IKC FHew 7C6110
Lest we forget... – Startup Sequence
by Soghla' Jared
Post Details
Yes? No?
Jared stared at the words on the console for a moment. Then he gave it a kick.
He walked away a few steps, trying to think, then charged back to the console and kicked in repeatedly, swearing colorfully and creatively in long extinct languages.
Stupid, stupid machine!
He stopped kicking it. His foot was beginning to ache, and it was doing nothing to the machine whatsoever.
This was NOT good.
Wiping the research files had been easy enough. Computer hacking wasn't Jared's forte, but he knew a few tricks - including an algorithm that was very good at seeking out and obliterating specific information. It hadn't been hard to adapt it to hunt down and obliterate the research notes on the Deplorable Word project within the Miletian system. But the reactor itself?
He'd not thought about this. When Harlan had told him about this place, he'd been sure that he could swan in, wipe the files, set the power systems to overload and be out again before anyone knew what had happened. The klingons would probably assume he was killed in the explosion and leave without him.
He worked frantically at the keys, trying another trick.
He pounded the keypad a couple of times, producing a mild error message.
This was REALLY not good.
Ro' and the others would find this place before too long. Other Klingons might call this a wash and leave with what salvage they could grab, but Ro' was too cunning and his companions too smart not to figure out there was more to this than a simple case of reactivating auto-defences. That, or someone would ask the question Jared had been trying to steer clear of for days. 'What actually happened here?'
He wondered for a moment if it was worth doubling back to retrieve Heghrup's disruptor, but dismissed the idea out of hand. The Word's systems were arc-shielded. A disrupter wouldn't so much as scorch them. To get weapons that could seriously damage this thing, he'd need to head back outside and get one of the Nephilim. And by the time he'd done that and disabled the friend/foe targetting...
He looked up at the Word's mechanism, looming over him. The massive circular vanes of crystal, arranged into concentric layers. Perhaps if he could damage those somehow, he could at least...
No. Stupid idea. Even if he could somehow hit them hard enough to crack them - which he doubted - he'd do little but make the device unsafe to operate. It wouldn't stop them taking it apart to try and find out what it does. Or possibly even repairing it. There just didn't seem to be any way that he could do enough damage to the thing to actually destroy it. Not unless...
... not unless the mechanism was moving.
The thought came unbidden into his mind - as though the part of him that thought of it wanted to remain anonymous. Some older, more ruthless part of his nature.
Two thought processes started in his mind. One was starting to run scenerios in his head of just what would happen if those crystal vanes were damaged while in motion. Most of them were... breathtaking to imagine.
The other was coming to terms with the one key problem.
To do that, you'd need to turn it on.
He stared at the machine, a chill running up his spine.
This thing killed everyone. All of them. All their men, and all their women, and all their children, and all their cats, and all their dogs, and all their sheep and all their cattle... All of them. All of them, gone for good.
He ran to one of the subsiduary data terminals to one side of the chamber, bringing up a schematic of the base. He quickly located the active battle-armour that marked the location of Ro and his team.
They were moving in. It wouldn't be long. It wasn't looking like there was any time for an alternative.
Jared looked at the Deplorable Word again.
It shouldn't be that hard to reinitialise the activation sequence. It's not like anyone was shutting things down after the last time.
He felt goosebumps over his skin. How many times had he told Ro' that he didn't use weapons? And here he was about to activate what had to be close to the perfect weapon.
It really is the only way, an older version of himself spoke up from the depths of vague memory. It's that or watch the Klingons, Romulans and Federations learn how to build these things themselves.
And those vanes certainly wouldn't be hard to damage once they were moving at full speed.
He sighed, and moved back to the main console. It was time to do something he hoped he'd never, ever do in a million years.
by Soghla' Jared
Post Details
| Title | Startup Sequence | |
| Mission | Lest we forget... | |
| Author(s) | Soghla' Jared | |
| Posted | Sun Oct 10, 2010 @ 3:29pm | |
| Location | Research Core | |
| Timeline | A little while after the autodefences came online, when the dreams began... |
INSUFFICIENT AUTHORISATION. SAFETY PROTOCOLS NOT DISABLED.Jared stared at the words on the console for a moment. Then he gave it a kick.
He walked away a few steps, trying to think, then charged back to the console and kicked in repeatedly, swearing colorfully and creatively in long extinct languages.
Stupid, stupid machine!
He stopped kicking it. His foot was beginning to ache, and it was doing nothing to the machine whatsoever.
This was NOT good.
Wiping the research files had been easy enough. Computer hacking wasn't Jared's forte, but he knew a few tricks - including an algorithm that was very good at seeking out and obliterating specific information. It hadn't been hard to adapt it to hunt down and obliterate the research notes on the Deplorable Word project within the Miletian system. But the reactor itself?
He'd not thought about this. When Harlan had told him about this place, he'd been sure that he could swan in, wipe the files, set the power systems to overload and be out again before anyone knew what had happened. The klingons would probably assume he was killed in the explosion and leave without him.
He worked frantically at the keys, trying another trick.
INSUFFICIENT AUTHORISATION. SAFETY PROTOCOLS NOT DISABLED.He pounded the keypad a couple of times, producing a mild error message.
This was REALLY not good.
Ro' and the others would find this place before too long. Other Klingons might call this a wash and leave with what salvage they could grab, but Ro' was too cunning and his companions too smart not to figure out there was more to this than a simple case of reactivating auto-defences. That, or someone would ask the question Jared had been trying to steer clear of for days. 'What actually happened here?'
He wondered for a moment if it was worth doubling back to retrieve Heghrup's disruptor, but dismissed the idea out of hand. The Word's systems were arc-shielded. A disrupter wouldn't so much as scorch them. To get weapons that could seriously damage this thing, he'd need to head back outside and get one of the Nephilim. And by the time he'd done that and disabled the friend/foe targetting...
He looked up at the Word's mechanism, looming over him. The massive circular vanes of crystal, arranged into concentric layers. Perhaps if he could damage those somehow, he could at least...
No. Stupid idea. Even if he could somehow hit them hard enough to crack them - which he doubted - he'd do little but make the device unsafe to operate. It wouldn't stop them taking it apart to try and find out what it does. Or possibly even repairing it. There just didn't seem to be any way that he could do enough damage to the thing to actually destroy it. Not unless...
... not unless the mechanism was moving.
The thought came unbidden into his mind - as though the part of him that thought of it wanted to remain anonymous. Some older, more ruthless part of his nature.
Two thought processes started in his mind. One was starting to run scenerios in his head of just what would happen if those crystal vanes were damaged while in motion. Most of them were... breathtaking to imagine.
The other was coming to terms with the one key problem.
To do that, you'd need to turn it on.
He stared at the machine, a chill running up his spine.
This thing killed everyone. All of them. All their men, and all their women, and all their children, and all their cats, and all their dogs, and all their sheep and all their cattle... All of them. All of them, gone for good.
He ran to one of the subsiduary data terminals to one side of the chamber, bringing up a schematic of the base. He quickly located the active battle-armour that marked the location of Ro and his team.
They were moving in. It wouldn't be long. It wasn't looking like there was any time for an alternative.
Jared looked at the Deplorable Word again.
It shouldn't be that hard to reinitialise the activation sequence. It's not like anyone was shutting things down after the last time.
He felt goosebumps over his skin. How many times had he told Ro' that he didn't use weapons? And here he was about to activate what had to be close to the perfect weapon.
It really is the only way, an older version of himself spoke up from the depths of vague memory. It's that or watch the Klingons, Romulans and Federations learn how to build these things themselves.
And those vanes certainly wouldn't be hard to damage once they were moving at full speed.
He sighed, and moved back to the main console. It was time to do something he hoped he'd never, ever do in a million years.
- INITIALISE SYSTEM STARTUP
INITIALISING... PLEASE WAIT
Jared shook his head. No turning back now.