LtJg Lera Michaels - You Are Going To Want To See This

[steve...@yahoo.com]

((Shuttlecraft 4 - Ozark, departing Khitomer))

Torado: I can see the ship—except the nacelles.

Michaels: There are filaments from outside the nacelles. It could be useful if we could examine that area of the ship from the outside.

Torado: A flyby? I'll see what i can do. See if you can get our new friends on the line.

Michaels: Be extremely careful. The filaments inside Khitomer are extremely thin. They also appear to be draining Khitomer's power. I suspect they are part of how they are holding us.

Portions of Khitomer were obscured by something shimmering. Lera concluded that, while she could not see individual threads, the shimmer was caused by thousands of filaments. She sighed. Clearing all of those would be a massive task and might well be impossible if the number of filaments grew faster than they could remove them. What was needed was a technique to remove massive numbers at a single time. At the moment, she could not conceive of a scheme that would accomplish that.

Torado: ::gritted teeth:: I won't be able to tell if it's gonna grab us until it already has…

Michaels: With this nebula obscuring everything and no information concerning where on their ship we should go, using a tractor beam to grab us would seem to be the logical approach.

Torado: Response

Michaels: =/\= Khitomer Shuttlecraft Ozark enroute to Jorogumo. Please supply us with destination coordinates. =/\= :: beat :: And now we see how friendly these "man-eaters" are.

Velithari Communications Officer: =/\= Standby Kitomeer shudlecrat Osalk. We are setting an approach for you. We will bring you aboard under our control when you are within 50 cliggers. Please limit your speed to 5 cliggers per furth. Jorogumo out. =/\=

Michaels: Do you have any idea any of that means?

Torado: Response

A section of the pink cloud vanished and instantly they had a clear view of a section of the Jorogumo scarcely a kilometer away. Lera shook her head. From what little she could see of the alien ship, it was clearly one of the largest vessels she had ever seen. A moment later, path markers appeared along the sides of the pink trough they were in. Lera's unease increased.

Torado: Response

Michaels: That will make navigating considerably simpler. :: She turned and called to the others. :: Amelia. Talia. Ras. You are going to want to see this.

Lera turned and noted that Amelia was already there looking at the alien ship through the shuttle's front window.

Michaels: I was unaware you were there, Amelia. :: turning back to the front. :: Our new found friends appear to have complete control over the nebula. That requires an immense amount of energy and, unless they have mastered matter to energy conversion, there is only one feasible source of that energy; the star. :: beat :: I suspect that the nebula, at its core, is actually a form of Dyson Sphere constructed of cables rather than plates.

Semara: Response

Lera sat back in the co-pilot's chair and frowned.

Michaels: Amelia. I am concerned on behalf of Ras. It seems logical to me that any society that heavily favors females over males would have laws to enforce that system. Quite probably laws to punish male insubordination or pretending to be female. :: Lera turned toward the back of the shuttle to face Amelia directly. :: It follows that those laws would prescribe severe punishments which might include a death penalty. If our hosts decide that we are subject to their laws... Perhaps bringing Ras along was a non-trivial mistake.

Semara: Response

Tags/TBC

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LtJg Lera Michaels

Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2