Posted by Kvasir (Story Teller) in Main Sim [Bridge]: Belly of the Beast

Posted by Lieutenant Markus Woods (Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim [Bridge]: Belly of the Beast

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Captain) in Main Sim [Bridge]: Belly of the Beast
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻

—[SNIP]—

“Link established,” the computer replied blandly. “Attempting to access computer systems. There is extensive corruption to the ship’s processing system. Unable to access textual files due to lack of basis for grammatical structure.“

Yorba frowned, leaning over Rende’s shoulder. “Computer, cross-reference with received data labelled ‘Valhrn.’ Search for any educational or informational files containing both linguistic and grammatical constructs.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “Maybe they have their ABCs in there somewhere?”

“Database found. Creating filter and cataloguing. Stand by.“

Yorba chuckled softly, then sobered as information began to flow down the screen. “Look how much it’s having to reroute. I wonder if there systems are as bad off as—”

The lieutenant’s thought cut off abruptly as the entire bridge flickered and strobed. Every display winked on and off rapidly before images and blocks of text began to stream across their surfaces faster than the eye could track. Shock and panic held the crew fast for an eternal moment before they realized what was happening: they were being accessed by something else! Yorba grit his teeth and slid into a chair at a nearby terminal, fingers flying across the polished surface.

“The alien computer is attempting to take control of our systems. I can’t sever the link, but security protocols are holding. Attempting to lock out critical and command functions.”

All illumination on the bridge cut out, plunging them into absolute darkness and silence. Rende’s blood thundered in her ears. Yorba’s stressed breathing seemed incredibly close, oppressive. The whole room vibrated with checked anxiety as the crew waited with baited breath. The lights flickered once before returning to full brightness, and the viewscreen winked on to display the massive colony ship as if nothing ever happened. Only the computer terminals at the rear of the bridge seemed affected, displaying overlapping symbols and shapes.

“GREETINGS, PURSUANT,” a disjoined voice boomed through the comm system. It was an odd collection of male and female voices speaking in unison, all quite calm and collected if painfully loud. “YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS RESTRICTED INFORMATION BEYOND YOUR CLEARANCE. MIGHT WE ASK YOUR PURPOSE?“

Rende stilled as the lights began to flicker and go out. Patience. She needed patience. It was obvious, even without Yorba’s confirmation, that the alien ship was trying to figure them out as well. El was going to be so mad at her. She grinned, almost as if she looked forward to the argument.

When the lights came up she stared at the screen and then the voices, plural, boomed through the bridge and Rende cursed. It was like the gods forsaken Borg! Where was a multiphasic rotating frequency sniper rifle when you needed it? Rende looked up and around, as if expecting to see a face to go with the voices. She looked at Yorba to see if he’d managed to lock out critical systems. So far nothing had been damaged, if a bit overwhelmed for a moment. She was going to have to be diplomatic.

“I am Captain Rende Asam. This is my ship the USS Viking. Your leader, your representative, Hab’rabi, is on board our vessel as a guest. He has been injured. Your remnants, or something similar, have damaged part of my ship, and have merged with some of my crew, and they are not meant to tolerate such contact. We are trying to learn more about what is happening. Some of them seem friendly and others aggressive. We are trying to gain more information. We do not wish to harm them. And we need physiological information in order for our doctors to heal Hab’rabi.”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t completely true, but Rende would rather not hurt them if she could help it.

“WE UNDERSTAND,” the chorus thundered. There was a long pause, and then it continued at a more reasonable volume. “LORD HAB’RABI’S VITAL SIGNS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED. HIS SITUATION IS STABLE. OUR FACILITIES ARE MORE THAN CAPABLE OF ASSISTING HIS RECOVERY. WE WOULD LIKE HIM RETURNED WITH ALL HASTE.“

“I can not do that. He refused teleportation, which is broken anyway, and I will not risk more of my crew by sending a shuttle to a ship with no crew to care for him. I am responsible for his well being. I don’t even know if I can get a shuttle launched. Your remnants have, perhaps unintentionally, sabotaged critical systems. If it was done on purpose I have no way of stopping them from sabotaging a shuttle and further endangering him. If the information your ship sent us is truthful, I have no hope of communicating with your remnants without him. I have one or two crew members who might be able to, but they were severely injured in the process. One, my executive officer, the remnants showed him Hab’rabi’s plan to commandeer my ship. Somehow he didn’t strike me as a pirate, but I have no reason to doubt my First Officer.”

Taking a breath Rende really wouldn’t mind sending Hab’rabi back, but she needed answers and help for her ship and crew. “Who are you?”

“A SINGULAR IDENTITY IS INACCURATE, AS WE ARE A COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS FOCUSED AT THE DIRECTION OF THIS VESSEL’S INTEGRATED BIOSYNTHETIC SYSTEMS,” There was a hint of something in the tone, a very subtle shift in pitch. Amusement? “HOWEVER, IF A SINGULAR IDENTITY WILL BETTER FACILITATE COMMUNICATION AND EXPEDITE THE RETURN OF OUR LORD, YOU MAY ADDRESS US AS ‘LEGION’.“

Legion’s tone settled to stoic once more. “WHILE WE ARE UNABLE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH ANY INFORMATION THAT MAY BE USED TO HARM LORD HAB’RABI OR OUR PEOPLE, WE CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THE REMNANTS AS YOU CALL THEM MEAN YOU NO HARM. AS THEY LACK A WILL AS YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND IT, THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF DIRECTED INTENT WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF A HAB OR THE USE OF A YUR—ONLY THE FORMER OF WHICH YOU PRESENTLY POSSESS. AND WHILE OUR LORD IS INDEED CAPABLE OF DIRECTING THEM IN THE MANNER YOU SUGGEST, WE CANNOT FATHOM A MOTIVE FOR SUCH AN ACT.“

“I am not concerned with your singularity or multiplicity, but to know the entity with which I am speaking. If ‘Legion’ is what you wish to be called, I will accommodate.” Rende listened but felt like she was being lied to. “Then you are not telling me the truth. These remnants have possessed my officers and forced them to act in ways that they never would on their own. Including possessing one of my security officers and making him shoot your Hab.”

Rende hadn’t known for sure that was what happened to Sacco but the early scans seemed consistent with the other crew that had been possessed, and Fairweather as well. Something had happened where he had been working, she didn’t have the details yet though. “If it is not your remnants, what is it?”

“TRUTH IS A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE, CAPTAIN RENDE OF THE USS VIKING.” Legion’s collective voice deepened to what could only be called disappointment. “WE HAVE NO NEED TO BE UNTRUTHFUL WITH YOU. PERHAPS THE FAULT LIES WITH THE PHYSIOLOGY OF YOUR CREW; THEY ARE NOT SET AND THEREFORE ARE NOT ACCUSTOMED TO THE ANNOINTING. SUCH INTERACTION HAS EVER BEEN SHOWN TO BE BENIGN AMONGST OUR SPECIES; REMNANTS ARE NO MORE CAPABLE OF COMPELLING YOUR CREW TO ACT AGAINST THEIR NATURE THAN WARM SUNSHINE OR THE CARESS OF A LOVED ONE. AS BEINGS DIVESTED OF CORPOREAL FORM—WHAT YOUR KIND MIGHT TERM A ‘SOUL’—THEY HAVE NO MALICE TOWARDS THE LIVING AND WOULD FIND NO PURPOSE IN OFFERING THEM VIOLENCE.“

After a brief pause, Legion continued in a more grave mode. “IT WOULD PERHAPS GIVE CREDENCE TO OUR CLAIM FOR YOU TO KNOW THAT WE ARE COMPOSED OF SUCH REMNANTS. OUR SOLE PURPOSE IS TO PRESERVE THE KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE OF OUR PEOPLE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO ENJOY. PRELIMINARY MEDICAL SIMULATIONS SUGGEST INTERACTIONS WITH OUR KIND TO HAVE INSUFFICIENT STRENGTH TO OVERRIDE YOUR VARIED SPECIES’ INDIVIDUAL WILLS. WE CAN ONLY SUGGEST THAT INTERACTION WITH THE REMNANTS RESULTED IN THE LOWERING OF WHAT YOU CALL ‘INHIBITION’. THAT IS TO SAY, YOUR SO-CALLED POSSESSED CREWMEMBERS ACTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR NATURES AND NOT OUTSIDE IT.“

Rende leaned forward, elbows on knees and stared that scrolling alien text. She pulled up he scans of the four different types of motes and sent it along the link. “We have the following scans of remnants, or remnant like energy signatures. Which one is actually remnants. I would hate to shoot the wrong thing.”

“PURSUANT, PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE WE REVIEW THESE FINDINGS.” There was an audible hum that ran through the comm line, like whispered conversation or hundreds of pensive mutterings. Finally, it died away. “WE ARE ABLE TO CORRECTLY IDENTIFY ONLY… ONLY… LY… LY-LY-LY—“

Legion’s unified voice descended into a cacophony of chaotic sounds, words crashing against each other and scattering until it cut off abruptly. A singular calm male voice purred over the intercomm. “Apologies, Pursuant, but your request cannot be processed at this time. Please consult with your local Adjutant if you experience any further delay. Unity in peace!“

“—REMNANTS. APOLOGIES, PURSUANT, THERE SEEMS TO BE EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO OUR CONSTRUCT. COLUMNS TWENTY-FOUR THROUGH THIRTY-SIX ARE INOPERABLE. COLUMNS EIGHT, THIRTEEN, AND SEVENTEEN ARE NOT FOUND. COLUMN THIRTY-NINE OPERATING AT SEVEN PERCENT CAPACITY. TERMINATING LINK AND ENTERING DIAGNOSTIC MODE. UNITY IN PEACE, PURSUANT RENDE.“

There was an abrupt blip, then silence. Yorba tapped at the controls and shook his head.

“It broke the connection, and I’m not detecting any power to their communications array.” He glanced at the captain. “What do you want to do now, sir?”

Rende hears the break down of order and smirks, “Not so confident now are they.” She mutters quietly to Yorba. When the link closes she looks at Yorba. “I want an analysis of all that noise. What were the individual voices saying?”

Yorba nodded and set to work. “It’ll take some time to sift through all the audio, but luckily I served aboard a Liberian freighter for a few months and picked up a few tricks. There’s almost nothing more garbled than bickering between freighter captains over trade rights.”
—Jas/Jenn—

Rende nodded, but while Yorba worked on that, she wanted her senior staff to know what was said. Tapping her combadge, =/\=Rende to Attention all Senior staff. A recording of a communique with the alien colony ship has been recorded and sent to each of you for immediate viewing. Rende Out.=/\=

● Alien Ship Conversation

Rende, CO

A few moments later the turbolift doors hissed open. Markus made his way into the familiar confines of the bridge. In his hands was a letter-sized PADD. his features were twisted up with concern. Frown lines creased his face. Pausing a moment to look around, he turned from heading to the science station at the back of the bridge and instead made his way down into the pit. Crossing over to the seat on the right of the Captain’s chair he dropped into it. In truth it belonged to Kohr, and there was no way he could fill the big man’s spot in quite the same way. Nor did he intend to try. For now, he was keeping it warm and doing his best to keep things afloat.

He glanced from the PADD in his lap, then over to Rende. Then back to the PADD, then back to her. It didn’t take much of an empath to sense that his mind was like a dark storm. Nothing positive brewed behind those steely eyes. “What… the hell,” he murmured to her. “Historically, nothing good has ever come of something like this referring to itself as Legion. The whole thing gives me the heebiee-jeebies. It’s … like talking to the Borg. Not that I have any personal experience in that field.” he shook his head. “I wanted to go check that ship out again, but after that… no way. I feel like we just watched a civil war play out in about ten seconds… and I’m not sure who won, or if I like them or even trust them at all.”

Lt Woods, CSO/aXO

Rende looked directly at Woods, “What indeed? And no nothing like that is ever good. We do know however that Hab’rabi’s people are very militaristic, so the term is not surprising. It also may not be accurate. Just as close a translation as can be managed. I do think it would be ill advised to make another trip over. I’m not sure Legion would be happy with visitors. What concerns me more, Lt, is that it thinks that we are beneath it, worthy of patronizing, maybe teaching, and a bit of contempt. Legion claims that the remnants can not act independently or influence the living, but it also claims that they are made up of remnants. So, if it is not lying, as it professes, that means that perhaps alone they can not, but in groups they can. It might explain the combined energy signature. Before I could ask, it dropped into utter chaos when I presented it with the four different energy signatures. Almost as if it couldn’t figure out how I called it’s bluff.” Rende taped on the arm of her chair, “Something either is happening or has happened on that ship. Legion said it scanned Hab’rabi and he’s going to be fine. So he should be waking up soon, hopefully, and perhaps will shed some light. Legion also said it would not provide information that would allow us to bring harm to the ship or crew. That’s pretty standard procedure, but my concern is who said it? The part of Legion that is the crew, or the pirates that seem to be trying to take over?” Rende didn’t know if pirate was the right word or if a take over was going on, but it certainly seemed that someone had damaged their ship. And there were no signs of a space battle on the hull so it had to come from inside.

Rende, CO

“Captain,” Yorba murmured from his station, eyes fixed on the console before him, “I think I’ve got about all I can get from the transmission. Not only are there over three hundred fifty-seven distinct voices all talking at once, but I can isolate no less than one hundred eight electrical, mechanical, and other miscellaneous sounds. I’ve had the computer scrub incidental noise, such as animal calls and singing voices, and compiled what’s left. Honestly, Captain, it sounds like their database malfunctioned.”

The lieutenant tapped in a few commands, and a subtle hiss began to play over the intercom. “You might want to brace yourself for a bit of extra noise, sir. I had to increase the volume gain to make some of the pieces audible. It’s… the best I could do.”

“…cessing Column… ty-Seven. Err… ystem malf… ction… Attem… o reroute via… lumn Twenty-Eight…, an elderly woman stated, slightly confused.

A bass voice thundered, “…xillary batteries are failing! We don’t… time to… tain needless ques…! Scan for… rabi!…“

“…tainment fail… Deck Ele… a young woman murmured, “…trol units are inop… Estimated casual… ty-seven percent. Standing…“

“…logs not found. Attem… bypass… rol. Column Eight… ot found. Rerou… to second… ystems. Rerouting fail…“

“…vigational array inop… able to verify head…” another voice said, “…trogational char… ot found. Auxillia… ck-ups not found…“

“…iority containm… olding.” A solemn voice announced. “Security field at… cent and holding. Temper… ithin standard param…“

“…n’t we find these fil… ouse the engineering te… asis tubes and…” A brief pause. “Insuff… ower to rouse eng…“

Yorba pressed a key, and the playback stopped. He looked gravely between Rende and Woods before he said anything. “There’s… one more snippet I was able to fish out of all that audio garbage, sirs, but… well, it’s a little disturbing. Not just because of the content, but because of how easy it was to retrieve. The audio file is almost completely intact, just buried in the lower regions of the EM band where you’d find most stellar background noise. If I didn’t know better, I’d say someone wanted us to find it.”

Taking a deep breath, the lieutenant tapped the console once more. A steady hiss sizzled through the comm line, reminding Rende of early Terran recordings from back when mankind was first able to achieve such a thing as immortalizing one’s voice. It was clear that the quality of the transmission was very poor—likely to maintain signal integrity, if Yorba’s theory was correct—but the sounds that rang out distantly were crisp and recognizable.

Klaxons. Explosions. Weapons fire. And screaming. So very many terrified screams. Closest to the source of it all was a ragged panting, as if someone was running… or fleeing. A wet smack, a grunt and a heavy noise. Snarling, scrabbling, metal clashing against metal. A crisp sound followed by the pattering of a thick liquid and a shuddering wheeze. Heavier footfalls, and a soft scraping. Finally, a voice choked thick with fear shuddered across the comm system.

“Father, please,” It was a girl’s voice, little more than a child. “Please don’t go. I’m scared.“

A deeper voice, hauntingly familiar made a soothing noise. “They must be contained, Ishara. I cannot do this if I need fear for your safety. Stay here. I will find you once it is done. Mother will watch over you.“

A scraping, metal on metal. A heavy thunk, muffled silence. Heavy breathing, crisp and confined. A pause so long it felt as if it would never end. Then, an explosion and a squelch as the transmission ended. Yorba didn’t look up from his fingers, splayed across the console as if it were a lifeline.

“That’s… all I was able to find, sir.” His voice was distant. “I can… scrub through it again if you’d like, but I’m not sure what more there is to salvage.”
—Jas—