[Act 3] Commander Toryn Raga - For Narhelion's Tomorrow
Rameses
((Unity Cortex, Central Dorsal, Narhelion))
The last few hours had been among the most informative and remarkable since they encountered the cosmozoan entity they now knew as Narhelion. Those in the Science Prote no doubt considered her to be a wonder of biological and technological engineering. A bio-organic ship, sentient and quite alive. And ancient. Though he had only been joined to Narhelion via the mind link for a handful of hours he had experienced so much. Memories, emotions, thoughts, as most telepaths did but this was beyond how even mentally joining with his family was.
Toryn wasn’t sure if it was because of the extreme age of the entity or just some natural force of personality, but what he did know is that they needed to see her safely to the subspace fissure she was en route to. Throughout their work to restore her systems enough to stand a chance of survival against the Lattice Alliance fleet ahead of them she had shared a tiny drop in the overall experience that was her existence. He took a moment to absorb the fact he was linked, albeit temporarily, to a creature slightly over twenty thousand years old. What the Al-Leyan respected and empathized with the most was the memories she carried of the Caretakers whom she had served and served with, who had all died one by one. And whose memories were now stored in their entirety, emotions, hopes, dreams all in a massive cluster of memory membranes within her being. Since he too carried memories, fragmented as they were and of complete strangers as a way to honor those wronged by Romulan occupation he understood her.
Toryn shook his head slightly to pull himself from his thoughts when he felt Narhelion’s presence at the edge of his mind change to a consoling one, which meant he’d been letting his musings drift to his surface thoughts enough for her to hear them and sense his emotions. He smiled and looked around. The chamber he stood within, what Narhelion had referred to as the Unity Cortex, because it was the focal point of all her functions and the place where, in her own words, she and her Caretakers had been truly one in purpose was also home to her heart.
Well adjacent to it at least. A small transparent membrane on one wall offered a glimpse of the great creature’s heart and power source. The steady rhythm of light and energy, like a pulsar, flicked into the room at regular intervals when the membrane wasn’t opaque. While trying to understand her in order to restore her systems they had learned that Narhelion’s power source through some means drew energy directly from subspace itself.
Over the last few hours they had managed to bring most of her systems out of their hibernation state. Her offensive capabilities were staggering. She had an equivalent firepower to Starbase One back on Earth, just with her secondary weapons. Her shielding was the first thing they restored and the output was immense, but not without its vulnerabilities. Toryn had noted that the bio-organic organs that generated the overlapping shields were not protected by her armored carapace according to Narhelion. And could potentially be at risk. Granted, they hadn’t quite gotten said armored carapace restored yet. It was one of the last systems still giving them trouble revoking the hibernation mode.
Then there were the polaron arrays along her ventral and dorsal side. The dozens of small cannons that were meant for engaging smaller targets like shuttles. And something she’d referred to as cobalt quills. Their massive friend had a line of quills that could emerge all along the circumference of her body a few meters from her tail. They were the size of a runabout and armed with tricobalt. It made him smile as it felt somehow appropriate. The Ronin was capable of unleashing a hellish barrage of torpedoes in a fight. Something the Lattice Alliance had discovered first hand. So the fact their cosmozoan friend could do something similar just made her feel more like a kindred spirit.
Raga: What’s the status on getting the armored carapace, and the primary cannon back online?
Toryn stood in front of the mushroom table that made their conference room table look like a footstool. On it was displayed the current status of Narhelion herself, a smaller window with status on the Ronin. And the bulk of the area above the table holographically represented was the Lattice Alliance fleet and the fissure beyond them. Dozens of ships. Toryn recognized them. He counted no less than six cruisers between the Tholians and Sheliak designs. The smaller ships were just as dangerous due to their numbers and capabilities. They had some of the most powerful ships in the Alliance in front of them. One signature stood out, the Phoenix Rising. This was not the first time they’d crossed phasers with that ship.
Tucker/Venn/T’Fearne/Shortrith/Evinrude: Responses
Toryn sighed slightly. That was to be expected, the explosion caused by the remains of the Tholian cruiser Narhelion destroyed hours ago had caused devastating damage to several of the parts of her that were connected to her most powerful weapon. They had their best people working on healing her and they had been doing so for the last few hours. The size of the task and patient, along with the extensive damage had made slow progress. Even now he could still feel that dull, muted pain at the edge of his mind. He knew Narhelion was suppressing what all of those in the mind link could feel. Even briefly when he’d returned to the Ronin to discuss their plan to get her to the fissure the link hadn’t diminished in the slightest. And Narhelion didn’t even know the limits of the range of the connection.
Raga: I figured as much. The damage caused internally was nothing insignificant. We can only hope Kel and his people can heal her enough to restore it but for now we should focus on what we can control. Based on this, I’d say we’ve got minutes to get that armor functioning again. I know we can do it.
Narhelion: ~ Narhelion believes, new Caretakers. Narhelion is glad to have met you. Estimate is correct. Narhelion will be within firing range of hostile fleet in twenty minutes~
Tucker/Venn/T’Fearne/Shortrith/Evinrude: Responses
Toryn brushed his hand through his hair and took a moment to stare at it. One of the side effects of the mind link had been just as unexpected as the creature herself. Over the last few hours Toryn had noted that everyone in the mind link had started to take on an interesting alteration. Which Narhelion confirmed would reverse as long as the mind link was ceased within the 48 hour window she’d told them of earlier. He watched the faint shimmer of bluish purple and green light flit along his skin back and forth in time with the pulses coming from Narhelion’s heart. Even his hair had been affected. His usual raven black hair now looked like someone had woven nanofiber sized optical cables into them. Streaks of the same pulsing illumination present throughout Narhelion flowed in a much more diluted mirror each of them who were linked. Even his normally glowing eyes had a similar occasional flicker. It made them look somewhat ethereal.
Raga: Very well. T’Fearne, I trust you’ve acclimated to the control systems for Narhelion’s offensive weaponry? It’s a bit different actually being able to see through the weapons you’re firing. ::he chuckled::
Tucker/Venn/T’Fearne/Shortrith/Evinrude: Responses
Toryn nodded and looked at each of them, his glowing and slightly flickering eyes rested on all those in the control chamber with him. Some of whom he was in the mind link with, some not.
Raga: You all know the plan. The Ronin will back us up and buy us whatever time they can to get her to the fissure. We have runabouts as a last resort should things go poorly in the next few minutes. ::he took a slow breath but smiled:: Starfleet is all about the preservation of life and there is no greater thing than to put one's own life on the line to protect another. And there is no greater life that I’ve met at least ::he chuckled:: than the one we’re trying to save now. For Narhelion’s, and her baby's tomorrows I will give my today if I have to. And seeing the resolve in your eyes and in your minds, I know I’m not alone. Ronin… ::he smiled and glanced at the subspace heart in the chamber next to theirs:: and Narhelion Strong.
Narhelion: ~ Narhelion and Tinty Predator strong! ~
The sensation of glee and belonging that washed over him from Narhelion was like a heated blanket on the coldest day back home.
Tucker/Venn/T’Fearne/Shortrith/Evinrude: Responses
Raga: Red Alert. T’Fearne and Venn I trust you’ll manage the tactical systems. While the Counselor, and I monitor the fleet. ::he looked up from the center table:: Tucker and Evinrude, keep working on that armor. Once it’s functional, keeping her healthy during the fight will be your job. Since those immuno duplicates we encountered also are part of her self-repair you’ve got one hell of a damage control team to coordinate.
Tucker/Venn/T’Fearne/Shortrith/Evinrude: Responses
[tags/tbc]
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Commander Toryn Raga
First Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
Writer ID: A239410TR0
https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php?title=Toryn_Raga