Posted by Captain Calvin Marius (Captain) in The Volian Hive

Posted by Gamemaster GM Kate (GMT) in The Volian Hive

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Magnús Pétursson (First Officer) in The Volian Hive
Posted by… suppressed (27) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The group walked in the tunnel for about fifty meters before they exited it into a large space that resembled a well lit cavern. It was well lit and not the pitch blackness that had been in the tunnels. Around the room there were multiple entrances to what the group could assume was other tunnels all coming to this space. If someone did a scan, the image would remind most of the trails in an ant farm all leading to one space. Connecting the entrances from all the tunnels along the walls of the cavern were small ledges that circled down to the main floor the Federation officers were standing in. In the center of the room was a large dais. On it was a Volian that was five times the size of the Volian’s everyone had seen even the Beltrans. Next to the Volian was a pair of Gorn.

GM Kate

OOC: Just so all of us are on the same page with the Gorn. We are going with the newest version and not Kirk’s plastic 1960’s Gorn lol.

OOC: Fixing a post

IC:

As Calvin entered the space, it took all his years of combat training and years as a Captain to not show what he was feeling. The scene was not what he was expecting. It felt more like a scene from a syfy holomovie. The information about the Volian’s he had been given relayed nothing of this.

Calvin Marius CO

Reia studied the scene before her. For some reason she knew it would be lifetimes before it would leave her memory. She didn’t live lifetimes so that would be something terrifying at least.

• Reia, CIO/Comms

Magnus had slung the rifle across his back as they walked “You know, today might be in the top five weird shifts I’ve had” He said with a lighthearted air that belied the shaken nerves and the shock of the day “Definately top ten”

XO

“That’s good to know that this isn’t par for the course as they say,” Vanessa countered to the XO. “Tell me something Sir,” she looked at Magnus. “Is every away mission underground? I mean this is only my second one but the first was that weird moon base you had to break into. Now you are breaking out of some underground cavern. I am starting to think that it must be me,” she let out a small nervous laugh.

Vanessa Slade CNS

Magnus cocked his head when he looked at Vanessa “An odd question, Lieutenant” He smiled “I do want to say no, but more often than not we find ourselves underground. Thick rock is often the only natural recourse one has against all manner of obstacles, natural and otherwise. Bad storm, cave. Enemy sensor sweep, cave. Running from Denobulan mercenaries, Cave. Need a place to hide your illegal, unethical research, cave on a moon” He chuckled “Most modern prisons outside the Federation I’ve been to have been in caves.”

XO

“So this is something I am to expect on a regular basis? I can’t tell if you are lying or not,” Vanessa matched his chuckle but with a bit of unease mixed in.

“He’s not lying.” Tom quipped with a half smile.

He’d just been walking along quietly with the group. IntSec was going to love his report though the Beltrans most likely wouldn’t. One thing he was sure of, it would be nice to get back tot he ship and get out of this crusty, dirty, frayed, and torn dress uniform and throw it n the recycler.

• Tom, IntSec

“Well that is just dandy,” Vanessa let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “Another tid bit they did not share at the recruiting station.”

The banter was cut short by the high pitched, melodic voice of the Beltran that escorted them here. “The Chieftain of this continent welcomes those in the Federation who have found their way here. Please do not worry about your safety. When the Harvesting is completed, we shall return you to the surface to convince King Casper to relinquish his hold on this land and disperse to wherever the Federation chooses to place them.” The Volian was not speaking in the traditional sense of words emanating from his own mouth but somehow appeared to be using the Beltran as a proxy for his voice.

GM Kate

Magnus cocked his head curiously “Interesting, do you mean that King Casper has no claim on this land in particular or the whole planet?” His first thoughts were of the political ramifications of the current situation.

XO

“It could be that they don’t think Casper will be making the decisions when the culling is over.”

Calvin stepped forward segregating himself from the group. It made it clear who in the group was in charge if there was any doubt. “To whom am I addressing,” Calvin asked. Hopefully if there was a name attached to the person, someone in the group might run the name on one of the tricoders the group possessed, if they still possessed one. Very few people lived in complete secrecy. Even a rumor of a name could spark a lead. Something felt off. How could an entire, possibly sentient species, was completely unknown after a year of Federation surveys on this planet?

Calvin Marius CO

Dagen had been quiet. Mentally he resisted what he thought might be found. The scientist in him, thanks to Thor’s first host, would have been fascinated by this entire turn of events. “Are they suggesting that the Beltrans are not native to this world?” he murmured quietly. He couldn’t help but feel there was something dodgy happening here. If it were just the Beltran and the Volians there it may have been easier to follow but the presence of the Gorn made it seem rather more shifty. A way of the Gorn claiming the planet or using it as a base once the Beltrans were gone from it. Were it just a matter of food sources and the likes, well, the Federation had a great deal of experience in this kind of technology.
Dagen, CE

“I am the Volian’s.” the voice stated. The response had the tone and energy like that of the Borg. There was no main name. The scientists of the group might link it to the idea of a hive or collective like with bees. “Once we were all co existed on this world. Then the Beltran’s eons ago began to exterminate us. They drove us from this land and the only ones of our kind was allowed on the lands across the oceans. We lived there until there was no more food and we began to starve. The Volian’s,” the voice again used the hive like pronoun to mean the entire race, “sent a group of us here aided by the Gorn. The Gorn only asked for a portion of what they called the harvest. For centuries now, we have struck a balance with the Beltrans. They give us the harvest once a year and we live in peace however, the shields hurt us and they use it for attack.” The anger in the Volian’s were clear.

The Beltran general stared at the scientists. Lago had warned against deploying the shields into the subterran but no one listened. The grotesque balance had worked for years, until the scientists began testing greater limits with the shields.

GM Kate

“I told you that using the shields was a mistake,” Lago growled to the Beltran scientists under his breath.

“What is done, is done.” Calvin raised a hand to silence the quarreling between the two Beltrans. None of these groups were Federation members. Calvin could possibly work as a mediator between them however, with the new found information, he doubted the Federation would ratify the call for membership of the Beltran homeworld.

Magnus looked between the Volian itself and the General and nodded slowly “If you don’t mind, I have a few questions. The first is, what do you give to the Gorn for the harvest? Secondly, do you have any requests or demands? And thirdly, would you be open to allowing negotiations from the Federation?”

XO

The person was just a mouthpiece. Like the Borg. The collective speaking through, in this case, one. Dagen shifted nervously. None of this was right, not to him. Not when one person was controlled, possessed as it were. He and Thor were separate entities with their own thoughts and ideas shared freely. So too with their history. One sided. The Beltrans being the bad guys. Perhaps it was so but why if that was so. Dagen guessed that it was not necessarily quite so peaceful coexistence. So too it sounded like there would be an issue with the Volian’s existence if it were not for the Gorn, but what part did they play there? Harvest? Why? And did the Volians have a hand in helping themselves to the Beltrans? And their great balance upset by the Beltrans actually having something that deterred the Volians? Dagen frowned. And how did the Gorn even get in here past the Beltran stations?
- Dagen, the Musing CE

The Beltran who was the mouth piece for the Volian’s paused to get the information before speaking. “We do not need the Federation. The Volian’s have aligned themselves with the Gorn for generations however it would be beneficial if your Federation could remove the Beltran’s from this continent. Where you settle them is of no interest to us. Just that they are gone.” They answered the last question first and then proceeded to answer another of the posed questions. “Secondly we Volian’s request that you leave. The Gorn will ensure that one way or another because we supply the Gorn with hosts for their eggs. We harvest the Beltrans for the Gorn. Centuries ago the Volians and the Beltrans lived in harmony. That was before the Gorn arrived and began to take hosts without reason. We Volian’s retreated underground to save our people. The Beltran’s, to save themselves, hunted and captured us almost to the point of extinction. The Beltran’s ancestor’s decimated this continent of Volian’s however this created a problem. The Gorn demanded hosts and began to prey on the Beltrans. The Beltran’s came to us looking for a solution so we gave them one. Once a year we Harvest the Beltran’s for the Gorn. This allows the reigning monarch to pretend we are the enemy but in reality, they are just serving up their people to save themselves and others they deem as important. I can assure you that the process is painless as your Captain and counselor can attest. Those being delievered to the Gorn feel nothing. It is like a slumber.”

GM Kate

Calvin Marius CO

Magnus cocked his head “Well issues of consent aside” His tone implied that that would be a point of contention “You are seemingly capable of cohabitation, is there no possibility of that continuing?” He wanted to argue the point of both species being oppressed by the Gorn, briefly he wondered if this was an official breeding ground for the Gorn Hegemony. Relations between the Federation and the Gorn had much improved over the last few centuries and he didn’t want to risk the crew angering whoever was behind this. There was a puzzle here, a solution that he wasn’t seeing, something that got them out alive, started the healing of this fractured world and didn’t incite the wrath of the Gorn, his mind worked overtime just so they could get a foot in the proverbial door “Two hundred years ago the Gorn birthing process was lethal which resulted in aggressive behaviour in the past, with the process being non-lethal now I’m certain that there is room for negotiation between the Volian and the Beltrans” HE used the singular for the Volian as the being/s seemed to do.

XO

Dagen flashed the XO an incredulous look. There was no negotiating here and they were in an untenable position. The Captain had almost been a host to a Gorn egg to be gleefully devoured. The Volian speaker said nothing was going to change, that Beltrans were still going to be fodder, by somehow convincing the cows that it is good that some of them get to go to the bbq. The Gorn seemed to be the principle actors here with the Volians as their middlemen. The skitchy thing that Dagen was feeling right now was that they were very loose with their confessions as though they didn’t care that this information got out. What would happen when all the Beltrans knew that they were just kibble for the Gorn? And what about all those cloaked defensive stations in orbit? Were they bypassed because of that annual spatial phenomenon that they saw on the shuttle over here? There seemed to be a lot of ‘users’ here .. the Volians using the Gorn who were using the Volians to get the Beltrans for pablum who were themselves using their population as insurance to survive and whom the Volans wanted to use the Federation to shift an entire population? That made no sense whatsoever for then the Gorn source of jelly bellies would be gone. He could appreciate that the Gorn got here first to this world but the Beltrans asked for this meeting and Federation membership. When it came down to it it was a face off between the Beltrans appealing to the Federation for aid, and the Volians having appealed to the Gorn for aid. Neither side was innocent, but status quo was not going to resolve matters.
- Dagen, CE

Calvin typically was a patient man however even Job had his limits. He had been attacked, kidnapped, cocooned and forced into a formal dress uniform. This was more than enough for a single day. “If you are looking for me to proxy a formal negotiation then there needs to be two parties to negotiate with. Return us to the Imperial palace and I will mediate between you and the Beltrans to remove them from the planet.”

Calvin Marius CO

Vanessa looked at the security chief. “Do you have enough fire power to get us out of this if the cappy can’t,” she asked in a low tone. The amount of tunnels and holes were too numerous to count but there only looked like a few dozen volian’s peered out of most of the holes. “I am not the greatest with a phaser but I was never half bad at those shooting gallery games you find at amusement parks.”

“Theoretically, sure, if they all line up one at a time to be shot as we retreat. But this is a swarm… they’d just swarm,” Thomas whispered back. “We could switch the phasers to wide-angle, but that would just deplete the charge faster. Talking is our most practical way out of this.”

“Oh the swarming option is a bad option,” she laughed. “While it might not be too PC I think I am still tasting fur from when they took me. In fact I am sure I had a foot in my mouth at one point. I don’t recommend the swarming at all.”

Looking at Reia she raised her eyes as if posing the same question. The intelligence officer had to have been in worse scraps than this. At least she hoped Reia had.

Vanessa Slade CNS

Snapping her fingers, three groups of Volian’s appeared at her side along with a Gorn counterpart. “If you split your groups up into threes and choose a leader we will accept this.”

GM Kate

Magnus looked at the Captain, “How do you want us split up?” He asked.

XO

“It does not matter to the hive,” the Beltran mouthpiece answered the question before the Captain could.

GM Kate

If anyone was taking tricorder scans, they might notice an acoustic signal just out of normal hearing range. It occurred right before the Beltran representative for the Volans spoke. If someone was watching carefully, they would notice mouth movements that appeared to occur when the tricorder noticed the acoustic signals. It could be assumed that it might be communication between the Volian and the Beltran.

Vanessa Slade CNS

“U suggest we don’t,” Calvin spoke ignoring the Beltran answer. “We will go as one. Lead the way.” Calvin made a gesture with his hands and left no room for debate or a challenge to his statement. He had experienced the Volian’s attack first hand. Not that numbers helped, but it did not hurt.

Calvin Marius CO

Dagen breathed a sigh of relief. He did not relish any split in the group and he was not in a very diplomatic mood. Yes he had taken ‘classes’ and life experience had helped knock off some rough edges but this was close to home with this kind of twisted symbiosis and he knew he was not thinking the most rationally. The entire situation seemed to him to be not unlike an ancient holo he had seen where a group of people had gone on a ‘three hour tour’ and had then been stranded for years. Their three hour tour of dinner and a show was feeling as surreal as that holo. Silently he nodded at the Captain’s statement. He could understand a little of the Volian/Gorn statement. With a hive mentality they could split up and be in different places and it would be as they were in the one place. While in this case strength in numbers was not quite as relevant, there was a case of comfort in numbers in them being all together and not left wondering how the others fared.
- Dagen, CE

Magnus nodded “Okidoke” he inhaled deeply “I do hope there’ll be less caveness for the next hours, I already miss the sky”

XO

“I miss what’s above the sky,” Thomas said. “The nice vast emptiness of space, where there’s a vessel with proportions designed for people like me, and only the normal things are trying to eat and or kill me.”

COS

Magnus chortled “Do things usually try and eat you up there Commander?” He said with an amused one “Besides is the Genny even designed for giants” He said with a wide grin

XO

“As you wish,” the Beltran woman commented and gestured to a tunnel. A sea of fur and scales moved apart like some bizarre parting of an ocean.”

Again there was a slight buzzing sound among the Volians and Gorn as if they were talking however the sound was too high pitched for the groups ears to discern any words. If someone took an acoustic reading they might be able to pick up phonemes but at a much higher level than their ears could hear almost like a dog whistle which only dogs could hear but humans couldn’t.

GM Kate

Marius motioned the group forward and thought about the action he just witnessed. There had to be some sort of communication with the Volians even if it was telepathic. As a commander, he knew that something had to be given orders. “Someone scan the groups of Volians that are not addressing us.” He also knew that troops chattered among the ranks when they thought the CO wasn’t listening. Some things were universal.

Calvin Marius CO

When they scanned the Volians they would find that conversations were going on. It just was that the frequency of their language was so high pitched and fast, the human ears could not detect it. If they slowed down the clips that were being analyzed, they would be able to hear the Volian language.

GM Kate