The Voyages of the Penelope and the Yydryl

With the bulk of the repairs done, Adilaris decided the rest would be up to Antar upon her return.

"Where is she anyway? In any case, I must remove these nanites before I become too weak."

As the spoke he placed his hand onto the forward console and the nanites began to repour into his body. As they did so, color returned to his face, and the flushed, tired demeanor he had vanished.

"Yydryl, you feel any different? Most of the repairs are complete, but I am unable to grow or repair your exo-skin without the help of the Med Officer Antar."

"The skin may wait, so long as we don't have anymore accidents I will be ok. Thank you for repairing my instruments, I can feel some new components have been introduced?"

"Yes, I have outfitted you with a new navigation system, and a self repair system. You may now create a handfull of nanites which will do small repairs and help bridge systems that otherwise, could not function together."

"It will take some getting us to."

"Yes it will, but do not worry, they are quite friendly. I have also outfitted you with a recharge station for myself. During this trip I will require to go into a form of stasis in order to replenish my suit, create more nanites and copy my experiences into the archives. I put it in the Captain's chair."

Adilaris knew he was not the Captain, truly, he wasn't anything at all for the moment. However, there was a need to take charge. He could not leave the ship in the hands of someone inexperienced or clouded by emotions.

If the Captain was found, he would give up his position, and play the part required. For the moment though, things would go his way. Perhaps it was time to attempt communication with the company once again.

"Company Broadcast Code 886428-AA9, reporting"'

"Company Response Code 886428-AA8, Nice to hear from you Adilaris, we apologize for the mixup on your first broadcast, we were having some technical difficulties. It seems the ship you are on has alot of secrets we were un-aware of. We would suggest caution."

"I am fully aware of the situation Zaio, don't patronize me with information I've already collected. Have you received my logs yet?"

"Yes, some interesting details so far. What is this Penelope Cruise Ship you have encountered? And any word about the captain or the rest of crew?"

"As for the Penelope, I am sending you a diplomatic packet received upon their departure, it should provide you with all the information you need.

Apparently they are from a Class-7 planet known as Earth. Seems quite nice. Most of the crew are MIA, but there are a few who are on Earth vacationing. It seems they are left do come and go as they please. I have yet to find out the mission and goals. I'll be checking in later."

"Very well, we are impressed with your work this far Adilaris, do not fail us."

"You forget who you are dealing with here Zaio, remember what I am capable of and what I know. Five hundred years of fixing your mistakes leaves me with alot of dirty laundy, you would be wise to remember that. Adilaris out."

Adilaris slammed his hand down on a console.

"Damn them! With a another long sigh, Adilaris composed himself.

Perhaps he'd played good soldier for too long now. They weren't appreciating his work. He wasn't anybodie's lap dog. Maybe it was time to remind them of that.

"Med Bay, status report on our friend"

"He is still resting, the wounds have healed nicely, the only side effect will be coming down off the drugs, but from the look of him, he's use to large doses. A little stiffness might prevail as well."

"Good, do not wake him, allow him all the time he needs. This place is hard to come to terms with, it's like no other. Make sure to have food for him"

And the waiting began once again...

All hands, this is the Captain. Prepare for immediate departure. Helm, lay in a course directly for Earth, maximum speed. We have a battle to get to.
The Chief thumbed the Comm.

Did you hear that?

Aye Chief Horn replied.

How's it going down there?

We're here now it's going to take a few minutes it's red hot Chief.

Slayer thought about that for a second
I'll bypass the coolant over to the secondary unit it should handle it for a few minutes. Lets not let it run any longer than that.

Aye Chief. The chief immediately closed the junction to the primary then input the transfer codes to bypass the cooling function to the secondary unit. Then typed the commands to bring the engines to 110%. He thumbed the comm again.

Callan hows it going over there. He then looked over his shoulder at her across the main engineering deck.

Reactors are up and running Chief, plasma flow looks good. Came her reply.

The bridge laid in their course and engaged. Penelope's Engines Roared to life. The Deck plating vibrated for a few seconds then smoothed out as they reached cruising speed.

Callan watch those coolant levels. I've transferred the load to the secondary unit. Horn is on on it. Aye Chief
Horn and Martinez approached the anti-matter inducer unit. Horn input the shut down sequence.

Man you can fry eggs on that thing. Said Martinez.

You're telling me. Horn replied.

Grab the gloves and the thermal suits. we will have to get this done on the fly.

Martinez went over to the supply locker on the apposite wall. He grabbed two pair of gloves, two thermal overall suits. and some tools. They had to wait for it to cool down. It took a few minutes before they could pick up the deck plating above the dysfunctional valve unit.

The over heated capacitors had warped one of the heat dispersal pumps. It also would have to be replaced. The two worked feverishly, they had to replace the couplers and realign the pump axle. It was more daunting of a task than they both initially thought.

Callan came over to the Chiefs station. So? We have a new wing commander? Slayer turning to face her wondering where she was going with this and said. I don't know much about him other than his name is badgerprints. I hear they call him Badger for short. Callan continued. So does this mean he and his crew will assume the maintenance functions for the fighter wings?

The Chief grinned and leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and put his right hand up to his gotee, pulled on his whiskers while thinking of a proper response and finally said. Well until further notice I'm pretty sure we will still be involved in the maintenance and repair of the fighters. Look kid don't get too excited, we are still in charge of All maintenance on the P. When we go into combat I have a feeling we here in engineering will get spread pretty thin. Just stick to the basics, focus on your training and what you know, everything will be fine.

Aye Chief. Callan turned and walked back to her station.

So the Doctor looks over at the nurse and asks, If this is my thermometer then where is my pen?

Bwuhahahaha... they both laughed out loud. With tears in his eyes from laughing so hard Horn turns to Martinez and says, Stop it! You're killing me.

Wait! wait. I got another one. So this Anteriun walks into a bar and...

The Comm crackled.
Hows it going down there it's been over 10 minutes are we good yet or what?

Horn stood away from the panel. Aye Chief give us another 5 minutes we have the unit locked down now and we should be able to transfer it back. We had a lot more work than we anticipated. I'm reformatting the program parameters now.

Well lets not take any longer than necessary the Secondary cooling unit has been running past capacity longer than I like. OUT.

Ok...
Tell me about the Anteriun some other time. Lets get this finished. The unit was fixed and up and running in less than a minute. They sat and watched it run for two just to make sure. Everything looked good.

Horn thumbed the comm.

Chief it's running and everything seems to be fine. You can go ahead and transfer it's functions back. We'll stay here for a few minutes to monitor it.

The Chief transferred the functions back to the unit. They both stood there watching for any leaks or any other issues. None, It was a good repair job. They dropped the deck plating and cleaned up the work area.

So, I hear we have a new fighter wing commander. Martinez said as he walked over to the storage locker to store the gear they used. Yeah! I think his name is Badgerpants or something like that. Horn replied.

Is he any good?

He must be. The higher ups wouldn't allow some second ringer to be stationed aboard the P or give him wing commander status unless he knew what he was doing. The scuttlebutt is they had a big meeting while the Chief got his promotion. All the Head Honchos were there. Do you think heads will roll over the big fall out earlier?

Oh yeah. Horn said as they walked towards the lift. I heard there was a big firefight on the Alien ship. The colonel is in some sort of hot water. Apparently they are calling his sanity into question. I heard all of this right before we went to lunch from a bridge crewmen who over heard some of the captains comments. Well like anything these days I would take it with a grain of salt. Horn said. Besides the Colonel is like what A hundred years old or something like that? He joked sarcastically.

They both laughed.

Right as they reached the lift and pushed the button to call it. A panel blew out to the left of the corridor. The over taxing of the secondary unit caused an over load in one of the ETS conduits. Horn looked over at Martinez and rolled his eyes. They both walked back to the locker and got dressed again and grabbed the tool box. Martinez looked over at Horn and said.

So this Anturian walks into a bar...

Sitting at his desk the Chief was monitoring the Engines. Everything seemed fine now that they were at cruising speed and the unit had been repaired.

Chief?

Yeah what is it now Horn?

[edit on 14-6-2009 by SLAYER69]

“Close your mouth before something flies into it...” The cat said around a yawn from where it lay curled at the end of the bed.

“But... But... How...” I stuttered not believing my eyes and ears.
I was dreaming, a nightmare even, that had to be it!
Or maybe not...
I know, it was the cake, it brought on fits.
Or it could be the panties, unnatural things, maybe I was having an allergic reaction to panties.
Grasping at straws was better than admitting Cim’s cat had become a walking talking Carpet!

“You’ve talked to a rug for months now, what’s the big deal talking to a cat?” Fernando asked matter-of-factly stretching up on all fours, his back arching a perfect half moon before sitting back to wash his face with fresh licked paws.

“Look, don't you dare insult Carpet, he has nothing to do with this! I sputtered having gotten over my shock and digressing into anger.
"You can’t take over Cim’s cat!" I pressed on. "It isn’t right, it isn’t, well, I don't know what it isn’t, but get back into that cashmere right now!” Pointing at the blanket with one hand I tried to dress with the other.
Millie didn't budge.
“Look, Silo, I’m only in his fur, not into the feline and Ferdy here doesn’t mind a bit.” As if to agree Fernando stopped washing to look up at me and smile.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I screeched seeing the grin. “That cat smiles once, I mean just once at Cim and she’s going to...”
“What? Get him fixed? She already did that.” Milli answered for Fernando.

“Oh Bother!” I grunted giving up trying to arrange my undergarments, pulling on my headband which immediately started buzzing an alert.

“You! Don't you move!” I glared at the cat while opening my connection to Ship.

Though the message was a bit garbled Ship instructed me to backup a diplomatic data packet sent from the Penelope and relay information on a recent on board arrival to CindyMars.

Downloading the packet to my memory banks I kept my gaze riveted on Fernando but began to worry again about Ship and Captain Scurvy.
First Whisper's disappearance and now someone attempting to erase a diplomatic information pack received from the Penelope without forming a backup.
Not only was it against intergalactic law but Ships protocols as well.
My desire to return to Ship was outweighed only by my command to gather the vegetation for Ship's Center.

Confirming *action taken* I turned my attention back to the cat.

“Look You, Cim and I've got a lot of work to do here, this isn't a vacation you know and I don’t want you messing around with Fernando!” I huffed hoping I made myself perfectly clear.
“Yes Mam!” The cat quipped and shot a salute with the paw it had been using to wash it's face.
Glaring even harder I bit my lip refusing to react to any more Milli antics.

Opening the door Fernando bolted out of the room as I made my way nervously to the kitchen where Cim was doing something that smelled wonderful.

“Morning Silo, Coffee‘s on!“ Cim smiled from behind the counter her gaze following the cat as it made a dash across the living room.

“Ohhhh! Get ready to hold your nose Silo, Fernando's about to drop his morning bomb!” Cim looked a bit embarrassed but I burst out laughing wondering just how long it would take Milli-Being to decide living in cashmere wasn’t such a bad deal after all.


[edit on 14-6-2009 by silo13]

Myth awoke.

He looked around the room, saw some medic (or what he thought was a medic) sitting across the room. Myth called to him.

"Hey." Myth said.

The medic did not turn, or acknowledge him.

"I said, HEY!" Myth said, remembering the last time someone never answered him.

The medic eventually turned around and said, "Your free to go, Adilaris is expecting you..."

Myth rolled over and threw his feet off of the bed. He felt amazing. At least 100% better, then he ever felt. But he felt something was wrong, they were just going let some stranger walk away from the medical area without escort. Apparently they weren't, he looked down and saw the straps that were holding him down cut off. Why were they cut and not just undone? Something was wrong he didn't like this. Did they not remember that he FORCEFULLY entered the ship? They were to nochalante in their attitude.

Myth checked for his weapons, they were all there. But his diary was missing.

"Argh." Myth said, "Its not important right now."

Myth checked for his phone and it was there as well. That phone would come in handy in a little bit. But now their was no reason to talk to the person on the other end.

Myth walked to the door of the med bay and it opened by itself and he walked out.

He asked himself where the hell am I many time. But he could hear something, a faint voice that got louder and louder. It was the Pluxy. Very odd, this guy was still talking to the Yydryl. Whats his connection with this ship...

Anyway, Myth continued to listen and the Pluxy was apparently guiding him around the ship. And sure enough there was the captains bridge. Myth looked around and saw someone looking at him from the corner. Myth turned to ask the man a question and he went running away, he could hear his feet slamming on the floor.

Myth walked forward, waiting for some sort of attack to occur, but nothing. Perhaps the Pluxy or the man named Adilaris was helping him. He made it to the door and opened it. The captain turned.

"Hello." Myth said, placing his hand on the Judge.

[edit on Jun 14th 2009 by TheMythLives]

Ensign burst into the bridge, looking quite flustered and a little scared.

"Whats wrong?" Adilairs said with a smile.

"The intruder, erm...new friend, he's awake, I took his diary."

"Well that wasn't very smart of you Ensign, I'll have to tell him you're a thief, how unpleasant. Is he on his way up?"

"Yes, I was too afraid to guide him, but something is, he should be here very soon."

"Wonderful"

Adilaris pondered reading the diary, but that seemed a little much, even for him. Stolen property was not something he enjoyed reading or dabbling in, he'd simply have to return it.

In the meantime, Ensign scattered to another part of the ship.

"That was a wise choice." Adilaris thought aloud.

As he moved to sit back into his chair, a stranger appeared in the doorway.

"Hello."

"Hello my new friend. My name is Adilaris, you are Myth correct? I apologize I read it on the cover of the diary which was found."

Adilaris extends a hand and gives the diary back to Myth.

"My collegue here Ensign had orders to collect information, he didn't however have the authority to steal things from you. Please feel free to chastise him if you two meet."

Adilaris was a bit startled by how well he looked. Granted, his healing powers were among some of the best, but with the ammount of injuries he had suffered, he should at least have been weak or groggy, if not only for the sedative.

"You must be a bit shocked, breaking into a ship, expecting a fight, only to wake up un-bound, healed and free to roam about the ship? The truth is I have read your mind, and know your intentions are well placed. This is Yydryl as you might already have guessed, your friend Pluxy knows quite a bit, they've talked extensively."

Myth seemed a bit surprised of all the details coming forth from Adilaris.

" I am not the true Captain, I've only taken the post while I attempt to decipher the events that have taken place. Most of the crew is either MIA or on vacation, so feel free to roam around and get your barrings while you have the chance. There is no need to be threatened or fear confrontation from anybody aboard I assure you."

As Adilaris moved to the chair to take another see, he called for a status report which appeared immediatley on screen.

"I know many things, but you're skills elude me. What purpose would you like to fill on this ship friend?"

As Myth began the speak, Adilaris stood, a sign of respect for his kind...

Adilaris extends a hand and gives the diary back to Myth.

Myth took the diary and shoved it in his pocket. He removed his hand from the Judge. But something was still not right, he ignored this feeling.

Adilaris stated:

The truth is I have read your mind

Myth smirked, wonderful another mind reader... Myth knew that if he wanted to he could block him, but that would mean blocking out all incoming thoughts as well..

What purpose would you like to fill on this ship friend?"

"Well." Myth said, 'I would like to help anyway, I can. Just name it."

As he said this, he could feel Adilaris trying to get through his mind. He was very powerful, especially with his new friendship with the Yydryl. Myth was able to hold him at bay. For a little bit. Apparently, this was going to be ineresting. Myth felt like killing him right there, but he didn't know why? Why were these thoughts coming into his head. Myth was able to shake them off. Very odd. Very odd indeed.

Myth waited for Adilaris's response.

But in that brief period of waiting, he felt and he knew something was wrong, someone or something on this ship was up to no good...

“Ok Silo we are going out in public, the people of Earth at this time do not know, for sure that Lifeforms exist outside there own.” A look of bewilderment crosses Silo’s face “Hey, where are your antenna?” Silo shows them to Cim. “Oh I didn’t know that you could retract them, well can you keep them retracted for sure? Otherwise you need to wear a hat.”

“I can keep them retracted. Cim I received a message from the Yydryl, apparently
someone has erased a data package from the U man ship and there is also some intruder."

“Hmmpf” says Cim rubbing her chin like an old man with whiskers.
“Well if you want to return, I can send you back right away, however I have some things to do here, let Captain Scurvy and Antar deal with it, or you can go back anytime that you wish.” Silo rigorously shakes her head no.”

“No, not yet, I want to collect some plants and see a bit of Earth first. If that’s ok?” Silo was looking around feeling nervous about Fernando’s passenger the milli being.

Fernando was walking around Silo’s feet and purring. “Well I see you and Nando have made friends.” Says Cim and Silo smiles uncomfortably.

After exiting the lift they enter a dark submerged garage. “ We will be traveling by car today Silo” Cim hits the door key and it beeps the horn causing Silo to jump a bit.
“It a convertablie, I want you to have a beautiful view of the ocean. Get in.” she opens the passenger door for Silo of her black convertible Mercedes. She buckes Silo’s seatbelt, gets in and does the same. Here we go.”

The day was beautiful and sunny as they headed down Sunset Blvd. toward the beach.
The wind was blowing their hair and Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” was playing from the ipod. Silo’s face looked amazed and happy.

“As that reached the coast Silo gasp. "Oh my, that is …that is beautiful” she says pointing at the ocean.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5486102cb7ee.jpg[/atsimg]

“It is isn’t it.” says Cim somewhat whistfully. They drive a little further down the coast and Cim parks the car. “Here is a popular tourist spot Venice Beach.” The sound of music, the waves and smells of corn dogs hit the senses.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4b270e76fbaf.jpg[/atsimg]

Silo is captivated by the corndog with mustard that Cim bought her. “This is good”
says Silo taking another bite. “Wait until you see the pretzels!” says Cim
After an hour or so, Cim decided it was time to get to business.
“Now little Silo we are going to the market and to the sporting good store. I need to get some supplies for the cabin and some gear for you to tramp around the forest in.”

“Ok, and Cim thank you for showing me the beach and pretzels and corndogs. I enjoyed it.” Silo smiles.

“Your most welcome, now to the market.” Cim anticipated Silo’s reaction to the market.
Thinking to herself, “I wonder if anyone ever feed this little alien before.”

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/eec22ba14742.jpg[/atsimg]

Allowing Silo to see and smell and taste in the market, did catch some attention and notice of some of the shoppers, but Cim just smiled at them, placing her hand on Silo’s shoulder and moving on. They bought lots of food and supplies for the trip.

As they were leaving in the packed car Silo says "That is amazing. I can’t wait to try bananas and oranges and cookies.”

They speed off to the condo as dusk falls on the city.





[edit on 15-6-2009 by cindymars]

Well." Myth said, 'I would like to help anyway, I can. Just name it."

"Allow me to be honest with my intentions, I sense distrust within your thoughts."

Adilaris knew this one had some clairvoyance ability, a formidable skill and one he could respect. In the years since re-developping his abilities, he'd relied on reading mind far too much to get what he needed.

"My job here, is to investigate and document the events that have occured, and the ones that are going to occur. So far, I haven't been able to decipher much with all the excitement going on. We need to figure out what happened to the actual Captain, I am told that he is still here on the ship...somewhere."

As he spoke, he released his thought wave and saw the strain in Myth's eyes seemed to go away. For somebody to block this kind of mental attack, he would be a formidable ally indeed.

"The med officer seems to be around as well, I do not know her wherabouts however. Two others are on Earth at the moment, and I have yet to discover what the purpose of this ship is or it's mission."

"I would like you to attempt to find Captain...Scurvy, I think it is, or at least find out what happened to him. Here take this."

Adilaris handed over a small round object that seemed to glow a soft yellow.

"This is a nano-converter. It will allow you to see everything on the security systems, mainly video footage and surveillance. It will also allow you to see what Ensign is currently doing and you can communicate with him as well. He doesn't have anything to do at the moment, perhaps he may be of use to you."

Adilaris walked to the forward console, punched some buttons and noticed that a backup of his packet had been sent to Earth. Very strange. He did not know another was capable of such things. Just who exactly was tied to this ship as he was?

As he waited for Myth's response, Adilaris felt a sharp pain up his spine and hit the ground with one knee.

"I apologize." He said in between large breaths.

"I have over-exerted myself with everything that has transpired, I must rest. I will be in the Med Bay. Anything else you require?"

Anything else you require?"

He saw Adilaris, on one knee. He felt sorry for him, but that went away. They weren't much different, infact they were the same. Everyone was the same, weather they had different abilities, looked different, smelled different, etc. Myth realized that the galaxies were filled with people and beings of the same "kind".

Myth told Adiliaris he would look into it. He had a feeling that Adilaris knew he wasn't going to help him. Myth was still untrusting of the crew. And the damn captain was missing? What a shame.. but it wasn't his problem.

Adilaris was having a hard time standing up, Myth was going to help, but shook his head. Myth didn't want to discourage his pride anymore. Adilaris stood up and walked out heading to the med bay, or whatever the hell it was. Myth was not used to such technology, he was used to earth limited technologies, aside from a few things here and there.

"Captain Scruvy.." Myth said, "So thats who the Captain was, interesting.."

Myth looked at the converter, why not lets see what the ship has to offer. Myth tapped on the Nano converter, it didn't go on. What the hell? Then he thought on it, he wanted it to work and sure enough it came on.

"Now what?" Myth said, looking at it as it continued to glow, "erm...Status report?"

A big screen projected from it. Then the two screens to his side lit up. Myth looked at them, he did not know what he was doing. This was his first time on a thinking ship, especially an organic one. He didn't like it. He already knew this. He would rather be in control of ship, rather than having a ship that think and be in control of itself.

Myth put the Nano Converter in his pocket. It may come in handy later. He began to walk away, as he felt a very cold wind pass by him. Myth could sense something behind him. He focused and heard someone whispering, he pulled out the Judge and turned. No one was there... Myth looked around and then holstered his weapon slowly. He must have been losing his mind, perhaps it was the drugs or something the medics did.

Myth began to walk out as he caught the Yydryl's screen flashing the footage of him turning around with his weapon kept replaying and replaying on the screen. Myth smiled.

"Damn ship must hate me... Playing tricks like that."

Myth walked out, he would walk around and get to know the ship. Myth laughed walking out, 'I must be going crazy.'

As he walked out of the captains dock, Myth thought about his troubles that he left behind. And the new troubles that he purposefully put himself into, something big was wrong. But what was it... Perhaps Adilaris knew, perhaps Pluxy knew or better yet perhaps the crew knew.....

Myth looked over and saw one of the workers walking on the bridge. He walks over and began to converse. But deep down he was investigating, if this was his home now, he didn't want anything bad happening to it or himself....

Studious was pushed out of the briefing room by two marines, the hover gurney as silent as its passenger was vocal. Moments later, eight marines led five men into the briefing room.

Each of the men were collared at the neck with impulse inhibitors, rendering them paralyzed from the neck down. Like Studious, they too were ferried around on hover gurneys.

Immediately, Asher's implants confirmed each of the five as NI, one of which was rather high ranking.

Asher stepped forward to look down at the prone man on the gurney. He scowled at NI-Horkos with contempt.

"Hello Horkos."

Horkos glared back at Asher.

"Seeker8241, you are ordered to release me and escort the Captain to his quarters where he will remain for the duration of this voyage. Run directive: ECOMP, password: Spartacus."

Horkos practically shouted the directive at Asher.

ECOMP was an emergency compliance procedure that was hard wired into the neural network of everyone involved in the Enhancer project. The auditory cue would normally have activated the AI Cluster of an Enhancer to temporarily render the subject obedient without hesitation.

Asher leaned down close to NI-Horkos' face.

"Seeker just stepped out. Bad timing I'm afraid."

Every NI agent was surgically injected with an Auditory/Visual implant in their brain and eyes. This allowed them to network and communicate with each other locally when they made eye contact. No speech required.

Asher looked into Horkos' eyes and delivered the equivalent of a radio squeal directly into the brain of the high ranking NI operative.

Horkos screamed in agony, but couldn't look away. Asher held the connection for five whole seconds before letting up.

The agent was panting and drool ran from the corner of his mouth.

"You're going to die you glorified toaster oven!" Horkos spat. "NI will hunt you down for the rest of your life! You're NOTHING to them, a living, breathing BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! Nothing more then a malfunctioning piece of HARDWARE! They'll keep coming until you BEG them to just get it over with!"

It was all Asher could do to restrain himself. His fist was dangerously close to embedding itself in the agent's skull. With a deep breath, Asher held himself in check...

... and let loose an auditory/visual squeal into Horkos' brain of the greatest magnitude that he could muster.

The pain was so intense that Horkos couldn't even scream in agony. He just stared, open mouthed and drooling into Asher's eyes. A trickle of blood began to run from his nostrils.

Asher released the connection and Horkos began to sob openly, gasping for breath.

"Speak truth or I will kill you this way," Asher whispered to the broken man.

Calmly, Asher stood and straightened his new flight uniform before turning to Captain Luder.

"He will answer your questions now Captain. I've heard all I want to hear."

Studious could hear screaming. As the doors closed he could see Seeker whispering something. He couldn't make out very much but he could distinctly read...

Originally posted by SeekerOfAUTMN
"I will kill you"

Studious could see blood dripping from Horkos' nose as the doors to the briefing room slid closed.

As the took him down the hall he told looked around and said.



"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MONKEY FIGHTIN' MACHINES ON THIS MONDAY TO FRIDAY SHIP!"



The two Marines led him away to solitary confinement and locked him inside to rot.

The "Colonel" tried to calm himself down and the sedative being pumped into him helped quite a bit.

After he had calmed down he turned to his wife and said.

Studious: “There’s something I’ve got to do, honey. I tried. You know I tried everything, but they still don’t believe me. Let’s hope this elevates their thinking. But whatever happens…….please don’t think less of me……….”

A strange high pitched whine fills the room as the heart monitor sounds it’s mournful tone.

Wife: “What!? Don’t do this please.........NO!”

Studious continues to lie there. The loud heart monitor still signaling with its high pitched whine.

The doors suddenly slide open and two medic’s with a med cart and a guard rush in.

Intern: “He’s flat lining. We need to defibrillate.”

The Doctor is shocked and using the back of his hand slaps the intern who stumbles backwards.

Doctor: “Are you that incompetent! Are you trying to kill him?”

Intern: “Sir he’s dying.”

Doctor: “Where did you get your degree…..television! If we defibrillate now that would just make starting his heart more difficult.”

Intern: “Well, then what do we do? We can’t just let him die!”

Doctor says as he fills a hypodermic needle “Which is exactly why I’m going to give him an intracardiac injection of Atropine.”

The doctor stabs Studious heart with the needle and injects him.

Doctor: “Now begin chest compressions.”

The intern approaches and pushes down on Studious’ chest. After a few moments the annoying noise that had filled the room stops and is replaced by an irregular beeping.

“It’s ventricular fibrillation!”

The doctor stresses “Now we can defibrillate........Remove his restraints"

The guard protests “Are you nuts?”

Doctor: “We have to cut away his shirt. I have to apply the gel to insure that there won’t be too much electrical resistance. If we don’t he mi…”

Guard: “Alright, alright doc just do it.”

The two medical personnel remove all the restraints above Studious’ waist.
The intern goes to get the gel as the doctor hovers over Studious with the paddles.




Suddenly Studious opens his eyes and the beeping normalizes.

He strikes the doctor in the face and as he falls backwards he lets go of the paddles. Studious grabs the uncharged paddle in mid air and throws it at the guard who was raising his weapon. Hit in the face the guard goes down. The cord for the paddle is now taught and Studious grabs it and begins to swing the paddle over his head like a lasso.

The intern starts to run away but Studious throws the cord and paddle. They wrap around the interns legs and he pulls. With his legs pulled out from under him the intern hits the ground.

Studious now sitting up on the gurney pulls the sedative IV out and undoes the rest of his restraints.

Getting up he says quite sincerely “Sorry about that guys, you’ll wake up in about an hour.”

Studious wife yells at him “You made me think you were dying! Why didn’t you tell me you were faking it!?”

“I’m sorry, but I very well could have died. I didn’t want you to have to know that….In case I did die….If something went wrong I didn’t want you to think you could have stopped it.”

Wife: “Really? Oh my….”

“It’s ok.”

Wife: “Where did you learn to do that?”

Studious: “I learned it the monks. The first step is to be very calm and quiet the mind. Luckily I was on sedatives that made it sooo much easier.”

Wife: “When did you study with monks?”

Studious: “That’s not important right now.”

Studious begins to raid the Medical cart taking several items. Then he picks up the intern’s card and swipes it through the reader.




The door opens and Studious calmly walks out.

A guard rounding the corner sees him, clears his throat, and says.



“How in the name of Zeus’ MOTHER did you get out of your cell!?”

"You mean his mother Rhea."

"Yes, I do!"

“Oh, I can't tell you my methods they're Trade secrets”

“That’s not gonna fly.”

“What?.....Do you expect me to tell you how I did it. What am I a supervillain?”

The security guard raises his weapon. “Look I don’t know how you did that but you’re going right back in that cell.”

Studious still holding several of the medical items shifts them all to one hand except one. A vile of something.

Studious: “You shoot me, I drop this, we both die."

“What do you mean? What is that!?”

Studious: “It’s a cholinesterase inhibitor. It stops the brain from sending nerve messages down the spinal cord within thirty seconds. Any epidermal exposure or inhalation and you’ll know. A twinge at the small of your back as the poison seizes your nervous system. Your muscles freeze, you can’t breathe, you spasm so hard you break your own back and spit your guts out. But that’s after your skin melts off.”

“Dear God.”

“Hey! That’s my line.” Studious throws the vile at the guard and it hits him in the face. He begins yelling and cursing as he falls down.




Wife: “Studious WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!”

He runs down the hall away from the guard.

Studious: “Relax…..it’s only a urine sample. Oh, and I checked before we left he’s just fine but he might want to wash his face though.

Wife: “Why didn’t you tell me that!”

Studious: “And what was I supposed to do? Should I have turned to you and told you it’s harmless right in front of him?”

She starts to laugh and shake her head.

The Colonel, or so he still perceives himself, continues to run down the hall to a power room. Studious smiles to himself, glad that he had taken the time to walk every alcove of the ship when he first came aboard.

Still holding several medical items he sets them down and picks up the medical scissors. He uses them to strip several wires. Then puts them together and sparks start flying.

A mini explosion blasts him out into the hall.

The lights and internal sensors go out in the surrounding sections.

Wife: “Oh my gosh. Are you ok!?”

Studious: “Yeah I’m fine.” He reaches up to the right side of his head and
finds he is bleeding. “Just a cut.”




Picking up his supplies the “Colonel” begins to run down the hall only to run into another security officer.

Security officer: “Whoa what happened to you?”

“There was an explosion back there.” Studious looks at the man and sees he is holding a cane.

Studious: “Give me the cane.”

Guard: “No way! I got this from some prisoner.”

“Look at me I’m like 100…just give me the cane.”

Seeing that Studious is injured he says “Ok, here.” and gives Studious the cane.


“Thanks my good man,………BUT THIS IS MY CANE!”


In a quick sweeping motion the cane flies up in an arc and slams into the side of the security officer’s face. He falls to the ground.

Studious takes off.

Wife: “Why do people keep stealing your cane?”

Studious: “Well, it is very nice…”

A short time later the security man get’s up thinking “I guess this is what I get for stealing from an old man.” He heads back to his quarters to rethink his life.

Studious travels into a Jeffery tube and heads up a few decks.

Wife: “What now? Shouldn’t we be looking for a way to get you off this crazy train?”

Studious: “Well I intend to use the escape pods just down that way.” He points down the hall of the small enclosed space only engineers use.

Wife: “In case you haven’t noticed this ship is in hyperspace. We don’t know what would happen if you jettisoned a pod now. It could disintegrate, and even if it didn’t you’d be in the middle of nowhere……..Lost in space.”

Studious corrects her “Hyperspace.”

Wife: “Ok. But you could still blow up!”


Studious: “Ah, but that’s the beauty of it! I want it to blow up.”

Wife: “What! You’re going to kill yourself!?”

Studious: “Heavens no! I’m going to fake my death again. After all they’ll think I’m dead after an escape pod just happens to jettison and blow up right after I escape.”

Wife: “But the ship is traveling so fast they’ll barely see the pod blow up.”
Studious: “All part of the plan. With the ship traveling so fast they’ll be no time to scan the debris. Meaning no time to confirm a body was not among it. Since this hyperspace window will close it would be impossible for them to go back and attempt to scan the debris.”

Studious boards the pod and uses the scissors to strip several more wires.
Wife: “Don’t blow yourself up this time.”

Studious: “Yes dear.”

The “Colonel” hot wires the ship to travel an erratic course that will ensure it is torn apart as it leaves the ship. Safely on the Penelope he then jettisons the pod, picks up the medical supplies, and runs off to hide in another hidden area.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by Studious]

Luder watched in semi-wonder, semi-horror as Asher did.... something... to the man called Horkos. Somehow, Asher was causing immense amounts of pain in the man to the point where blood started to seep from his nose. Luder shook himself out of his reverie and put his hand on Asher's shoulder.

"Enough. Torture is never an acceptable means to gathering information. I understand your hate, but we can't sink to their level...."

All of a sudden, the entire ship shuddered twice, the lights flickered and a massive explosion resounded somewhere from below decks. A few seconds later, the Penelope literally bucked, throwing everyone in the room through the air. Luder hit his desk and rolled off the back side, laying against the wall.

The computer came to life.

Warning. Explosion detected in sub corridor 3, deck 15, section 2. Coolant valves ruptured. Deactivating faster than light drive. Warning. Inertial dampening systems fluctuating beyond recommended safety limits. Warning. Primary navigational controls are offline. Switching to emergency battery power.

The alert sirens kicked on as the Penelope continued her spin out of the now destabilized wormhole field. An eerie roar/howl filled the interior of the Penelope as her engines screamed, trying to compensate for the sudden changes.

Luder clawed his way up to his desk and clung to the leg, which was bolted into the floor. The g-forces were nearly unbearable. It was amazing the ship was able to maintain this level of inertial compensation. He looked around the room and saw others doing the same.

Slayer! What the name of Balinaar is going on down there?!

A few moments later, the Penelope spun to a slow twirl. Luder climbed his way to his feet and pushed himself over to the doorway connecting to the bridge. The doors partially opened and Luder stepped through, fighting to get to one of the stations.

The bridge crew seemed to have faired a little better, being strapped into their seats. The starfield on the viewscreens showed the Penelope was indeed spinning and every few moments, a bright blue and white orb would flash by.... a planet.

"Status report!" Luder yelled over the din.

"Sir! We've lost all engine functions and are operating on emergency battery power only. The computer shows a massive explosion on deck 15 which blew the primary engine control and coolant relays. We're still moving at roughly 135 kilometers a second. Sir.... we're also heading directly for that planet on the screens." Theresa yelled. She was clinging to the command station, looking very sick to her stomach.

Luder looked at the screen and back at the people on the bridge.

"Time to impact?!"

"90 seconds, sir."

Slayer, if you can figure out what happened, we need a solution, otherwise this ship is about to take some unscheduled shore leave!

[edit on 15-6-2009 by mf_luder]

The computer sprang to life "Warning Code Brown."

Studious runs and from a hidden spot sees two Marines speaking.

One of them asks: "What does Code Brown mean."

The other responds: "It means everyone's about to...."

Studious: "Don't even think about saying that!"

Marine: "Who said that? Is it you.....Colonel?

Studious leaves and heads down back toward the power closet.

Studious: "Great now I'm acting like a ghost. Just like you."

Wife: "Me! I'm not a ghost."

Studious runs back down to the control panel he had nearly killed himself on.

Wife: "You're going to get hurt!......again!"

Studious: "If I don't do this people are going to die! I can't let that happen."

Wife: "How will this fix anything?"

Studious: "In order to shut down internal sensors I had to turn off emergency systems."

Wife: "So?"

Studious begins to work on the control panel as the ship plummets.

He talks while he works.

Studious: "I basically put a rock in the middle of the stream of power. But something....OH the escape pod must have damaged primary power conduits"

Wife: "Meaning?"

Studious: "Meaning they don't have enough power for many key systems. We're going to crash."

Wife: "So what are you doing?"

Studious: "Not what I'm doing but rather undoing! I'm removing the rock! Which means I won't be a murderer. With power restored they'll have the ability to stop the crash."

Wife: "I don't think you should be fiddling with that what if it...."

The computer: "System recovered emergency power reengaged."

Studious is shocked by the electrical panel and flies out into the hall hitting the wall again.

This time he does not get up.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by Studious]

[edit on 15-6-2009 by Studious]

[edit on 15-6-2009 by Studious]

After witnessing the spectacle of Asher prepping Horkos for questioning, and seeing the captain draw Asher up short, he felt he could relax somewhat, and likely wasn't going to have to shock anyone this go around. The Captain probably stopped Asher just in time, because neno was fairly sure that, had it continued, Horkos' head was in imminent danger of exploding. THAT could have ruined neno's pretty set of combat cammies, not to mention rendering any further questioning of Horkos useless.

The explosion caught nenothtu unawares, and caused him to do a double take to make sure it WASN'T Horkos' head exploding as he sailed toward a bulkhead. Luckily for Horkos, the medical gurney had it's own independent inertial dampeners to make the antigrav floats effective, or he might have been bouncing around too. Neno was pretty sure, from the looks of him, that Horkos wouldn't hold up well to much more bouncing around.

Peeling himself off the bulkhead, or maybe it was the ceiling (his disorientation from the jostling hadn't allowed him to take stock of his precise location relative to the rest of the universe yet), neno saw Captain Luder bolt through the hatch onto the bridge. Nenothtu followed suit, ignoring the way the ship spun crazily around him. Not once did he stop to think that it might be HIM doing the spinning. In space, all directions and motions are relative.

On the bridge, nenothtu beheld the spectacle of yet another blue-green, white clouded world flashing dizzyingly past the main view screen at regular intervals. "Oh, that looks familiar!" he muttered out loud, and tuned in to the conversation on the bridge.

Originally posted by mf_luder

"Status report!" Luder yelled over the din.

"Sir! We've lost all engine functions and are operating on emergency battery power only. The computer shows a massive explosion on deck 15 which blew the primary engine control and coolant relays. We're still moving at roughly 135 kilometers a second. Sir.... we're also heading directly for that planet on the screens." Theresa yelled. She was clinging to the command station, looking very sick to her stomach.

Luder looked at the screen and back at the people on the bridge.

"Time to impact?!"

"90 seconds, sir."

Slayer, if you can figure out what happened, we need a solution, otherwise this ship is about to take some unscheduled shore leave!

[edit on 15-6-2009 by mf_luder]

Unscheduled shore leave indeed! Neno had had THAT sort of vacation before, and it wasn't the picnic all the travel brochures promised. Just as his life was flashing before his eyes, the computer spoke up.

Originally posted by Studious

The computer: "System recovered emergency power reengaged."

Neno heaved a sigh of relief.

But the universe kept on spinning.

Badger woke with his head on the desk and a little puddle of drool on a file. He was startled and confused. He realized that he was in his office and some files had fallen on the floor next to him. He’d fallen asleep reading knocked them over. After another pain tablet and a fresh cup of coffee he went back to his pilot files. As he picked them up from the floor he looked at the stack and thought that it seemed a bit short. He counted the files. Forty eight pilots and six backups. Wait a minute. We’ve got 72 birds. Where are our pilots?

It had been a long day and the short nap hadn’t helped much but Badger was sure that there were 72 fighters. He walked out into the bay expecting to see 18 fighters. There, in the dim light of the egress lights were 12 sleek new F337 fighters.
Badger did the math and, without getting a brain cramp, came up with 48 between 4 bays.
“Now how the hell did I lose 24 fighters in less than 24 hours?” Badger said aloud to the empty bay.
The twelve fighters sat mute. Apparently they didn’t know or weren’t telling.

Badger went back into his office and called up a diagram of the flight decks. One and two were on this level; a third deck which consisted of bays five and six separated by blast doors was aft of one through four and down a level. It looked like it was about one third larger on the diagram.

He checked the corridor numbers and set off to find his missing birds and pilots. He took a short hop on a lift and a long walk down a few corridors that were empty other than the occasional crewmember and one automated cleaning device that wandered around the corridors cleaning and polishing like a little mechanical janitor.

Badger took a second to watch the little robot which kept bumping into a corner. He took pity on it and turned it around in the right direction. It wandered off cleaning as it went. Having done his good deed for the day he continued down the corridor.

He finally found what he was looking for. Flight deck three bay five. He walked up to the automated doors and they opened to a scene that he was not prepared for. He had expected to see a line of sleek little F337 fighters ready to launch and a clean neat bay with support equipment stowed. What he saw was chaos.

Instead of his dozen shiny sports car like fighters each on a launch skid, he saw twelve huge bulky craft on their own landing gear. The launch skids were retracted into the floor. Instead of being in a row there were six on each side of the bay and they were two deep. The noses and tails were nearly touching and there was very little room to spare.

Each bird was painted either OD green, desert tan or stealth black. They all had tail numbers from different units and no markings at all identifying them as belonging to the Penelope. They were all obviously older models. Some had patches where plating had been repaired or replaced. Almost all of them had carbon scoring or burn marks. They were a motley bunch of machines that was for certain.

There were loading machines, rollout carts, tool chests and missile racks under every ship. There were at least two crew members working on each ship and some others moving back and forth under the birds. From three or four places Badger could see blue white flashes and bright glaring swaths of light on the walls cut by shadows of working crewmen as the welders did their jobs. It looked like some of the birds weren’t ready to fly or were undergoing upgrades.

Badger walked over to the nearest bird and to the front near the nose. The side wing pylons were folded up over themselves to allow the bird to fit into the bay. The great twin engines on the back were hydraulically lowered along with the tail to allow enough clearance to get the bird out of the launch door. The cockpit was doubled one seat behind the other. Instead of the smooth rounded canopy seen on most fighters the cockpit was surrounded by a transparent cermet alloy in large slabs. The front of the wings had ferrocarbonate shields as well as the engines. The bottom of the bird had huge pods bristling with hard points and launch racks. The main reactor and inertial generator behind the cockpit was protected by a forward sloping glacis of hardened armor. The front of the bird was an armored cone that surrounded a high speed rail gun capable of firing hardened slugs at a rate of 3000 projectiles a minute at up to 10000 meters per second in near vacuum.

Badger already knew what was going on without being told.
This was a fleet game.
Somebody replaced the fighters to make a point or punish the Penelope. He figured it might have something to do with the trials on L2 that Petra had told them about. Rumor was that NI was involved and the captain had stood up to the bunch of them. That was enough to get this kind of treatment from fleet.

That was fleet attitude.
“Piss us off and we’ll saddle you with a bunch of obsolete equipment.”
In Badgers experience that was the way they did things. He was pretty sure that somebody had put this in Luders back pocket to hamper him and maybe show him who was boss. Badger figured Luder might not even know yet.

Badger couldn’t believe it. He had been given the job of leading fighters and some bureaucrat had replaced twenty four of his new 337 fighters with these dinosaurs. Huge, slow, oversized, ammo guzzling, monsters.

“God bless those childish morons.” said Badger smiling from ear to ear.
“This is like freaking Christmas!”
"Yes. Yes. Yes."

Badger took off at a trot to check the ready room.
“I hope we’ve got pilots.”

As he neared the ready room the entire ship lurched and Badger was thrown to the deck.




[edit on 16-6-2009 by badgerprints]

“Well I see you and Nando have made friends.” Said Cim...
Smiling uncomfortably I kicked out with my foot trying to stop Nando from circling my ankles.
Poor Fernando - it wasn’t his fault the Milli-being had hijacked his little cats body but the ankle thing was wearing on my nerves, and so was the Milli.

“Ask her pleaseee, I want to go too!” Milli pleaded for the tenth time for me to get permission from Cim to allow the *Cat* to go with us sightseeing.
Thankfully CM didn’t hear Milli's whining, but Fernando did, and with narrowing eyes he looked around trying to locate the voice.
His tail puffing to thrice it's size the cat shivered twitched and made it perfectly clear he'd reached his tolerance level at playing host to the alien on his back.

Sitting down at the edge of the rug with an audible *thump* ‘Nando let out with a yowl of frustration and began scooting his hindquarters across the carpet propelling himself forward with his front legs, his back legs sticking up behind his ears.

“Oh Nando! He’s playing train again!” Cim burst out laughing. “He must have worms, I’ll have to take him to the V-E-T” She spelled out the last word by mouthing the letters.
“How can you tell?" I asked with a grimace, thinking how disgusted Carpet would be of the cats antics.
“Before I got him fixed I used to think he was scratching his ba...I mean, it must be worms cause he’s been castrated.” She corrected herself with a slight blush.
Watching Fernando pull himself across Cim's rug it was tough not to laugh even though I felt bad for the poor thing. I had to do something about getting Milli off the cat before it went completely mental.

“Ummm, do you mind if I borrow your cashmere shirt? The black one you had on last night?” I asked casually hoping my brainstorm would work.
“Sure hun, but try not to let anything happens to it, it's my favorite, it’s got a lot of sentimental value.“ CM replied generously before charging me to go get changed.

Taking the hint Fernando-Milli took off like a shot for Cindy's room where I was sure Milli's transfer to the sweater was already taking place.

“And Silo, don’t let Nando get cat hairs all over it!” Cim called from the kitchen, warning me a moment too late.
I found Nando on the bed where he’d climbed inside the sweater his head stuck out its waist, his great blue eyes big as balloons.

“How's it going?” I asked Milli, careful not to touch Fernando.
“One...more...second...” Millie said just before Fernando puffed up like he’d been hit with a stun gun, let out a hiss and shot from the room.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7ed9bd2f22a6.jpg[/atsimg]

Pulling on the sweater and asking Milli if it was all set I ran to my room, jumped into my jeans and joined CindyMars in the kitchen.

“Ready?” She asked rattling car keys in front of my nose the huge grin on her face moving up into her eyes.
“Ready!” I beamed back.

******
Cim and her convertible made a great pair.
I’d have never thought something bound by such gravity could be fast and fun, but Cim proved it was both.
A terror behind the wheel she loved punching up her sporty Earth machine and soon I found myself letting go of white knuckled fear to give in to whooping with joy as it growled through turns along the winding road that skirted the beach.

From the ocean and it‘s air filled with the tang of the sea - to corn dogs and mammoth pretzels along the Venice strip we spent the day visiting the glories of her Cim‘s ‘Home Town.’
The day passed swiftly and all too soon the sun began to set, it’s reflection off the water bringing tears to my eyes.

“Boys of Summer* blared from the radio and Cim singing along at the top of her lungs told me it was one of her favorite ‘oldies.‘
It wasn’t Debussy, but I loved it all the same and knew I’d remember this perfect day every time I heard the song.

“Last stop before home - Gnarly's!” Cim said, pointing over her steering wheel at the huge sporting good store.
I’d gone into more depth explaining my Earth mission that day and CM had listened patiently before insisting we’d go by Gnarly's on the way home to get all I needed. I was glad she’d remembered.

Once inside I was surprised by CM’s decision making abilities and familiarity with the store.
I wasn't surprised she drove her shopping cart much like she did her convertible.
Half an hour and a sack of fun later she assured me I had everything I’d need in the plunder we hauled out with us to toss in the back seat of the car.

There was no doubt the next morning my work would begin in earnest, finally.


[edit on 16-6-2009 by silo13]

Cim was really exhausted from their outing but she had great fun showing Silo Earth in 2010. She wanted to cook her a meal before packing to leave.

“Silo, is Nando in there with you?” she called out to Silo who was in her room.

“Yes he must like this sleeping platform.” Silo sticks her head outside the door to the room.

“Yes, he does think that’s his room and well, he is here most of the time, so I let him.” Cim laughs, “Is he still acting weird? I wonder if I should wait and take him to the V.E.T.”

“He seams ok but I don’t know a lot about cats.” Silo shouts from the other room.

“Well, I will wait until I return, I want to get to the cabin and get you to plant gathering. I am going to make you some pasta, come and sit while I cook.” Silo exits the room looking back inside. “Do you have your duffel bag and backpack ready to go?” Cim dumps the pasta in boiling water, steam rising from the pot.

“Yes I think I have it all ready. Will all this stuff fit in the car?” Silo leans toward the smell on the oven, where Cim is stirring the sauce.

“We will not be traveling by car, it’s to far away. I just wanted you to have that experience and well locally it is a must.” Cim smiles at Silo, Nando comes into the kitchen and rubs against her legs. “Hey Nando, are you ok buddy?” He meows.
“Well ok, I am going to be gone a couple days Nando, so behave yourself?”

Silo ask, sort of excited and concerned, “So we are going to travel the way we came here?”

“Yep! Sometimes I have to tag things, like you may have to do. I hope you are only planning on taking cuttings and seeds because, like Ship, plants are conscious beings and will not like being taken from their home?”

“Oh, ok” says Silo in deep contemplation, missing Ship.

“The Yydryl as you know, I am sure, can rapidly grow and teraform, so seeds and cuttings, will give you anything you like.” Cim turns off the burner beneath the sauce. "It's ready."

“Let’s just eat here at the breakfast bar.” Cim dishes up two large plates of pasta with a nice Italian tomato sauce. While slurping long pieces of pasta, Silo ask “So can I get everything I need at your cabin?”

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/dc45fc22da9b.jpg[/atsimg]

“You can get lots of botanicals in that forest but we can go anyplace or time you want. Except you have to know what you want. Let’s just see how it goes and take it from there.”

Silo looks up tomato sauce all over her face, Cim laughs and wipes it off for her.
“It’s good but a bit messy, hard your first time out.” Cim shows her how to wound the pasta around the fork. Silo laughs while trying.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/901bf618fedb.jpg[/atsimg]

“If you like that sweater, well how could you not? You can keep it, it will keep you warm in the mountains.” Cim reaches over to touch it. “I can replace it easily enough. We are going to wait and go in the morning, I want to make sure Nando is ok and I want you to see the forest first in the daytime.”

“Fine wiff me.” Says Silo with her mouth full of pasta. Cim messes up her hair.
“You are funny Silo. Let’s watch a movie, I know for you “The Wizard of OZ”, then to sleep and off to the woods.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f55d0e927cd2.jpg[/atsimg]




[edit on 16-6-2009 by cindymars]

His vision beginning to blur, Adilairs moved quickly throug the ship, attempting to get to Med Bay as fas as he could. There was little time before the exo-suit reverted and left him "naked" as he called it.

He could not afford to have his identity revealed at this point, especially not to the Peneloppe crew. Strange things were happening and he needed to be quick on his feet.

People knowing would prove only to be a distraction

Reaching the med bay, he pushed the tenants aside and frantically looked for a cryo-pod. He looked down to notice his legs were beginning to distort, the nanities retracting in order to heal and multiply.

Opening the cry-pod door, Adilaris slammed it shut behind him.

"Time to change this silly costume for something a little more fitting." He muttered under his breath.

This process was something he had always dreaded. It reminded him of being torn into two pieces by beings much more powerfull and ancient that he could ever imagine. The changing of a person, a stripping of the soul. A clean slate was required for this voyage, and he'd kept his current facade longer than he should have.

A simple concept really. The nanites that made up his appearance were living creatures. Which meant eventually they died, but not before helping the younger ones "breed" and multiply. As they did so, they would loose their current composition, almost "forgetting" how to assemble in the previous way once reborn. The tricky part was he could not choose what the outcome would be.

Mind you he could project an illusion, but that was alot of mental strain for no reason, he had come to accept whatever form was presented. The only real downfall to a Watchers.

The eyes were the only constant, they may change color, but the deep, trance like hue of them would remain forever. Some called it a gift, others a curse. He hadn't made up his mind yet.

As he prepared to enter the final stages of preperation, one of the staff was quick to rush up and offer her assistance. Adilairs peered through the glass window and spoke as the blue eyes pulsated and turned purple.

The voice was cryptic, almost ghostly..

"Do not disturb me during this time, it could mean the end of you all..."

As he began his decomposition, a bright flash of light eminated from within the pod and in an instant a cocoon of lights, all different colors and hues, surrounded the pod.

As Adilaris began to nod off into a deep Astral Walk, he could faintly hear the cries of his Ancestors and the past that haunted him, which strangely he wanted more than anything to return to.

[edit on 6/16/2009 by tothetenthpower]

After talking to a few of the crew mates. Myth began to wonder, if anything was really wrong. He had a feeling that maybe he was just stressing himself out. Thats what it was, just stress and anxiety, he needed to take his mind off of things.

He began to walk to a place where there was a bench looking object. He sat down and pulled out his diary. The truth was, it wasn't his, it belonged to some military visionary, other wise known as a psychic. He was told not to open up, to never use the advice inside. But he did, more than once. He used the book that could tell you anything. All you had to do was open it and begin to read. Eventually, you would find the answer you were looking for, even if you didn't like the answer it gave you. It was never wrong.

Myth opened it and began to read what was written, but this time it was different. It was as if the letters on the page began to merge with one another and then reappear as normal. Perhaps Myth was still drugged up and didn't have his bearing quite yet. He continued to read what he could.

"On this day, the day of Seal. The Originator of life asked upon his followers, to lead themsleves to there enemies gate and destroy the crops, the food, and the food storage area. But do not do anything else. Do not harm the villagers, just destroy the food.

The followers did not understand, but they did what the originator told them. They destroyed the crops, food, and food storage areas. Later that month, the enemy fell do to lack of food and they had grown weak, the Originator led his followers and took over his enemies land.

This is repeating itself, the world is in choas. The food is at a loss, the world is dieing. The enemy is taking the food from the worlds and the universes. It is draining the life of the planets and in turn destorying the planets inhabitiants. Something must be done. or the world will be in choas. On this day the Originator must make a stand and in this day the originator will die."

Who was the Originator and who was going to die? The diary never did this before. It was always straight forward, but this time it was different, much different.

"What are you reading?" A voice asked, as myth slammed the book shut.

"Nothing." Myth said looking at the women who stood infront of him, 'Your human?"

The woman laughed, "No, I just look a lot like one."

"I'm Delia." Delia said, extending her hand out to Myth.

"I am Myth, pleausre to meet ya." Myth said.

"Well Myth, I will see you around I have to get back to work." Delia said, smiling and walking away.

Myth smiled. He needed to find Adilaris, perhaps he knew who this Originator was. Of course he couldn't show him the diary, it was dangerous enough that Myth knew about it. As far as he knew there was two others like it in existance. The others were destroyed due to safety concerns. Myth was going to head to the Med Bay, to meet Adilaris and ask him if he knew what/who the Originator was.

As Myth stood up, he felt a tingling his legs. Something was wrong, a voice was getting louder and louder, the one he had heard in the Captains Bridge. He collapsed to the ground.

Immediatley, Myth was somewhere. In a dark room, that began to get brighter and brighter. He had a feeling that he was not on the Yydryl anymore, he was in a dream state. He walked further and then he was thrown into a land that he had hoped he would have never see again...

[edit on Jun 16th 2009 by TheMythLives]

The engineering crews seats deployed the automatic restraint system. Penelope rocked violently then shuttered. The hull groaned terribly. The sound was deafening from the screaming of the engines as they red lined. The Brown alert came on and started flashing. The Chief quickly realized things had gone from bad to worse.

Ensign Callan yelled out.

I'm reading power fluctuations through out the ships systems, we are headed for a complete system shut down... Deck 15 is reporting fires... The Ship shook violently again ...fires and a total power loss...The Engines coolant relays have blown The Chief mulled that over as he quickly brought up the engine schematics. If we lose coolant the Engines will shut down by default or worse they'll seize. Answered the Chief. Right then the unthinkable happened the Engines seized. Sparks flew from panels all across engineering.

The hi pitched wine from the engines slowly wound down as all the electrical system failed one by one. The smell of oil and burnt plastic permeated the air.

Chief it must be be worse than we thought, Just before we lost power I picked up that an escape pod had been jettisoned... The crew must be abandoning ship Chief! We're loosing her! The Chief looked over at Callan and gave her the Dad stare and said. Not on my watch! The Chief looking over at the rest of his crew saw shear terror in their young faces. He then yelled out. Dont worry, She'll hold together! and smiled. Looking away then up at the screens he read the data. Come on baby... please hold together. He said under his breath.

The Captains voice blared over the comm,
Slayer! What the name of Balinaar is going on... The comm went dead.
The Chief hammered the comm button to reply, but it was dead. Emergency power is failing. Callan said as she monitored ships functions from her station. In an instant all was silent, they sat there in the dark lit only by the occasional spark from the blown panels, not even the emergency lights kicked on.

The Chief stood up and was about ready to yell abandon ship. Then without warning the ships emergency systems flickered back to life. The Chief found himself standing there with his mouth wide open and lungs full of air and nothing to yell except.

STATUS?

Callan immediately brought up the ships status including the ships location in space. Chief we are in a dead spin around a planet! Times running out. She transferred the information to his station. He looked at it for a second. Knowing the status of the Penelope. He got a flash, an idea that may just be crazy enough to work.

We are NOT going to crash. We are in a dead spin around a planet and from my calculation we have less than two minutes. He thumbed to comm. Horn, Martinez where are you?

We're in the lift. We've been monitoring the situation through our comm badges. We just reached deck 15 Chief and... The captains voice came over the comm and interrupted the Ensigns. Slayer, if you can figure out what happened, we need a solution, otherwise this ship is about to take some unscheduled shore leave! The Chief rolled his eyes and said. I'd pay real money if he'd shut up! He thumbed the comm it was still dead.

What the hell?

Apparently we can hear the bridge but they can't hear us Chief. Ensign Callen said.

He thumbed the comm again.
Horn I need you two to go to the subjunction on that deck and I want you to run two bypasses, one from the plasma injectors and the other from the ships reserve O2 to the main engine valve. Close them manually. Then I want you to reverse the coolant flow valves... What the hell good will that do Chief? Horn interrupted We cant fire up the engines and there is no coolant?

The Chief barked back.
Most of the Engines valves seized wide open... I'm going to try an old trick... it's our only chance...IF it works we'll get out of this spin and be able to make escape velocity... But we'll only have one shot at it! Now DO IT! OUT!

The Chief brought up the environmental controls and accessed the starboard cargo holds environmental systems. They were all empty of crewmen. Good! He thought to himself. He then told the computer to start over pressurizing the cargo holds.

What are you doing that for Chief? Callan asked. We don't have enough thruster power to counteract our spin and with out the engines we cant power out of it. So I'm creating our own thrusters. He said. She thought about it for a second. Wont we loose our food rations? The cargo holds on that side of the ship is where we stow them.

The Chief looked at his watch and said.
Yeah, well it may not matter in about 60 seconds?
Horn and Martinez quickly made their way through the debris. They both looked up at the upper deck. That's where they needed to be, but the stairway was gone. Horn went over to the corner and started piling up the supply crates from the next room Martinez followed his lead they quickly stacked enough to climbed up them to the next level.

They reached the Jeffries tube and Martinez being the smaller of the two jumped right in and crawled his way down and around the corner to the access panel and did as the Chief requested. He reversed the coolant flow valve then flushed all the coolant from them.

Meanwhile Horn went and made sure all the valves leading to the engines were open and sealed the two mains. Everything was clear and opened as per the Chiefs instructions. Horn Thumbed his comm badge.

We're done here Chief... I hope your idea works. The Chief didn't bother to respond. He was too busy trying to set this little stunt maneuver into action. He typed in another command and brought up the weapons system manifests and weapons control console. The Computer wanted security clearance verification. The Chief quickly gave his voice print identification. It was accepted.

He found what he was looking for. Ahh yeah there we go. "Quantum Busters" he said he then activated the weapons fire and control system and patched it to his station. He activated the Aft Plasma Lance Turrets:

Callan I want you to now start pumping the Ships reserve O2 and the reactor plasma through the bypass that Horn and Martinez set up got me?

Aye Chief.

Horn watched as the pumps activated and the pressure built up. 90%...115... 250%. The pressure climbed quickly. He wondered if the valves would hold.

We're out of time. Hold on to your butts. The Chief yelled as he told the computer to open the starboard cargo bay doors. The air rushed out in a thunderous explosion of gas, debris and cargo crates. The Ship rocked violently, then shuttered a few times, the inertia dampeners kicked on as the Penelope straitened out. He then used the lower bow thruster to pitch her nose up.

Very good He said as he deployed one of the Quantum Busters out of the aft launchers. It slowly drifted away. He thumbed the comm again. Now Horn!

Horn on one valve and Martinez on the other both opened them in unison. The plasma and O2 rushed through the makeshift conduits and flooded through the Dual Super-Quad 51J FTL engines.

The Chief brought up the ships defensive systems and deployed the Aft shield generators and set them to maximum. He then also activated the ships Reverse Inertia Pulse Field Repulsors. That should do it. He fired one round from the Aft Plasma Lance Turret. Dead on... the Quantum buster exploded in a tremendous blast the Ship convulsed horrible sparks flew as more panels blew. The Plasma and O2 mixture ignited. The Penelope lurched forward. It was basically a giant blow torch. The Ships alert status turned to Red Alert.

The Chief thumbed the comm. Horn increase the flow another 20% we have to keep the pressure up for this to work. What do you call that little maneuver Chief?

AFTERBURNER! Some call it a dump-and-burn
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/04d08555ae79.gif[/atsimg]
The Penelope was now rocketing forward, she was buffeted while skipping along the planets outer atmosphere with increasing speed. The Hull heated up. The Chief knew her armored hull could take it. Looking over at Callan he said. She might need a new paint job later if we survive this. The Chief was using all the reserve battery power to reinforce the ships aft shields to maintain hull integrity.
Hows those pumps working?
Their working just fine so far. The third pump seems to be faltering how much longer Chief?
I say about another 10 seconds should do the trick out...

The Hull started to creek and moan as the Penelope fought for every inch. She slowly clawed her way up. Finally breaking free She shot out like a rifled bullet as she broke from the planets gravitational pull. Close the pumps shut em down shut it all down OUT

The Chief slumped in his chair looking up at the monitors. They had fires raging on several decks.

[edit on 16-6-2009 by SLAYER69]