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"Captain, I'm getting reports from the colony now. They're requesting medical and technical assistance as soon as possible. Evidently the Illithid vessel did some damage to their water filtration and other support systems, and we've got some psychic injuries from Illithid as well as injuries and some dehydration."
"Captain, they're backing away and powering up Drift Engines!"
"Reading damage to their power core's distribution system. Heavy hull damage as well."
"Captain, enemy life support is glitching. Must have been that last hit."
"Shield power full rear aye!"
"Enemy forward shields are down again!"
"Port shields down captain! Rebalancing!" "And...something's hitting the psionic shielding. I think they're trying to push through like they did at the beginning of the battle but...psi shields are holding."
"Affirmative. Energy weapons powering up. Lieutenant," Janessa pauses, the color flushing from her face. "Some sort of carrier wave for antimatter."
"Lt. Young, you're facing our port side toward the vessel!" Lt. Williams shouts, reviewing the scanner.
"Sir, there's a large energy reading near the planet, and I'm getting a low-band distress call from planetside."
"Correction sir, energy reading is a vessel, structure unknown. I...I'm not sure why that didn't register at first, sir."
"Reading four major gravity wells in range, sir. Most likely the two planets, possibly one of their moons, and the sun itself. I'll continue feeding active scan details as we approach."
Janessa looks down at the table and holds her finger under face to hide an unprofessional snicker.
"Wow, that's some story. Seems like I missed all the fun. No wonder you two weren't in New York Space Port when I got there that afternoon," Janessa says looking at Yusil and Oren.
"Status pending, Guangzhou. We're...finishing up some things."
"Looks like some sort of Drift Comm, but I can't be sure; it's got some very odd components. Doctor, when you're done with your medical duties, I could use your eyes."
"Crewman Jordan's down. Pretty sure he's dead! Fuller, Klein and I need backup!" followed by the sound of laser blasts.
After a few minutes discussion, Janessa tries mimicking bioreadings with her equipment. Life Science:
"I'm missing something. It's not lighting up. Doctor Yusil, can you try touching one of the divots again?"
"Could be a very long wait, I've read no bio signs on this side of the wall except us. Orders, Commander?" Janessa asks Legion-12, the ranking officer.
Once the entire landing party is at the bottom of the steep valley, Janessa runs a scan on the area. Too small to land a shuttle properly, she has no trouble getting the entire valley in the range of her hand scanner. Computers "Near as I can tell, the power center is that direction about 120 yards and about 10 yards below surface level. Hope there's some sort of access, or we're going to need laser diggers."
"if the sensors won't penetrate, likely communication will be an issue as well." "We can re-task some drones as signal carriers, seed them if we go underground, like a trail of breadcrums."
"Engineer Vassaly-Simmons completed the upgrade, but the new sensors still won't penetrate the rock surface. At least, not beyond a few inches. And our drones don't have anywhere near enough power for that. We'll have to explore the old fashioned way."
"Negative. The area appears devoid of life more complicated than amoebas. Though, a note of caution, our sensors are not able to penetrate the surface."
Lt. Williams brings up an image on the viewer, a craggy, broken area that makes the mountains of Region 2 look like rolling hills. The ground is black and shale-like. The sky is overcast and a disturbing shade of periwinkle. "This is the vicinity of the power signature. The ground is comprised primarily of magnetite and basalt. The air around this particular valley between massive outcroppings is highly ionized; recommend helmets and gloves in addition to our normal uniforms for protection." "Questions?"
"Do you need assistance retrieving your survivor? I could putt the winch over the edge to assist the climb up."
"All good up here. Phan just gave me the thumbs up through the window and nothing on the scanners."
"The geoscanner is detecting a metallic object about 15 meters down. It seems to coincide with the origin of our distress signal."
"It's not following any of the known Morse codes either?" "Not that I can tell. Come take a look." Lt. Williams vacates the terminal for Dr. Yusil. Culture:
"Comm station is receiving a signal. It's non-vocal, but definitely has a pattern." She makes a quick check of the database.
"I can't identify it, but I suspect it's a distress signal."
"Probably. Easiest way (for me, anyway) would be to set up an alarm in the rover's operating software to go off when we're nearing a similar phenomena."
Anyone got ideas as to how to get us out of this pit?
"I've got fulcrum and load calculations here. If we can redistribute weight and our angle according to these, the middle and rear treads should be able to pull us backward."
"I'll check the geoscanner."
There's a fissure. It seems to be covered over by some sort of plaque, a weird mineral buildup of some sort. Very thin. The fissure isn't too long or wide. We can go around. If we can get out, that is.
"Ouch!" Lt. Williams shouts as her head bangs against the console next to her.
Janessa gets a spark in her eye. Stepping over to the science console, she says "Nate, could you step aside, please." Once at the console, Janessa begins a scan of the ship.
After a minute she nods. "Ensign Canny Resolve, I believe I've found an unknown individual on the lower deck, near the starboard missile launch. It could be my stalker or...maybe someone related to all this."
The redhead pauses thoughtfully. "Well, I couldn't recognize him, but...that build...it does seem similar to a stalker incident I had back in Arkansas."
Bridge Shaking his hand at the data being sent to the station, Young found himself largely at a loss. "Not sure. Maybe some form of hologram projector? I could get into one of the shuttles and investigate up close." At almost exactly that minute, Lt's Williams and Clausius enter the bridge, with some minor and not-so-minor injuries. "Call for Dr. Yusil!"
"Thanks, for your concern Lieutenant. I'm fine. As far as my stalker, I couldn't see him in the dark, but he was kind of short and stocky," she says, meeting Rudo's eyes.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" the oval-faced readhead says as the door opens. Williams now wears casual clothes: a Missouri University T-shirt and black sweatpants that are very similar to uniform duty pants, though slightly less structured.
To Canny Resolve: "He ran out when I screamed. That way!" Janessa motions toward engineering.
"Did you see him? There was a...person, in my quarters. I noticed him as I was getting dressed after my shower," she says, her long red hair still dripping water down her uniform T-shirt.
"Maybe it's more complicated than that. Maybe the pilot managed to change course BEFORE the thing completely took over. Maybe whatever it was wanted to make it to Wolf 1061, the Auspicious' original destination, and the pilot changed course as a last act of free will." Janessa shivered a bit; it was a frightening thought that such a thing would make it to a major population center.
"Hey Doc, while she's doing that, can you give me some sort of painkiller? This busted tooth is starting to bug me. Guess the shock's wearing off."
"We could split up, I suppose? The Doctor and Lt. Clausius head toward the bridge while Lt. Vassally-Simmons and I head to engineering, with the Doctor and I scanning as we go?"
"Not great, but I'll live. Pretty sure that last hit broke off a molar," She says, spitting blood. "As far as them not being exposed, inside, I wouldn't count on it." Lt. Williams gestures toward the cracked open hull of the vessel.
Lt. Williams runs over and grabs Dr. Yusil's med-kit. She's no expert at the medical sciences, but she does have more than a passing familiarity.
She injects the doctor with a quick-acting anti-fungal. Yusil finds herself temporarily in control of her faculties once again (no need for additional saving throws in the immediate future).
Janessa moves back away (map west) from the creatures (triggering one AOO as she does). I got lucky with that last shot. Can't count on that again.
She lifts her weapon and aims very carefully before firing at the one nearest the Doctor.
Janessa stumbles back and from the creature's powerful hit. Looking over at Lt. Clausius, she sees he's beset with this own problems and decides she'll have to deal with this herself. She fires her laser again. CRITICAL
Janessa draws her laser and side steps toward the engineer, firing at the one to the southwest as she does.
Acrobatics: |
