Mountain Top - Part 2

Posted on Wed Mar 24th, 2021 @ 10:40am by Commodore Keiben Haistro & Lieutenant JG Sher'ra Verona & Lieutenant JG Adrian Sage

3,194 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Echoes Of An Empire
Location: Senatorial Parliament Facility
Timeline: Mission Day 9 @ 09:59 Hours

ON

"Alert" the Captain's voice sounded distant, hollow, his eyes glazed over but he continued to talk and as he did he seemed to expand, it took a moment for the others to realise that he was patched in directly to the internal communication system. "Intruders detected in multiple locations. Senatorial Parliament military coordination centre. Weapon research facility city of Trey'Tan'Dur. Biological Weapon Research cold storage facility Gret'Oar'Zhan Coast. Genetic Biolab Julanth Trench, Oar'Zhan Sea... Counter measures deployed. Main computer system and power generation activated, main processor operating at seventeen percent, further psionic input and interface required!"

Turning toward the Captain, Sher'ra looked between him and the machine, "ok, has anyone got an idea because I'm sure my idea of blowing this machine to Gre'thor may end up causing more problems than it solves"

Adrian waved his hand in front of the captain's eyes. "Captain?" He tried to pull the man away, but he wouldn't budge. "Something is very wrong.. I don't think blowing this up will help ma'am, we might end up harming the captain. Maybe we can.. knock him out instead?"

"No, don't knock him out, I don't think it would be a good idea to do so either not just yet. Maybe something can be figured out. " Amalia spoke up. "Adrian, get some scans run on the Captain and see about his biochemistry. Verona, see if you can find some sort of access panel or maybe see if there is a fail safe switch. I'm going to try something, I may have to get some sort of access into the schematics. Or maybe we need to figure out our own interface to somehow negate the effects of the machine. Either way, I'm going in." Amalia said, moving to stand beside Keiben and placing her bare hand upon his, making skin to skin contact. "Okay freaky computer, what makes you tick." she remarked, closing her eyes to see if she could get an image of how the machine is working.

The young chemist nodded uncertainly, keeping worried eyes on the unresponsive captain. "I'll keep an eye on his vitals, though I must remind you I'm no medic ma'am...I'm just a simple chemist."

"That's okay, keeping an eye on his vitals and mine as well, is important. I'm hoping you have the rudimentary skills to offer first aid, though, if needed. What about you Verona, you've got that as well? And we do have a field kit too. One can never be too careful." Amalia added.

"Come on Keiben, you're going to need an anchor so to speak." she murmured softly, hoping the captain can sense her.

“Well I’m trained as a field medic, but it’s been years since I’ve had to use the training” Sher’ra said, starting to feel a little useless

"Additional Counter measures deployed. Five out of seven million pods now active".
Still in a trance, as if possessed by the machine. "Additional psionic processor power required!"

The next part of what Keiben had stated, finally hit Amalia. Her eyes flashed open, "Verona, Sage he's being the main processing unit, or the main battery activating this thing. Verona, set for heavy stun and shoot him." Amalia, removing her hand away from Keiben and stepping away.

To Adrian she said, "Get ready, as we're going to have to catch him and then see to giving him aid. At this point we're going to have to step out of our comfort zone here. And if the machine doesn't let him go, were going to have to pry him away from it."

"Now Verona!"

"No!" Adrian shouted, jumping up and between Keiben and Amalia. "Too dangerous! We don't know what he's linked to or how, rendering him unconscious may damage him." He was confident the woman wouldn't stun him instead, so he kept himself in between while refocusing on his readings. "Neural synapses are spiking, he's definitely linked to something... but what?"

Amalia stopped for a moment, "A central computer or is that somewhere else. Uh Captain where is the Central Computer, is it right here? Can you answer that for us?" Amalia feeling a bit remorseful for suggesting to stun the Captain though she felt that him being linked to this set up was going to be harmful to him.

"Can he hear us at all?" Adrian wondered out loud, "and what does he mean with additional psionic power? None of us here are telepaths are we?" His eyes widened. "Are there any on the other teams?"

"There is one person, I know of, and that would be possibly Counselor Horn? I don't think anyone's been tested to see what their level of intuition or... sensitivity or level of psionic ability. I know I am not a telepath."

"Then we need to warn the team," the young scientist fretted, "but how?"

"Counter measures deployed. Communication scattering field now saturating the planetary atmosphere. Additional psionic processing power required. Genetic Modification unit deployed to adapt acceptable lifeform, seek and capture order issued to weapon unit Alpha Seven, retrieve psionic being for indoctrination!"

Hearing this, Sher’ra grabbed her phaser and started playing around with the controls, “well, if modern technology won’t work, I guess an older method of communication is needed” she said, looking around the room, “can anyone see something we can burn?”

Amalia gazed around, "There is stuff outside of this building to burn, inside here not really. Nothing that wouldn't endanger the captain, but we do need to do something. A way to communicate with the others." she mucked around beneath the console to see if she could find a way to help out with the communications problem. "If there is a way to configure things to make us be able to communicate. You know this reminds me of something I had studied, there was a section about the Iconians, the Borg and the T'Kon and the Preservers. There seemed to be a connection between them."

As she went to open up the console, Keiben moved ever so slightly and touched her neck, which startled Amalia causing her to bang her head. She came up from the console rubbing her head where she hit it. "What the heck?" looking at Keiben who had placed his hand back on the console.

"I don't think he wants you to do that," Adrian offered, "I think he's still in there somewhere. Maybe he's telling you it's not safe? We really should leave but we can't leave him here..." He reached to grab Keiben's arm, pulling with all his might. "Captain, we need to go."

"Input failure, processor overload... Reducing stimuli"
The Captain stumbled, momentarily back in control, fear in his eyes at his lack of control. "Stun me... I'm causing this. Stun me!"

He turned his attention up to Verona. "STUN ME OR WE WILL ALL DIE! Processor restart confirmed. Standing by on additional countermeasures!"

Reacting without any further question, Sher'ra set her phaser to its highest stun setting and fired at Keiben. "Someone catch him!" she called out, hoping someone could get there before he hit the ground.

Adrian cursed under his breath as he quickly caught the man, going down under his dead weight.

Amalia looked at Keibena and Sage, then moved to get the Captain off of Sage and checking his vitals. "Sage are you alright?" then turned to check on Keiben, pulling out the medkit, and running a scan over him.

"Verona, see if we can get some communication since the Captain isn't connected with that computer, please?"

"Yeah I'm fine... not every day one gets to catch one's captain...all one hundred and ninety pounds of him." He smiled sheepishly. "And that's a lot of dead weight. Is he alright though?"

"We need to get him away from here, so the computer can't reach out and draw him in again. I don't know what sort of damage it did to him, if any. However we can't have that happen again. Maybe it will be better if we try communications outside of the building. I think that maybe you and I can carry him out together and Verona can be at the ready in case some thing comes after us. Would hate for her to be carrying him and not be able to deal with an attacker."

“I’m not sure if going outside will help. Even with the Captain no longer hooked up to this machine, I still can’t get in contact with anyone” Sher’ra said, using her tricorder to scan around the room again, “but, it’s a better option than staying in here. Oh, can I blow this thing up now?”

"Anywhere is better than here," Adrian agreed as he locked his own arms under the captain's and grabbed his arm with both of his hands thereby holding his upper body up to his chest. "Yes, blow it up, now that we got him away from it, I'm sure we can. Amalia help me carry him, we need to go." He looked to Verona, sure that she was the more senior between the two of them despite having the same rank.

Amalia having had grabbed the legs of the Captain, moved along with Sage to get the captain out to a safe distance before Verona blew up the control console.

Waiting for everyone to be clear, Sher’ra pulled a plasma grenade from her belt, twisted the top to activate it and slapped it onto the side of the console. Hurrying outside, she looked at the others and smiled, “tic tic boom” she said as the grenade detonated, illuminating the room with a green hue.

Amalia gave a bit of a grin towards Verona while they were carrying the Captain.

The small group, laden with the unconscious form of the Captain, emerged from the grand doors back onto the mountain top, the path leading back down to the landing site, Copernicus could be seen at a distance but so could two small forms that looked black and foreboding even at this distance.

Hoping that they were far enough away, Amalia said to Sage, "Okay lets take a breather?" setting the captain's legs down.

Adrian shook his head, though he was panting for breath. "No, we must keep going, we're not safe here. We can't contact the ship but look, there it is, in the distance. Except..." He pointed at the creatures. "How the hell did they get there so fast?"

One of them had spotted the group and it let out a screech that chilled to the bone before increasing its pace.

Adrian shivered at the screech. "Oh hell," he muttered, "we need to run. Now! And hide... but where?" He slapped Keiben's cheeks, hoping to wake the man up and praying he wouldn't be put up on charges for striking a senior officer. "Wake up sir... we can't carry you if we gotta run. Wake up!"

Amalia looked at how quickly the creature was heading their way, frantically looked for something that could be defensive. There, something behind some and overgrowth, they must have passed by it on the way up. It looked like there was a hollowed out area big enough for a couple of people. "Sage over there, quick before that thing is on us, lets get the Captain in there." The creature's scream giving her an adrenaline boost and hauling Keiben there.

The scream of the creature sounded nearer, Amalia made up her mind, "Sage, see about waking the Captain up, I've got to see if I can stop that thing." Pulling out her phaser and stepping out away from where the captain had been placed. She felt the only way for survival for the Captain and Sage, was to face it and be a distraction, until Verona joined them. She noted another defensive position just a few feet from where she had placed the captain. Amalia went towards the rocks ready to dive behind them, then fired at the incoming creature. A beam of energy lancing towards said creature. She didn't have it set for stun.

Adrian nodded as he crouched under the overgrowth. "Come on captain," he urged, slapping his face again. "Wake up, we can't keep carrying you, you have to wake up and walk! They're getting close, please sir, wake up!"

Another shriek and the other creature headed forward closing distance.

Amalia kept firing at the creature heading towards them. "Drop dead ugly." she shouted.

Giving a irritated groan, Sher’ra hurried over to kneel beside Amalia, adding her fire to the Frey, “let’s get this done, we need to move”

Keiben stirred under the ministrations of his officer, he was groggy but he could still feel the machine in his mind, pushing back in, oozing around his mental barriers in search of a crack.
"Its still here, I'm not sure I can keep it out. These things are weapons, lethal. Designed to be nearly impervious to known forms of weapons fire... The T'Kon made them from their own being, shedding a skin of their negative emotions... I need time to figure out what the machine told me. I do know that being a telepath is the best weapon against them but also a huge weakness as most T'Kon planets are governed by a telepathic mainframe".

"Hey hey, stay with me," Adrian urged, tapping his cheek again to get his attention, "how are you a weapon when it controls you... you totally zoned out sir, we need to get back to the ship, it's not safe here. There's these creatures out there, and they're after us. We need you lucid so we can run."

"The creatures are the weapons. They are controlled telepathically. Putting a telepath near one can cancel out the machines control..." the machine had started to push its way back in.

“Is there some form of override command? Like a standby mode or something?” Sher’ra asked, figuring if they could escape the computer, they might as well get some information out of it.

"Wait wait what... are you saying that you, as telepath, can control those things?" Adrian frowned. "I'm sorry sir but I think you're delusional. Now.. can you walk? Because we really should be running."

"Not control, block the machines control over them... without the machine they become husks... but I can't with the machine still trying to control me!"
The Captain looked pained, struggling to stand as the silent assault continued on him.

"Someone else is in the mainframe!"

The Captain's eyes went wide as he could feel the familiar presence of Counselor Horn, both of them fighting back the machines pull.

"Someone else?" Adrian asked as he pulled the man up onto his feet, supporting him. "Without the machine you say.. shouldn't we destroy it then?"

Amalia wasn't certain if that phaser was working, even if set to kill. Those creatures looked like their armor was a bit more tougher. Amalia quickly switched to the phaser that she uses to cut through the metal plates on the ship, when she has to make repairs. This would, she mused would cut through anything including the monsters heading for them. She was going to have to get up close and personal with one of them to hopefully stop them. However, the Captain needed to be protected. The cutting beam was just twelve inches in length, like that of a bowie knife. Not too long to diminish the strength of the cutting beam.

While Verona was firing at the closest foe, Amalia waited for her chance then moved in to stab the creature with the cutting phaser.

The creatures all had designs on different members of the party, one to retrieve the processor the others to feast but they started to slow as both processors began to fight the pull of the machine until finally that all stopped in their tracks. Eyes still pulsing with hatred and anger but their bodies would not function without the input from the processors. One had stopped mere meters away from Amalia, its claw reaching out to impale her with its razor talons but it had been stopped millimetres away from its kill.

'What is this thing, why is it drawing me in? Horns voice spoke in the Captains mind.

'It needs telepathic beings to operate... Resist it for the life of your team resist it!' the Captain replied before the machine blocked them from being able to communicate.

"Who are you talking to?" Adrian asked, concern creasing his brow, "who needs to resist what sir?" He shook the man to get his attention.

Keiben had been communicating with Commander Horn telepathically but how? Horn was on the coast while Keiben and his team where kilometres away on a mountain side, and how had Ensign Sage heard what they were communicating? Had the machine somehow allowed him to broadcast to non telepaths?

"Run!" he managed to shout, the fight between himself and the machine starting to wear him down but with the creatures immobilised they had to make a move, it was their only chance!

Putting her phaser back into its holster, Sher’ra turning around and made her way over to where Keiben was being held up by Adrian. Grabbing hold of his free arm, she slung it over her shoulder trying to take some of the Captain’s weight, “you heard him, let’s move!”

Amalia blanched when she saw how close she had been to being skewered, she stabbed the thing once, then turned and seeing Verona and Sage taking care of Keiben and hearing the captain yell run she nodded, and began to move, but staying just to where she can give them cover as they moved quickly.

"How can we get these things to stop... Telepathy? That's right. Horrible creatures. reminds me of planet killers..." she puffed out as she kept up the pace with Keiben and the others.

“What do you mean? How can you compare that wild space cannon to this computer thing?” Sher’ra asked

Adrian did his best to keep the captain up, feeling the man was zoning out again. "Stay with us sir," he urged, "fight that thing, whatever it is."

"You have to run, you all have to run," Keiben murmured in a moment of clarity, "the other teams, they're in danger. The other telepath..."

"Hey hey, tell us about it," Adrian urged on, snapping his fingers in an attempt to get him to focus. "Who's the other telepath? You were talking to him, talking out loud, we all heard you."

"Counselor Horn," the captain responded absently.

'I am comparing it to the skin of those critters, it seems that nothing will penetrate through their hide much like what I had heard of the planet killer's skin. Maybe next time if we come against these guys, we shoot them through the mouth?" Amalia panted out as they hustled.

Within moments the team rounded an outcropping of rock and there she was. Meters away, Copernicus. Security teams standing guard at the landing ramp which was down awaiting the return of any of the other teams.

END

 

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