Lt. Jg. Ryden Tarus Kel - Approaching the Station
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Ryden Kel
8:36 AM (6 hours ago) 8:36 AM
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(( Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Narendra - Deep within the Phaethon Nebula ))
The bridge lighting felt dimmer than it should have been... an
illusion, he knew, but the creature’s distant awareness still brushed
at the edges of his thoughts like a pressure change behind his eyes.
Ryden forced himself to stay anchored in the console readings. Facts.
Numbers. Anything not shaped like a feeling.
McLaren: I don't see many internal spaces given the station's size...
I wonder if this is how they've managed to keep whatever crew it needs
aboard it for any meaningful length of time. Do we have any readings
on lifesigns?
Voss: The station’s hull is making it difficult to read lifesigns.
I’ll see if I can filter out some of the interference.
Kel: The creature’s still steady… no change in neural-stress patterns.
If someone inside the station is manipulating it directly, they’re
doing it through shielding thick enough to drown out most of what I
can sense.
McLaren: I'd be surprised if they haven't already seen us... they
probably think we can't see them... and I'm happy for them to continue
thinking that for the moment. Gives us time to act...
Voss: I’m running the lifesign reading again. We’ll see if we can get
anything this time. If we can get a sense of how many people are
actually on the station and where they’re located, at least that might
help us as we try to figure out what they’re actually doing.
Kel: And whether the hallucinations are a deliberate byproduct… or
just collateral damage. The pattern we saw earlier doesn’t look
accidental.
McLaren: If we can disable the station in some way...that would be the
best... but it looks like its shielding is enhanced... and its power
systems are oversized for a station of its size.
Voss: The oversized power system might have the potential to be a
double-edged sword - it’s easier to overload a system that’s been
amped up like that. But we’d have to get through the shields somehow
first. Maybe we –
Kel: ::leaning forward, voice low as he studies the telemetry:: There.
That pattern... those cycling energy signatures. They match the same
harmonic frequency we saw in the creature’s neural entanglement. ::a
grounding breath:: Whatever the Romulans are doing in there… it’s
interacting directly with the entity’s nervous system.
The creature stirred at the edge of his perception—like a muscle
twitch from a patient under deep sedation. It wasn’t pain, but the
memory of pain. Anticipation of it. Ryden braced unconsciously.
Voss: ::with growing frustration:: I just don’t understand why they’re
doing this. Intentionally hurting the creature just to ramp up the
hallucinations and keep ships away from the base seems like overkill,
doesn’t it? There are far easier ways to hide a base.
Sol frowned, moving closer.
McLaren: I don't think hiding the base was their main goal... its just
a nice side effect.
Kel: If we can isolate the modulation source… we might be able to map
exactly how the station is affecting it. ::eyes narrowing:: And more
importantly... what condition the creature is actually in.
Kel: ::quietly, pulse quickening:: Something’s destabilizing inside
the station. I can’t tell if it’s deliberate or a malfunction… but
whatever it is, it’s getting worse.
The creature felt it too. A ripple of unease threaded through Ryden’s
mind like static.
McLaren: Can you tell how long we have?
Kel: Not long. If the modulation spikes again… I doubt we’ll get
another clean warning. The next surge could hit the creature
directly... or everyone on this ship.
Voss: Commander, I’m looking at the lifesign readings and… there
aren’t just Romulans on the station. There are Capricalians too.
Ryden’s stomach tightened. Zilo’s people. Families. Lives caught in
the middle... again.
McLaren: Can you tell how many, and where they might be?
Voss: I’m reading twenty-seven Romulan bio-signs, mostly in the
station’s main disk, and then a dozen Capricalians in the lower part
of the central spire.
McLaren: Hmmm...
Kel: Hostages would make sense. Leverage against anyone who stumbles
across the station... and against Capricalia itself.
Voss: So, it’s a relatively new station, Romulan, with a smaller
interior and a larger power supply than it should have, hiding in a
planetary nebula, intentionally hurting a creature native to said
nebula by overloading its nervous system with harmonic frequencies,
and they’ve found some way to shield themselves from the
hallucinations, presumably, or they’re swapping people in and out, or
both, and those frequencies seem to be ramping up to some kind of
destabilization event which could be intentional or unintentional, but
will definitely harm the creature and increase the intensity of the
hallucinations, and we don’t really know why they’re trying to harm
the creature, and also they have hostages. Maybe. Or Capricalians
loyal to the Free State? So that’s – ::suddenly recognizing what she’s
doing and freezing up:: That’s bad.
Sol chuckled, tension barely masked.
McLaren: Bad does just about sum it up...
Kel: ::exhaling slowly:: And medically? If that destabilization hits
full force, the neural shock won’t stay confined to the creature.
Anything telepathic within range... including us.... could be
overwhelmed.
Voss: ::clearing her throat and trying desperately to reset:: Anyway,
I think we’ve gotten all we can from the probe. We’ll need something
more sophisticated to locate the source of the modulating frequencies.
The Narendra could do it, but that would mean getting closer. And if
they can already see us, we’d need to pull off quite the disappearing
act.
Ryden felt the creature shift again... drawing inward like an injured
animal curling around a wound. Every instinct in him pushed toward
doing something. Anything. But reckless action would help no one.
McLaren: So how can we make a 2 million ton starship just disappear?
Kel: If we can reduce the sensory contrast between us and the nebula…
the creature might even help cloak us unintentionally. It’s already
filtering out external stimuli where it can.
McLaren tapped the helm.
McLaren: What if we adjusted the frequency of our shields to match the
resonant frequency of the nebula around us? That would make us nearly
indistinguishable from the surrounding nebula wouldn't it?
Kel: It could work. But matching resonance means letting the nebula’s
variable energy fields interact with the shields more directly.
Medically speaking… we’d need to prepare for a spike in hallucinogenic
feedback.
Voss: ?
McLaren: Would that risk exposing us to more of the hallucinations?
Kel: Potentially. But if we maintain a live neural-dampening cycle in
sickbay and route emergency filters to the bridge, we can keep the
worst of it off the command crew. As long as the creature doesn’t
panic… we should stay functional.
Voss: ?
Sol frowned thoughtfully.
McLaren: Let's give it a try... we won't be able to move very fast...
but if we can close with the station before they react to us... we
stand a better chance of being able to get through this without
risking damage to the creature.
Kel: I’ll monitor the creature’s patterns continuously. If anything
shifts—fear, pain, even confusion... I’ll call it immediately. We
move, but only as long as it’s safe.
Voss: ?
The Narendra eased forward, so slowly it felt more like drifting than
maneuvering. The shields hummed in a new tone—subtle, but discordant
enough that Ryden could feel it in his teeth. Matching the nebula’s
resonance made the ship feel porous, as though the boundary between
hull and haze had thinned to something fragile.
He kept one hand braced on the console as he monitored the creature’s
neural field.
Kel: ::quietly, eyes half-focused:: The creature feels the
distortion... only faintly. No panic yet. Whatever we’re doing… it
isn’t hurting it.
McLaren/Voss: ?
That was the most important part. The creature’s presence brushed
lightly across his mind, cautious but no longer flinching with each
modulation flare from the station.
A soft tremor ran through the deckplates... normal, expected, but it
made Ryden stiffen anyway. The nebula’s psychic static thickened the
deeper they went, like humidity behind his eyes.
Kel: ::brow tightening:: The creature sensed that. It’s bracing…
something about the station’s output is about to spike again.
McLaren/Voss: ?
Kel: ::after a breath, voice steady:: Keep moving… slowly. It’s
uneasy, but not in pain. We’re still within the threshold it can
tolerate.
The Narendra slipped forward another few meters. The station loomed
larger on the viewscreen—dark, angular, predatory in its silence.
And then, just beneath Ryden’s awareness, a shift. A stirring. A tightening.
Kel: ::sharply:: Commander... something in the creature’s field just changed.
McLaren/Voss: ?
-----
Lieutenant JG Ryden Tarus Kel
Medical Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240109RK1
The bridge lighting felt dimmer than it should have been... an
illusion, he knew, but the creature’s distant awareness still brushed
at the edges of his thoughts like a pressure change behind his eyes.
Ryden forced himself to stay anchored in the console readings. Facts.
Numbers. Anything not shaped like a feeling.
McLaren: I don't see many internal spaces given the station's size...
I wonder if this is how they've managed to keep whatever crew it needs
aboard it for any meaningful length of time. Do we have any readings
on lifesigns?
Voss: The station’s hull is making it difficult to read lifesigns.
I’ll see if I can filter out some of the interference.
Kel: The creature’s still steady… no change in neural-stress patterns.
If someone inside the station is manipulating it directly, they’re
doing it through shielding thick enough to drown out most of what I
can sense.
McLaren: I'd be surprised if they haven't already seen us... they
probably think we can't see them... and I'm happy for them to continue
thinking that for the moment. Gives us time to act...
Voss: I’m running the lifesign reading again. We’ll see if we can get
anything this time. If we can get a sense of how many people are
actually on the station and where they’re located, at least that might
help us as we try to figure out what they’re actually doing.
Kel: And whether the hallucinations are a deliberate byproduct… or
just collateral damage. The pattern we saw earlier doesn’t look
accidental.
McLaren: If we can disable the station in some way...that would be the
best... but it looks like its shielding is enhanced... and its power
systems are oversized for a station of its size.
Voss: The oversized power system might have the potential to be a
double-edged sword - it’s easier to overload a system that’s been
amped up like that. But we’d have to get through the shields somehow
first. Maybe we –
Kel: ::leaning forward, voice low as he studies the telemetry:: There.
That pattern... those cycling energy signatures. They match the same
harmonic frequency we saw in the creature’s neural entanglement. ::a
grounding breath:: Whatever the Romulans are doing in there… it’s
interacting directly with the entity’s nervous system.
The creature stirred at the edge of his perception—like a muscle
twitch from a patient under deep sedation. It wasn’t pain, but the
memory of pain. Anticipation of it. Ryden braced unconsciously.
Voss: ::with growing frustration:: I just don’t understand why they’re
doing this. Intentionally hurting the creature just to ramp up the
hallucinations and keep ships away from the base seems like overkill,
doesn’t it? There are far easier ways to hide a base.
Sol frowned, moving closer.
McLaren: I don't think hiding the base was their main goal... its just
a nice side effect.
Kel: If we can isolate the modulation source… we might be able to map
exactly how the station is affecting it. ::eyes narrowing:: And more
importantly... what condition the creature is actually in.
Kel: ::quietly, pulse quickening:: Something’s destabilizing inside
the station. I can’t tell if it’s deliberate or a malfunction… but
whatever it is, it’s getting worse.
The creature felt it too. A ripple of unease threaded through Ryden’s
mind like static.
McLaren: Can you tell how long we have?
Kel: Not long. If the modulation spikes again… I doubt we’ll get
another clean warning. The next surge could hit the creature
directly... or everyone on this ship.
Voss: Commander, I’m looking at the lifesign readings and… there
aren’t just Romulans on the station. There are Capricalians too.
Ryden’s stomach tightened. Zilo’s people. Families. Lives caught in
the middle... again.
McLaren: Can you tell how many, and where they might be?
Voss: I’m reading twenty-seven Romulan bio-signs, mostly in the
station’s main disk, and then a dozen Capricalians in the lower part
of the central spire.
McLaren: Hmmm...
Kel: Hostages would make sense. Leverage against anyone who stumbles
across the station... and against Capricalia itself.
Voss: So, it’s a relatively new station, Romulan, with a smaller
interior and a larger power supply than it should have, hiding in a
planetary nebula, intentionally hurting a creature native to said
nebula by overloading its nervous system with harmonic frequencies,
and they’ve found some way to shield themselves from the
hallucinations, presumably, or they’re swapping people in and out, or
both, and those frequencies seem to be ramping up to some kind of
destabilization event which could be intentional or unintentional, but
will definitely harm the creature and increase the intensity of the
hallucinations, and we don’t really know why they’re trying to harm
the creature, and also they have hostages. Maybe. Or Capricalians
loyal to the Free State? So that’s – ::suddenly recognizing what she’s
doing and freezing up:: That’s bad.
Sol chuckled, tension barely masked.
McLaren: Bad does just about sum it up...
Kel: ::exhaling slowly:: And medically? If that destabilization hits
full force, the neural shock won’t stay confined to the creature.
Anything telepathic within range... including us.... could be
overwhelmed.
Voss: ::clearing her throat and trying desperately to reset:: Anyway,
I think we’ve gotten all we can from the probe. We’ll need something
more sophisticated to locate the source of the modulating frequencies.
The Narendra could do it, but that would mean getting closer. And if
they can already see us, we’d need to pull off quite the disappearing
act.
Ryden felt the creature shift again... drawing inward like an injured
animal curling around a wound. Every instinct in him pushed toward
doing something. Anything. But reckless action would help no one.
McLaren: So how can we make a 2 million ton starship just disappear?
Kel: If we can reduce the sensory contrast between us and the nebula…
the creature might even help cloak us unintentionally. It’s already
filtering out external stimuli where it can.
McLaren tapped the helm.
McLaren: What if we adjusted the frequency of our shields to match the
resonant frequency of the nebula around us? That would make us nearly
indistinguishable from the surrounding nebula wouldn't it?
Kel: It could work. But matching resonance means letting the nebula’s
variable energy fields interact with the shields more directly.
Medically speaking… we’d need to prepare for a spike in hallucinogenic
feedback.
Voss: ?
McLaren: Would that risk exposing us to more of the hallucinations?
Kel: Potentially. But if we maintain a live neural-dampening cycle in
sickbay and route emergency filters to the bridge, we can keep the
worst of it off the command crew. As long as the creature doesn’t
panic… we should stay functional.
Voss: ?
Sol frowned thoughtfully.
McLaren: Let's give it a try... we won't be able to move very fast...
but if we can close with the station before they react to us... we
stand a better chance of being able to get through this without
risking damage to the creature.
Kel: I’ll monitor the creature’s patterns continuously. If anything
shifts—fear, pain, even confusion... I’ll call it immediately. We
move, but only as long as it’s safe.
Voss: ?
The Narendra eased forward, so slowly it felt more like drifting than
maneuvering. The shields hummed in a new tone—subtle, but discordant
enough that Ryden could feel it in his teeth. Matching the nebula’s
resonance made the ship feel porous, as though the boundary between
hull and haze had thinned to something fragile.
He kept one hand braced on the console as he monitored the creature’s
neural field.
Kel: ::quietly, eyes half-focused:: The creature feels the
distortion... only faintly. No panic yet. Whatever we’re doing… it
isn’t hurting it.
McLaren/Voss: ?
That was the most important part. The creature’s presence brushed
lightly across his mind, cautious but no longer flinching with each
modulation flare from the station.
A soft tremor ran through the deckplates... normal, expected, but it
made Ryden stiffen anyway. The nebula’s psychic static thickened the
deeper they went, like humidity behind his eyes.
Kel: ::brow tightening:: The creature sensed that. It’s bracing…
something about the station’s output is about to spike again.
McLaren/Voss: ?
Kel: ::after a breath, voice steady:: Keep moving… slowly. It’s
uneasy, but not in pain. We’re still within the threshold it can
tolerate.
The Narendra slipped forward another few meters. The station loomed
larger on the viewscreen—dark, angular, predatory in its silence.
And then, just beneath Ryden’s awareness, a shift. A stirring. A tightening.
Kel: ::sharply:: Commander... something in the creature’s field just changed.
McLaren/Voss: ?
-----
Lieutenant JG Ryden Tarus Kel
Medical Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240109RK1
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