Going after the Big Fish would take at least two days of travel on the Dainty Mauler. This gave Tasha some time to work more on her Titanian armor and record her report, since they were traveling by Maelstrom which didn't effect solid-state electronics like the Star Sea does - it just makes portholes shrink to pinpoints due to the blind-spot effect.
The report comes first, and as usual Tasha sits on her Titanian bed and relates what has transpired so far. "As you can see, Outpost Caltrop is a melting pot of Galactic cultures with a particular lean towards adventure seekers, people fleeing the inner systems, fortune hunters and miners from the surrounding asteroid mining operations," she continues, having just finished her report on everything that's transpired up until reaching the Outpost. "Galactic interest and monitoring appear to be low, but I wouldn't put it past them to have agents on site. In fact, I was mistaken for one such agent by multiple parties; I have continued to conceal our origins despite several attempts to discover them by the curious and the concerned. Mage Neesa, in particular, is arousing suspicion -- I'll need to help her blend in better with the Titanians."
The report continues in this fashion over the next hour, going in to detail about what she saw of the species and their culture, their politics, and the basic layout of the Outpost in case future Abaddonian agents come that way. She doesn't mention Kem other than to call him "a contact," and that she's "leaving to explore a lead" and that she will continue to report on that situation. The Titanian's battle with the Celestial Fleet is also glossed over, noting only that, "the Titanians engaged a Celestial Fleet that invaded their territory and were successful in repelling them; The Territory around the Ring should be avoided without Titanian permission."
That concludes the young woman's report for the time being, which leaves her with addressing her other major issue: Surviving the possible conflict with the Khattan salvagers. Her space armor -- while certainly armor of a sort -- wans't build with combat in mind; More precisely, she didn't have time to take real combat in to consideration. With days to prepare, she now has that time and has begun reinforcing the costume-turned-equipment in to something more suited to boarding operations.
To this end, Tasha has reinforced the armor plating, redone areas that were too ad-hoc for her liking, and added some additional sensors and monitors to her helmet to assist in detection. In addition, she's mounted additional reation mass tanks: While they won't be useful for precision navigation in space, they'll get her where she needs to go until they run out.
All in all, the armor looks more robust and now the nacel and other vernier thrusters actually provide thrust rather than just making the suit look like it should. The addition of a low light, thermal, and EM scanner should help her get a better sense of her surroundings. After that, it's on to weapons -- but little time is left. Tasha decides to leave serious weapons to the Titanians and instead adds a lanyard hook to her halitool, makes a Blammo-style multitool knife, and experiments a bit with grenades ending up with a few basic explosive and EMP grenades of uncertain utility.
"Well, it'll have to do," she decides as she looks at her work table. The alarm has sounded, and she doesn't have any more time.
Transition to normal space takes place at the very edge of the target system, for good reason. The tactical display shows a binary star system, with one of the members being a black hole (dubbed Charybdis) while the other was a 'magnetar' neutron star (dubbed Scylla) that would randomly produce violent bursts of gamma rays and x-rays, as well as having magnetic field lines extending out for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, warped by the churning of space between the two super-dense objects. The frame-dragging effect appeared as a gravimetric whirlpool between them as they orbited one another at nearly a thousand kilometers per second.
At the very center of that gravitational vortex was a point where normal space and D-level hyperspace overlapped. At the center of that was the Big Fish. There was so much radiation interference from Scylla and Charybdis, along with their bright accretion disks of gas from the original supernovas that created them that Bumper still didn't have a good image of just what the Fish might be.
Arrayed at the edges of the display are the other interested parties: a group of six Khattan ships, including one giant frigate that could probably hold Harmonia in one of its bays, and a familiar arrow-head-shaped Celestial Empire Dreadnaught - possibly the same one encountered at Broghram's Ring earlier. There are a dozen Confederate vessels scattered throughout the system, likely there just to see who gets the prize first.
It's a complex enough situation that Captain Rushfighter has come to the observation dome to get a better grasp of things.
Tasha arrives in the observation dome in her armor, but with her weapons left behind for now. "I don't have a lot of experience with things like this," she notes as she comes to stand beside the Captain, "But it looks like a mess. A complex mess. Three different Galactics -- and probably more on the way? And that binary system! I've never seen anything like that, save what I've read in old books and brushed through in JEF records, but to see it ... " She shakes her head, unable to express the mix of awe and intimidation the massive objects instill in her.
"Terrans and Silent-Ones no come to system like this," Rushfighter notes. "Only kitties and snakes have big gravity warp engines. Prolly waiting to see what other side tries first, then try to get prize after it out of the mousetrap."
The display floating in front of Bumper goes through various colors and levels of resolution as she tries to image the Fish. "Hrrm," she grumbles. Even though there isn't a clear picture yet, there are flashing symbols appearing. "Lots of strangelets on scan. Stable ones, regular distribution.. prolly stasis-3 anchors. Could be wormship."
"Oh, is that it?" Tasha glances to Rushfighter, brows rasing. "I should know that by now, thank you." She returns her gaze to the display, frowning. "Let me try again ... The Celestial have the least regard for life, as do the Tandu. They might be willing to use the Tandu they may still have to try to board the ship. The Celestials are patient, generally, so they may sit it out -- they also lost their escort so their fighting strength may be reduced sufficently to make them worry? And so they'll be more oncliced to wait. The Khattans seem to have the highest concentration of fighting forces, but they're not brave -- at least not unless there's bit profit, I think? They'll move first if they feel they have a strong advantage, or if the risk is great enough, and it'll probably be the junior members they send -- someone they trust and can control I'd think. The rest would wait and keep an eye on the others. The Confederates may be bribable, so I think we should watch out for one side or another gaining th
eir alliance." She then glances to Bumper and asks, "Wormship?"
"Rare form of drive," Bumper explains. "Uses quantum wormholes. No gravity well issues, tricky navigation. Very expensive exotic matter needed for stasis-3 - that make the ship behave as massless quantum particle. Use it for handling neutronium, does a trick of shunting bosons into D-Level to appear as dark energy. The Fish no affected by the vortex if using stasis-3, make it hard to get a reading on it."
"Huh," goes Tasha, who finds she understands only the gist of what Bumper is explaining. "Well, that's ... tricky," she adds, not quite sure what to say, and having little insight in to the deeper workings of Galactic FTL drives.
"Don't know of First Ones using that system," Rushfighter notes. "Could be Old Ones, or extragalactic. Can't let anyone have it though."
"Get us on top, easier to see," Bumper requests. Rushfighter gives the order, and the Mauler begins to move above the orbital plane of the system.
"Well, I'll help for whatever that's worth. Fudgy should be along soon, too -- I asked her to look in to blending in better so she may be a bit late. When she arrives, she might be able to use her magic to assist," Tasha notes as she glances towards the window, eyeing the binaries. "And you say it came out of an overlap point between our space and D-Level hyperspace. Could D-Level be used to traverse the intervening space and arrive beside it?"
"One of bat-ships must have D-space drive," Rushfighter notes with a nod. "Getting to it and getting in two different problems though. Bats not seem confident about doing both."
"We're spotted," Grillfang notes. "Khattans making move." On the display, the big frigate begins to move in towards the vortex.
"We could offer to work together with them," Tasha suggests, pointing at the Confederate fleet. "It's possible some element of their fleet knows to expect us, and knows they're profitting off the affair. If they sense an opportunity to come out with even more, they may be willing to aid us further. And I might -- might -- be able to contact He-Who-Moves and see if he's willing to help us."
Tasha turns her attention to the monitor, frowning all the more. "So they're sending in the main ship? They must feel confident -- or desperate. And if so, that means they chose that ship for a reason, and the others are insufficent or inadequate and have ben left on guard duty?"
When Neesa shows up, her attempts at looking more Titanian boil down to making her fur look shaggier and wearing children's-style clothing. The fake mane is passable.
"Hi Fudgy," Tasha greets the woman distractedly, waving her to join them as she points at the display. "Big fish and big party. The Khattans are trying to reach the ship now, but the Confederates and the Celestials are staying back. We're observing."
"Lots of stators and biggest power plant," Bumper notes of the frigate. "Best change of making it through the vortex, but only if Scylla is quiet. Celestials have better hull for dealing with radiation, but lots more mass too. Would not handle tidal forces as well."
"Then if the big ship doesn't make it, the others will probably give up -- it depends how valuable the Big Fish is and who much they'll risk, I think," the hybrid considers as she folds her hands across her chest. "What do we do if they make it and manage to board it?"
"Gonna take some time still.. find me that D-ship," Rushfighter tells Grillfang, who starts to examine the various Confederate vessels. Each one looks different in design, but vaguely bug-like all the same. "If Khattans get to it.. we try to scare them off."
"Stir up the water or attack their friends?" Tasha inquires as she turns to watch Grillfang work his console, wanting to see which ship has the D-Drive.
"Warning shot at rest of their fleet," Rushfighter says. "Hypercannon can't target in the vortex, shot could go wild."
Grillfang pauses his search, the current ship showing some glowing resonance signatures. "Got it," he announces. "Surface decay from dark energy exposure."
"I was wondering about that," says the hybrid with a nod as she watches the console. "I volunteer for the team that gets sent to the Confederate vessel -- I'm not much use here, but maybe I can help on-site. Besides, I'd like to see it for myself and I've got a bit of experience getting different people to work together."
"You speek Eeee-squeaks?" Rushfighter asks.
"No, I'll need a translator," Tasha admits as she studies the alien vessel.
"I understand it," Neesa says quietly. "I was stationed in Babel as an acolyte, before the Boomer. I don't speak it well, but can be understood."
"We take batship?" Grillfang asks, looking excited at the prospect.
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Fudgy coming along," Tasha notes as she turns to glance at her friend. "She's nearly been detected several times, and the Confederates are experts in biotechnologies. The risk she could be detected for what she is is high, as it is for me. But, I'll be wearing my shielded armor while on their ship."
"Ask first," Rushfighter says, and taps the side of his head with his hammer a few times. "Lemme think.."
"There's armor that will fit me too," Neesa points out. "I'm supposed to keep you out of trouble."
"And I have an obligation to see the Karnors I pulled out of a wreck stay happy," Tasha notes, turning to face Neesa fully. "I'm not a child, you know. Besides, we're way past trouble."
"Bring us close to batship," Rushfighter decides. "Will make others reckless anyway. We got something to talk at them with?"
"Standard hyperwave works this far out," Bumper notes.
It takes a few moments to set up communications, and once it's clear to everyone that the Titanians are heading towards the Confederate ship, their call gets answered. "This is Captain S'tella of the Confederate pathfinder ship Abraxus. What are your intentions?" The Standard is accented but understandable, and the voice sounds female.
Rushfighter clears his throat, and looks to Bumper for the go-ahead to start talking. "I Rushfighter, son of Gutripper, commanding Precise Killer. You have D-Space drive. We need it. Cooperate, make big Galactics look foolish, Confederates win coup points."
Turning back to the display, Tasha continues to study the readouts and watch the fleets move as the Confederate responds. "Please understand, Fudgy," she murmurs in a low voice, so only she and those nearby can hear. "I know you're here to look after me, but you're way over your head and the stakes are much, much higher than what you or I need. This isn't about me, or you. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried about us, and you especially. I'm not sure Remy saw how far we might go -- and I'm afraid you'll be endangered if you keep trying to treat me like your charge."
"Then why did you volunteer to go on a boarding mission into something even the Titanians don't recognize?" Neesa whispers back. "You might need me."
"What else do you offer?" S'tella responds after a delay.
Rushfighter looks around, apparently uncertain that he was offering anything in the first place. "Uh.. not just take you ship?" he offers.
"And you might die, and I don't want to be the one to tell Remiel that you died because you were protecting me. Protecting JEF interests and the people of Abaddon is my job. If anyone should be risking themselves, it's me. Exploring is dangerous work, and honestly, I don't need anyone telling me to be careful. If I was careful Remiel would still be in his nightmares and I'd be droving pteras right now," Tasha whispers to her friend, still watching the displays and listening to the other conversation between her words.
"I don't suppose you could throw in something a little more than that?" S'tella asks, sounding a bit strained.
"If all work out, then mebbe," Rushfighter replies. "Prepare for boarding party."
"We need to get going soon," Tasha notes, turning to face Fudgy completely again. "I won't force you to remain here, and I've said what I wanted to say. I like you, Fu- ... Neesa, I just don't want to see you get hurt because of my investigation. I'll be fine on my own, but, I don't plan to return soon and it'll just keep getting more and more dangerous. I know Remy means well, but I have my own desires and my own path to follow. I'm just sorry that it has to complicate your lives," she explains.
After the communications are shut down, Rushfighter asks Bumper, "How long for barnacle to be ready?"
"Eh, be ready enough by time we line up with bats," Bumper guesses. "Need all our unused sabots though."
"Whatever you need," Rushfighter says, then hugs Bumper. "Take demo charge too."
"I'll go with you," Tasha notes to Bumper, turnign away from the speechless Neesa to join the Titanian. "I have to pick up my equipment as well, and would you mind if I borrowed a weapon or two ..?" She asks as she joins her.
"Sure," Bumper tells Tasha.
"Thanks," goes Tasha, who glances back at Neesa for a brief moment before she falls in line with the older Titanian. "Ready?"
"Grillfang, you and Fudgy stay on batship," Rushfighter says. "I want her tell you if bats being sneaky. Take Blammo too for boarding Fish, Bumper in charge of that. Rustpuppy be there to talk to gods."
"Leave it to me, Captain!" Tasha barks as she turns to line up beside Bumper. "This'll be a good test for my hammer, too."
It takes a little over an hour to rendezvous with the Confederate ship. It's much smaller than the Mauler, and looks like a cross between a beetle and a dragonfly, with the long tail taking up most of the vessel's length. Instead of using the airlock tube, the group is packed into the 'barnacle' - which Tasha recognizes as a Titanian breaching pod from the old simulations they did on Bellerophon. Neesa is packed into an oversized space suit that hides her build. There is some sort of makeshift stasis system tacked up onto the walls, using small spherical containers with complicated bases and handles. Only one of them is glowing, and isn't attached to anything. Bumper just sets it to one side.
"Fun!" Blammo declares, with Gunzilla nestled in his lap.
Tasha is wearing a grim smile, but has largely kept to herself after her somewhat heated discussion with Neesa. She sits with her halitool on her shoulder, some sort of large, wide-barreled energy weapon that tests the limits of what could be called a pistol by anyone but the stronger Galactic species, and stares are the floor in thought. To Neesa, she smells like a mix of anticipation and anxiety, with a touch of discomfort that's been there since their arguement.
Grillfang is the last to enter. He shuts the heavy inner hatch, and bangs on it a few times in a brief burst of Hammersong. There are more mechanical noises, and then the pod falls free from the Mauler. Grillfang goes to the main maneuvering control as gravity fades to nil, and begins manually guiding them to the bugship.
Neesa grabs onto Tasha's shoulder for the brief flight. Contact is made with the Abraxus, and Grillfang says, "Command of pod to you, Bumper." He then goes to check the pressure indicator on the main hatch.
The heavy energy pistol gets holstered after it starts to float off the hybrids lap, then Tasha leans back and wraps her arms around her halitool. When Neesa grabs her shoulder, she turns and gives her a reassuring smile to show there's no hard feelings, then she looks back towards the hatch. After contact is made she takes some time to check her gear and then undoes her restraints, standing and moving to line up for disembarking.
Grillfang pulls the hatch open. On the other side is a short airlock, which looks to be made of familiar ferroceramics, and at the end of that is an Eeee woman in a shiny uniform, floating more or less in line with what looks like up and down. "I do not know how to welcome Titanians onto a ship," she says, her voice that of Captain S'tella.
"Say 'hi' and wave squeaky lady," Tasha barks, a grin crossing her muzzle as she leans around Grillfang. "Hi!"
"Thought that counts," Grillfang says, and grabs a hold-point on Neesa's suit, figuring the Karnor doesn't have freefall experience. "Bumper our chief engineer. She work out jumps stuffs with you. This my daughter Fudgy. Never see bugship before."
"Rustpuppy.. she god-talker, just in case," Grillfang continues. "Big guy is Blammo. He stay in pod, hokay?"
"Huh, yah god-talk. Talkie-talkie, fun and scary," Rustpuppy confirms. She leans her head around the other side of Grillfang, getting a look from that angle as well.
"Can I ask what you intend to do with the alien ship, should we reach it?" S'tella asks, but moves aside to allow the others passage into the ship.
"Move it, or blow it up," Bumper says. "Just worry about getting there and back."
The trip to the bridge is short, since the habitable area of the ship is relatively small. There are plenty of rooms along the way though, some with artificial hatches and others with organic ones. The crew is a mix of Eeee, Aquilan and Korv - all familiar to Tasha. A Korv salutes when they float into the bridge, and is the only one there who doesn't look nervous. "My second, Command Kabrus," S'tella introduces. Kabrus says something, and Tasha picks up a few Vartan words (since it really is the easier language when dealing with beaks). S'tella squeaks out something in return, and some of the crew go to work at the strange looking workstations. Everything seems to be manually controlled, but if the ship is alive it could have some sort of mind as well. A display appears similar to the tactical one on Mauler, showing the progress of the Khattan frigate.
Neesa whispers, "The Khattan ship is having a problem, they are investigating."
Tasha continues to peer around people to get a better look at their new surroundings, taking it all in as best she can -- both for situational awareness and to help convey her Titanian persona. No one seems to expect the loud and friendly one, she recalls from her earlier experience as a Titanian, seeing no reason to charge her style now.
When Neesa whispers, Tasha scoots closer to her and asks, "Did they explain what kind of trouble?" She inquires.
"It's off course," Neesa confirms. On the display, the projected trajectory line of the frigate is slowly moving away from the one it should be following.
Another screen changes, as an optical telescope is put to use (apparently all those 'eyes' on the outside of the ship serve a purpose). Eventually the frigate is visible, albeit several minutes in the past due to the distance. It does look like a giant version of Harmonia, glittering in the glow from the accretion disks.
"Huh yah, going to have to correct or abort -- or blow up," Tasha notes, turning her gaze to the display briefly before turning back to the mage. She steps forward and, appearing to check the woman's suit, leans in to mouth "Eeee" and then nod her head towards the offending bat as a reminder the other woman should watch what she says and how she says it.
After leaning back, Tasha turns to view the scoped view, brows raising. So they still use a similiar design, despite it being thousands of years old. I wonder if the technology is largely the same, as well? She wonders.
Bumper sniffs, and asks, "Who your hyperdrive person?" This leads to the Titanian and a Korv hunching over a control panel that looks like a cross between a holographic display unit and something from a sex nightmare.
"Dreadnaught pulling back," Grillfang notes, watching the tactical 'realtime' display. "Scylla roaring, I bets."
"Scary," goes Tasha who starts slowly walking across the bridge, heading towards the D-Drive control console. "Think Kitty-ship survive?"
A minute later, the frigate glows incredibly bright on one side.. and then that side is just gone.
"Nope," Grillfang replies to Tasha after that. "Gamma-ray flare."
After a split second, stunned pause Tasha goes, "Nevermind."
"I don't know this equation," the Korv engineer tells Bumper. "False-inertia nav, yeah?" the Titanian explains. "Like flux points, but use dark energy current instead of thermonuclear flux. We go here, dive into D-level, we move to threshold zone automatically."
"Crew probably glowing, ship turn to isotopes yah? Not salvage, just tomb?" The hybrid inquires, her walk towards the console momentarily arrested by the tragic display. She doesn't know who they were, or even if they were her enemies, but a part of her mourns their loss and hopes theri deaths were quick. It's a part she can't show, however; She continues to let her curiosity dictate her actions to maintain the facade. After a moment more, she keeps walking.
S'tella doesn't seem to care much about salvage. "We can't survive that environment. We need to loiter in D-Level. You have a way from there?" she asks Grillfang.
"Yeah," the green-armored Titanian notes. "We float up. Stick to Fish. Cut in. See what or who there. Improvise!"
Loiter in D-Level. Tasha's been to D-Space, but only briefly and she isn't sure how genuine her contact was with it; She wonders how her Dark-side will react to being in its native space once they transition. Lacking an answer for now, she peers at the console in wonder. "How console work?" She asks, half suspecting she may get bonked for interupting.
The tech blinks in surprise at Tasha, then points to various fleshy blobs. "Nerve bundles.. you.. massage them for different commands."
"Huh so like touchy-feely. Make ship wiggle right way? Talk to Harrower mebbe?" The hybrid inquires, though she glances to Bumper now and then in anticipation of being removed as a distraction.
"Harrower likes living things," the Korv notes, until Bumper tells him to start inputting instructions.
"Ah yah," Goes Tasha, who scoots away so the two can work. Without much to do, she wanders from console to console, peering at them.
The tactical display shows more motion. The Khattans are.. heading this way, and the Mauler is heading them off. S'tella is not happy. She squeaks out more commands, and there's a tug of acceleration.. although its slight. Neesa translates it as 'charge drive coils' and some other things she doesn't recognize.
The pilot is an Aquilan, and has his hands inside his soft console, as well as other fleshy parts attached to his shoulders and wings. His display shows where he wants to be.. a point in space not that far off, in screen distance.
"Hah, they figure it out. Too late though, unless get Snake-ship help," Tasha observes while inwardly trying to work out the future tactical situation. She knows so little about the variables, she can't accurately predict much of anything -- but she keeps trying. At least when I'm wrong, someone corrects me and I get the answer eventually! She decides.
Tasha halts her wandering at the naviagtion console, leaning in. It's her best visual for where they're going to be, and along with the tactical display, helps her see the future situation a little clearer -- at least until they enter D-Space.
Part of the process seems to be hitting a particular point at a particular trajectory and speed and activating the drive at just the right time. And everything looks like it's done manually, as well. "45 ticks," S'tella announces. "Prepare for inversion."
Deciding now is defintely not the time to interupt, the faux-Titanian watches the console input with total focus. She may not be able to learn the process entirely, but she plans to get as much as she can from the experience.
It's all a bit chaotic. But then, Korvs and Aquilans are birds.. and birds have an uncanny way of self-assembling into complex formations. It all seems to be working, since everything turns inside-out for a moment when they hit the designated 'point' in space. Tasha can see her brain for a brief moment, until the transition is over. All of the displays are blank now, save for one that seems to be counting down.
All focus from the crew goes to a glowing sphere on the D-space tech's console, which is filled with black dots and strange patterns.
The Korv calls out commands, and the pilot carries them out, without any apparent feedback. The longer they linger in D-Level, the more things seem to distort when not being looked at directly.
Tasha grimaces at the nauseating twist, and the /view./ She thinks she'll never get the view of her head, well, head/ -- or at least she thinks she saw and thought that. Here in D-Space, she's never quite sure what's happening in D-Space and if it's happening as she knows it or if she's seeing a vaguely comprehensible translation of some incomprehensible alien geometry.
When she manages to recover, she blinks, then turns to note the focus of the crew. Following their gaze, she peers at the mysterious sphere -- noting the increasing peripheral distortion with some anxiety. It's not like her previous experience at all, a fact that makes her wonder.
"Shielding holding, mass detector resolution good," the D-Space tech announces. The countdown stops, and the pilot applies a touch of counterthrust. "Threshold achieved." There's something visible now through the viewport.. a very watery glow, and something dark and spiky in the middle of it.
"Hokay, c'mon Rustpuppy," Bumper says. "We go now."
Looking up, Tasha stares at the view with such focus she initially misses she's being talked to. "Huh?" She goes, looking back as she catches on. After giving a nod, the young woman turns around fully and begins following Bumper. "That what D-Space look like? Or filter? Look different, last time -- because of Light-side stasis?"
"That was Harrower's Doorstep before," Bumper notes. "They change things. D-Space malleable to those that live here. And our pod no have special shields, gotta move quick."
"Fun fun," Tasha says in a decidedly 'this isn't going to be fun at all' sort of tone. She hurries along, keeping quiet and holding questions for later.
Once they're in the pod, Blammo works to seal the hatch after the Abraxus airlock closes. Bumper begins activating the various stasis-3 devices jury-rigged (well, Titanian-rigged) around the breaching pod. "This should pull us to Big Fish," she says hopefully.
"If not?" Tasha then asks, leaning back and face a mask of calm at odds with her earlier, hyperactive facade.
"Uh, dunno," Bumper admits, and waves to Blammo, who releases the docking clamp (which is a big lever). The pod moves free of the Confederate ship.. and bobs towards the light.
Well at least I know as much as Bumper this time, Tasha notes to herself as a little grin crosses her face. She glances at the window, ears askew, and asks, "Any guesses on what kind of ship it is? Size? Maybe a comparison to existing classess -- which I should ask you about later?"
"No idea," Bumper admits, looking as well. "It'll be spiky. More spikes mean bigger. Less mean smaller. Know soon enough."
"That's an interesting design," Tasha notes as she stares at the faint outline ahead of them. "The spikes are part of its drive system then?"
As they get closer to the object that sits right on the surface between two levels of reality it does become clearer. It seems sort of egg shaped, with quills that seem to angle inward towards the narrower end, while those on the spherical side stick out straight.
"Stasis anchors," Bumper suggests. "For keeping wormhole open."
"Oh, I think I've read about that," Tasha remarks as she stares at the bizarre ship, sure she's never read or heard of anything like it -- let alone seen one. "So it creates the aperature with the frontal array, then uses the entire array to widen it and slip through? Does it consume its rare material doing so, or does it simply need them present?"
"Huh, good question," Bumper notes. "Uses Strange Matter. Shouldn't use it up. Not sure what powers it." And a moment later, "Hang on, we about to dock. Long as we half in D-Space should be okay.."
Tasha wags her tail at the compliment. "Well, we'll find out, won't we? Or, we'll find out we don't know what the device that powers it is, anyway!" Bracing herself, the hybrid holds on to her gear and steadies herself, getting ready for a quick departure.
The Fish becomes very large very fast, and with a 'bong' sound the breaching pod makes contact with the hull between the quills.. after rolling around a bit. Blammo connects a power line to a handle that attaches to a ring that goes around the hatch, and starts to slowly turn the ring.
Tasha takes her helmet from her belt and secures it over her head, then adjusts nobs, valves and switches until her air supply comes online. Then, she stands up and moves in to position for boarding.
It's slow going as Blammo keeps turning the ring. At the other end of the handle is a short-range disintegrator that suppresses the charge of electrons, which causes molecular matter to turn to monatomic dust. But it is by no means a fast process. Finally, an indicator on the hatch turns green. Once Blammo is in his helmet, Bumper starts matching pressure. Whatever atmosphere is on the other side of the hatch, it's fairly low-pressure.
"Weapons ready," Bumper says, and starts opening the hatch.
Low pressure ... The inhabitants required that, removed pressure from this area of the ship, or have been losing it, the hybrid review in her head, giving her something to focus on in the face of her anxiety. The ship is as alien as anything she's ever encountered; It's possibilities may as well be limitless to the young woman, as are its dangers. So many times before she's plunged in to the darkness, finding fortune, but also disaster.
"Ready," Tasha reports, her halitool held on her left shoulder with the same hand, while her right hand pulls out the heavy energy pistol, which whines to life and begins to glow ominously along its exhaust ports.
The hatch is opened, and the space beyond is dark.. but an odd kind of dark. There's light.. an ultraviolet glow.. but it seems to flow from free-floating tubes of gas or mist. Without the physical tube. "Don't touch those," Bumper notes, and flips down the UV filter on her helmet.
Tasha cranes her neck to stare at the unsettlingly dangerous-looking tubes of what she can only assume is energy and death. "Hokay," she mumurs a moment later, sounding intimidated as she begins to activate her own multi-spectrum aparatus. The aparatus displays to only one eye, giving her an overlaid view of the situation and allowing her to mix various views with each other. It's not always useful, but right now it lets her see normally, while also rotating through other spectrums to help her be aware of what might be lurking. "Some sort of energy conduit?" She asks of the apparently free-floating energies.
"Could be, or fuel or something," Bumper notes. "Big enough for us though. Blammo, lead. I carry bomb."
Falling in at the rear, Tasha does her best to keep watch on things before, but also behind -- just in case. "Any idea yet about who used this?" She asks as they make their way, surrounded by that peculiar glow.
"Yah!" Blammo says, and sticks his gun into the exposed conduit to see if it melts or sparkles. When it doesn't, he climbs into the space. "Half-gravity," he announces, standing so that the pod is now 'above' him. "Which end, big or narrow?"
"Go for big end," Bumper suggests. "Follow 'down'." And so they're off, moving through the odd ship. The walls aren't smooth.. they have curving wrinkles that make them look disturbingly like brains, but a texture closer to stone.
"If the ship was in D-Space, would it have suffered the same fate as other First Ones? Or is D-Space outside the range of whatever happened?" Asks the faux-Titanian as she walks along, her head constantly in motion as she keeps tabs on things. At one point, after seeing Blammo do it, she risks touching the wall to indirectly feel the strange surface. She's seen several alien design that utilize stone-like materials, but she decides she doesn't know enough about any of them -- nor this ship -- to determine if there's a match.
"Not sure," Bumper notes. "Different time dimension.. so maybe no effected. Harrowers not effected."
"They're First Ones? Old Ones? Something else, because they're not from Light-space? But then, nether are the Progenitors ... " Tasha continues to walk, deeper and deeper in to the not-quite-blackness of the ship, wondering where they'll end up. It's for things like this she became an explorer -- really became one instead of exploring simply being a means to an end. However, she's never quite gotten over the anxiety, the creeping fear that comes along with walking in to the unknown.
Through the gloves, the texture feels smooth, and there's no telling what the wrinkles are for, unless they're purely aesthetic. They finally come a cross point, where the conduit-corridor branches to a forward and a downward tube. The downward one doesn't have the glowing filaments though. Following the 'go down' directions, Blammo begins to descend. At the reduced gravity, it should be possible to just fall for quite a ways.
"This is more literally a metaphor for jumping in to the unknown than I was expecting," Tasha remarks as she stares down at the tube and in the the inky abyss. With a shrug, she takes a step forward and then another down, down in to the dark.
The walls are close enough that it's easy to control descent. Which is good since it isn't far before Blammo stops. "Open space," he reports. "Lights."
"Stopping," goes tasha, who uses the side of the tube as a break until she's halted behind Bumper. She tries to keep her weapon pointed in the right direction, but without much to brace against steadiness is a challenge.
"Set a line," Bumper says. Blammo clamps something into one of the wrinkles, and attaches a slim cord to it.
With the line secured, it's easier to slide down into the chamber below. It's large and spherical, with a smaller sphere at the center. Treelike pillars rise from this and branch off until they touch the outer sphere and its various pores. It also seems to be where the gravity is generated. The 'trees' are partially translucent, with flashes of UV light running up and down them in no particular pattern. Blammo ties the loose end of the line to one of the 'roots' once he sets down. The total drop is maybe ten meters to the inner sphere.
Once down, Tasha rises to her feet and leans forward to examine the central mass, never having seen one of whatever it is before. "An older stator?" She ventures, head cocking to the side. "One of the unflawed originals?"
Bumper consults her gizmo. "Don't think so," she says, and bends down to tap the brain-like mass. "Not gravity. Something else."
Tasha follows Bumper in, her monocle display shifting between available views at regular intervals. "It almost looks organic," she remarks as peers at the object, reaching down to touch it as well.
"Creepy," is Blammo's opinion.
Even through the gloves there's a slight sense of motion. As if the surface is reacting to the touch.
After shaking her gizmo a bit, Bumper reports, "No neutrino flux. Good shields or hull. No sign of crew or organic life." She switches do a different device that she waves around.
"I agree," Tasha remarks as she runs her hand along the surface, frowning at the sense of motion and trying to see if it gives her any insigth as she continues to move her hand. "But, I don't know. If it's alive, maybe it thinks we're creepy? We are crawling around inside it, after all. It may have never seen anything like us -- who knows how long its been gone or if it's aware."
"Hmm," Bumper mutters, and probes the surface with her new device. "Borderline digital cognizance signal. Anything in your god-sense, Rustpuppy?"
"I feel motion, but last time I had to make physical contact. I could adjust my suit seals and try exposing one of my hands, if you think it'll be safe. The rest of the suit has inflated seals which should keep air presssure strong -- at least for a little while. That is, if I did it right," Tasha answers as she stares at the mass, face a mask of thought as she studies the object.
"Uh, and by safe I mean 'an endurable level of pain and injury is acceptable,'" the younger woman adds, grimacing a little. What's another hand? She muses to herself.
"It a bit cold, but the pressure isn't that bad," Bumper notes. "Should be fine for a few minutes."
"You'll make me a nice new hand if I lose this one, right?" Tasha asks as she pauses to consider which hand to use. Her left hand is the obvious choice for its ease of replacement, not to mention that she's right handed and may need to manpulate things later, so she goes with that. After adjusting more controls, she over-inflates her left hands wrist-seal, then removs her glove.
A wince and a shake of her head to shrug off the pain later, Tasha lays her exposed hand upon the brain-like device and closes her eyes.
Hello? She calls out in her mind.
The Vartan talons seem to sink in a little deeper. Niss is the apparent reply from the contact.
"A response!" Tasha exclaims, her brow narrowing as she focuses, leaning in. "It said "Niss." Do you know what that means?" Meanwhile, she tries, Do you understand my language? Can you reply using it?
Niss, the reply comes again. I we Niss.
"It's ... It, um, them is Niss. It's an identification," Tasha tells the others before biting her lip. Niss, we have discovered you in an aperature between what we call D-Level Hyperspace and our home universe. What is your status? The status of your crew? Do you have crew?
"I don't know about any race called Niss," Bumper notes. "Cognizance response is rising though."
We are Niss. Crew. We are crew. Crew is many? the contact replies. We are lost. Long times. Lost. Everything is different now.
"It must be waking up. If it's been trapped this long, it makes sense it would switch to a low-power mdoe and suspend its cognitive functioning to maintain integrity," says the hybrid, who scootches closer to the device and then leans closer untl her helmet touches it. "More dialogue: We are Niss. Crew. We are crew. Crew is many? the contact replies. We are lost. Long times. Lost. Everything is different now."
In response, Tasha thinks, I am Aldara. Those with me are Bumper and Blammo. We are not the same, be we work together. We can help you: If you are lost we can help you find your way. If you are damaged, we can help to repair you. We cannot be certain that we will be successful, but we will try. Help us help you.
Trapped the Niss reply. Body old, failing. We must go. Take us?
Tasha's eyes widen at the request, then narrow again as she tries to make sense of it. "They're trapped and theri body is old: They're asking for help. They want us to take them." After thinking for a moment, she then projects, How can we take you with us? Do you want your body to be removed from the aperature? Or do you intend to leave your body and come with us in another way?
Carry is the answer, and the material beneath Tasha's hand begins to churn and bulge.
Tasha's hand shifts to meet the churning mass in anticipation of receiving whatever she's about to be given. Too absorbed in the exchange, she forgets to relate what's happening. I will carry it if I can, she promises. I am sorry we are so late, that we cannot help your body. You have only arrived in our space recently.
The bulge grows and then contracts, becoming a ball about the size of.. well, of a brain. It has the same wrinkles as a cortex.. but they seem to move and shift slowly.
At almost the same time, the gravity effect fails, rendering everything weightless.
Tasha stows her pistol and then gently takes the ball with her free hand, shifting it to rest under her arm. We have you, she reports, uncertain if there will be a reply from the vessel. With gravity now cut, her grip on the device begins to slip as she floats, both hands occupied.
"What happened?" Bumper reasonably asks as she grabs from the line they ran from the tube above.
"The ship is dying," Tasha explains as she lets go, holding her left hand out and turning to Bumper. "Could you put my glove back on? I need both hands and carrying this is more important right now." With that said, she returns her focus to Bumper and continues her explaination, saying, "The ship is the Niss, I think. They are the ship, and they are many. But the ship is failing and they are trapped. They have requested we take them with us, and that's what I have with me. Beyond that, they have been lost and wandering for a long, long time." She glances towards the brain-like device again, briefly, then shakes her head. "The ship's remaining functions may begin to fail now that the Niss have seperated."
Bumper stows her devices and struggles to get Tasha's glove on, since having fewer fingers somehow makes it more complex - or perhaps she just hasn't had to put someone's glove on before. "We gots go now then," she says. "I think ship held together with telekinesis. When whatever hold anchor tips stable fails, they start converting the ship into strange-matter."
"Right," agrees Tasha, who hooks a lanyard to her halitool, then she slings it over her shoulder and between her wing-containing nacels. The Niss is then put in to one of her empty pouches, where it's carefully secured. That done, she pushes off from the object to float over to the rope and waits for the others before she starts to climb. "So what's telekinesis, anyway?" She asks as the move.
"Fancy way of saying psi-tech I don't unnerstand," Bumper notes, as she hurries up behind Blammo. "Like moving stuff with mind. You know.. magic."
"It sounds like magic," Tasha agrees as sthey make their way up in to the dark. Soon, Tasha turns her floodlights on, leaving her multi-spectral scanner on as well -- just in case. "Fudgy will be intrigued. I've heard of other devices that target minds: Missiles and ... The Harrower mentioned 'psychic flensing.'"
"It weird stuff," Bumper notes as they hurry through the passages. The glowing lines of gas are gone now. "Big tip: never look at happy cat statue in Khattan booth at Caltrop. It make you feel more generous."
"Really?" Goes Tasha, brows arching. "That's terrible! The more I hear about Khattans the less I like them." Pushing off in a back-and-forth way across the tube, Tasha vaults from side to side to increase her speed as she races against the clock. "How are we going to get back, anyway?"
"Sink," Bumper says. They reach the breaching hole, with the pod waiting just beyond. There are vibrations starting up in the Niss ship.
"Not the choice of word I'd use," Tasha admits in a grim tone as she hurries inside, sitting down and quickly securing herself in one of the seats, hanging on to the structure in anticipation of a rough departure.
Blammo closes the hatch and secures it, while Bumper begins turning off half of the stasis-3 modules. The other one is still with her, carrying mass-negated anti-neutronium in case it was necessary to destroy the alien. "Okay, pull bar now Blammo," she reports, and the bigger Titanian yanks on the docking clamp lever. Since they were already in freefall, it doesn't feel much different.. aside from a slide hum vanishing.
Unable to help any in the departure process, tasha worries about her own cargo: The Niss. She pulls off her rigth hand glove and re-adjusts the seals in case the 'barnicle' is breached, then reaches the hand in to the pouch and gently lays it atop the sphere. Can you hear me?
Aldara is the reply.
A smile crosses the hybrid's face at the reply. She was worried they'd be unable to communicate once the Niss seperated from its body, leaving her with little idea of what to do to help them. We have evacuated from your body. We will return to D-Level Hyperspace briefly before returning to our home space. Once that is accomplished, we will return to our own ship. Do you require anything in the mean time, or for the time after that?
Nothing the Niss claim.
The view of the Niss ship becomes watery as they move further from the dimensional threshold. It can be seen that the quills are shortening though, almost like fuses.
Nothing? Tasha thinks in surprise, eyes arching in response to the inaudible conversation. There is nothing you desire, then? Even once we are free to move through our galaxy? The woman's expression turns concerned after her question, wondering if the Niss have been as deeply affected by their long wandering and loss of their body as she suspects. Thinkong of the ship brings her to look up at it, wondering how long it has traveled. The death of a ship always makes her sad, and, like tools as taught to her by the Titanians, they're more than just objects of motility for her -- they're living avatars of teh hopes, dreams, history and life of their people and their crew. She can't help but feel the one before her is all thesethings, but more so; Perhaps the last of its kind.
To see. Much is new. To dream.
Then we share that desire. Much is new to me, as well. There is much I have never seen; I had never seen you before, in fact. And dreams, well, they're what we chase. But, I know someone who has a special connection to dreams -- I'm sure you two will have a lot to talk about, Tasha thinks as she watches the alien vessel fade in to the distance.