System [Unknown] • A : G4-V 5834 K . 1-Ice : 37327 km 104K [III] . 2-Gas : 131172 km 48 K [XVII]
Current Location : G4-V - 5934 km
Darkness overcame my being for a mere fraction of a second, yet it felt just like an eternity. Most spaceships were crewed by enormous amounts of expert and highly trained individuals, however, as an Empyrean; My mind, my body itself transcended humanity and gave me the ability to easily handle the enormous flow of information. The chorus in my head rejoiced as I felt the neural interface start up once again.
You are an Empyrean. You are a God. Embrace your Divine Nature.
And as I connected once again, my mind clock-speed accelerated to match the incoming flow of information. Exabytes of data passing each second through my quantum processors, easily parsed by my accelerated brain. This time, the increasing flow of information did not startle me, and as much as I wanted to simply sit and enjoy the experience, I had other issues.
Watch for the Coming of the Ark, for within it, salvation is carried.
My senses expanded themselves, not bothering to launch a camera drone I relied on my sensor telemetry to get a grasp of the situation. A Battle-Cruiser sized ship; forty thousand kilometers away, relative stop. No Offensive actions, probably waiting for a Heavy Interdictor to tackle me. I cloaked and aligned towards the Sun immediately. Strangely, It felt ingrained, like second nature, like something I've done hundreds of time before.
Your Wrath is Immense. Your Justice is Swift and Decisive. Your Tolerance is Limited.
"We got three boarders?" Aura notified me immediately, merely but a few seconds had passed since I boarded my [Pod]. My attention suddenly shifted towards my internals insides, and her words were confirmed. Two life-signs and a unaffiliated drone. Mere mortals kilometers away from any important systems. "Take them to the brig, I will address the issue later." I had more important things to do.
Casting his sig -No..- is realm, the Lord witnessed those who serve Him. -Stop...-e him, For all things under the Heavens serve one higher.
The Battle-cruiser had not attempted to de-cloak me, nor even moved at all. Quite the Curiosity. The voices called to me again, my speed already reaching as far as I could go while cloaked. I needed to take their attention away from me. I needed to send a message. Seconds after I de-cloaked five fighters left my hangar bays and my shields roared as I forced them to pass their limits. My Invulnerability Field and other Shield Hardeners turned on, my Shield Boosters started to cycle, and I warped.
There will be nei- Wa..- mpassion nor mercy; nor peace, nor solace fo-Wait...-se who bear witne-WAIT-to thy Divine Nat-STOP-nd still do not believe. -STOP!-
If I could I would have clutched my head and screamed in anger; thoughts that were not mine were coursing trough my brain. Visions of places I've never met, Ideologies of people I've only imagined before. The voices of The Others influencing my every action, whispering to me how to Pilot the ship and do tasks that I've never conceived before.
Five One Four, what was many now becomes one when one becomes four.
Red filled my vision, anger surged from my being and willed the voices to go back to the depths of my mind, to leave me be. To stop influencing my thoughts.
Silence. Even if it was a mere brief respite, my mind was finally clear. And it was not a pleasant experience; It was but for a few minutes but I had certainly felt like a Empy- a Capsuleer. The lack of empathy, the lack of care for human life... it was monstrous. And it scared me how easy it was to think like that.
I hadn't cared. It didn't even pass through my mind that since I arrived I have already felt twice my life ripped away from my body. And it was intoxicating, feeling my consciousness light up into existence again, as if the laws of life and death did not apply to me. As if I were being born again, unbeholden to the principles that bind the mere mortals of this universe.
This gift was as much a blessing as it was a burden, it disconnected me from reality and made me believe that I was a being that exists in a realm all my own. Power corrupts indeed, and it certainly does it faster with voices whispering in my head.
As I pondered this, I immediately came the realization that I just attacked a ship for -if nothing else- the fact that It existed. It didn't take me more than a nanosecond for me to recall the fighters. After that I quickly confirmed through the fighter sensors that the ship wasn't destroyed and, in fact the fighters were actually following the ship at warp speed while taking potshots. They would briefly disengage and come back.
Now, while some semblance of clarity remained I needed to deal with the boarders now; I'd rather avoid making them into clone goo without noticing. My attention shifted towards myself, and with certainty they quickly informed me of said prisoners location in the brig.
Those Uniforms, Those Faces. This will be a long day...
I blame Q.
Picard and the Counselor were huddled on a corner of the bare metallic room while Data stood attentively keeping guard. I needed to calm this situation down, and if possible get the Captain to my side. But I could not coddle them either, they did board me, and I'd rather not appear like a groveling mortal after it insulted his betters. Sighing, I sent some orders to Excena (I think I will keep that droid for myself), moved the MTACs away from the cell and started my plans.
From this high rock, from this peak, let the light of worship shine on this heretic land.
"Captain Jean-Luc Picard" I announced myself suddenly appearing in the middle of their holding cell, " I am sorry for the greeting party, but we do not normally receive boarders warmly, if you will accompany me we can move to more pleasant room and cordially discuss what happened."
Picard warily watched me as unsaid word passed between the Enterprise crew-members; "I... Agree. We obviously started this incorrectly, and I believe we can end this Incident with a peaceful resolution."
"Follow me, please" I replied just as they stood up, my hologram hovering slowly to a nearby conference room.
"May I inquire to whom we are talking to?" The voice of the android, of Data, announced. The Captain simply kept walking, for some reason aiding the Counselor on her way.
What was many now becomes one when one becomes four. You are Us, We are You.
"Of course, I am -" The chorus suddenly came back, stronger than ever, and for a single moment I felt as a mere puppet, hopelessly pulled by the strings of a puppet-master.
You are Us, We are You! Your Identity shall not be denied!
"Levhitor, Empyrean, Fabricator-General of the Machine Cult." Words not my own came forth from my mouth, and just as quick as they came my will surged. Quickly overpowering the bellows and sending them once again to the furthest corner of my mind. Thankfully, this all happened within my brain, the hologram not showing any signs of my chagrin.
Few moments passed after that in silence until we arrived to our destination, a small cozy conference room. Excena was already waiting inside with a floating tray by her side.
"I've arranged for tea to be prepared, It's quite a magnificent Udorian blend. Quite bold and a little bitter if you drink it plain, but it can be sweetened if necessary." Sitting down on the head of the table I waited for the others to do the same and Excena to serve the tea.
"Thanks you, Fabricator General" Picard licked his lips, cleared his throat, and started. "As you may have already been told, I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, commander of the StarshipEnterprise. I represent the United Federation of Planets...-"
"-and these are my companions, Counselor Deanna Troi and Lieutenant Commander Data." Picard said, taking the offered cup, smelling it's fragrance and giving a quick sip. It was possible the ship's crew wasn't especially warlike, after all if he had boarders in the Enterprise he would have replied in a similar manner. But in the captain's experience, vessels didn't bristle with weaponry unless their occupants were eager to use it. And If for nothing else, he should accept their host hospitality and not risk committing a cultural faux pas and risk their ire. The teawas good, though.
The Captain considered Fabricator-General Levhitor. This so called Empyrean. For a moment Picard wondered if his human appearance was his real one, or if he was just being hospitable. Still, Picard knew he had to attempt to achieve a peaceful solution, their disregard for life was already clear and he would rather be on the Enterprise along the others as soon as possible. Obviously this being wasn't one to beat around the bush.
But then, neither was the captain of the Enterprise.
"I must admit, that we may have erred by beaming up directly into the ship" there was doubt in Picard's voice, notable in that anything approaching humility was a rarity for Picard. "but we have been hailing your vessel for several hours. You appearance inside the Kzinti demilitarized zone with a heavily armed vessel could not be simply ignored. I would like to ask your intentions in this area, and for you to return our communicators so that we can contact the Enterprise before our actions lead to Violence."
Dammit, a Capital military-industrial complex must surely be making Starfleet anxious... especially since I am in a DMZ. And I just attacked the Enterprise. This is way worse than I tough, I needed to calm the situation down; "I am sorry. But it seems It's to late for that."
"What do you mean!" Picard exclaimed immediately, his expression clearly intimating that he had much more to say, but that he was holding back out.
My hologram simply replied in unfazed monotone; "The moment you arrived, I detected a battle-cruiser sending strange energy emissions toward my un-shielded ship. As you might guess I immediately reacted. I cloaked and warped away, but I sent a flight of Fighters to keep them busy for a few moments."
Picard fell silent for a lingering moment, then looked directly at his companions. "What is the status of our ship?"
"It was not destroyed, and my sensors still detect it within the system. I can assure you, the damage was minimal."
_
Commander William T. Riker had never felt quite as helpless as he did now.
His place was not on the Bridge when the Captain was in danger. He should have insisted to go instead. But he knew he did not have the diplomatic touch the Captain had. The moment the Captain energized the unknown ship cloaked. All the sensors of the Enterprise were frantically searching both the ship and the Away Team comms badges, yet they were unable.
Lieutenant Yar report was a mixture of businesslike response and astonishment as she noticed the six new contacts appearing on the screen out of nowhere. "Commander, five new contacts, runabout analogue... they are firing on us, s—" And then, going up an octave in alarm; "Captain! Energy readings off the scales! It—"
Before she could get the rest of it out, the deck pitched wildly beneath them. It sent the Lieutenant staggering into the auxiliary conns. And as she disengaged herself from there, the ship lurched again—even worse than before.
"Evasive maneuvers!" shouted Riker through the havoc. "Tactic alpha theta!" the commander barked, complementing Worf's instructions. Then he turned to his tactical officer. "Lieutenant Yar, report!"
The woman quickly hurried to her station and studied the monitors. "We've taken hits to decks seven, eight, thirteen, and fifteen, sir. Shields down . . ." Her eyes narrowed in disbelief. ". . . eighty-nine percent!"
At engineering, Geordi didn't know where to look first. He had a fleeting wish his visor had an "off" switch. "Forward and starboard deflectors out! Circuit overloads! We won't hold any longer!"
The next impact was felt throughout the entire ship, as if a massive fissure in space had just opened up and the Enterprise had fallen in. Riker, gripping the side of the command chair, imagined he heard the screams of civilians throughout the ship.
"Mister La Forge! Everything to the Engines!"
"We're at full thrust," said the assistant engineer. "We're in trouble."
"What else is new?" said Geordi frantically typing in his station to get every bit of extra power.
"Separation?!" asked Yar.
"No time, Lieutenant. Besides, I doubt they would be sporting enough to let them go." Riker announced. "Arm the phasers, fire when ready!"
Four ruby-red beams lanced out of the enterprise, the four striking one of the fighters.
"Several direct hits," Natasha Yar reported. "But they don't seem to have had much effect. We barely put a dent in their shields."
Riker was tempted to fire again, but decided against it. Cursing on his mind he turned to Natasha. "Run an analysis of their shielding, Lieutenant. Let's see if there are any weak spots."
As the woman got to work, the commander glanced at Worf. "Let's give them a different look to contend with. Pattern delta five, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir," said Worf as he began a new set of maneuvers . . . just as the fighters unleashed another savage barrage. Most of it slid by them into the void, but a blast caught the edge of the saucer section.
Suddenly, the bridge skewed hard to port, forcing Riker to grab his chair or be thrown to the floor. At the same time, one of the aft control panels erupted in a geyser of sparks. Immediately, a crewman grabbed a fire extinguisher and played it over the panel.
"Shields are gone, sir!" an Ensign called out.
Feeling his jaw muscles flutter, Riker turned and eyed the viewscreen with renewed resolve. "Where's my analysis, Lieutenant!?"
"I am almost finished," the woman replied. A moment later, she exclaimed "Sir, the overall toughness of the enemy shields comes at the expense of some weak spots, it seems their shields only block a certain percentage of the incoming damage... as they are there is no much we can do to exploit that vulnerability.
But the Commander wasn't about to let up. Not when the next barrage might be the one that destroyed the Enterprise.
"Fire phasers and photon torpedoes, maximum yield, maximum spread, Fire!" he commanded.
Again, four phaser beams pierced one of the enemies shields, this time in conjunction with a barrage of photon torpedoes. This elicited a brilliant energy outbursts. But when the viewscreen cleared, Riker could see that even after having pierced the shielding of one of the fighters, the armor was badly charred, but intact.
The Fighters were already striking back. A fierce, green light blanched out the viewscreen for a moment. Then the Enterprise was punished with the most devastating barrage yet.
The commander was catapulted forward, flipping end over end. He hit a bulkhead with such force he felt himself black out for a moment. When he came to, the taste of blood strong in his mouth, he took stock of his bridge.
The lights, still tinted by the red alert, were flickering on and off almost hypnotically. Two more of the aft consoles had exploded and were spewing sparks. And his people were strewn all over the place.