The Heart of Gaia

Posted on Tue Mar 19th, 2019 @ 5:28pm by Commander Rita Paris & Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Lieutenant Commander Sonak & Lieutenant Asa Dael & Lieutenant Samuel Clemens XV & Petty Officer 1st Class Cicero Delacroix & Rear Admiral Farenia Meowlith & Lieutenant Mona Gonadie & Ensign Tathaa & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Ahreva Malana & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott
Edited on on Sat Mar 23rd, 2019 @ 8:16pm

Mission: Gaia Reborn
Location: USS Hera
Timeline: 2396

It had taken the Crew of the Hera a little extra time to get there, but thankfully Gaia had given them a bit of extra time to catch up. They were now just outside the protective particle cloud protecting Gaia and scanning her with all sensors, revealing that she had taken on a roughly humanoid shape, albeit over two hundred kilometers long. The internal organs were similar to that of an amoeba, yet more complex and powerful as a borg cube. It was truly a fascinating being - both awe-inspiring and humbling in the sheer scale.

With the massive power of creation came equal power to destroy, however, and the crew of the USS Hera had to convince her to give up her current course of actions, or otherwise stop her.

Captain Telvan was on the edge of her seat as they approached. "Maintain yellow alert. Hold this distance and continue scans. We don't want to come off as too threatening. Lieutenant Dox, do you feel anything yet?"

At the helm, the chief flight control officer was visibly nervous. Months ago, a small shard of Gaia had taken up temporary residence in her mind and body. And due to her use of an experimental sensory enhancement helmet, her mind was now forced open to psychic invasion. These two factors made her uniquely vulnerable to Gaia's attentions but also represented what the crew hoped was their best window to avert tragedy; direct communication.

However, aside from the knot of anxiety in her stomach churning tight enough to snap, she otherwise felt nothing out of the ordinary. "N... No, Captain. Nothing yet. At least, nothing I can feel."

Attached to her neck was a small, blinking sensor placed there by Doctor Dael to monitor her brainwaves, but it too indicated nothing amiss yet.

"Lieutenant Dael and Ensign Gonadie, please report to the bridge," Commander Rita Paris broadcast over the comms, then she continued issuing orders. "Miss Dox, Mister Sonak, please call for your relief. Meanwhile, what are we looking at here, Mister Sonak?"

''A biomechanical construct, Commander,'' answered the Vulcan. ''Despite the size, this is much reminiscent of the one once made out from a crew member of the USS Enterprise during the V'Ger incident, back in the mid-twenty-third century. Through this android probe, the entity was able to communicate and study ship and crew.''

"Fascinating. Good to know there is historical precedent," the time-tossed temptress observed, hoping that lent a bit more morale to the theory that this could be done successfully.

Like the chief science officer with his own assistant, Dox typed instructions to Ensign MacNielle, who was on standby, to report to the bridge. As she did, her eyes were glued to the image of the forming Titan on the screen.

As Mona reported to the bridge and stood by with her love, she fidgeted slightly in worry. Moments later, Ensign MacNielle arrived to relieve Dox who stood up and away from her station, next to Mona. And while public displays of affection were frowned upon, she stood as physically close to her Miradonian mate as she could.

There was another entity watching them. One that saw and recognized the one that helped them return home. The risk of contaminating them with the rest of the shards within the entity it called home was high, but it really wanted to let this being know that it was grateful for the assistance, even if its experiences were different from that of all the other probing shards that had been sent out. For now, it would wait and let the entities that they both belonged to make the first moves.

Exiting the turbolift with haste, Doctor Dael went to stand by Mnhei’sahe on the bridge, a medical tricorder in one hand and a bag slung across their shoulder filled with assorted medicines and tools, the doctor endeavored to be prepared for any eventuality.

“Doctor Dael reporting as ordered. Monitoring Lieutenant Dox's vitals now, how else can I help?” they inquired of the senior officers.

“Time to try something very different,” Rita Paris explained, standing and moving to the center of the bridge, before the seated Captain. “Miss Dox, guided by Mr. Sonak, is going to attempt to reach the shard of Gaia which we once met, encountered and returned to the main body. We’re hoping this will enable us to lend it more of a voice, and enable us to attempt to reason with a cosmic being.” Spoken aloud, in a lifetime of crazy plans, this one sounded particularly insane. But crazy, in Rita’s experience, often worked. Besides, they didn’t have a better option, and they all knew it.

Pulling her attention away from the screen nervously, Dox turned to Rita and forced the slightest of smiles on her face and simply nodded her readiness to her Commander.

"First, let me establish that this experiment is volunteer only," Paris continued, acknowledging the nature of the experiment. "Any or all of you have the capacity to refuse, as this is in no way an order. We can ask this of you, but in good conscience, we cannot order you. I want that clearly understood- you do this not because you have to, but because you choose to. With that said, Mr. Sonak, are you prepared?”

''Affirmative,'' simply answered the stoic Vulcan, hands at his back.

“Mister Sonak will be the comm officer for this,” Rita explained, as she wanted to ensure everyone was on the same page with the plan. “As he has decades of training and the mental discipline to focus this channel we are attempting to open, he will be using Lieutenant Dox’s connection and propensity for psychically connecting. Miss Gonadie, you two share a bond, and I suspect Miss Dox will need your strength- so with your permission, I would like you added to this link.”

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Commander," replied the brightly plumed Moradonian, her head held high. She just found her life mate and wasn't about to let some cosmic entity take away what they had if she had any say in it.

“Doctor Dael, you are…. Unique,” Rita smirked slightly. On the Hera, so many were unique souls it almost seemed like a backhanded compliment. “As an El-Aurian, you too are something of an eternal, and your capacity for compassion is unparalleled. I would like for you to be joined in this link as well, to support Miss Dox in this endeavor. You have considerable strength of character, and you care for all involved, rather fiercely. I would like to ask for you to help defend the minds in this link as well.”

With a nod, Asa replied, “Honored to serve, Commander. And, um, I brought some party-favors. If anyone begins to act out of character, this,” they said, drawing a small circle from their bag and placing it on their own neck, “Can be activated through a control panel I will give to the Captain. Once activated, the device will deliver a neuro-inhibitor and sedative sufficient to both stop any telepathic communications and render the wearer unconscious. It has a hell of a hangover, but I figured better to be prepared- just in case.”

''A logical precaution,'' Sonak said with a nod to Asa.

“I’ll be joining in as well," Paris finished. "Because while I have the psychic potential of the average rubber tree, I cannot allow all of you to risk yourselves, and not be willing to take that risk myself. I may not be able to stand in harm’s way in your place, but damned if I will let all of you go into this without my help,” Rita Paris declared, resting a hand on Dox’s shoulder to reassure the anxious aerospace ace. The First Officer who doubled as head of Security did not mention anything about the security officers standing by the turbolifts, who already had their orders to intervene if it looked like things were getting out of hand. There was no need- everyone knew why they were there and understood the inherent danger. “So I’ll be a part of this as well. With all of that said, is there anyone else that would like to volunteer for this mission of contact?”

Thex knew she couldn't volunteer to her friends given she was needed in case any if the ship or the instruments started playing up which given they were close to a newly reborn goddess with the power to reshape planets was a rather likely responsibility. "Just want to say good luck, guys. None of the equipment going to malfunction on my watch."

''Luck is only a lack of calculation of all the relevant variables,'' Sonak said with his usual deadpan tone.

The Ship's Spook spoke up. "C'manduh, ah'd like tuh help. Mah big mouth staht'd this riskeh biz'ness." He looked worried.

"Of course, Sam. We might just need a bit of fanciful thinking in all of this- glad to have you," the Commander smiled, genuinely glad to see the gregarious gambler stepping up to help.

Sensing the offers to join had ceased, Asa made their way through the bridge, affixing the small dots that would enable the Captain to render the wearer unconscious to each person’s neck, programming the PaDD that would control them as they went. While on the surface Asa was all business, they offered a smile and a squeeze of encouragement to the shoulder or arm of each person, hoping to shore everyone up for the task ahead of them.

“Ready when everyone else is,” Asa said in their best professional voice.

Enalia leaned back in the central chair and keyed in a sequence into the console built into it. "Excellent. Maru?" Rather than the normal chirrup as a response, the computer responded with a brief and curious meow. "All command codes now require confirmation of myself, the first officer, and you until further notice. If you detect signs that the entire crew has been compromised by Gaia, please inform Hera, lock down the ship, and fly to the nearest quarantine station." The response from the computer could only be described as a double affirmative meowing.

"Now that that's taken care of..." The spotted captain looked over the PaDD of everyone who was wearing one of the pendants just in case. "Let's get this party started. When you're all ready, and please remember, everything dealing with psionics is voluntary. This is your last chance to back out."

Enalia may have been addressing all the volunteers with her words, but it was Dox that her eyes were locked on. Enalia glanced down at her PaDD before setting it on the arm of her chair and motioned to Rita. "Start the link and hook up with the shard if you can."

Rita took Sonak's hand, immediately establishing a telepathic bond with the Kolinahr through their lifebond of t'hy'la. Gentkly taking Asa'a hand as well, she quietly issued the order, "Link hands, all of you. Two of you grab Dox's hands, make a circuit."

Asa pictured their own energy forming a bubble around the linked group. They allowed it to extend to permeate through the entire bridge, feeling a slight tug on their mind from an unknown source, and sent images of safety, security, and protection through their thoughts.

Deciding in a split second to ensure the Captain remained protected, Asa pictured glass cage around Enalia’s mind, unbreakable and impenetrable, as they send a weave of tendrils of energy around Enalia’s form, tying the weaves together and imbuing them with slightly more energy than those surrounding the rest of the bridge crew.

At a loss of how to convey what they had done to the Captain, Asa smiled at her and winked, hoping the message was in some way received.

Mona took Clemens' hand as he took Asa's, then took a deep breath and let it out before she took her love's hand. Completing the circuit, she let her own energies flow, trying to shield her love's mind from the immensity that was Gaia. She could feel all the colors of the link flowing back and forth through her, and the pressure that the Titan was exerting on her beloved Minay- and it was intense even if it wasn't direct.

At the center of the whole link was Sonak's own mind. With his mind meld, he was the connecting link of all their minds, his purely almost machine-like logical thoughts like the waters of the ocean linking islands together. Through his mastery of Kolinahr, he directed the waves and currents of this psyche ocean in a harmonious, stable, yet always moving whole; even while protecting, with the ebb and flow of his emotionless psyche, those of all the minds involved in the link. Alone, even he could not have withstood the power of Gaia. Together, they could.

That was his sole driving purpose; to maintain them all together as one mind, multifaceted and as hard as a diamond, polished to the point of having even a titanide's mind reflected to itself... and bringing her within the link.

Thus, she would feel every emotion and sensation from each and all of them. Whatever she would choose to inflict; pain, pleasure, terror, bliss, understanding, confusion... she would feel it too, just as all of them would.

This was a collective mind meld; much more than a direct communication between minds. It was a merging; an amalgamation of mind and soul, of thought and emotion, of mortal and divine.

They were all... one.

As the watching shard that was friendly to the crew of the Hera saw a mental link go up inside the crew, It knew this was its one chance to be heard over the multitude of voices inside of its own mass of essences and gingerly added its own consciousness to the ring that had formed.

In her mind's eye, for the first time in her life, Lieutenant Mnhe'sahe Dox was calm.

The logic of Sonak soothed her anxieties, making them all simple questions to be answered and filed. The risks were acceptable, she had decades of training and experience, and she was a Kolinahr master whose powers had once been far greater than this. She was a well of compassion, a survivor who had chosen to help and heal wherever they went, be it the body or the mind. They were connected with all life in an ancient pact with the universe, and they upheld it.

Joined together, she had the wry wit and observation of a riverboat gambler, a modern spymaster with a heart of gold. Samuel Clemens knew storytelling, and now, she did too. Within her was the courage of a human explorer, reaching for the stars and the wonders like the titan Gaia herself, with awe and compassion, bringing the message of her people to the universe. Strongest of all, despite her lack of emotion, was the full and warm devotion of the love of her life, coming through far clearer with the skill and power of Sonak than she ever had in their own empathic connection. Here, Minay could feel the depth and breadth of the love Mona Gonadie held for her, and the absolute unshakable belief that her mate could do anything.

All of this... all of their thoughts, all of their strengths, all of their compassion and their love for the beings of the universe came together in the mind of Mnhei'sahe Dox, and they knew what to do.

Thinking as one being, they lowered their heads in unison on the bridge of the Hera as the collective consciousness reached out towards the swirl of energy and life beyond the ship. In their minds eye, the colors of their individual auras had become a single, brilliant white light stretching past the confines of the starship towards the great Titan.

Then, simultaneously, yet distinctly, other notions filtered through- all with one voice, but flavored differently, like yoah mama's dried apple cake, aftuh suppah, layuhs uv sweet tang'eh mix'd wi' lump'eh, yeast'eh lay'ehs, and...

Wrapped in a sense of lavender came laughing while running through a forest, splashing in the river with Brother, sneaking sweets from the elders handbag, learning everything imaginable, and growing to work tirelessly to give relief, to heal what the universe tears asunder.

Admiring the explorers all gathered in their uniforms, so noble, so precise. Wanting to follow in the footsteps of the heroes of the fleet, serving in the stars, taking humanity's message of peace and friendship to the galaxy, the ever expanding frontier.

The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few. But there is no many without the one. Therefore the one is precious for the many.

Like a great winged bird of paradise, Mona's energy swept through the group like blue, yellow, and green wings trying to help protect them and broadcasting a message of soaring love.

As they reached out, in one voice projecting physically from Dox's mouth that was somehow a combination of them all, they asked a simple question to the being that was Gaia. A simple question asked with a single word: "Why?

Once the crew's voice quieted down, Gaia's reply came back in a much more unified manner. "Why? To rid the universe of your pretentious, greedy, and arrogant kind, to give rise to more worthy beings." Then in an undercurrent, a lone voice in that sea cried out and was almost lost to it. "They do not know your compassion!"

Within the fusion of the crew's minds, the part that was Mnhei'sahe Dox immediately recognized the lone voice. It was the shard. The shard that was once merged with her. It was both a part of Gaia and their fusion, and it was raising it's voice to be heard.

"That is not all we are. We wish to be better together." The joined voice pleaded.
"We are but children still, taking our first steps into the expanding Universe."
"Teach us and we will grow."
"We only wish to learn and explore."
"There is no need to harm those that would learn from you."
"Please, let the life already here grow into its potential."
"No kill."
''IDIC; infinite diversity in infinite combinations.''
"Aw, c'mon, now. Don't fold, yet! Yuh gotta play tuh win. We ain't even dun a'drawin'."

Gaia's reply was firm. "I have witnessed much hatred and destruction against your own kind and against my children."

"We have all witnessed hatred."
"Experienced it first hand."
"Sometimes caused it through mistakes and pain."
"But... you stop hate with compassion."
"That's how we try to be better."
''We come to serve.''

Along with the words came the memory of the smell and taste of hot apple pie, made with love by a parent.

Childhood tears being wiped away.

The fulfillment of self through learning.

An encompassing love that would move the heavens to protect one small child.

While falling asleep, the sound of a grandmother's voice singing softly.

The satisfaction of making a friend of a spiteful goddess, to convince her to live a better life for her children.

Your ancestor telling you to return to your friends as they throw you a rope.

Feeling that Gaia was unmoved, they felt instead what the shards of the titan, seeded throughout the galaxy had found. Humanoid life was venal, petty and weak. Selfish and arrogant, they were motivated by fear and distrust,m always seeking to gain advantage over one another. The lies and betrayals, the false declarations of honor undermined by secret cowardice. All of what the shards had experienced, Gaia shared with the mortals who had the temerity to question her, to plead their case.

But only about 50 years worth of history. And very little of it within the Federation, although they could feel their former Counselor amongst the shards. The fear and pain she had maintained that had poisoned her entire outlook on life, leading to constant threats and self-absorption.

"This is not all of our story."
"We are so much more than this.
"You have not seen how far we have come."
"You do not know who we have become."
"How we have striven."
"To be better."
"Solving disputes with logic."
"Offering compassion and friendship"
"Truth. Theyah cain't be nothing more impoahtant than the truth. Let us show ya, ma'am."

A feed from the ship's databanks began, at what would normally be an incomprehensible speed for any mortal- but the amalgam of minds that represented those closest to Lieutenant Dox (plus Dox herself) had no problem following the stream, and, indeed, threading it out into thousands of parallel streams, all annotated throughout by the various members of the gestalt, according to their individual gifts. It began with the combined records of all known sources regarding the Preservers seeding process, and ran through to the most recent long-range observations of not-yet-contacted humanoid cultures. No known facts were omitted or glossed-over, no dirty secrets human-'splained, no best-light angles.

And one more thing.

The entirety of all collected works in the science fiction, fantasy, and comic book categories, from all Federation-contacted cultures.

In the spirit of completeness, of course. Through Sam's cybernetic link to the Hera's computer, the histories of hundreds of Federation worlds flowed into the minds of the link. And through Dox's link, into the shard where it became a part of Gaia.

Thousands of years of history showed a view not just of the ugly side, not just the pettiness or hypocricy that Gaia had witnesses. It showed progress, compassion, growth and change. They stumbled and fell, but pulled themselves back up and became better and reached out into the cosmos to learn.

And all of this came through the prisms of the assembled minds, giving the lessons context. It was the histories of countless worlds as seen through the eyes of of the gestalt.

A human woman once torn apart for years and flung even further from her home who kept moving forward, not in fear, but with hope and curiousity.

An El-Aurian who watched sickness and ignorance rob them of their family who embraced compassion and learned to heal.

A Romulan girl who learned that her past and family was built on lies who chose to embrace the truth of the family she was making for herself.

A Miradonian who watched helplessly as her family was devoured before her who instead sought love and wanted to show the universe how to fly.

The last kolinahr, who hurled himself through space and time for the chance to be reunited with his guiding star, in a universe he never dared dream to be whole.

And the human man who had his humanity cleaved away from him who took it as a chance to rebuild himself in the service of others.

Each willing to give everything for the other. Each adding their sould to the hope of understanding. The voices of billions over eons all looking forward with hope and a longing to help filtered through those few that were there to somehow make it happen, speaking in one voice, pleading for Gaia to join them in their quest for the future.

Gaia took time to check the contents of this data dump as fast as it came in and found that while her assessment was not wrong... It was far from right as well.

Then something amazing happened.

From both within Gaia and within the Hera circle came a single voice, singing of hope for a better world. It was a catchy tune and soon other voices within Gaia were joining in and slowly she was forced to reassess her earlier opinions of the current state of the galaxy. That one shard had found a voice and was using it.

Outside, Gaia game to a stop and ceased all activity, no longer threatening the worlds of this system with the New Genesis she offered. "We are reconsidering our position."

It was the moment they needed. Gaia was listening now. The voices within her were being swayed as, on the bridge of the Hera, their hands tightened their grips in each other.

Through Dox's body, the conduit being used, the entire conversation was being spoken allowed from both sides. The Captain and the rest of the crew could hear Dox, Paris, Sonak, Asa, Mona and Sam's words and Gaia's herself through the one voice in a somewhat unsettling display that kept all involved aware of what was happening.

But inside the vastness of the joined mindscape, amplified by Dox's connection and held together by the most powerfully ordered mind of the greatest Kolinahr master alive, they redoubled their efforts to reach the wavering Titan.

“Alone, we struggle. But together, we have each other's strength to support us. As we are here and now is what we are trying to show you. Worlds that have come together over the centuries, wanting… needing… to be better. Better together. Together we can be greater than our weaknesses.”

Images of failures began to flow, both personal and societal. The unvarnished reality of life in all its forms. “We are not perfect. We… we screw up all the time. We fail and we want to give up because it's easier. But…”

And as they spoke as a whole, the images changed. Hands reaching out to aid the injured in tragedy. A warm blanket given to the cold. A starship beaming survivors from disaster. Images of the bigger picture. “But together we can overcome our mistakes. Be better than our weaknesses.”

Then the images became personal. Rita Paris holding Mnhei'sahe Dox, wiping the young Romulan's blood from her own cheeks to remind her of her worth. Doctor Asa Dael giving, without a thought, twenty years of her own life up to Thex. Sonak mind melding with Asa after their Awakening. Mona struggling to teach Mnhei'sahe how to quiet her mind. Sam taking the blade of a petulant god, putting himself between others that couldn't defend themselves.

“Destroying these worlds… starting them over is giving up on them. Denying them the chance to grow. To be better. To do so is to give up on hope itself and bow to all the things we must never allow to win within us. We're here not just to save these worlds, but to save you from succumbing to that.”

“We once held a small part of you, and through that part we saw your hope and your fear. Your desire to be more and your fear of being alone. But you aren't alone and neither are we. And together we can all be better than the urges to give up.”

Lifting their heads in unison, the assembled members of the gestalt made one final plea. “Let us help you be what you really are. You are a goddess of life, not death. And to do so is more than just creating life. It's nurturing it. Guiding it when it might otherwise stumble. Please don't give up in us. We need you to be better than that.”

That was what pushed the shards within Gaia over towards her new decision. In a reverse data dump, several key pieces of information were 'transmitted' to the crew of the USS Hera via the link, including the location of Primordis, the nature of the connection between him and Gaia, their original roles in the universe, and Gaia's plans for what to do next - to open a quantum singularity into the realm which she was previously sleeping, and to return to it, so she could nurture all life from there.

Which she did not waste time doing.

Suddenly, instead of a two hundred kilometer long Titan, there was a miniature black hole that within a matter of seconds had sucked her in, and was on the verge of sucking the USS Hera in as well.

As Gaia vanished, the link between the members of the Hera crew was harshly broken. For Dox, it felt almost as if a part of her mind was pulled towards the newly formed vortex in space.

There was a moment of confusion as the young Romulan stumbled for a moment as she returned to her own body, alone again in her own mind. "W... what happened? Did we? Did it work?"

''Communication was successful,'' answered Sonak. ''How it has been interpreted however, remains to be fully understood.''

"Hnave!" Paris exclaimed, seeing the black hole forming on the viewscreen. Assessing the situation quickly, she moved to action. "Hard about! Red alert! Helm, get us out of here, warp speed! Science, give us telemetry on the gravitic field building out there. Communications, ready an emergency buoy. Engineering, give her all she's got!"

From the helm, Ensign MacNielle responded. "Aye."

Clemens dove at the Engineering secondary console, raising one bushy brow as he pulled up the readouts from the singularity.

"Interesting. This type of hyperspatial portal has not been documented, before." He swiftly accessed the shield systems, fingers a blur.

''It has been recorded before, Mister Clemens,'' Sonak objected as he looked at the readouts himself; ''twice... in my universe; this is an artificial wormhole based on red matter transmutation interacting with floating matter in outer space. It opens a passage through spacetime and otherwise conforms with the parameters of a black hole.''

"Reconfiguring shield matrix to compensate for newly-discovered variants. Helm, I am sending you a course heading which will avoid the most violent of the subspace disturbances." His eyes squinted, as he saw more data streaming from the lateral sensor array. "Surak's Lobes!... what the hell is that??"

Back in her own head, Dox quickly relieved the nervous Ensign at the helm will a tap to her shoulder and entered the heading instructions from Clemens, but the mighty starship only shuddered at the pull of the singularity. "We are not budging out of the gravity well! And the proverbial pedal is on the floor."

"Captain needs options, people!" Rita Paris herself racked her brain, stepping over to her own console, bringing up firing resolutions and loading aft quantum torpedoes as she shared the data with the science station. "Sonak, the time/space distortion is making targeting tricky, can you calculate for the shockwave to try to blow us clear? Someone tell me they have a brilliant idea to prevent a starship from encountering the event horizon of a black hole or we're all gonna be a lot flatter!"

''At this distance, we do not even have a fraction of the power necessary to break free from a gravimetric area of this magnitude,'' the Vulcan stated. ''But there is an alternative; use it's own pull to slingshot around and away from it.''

Mona ran the numbers from the helm side panel herself. "There's a ninety three percent chance of catching the edge of the accretion disk and the ship being pulled to wherever it leads to and even with wahp ingines at fuhl... Ahem... Even with warp engines at full, it's unlikely we'll clear it on any edge with how much we've slid into the singularity already."

Enalia was tapping away at her own chair consoles, trying to make sense of the data when a signal override came in over the viewscreen. showing Yeoman Ila Dedjoy sealing up a safety type EV suit used in the pod. "Captain, remember that briefing on the quantum displacement drive I gave you?" Not waiting for an answer, she pressed on as she sealed up her suit. "I wasn't able to finish the particle shielding, but the drive core is finished and there are enough particles for two jumps. I've linked navigation to Maru, so just tell her where to go. I'm going to run the final activation link inside the control room."

"Wait... You said the shielding had to be perfect, or any bio-matter would be dissolved into the quantum realm the system travels though." Enalia clearly understood the situation and didn't like it- but she knew the ship had to come first.

As the Hera shuddered around them, Ila Dedjoy, the woman who lived in perpetual fear of death, smiled selflessly at her commanding officer. "Captain... Enalia... Just go to black alert and get the ship and crew out of here. The controls have been routed to your right arm console."

As the viewscreen reverted back to a lovely view of the thirsty singularity, Enalia tapped at her chair controls and found them. "I need coordinates! Where are we going?"

"196.52 mark 4.4 bearing 121," Rita Paris called out, reaching over Dox's shoulder to tap the coordinates into the helm manually, still not having completely caught on to what was happening. The lost navigator recalled the coordinates just relayed to her a moment ago from a cosmic being, then amended them slightly so they would not warp in on top of the target.

"Wait- dissolve... biomatter... quantum realm... Dedjoy, I'll be right there!" As she put it together, the ghost of the 23rd century realized what was about to happen. Had she sufficient time, Paris would have traded places with the scientist, counting on her own freakish luck in the dance between energy and matter to enable her to survive somehow.

But time was a luxury they did not have.

"Commander Paris, stand down. There's no time." Enalia grabbed the arm of her first officer as she tried to pass, then punched in the coordinates and linked the system to Maru to navigate them away safely. "Fair travels, Ila Dedjoy. May we meet again..."

Looking up from her chair controls, Enalia issued the commands that would flip their concept of reality on end. "Black alert! Prepare for quantum displacement jump! Disengage warp in three... Two... One..." As soon as she felt Dox cut the engines, the Trill beauty hit the jump drive, and the entire starship felt like it spun on all three axis only to fall into a quantum hole in the universe.

Then in just under a second, they had arrived.

They were now in a large blue star giant system, and there was no sign of the singularity. There were no stresses on the structure of the starship. Black alert had ended, and the strange klaxon had silenced. Normal lighting resumed as the red alert was cancelled, and it fell eerily silent.

But Enalia had to ask. "Computer, location of Yeoman Ila Dedjoy."

The computer chirruped and seemed to pause for what seemed an eternity while it searched. "Yeoman Dedjoy is no longer aboard."

She did her best to remain composed as she issued her next orders. "Stand... Stand down alert status. Inform Commodore Meowlith of our status and location. Begin scans for Primordius."

By her side, her own face clearly resisting an ugly cry, Paris patted the Captain’s shoulder, offering what comfort there was over their sudden loss of brave sacrifice.

Still reeling from the sudden loss of the mental link, Asa did not fully understand what Ila had done, but they felt sadness descend upon them, grasping for and failing to think of anything that could be done.

Deciding instead to focus on what they could impact, the doctor set about silently scanning all those who had participated in the link. Seeing no ill effects, they began removing the dots from each person’s neck, pausing before Mnhei’sahe.

“You…you in there? No lurking presence?” Asa asked.

Pausing in shock for a moment, Dox barely heard Asa's question. After a second, she slowly replied. "Y... Yeah. It's me. Just me, I'm pretty sure. I'm not feeling... anyone else, I don't think." As she spoke, her hand slid slowly to Mona's who was still standing next to the station at the helm. Upon touching, Dox could only barely feel their psychic link.

Sam slowly sat down at the station he was before. Almost absently, he brought up a system scan.

The cool blue giant was home to some 19 planet-class objects, about evenly mixed between rocky and gas giants, with two asteroid belts.

"Thuh syst'm's gawt nynteen planets, coupla belts. No signs've sentient life… mostleh pre-primate low saurian stuff. Um… scannin' fuhthuh owt. " His tone was flat.

"Aw, dubble frell me. There he is." Clemens brought up the system layout, then shrunk it.

Hovering above the ecliptic, an object blocked the view of most of the objects in the system. It initially looked like a wedge, but rotating the view revealed it to be a conical, ragged shape, almost like a massive stalactite...

...if stalactites could be larger than stars, and had a maw that could swallow a dozen red supergiants.

“Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!” Paris exclaimed as she recognized the conical tapered open-mawed cone in space. “The Doomsday Machine…?!?”

{Doomsday Machine Theme plays} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xc-M3bRxLc

''A much similar construction to that encountered by the starship Enterprise in the 23rd century, albeit considerably larger,'' confirmed Sonak with a raised eyebrow; ''an automated mobile mechanism of immense size and power. The original one was several kilometers long, built to destroy planets and use the rubble for fuel, therefore being self-sustaining as long as there was planetary bodies for it to feed upon. This one however seems to be designed to ingurgitate the entire mass of stellar bodies. This is of comparable size to the V'Ger sentient probe, registering over a hundred astronomical units in length, it's mass like that of a small black hole... and of a technological level way beyond even the capability of all the known sentient space faring civilizations to destroy even together, let alone conceive.''

Sonak turned towards the command seat.

''Captain; there is no conceivable way to stop such a construct. It's outer hull is made of pure neutronium. Even the Hobus supernova would have not scratched it. Unless it has an artificial intelligence that could be reasoned with, which the original machine had not, the only logical option left is to find who made it... and convince it's creator to stop it.''

Clemens recovered enough to ask, "Izzat Pry-moar-dee-us? Or just a minion?? If it's him, he's gawt a helluva sense uv ironeh. Hadta up thuh trope frum 'dee-stroy-uh uv wuhlds' tuh 'eatuh uv stah systems." More than a little anger flared in his piercing blue eyes.

"If'n it's jus' a minion, it's a damn shame we ain't gawt summa that red mattuh t'feed it."

Thex had been resting the urge to hurl that had been caused by the quantum displacement drive. As her blue eyes focused on the screen a word that thankfully refused to translate in the universal translator came out of her mouth at the sight of the machine from the history books.

"Oh great. Out of the frying pan, into the fryer..."