The Needs of the Many, Part Three

Posted on Jul 08, 2015 @ 12:23am by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane & Commander Jacob Crichton
Edited on on Jul 08, 2015 @ 12:24am

Mission: The Lights of Hyperion

"THE NEEDS OF THE MANY, PART THREE"

(Continued from "The Needs of the Many, Part Two")

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Location: USS Phoenix, en route to Elandipole through the Hyperion Expanse
Stardate: [2.15]0707.1800
Scene: Main Engineering, as before


Jake and Kane had moved back to the command workstation, even as Sylvia and Cindy resumed their own posts. The two marines covered the prisoners, who stood in place with their hands on their heads as the engineers resumed their work around them. Kass exchanged uncertain glances with Chaucer, who stood stock still, unreadable as ever, his yellow eyes following the engineers. Maynell had come to, and was sitting groggily against the wall. Savaar followed the action with no change in his expression, his emerald eyes taking in everything and giving back nothing.

"Boost field strength around the intermix chamber," Jake was saying, as Kane looked over his shoulder. Beta particles were appearing at a phenomenal rate inside the intermix chamber,where matter and anti-matter flowed through the dilithium crystals and combined together to create warp plasma. The incredible energy output of the matter-antimatter reaction was contained by a heavy electro-magnetic field around the intermix chamber,which as what Jake was referring to.

Cindy moved quickly, translating Jake's orders into action with precision and speed.

"Too late!" called Sylvia. "Beta-particles still increasing. Amaterasu manifestation is imminent!"

Kane put a hand on Jake's shoulder. "If an Amaterasu manifests inside the warp core, how will its radiation react with the warp plasma?"

Jake shook his head. "I have no idea." His brow furrowed as he thought furiously. "But that's the warp core, Captain. The Amaterasu might be annihilated, it might cause a reaction that shoots us off at warp nine, or it might disrupt the plasma pressure and cause a warp core breach."

Kane looked anxiously into the intermix chamber. "Options?"

"Short of ejecting the core?" Jake asked.

"Jake," Kane said gently. "The graviton pulse is another option. Is it a viable one?"

"I don't think so!" Jake said, shaking his head. "The pulse will take at least thirty seconds to charge and disperse. We simply don't have enough time!"

"Look!" Cindy shouted, pointing into the intermix chamber.

From within the steady blue pulsing of the warp core's intermix chamber, a golden light had blossomed. It hung there, apparently confined by the casing of the chamber, but otherwise it spread out wispy tendrils as far as it could in every direction. As they all watched, the lights shifted in shade and brightness, changing from a vibrant golden glow to lavender, to red, to green. The colour of the Amaterasu cycled through a rainbow of light that would have been beautiful to look at, but to those looking on, its presence was a terrible danger.

"Readings, now!" Jake yelled.

Cindy looked down at her terminal. "Warp core readings still nominal," she said. "The Amaterasu's radiation output is being absorbed by the dilithium."

"Thank goodness for those crystals," muttered Sylvia. "They're in there to mediate energy and that's what they're doing."

"What the hell is that thing?" one of Savaar's men - Metcalf - asked. The prisoners were looking on in awe at the subspace entity's appearance.

Kass cuffed him roughly on the back of the head. "Shut yer yap," she said.

"Whatever it's doing, it doesn't seem to be hostile," Sylvia said. "It's just floating there."

"There's no danger to us?" asked Kane.

"I don't think so," Sylvia said. "The intermix chamber is designed to contain those types of energy emissions. There shouldn't be any danger to us."

"You just said that thing might cause a warp core breach!" complained Gibbs, another of Savaar's men. Kass fixed him with an angry stare, and Gibbs shut up quickly.

"Sir, we have another manifestation on the way," Sylvia said. She activated a few commands on her workstation, then looked up at Jake. "Orb-type Amaterasu incoming!"

A bright flash appeared from inside the intermix chamber, and suddenly the whole ship seemed to shake underneath them. Inside the intermix chamber, the Orb appeared, very close to the Aurora. The light was now blazing a rainbow from within the intermix chamber, so much so that everyone in Main Engineering squinted and put their hands up to shield their eyes from the glare. Yellow, blue, green - the colours illuminated everything.

The Orb drifted closer to the Aurora, still flashing its vibrant display of shifting, whirling colors, but as they watched, the Orb began to merge with the Aurora, and the bright flare of light that had appeared from the center of the Aurora began to change, altering the colors of the Aurora as it spread. The shifting blues and greens and purples suddenly turned white, so white that it hurt to look at.

"Beta particles are off the scale!" Sylvia called.

"Plasma pressure rising inside the intermix chamber!" Cindy said. "Recommend we drop out of warp immediately!"

Kane closed his eyes against the intense light. "Kane to bridge! All stop!" he yelled.

[[Jos here. Helm answering all stop, Captain.]]

As the inertial dampers automatically activated in response to the sudden speed change, the steady blue pulse of the core slowed to match, and the shaking in the deck plates beneath their feet eased. Inside the intermix chamber, the light was fading. The outlines of both the Orb and Aurora Amaterasu still hung there, still burning white against the cool blue glow of the core, but seemed to be dying, the after-glow of an inferno.

"New readings detected," Sylvia reported as her console chimed with new data.

"Another Amaterasu?" Jake asked her.

"I'm not sure," Sylvia replied, looking up at him. "Readings don't match up to Orb or Aurora type, but I'm showing definite similarities in the waveform structure."

Inside the intermix chamber, the white outline of the aurora Amaterasu had faded almost entirely away. But there was something else there now, some indistinct form taking shape inside the intermix chamber. As it resolved itself, the shape began to take its own, steady pulse, not unlike that of the warp core, but moving at its own different tempo and rhythm. Its edges stretched out, in all directions, stopping here, continuing there, giving the thing a fuzzy, indistinct shape like an Aurora, but it pulsed with the inner light of an Orb

"Get a scan of that thing," Kane ordered.

"Definitely something new," Sylvia reported. "Waveform structure shows similarities to Aurora and Orb-type Amaterasu, but it's something we haven't seen before."

Kane and Jake moved to her station and tried to make sense of the data stream. The new Amaterasu seemed to possess the waveform structure of both Orb and Aurora, but the radiation from it was on a completely different wavelength. The Orb was gone, and the Aurora had been altered in a fundamental way.

"What is it?" asked Kane in wonder. "A new type of Amaterasu?" He looked at Sylvia. "Lieutenant Warren, report."

"Uh, yes, Captain." Sylvia tried to make sense of what she was seeing. After a moment, she shook her head. "These readings don't make any sense, sir. The radiation wavelength of both the Orb and Aurora have vanished. The Orb-type seemed to merge with the Aurora and then obliterate, fusing its own waveform structure with the Aurora, leading to what we see now."

"Send everything you have to Mister Varn on the bridge," said Kane. "We need answers, and quickly."

"It's a - " Cindy started. Jake, Kane, and Sylvia all turned to look at her. Cindy, normally shy, didn't even notice. Her eyes were fixed on the thing that had appeared inside the intermix chamber, glowing with its own uneven light.

"What is it, Specs?" Jake asked.

Cindy turned to them. "It's a baby," she said, smiling.

The word hung in the air for a minute. There were twelve people in Engineering all struck dumb at the thought of what had just happened in front of them. The light from the new life-form was dying away quickly.

"She's right," Jake breathed with realisation. "That's what the Amaterasu are doing - they're mating."

Kane turned to look at Jake. "Are you sure?"

"Well, for lack of a better word, yes," Jake said. "Whatever that new Amaterasu is, it appeared after the Orb and Aurora combined inside the intermix chamber. Their energy signatures must have combined to make that - "

"Baby," Cindy finished for him.

Kane turned to regard the thing inside the intermix chamber again, and frowned. "A moment ago, that thing posed a serious threat to this ship. You theorised that it cause a warp core breach. How can you be so sure?"

"These things are alive, right?" Jake asked. "They exhibit at least a rudimentary intelligence, as evidenced by their ability to work around our forcefields."

Kane nodded.

"Maybe that's what all of this has been," continued Jake. "Maybe they come here to spawn or something. The Hyperion Expanse could be their breeding ground!"

"Then why haven't we seen that third type of Amaterasu all over the ship?" Kane asked.

"The waveform structure is slightly different," Jake said. "Maybe they're invisible to the naked eye. The matter-antimatter reaction inside the intermix chamber could be, I don't know, 'backlighting' them, somehow. Making them visible."

"That's a lot of supposition, Mister Crichton," Kane said. "I need more than that. Let's wait for answers from our Science department."

"Beta particles dropping," Sylvia interrupted. As they watched, the thing inside the intermix chamber pulsed brightly for one final time, then began to fade away. Sylvia looked down at her workstation again, then nodded. "It's melted back to subspace."

Jake let out a long breath. "Well. That's something you don't see every day."

"I need a full report on what we just witnessed," Kane said, turning to him. "Get all the sensor data you've collected to bridge and tell Mister Varn to start an immediate analysis. I need proof these things are doing what you say they're doing before we decide whether or not to employ the gravitron pulse."

"No problem, Captain," Jake said. He started over to where Sylvia was working.

That was when Savaar moved. While all eyes were still riveted on the birth of the new life-form inside the intermix chamber, Savaar edged his way closer to one of Kassandra's marines.and now he struck hard. A swift chop of the hand to the base of the skull dropped the marine to the floor. Savaar snatched the tumbling pulse rifle from the marine's hands even as he stepped backwards, taking cover behind a workstation. Kass's own rifle was at her shoulder in an instant, drawing a bead on Savaar, but the Vulcan ducked behind the workstation and denied her a clear shot.

"No one moves!" Savaar shouted. "If anyone approaches, I will open fire!"

"Goddammit!" Kass shouted in frustration. She and the other marine took up firing positions of their own. Savaar fired a warning shot from behind cover, hitting the tier above where Jake and the others were standing, sending a shower of sparks raining down on them. Jake, Kane and the others all ducked down and took cover.

"Savaar!" Kane yelled. "This has gone on long enough! Drop your weapon!"

"I've seen everything I need to!" Savaar yelled back. "This ship is under siege by those creatures, and you told us nothing about them! You would have stood by and let them destroy us all!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Kane yelled back. "Give up the weapon! You have my word, you will be fairly treated!"

"Sir!" Sylvia shouted. "Beta particles rising again!"

Savaar screamed in fear from behind his cover. A moment later, he was backing rapidly out from behind cover into the open, his pulse rifle trained on something behind the workstation that nobody else could see. He fired again as he continued to backpedal, spattering the workstation with pulse rounds, reducing it to slag.

Kass prepared to squeeze the trigger of her own weapon, but Jake put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Wait!" he said urgently. "Don't!"

The glow from behind the workstation Savaar had been using as cover was unmistakable now. Golden tendrils were snaking out in pursuit of the fleeing Vulcan as the Aurora Amaterasu rose up from behind the ruined workstation like a sunrise over a hill. Savaar kept firing in desperation, the pulse rounds cutting through the wisps of light with no obvious effect. The Starfleet officers, watching in amazement from cover, saw the tendrils of the Amaterasu begin to change colour, altering themselves to match the energy wavelegth of the pulse rounds. The colour of its shining core now matched the orange bolts erupting from the business end of Savaar's rifle.

"Savaar!" Kane shouted. "Don't shoot it! Put the rifle down!"

The Vulcan didn't seem to hear him. As Savaar pinwheeled backward, his rear end struck the warp core, leaving him no more room to retreat. He continued to fire as the Amaterasu bore down on him, its snake-like tendrils seeming to reach greedily for him, until finally the power pack emptied and a series of clicks replaced the noise of the pulse rounds.

The alien enveloped Savaar, drowning him in its warm orange glow. Savaar began to cry out as it did, the rifle clattering to the deck plate, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to fend off the insubstantial energy-based being that was sucking him up like water. The cries turned to screams of pain, and the screams turned to agonised shrieks as the intense radiation burned him alive from the inside out. His skin puckered and bubbled, then ran like water, green blood pouring like rivers from his nose, his eyes, his mouth. Savaar collapsed, shaking uncontrollably, and reached up with his hands to touch his ravaged face. The skin of his cheeks sloughed off, revealing muscle and bone, and then his shrieks became wet, ratcheted chokes. His eyes evaporated with a hiss, steam rising from his sockets. Within moments, a charred skeletal thing was all that was left of the Vulcan Savaar.

The Amaterasu was moving again, drifting towards the pulse rifle that Savaar had dropped. It enveloped the rifle, running its tendrils over it like feelers. Finding nothing, it rose up and floated away, disappearing as it faded back into subspace.

Eventually, everyone began to relax. Everyone was staring at the ruined body of Savaar, laying in the pool of green blood that had been burnt onto the deck plate.

"We'll all need a radiation treatment," said Jake. "The whole air in here feels like it's charged with electricity."

Kass went over and nudged the downed pulse rifle. "Ah'm shore glad Ah didn't shoot," she murmured.

"It's the energy," Jake said to her. "The pulse rounds. The Amaterasu was attracted to them, somehow. I think energy must be all they can perceive. They probably have no idea we're even here."

Kane eventually tore his eyes away from Savaar's horrible corpse and looked at Jake. "Mister Crichton," he said. "I think we have a lot to discuss."

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Scene: Access tunnel ladder, several decks above (drive section)


Selyara moved upward, arm over arm and foot over foot, climbing the access tunnel ladder vertically to yet another deck. Embry was several rungs below her, climbing slower as he kept the phaser fixed on her back.

"Arthur, when are you going to end this madness?" she asked, her voice echoing in the empty shaft. Her biceps and calves were burning with the repeated effort of having climbed up several decks.

"Just keep going!" he wheezed from below her, brandishing the phaser purposefully. "Any funny business and I'll start pushing buttons on this thing!"

Selyara sighed inwardly and kept going. When they had begun their climb, Embry had seemed confused as to their location on the ship, and he had made Selyara tell him at gunpoint. In fact, both the unconscious Barnes and the catatonic Montoya were lying in the same stretch of corridor on deck twenty-five, three decks below the cargo bay. Once she had told him their location, Embry had managed to activate a computer interface on the wall and called up a schematic of the drive section. He had perused it with one hand while keeping a close eye on her.

When he was done, Embry had ushered her into the nearest access tunnel and ordered her to start climbing. That was many decks ago. They had passed the cargo bay some time ago on the climb - all was quiet, the noise of the riot subsiding back into the general background rumble of the ship. They had passed the arboretum and hydroponics bay not long ago, both shut down and not in use.

"If you're thinking of climbing all the way to the saucer section, forget it," she said harshly. "It's going to take hours. You can just shoot me now."

There was no immediate reply, and Selyara risked a glance down. Several rungs below, Embry was hanging on for dear life while catching his breath. She could see his chest expanding and contracting like a bellows, and his breath whooshed from his mouth like an open steam pressure gauge. She could see how old he was, how this climb was not easy on him at all.

She tried a different tack. "Arthur," she said, not unkindly, "let's take a break. Let's get out here and have a breather. You look like you need it, and I definitely do."

For a moment, Embry looked like he was seriously considering that, but then he shook his head. "No. Keep climbing."

Selyara slapped the rung of the ladder she was holding in frustration. "If it weren't for that phaser I'd turn your mind into sludge!" she hissed, beginning to climb again.

"Oh, I know," said Embry with a chuckle. He was trying to speak quietly but the noise was bouncing around the shaft. "Tell me something, Miss Chen, why are you helping these people?"

Selyara rolled her eyes. "Because I want to."

"Nobody does that," said Embry. "Nobody from our world, at least. Magnanimity might be fine for these Starfleet types, but you and I know the ways of the world. You and I know about injustice, about pain, about having to fight to survive."

"Is that right," Selyara said sarcastically.

"It is," huffed Embry. "We were both of us on Limbo, were we not? Do you know how many babies are found in garbage dispensers every day in Limbo, all because their mothers cannot feed them? Life is cheap there. All its potential is wasted and diminished. Existence is enough for many."

"Tell that to anyone living at the top of the Atria," said Selyara. Limbo seemed so far away now. It was behind her, and now she was here in this maintenance shaft, like she had woken up from a dream of being alive. "I did what I had to."

"Exactly," said Embry. "You did what you had to. To survive, to prosper, to exist one more day. That's what I'm doing, Miss Chen. What I have to."

Selyara rolled her eyes. They had to be approaching the base of the saucer section by now. Embry's stamina was impressive - although obviously weary, he kept going without complaint. He must have had a plan, but if he did, Selyara couldn't see it yet. She wondered if she could risk a sudden shout to the computer, to alert Michael and the crew to where she was, but if she did that, she had no doubt that Embry would shoot. It would be a long fall, just like Rawyvin Seth, down into the darkness.

The thought of it made a pit of worry open in her stomach. Her situation was dire, and she had no way of getting out of it. If she tried to call out, Embry would shoot before she finished her sentence. If she tried to escape out through a hatch onto a deck, Embry would shoot before she could pull the hatch open. If she tried to attack him by moving down the ladder, Embry would shoot before she could touch him.

There was nothing to do except keep going. She was beyond help, at least for now. With that thought in mind, she started to think about self-preservation. She stopped climbing and glanced down at Embry. "Are you really going to kill me, Arthur?"

Embry looked up at her. He smiled the sympathetic smile of a victor. "Oh yes, Miss Chen. You're my leverage. If Captain Kane does not comply with my demands, I will kill you. Please believe me."

The enormity of it bore down on Selyara like a mountain's shadow. At the summit of this climb, her life would end in a fladh of light from the phaser's muzzle. "I believe you," she whispered.

Embry gestured with the phaser. "Then keep going."

Fearful now, Selyara did as she was bid. Her mouth dried, not from dehydration, and her breathing came heavy, but not from fatigue. She thought furiously, trying to think of a way out of this situation.

Proposal - Embry was going to use her as a hostage to take over the ship. He would demand that Michael comply. Supposition - Michael would not comply. Outcome - she would die.

She closed her eyes, trying to think critically. Her supposition might not be accurate. Michael might negotiate, might employ some leverage of his own, like Embry's precious refugees - but that tangent shut itself down quickly. Michael wasn't like that. He'd most likely try to mount some sort of rescue mission, such as beaming her out while keeping Embry talking. Which energy bandwidth would win in a fight, she wondered vaguely, the phaser beam or the transporter beam?

Another thought, an evil little thing, crept into the back of her mind and sat down in the dark where she couldn't see it, but still feel it. Michael didn't deserve her loyalty. Eight years in the stockade on Jaros and not one visit? Not once, after their parting words on the Discovery that day, did he come looking for her? And now he was back, with this new ship and this new crew, expecting her to behave like the old Selyara. He, and all his crew, could go to hell.

Go away, evil little thing, she thought. Leave me be. But it didn't. It grew in the dark.

Old Selyara was dead and gone. She died in the stockade and was reborn as the Shadow Master, as Aella Navarron, as a dozen more names and faces that lived and died on the long planet-hopping journey that eventually terminated on Limbo. New Selyara lived, and New Selyara was a creature of ruthless practicality. If nobody could help her, then she had to help herself. She had to fight with tooth and claw to live, to keep going in the hope than an exit would present itself.

All of a sudden, it popped into her mind, unbidden but there. She glanced down at Embry. "Back in the corridor,when you talked to Barnes, you said that you knew I had Captain Kane's command code."

"That's right," said Embry. He seemed to have recovered his breath, and was climbing steadily.

"I'll give it to you," she blurted out. "You can have the damn thing. I'll tell you the code right here, right now. What do you think of that?"

Embry cocked his head at her and raised an eyebrow. "In return for what?"

"Nothing," said Selyara, knowing she meant it. Let Arthur Embry do whatever he wanted. Escape was the only thing that mattered now. She had to maximise her chances of living. If she died, all her information on the Neo-Essentialists would be lost. The cold hard unescapable fact was that Michael, this crew, and this ship were expendable to that end. And more than that, Michael would want this. He was probably willing to die for his precious Federation, but even if he wasn't, the tactician in him would be in agreement. The needs of the many, as the saying went, outweighed the needs of the few. "You win, Arthur. You hold all the cards. I've got nothing to lose now by moving away from Kane's side."

Embry considered it for a moment. "Betrayal means nothing to you, isn't that right?" He smiled to himself. "I see now how the Shadow Master was born. Very well, tell me."

Selyara took a deep breath and told Embry the code.

"If it doesn't work," said Embry, "I'll kill you."

"I know," Selyara replied. "It works."

"Get out at the next deck."

Surprised, Selyara stopped climbing and made her way to the nearest maintenance hatch. At Embry's urging, she pulled it open, and climbed out on to the deck. It was one of the dark decks, shut down because of the lack of hands to power it. She meekly waited in the corridor while Embry climbed out of the shaft, still covering her with the phaser.

"There," he said, gesturing down the corridor.

Selyara moved forward to the lone door at the end of the corridor. At first, she thought it was a turbolift, but as the doors hissed open, she caught her breath in shocked surprise as she saw the words on the outside wall, and the contents of the room.

Embry had a plan, after all. Prodding her forward, they entered the dark and silent Battle Bridge.

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Scene: Main Engineering, as before


Michael Turlogh Kane watched impassively as Kassandra and her marines led the prisoners out of Engineering, en route to the brig. Jake had covered Savaar's corpse with a blanket, but because it was radioactive, they'd have to wait for a clean-up crew before they could move it. Everyone in Engineering was under orders to get to sickbay within the hour to take whatever radiation treatment Cade cared to mete out.

The crisis was over. The riot was contained. The last of the rampaging refugees had been rounded up and were now either languishing in the brig or cooling their heels back in the cargo bay. The situation was returning to normal.

Kane looked up as Jake approached him. Cindy, Maynell and Sylvia were working nearby, and Chaucer had joined them, taking his first steps in learning the LCARS operating system. It was nearly time to get back to the bridge and get the ship underway again.

"Still thinking about Savaar?" asked Jake.

Kane made a non-committal noise. "Like you said, it's not every day we see something like that," he said thoughtfully. "Now the analysis begins. What was that thing we saw in the intermix chamber?"

"This is why we joined the service," said Jake. "Remember those recruitment posters you used to see around the Academy sometimes, the ones with pictures of nebulae and weird planets and one lone starship sailing towards them? Seek out new life and new civilisations! Boldly go where no-one has gone before!"

"I remember," nodded Kane.

"That's what we've done here these past couple of weeks," said Jake earnestly. "First starship to enter the Hyperion Expanse. First starship to make contact with the Amaterasu. First contact to solve the mystery of the Lights of Hyperion."

Kane nodded, a half-smile playing on his lips. "Photonic life-forms that exist only in subspace, who use the Expanse as a breeding ground. They're intelligent in their own way, but since they're entirely energy-based, they are completely unaware of organic life like us." He paused, then deadpanned, "It sounds like a bad sci-fi story to me."

"It's been good to be explorers again, if only for a little while," said Jake wistfully. "I'm looking forward to Thomas's analysis. Starfleet Science will love it for sure, if we ever get back into their good graces enough to report to them."

"That bridge is still ahead of us, Mister Crichton," said Kane, straightening up and assuming a businesslike air. "We're only days from exiting the Expanse, and Elandipole beckons." He gave Jake a sidelong glance. "Good work today, Commander. Make sure you get your people seen to in sickbay. I'm returning to the bridge."

"Aye, sir."

Kane put his best foot forward, then stopped as the computer sounded an alarm. Blue lights blinked from the wall alert bars and an unfamiliar alarm sounded through the decks of the ship. Not the insistent beeping of a yellow alert or the blaring warnings of a red alert, this Blue Alert was no less alarming, given what it entailed.

"A Blue Alert?" frowned Jake."But that's only used for - "

[[Warning,]] intoned the computer in its maddeningly calm female voice. [[Blue Alert. Saucer separation in sixty seconds.]]

Jake's jaw dropped and Kane audibly exhaled in shock.

[[Warning. Saucer separation in fifty seconds.]]

Kane slapped his communicator. "Kane to bridge. What's going on, Mister Jos? Did you order a saucer separation?"

The Andorian's reply was immediate and frantic. [[Negative, Captain! The computer activated the alert without any input from the bridge!]]

"Override!" snapped Kane.

A moment passed before the reply came.[[Unable to override, Captain! Sir, it appears that- ]]

"That what, Mister Jos?"

[[That you gave the order, Captain!]]

Kane looked at Jake incredulously.

[[Warning,]] intoned the computer. [[Saucer separation in forty seconds.]]

"That's not possible," said Kane. I"m in Engineering, and I gave no such order."

[[The computer is showing that your command code was used to initiate the separation, Captain.]]

"I'm telling you that I did not!" snapped Kane.

[[Warning,]] intoned the computer. [[Saucer separation in thirty seconds.]]

Jake was at his command workstation. "Captain, the computer has been locked out. I can't override the separation order from here."

Kane turned to him. "Who the hell is using my command code? Take the separation system offline!"

Jake shook his head. "Unable. Controls are locked out."

Kane swore aloud. "Computer, this is Captain Kane, authorisation Alpha-three-one-one-two!"

[[Code recognised,]] intoned the computer calmly. [[Warning. Saucer separation in twenty seconds.]]

"Computer, abort separation sequence!"

[[Unable to comply. Separation controls are locked out.]]

"Computer, deactivate separation system!"

[[Unable to comply. Separation system operating independently of main computer. Warning. Saucer separation in ten seconds.]]

Kane shook his head. "Computer, where has this order originated from?"

[[Separation order was initiated from the Battle Bridge. Countdown complete.]]

Kane turned to look at Jake again, but there was no more time for words. The Phoenix shuddered as the separation sequence initiated.

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Scene: Outside


From the neck of the Phoenix, along the ridgeline of where the saucer met the drive section, a series of little explosions marked the deactivation of the mooring clamps holding both sections of the enormous starship in place.

Against the foggy backdrop of the Hyperion Expanse, a small gap appeared along that ridgeline, and slowly and methodically, the Phoenix beheaded herself.


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NRPG: Fourteen thousand words and I think we'll stop there ;)



THE RECAP

- Following the failure of their attempt to take over the computer controls, Savaar and his group (including Chaucer) made their way to Engineering to attempt a takeover. Unfortunately, Chaucer had already tipped off the bridge that they were on their way. Upon arrival, Savaar's group was captured by Kane, Kass and Jake.

- Meanwhile, Arthur Embry escaped from the chaos of cargo bay three as the riot was brought under control. Originally intending to join Savaar's group in Engineering, he bumped into Evangeline Montoya, who was hiding on the ship. They formed an alliance and ambushed Barnes and Selyara - in the ensuing fight, Barnes was phasered to unconsciousness and Montoya was left a drooling imbecile. Embry took Selyara prisoner.

- Back in Engineering, an Amaterasu manifestation occurred inside the intermix chamber, forcing the ship to drop out of warp. Before the eyes of those assembled, a new Amaterasu was born, a fusion of both Orb and Aurora types. Unfortunately, Savaar used the distraction as an attempt to escape, but another Aurora manifestation, attracted by the energy output of his weapon, killed him gruesomely. It was theorised that the Amaterasu, being photonic life-forms, are only able to perceive energy.

- Selyara gave Embry Kane's command code. She did this due to her interpretation of logic - she reasoned that if she dies, all the information about the Neo-Essentialists will be lost, and that it is better to sacrifice the Phoenix's crew in order to keep herself alive at all costs. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. With that knowledge, Embry brought her to the Battle Bridge, intending to separate the ship. He is assuming that the command crew are still on the main bridge in the saucer section, and doesn't know that Kane, for example, has left the bridge for Engineering.

- In Engineering, the situation seemed to be calming down, but the sudden Blue Alert for saucer separation caught everyone by surprise. The computer command to separate the ship came from the Battle Bridge using Kane's command code. As everyone on the ship reeled at what was happening, the separation sequence finished its countdown and saucer and drive sections came apart.


WHERE IS EVERYONE?

PCs
KANE is in Engineering.
JAKE is in Engineering.
AERDAN is on the bridge.
EVE is on the bridge.
KASSANDRA is somewhere in the drive section with two of her marines, leading the three refugee prisoners (Metcalf, Gibbs, and Harper) to the brig.
THOMAS VARN is on the bridge.
SELYARA is on the Battle Bridge with Embry.
BARNES is regaining consciousness on deck 25 of the drive section.

NPCs
BYTE is on the bridge.
RUSS BASHEN is on the bridge.
CINDY ROCHEMONTE is in Engineering.
SYLVIA WARREN is in Engineering.
CADE is just coming to in the corridor outside primary sickbay, which is in the saucer section.
CHAUCER is in Engineering.
ARTHUR EMBRY is on the Battle Bridge.


WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
That's up to you. Defeating Embry and finally figuring out the Amaterasu remain the goals.


Shawn Putnam
a.k.a
Jake Crichton
Chief Engineering Officer
USS PHOENIX


Jerome McKee
the Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS PHOENIX


"[They] speak an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1, Scene 1.117

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