The Galactic War: Rogue Element ~The Beginning

[Estelore]

Enorryma had actively avoided the interactions between the humans and the rogue Andalite crew, staying near the edge of the room but within responsive distance of Ossanlin. She demorphed, a process which was altogether slower than she liked, but a relief all the same. Once she had recovered her own body and deposited the compression pack with the other packs, she busied herself with restoring her sidearm to its standard settings, removing the Dracon-style lens array and replacing it with its standard Shredder lens. Having that last detail sorted out, she finally felt properly herself again, and she looked to Ossanlin for orders.

He seemed preoccupied with diffusing some sort of conflict between them, but none of these people were familiar to Enorryma, and the interactions between them were all but meaningless to her. As far as she was concerned, none of them had attempted to attack the crew, despite being armed, and none of them was currently infested, so the situation was as safe as it was going to get, for the moment. Socializing was not Enorryma's area of expertise, by anybody's estimation, and the emotional landscape of this group was a complex wilderness of trauma, hostilities, allegiance, distrust, and relieved reunion. Norry was profoundly uncomfortable, as though she had walked in on something private and intimate and entirely none of her business. The tension and adrenaline of the mission she understood, and the warm hum of a Shredder, and the yoke of a ship in her hands. Yoke of a ship...

<<Sir, with your permission, I will retire to the bridge and see if Leskel would like another hand at the helm... unless I am needed here, of course.>>

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin trots over to Enorryma.  He wants his own swords back...but his gear had been left with the Tyrennian.  For now, he'll just have to deal with having an unfamiliar Dracon at his waist.  The belt feels a bit off, but that situation can be dealt with...it's not as if he plans on being in any more combat.  <<If you should so desire, Enorryma.  There are no fighters stationed at that base, and they wouldn't be able to find us if there were, so it will probably be somewhat boring for you.>>  He smiles good-naturedly.  He understands the itch she has, if not the intensity.  She'd been a fighter pilot for a much longer than he.  Slaedreth was barely remembered anymore, but Vanarx was still a legend last he heard from the Academy.  <<I'm sure Leskel won't mind.  He's probably still working on plotting the Z-Space jump.>>

[Estelore]

<<Thank you, Sir.>> She backed away a few steps before turning and heading into the bridge. She approached the control panels and greeted Leskel with a nod, otherwise leaving him to work on plotting the jump. She looked at the various readouts on the ship's telemetry and avionics, which gave details on everything from internal life support settings and power outputs to the richness of the emergency fuel mixture. It was both simpler and more complex than a fighter vessel, on so many levels. A fighter would have several fewer instruments giving life support readouts, but it would also have significantly more indicators on the HUD for positional data and weapons systems.
There was something pleasantly meditative about simply observing and reading the various metrics, understanding the breath and pulse of this larger vessel. When she had been much younger, she had imagined that she could feel the movement of a ship through space. Now, she intellectually understood the ridiculousness of that notion, but she still couldn't completely shake then sensation that the ship had its own signs of movement, even if wind and inertia and noise did not exist to mark their travel through space. In its own insentient way, the ship was alive, for her, with all the beauty and intricacy of a live organism.

[Myitt]

Tara staggers away from Efaen as she starts to demorph, melting and contorting Mike's familiar body. She puts a hand to her mouth, her stomach unsure whether to steel itself or simply give up and be sick.

When Ossanlin mentions her name, she tears her gaze from Efaen's shifting form, looking around at the others.

Surely they would want an explanation? But as much as she trusted Ossanlin, she had little idea of his own motives, other than his fast friendship with herself and Myitt.

Tara stands by Daniel and Terenia, stiffening in anger at Claxter's harsh words. Daniel says everything she needs to say, though she bites back a few more choice words, too taken aback to have a quick comeback in Terenia's defense. Too tired and weary with grief to do much other than stay on her feet.

She swallows hard, watching Ossanlin trot to the med bay, wanting to avoid the questions and in return get some solid answers. The idea of staying in close proximity to Efaen makes her dizzy, as well.

So much, so unrelenting. Tara presses a hand against her forehead to try and stave off the numbness.

As if she had read her mind, Joanne approaches her. Tara starts, stepping back from the bounty hunter's familiar face.

"I don't know who...I don't know," she stammers.

She looks to Ossanlin when he returns, clearing her throat. "The pool you've set up," she croaks, fear clutching her heart. "Is there some way we can set up a poolside communications link? We need to figure out who we still have."



Niko nods at Dom, unconsciously taking the man's hand, simply out of a need for comfort.

"Do you think they've at least picked up Reyliss?" he asks quietly, craning his neck to try and see Ossanlin as he works in the med bay.


Myitt's body floods with the sweet relief of Kandrona, but she has little time to revel in it.

Ultrasonic chirps hit her from several sides, squeaks that clearly ask for her by name. One was quite familiar, and the other...

<<Keshin,>> Myitt says flatly, terse. She shirks away from the turelek, nearly bumping into Keslin. She squeaks in surprise.

<<Who else is here?>> she asks them both, in an unintentional echo of her human friend. <<Ossanlin. He will have risked everything to do this.>>

A new voice, older, sophisticated, pipes up.

<<I never quite realized how deep your allegiances to the Andalite military lay, Myitt,>> says Lanath thoughtfully. If the rush of Kandrona rejuvenation has affected him, his tone is no indication.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin moves his main eyes to Tara.  <I'm sorry, Tara.  I do not have the parts available to set up such a machine on the Mirage.>  He pauses a moment, thinking to himself.  <Strike that...each of the Yeerk cells has an interface hooked into a recording chip...I suppose it might be possible to review the contents of a chip at a time.  Perhaps we could strip an interface unit from a cell and place it into the pool.  I would be able to convey speech with thought of course, one of the Yeerks would then be able to interface and record a message to the chip that we could review.  I'm afraid the interface wouldn't be fluid, not without significant engineering modifications at least.  But it is something.>

He commands the side viewports open, to make the room feel a little less crowded.  The stars outside suddenly seem to bend and flex before accelerating into streaks that eventually leave the ship's surroundings white.  <Z-Space...good.>  He returns his main eyes to Tara.  <If you must know immediately, I suppose we can proceed with that operation.  It shouldn't be long before they've fed fully...I placed several portable kandrona generators in the pool to offset the onset of starvation sickness.>

He addresses the others of his crew on the deck.  <<Keep an eye on things, alert me to any signs of danger.>>

He sees some amount of desperation in Tara's eyes, though, so he makes his way back into the medbay, once again glancing at the two humans, the female still suspended.  <You look as though you have improved.>

He pulls the case from the corner and extracts a cell.  He places it on the small instrument table that is mounted opposite the foot of the gurney.  He removes a laser scalpel from the surgical kit and begins to cut through the casing of the cell.

[KitsuneMarie]

Daniel looks up to regard Joanne, his expression darkening, and then he nods to Terenia. He makes a motion with his head to indicate to Tara he is moving deeper into the ship, farther away from Joanne and Efaen and any other offensive passengers. With that, he keeps his arm around Terenia's shoulders and steers her into a quieter section of the small ship's crew quarters. Watching her levelly, he murmurs, "I've got no idea how all these people ended up in the same place. Never thought I'd see Efaen again. But... you're sure it's her? The bounty hunter, I mean?"


Tess turns her head to watch Ossanlin. "Fine," she replies, still reserved, not knowing who to trust beyond her friends. As she watches him, a jot of fear runs through her that he might be hurting the Yeerks in the pool, even after the bold recue attempt. Her eyes narrow protectively. "What are you doing?"

She glances up at Chris. "Do you think you could recognize him? Any of them? I might be able to, after all that time on our own."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin nods as Tess responds that she's fine, and continues with his work, stripping the outer casing away from the cell.  <I'm dissecting one of the cells that your Yeerks were being kept in.  Tara is quite desperate to initiate two-way contact with them, even though they will be done feeding in a fairly short amount of time.>  He keeps a stalk eye on Tess and the male.  <The cells have communication-recorders in them.  By removing the recording unit and placing the leads into the pool, the Yeerks inside will be able to record messages to the data-chip, which we can then interface with the Mirage's computer to play back.  Communication can be achieved the other way through thought-speech.  It's imperfect and inefficient, but it would take longer to develop it into a fluid interface than is necessary for the Yeerks to finish feeding.>

He begins to delicately remove the metallic communication leads from their living-metal brackets, careful to maintain the nano-circuitry that connects them with the data-recording assembly.

[Terenia]

<<Myitt?>> Keslin asks, his palps brushing against hers, trembling with relief. Then, a moment later, <<Lanath! Thank the Kandrona. How many of our people are here? Has anyone spoken to Reven?>>

Even as he speaks to Myitt and Lanath he twists in the liquid, seeking out any other survivors.


Dom swallows, then shakes his head. "She was feeding," he whispers, his voice catching suddenly. "I--I did not have the chance to get to the pool."

"I don't know, Tess," he murmurs, looking from Yeerk to Yeerk, trying to spot Keslin. "They're swimming around like crazy, though. Poor guys probably have no idea what's going on."

Chris looks up at Ossanlin when he approaches Tess. "Listen, Andalite," he says, not even bothering to try and pronounce the alien name. "Tess is...she's very pregnant, as I'm sure you can tell. We're going to need a doctor at some point." He keeps a firm grip on Tess' hand, giving her what he hopes is an encouraging smile, though he feels shaky.


Terenia takes a few shaky gulps of air and nods. "I think I can remember the person who shot my ****ing arm off," she says. Despite her words there is no heat to her voice. She looks like she is on the verge of collapsing, the events since her release from the Andalite prison too much for her to process. She falls back against the wall, staring at Daniel with a lost expression.


Efaen stares at Claxter with wide gray eyes, only partially comprehending his tirade. "How could I be happy?" she asks, grasping at the word. "I'm no fool. The rebels took my memories and the Andalites shunned me as a vecol. At least the rebels attempted to accept me, but Ossanlin took that from me." She frowns, looking away from the male Andalite, uncomfortable with his continued interest in her. "Don't you have some honorable duty to be about, Andalite?" she asks sharply.

[Myitt]

"Thank you, Ossanlin," Tara whispers, hoping she can convey the gravity of that phrase, clasping his thin hand briefly before moving off toward her husband, her eyes shining with sudden, long held tears.

She numbly follows Daniel and Terenia, glad that Daniel senses her powerful desire to get away from the others. To hide in a ball somewhere and cry, really, but there was no time for that. Not now. Hastily, irritably, she sniffles and wipes at her eyes with both hands.

Tromping up to Terenia, she presses her back against the wall, mirroring her friend.

A tremulous sigh escapes her, and she presses her palms flat against the cold metal surface against which she is resting.

"****," she chokes, tears springing to her red-rimmed eyes once more, as she looks up at Daniel.


<<There aren't many of us, that much is certain,>> Lanath murmurs, grieving in his own quiet, stilted way.

Myitt chirps in relief. <<Keslin,>> she breathes, brushing against her friend. <<And Lanath. Oh...Keslin.>> The mention of her brother, Reven, makes her slide against Keslin's side, desperate for comfort.

She is still at his side when she clicks the words that she has been loath to admit aloud. <<He didn't make it, Keslin.>> Her small gray body shivers in overwhelming grief.


Niko squeezes Dom's hand, his expression pained, dark eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, Dom," he murmurs. "I'm so...so sorry. You don't think...maybe she and Gene...? Kellim? Someone? Is it too much to hope we haven't lost every ****ing person we love?"

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin frees the data-recording assembly from the rest of the cell and uses a pair of medical splints to stabilize the assembly.  He trots over to the field control panel for the pool's gurney and raises a small portion of the field to support the recording assembly just above the pool's rim in a firm, stable hold.  He submerses the interface assembly under the surface of the liquid. 

<I have submerged an interface assembly into the pool.  It will record responses which we will then play back for communication.  I know you are all grieving, but Tara has requested to know who is in the pool.  She's rather distraught.  If one of you could transmit the identities of those present, I will relay that information.>

He glances over at Chris.  <My name is Ossanlin, not Andalite.  And if she experiences labor...I can assist as long as there aren't any complications.  I know of no-one more-versed on Human anatomy who's capable of running this medical suite.  If any of your companions has medical training, I could work in tandem with them to achieve better results...>


~


Leskel looks behind himself as Enorryma climbs the stairs up to the flight-deck.  <Hello, sir.>  He salutes.  <I've just finished the Z-space calculations...woul d you care to do the honors?>  He gestures to a panel touch-field currently fading in and out with the word "Z-Jump" on it.

[Chad32]

<I'm sorry that you're having a rough time, but it looks like you're still having the same problem that you were before. You're taking a whole species, lumping them together, and calling them bad. You're just doing it with Andalites now, instead of Yeerks. You should work on that, and you'll make mor friends. If you have friends to be by your side, that's about as much happiness as it is possible to have in this war where both sides are trying to destroy each other and working for corrupt governments.>

<Now you were working under Prince Ossanlin. Then you did something without his permission that caused the rebels to have your mind wiped and infested, which was likely also against his will. His taking you out of that seems justified, though if you'd like to tell your side of the story, I would listen.>

<What duty is there that's more honorable than ensuring someone you care about really is being looked after and taken care of? One of the rebels dragged you to the ship when you were shot, so that's a good sign. Even if he didn't have the energy to get you to the med bay.>

[KitsuneMarie]

Tess nods slowly to Chris, though she doesn't stop wishing she could get in contact with the Yeerks in the pool any faster in order to determine if Keslin and her friends have been rescued. Her heart pangs in fear that they might have left someone behind.

Bracing herself with both hands, Tess swallows back her worries into her stomach, which twists uncomfortably and sits up. "This isn't exactly what I'd bargained for," she remarks to Chris with a small, sad smile, one hand going to her stomach. "I haven't seen anyone who works in the medical bay here... and it wasn't as if we exactly had any trained obstetricians, even on base." She licks her dry lips and gives a shaky smile. "But it'll be alright. I mean, it has to be, right?"


Daniel gives Terenia an apologetic nod. "Dumb question, sorry," he mumbles, but his attention is drawn to Tara at her entrance.

"What is it?" he asks, reaching out to touch her shoulder. His forehead is wrinkled. "Did you learn something new?"

[Myitt]

Lanath, uncomfortably hanging about while Myitt and Keslin grieve, scrunch-thrusts to the waiting transponder recorder device.

<<This is Lanath One-Four-Eight,>> he clicks. <<So far we have counted three additional Yeerks: Keslin Five-Seven-Four, Myitt One-Nine-Five, and a  bounty hunter named Keshin. There is at least one other Yeerk in this pool, although he has not named himself.>> He withdraws his palps, waiting anxiously.


"They're going to check and see which of our Yeerks are still here, with us," Tara murmurs waveringly to Daniel, pressing her sweaty palms against the cold metal wall.

She glances at Terenia. "That ****er, I can't believe he'd say that **** to you. After everything we've ****ing been through." A trembling hand curls into a fist and pounds, once, at the wall.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin watches as a Yeerk interfaces with the nodes.  When the Yeerk withdraws, Ossanlin removes the data-chip and instead of placing it into a drive on the Mirage, he interfaces it with his ARC.  The ARC sends the recorded, translated pulses to him in a private thought-speech, and he controls his relief at hearing Myitt identified.  He'd been sure she was one of those since Tara had been at the facility...but he hadn't realized how tense he'd been about it until the confirmation.  He sends a broad thought-speech "loud" enough for the entire ship to hear. 

<There are at least five Yeerks in the pool.  Confirmed identities include...Lanath one-four-eight...Keslin five-seven-four...Myitt one-nine-five...and Keshin five-two-three.  There is at least one more who has not identified himself.  This is all the information I have at present.>

Ossanlin places the recording chip back into the assembly and speaks to the Yeerks in the pool again.  <Thank you, Lanath.  It would be helpful if you could all identify yourselves...we have several hosts out here hoping to hear from you.>

[KitsuneMarie]

<<Myitt?>> comes a dazed-sounding click from the edge of the pool. Illim woozily makes his way towards the group of Yeerks; it seems the rough ride has not treated him well.


Daniel looks up at Ossanlin's announcement. "Myitt," he whispers in relief, taking a step towards the pool, but then stopping as he looks back at Terenia. He doesn't voice his thoughts, but he looks uncomfortable.


Tess's eyes widen as Ossanlin lists Keslin's names, among their other friends'--and a name she does not know at all. "Kes," she whispers to Chris. Sagging against him in relief, she reaches around to put an arm around him. "Thank god," Tess breathes, shaking her head. "I was so worried he hadn't made it."