Posted by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) in Main Sim - Bridge - The Finite War
[snip]

“Acknowledge their hail and open a channel to the Avenger!” Glen told the stand-in Communication officer.

At the same time, Glen watched as the shuttle team appeared to have discovered a way into the pyramid. He hoped they would prioritise their safety first.

=/\= Tinga, it is very dark inside. Unless you get some lighting we will no longer be able to follow your progress. =/\= Glen told the shuttle team.

=^=Already on it sir.=^=

With that done William returned to the Bridge “Feline secured, Sir. I’ve asked Security to keep an eye outside the door and we have some sensors feeding me info constantly” He reported slightly disheartened that he couldn’t do any more to help the Pest Control Officer of the Merrie.

“My concern is…” replied Glen, “…did a crew member imagine Ginger being a large cat and then the Reality Stone made that come true? Or… and that is quite bad enough… or, did Ginger imagine himself to be that large? Which would pose even further problems for us going forward.”

William thought for a moment then allowed himself to stiffen even more. “Interesting thought Captain, I don’t think that we can know for certain until later but the latter thought is disturbing yes.” He did his best to stay in analytical mode, if Will were in charge then his more imaginative side would cause all sorts of problems which they had no time for. “I wonder though, can this be focused. Could I think hard about wanting a specific item and it would appear or are wandering thoughts what triggers the event.” Thinking back he hadn’t caused any reality changes he was aware of. If he had time he could experiment more.

“I don’t know that either,” replied Glen, “but I’ve got to wonder that, used as a weapon, should anything this powerful be allowed to exist at all? In anyone’s hands it is dangerous and uncontrollable. In the wrong hands, used deliberately and intentionally, well, the consequences don’t bear thinking about!”

“A potentially powerful tool indeed.” Kord said.

The channel for a moment was static filled from the Avenger, before it cleared up. On the screen was a handheld comm relayed image of Captain Rogers and his five other members of his away team. What little behind him Glen and the bridge crew could see was a black metal or rock like series of panels with small 1 inch circular holes in it. =/\= Captain Glen! Can you make out things behind me? We’ve been getting some interference from this comet station now and then in fits and spits. =/\= He asked.

=/\= At the moment, we can see you very clearly, Captain! =/\=

Once Glen replied Rogers nodded, =/\= This station is oddly bigger than it appears on the outside, perhaps influence of the Finite Stone piece somewhere here. We’ve covered almost 4 kilometers of flooring over three large arena like floors. Most were open ended, a few pillars of nondescript black metal we can’t identify. We tried our phasers on it but it reflected back at us, thankfully no injuries though Ensign Martin got out of the way in time.=/\= He said.

=/\= Our shuttle team has entered the other pyramid and it looks remarkably similar. They haven’t used their phasers. =/\=

There was another round of static on the screen which soon cleared up complete with pictures and rough scans of the black metal Roger’s mentioned. =/\= You may want to tell your shuttle team to watch out for this, in case they get any ideas of shooting down where their at.=/\= He suggested.

=/\= Thanks! We will inform them of that. =/\=

After another pause he continued, =/\= Right now though we found what seems like a crude control tube room, these circular holes seem to match binary coding we think, using crude metal rods of various colors to configure and change some kind of computer network we think. Nothing in the Avenger’s records seems to match this, not even what little we got on the Finite Stone. Anything on your end? =/\= He asked.

The NE at the science station asked if he should check and Glen indicated to the science officer to carry out a computer records image search.

Checks in their computer data banks actually turned up something similar, though not an exact match the tube/hole configuration with colors did seem similar in setup to those used by the Ancients during their trip to Andromeda those two years ago. While again not an exact match it might be possible they could provide, if they wished, Captain Roger’s some clues and help from their own databanks.

When the science officer relayed this information along with its restricted status to Captain Glen, he felt as if a shadow had passed over his soul at the mention of the Ancients. He tried to remain professional, but the shock ran very deep. His skin was cold and clammy and he felt real anger.

Glen’s initial surprise at the link with the Ancients, quickly subsided to a rather begrudging acceptance. It seemed that the Merrimack could never be free of the experiences during that time, and it could never forget the painful memories associated with it. John would now have to decide whether to share the information gained on those missions with Captain Rogers or not. It still irked Glen that Rogers had never thanked him for coming to his aid, and for saving his butt from the Orions, and he realised that he actually knew very little about him, except that he was a little gung-ho. On the other hand, his rank and the situation demanded that he should, at least, tell him something on a ‘needs-to-know’ basis.

=/\= Captain Rogers? We do have a partial match in the Merrimack databases. It comes from redacted top secret documents created during classified missions, for which you and your crew don’t have the necessary security clearances. There isn’t time right now to achieve all the necessary security clearances for personnel handling that information, however, we may be able to assist you by helping to decipher the tube/hole configurations and colours, as they do seem quite similar in setup to something that we’ve seen before. I might add that this discovery places the ‘Reality Stone’ in a completely different light now. I need you to understand that what we are dealing with here is something of huge importance and danger, and I must advise extreme caution going forward. =/\=

William stood and watched the Science NE do his job with an odd expression on his face but didn’t protest. If the Captain wanted it done this way then who was he to say no.

OOC: Sorry about that, I forgot you had returned and weren’t still observing the cat.

IC: “William, that library information comes from before your tenure aboard the Merrimack,” Glen told his CSO. “I want you to investigate the links more closely, so I will give you full security clearance to do so.”

Glen then turned to Kord. “This is a game-changer! Don’t you think? I thought we had seen the end of the Ancients, Elders and Harvesters. We defeated them in the past, Starfleet defeated them in the future, yet they still turn up in the present!”

Tia had been running all over the ship helping with issues here and there. She had finally gotten stuff under control and come to the bridge to be at ground zero for whatever was gonna happen. As she walked in, though, and looked around. She felt like she had intruded on a private conversation. “Ummm… permission to take my station, Sir?” She glanced from the CO to the others in the room wondering what was going on.

“Please do,” replied Glen. Then looking at her expression he added, “We’ve discovered that the Reality Stone may be linked to an old enemy we encountered once or twice. It means that it was possibly designed as a weapon rather than to make the universe a better place. It makes me very uncomfortable. We lost a lot of good crew fighting them. Some of the crew were tortured or suffered unspeakable acts, and we have never been officially able to discuss any of what happened. It has been a Cross we have had to carry. This news will stir up those old memories again among the longest serving crew members.”

-Glen, CO

OOC: To clarify Dave the computer setup Roger’s found is similar too but not an exact match for the Ancients aka its not of the Ancients just operating along similar lines in theory just so we’re clear on that :)

GM CockRoach