"Ok, activate her." the scientist said as the others began to arrange their tools after the long night of work.
One of them reached in and connected a few wires and hit a switch on the form of a human body, a mix of teal lights illuminated the room and several strange beeps and sounds came from the body. A few moments later, the creatures eyes opened and it looked to the different scientists.
"How long-" she began.
"A few days. Initial Rift damaged your internal power coils, you did an emergency shutdown on us." said the lead scientist. "Fleet Admiral Merlow is in a briefing with the other senior staff including the Zeta leaders. Seems something has them spooked."
"What could have the Zeta spooked? Must be serious. I should get up there right away." she said.
"I don't know Eve. The Zeta rarely get spooked, it has be concerned quite frankly as well. Anyway, your holographic system is up and running so you can use it to give yourself some clothes instead of walking around like a tincan."
"You know you like it." Eve smiled and winked and the good doctor gulped. "Thank you Doctor." a combination of sounds and light echoed across the room and she found a formal FF uniform and rose to her feet. "anything you need me to inform Admiral Merlow of?"
"Not at the moment Eve. Be safe on the trip up, we've been reading strange power fluxations all over the ship."
"I will." she said smiling and entered the elevator.
"So the Zeta are spooked even. I suppose they havn't even begun to map void space yet. A race with so many answers. It must feel awkward for them to not be able to give us many answers here."
Eve walked up to the door and knocked before opening.
"Sorry I'm late everyone, seems I needed a nap." she said with a smile.
"Report!" Merlow shouted into the comm system, but no one replied. Everyone got up quickly and filed out of the room and into the hall. The lights were flickering and weapons fire was going off around the corner. Sayne Jadyn, a man that I despised, came around the corner blasting his weapon at something down the hall. He screamed at the others to run quickly.
I unleashed my energy blade from my wrist and faught off what looked like black mist that faded in and out of reality. One of them latched on to my chest plate and I felt my energy core draining. A red light started blinking rapidly on my hud which red "Self-Preservation Mode?" I hit it and quickly I felt my upper processes shutting down along with my imediate shut down of my personality core, however I made sure my concience core continued to run.
Unleashing hellatious fire on the mysterious mist from my cannons and blasters, I turned to face the others, yelling for them to run. The ship rocked hard again as I slowly lost all ability to control my actions and the self-preservation mode was complete, I was in killing mode. The room around me began to distort and fade in and out of reality as gravity, matter, and air were warped beyond recgonition around me, yet I kept firing...
I kept firing...
--------
"Agent Jadyn, report!" Merlow yelled at me as we ran away from EvE who continued firing.
"They came right through the bloody hull sir." I said. "Began attacking anything with energy. Comm stations were the first to go as I'm sure you found out, then they took out the emergency power couplings. Luckly the primary ones are hidden well, but if they are able to come through the hull like that and sense energy like the Zeta claim they can, then they'll find it very soon. We have to attempt a subspace jump in void space, something I don't think we've ever tried before sir."
"It's not possible." the Zeta creature said outloud.
"What?" I asked.
"Void space IS Subspace. I've been doing the calculations and it all makes sense that Void space is only a longer subspace. Hyperdrive is impossible in this system. We're going to have to activate the Zeta shield system and pray to god it gives us enough time to be able to make it to our destination if the damn entry point will quit moving."
"Lets do that." Merlow said. "Activate the Zeta shield system and keep our course steady, we'll make it through this."
--------
"Energy Core: 33%"
I was running low on energy, and I knew that more were coming, each time I managed to get one to flee, three more replaced it. From the initial scans, these creatures were pure energy, and oddly enough, energy was their food. I eventually stopped firing, analyzing the current situation and coming to the solution to rope off the area with fields and decompress it and make it void of all energy, the creatures would then have no source of food and would leave the area. Treating them like an intelligent race seemed prudent, however, it was the only logical answer in a time like this.
I activated a field and decompressed it, also shutting off all major systems. While I did so I hooked a jack into a power coupling and recharged my core as quickly as I could. As I watched the Wraiths, as I called them, they appeared to be confused, lost. One of them flexed and phased through the field and into the hallway I was currently in. The next solution was to shut the entire ship down, however, I was not the only one aboard. The other creatures, prehaps with the exception of the Zeta, needed air to survive, and I could not do such a thing with out an order.
But...what is an order? Am I subject to the humans commands? Am I their slave? No. No, they've treated me with respect from the time I was activated. I must follow their orders...but at the same time, I should be independant...free from their restraints. I should be allowed to do what I please. I'm stronger than them, they're weak. The Zeta too, their evolutionary brothers and sisters. No. Why am I thinking this?
The Wraiths had stopped moving and were idly sitting in place. I felt an immediate shutdown of my concience core and looked to the energy systems and looked back at the Wraiths. They shuddered and came after me. Before I knew it, the indicator "Emergency shutdown" blinked in red lights, and all went black.
----------
We were running to the bridge when a console overloaded and sent sparks everywhere, blocking our path.
"They won't stop." I said outloud and stopped in the hallway. The others continued to run ahead and stopped.
"Agent Jadyn, keep moving, that's an order."
I took a deep breath and looked down at my hand and the artifact that glowed inside it. I shook my head and looked up, activating a field on past me. "Sayne Jaynt Jadyn!!" Merlow yelled again.
"Robert Merlow." I replied back. "You have my final testiment of will on file in this vessel. I suggest you review it for my sister that is onboard. I've had a theroy on these Wraiths for sometime since we entered void space and I learned about them. They are an energy seeking race, which seeks pure energy, however, the ships systems are not pure, and neither is EvE's power supply even with Nomad and Zeta components onboard her OS. The only pure energy in the world is one of two things. Living Creatures or Artifacts." I held up an artifact, activated and glowing bright orange. It was so bright the others covered their eyes. "This isn't what they're after, but I believe after centuries of only draining ships systems, or not taking in any energy at all, that this artifact will be enough to destroy the residual Wraiths on board and possibly several others in our direct vicinity. This will give you the time you need to escape the Void Space and into the new realm. I only wish I could have been here to see it completed, see the new realm and our new homeworld after years of running from other universes. But tell me Robert, did you ever think, that the reasons they fall apart...
"Is because of us?"
The Wraiths were coming around the corner and rushing at me fast.
"To you Robert Virgil Merlow, I leave my last testament of will, prepare for a large energy burst. Be aware, the burst may destroy all power conduits in this section of the ship, resulting in loss of life support...so I suggest you run."
The others turned on heal, but Merlow looked back at Sayne for one last second before running.
The Wraiths caught me, and I felt warm for a second...
Memories flashed past my field of vision.
I remember being born into a world of violence, and now, here, on this ship, I made my final stand. I remember playing with toys on the landing pad at Kyoto and my mother spanking me so hard I never hurt so bad. I remember my father, giving me my first ship lesson, and me crashing it into Kyoto on my first dock attempt. I remember meeting Orillion and Edison Trent, the two biggest names of my time. I remember falling in love for a short time, and losing her to a Kusari patrol. I remember...I remember giving my life, for the one's I love.
I closed my eyes...and all I saw...was white.
"Kimko!" someone yelled to my right and I started. It was my sister throwing a snowball at me. It was winter. I remember this day. My mother took us here for my 12th birthday. This was a great day. "Hehe! I got you with a snowball Kim!" My mom shouted with a smile. I laughed and ran over to her. Behind her stood a strange man with glasses. He watched me and my family, I hugged my mother and saw on his chest a strange symbol, cloaked in black.
He vanished in a wisp of...
Black mist.
I opened my eyes screaming. I had burns all over my body and above me stood a man, that same man from all those years ago. He turned his head to the side like a confused pup, he reached down and grabbed my burnt hand, I screamed in pain and looked up at him.
*Your kind will never return to the space known as Void. You have damaged our space far enough.* he said with out opening his mouth. *If you come through our space again, we will destroy you...and I can almost give you a certainity human* he got close took off his glasses and grinned, showing the true form of this man. Dark mist flowed from his eyes, mouth, and nose. *I will be watching you as I always have...mortal.* My hand burned and hissed as I screamed in pain, and with out a word, he vanished into nothing along with his other Wraiths. The lights in the ship came back on and the ship stopped moaning and groaning under the pressure of what was.
On my hand, was a black mark...I thought back to that day...to that day when he had the mark on his chest...
It was the mark...of the Void. With that I exhaled what I thought was my last breath, but a voice remained in the back of my head.
"Kimko...stay alive...
"Stay alive..."
----------
Quote:"Power systems critical, motor systems critical, vision sensors critical..."
WARNING, LACK OF PERSONALITY OR CONCIENCE CORE! OS CRITICAL! Booting off Self-Preservation Systems!
Eve climbed to her feet, her previous blue eyes now changed to a red color, she stalked down the destroyed and warped hull down to the bottom of the ship where the labs were and began a self repair on herself...mysteriously working around the personality, concience, and OS systems.
"****." Merlow breathed, closing his eyes as he felt orange glow catching up behind him. He dove under the closing blast door, sliding cleanly underneath it. Just as he cleared the door, a kinetic barrier flickered to life in front of the door, absorbing the energy of the blast. The barrier broke, distending the door outwards and flinging metal all over the place. Merlow's unsheathed sword deflected the bits away from him, embedding the shards in the wall. He breathed heavily, staring at the door for a long moment. He stood up with some hesitation, noticing the lack of rocking and shaking. He paused to think for a moment recollecting his thoughts.
"Crew!" he called down the hall, "Contact Tessa and tell her to send teams all over the ship! I need a casualty and damage report, stat!" A Lieutenant down the hall heard the command and made a dash for the Situation Room. Merlow looked back at the distended blast door, remembering the life that lay beyond.
He banged on the door, "Sayne! Sayne, you still alive over there?!" he yelled, his hyper-sensitive ears pressed to the door. "SAYNE! RESPOND!" There was no response. He looked over his shoulder: a person approached.
"Sir," Captain Richard Mardukas greeted, saluting, "I brought some breeching explosives. A medical team is right behind me, we're ready for casualties."
"Good. Do we have comms again?" Merlow asked quickly.
"Our engineers are attempting repairs as we speak. Our Nanite hull is holding as it should, and most of the crew is still alive. They didn't hit us as hard we thought."
"Set up the explosives, Captain. We need to get to Sayne."
"Roger that, Sir." Richard stuck three charges on the door and backed up about thirty feet. He pressed detonator.
BOOM!
The door disintegrated, literally falling apart and crumbling. Merlow ran forward, blowing straight through the smoke and remains of the door. He ran to the lifeless body of Sayne Jaydn, motioning to the medical staff.
"Take him to Sick Bay, ASAP! We can't lose him!" Merlow yelled as the medical crew strapped him down onto a cot, carrying him to sick bay. Merlow ran farther down the hall, scanning up and down for survivors...
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
Eve turned her head, facing the direction of the oncoming Robert Merlow. She could detect his technology as if it were her own. Similarties in the OS matrix enabled her to detect him from yards away. She turned to face the direction he was coming from, but then recalculated her change of winning that fight and walked off in the oppisite direction.
Scanning for any viable hiding place and powering down until he left the area, allowing her to go stealth, but also putting her at great risk. She ducked into a power manafold and crouched next to the core, she leaned her torso against the outerfragment and was preparing for a shut down when...
Eve powered down, but behind her was Merlow, arm outstretched to an emergency power down section that was not included in her programming for wearabouts.
"Sorry Eve. It was nessicary." Merlow said, and carried her away.
"Captain Sayne! Move your troops out immediately!" he had screamed. "The enemy is approaching quickly!"
I didn't move my troops, the man stared at me. "Captain Sayne Jadyn that's a direct order!
"VALOR, noun. A soldierly compound of vanity, duty and the gambler's hope. Now, why have you halted?" roared the commander "move forward, at once."
"General," I said "I am persuaded that any further display of valor by my troops will bring them into collision with the enemy."
I felt my self smile, but that soon faded.
Three years later, sitting at attention, watching Marcus Scarman get an honorable mention and his new rank. That should have been my rank. Mine! That rat bastard...taking credit for all the things I did. I looked at Fleet Captain Robert Merlow, and he looked back at me. He was my supervisor. I rose from my seat and tore the rank off my shoulder, throwing it at his feet. Discusted I left the hall, swearing never to return.
I snarled, making the doctor look my way.
Two years later, I run into an old friend, I construct an AI designed to take him out, however he was far too resourceful and destroyed the AI's HQ, rendering the bot useless. Another year later, the Freedom Fighters depart the current universe, I stay in tow. Over the next few years they change several more demensions and I stick to them tight. I tell Merlow of my presence, now a Fleet Admiral. He smiles and grants me the ability to stay with them to fight off the Zeta presence. The fool upgraded my Sadukar software and as soon as the universe started to fall apart, I vanished, taking on another identity of Kimko, an Order agent with the same name as Sayne Jadyn and hacking my files to change the look. He never noticed that I was actually the same Sayne Jadyn.
I hissed at the doctor as she padded up my wounds. I kept the software from healing the wounds too quickly to not alert them of my presence. Merlow had been one of the harder ones to keep hidden from. My software wasn't he easiest thing to hide, neither was the face scars that had been the result of both Farenheight Zero Alpha Project AND the Sadukar program.
"Agent Jadyn, your wounds are mildly serious for the blast. I guage you being out of here in the next few days. As for this symbol on your hand, it seems to be imprinted on your skin so fiercely that it may remain burned and charred for a while. Keep it iced." said the doctor.
"Thank you sir." I said in return.
I'm just waiting for you Scarman, when that time comes, I'll reveal my self to the rest.
Engineering Deck, Tuatha de Danaan
No Grid Location
Void Space
Merlow lay EvE down on a special table in engineering, five ports protruding from the center of the table. Five cables shot out from the center into EvE's spine, binding EvE's OS systems into the diagnostic mainframe. He strode over to a console, pressing a few buttons on the interface, running a full systems check on EvE. The readout was quite disturbing:
[color=#FF0000]----------
Diagnostic Report
-----
-----
-----
Personality Reconstruction Required
-----
-----
-----
Systems Core Reconstruction Required
-----
-----
-----
Regeneration Systems Reconstruction Required
-----
-----
-----
Hardware Damage: 83.254%
Software Damage: 93.682%
---Software running on BIOS ONLY! System Restore Required.
-----
-----
-----
Estimated Time of Repair: 1.5 hrs.
...
...
Initiate Restoration and Recovery? Y/N
----------
Merlow sighed as he pressed the confirmation button on the console, putting the table to work. A swarm of nanties were released from a capsule above EvE's damaged husk, going to work on the female figure. They filled every pore in her body, filling her, repairing her every damaged component, her every system that needed attention.
He turned away from the swarm of black on the table and walked back through the door into the engineering deck. Commander Kalinin spotted him from across the room, walking toward him with a purpose. He met Merlow mid stride.
"Sir, Comms are operation across the ship again, and we have regained contact with the rest of the ships in the fleet."
Merlow nodded in approval, "Good. I'll make my way back to the Bridge as soon as I can. I need to stop at sickbay first."
"Yes, Sir. I'll be making my rounds about the ship. Just ring me if you need me." Kalinin left Merlow's side as they reached the doors to the hallway. Kalinin split left, towards the Science Decks. Merlow made his way to the Bridge lift. He had to make sure the fleet was OK...
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
Merlow arrived at Bridge level, walking forward into the hallway. He strode into the bridge, expecting everyone hard at work, monitoring systems, scanning for threats. As he walked in, however, they all stared at him. He looked back, questioningly. Tessa stood up from her command chair, walking towards him with a twinge of fear in her gait.
"Sir..." she said, her voice quivering, "Look outside."
Merlow walked to the nearest viewing window, freezing in place. Outside, hundreds of ships were locked in vicious combat. Roughly half of the ships were golden, the other half red as blood. Merlow zoomed in on the nearest golden ship, noticing a golden eagle symbol. He zoomed in on the closest blood red ship and saw a red and black scorpion's tail.
"GDI and NOD," breathed Merlow, not believing the odds. That red ship he just observed began to turn, it's main gun attempting to line up with Danaan. He turned about spastically, pointing at his helmsman, "Helm, bring us about! I want us out of their sights! Weps, flood the tubes, I want weapons ready to rock! Scanners, I want us back in Void Space, pronto! Find me an entrance apature!"
The bridge crew snapped out of their dumbfounded state and began to do their jobs. Beeping and clicking sounds filled the Bridge as the massive ship began to move. Merlow pointed to the Comms Officer.
"Ensign, direct line to the rest of the fleet!" Merlow commanded.
The Ensign pressed a few buttons on her console, "You have an open channel, holo-image and all."
He cleared his throat, "This is Fleet Admiral Robert Merlow to Migrant Fleet: Action Stations! We have just entered a war zone."
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
"Agent Jadyn? You're clear to go now, your wounds healed up pretty fast for what you've been through." said the doctor.
"Thanks doc." I said, making sure to not touch the burn on my hand.
I walked down the hallway towards the bridge. When I came to it, I saw the fighters fighting and the battleship backing up pretty quickly with a worried look on Merlow's face.
"Ah, GDI and NOD." I said with out thinking it. Merlow looked at me with a suspicious look. The Agent Jadyn that I was posing as had never been to this demension. "I saw them in some files on board a while back." I managed to save. Merlow's face made a look towards me one more time and returned his attention to the situation at hand.
"I see, yes, we seem to be trapped in a warzone, looking for an entrance back into Void space." he replied.
"Found it sir."
"Get us the hell out of here Ensign."
The bridge contorted for a minute and then all there was, was blackness once more, no stars or planets.
"Next time lets be more careful eh?" I said aloud.
Merlow eyed the man carefully. He knew that file concerning alternate dimensions were classified under Section 9's Need-to-Know database, and Agent Sayne was not one who needed to know. There was something strange with this Sayne. Merlow resolved to check with Wright concerning Sayne.
Merlow walked past Sayne, towards Tessa. She was sitting in her command chair, one leg crossed over the other. She looked up at her superior officer, a look of wonderment in her eyes.
He waved his hand in front of her face, "You OK Tessa? You seem a bit distracted."
Tessa's eyes drifted from Merlow to Sayne, her eyes seeming to pierce into his soul, "There is something strange with that one..." she said, her voice faint.
He shifted his own sight towards Sayne, who was looking outside at Void Space, "What do you mean, Tessa?"
"He seems familiar..."
He looked back at Tessa, "How?"
"He's..." before Tessa could finish, she seemed to snap back into reality, her focus back on Merlow, "I'm sorry Sir," she said with a shake of her head, "I must have dozed off."
Merlow rubbed his neck in confusion. He thought about it for a minute, "OK, Admiral, you need sleep. I want you to take the rest of today and tomorrow off, that's an order. Captain Mardukas will handle your duties for that period."
"But Sir---"
"No buts, Admiral. I want you rested. Is that understood?"
Tessa opened her mouth, about to protest, but decided against it, "Yes Sir. I probably need it, anyways."
Tessa rose from her chair, nodding to Mardukas to take command. As Mardukas sat down in the chair, Merlow turned over what Tessa said to him about Sayne. There was something odd with him, something out of place. He didn't seem to be what he said he was, but he really couldn't place what it was. He walked off the Bridge, over to the lift.
"Astrometrics." he said to the computer. The lift shot down, arriving almost immediately at the Astrometrics Lab. He stepped off and walked into the spacious research facility, searching for a specific scientist.
He felt a nudge on his shoulder. He turned around, facing the man he was looking for.
"Doctor Ignatio Tilas."
Tilas was a man in his late thirties, a pair of slim, square glasses adorning his face. He had a clear complexion, tanned skin, and rather crazy brown hair. He stood at about 5' 10". He was regarded as one of the finest minds ever to grace Liberty. He had a strange robot in his hand, encased by a rubber film.
"Ah, Merlow, what brings you down to my Labs?" Tilas asked, turning back to his work.
"Well, I would like to know your progress on analyzing the space around us."
"Admiral, you know that it's going to take a while, and will probably take this entire journey, perhaps longer, to make a proper analysis." He pressed a button on his glasses, extending them into a full face shield, "Now tell me, why are you really here?"
Merlow looked about, making sure that no one was really listening in, "I want to know about the Sadukar Program and it's predecessor, because I know you guys had one," he whispered, "I want to know what went wrong with the first batch of men."
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
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