Bugging Out – Landing
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow & Ensign Israna Haan & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Ne' Michelle "Mike" Young & Ne' Mariaa'n Si'van & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' HIchop Matlh

Post Details

Title		Landing
Mission		Bugging Out
Author(s)		HoD Ro' Matlh & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow & Ensign Israna Haan & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Ne' Michelle "Mike" Young & Ne' Mariaa'n Si'van & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' HIchop Matlh
Posted		Fri Jun 06, 2014 @ 7:44am
Location		Main Docking bay
Timeline		Arrival at Prometheus station

The approach to the station was uneventful. It sat dormant in space, like a glittering ornament from some forgotten celebration. There were no obvious weapons, nor were there any signs of powered shields.

The hull itself was of a material resistant to sensors and transporters so it was decided that the team would have to dock. There was only one obvious docking bay and the doors were wide open.

"Almost as if we were expected," Ro' grumbled. This did nothing to ease the tension in the room.

Bruce brought the ship around level to the docking bay. At the rear of the ship the crew stood ready on the landing bay doors. As soon as they opened anyone in the hanger would be able to see them despite the cloak.

Was the rear hatch opened to a gang plank, the first to march down was Hichop, wearing a suit of powered armour nearly double his own height. Weapons bristled on it surface. This was a machine of war designed to put down any resistance they might encounter on first landing.

It was disappointing, therefore, to find the Hanger empty and unattended.

It was a large space that could nearly have accommodated the FHew inside. There was a single door leading out at the far right hand corner. Around the room were devices to service and fuels shuttles and other craft. Apart from a single yellow light over the door nothing moved. No radio challenge, no scanning, nothing.

"What! No welcoming committee?" asked Tell looking around. Her eyes darted everywhere, missing nothing. "I'm so disappointed."

“I’m not,” Marie said. “Welcoming committees usually mean more of the beggars later. Let’s just get in and get and and return to the FHew. Mind you....” She had spotted an interesting looking case over against a far wall. It was oddly shaped and oddly shaped, in Marie’s experience, meant unusual contents. “Any rules against salvage while we’re here?” she asked no-one in particular. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful of booby traps.”

Jared's expression was oddly cold. His normal jovial manner was gone at the moment. In it's place was a sort of... dark tension. There was an edge of genuine fear in his breathing - the way it caught oddly as he inhaled.

"This isn't a game. I can't watch you every moment we're here, Marie, so there's no way I could stop you making off with things. But this is the secret R&D lab of one of the galaxies oldest and most sociopathic weapons designers. This man is a Vetus who's using lost technologies of a hundred centuries to make special ordinance. I'd estimate about 1 in 5 things you'll find here will kill you and anyone nearby the moment you pop the container. we're talking biogenic weapons, aggressive nanites, bio-engineered monstrosities, reality-warping ordinance... this place is like a raving psychopath's candy shop."

"So just let me know if you're going to open anything, so I can put a little distance between us."

“OK, OK, I get the picture,” Marie replied sullenly. “But I must say: you’re no fun!”

"So we are now inside folded space. Any chance there is folded space inside this folded space where there is an even bigger space station? What about some sort of portal to another space where the people wanting to kill us are?" Hichop was clearly not his recent composed self. He was uneased by the lack of resistance or even the lack of life and even he felt his questions were not well thought through. What he was feeling though was that it felt more and more like they had just walked into a Venus Fly trap. At that he opened fired from the rotary cannon’s on each shoulder. watching as it hit the surrounding panels to see where the debris fell. Perhaps it would give us more information on where we were.

The shells from the cannon struck the walls and seemed to rattle off harmlessly, barely even denting the metal - which didn't seem to be particularly thick.

It felt good just to let loose but this was no time to enjoy the sensation. He needed to be looking for any signs that would provide information as to what this place was. It made him shudder to think how he was acting more Vulcan than Klingon, but the suit had brought about this conflict of personality. One where in the suit he felt alive and his full self, drawn back to his warrior ways, but out of it more interested in reason and logic, interested in thoughtful debate and practicality. The suit had taken something from Hichip and for better or worse the suit had changed Hichop. Now in it he was left with a decision about who he would be from this time on. The suit, as much as he felt he needed it, was no longer helpful for who he wanted to be. He had made the decision; better to loose part of one's self to realise the potential of one's life.

Jared allowed himself a moment's relief that the sweeping blast of fire from HIchop's suit had cut out as it had swept across his team-mates. It meant HIchop still regarded them as his friends - the suit's friendly fire system was still protecting them.

He took a close look at the wall where HIchop had shot. The solid projectiles from the guns were lying in a harmless row on the floor, dented and squashed out of shape.

Jared ran his fingers over the station's hull, where the projetiles had hit.

"Interesting," he said with a frown.

He grabbed his backpack, and grabbed out his tricorder and a laser cutter. For a few seconds, he focused the cutter on the hull, trying to cut the metal - scanning with the tricorder as he did so. All it did was make the hull immediately around the beam glow for an instant. The moment he turned off the cutter the glow faded, leaving no mark.

"The station's hull has some kind of exceptional... energy transmission qualities. Somehow projected energy, and even the energy of physical impacts, are transmitted away from the impact point and throughout the structure. To melt through it, you'd basically have to generate enough energy to melt the whole station at once."

He stepped back and looked at the wall.

"I don't think even explosives would cut through this. The F'Hew's disruptors might not even be able to breech it."

“You mean it’s a bit like ship’s shields?” Marie said, thoughtfully. “The energy is dissipated across the station though, rather than across the shields’ grid.”

Jared thought about it.

"Not a bad way to describe it. The method that it uses to dissipate the energy is quite different, but yes - the result is similar. You can't cut a small hole in a ship's shield, you'd have to disable the whole shield - or at least the grid section. Same here - you can't just melt one wall, you'd have to melt the whole thing."

May'Bel drew both his disrupter pistols and fired a few shots at the wall on maximum setting. They barely left a mark. He looked impressed.

"Let's hope any guards we find aren't armoured with the same material."

"Wouldn't be as effective," Jared replied. "It works for the station because there's a whole station to soak up the energy of the attack. On something the size of an armour-plate, the energy wouldn't have anywhere to go - wouldn't be much better than standard duranium on that scale. Something the size of the Nephilim suit might be tougher than normal, but still not invincible."

Mike was stunned. She had never seen a station like this, and it was a little overwhelming. She stood there stunned while the rest of the crew moved about her.

This was giving Germite a headache. In the back of his mind, though, a thought was itching it's way forward. The engineering was beyond his experience, but he wondered that if the station absorbed energy that was directed at it, would it work both ways, could they drain the energy from the station by hooking up a battery to it? He'd have to think hard as to how to articulate the idea, if it was even possible.

Jared walked over to the door. It had a keypad, and what looked like some kind of hand-print scanner. He looked around at the others.

"DNA code scanner I suspect. Will probably be identity locked, but it might recognise Vetus DNA. We got Jeeves because V didn't expect he'd ever face opposition from his own kind, so he didn't take any precautions against other Vetus. Should I give it a try?"

“Before you do,” Marie cautioned. “This is a Corporate station. V might have designed it but it would be built for other races to use. That lock might be programmed for many races’ DNA.”

"Yeah," Jared replied with a nod. "I'm assuming there'll be many DNA-locked ID codes in there. I'm just hoping that V's tendancy to use Vetus technology and not think to lock out other Vetus holds true here."

"To be honest, I'm... kinda clutching at straws here."

“Well, I’m thinking that the lock wouldn’t expect to ‘see’ Vetus DNA other than V’s,” Marie explained. “If you put your hand there it might trigger an alarm.”

Mike wanders over. "A thought. Would it perhaps be possible to get a trace of V's DNA off of the scanner and lay it over to try and fool it into thinking it was him?"

Jared shrugged.

"Maybe. If you know what you're doing, there's a chance it might not be all that smart a code-lock. Hard to tell from out here, but it might be worth a try. Probably just as likely to work as my Vetus back-door idea."

"HIchop? Aren't you the ranking officer here? Which did you want to try?"

Hichop thought about the situation "Mike, check for residual DNA, if there is a clear match for one of our races and enough to attempt to fool the scanner then make it happen, else Jarad we will try your option".

The scan showed up nothing Klingon, Vetus or any of the other races. In fact it showed a surprising lack of any DNA. Jared placed his hand on the device and there was a mildly warm sensation. Suddenly a voice, reminiscent of the FHew's new computer interface spoke.

"Unauthorized access detected. Back door initiative activated. You 13 Rels to answer the following question or accept termination: What are the three Arcane Numerals of passage?"

Jared blinked in surprise. He laughed, and then spoke - as confidantly as if he were giving the time of day.

"The first can't be direction, for assuming only three dimensions is a conceit, and anything more is guesswork. The second can't be time, for it's both reletive and subjective. The third can only be a paradox, for it must contain the other two, and therefore must be the first, not the third. Therefore the question is nonsense."

Jared glanced round at the strange looks the others were giving him.

"It's... not really a question. It's a reference to ancient Vetus myth. I'd be like a human getting asked 'Why did the chicken cross the road?', or 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?'. Or a Klingon getting asked 'What's today a good day for?'. It's from an old story any Vetus would know."

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” Marie asked.