[MISSION END] Lt Commander Ava Munro - An Elaborate, Meticulously Designed Cage
Ava Munro
((OOC: This is the Mission End SIM for this team and officially closes down this mission.
I would like to say a thank you to everyone for bringing your magic, imagination and creativity to this mission, which was also my commander's practical. It is very touching to see what was just a glimmer of an idea take life through your characters and your beautiful writing and I am so grateful to this crew. The Artemis is a very special place and that's got a lot to do with every single one of you.))
((Bridge - Deck 1 - USS Artemis-A))
On the viewscreen was a shaky image of the away team within the Halls of Flame, a place of worship and a morbid duty: the disposal of the dead. Apparently they were burned, probably converted to energy that helped fuel the ship. Nomadic communities on generational ships, especially those of a large scale, had to get inventive. Of course, this was all just speculation of an engineer and operations officer.
Neither of those things were her responsibility at this moment. The safety of the away team, currently being hunted by some kind of Boraxian arachnid. Did this city have a portal to another dimension? She half expected knight in shining armour and singing princesses with curt furred animals all around her to emerge from some place.
Munro: Is that? Is that an animal?
The image stuttered, and Ava turned her head towards Tho'Bi, the intention was clear. She needed to see what was going on and the engineer, seemingly more comfortable at an engineering station than a dining table, picked up on it immediately.
Tho’Bi: Attempting to clean up the image.
Chavrainne: ::barely above a whisper:: The old world will not go quietly.
The Advocate appeared to be speaking to herself, or perhaps to the whole galaxy. Or the forgotten gods of Ellet. She just hoped that the woman wasn't about to have a full breakdown at this moment in time.
Luirétt: Response
Ava was happy when the images on the viewscreen began to stabilise. Tho'Bi had worked quickly.
In the shadows, from the rafters, eight legs crept downwards towards the Away Team.
Chavrainne: The zealot is not the true danger. It is the story he serves. So long as someone believes the fire must consume… it will.
Munro: Advocate, it may be more useful for someone to tell me what that thing is?
Luirétt: Response
Tho'Bi: Captain ::beat:: Sensors are picking up an Energy Pulse from the Away Team's position.
On the viewscreen, a bolt of orange light scorched across the air between Lieutenant Storm's phaser and the creature.
Chavrainne: ::eyes closed:: Flame that burns between worlds, I ask you not for heat, but for light. Guide their steps. Guard their breath. Let no life be taken where hope may yet remain.
The Advocate had taken to praying, or at least she assumed it was some kind of prayer. Gone was the reasoned, pragmatic woman Ava had first met and something else was emerging. She only hoped it wasn't Andoren mark 2, filled with misguided rhetoric and notions of grandeur.
It was a shame because he had gotten what he wanted. Or at least a tentative beginning to it. But his own radicalisation had grown so dark, and hateful that he couldn't come back from it. He's lost sight of what he truly wanted. It was sad.
Ava was no fool, she knew that it would take decades to truly change the Boraxians culture. Each side was so entangled that it would careful unpicking over years to reform.
Munro: Was that phaser fire?
Luirétt: Response
Tho'Bi: ::to Munro:: Confirmed. Phaser fire.
The eight legged creature reared up and then scuttled toward the Away Team, forcing them into the light.
Munro: Are we able to get a transporter lock on them?
Tho'Bi: ::shakes head:: We can’t establish a lock. They're too deep inside the Cityship.
That was exactly the words she feared. She felt the tension through her body. Her mind raced through, what felt like, a thousand different scenarios and she was certain of one thing, she would not stand here and watch her team get torn apart by some alien spider monster.
Munro: Can you boost the signal using a sync with the Boraxian Cityship?
Tho'Bi: ::nods:: Aye, Aye, Captain ::beat:: Attempting to boost the signal lock.
Tho’Bi: ::shakes head:: Sorry, Captain. They're too deep inside ::beat:: We could cut through with phasers but… the loss of life for the Boraxians would be catastrophic.
Ava looked towards Chavrainne then Luirétt. Of course she'd never do that, and if she did she'd be in the history books for all the reasons she never wanted to be. Captain Ransom she was not.
Munro: That's not an option, Ensign :: swallows and faith :: They can do this.
Luirétt: Response
Tho'Bi: ::to Munro:: Ensign Bancroft appears to be attempting a phaser overlo… no… he just threw it at the… ::bemused look towards Munro:: big spider creature.
Munro: Dangerous. But smart.
Tho'Bi: Confirmed, Captain. Ensign Bancroft is… ::shrugs:: dancing.
Ava shook her head in disbelief and smiled.
A sudden flash engulfed the screen, sending all the image feeds into shattered drunken collages of pixel and static.
Munro: Can we get visual back?
Tho'Bi: Working on it… ::fingers danced:: sizeable energy release ::shakes head:: not a phaser. ::looks up at Munro:: some kind of shape charge.
Munro: I need more information and eyes on what's happening. We got life signs?
Tho'Bi: Aye, Captain. Sorry, Captain. Getting the feed back up now,
Tho'Bi: ::fingers moving:: picking up additional phaser fire.
The viewscreen snapped into fidelity just as Lt. Imril narrowly evaded a sweeping leg. Around Andoren were four hexagonal columns. He looked like a mad king.
Munro: What's he doing?
Tho'Bi: On it, Captain.
Andoren worked frantically, as did Tho'Bi.
Tho'Bi: Massive energy build up. ::shakes head:: …far more than anything the Away Team could generate.
Through the pixel and the splutter, the floor around the centre of the chamber began to open up in sections.
Tho'Bi: Oh no. ::looks at Munro:: looks like the plasma grid for the entire Cityship is about to vent into that chamber.
Munro: He's going to burn them.
The viewscreen feed went dark.
Ava paced to the front of the bridge, stood behind the ops and helm station. An eerie quiet fell upon the bridge, only the sounds of consoles responding to commands and the gentle, disarming hum of the ship underfoot.
Then…
Silveira: =/\= Response =/\=
Munro: =/\= It's a relief to hear your voice Commander. Understood. Get your team to safety and beam all of you back to Sickbay for a full exam once your able =/\=
Silveira: =/\= Response =/\=
Ava did not rejoice. She was glad, and a part of her was ecstatic that the team were now safe and would be returning back to the Artemis. Yet, at what cost?
Andoren, certainly he had become a monster but she knew that somehow it wasn't as simple as that. He had been created by the systems of the Boraxian Government.
Once, he had wanted freedom for himself and the Yurum. At any cost. Including his life.
Chavrainne/Luirétt: Response
Tho'Bi: Response
Ops Officer: Incoming hail from … the Great Mother.
Munro: Onscreen.
As the leader came onscreen, she wore her jewels and her gowns and her entourage in their own finery stood behind her. They were joyous.
They had won.
Elirielle: Captain, it seems your teams were successful. I'm receiving reports from all districts that violence has begun to subside. And order has been re-established. Ellet has shone brightly upon us.
Munro: I'll breath a lot better once my teams are returned to the Artemis.
oO and I can say goodbye to you Oo
Luirétt/Chavrainne/Tho'Bi: Responses
Elirielle: Luirétt, and Advocate Chavrainne. I hope your discussions have :: indicates the people around her :: We have been preparing for this new age of Boraxian prosperity. And to welcome back our beloved Yurum.
The Great Mother smiled, and extended all four of her arms, unbound. Ava wasn't sure if this was a performance or an act of sincerity.
Maybe it was something in-between. Perhaps the Boraxians knew no other way to be. Life was to be acted out rather than lived. Ava looked to Chavrainne and Luirétt. They had performed on a stage for their whole lives, and she feared that they'd just changed the backdrop and the set dressing to assume new roles on a different stage altogether.
Luirétt/Chavrainne/Tho'Bi: Responses
Munro: I'll let you return to your duties, Great Mother :: to Ops Officer :: Close channel.
With a nod, the channel was closed and she stood quietly. This was a win but somehow it didn't feel that way. Not for her.
The Yurum would be free, or some version of that. And what of the rest of the Boraxians? They had done what they were able to, within the laws that governed them, she knew that.
Luirétt/Chavrainne/Tho'Bi: Responses
She turned to her new Boraxian friends.
Munro: This is just the beginning for you both. No matter what you decide :: to Luirétt :: For those who want it, I intend to submit a recommendation to Starfleet Command and the Federation government to accept the asylum request from the Yurum and :: looks to Chavrainne :: any other Boraxian that would like to leave.
She looked at the viewscreen and the Boraxian Cityship, it's grid like infrastructure that wrapped around the spherical design.
It looked like a cage. An elaborate, meticulously designed cage. Those stuck within, didn't even know they were caged. When they looked upwards they saw an illusory sky. They looked to spires and saw opportunity, not control.
They looked to the Yurum and they sought freedom from a cage they didn't even know they were in.
Andoren knew, and it had driven him to madness.
Luirétt/Chavrainne/Tho'Bi: Responses
End Mission for Ava Munro.
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240004LL2