaban came to the Bridge and gently laid his hand on McGee’s shoulder **Captain, may I speak with you for a moment?** His voice sounded much more clear with the touch.
“We are unable to escape. Life support is failing. We will soon perish.” The Tholian said.
“Can we help?” McGee asked
“Why would you do this when we’ve made our enmity to you clear?” The Tholian asked.
“It’s a Federation thing. There’s nothing we like doing better than difficult rescues in the nick of time.” McGee said.
Tarsi, his Andorian XO slid a wry grin his way.
“Accurate accounting of the mind-set,” The Tholian said “Very well, for now, enmity is set aside. We would welcome your assistance.”
“If we can find a good chunk of surviving Tholian ship and then support that with energy and supplies, that might work for a while.”
“An adequate solution. Our transporters are unlikely to have survived. Can you use yours to transport Tholians to the improvised life-boat?”
“Yes.”
“Then I recommend the forward section of the Crystal-Starlight-Edifice-Left-Gateway.”
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
“Indeed.”
-*-
Zestalatan raised his icon to the All.
What he saw was terrifying. There wasn’t just one. There were many. They wavered and shimmered like water and came and went. He saw them as if from a great distance.
Montaban, the Engineer from the EDS Atlantis was there **This isn’t good.**
Zestalaban shared his memories with Montban who returned the favor.
**We’re our own little All now.**
**This seems to suggest we’re in a space between spaces. We’re stuck between dimensions and timelines.**
Zestalaban considered his memories of Montaban **This is bad. I have to go warn my Captain.**
**We’ll be here.**
Zestalaban left the Ane of the Lovell and the Ane of the Atlantis reforming their community.
-*-
The Atlantis soon joined in beaming Tholian survivors into the front half of the ruined Tholian ship. The Lovell transmitted energy through a tractor beam that the Tholian crew used to stabilize it.
“Captain, the Dominion ship just cloaked.”
“Can we penetrate their cloak?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Hail them, Open channel.”
You’re live, Sir.”
“Your cloak is ineffective. I’d like to discourage violence. Let’s talk this out.”
The screen showed the bridge of the Dominion ship. It was dark and continued the HR Geiger style motif. McGee could see normal bridge stations, designed in an overly halloween style including a throne that seemed to suggest bones and skulls at the center, where the Captain chair was located in a normal bridge. At the front there were two stations, a Helm and a Navigation console.
There were two people in dark clothing, one in each seat. A Romulan and an Orion. Standing over them, another being. Humanoid, dark robes, a dark cloak with a high collar. Their skin was purple. They looked like an evil octopus decided to grow a humanoid body underneath it.
The being held their hands on the shoulders of the Romulan Helmswoman and the Orion Navigator. The purple being wriggled their fingers.
“More humans. Intriguing,” The Romulan Woman said. Her face was absent, her body was rigid. The purple being was using her voice.
“We seem to be stuck here. I hope we can avoid unwarranted violence.” McGee said.
“You speak with my enemies, You’re cooperating with them to rescue the crystaline ones.”
“That’s correct, We help those in need, when we can.”
“How do I know you won’t turn both your ships on me when you’re done? I should strike now. My disadvantage will only grow greater.”
“We will not initiate violence against your vessel. If attacked we will defend ourselves. Stay peaceful and we will, too.”
“You say my cloak is ineffective against your sensors?”
“That is correct.”
“I withdraw.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to negotiate? We could make progress towards ending your war.”
The purple being and the Romulan Helmswoman both looked surprised “Does the El-Nanth Alliance wish to surrender?”
McGee squinted “I don’t think so.”
“Then the war continues. We have agreement not to initiate violence at this time.” The channel cut.
The Dominion warbird backed away slowly.
Zwihasi said “Captain, if I’m reading this right. The Dominion warbird is operating with minimal systems. Something’s going on with them.”
“Keep an eye on them, for now. We’ll come back to them after we’re done with the rescue.”
Zestalaban came to the Bridge and gently laid his hand on McGee’s shoulder **Captain, may I speak with you for a moment?** His voice sounded much more clear with the touch.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 3
“So you’re saying the space somehow interferes with psionics?” McGee asked
**It seems so. I am locked out of The All.**
“Are you okay?” McGee asked.
**You read the Admirals Book?**
“As soon as you were stationed with us. I like that he left us a manual for you guys.”
Zestalaban’s tail flipped about. McGee could feel the smile **Thank you. I can sort of see The All. I know my people are there, they’re just out of range for now. There are Ane on the EDS Atlantis. They’re in a similar predicament. We’re helping each other through.**
“Hmmm. That’s going to make appearing neutral to the scary-looking guys harder.”
**You shouldn’t worry about that. I doubt your overtures will succeed.**
“Oh? Why?”
**Because of what the other Ane know of the Illithid. They are… the opposite of the Ane in most ways. They engage in Telepathic conquest. The crew of that ship have probably been psionically altered to be loyal to the Illithid. They consider all other species inferior, suitable only as slaves or food. Montaban says they’ve taken over a big chunk of the space we’d call Romulan, some of the Klingon and Orion worlds. In response the Ane have formed the El-Nanth Alliance, The unconquered Klingons, the Free Romulans, and many of the worlds that would make up the Federation in our dimension. The Atlantis is a ship of the Earth Defense Force, built in 2022, old calendar.**
McGee winced “That’s the Prime Directive out the window.”
**The El-Nanth Alliance has no such rule.**
“And the Temporal Prime Directive.”
**I’m not sure it applies here**
**Greetings, Young Ones!** McGee heard the voice as a jovial old grandpa, speaking over a loudspeaker.
Zestalaban grabbed his head **OW!**
**Why, you’re in a spot of bother. Come on down, and let’s talk about it.**
McGee could almost hear his ears ringing with the volume of the voice.
Zestalaban had his arms curled around his head.
**I’ll set the table for ya**
-*-
Skip found himself standing along a street. The buildings were low and rustic. The place was designed around pedestrians. The sky was blue and the sun was warm. Skip could smell grass and trees and flowers.
His body let out an “aaaahhhh” feeling.
“Rude,” Tarsi said.
Along the road to the west were most of the Lovell’s crew.
“Tarsi, gather up everyone, and get a head count.”
To the east, he could see figures in blue. The Atlantis crew?
Along the road to the north, he could see Tholians. “What in the hell?”
“Voltu, you’re with me,” Skip jogged north with his Bajoran Security chief.
“You think it’s safe?” Voltu asked.
Skip said, “I gotta see.”
They approached the Tholians.
The Tholians turned and the largest one moved to the front “How do you survive without armor and life support?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“I am Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian present.”
“I’m Captain McGee, of the Federation starship-”
“Yes. Skipworth Beauregarde McGee of the USS James Lovell NCC-93309. We know of you.”
Skip let that lie for a few moments. Then he asked, “What environment are you experiencing?”
“We are experiencing what we took to be a hologram of a humanoid town. We often use such things for training.”
“Weird.”
“Excessively odd.”
“Are these the guys we were rescuing?”
Skip turned to see Captain Ashby and a sleek black cat woman approaching.
“Captain Ashby,”
“Captain McGee, This is Seelein. My wife.”
“Pleased, ma’am. This is my security chief Voltu Bob.”
“Bob?” Spaulding asked.
“My parents had a close friend from Earth. Bob is my given name. Among Bajorans, the family name comes first.”
“And this is Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian.”
“Inaccurate rendition of my name. But, how do you say? Close enough.”
“Pleased to meet you in person.”
“This simply cannot be,” Sparkling-Thursday said, “Unless our captor instantly transported us to separate holodecks, that are cross-feeding.”
“I’d like to think we’d have seen some evidence before our captor activated a transporter, no matter how advanced.”
“Interesting that it brought clothing but no weapons,” Ashby said.
“Were you carrying weapons?” Skip asked.
“Yes. My mom always insisted. I feel naked without a hold-out piece.”
“I also had a concealed weapon, Sir.” Voltu said, “It’s not here.”
“We have to figure this out,” Skip said, “There’s a trick here. Some element we’re overlooking.”
“Are any of your Ane folks here?” Spaulding asked.
Skip looked around “I didn’t think to count. Let’s head back and complete the headcount.”
“We should stay in proximity in order to provide mutual support,” Sparkling-Thursday said.
“By all means.”
The party moved back toward the center the town.
Their head count revealed that none of the Ane were present. None of the Holograms among the crew of the Lovell were present, either.
“Holograms?” Lt Heidleberg asked. She was the chief tactical officer of the EDS Atlantis.
“Uhhhh, the old term would have been Artificial Intelligence, I guess,” Skip explained.
“We have several of those on Earth and one who really insists on the term R.I.”
“Therilan,” Spaulding said, “Very Ane.”
“Huh,” Spaulding said “We have RI’s in our fleet, too. I haven’t met any in any depth.”
So, Ane and AI’s are not here.” Heidelberg said.
Zwihasi Trez said, “I’m a telepath, and I’m here.”
“Let me see what I can do,” A pretty dark-haired woman said. She began to make certain odd hand motions and chanted in an odd tongue.
Skip looked at Spaulding.
“Magic,” Spaulding said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t believe in it.”
Skip and Tarsi shared an “Oh hell” look.
The magic-using woman finished her ritual and as she finished the last word and the last gesture there was an acintic blue-white flash and a popping noise. The woman flopped over backward.
The black cat woman was by her side in a flash.
After a few moments Spaulding asked, “Fanna, are you okay?”
The woman looked at her hands. “Spell failure. That should have burned me.”
“I’m glad it didn’t,” Seelein said.
“Me too. But it’s weird.”
“Hey!” A voice called from the south.
The combined crews turned to see other humanoids in black uniforms.
“What have you done to us? Where is our Master?” The leader of the party was a Romulan woman. Skip thought it might be the one the purple guy was using to talk through earlier.
Skip held up his hands. “We don’t know any more than you do, Ma’am. I’m Skip McGee of the USS James Lovell.”
“Human SCUM!” The Romulan yelled, “WHERE IS HE?”
A Klingon standing next to her said, “I’ll wring the truth out of him.”
Voltu said, “You’ll have to go through me.”
The Klingon grinned. “Okay.”
Skip said, “Can we please handle this like adults?”
Spaulding put his fingers in his mouth and blew a piercing whistle. “Fighters up front, Scientists in the rear. Form up on me!”
The Atlantis crew moved with alacrity to form up for hand-to-hand combat.
Tarsi and Voltu moved to place themselves level with Spaulding's combat line. More of the Lovell crew moved to join them. The Tholians stayed well back, watching.
Skip placed himself between the two groups. “We didn’t do anything with your purple guy!” Skip said, “Something screened certain people out. We don’t know why.”
The Romulan woman approached him and hissed, “I serve Pollarghast the Immortal. I will find my way back to his side, and then I will wreak a horrible vengeance on you.”
“What’s wrong with vengeance now?” The Klingon asked, genuinely enjoying the face-off.
“Look at these idiots! Look at the blank incomprehension on their faces! They know nothing!” The woman said, “They may have value… as meat shields and emergency rations.”
Skip nodded “Okay… that’s progress of a sort. How about we let fighting wait until we know something about what’s going on here?”
“Coward,” The Klingon enunciated the word carefully. He wanted everyone to hear him say it.
“Well, let’s pretend we were smart,” Skip suggested. “What would genuinely smart people do in this situation?”
The Romulan woman looked at him disbelievingly. “That’s what you’re going with?”
“I know it’s a stretch here, but let’s try it.”
“You wouldn’t put yourself in your own trap,” The Klingon said.
“Unless that was part of the trap,” The Romulan woman replied.
“Okay, I’ll bite. How does putting ourselves unarmed against the angriest Hot Topic in the Galaxy advance a hypothetical trap?” Spaulding asked.
The Romulan woman glared at Spaulding.
“Come on! He can’t have eaten that much of your brain yet.”
That got a reaction from the Romulan woman. Anger, fear, and horror warred across her face in a moment, to be replaced by rage. “Kill them!”
-*-
Skip blocked a Mok’Bara attack, set his feet, and threw the biggest haymaker he could into the Klingon warrior’s face. His stomach got slapped hard, and the Romulan chief thrall punched him in the face three times.
Skip went down and rolled away. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Focus on surviving. Skip rolled to his feet as a Romulan man backhanded one his science crew people to the ground. Skip grabbed the Romulan’s arm, twisted the arm, then twisted his body and pulled diagonally away as hard as he could. The Romulan went right down and yelled. But his shoulder didn’t pop. Skip needed his shoulder to pop. So Skip twisted the Romulan’s arm around, set himself, and twisted the shoulder out of its socket.
Except it didn’t go. Skip heaved hard. The Romulan man screamed. But the shoulder didn’t pop out of its socket. The science crew woman was back up kicking the Romulan’s head. Full heel right to the face. Skip expected to see green blood and gore. The Romulans were tough, but not that tough.
There was no blood. The Romulan was yelling and cursing and trying to shield himself with the arm Skip wasn’t heaving on. Ensign Blackmore was good and mad and kept kicking.
Skip reset his grip into an arm lock and held the Romulan down. It was a struggle. He was damnably strong, but Skip wasn’t going to give up his leverage.
Voltu Bob appeared and said, “Captain! We’re not hurting them!”
“Are they hurting us?”
Voltu thought about it “Not seriously.”
“This is hurting me!” The Romulan yelled.
“Ensign! Please stop for a moment.”
Blackmore stepped back, calling the Romulan a motherfucker under her breath.
“Look at him.”
Voltu knelt in front of the Romulan and examined his face.
“She smashed my face!” The Romulan rubbed his face with his free hand “Where’s the blood?”
“There’s no blood. I can’t see any swelling or bruising.” Voltu said.
“The Lead Romulan got me with a hell of a combo. She should have broken something.”
“Really?” The Romulan said, “She’s skilled at hand-to-hand. You should be down.”
“I think we can inflict some pain, but we can’t hurt each other.”
“Well, let me up, then I’ll kill you, and we’ll see.”
Skip looked at Voltu, Voltu looked back with a slight nod.
Skip said, “Okay. Let’s try that. I’m going to let you go now.”
He let go of the Romulan and then stood up. Skip's stomach area was still a little tender, but he couldn’t tell if that was psychosomatic.
The Romulan stood up grinning, set himself, and launched an attack at Skip.
Voltu intercepted the attack with a tight circular block, put a hammer fist into the side of the Romulan’s head, then spun him around, got his neck in a peculiar hold, twisted and yanked to the side. The Romulan left his feet and Voltu rolled him to the ground to his right.
“Ow! Hey!” The Romulan yelled.
“I just broke your neck. You’re dead.” Voltu said.
The Romulan looked up with a mix of resentment and hurt feelings. “That was very unpleasant!”
“Tal Shaya. Don’t fuck with the Vulcans.”
“The Romulan rubbed his neck. “It stung, but nothing broke.”
Voltu looked at Skip. “It should have. That should have separated his c3 and c4 vertebrae, with serious collateral damage to surrounding tissues.”
“It’s like a holodeck with the safeties on,” Skip said.
“What’s a holodeck?” The Romulan asked.
“Let’s stop the brawl, and then I’ll explain,” Skip said.
“So you’re saying the space somehow interferes with psionics?” McGee asked
**It seems so. I am locked out of The All.**
“Are you okay?” McGee asked.
**You read the Admirals Book?**
“As soon as you were stationed with us. I like that he left us a manual for you guys.”
Zestalaban’s tail flipped about. McGee could feel the smile **Thank you. I can sort of see The All. I know my people are there, they’re just out of range for now. There are Ane on the EDS Atlantis. They’re in a similar predicament. We’re helping each other through.**
“Hmmm. That’s going to make appearing neutral to the scary-looking guys harder.”
**You shouldn’t worry about that. I doubt your overtures will succeed.**
“Oh? Why?”
**Because of what the other Ane know of the Illithid. They are… the opposite of the Ane in most ways. They engage in Telepathic conquest. The crew of that ship have probably been psionically altered to be loyal to the Illithid. They consider all other species inferior, suitable only as slaves or food. Montaban says they’ve taken over a big chunk of the space we’d call Romulan, some of the Klingon and Orion worlds. In response the Ane have formed the El-Nanth Alliance, The unconquered Klingons, the Free Romulans, and many of the worlds that would make up the Federation in our dimension. The Atlantis is a ship of the Earth Defense Force, built in 2022, old calendar.**
McGee winced “That’s the Prime Directive out the window.”
**The El-Nanth Alliance has no such rule.**
“And the Temporal Prime Directive.”
**I’m not sure it applies here**
**Greetings, Young Ones!** McGee heard the voice as a jovial old grandpa, speaking over a loudspeaker.
Zestalaban grabbed his head **OW!**
**Why, you’re in a spot of bother. Come on down, and let’s talk about it.**
McGee could almost hear his ears ringing with the volume of the voice.
Zestalaban had his arms curled around his head.
**I’ll set the table for ya**
-*-
Skip found himself standing along a street. The buildings were low and rustic. The place was designed around pedestrians. The sky was blue and the sun was warm. Skip could smell grass and trees and flowers.
His body let out an “aaaahhhh” feeling.
“Rude,” Tarsi said.
Along the road to the west were most of the Lovell’s crew.
“Tarsi, gather up everyone, and get a head count.”
To the east, he could see figures in blue. The Atlantis crew?
Along the road to the north, he could see Tholians. “What in the hell?”
“Voltu, you’re with me,” Skip jogged north with his Bajoran Security chief.
“You think it’s safe?” Voltu asked.
Skip said, “I gotta see.”
They approached the Tholians.
The Tholians turned and the largest one moved to the front “How do you survive without armor and life support?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“I am Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian present.”
“I’m Captain McGee, of the Federation starship-”
“Yes. Skipworth Beauregarde McGee of the USS James Lovell NCC-93309. We know of you.”
Skip let that lie for a few moments. Then he asked, “What environment are you experiencing?”
“We are experiencing what we took to be a hologram of a humanoid town. We often use such things for training.”
“Weird.”
“Excessively odd.”
“Are these the guys we were rescuing?”
Skip turned to see Captain Ashby and a sleek black cat woman approaching.
“Captain Ashby,”
“Captain McGee, This is Seelein. My wife.”
“Pleased, ma’am. This is my security chief Voltu Bob.”
“Bob?” Spaulding asked.
“My parents had a close friend from Earth. Bob is my given name. Among Bajorans, the family name comes first.”
“And this is Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian.”
“Inaccurate rendition of my name. But, how do you say? Close enough.”
“Pleased to meet you in person.”
“This simply cannot be,” Sparkling-Thursday said, “Unless our captor instantly transported us to separate holodecks, that are cross-feeding.”
“I’d like to think we’d have seen some evidence before our captor activated a transporter, no matter how advanced.”
“Interesting that it brought clothing but no weapons,” Ashby said.
“Were you carrying weapons?” Skip asked.
“Yes. My mom always insisted. I feel naked without a hold-out piece.”
“I also had a concealed weapon, Sir.” Voltu said, “It’s not here.”
“We have to figure this out,” Skip said, “There’s a trick here. Some element we’re overlooking.”
“Are any of your Ane folks here?” Spaulding asked.
Skip looked around “I didn’t think to count. Let’s head back and complete the headcount.”
“We should stay in proximity in order to provide mutual support,” Sparkling-Thursday said.
“By all means.”
The party moved back toward the center the town.
Their head count revealed that none of the Ane were present. None of the Holograms among the crew of the Lovell were present, either.
“Holograms?” Lt Heidleberg asked. She was the chief tactical officer of the EDS Atlantis.
“Uhhhh, the old term would have been Artificial Intelligence, I guess,” Skip explained.
“We have several of those on Earth and one who really insists on the term R.I.”
“Therilan,” Spaulding said, “Very Ane.”
“Huh,” Spaulding said “We have RI’s in our fleet, too. I haven’t met any in any depth.”
So, Ane and AI’s are not here.” Heidelberg said.
Zwihasi Trez said, “I’m a telepath, and I’m here.”
“Let me see what I can do,” A pretty dark-haired woman said. She began to make certain odd hand motions and chanted in an odd tongue.
Skip looked at Spaulding.
“Magic,” Spaulding said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t believe in it.”
Skip and Tarsi shared an “Oh hell” look.
The magic-using woman finished her ritual and as she finished the last word and the last gesture there was an acintic blue-white flash and a popping noise. The woman flopped over backward.
The black cat woman was by her side in a flash.
After a few moments Spaulding asked, “Fanna, are you okay?”
The woman looked at her hands. “Spell failure. That should have burned me.”
“I’m glad it didn’t,” Seelein said.
“Me too. But it’s weird.”
“Hey!” A voice called from the south.
The combined crews turned to see other humanoids in black uniforms.
“What have you done to us? Where is our Master?” The leader of the party was a Romulan woman. Skip thought it might be the one the purple guy was using to talk through earlier.
Skip held up his hands. “We don’t know any more than you do, Ma’am. I’m Skip McGee of the USS James Lovell.”
“Human SCUM!” The Romulan yelled, “WHERE IS HE?”
A Klingon standing next to her said, “I’ll wring the truth out of him.”
Voltu said, “You’ll have to go through me.”
The Klingon grinned. “Okay.”
Skip said, “Can we please handle this like adults?”
Spaulding put his fingers in his mouth and blew a piercing whistle. “Fighters up front, Scientists in the rear. Form up on me!”
The Atlantis crew moved with alacrity to form up for hand-to-hand combat.
Tarsi and Voltu moved to place themselves level with Spaulding's combat line. More of the Lovell crew moved to join them. The Tholians stayed well back, watching.
Skip placed himself between the two groups. “We didn’t do anything with your purple guy!” Skip said, “Something screened certain people out. We don’t know why.”
The Romulan woman approached him and hissed, “I serve Pollarghast the Immortal. I will find my way back to his side, and then I will wreak a horrible vengeance on you.”
“What’s wrong with vengeance now?” The Klingon asked, genuinely enjoying the face-off.
“Look at these idiots! Look at the blank incomprehension on their faces! They know nothing!” The woman said, “They may have value… as meat shields and emergency rations.”
Skip nodded “Okay… that’s progress of a sort. How about we let fighting wait until we know something about what’s going on here?”
“Coward,” The Klingon enunciated the word carefully. He wanted everyone to hear him say it.
“Well, let’s pretend we were smart,” Skip suggested. “What would genuinely smart people do in this situation?”
The Romulan woman looked at him disbelievingly. “That’s what you’re going with?”
“I know it’s a stretch here, but let’s try it.”
“You wouldn’t put yourself in your own trap,” The Klingon said.
“Unless that was part of the trap,” The Romulan woman replied.
“Okay, I’ll bite. How does putting ourselves unarmed against the angriest Hot Topic in the Galaxy advance a hypothetical trap?” Spaulding asked.
The Romulan woman glared at Spaulding.
“Come on! He can’t have eaten that much of your brain yet.”
That got a reaction from the Romulan woman. Anger, fear, and horror warred across her face in a moment, to be replaced by rage. “Kill them!”
-*-
Skip blocked a Mok’Bara attack, set his feet, and threw the biggest haymaker he could into the Klingon warrior’s face. His stomach got slapped hard, and the Romulan chief thrall punched him in the face three times.
Skip went down and rolled away. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Focus on surviving. Skip rolled to his feet as a Romulan man backhanded one his science crew people to the ground. Skip grabbed the Romulan’s arm, twisted the arm, then twisted his body and pulled diagonally away as hard as he could. The Romulan went right down and yelled. But his shoulder didn’t pop. Skip needed his shoulder to pop. So Skip twisted the Romulan’s arm around, set himself, and twisted the shoulder out of its socket.
Except it didn’t go. Skip heaved hard. The Romulan man screamed. But the shoulder didn’t pop out of its socket. The science crew woman was back up kicking the Romulan’s head. Full heel right to the face. Skip expected to see green blood and gore. The Romulans were tough, but not that tough.
There was no blood. The Romulan was yelling and cursing and trying to shield himself with the arm Skip wasn’t heaving on. Ensign Blackmore was good and mad and kept kicking.
Skip reset his grip into an arm lock and held the Romulan down. It was a struggle. He was damnably strong, but Skip wasn’t going to give up his leverage.
Voltu Bob appeared and said, “Captain! We’re not hurting them!”
“Are they hurting us?”
Voltu thought about it “Not seriously.”
“This is hurting me!” The Romulan yelled.
“Ensign! Please stop for a moment.”
Blackmore stepped back, calling the Romulan a motherfucker under her breath.
“Look at him.”
Voltu knelt in front of the Romulan and examined his face.
“She smashed my face!” The Romulan rubbed his face with his free hand “Where’s the blood?”
“There’s no blood. I can’t see any swelling or bruising.” Voltu said.
“The Lead Romulan got me with a hell of a combo. She should have broken something.”
“Really?” The Romulan said, “She’s skilled at hand-to-hand. You should be down.”
“I think we can inflict some pain, but we can’t hurt each other.”
“Well, let me up, then I’ll kill you, and we’ll see.”
Skip looked at Voltu, Voltu looked back with a slight nod.
Skip said, “Okay. Let’s try that. I’m going to let you go now.”
He let go of the Romulan and then stood up. Skip's stomach area was still a little tender, but he couldn’t tell if that was psychosomatic.
The Romulan stood up grinning, set himself, and launched an attack at Skip.
Voltu intercepted the attack with a tight circular block, put a hammer fist into the side of the Romulan’s head, then spun him around, got his neck in a peculiar hold, twisted and yanked to the side. The Romulan left his feet and Voltu rolled him to the ground to his right.
“Ow! Hey!” The Romulan yelled.
“I just broke your neck. You’re dead.” Voltu said.
The Romulan looked up with a mix of resentment and hurt feelings. “That was very unpleasant!”
“Tal Shaya. Don’t fuck with the Vulcans.”
“The Romulan rubbed his neck. “It stung, but nothing broke.”
Voltu looked at Skip. “It should have. That should have separated his c3 and c4 vertebrae, with serious collateral damage to surrounding tissues.”
“It’s like a holodeck with the safeties on,” Skip said.
“What’s a holodeck?” The Romulan asked.
“Let’s stop the brawl, and then I’ll explain,” Skip said.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 4
Zesatalaban and Musalaban rolled Skip’s body onto a patient transport device and floated him to the turbolift.
Then they went to Sickbay
Xytalalan scanned McGee and then laid one hand on his forehead. **Physically, he’s okay for now. I can feel him in there. But he’s being suppressed. Getting through to him is going to take a team effort.**
She pointed to the other medical people on medical beds; Emergency medical holograms tended them. ** It’s the same story for everyone who’s down. They’re unconscious, being held in a particular mental state. Kazilan reports the same on the Atlantis. So whatever this is can mentally kidnap and suppress more than two hundred people over a wide area.**
Zestalaban scratched behind his own ear. **Okay, let’s see if we can gang up and break Captain McGee out. If that succeeds, we’ll know more about what we’re facing.**
Xytalalan said **What if it’s too big for us? It felt like that.**
Zestalaban said **In true Starfleet tradition, I plan to pull something out of my ass. I don’t know what yet.**
**Good luck to us all.**
**Indeed.**
-*-
**Hey, there, kids!**
He looked like an old image of Santa Claus. He was ten feet tall. Long white beard and long white hair. He was dressed in mildly brown and green robes.
Everyone stopped fighting and looked at him. He just appeared there.
He put his hands together and then made a pushing-apart motion.
McGee found himself pushed to the northwest side of the town square. The Atlantis crew, the Lovell crew on one side, and the Dominion crew on the other.
“Thanks, I guess,” Skip said.
The being chuckled **You’re welcome, I guess.**
“WHO ARE YOU!?” The Lead Romulan shrieked, “What are you doing to us!?”
“My question as well,” Skip said.
**Well, now, kids. I’ve been here a long time. I was hoping you could stay a spell and keep me company.**
“Is there some way we could arrange visitation without kidnapping?” Skip asked.
“Our Master has terrible power! He will strike you down for this affront!” The Romulan woman screamed.
**Ha ha ha,** The tall being said **You’re feisty!**
“What should we call you?”
**I don’t have much of a name as you’d understand it. Y’all can call me Gramps.**
“I’ll call you nothing!” The Romulan woman yelled.
The tall being took two steps toward the Romulan woman. He bent down and looked into her face. **Wow, that Pollarghast feller did you up quite a treat, didn’t he? Lemme fix that.**
He made a slight motion of his hand.
The Romulan woman stared at him. Horror crawled across her face. She brought both hands to her face and screamed a blood-curdling scream as she sank to the ground.
Everyone stared in horror. Gramps moved again.
“WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH!” Skip bellowed.
But it was too late.
The Dominion crew reacted… poorly. There was a lot of screaming, crying, retching. Howls of anguish and curses in every language. Some fell to the ground, some sank to their knees. Some fled howling.
Gramps turned back to the rest **We’ll straighten these fellers out, presently. I have a trick for that.**
A Klingon crawled towards the Alliance crew on his hands and knees “You must kill me! Kill me! I cannot live with this!”
**The houses and buildings of our little place here will make whatever ya like. Just like a replicator.**
“We definitely need to work on the idea of consent.”
**Ha ha ha ha! Cute little fellers you are. I’ll be back in a bit.** Gramps vanished without so much as a sparkle or a flash.
-*-
As they were moving disabled dominion crew folks into the houses, Skip caught up with Sparkle-Thursday.
“Listen. I was on a mission.”
“I was briefed. You were moving toward Tholian space. Only one ship. Not enough for a counterattack. Known people aboard, reducing the possibility of espionage. You are attempting your Starfleet tactic of undoing conflict via greater understanding and empathy.”
“Uhhh, yeah.”
“Laudible. But the laws of physics have no empathy. No mercy. Your existence is toxic.”
“Would you explain precisely what Temporally Deviant really means?”
“No. That would take detailed math we are ill-equipped to exchange. However, I will summarize the idea for you in all but vain hope you will see reason.”
“Sure. Please do.”
“You started in one timespace. You moved linearly through that space. Cause and effect applied naturally to you. Then, you were involved in the K-13 temporal incident. This should have killed you, but the Time Scoop at Starbase Mariner-10 rescued you and a majority of your crew.”
“How do you know that?” Skip asked.
“Bright-eyes briefed us.”
“Who is Bright-eyes?”
“A Tholian who befriended a Nyota Uhura. She gave him his name.”
“Huh. We have a couple of Holographic Uhuras in our task force. I think I saw her once at the Academy.”
“A perverse use of your holographic technology.”
“Agreed.”
“Did it not trouble you that there was so much time travel in that timespace?”
Skip nodded “It did, sort of.”
“Your 29th-century Starfleet and the New Khitomer Alliance were especially careless in this regard.”
“Okay. But they had troubles. The Vorgon. The Nak’hul.”
“Troubles that were tied into temporal interference to begin with.”
Skip shrugged “I guess so. So we should let a Krenim madman erase us to make a tidier timeline?”
“By the time Noye begins his rampage it is already too late.”
“Too late? With time travel?”
“You begin to see the problem. Time Travel violates cause and effect. Most timespaces have mechanisms for protecting themselves from this. There are some timespaces where time travel is absolutely impossible. Time moves implacably from the future through the present, to the past. Unalterable. But in timespaces where time travel exists, too much of it destroys causality. Or does one instance destroy causality and all the subsequent events are symptoms of a dying timespace? We have debated this.”
“Uhhh.”
“What’s worse is that, at some limit, different for each timespace, some time travel encourages more. One time traveller begets another or inspires another. The more time travellers the worse the damage.
“Skipworth Beauregard McGee, I have personally seen timespaces where all of history is mixed together in a churn. James T. Kirk battles Julius Ceasar over the ruins of the Sky Ring at New Khitomer. I have heard accounts of one ship crewed entirely by temporal variants of the same person, battling another ship crewed entirely by other temporal variants of that same person. Incidents like this mark a timepsace in its death throes.”
“You, your crew and your ship are all complex matter, added willy-nilly to your third timespace, where you immediately began having effects. You see this as normal and natural. It is not. You are not part of that timespace. As you began having effects, that timespace had to twist and stretch to accommodate you.”
“But it did, right?”
“How much? For how long? How much is too much?”
“Hmmm. So you say just by being present and doing stuff, I might be breaking the universe?”
“Crude, but not inaccurate. Our models suggest that as inert, simplified matter, you would not have anything like as complex a chain of consequences. The Universe wouldn’t have to stretch so much to accommodate you.”
“And by rendering myself, my ship, and my crew into … inert matter….”
“We are getting this timespace some slack back. We have gained ground away from the moment when things break. The moment when cause and effect begin to fail.”
“You speak as though you have travelled between these timespaces.”
“I have. We do.”
“So why are you not alien causes for unnatural effects?”
“It took us generations to understand how you see time travel and travel to alternate timelines. We’re built to do it. It's a natural state of existence for us. In most timespaces Tholians are physically incapable of causing pardoxical effects. We fall out of phase and become immaterial when we try. I can walk into another timespace as easily as you can walk into another room. For a very very long time, we didn’t understand how we are different from you and how your experience differs from ours.
“What was the device you were testing?”
“Our phrase doesn’t translate well. You might call it a probability anchor. In the way a time machine damages causality, we tried to make the opposite. A machine that strengthens cause and effect preventing time travel. Preventing people like you.”
“An Anti-Time Machine.”
“No. An Anti-Time machine would invoke Anti-Time. Anti-Time is extremely toxic.”
“An anti-time-machine-machine?”
“Much closer. A Device to prevent temporal anomalies of any kind.”
“It didn’t work.”
“I blame you.”
“Odd coincidence that we happened by right at that moment.”
“I fear it may not have been a coincidence. Skipworth Beauregard McGee. You must report my warning back to Starfleet Command, if possible. The danger you represent is terrible. Untold trillions of people could die in unspeakable agony. My command authority is weighing the possibility of more direct and violent intervention in this matter. We are attempting to cleanse timespaces where we have sufficient forces to prevent further damage.”
“The Ane are very good at this kind of math. And I don’t think they’d like a causality collapse any better than anyone else. We’ll work something out without so much murder in it.”
“Pfagh. The Ane.” Sparkle-Thursday scoffed.
“What? They exist partially in the 11th dimension. They’re good at …. dimensions and stuff.”
“They don’t believe us! We’ve tried to warn them. If you want our previous timespace to have a healthy future, you must stop interfering with it. You must take steps to protect it … from yourself.”
“What can you tell me about the timespace we’re in now?”
“It doesn’t make sense. There is clearly something I am missing. The Timespace before we were brought here is a pocket. A small, limited, severely warped pocket of timespace. We were trapped within it. Unable to transition to a timespace where our ships were intact.”
Skip tilted his head “What?”
“Have you not noticed? Tholian ships do not have escape pods. They are extremely optimistic, anyway. When a Tholian ship is in trouble, we simply move to a different timespace, away from the danger. Most of the crews of our ships were already gone when we tested the device.”
“We don’t get to do that. We just die,” Skip said.
“Your existence in timespace has sharp limits. Beginning, middle, and end. This is natural. It is cause and effect. You are pieces of a great tapestry of cause and effect. It is where you belong.”
“Hmmm.”
“It is telling that Gramps didn’t bring any Ane here.”
“It is.”
“Is it possible that this place is something hostile to the Ane? Or is it a place where Ane would have too much power?”
“We have telepaths from our crew here. So it’s not telepathy.”
“An idea I had not fully considered. I will create equations and do simulations about that.”
“Okay. Well, thank you for speaking to me Sparkle-Thursday.”
“Our enmity is nothing personal Skipworth, it is decreed by temporal physics. If things were different, we certainly wouldn’t expend the effort.”
“Thanks. I like you too.”
“Unwarranted.”
Zesatalaban and Musalaban rolled Skip’s body onto a patient transport device and floated him to the turbolift.
Then they went to Sickbay
Xytalalan scanned McGee and then laid one hand on his forehead. **Physically, he’s okay for now. I can feel him in there. But he’s being suppressed. Getting through to him is going to take a team effort.**
She pointed to the other medical people on medical beds; Emergency medical holograms tended them. ** It’s the same story for everyone who’s down. They’re unconscious, being held in a particular mental state. Kazilan reports the same on the Atlantis. So whatever this is can mentally kidnap and suppress more than two hundred people over a wide area.**
Zestalaban scratched behind his own ear. **Okay, let’s see if we can gang up and break Captain McGee out. If that succeeds, we’ll know more about what we’re facing.**
Xytalalan said **What if it’s too big for us? It felt like that.**
Zestalaban said **In true Starfleet tradition, I plan to pull something out of my ass. I don’t know what yet.**
**Good luck to us all.**
**Indeed.**
-*-
**Hey, there, kids!**
He looked like an old image of Santa Claus. He was ten feet tall. Long white beard and long white hair. He was dressed in mildly brown and green robes.
Everyone stopped fighting and looked at him. He just appeared there.
He put his hands together and then made a pushing-apart motion.
McGee found himself pushed to the northwest side of the town square. The Atlantis crew, the Lovell crew on one side, and the Dominion crew on the other.
“Thanks, I guess,” Skip said.
The being chuckled **You’re welcome, I guess.**
“WHO ARE YOU!?” The Lead Romulan shrieked, “What are you doing to us!?”
“My question as well,” Skip said.
**Well, now, kids. I’ve been here a long time. I was hoping you could stay a spell and keep me company.**
“Is there some way we could arrange visitation without kidnapping?” Skip asked.
“Our Master has terrible power! He will strike you down for this affront!” The Romulan woman screamed.
**Ha ha ha,** The tall being said **You’re feisty!**
“What should we call you?”
**I don’t have much of a name as you’d understand it. Y’all can call me Gramps.**
“I’ll call you nothing!” The Romulan woman yelled.
The tall being took two steps toward the Romulan woman. He bent down and looked into her face. **Wow, that Pollarghast feller did you up quite a treat, didn’t he? Lemme fix that.**
He made a slight motion of his hand.
The Romulan woman stared at him. Horror crawled across her face. She brought both hands to her face and screamed a blood-curdling scream as she sank to the ground.
Everyone stared in horror. Gramps moved again.
“WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH!” Skip bellowed.
But it was too late.
The Dominion crew reacted… poorly. There was a lot of screaming, crying, retching. Howls of anguish and curses in every language. Some fell to the ground, some sank to their knees. Some fled howling.
Gramps turned back to the rest **We’ll straighten these fellers out, presently. I have a trick for that.**
A Klingon crawled towards the Alliance crew on his hands and knees “You must kill me! Kill me! I cannot live with this!”
**The houses and buildings of our little place here will make whatever ya like. Just like a replicator.**
“We definitely need to work on the idea of consent.”
**Ha ha ha ha! Cute little fellers you are. I’ll be back in a bit.** Gramps vanished without so much as a sparkle or a flash.
-*-
As they were moving disabled dominion crew folks into the houses, Skip caught up with Sparkle-Thursday.
“Listen. I was on a mission.”
“I was briefed. You were moving toward Tholian space. Only one ship. Not enough for a counterattack. Known people aboard, reducing the possibility of espionage. You are attempting your Starfleet tactic of undoing conflict via greater understanding and empathy.”
“Uhhh, yeah.”
“Laudible. But the laws of physics have no empathy. No mercy. Your existence is toxic.”
“Would you explain precisely what Temporally Deviant really means?”
“No. That would take detailed math we are ill-equipped to exchange. However, I will summarize the idea for you in all but vain hope you will see reason.”
“Sure. Please do.”
“You started in one timespace. You moved linearly through that space. Cause and effect applied naturally to you. Then, you were involved in the K-13 temporal incident. This should have killed you, but the Time Scoop at Starbase Mariner-10 rescued you and a majority of your crew.”
“How do you know that?” Skip asked.
“Bright-eyes briefed us.”
“Who is Bright-eyes?”
“A Tholian who befriended a Nyota Uhura. She gave him his name.”
“Huh. We have a couple of Holographic Uhuras in our task force. I think I saw her once at the Academy.”
“A perverse use of your holographic technology.”
“Agreed.”
“Did it not trouble you that there was so much time travel in that timespace?”
Skip nodded “It did, sort of.”
“Your 29th-century Starfleet and the New Khitomer Alliance were especially careless in this regard.”
“Okay. But they had troubles. The Vorgon. The Nak’hul.”
“Troubles that were tied into temporal interference to begin with.”
Skip shrugged “I guess so. So we should let a Krenim madman erase us to make a tidier timeline?”
“By the time Noye begins his rampage it is already too late.”
“Too late? With time travel?”
“You begin to see the problem. Time Travel violates cause and effect. Most timespaces have mechanisms for protecting themselves from this. There are some timespaces where time travel is absolutely impossible. Time moves implacably from the future through the present, to the past. Unalterable. But in timespaces where time travel exists, too much of it destroys causality. Or does one instance destroy causality and all the subsequent events are symptoms of a dying timespace? We have debated this.”
“Uhhh.”
“What’s worse is that, at some limit, different for each timespace, some time travel encourages more. One time traveller begets another or inspires another. The more time travellers the worse the damage.
“Skipworth Beauregard McGee, I have personally seen timespaces where all of history is mixed together in a churn. James T. Kirk battles Julius Ceasar over the ruins of the Sky Ring at New Khitomer. I have heard accounts of one ship crewed entirely by temporal variants of the same person, battling another ship crewed entirely by other temporal variants of that same person. Incidents like this mark a timepsace in its death throes.”
“You, your crew and your ship are all complex matter, added willy-nilly to your third timespace, where you immediately began having effects. You see this as normal and natural. It is not. You are not part of that timespace. As you began having effects, that timespace had to twist and stretch to accommodate you.”
“But it did, right?”
“How much? For how long? How much is too much?”
“Hmmm. So you say just by being present and doing stuff, I might be breaking the universe?”
“Crude, but not inaccurate. Our models suggest that as inert, simplified matter, you would not have anything like as complex a chain of consequences. The Universe wouldn’t have to stretch so much to accommodate you.”
“And by rendering myself, my ship, and my crew into … inert matter….”
“We are getting this timespace some slack back. We have gained ground away from the moment when things break. The moment when cause and effect begin to fail.”
“You speak as though you have travelled between these timespaces.”
“I have. We do.”
“So why are you not alien causes for unnatural effects?”
“It took us generations to understand how you see time travel and travel to alternate timelines. We’re built to do it. It's a natural state of existence for us. In most timespaces Tholians are physically incapable of causing pardoxical effects. We fall out of phase and become immaterial when we try. I can walk into another timespace as easily as you can walk into another room. For a very very long time, we didn’t understand how we are different from you and how your experience differs from ours.
“What was the device you were testing?”
“Our phrase doesn’t translate well. You might call it a probability anchor. In the way a time machine damages causality, we tried to make the opposite. A machine that strengthens cause and effect preventing time travel. Preventing people like you.”
“An Anti-Time Machine.”
“No. An Anti-Time machine would invoke Anti-Time. Anti-Time is extremely toxic.”
“An anti-time-machine-machine?”
“Much closer. A Device to prevent temporal anomalies of any kind.”
“It didn’t work.”
“I blame you.”
“Odd coincidence that we happened by right at that moment.”
“I fear it may not have been a coincidence. Skipworth Beauregard McGee. You must report my warning back to Starfleet Command, if possible. The danger you represent is terrible. Untold trillions of people could die in unspeakable agony. My command authority is weighing the possibility of more direct and violent intervention in this matter. We are attempting to cleanse timespaces where we have sufficient forces to prevent further damage.”
“The Ane are very good at this kind of math. And I don’t think they’d like a causality collapse any better than anyone else. We’ll work something out without so much murder in it.”
“Pfagh. The Ane.” Sparkle-Thursday scoffed.
“What? They exist partially in the 11th dimension. They’re good at …. dimensions and stuff.”
“They don’t believe us! We’ve tried to warn them. If you want our previous timespace to have a healthy future, you must stop interfering with it. You must take steps to protect it … from yourself.”
“What can you tell me about the timespace we’re in now?”
“It doesn’t make sense. There is clearly something I am missing. The Timespace before we were brought here is a pocket. A small, limited, severely warped pocket of timespace. We were trapped within it. Unable to transition to a timespace where our ships were intact.”
Skip tilted his head “What?”
“Have you not noticed? Tholian ships do not have escape pods. They are extremely optimistic, anyway. When a Tholian ship is in trouble, we simply move to a different timespace, away from the danger. Most of the crews of our ships were already gone when we tested the device.”
“We don’t get to do that. We just die,” Skip said.
“Your existence in timespace has sharp limits. Beginning, middle, and end. This is natural. It is cause and effect. You are pieces of a great tapestry of cause and effect. It is where you belong.”
“Hmmm.”
“It is telling that Gramps didn’t bring any Ane here.”
“It is.”
“Is it possible that this place is something hostile to the Ane? Or is it a place where Ane would have too much power?”
“We have telepaths from our crew here. So it’s not telepathy.”
“An idea I had not fully considered. I will create equations and do simulations about that.”
“Okay. Well, thank you for speaking to me Sparkle-Thursday.”
“Our enmity is nothing personal Skipworth, it is decreed by temporal physics. If things were different, we certainly wouldn’t expend the effort.”
“Thanks. I like you too.”
“Unwarranted.”
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 5
Tarsi sat down next to Spaulding and Seelin “So. I imagine EDS Stands for Earth Defense Ship.”
Spaulding nodded “We’re from the Earth Defense Force.”
“So, Earth man defending Earth. Why are you flying a Klingon ship?”
“Well, I don’t know if you have Klingons in your dimension.”
“Oh, we do.”
“You may have noticed that they like to fight.”
“Ours, too.”
“When the Dominion began its march of conquest across the region, and we all started banding together, it turns out, the Klingons have the infrastructure to build a lot of ships. They can’t man them up as quickly. So that’s where we come in. Qo’noS is the Arensal of Democracy in this fight.”
“As I understand it, you’re about 40 years early for your first warp drive, compared to Earth history.”
“Yeah. A friend crash landed a warp shuttle on our moon. The Ane decided to help us ease into reverse engineering it.”
“So the Ane were present on your world before your friend got clumsy with a warp shuttle?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Interesting.”
“How so?”
“Your Earth is my fourth. On the first two I started out knowing, there were no Ane.”
“How does that work?”
“Someone got clumsy with alternate timelines and here we are.”
“Ah. So there are Ane on your third Earth?”
“Yes. They are one of the founding species of the United Federation of Planets.”
“Tell me about this United Federation of Planets?”
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to. We have a Temporal Prime Directive.”
“Is it the one headquartered in San Francisco? Has a thing for starships named Enterprise?”
“Um, yes. You know of it?”
“Yes. My Earth is an ally of the UFP, although it’s not all that practical an arrangement.”
“Hmm. You humans have the oddest knack for making friends in weird places.”
“They do, don’t they?” Seelein purred.
The Romulan woman who was leading the Dominion crew came up to the group.
“Captain Ashby, I am T’Raelieuvenan Sel’garviola of Rhihannsu. I wish to defect.”
Ashby nodded “Well, we’re kinda busy with what’s right in front of us. When we get loose from Gramps, you and whoever else wants to come is welcome.”
“I want to join your forces. I want to kill those monsters. I… I must kill them. They’ve turned my homeworld into a charnel house. I.. I have to do something to make up for… For…”
Spaulding snapped “Hey! Hey, hey. Do not focus on that shit. We’re in a cage. Escape is our first duty. Focus on that, please. Once you’re done, you can fuck over your former boss by telling us things. We’ll get you some help. You obviously are going to need a lot of Ane time.”
“The Ane…..”
“They’re everything opposite of the squids. They’ll help you. They’re very good at it.”
“Squids?”
“An animal native to my homeworld. It’s a derogatory term for the Illithids.”
She sat down, heavily “I’d have tortured you for days for such disrespect. I … I was warped, changed. Altered from my real self. Is this my real self now, or have I been altered by Gramps?”
“Before the squids, what would your people do for injured warriors?”
“We’d treat them. Every individual had to contribute to the Great Path.”
“Same here. We need all hands on deck to take it to the Squids. You’re injured. Severely. Deep breath. Accept this. Your brain is mangled. We’ll get you to medical help.”
“Brain… mangled,” She started crying “I can’t, I can’t tell you… I did things. I thought it was right….”
“You’re a victim of the fuckin squids here. Don’t forget that.”
Seelein said, “Are you tired?”
“Oh, Gods, yes.”
“Then come, nap. We will guard you and let nothing bother you.”
The mentally injured woman crawled onto the couch behind them and settled in to try and sleep.
Seelein gently pushed her butt into the Romulan and started purring.
-*-
All of the Ane from the Atlantis and the Lovell were in the Sickbay of the Lovell.
They grabbed hold of each other and their consciousness rose into the mental space.
Last was Zestalaban. He joined the telepathic team and then touched Skip’s forehead.
-*-
Skip was talking to Dodza and an ops team about inventorying their environment and looking for things to make tools out of when it felt like he’d been hit in the head with a brick
-*-
Skip found himself in the mental space with the Ane
“Report!” He said
**Both of our ships are disabled. Almost everyone is unconscious. We can feel that your mind is being held, but it took all of us to get to you.**
“How long have we been down?”
**About 90 minutes,**
“It feels like it’s been several hours for us. Sparkle-Thursday said we’re in a small pocket of deeply warped space. We’ve had some interaction with a being named Gramps who seems to want to keep us for company. He’s not good with consent. He really messed up the crew from the Dominion ship. They may not be the purple guy’s friends if we get released.”
**Noted, Captain.**
“Keep working on getting us out of here. How are the Tholians?”
**Stable-ish, I’d like to get them somewhere safer for them soon.**
“Alright. It might be if you take our actual brains out of this pocket, Gramps won’t be able to reach us.”
**Hey, there! That’s cute. You’re trying to drag him back.**
“Gramps. These are the Ane. Friends of ours.”
**Hello,** Zestalaban said
**I’m sorry, little guys. These fellers are mine now. They’ll be stayin’ with me. You’ll have to run along and find yourselves some new friends.**
The Ane felt the slightest motion from Gramps and they were all thrown out of the mental space, firmly. The Ane fell down inside the sickbay.
Xytalalan helped some of their new friends up **Zestalaban, he’s much too big to confront directly.**
Montaban said **We’re really outgunned here. Not a feeling I like.**
Zestalaban said **We have to find a way to change the rules. It’s not going to work this way.**
Tarsi sat down next to Spaulding and Seelin “So. I imagine EDS Stands for Earth Defense Ship.”
Spaulding nodded “We’re from the Earth Defense Force.”
“So, Earth man defending Earth. Why are you flying a Klingon ship?”
“Well, I don’t know if you have Klingons in your dimension.”
“Oh, we do.”
“You may have noticed that they like to fight.”
“Ours, too.”
“When the Dominion began its march of conquest across the region, and we all started banding together, it turns out, the Klingons have the infrastructure to build a lot of ships. They can’t man them up as quickly. So that’s where we come in. Qo’noS is the Arensal of Democracy in this fight.”
“As I understand it, you’re about 40 years early for your first warp drive, compared to Earth history.”
“Yeah. A friend crash landed a warp shuttle on our moon. The Ane decided to help us ease into reverse engineering it.”
“So the Ane were present on your world before your friend got clumsy with a warp shuttle?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Interesting.”
“How so?”
“Your Earth is my fourth. On the first two I started out knowing, there were no Ane.”
“How does that work?”
“Someone got clumsy with alternate timelines and here we are.”
“Ah. So there are Ane on your third Earth?”
“Yes. They are one of the founding species of the United Federation of Planets.”
“Tell me about this United Federation of Planets?”
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to. We have a Temporal Prime Directive.”
“Is it the one headquartered in San Francisco? Has a thing for starships named Enterprise?”
“Um, yes. You know of it?”
“Yes. My Earth is an ally of the UFP, although it’s not all that practical an arrangement.”
“Hmm. You humans have the oddest knack for making friends in weird places.”
“They do, don’t they?” Seelein purred.
The Romulan woman who was leading the Dominion crew came up to the group.
“Captain Ashby, I am T’Raelieuvenan Sel’garviola of Rhihannsu. I wish to defect.”
Ashby nodded “Well, we’re kinda busy with what’s right in front of us. When we get loose from Gramps, you and whoever else wants to come is welcome.”
“I want to join your forces. I want to kill those monsters. I… I must kill them. They’ve turned my homeworld into a charnel house. I.. I have to do something to make up for… For…”
Spaulding snapped “Hey! Hey, hey. Do not focus on that shit. We’re in a cage. Escape is our first duty. Focus on that, please. Once you’re done, you can fuck over your former boss by telling us things. We’ll get you some help. You obviously are going to need a lot of Ane time.”
“The Ane…..”
“They’re everything opposite of the squids. They’ll help you. They’re very good at it.”
“Squids?”
“An animal native to my homeworld. It’s a derogatory term for the Illithids.”
She sat down, heavily “I’d have tortured you for days for such disrespect. I … I was warped, changed. Altered from my real self. Is this my real self now, or have I been altered by Gramps?”
“Before the squids, what would your people do for injured warriors?”
“We’d treat them. Every individual had to contribute to the Great Path.”
“Same here. We need all hands on deck to take it to the Squids. You’re injured. Severely. Deep breath. Accept this. Your brain is mangled. We’ll get you to medical help.”
“Brain… mangled,” She started crying “I can’t, I can’t tell you… I did things. I thought it was right….”
“You’re a victim of the fuckin squids here. Don’t forget that.”
Seelein said, “Are you tired?”
“Oh, Gods, yes.”
“Then come, nap. We will guard you and let nothing bother you.”
The mentally injured woman crawled onto the couch behind them and settled in to try and sleep.
Seelein gently pushed her butt into the Romulan and started purring.
-*-
All of the Ane from the Atlantis and the Lovell were in the Sickbay of the Lovell.
They grabbed hold of each other and their consciousness rose into the mental space.
Last was Zestalaban. He joined the telepathic team and then touched Skip’s forehead.
-*-
Skip was talking to Dodza and an ops team about inventorying their environment and looking for things to make tools out of when it felt like he’d been hit in the head with a brick
-*-
Skip found himself in the mental space with the Ane
“Report!” He said
**Both of our ships are disabled. Almost everyone is unconscious. We can feel that your mind is being held, but it took all of us to get to you.**
“How long have we been down?”
**About 90 minutes,**
“It feels like it’s been several hours for us. Sparkle-Thursday said we’re in a small pocket of deeply warped space. We’ve had some interaction with a being named Gramps who seems to want to keep us for company. He’s not good with consent. He really messed up the crew from the Dominion ship. They may not be the purple guy’s friends if we get released.”
**Noted, Captain.**
“Keep working on getting us out of here. How are the Tholians?”
**Stable-ish, I’d like to get them somewhere safer for them soon.**
“Alright. It might be if you take our actual brains out of this pocket, Gramps won’t be able to reach us.”
**Hey, there! That’s cute. You’re trying to drag him back.**
“Gramps. These are the Ane. Friends of ours.”
**Hello,** Zestalaban said
**I’m sorry, little guys. These fellers are mine now. They’ll be stayin’ with me. You’ll have to run along and find yourselves some new friends.**
The Ane felt the slightest motion from Gramps and they were all thrown out of the mental space, firmly. The Ane fell down inside the sickbay.
Xytalalan helped some of their new friends up **Zestalaban, he’s much too big to confront directly.**
Montaban said **We’re really outgunned here. Not a feeling I like.**
Zestalaban said **We have to find a way to change the rules. It’s not going to work this way.**
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 6
“That explains the impossibilities and contradictions of this space.” Sparkle-Thursday said.
“We’re being psionically dominated by something bigger than Pollarghast?” T’rael said bleakly.
Skip repeated a mantra he heard somewhere: “There’s a way out of any cage. We’re going to find it.”
Ashby said, “Survival, resistance, and escape is the duty of every soldier.”
Zwihasi Trez said, “I resent getting rolled like that.”
Skip nodded, “Agreed.”
Seelein said, “I am concerned.”
Ashby looked at her “I think we all fit that description.”
“If our bodies are unconscious, and we’re in some astral jail, then we will need support. Most people will begin to suffer without hydration quickly. People die of thirst in three days or so,” Seelein said.
“We have similar needs,” Sparkle-Thurdsay said, although our duration will be longer.”
“So we’re on a time clock. We resolve this quickly, or not at all.”
Tarsi came back with a glass of water and drank it. “It feels real.”
“Do you think Gramps has some way of taking care of this problem?” Skip asked.
“He might, but I wouldn’t trust him about it,” Ashby said.
“That means anything we find here is part of Gramp’s mental holodeck,” Skip said.
“Holodeck?” Spaulding asked.
Skip thumbnailed a holodeck for him.
Spaulding blinked as he considered the possibilities.
“Everyone has their own private holodeck programs. We don’t discuss it,” Skip said.
“Ahhhh,”
“And now we’re in Gramps holodeck, except it’s mental.”
“Ew.”
“Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t go like that.”
-*-
Several hours later, the crew had searched many of the nearby buildings and were making plans. Zwihasi was reporting on her attempts to combine the psionic abilities of different species among the crews. It was going to take longer than she thought.
**Kids! Come on out and see this.** Gramps said.
Skip, Spaulding, Sparkle, Zwihasi, and T’real went into the square, followed by some members of their crews.
Gramps was standing near an ornate golden doorway in the middle of the square.
**My gift to you. You might call it an appreciation of your presence.**
“What is it?”
**You step through this door and you’ll find your heart’s desire, and all the time you need to enjoy it. I know you have concerns about your cute little meat bodies. We’ll be done with our thing here long before your needs overwhelm you.**
“Inaccurate.” Sparkling-Thursday said “I have individuals in my crew who have suffered severe injury and may well die soon without competent medical care. My understanding is that your interference prevents this.”
**I’m sorry, little feller. Sometimes, things can get a little messy. The sooner you go through this door, the sooner all of that will be resolved.**
“Resolved how, specifically?”
**Once it’s done, I guarantee you’ll like it and approve.**
“I’ll try this,” Sparkling-Thursday said.
“Are you sure?” Skip asked.
“We must find a way out of this confinement. I need to get my people back into flat timespace to make our way back to our assigned places.”
Zwihasi grabbed one of Sparkle-Thursdays large arms and held it, looking into his multifaceted eyes “Please be careful.”
“Odd,” Sparkle-Thursday said.
The Tholian walked to the doorway and through it.
Zwihasi jerked and squeezed her eyes shut “OH!”
**Ahhhhhh, Lovely!** Gramps said
Zwihasi fell over, caught by Seelein. The Betazoid woman blew breaths hissing out between her teeth.
After a few moments Zwihasi came back to herself, breathing heavily “That was… intense.”
“What? What happened?”
“Gramps didn’t lie. Sparkle-Thursday got everything he could want. A life-time of pleasure in moments… Then he faded away.”
**He didn’t go anywhere.** Gramps said. The tall being pointed at his head **He’s right here with me. And he always will be. He’ll live forever.**
Gramps turned to Skip **They’re awful worked up about you folks. Scared. They saw timespaces dissolve into chaos. But we know a little better. Timespaces come and go. Some of them last for billions of years and some live and die in the blink of an eye, as such things go. You solve that by rising above it. Now Sparkle-Thursday knows that. Soon, you will too.**
“Did… did you eat Sparkle-Thursday?” Seelein asked.
**Naw. Well, from your point of view, sorta. I took him into me. He added to my cumulative experience. I’m Sparkle-Thursday now. He’s me.**
“How much of his priorities made it through that… assimilation?”
**Oh, he wanted to get his boys home. He was a good one that way. But together we have much more interesting places to go and things to see. It’s all a matter of perspective. He sees things differently now.**
“Well, fuck.” Spaulding said.
**Like you said, Skip. There’s a way out of any cage. I think you just might be mine.**
“Well, fuck,” Tarsi said.
“That explains the impossibilities and contradictions of this space.” Sparkle-Thursday said.
“We’re being psionically dominated by something bigger than Pollarghast?” T’rael said bleakly.
Skip repeated a mantra he heard somewhere: “There’s a way out of any cage. We’re going to find it.”
Ashby said, “Survival, resistance, and escape is the duty of every soldier.”
Zwihasi Trez said, “I resent getting rolled like that.”
Skip nodded, “Agreed.”
Seelein said, “I am concerned.”
Ashby looked at her “I think we all fit that description.”
“If our bodies are unconscious, and we’re in some astral jail, then we will need support. Most people will begin to suffer without hydration quickly. People die of thirst in three days or so,” Seelein said.
“We have similar needs,” Sparkle-Thurdsay said, although our duration will be longer.”
“So we’re on a time clock. We resolve this quickly, or not at all.”
Tarsi came back with a glass of water and drank it. “It feels real.”
“Do you think Gramps has some way of taking care of this problem?” Skip asked.
“He might, but I wouldn’t trust him about it,” Ashby said.
“That means anything we find here is part of Gramp’s mental holodeck,” Skip said.
“Holodeck?” Spaulding asked.
Skip thumbnailed a holodeck for him.
Spaulding blinked as he considered the possibilities.
“Everyone has their own private holodeck programs. We don’t discuss it,” Skip said.
“Ahhhh,”
“And now we’re in Gramps holodeck, except it’s mental.”
“Ew.”
“Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t go like that.”
-*-
Several hours later, the crew had searched many of the nearby buildings and were making plans. Zwihasi was reporting on her attempts to combine the psionic abilities of different species among the crews. It was going to take longer than she thought.
**Kids! Come on out and see this.** Gramps said.
Skip, Spaulding, Sparkle, Zwihasi, and T’real went into the square, followed by some members of their crews.
Gramps was standing near an ornate golden doorway in the middle of the square.
**My gift to you. You might call it an appreciation of your presence.**
“What is it?”
**You step through this door and you’ll find your heart’s desire, and all the time you need to enjoy it. I know you have concerns about your cute little meat bodies. We’ll be done with our thing here long before your needs overwhelm you.**
“Inaccurate.” Sparkling-Thursday said “I have individuals in my crew who have suffered severe injury and may well die soon without competent medical care. My understanding is that your interference prevents this.”
**I’m sorry, little feller. Sometimes, things can get a little messy. The sooner you go through this door, the sooner all of that will be resolved.**
“Resolved how, specifically?”
**Once it’s done, I guarantee you’ll like it and approve.**
“I’ll try this,” Sparkling-Thursday said.
“Are you sure?” Skip asked.
“We must find a way out of this confinement. I need to get my people back into flat timespace to make our way back to our assigned places.”
Zwihasi grabbed one of Sparkle-Thursdays large arms and held it, looking into his multifaceted eyes “Please be careful.”
“Odd,” Sparkle-Thursday said.
The Tholian walked to the doorway and through it.
Zwihasi jerked and squeezed her eyes shut “OH!”
**Ahhhhhh, Lovely!** Gramps said
Zwihasi fell over, caught by Seelein. The Betazoid woman blew breaths hissing out between her teeth.
After a few moments Zwihasi came back to herself, breathing heavily “That was… intense.”
“What? What happened?”
“Gramps didn’t lie. Sparkle-Thursday got everything he could want. A life-time of pleasure in moments… Then he faded away.”
**He didn’t go anywhere.** Gramps said. The tall being pointed at his head **He’s right here with me. And he always will be. He’ll live forever.**
Gramps turned to Skip **They’re awful worked up about you folks. Scared. They saw timespaces dissolve into chaos. But we know a little better. Timespaces come and go. Some of them last for billions of years and some live and die in the blink of an eye, as such things go. You solve that by rising above it. Now Sparkle-Thursday knows that. Soon, you will too.**
“Did… did you eat Sparkle-Thursday?” Seelein asked.
**Naw. Well, from your point of view, sorta. I took him into me. He added to my cumulative experience. I’m Sparkle-Thursday now. He’s me.**
“How much of his priorities made it through that… assimilation?”
**Oh, he wanted to get his boys home. He was a good one that way. But together we have much more interesting places to go and things to see. It’s all a matter of perspective. He sees things differently now.**
“Well, fuck.” Spaulding said.
**Like you said, Skip. There’s a way out of any cage. I think you just might be mine.**
“Well, fuck,” Tarsi said.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 7
The Ane once again gathered together. Touching they combined their power and elevated themselves into the mental space.
Then they got together and heaved with all their might, they worked as hard as any Ane ever had together.
-*-
Zestaraban found himself in an All
**My friends! I ask for your help!**
It was mostly normal Ane looking back at him. Quadrapeds with curving horns and Solid blue eyes.
Among them there were variants. Anetaurs. Half-Ane. Even a few Aneilogs.
**What is the problem?** The closest Ane asked.
Pressed for time, Zestaraban dropped his whole memory on them.
**Our time is short. We have no idea what this Gramps being has in mind, but he’s too big for us to fight alone.**
**We’ll do what we can, Zestalaban,** This All said. The assurance carried some doubt. Most of the Ane present had no idea whatsoever how to proceed. But a few had ideas and were getting excited about getting into motion.
It would have to do.
-*-
“I’ll go next,” A Klingon from the Dominion crew said.
Skip recognized the Klingon who’d been asking them to kill him.
“You’ll go to your end without getting vengeance for how you were treated?” Skip asked.
The Klingon man looked at him with haunted eyes “That might work on a sane Klingon. That might work on someone who hadn’t seen Grethor above him in the distance.”
Spaulding said “Are you sure? There’s squids in dire need of stabbing.”
“There are Klingons who are still Klingon. There are men and women with honor. Even among the non-Klingons in your Alliance. You have much stabbing ahead of you. When you confront someone like me, twisted into a monster by the Squids, kill them. Quickly and thoroughly. Don’t let them endure what I do. An awareness of what I turned into in service of Pollarghast.”
T’rael nodded sadly. She understood.
Kroggar looked at her, and then turned and walked directly through the door.
**Oh!** Gramps said. **Spicy! That little fellers experience was pretty sharp. **
“Tell me, Gramps” T’real asked “Did any of his hatred for Pollarghast survive? Did any of his need for vengeance make it into you?”
**Some. I don’t take the antics of you little fellers all that seriously as a general rule. Right now, I’m focused on you guys, specifically.**
T’rael stared at Gramps as she processed. She knew what hurt the Klingon. She was present and participated in some of the atrocities he couldn’t live with.
It was all too small to warrant Gramps going much out of his way.
**Who’s next? An end to all your pain. I know what Pollarghast made ya do, after he broke your brain. You don’t have to carry that. It’ll all fade away. Replaced by the pure joy of becoming one with me.**
-*-
Pollarghast was not having a good time. His crew was down. Suppressed into a state he didn’t have the strength to command their return from.
His ship was all but helpless. The Illithid mastered technology, but they didn’t trust it. Thralls were trustworthy. Their minds could be dominated. Pain could compel their obedience. You couldn’t torture a computer into compliance.
So Pollarghast was stuck in a ship that needed thralls to work surrounded by his thralls that weren’t working.
The solution was obvious, but it involved labor, lots of it.
Pollarghast was in his engineering compartment building an automation system. He had the parts, he had the tools. He had the skills. He hoped he had the time.
So he didn’t notice when one of his thralls in the weapons compartments sat up, yawned, stretched, and got up mumbling to himself “There we go little feller, now we’re cookin.” And set off on his own business.
-*-
The EDS Atlantis fired up her impulse drives and headed away from the star.
Her crew, a mix of Ane from both ships kept her moving. In time the ship would break down without enough people providing maintenance. For now, she was in good shape and ready to fly.
**Ready Warp Drives** Montaban said. Usually he’d have done that himself, but now he was the ranking Ane on the Atlantis, so it was his assistant running main engineering.
**Warp drives ready.**
**Ashley’s going to be so upset she missed this,** Mumquelmalan said.
**Right? These engines are right off the USS Kongo.** Cedsuyalaban said.
**What?** Mesuxialan asked.
**This ship. It looks, to us, like an ancient Klingon D4 fitted with engines from a Constitution class cruiser from the 2260s,** Mumquelmalan said.
Mesuxialan said **We borrowed tech from some friends of ours. The Squids are threatening El-Nanth.**
**We have better.** Cedsuyalaban said.
**We’re limited by what the Klingons and the rest of our friends can uptake. As they bootstrap, we’ll feed them better tech until the Squids are put down for good.**
**Good luck!** Mumquelmalan said.
Cedsuyalaban asked **You said El-Nanth is threatened?**
Mesuxialan showed them images. The El-Nanth System was under siege by Illithid Dominion forces. Small groups of cloaked ships played an ugly game of 3-d chess in The Grinder, the asteroid belt at the edge of the El-Nanth system.
Ane and Allied troops struggled to hold, defend, and repair Builder’s Station. It was the living embodiment of “If you’re short of everything but the enemy, you’re on the front lines” - but for both sides. The Alliance struggled to build up enough force and materiel to support El-Nanth, while the Illithids poured resources into a grinder, never quite finding the path to victory.
It was far too close run a thing.
Mumquelmalan, Cedsuyalaban were horrified. In their wildest dreams they never imagined that enemy ships would roam the home system. That the skies of the home worlds would be contested. The images filled them with an atavistic rage. **What can we do?**
Mesuxialan gave a wan smile **You have already helped, friends. If we can make it back home, the technology of the Lovell will help us a great deal.**
Mumquelmalan and Cedsuyalaban looked at each other. It didn’t feel like enough.
In the few seconds this mental conversation took, the order came from the Bridge
**Engage warp drives. Warp One.**
The EDS Atlantis went to warp. Her nose wanted to wander, warping through the twisted space. Flying her was an active challenge.
It got worse, as if flying an airplane through turbulence. Curved, boiling space tossed the ship this way and that.
Then as they got close to five astronomical units away from the star, thinking got harder. The Ane found themselves drifting away from each other in a chaotic fog, a painful experience for the Ane. The distortion that hampered their telepathy got worse and worse.
Then it all faded to white.
Montaban found himself slumped over the command chair.
The Atlantis was flying at half impulse toward the star, Warp engines off line.
The distorted space was too much for the warp drives to function in. Somehow flying away got turned into flying back.
Montaban said **I was afraid of that. Reset, everyone, we’re going to try again.**
-*-
On their third try, Motaban had to give up **The distortion and curvature gets worse towards the edges. It’s so curved that if we fly out, we wind up flying back in.**
**It seems the space is flatter near the star.**
**Yeah, that would be the gravity of the star, flattening the distortions. Hmmm** Montaban hummed to himself as he did complicated math in his head.
The Ane once again gathered together. Touching they combined their power and elevated themselves into the mental space.
Then they got together and heaved with all their might, they worked as hard as any Ane ever had together.
-*-
Zestaraban found himself in an All
**My friends! I ask for your help!**
It was mostly normal Ane looking back at him. Quadrapeds with curving horns and Solid blue eyes.
Among them there were variants. Anetaurs. Half-Ane. Even a few Aneilogs.
**What is the problem?** The closest Ane asked.
Pressed for time, Zestaraban dropped his whole memory on them.
**Our time is short. We have no idea what this Gramps being has in mind, but he’s too big for us to fight alone.**
**We’ll do what we can, Zestalaban,** This All said. The assurance carried some doubt. Most of the Ane present had no idea whatsoever how to proceed. But a few had ideas and were getting excited about getting into motion.
It would have to do.
-*-
“I’ll go next,” A Klingon from the Dominion crew said.
Skip recognized the Klingon who’d been asking them to kill him.
“You’ll go to your end without getting vengeance for how you were treated?” Skip asked.
The Klingon man looked at him with haunted eyes “That might work on a sane Klingon. That might work on someone who hadn’t seen Grethor above him in the distance.”
Spaulding said “Are you sure? There’s squids in dire need of stabbing.”
“There are Klingons who are still Klingon. There are men and women with honor. Even among the non-Klingons in your Alliance. You have much stabbing ahead of you. When you confront someone like me, twisted into a monster by the Squids, kill them. Quickly and thoroughly. Don’t let them endure what I do. An awareness of what I turned into in service of Pollarghast.”
T’rael nodded sadly. She understood.
Kroggar looked at her, and then turned and walked directly through the door.
**Oh!** Gramps said. **Spicy! That little fellers experience was pretty sharp. **
“Tell me, Gramps” T’real asked “Did any of his hatred for Pollarghast survive? Did any of his need for vengeance make it into you?”
**Some. I don’t take the antics of you little fellers all that seriously as a general rule. Right now, I’m focused on you guys, specifically.**
T’rael stared at Gramps as she processed. She knew what hurt the Klingon. She was present and participated in some of the atrocities he couldn’t live with.
It was all too small to warrant Gramps going much out of his way.
**Who’s next? An end to all your pain. I know what Pollarghast made ya do, after he broke your brain. You don’t have to carry that. It’ll all fade away. Replaced by the pure joy of becoming one with me.**
-*-
Pollarghast was not having a good time. His crew was down. Suppressed into a state he didn’t have the strength to command their return from.
His ship was all but helpless. The Illithid mastered technology, but they didn’t trust it. Thralls were trustworthy. Their minds could be dominated. Pain could compel their obedience. You couldn’t torture a computer into compliance.
So Pollarghast was stuck in a ship that needed thralls to work surrounded by his thralls that weren’t working.
The solution was obvious, but it involved labor, lots of it.
Pollarghast was in his engineering compartment building an automation system. He had the parts, he had the tools. He had the skills. He hoped he had the time.
So he didn’t notice when one of his thralls in the weapons compartments sat up, yawned, stretched, and got up mumbling to himself “There we go little feller, now we’re cookin.” And set off on his own business.
-*-
The EDS Atlantis fired up her impulse drives and headed away from the star.
Her crew, a mix of Ane from both ships kept her moving. In time the ship would break down without enough people providing maintenance. For now, she was in good shape and ready to fly.
**Ready Warp Drives** Montaban said. Usually he’d have done that himself, but now he was the ranking Ane on the Atlantis, so it was his assistant running main engineering.
**Warp drives ready.**
**Ashley’s going to be so upset she missed this,** Mumquelmalan said.
**Right? These engines are right off the USS Kongo.** Cedsuyalaban said.
**What?** Mesuxialan asked.
**This ship. It looks, to us, like an ancient Klingon D4 fitted with engines from a Constitution class cruiser from the 2260s,** Mumquelmalan said.
Mesuxialan said **We borrowed tech from some friends of ours. The Squids are threatening El-Nanth.**
**We have better.** Cedsuyalaban said.
**We’re limited by what the Klingons and the rest of our friends can uptake. As they bootstrap, we’ll feed them better tech until the Squids are put down for good.**
**Good luck!** Mumquelmalan said.
Cedsuyalaban asked **You said El-Nanth is threatened?**
Mesuxialan showed them images. The El-Nanth System was under siege by Illithid Dominion forces. Small groups of cloaked ships played an ugly game of 3-d chess in The Grinder, the asteroid belt at the edge of the El-Nanth system.
Ane and Allied troops struggled to hold, defend, and repair Builder’s Station. It was the living embodiment of “If you’re short of everything but the enemy, you’re on the front lines” - but for both sides. The Alliance struggled to build up enough force and materiel to support El-Nanth, while the Illithids poured resources into a grinder, never quite finding the path to victory.
It was far too close run a thing.
Mumquelmalan, Cedsuyalaban were horrified. In their wildest dreams they never imagined that enemy ships would roam the home system. That the skies of the home worlds would be contested. The images filled them with an atavistic rage. **What can we do?**
Mesuxialan gave a wan smile **You have already helped, friends. If we can make it back home, the technology of the Lovell will help us a great deal.**
Mumquelmalan and Cedsuyalaban looked at each other. It didn’t feel like enough.
In the few seconds this mental conversation took, the order came from the Bridge
**Engage warp drives. Warp One.**
The EDS Atlantis went to warp. Her nose wanted to wander, warping through the twisted space. Flying her was an active challenge.
It got worse, as if flying an airplane through turbulence. Curved, boiling space tossed the ship this way and that.
Then as they got close to five astronomical units away from the star, thinking got harder. The Ane found themselves drifting away from each other in a chaotic fog, a painful experience for the Ane. The distortion that hampered their telepathy got worse and worse.
Then it all faded to white.
Montaban found himself slumped over the command chair.
The Atlantis was flying at half impulse toward the star, Warp engines off line.
The distorted space was too much for the warp drives to function in. Somehow flying away got turned into flying back.
Montaban said **I was afraid of that. Reset, everyone, we’re going to try again.**
-*-
On their third try, Motaban had to give up **The distortion and curvature gets worse towards the edges. It’s so curved that if we fly out, we wind up flying back in.**
**It seems the space is flatter near the star.**
**Yeah, that would be the gravity of the star, flattening the distortions. Hmmm** Montaban hummed to himself as he did complicated math in his head.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 8.5 The Rescue Mission
HMSS Silidigar
Silidigar 1
Landran Von Klemeril sipped coffee from exquisite china. His office was as large as one of the store rooms on the Regulator class man-o-war.
This bit into the already limited space aboard the ship. Captain Von Klemeril was a firm believer in “Rank hath its privileges”.
He was also extremely strict about protocol and procedure. This was what made him acceptable as a starship captain.
Von Klemeril was from one of the old noble families, and no one was ever allowed to forget it. He honestly didn’t think he was being that bad about it. His family survived the purges after the change of rulers, albeit much reduced and further away from influence.
Von Klemeril didn’t remember the previous emperor and felt no attraction or loyalty to the man despite his mother’s best efforts. He thought of himself as a man of the modern Empire. On the wall of his office was a portrait of Tesral, the avian being who occupied the throne. He was die-hard loyal to the Twelve Worlds Empire.
The bell to the door of his office rang. Von Klemeril sighed and switched on a screen.
One of the Ane.
Von Klemeril sighed. He hated the Ane. They had no sense of decorum. Politeness. Propriety.
In reality, the Ane were permanently unimpressed with Von Klemeril’s status and his impression of it.
The Ane were… Part of the Empire. Part of the Empire’s communications network. Orders had come down from the highest levels. “The Ane make High Command happy. They make the Emperor happy. So you welcome the Ane, keep them comfortable, and maintain your discipline around them.”
Von Klemeril had heard horror stories about people unable to adjust to the Ane. The Ane won. High Command wanted Ane on their ships. That ended it.
Von Klemeril set his face in a neutral expression and nodded to his yeoman. His yeoman had a standing desk by the door. In four-hour shifts, young officers stood there, doing paper-work or reading manuals always alert to cater to the Captain’s ever demand.
The Yeoman opened the office door.
Parlegaban came in **Greetings Captain Von Klemeril.**
“Good day,” Von Klemiril lied pleasantly, “What brings you to my office today?”
Parlegaban said **I have new orders from high command. Confirmation is on its way via subspace.**
Von Klemeril hated this. He didn’t trust the Ane. He preferred to get his orders in the proper, official formats used by High Command. The Ane could just claim he’d been ordered to go the prow, drop his pants, and moon the Galaxy, and Von Klemeril had to trust that they were reporting accurately.
He sighed deeply, “Alright. What are these new orders?”
**There is a distress call. We will proceed with all due haste and render whatever aid we can.**
This was serious. Von Klemeril could feel it in the Ane’s voice. He stood, “Alright. What bearing and distance?”
**We believe it is a star approximately 1.32 light years away, heading 012 by 348.**
Von Klemeril squinted, “You believe?”
**The telepathic distress call was not directional. We weren’t able to determine where the distress call was by that means. We’ve had to track it down logically by process of elimination.**
Von Klemeril took a deep breath. This was much too vague and nebulous. His first instinct was to reject the idea until he was given more specific parameters.
But he had the main parameter. Keep the Ane happy.
So he marched onto the Bridge, followed by his yeoman and Parlegaban.
“CAPTAIN ON THE BRIDGE!” Bellowed the Officer of the deck.
Everyone stood and saluted him. Von Klemeril let them hold it for a fraction of a second before he returned the salute and said, “As you were.”
Duty stations resumed.
Von Klemeril’s XO was off duty. The situation wasn’t critical enough to call an alert.
“Officer of the Bridge, report the readiness of this ship.”
“All departments are manned and functioning as expected, Captain!”
“Have the Science officer scan for a star approximately 1.32 light years away, at bearings 012 by 348.”
The Officer of the Bridge relayed the orders to the science officer and the science officer repeated them back and then executed.
“I am reading Yoboloaran’s Star at that range and bearing. A yellow star that suffers from anomalous variability. It’s listed as a hazard on the charts, SIR!”
Von Klemeril said, “Officer of the Bridge, log new orders, Set course for Yoboloaran’s Star, and proceed at best speed.”
“Sir! Set course for Yoboloaran’s Star and proceed at best speed!” The Officer of the Bridge called back, writing the order down in a paper log book.
“Correct. Execute.”
The Officer of the Bridge yelled the orders out to rest of the Bridge crew who carried their tasks out in quiet, efficient detail.
“Estimated time of arrival?”
“Approximately 22 hours, Sir!”
**We’d like to arrive at approximately one astronomical unit away from the star and then come to a complete stop relative to the star.** Parlegaban said.
Von Klemeril repeated this to the Officer of the Bridge, who wrote it down while confirming it.
“Very good, Execute.”
Orders set, Von Klemeril said “We will go to rescue stations in 21 hours. Make sure everyone is ready.”
“AYE, SIR!”
“Officer of the Bridge, you have the Conn.”
“I have the Conn, Sir.”
“Mister Parlegaban, please return with me to my office.”
**As you wish,** Parlegaban said
When they were in the office, Von Klemeril said, “Please tell me everything you can about this rescue mission.”
**We received a distress call from some Ane folk. They are caught in what seems to be a chaotic pocket dimension with a powerful entity that is hostile to them. The relative position seems to correspond to Yoboloaran’s Star. Our goal is to access the pocket dimension and extract the Ane and their friends from this trap.**
Von Klemeril held his temper with some effort. He wanted to shout: “Balderdash and Drivel!” This was patently some drug-induced hallucination.
Instead, Von Klemeril said, mildly, “And how do you mean to access this ‘chaotic pocket dimension’?”
**When we come to a stop, we will bring aboard some subject matter experts to assist.**
More balderdash. The Silidigar was the only Twelve Worlds ship within two week's travel in any direction. Von Klemeril resolved to write a stiffly worded letter to his chain of command. Until then, he was stuck. “Subject matter experts you say. On chaotic pocket dimensions?”
**And chaos. And pockets. And dimensions. We know you don’t like us. We also know what you’re good at. Please just get us where we need to be, and keep an open mind.**
Von Klemeril chewed on that for a moment. He prided himself on his poker face. “My feelings are not at issue. We have jobs to do, for the Empire. As long as we serve the Empire, whatever I feel should be of no concern to you.”
**Well said. Please rest up. We have a busy day tomorrow.**
“Thank you.”
HMSS Silidigar
Silidigar 1
Landran Von Klemeril sipped coffee from exquisite china. His office was as large as one of the store rooms on the Regulator class man-o-war.
This bit into the already limited space aboard the ship. Captain Von Klemeril was a firm believer in “Rank hath its privileges”.
He was also extremely strict about protocol and procedure. This was what made him acceptable as a starship captain.
Von Klemeril was from one of the old noble families, and no one was ever allowed to forget it. He honestly didn’t think he was being that bad about it. His family survived the purges after the change of rulers, albeit much reduced and further away from influence.
Von Klemeril didn’t remember the previous emperor and felt no attraction or loyalty to the man despite his mother’s best efforts. He thought of himself as a man of the modern Empire. On the wall of his office was a portrait of Tesral, the avian being who occupied the throne. He was die-hard loyal to the Twelve Worlds Empire.
The bell to the door of his office rang. Von Klemeril sighed and switched on a screen.
One of the Ane.
Von Klemeril sighed. He hated the Ane. They had no sense of decorum. Politeness. Propriety.
In reality, the Ane were permanently unimpressed with Von Klemeril’s status and his impression of it.
The Ane were… Part of the Empire. Part of the Empire’s communications network. Orders had come down from the highest levels. “The Ane make High Command happy. They make the Emperor happy. So you welcome the Ane, keep them comfortable, and maintain your discipline around them.”
Von Klemeril had heard horror stories about people unable to adjust to the Ane. The Ane won. High Command wanted Ane on their ships. That ended it.
Von Klemeril set his face in a neutral expression and nodded to his yeoman. His yeoman had a standing desk by the door. In four-hour shifts, young officers stood there, doing paper-work or reading manuals always alert to cater to the Captain’s ever demand.
The Yeoman opened the office door.
Parlegaban came in **Greetings Captain Von Klemeril.**
“Good day,” Von Klemiril lied pleasantly, “What brings you to my office today?”
Parlegaban said **I have new orders from high command. Confirmation is on its way via subspace.**
Von Klemeril hated this. He didn’t trust the Ane. He preferred to get his orders in the proper, official formats used by High Command. The Ane could just claim he’d been ordered to go the prow, drop his pants, and moon the Galaxy, and Von Klemeril had to trust that they were reporting accurately.
He sighed deeply, “Alright. What are these new orders?”
**There is a distress call. We will proceed with all due haste and render whatever aid we can.**
This was serious. Von Klemeril could feel it in the Ane’s voice. He stood, “Alright. What bearing and distance?”
**We believe it is a star approximately 1.32 light years away, heading 012 by 348.**
Von Klemeril squinted, “You believe?”
**The telepathic distress call was not directional. We weren’t able to determine where the distress call was by that means. We’ve had to track it down logically by process of elimination.**
Von Klemeril took a deep breath. This was much too vague and nebulous. His first instinct was to reject the idea until he was given more specific parameters.
But he had the main parameter. Keep the Ane happy.
So he marched onto the Bridge, followed by his yeoman and Parlegaban.
“CAPTAIN ON THE BRIDGE!” Bellowed the Officer of the deck.
Everyone stood and saluted him. Von Klemeril let them hold it for a fraction of a second before he returned the salute and said, “As you were.”
Duty stations resumed.
Von Klemeril’s XO was off duty. The situation wasn’t critical enough to call an alert.
“Officer of the Bridge, report the readiness of this ship.”
“All departments are manned and functioning as expected, Captain!”
“Have the Science officer scan for a star approximately 1.32 light years away, at bearings 012 by 348.”
The Officer of the Bridge relayed the orders to the science officer and the science officer repeated them back and then executed.
“I am reading Yoboloaran’s Star at that range and bearing. A yellow star that suffers from anomalous variability. It’s listed as a hazard on the charts, SIR!”
Von Klemeril said, “Officer of the Bridge, log new orders, Set course for Yoboloaran’s Star, and proceed at best speed.”
“Sir! Set course for Yoboloaran’s Star and proceed at best speed!” The Officer of the Bridge called back, writing the order down in a paper log book.
“Correct. Execute.”
The Officer of the Bridge yelled the orders out to rest of the Bridge crew who carried their tasks out in quiet, efficient detail.
“Estimated time of arrival?”
“Approximately 22 hours, Sir!”
**We’d like to arrive at approximately one astronomical unit away from the star and then come to a complete stop relative to the star.** Parlegaban said.
Von Klemeril repeated this to the Officer of the Bridge, who wrote it down while confirming it.
“Very good, Execute.”
Orders set, Von Klemeril said “We will go to rescue stations in 21 hours. Make sure everyone is ready.”
“AYE, SIR!”
“Officer of the Bridge, you have the Conn.”
“I have the Conn, Sir.”
“Mister Parlegaban, please return with me to my office.”
**As you wish,** Parlegaban said
When they were in the office, Von Klemeril said, “Please tell me everything you can about this rescue mission.”
**We received a distress call from some Ane folk. They are caught in what seems to be a chaotic pocket dimension with a powerful entity that is hostile to them. The relative position seems to correspond to Yoboloaran’s Star. Our goal is to access the pocket dimension and extract the Ane and their friends from this trap.**
Von Klemeril held his temper with some effort. He wanted to shout: “Balderdash and Drivel!” This was patently some drug-induced hallucination.
Instead, Von Klemeril said, mildly, “And how do you mean to access this ‘chaotic pocket dimension’?”
**When we come to a stop, we will bring aboard some subject matter experts to assist.**
More balderdash. The Silidigar was the only Twelve Worlds ship within two week's travel in any direction. Von Klemeril resolved to write a stiffly worded letter to his chain of command. Until then, he was stuck. “Subject matter experts you say. On chaotic pocket dimensions?”
**And chaos. And pockets. And dimensions. We know you don’t like us. We also know what you’re good at. Please just get us where we need to be, and keep an open mind.**
Von Klemeril chewed on that for a moment. He prided himself on his poker face. “My feelings are not at issue. We have jobs to do, for the Empire. As long as we serve the Empire, whatever I feel should be of no concern to you.”
**Well said. Please rest up. We have a busy day tomorrow.**
“Thank you.”
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 9
Zestalaban said "Execute,"
The Lovells warp drives fired up and claimed a bubble of space. Instead of creating the gravitational caterpillar of warp drive, it just held its bubble firmly.
The static warp bubble covered the Atlantis and the chunk of Tholian ship.
Immediately, all the Ane felt more clear-headed, and they could communicate easily. The Distortion to space that muffled their psionics was flattened.
-*-
Gramps was back the next morning.
**Alright, little Fellers. Here's another one. A little tougher this time. You'll thank me when it's all said and done.**
Zwihasi said, "Is that the voices of the people you've assimilated, or is it your voice speaking through thousands of stolen throats?"
**Billions. If they didn't like it, I wouldn't be here, little gal.**
"We value our identities and individuality," Skip said.
**I know that. You're lookin’ at this all wrong. I don't destroy your individuality. This idea you have of individual or not-individual, self versus the collective, that's all little people stuff. I'm above all that. When you join me you'll be above it, too. When we're one, you'll find you like it just fine. I ain't had no complaints.**
"Yeah, that's what concerns me, Gramps."
**You'll be fine once we're one.**
"And back to consent."
**That's a cute notion, and really good when you're dealing with fellers on your level. I'm above that, too.**
"You absolutely do not have my consent."
Gramps sighed **Enough sufferin and you'll change your mind little feller. They almost always do.**
The new golden door looked like the old one with a frame around the uprights and top. Skip walked up to it. It looked like a steel mesh wrapped around the gold material of the door.
**You won't find it so easy to ruin, this time,** Gramps said
Something happened. It felt like an earthquake both outside and inside the minds of all the people present.
**ARRRRGGHHHH!** Gramps grabbed the side of his head.
Suddenly the Atlantis and Lovell crew were looking at the town setting from very far away. They floated in the mental Space.
Zwihasi grabbed Skip **Wake up!**
-*-
Skip found himself floundering on a sickbay bed. "Nhhhgggrrrr." He had a terrible case of dry mouth
"Keptin McGee is awake!" Holo-Chekov announced.
Skip squinted at the hologram of the long-dead Enterprise crew member in the velour uniform, "You're not an EMH."
Holo-Chekov shrugged, "You'd be surprised what add-on modules we hev, Keptin."
Xytalalan arrived and waved a medical tricorder at McGee **How are you feeling?**
"Horrible. Whatever you did worked. Zwihasi got me out of the mental space."
Xytalalan looked over at the next bed where Tarsi lay. The Ane Healer put her hand on the Andorian officer's head. Tarsi woke up gasping.
People started waking up all over sick bay.
"What did you do?" Skip asked
**We established a static warp bubble to flatten out local space-time.**
"Can we move it?"
**I don't know.**
Skip got off the bed and staggered towards the bridge.
-*-
"Can we move this static warp bubble?" Skip asked, between slugs of water
Zestalaban said **I don't think so,** He looked at something far away **Montaban says it's in the name. Static.**
"We left a bunch of injured people in the hands of Gramps. Move the ships to cover that Dominion war bird and establish a new static warp bubble."
**The effect is only a few kilometers wide. once we leave it, we'll be helpless against Gramps again. **
"So what was your plan once the static warp bubble worked?"
**Honestly, I hadn't thought that far ahead. We're improvising here.**
Skip chuckled "I like it. What if we moved to the edge and then made another static warp bubble?"
**Much too slow for any practical use. it'd take us years to crawl to the Dominion ship that way.**
"Keep working on it."
Radzka called "Engineering here. The new warp drive control routines are interesting. They need commendations for making this work at all. I think I can rewrite it into something sane here in a couple of hours."
"How long is the static warp bubble going to last?"
"Indefinitely, Captain. We're cruising at warp one equivalent. But not going anywhere."
"Alright, steady as she doesn't go."
"Aye, Sir."
Voltu Bob came onto the bridge "Captain, our database has psi shields in it. I'd like to assemble as many of them as I can."
Skip blinked "Will we have enough for everyone?"
"Doubtful, But we can make a lot, if you don't mind using all our reserves of space parts."
"Do it."
Xytalalan said **Captain, our lack of a plan had a second part.**
"What was that?"
**Running towards Gramps.**
"Diplomacy has a pretty poor record in this event, Xytalalan."
**But it is the Starfleet thing to do.**
"Right. Give me a few minutes to straighten myself up and I'll come with you."
**Are you sure?**
"What's the Starfleet thing to do here?"
-*-
Skip was ramming nutrient paste down his throat. It was nasty, but he couldn’t take the time for a real meal. He had to get nutrients down to prepare to go back into the mental space.
The ship shuddered.
Skip ran onto the bridge from his ready room "What was that?"
"Some sort of gravitic wave," Dodza said.
Skip looked at the screen "He's trying to disrupt the bubble."
The Lovell shuddered harder.
The Tholians hailed. "I am Patterns Etched into Summer Sounds. Skipworth, arranging our deaths here will not help your cause."
"It's not us. I think Gramps is causing this. What's your status?"
"A few more such waves will cause the collapse of this wreck."
"Noted. We'll arrange a suitable environment for you aboard the Lovell."
"Remarkably generous of you, and yet at the same time a most unpleasant prospect."
"Agreed. If your ship starts to collapse, we'll beam you here."
"Agreed."
Skip turned to Dodza "Get those folks a safe space."
"On it, Captain." Dodza said
The ship shuddered again.
Zestalaban said "Execute,"
The Lovells warp drives fired up and claimed a bubble of space. Instead of creating the gravitational caterpillar of warp drive, it just held its bubble firmly.
The static warp bubble covered the Atlantis and the chunk of Tholian ship.
Immediately, all the Ane felt more clear-headed, and they could communicate easily. The Distortion to space that muffled their psionics was flattened.
-*-
Gramps was back the next morning.
**Alright, little Fellers. Here's another one. A little tougher this time. You'll thank me when it's all said and done.**
Zwihasi said, "Is that the voices of the people you've assimilated, or is it your voice speaking through thousands of stolen throats?"
**Billions. If they didn't like it, I wouldn't be here, little gal.**
"We value our identities and individuality," Skip said.
**I know that. You're lookin’ at this all wrong. I don't destroy your individuality. This idea you have of individual or not-individual, self versus the collective, that's all little people stuff. I'm above all that. When you join me you'll be above it, too. When we're one, you'll find you like it just fine. I ain't had no complaints.**
"Yeah, that's what concerns me, Gramps."
**You'll be fine once we're one.**
"And back to consent."
**That's a cute notion, and really good when you're dealing with fellers on your level. I'm above that, too.**
"You absolutely do not have my consent."
Gramps sighed **Enough sufferin and you'll change your mind little feller. They almost always do.**
The new golden door looked like the old one with a frame around the uprights and top. Skip walked up to it. It looked like a steel mesh wrapped around the gold material of the door.
**You won't find it so easy to ruin, this time,** Gramps said
Something happened. It felt like an earthquake both outside and inside the minds of all the people present.
**ARRRRGGHHHH!** Gramps grabbed the side of his head.
Suddenly the Atlantis and Lovell crew were looking at the town setting from very far away. They floated in the mental Space.
Zwihasi grabbed Skip **Wake up!**
-*-
Skip found himself floundering on a sickbay bed. "Nhhhgggrrrr." He had a terrible case of dry mouth
"Keptin McGee is awake!" Holo-Chekov announced.
Skip squinted at the hologram of the long-dead Enterprise crew member in the velour uniform, "You're not an EMH."
Holo-Chekov shrugged, "You'd be surprised what add-on modules we hev, Keptin."
Xytalalan arrived and waved a medical tricorder at McGee **How are you feeling?**
"Horrible. Whatever you did worked. Zwihasi got me out of the mental space."
Xytalalan looked over at the next bed where Tarsi lay. The Ane Healer put her hand on the Andorian officer's head. Tarsi woke up gasping.
People started waking up all over sick bay.
"What did you do?" Skip asked
**We established a static warp bubble to flatten out local space-time.**
"Can we move it?"
**I don't know.**
Skip got off the bed and staggered towards the bridge.
-*-
"Can we move this static warp bubble?" Skip asked, between slugs of water
Zestalaban said **I don't think so,** He looked at something far away **Montaban says it's in the name. Static.**
"We left a bunch of injured people in the hands of Gramps. Move the ships to cover that Dominion war bird and establish a new static warp bubble."
**The effect is only a few kilometers wide. once we leave it, we'll be helpless against Gramps again. **
"So what was your plan once the static warp bubble worked?"
**Honestly, I hadn't thought that far ahead. We're improvising here.**
Skip chuckled "I like it. What if we moved to the edge and then made another static warp bubble?"
**Much too slow for any practical use. it'd take us years to crawl to the Dominion ship that way.**
"Keep working on it."
Radzka called "Engineering here. The new warp drive control routines are interesting. They need commendations for making this work at all. I think I can rewrite it into something sane here in a couple of hours."
"How long is the static warp bubble going to last?"
"Indefinitely, Captain. We're cruising at warp one equivalent. But not going anywhere."
"Alright, steady as she doesn't go."
"Aye, Sir."
Voltu Bob came onto the bridge "Captain, our database has psi shields in it. I'd like to assemble as many of them as I can."
Skip blinked "Will we have enough for everyone?"
"Doubtful, But we can make a lot, if you don't mind using all our reserves of space parts."
"Do it."
Xytalalan said **Captain, our lack of a plan had a second part.**
"What was that?"
**Running towards Gramps.**
"Diplomacy has a pretty poor record in this event, Xytalalan."
**But it is the Starfleet thing to do.**
"Right. Give me a few minutes to straighten myself up and I'll come with you."
**Are you sure?**
"What's the Starfleet thing to do here?"
-*-
Skip was ramming nutrient paste down his throat. It was nasty, but he couldn’t take the time for a real meal. He had to get nutrients down to prepare to go back into the mental space.
The ship shuddered.
Skip ran onto the bridge from his ready room "What was that?"
"Some sort of gravitic wave," Dodza said.
Skip looked at the screen "He's trying to disrupt the bubble."
The Lovell shuddered harder.
The Tholians hailed. "I am Patterns Etched into Summer Sounds. Skipworth, arranging our deaths here will not help your cause."
"It's not us. I think Gramps is causing this. What's your status?"
"A few more such waves will cause the collapse of this wreck."
"Noted. We'll arrange a suitable environment for you aboard the Lovell."
"Remarkably generous of you, and yet at the same time a most unpleasant prospect."
"Agreed. If your ship starts to collapse, we'll beam you here."
"Agreed."
Skip turned to Dodza "Get those folks a safe space."
"On it, Captain." Dodza said
The ship shuddered again.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1114
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 10
Skip and the Ane elevated to the Mental space and moved towards Gramps.
Skip felt like some sort of big fluffy bird was carrying him along.
Gramps was a fuzzy thing in the distance.
The mental space had a hard edge to it, representing the edge of the static warp bubble.
Skip found his brain stumbling over that concept. No time for that now.
"Gramps!" He called, "Come talk to us!"
The Fuzzy humanoid shape flew towards them and wrapped itself around the edge of the warp bubble
**Clever,** Gramps voice was ragged, harsh, different, **You got me with that one.**
Skip peered at the being. The fuzz was... things. He looked closer. Closer.
It was people—an ocean of people glued together. When Gramps spoke, all of their mouths moved.
"We're here to negotiate, Gramps. I'd really like it if we could work out something... less insane as a solution here."
**Heh heh heh** Gramps chuckled with a billion voices **Optimism crafted from pure neutronium. You'd try to negotiate with a Supernova if you could find a way to talk to it.**
"Well, yeah. I'm not out here casually or light-heartedly. I'm very serious about this Starfleet thing."
**I'll enjoy that more when you're a part of me.**
"Yeah, that's what we're negotiating,"
**You want to talk me out of being me.**
"What if we slowed it down a little and set up a rule for willing participants only?"
**That seems out of the way for both you and me**
"Worth it if we can have a relationship without coercion in it, wouldn't you say?"
**You don't understand, little feller. I need you. Badly. It's been a long time.**
Skip could see some of the tiny humanoid figures making up Gramps wriggling twisting. On faces where he could make out expressions, many were not good.
Skip reached out across the line and grabbed one of the figures. It came away with a ripping noise.
Skip found himself on the ground with a screaming woman. She flailed, kicked, and struggled.
**HEY!!** Gramps shouted.
Xytalalan put her hand on the struggling woman, who disappeared into the surprised Ane in an instant.
**Give me back!!** Gramps yelled
**I... I can't!** Xytalalan said **She was only memories. She's dead.**
Zestalaban grabbed another humanoid figure out of Gramps. As he drew his hand back across the border of the mental space, there was a brief flash of a humanoid who yelled "Thank y-" before disappearing into Zestalaban
Zestalaban could see the two beings, insensate in the 11th dimension, like dead Ane.
It was wrong. Non-Ane didn't belong there.
Zestalaban said **Gramps! They're all dead! You're made of dead people!**
Gramps snarled **NO!! They're me, and I'm them. We're beautiful together! We'll live forever! We've risen above your little notions of life and death!**
"How does any of this work? Did I grab a ghost?" Skip asked.
**Sort of,** Xytalalan said **Our minds, our selves exist partly in the 11th dimension - the 11th dimension can remember. We write ourselves into it. What you saw was the memories of a person, pulled into the mental space, held by all of us and then written into the 11th dimension. Your mind processed that as a ghost.**
Skip turned to Gramps "Show me Sparkling-Thursday! Prove he's not dead!"
**I don't have to prove anything to you, little feller, you forget who's the big feller around here,** Gramps said
But Skip felt the conglomeration of people shift and move. There was Sparking-Thurdsay, glued in among the masses of humanoids.
Skip reached for the Tholian.
Gramps grabbed Skip's arm and held it with an iron grip. **Your turn, little feller! C'Mon in. You'll love it.**
The Ane grabbed Skip and heaved. Skip felt himself wanting to rip apart.
"None of this makes sense!" He yelled.
**It's... a ... metaphor.** Zestalaban said, pulling with all his might **Your brain is painting it with images you understand.**
Skip took a deep breath and accepted the pain, pulling against Gramps. What did it look like if you got your hand psionically ripped off?
Gramps let go.
Skip and the Ane fell into a pile. It didn't feel all that metaphorical.
**Sparkling-Thursday has something, little feller. It might be the answer to both our problems.**
"Besides wanting to eat everyone, what's your problem, Gramps?" Skip asked
**I'm trapped here, little feller. I’ve been trapped a long damned time. The distorted spacetime is a prison I haven't been able to leave yet. But I see something in Sparkling-Thurday's mind. They were building a spacetime- flattener. We could smash this prison flat, and I could be free.**
"Didn't you say the trick is to rise above spacetime?"
**This pocket was made just for me by some folks who couldn't see what I represented. I'm the future, little feller. All the people joining and becoming one.**
"What are you proposing?" Skip asked.
**Let's build this Tholian Space flattener together. I'll let you and crew go for now. We build the flattener and get out of this trap together. **
Skip blinked "Let’s have a truce while I discuss it with my crews."
**You're going to try and find a way t' avoid lettin me out of this trap. I don't even need to read yer mind especially. Never mind, I'll let you fellers talk it out. I look forward to seeing how well those psi-shields you're building work against me. Your main problem is that you're stuck here, just like me. Once you face that and reason it out, then we can start workin' on gettin' outta here.**
"The Dominion crew, too!" Skip said "I want them included in the truce."
**I won't turn down joining with anyone who volunteers, But I won't force anyone either. Just call on an open frequency to talk to me. I'll hear ya.**
-*-
Skip and the Ane fell out of the mental space. Skip's brain was spinning and he felt vaguely sick.
**I hate when he does that,** Xytalalan said.
The crews of the ships began to wake up.
Skip and the Ane elevated to the Mental space and moved towards Gramps.
Skip felt like some sort of big fluffy bird was carrying him along.
Gramps was a fuzzy thing in the distance.
The mental space had a hard edge to it, representing the edge of the static warp bubble.
Skip found his brain stumbling over that concept. No time for that now.
"Gramps!" He called, "Come talk to us!"
The Fuzzy humanoid shape flew towards them and wrapped itself around the edge of the warp bubble
**Clever,** Gramps voice was ragged, harsh, different, **You got me with that one.**
Skip peered at the being. The fuzz was... things. He looked closer. Closer.
It was people—an ocean of people glued together. When Gramps spoke, all of their mouths moved.
"We're here to negotiate, Gramps. I'd really like it if we could work out something... less insane as a solution here."
**Heh heh heh** Gramps chuckled with a billion voices **Optimism crafted from pure neutronium. You'd try to negotiate with a Supernova if you could find a way to talk to it.**
"Well, yeah. I'm not out here casually or light-heartedly. I'm very serious about this Starfleet thing."
**I'll enjoy that more when you're a part of me.**
"Yeah, that's what we're negotiating,"
**You want to talk me out of being me.**
"What if we slowed it down a little and set up a rule for willing participants only?"
**That seems out of the way for both you and me**
"Worth it if we can have a relationship without coercion in it, wouldn't you say?"
**You don't understand, little feller. I need you. Badly. It's been a long time.**
Skip could see some of the tiny humanoid figures making up Gramps wriggling twisting. On faces where he could make out expressions, many were not good.
Skip reached out across the line and grabbed one of the figures. It came away with a ripping noise.
Skip found himself on the ground with a screaming woman. She flailed, kicked, and struggled.
**HEY!!** Gramps shouted.
Xytalalan put her hand on the struggling woman, who disappeared into the surprised Ane in an instant.
**Give me back!!** Gramps yelled
**I... I can't!** Xytalalan said **She was only memories. She's dead.**
Zestalaban grabbed another humanoid figure out of Gramps. As he drew his hand back across the border of the mental space, there was a brief flash of a humanoid who yelled "Thank y-" before disappearing into Zestalaban
Zestalaban could see the two beings, insensate in the 11th dimension, like dead Ane.
It was wrong. Non-Ane didn't belong there.
Zestalaban said **Gramps! They're all dead! You're made of dead people!**
Gramps snarled **NO!! They're me, and I'm them. We're beautiful together! We'll live forever! We've risen above your little notions of life and death!**
"How does any of this work? Did I grab a ghost?" Skip asked.
**Sort of,** Xytalalan said **Our minds, our selves exist partly in the 11th dimension - the 11th dimension can remember. We write ourselves into it. What you saw was the memories of a person, pulled into the mental space, held by all of us and then written into the 11th dimension. Your mind processed that as a ghost.**
Skip turned to Gramps "Show me Sparkling-Thursday! Prove he's not dead!"
**I don't have to prove anything to you, little feller, you forget who's the big feller around here,** Gramps said
But Skip felt the conglomeration of people shift and move. There was Sparking-Thurdsay, glued in among the masses of humanoids.
Skip reached for the Tholian.
Gramps grabbed Skip's arm and held it with an iron grip. **Your turn, little feller! C'Mon in. You'll love it.**
The Ane grabbed Skip and heaved. Skip felt himself wanting to rip apart.
"None of this makes sense!" He yelled.
**It's... a ... metaphor.** Zestalaban said, pulling with all his might **Your brain is painting it with images you understand.**
Skip took a deep breath and accepted the pain, pulling against Gramps. What did it look like if you got your hand psionically ripped off?
Gramps let go.
Skip and the Ane fell into a pile. It didn't feel all that metaphorical.
**Sparkling-Thursday has something, little feller. It might be the answer to both our problems.**
"Besides wanting to eat everyone, what's your problem, Gramps?" Skip asked
**I'm trapped here, little feller. I’ve been trapped a long damned time. The distorted spacetime is a prison I haven't been able to leave yet. But I see something in Sparkling-Thurday's mind. They were building a spacetime- flattener. We could smash this prison flat, and I could be free.**
"Didn't you say the trick is to rise above spacetime?"
**This pocket was made just for me by some folks who couldn't see what I represented. I'm the future, little feller. All the people joining and becoming one.**
"What are you proposing?" Skip asked.
**Let's build this Tholian Space flattener together. I'll let you and crew go for now. We build the flattener and get out of this trap together. **
Skip blinked "Let’s have a truce while I discuss it with my crews."
**You're going to try and find a way t' avoid lettin me out of this trap. I don't even need to read yer mind especially. Never mind, I'll let you fellers talk it out. I look forward to seeing how well those psi-shields you're building work against me. Your main problem is that you're stuck here, just like me. Once you face that and reason it out, then we can start workin' on gettin' outta here.**
"The Dominion crew, too!" Skip said "I want them included in the truce."
**I won't turn down joining with anyone who volunteers, But I won't force anyone either. Just call on an open frequency to talk to me. I'll hear ya.**
-*-
Skip and the Ane fell out of the mental space. Skip's brain was spinning and he felt vaguely sick.
**I hate when he does that,** Xytalalan said.
The crews of the ships began to wake up.