Lt. Cmdr. Alieth - Journey Through The Dark
Alieth
[[Corridor, 47th level, Lattice Alliance Unknown Structure]]
Three quarters of the away team had materialised in one of the corridors of the LA's ovoid structure. This corridor had a hexagonal section, with rounded edges, almost like a honeycomb, and stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted with small red lights at regular distances, tiny blood-coloured lights that barely managed to brighten a couple of feet away. The walls had strange bulbous panels, black and shiny like insect carapaces, interwoven in an organic-looking and somehow nauseating lattice, like petrified entrails made of black petroleum.
Alieth crouched down, and began scanning both sides of the corridor filled with a whitish mist that wrapped around her ankles, clinging closely to the floor plates. Soon it was evident that the station was exposed to high temperatures, close to 120 degrees Celsius. Close to her, Luxa bent down so that she could take a closer look and the substance in the walls. As her eyes get used to the nearly pitch darkness, Alieth was able to see how it has some miniscule streams of purple light transmitting through it.
Before the Commander
inquired about it, the Caitian confirmed that it was a bio-neural
liquid. The corridor itself seemed to be used to transmit and
distribute information through that section of the station, at the
very least. It wasn't unreasonable to assume that this pattern
repeated itself throughout the whole facility, and that the structure
itself was some sort of giant computer... or that it was heavily
automated, demanding a significant amount of computational power. The
absence of vital signs so far added weight to these assumptions.
Alieth rose to her feet and glanced at her two teammates.
Alieth: Are there signs of movement or energy nearby? Any indication of Sencha generators as we know them?
As expected, the young Trill was the first to eagerly reply.
Syrex: I should be able to configure my tricorder to detect heat signatures.
As the ensign took the probe from her tricorder and pressed it against the wall, Luxa performed a wide band search around the corridor.
Lorana: The structure itself appears to be some kind of hexagonal matrix :: nods to the substance :: I think these passages contain the bio-neural oil leading to a central chamber. It’s likely the computer core? We’d need to get closer to get a reading through the interference.
The petite Vulcan tilted her head as she usually did, a movement that was much more noticeable with the bulky helmet that covered her head.
Alieth: The computer core is a key location we should target, check if you can determine its direction based on the pulses in the bioneural fluid. ::turning to Syrex :: What about those motion and energy signals?
Syrex: Give me a moment…
The rookie took a moment more scanning the wall, the frontal of her helmet almost glued to the tiny screen of her tricorder.
Syrex: There is a heat signature behind this wall, whether it is a generator or not, I don’t know. But it appears to be cooler than the rest of the structure at around 303 degrees Kelvin.
Lorana: :: pointed to the nodes :: These nodes are connected to it –
Syrex: If it’s cooler and there is bio-neural oil in there, it could certaintly be a computer of some kind.
Alieth: Agreee
The lieutenant reported on the findings of her survey, which consisted of the discovery of several small nodes positioned around the corridor, all in a distinctively hexagonal shape that matched the rest of the station, however, she was interrupted abruptly. A shadow up ahead seemed to cross the corridor, obscuring the dim light available. In a knee-jerk movement, Lorana drew her weapon and began to scan in that direction.
Lorana: No lifesigns :: to Alieth :: I’m not seeing ghosts, something was there.
The Vulcan narrowed her myopic eyes and stared at the figures that seemed to take shape in the passageway's shadows.
Alieth: No... I think I can see it too.
As if the lieutenant wanted to prove her point some more there was another shadow, and then a shape stepped into view. It pointed a weapon towards them.
It wasn’t the rifle it held that made the team pause, it was the form of a Trill woman. In this environment, she should be dead without a suit.
Alieth: No... I think I can see it too.
They could not add much more, for a shadow seemed to step forward, followed closely by a second. The more visible one, with no helmet or suit to withstand the hostile conditions of the station, raised what looked like a weapon towards them. But it was not that which was particularly disturbing for the group, it was the appearance of the figure herself. A Trill woman Alieth had only seen in holopics, but whose eyes seemed to have a vivid, empathic, intelligent glow that the minute Commander immediately recognised as a reflection of the soul of the symbiote Niac. It could only be Sencha Niac, the discoverer, and one of the first victims, of the radiation she gave her name to. Luxa, always swift and alert, both in body and speech, was the first to report it.
Lorana:
Sencha Niac. They’re holograms!
The second hologram
joined the first, the scowling expression looking utterly out of
place on the gentle, pensive countenance. The hologram raised another
weapon, and, just then, the silence that had settled in broke with a
cheerful, out-of-place beep.
Raedai: =/\= Rhine to
away team, you have indeed encountered holograms, but the security
protocols are activated. It must not be a security system, nothing
else seems to have been activated. =/\=
Despite the
Romulan's reassuring words, a primitive, atavistic part of the
Vulcan's mind urged her to leap to the side, take cover and run. She
ignored these, determined to trust the Ops officer, no matter how
much another part of her mind refused to believe the words of her
people's longstanding nemesis.
Instead, she remained
still, standing tall in all her meagre stature, and pointed her
tricorder at the holographic beings.
Alieth: Do not move.
Then, the Sencha Holograms opened fire on them…
The blast lit up the
corridor as they headed towards the small group, a group that was
further reduced when the rookie officer jumped to one side and
ducked.
Raedai: =/\= Try not to damage the system,
if there is any problem I could notify the station. Also I can inform
you that this complex seems to be attracting the Gormangander with
Alpha particles to an outer area with high concentration of Sencha
radiation. I do not know the purpose at this time. =/\=
He
reported them, tas the phaser beams streaked down the corridor and
hit the standing officers' EVA suits.... and dissolved into innocuous
photons when they reached their breastplates.
Syrex:
How likely is it that this station is designed to feed the
Gormangander? :: Continuing to duck from the phaser fire:: could
there be a mutually beneficial relationship between them and the
lattice Alliance?
Alieth: The presence of the Gormangander probably has more to do with the degradation of alpha particles due to Sencha radiation. I doubt the Alliance designed this to attract the whales, but rather the whales have been attracted by the presence of the structure.
Harmless blaster shots kept hitting the front of her suit, her helmet and her boots, as Alieth kept scanning the nature of the holopeople. As she waited for the process to finish, she couldn't help but wonder why the LA had decided to ignore the Gormangander. They weren't harmful, far from it, but the Alliance wasn't exactly known for its preservationist awareness. Perhaps they were incapable of avoiding them? Or had scaring them away or destroying them proved to be far worse? She expected the Romulan would answer some of those questions.
Lorana: response
Syrex: What if the LA is also harmed by Sencha radiation, what if the Gormangander pods are unknowingly cleaning up this area of space for them?
Alieth: It is a theory, but I do not think it is true. :: She tilted her head once more:: =/\=Lieutenant Raedai, I expect you to find the reason for the Gormangander's presence, as well as the reason why the LA allows their presence. =/\=
Raedai: =/\= I will do my best.=/\=
At that moment, the two holograms stopped firing. They stared down
the corridor, their eyes looking beyond where Alieth stood, as if
they couldn't fully see her, and then turned away.
Alieth:
I have successfully reprogrammed their primary order to a damaged
holographic pattern alarm. Now, they should lead us to their nearest
computing unit.
Lorana: Response
Alieth nodded at the Caitian's words, before turning to the rookie, who had pulled her phaser out of her clip and held it in a manner the Vulcan could only describe as ‘nervous’.
Syrex: What now? Should we fire back?
Alieth:
::starting to follow the Sencha Clones:: On the contrary, let us not
disturb them. We will follow them and find out if they lead us to the
main computer, or a system that will allow us to get to the main
computer.
Syrex/Lorana/ Raedai (optional): Response
The corridors
twisted left and right as they followed the holograms, more
organically than logically, in a sort of spiral that ascended and
descended, leaving bifurcations on one, the other or both sides.
Alieth, hardly skilled at navigating in unfamiliar places (or
familiar ones, in spite of herself) soon lost track of which
direction they were coming from, and where they were heading to. All
the corridors seemed equally dark, with the hexagonal shape of the
disgustingly organic walls and the six-sided nodes glowing red at
regular intervals. Despite the twists and turns that they took, what
seemed clear was that they followed the same direction as the small
purple running lights that seemed to flow through the oily liquid
that made up the walls.
That triggered Alieth's instinct,
and she scanned her surroundings once more, never pausing in her
footsteps.
Alieth: We
are moving towards the colder area that Ensign Syrex detected.
Syrex/Lorana/ Raedai (optional): Response
The Vulcan's boots sloshed on the suddenly wet ground. The haze prevented her from seeing what kind of liquid it was with the naked eye, so she finally stopped for a moment to analyse it before moving on.
Alieth: It looks like some kind of saline biological fluid. It has traces of proteins and some simple carbohydrates…
As she spoke, the
holograms kept moving forward and turned to the left through a
doorway larger than the ones they had used so far, a sort of hollow
in the shape of three hexagons stacked in a pyramid pattern, which
opened like a wet diaphragm with a damp sound.
Syrex/Lorana/ Raedai (optional): Response
[[Tags! TBC]]
Lieutenant Commander Alieth
Chief Science Officer & 2O
E239702A10
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