Lieutenant Commander Toryn Raga (Feat. Solat) - Being remembered makes you immortal
Rameses
(( Shuttle Banshee, PTE-2891 System ))
Jaelyne retrieved a medical tricorder and activated it. She turned to Toryn, who looked at her with a raised brow. Had she figured he had experienced some sort of hallucination or something? He was perfectly fine. While her caution was justified and he might have made the same supposition, it irritated him that she didn’t believe him.
Raga: Is this necessary, Commander?
Isa: We need to eliminate the possibility that what you saw was a side effect of the planet’s effects on you, if there are any. Just hold still, this won’t hurt a bit.
She detached the scanning device from the tricorder and began scanning Raga.
Isa: I am not seeing any indication of physical trauma, Commander, but I am detecting slightly elevated levels of psilosynine. Have you been using your telepathy recently?
Raga: No. I can only initiate telepathic communication with my own kind. ::He added:: And Sylara. Also, I was wearing my suit the entire time and it’s undamaged. So I don’t know what effect this planet could have on me to cause something like this.
Kiax: It could simply be a by-product of the very fact that there are telepathic receptors in your neurological makeup that the grass was responding to. It's not impossible to assume that it was able to initiate some kind of telepathic connection with you, rather than the other way around.
Logan: Responses
Isa: Well, I have no other explanation for it, but perhaps if we ever recover Doctor Snow she’ll have a better idea. Speaking of which, I am open to suggestions on how to proceed.
She looked around the cabin of the shuttle. Toryn stifled his irritation with the usurper and her daring to be likable.
Raga: I recommend that we keep following the Reskari signatures. If there is in fact a cloaked colony of some sort and the assumption stands that the locals would follow the metal deposits, we’d at least be closer to where we need to be to beam down.
Kiax: We've plotted the beginnings of a map with the data we've already
collected. It'll give us a starting point and we can use it to give us an
initial heading.
Logan: Response
The Al-Leyan removed his helmet and set it on the console then sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs. Though he was more used to higher gravity than the others, he spent most of his life these last three years in Earth normal gravity. Only having a respite and being in his own environs when in his and Ishka’s quarters.
Raga: We should at least keep our scans going. See if maybe the Banshee can scan beneath the deposits. We may have to just wait until the probes are in place, but us Chin’tokans have never been good at just…waiting.
Kiax: :: Nodding in agreement :: Creatures of action, most certainly.
Logan: Response
Raga: I hate waiting. ::He grumbled and focused on the scans his tricorder had made::
Isa: It is a difficult thing to do when people you care about are in danger. The natural response for many people is to react. But sometimes the best thing one can do is nothing. It’s frustratingly maddening, and definitely not easy.
Logan: Response
Toryn turned to face the console beside him when it began beeping and he quickly pulled up the sensors. It looked as though the Chin’toka had deployed the probes Esa requested.
Raga: The ship just launched the probes. We’re already receiving some telemetry data. ::He announced::
Kiax: Good, I'll load it into the plotting algorithm and have the computer extrapolate the telemetry into our map.
Logan: Response
Toryn hoped that the probes would help them find the away team, or at least get them on the right track because they’d been gone for over a day already. Which wouldn’t be so bad, if they at least knew their physical state.
Raga: I can see what they were talking about. Some tracks do seem to abruptly stop at one point. And there’s not a single Reskari signal within this entire area.
Toryn gestured to the image on the display showing the sensor readings and the decided lack of any deposits.
Kiax: Just as we thought - I'm almost certain now that these deposits are merely satellite growths, surrounding a central one which is being concealed from us in some way.
Logan: Response
Isa: Well, let’s see what the ship’s scan turns up when it does its flyover.
With the mention that the probes would only offer them a limited window he knew that they were going to likely have only one chance to narrow down the area of this allegedly cloaked facility. And with luck, be able to find their missing away team.
The Chin’toka would be doing a flyby of the planet soon in an attempt to disrupt the cloak.
Raga: Let’s hope this works.
Kiax: :: Sarcastically, feigning insult :: Commander Raga, I'm offended! When have my ideas ever not worked?
Logan: Response
The computer began chirping an alert as the sensors picked up an anomalous reading. An energy reading that was approaching the Banshee.
A bright light floated towards the front of the shuttle while she held position in low altitude. A hundred meters or so above the surface.
Raga: By the branch, what is that? ::he gestured towards the small object moving towards them::
Kiax: Fascinating...
Isa: I have no idea.
Logan: Response
The energy disappeared a moment before it made contact with the shuttle, then suddenly appeared in front of Esa. A faint, soft light washed over the Trill while Toryn slowly stood up and drew his phaser. He held it low, at the ready but not threatening.
Raga: Is it a probe? ::He asked curiously::
Kiax: Not according to these readings... It's pure energy... :: Beat :: Neurological energy.
Esa flipped her tricorder around to show Toryn the readings and Jaelyne leaned over to examine the results as well. They showed wavelengths but none that he recognized. Based on ehr comment though, he had to guess that they were…
Isa: Fascinating. That’s a brainwave.
That.
Logan: Response
The light moved to Logan next, then Isa. Each time it hovered in front of them for a few seconds and seemed to study them a moment. Toryn was next and the light stopped in front of him, the light soft and almost pearlescent. It seemed to focus on his face and the light abruptly turned a vibrant red and orange. A shrill sound resounded in the cabin and in his head.
The light took on a humanoid appearance, mostly opaque with clearly defined eyes and mouth and with a gesture Toryn was flung back against the wall and enveloped in a bright red energy field that crackled like lightning.
Entity: ~ Pointed ear! You have returned but you and your puppets will not harm them again! ~
Kiax: Hey now! Less of that, thank you!
Logan: Response
Isa: Everyone just remain calm. :: to the entity :: My name is Jaelyne Isa. I am the First Officer. Is there a problem here?
The entity lowered its hand but Toryn remained trapped in the field. His mind being wracked by psionic ripples that battered at his psyche. He couldn’t move and only stared at the entity, pain and anguish on his face. He’d not felt such pain since he was held captive by the Consortium. Memories of being trapped in that cell, subjected to electrical torture daily filled his mind.
Solat: ~ You bring the pointed ears here again to subjugate, pillage and destroy. Why should we listen to you? ~
Kiax: We're just trying to find our friends. He's helping us look.
Isa: We are not here to harm you. As my colleague said, we are just looking for our missing friends.
Logan: Response
Solat: ~ The other puppets who came here in craft like this said the same thing. We might have believed them, but we have discovered your deceit! ~
Kiax: Wait... Other puppets? :: There was a pause as Kiax seemed to be thinking :: One like us?
Esa pointed at hers and Jaelyne’s spots. It could mean they were referring to the other away team but the field Toryn was contained in was agony, pain and he could hardly keep any coherent thoughts.
Isa: Our people are alive then.
Logan: Responses
Solat: ~ Of course they live, they do not have pointed ears. We gave them a chance to exist in peace. But they showed violence. Perhaps puppets of the pointed ears cannot be trusted? ~
Isa: And may I ask who you are and why you took our people?
Solat: ~ We are the guardians of this world and its people, protecting them from the pointed-eared warriors that would have destroyed them if not for our intervention. ~
Kiax had moved over to a console and was working to access something. While Toryn stared, at them all. Stuck motionless.
Isa: What are you doing, Esa?
Kiax: You'll see...
Logan: Response
Solat: ~ Be warned: Any attempt to free your master will force me to let you share his punishment. ~
The entity, wary of the rest of them, watched Kiax like a security officer watching potential threats.
Toryn saw her accessing the console but it barely registered. His mind was filled with images, visions, memories? Things that weren’t his own.
An image appeared that displayed several different Romulan starships. Warbirds. He would have recognized them instantly but upon seeing it the entity’s aura flared brighter orange and Toryn’s vision blurred.
Suddenly he wasn’t on the Banshee anymore. He was…underground? A mine. Wait, how could he know it’s a mine? He glanced down and saw the drilling tool in his hand. A crude thing, centuries old. A metal handle with a spiked head. A pickaxe? The sound of digging and metal on stone could be heard all around him. He was swinging the ax into the rock. He hit something and there, something shiny. Was that Reskari? He picked it up, it fit in his hand. And suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side and dropped it. He looked up to see a Romulan then felt the punches and kicks.
Suddenly he was somewhere else in the mine, straps on his back, and he was pulling something heavy. A basket laden with ore. It was so heavy. He stopped to take a breath and heard shouting for him to keep moving. He stumbled and fell and then a green beam struck him. Pain. So much pain! He could feel his body disintegrating!
Toryn screamed but his voice was masked by the energy field.
Solat: ~ Yes! Those are the ships the pointed-ear warriors came here in. ~
Logan: Response
Kiax: :: she produced another image, this time of an actual Romulan. :: He's
not one of them.
A telepathic hiss echoed through everyone’s minds as the entity saw the image and he glowered a bright red hue.
Toryn felt hungry, emaciated. He was starving, thirsty. He needed water but the pointed-ears wouldn’t let him eat until he finished digging.
Then he was a part of a detail dragging the containers of ore to the strange metal bird the warriors had tamed and descended on.
Hundreds of memories. Thousands. Tens. Of Thousands of suffering. And tens of thousands of deaths he relived in the span of minutes. He felt as if his voice would be raw but no sound came out.
Solat: ~ I do not believe you! ~
Kiax: Computer, dim lights to ten percent.
Logan: Response
The lights dimmed and Esa pulled a flashlight from the kit beside her.
Kiax: Sorry buddy... Gotta prove a point…
Toryn’s perception was suddenly filled with bright light and he saw Esa standing in front of him, shining a light in his face. Raga’s eyes began to glow blue in the dim light, a trait that all Al-Leyan’s shared which helped them to see in darkness.
Kiax: His eyes glow. Theirs don't. Just because he has pointed ears doesn't
make him a Romulan.
Solat: ~ I do not recall their eyes glowing. But this could be a trick. You puppets would do much for your masters, yes? ~
Isa: It is true. None of us are puppets for the Romulans, those you call pointed ears.
Logan: Response
Raga: oO Winds…let this stop…please….Oo
Slowly the vibrant, angry red and orange hue of the entity became more muted, neutral amber color. It also released Raga from his restraint. Toryn felt the energy field vanish as abruptly as it had been forced upon him and he collapsed to the floor, sitting on his rear.
The Al-Leyan sobbed uncontrollably as the punishment he’d been subjected to was overwhelming with emotion and he couldn't help but face his own memories. Restrained in a cell, being electrocuted while an emotionless machine tormented him.
Solat: ~ It would seem that we may have been hasty in our judgment. Regardless, if you are not puppets of the p…Romulans, what do you want? ~
Isa: We are just looking for our missing friends. Are they alright? May we see them?
Solat: ~ They are alive and well physically. We can return them to you but then you must leave this place immediately and never return! ~
Isa: If that is your wish, we will certainly do so. Though the reason we even came here in the first place was because of a special metal that we had detected in the planet.
Raga: Winds…what…was that? ::He asked, cheeks streaked with tears and clearly shaken::
Kiax / Logan: Response
Solat: ~ Apologies. That was a punishment meant for the other pointed ears. Romulans. One we devised. The memories of the hundred thousand lives destroyed by their occupation of this world. You witnessed a hundred thousand lives and a hundred thousand deaths. With all the emotion and feelings they felt. ~
The entity reached out a hand, that soft amber hue and a similar glow enveloped Toryn’s mind.
Solat: ~ I can remove the memories from your mind, in apology. ~
Toryn looked up at the entity and after a brief contemplation raised a hand to stop the entity.
Raga: No! Leave them please!
Kiax / Logan / Isa: Response
The entity seemed to be confused and the glow ceased. Though it had already removed several of the memories from his mind.
Solat: ~ Why? Why would you wish to keep the memories? The punishment was placed upon you in error. ~
Raga: ::Slowly rising to his feet again he composed himself:: You said these are memories of those who are dead?
The entity nodded sagely.
Raga: Then that means that as long as I live, they live on through me. I’d like to keep them…to honor them.
Kiax / Logan / Isa: Response
The Al-Leyan leaned up against the bulkhead of the shuttle. The influx of memories that didn’t belong to him had made his head pound. He felt a wave of dizziness but he fought back against it.
Solat: ~ You are not Romulan. ~ ::The entity stated plainly:: ~ They are not capable of such compassion, honor, or nobility. ~
For once, Toryn was grateful Serala was not here.
Kiax / Logan / Isa: Response
Solat: ~ I am Solat. We can return you to your friends. Though, their memories have been altered. It was a safety precaution. ~
Raga: May we contact our ship? And let our Captain know that our other team is alive and well?
Toryn wobbled slightly but held his footing.
Kiax / Logan / Isa: Response
Toryn moved to the console beside him and hailed the Chin’toka. A moment later the image of the bridge appeared on the monitor in between the helm and secondary console. Letting Mei’konda and those on the bridge see the away team and their new guest.
Toryn looked at Isa for acquiescence for him to speak first then glanced back at the monitor.
Raga: =/\= Captain, we’ve made contact with one of the locals. =/\= ::He gestured to the amber glowing humanoid:: =/\= Captain Mei’konda. This is Solat. They’re one of the guardians of this planet protecting the actual natives of the planet. =/\=
Toryn did his best to conceal just how rough he looked but the remnants of the tears he’d shed were plain on his face and he was leaning heavily on the console.
Kiax / Logan / Isa / Mei’konda: Response
Solat: ~ Greetings Captain. I am Solat. One of the guardians of this world, as your officer has mentioned. ~
The telepathic communication was broadcast to the Caitian and everyone on the shuttle and the bridge as a courtesy. Clearly the entity had no issues conversing with so many minds at once.
Toryn slowly eased himself into the chair beside him and at least was able to sit up straight. So many memories, thoughts, emotions all filling his mind took a lot of control to reign in.
Kiax / Logan / Isa / Mei’konda: Response
=====================================
Lieutenant Commander Toryn Raga
Second Officer/Chief Tactical & Security Officer
USS Chin'toka NCC-97187
PodCast Team Member
Training Team Member
Chin'toka Staff Member
Writer ID: A239410TR0
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