First of all, our greetings and salutations for a respectable institution of knowledge.
You might wonder who we are; our names and identity are not important right now, let's just say we are a group of individuals that share a common goal: the protection and advancement of the Human Race. We see institutes like yours as the greatest resources that Mankind has to ensure its success in the Universe. We have observed your activities, and noted your interest in better understanding the alien entities know as Slomon K'hara, more commonly referred as Nomads.
We noticed with great worry the incident that involved the infestation of the Brotherhood of Steel pilots, and wanting to contribute to the safety of the people of Liberty, we saw to employ our means to aid in the hunt of those individuals. Sadly, it seems not everyone understood the gravity of the incident.
One of our unmanned drones yesterday found a Brotherhood of Steel ship peacefully idling in Manhattan orbit; since the drone was unarmed, all it could do was signaling the presence of the infestation, broadcasting alarms over the system channels. The drone followed the infested pilot as he tried to evade further detection, yet nobody seemed to care about the threat. In the end, the infected pilot destroyed the drone, so we have no means to know if he got later caught, but considering that the whole matter has been ignored by everyone, that seems very unlikely.
We are transmitting you the data sent by our drone, so it could be easier to identify that ship more easily in the future; as we do not have the same public acknowledgement towards Liberty authorities that your insstitute can muster, we urge you to signal the incident to the appropriate offices.
[color=#FF6600]//OORP: congrats to the whole New York RP community, expecially to the NUMEROUS Navy players present at that time, for totally ignoring a Nomad infestation and giving more attention to a bunch of rogues playing dice at a casino. Well done, people... :(
My sincerest gratitude for your contact, I am pleased to see our word of warning carries some weight.
Thank you also for the information regarding the BoS ship, it looks similar to the vessel we have in lock down here. It is a shame to have seen one of your reconnaissance drones destroyed by the infected vessel, and I wish to offer some compensation for that, considering you provided us with more information.
On that note, if there is more data you wish to share with us, we will be more than happy to pass on what we can to you also.
Knowledge is power, and the more knowledge on Slomon K'hara we can attain, the better chance we can have in resisting infection of the people.
Most sincerely,
Dr Niels Bohr DEng, CSci, MSc, QCA, MSE
Head Dean
Lincoln Research Institute
Greetings again, doctor Bohr, and thank you for the friendly response; this is sadly something that we do not often receive. Don't worry too much about the drone, they are easily replaced. A new one is already in place and relaying these transmissions to you.
I'll go immediately straight to the point. After reexamining our records in the light of recent events, we found something that you could find useful. The following data is a confidential report, and we're forwarding this to your institute as a show of trust, but we ask you not to diffuse this data, and to limit the informed personnel to a strict minimum. The recorded events took place roughly a month ago.
[color=#FFFFFF]Report n.349-001-D: (Written document; automated report generated by a recon drone. Claymore-class gunboat found in Omicron Delta, slowly drifting towards the Omicron Minor jump-hole; vessel systems powered down, life support at minimum, one life sign detected. Vessel not responding to hails. Contact made with command, vessel recovered shortly thereafter.)
[color=#FFFFFF]Report n.349-002-R: (Written document; medical staff recovered the occupant of the Claymore, revealing itself to be a human female, approximate age 32, in comatose condition, nose and ears bleeding. Preliminary analysis revealed a severe cerebral haematoma, likely due to blood pressure rise. Reducing the blood pressure succeeded in stabilizing the subject. Clinical tests revealed mixed biochemical alterations in the blood count and hormonal readings. Subject's consciousness level fluctuated between deep coma and slumber in an erratic pattern for 27 hours. No conventional treatment obtained results.)
Report n. 349-035-V: (Video feed, infirmary surveillance cameras) The subject lies on the examination bed, surrounded by dozens of instruments and with multiple feeds in her arms and neck; her already light complexion looks almost marble-white under the crude medical lamps. One side of the head is shaved, pressure shunts poking from blood-stained bandages, while the other side spreads an array of auburn curls on the bed sheets.
A team of doctors and scientists in white robes flock around the bed, tending to the delicate instruments that keep the subject alive while gathering every possible information from her. After a minute or so, the lab door opens and three individuals enter; two men and a woman, wearing black uniforms with white and orange trims. One of the men calls a scientist apart and engages in a whispered conversation, while the other remains still near the door. The woman walks to the examination bed and looks at the instruments, then the subject.
Woman: Is she awake? Doctor 1: Not yet, captain, although her conditions improved substantially. It is possible that a stimulant could awaken her now'¦ but I might suggest avo- Woman: In due time, doctor. *turns to the man near the door* What do we know of her? Man 1: Not much, unfortunately. No personal identification found, but we decoded the ship's transponder, it is called 'Blossom of Purity', and the IFF shows affiliation to a bretonian terrorist group, the Nature's Last Hope'¦ Woman:*raises an eyebrow* A gaian'¦ *looks again at the woman, as if trying to decipher something from her sleeping face* Man 1:*nods* Yes, captain. According to the ship's record, she was headed to Okinawa, following a communication from her leader. Along her route, in orbit around planet Harris in Tau-31 she encountered a Nammu-class Nomad mindnode, and'¦ they, uhm, communicated.
A sudden silence follows the last sentence, broken only by the subtle bleeps and hisses from the instruments, as all heads turn to the man with a variety of expressions ranging from mild surprise to utter shock and disgust; the second man in the corner shakes his head. The woman remains still, not a face muscle twitching. She gestures the scientists to get back to their job.
Woman: Continue. Man 1:*after a brief hesitation* Not much else. We have to presume that the woman and the Nomad parted'¦ peacefully. The comm record has been erased. After the encounter, the ship changed its course and headed for the Omicrons. The route became erratic during the final phase; according to the logs, she nearly collided with the Gas Miner Ogashawa in Sigma-19 and never answered the angered protests of the station control tower. She also forgot to resupply during the entire travel, and once arrived in Omicron Delta the power cells were exausted. Doctor 2: Ah, yes, we'¦ estimate that it must have been approximately at that moment that she lost consciousness. Maybe the inability to continue the travel caused a deep frustration, and the subsequent rise of the blood pressure caused the hemorragia. Woman:*remains silent for a minute, then nods* Very well. Awaken her. Doctor 2:*looks at her with a puzzled expression* Captain, I don't know if it's the case'¦ Doctor 1: I must insist that she remains sedated for the ti- Woman: Enough! Awaken her. That's an order.
Doctor 1 shakes his head, then goes to a locker and retieves a vial, proceeding then to inject it in one of the tubes attached to the subjec's arm. Almost immediately every instrument in the room starts sounding alarms, and the breathing of the woman increases visibly; she spasms for a moment, then opens her eyes and screams.
Subject: MAKE IT STOOOOOP!!!! Doctor 1: I kew it was a mistake! Quickly, sedate her! Woman: NO! Ignore that order! *glares at the doctor* Do what you can to keep her alive AND awake. *turns to the subject, that has now stopped screaming and is breathing heavily* Can you hear me? Subject: '¦aaaahhh'¦ where'¦ who'¦ *tries to touch her head and notices the tubes attached to her arm* What'¦ what are you doing to me? Where am I? Woman: You are safe now, we are taking care of you. We found you adrift in space. What is your name? Subject: Deirdre'¦ Skye'¦ my head'¦ Woman: Good, Deirdre'¦ can I call you Deirdre? Tell me, Deirdre, what is the last thing you remember? Deirdre: The song'¦ the song in my head'¦ *closes her eyes and starts crying* He said'¦ he said that he would help me'¦ help me understand'¦ he said he would open my mind'¦ Woman: Who? Who said that, Deirdre? Deirdre: The Nomad'¦
Silence falls again over the room; Deridre doesn't seem to notice it and continues.
Deirdre: '¦I asked him why my head hurts when they speak'¦ he said I was partially receptive'¦ and that he could help me better receive their'¦ song'¦ he did'¦ something'¦ like'¦ a bell tingling in my head'¦ and then'¦ and then'¦ Woman: Then what, Deirdre? *waits for some seconds, then when the subject doesn't answer, she leans on her and places a hand on her shoulder* What happened then? What happened? Deirdre: The song'¦ in my head'¦ started to tell me things'¦ strange things'¦ do not understand'¦ *shakes her head in pain* I tried not to listen'¦ but my body, my body would listen anyway'¦ I was trapped'¦ locked'¦ inside'¦*faints, her head lying on a side* Doctor 1:*checks her status* I hope you're satisfied, captain, you almost killed her'¦ Woman:*steps back from the bed* Do I look satisfied to you, doctor? *Remains silent for a second, then turns to the two men arrived with her* That's enough for now. Redouble the surveillance. Noone enters here without a personal clearance from myself, understood? *then raises her gaze and looks into the camera* Get me that recording.
(Video feed interrupts)
Report n. 349-072-M: (Analysis results; bioscans detected abnormal neural activity throughout both hemispheres, following a repeating pattern. The subject's metabolism was strongly accelerated to sustain the heightened brain activity.
The doctors conducting the analysis named that neural profile "resonance pattern", because of its rhytmic behavior. Further tests were conducted on this abnormal function, and it was found that certain sound waves had a direct effect on the resonance pattern, and subsequently on the subject's brain waves.
Noone was able to determine the cause of this phenomenon; among the many theories that were formuled during the study, the most credited presumed that the subject's brain suffered from a very rare form of malfunction that generated those erratic patterns, and possibly caused hallucinatory events. According to this theory, the whole content of the encounter with the Nomad could be a false memory caused by the resonance pattern; the ship logs, after all, only proved the presence of a Nomad near the ship, and the triggering of the communication system.
During one of those tests, however, the subject suffered from a critical systemic failure of unknown origin, thought it was presumed to be due to the mysterious effect the resonance pattern had on the subject's overall metabolism. It was deemed necessary to put the subject in cyostasis to prevent permanent damage to the organs, and so she remained to the present day.)
This is all we have. Our scientists ended in concurring that a marginal encounter with a Nomad, undoubtedly a very emotional event for someone not accustomed to dealing with them, might have awakened a dormant malfunction in miss Skye's brain, with the subsequent hallucinations and final seizure. We had no reason to think of another nature of the event... until now. This may very well be the first reported case of the new Nomad infection method. To think that we had it under our nose for all this time...
We are including all the data we managed to gather about the event, in the hope that you can manage to shed some more light on this disturbing case. Again, doctor Bohr, I beg you for the utmost discretion on this matter.
Greeting again, doctor Bohr. We bring more developements concerning the infected Brotherhood of Steel ships.
Another one of our unmanned drones, an enhanced version with better equipment and armaments, found a Brotherhood of Steel ship loitering nearby the Norfolk Shipyard in New York; the drone signaled the infected presence over the system frequencies and began the pursuit. Nearby Navy units, though openly witnessing the entire occurrence, didn't bother to spend a joule on the matter.
The advanced drone was instructed to employ its armaments in case nobody else would intervene, and so it did.
Upon being heavily damaged, the infected pilot tried to run away, and the drone followed him for several minutes through the entire system, under the passive presence of the libertonian Navy. Finally the Brotherhood ship suffered from an engine malfunction once arrived again in proximity of Norfolk, and the drone managed to eliminate it.
Unfortunately, the infected pilot was in possession of an excellent escape pod, and the drone couldn't capture it. We are sending you the drone's sensor registries anyway, every little bit may help.
[color=#FF6600]//OORP: again, Navy players seemed to be completely uninterested on a Nomad infection in New York... well, you're doing a great job in defending the LN's reputation.
Indeed, this news just reinforces our ideas behind these deviant acts of hostility. Today some new light was shed on the situation, and believe there may some kind of serum that used Nomad DNA to cause some kind of nerve dysfunction or shutdown in the subjects.
Forgive us for the delayed answer, we had some other matters keeping ourselves busy.
This is indeed troubling news, although it could be a confirmation of our suspects. Our "subject zero", Deirdre Skye, said that the nomad "song" was controlling her body. The aggressive behavior of the infected brotherhood pilots could be due to the same effect. If I might suggest, it could be worth the effort to reanimate the subjects you currently have in stasis, in a properly secured installation of course, and study their behavior, looking for traces of this controlling effect.
Did you manage to obtain any other data? Our own researchers are working over the clock to improve our understanding of this phenomenon.
This is the latest news we have received from the infected syndicate:
Quote:This is a message from the hidden BoS pilot Omega.
The One that is killing us off goes by the name of EndlessVirus.
His ship may look harmless. but the payload of the missiles are loaded with the virus.
If you need to contact us more. GodlyAirStike will be flying aound for a while.
Lyon's Logs contain the codes to stop EndlessVirus's ship, and have the names of all the Hidden BoS pilots and Location.
Keep this in mind though. we of the Hidden BoS are like a Air, hard to avoid and even harded to kill.
This is BoS Omega Out. 10-2-4-543-A-O3
The logs of Lyon must be in his vessel in our quarantine unit. I will consult with the LSF regarding this, as I don't believe I can legally search his vessel.
It is either that, or we turn over the subjects and their vessel to you if you can provide a more secure means of containment.
Let me know.
Dr Niels Bohr DEng, CSci, MSc, QCA, MSE
Head Dean
Lincoln Research Institute
We urge you to not deliver any critical data or materials to the Navy or the LSF, as their own internal security is at stakes; one of our agents yesterday reported that an entire group of Liberty military ships, including a capital ship, has been infected by Nomads or other unidentified aliens while patrolling Alaska. While we're still working to find a confirmation to this report, it is evident that, for the near future, we cannot rely on the Liberty forces to be safely handling such grave matters.
If you're willing to transwer the Brotherhood pilots to us, we can arrange a meeting; we would also like to work together more closely on this matter, and we'd like to invite you onboard our facilities, it would be a chance to finally meet in person.
Please send us your S.k.y.p.e. identification, so that we can estabilish a date and hour for the deliver. And thank you, doctor Bohr, from me and all our organization, not only for the trust that you're giving us, but most of all for the deep commitment you're putting into solving this crucial situation.