After Thoth left the bridge, Tasha entered an odd state of mind. She almost felt like she was outside of her body, watching it do things with a confidence she didn't really feel. But Tasha had one very relevant skill to the situation: she knew how to shout, and shouting seemed to focus the others who hadn't fallen back on military training. The Phins, Gabriel and Katie already had that discipline. Yue might have, if she wasn't still in the middle of waking up after the burst of vril energy laid her out.
The first thing Tasha's body did was put itself between the statue of Samael and the passengers. Then came the winnowing of those that were just in the way. Modo had left earlier with the Lapis, so it made sense to send the somewhat-fraying-at-the-edges Stanislav to the galley to join them, with Lacci and Shojo to make sure they didn't cause trouble. Besides, Liza was good and calming people down. It also put Lacci someplace where she might feel a bit more in control of herself and the situation: she was a scholar as well, after all. And Shojo could deal with any hysterics, especially with Dr. Knight across the hall prepping the med-bay for anything else that might happen.
Doctors Shoshelle and Karaktinio seemed relatively unaffected - the Galactic Confederates were not known to be particularly religious, and gigantic space-going organisms didn't hold any shocks for them. They clustered with Hera Sophis to help process the information from the various instruments the expedition had brought along.
Tasha didn't know where Thoth and his Naga companion where.. presumably in their rooms. With everyone else accounted for, she could finally get around to feeling the weight of the universe crushing down on her. Of the various 'powers' on the ship at the moment, the only one that recognized the situation first were the Niss. She just needed someplace private and that felt secure to her to talk to them.
With many 'powers' unaccounted for, potentially controlled, or simply too unknown to risk assuming their disposition Tasha opted to communicate with the Niss the safest way she knew how: Inside the Artifact Bay itself, by touch. The Artifact Bay had been placed just off the Owner's Area main concourse, once behind a door with its name, and later concealed behind a false wall and a great deal of security attention. It also effectively functions as the ship's 'AI core', with the Niss acting as that core. Other artifacts have also been placed there, items Tasha didn't want being observed by guests or items that would simply draw too many questions, like her paintings of the Vril-ya.
It's in this space Tasha extends her hand towards the brain-like ball of the Niss. Carefull arrayed around her are pieces from her travels, a scarce few artifacts such as a piece of a dhole (for study), and data cores related to things best kept to themselves. The paintings hang on the walls, making the space resemble some strange art gallery, scenes of god-like beings, alien worlds, gas-rings the size of a planetary solar orbit and stranger things beside hang, often above whatever artifact is related to the scene. She wishes they didn't feel so much like being in a god's dream, a smiluation space not controlled by her.
Contact is made. Niss? You've seen our situation. We have multiple extra-univeral class entities involved, an 'Auriel' -- a Waymaker -- and at least two Ogdru-hem. We also have a Servitor-class dark being and a second generation Vril-ya at odds, and I assume their masters as well as the Yellow One all watching as well. I need your assistance; I need you to involve yourself this time.
"What sort of assistance do you request?" the Niss reply in their odd, many-voices-at-once sensation. "I am not familiar with the abilities of the self-titled Bene Elohim, nor those of the one you call Samael. Without the uniform tracker you convinced it to don, I would not be aware of it at all."
"Alright, lesson time." Tasha seats herself on a container full of Jotoki carvings, not in themselves dangerous save for the questions they might raise. She drops her hea don her free hand and thinks. "You'll have to trust me on some of this, understand I don't grasp them that well either, but here's what i've learned so far ... " What follows is a length, somewhat rambled at times, explaination of the two 'camps' of extra-universal entities: The Waymaker Camp, composed of the Waymakers, Vril, the Vril-ya, and the Second-Generation Vril-ya Thoth and the Dark Camp, composed of the various sub-camps of Dark-origin beings and their progeny. Thotep and his Servitor, Samael. The Yellow One, whose name is dangerous, and whom Tasha owes a favor for saving the crew. The Ogdoad and the Ogdru-hem and whomever else may be associated with their plans, the group Tasha has been going after by request of Atum and Horus, Vril-ya, two of which are present: One as the ship's core and one entrapping the Waymaker.
There are others. Leviathan, of Order and Dark, who may or may not have taken a shot at them using its sleeping Ogdru-hem and Fessus Wizard-entity. Outsiders, traveling merchants on the fringes of galaxies, whose alliegance is unknown but may be to the Ogdoad, as engineers. Other demon gods are guessed at, but their interference and presence is much less likely. And then there is the Null, the Waymaker's god, what Tasha calls a Fundamental and beyond her understanding. It, too, is aware of this ship, and in that sense another 'power' and player here today, even if indirectly. Its own might: incalcuable.
"And every 'camp' who has a actor here will want that Waymaker. That may even be why they helped me in the first place, they foresaw this day. The Yellow One and Thotep will want it for themselves, for what it can give them. The Ogdoad probably wnat it destroyed, but corruption and pillaging would help them too. the Waymakers would want it safe. And I think they're all willing to fight for it, or turn on us if we side with the others. The only thing keeping things calm is that we're not in a position -- yet! -- to effect the outcome in favor of any one group, but that won't last. So you see ... " Tasha takes a deep breath, exhales.
"I need you to keep an eye on the being Thoth and the being Samael. Are you aware of when the ship accelerated beyond light speed? That can't be allowed to happen without the crew's go ahead, Gabriel or myself. If that appears to be happening, you must do whatever you can to suppress Samael using the ship's power, including destroying him. The Waymakers and the Vril-ya will not ignore an attack on a Waymaker. The same is true with Thoth, he may try and destroy us rather than risk harm to the Waymaker. He should also be supressed if you can, if he goes too far. use your judgement or conbsult me."
"There is still the matter of what the captive or injured Stelya'rhyan desires," the Niss point out. "From what we know, they have their own agenda and do not interact with other sapient species in any direct way."
"You're right; I'm sorry. This is a lot to cover and it's a very difficult position I-- we're in. Any one of these entities and their sponsors may act or turn on us, at any moment, for any reason I know and ones I don't know. Many of them can see multiple timelines or even see beyond time, act beyond time, and other things besides. They don't just show up and act so, so blatantly like they're acting now." Another deep, deep breath. Tasha lifts her head and rubs her muzzle, covering her eyes. She can just feel the edges fraying, her carefully built little paradise fracturing under the nudge of any fraction of one of the players involved. It even occurs to her the TerraGens and therefore Yue might want this information, missed only because the TerraGens are so small compared to the other concerns. A minor power. It makes her shudder. "The fact that this Stelya'rhian is even here tells me it either wants to be here or something has gone terribly wrong beyond the ability for the Waymakers to fix in time. They don't just sit around letting beings like us gawk at them, or where their enemies can see them. We must contact it, but in doing so we get a lot closer to a point of no return."
"What would you say to it, if it responds?" the Niss ask. Of course, Tasha doesn't know of they have an agenda either.
The thought the Niss themselves may have an agenda too makes Tasha groan. She wonders if any being above Galactic sentient power on board doesn't have a stake in things, something to gain, a plot to carry out here. She can't even rule out a number of the Galactics; even Gabriel may be pressured by Yue to gain control for the good of the TerraGens, and Hakeber could do who-knows-what. It makes her feel terribly alone, and yet somehow she has to fix things and come out if not on top than at least with everyone she cares about intact. No, she'll settle for just alive if it comes to that. "I would identify myself and ask it if it's in need of assistance. I don't understand the Stelya'rhian or what they want, nor how they see me, but it's normal to ask parties in distress if they need assistance and my connection to Vril makes me at least a cursory ally. What's more, at least one Waymaker has shown an awareness of me; this one may know me, too. I would also like to contact the Ogdru-hem and see what she wants."
"She likely wants to kill or devour the Stelya'rhyan," the Niss observe. "It is the most likely cause of the massive wound Lukthu-hem has suffered."
"That's my assumption too, botht the wound and the intent of the Ogdru-hem. They do vary a lot in personality and personal desires, but from what other Ogdru-hem have told me they are all enslaved to the Ogdoad's plans whether they wish to be or not; it's written in to their vary being and they cannot avoid it. The Waymaker's are a powerful enemy to the Ogdoad, perhaps even more than the Sifra, I would believe if their 'programming' required a Ogdru-hem to destroy or capture a Stelya'rhian." Tasha looks up, dropping the hand from her muzzle and peering at the brainlike folds of the Niss. Would it really betray her? Does she ever understand its wishes, could she ever? Or has she just been a colossal fool all this time? "But maybe it can be convinced to leave it alone for some other benefit. I should find out either way."
"Lukthu-hem is the most powerful of the Ogdru-hem," the Niss posit. "There is still no evidence that the previous generations of Galactic Civilization have been able to deal with any of them without external assistance. We caution approaching Lukthu-hem as you would one of the Ogdoad themselves."
Tasha feels the advice like a stab in the gut. She hasn't even considered approaching the Ogdoad themselves, that was marked as a Far Future situation, one she hoped she'd be ready for if and when it came. Her ship and crew have barely even begun working together and she has alien powers spatting and plotting all around her. It could be worse, but not much. "Well I do have external assistance, complicated as that is right now. I've always thought the 'powers' listen to me because other 'powers' do, they don't seem to like being left out of something the others are up to and once enough of them showed an interest in me I thought maybe I was becoming a kind of middle ground. Not important myself so much as because they all placed importance in whatever I'm doing for them, and there by became important. Lukthu-hem may recognize that and talk, listen. Or, or she may try and eat my mind. You're right. But she won't just ignore me trying to help the Waymaker, even if I don'ttalk to her."
"You must make contact with the one least likely to destroy you first," the Niss advise. "It will be much easier for your crew to accept such a course."
"That's the Stelya'rhian. They seem to at least care indirectly about life, even if I'm not sure what else they do care about. For all I know they may be the equivilent to hyper-advanced drones, doing their task and that's it." The young woman rises to standing, stretching her wings and shoulders. She might not feel confident, but at least she now has a course. "We'll contact the Stelya'rhian first, then, and try and be as ready as we can be if the others react badly to that move. We don't have a lot of time so I should probably get going before someone choses to act. Did I miss anything, any other advice, Niss?"
"There are no protocols I am aware of for contacting advanced beings," the Niss notes, which is something of an irony, probably. It's a nicer way of saying, "You're going to have to wing it."
At least that's something I am good at. Tasha' protocol for contacting higher beings has, thus far, to basically say "hello," and then work out the rest from there. She recognizes that they are advanced and she's unlikely to second guess them, exceed them in knowledge, or out think them in sheer mental processing power. In short, she approaches them honestly and recognizes their capacity to direct communications, which she always thought as showing a kind of respect and humility to their elder status. 'I know you're bigger than me, I know you know, so I'm going to talk naturally and not insult you by trying to be tricky,' would summerize it nicely. "Same as it always is, then. At least I know hwo to do that by now, yourselves included. Well, here's hooing I don't go and kill us all. Keep me informed, and thank you Niss." And please, please don't betray me.
The Niss is silent after the thanks. Which may mean the ship is moving again, or something else is happening that it needs to mediate.
Tasha leaves the Niss to its task, and she now to her's. She briefly considers consulting with Horus, but as she told the Niss time is at a premium and her conversation ran longer than she expected. It even occurs to her with potentially hostile powers around she might be endangering Horus by mysteriously hopping aboard her Titan for no discernable reason while tensions rise, giving rise to the question of just what is so useful on it. She'll have to save speaking to him during another lull, perhaps as she prepares to make contact, assuming there is time. Instead she heads for the elevator, to return to the Bridge. Time to take charge and say hello, before someone does it for her and everything falls apart.
When the elevator opens onto the main deck, everything is in shades of gray.. and negative. The light strips glow black, casting white shadows. The only color comes from the figure blocking the corridor, draped in a shape-concealing yellow robe. This time the being's cowl doesn't conceal its face.. although it is still hidden behind a vaguely human mask of porcelain and gold. It does not greet Tasha.
Tasha, having been deep in her head space as she went over what she might say to the Stelya'rhian again and again while also trying to tease out the solutions to obvious scenarios like, "help me" and "destroy the Ogdru-hem", is only perplexed by the strange change of color as she steps off the list. So distracted is she she only catches sight of a tentacle late, causing her head to jerk up and the woman to stumble backwards with hide eyes, catching herself on the bulkhead before she topples over.
"Hastur," the hybrid wheezes, free hand over her chest. "I'm sorry, I was-- I am--" Inhale, exhales. She straightens, then brushes down her uniform in a burst of nervous activity. "I'm sorry. I was thinking. You are here for a reason." It's not a question.
"Am I?" Hastur replies, its voice making Tasha feel like bugs are crawling around the inside of her skull. "Or are you? You will bear my Marker to the descendant of Tyr. I would know this creature, and where it stands between Order and Chaos."
"Everyone is here for a reason," Tasha mumurs under her breath, proof enough she's slipping. She presses her lips together and mentally chides herself. Now is not the time to be muttering around the gods; any mistake here could spell disaster. She considers the request, gaze shifting off to stare at the ceiling. She looks pained. "The problem with that is that I believe the Stelya'rhian associates would not approve in a decidedly, um, negative way. A possibly violent way, to say nothing of what they might do later. The matter puts me and my crew at considerable risk without defense."
"Are they in any less danger with the Marker kept here amongst them?" Hastur asks. "That is a trick question: they are in great danger. The Marker is of no consequence to the creature from another reality. It is of great consequence to the mortal beings on your ship. Pharol Xexanoth will not tell Thoth of the Marker, and that entity cannot detect it. Choose the path of least risk."
Tasha's back stiffens at the mention of her crew being in great danger. It sounds like a threat and she'd interpret it as such if she wasn't dealing with a being so alien assumptions are in themselves a tremendous danger. The Outter Gods do not think as she does, she can't assume they threaten the same way, either. "Simply proposing the question to the Stelya'rhian will not be sufficent? Are you to compelling me to do it this way, through threat to my crew? Thoth also suspects it is here, he refers to it as 'the artifact'. He made me promise to not bring it to the Stelya'rhian. These are conflicts; I would know how far you would compell me versus how far Thoth's position compells me."
"Bear it to the creature," Hastur replies. "It will sense it, or not. It will ask for it, or not. It will destroy it, or not. Whatever it does, your debt to me will be paid. If you bring it back, with nothing having happened, it will become mere stone. You are not beholden to Thoth. He is not Atum. He is not Vril-ya. He serves none but himself. Speak to him of this meeting, and my request, if you wish. He cannot prevent you from doing as you will."
"And you? Am I beholden to you?" Tasha finally asks deciding she may as well see if the sword is indeed being pointed at her throat, and how sharp it is. "I am grateful for what you did for me, for all of us. I simply wish to know how far this request goes, so that I may compare them to the request of the others and know my limitations."
"You are my Marker bearer," the Thing in Yellow points out. "That was the price of my aid to you. If you do not bear it the place of my choosing, you will bear it somewhere else. This is part of you now, woven into your world-line. The Marker was the means of your salvation. After encountering these beings, this unexpected reality, how do you think those aboard your ship will fare on the journey back through flat space? Where cracks form in the psyche, my Sign finds purchase."
And there it is. "Then I will bear your Marker to the Stelya'rhian." And she will, the course has been decided. What will come of it, she can only see now. She simply cannot risk her crew going mad, or worse. "I will tell it why, and I may tell Thoth why, though I fear his response and in knowing I have broken my promise. But my promise to you is older, and you have made your position clear. I am grateful for your assistance and I understand if the weight of its cost is equal to what was purchased." For all it matters, she believes that is true as well. It was a desperate situation, with a desperate solution, but they would not be here as they are without it. She always expected the price might be high, now she must carry the deal to its conclusion and see how high.
"Thoth overestimates the threat we may pose to the visitor," Hastur claims. "Neither I, nor Nyarlathotep, nor any servitor could have hurt even Lukthu-hem, who is far closer to our own kind. I wish to know where we might stand with such a creature."
That makes Tasha's brows raise. "Is that true? No, of course you said what you meant, I'm just surprised. I had thought you and your kind were closer to its level. I'm not surprised that Servitors like Samael could not endanger it, but given that Lukthu-hem appears to have at least reached a stalemate suggested your and its powers were of ... analogue level."
"We all have elements where we dominate," Hastur explains. "Some are mental, others spiritual. But Lukthu-hem dominates the physical and other modes, for her children the Ogdru-hem are spirits of matter, energy, and more esoteric things. This Stelya'rhyan is physical, biological. That alone is beyond us. What more is there to it? What is its relationship to the Void, to Life, to Order or Chaos? Do you now understand my need to know these things?"
Tasha dips her head, surprised to find the answer so straightforward, but also to heart. "Yes, because I also have the same questions. I would speak to Lukthu-hem for the same reasons, but all I've spoken to so far have warned me of the danger in that. I still find her interesting, even fascinating, because she is so different, just as the Stelya'rhian is. Perhaps in a way more so, because the Stelya'rhian is biological, as I am. Far beyond, but the same where Luk'thu-hem and I are different."
"There is not a scale fit to measure how different you are from Lukthu-hem," Hastur notes.. and then Tasha is along the main corridor, and the lights are light again and the colors are normal.. but there is an after-image of sorts, but she might be imagining it.
Tasha blinks several times just to be sure. Alone now, and quite used to mysterious beings simply leaving when they're done, she begins walking again. One by one her choices fall in to place, the answers to questions sorted. She left the bridge to figure out how to proceed and at least she can say she's made a great deal of progress on that front. She wonders how the others would have handled the two exchanges, and it makes her glad she'll be concluding her obligation to Hastur soon.
As she passes the galley, Tasha can see a card game being played.. or possibly several: between Terran, Vartan, Abaddonian and Sinaian cultures there isn't likely to be anything shared between them. On the bridge, Yue is dozed off against Hakeber who also seems to be asleep. Everyone else is busy. The space before the pilot stations is filled with holograms, Katie is rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, and Gabriel is engaged in indecipherable jargon with Kaa and Moka. The three expedition scientists are all glued to their individual displays, except where they toss data back and forth to one another with gestures or sonar clicks.
Tasha takes a moment to survey the situation and finds it mostly to her liking. No one crying, no one on the floor, and no strained faces beyond what she'd expect from any hard mission. She makes a beeline for Gabriel.
"I've consulted with the 'AI'," she announces, figuring this is important enough to interupt with and feeling the crew ought to see her be a woman of action and decision. "I also was, um, contacted myself. Between the two I was informed of many things and I have a much better grasp of the situation, assuming what I have been told is true. We will be attempting to contact the Stelya'rhian in the fashion of a ship needing assistance. If that fails, I will take the little ship over and attempt contact in person. Contact with Luk'thu-hem will be postponed until after contact with Stelya'rhian, or if that fails, and I have been warned she is at a, erm, higher degree of ability than the others of her kind we have encountered so far."
"We've mapped several openings in the Stelya'rhyan," Gabriel says, and brings those displayed to the forefront. The grainy lidar images show orifices or pores of unknown nature in the fleshy part of the creature that is exposed between the upper and lower carapace. "There bigger ones near the tail.. but I'd rather not be probing potential anal or genital openings. One of these forward ones is big enough for a shuttle, ahead of the 'fin' extensions and behind these whisker structures."
"I haven't detecting anything resembling communication from it," Katie announces. "No radio, hyperwave, maser, laser or things blinking on and off. Yue hasn't felt anything either."
"We haven't been scanned that I c-can detect-t," Moka reports.
"I'm detecting all sorts of things," Hera claims. "I just can't tell you what they are yet. No normal radiation or particles are getting past that outer shell though."
"There are some signs of respiration," Karaktinio claims. "Outgassing, basically. And places where parts of this Lukthu-hem seem to be phasing past the shell."
"They're not known for being very talkative. That we're seeing this one at all is extremely unusual, which means it either wants to be where it is or that there's a considerable problem." Tasha doesn't speak her mind about which she thinks is more true, and even she isn't perfectly confidant in her assumptions, but she figures the situation makes her guess rather obvious. "The little ship -- the Tadpole -- is the best choice in approaching it. I suspect it is already aware of the being and very interested in meeting it. This may be mutual, and as the being most like it on board that makes it even better as a choice. Because we may be under a time crunch I'm going to leave immediately after are attempt to contact it remotely has been made. Please do that now? Standard offer of assistance."
"I don't know that it'd understand any Galactic codes, but I'll send them all in every mode we've got," Katie says, and goes to work. She's silent for several minutes as she sets up the all-band, all-language loop.
"It never hurts to go with the idea elder beings are smarter than us. I've always relied on their ability to understand and provide a means of communication," Tasha explains, walking over to sit at an unused station near Katherine. "By the way, to prevent any, um, further passenger problems I've asked the AI to keep an eye on things. Beings like Dr. Amuntaton cause it some detection problems however, so I'll be transfering emergency defense to you Gabe once I'm off the ship. It knows Sam's location as well, in case he's pushed in to something. It's the best backup I have in case they start fighting each other, or us."
Gabriel looks twitchy. The image of the full creature doesn't match the anatomy of the one Tasha met in the Way, though. It may be that there are different variations, or each is unique.. or they just change over the course of their lives. This one is considerably smaller than the first one. "You'll need a pilot," Dr. Karaktinio notes. Being an exo-biologist may have something to do with his volunteering - but the Eeee haven't exactly been asking to collect samples of the dead Ogdru-hem or Lukthu-hem.
"I will," Tasha agrees. She stands up again and walks over to pat Gabriel's hand, I'm sorry to do this to you but there isn't anyone else. "Go and get what you need, and be very careful about what you plan to do when we arrive. None of these beings are to be taken lightly, and we will be in danger from Luk'thu-hem as well, should she chose to harm us and be able to do so." The young woman then leanes over Gabriel's lap to punch up the intercom system, paging Shojo to get her space suit ready and bring it to the Tadpole's bay, as well a portable medical unit, emergency food, and a hand held scanner.
"Once you're in there, there'll be no way to communicate," Gabriel tells Tasha.
"That would be too easy, wouldn't it," Tasha observes, straightening up and planting a hand on her hip, frowning. "Well, whatever the case is, I still have to go. I'll be bringing our little yellow knick-knack along as well -- yes I know what I said -- because some promises are older and some consequences are, um, less ... good." Gabriel gets a heavy, knowing look at the phrase less good. "That will at least handle that, whatever happens. You know what to do if things go badly, too. The Doctor won't like things as they stand but he's made his point and others have made theirs."