LostKnightsRPG.org

It was a combination of training and his cyber-relic avatars that allowed Cha'llx to continue running while his implanted radio got flooded with information, status updates, and cries for help. A blessing of his training as a warrior and as a priest of the Afterswarm was the ability to place absolute faith in the competence of others to complete their duties without hesitation. He called upon that discipline now, clearing his mind of the countless impending disasters that were about to claim them all, and focused only on his duties. To protect the ship and her crew, as well as the enforcement of her laws. With his mind cleared of all distractions, he turned his attention inward and consulted with the avatar of his Incarnation Relic, the great Starcrusher. Mighty and wise Starcrusher, grant me the wisdom and knowledge of our experiences and those of all of the Afterswarm. Aid me in determining the best tactical decisions in this time of need. The avatar merely nodded his head slightly and a sudden wave of memories flooded Cha'llx's mind, causing him to stumble slightly as he tried to process everything he was being shown. He began cussing himself as he began sprinting again from a crouch, in situations such as this every moment counted and he had very few moments to spare.

As soon as he had processed insights he had been given, responses began flying from his implant radio:

"Lieutenant Jorbal, the bridge has been compromised, proceed with extreme caution. Protection of the Captain is paramount, try to dissuade him from going to the bridge until it can be secured."

"Security Officer 227, try to free Colonel Adar and his marines from the airlock, once they are freed move to main engineering to secure that location for the engineers."

"Security Officer 115, I have ordered backup to your location in engineering, it may take a few moments for them to arrive. Hold your positions and await for them, don't escalate beyond reds, or give the enemy reason to. Once reinforcements arrive, blitz them physically, they can only fire at so many people at once, use numbers and close quarters to subdue them. Lethal use of hand to hand and melee combat techniques is authorized, however keep rainbows at red, we can't afford to have a stray shot stronger than that hitting anything important in there."

"Chief Engineer Ignac, this is Chief of Security Cha'llx. I am securing main engineering for you presently. When you get power up and running, divert all power away from the Transmat suites. Hostiles are holding that location and I don't want them to be able to get anyone else onto of off of this vessel."

"Security Officer 223, do not engage hostiles holding the Transmat suites. Hold your positions and await further orders. Keep me informed of and changes to your situation."

"Medical Officer Voracity, this is Chief of Security Cha'llx. I need combat medics to the Forward weapons bay stat. My guys are facing heavy fire from hostiles armed with rainbow beams. Thus far they have not escalated from red, but I have combat proficient personnel that are stunned that I need back on their feet."

"Lieutenant Commander Faarhi Bri, I am en route to your location, we will make short work of the hostiles holding your birds hostage. Send me a picture or video of what the situation is down there as well as placement and armament of the hostiles."

"Security Officers 110, 150, and 116 proceed immediately to the main hangar bay, we have hostiles that we need to dispatch so that we can get birds in the sky. There are 12 hostiles and they are prepping a gunship currently. We need to subdue them and prevent them from turning the gunship on our vessel or our people. Lethal use of melee and hand to hand tactics is authorized."

Cha'llx was almost to the main hangar bay as his last transmission left his radio, and he had to slow down slightly to await the requested intel from the Lieutenant.[/quote]

On the table in front of the young Matriarch doctor a comatose human had just went into cardiac arrest from major blood loss, and trauma. “This one is lost. Its injuries are too severe, and we did not reach him in time. Move the body away, and prepare it for disposal ”

“But doctor, shouldn’t we try to resuscitate, and administer an I.V.? We have blood, and tissue mending equipment.”

“No, there is no reason to continue with this patient. It would take to much blood to transfuse it, and even then the hope is slim. The injuries include major trauma to the heart, and lungs. There is a high probability that the human would die later without ever even waking up. It’s not worth the resources. Now please move it out of the way.”

The nurse who had been working with Voracity on the patent, grimaced as the doctor spoke. Angrily he came around the table, and began to shout, “Now listen here. You can’t talk about people that way. Who do you think you are? Not even gonna try to save a life? What’s the matter with you?”

Nurse Voyin, always quick on her feet, and ready to play interference, rushed to cut the young man off. “Now David you know this is a crisis and that we all have to do our part. Doctor Varsity is an amazing doctor and also in charge of this Medical Bay. Some tough decisions need to be made, and it’s Doctor Varsity’s job to make those decisions. Even if we don’t agree, we have to trust that our doctor has the best interests of the whole ship at heart.”

The male nurse, David, was taken aback at the overbearing motherly figure now scolding him. He sulked, but managed to hold his own, for the moment.

“But Doctor Voracity treats these people like their just bodies, without personalities or souls. What kind of being can be so cold?”

“Now David you remember your training in interspecies relations right?” she barely waited for David to nod, “So you realize that not all life-forms react to situations the same way we do? What might make me, or you angry, or sad, might not cause another creature to feel the same way. I mean golly, some people might think this sort thing was fun even.”

“Or not feel at all.” David muttered.

“We have to follow orders and do our jobs. While it’s really sad to accept, I think we just have to realize that not everyone who comes in here is going to walk out. Now our good doctor here knows best. So try and keep your chin up, and do as your instructed. Okay?”

The young nurse, David, nodded his acceptance, and began to move the table with the human body on it toward the back.

As this all happened Voracity, perplexed by the male nurses out burst, had quickly turned to more urgent matters around it once the female nurse, Voyin, had stepped in. Voracity made further mental note of that ones usefulness.

Voracity looked deliberately down at the handheld communicator one of its staff was trying to hand it. The nurse pulled away slightly as the alien doctor turned its inhuman attention upon her.

“Sorry doctor, but… uhm, there’s someone giving orders, and I think you should hear it.”

Voracity took the device and listened as a voice it recognized as belonging to the chief of security came through, "Medical Officer Voracity, this is Chief of Security Cha'llx. I need combat medics to the Forward weapons bay stat. My guys are facing heavy fire from hostiles armed with rainbow beams. Thus far they have not escalated from red, but I have combat proficient personnel that are stunned that I need back on their feet."

Voracity did a quick assessment of the situation in the medical lab. There were people everywhere, and every member of the medical staff was currently working to staunch the tide of casualties. Again the decision was an easy one.

It engaged the vocal organs of the host form. The voice that ushered forth was not pleasant, and caused the nurse hapless enough to be stuck with delivering the communicator to start. It was a rasping whisper, reminiscent of stones sliding together in the dry sand of a desert. The nurse was startled by this sudden imagery, and was unaware that its cause was her proximity to a telepath attempting to speak out loud with a voice it had rarely used.

“Cannot spare medical staff at this time. Medical center is operating within acceptable limits only barely. Minor injuries are not critical, and are not high priority at this time. Recommend basic field first aid to treat injuries caused by red beams.”

The Matriarch handed the communicator back to the nurse, and moved to begin helping a yellow skinned creature of almost humanoid makeup, hemorrhaging think black blood from gill slits, and exhibiting several life-threatening injuries. As the doctor began to work Voracity entertained the memory of the Security Chief’s request. Something about that request galled the Chief Medical Officer. Didn’t it realize how busy they were down here? A request for critical personnel to treat disorientation, and minor shock at a time like this was extremely… inefficient.

Responses flooded in to Chall'x's radio-implant as soon as the last ones went out. The situation was evolving, changing, and for the moment, all Chall'x had to tell what was happening was the responses of his team.

"Chief, this is Jorbal. We're staging outside the bridge with the marine elements that are up here, Major Levay in command. Not sure what the hold up is, but the Captain and the Ensign body builder lady are talking about something, I think there's a plan happening."

"227 here, Colonel Adar is perfectly free, sir, he's threatening to space some of his marines without suits. I think there's a...ok now I'm getting some details from an aide. He says that these marines, about a third of our complement are Reservists who were called up to test cryopods, and they don't want to be here, so Adar is giving them either an opt out, or a sign up speech. This...could get hairy. Orders Chief?"

"115 here, we have NO WEAPONS at this time, and we have now spotted two defensive positions in engineering with heavy rainbow cannon set up in overwatch. I do NOT have the manpower to overrun engineering at this time. I DO have a team of Grimlackian engineers ready to report for duty and start work on the power situation, but I am keeping them back for their own safety. My current manpower is 7, we have counted out 12 enemies holding the engineering decks. Some of them have military training or something."

"223 here, I have spotted 4 prisoners holding the access points to the Transmat suites. I'm here by myself now, the rest of my team have moved to other areas. It looks like they're trying to bring something online. I'm gonna go up a ventilation duct and see if I can find out more."

"Chief Chall'x, I would appreciate you getting a move on down here. They are now opening hangar bay doors and one of the gunships is almost ready to scramble. My people can't get close at all. Here's your damned video. Now GET TO WORK."

Bri sent Chall'x the requested video intel. A dozen in federation prison fatigues were spread out in the hangar bay, the six ranger class gunships visible behind them. Three of them were doing an all points check on Ranger 2, which would be a final step before launch capability. One of them was arguing with another about doing this, the others were fanned out taking cover behind crates. They could be seen to be armed with federation issue Rainbow beams.

"Sir, this is 110, we will rendevoux with you on route to the hangar."

"Chief, this is 343, I'm in the main cargo hold. There are no escapees here, but I have found a reserve of weapons...or rather, spare parts for weapons. It looks like a fully packed up armorers station. There's enough parts here to completely rebuild a large number of weapons. I've been able to field assemble a fully functional Rainbow Beam. I'm here by myself for now, I can keep building weapons or I can bring this to you or wherever. It works, all the settings. Orders, sir?"

******

Barging into the sick bay came perhaps the least expected face. Doctor Farius Darr, renowned throughout the universe in both respected medical circles and the popular media. Pioneer of interspecies transfusions and transplantations, Dr Darr's methods and discoveries were the subject of substantial coursework in all modern medical education systems. Also a gregarious, charming, outspoken individual, he is involved in politics to some degree. An egotist, womanizer, and hyper-wealthy playboy, his exploits eventually became the subject of a daytime serial medical drama. His presence on the ship was completely unprecedented. As he arrived, he identified Voracity as the CMO and approached, his dark skin and wrinkles giving way to a big smile and the offer of a firm handshake. In contrast to the cryo-wear clad medical crew, Dr Darr was already dressed in a leisurely outfit and carried with him a medical bag.

"Doctor Voracity, I presume. I've followed your work, pleased to see you're the boss around here. I've come to offer my services in this, our time of crisis. I helped fund this mission and am coming along as a visitor. I've already seen to the security of my personal belongings on Cougar Hill, in my villa, so I felt the need to offer my humble assistance, such as it is. What can I do to help?"

With this last statement, the famous physician opened his medical bag, revealing beyond state of the art medical equipment, transfusion solutions, tissue regenerators, and an array of other miracles that Voracity had only read about, never seen in person.

"Dangerous. Dangerous, armed, and on my bridge," Stirling sighed. This was why he had objected to being cryofrozen before the mission had actually launched. Too many last-minute changes had been made. "I'll talk to him, it looks like that's what he wants, but I'll ensure the destruction of this ship and everyone on it before I hand it over to some super-powered convict." He looked around to the marines clustered about and waiting to strike. "Do we have any weapons more sophisticated than make-shift clubs and knives? Was anyone able to find a rainbow beam or something?" Even as he spoke to his men, he was trying to decide how to approach the situation with Mars. The criminal clearly had the upper hand, but this was still far from a no-win scenario, despite the almost innumerable handicaps he and his team were facing.

While his men conferred amongst themselves to try and produce a weapon, he again queried the museum computer, "Computer, was Sign brought aboard, even if he wasn't installed?"

Then he turned to the superhuman ensign that'd come with him from the cryopods, "What do you know about this guy? Anything is fine - powers, ambitions, what was he trying to do when he fought against your people?" There was an ancient saying that 'Knowledge is Power' and Stirling had not intention of facing the criminal on his bridge without arming himself first.

Exemplar closed her eyes, trying to remember the vids she'd watched growing up, fascinated with the long-ago Aternan Age of Heroes. "Jaxx was never a major player, he was more of a mercenary, always looking out for his own best interests. He was really strong and durable, those were the big things. What else... He had a cunning intelligence that defied the efforts of the heroes pursuing him time and again. He always chooses life over freedom, which is why he's still alive, I guess. I think he used to be a starship captain, yeah, that's right, during the skolian conflict. His ship was hit with a chemical or a power or something, and he was the only survivor. If he takes off the mask that filters the air for him, he'll "go skolian" but he never voluntarily does so, because he's so meticulous and can't stand to lose control. He also never sheds a drop of blood if he doesn't have to. Yeah, I remember this clearly now, when he was finally captured by Captain Aterna, the super court ruled that he be given life in prison instead of execution, because he had shown mercy as well. I bet that's why all those reports on the comms are about red beams and not violet beams, and why our security guys haven't been slaughtered yet."

Upon the arrival of the famous, and well-to-do debonair doctor several of the staff seemed unable to hide their amazement. A few of the younger female nurses working beside Voracity as it administered to patients actually swooned. A sharp mental tone from the alien doctor spurned them back into focusing on their work, before they realized what had hit them. A second sharp mental ping sent any other would be gawkers back to task almost as quickly.

With the host form’s upper appendages covered in the ichor of medical work, and the young Queen only roughly understanding the gesture of an outstretched hand anyway, declined to reciprocate the gesture.

The haunting mental tones of its telepathy wasted no time, “It will be good to have more trained personnel. You may start where you see fit. Most of the triage has been done, and patients are set up by necessity. Members of the ship’s crew, and essential civilians are to receive top priority. All others have been told they must wait. Life threatening diagnosis’ are gathered in this area, and have been arranged by necessity of their role on board, and by severity of injury.”

Voracity gestured with rigid alien posture about the room as it spoke into the arrivals mind. Emotions of detached contempt were paired with the weakest specimens, and those most likely to die. Objective curiosity was related to those the Matriarch was currently engaged with, and thought might be saved.

The whole time it spoke the alien doctor never really stopped working. Its unnervingly mechanical dexterity working at a pace none of the staff could match. Every so often however, to the discerning eye, a subtle quiver would run through the body of the strange doctor, and its hands would make the smallest of deviations. These were quickly overcome, but their passing was without doubt.

As Voracity finished updating the dapper new arrival, nurse Voyin politely stepped in and gracefully planted herself between the two. “Never you mind Doctor Varsity, he’s just cranky from all the icky work. Why he’s been working since before the rest of us even got here, and is still putting us to shame.” She said this with a smile, as she nonchalantly took the good Doctor Darr by the arm, and moved him toward some of the most critical cases.

“This is the worse of ‘em. We’ve been doing everything we can, and barely seem to be keeping up. We get things organized and then, whoop, here come more. I just have to say, between you and me, I’m really glad you showed up doctor.” As she said this the blue skinned nurse leaned in a bit closer.

With her hand creating a bridge between her mouth and doctor’s ear she whispered, “I think there might be something wrong with Dr. Varsity, but he wouldn’t ever let on.", then pulling back again, and resuming her normal chipper demeanor, "I just hope you can take some of the load off with all your fancy gizmos. We could all do with a bit of rest pretty soon.”

With a wink, nurse Voyin moved back into the crowed crisis center, humming softly. She continued to dutifully organize, and help where it was needed. She had quickly picked up on the Matriarch’s criteria for triage, and prioritization. If she reprioritized a few hopefuls, or a hard luck case now and then she was pretty sure the doctor was much too busy to care.

Voracity did take notice of the inefficient prioritization of the blue skinned nurse, but it did not interfere. The Matriarch had decided to trust this creature with a bit more independence. It had proven itself strangely capable, and the alien doctor recognized that there were nuances to this situation that it simply did not understand. The nurse would hopefully help mitigate some of this gap in understanding. Voracity had early on noticed that this nurse’s soft touch, and seemingly perky naivete were helping to boost the morale within the gruesome melancholy of the medical center. The Matriarch found this was acceptable.

The tourism computer chimed in responding to Stirling, chipper as ever.

"By Jove Captain, I do believe that Sign is on board, but he is not installed yet. What a debacle! I sure hope I'm doing an okely-dokely job so far. If these silly records are correct, Sign is located in the cargo hold. I'll be the first to tell you, I've never seen another computer like him. Or anything else like him. Bonus Information: The popcorn machines are just about ready to start production!"

Major Levay sized up the Captain visibly. He didn't look like much. He might not have a sense of humor, but Adar trusted him completely. She couldn't help but allow a pleased smile when sizing up Ensign Exemplar as well, she had a lot of respect for physique and the ensign seemed...plucky.

"Sir, we are armed with batons, shivs, trash can lids, and the natural aggressiveness of the federal marine. Our enemies are in a hardened position utilizing interlocking fields of suppressing fire, advanced rainbow beam weaponry, and makeshift armor. We have thirty marines standing by to storm the bridge with hand to hand combat at your command, sir."

She seemed stilted when replying in this way, apparently she had expected a warmer response from the captain at her joke. She reminded herself of the gravity of the situation, and that not everyone responded to pressure with levity. While she may have been many things, she was a marine right now, first and foremost, and her men needed to see her strong and fearless. She recalled a few words she'd heard the captain was fond of saying, and tried again to show him her support.

"Sir, we may not have much in the way of weapons, but these marines and I came up to the bridge to help you take it back, not to yield."

Exemplar thought a moment before saying with a completely straight face "If you have a plan to take out Jaxx, then I'm willing to move in and occupy whoever's in our way until the marines can disarm them. I should be able to dodge them all. If I had my suit I could probably shrug off most of their fire, but as it is I could still take 3 or 4 hits before it really started to bother me..."

Hearing the response from the museum computer, Stirling sighed, "Well that's something, anyway..." He took in what Exemplar was telling him and the confirmation from the marines that they'd not secured any energy weapons. He nodded confirmation to both. "Alright. I'll try talking to him first. If he tries to take me hostage, just kill me and tell Keen that my orders are to destroy the ship." Stirling's face was hard. It wasn't easy to order the deaths of an entire crew and himself. Neither was he willing to allow them all to come under control of a super-terrorist. "I'll give him five minutes and then I'm walking back out here, or you're all to carry out those orders as if I'm a hostage."

He looked at Exemplar for a moment and then apparently came to a decision, "Come with me into there. It'll help show I mean business. Your priority is to get me back out of there alive if negotiations break down." After all, it wasn't as if he wanted to die, he just thought it a somewhat likely outcome. He looked back to the major, confirmed orders all around, and then stood up and strode to the door.

"Jaxon Mars! I'm entering the bridge now!" he announced loudly so that not only his people but those on the bridge would hear him, and then did so.

The bridge of the Endeavor was intended to symbolize the perfect synthesis of tactical awareness and authority. The bridge of the museum replica of the Endeavor was a bold play to push the vessel ahead of the original Endeavor to fill the role it was originally intended only to mimic, featuring the elements of tactics and authority of the original bridge, but including the elegance of a bygone age; the shared history of countless races of the age of sail, and in others a romantic era of space exploration, carrying with it a dignity embodied in rich leathers, fine mahogany, bronze fittings, both functional and aesthetic.

Illuminated only by emergency lights, most of the screens dark, and makeshift barricades throughout, the bridge of the Endeavor was now the fortress of Jaxon Mars. A dozen prison-clad henchmen trained their stolen rainbow beams on the crew members entering the bridge from behind makeshift cover, ready to fire at their commander's notice. As Stirling and Exemplar entered the bridge, they realized that these prisoners, each of them vile enough to be stored away on life sentences, was so afraid of and loyal to Mars that they would rather die armed and unfighting than counter his orders. There had been no casualties at the hands of the escaped prisoners, yet, all of the damage to the crew and civilians was at the hands of the federation that sent them, vicariously through untested equipment, malfunctioning parts, and a dangerous and lengthy cryosleep. Those that had already died today did so at the hands of those who sent them, not Mars. Hopefully, all of Mars' men were as loyal as these here on the bridge. Stirling had a twinge of doubt at this possibility. Someone somewhere would be a screw up, and force these titanic tensions to break.

"Welcome Captain. We've been waiting for you. I will dispense with pleasantries if you don't mind, we can partake of those at some later time, once we are safely underway back to the universe. I am Jaxon Mars, as you already know, and I am in control of this ship. My men have seized the ships weapons, engineering section, and arming bays. We have control of the flight deck, and we have control of the bridge. My terms for your surrender are simple. Enter your command authority codes into this console, unlocking the controls and surrendering the vessel to me, and your life will be spared. You will spend the duration of our return trip in the brig, where my men and I have spend the duration of our trip this far."

Mars turned the command chair towards Stirling, showing the small console in the arm rest that allowed the captain to enter override codes and authentications. His demeanor was an unsettling combination of confidence, malice, and patience. Perhaps a play for time would work, but from his body language and non-verbal signals, Stirling could tell that in the mind of Jaxon Mars, victory had already been attained, and would continue to be held as long as he controlled the critical sections of the ship.

*********

There he was, Jaxon Mars, in the flesh. Exemplar flanked her captain as they entered the bridge, and sized up the opposition. Mars was even more imposing than he had been during his trial, but he hadn't aged a day. A flush of nostalgia and fandom came over her, as she recalled the vids of Captain Aterna and his arch-nemesis Jaxon Mars as they battled across the worlds of the Aternan people. And before Captain Aterna, Mars had battled others, The Looker, Vigil, and even all of Team Danger Star. Exactly what Mars had been fighting them for was something carefully avoided in the vids, but his enmity of the Aternan government had been clear, and here he was in the flesh. For Exemplar, it was like witnessing a real live villain from a comic book that nobody else read in the flesh.

His men, on the other hand, were much less impressive. She felt a twinge of the same feelings she had about Mars when she realized that, despite their own individual accomplishments and criminal records, they were Mars' goons. Here he was, a real life super villain, complete with goon squad. They spanned a few races of average attributes, and from their markings and mannerisms may have been a pirate crew or merc squad.

She did notice that, in spite of having "control" of the bridge, none of them had access to the computers. One of them was trying to bypass the security device on a console, but none of them had gotten in yet. It would take time, a lot of it, to bypass the security measures.

*********

Voracity, Darr, and Nurse Voyin seemed to make a decent team as they coordinated and handled the onslaught of patients. Voyin, a talented if vapid charge nurse, directed those patients requiring sympathy or of lower triage orders to the charismatic and popular Doctor Darr, who seemed to be reprising his role as himself on his show Doctor Darr, M.D., and was inspiring the patients with his antics, while the serious cases and higher triage orders went to the chief medical officer, Doctor Voracity, far more talented in reality than the fancy and overfunded Darr, but with a truly draconian bedside manner.

The tide of wounded and dying stemmed, and the staff were able to get ahead of the workload. The end was in sight.

*******

As the tides are moved by moons, as leaves are blown by wind, as planets are moved by stars, so was Jezial moved to the cargo bay. Still groggy and disoriented by the swirling impossible dusts outside the ship, Jezial found herself in the main cargo hold, a truly huge structure containing literally tens of thousands of tons of supplies and spare parts. Of all the things here, boxes of weapon parts, ammunition, food supplies, clothing, raw materials, spacecraft components, and countless other things Jezial could instinctively perceive, only one thing was important.

Uncanny familiarity washed over her as she slowly advanced towards a single cargo palette by itself in the middle of a small loading bay. This was the last thing loaded on the ship. On the palette was a single item. A solid, apparently seamless slab of dark grey ceramic in the form of a rectangle seven by three by one in physical dimensions. It was without markings, though next to it was a kit of some kind with wrist thick cables and adapter plates as yet unconnected to anything. Jezial, a master of dimensional awareness, sensed that while the three dimensional form of the object was finite and exact, it extended into the fourth and possibly fifth dimensions beyond comprehension.

Jezial felt her reincarnated soul-shards vibrating in recognition. Her currently conscious mind could barely grasp at these memories in her current wakeful state, but she felt that her ancient timeless parts remembered this....being. This was someone from her past, her ancient, primordial, timeless past. This might be someone from her people's past, and there was nothing strange about this person being a ceramic slab.

Gazing upon the slab, Jezial was finally able to gain her bearings. Her whole life, she had relied on distant objects and planetary bodies to be her frame of reference to balance from, for the first time she could balance her body by retaining this object as her frame of reference. The floor stabilized beneath her feet, the walls resolved their whirling insanity, and her stomach settled down at last.

******

The security officer, 945 as Chall'x had called him, couldn't speak for his panting, and was sweating through his cryo-wear. In spite of his exhaustion at his recent wind sprint to and from the cargo hold, he handed Chall'x the rainbow beam pistol, newly fashioned from spare parts, and then, gasping, dropped to the floor.

"That's one weapon, sir, are you sure about this?"

The other security officers were ready as they could be, armed with trash can lids, pipes, and chains, but they seemed doubtful. The engineering bay was dug in pretty well beyond the access door, the convicts within had established interlocking fields of heavy rainbow beam cannon which had already been demonstrated to be able to stun down a security officer in less than six seconds. Chall'x glanced through the viewport at the stunned down officer. He was breathing albeit slowly, and would survive as long as nothing worse happened to him today.

Tactical assessment complete. Interlocking fields of suppressing fire on open ground from hardened positions of elevated superiority is a superlative defensive measure under these circumstances. Odds of penetrating defenses with current equipment: 0.001%. Recommendation: Alter the conditions of the engagement. Introduction of intervening objects to withstand sustained fire against one of the cannon while suppressing the remaining cannon would sufficiently alter the conditions of engagement to provide a success chance of 15.7%. Alternative: new data regarding the anatomical traits of the species taking up defensive positions could potentially alter the strategies available. In addition, access to fire suppression or emergency vacuum exposure protocols could produce alternative forms of approach to this situation. Relic standing by.

Chall's glanced at the rainbow beam pistol. The reactor was online and engaged, it was charged up, and ready to go. At least something worked right.


*********

"This is damned bullshit."

Faarhi Bri watched in offended disgust as Ranger 2 lifted off of the flight deck, slowly turned, and then eased out of the launch bay. She was speechless. Fully loaded with weapons, missiles, primary beams, and three enemies.

To her satisfaction, the allies of the enemy pilots who had taken the ship had been equally surprised, and were throwing some kind of fit. She had been able to pick up enough of their conversation to tell that the three who had just stolen Ranger 2 were doing so against orders. She caught a shouted statement into a radio.

"Mars is going to literally squeeze your head until your skull is crushed and you die. I have actually seen him do this to someone for less. He might kill me too for not killing you before you did this. Turn around, and come back. Now."

*********

Commander John Keen sat in his wheelchair in the recovery room, his confusion and sedation fading. He looked at his reflection in the mirror by the sink. It took him a few reserved moments of acceptance to come to terms with the fact that it was his beautiful face that was burned beyond recognition. Silent tears streamed down his face. Yeah, he had done his duty. He saved the grimlackian engineers from being burned alive. He fought the fire and won. Those engineers, amongst them some of the best in the universe, were critically important to the mission. For some reason, this did not relieve the shock at seeing the face that could get him into any bar, the dreamy eyes that had watched countless women swoon at his advances, now burned and twisted. The salt from his tears burned on his wounds. He didn't care. He said nothing and didn't move. This face was more than he could face today. Fuck this mission.

Beginnings Post 7

With the tide of injured beginning to ebb the young Matriarch doctor took a moment to reassess the situation. Now that the medical bay was in order, there were other things to which the medical staff would need to tend. Not all the injured would have necessarily made it to the infirmary, and the Chief of Security had already asked for assistance once before.

Voracity studied the staff, and began to sort them out. Those that seemed tired, and would need rest, those that were busy with critical tasks, those that were still going strong, and those that were simply trying to find things to do. The Queen also made note of the patients. Which were ready for active duty, and which would need to stay. After several moments of profiling it had formed a rough plan.

“Nurses M2114-S, M3256-S, M2344-S, M4693-S, M1937-S, MS5408-S, MS1232-2, M2435-s, M6788-S, M4705-s report to our station.” The abrupt impersonal summons took the staff slightly off guard, but those called made their way over to the chief medical officer as quickly as they could.

Voyin, seeing the gathering around Voracity also made her way toward the area, driven by both curiosity and a certainty that the good doctor was going to need her special brand of social grace. The Queen noted the nurse called Voyin’s interest, and idly wondered if that one was possessed of some sixth sense. She had not been summoned, but acted as though she were expected. Voracity had thus far found her useful, so the doctor did nothing to curb the young nurses presence.

“We need teams to begin sweeping the ship for injured who were unable to find their way here. You are the most able to complete this task based on current necessity within the infirmary, fatigue, and over all skill. We are entrusting you with the task of operating outside direct scrutiny. You will split into groups of two, and each of you is to gather security personnel who are fit to return to duty to take with you. This is in the event of unforeseen complications. You are important to the operation of this vessel, and as such need to be careful.”

Despite the cold nature of the doctor, the telepathic broadcast contained undertones of subtle emotions. These were the feelings of a ruler knowing the foundation of its kingdom relied on those with which it was speaking. It was not a close, interpersonal connection, but it was at least something.

“M1756-SC, assist the others as they organize into teams and find escorts. Also, try and gather support staff that can report for duty in those sections each team will be visiting. That way we can get essential staff to the places they might be needed. We need one team to immediately head for the weapons bay to assist the security team there. The rest of this facility will stay on alert, and continue to treat the incoming.”

Nurse Voyin started at the use of her personal identification code. “Now doctor really, referring to us by numbers. Aren’t we more than just boring statistics? We’re gonna be doing this a long time you know. We should get more, chummy, don’t you think? Take nurse Trik’let here, she not just M3256-S, she’s an outstanding orderly with a fine bedside manner. And David here, you remember David, he’s a charming young man, and deserves to be recognized by his human name not some silly number. Why I swear its like…”

Doctor Voracity stood in silence as the blue nurse spoke. It noted the heightened emotional state and thought on the oddities so many of these other life forms possessed. They seemed consumed by inane details, and trivialities, it was a wonder they ever got anything accomplished. With a silent methodical motion, the Chief Medical Officer held up a hand for silence. The nurse’s chatter trickled off.

“Noted nurse Voyin. We will begin calling each of you by your species given names if you wish it. Our goal is to run an efficient clinic, and if such details help then I will accommodate them. Your insights are useful to us nurse Voyin, continue to give them as they arise.

As for the rest of you, prepare to depart. Gather what you think you may need and then report to Voyin who will help you find support staff. If there are problems report them to me. That is all.”

With a blush of deep blue, at the perceived compliment from the cold doctor, Nurse Voyin broke up the gathering. The assembled nurses split into teams, and began gathering their things. Then under Voyin’s guidance they gathered with those personnel they could find and began to head out into the ship to find those in need, and help bring order to the chaos.

Jezial had wandered sedately, drawn to the lodestone presence she had felt earlier. The overwhelming deluge of beings and emotion making for slow going. She had ducked for several minutes into a nearby alcove to get her bearings, but the dark flow of matter and anti-matter debris gave her mind no purchase. She heard rapid, haggard breathing as she tried, and failed, to focus and had realized she was beginning to panic. The swell of emotions around her had been overshadowing her own, but she knew that with the ship so far from any known space, out of the known universe in fact, she was left without one of her primary senses. A slow bout of deep breathing had given her the chance to, at least temporarily; focus her awareness solely on the ship, rather than the swirling chaos outside. She then made her way down to the presence that she had been drawn to.

In the presence of dark slab she felt grounded. The nagging familiarity was overshadowed by the calm and stability she felt in its presence. She noted the clothing and supplies around her, and briefly wondered if the weapons parts could be used to make a complete weapon, but she had no knowledge of how to combine the pieces.

Even as she thought of the supplies around her, Jezial’s hand reached out to rest on the grey slab before her. That this was something, or someone, from her people’s past was clear, and the rush of adrenaline that the presence caused in her left her overwhelmed. Half instinct and half curiosity, she climbed on the flat stone. The slab was larger than most beds she had slept on, and perfect to recline on as she cast her consciousness inward meditating on the thoughts and feelings inspired by this object, trying to place it and why it was on this ship at all. She felt some small worry for the ship and crew, but had existed among humans long enough to realize that her pacifistic beliefs usually caused more hindrance than help in stress situations.

Stirling's eyes darted around the bridge as he walked in, registering that the people weren't actually doing anything other than sitting in the chairs and pointing guns at them. The computer remained locked out. He wondered how much of that was stubbornness on the part of the museum computer and how much of that was a side-effect of the ships actual main computer not being installed. The fact that Mars was demanding his command codes meant that, in either case, he expected it to take a long time for them to crack anything - if they could ever do it. Probably, Stirling thought, not, given the state of modern cryptography, but they might eventually find a way to bypass it or just rebuild the whole computer. Still that'd take a lot of time.

He smiled tightly. "No," he said. He let the word hang in the air for several seconds to make sure its impact was entirely felt.

"I have a counter-proposal," this part would swing the pendulum far in the other direction. That's how negotiations were supposed to work. Each side stated the things they wanted, and then a compromise was had somewhere in the middle. "You and your men surrender and relocate to an uninhabited area of the habitat module - under guard - while we make repairs and get the ship operational. I will then evaluate our overall situation and review your cases on an individual basis and come to a more permanent solution. I am not unreasonable. I don't mind negotiating - but let me make sure I am perfectly clear," he mustered all the resolve and authority he could for being a man in his underwear, "There is no scenario in which I will ever turn over control of my ship under duress."

Exemplar looked around, scanning for danger the moment they entered and never letting herself relax. You didn't relax in these sort of situations unless you wanted someone to die, yourself or some bystander, that's what her teacher always said.

She wanted to say something smart, banter like in the old vids, but she wasn't ever very good with words and anything she said to Jaxx might tip him off as to her heritage. Instead, she gave one of the more aggressive goons her best menacing grimace and growled out a threat. "Move that trigger finger, you lose it."