Cruxes

Posted on Aug 13, 2015 @ 2:04am by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane

Mission: The Lights of Hyperion

"CRUXES"

(Continued from "Meltdown, Part Two")

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Location: USS PHOENIX, approaching the edge of the Hyperion Expanse
Stardate: [2.15]0813.0600
Scene: Battle Bridge


Michael Turlogh Kane stepped into the battle bridge. The moment was here, the showdown with Arthur Embry was about to begin. On way or the other, the riot was ending here and now.

This was the first time he had set foot onto the battle bridge. Essentially a scaled-down version of the main bridge that duplicated all its functions, the battle bridge was now the most critical room in the drive section. As the Phoenix's saucer section drifted in space, the battle bridge became the control nexus for the rest of the ship.

Embry was standing there, in the small gap between the centre seat and the Ops station. He was holding a phaser in his right hand, that hung limply and aimlessly from his fingers. Selyara was slumped against the far wall, eyes open but unseeing in a catatonic state. The Shadow Master, the great puppeteer of Limbo, had had her strings cut.

Embry was frowning, and Kane realised that the man couldn't see him properly. The battle bridge was shrouded in gloom and the backlight from the outside corridor would have obscured his features. "Who's there?" said Embry, hand tightening on his phaser.

Kane stepped forward, and Embry's eyes lit up. A smile split the man's weary face. "Captain Kane!" he exclaimed. "Well well, it seems my little gambit was enough to force you out of hiding. Here we are, face to face at last!"

Kane didn't immediately answer. He looked around the battle bridge, but there were no obvious threats aside from Embry's phaser. His eyes locked on Selyara, and he fought to suppress his concern. Embry was the danger - he needed to be eliminated from the equation if Selyara was to be helped. Of course, he realised with a sinking feeling, Embry probably knew that too.

"I'm here, Embry. Talk to me." The battle bridge doors slid closed behind Kane as he began to move forward, but he froze as Embry's right hand came up and pointed the barrel of the phaser at him.

"That's far enough, Captain," said Embry in a deadly tone. Then, like a cloud rolling away from the face of the sun, he was all sweetness and light again. "I've finally forced you to leave your ivory tower, it seems. Faced with the destruction of this ship, you're forced to negotiate with me."

"Is that right."

"It is," said Embry, still smiling. "You've handled this whole thing badly, Captain, very badly. It's been a series of blunders on your part, and now you are faced with the moment when you lose control of your ship." He began to slowly pace the centre of the battle bridge, gesticulating with his left hand to accentuate his words. "Taking on so many people, the great unwashed masses of Limbo, when you clearly did not have the logistics or manpower to look after them, was your first mistake."

"Was it."

"It was. You allowed yourself to be outnumbered by one hundred to one - foolish odds. And you're supposed to be a naval tactician of some note?" Embry chuckled. "You then exacerbated your error by sitting up on your bridge and refusing to engage with the seven thousand souls whom you had brought on board. What happened was an inevitability that you allowed to happen by your pure incompetence." He hefted the phaser. "What is going to happen now is also an inevitability."

Kane tried to stay calm while Embry spoke. The man wasn't making any eye contact with him - instead, he was moving around while he talked, punctuating his statements with erratic hand gestures. He looked tired and distracted too, like he hadn't slept in a long time, or had suffered a recent painful injury. Kane wracked his brains trying to remember what it could all mean. It had been a long time since he studied psychology, what body language meant. The words were only a small part of it, he knew, if they meant much at all. Eve Dalziel had reported that Embry was suffering from bouts of paranoid schizophrenia, made worse by his fatigue. This all led to one vital question.

Was Embry capable of, or intending to, kill him?

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Location: Saucer section, drifting nearby
Scene: Access tunnel


Russ BaShen looked down and saw that Byte had gained another deck on him. The android was descending on the access tunnel ladder at a much faster rate than Russ could ever hope to match, its mechanical arms and legs many times stronger than mere flesh and blood. They had passed down through some five or six decks since leaving the main bridge on their way to deck fifteen, where the drive section's mag-locks and docking clamps were located.

"Byte, wait for me!" he called, his voice reverberating up and down the shaft. He saw the android halt and turn its head upward to look at him. In the underlit environment of the access tunnel, Byte's white-gray face looked decidedly sinister.

{{I will hold my position,}} called Byte.

And it did. It waited there patiently while Russ huffed and wheezed his way down the ladder as quickly as he was able. They were close to their destination now. Russ took a break, holding on to the ladder while breathing hard. "Don't you ever tire?" he asked with a hint of bitterness.

Byte cocked its head and gave Russ a curious-bird look. {{No. My power cells continually recharge themselves. And it will take many centuries before my endoskeleton begins to wear out.}}

"Well, mine is feeling the burn," said Russ tiredly. "Let's pause here a moment so I can catch my breath."

{{Would you like me to carry you?"}} asked Byte innocently.

Russ lifted his face from the pleasing coldness of the metal ladder. "What?"

{{From visual inspection, I estimate your weight between one-hundred-and-sixty and one-hundred-and-seventy pounds,}} said the android. There was no emotion in its voice. {{That is well within my power to carry. I suggest you drape yourself over my shoulders and I will carry you to deck fifteen.}}

"I can make it," said Russ sternly. "Let's go."

{{Are you certain, Lieutenant? I could carry you with one hand and - }}

"I said let's go!" snapped Russ, and got moving. Damn androids with their damn super-strength.

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Location: Phoenix's drive section
Scene Battle Bridge


Kane inched a little closer to Embry. "Let me tell you what's been happening," he said. "Let me explain the reasons why we did what we did."

"What for? The outcome will be the same,"countered Embry.

"If I don't tell you why we did things the way we did, you won't be able to shred our reasoning," said Kane laconically. He risked a glance at Selyara - she was still just sitting there catatonically. "What do you say, Arthur? You're the one with the phaser. You're in control here."

Embry considered it, then shrugged. "Go ahead."

Kane thought about where to begin, and realised that it all began back on Limbo. He nodded towards Selyara. "The Phoenix was on Limbo to rescue her, Arthur. The Federation has been overthrown by a military junta made up of Neo-Essentialists, and she knows who and where they are. She's a powerful telepath."

"Really," said Embry, eyes narrowed.

"I allowed the refugees on Limbo to board the Phoenix because Tella Yavin made a veiled threat to have them all killed," continued Kane. "She was consolidating her power following the break-up of the Shadow Master's network. We couldn't leave them to die, they're innocent people."

Embry chuckled. "Nobody who lives on Limbo is innocent, Captain Kane."

"They didn't all deserve to be murdered simply because of what species they are!" exclaimed Kane. "Consider this, Arthur - if we had turned your people away at the docking port, would you be alive or dead right now?"

A shadow passed over Embry's face.

Kane saw his chance and carried on. "So we were always going to take as many aboard as we could. But we did it in good faith, Arthur - we brought all those people here to save them, not enslave them." He gestured to the main viewer, where the Phoenix's saucer section drifted gently on the white-cloud zephyrs of the Hyperion Expanse, Amaterasu bursts all around her. "We charted a course through this region of space because it is the most direct route to our destination - the Elandipole system. The fourth planet is an uncolonised class M world with a temperate climate."

"Uncolonised, you say?" muttered Embry.

"That's why we're on this course," said Kane emphatically. Twist the truth, he thought to himself. The truth is elastic. "But we ran into problems inside the Expanse. No starship has ever been inside this cloud before. Nobody knew that there were aliens living in it."

"Yes, the Ama-something."

"The Amaterasu. We named them after an old Earth myth. They are creatures of pure energy who live in subspace and usually do not cross over into this dimension."

"But they are here?" Embry was focused on Kane's words now.

"Yes. The Hyperion Expanse is their breeding ground. We've identified two distinct types of Amaterasu based on their waveform structures. The energy transference between the two gives rise to a third structure - a new life-form, if you will - which then instantly winks back into subspace. The entire Hyperion Expanse is like a self-regulating and self-sustaining ecosystem - the Amaterasu cross into this dimension to mate via energy transference, which gives off the light show that astronomers can see. The Amaterasu are attracted by energy, and the energy they use to mate attracts others to do the same."

Embry nodded. "Fascinating."

Kane tried to choose his words carefully. Embry seemed interested in what was being said, but there was still a distance to go before he was going to be neutralised. "We initially noticed the Amaterasu manifestations as mysterious radiation leaks. With that as a pretext, we thought it best to keep the refugees safe by confining them to one part of the ship."

"You didn't tell me this when I contacted you," said Embry with a frown. "You didn't tell me any of this."

"Of course not!" said Kane forcefully. "Tell seven thousand people, many of whom have never been off Limbo, that energy-based life-forms are being attracted by our ship's passage through their mating grounds? Tell them that there is the potential for radiation burns or sickness amongst all organic life on board? Come on, Arthur!"

"You could have told someone!" exclaimed Embry, slapping himself on the chest with his free hand. "You could have told me!"

Kane held up his hands, palms outward. "Alright, Arthur. Maybe I could have. But those were the opening hours of this crisis, and your riot severely hampered our ability to analyse this external threat. Naturally, I handed you over to Commander Jos. Would you do the same if one of the seven thousand came to you with a question?"

"Yes!" shouted Embry stubbornly.

"You would entertain all seven thousand questions, all day, every day?" pressed Kane.

Embry's face fell. "No."

Slow, deliberately, Kane drew the razor blade of his words across Embry's throat, and started to bleed him out. "Than I ask you, Arthur, who has it really been that has handled this situation badly?"

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Location: Phoenix saucer section
Scene: Deck 15


The doors to the mag-lock control room slid open, admitting first Byte, then Russ. The place was in darkness, and Byte activated his wrist light, sending the beam playing across the various control surfaces.

Russ was still breathing hard, but he threw away his exhaustion and forced himself to focus. "Why is everything offline?"

Byte activated the nearest terminal. It winked on, but the screen showed an illegible mesh of computer code. The android's brow furrowed as it read the data. {{The system is in a looped standby mode,}} it said. {{It must have happened when the ship separated.}}

"So the docking system doesn't work?" said Russ worriedly.

{{Not automatically,}} said Byte. The android crossed the room to a door. When it failed to open, Byte made claws of its fingers and prised the door open with a whine of metal.

Russ followed behind. "What's happening?"

The small room beyond the door was dominated by a viewing port. Under the viewing port was a kind of cockpit - a bucket seat with both arms dominated by manual steering columns. Multiple computer monitors hung around the seat, but the design was such that the view out of the transparisteel port was clear.

Byte moved to a central control terminal and turned it on. Russ stopped dead and looked around. "What's all this?"

{{It is the manual docking control room,}} stated Byte. {{From here, a pilot can manually dock both parts of a separated starship.}}

Russ's jaw dropped as Byte activated the entire system. All the monitors switched on. A generator hummed somewhere behind the wall as it came online. A bright orange HUD dropped down onto the viewing port, showing yaw, pitch and speed. He stepped forward, realising what Byte was saying. "Wait, are you suggesting that - "

The android gestured to the cockpit. {{You are the Phoenix's pilot, Mister BaShen.}}

Russ touched the smooth synthetic surface of the cockpit chair. "I know, Byte. But has this ever been done before?"

{{Not on this class of starship.}}

"Byte, the Phoenix is the only starship of her class."

The android gave him the curious-bird look again, full of innocence. {{Of course, Lieutenant. Manual docking of the saucer and drive sections on Galaxy-class starships was accomplished successfully several times.}}

Russ sighed and approached the seat. "We'd better make contact with the bridge."

{{You will make the attempt, then?}}

Russ looked out the viewing port. The Phoenix's drive section was a distance away, but she was there, and close enough to make this a short trip. He turned to Byte and nodded. "Yes. Let's do it."

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Location: Phoenix drive section
Scene: Battle Bridge, as before


Kane thought it was going well. He had negated everything that led Embry to begin the riot, had rendered Embry's analysis moot by a bit of whataboutery, and could see that Embry was rattled. The man looked really tired, but then again, Kane felt it. Everyone on this ship was overdue a long rest. Kane decided there and then that the sparkling waters of Elandipole IV would do for the crew's shore leave.

He glanced at Selyara again. He had hoped that the sound of his voice would be enough to rouse her from her reverie, but it had not. She looked almost comatose, except that her eyes were open. They blinked slowly with but regularity, and her breast rose and fell rhythmically as she breathed.

Kane thought about making a rush for Embry, but quickly discounted it. He had no way of knowing what the setting on Embry's phaser was, and a quick think about dying killed the idea altogether. Besides, he couldn't be sure that even if Embry missed, the shot wouldn't go wild and take out some vital system, or worse, hit Selyara.

Finally, Embry looked up. He had been considering everything that Kane had said. From the expression on his face, Kane knew that they were coming to the crux of this conversation.

"Let's say you're right, Captain," said Embry. "Let's say I have been completely unreasonable and that the riot and all subsequent damage to the ship is entirely my fault." He slowly pointed the phaser at Selyara. "I still have a hostage, don't I? I'm still in control here."

Kane's eyeline followed an imaginary orange phaser lance erupting from the weapon's barrel. He looked back at Embry. "There would be no point to killing anyone," he said gently. "It's over, Arthur. The riot is over. We are beginning counter-measures against the Amaterasu. There's nobody left to support you. By restricting our access to the ship's controls, you are not only endangering yourself, but all of these refugees, all of the seven thousand people you claim to be concerned for."

Embry's breathing became ragged. He looked like a man under severe mental pressure. "Give me what I want or I'll shoot Selyara!" he spat.

"What do you want?" said Kane evenly.

Embry shook his head in confusion. "I - "

"Did you threaten all the lives on this ship without knowing what it is you want?" said Kane deliberately.

"Of course not!" yelled Embry. "I want to be consulted! I want to be in the know! I want you to give me regular updates! People look up to me, Captain Kane, and they need to know that I'm in control! Do you want me to shoot her, is that it?"

"No!" said Kane, his voice anxious. "Look, Arthur, we're doing all that. We're nearly out of the Expanse. Your people are nearly safe. Just a little longer." He changed tack. "You won't just be shooting Selyara, Arthur. You'll be murdering her. If you murder your own hostage, where do you think this is going to go? Think straight. Are you really a murderer?"

Embry looked like his head was going to explode.He made as if to fire.

"No!" Kane yelled again, and took a step forward.

Embry wheeled, and suddenly the phaser was pointing directly at Kane. "I told you, no further!" he shouted, his thumb hovering over the firing stud. "I'm defending myself!"

From the corner of Kane's eye, he saw Selyara jerk awake. Her eyes, confused at first, focused quickly as coherence returned to her. She blinked rapidly as her senses re-engaged. Kane was elated, but instantly realised that it would do him no good.

Embry was going to kill him.

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Location: Phoenix saucer section
Scene: Manual Docking Control Room, Deck 15


Russ felt a trickle of sweat run down the back of his neck and into his uniform. He hated that feeling, but it only happened when he was under pressure, and this - piloting the Phoenix's saucer section to dock with an out-of-control drive section - definitely counted as pressure. As good as all the equipment was, one involuntary jerk of either steering column might cause catastrophe.

Behind him, Byte monitored everything from the control station. {{Range to drive section, fifteen thousand kilometres and closing. Speed - one-quarter impulse power.}}

"Acknowledged." Russ watched the HUD anxiously. A little too high or low on the pitch axis, or a little too much port or starboard on the yaw axis, and would have to abort the approach. There was a high margin for error at the beginning of the attempt,which rapidly dwindled the closer the drive and saucer sections got to each other.

{{The drive section is drifting to our port at one hundred kilometres per second,}} reported Byte.

"Compensating."

Suddenly, there was an enormous burst of light from outside the viewing port, and the saucer shuddered. Temporarily blinded, Russ yelled in fear and threw his arms up to protect his face.

{{Amaterasu manifestation directly ahead!}} called Byte. {{It is dissipating quickly, but you must regain control!}}

White flowers bloomed in Russ's mind's eye, bursting and fading like the life cycles of suns. He could see nothing except pale fire, which slowly broke into a rainbow of colours. He rubbed his eyes, and the flowers became shapes, melting and flowing together into patterns. The HUD, the viewing port, the steering column, the concerned features of Byte as the android looked at him, and the rapidly-approaching drive section!

"Yaaaahhhh!!" Russ bellowed, seizing the steering columns and yanking them hard in the direction he wanted to go. "Brake, brake!" he yelled at Byte as the starfield spun around and the saucer lurched. His stomach heaved.

{{One-tenth impulse power!}} called the android.

Russ swallowed hard, but it had worked. The Phoenix's drive section rolled right back around, and the HUD locked onto it. He blinked hard, trying to clear the colour-murk from his eyes. "Come on, baby," he whispered.

{{There are no infant humans pres - }}

"It's an expression, dammit!" yelled Russ. Just a little more - speed was good, the approach angle was good - and they'd be there.

{{Drive section now drifting to port at one-hundred-thirty kilometres per second!}} called Byte.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Russ. A push to the left steering column, the deftest of touches to the right, and there she was again, rearing up before them like a wall of rodinium and tritanium bulkheads, gunmetal gray with the rainbow colours of the Amaterasu playing over her. Russ concentrated, eyes fixed now on the great mag-locks that would hold the two parts of the starship together.

{{Contact in five seconds, four seconds, three seconds, two seconds - }} Byte was calling it off in his maddeningly calm voice.

At the last second, Russ relaxed and let the saucer's momentum carry it forward. The drift angle and speed of the drive section had been matched, the approach angle compensated, and the irresistible pull of the magnetic locks was already working on the saucer.

With a clunk and a shudder that could be felt throughout all the Phoenix, the saucer section and the drive section met perfectly. The mag-locks and clamps engaged, stabilising both parts of the ship. Interior forcefields and bulkheads automatically dis-engaged as the main computer on the bridge interfaced with its systems all over the ship.

{{Congratulations, Mister BaShen,}} said Byte, coming to Russ's side. {{Manual docking complete. Shall we get back to work?}}

Russ could do nothing else but chuckle.

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Scene: Battle Bridge


Embry's thumb descended on the firing stud like a death sentence. Just before it made contact, the Phoenix shuddered as some great force ran through her, shaking her down to her core. Embry stumbled, Selyara started in fear, and Kane leaped forward. The phaser discharged - an orange beam lanced from the barrel and shot past Kane's head, impacting the battle bridge door and fizzing a black scorch-mark onto it.

Kane lashed out with his right hand, connecting heavily with Embry's jaw, sending the older man stumbling backward against the Ops station. His arms flailed wildly, off balance, and Embry fell over onto his back. Kane followed up with an application of boot-to-face, but Embry turned at the last second, and the kick landed on his left shoulder with a heavy thump.

Embry slid forward like a snake, kicking out with his own two legs, tripping Kane as the Irishman's momentum hurled him forward. Kane cursed - he had gambled everything on an all-out attack, a short series of brutal blows intended to take an opponent down quickly, but it hadn't worked. Now the advantage was his enemy's. He sprawled, clutching at the railing that ran around the central part of the bridge, but stumbled onto one knee.

kane hauled himself to his feet and turned around, pulling his hands up into a guard position, but he was just too late. Embry pistol-whipped him with the butt of the phaser, connecting solidly once below Kane's right eye, fracturing the socket, and second directly onto the bridge of Kane's nose, shattering the bone like glass.

Kane went down onto his knees, blood spurting from his face. The outside starfield swam across his vision. With a sinking feeling, he knew that an orange sun was about to be born, a light which would incinerate him utterly.

Breathing heavily, Embry levelled the phaser. "Now," he hissed, "I become the executioner."

A mangled noise came from Kane's throat, and he held up his hands in supplication.

Embry looked on with the arrogance of the victor. "For goodness' sake, Captain," he said, "get off your fucking knees."

Kane tried to stagger to his feet. Slowly, he hauled himself upright. Embry prepared to kill him. "Wait," croaked Kane. There was blood all down the front of his uniform.

Embry looked at him again. Then, suddenly, a smile split Embry's face, a smile that became a laugh. Embry guffawed long and loud, tears stinging his eyes. "You want me to wait?" he panted between chuckles. "Are you kidding me? The great Captain Kane finally loses, and when staring down the barrel of the phaser that's about to send him into oblivion, he says 'wait'?" Embry shook his head in amazement. "You know what, Captain? I'm disappointed in you. I expected more. Wait for what? Wait for me to change my mind? Wait for another two or three seconds of life because you are so weak that you cannot stand to see it end?"

Kane shook his head, still breathing heavily. "No. Not that."

"Then what? "

Selyara reared up behind Embry like a monster climbing out of hell. With a banshee yell, she clamped fingers of steel over Embry's head, her nails digging into his scalp. Embry sucked in air like a bellows, his eyes rolling backward up into his skull, and his body jerked spasmodically as Selyara concentrated all her mental powers down her arms, into her hands, out her fingers. With the full cold knowledge of what she was doing, Selyara obliterated Arthur Embry's mind.

Embry collapsed in a heap at Kane's feet. Kane looked down at his open-but-unseeing eyes. "Wait for that."

Selyara rushed forward and they clung to each other. "Michael!" she said, the words tumbling out with a waterfall of emotion. "It was me, I gave Embry your command codes, that's how he got control of the computer, it was all me, and I'm sorry but I thought it was the right thing to do, and you're not mad at me, you're not, are you mad at me, are you going to send me back to Jaros, please don't send me back to Jaros, I can't go back, I can't go back there..."

As Selyara sank to her knees, overcome with emotion, and Embry's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish out of water, Michael Turlogh Kane wiped the blood off his face and knelt down beside her. He shook his head. "I'm not sending you anywhere," he said. He put his arms around Selyara and pulled her to him, and she clung close to him.

Together in the gloom, they held on to each other.

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NRPG: The ship is back together, Embry has been taken care of, but what's happening elsewhere on the ship? I'm off the hook, but YOU aren't. Come on, let's wrap up The Lights of Hyperion!


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


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1, Scene 1.117

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