The Avatar blinks three times. There is a pause then it blinks three more times. Tony remembers that when the Avatar blinked three times back at the Gamma tower, it seemed to be non-plussed. The Avatar blinks another three times and scowls. "Sorry—that data is not available. My databanks have no record of a subshuttle leaving your location. The subshuttle currently stationed at Portal III does not respond to orders and a sensor request has determined that it left its station ten of your minutes ago and passed by your location about five minutes ago. It appears to be under independent control. Its destination is unknown. I am currently running a complete diagnostic, which will take a measurable period of time." The Avatar blinks three times once more... "Ah. Erm. Ah, I am detecting a disturbance in the mainframe. It appears that there is a disturbance in the matrix... It appears that there is a disturbance in the matrix. I am dispatching a subshuttle to your location. It proceed on the same course as detected for the other subshuttle. It will arrive shortly. Please proceed three hundred metres to your left to the subshuttle station to board the subshuttle. Commander R Olivaw, Security Chief R Thera and Captain Samson have been notified."

It takes a little more than a minute for the team to proceed to the subshuttle station. It is nothing spectacular, merely a walkway parallel to the tunnel, but it seems it will provide a safe way to enter the subshuttle.

About ten minutes after the team has Arrived at the station, a slight pressure wave of cool air can be felt. A cylindrical subshuttle car hoves into view. The doors flick open, just as Tony observed at the Gamma station.

Boarding the car, the team finds a clean white tubular space with seating along both sides and windows above the bench-like seats. It looks like what they would have expected from a modern subway. Above the windows is a display which appears similar to an LCARS interface tracking the car's current location. The windows show the tunnel begin to flash past at an incredible speed as the light dot indicating the subshuttle's location begins to creep along the displayed track. There is no perceptible motion—the car obviously has an advanced intertial damper—and the windows switch to a soothing series of panoramic images of the Sphere interior.

The Avatar's voice comes from the ceiling, "Please be seated, Lady and Gentlemen. Your trip will be of an unknown duration. I will keep you updated on our progress, and will relay your communications to the Starfleet hailing frequencies."

Jon's impression from the recordings made by the Kitchissippi and Cuyahoga crews seemed to indicate the Avatar spoke with a slightly halting cadence as if not entirely fluent in Federation Standard English, but that seems to have been rectified as the Avatar now speaks in a fluent if slightly formal tone.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Wed 20 Apr 2022.

In reply to The Avatar (msg # 51):

Jon contacts the Thames and updates them on the situation, mostly to prove to himself that the communications are working as promised by the Avatar. He then gestures to the seats.

"We might as well sit down," says Jon to the others. Speaking a little louder, Jon addresses the Avatar "Please give us the status of the subshuttle that we are pursuing."

Talja replies, "Roger that, Jon. Your signal is loud and clear. We also have a link to the Avatar. He looks a bit like Dr. Wollschlaegel, don't you think?" Dr. Karl Wollschlaegel is a well known warp theorist. Rumour has it he was among the members of the crew of the USS Montana, a Loknar class frigate flung 72 years into the future from 2284 to 2356 under Capt Paul Edwards.

The Avatar chimes in, "Confirmed, I am in communications with Cdr R Olivaw, Capt Samson and Lt Gröen. The subject subshuttle is proceeding in a southerly direction by Starfleet's mapping standards. It is rapidly approaching a juction point in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Ahem The subshuttle has been lost to my tracking sensors. I am initiating a search for possible locations. I recommend you proceed on current trajectory through the junction point on the theory that who ever is guiding it does not reprogramme the junction's transition mechanism."

Shemp makes a rude noise. The Avatar replies, "I heard that. I'll thank you to keep a civil tone please." He sounds offended by the implications of the exocomp's retort.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Lt Nathan excepted that Dahlakino did not understand what he was trying to get at.
This often happened to him when he first talkings to other species about his mind based abilities.
Even onces with same ability often do not understand Lt Nathans ideas.
His mother had always said he thought out side of Betazoid societies norms.

His long days laying in bed had allowed him to explore his abilities.
What he never told anybody was of he 7 secret friends.  They where Psionics from other worlds.  Communicating with them taught Lt Nathan where was a whole world of things you could do with such skills.  However developing these type of skills while still on Betaziod would have been dangerous and he had kept away from doing such things until now.

He smiles at Dahlakino.  I would love to learn more about your skills and how you use what you call the Force.  My species practices thought communication as a basic language and we starts developing this ability while still in the womb.  Some of the stronger members of are species are able to go beyond just communication however at lot of my species are against such developments.  I am not.

As the journey develop Lt Nathen just follows on with little to say.

On seeing the light saber he twitches his noes at it.
Looking at Dahlakino he expresses himself.  I am not a great lover of weapons but somethings such things are necessary.  However I wonder if it is possible to scale it down.
That could make a wonderful lazer scalpel for medical purposes.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

[OOC: Sorry, been a hectic week.]

Dahlakino says to Nathan, "Just keep in mind that the Force is not exactly psionics. But we'll discuss this at a more appropriate time."

As the subshuttle car proceeds, the Avatar continues, "You are approaching a junction point. If all goes well, your quarry will not have reprogrammed the junction. There will be a... discontinuity."

Before anyone gets a chance to request more information on the discontinuity, the lights dim almost imperceptibly for a fraction of a second and everyone feels a flutter in their stomachs as if the gravity flickered off, not unlike the sensation when one transports into a slightly different gravitic field.

Dahlakino says tentatively, "We are not... in the same place."

The Avatar replies, "Correct. You have been displaced. You are halfway across the megastructure. The subject subshuttle car is approximately 250 kilometres ahead. It is approaching a station point."

Everyone's commbadge suddenly chirps. "What the hell was that?" comes Capt Samson's voice. "You just jumped about 118 million klicks along the inner surface of the Sphere in less than half a second! How is that even possible?"

The Avatar specifies, "One hundred seventeen, eight hundred and nine thousand, six hundred twenty five kilometres, to be exact." There is no smugness in the voice, merely a statement of fact. "Attention, the subject subshuttle car is coming to a stop. Internal sensors indicate that one humanoid and one artificial being have disembarked and are leaving the area. I have lost track of their position, but they are proceeding at 1.4 metres/second. Your estimated time of arrival is 4 minutes, 32 seconds... Mark!"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Sun 26 Jan 2020.

In reply to Dahlakino (msg # 55):

"Dammit!", exclaims Jon. "Even at that pace, by the time we get there they'll be half a klick away in some unknown direction. Capt Samsom, is there any possibility of beaming us ahead? And what's in that part of the Sphere?"

Samson replies, "We've not explored that are of the Sphere. The Bras d'Or is within range and we'll have them beam you there... Wait, they're reporting on a preliminary scan of the area. High chroniton readings and an area which seems somehow shielded... Could be something inherent to the Sphere, or it could be a Romulan cloaking field. Proceed with extreme caution."

The transmission source changes. "USS Bras d'Or transporter control here. Stand by for site-to-site. Engaging... now!"

The subshuttle car disappears from around them to be replaced with a station identical in every way to the one they'd left. The other subshuttle car is only now pulling out of the station.

Several seconds later, another person beams down from the Bras d'Or, a ginger-haired woman in her thirties wearing lieutenant commander's rank and Science blue.

"Hi," she greets them. "I'm LCdr Kat Carson, XO and Science Officer of the Bras d'Or. My sisters and I were conducting some tests on the ship and Cdr Taliaferro though you could use some help. Jon recognises her as the officer who'd turned out to be one of the Lintilla clones. He says it's a possibility we're dealing with a Romulan cloaking device. During the War, I was attached to a Romulan Warbird for the final attack on Cardassia Prime and came to be familiar with the capabilities of the cloaking field." She takes an equipment case off her shoulder and opens it revealing a piece of equipment unfamiliar to most of them.


"Hey," says Tony, "that's a Romulan tricorder! We confiscated some o' them things last night during the battle!"

"Top marks, Lieutenant," replies Carson. "Specifically, it's an engineering tricorder with a cloaking maintenance software package."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:01, Wed 20 Apr 2022.

In reply to LCdr. Katrina Carson (msg # 58):

"What's the direction and the distance to the chroniton readings that were detected?" Jon asks the LCdr. "It's good bet that Dovan and the and the exocomp went that way, and they can't have gone far!"

Jon turns away to locate the most likely exits from the platform, as well as to try to hide the fact that he's started blushing deeply in the presence of the Lintilla clone.

Lt Nathen simply asks.
Does the Romulan cloaking system block Psionics abilities LCdr Kat Carson.
I may not be able to sense our two runaways or any other borg.
But I can at least let us know if our friends the Romulan themselves are looking to welcome us with open arms.

Lt Nathen give Jon a smile clearly sensing his feelings.
However he does not say anything.

Kat smiles at Nathan. "No, doctor, it does not. Unfortunately, psionics as used by most Federation races, yours included, are relatively short-ranged and normally do not  operate over interplanetary distances. Yes, there are exceptions but those that are noted tend to be vague or, in the case of Vulcans, closely related family members or those with a mating bond. As a Betazoid, you are naturally more psionically endowed than most other baseline humanoids due to elevated levels of the neurotransmitter psilosynine in your brain. As well, psionic phenomona are often associated with trace levels of thoron radiation which also occurs both in nature and as a result of many pieces of Romulan technology. Are your psionic senses detecting anything?"

Jon's commbadge chirps. "Samson to Clare. Since the Sphere Computer is having problems with interference by presumably the Borg, we're assigning you a computer specialist, Lt Buran. Luckily, he's currently on the Bras d'Or, so I've asked them to beam him down."

Moments later, the transporter deposits Lt Buran a few metres away. He's a Bolian wearing Sciences blue and full lieutenant's pips, with an equipment case slung over his shoulder. Like all Bolians, he has blue skin and a deep groove down the centre of his face.


[OOC: New player, guys!]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:57, Wed 20 Apr 2022.

Buran took in the group around him.  "Pleasure to meet you all. Not that the current events are pleasant, but still it is good to be working with experts like yourselves." While Buran spoke, he reached in to a pocket on his uniform and pulled out a engineering tricorder.

"As I understand the situation we are tracking a recently assimilated borg drone, formerly a medical technician from the Chirpers camp, and what we assume is an assimilated exocomp. Something is interefering with the Sphere's computer interface, we also assume it is the Borg, but have not confirmed that." Buran continued to type away on his tricorder while he spoke.

"I wonder though, if anyone, has thought to scan for Borg communication signals in the area, to determine if we are dealing with two drones or an entire Collective." With his final words, he finished typing in the commands on his tricorder.  He looked up at the others. "Quiet lot, aren't you."

While his tricorder ran the input program, he pulls out a Type 2 phaser from his uniform.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:58, Mon 03 Feb 2020.

Tony steps forward. "Gazzo, tech assessment officer. I'm from Sigma Iotia II, as is Billy Xelox, sociology. This here's Doc Nathan Pierce, from Betazed and Jon Clare, a planetologist from Earth. The exocomp there is Shemp. Our missing man is Doctor Dovan from Delta IV and his exocomp buddy is called Larry." He sticks out a hand in the peculiar Human greeting.

"Larry and Shemp are from the Thames's complement of exocomps, 'long with their counterparts Moe and Curley." He grins and confides, "Named 'em myself -- don't like referring to my friends as Unit QXVR135."

Buran has noted before the peculiar Human tendency to anthropomorphosise machines, like calling ships "her". It seems this is even more common with AIs like the exocomps and the EMH programmes.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Mon 03 Feb 2020.

In reply to Lt (jg) 'Fast Tony' Gazzo (msg # 64):

"Not to interrupt the introductions party," says Jon a bit impatiently. "But our two fugitives are on the move while we are standing here chatting!

"Do your readings show any signs of a full collective?" he asks Buran.

Shemp whistles and Tony translates, "Shemp says he has a lock on Larry's boridium power cell, about 300 metres north and 50 metres up—on the surface. At that speed and given the power output, Dovan's probably riding Larry like a grav-bike."

Kat looks at Buran and says, "Captain Samson deduced that since you were using grav boots, we'd probably need them, too, but we're only armed with Type II phasers. Doc, you look a little uncomfortable with that rifle. Why don't you give it to Mr. Buran?"

The crew swiftly move to the escalators and float up the shaft to the surface level. The area around the low, domed building is savannah, wide grasslands with scattered scrub and low trees with broad canopies. The air is hot and still, with low clouds on the horizon. A herd of gazelle-like beasts, already agitated by Dovan's passage, wheel and flee.


Dahlakino points to the north ["north" being a relative term, but Starfleet has designated an arbitrary coordinate system] and says, "They're heading in that direction. The machine gestalt voices are directing them onward."

Tony notes, "They're moving at about 50 kliks an hour. We can match and better that speed!"

Hearing the offer for the phaser rifle, Buran shakes his head. "Actually I have failed to qualify on that model at the shooting range. Personally I think the rangemasters are always too nitpicky about the target area, but until I can get a more agreeable evaluator, I will stick with my trusty hand phaser."

Seeing the direction Dahlakino is pointing out, Buran heads that direction.  As he flies across the savannah, he pulls out his tricorder to check for the results of his scan for additional Bord signatures. "Let's see what my trusty tricorder has to tell us about additional Borg signatures."

Carson takes the rifle herself. Nathan shows his relief at not having to carry the weapon. He is a doctor, after all.

"Well," she says, "Jon's right. Let's get after them before they get away." She triggers her grav-boots and keeps pace with Buran.

Tony also keep a position even with Buran, his rifle slung and his tricorder in his hand. "Range 750 metres and closing. Got a lock on Larry! Can't get a reading on the Doc, though."

Dahlakino says, "I'm still getting that image of a six-pointed star. It seems reminiscent of the religious pendant Lt Blume wears about his neck. I get no impression of devotion to it, though. Just a destination."

Tony relies, "Max Blume? That's his star of David—he's an orthodox Jew. Can't see what that has to do with Borg."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:40, Thu 06 Feb 2020.

Buran taps icons on his own tricorder. He is able to detect the boridium power signature that Tony mentioned. He's able to piggyback the tricorder's remote sensors to the signal and hack into Larry's CPU. The resulting decoded signals are Borg encoding, tailored for the limited AI routines in the exocomp's computer. There are several sideband signals, but the main ones are what appear to be a set of coordinates. Buran's task is made somewhat easier by the fact that the Borg are using a translation matrix to communicate with Larry's Federation standard equipment and this gives him the foothold in the Borg encryption he needs to figure out that the coordinates are actually in a format of Romulan origin. This confirms the hasty briefing Buran was given that the Borg infestation seems to be related to the Romulan attack the night before. Buran's natural species-based ability to multitask allows him to perform the complex calculations while travelling at 70km/h.

Meanwhile, Dahlakino, the odd-looking alien woman with the tail-like tentacles on her head moves closer to him and shouts over the rush of the wind, "Mr. Buran, be careful! Dovan is aware of our pursuit."

As Buran notes several changes in Larry's operations, Tony yells, "Heads up guys, they're slowing down!"

Buran's readings confirm this, as well as a change in the power distribution. Larry's industrial replicator is coming online.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 69):

While racing across the savannah, Jon taps his comm badge.

"Clare to Bras d'Or!", he says. "You're up high. Do you have a visual on our targets? And do you see any surface features resembling a Star of David?"

"Larry's industrial replicator is coming online. Take evasive action," Buran calls out, as he takes evasive action.  As he veers off, he tries to hack Larry's power systems to shut down power to the replicator.

OOC: 9 on my computer (hacking) check. Drama dice- 5; other dice- 5, 4, 3; plus hacking 4.

Talja replies, "Jon, we're just arriving at your location. Beginning scan now... Mark!"

Buran manages to shut down power to Larry's replicator, but suddenly finds himself cut off from the exocomp's CPU. An attempt to restore contact is rebuffed. The tricorder is still functioning and detects Larry landing. A second power signal activates—a Federation phaser charging— and a phaser shot at extreme range comes from the trees up ahead, now only 300 metres away. The shot misses the group, who have just initiated evasive manœvres, making it even more difficult for the firer to target them.

Dahlakino shouts, "That was Dovan! I'm able to sense him more clearly. He's shooting to kill."

Tony reports, "He's using a Type II, maximum range 100 metres. He can't realistically hit us."

Shemp hoots and whistles. The commbadges translate this as "Incoming message from Unit QXVR135, designation Larry. 'Resistance is futile'."

Lt. Nathen follows behind the others.
He keeps an eye on then.
When the offer of passing the rife come up he is very happy to give the weapon so some one else.  Any one else.

When they get to the surface he take care to make sure the heat does not effect the others.
Now they are facing Dovan and

Lt Nathan speaks to Shemp.
Send back a message to the QXVR135 Unit 'Resistance is fun and we are going to use the fun to disable you'.
He then adds.
Maybe we should spread out and arch round.  They are only two and we are more.
They cannot look or attack in many direction at once.
I will stay back and do my best if anybody gets hit.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Sun 09 Feb 2020.

Shemp replies, "Message sent. No reply. Query: Message makes no sense. What is the purpose of the message?"

Tony comments, "Ah, the James T. Kirk school of computer programming. A classic. Don't worry, li'l buddyI'll explain later."

Billy replies, "Don't think even Kirk could bullshit the Borg, but it's worth a try."

In reply to Lt (jg) 'Fast Tony' Gazzo (msg # 74):

"Why is he shooting at us?" cries Jon. "We are way out of range, and Borg don't usually do useless things! Either he has a trick up his sleeve, or still un-assimilated enough to act un-Borg-like. Let's hope for the latter."

Jon thinks Nathan's flaking idea is excellent.

"Tony, Shemp, and I will flank right!" he says. "Everybody else go left.  Our rifles have more range than his phaser. If you take a shot, try not to have the rest of us in the line of fire! Remember, we are trying to capture, not kill! Bras d'Or, can we rely on you for air support?"

[OOC: What is the range of a phaser rifle?]