"Odyssey here, Thoma speaking. Cdr DesMarais has the conn. Have Drs. Driveon and Marcus and the rest prepare for immediate beamout. HoD Kang and Cdr Charvanek are demanding to be put through. Are there any other casualties besides Chief Alexander?" asks Thoma.

DesMarais reports, "The Chief Engineer is in sickbay so I've assumed temporary command. Casualties are light, no fatalities. They caught us with our shields at minimum power as we were maintaining the charge for the Ball. HoD Kang saved our bacon by interposing the K'Tanko's shield bubble between the Cardassians' fire and the Odyssey while the Star Empire gave cover fire, sir."

Harris turns to Mercer, "Can you have the ship beam over a proper uniform for Boluri? He seems to have... lost his."

Driveon adds, from across the way, "I'd rather have him beam over for a full medical," to which Harris nods her approval.

McCurrvey's communicator chirps with a second incoming hail. When he answers it (whether immediately or after the hail from the Odyssey) a baritone voice with a Klingon accent says, "HoD Kang to totlh [Commodore] McCurrvey. I am beaming down with my cha'Dich [second], la' [Commander] Mara. Prepare to receive us!"

A second voice comes on the line, "Commander Liviana of the RSN Star Empire. I will be accompanying HoD Kang along with my aide, Centurion Tevan of the Tal Dian."

Brad recalls the Centurion from his conversation with Boren as a former covert agent inserted into the Armida IV's crew complement. Looking around, he sees that the Verlegg and the three pirate women have disappeared.

The Transporter hums and Driveon, Marcus and Boluri disappear in sparkling columns of light, along with the cadaver. At the same time Charvanek and Tevan arrive, as do Kang and Mara, the Klingons without a sound.

A hail from the Odyssey sounds. It is Collette, "Odyssey to Thelev. Three beamed up successfully, along with the deceased. Do you require a security detail?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:25, Thu 26 Nov 2020.

In reply to Commander Collette DesMarais (msg # 67):


[I presume Khendron beams over as well, as requested]

"I suggest a small security detail," Khendron pipes in. "Appropriate for a diplomatic mission."

"Also, Dr. Marcus," Khendron takes Dr. Marcus by the hand and gives a small, formal, bow. "Welcome aboard the USS Odyssey. You have had a very trying time. Unless you have an urgent need otherwise, I would like you to accompany Dr. Driveon to sick bay. Quarters will be arranged for you. When you are feeling up to at, you are welcome on the bridge."

Khendron also assigns 2 security as a protective detail for Dr. Marcus. Although not expected, Calista or someone else trying to abduct her again does not require a large stretch of the imagination.

Khendron heads to the bridge to take command of the ship, and has Collette give him a status update.

Prior to Khendron beaming over, Lord Dhark takes him aside and confides, "Captain Mercer, the ways of the Ilithid are multitudinous and much of what is known is conjecture. True, they do gain physical sustenance from devouring brains, but since they only feed upon intelligent creatures, it cannot be denied that there must be a reason. Many philosophers have argued into the night whether that they do indeed capture some of the essence of the victim. There is a sect among the Ilithids who claim to be soul eaters. I mention this out of candour, though I believe it to be a deceptive claim designed to spread fear of their abilities."

Once over on the Odyssey, Lt Trask volunteers to head the diplomatic security detail, accompanied by his deputy Chief of Security, Petty Officer 2c Daneric-Tren.

Marcus thanks Khendron as Braunschwegger and MacQuarrie join her to accompany her to her new quarters. At only 1.65m tall, se is dwarfed by the two hulking Security crewmen.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:55, Fri 27 Nov 2020.

In reply to Carol Marcus, PhD (msg # 69):

Once on the bridge, Khendron settles into the command chair. He requests an update on the ship's status from Collette, and also orders scans for Ilithid presence (he provides the scanning parameters from his tricorder).

"And scan that Nautiloid ship-thing over there," snaps Khendron. "I'd like to know what it is capable of!"

Between losing a crewmember and having to leave the Captain and Commodore in what can only be described as a crazy situation, Khendron is in an extremely anxious mood.

"It's a literal carnival down there!" says Khendron to Collette, as he brings her up to date. "I'd never thought I'd see that day where the presence of Klingons and Romulans are the least of our worries!"

Khendron has never worked with Collette before the Odyssey mission, but finds her an eminently qualified officer. He has of course, known her socially through Brad for years and gets along well with her. Her report is concise and detailed. Although his sojourn in the Dark Lord's domain was only been about 36 hours, it's actually been three times as long by the ship's chronometre, which explains the seemingly swift chain of events at Bridgetown. After Kang and Charvanek arrived and had a mild conflict with the Bridgetown personnel, they entered into negotiations with Cdr Manyard. It seems that even though Kang has a retutation as a hard-line Klingon, He doesn't quite buy into the conspiracy theory popular in the Empire that Genesis was a weapon of mass destruction. His experiences with Kirk and other Starfleet officers leads him to think that the Federation doesn't work along those lines, so losing the chance to acquire Dr. Marcus isn't that big a deal to him ideologically.

Charvanek on the other hand, isn't really interested in Marcus at all aside from being a potential source of intel, but is rather more focused on capturing Calista and her crew. Centurion Tevan was a plant in the Armida IV's crew for several years and their parting of ways was not friendly, as evidenced by the scar on Tevan's left cheek, courtesy of Calista's First Mate, Morgue.

A couple of days after the arrival of the Klingons and Romulans, the Cardassian Keldon battlecruiser Blaidon arrived and very soon after, a ship identifying itself as the Ferengi Commercial Authority marauder Glador. The Ferengi are a species of which the Federation has only vague rumours, and who are described variously as "Yankee traders" or malignant capitalists.

The Cardassian Gul Modred and the Dai-Mon of the marauder Glador began a heated exchange with Krist Mor, Sam's Orion associate, during which they ascertained that Sam had disappeared from his office during a meeting with the Federation representatives who had arrived suspiciously quickly, and the situation escalated to a point where the Blaidon and the Glador opened fire on the Odyssey. As previously reported, Kang and Charvanek came to the Odyssey's defense.

Casualties on the Odyssey total about a dozen minor injuries, with Cdr Manyard suffering a plasma burn and a concussion, causing Collette to assume the conn. He is expected to recover fully in a few days.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:03, Mon 30 Nov 2020.

McCurrvey takes charge of the introductions and goes into full diplomatic mode.  While he is doing this, he turns to Thelev I would suggest with the rumours that we ensure Odyssey removes CPO Alexander’s access from the computers and makes other suitable updates.  McCurrvey brings the Klingons and Romulans up to speed on the situation.  Overall he is fairly open but in a rather general sense.  He keeps specifics about mission goals and technology out of the conversation.  He gestures to Thelev to take care of the Romulans while he keeps an eye on the Klingons.

McCurrvey excuses himself from the Klingons for a moment and calls the ship.  McCurrvey to Odyssey.  Status please. I believe we may have an M-113 situation on our hands.  Adjust protocols as required.  Please provide an update when drive systems are nominal again.

Thoma replies, "M-113? I'm assuming you don't mean the 20^th century armoured personnel carrier. Are you referring to..." There are a few beeps and clicks from the computer, and she begins to read, "...the planet on which the USS Enterprise encountered a creature which drained sodium chloride from Humanoid bloodstreams and could psionically disguise itself as crew members, back in 2266?"

As Khendron digests Collette's report, Brad hails and asks for an update and orders Alexander's access codes deactivated.

Driveon updates Khendron on Cdr Manyard's condition—"The Chief Engineer's concussion is relatively mild, but I want him to take a couple of days off. He's got moderate plasma burns on his left hand where the readout panel exploded." Kendron looks down at the left arm of the command chair where the touch-screen has blown out. Since Collette had slaved the right touch-screen to echo the left panel it's only a mild inconvenience to switch the display from one readout to the other, but maintenance will replace the left panel once more serious damage is repaired.

As Khendron works on updating the transporter chief's access codes, he notes that Alexander's deputy is CPO Narda Wolff of the Wolf clan from the planet Neander, so-named because the inhabitants are Neanderthals transplanted by the Preservers some 50,000 years ago.
Khendron updates the codes to reflect her new status as transporter chief.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:29, Tue 01 Dec 2020.

In reply to Commander Thoma (msg # 74):

Yes.  Said encounter demonstrated the effectiveness of psionic disguise in penetrating a ship’s security.  Given that the predator may also had knowledge transfer capabilities, the ship may be a tempting target.

LCdr Bowman, Khendron's Deputy Science Officer, breaks in, "Noted, Commodore. I'm adding the XO's readings on the Ilithid Vizier to our internal security scans.

"Getting initial results on our scans of the Nautiloid... It's alive! [Frankenstein, Universal Pictures, 1931] Vessel is a biological entity, capabilities unknown. The upper half of the nautilus shell is hollow, and I'm reading three Ilithid lifesigns in the cavity. Presumably this is a crew space and the Ilithids are the crew. Unknown whether any of the the lifesigns are our target. Tentative designating them Ilithids 1 through 3—the  Vizier designated Ilithid 0.

"Visual scan seems to indicate two filmy wing structures flanking the shell, which deeper scan indicates are generating and/or manipulating graviton emissions. The forward bundle of tentacles are showing traces of nadion radiation and are probably energy weapons of unknown design. No known biological entity that we know of can generate nadions, which are of course the source of the rapid nadion effect." [The rapid nadion effect is the core physical mechanism behind Phased Energy Rectification (Phaser).]
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Wed 02 Dec 2020.

Hepzibah, the Dread Lord's Captain-of-the-Guard, teleports in and reports, "My Lo-o-rrrd Dharrrk, we have sssearrrched the upper levelsss and cannn finnnd nnno trrrace of—Uu-rrrk!" her voice is abruptly cut off as her chest explodes in a welter of bright orange blood.

Sam and Spaxter react immediately, "There!, It's the Vizier!" Suddenly, the Vizier fades into view, its right arm projecting through the harpy's chest, a bloody trophy in its hand. the hand opens and the harpy's heart fall to the parquet in a bloody orange splash. The Ilithid suddenly disappears in a "pop" of imploding air and reappears behold Sam, facial tentacles probing around Sam's headpiece. The coils that make up the helmet arc blue and tiny flickers of actinic blue energy flicker over the creatures body as a tubular "mouth" with tiny rotating teeth fail to bore through Sam's skull.

Sam collapses to the floor as the Ilithid recoils, dropping the wreckage of the headdress. Spaxter raises his gloved fist, a number of glowing fibres radiating from it. They blur into motion with an electric hum, striking the Vizier's arm. The arm is severed by the touch of the light fibres and a spray of fluorescent green ichor bursts over Spaxter's arm. A smell of ozone, burnt sulphur and rotten meat fills the air.

The Ilithid raises its remaining arm and points a long, boney finger at Spaxter, who dodges as a lambent energy discharge passes over him, melting its way through one of the amber panels.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:04, Sat 05 Dec 2020.

McCurrvey draws and fires (assuming he has a clear shot).

Brad attempts to aim at the Vizier. Suddenly he feels a migraine-like stab of pain in his dominant eye, he develops double vision and the Ilithid goes hazy in his view. His phaser beam passes through the Vizier without effect and strikes the wall, causing the amber to shatter. A wave of nausea causes his stomach to roll.

He drops to his knees, dizzy. Summoning up all his willpower, he fires again, this time at the other double-vision image of the Vizier. A welter of the ichor explodes from the Ilithid's chest and his head clears immediately. He forces the nausea down and rises to his feet. As if on autopilot, he steps up to the Vizier and aims his phaser at the supine Ilithid's head. The blank white eyes widen and the tentacles stiffen; the bore-like mouth thrusting, the tooth-like barbs whirring. Brad feels contempt for the creature and returns his phaser to his belt, muttering under his breath, "You're not worth it..."

The Ilithid's severed arm has stopped bleeding and the 200mm wide hole in its chest begins to close. Another wave of nausea—this one natural—causes Brad's gorge to rise. As he stands over his vanquished enemy, he is dimly aware of Ladye Masque chanting over Hepzibah's body as she had done with Boluri. Suddenly, the adrenaline rush fades and Brad feels unutterably tired. He feels Thelev's hand on his shoulder and draws metaphorical strength from his old friend.

His communicator chirps from the floor where he'd dropped it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:48, Sun 06 Dec 2020.

McCurrvey picks up his communicator:  McCurrey

McCurrvey tries to sort out the situation.  Was this a random attack?  Is there some sort of pattern?  Why would he break his oath as a guest?  He looks to Thelev for some support and waits for a response from the communicator.

"Bowman here, Commodore. We just detected the Ilithid signature and registered three phaser shots. Sitrep, sir? Also we just detected four new lifesigns appearing aboard the nautiloid. Two Orions, one Andorian and one undefined—possibly an energy being of some sort."

"Verlegg!" cries the Dread Lord. "Damn his eyes!"

Looking around, Brad and Thelev both realise that the Verlegg, Calista, Jasmine and Jade are all absent, having teleported out during the excitement.

Lord Dhark's fury is palpable. "My own son in league with the Ilithid. To Gehena with the Emperor of the Underdark and his traditions! This is personal!"

"Commodore, the Nautiloid is generating gravitons and chronitons! Its weapon is charging!" cries Bowman.

"XO! Orders, sir?" says Lt Ramirez at Tactical as the Red Alert klaxon sounds.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Sun 06 Dec 2020.

Odyssey, defend yourself up to and including destroying that ship!  Coordinate with the Klingons and Romulans.  Jump away if you have to.  McCurrvey tries to determine the collatoral damage if these ships open up on each other.

"XO! Orders, sir?" says Lt Ramirez at Tactical as the Red Alert klaxon sounds.

McCurrvey's voice comes over the comms, "Odyssey, defend yourself up to and including destroying that ship!  Coordinate with the Klingons and Romulans. Jump away if you have to."

"Helm ready for manœvring, sir!" reports Lt Purrn, to which Ramirez adds, "Bringing shields up, phasers ready!"

Dr. Smith reports, "Twenty two minutes to full charge on the Ball."

Bowman snaps, "Energy burst on the Nautiloid. The Ilithid life signs have just disappeared! It seems the Verlegg has just killed them. Nine more life signs just appeared including three Klingons! Nautiloid manœvring, weapon powering down—the ship is phasing out of... It's gone!"

[OOC: Dave, if you want to intervene while the Nautiloid is fading away, now's your chance!]
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Mon 19 Apr 2021.

In reply to Lieutenant Juan Carlos Ramirez (msg # 84):

"Lord Dhark, is there anything you know about the Nautiloid that you are able to share with us, anything that may help us.  And my ship along with the Klingon and Romulan ships will defend ourselves so your son's life will be in danger if he is on that ship."  Thelev says

In reply to Lieutenant Juan Carlos Ramirez (msg # 84):

"Drop shields!" Khendron orders before the Nautiloid has a chance to fade away. "Transporter, beam out anybody you can lock onto on the Nautiloid! Directly to the brig! Not, I repeat NOT, the Verlegg!"

"Smith," continues Khendron hastily. "See if you can track where that thing is going!"

Khendron also contacts the security detail protecting Dr Marcus. "Braunschwegger and MacQuarrie, is Dr. Marcus still with you?"

"Transporter Room, Wolff here. I could only get a lock on one of 'em. Human female, beamed 'er to the Brig."

Ramirez at Tactical says, "They got away, sir!"

Smith notes, "I have a probable destination for the Nautiloid, XO. Nineteen minutes until full charge. Shall I programme a jump to their destination?"

"Security detail, Braunschwegger here, sir. She's in her quarters and we're standing guard outside—overriding lock... now!" There is a pause and MacQuarrie's voice says, "Doctor Marcus, are you—" followed by a piercing scream.

There is a pause of a couple of moments and Braunschwegger comes back on the line, "Sorry, sir, she's in the sonic shower and really pissed at Scotty for busting in on her!"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:40, Mon 07 Dec 2020.

In reply to Captain Thelev (msg # 85):
Dhark scowls, transforming his face into an utterly terrifying visage. Red light flickers in his eyes as he says, "The Verlegg is no longer my son. I pronounce a curse on his very name and shall never speak it again. Do to him as you will—I release him to your justice—he has betrayed me and my House and is forever dead to us. May Pistos gnaw on his bones." The hellhound growls deep in his throat and chuckles—an almost human laugh which chills the bones of everyone present. "By stealing the nautiloid, he has made himself a target to all Ilithid-kind... They will stop at nothing to capture him."

[To be continued in the thread Beyond the Farthest Star...]