snip

Pawl moved to an empty station nearby. And started doing work to try to make it more stable. As he worked in engineering, he also worked with Tamm, letting him know what he was doing to help the Entity. in any way he could, even to help protect the being. He sent a message to the bridge, letting the bridge know that the intruder is attempting to take something from the entity Tamm. Pawl attempted to find and contain the intruder. He used his mind to reach out to see where the intruder was in relation to Tamm. Pawl prepared his mind just in case there was an attack from the intruder. “I am going to attempt to do adjustments in real time. As Tamm sends the signal, I will update the program,” Pawl said out loud to himself. Not to anyone in particular, but he made sure his teams knew what he was doing too.

Lt. Commander Pawl Batario
Chief_Engineer Officer Uss_Chernov

Main Engineering continued to respond to Pawl’s work as the diagnostic program began accepting the adjustments being fed into it. Around him, Engineering personnel monitored the changing readings, keeping the Chernov’s systems isolated from the fluctuations wherever possible.

“Commander, the program is taking the adjustments,” Ensign Shroni zh’Rohi reported from the EPS monitoring station. “We’re still seeing variations whenever the harmonic signal changes, but the corrections are compensating faster than before.”

The connection with Tamm remained present. It was not a voice in the conventional sense. The Entity’s response reached Pawl through the familiar shared resonance, forming into something his mind could interpret.

_*You are changing with me._*

There was a brief pause before another impression followed.

_*You are trying to protect me._* Something else disturbed the connection.

For an instant, Tamm’s presence tightened sharply, accompanied by the impression of something foreign pressing against it. The sensation was distinct from Tamm itself—intrusive, deliberate, and focused upon whatever the Entity was attempting to preserve.

_*It searches._ The thought carried greater urgency now._It seeks what is within me._*

At the communications station, Pawl’s warning was transmitted directly to the bridge.

=^= Engineering to Bridge. The intruder is attempting to take something from the Entity, Tamm. He is attempting to locate and contain the intruder while Engineering continues real-time adjustments to stabilize Tamm’s signal. =^=

Back in Engineering, another harmonic pulse moved through the ship. The diagnostic displays changed almost immediately. For several seconds, the interference surrounding Tamm’s signal diminished before beginning to rebuild. The same temporary stabilization pattern Engineering had previously observed was there again, but this time the telemetry showed another disturbance embedded within it.

Shroni leaned toward her display. “Commander, there’s a second pattern riding the fluctuation. It isn’t matching Tamm’s harmonic signature.”

Within the connection, Tamm responded almost simultaneously. _*There._* Tamm communicated.

The impression was stronger than before—not a precise location, but a direction through the strange mental and harmonic connection linking Pawl to the Entity. And accompanying it came something Tamm had not communicated before.

_*It knows you are looking for it._*

Gamemaster Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare