Music of The Spheres

Posted on Nov 06, 2016 @ 1:24am by Selyara Chen
Edited on on Nov 06, 2016 @ 1:24am

Mission: Fortress: Earth

"Music of the Spheres"

(Cont. "As The Tide Turns"

* * *=(/\)=* * *


Location: Earth, Point Bonita Lighthouse

Stardate: 2.16.1105.1847

Scene: Computer core

Lynette rerouted the power to the door and allowed them to swish open, as she glanced worriedly down the corridor, looking for the trouble the pint sized Marine had warned of. Lynette had only a moment to glance down the empty hallway before she was not so gently shunted out of the way by Selyara Chen who gave her a look that managed to be inscrutable and patronizing at the same time.

“Hm. Unexpected for a cadet. You took them out using the fire suppression systems, rather than electrifying the deck plates? I’m almost impressed.” The Vulcan woman stepped over the bodies of the ambush team, and turned back to look at Lynette, one eyebrow raised. Lynette felt a slight flutter of pride in her chest. Not because of the other woman’s approval, but because it really *had* been a very elegant solution to her problem. Lynette had briefly toyed with the idea of electrifying the deckplates, but had quickly rejected it on the basis that that might cause damage to the computer core. Instead she’d used a small plasma welder someone had left in the core to heat up the fire sensor systems, which flooded the chamber with with argon gas, suffocating the security goons which had been setting up an ambush. Argon gas was heavier than air, so Lynette had hidden herself in the highest point of the room, a very small cooling conduit, and waited until she heard the sound of bodies and weaponry clattering to the floor, before opening the door to flush the argon out into the hallway so she could breathe again. Easy and elegant.

“*Almost* impressed,” Selyara repeated with emphasis, as though she could hear Lynette’s thoughts, “really, though, you should have been able to stop them before they got here.”

“And I *almost* understand why everyone seems to take such pleasure in hitting you in the face,” Lynette muttered under her breath, “and I’m *almost* ready to try it for myself.”

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” a tall, pale woman said with a tight smile as she stepped into the room. “She could turn your mind into mush if she took a notion to. She probably wouldn’t, but better safe than sorry. I’m Eve Dalziel,” she gestured to the remainder of the group as it filed in, “this is Jake Crichton and Cindy Rochemonte, and last but certainly not least, our fearless leader, Aerdan Jos.”

“I’d say nice to meet you, but under the circumstances… I’d rather I hadn’t,” Lynette began.

“Understandable. But it’s quite fortunate for us that you were here,” the tall, thin Andorian said, inclining his head graciously, “I believe our chances of stopping Edgerton have just increased greatly.”

“As heartwarming as this all is, may I suggest that now is not the time for human pleasantries?” Selyara’s snide voice echoed from the shadowy corner of the computer core. “Will you please unlock access to the computer systems so that we can see all your information on the Aegis network?”

* * *=(/\)=* * *

Scene: Corridor.

The cover of wall panelling and doors wrenched off of access hatches was not particularly comforting, especially to Raxl, who didn’t have the benefit of armor like the two Marines next to him. It was flimsy protection, more psychologically comforting than anything else. He had been given the most robust section of the makeshift blockade, to be fair to his companions, but he couldn’t help wishing that he wasn’t stuck in a ‘stand your ground’ type of situation. Raxl had always preferred tactical withdrawal, waiting for a more balanced, opportune moment to strike.

[[I wish somethin’ would happen already,]] Kassandra said suddenly. [[It’s too damn quiet, an’ quiet means that someone’s probably doing somethin’ sneaky, an’ I hate sneaky! Ain’t no way Edgerton don’t know we’re here. What the hell is he waitin’ for?]]

[[Calm down Kassandra,]] her enormous second, the grizzled Harry Bellecotte said with an air of resignation, smiling apologetically at Raxl. [[Her temperament hasn’t mellowed much with time, as you can see.]]

[[Quit sassin’ me!]] Kassandra said with a good natured smile at the man. Suddenly she froze and lept to her feet, her gun swinging up to point at empty air next to the doors to the computer core. [[See? Sneaky. Those bastards are trynna transport some goons behind our lines to ambush us. Eyes front Harry. They’re gonna come at us from both sides.]]

Raxl squinted, the air next to the door looked no different to the air anywhere else, but Kassandra was watching intently. A moment later, he saw the faint telltale shimmer of a transporter as well. For a moment it grew brighter as though it was going to coalesce, but then the light began to waver, and suddenly it began to disappear, the transport terminated or redirected elsewhere. The team inside the core must have seen the transport and prevented it, proving themselves well capable of defending thee core.

[[Here they come!]] Horatio bellowed, just as a blast of phaser fire screamed over their heads.

Raxl turned his attention to the corridor in front of them, where a small team of three people advanced behind a mobile force field. They were heavily armored, carrying wicked looking phasers that definitely weren’t standard issue, and following them, protected by another field, was a lean older man who carried himself with an air of authority. Raxl recognized him, recognized him from all the propaganda and advisories that had been playing nonstop since Paris.

[[EDGERTON. You bastard!]] Kassandra said, echoing perfectly his thoughts. Her knuckles tightened around the grip of her pulse rifle, and her other hand dipped into the bag of munitions she’d been carrying. [[Cover your ears and look away, Rax.]]

She lobbed a small device down the hallway, where it produced a bright, blinding flash of light and a painful high pitched whine that made Raxl’s teeth ache. It continued to wail away until one of Edgerton’s security guards managed to shoot it, despite the blinding light. Kassandra was up in a flash, firing a volley of rounds that splashed harmlessly off the shields. Her head ducked back down as they returned fire, and she shook her head.

“No joy?”

[[Those shields are somethin’ new. Never seen anythin’ like them. I’m sure they’ve got a weakness, but we ain’t got time to figure out what it is. Fortunately, we ain’t trying to stop ‘em, just tryin’ to slow them down. I’m really hopin’ that those eggheads find a way to destroy those satellites quick,]] Kassandra pressed a button on her forearm, and there was a moment of feedback as her helmet speakers flipped into loudspeaker mode. [[Hey, Dick. Can I call you Dick? It’s Kassandra Thytos. Remember me, asshole? I bet you really regret your choice of patsy now. Didya really think you could get me to blindly follow orders like a chump just because I’d be so damn grateful that you welcomed me back into the Corps?]]

“Ah, Captain Thytos. Still terminally petulant and eager to bite the hand that feeds you,” Edgerton’s refined accent echoed down the hallway. The entourage had stopped momentarily, which Rax guessed was likely her intent in engaging him in the first place. “I admit I miscalculated in your case. I thought for sure that The Butcher would have understood the necessity of sacrificing the few to serve a higher purpose.”

[[I fuckin’ hate that nickname, Dick. An’ don’t compare what you’re doin’ to what I did. I did it to stop something that was already happening. You’re doing this out of paranoia, pure and simple, Dick. Actually, you’ve probably singlehandedly brought about everythin’ you worried about by bein’ an overreachin’ power hungry loon,]] Kassandra spat back at the man, as she gently tossed another toy from back of tricks up and down in her hand.

“Amusing. It’s hardly wise to antagonize me, don’t you think? Considering you’re only doing it to buy a few more seconds of life, which is foolish at best, because as we speak, the Aegis network is readying itself to irradiate Earth,” Edgerton said with pride.

“Are you goddamn insane?” Raxl’s jaw dropped, and he glanced over to see a similar expression on Kassandra and Horatio’s face.

“Insane? No. I’m putting us out of our misery before we can be subjugated by the inferior races, before the Federation dilutes our culture and makes us give up Humanity’s greatest talents and assets, all in the name of ‘peace’ and ‘coexistance,” Edgerton said, sounding smug. Next to him, Kassandra shrugged, pressed the button on the object in her hand, and lobbed it behind her.

[[My momma always said you can’t argue with crazy, and you sir, are a few nuts short of a fruitcake,]] Kassandra quipped as the hallway filled with a dense smoke screen. Raxl brought his phaser to bear at the heart of the smoke with the two Marines, and they unleashed hell.

* * *=(/\)=* * *

Scene: The Computer Core

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Lynette cursed at the console as she tried once more, unsuccessfully to rewrite the satellites’ programming. Someone, or some program kept locking her out, correcting changes no matter where, or how deep in the system she hid them. Judging from the expressions on the other’s faces, they were having similar issues.

Eve was rapidly reading all the files she had available, neatly collating useful data, information, and schematics, and sending them to her companions to aid them in their individual undertakings.

Aerdan’s fingers flew as he worked on getting packets of information on the satellites, their armoring, how they worked, the technical spects, broadcasting into space in the hopes the signals might be picked up by the starships battling high above them.

Cindy worked on restoring civilian communications, allowing the news of Paris to finally spread, pulling information on key Neo Essentialist strongholds around the world, and disseminating it, giving the shocked population of Earth a focus for their frustrations.

Jake worked with Lynette, his fingers flying as he tried to attack the system in tandem with her, hoping to overwhelm it.

Only one figure in the room was still. Selyara, the self styled Shadow Master had picked a vantage point from which she had a view of all their screens, and she sat there, cross legged, still, her eyes unblinking. Lynette wasn’t even sure if the woman was awake, or if she was in some sort of trance. She glanced at the woman again, only to find that her eyes were now closed, her head sunk to her chest. The only indication that she was not asleep was the irritating, rhythmic tapping of her fingers against the floor. Lynette scowled. The woman’s unconcerned demeanor irritated her, and more than that, the way the other woman had breezily dismissed Lynette’s thinly veiled hints that she should be helping.

As if to add insult to injury, Mackie, the traitorous little feline, had taken a liking to Selyara, and was currently lolling in the woman’s lap, purring up a storm. Lynette contented herself with the thought that the cat was probably only taking advantage of the higher body temperature of the Vulcan to keep warm in the chilly computer core. Probably.

“Something’s changed!” Aerdan said suddenly, his voice, which had been calm and lilting up until now was suddenly tight, and full of steel. “ The satellites are breaking formation, and they’re moving back into orbit around the Earth, they’re-”

“He’s going to irradiate the Earth, he’s going to destroy everything with the Thaleron-” a note of hysteria was in Cindy’s voice, and Jake dropped a comforting hand onto her shoulder. “They’ve established a link with each other, and they’ve synchronized themselves and their fields- working together like this, their fields will be able to grow exponentially in size- he- he’ll be able to irradiate the entire planet, not just one city at a time!”

“We’re going to stop them. Maybe now that they’re linked we’ll be able to set off some sort of chain reaction? What if we tried to get one of them to drop their orbit, maybe we could cause a collision, like dominoes?” Jake hunched over his console.

“No, it won’t work. If one of them loses contact with the other while they’re linked, it will automatically trigger the Thaleron blast. As soon as you dropped the orbit of one, the blast would be initiated,” Selyara’s voice suddenly said. Lynette looked up. The woman’s eyes were now open.

“Well why don’t you help, instead of sitting there like a lump on a log, and telling us what *won’t* work?” Lynette smacked a hand down onto her console.

“I am helping. I’ve been thinking, which is what some of you ought to do, rather than just jumping right into action without a plan,” Selyara said icily, and raised a finger into the air. “There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”

“Not helpful!” Lynette snapped, about to lose her temper. “Why don’t you just say what you mean. We don’t have time for this.”

Selyara stared at Lynette as though she’d just peed on her leg.

“I am saying what I mean. This is all a matter of geometry, correct? The particle generation fields have to align just so for the exponential increase in field size to increase, and the connections have to be made one satellite to another just so in order for them to know when a link has been broken,” the woman was clearly having a difficult time distilling her thought into something concise and punchy. “So, all you need to do is change the geometry so it no longer works, an angle here, an altitude there, a change to the angle or the size of a field. It’s a small fix, it should be relatively undetectable. You just need to figure out how to change it to throw the whole system out of balance.”

“Oh is that all? Well if you’d been watching, you’d know that the satellite’s programs are self correcting, we can’t make any changes!” Cindy chimed in, glaring at the Vulcan.

“To the main program, yes. But if you change it in the calibration program…” Selyara spread her hands wide.

“The changes will be made. Even if the main program knows something’s wrong, it will just run the calibration program again. During which time, the satellites may be destroyed without triggering their neighbors to initiate thaleron blasts,” Aerdan finished the sentence, his antennae waving almost appreciatively.

“Just so.” Selyara looked smug.

Suddenly there was a loud banging at the door.

[[Whatever you’re doing, make it fast. They’re almost on top of us.]] Kass’ voice was muffled through the heavy door. [[Don’t think we can hold them much longer.]]

Selyara stood up abruptly, spilling the cat unceremoniously to the ground. Mackie gave a disgusted meow, and to Lynette’s stunned surprise, trotted over into the carrier and lay down, allowing the Vulcan to close the door behind him.

“I believe that is my cue. I will stall him, but you will need to find the solution quickly,” she walked over to the door and opened it, stepping out into the smoky corridor.

* * *=(/\)=* * *

Scene: Corrido

“Edgerton? We need to talk,” Selyara said as the door opened. The phaser fire in the corridor stopped abruptly, and Raxl wheeled around to face her, his face streaked with sweat and grime. She caught him by the wrist and yanked him towards her so she could put her hand on his face. “Play dead, trust me,” she said softly once she was certain her mouth wasn’t visible to Edgerton. Raxl nodded fractionally, and went limp, hitting the ground like a sack of bricks as though she’d hit him with her thinkstrike.

“The hell?” Kassandra wheeled around, her rifle up and pointing at Selyara. She seemed aware that Raxl’s melodramatic tumble was fake, because her finger wasn’t on the trigger. The Marine made a show of resistance as Selyara lunged at her, yanking her helmet off, hand grasping clawlike at the her forehead. Selyara twisted the pulse rifle from Kassandra’s grip, and the Marine let out a realistic choking, gurgling scream. Edgerton’s attention was fixed on the human woman as she writhed before going limp, allowing Selyara to change the setting of the pulse rifle to stun.

“Kass!” Horatio turned, taking his sights off of Edgerton, where they’d been trained the whole time, and took in the broad grin and wink the prone Marine flashed at him. “You bitch, you’re supposed to be on our side!”

Selyara discharged the rifle point blank into his side. The armor was more than capable of shielding its occupant from a stun blast, but the delicate electrical components were less lucky, they sparked and smoked dramatically, filling the air with the acrid smell of burning electronics. Selyara flung the gun down, and raised her hands into the air.

“Talk? I should kill you.” Edgerton spat.

“You should, but you won’t, because I’m the only way you’re getting out of this alive,” Selyara smiled at him, her best oily, self interested smile, like the devil trying to make a deal. The type of smile Edgerton would expect.

“Why should I trust you? You helped them.”

“You didn’t give me much of a choice, Richard. Sending that freak Rawyvin after me? Surely you might have anticipated his… unnatural attraction to me. You’re not a stupid man. I did what I needed to survive. As for why you should trust me now, well you shouldn’t, but you should trust my motives. I have no desire to die on the planet, and those idiots made it perfectly clear that even if I were to help them defeat you, I’d get precious little but a slightly more comfortable prison, with the pretence of freedom. I have no desire to be a little bird in an exotic cage. That’s why I’ve disposed of them,” she gestured down at the ‘bodies’ of the Marines “and wish to parlay with you.”

“If you have a way out, then why don’t you just leave?” Edgerton growled suspiciously. “Why try to involve me?”

“Because I can’t leave this base without your help. I can’t get the transporters to unlock, believe me, I tried, and I don’t think I’ll be able to make it back to their runabout if you tried to stop me. Besides which, I believe we might have a mutually beneficial relationship once all this is over. You have access to informants and an intelligence net I couldn’t even begin to infiltrate, and I have an ability to see patterns in data that you lack. I can also tell you exactly how they managed to stay one step ahead of you all this time. I even have two decades of data from an alternate universe where all your plans came to fruition. Just think. If you join forces with me you could preview every tactic that worked, every planet that would give you a strategic advantage. You could start again, I could help…” Selayra kept her voice throaty, singsongy, hypnotic, pushing down the disgust she felt for the man and her desire to make him suffer and watch him fail, instead focusing on captivating him, distracting him, buying more time, moving ever so slowly forward with each step.

“It’s too late.” Edgerton sounded less certain. When push came to shove, Humans were always less willing to die for their convictions than they pretended.

“No it’s not. You could start again. You know what your chief folly was? You started at the seat of power. To do what you want to do you should have started at the outside. The colonies, the ones hit by the Kem D’neel, the Tholians, the ones that don’t trust the core worlds. That’s where you should have started. Eaten the Federation away from the edges, and for that, you have all the time in the world. Perhaps more than all the time in the world, given your desire to see it burn. Come, if you still mistrust me, why don’t we go look at the rest of the poor, dead crew of the USS Phoenix in the core and see how close they were to foiling your plans before I took their lives?” Selyara turned her back to him and began to walk back to the barricade, back to where the three ‘dead’ fighters waited, ready to ambush Edgerton’s security team.
* * *=(/\)=* * *

NRPG: Okay! So now we should be able to take out the rest of the satellites... What weaknesses have we uncovered? Hopefully (obviously) our team in the computer core has figured out exactly how to knock those satellites out of alignment to avert the Big One, but the satellites are still over major cities! Even if they won't irradiate the entire planet now, they're still dangerous.

Let's wrap this up!

Alix
writing as:

Selyara Chen
Something witty

and

Kassandra Thytos
Something funny