Episode Fourteen: Know Thy Neighbour

[Nolen "Dragon" Syaira]

2310 - 2312
Alien Vessel
Engine Core


Nolen was watching the aliens at their work when both Cromin and Hansford started. He walked back to the spot he had left them and almost walked right in to the fight.

"Gentlemen calm down for a minute. Alek, take a step back" he said to the russian - "the chief is right in a sense there are still things that are well above top secret but this is the wrong time for all of this, because it doesn't concern anything here." Next he turned to the chief whispering quietly as he pulled him to the side "Chief, you better calm yourself down, what the hell kind of clearance do you think you have that everyone else here don't have. We are in the middle of nowhere, who's gonna give the clearance on an alien ship, the aliens? Everybody on this ship is cleared to see whatever the hell is on this ship, if not none of us would be here. So why don't you do your darn job and tell us what you found . . . and oh watch the next thing you say, don't let your excitement get you into trouble."

Next he turned to his Squardron leader and said "Sir, whats up with the chief, he seems to cocky for his own self."


Nolen had only the time to smile at the comment from his pilot before Tony bit back.

"Now, Mr. Cromin, let me say this first, I have far more experiance than you, sure your a high almight officer, but I myself don't give the slitest flying frak what you want me to do, I follow anyone thats been in the military for longer than myself, and also the people who need my d**n help who have less time in the military, you however, just earned yourself a trip into my evergrowning sin bin, if this sounds like excitement to you, then go report me for insubordination, I really don't care",

"Chief Hansford, first of all I am not mister, I am not your rookie officer, I am not your soldier, I am your superior officer, marine- I am a Captain in the United States Air Force and I am Captain to you. You will show respect to this rank. This is not my command and this is probably not the best time to do this, but you are a marine in the United States Military and i believe you understand what the chain of command is - insurbodination towards superior officers is not the way to go, it is unacceptable, and if you had any sense of military discipline you would know that no one cares about your years in the military if you break the chain of command because it is what keeps us alive especially in alien territory, and you of all people should know that rank does matter, marine."

Then he took a step towards him saying: "You will answer for this nonsense later- and by the way how the heck does your weapons design affect us on this ship, what does your design have to do with us being on this ship because just incase you missed it, we all have work to do marine, not just you."

"All right then, 'Captain', I'll tell you what my design has to do with this", Tony paused, clearly realising he'd probably be demoted for the insubordanance and then sent to a deep dark hole for telling everyone their about the weapon, "The device I designed is derived from an alien weapon that usually is aboard the ship of the Queen, but it requires large amounts of power, and thats why my version and their isn't viable for prolonged use, it basically requires a ZPM for 3 uses, and the way I look at it, that ZPM is better spent on Atlantis, and in conclusion to this, these are the aliens that have the weapon, and they want to use it", he says as he moves towards Cromin.

"I don't much care what you think of me, or if you are my superior, I think for myself, I'll follow Nolens orders, but I'm not following yours, all I can tell by looking at your personality so far, you would've been better off flying pretty little planes back on Earth, but hey, just my honest opinion about you", he explains to Cromin, before turning away for him and towards Nolen, "Not much more we can do here, may I suggest we make our way to the data core?",

Nolen rolled his eyes and walked into the conversation before Cromin could reply. "Okay First off, we will leave the fighting till we get back to the Icarus, Kay boys? Now Prophet ... " he said turning to his pilot. "... Can you go and see if Kamarov needs any help with his equipment. Thank you Captain." he said giving the pilot a smile to soften his words. It was time to split the two up before any more fights. He then turned back to Tony. "Now chief let me make this as simple as I can. My people are my concern. And they are all good pilots with sound judgment. If I even hear of you picking on any one of them again with out coming to me first. I will have you transferred of this program entirely. Got it. Good. Okay now lets move on before they decide that visiting time is over" Nolen then walked away from the chief and just ignored any backlash that was bound to come from him. He had dealt with this last mission and now again. He doubted that the chief even took any notice of it. But he didn't care. He need everyone with in their comfort zones.

<Tag Team 1>

[Aleksandr Kamarov]

2312
Alien Vessel
Data Core

With Nolen back sorting out the little confrontation between, Aleksandr and the crew were allowed to move forward, winding their way through the organically created bowls of the vessel toward what they suspected to be the data core of the ship. That was of course, if such a ship had anything even resembling a 'data core' of a conventional Earth-built ship. At best Kamarov hypothesized it would be the 'brain' of the ship, where memory and data from it's sensors was stored in some manner of organic storage device.

Winding their way down the hallways, the contingent were passed by no less than a dozen of the strange bug-like aliens, none of which pay even the slightest attention to the crew. While they had may no attempts to communicate or harm the team, Kamarov was still concerned about them, and found their silent and precise work and movements throughout the ship to be disturbing. "These aliens concern me," Alek muttered in his strongly accented Russian tongue. Judging from his calculations and scans of the ship, the 'data core' as it had been dubbed would be right around the corner..

< Tag Crew >

[idun]

2312
Asgard Core

Idun opened his eyes, how long had he been asleep? This did not matter him so much, though he did worry the humans damaged something or did something without his knowledge.

The Asgard only needed a week to rest, they did not sleep for a year. It was an genetic adaptation, which helped them stay alert in all conditions. They were to return home during the rest, not be on primitive vessels worrying about what damage the human's may do to the Ida Galaxy. Blinking a few times, he realised he was once again alone. He did not care to inform the humans of this, so he must assumed that they did not bother him during the week.

He activated the console, but it would not power up. He did not know why this was happening. The device had its own power source. It did not need the primitive reactor power systems the humans installed.

"This is Idun to Lieutenant Colonel Harrison. I am informing you that I am now active for duty" he said stiffly not wanted to explain more. His console lit up and started beeping, this was indeed strange. He turned to the screen behind him and sighed.

"It seems these humans run into trouble." he mumbled in Asgard. "Lieutenant Colonel Harrison, may you please come to the Asgard Core. I have information on the species you have encountered" he said as he stared at them. The race and the Asgard were enemies. The enemy started the hostilities, but the Asgard did stop it. Or so they thought, if this vessel was still active then more may be. This could not be allowed.

< Tag >

OOC: I think Jay will explain more.. =)..Including the name of this race =)

[Robert "Scarecrow" Cromin]

2310 - 2312
Alien Vessel
Engine Core

The Squadron leader stepped into the conversation before any other worries ensued saying:

"Okay First off, we will leave the fighting till we get back to the Icarus, Kay boys? Now Prophet ... " he said turning to his pilot. "... Can you go and see if Kamarov needs any help with his equipment. Thank you Captain."

"Roger that Sir" the Captain responded as he saluted his superior officer and then walked away towards the russian.

2312
Alien Vessel
Data Core

The Captain walked towards the russian who was looking at the room they were in. "Hey Alek, I am guessing this is the brain of the ship, if it is pls do me a favor, try and see if you can download their ship and fighter designs and schematics and also weapons design if any. Our fighters are good but they can always be better.- thanks."

<Tag Team 1>

[Destiny "Silverwing" Andre]

2313
Alien Vessel
Bridge

Destiny just watched then sighed looking back at the rest of the team. "So what exactly do we do? Obviously the Aliens don't view us a threat in any way at least for now. We really don't seem to care that we are here whether they can see us or not. What is our next from of action? Because we can't attack or do anything unless the enemy attacks first," stating to everyone wanting to find the answer.

Though as the pilot looked back the Aliens, she just stared at them. "So, if we aren't the threat and don't seem bothered by us...why are they here in the Ida Galaxy and what are they doing? I think maybe those are the answers we need to answer?," told no one in particular wanting to get closer to the aliens and just wanting to solve this puzzle.

[Aleksandr Kamarov]

2313
Alien Vessel
Data Core

Striding into the 'data core' Aleksandr was glad to see his hypothesis was correct. This room appeared to be of construction to the engine core - tubes and organic cables all leading into the same room - but instead of a sphere hanging from the roof the incoming materials seemed to be directed into a series of pools filled with a thick brown liquid which lined the walls of the room. It was all very creepy, like something out of a low budget B-grade American movie. Hah! Not unlike classics of Russians cinema!

"Hey Alek," Captain Cromin said as they entered the room. "I am guessing this is the brain of the ship, if it is pls do me a favor, try and see if you can download their ship and fighter designs and schematics and also weapons design if any. Our fighters are good but they can always be better.- thanks." Approaching the tanks of brown slime, Kamarov was unsure what to make of them; how was he meant to interface with a liquid-based storage device.

"Unlike American science fiction movie," he replied in accented English. "Alien systems not always - how do you say it? - 'plug and play'. I think commercialization and stereotyping is cause of blame; I recall working on final phases of Korolev construction with engineers from the mother-land. They claim 'Alek, why we not simply plug in?', and I try to tell them...." Aleksandr trailed off in his story, noticing everyone in the room was staring at him. "I make attempt to interface now," he added, taking his tablet PC from his back pack and firing it up.


2313
Alien Vessel
Docking Bay

Meanwhile, on the other side of the vessel, a small ship with a single occupant docked with the alien vessel. The inner organic iris of the docking tube slid open, and the ship's Queen came forth, quickly attended to by dozens of her loyal drones. She had been off inspecting the rest of the fleets construction, and had returned to see how much longer this ship would be until it was ready for the war of revenge they were about to unleash on the unsuspecting Asgard. One of her drones moved forward, and informed her of the human presence on board the ship.

< Tag Crew >

[idun]

2313-14
Asgard Core

He was rudely informed by one of the humans, that the Lieutenant Colonel was unavailable. This was highly unacceptable, especially since the humans must have boarded the vessel. As they normally do as they like to explore, this was the fault of the Asgard experienced long ago.

He then realised the best option was to contact the humans on the vessel. He was sure, they had no idea what they were dealing with. And being humans, they would most likely to annoy the species to the extent of then species turning hostile and eating the humans.

"Greetings Humans, This is Commander Idun." he started taking in a breath of oxygen. "The race you have now encountered is an old enemy of the Asgard, we have long thought dead. We have named them the "Nidhogg", due to them not even naming themselves. As you may have observed, they have a hive mind. Similar to the replicators, though unlike the replicators. They can not act independently of their 'queen'. The Asgard detected this race, and agreed that ignoring them and focusing on other matters would be the best result. But as you Humans say "Things do not always go to plan".

Then all of the sudden, the "Nidhogg" attacked the world of Hel. Which was an outlying outpost designed for scientific advances. I was stationed there at that time, we were designing the Yggdrasill. It's purpose, it none of your concern at the moment. The "Nidhogg" attacked and destroyed the Yggdrasill, all research about it was lost. The "Nidhogg", were quickly destroyed by our defence fleet in orbit. But some how the "Nidhogg" ignited the atmosphere, we managed to evacuate the population before the planet was lost. We were then engaged in war with the race, after other means had been exhausted. We won the war, but at a great cost. The species was not heard of again, until now. This is grave news indeed and the Asgard High Council must be informed immediately" he said finishing what humans would call a "story".

< Tag All Humans >

[Jonathon "Yoda" Harrison]

2314
Bridge

With communications back online now, Harrison was just in time to hear the message from Idun. To add on, Harrison transmitted, "Now that the cat's out of the bag, it's time you all knew ... when the original Ida Task Force assisted the Asgard, we went on a mission in which ourselves and an Asgard vessel we were traveling with were caught in a temporal rift and thousands of years into the past. We encountered this race, and in the ensuing battle, the Asgard vessel was destroyed and the Icarus was heavily damaged. We lost eight crew members to that one incident, and only three of the Asgard ship's complement of 53 were able to be beamed back aboard the Icarus in time."

The Lieutenant Colonel paused to let this sink in. The Asgard High Council had been informed of the incident upon returning to the future, but that was nothing compared to the possibility that there ws more than this small fleet or the enemy left.

<Tag Anyone>

[Nolen "Dragon" Syaira]

2313-14
Alien Vessel
Data Core


Nolen was standing there watching the Russian get to work. He chuckled a bit as he started to go into a story of one of his past experiences on the Icarus. "You've been hanging around the Americans too much there Aleksandr mate. Your begining to sound like them" he said with a small chuckle. Then a transmission came through on the radio from both Idun and Jonathon.

"Greetings Humans, This is Commander Idun." he started taking in a breath of oxygen. "The race you have now encountered is an old enemy of the Asgard, we have long thought dead. We have named them the "Nidhogg", due to them not even naming themselves. As you may have observed, they have a hive mind. Similar to the replicators, though unlike the replicators. They can not act independently of their 'queen'. The Asgard detected this race, and agreed that ignoring them and focusing on other matters would be the best result. But as you Humans say "Things do not always go to plan".

Then all of the sudden, the "Nidhogg" attacked the world of Hel. Which was an outlying outpost designed for scientific advances. I was stationed there at that time, we were designing the Yggdrasill. It's purpose, it none of your concern at the moment. The "Nidhogg" attacked and destroyed the Yggdrasill, all research about it was lost. The "Nidhogg", were quickly destroyed by our defence fleet in orbit. But some how the "Nidhogg" ignited the atmosphere, we managed to evacuate the population before the planet was lost. We were then engaged in war with the race, after other means had been exhausted. We won the war, but at a great cost. The species was not heard of again, until now. This is grave news indeed and the Asgard High Council must be informed immediately"

"Now that the cat's out of the bag, it's time you all knew ... when the original Ida Task Force assisted the Asgard, we went on a mission in which ourselves and an Asgard vessel we were traveling with were caught in a temporal rift and thousands of years into the past. We encountered this race, and in the ensuing battle, the Asgard vessel was destroyed and the Icarus was heavily damaged. We lost eight crew members to that one incident, and only three of the Asgard ship's complement of 53 were able to be beamed back aboard the Icarus in time."


Nolen's eyes went wide upon hearing this. He slapped his forehead. "Great out of the frying pan and into the fire" he commented, then radioed Team 2. "Des, Bailey did you guys get that? I think it might be a good idea to regroup. Come down to the Data Core." he told them. Then he radioed the Icarus "Thanks for the warning!" Nolen spat out in a sarcastic tone. "Okay so you said that we are alright as long as this Queen thingy isn't here right? Can we tell where she or it is?" he said regaining his calm tone again.

<Tag Idun, Harrison, Team 2 and Team 1>

[Aleksandr Kamarov]

2314
Alien Vessel
Data Core

In a more that in no way surprised Aleksandr, he had been sent into the very depths of hell, and while the ship's captain was more than fully aware of what was going on, the Russian engineer had been allowed to blindly stumbled in! What would have possibly possessed him! What sort of leadership let men and women wander unaware into such a dangerous situation? If the Asgard had no hope against these bugs, what sort of chance did a tiny group of pilots and engineers stand!? The whole situation was - how did the Americans say it? - FUBUR.

Nolen seemed even less impressed than Kamarov was. "Des, Bailey did you guys get that?" he called into his radio. "I think it might be a good idea to regroup. Come down to the Data Core." Looking at the organically based liquid data storage in front of him, Alek agreed they needed as much help as they could get. He'd detected a faint electric current in the think, murky waters, one not too unlike that which flowed in the human brain. "Doctor Kells would be of use to my work," he added, continuing the probe the strange data storage vessels with every data probe he had at his disposal.



2313
Alien Vessel
Docking Bay

Just outside her royal shuttle, the vessel's Queen was being brought up to speed telepathically by one of her drones. He communicated mental images of the humans why were exploring the vessel, and the bizarre non-organic vessel they had arrived in. With the Queen off the ship during their arrival, the mindless drones had no idea what to do with their visitors, and had all but ignored them. Now the Queen was back, that was all about to change. Gathering up her drones, she made her way toward her throne, where she would order their communications and beaming transmissions to be blocked, while her warriors captured them men and opened fire on their vessel.

< Tag Crew >

OOC: Check out the locker room for the final cliff hanger details! ;D

[idun]

OOC: I worked Harrisons post with the story that Idun had worked out earlier. See Locker room

2313-14
Asgard Core
Human Vessel Icarus

Idun listened to the Human named "Harrison" had said, this was a turn of events that Idun didn't want. He was proven wrong now, he couldn't hide that fact. They had now come a full circle; the humans though primitive and barbaric would be the key to save the universe. But he would not tell them this, the Human's got all excited when they got told things like this.

"Lieutenant Colonel Harrison is right about some of his information" he sighed, as he continued. "This vessel was sighted at the battle of Álfheimr, a battle that claimed the lives of the cruiser commanded by the great Fenrir. The vessel Einherjar, which was carrying "scientists" to an outlying world was engaged and destroyed. " he said sadly. The humans would never realise that the war cost the Asgard everything they had and took them a while to recover. "I will explain more of this to you at another time, the answer to your question Squadron Leader Syaira is yes. I can create a pulse that would be broadcasted through the communications systems. But this would inturn make them "notice" you, and you may be eaten" he said simply. "But if you wish me to do so, I will" he said watching the systems like shields, engines and transporters.

< Tag Humans =P )

[Nolen "Dragon" Syaira]

2314
Alien Vessel
Data Core

"Doctor Kells would be of use to my work,"

Aleksandr said, "No doubt there she would be fascinated by this stuff" he replied to the russian. Nolen then listened to Idun's assessment of the situation taking particular interest in the bit concerning him.

"I will explain more of this to you at another time, the answer to your question Squadron Leader Syaira is yes. I can create a pulse that would be broadcasted through the communications systems. But this would inturn make them "notice" you, and you may be eaten" he said simply. "But if you wish me to do so, I will"

"You've gotta be kidding me" he said out loud, He then tapped his radio again "So your telling me we are blind. We have no way to find out if it is here with them eati..... " Nolen said trailing off. He was looking down the corridor as he was talking. Hoping that Team 2 would walk around the corner any minute. But instead of Team 2 it was a group of aliens. Something was different about them this time. They didn't seam to be mindless, but approached with purpose. Nolen had a sudden thought. "Idun do the scan now!" he yelled taking up a defensive position, "Prophet, Wolf defensive positions. I don't like this one bit. And where is Bailey and Silverwing?" Nolen said barking out orders as the alien group got closer.

<Tag All>

OOC: Hope I didn't mess anything up for the Cliffhanger, Jay

[Destiny "Silverwing" Andre]

2315
Alien Vessel
Data Core


So much had happened that Destiny couldn't keep up with it. Everything had seemed to change in a matter of minutes. The aliens went from being completely dormant to their presence to suddenly realizing there were visitors in their ship. The pilot ran back to the rest of the team when it was commanded to regroup, only to encountor an alien group of their own. "Everyone head back to team one! Go!" shouting order taking up the rear in case any of the aliens tried to get through. It seemed like they had a purpose for following them now; like their presence mattered and was unwelcomed.

The pilot took off the safety of her gun, just to be on the safe side, then ran behind the others. Coming around the corner she saw the first team with their own alien group closing in on them. This is not good at all, thinking to herself running up to Nolen and the others. "We have a group of our own following behind us. They are closing in on us fast! Any suggestions?" asking Nolen and the others trying to get catch her breath. Each side they stood there, the aliens closed in tighter around them with their catches of escape slipping away more and more.

<Tag Nolen, all>

[Aleksandr Kamarov]

OOC: Perfect Dave and Vic ;D

2315
Alien Vessel
Queen's Chamber

Now enthroned in her chamber, the ship's Queen went to work. She's intercepted a transmission for an Asgard individual, aboard a ship containing in part Asgard technology. Her people were haters of all things mechanical; they saw it as an abomination of life, and preferred to create and graph living entities to do the work other races used machine for. But if there was one thing her species had more than technology, it was Asgard. It's presence combined with the humans technology all but signed their death warrants.

Working quickly at her organic controls, she isolated the communications frequencies and blocked them and the surrounding spectrum, blanketing the enemy communications. She detected a second, fainter signal, seemingly emitting for every one of the enemy boarders. The signal had similarities with known Asgard beaming signatures, and she blocked that frequency as well, not wanting the enemy to escape. In her final act, she activated the defensive and offensive organic creatures on the ship's out hull; the former created a series of artificial black holes to defend against enemy attack, and latter opened fire on the enemy cruiser with super heated projectiles, deadly to the hulls of technological ships.


2315
Alien Vessel
Data Core

In the core, both teams regrouped, and were seconds from facing off with the enemy. "Prophet, Wolf defensive positions," Nolen called as everyone brought their weapons to bear. "We have a group of our own following behind us. They are closing in on us fast! Any suggestions?" Captain Andre added. The bugs indeed meant business this time; although they had no eyes, they seemed to be able to detect the team, and were closing in like a coordinated pack of hunting dogs. Something had changed, something was different with the bugs, something that hadn't been present before. The Nidhogg closed in, surrounding the crew members...


2316
Alien Vessel
Queen's Chamber

Within minutes reports were coming in. The warriors dispatched to the ship's memory core had captured the enemy personnel, and were taking them into holding cells, while the enemy ship had fled into hyperspace, on a bearing that would take them toward the Asgard planet of Orilla. These events were an unfortunate return; the element of surprise would no doubt be lost, but there was nothing that could change that now. From his throne, the Queen opened up a telepathic link to the other Queens at the other ships yards spread across the neighboring sectors, informing them of what had happened.

The ships the escaping vessel had seen was only to tip of the iceberg; expecting them or not, the Asgard would soon fall at the hands, and the war of revenge would be swiftly won.

< To Be Continued... >

[idun]

2315-16
Asgard Core
Human Vessel Icarus

Idun shook his head; these humans were getting on his nerves. Not only did they like to annoy the species they boarded without asking. They now wanted to be eaten, this presented a small problem with Idun. He did not wish to see them eaten, but less humans in his galaxy was a nicer thought. But Thor would ask him what happened, and he would scour the logs and find Idun's involvement. And again, he would be asked questions about the Humans. He had down this before about a certain human Major, he did not wish to do it because of a dozen of them.

He sighed as he started to activate the program the Asgard tried to use thousands of years ago. If they were eaten, he was sure he could convince Thor it was not his doing. He was positive, if he mentioned that the Nidhogg had returned. He was sure the council would forget the whole problem, and not reprimand him.

"Activating Scan now, stand by" he said as he pressed a few symbols and then a stone, he was puzzled to why he was detecting minute traces of vertiron particles. He tried to remember what that meant, until he saw that the communications were being blocked.

"Crap" he said not realising he said a human word. He would wonder about that later, but now he believed that they would be in trouble. He tried to engage transporter systems but that also failed, he then activated the shields and hoped the humans had kept his modifications to them. The weapons the ship fired, would be categorized as 'Lava" as that what they looked like. He noticed the shields were not going to last long, and he knew there was no hope. So he activated the ships primitive hyperdrive system and headed towards Orilla, to inform the council and the Asgard race that they were now again at war.