Xulganak's Story

<< My Lord, the target is attempting communication. Likewise, another vessel has entered the area. It is larger and appears much more advanced. Orders? >>

The Awareness churned within within the leviathan ship. It was chaotic like a maelstrom of temporal fluctuations - a raging sea storm. However, deep beneath the complex matrix of flowing information was an adamantium wall, an iron clad clockwork, a mind that was the epitome of order and logic that orchestrated the illusion of chaos like a hundred thousand thousand puppet strings.

An idea surface within the Awareness as pieces of the ordered chaos partitioned itself from the whole. It was like a single drop of water in a flowing river stirring itself into consciousness and making itself known to the collective. The drop of water flickered like an ember in the rolling sea, altering the course of the frothing chaos, and became the eye of the storm.

"Protocol has not changed." the divided Awareness communicated with a partition of itself. "Incapacitate all vessels and initiate extraction."

<< Affirmative, Lord Xulganak. >>

The Awareness tightened its invisible grip around Jack's shuttle and attempted to silence all nonessential systems - including communications. While the shuttle made its final approaches to the Archiver station, the Awareness reached deep within the computers of the vessel and gutted them. Every scrap of data - every bit, byte, and shred of information - was scanned, analyzed, and dissected by the Awareness and securely stowed away. Manifests, personnel databases, and everything else would be subject to the Awareness, and Xulganak's, scrutiny.

Next, it turned its attention to the Taiyou vessel. Xulganak directed the Awareness's collective to ping the systems of the Kaze no Tani. It would be followed by a piece of malware - one much more sophisticated than the one that targeted the shuttle - that would attempt to infiltrate their computers. The malware would start by deactivating their communications, followed by their engines, weapons, and shields.

The effect on the Scorpio was noticeable immediately. The entire ship just seemed to give up, all its systems powering off and stubbornly refusing to return. All that remained was the faint hum of the reactor engine, propelling the derelict ship toward its final destination.

With the interior plunged into darkness, Jack unstrapped his Wyvern flamethrower, using the pilot flame as a light source. The pilot worked frantically, trying to get at least something back online. The message had already been sent out, so hopefully, there was someone out in the blank expanse who knew of the ship's predicament. There was no chance of receiving a response, though, with no power to any systems except propulsion and oxygen.

"Oh, that does it. That son-of-a-bitch who did this is going to get a face full of fire, or my name's not Jack Darrell Vulcan," he growled, the tiny orange flame giving his face a malicious glow in the darkness. When the Scorpio docked, there would be hell to pay.

The Kaze no Tani remained stationary for several moments as the Admiral figured out her course of action.

"We're fine." She replied to the third ship in the area. "We're going to provide assistance to the ship before us, maintain minimum safe distance." She ordered, and a few moments later, a Lieutenant spoke up. "We're not getting any more replies from that ship, other than the one. We'll need to perform a rescue, and we don't have long before it reaches that large construct." He reported, while Ayako nodded.

"Prepare a Sudden Transport for launch, rescue that ship, all hands battlestations!" Ayako shouted, before the Communications officer turned to the Admiral.

"The construct is attempting to hack our communications! I've isolated the communications from the rest of the ship, but the systems aren't otherwise responding, but our communications systems are offline!"

The Admiral had to think quickly and on her feet to fight whatever cybernetic intrusion had just occured. "Put all core systems into Autistic mode, get our fighters out there, tell them to run their systems into Autistic mode, and anyone with a cyberbrain needs to make their switches accordingly."

The Crew of the Kaze no Tani began to work quickly and diligently, switching all systems into Autistic mode. This meant that the Taiyou systems would refuse any and all incoming connections, and with communications physically severed from the rest of the ship through network solenoids, the Taiyou Carrier remained largely unimpeded from the cybernetic attack. One by one it's crew would shut off their own individual cyberbrains, to prevent the construct from assuming control of one of the ship's crew.

The massive Shokaku carrier banked hard to the port, coming about on the Archiver Command station, with most systems now operating independently and many of them being operated manually, the ship sacrificed reaction time and maneuverability to become virtually impervious to cybernetic intrusion.

"Sudden Transport is away, Admiral." Lieutenant Tanaka reported, and right on time, the small shuttle shot forward from the hangar bay of the Taiyou ship, on course towards the Scorpio.

It's aim was to intercept the ship evacuate it's crew, and then return to the Carrier.

Once the Sudden Transport cleared minimum safe distance, Ayako grabbed the ship's Intercom, dialing the weapons control, she spoke into the microphone.

"Forward batteries one and two, Anti-ship ordinance! make ready and fire!"

The Shokaku Carrier worked almost in perfect sync despite orders being manually given, the flat-top deck opened up to reveal two massive gun batteries, these tri-barreled 51cm (510mm, 20") Guns swiveled to life, as each turret crew sighted and prepared the weapons to fire.

The crews of each battery worked to the sound of the gun commander, his voice echoing through the battery's crew compartment.

"Umeru!"

The massive shell was loaded by hand first, a 51cm diameter 50 kiloton nuclear Anti-ship shell with a carbide penetrator, and electroconductive jacketing to allow it to penetrate shields was loaded first, then the charge was loaded second, and the gun sealed tight to hold the pressures of the combustion and prevent atmosphere from venting into space.

"Shiryoku no teki!"

Using a series of knobs and switches, the gun commander coordinated the weapon battery with the crew, as it swiveled and adjusted to bear aim on the station before them.

"Ute!"

The order was given and the gun crew took cover while the Battery XO flipped the switch, which ignited the powder charge and sent the shells screaming forward, both gun batteries hurled their projectiles towards the station, which burst fourth in massive orange plumes of light, and upon impact they would detonate causing serious structural damage unless the station had some sort of countermeasures.

With the first salvo away, the Sudden Transport was practically on top of the Scorpion now, and moving to attach to it's hull to cut through and rescue the crew. This would be noted by an audible clunk echoing through the ship.

Ooc: I'll have my post up tomorrow.))

Jack was normally not one to be startled by loud noises, but when almost every system is offline and the closest ship is shooting missiles like there's no tomorrow, even he began to sweat. Aiming his flamethrower wildly around in an attempt to guard himself, he tried to see what had happened, but that proved difficult without any illumination. "Who's there?! Show yourself right now, or you're getting torched!"

The pilot spun around in his seat to face him, shaking his head. "Calm down, it's just me." Then another, louder sound reverberated throughout the shuttle, and it was the pilot's turn to be startled. "... That one wasn't."

With the shields offline, they may well have been hit by a missile. There was no way for them to know for sure, and the very possibility of perishing in a fiery explosion did not sound all that promising.

"Shields on High! Ready ship for Flex Jump. We're going to do what we can here, but we need to be ready to disappear if necessary in the snap of a finger." Julius yelled across the control bay.

Seconds later, a large purple bubble took place around the ship. The ship was definitely a high grade shield, possibly military level. The Flex Jump Engine charged quickly, ready to activate and jump the ship in any location. The Transport Ship was ready for possible engagement if it came to it.

Julius turned to a certain potion of the control bay, "Engage loading magnet and docking magnet. Send it towards the downed ship immediately. Those magnets will knock anything out of their systems and stop it's movements."

A commanding Brute attempted to contact the ship that was lifeless, but there was no response. The Brute ordered the ship to rush the Scorpio. The engines on the ship roared as it rushed the Scorpio. Inside the Transport Ship a secondary Firewall picked up on a what had happened to the Scorpio and immediately began to engage Hardline Tech, which was more or less manual controls.

Not even a minute later, Julius was yelling orders as they enclosed on the Scorpio, "Prepare a small squad to board that ship. When those magnets lock, I want you to find all life on there and bring them here. It will be too dangerous for them to go back to the active combat ship."

The orders spread quickly and a small squadron of seven was forming. The squad wore a slick black, spandex like, armor that provided oxygen while defending them from the harsh reality of space. The group consisted of two Marines, two Brutes, and three Grunts. Six were armed while one of the Humans was a medic. When they gathered in a small room with a large plasma window and a plasma energy door that lead to the outside, a message was sent to the Control Bay stating they were ready.

The Scorpio was in range and Julius went back to giving orders, "Launch the Magnets!"

A serious of loud booms went off with the sound of mass amounts of pressure and what seemed like a cannon. A set of three, large, round magnets were released from the Transport Ship with Plasma Energy Chains that connected to the ship. Two seconds after the three were released, one large square magnet erupted from the ship. The Transport Ships actual material was unaffected by the effects of these large magnets due to it's true material, not what it looked like.

When these large magnets latched onto the ship, it would give the transport ship a sudden jerk. Immediately it activated it's Pressurized Break System. The Scorpio on the other hand would probably slam everything in it against the wall. There was no mercy on the beings or the materials in the ship when the magnets hit. The ships systems and anything that remained in it would be kicked as the magnets would simply fry the ships systems. This would kill off anything in the system, leaving the ship to be nothing but a dead hunk of steel that would be utterly useless but as a Fish Habitat now.

Following the magnets, when the ship was steady, the Boarding Squad took off through the Plasma Energy Doors. Their Plasma Space Pack on their backs propelled them to the Scorpio. When the squad would land on the ship, one would activate a Plasma Dome Shield around the squad. One of the Brutes was armed with a large piece of equipment. This equipment was used to literally drill a hole through the ship to get inside. The plasma energy drill bored through the ship, literally melting a hole. The Brute didn't move, but the hole would get deeper till it broke through.

The group would disable the shield and let the hot liquid metal be pulled out by the vacuum power of space. The tunnel would cool in seconds, but in this time, it was sucking air our of the ship. The squad jumped into the tunnel and as the last Grunt jumped through, a Brute placed a Plasma Dome Shield over the hole, sealing it off.

The leader of the group a Human, was checking his Exo-Pad, looking for heat signatures and talking while he shouted through a mic on his space suit, "If there is anyone here, we are here to help you! We are friendly unless fired upon! I repeat, if anyone is here, we are from the Transport Ship and are offering any help we can!"

Back on the Transport Ship, Julius was running scenarios on his screens in the Control Bay. Their shields were at full strength, protecting both itself and the Scorpio. Right now was scariest part in this escapade, having no idea what is going on. The ships engines were still charged, ready to jump. If the Transport Ship jumped, the Scorpio would go with it due to it's attachment. Julius would soon 'steal' the ship until he could explain, over being killed in a battle that had nothing to do with him.

"Make sure we are ready to jump. Shields are high. We are not engaging in combat here. If ANYTHING tries to hack through our Hardline or fires one grain of sand at us, you are to jump immediately! Do I make my self clear?!" Julius shouted before sitting down in a chair and review the scenarios and feeds from the Boarding Squad's suits that were feeding them live video and sound.

The magnets certainly did their job. They rammed into the ship with enormous force, slamming everything on board backward. Though Jack was relatively unscathed, aside from a few bruises from his Wyvern flamethrower hitting him, the pilot was not so lucky. He had been knocked out of his chair and hit his head atop the ship controls, unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. When the ship finally stabilized, Jack pulled off his Wyvern and lifted himself off the steel floor. If he hadn't been scared before, he was now, as that impact was too severe to be anything but a missile. Every system was offline now, even the computers which the alien virus had been working its way through.

"Oh no... Trevor? Trevor, answer me!" Jack nudged the pilot's body, using his name for the first time. And quite possibly the last. The entire situation seemed hopeless, and as far as Jack was concerned, they were doomed to die on this derelict hunk of metal. It was the end of the line... or was it?

At first he thought the noise he was hearing was the footfalls of angels, coming to take him away, but as he continued to listen, it became apparent that wasn't the case, because angels didn't bark military orders. Jack clutched his Wyvern tight now, because these intruders could be either friend or foe, and he wasn't about to take chances.

The noises on the hull grew ever louder, the wall to one of the corridors was being cut open using a powerful laser torch.

Hot metal and sparks brilliantly illuminated the inside of the Scorpio, which was followed by the audible clunking of the metal cutout hitting the floor. And a bright flashlight beam piercing the darkness, followed by shouting in a strange language.

It was then a well armed man clad in a strange uniform stepped out before Jack, pointing his rifle at the man, the beam of light shining directly at him.

"Is there anyone else on this ship? We need to leave now!" The Imperial warrior shouted with a thick accent, gesturing to the cutout in the wall. "We're the Imperial Taiyou Navy, and We're here to rescue you."

It didn't take long for the Imperial Warrior to catch an earful of the second group, and with a few gestures the rest of his men took up defensive positions, racking their weapons and taking cover behind an assortment of crates. They didn't know if the others were friendly or not.

"Get everyone in your crew and bring them here, we've got a shuttle to take you all off this ship." The Warrior ordered Jack.


---

As the Kaze no Tani loosed it's first volley fire at the unidentified station, Ayako quickly grabbed the receiver for the backup communications array.

"Kaneda, have batteries five and seven target that second ship, we can't let them interfere with our rescue without knowing their intentions, get some fighters out there to keep them away from that Civilian vessel."

Pressing the button down, Katamura sent a hail to the Transport ship.

"Unidentified Vessel this is an Imperial Taiyou Operation, I have soldiers on board that vessel. Cease your efforts to board that ship immediately, and bring them back to your vessel, or we will fire upon you." The Admiral warned.

Jack was visibly relieved, though he didn't have time to count his blessings. Not even bothering to put his flamethrower down, he pointed toward the injured pilot. "He needs medical attention. If we don't hurry, he could bleed out, since it's a head wound. He's the only other one here." He kicked his bag of luggage across the floor. "Do me a favor and have someone carry that. I've kind of got my hands full here," he said, gesturing to his Wyvern. "Man, I'm gonna be so late for work..."

The squad on the Scorpio was beginning to pick up a response on their scanners. They took notice to the one that was pulsing slower, indicating damage. It wouldn’t take but a matter of minutes to navigate to this point.

Behind this movement, back on the Transport Ship a message was coming through. Julius and the Brute commanders would quickly discuss the message before responding. Julius would signal for the communications to open for response.

“You shoot us, you shoot your own team, just to be clear. We’re not here to harm. We took notice to the out of control ship and decided to assist. In attempts to communicate our systems took notice of whatever was controlling the ship. My crew members are making sure everyone is okay. I’ll send them a message, but you should take your situation into hand. You’re engaging a ship in battle. Let us escort this ship to you and we’ll be on our way. I strongly urge you to let us bring you this ship and crew safely within our shields.” Julius spoke to the Taiyou ship.

Behind Julius, a Brute was sending orders to the boarding squad on the Scorpio, “Hold your position. The ship with the guns says they’ll shoot.”

The squad was right around the corner from the entrance to the room containing the injured being and everyone else, “Sir, one of them is injured. We'll hold until further commands, but we're less than ten feet from the room they're in.”

The Brute turned to Julius, informing him of the injured, where Julius would turn back to the communications with the Taiyou, “Well, just in, one of them is injured. Don’t know how bad, but on our Medic’s scanner, it does not look good. Let us know if you want our help or if you want us to release the ship back into space and possibly into the belly of that other ship.”

Lord Xulganak watched with mild interest as the galaxy spun, and he observed the quantum dance between a nucleus and its electron consorts with a studious curiosity. His eyes and ears were spread across the cosmos, silently monitoring the happenings of the galaxy and the civilizations within from the darkness between the stars and the hidden places of the worlds.

A moon-sized space station cannibalized a barren planet in the uncharted galactic wilderness. What little life found there was collected, studied, cataloged, and then sanitized before the world itself was ripped apart and stripped of any valuable resource. The matter would fuel a new generation of droids and ships, which would further extend the Archiver’s reach across the universe. They would harvest, learn, adapt, and build. Xulganak was satisfied.

He turned his gaze outwards, beyond the galaxy. What other matters required his attention?

Xulganak turned his gaze to the vast expanse between the galaxies of his domain. His eyes and ears, ancient satellites and sensors drifting through the void, peered and searched for anything of note. The archiver lord stretched his consciousness across the stars. It was a mere transition from one node to the next, but anything could catch his attention...

Fortunately, the precognitive nature of Marlene's mind allowed her to anticipate some of the hiccups, and buffer her mind to protect itself against the incoming onslaught of data. Marlene's mind processed it quickly, by buffering it out, and focusing her own thoughts. Marlene also managed to keep her own consciousness relatively isolated, while focusing on the mental 'White room' that she tried to keep them in.

But the sadness was overwhelming, the woman sensed a lot of pain, a lot of sadness in the Princess's mind, and it had a profound, and intimate effect on her own psyche.

Halena let her into her mind, and Halena took the first step towards the path to enlightenment, so now it was time for Marlene to open up to the other, to let her own mind cascade fourth.

Marlene smiled, and telepathically spoke.

"There's more, I'm going to let you in." She wanted to see if Halena could truly comprehend the steps she was about to take, but she knew that she would be completely opening her own mind to the child before her, Aschen state secrets, everything. It didn't matter, the Asylians could wipe the Aschen out, and so she took a gamble.

Marlene closed her eyes, and opened her mind to Halena. The Child would be bombarded with a sensation of pure agony, but it wasn't her own, the agony she felt was that of Marlene, the agony of being separated from ascension, but there was more, there was thousands of years worth of memories.

Marlene's childhood was the most traumatic, memories of the Aschen Confederation invading her homeworld of Yellowstone, memories of Aschen soldiers moving through the streets, door to door, dragging people out, the memories were clear, and they were vivid.

Yellowstone gave way to the lush, verdant green of Langara, and the emotions of sadness, and hatred followed. Hatred for a man that was a father figure, a man that visited unspeakable evil that left the child scarred, there was pain, a great deal of agonizing pain.

The memories were like a maelstrom, some were significant events in Marlene's life, like her first kiss. Others were the minutia of her day to day interactions on Langara.

Marlene was standing in front of a strange man in a black suit.

"Do you solemnly swear to protect and defend the interests of the Aschen Confederation of Planets, as an Agent of the Langaran Defense Agency, with every fiber of your being?"

"I do."

The Chaos of memories shifted, a memory of Marlene standing in a large room overlooking a console, and a massive device of some kind.

"They call it the Potentia, Project Shimshon, a device that, if activated will wash clean all life from this galaxy. If our society falls, we'll take this galaxy with it.."

Marlene looked down in the memory, taking a small, yet technical looking crystal into her hand, She worked quickly to suppress it, but the memory had already flowed fourth.

Another memory followed, they were in a bar of some kind, arguing passionately over someone, the woman in Marlene's mind was named Ari, they were arguing over a Randin Kaye before Ari stabbed Marlene in the chest, searing pain followed, followed by more emotions of agony, and then calm, as Marlene gazed upon a being enrobed in a brilliant white light, another ascended being.

"The success or failure of your deeds, does not add up to the sum of your life. Your spirit cannot be weighed. Judge yourself by the intentions of your actions, and by the strength with which you faced the challenges that have stood in your way. The Universe is vast and we are so small. There is really only one thing we can ever truly control... whether we are good or evil."

There was a warm light, the feeling of peace, an absolute, and overwhelming flood of knowledge, and understanding that was now being shared freely with the child. Marlene's own ascension, as she shed her physical body was a unique sensation, as she lay there on the bar floor, dying.

The white realm returned, Marlene having stemmed the flow from her own mind. Physically, the blonde was holding her head, exhaustion had begun to set in, as she relived the last few thousand years in her mind, her fragile psyche overwhelmed. One thing Halena would learn, was a hair's breadth kept Marlene from true insanity.