NationStates Jolt Archive

((OOC: Whee! I've made the 1,000th post of this RP! Yay! *Throws confetti in the air!*))

"Flash the outboard lights in a 'yes' pattern." Dekker thought.

*The outer hull of the vessel glowed, giving off a bright light that illuminated the area around it. It then spelled out Morse code for 'Yes,' using long and short intervals between darkness.*

"Alrighty, let's see if it works..." Dekker mutters.

"Someone knows morse then," O'neal said as he watched the display. "Let's get more information. Flash the following - 'Hold at 10km. Power down weapons. Relay docking port location.'

The lights flashed slowly, the message took over a minute to send. 10 seconds later it repeated.

"Security - prepare a boarding party. Full loadout. Ops, get the aft docking tube ready. I want the lock to the shuttlebay isolated so we can get them back on board quickly if need been."

"Power down shields and weapons, prepare the docking bay." Dekker thought, hoping this thing even had a docking bay.

Mind: "Status Report: Weapons powered down. Shields offline. This vessel isn't equipped with a docking bay. Warning! Incoming small alien craft. Probability of fighter craft: 67.86%. Suggested course of action: Evasion."

*The ship, now completely defenseless, slows down until it is 10 kilometers from the Columbia, then stops. Up close, the research vessel is vaguely trout shaped, the two eye like devices at the front of it pointing downwards. The gleaming black alien alloy hull blended in with the backdrop of space. Unlike the outside, the insides of the ship were completely organic, like it was grown in a vat somewhere.
*Celestial moans, the effects of the stim starting to wear off abit. Blood was pooling slowly around her.*


((OOC: The Graf'Ilk'Kunna is a research vessel. It has three small bays on it's underside where probes are stored, but a shuttle can't possibly fit in there. Note: Probes are about the size of trashcans, used for intelligence gathering and mapping of planet's surfaces. They are equiped with a single Medium Lasdat for self defense. Lasdats are basically powerful plasma weapons. Light Lasdats are commonly wielded by soldiers, and some say that you can teach a Drone to use a Light Lasdat. Medium lasdats are equipped on probes, small areo vessels, and droids. Heavy Lasdats are the workhorse of capitial ships and anything bigger then a Corvette, similar to Turbolasers on Star Wars.))

OOC: Docking tube - no shuttle. Just an outside airlock to mate up to essentially.

"Alright. Comm's - signal them to remain there."

"Aye. 'Hold Position'."

"Good - Science, anything interesting?" O'neal asked, heading over.

"Finally, yes. It looks like part of the ship was damaged somehow. Just based on the insides that we can see from here it appears to be an electro-organic hybrid. Based on the power outputs in the area, I would get it to be a drive of some kind. Likely why they were here in the first place."

"Ok. Comm's - signal that we are going to come closer for docking. Security team, stand by to board the target. Gut instinct says the Captain is fine, but we need to get there as soon as possible. Otherwise they would not have shaken it lose."

"Take her in Commander?" "As fast as possible."

The 'Columbia' came closer, turning so that her aft was to the alien ship. A docking tube was partially extended, and the helm merely needed a place to link up.

Inside the airlock the boarding tube waited 6 of the burly types, made even burlier by the full exoskeleton armor they wore. Most carried 2-3 hand phasers, a melee weapon of choice, a phaser rifle, and a heavy weapon of choice. Plus a full pack of grenades, medical equipment, and extra ammunition.

The big lad in the lead, Arty Wilcox, pointed his isomagnetic disentigrator at the floor and shifted nervously. He was formulating plans in his head for blowing through the outer hull in order to get inside. They had jump pods on the lower legs as well - issued because of the experience on the other ship. He imaged them jumping up tubes, not knowing what was at the top. This would be tricky - how to take each corner would depend on guesswork. Unless they had a man inside.

"Commander - if we have someone inside, perhaps they could use the lights to lead us where we need to go? If it's a trap, we will know soon enough. Like to see the alien born that could take one of these things..."

"Understood - Comm's, relay that suggestion to the ship."

"Dammit, they want me to lead them to us? Who do they think I am?" Dekker mutters to himself, thinking out loud. "Is there any way for me to leave the pilot station?" He asked the computer through his thoughts.

OOC: How do you italicize(SP?)? Would be useful for conveying thoughts.

*The Mind of the ship touched Dekker's.*

Mind: "To exit the pilot's station, will the compartment to open. Do you wish to leave standing orders, or engage myself to control the vessel until you return?"

*In roughly in middle portion of the vessel was something which looked like an airlock, but it was quite large. About big enough for two large men to walk through shoulder to shoulder with room to spare on both sides.*

((OOC: To use Italics, simple surround the text you want to put in Italics with "[ i]" and "[/ i]," minus the spaces. Like so. It helps if you quote this post and take a look at it.))

OOC: Perfect size then. The docking tube would be big enough for two power armor troopers to get through easily if need be.

IC:
"Commander - there is a structure in the middle that looks like what we want."

"Moving into position Commander..."

*Clunk*

The docking tube extended and sealed against the hull of the alien craft. Air hissed in, and the airlock doors opened. The Security team moved in cautiously, watching the port for anything suspicious.

"Commander - they can open it up now."

"Right. Comm's - flash the message. 'Open port on right side of vessel. Docking team ready.'"

*Even before the entire message is sent, the port slides open. A Drone corpse, which apparently had been leaning on the door, falls through the port.*


((OOC: This should be interesting. ^_^))

OOC: Cowboy cursing!

"Holy... What in the blue..."

The lead man saw the thing fall through the portal onto the floor of the boarding tube. His heavy weapon was pointed at it before it hit the ground - a combination of powered exoskeleton and years of training hauling the monster barrel up and pointing it at the thing.

It wasn't moving though.

"Spotlight - illuminate that room. Susa, Derminovic - move in. Cover them."

Wilcox covered the two as they moved forward. Both had switched to rifles that seemed like carbines in their massive fists. A spot light from one suit illuminated them and the portal beyond.

"It's dead, I'd guess. Looks like it has been a long time."

"Get it outta here."

Derminovic grabbed it in one fist and dragged it through the tube and into the airlock. Hardsuited officers waited on the other side, pulling it through and putting it into a cyro-tube for storage.

"Let's keep moving folks. Commander - we are going in."

The team made their way into the portal, spread out slightly though their suits could take proximity blasts from explosives. They couldn't be too cautious though.

OOC: man, i really wanted them to blow it up! :cry:

OOC: And blow a big hole in the ship too. Iso-Mag is an anti-vehicle weapon equivalent to a bazooka. How about waking up and getting Miguel and Beth on their feet?

((OOC: Celestial probably won't make it. You could stand her up, kick her in the chest, and her top half would fall off her lower half. I should have done it differently... Ah well, too late now... The RP must go on!))

OOC: It really hasn't been that long, though most would have bleed out by now. Eniqcir might be able to help... Nudge nudge.

IC:
"Comms - have the pilot open the airlock completely. The tube will maintain air pressure."

"Aye."

(OOC: Assuming it is done, or is done for him?)

The team moved through the corridors and tunnels. In order to maximize their speed they split up - 3 to a team. The first raced forward, towards a presumed piloting compartment, and the second searched the mid-section more carefully.

OOC: It really hasn't been that long, though most would have bleed out by now. Eniqcir might be able to help... Nudge nudge.
OOC: Like Gage said... freeze 'er. As quickly as possible.

OOC: Hard to do with a 12cm hole in her stomach. The internal unit on the softsuit will only do 40f, and that takes a while.

IC:
The team moving forward took a wrong turn, and discovered the bodies of the drones.

"Ew."

After retracing their steps they pushed forward again, finally finding the control room. A cautious look inside said they had their team back, and they rushed in.

Wilcox saw Beth laying there first, and rushed over to her. A simple scan said she was alive. He jabbed the controls on her suit, and a stimulant was pumped into her. Dimonovic did the same with Miguel, while Susa had found Celestial.

"Lt. - We have a casualty here. She's losing blood fast. If I move her we'll lose her."

Wilcox ran over, his bulky armor pounding on the deck. He knelt and looked at the wound.

"She's lucky she isn't dead yet. Donut her, and get both parts back to the ship."

Susa went behind Wilcox and pulled off a ring shaped object. Pressing the controls they lit up, then the device split down the middle on a hinge. Stripping off the neko's helmet and torso suit she closed it around Celestial's neck. She hit the controls again, and with a sudden hiss a ring expanded to contain most of the head. With a high pitched whine, the ring suddenly seperated the head.

Near-nanites grabbed the carotids and began pumping oxygenated blood back through them from an internal supply. The spinal cord was protected by another set, and the blood released from the wound was collected and purified for use by another set of near-nanites.

Susa grabbed the head and the body and ran for the boarding tube. If they were lucky they could put her in the regen tube and save her life.

Meanwhile the remaining two members worked on everyone else. Dergan was woken with a shot of stimulants from his arm controls, and Gage was snapped out of his standing coma. They found the body of the alien, with good chunks of the head missing. By this time Beth and Miguel were awake.

Beth was far too out of it to do anything though. She watched, and wandered the compartment picking up the scattered objects from the fight.

Dekker thought he heard movement outside of the control pod. Let me out dammit!. He thought, suddenly feeling exposed.

OOC: Taking over the ship for a moment here...

IC:

This vessel has been boarded. Boarders are armed and are rapidly advancing. Suggested coarse of action: Activate internal defenses. Error: Internal Defenses Damaged. Functionality at 89%. Do you wish to activate Internal Defenses?

Dekker willed to get out of the machine, and it responded with a final query.

Activate Autonomous Internal and External Defense System?

As soon as he answered, the pod split again. It quite startled Wilcox and Diminovic, who trained their phaser rifles on it and of course Dekker.

Their combat exo's have the SDF logo on the right knee guard, left shoulder guard, chest, and back.

http://www.pacifier.com/~cziller/SDF.jpg

"Eww. Was that really necessary? You could've just put 'er in a nitrogen bath and not worried about blood loss. It's not like we couldn't of reconstructed 'er. Bleh."

Satellite

((OOC: Question. This donut, is Celestial conscious?))

*As the team of soldiers searching the rear area more carefully, they discover a room, inside of it was darkened, but as they neared it, lights emulating from the wall sprang on, revealing what was inside.
*It was another "Tables" room, except this one, the tables were all full. They contained a wide variety of alien lifeforms, all dead. This looked like a experimentation room of some sort, were bodies of aliens were researched, studied, and cataloged. A lone Drone stood in this room, holding open the chest cavity of a scaled humanoid lifeform off to the left side of the chamber. It didn't seem to acknowledge the presence of the soldiers, it simply stood there, two of it's powerful three hands holding the chest apart. The creature's inside were removed, laying on a smaller, movable table next to it, a variety of wicked looking cutting tools laying next to the internal organs. Underneath each of the tables was a clear tub of murky blood red liquid. About five of them had something moving about in them, all the others were still.
*The far side of the room contained what could be a computer, grown out of the wall.*


((OOC: Drones aren't that bright when it comes to initiative. Unless told otherwise, they will continue to do what they were last ordered, unless it is no longer possible to do so. In the case of this Drone, it was told to hold the chest cavity of a Draconian open so it's insides could be removed, and it has not received any new orders since.
This room contains four Gasus and one Isaayun.))

OOC: No, she's sedated. That would be a little unnerving, to say the least. Donut's are not used all that often, so outside of the medical community people are not used to bodyless heads and the general idea of it.

IC:
"Hold it right there!"

One of the squad pointed their weapon at the drone, while the other two checked the room. With the drone not moving, they checked all the tables, running sensors over the bodies to make sure they are dead.

"Life form of some kind in the tubs - no idea what it is," one reported.

"Leave it for the experts. He seems to be doing a good job of guarding the room, though it looks like we interupted something."

"Xeno will enjoy themselves - prepared cadavers. Not our job though."

"Right - lets keep looking..."

They left the room, dropping a motion detector in the hallway as they left. Standard procedure, except they armed the explosive on it this time. Just in case the drone decided to move.

In the control room...

Wilcox looked at Jerome quizically. 'Why would we carry one with us?'

"I'm sure we would have if we could. But the donut will work to get her back to the Tank."

Beth was finally coming around to full function. "Lt... Wilcox. How did you get in here?"

"Docking tube from the 'Columbia' Captain. Apparently Mr. Dekker here opened an airlock. I've got another team looking around - but I think we should get you out of here for now."

In an amazing feat of self-control, Jerome actually managed to speak normally to another human being: "No need to. As long as the body is frozen within 6 hours of clinical death, total information death is unlikely, and the victim can be revived as an infomorph at worst. So... are you going to carry the body, or do I have to? Much easier to reconstruct if you don't have to work from scratch."

Or, at least as normally as one can talk about megascale nanosurgery and deanimalization.

"Susa can carry it back - she's a lot faster in the PA anyway. Then she goes into the Tank, and if she is still alive she gets out 2 days later. Cross your fingers."

Now that the room was secure, Wilcox began looking around with curiousity for the first time.

"So that's the control room eh? I don't see a console in there. How'd you manage to pilot it Mr. Dekker?"

*The Drone remained where it was, apparantely ignoring the humans.*

On her way out, Susa bumped into the 'airlock', rubbing off a good portion of paint on the wall. She dashed through the tube, and headed for the medical bay and the Tank.

"Susa can carry it back - she's a lot faster in the PA anyway. Then she goes into the Tank, and if she is still alive she gets out 2 days later. Cross your fingers."

Now that the room was secure, Wilcox began looking around with curiousity for the first time.

"So that's the control room eh? I don't see a console in there. How'd you manage to pilot it Mr. Dekker?"

"It's easier than it looks, you just have to think about what you want it to do, and it does it. Cool, eh?" Dekker answers, collecting his borrowed phaser rifle.

"Very. I should thank you - you may have saved some lives here with some quick thinking."

Wilcox looks at the phaser rifle and the goo splattered all over it and makes the connection.

"Looks like you took one too. Once we get back aboard, I'm going to buy the beer and you can tell me all about it."

Dekker shrugs. "Fine with me."

Dergan walks over to Miguel and drapes an arm over his shoulder. "When we get back to the ship, remind me to buy you a pint or two."

"Hum?" Miguel looks up at Dergan. "Oh, okay, sure." He grins, then shakes his head. "Damn stun grenade..."

The rest of the operation went fairly quickly. The boarding team cleared the rest of the ship, then went back and retrieved all the nasty traps they had left behind them.

Beth on the other hand rushed to the medical bay as soon as she got out of decon. Running over to the table where Janice lay with a phaser rifle, she looked down at her. She looked sunken and pale.

"Doctor - this is gonna sound odd, but stand her up in the middle of the room, and switch off that light."

She pointed to a light on the end. When the light was turned off, it allowed the remaining lights to cast a good shadow on the floor. Two nurses picked Janice up, and stood with her while Beth looked at her shadow carefully.

OOC: Anyone else who wants to be there can be. I don't know if the same thing has her, but I want to be sure.

*Janice's shadow is clean, nothing on it, no darkened blotch, just normal.*


((OOC: There was no way Janice could have picked up the parasite because The Nameless' ship crash landed on Rime and has not made any contact with any other planet or specisis besides the Humans. But perhaps one of the boarding team on Jik's ship picked up a stray parasite? ^.^ I never actually said if it reproduces or not. Hmm... And what of the lone Drone in the Examination room? If Attila could somehow mimic Jik's voice, you guys could have your very own Drone to do with as you please! ^.^))


IC: *Celestial's head was transfered to the Medbay. From there...*

Dergan leans back in a chair, hoisting a pint of a blue, bubbly liquid to his lips and taking a long drink. He smiles, savoring the acidic taste of the water as it rolled down his throat. His skin darkens, and he searches for Beth's mind. After a few minutes, he finds it, and sits back to see if they succed or not.

It was dropped in the Tank. Well, not dropped. Gently and carefully placed along with her body.

Doctor Granger pulled it shut, and poked at the controls. "Severed head, re-attach. Repair organs... Last physical profile... Do you think she would want any augementation? No... But we'll sharpen her claws and clean her teeth while we are at it."

She pressed the big green button, and inside the Tank a flood of nanites and near-nanites released over the body, along with a lot of sedative. They used the same technique to keep the brain alive, and began to repair and reconstruct the body where it had been damaged.

"Estimated time to repair, 53 hours. Lets hope it works..."

15 Minutes Later...

"Nothing! Well I suppose it's better than having another one of those things loose on the ship. Doctor, I want you to distribute directions on how to find these things to everyone. If they feel tired, or actually see one they are to alert security and medical immediatly."

Dergan, no good. We need something else to try.

She said the same thing out loud to everyone else. Beth was starting to realise when something brushed her mind and respond. Just another new experience.

"Perhaps we should return to the place where this started. The Nameless one might know what it is, and we could perform that service for it at the same time."

Aboard the Ship

Medical technicians in hardsuits cleaned out the cadaver room, watched over by Wilcox and his team. They had also been exploring the rest of the ship, and it was well mapped out at this point. Dekker's debrief on the status of the ship helped map out the next step. One of the engineers had suggested securing the relatively flat ship to the underside of the saucer, instead of towing it in.

*One of the medical technicians in the alien vessel abruptly felt winded, tired even though he hasn't been doing much physical work. He and a small group of three were en route back to the Colombia from the "cadaver" room.*

MedTech: "Hey guys! Slow down... Lemme... Lemme catch my breath... Whoo! God, must be the atmosphere, drains you like a mother... Okay, I'm set, let's move on..."

*He and the rest resumes, thinking nothing of it. They hadn't recieved yet Beth's instructions on recogizing if they have been infected by the parasite.*

OOC: Off to bed - TG me with what you would like from this Trade Pact Kremowoh.

Miguel sits down, bleary eyed, in the forward crew lounge. A bunch of the other ensigns--the butterbars table--gather around, wanting to hear the strange tales of the mission on Reason. Glancing at each one in turn, he grins softly to himself. Heh, so you guys wanna know what happened, eh? You'd not give me the time of the day in the past, but now that I'm suddenly interesting... well, ch---- sus p--- madres y los caballos que ellas montaron para concevarlos...

He simply folds his arms on the table, stretches out, and rests his chin on his folded forearms. I'll just settle my head down for a moment... rest momentarily... damn that alien was creepy... my head hurts...

He quickly falls asleep.

***

As for Janice, her condition continues to deteriorate. Her lymphatic system is becoming inflamed, taking up the slack that her kidneys and liver cannot filter out anymore. She is in definite danger of complete failure of the necrotic membranes in her kidneys and is beginning to show signs of the advanced stages of cirrhosis. The inflamed lymph nodes are beginning to show up as buboes, similar in appearance to the same buboes caused by the bubonic plague.

Lacking enough energy from the host, the symbiote/translator has gone dormant.

Whiptail watches the rehabilitation with great intrest. This was an extreme step up from the herbs and minerals he used in his own healing.

"Alright everyone - time to go trekking off again. I know you haven't had much rest, but we need to find out what is happening to Janice. And our biggest clue is on that planet..."

Beth was on the bridge again, and they were in orbit of Rime. The icy ball hung on the viewscreen like a christmas ornament, long cracks in the frosty glaze.

They trooped off to the transporter room, and passed armed officers in the hallways with scanners and lights out. One of the technicians had brought something back with them, and they were busy trying to track it down.

As they put on the hardsuits again they checked their shadows nervously. Technically it couldn't go through the transporter - since it was external, but they didn't want to chance it. When everyone was determined to be clean they returned to the planet below.

"Lets hope the Nameless One has another symbiot. Attila can handle it if there isn't one though..."

Miguel rubs the sleep from his eyes as he gets up slowly and walks back to the transporter room. Despite the minimal amount of rest, it's just what he needed. "Well, back to the grind."

*Back on Rime, The Nameless was going about, trying to figure out a way to get his ship free from the planet that held him captive. The vessel he was on wasn't equipped with weapons, it couldn't blast it's way free lke the research ship could. He was tempted to have his Morungas attempt to dig the ship free, but it'd be dangerious and he couldn't afford to waste the only form of defense he had.*

Beth walked up to the ship and simply knocked this time.

"Anyone home?"

Her suits was working in overdrive to keep her warm - frost was starting to form on the cooling unit in the back.

*The door slide open, the warmth inside inviting and comforting.*

The Nameless: "Kum en..."

*It was down right spooky hearing it speak English: The Nameless had gained a rudamenutory understand of the language, and could speak a few words, but often it's tongue would stumble over the crazy sounding English letters.*

"Thank you." Beth stepped through the doorway and took a look around. The ship now in orbit was much different than this - and it was a sudden reminder how nicer this ship looked. Even in an alien way.

"My friends and I have returned from exploring the other world. But we have a problem and seek your advice. You also mentioned getting out of the ice, and we could solve both problems at once I think."

Beth stood to the side while everyone else came in - no heavy weapons this time, just side arms. Beth pulled out a datapad and brought up the images of Janice, as well as her vital signs and the vital signs of the symbiote.

*The Nameless gazed upon the datapad, the letters and figures being only meaningless garble to it.*

The Nameless: "I do not understand, is there something wrong with the Gasu I gave you?"

*Attila did the services of translating for the Nameless.*

"We don't think so. But when she returned to the ship, she collapsed. We were wondering if there is anything that may have been toxic to her in the atmosphere of the ship."

((OOC: You mean the Nameless' ship, or the Colombia?))

Dergan hardly listens to the talk as he examines everything about the new ship, taking in every detail.

((OOC: You mean the Nameless' ship, or the Colombia?))

Columbia.

"Sorry - I should have been more specific. On our return to my ship."

*The Nameless was thoughtful for a moment.*

The Nameless: "Perhaps. But the Gasu would have eliminated any toxins or illness in her. I will need to see Janice, and try to find out what is wrong..."

"Ok. If you don't mind, I'll be right back with her."

Beth went back outside, and called up to the ship.

"This is highly unusual Captain." Granger said after she had explained. "Then come down too."

10 minutes later Janice was back on Rime, supported by a burly security officer. Doctor Granger was there too - and trucking what seemed like half her equipment along with her. They came inside, and Granger seemed to lose her will to speak when she met the Nameless One. It was a lot different, meeting them alive and with the drones standing nearby.

*The Nameless takes a quick look see over Janice, then at the new people who came with her.*

The Nameless: "How long has she been like that?"

*It asked, Attilia translating it's alien tongue.*

"24 hours. I've been treating the symptoms, but I don't know what the core illness is. It looks like a couple of known illnesses and I've been pursuing them, but..." Doctor Granger looks frustrated.

"Unless we can be of help, we'll go outside and see what we would need to do to get the ship out of the ice..."

Beth has the look of someone who doesn't want to hear bad news.

*The Nameless motions for a Drone to carry Janice.*

The Nameless: "It may be that she is having an alergic reaction to the Gasu. Immediate removal may be our only course of action. I will set about the proccess of removing the Gasu from Janice's body. This will take some time, comparable to what you call 'A few hours,' as the Gasu must be coerced out of it's host body."

The Gasu is not having a good day. In its hibernation, it thinks for a time.

First, it gets implanted into a totally alien host. The host then keels over. It's been filtering every toxin can find... which aren't many, because the host is so healthy. The-one-that-calls-itself-Janice couldn't be suffering from an allergic reaction or rejection; there weren't any blood-policing cells attacking the Gasu or any physical musculature-movement associated with rejection. It couldn't be Janice's fault, as she was generally healthy when the Gasu implanted itself.

And all of these microbes in her digestive tract... The Gasu was fighting off strange bacteria it had never dealt with before... totally alien, and yet harmless to Janice. Benign, sometimes symbiotic.

Like the K'threrraka, the noduled cells, which acted as a sort of symbiotic blood for the Gasu. Originally a parasite, now a symbiotic relationship... benign.

That explains it. It's a conflict of benign subsymbiotes. We don't need them...

Coming back into mental contact with The Nameless, the Gasu twitches itself back awake; feeding off the mental energy and gaining the strength to transmit quietly to the Nameless.

-We may have a solution. Our K'threrraka are harming the host; the hosts benign parasites are being difficult. If we neutralize these, all should be well... if the host is not irrepairably damaged already.

We have become somewhat attached.- The Gasu thought momentarily of the nerve tendril curling up Janice's spinal cord and how painful it would be to shed, and how long it would take to dissolve. -We do not wish to give up on our mission yet.

Miguel simply watches in awe, glad that he's not getting shot at. "Oi, that one's in a bad way."

Beth and the rest of the team wandered around outside, taking readings and figuring out firing angles and depths. They would do one side, figure out the needed information, transmit it to 'Columbia', then walk over to the other side. When all was clear, the ship would blast away a volume of ice. Repeat.

They were inching their way closer to the ship - metering really, but it doesn't sound right. Each time they would take new measurements, blast away a little more, and move closer.

Eventually the ship was nearly exposed - instead of using a full power blast they reduced it to the strength of sunlight. The tactical officer slowly played it across the ship, melting ice away and sending vapor over the surface of the planet in whispy trails.

Under the ship an entirely different activity was going on. The alien ship had been moved, and was now attached to the underside of the saucer section. EVA crews were constructing a 'blind' over it from fabricated parts. Since this would be a big find they didn't want anyone to know about it. Hostile nations might try to sieze it in transport or similar thus the blind.

Dekker casts his eyes warily around the ship. He wasn't going to be surprised so easily this time...

"No need to be so jumpy Dekker - this ship is quite safe. Except for the apparently bottomless pit. Never did figure that one out."

Beth had returned to the ship, which was currently being slowly heated by the 'Columbia' as it melted the ice.

"Any word from the Nameless yet?" she asked.

None, El Capytan.

"No news is good news. Sometimes."

Beth tramped around for a while, looking at the ship and semi-exploring.

"If this is gonna take some more time, I think those of us who need sleep can return to the ship, grab some food and take a nap."

Returning to the ship, by herself or not, Beth grabbed some food, wolfed it down, and checked in with the bridge crew. The crewmember that had brought the parasite aboard had gone into a coma - his chances of recovery were not looking good. As the tank was occupied that route was closed to the doctor.

The parasite had been tracked down however - the technicians were still repairing the damage to the walls. Careful sweeps were being conducted for more - the thing couldn't be allowed to get loose on Mars or another inhabited world.

((OOC: So in other words, if we get rid of the stuff in Janice's body, the beign parasites, then all would be well? Or do you mean the K'threrraka? I'm not a brain surgeon, so please bear with me. ^^;;
Oh, I almost forgat the star map!))


*One of the teams first exploring the Graf'Ilk'Kunna had found a three foot tall altar like device one room beyond the "Control Room" where Beth and company battled "Jik." It appeared to react to movement, because as soon as the armored soldier entered the chamber it started to glow and move in place, splitting into three pieces down the center and splaying open like a flower. The soldier noted this and left it for the egg heads to look at later.*

"No need to be so jumpy Dekker - this ship is quite safe. Except for the apparently bottomless pit. Never did figure that one out."

Beth had returned to the ship, which was currently being slowly heated by the 'Columbia' as it melted the ice.

"Any word from the Nameless yet?" she asked.

"I ain't being jumpy, just being cautious." Dekker mutters, not realizing that Beth has beamed back aboard the Columbia

"No need to be so jumpy Dekker - this ship is quite safe. Except for the apparently bottomless pit. Never did figure that one out."

Beth had returned to the ship, which was currently being slowly heated by the 'Columbia' as it melted the ice.

"Any word from the Nameless yet?" she asked.

"I ain't being jumpy, just being cautious." Dekker mutters, not realizing that Beth has beamed back aboard the Columbia.

((OOC: So in other words, if we get rid of the stuff in Janice's body, the beign parasites, then all would be well? Or do you mean the K'threrraka? I'm not a brain surgeon, so please bear with me. ^^;;
Oh, I almost forgat the star map!))

(OOC: K'threrraka == benign parasites == what needs to be gotten rid of / neutralized / modified to be nondamaging / etc.)

((OOC: So in other words, if we get rid of the stuff in Janice's body, the beign parasites, then all would be well? Or do you mean the K'threrraka? I'm not a brain surgeon, so please bear with me. ^^;;
Oh, I almost forgat the star map!))

(OOC: K'threrraka == benign parasites == what needs to be gotten rid of / neutralized / modified to be nondamaging / etc.)

((OOC: So we gotta get rid of ~all~ of them? Gawd, I feel so stupid. V_V It sucks having a chara who's a millions times smarter then you.))

(OOC: Sorry... I'm not a brain surgeon or anything, just one of those annoying dilettante nerds with an interest in everything. Elimination is a possibility, yes, but that's not too hard. Options include:

1) Medication. By introducing some sort of chemical, microbe, or other substance that kills the parasites, they are kept from reproducing and thus die off after a few weeks of treatment. The downside is that the amount of medication required and the regimen is usually rather strict; think about taking penicillin for an ear infection. Also, it doesn't form any sort of natural tolerance--people who get an ear infection once can get one again.

2) Vaccine. While usually preemptive, it could be possible to use a weakened form of the parasite to 'train' Janice's and the symbiote's immune systems to combat the benign parasites without going nuts about it (the source of the leukemia-like symptoms). People who get the chicken pox once don't get it again... Downside is that Janice is already extremely compromised.

3) Retrovirus. Viruses are really no more than protein coats over messenger RNA; they reproduce by splicing their RNA into a cell's DNA and getting the cell to build more viruses... like a natural form of genetic engineering. Genetic engineers take advantage of this and use viruses to reprogram cells. It could be very possible to use a retrovirus to either program Janice and the Gasu to simply ignore the parasites; modify the parasites themselves so they're harmless; or modify the parasites themselves so they're sterile (like seedless grapes). The downside is time factor and ensuring that the retrovirus works completely...

Probably a combination of the above would work best.)

OOC: Star Map?

Beth slept, but didn't get any rest. Having two people - both of whom were not even her crew - this close to death was draining her. She should be above it all as the captain, but as much as they drilled it into you in the academy it left you once you saw your friend laying there dying.

Perhaps if she was a warrior she would be used to the notion. But she had never fought before.

In her dreams though she fought. Fought the drones that came to take the bodies of her friends away. Fought to destroy them before they could feed them into a machine. But she failed and watched both be reborn as hideous crosses between the drones and the two.

Finally three hours later she woke up, covered in sweat and feeling worse than before.

((OOC: Yeah, a Star Map. It just basically contains Y Jump cordinates for other planets, and it also maps everywhere the Graf'Ilk'Kunna has already been. In theroy, you could retrace it's trip back to it's homeworld, but since Attilia only speaks their language, he won't be able to translate the alien words into something meaningful. But the Nameless, on the other hand...
I choose medication to allivate the situtation, and vaccine to stop it from ever happening again. ^_^))


*The Nameless was thoughtful as it heard the voice of the Gasu in it's head.*

The Nameless: "I could devise a medication/vaccine system to combat these benign parasites. I will need a sample of these parasites belonging to the host, however."

We have gathered from the mind of the one who calls itself Janice that samples can be obtained from the other aliens. They should be able to take the samples we need without harming either us or our host.

OOC: Alien takeover!

IC:
It took Granger a couple tries to understand that the creature wanted stomach bacteria.

She took out the tool she used earlier on the 'Columbia', adjusted it, and aimed it at her stomach. A vial on the end was suddenly filled with liquid. She pulled it off and handed it to the Nameless.

"Humans will have similar bacteria - I could take a sample from Janice as well if need be."

((OOC: lol!))

*The Nameless looked at the vial Granger gave him, then shook it's head.*

Nameless: "We will need a sample of Janice, too. It will take some time to device a medicence and vaccine."

'A little trickier - gah. I feel like a nursing assistant again.'

Granger took out her 'corder, and ran it over Janice's stomach area. Sonic pulses rained out and back in again providing an image of the area. Carefully she aimed the wand and selected the depth - since the Gasu was in there as well she didn't want to remove part of it.

'Looks right... Check again... Good... And go!'

She touched the activation stud, and the vial filled with liquid as before.

"There you are."

*The Nameless accepts the vial from Granger.*

The Nameless: "Thank you. This will take some time. Please, wait here while I work."

*The Nameless disappears into a seemingly solid wall of organic material.*

"Creepy."

Granger sat down on a case and ran the data on a datapad. Eliminating Janice's stomach bacteria would have severe effects. Perhaps something could be tailored to fill the role. Of course, the Gasu could be removed and the symbiote cells removed, but the Gasu needed a home. Perhaps a way to move the creature to a different host organism was needed.

*A Drone seemingly just appears behind Granger, but it doesn't do anything. It appears to be standing guard. Although against what is unknown.
*Meanwhile, The Nameless ventures deeper into his ship, into his makeshift lab. Granted, a lot of his equipment was jury rigged, but even so, it was still quite good. He sets to work on creating a medicene, and then he'll set on the vaccine.*

--Are you there?

--Ugh... go away.

--Not possible. Do you understand us?

--Mmrph. All too well. What the hell is going on?

--We were wondering that ourselves. What is the last thing you remember?

--Some crazy-ass dream. I was talking to The Nameless, and it said something about me being one of you now, and I turned into one of those drones. [slight panic] I'm not one of you now, right?

--Not in that sense. You are as you were when you... began to dream? We do not understand that concept fully.

--Umm... neither do I. No one really does. Now... am I awake, or dreaming, or...

--You are thinking. Your body is very sick, we are working to make you well. There are plans to remove us from you... what do you want?

--What?

--The benign organisms that live in our respective systems are harmful to each other. A cure is being devised, but those trying to heal you are thinking about removing us from you. This would be... uncomfortable.

--I bet. It was bloody uncomfortable when you [deleted] implanted yourself.

--We apologize, it needed to be done. What do you want?

--That's the second time. What do you mean, 'what do you want?'

--Third time. You misunderstood the options when I first asked... but were in a different state of mind. We can be removed; we can stay, but you remain outside the Whole; we can stay, and allow you into the Whole.

--That's a tough one. [thoughtful pause] Well, I've come this far... no need to back away yet. If you can be removed now, you can be removed later. Feel free to stay. Now, can I wake up now?

--No. You are very sick. You must rest again. We will transfer your wishes.

--All right... but I'd better wake up again soon.

--You will. We will make sure of it.

--Thanks.

Dergan again taps into his newly found mind powers and reaches out for calming emotions, finding them, and using them to calm himself down, so that he can wait patiently for a cure to be devised.

'Pre-processing the food might work - keep the nutrients in an absorbable form. But what does the Gasu need? It pulls something with the noduled cells...'

Granger brought the readings and data taken during the time Janice spent in the medical bay up. Perhaps she could gleen the exact function of the cells from it.

---

Aboard the Columbia work was proceeding quickly. Security teams still stalked the halls with lamps, but teams in hardsuits with sheet metal were more common.

Beth passed a pair of them when she headed to the galley for some dinner. She took her time, going over reports and chatting with the other officers while she ate. As soon as she was done, she would be returning to Rime. Perhaps there would be progress, or maybe just someone to wait with.

'Pre-processing the food might work - keep the nutrients in an absorbable form. But what does the Gasu need? It pulls something with the noduled cells...'

Granger brought the readings and data taken during the time Janice spent in the medical bay up. Perhaps she could gleen the exact function of the cells from it.
The noduled cells seem to act as an oxygen carrier, similar to blood. Simply a blood assistant; Janice's blood should do well enough. The Gasu also appears to act in lieu of the stomach (seeing how it takes up most of it) so food processing doesn't seem to be an issue.

It's an odd symbiote, but it works.

*A sweep of the entire ship revealed that the parasite did not reproduce. Perhaps it did not have enough time to make copies of itself?*

///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\
On Rime...
\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///

*An hour passes, two... Three and four, and nothing happens. On the fifth hour, The Nameless returns, passing through the seemingly solid organic wall. In one seven fingered hand are two vial like objects, one filled with a neon green liquid, the other a soft blue and more transparant.*

The Nameless: "Tha medehsin and vakseen isss red-dee..."

*It spoke in jumbled up English to Granger. The Drone carrying Janice holds her body with her feet pointing down.*

"If you don't mind..."

Granger took a scan of both vials - more for the knowledge the makeup of the treatments could bring. She could also synthisize more later if need be.

Beth was already there, perched on the legs of the drone where she snoozed comfortable. Granger walked over to her - "Captain!"

"Wha?"

Beth awoke with a start. She saw the Nameless standing there, with Janice and the vials.

"It's time to see what happens..."

*The Nameless untopped the vial with the blue stuff inside, and with it's free hand tilted Janice's head back abit and opened her mouth, pouring it in slowly.*

The Nameless: "Vakseen neex in wan daaye, to let medehsin tiem to wurk."

*It was making an effort to at least speak in a language Granger and Beth could understand, but it's tongue always stumbled over the alien words. The words were barely intelligenable, or came out sounding like an infant spoke them.*

The noduled cells are summarily destroyed, their populations decreasing exponentially as the Gasu puts the medicine into Janice's bloodstream. Rupturing violently (at least on their level), they crumble into little pieces and stop clogging vital membranes. Janice's buboes fade in short order as her lymph nodes lose their inflammation, and soon she is much more healthy. She has still suffered a great deal of tissue damage, but she'll live.

Dergan severs his connection with the minds around him as he feels some of the relief coursing through Beth. He opens his eyes and looks around him, finally allowing his curiosity to overcome him and taking in everything about this strange ship.

OOC: Skipping ahead a day, unless someone has a reason not to.

Beth watched the Nameless pour in the second vial. Janice was looking a lot better, though she was still in a coma. The Nameless had mentioned that the coma was self-protective, initiated by the Gasu to protect both of them while things were repaired.

"Some tissue regeneration work and she should be back to normal. I'd like to observe the physical changed the symbiosis brings, but that depends on Ms. Depaulto's plans," Dr. Granger said.

"Well, you'll have two weeks at least. We will be heading home as soon as we wrap things up. I would say a couple days, unless something else comes up."

((OOC: Cool with me. ^_^))

OOC: Well, it seems as though this is almost at an end. I'd like to know what happened to Celestial - Up to Krowemoh. The Nameless' ship is freed from the ice, though we still don't know the Dark Secret. The 'Columbia' will head home, then leave again on several more adventures.

Krowemoh - if it's not too much to ask could we have a post on the 'Dark Secret' of the Nameless? Perhaps a journal entry from Celestial or some similar thing, just to wrap it all up.

((OOC: Dark Secret? *Blink blink.* Huh? As for Celestial's fate, well, after being remade, she um... Crap, my mind's gone blank... I guess she and Foxworth get married, I was kinda gunning for something like that, and she works alongside Beth, now more or less an unoffical citizen of Sunset.))


*The Vaccine adminstrated, all is done. The Nameless bids farewell to Beth and the humans, and the two races part way, The Nameless' ship leaving Rime's atmosphere shortly after Cloumbia leaves orbit.*

OOC: We never did find out why the Nameless is Nameless though. Still, good enough. I would assume Neko's can breed with humans?

OOC: We never did find out why the Nameless is Nameless though. Still, good enough. I would assume Neko's can breed with humans?

((OOC: Yup. Nekos are mostly humans, with a few catlike traits. HERE (http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/338831/celestial.jpg) is the link to Celestial's pic again. You can see for yourself. So it's very possible for a neko to breed with a human.
As for why The Nameless lost his name... Hmmm... It'll take some time to write it all down, as my mind is not working right today. V_V))

*Celestial sat in her room on board the Columbia as it made it's way back to the Sol System. Her body was the same, but it felt, weird. Behind her sat her motorcycle, in front of her was her personal diary, an old yellow one that has seen plenty of use. She wrote in it with a black ink pen.*

Celestial: Dear diary. I have alot of catching up to do, don't I? It's been ages since I last wrote to you. Let's see... I guess I should start from the beginning. As you know, I joined up with a Sunset crew doing deep space exploration. I meet this really cute human named Foxworth, I like him. I hope he likes me too. I'm sure you don't want to hear about that though, so I'll get to the action parts. The first planet we went to was called "Rime." It's an ice world. It was there we meet this alien creature who called itself "The Nameless." Well, it didn't choice to call itself "The Nameless," but rather it's original name was taken away and he was given that title. That's seriously messed up, I sure am glad I'm not whatever "The Nameless" is. This is really embarrassing, but I fell down this hole in The Nameless' ship, and found myself in this large room filled with fog. I didn't tell you, did I? The alien we met was in this ship frozen beneath the surface of the planet. It must have been there a long time to be frozen so deep down. Anyhow, after I fell down the hole, I made first contact with the aliens, not The Nameless, but his um... Slaves? They were something down right scary, and seemed to do whatever he told them to. Oh crap, I called it a 'he,' didn't I? Heh heh, it's hard to tell what it is, male or female, but I think it's male?

*She put her pen down, and leaned back, rubbing her head.*

Celestial: "..."


To be continued...

OOC: Woo! I'll wait for more - patiently.

Janice opens her eyes lazily. Her pupils dilating to match the light level of the sickbay, she shifts her head--weak with fatigue--and her eyes flit around before the world comes into focus.

"Uuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh."

She attempts to sit up, lifts a few millimeters, then drops back onto the foam-padded mattresses. Trying again, she flounders her arms into a position to push herself up and sits up with a groan. Leaning forward slightly, she pushes her short jet-black hair as if removing it from her eyes. "God damn, that sucked." She grins a little, then looks down. "You okay in there? You'd better be, or else I'll be very put out."

*The gasu touched Janus' mind.*

Gasu: "We are healthy and well, as you are."

*Meanwhiles, with eyes closed, Celestial recalled the events on The Nameless' ship...*

Begin Flashback...

*Janus translated into English The Nameless' words, whilst the little robot Attilla was busy gathering information on the creature's vocabulary.*

The Nameless: "I am called The Nameless, and this is my Ilfkunta."

Janus: "Ilfkunta: Carrier of the Exiled Ones."

*The human translated the alien term to the closet possible translation. The Nameless continued to speak.*

The Nameless: "It has been a very, very long time since I was forced to leave Issunkan, my native homeworld, and the entire time I have only these Morungas with which to accompany me. It gladdens me to no end to finally have another intelligent lifeform with which I may converse with."

*A brief puase, and the Nameless continues his introduction, giving them brief background information of his kind.*

The Nameless: "I am of the specsis called Gnosis, we are a race of intergalatic and transdimensional scholars and researchers. Ageless and eternal, we have explored and catagorized countless millions upon millions of planets, solar systems, and even alternative realities..."

*His introduction comes to an end, and he awaits the group to introduce themselves.*


((OOC: Group consits of Celestial, Janus, Dekker, Beth and Attilla. I think? Ummm... Yeah, That's everyone. ^^;; ))

"Elizabeth Masters, but most call me Beth or Captain."

Beth had finished packing, and was waiting warily while the Nameless told it's story. Dekker kept eying her - it wasn't a good time. The more they knew the better chance they had to survive this.