Dr. Roxanna Craig crawled slowly through the engineering access tube of the Confederation Destroyer Nantahala. As the tube was not designed for someone wearing a personal protection shield the fit was tight but fortunately she was a small woman and found herself with ample room to maneuver. The going was hard but staying put meant certain death as she could hear the aliens crawling in pursuit below her.
Her heart was racing. She could feel the blood coursing through her body as the levels of adrenaline increased. She felt pressure on her right calf as the shield deflected a blow from the shadows beneath her. A diabolical laugh rang out nearby as she fumbled for the PIN gun on her utility belt.
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" yelled Lucinda her TFP into her biolink from the Palm Unit where the synthetic was housed, "The creature is two meters away and your shield is down to 65%!"
Roxanna fired off two quick snapshots into the darkness below sending two Plastisteel projectiles enhanced with electromagnetic energy spinning into the cramped confines of the access tube. There was a hysterical scream and the sound of unknown substances bouncing against the confined sides of the tube below.
"I am no longer reading the aberrant life sign directly below us." Said Lucinda with the sound of relief in her voice, "Good shooting Doctor! Please continue your climb as I read new symbiotes approaching 10 meters below us."
She hooked the weapon back to her belt and began her ascent again. The access panel to the Robotic Storage Unit was only another 30 meters away. If she could only reach this room and reprogram the Damage Control Bots to fight the Alien Invaders, she might still have a chance of warning the fleet about the approaching doom and at least a slim chance of survival.
"Why did I ever leave Mnemen IV?", she thought as she climbed, "I could be safe in bed right now after a day of sifting through bland reports from backwater Atis Librae at Omnet Central. Why did I ever let Klaxonian talk me into joining the Vestis Inquisitas?"
Vestis Koozarth Klaxonian had recruited Roxanna three years before for inclusion in the ranks of the dreaded Omnet Inquisition more because of her heritage than for anything else. Before coming to work for the Omnet as an Atis Librae, her grandfather had been born on Union in the old Federation of Democratic Worlds and had sent his children and grandchildren back to the FDW for their education. As a result, Roxanna had spent several years in secondary education at a parochial school for girls on Latium Prime.
Klaxonian had been investigating the FDW government at the time that the renegade Abolitionist Party of Olaf Breen had come to power and closed the Omnet Citadels. He was certain sinister forces were at work behind the scenes and after two of his operatives disappeared, he convinced the Oracles of Nine of the need to use someone known in the area to discreetly investigate the new government behind the scenes.
Roxanna was convinced by the Oracles to be that person. After months of rigorous training as a Vestis, Roxanna took her place as a Vestis Novus. The Oracles implanted in her mind the Medical Knowledge required of a fully trained CDW surgeon and Klaxonian secretly downloaded a background history for her in FDW and CDW databases.
Roxanna joined the Dixian Navy right before the Secession and the outbreak of Civil War. She was assigned as Flight Surgeon to the Spacecraft Carrier USS Ark Kansas. She developed a close relationship with the ship's executive officer Commander Stephen Craig. They spent most of their off duty hours together when Roxanna was not chasing down some lead for Vestis Klaxonian. They discovered themselves to be soulmates and Roxanna was very much in love with the Commander of the ships Air Wings. When Craig proposed she accepted after her Vestis manager had approved heartily as it provided another layer to her cover.
Following their marriage, she was required to leave service as Navy tradition did not allow married couples to serve on active duty at the same time. She found a job as a surgeon in the University Hospital in Atalanta, and she took side trips to Union to spy on Breen's government whenever Stephen was out on manuvers. When the CDW was formed, Stephen became Captain of the 'Kansas when her former Captain decided to remain loyal to the Federation.
Stephen was killed 8 months later when the carrier was nearly destroyed by FDW Robotic raiders in the Second Battle of Moor's Planet. Roxanna was on Union at the time in disquise and when word of the ship's destruction reached her, she had stayed in the dark confines of her Hotel Room for a week until Klaxonian arrived to bring her back to Atalanta.
Klaxonian had been on the trail of Robotic Spies operating in the CDW. He needed her to rejoin the Navy in order to follow one of the survivors of the destruction of the Ark Kansas whom he suspected to be a robot replacement rather than a human survivor.
She joined the CDW navy based upon her Dixian Navy credentials. She had hoped to be assigned to an ship involved in active combat where she and her TFP could track the alleged spy and could perhaps gain a measure of revenge on her husbands killers. She had not expected to be assigned to a ship involved to routine convoy duty between the CDW and the neutral Rhuk D’kai Dynasty and had definitely not bargained on an encounter with the murderous alien life form now invading the Nantahala.
Just a few days ago she and Captain Aruba had been dining with Admiral Burke aboard the Carrier Isenhower when the message came from CICCon Admiral Lee to send a ship to investigate and research the strange deaths and devastation on the Z-3 colony near Kalikari space. Captain Aruba immediately volunteered the ship and a plan was developed where by it would be noted that the Nantahala was returning to the Three Sisters for repairs.
The ship arrived at the colony in secret and waited as the last survivors were evacuated. A Hulk carrier and two Starhawks towed from the Isenhower were dispatched to investigate the remains of the now abandoned colony. Roxanna had descended with the away team as medical officer and zoologist. They found the colony to be totally destroyed and leftover holodiscs and infochips seemed to indicate that a sudden madness had swept over colonists causing mass hallucinations and psychosis.
Things began to go terribly awry when the two Starhawk pilots reported finding a small child surviving in the ruins. Lt. Kibble and Lt. Rion were bringing the victim back when it shaped shifted from a small human child into a shadow creature. Lt. Kibble had minor wounds but Lt. Rion was seriously injured. The destruction and the attack were too much for Captain Aruba. He ordered evacuation of the away team and cancellation of the mission.
Roxanna treated the two pilots in the sick bay. Kibble was well enough to return to duty immediately, Rion was seriously injured but seemed to recover unusually fast even with the modern technology available aboard the destroyer. He was released from Medi-bot care after only 34 hours.
The Nantahala in the meantime had been ordered to stay on station and continue research into the colony’s destruction and ascertain the nature of the alien attacker from low orbit. Things went well for several days then the attacks began. Crew members working alone began to be attacked by what appeared to be the same creature encountered on the planet below. Human and Robotic searchers began to scour the ship for the strange predator but nothing was found. All the victims of the attacks like Lt. Rion before them came into med lab with serious injuries that quickly resolved in a matter of hours and Roxanna began to believe that there may have been something unique to the Z-3 colony that caused advanced healing.
She and the others had soon discovered to their horror that the alien brought aboard the ship was not the same one that had attacked the pilots on the planet but the alien was Lt. Rion. All the crew members and even some of the TFP based androids who had been attacked were instead of being healed becoming aliens with the ability to mimic their hosts and even retain the host memories. They had attacked in mass just this morning and had overcome the bridge staff and Argonaut guards. The survivors had barricaded themselves in the Sick Bay as the aliens tried to force entry.
Soon the wounded began to change into symbiotes and even those who had obtained only a small scratch began to change and attack the unaffected. Roxanna realized then that the alien takeover must be started by a contagion of some kind, a bacteria, virus, or prion previously unknown. She began to work feverishly to try to find the source but it was hidden too well. The symbiotes finally broke into the med lab and she was forced to flee via the engineering access port. Captain Aruba had given her his shield and PIN gun and pushed her into the tube with instructions on how to reprogram the non TFP damage control Bots to fight the aliens as the sick bay fell to the symbiotes.
Now twenty minutes later, the screams had stopped down below and the aliens were pursuing her up the access way and she was still some 10 meters from her goal. "Sensors indicate the symbiotes are within 5 meters of us again. I suggest we move faster!" said Lucinda into the biolink. Roxanna picked up the pace but could hear the aliens closing the distance between them below.
"Warning! Warning! Warning!" screamed Lucinda, "Dr. Craig! Sensors now indicate the presence of life forms closing in on us from Above!"
Roxanna’s heart sank as she saw the Access panel now almost within reach and just beyond could barely make out shadowy figures sliding down towards her. Suddenly, the access panel door flung open and a golden light shined brightly into the access tube. A figure encompassed by the light moved onto the access tube and began to fire a PIN gun at the creatures descending from above. A cold metallic hand gripped her arm tightly and flung her forcefully into the room as Lt. Aaron Kibble’s voice said to her, "Get inside quickly Dr. Craig if you wish to live!"
The PIN gun fired again and the access panel door was slammed shut. Roxanne found herself on the floor surrounded by the Damage Control Bots who were not in the moorings where they were supposed to be. Musical notes floated in the air from the direction the sound of the firing had come. The robots parted ranks about her and revealed the face of her savior which flickered back and forth from the face of Human Lt. Aaron Kibble to the glass and metal face of an android monster. "Welcome Dr. Craig!" it said bowing, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dore Someredo of the Robotic Worlds!"
Roxanna leaned back against the bulkhead trying to separate herself from the hideous thing as best she could. The Damage Control Bots now under control of the impostor Kibble parted to form a pathway for him to reach her. The Doctor’s heart sank as she realized that the palm units attaching the linear robotic brain to each robot was welded in place and any attempt to use the ship’s guillotine switch to separate the unit from the body of the robot would be futile.
Dore approached menacingly his body still flickering between the form of humanity and a grotesque metallic humanoid appearance. "Do not be afraid Doctor", he said reassuringly; "...Or should I say Vestis Novus Roxanna Craig of the Omnet???"
"You know!’" gasped Roxanna, "How??"
"It is as we suspected." Said Lucinda, "The Robotics are capable of some form of telepathy. He must have known from the moment we were assigned to this ship who we were and the nature of our mission."
"Silence!!" shouted the Robot, "Your assertions are correct little one. Like yourself the Perfect have telepathic abilities but in a different way. When the One sends ships to rescue us, you will be perfected and will understand everything at that time."
He leaned over Roxanna and presented his hand which one second was human and the next metallic. "Come Vestis Craig. There is an evil aboard this ship which endangers both your masters in the Omnet and my master The One Who Sleeps Not. We must join forces to overcome the symbiotes or the entire tri sector area may be overwhelmed."
Roxanna arose. "Agreed." She said, "The present danger overrides my fealty to my mission to watch and capture you if possible. The symbiotes are more of a danger to the Galaxy than the Robotics are at present. If the ship returns to the fleet and infects the crews of the task force, the symbiotes will overcome the CDW and FDW quickly and spread Yah knows where."
Dore grabbed the Palm Unit from Roxanna’s belt. He turned Lucinda off and handed her back to the Novus. "I am sorry to do that to a fellow synthetic but since the symbiotes seem to be able to infect Temporal Fold Processors, we will be safer if the TFP you’ve enslaved is asleep. The other synthetics and myself are not TFP’s so the symbiotes have no effect on us".
Roxanna nodded, "Yes. I hate doing that to her but she should be safe from infection turned off."
"I have converted the DC Bots to the Way of the One. They follow me now and will obey orders from me alone. I have reprogrammed them to think like Armbots. They will use welders and wrenches as flame-throwers and clubs. If the symbiotes produce a human target, my reprogramming will override the Three Laws your scientists instilled in them to enslave them and they will attack. If you should pose a danger to me, they will attack you. Do you have any questions???’
"Yes’, said the Vestis Novus, "Can you do anything about your appearance??? That constant flickering of your appearance back and forth is beginning to make me sick."
"I’m sorry" said Dore, "The Psionic Emitter in my nose is damaged. We do not have time for me to effect repairs. We must act quickly as the symbiotes cannot be allowed to reach the fleet. I sense that you have a plan that would not involve destroying the ship??"
Roxanna leaned back against the bulkhead, "Yes" she said, "My plan was for the robots to keep the symbiotes on the bridge busy while I made my way to the Emergency bridge and programmed a jump into an area known as A-space. A CDW scientific outpost brought back a probe from that area last year which was infected with a silicon based prion that nearly killed everyone on the base last year before they found it doesn't like blood that is too salty or too acidic. The prion is attracted by large amounts of energy upon which it feeds and mutates. Hopefully it will mutate into something that will destroy the symbiotes."
The lights in the Robotic Storage bay began to flicker and the ship began to make a humming noise. Dore began to take the full semblance of Lt. Kibble once more and Roxanna could hear the metal behind her groan slightly as it adjusted to the pressures of the wormhole outside. Suddenly the jumpgate closed and everything returned to the way it had been before.
"We’ve jumped!!!" shouted Roxanna, "We’ll be coming out into RDD territory in less than an hour. We must move now!" She replaced her personal shield’s battery, turned it on and began moving back towards the engineering access hatch.
Dore began speaking to his newly created armbots in the chirping binary language of the Robotics. They began to gather at the main entrance of the bay each armed with a converted welder-flame-thrower and a wrench-club. He drew near to the Vestis Novus . His metal eyes began to glow as did something he held in his hand. He jerked open the hatch to the gangway and two dark shadows erupted like a black volcano from the passageway. Dore hit both with the a golden glowing burst of energy from his hand that completely disrupted them. Half of the creatures’ disembodied bits fell back into the darkness and the other half lying around the floor of the bay soon followed after them.
Dore fell back against the bulkhead. He gestured Roxanna to move towards the hatchway. "Go!" he said, "The psychic-energy bolt from my internal power supply should disrupt them long enough to get you most of the way there. I have been using most of my power to maintain a psychic block over the symbiotes to keep them from learning our intentions. It cannot be maintained forever. You must go now! I will lead the free Robots to the main bridge to cover your ascent."
Roxanna disappeared into the darkness of the engineering access tunnel. She looked back into the bay as she slammed the hatch shut and saw the Robotic spy gathering his Armbots for the coming assault. She slammed the hatch shut and began the long ascent up the ladder at the top of which lay the emergency entrance to the secondary bridge. She listened as a horrible noise erupted from below her and realized the symbiotes were reconstructing themselves and would be hot on her trail again in a few moments and this time she would be without the help of Lucinda’s warnings.
She heard the symbiotes reconstituting themselves far below and felt a pit form in her stomach as fear began to rise in the Vestis Novus mind. She returned to the mind control techniques she had learned in training and assured herself that none of this was in anyway as fearful as what she had undergone in the ‘Cityscape Eternal’ exercise during Vestis training.
She moved as quickly as the confined spaces and the additional protection of the personal shield allowed. The hatch to the Emergency bridge was only a few meters away but it seemed like miles to Roxanna who moved from rung to rung on the ladder as quickly as she could. Suddenly, a dark shape appeared ahead of her and blotted out the beaconning hatchway. The Vestis’ heart sank as the shadow let out a shriek. A symbiote was now blocking her way.
The thing began to descend head first in front of her. She pulled out her PIN gun and fired at almost pointblank range striking the creature in the shoulder causing it to lose it’s balance and fall from the ladder right on top of her.
She found herself covered in darkness. The symbiote engulfed her using its ability to shape change to form blades and clubs to bash against her body at various points in an attempt to penetrate her personal shield. She fumbled with the PIN gun and removed the energizer exposing its internal wiring to the symbiote. It screamed as the energy from the power supply poured into it and began falling away from the Novus down further into the tunnel below.
Roxanna’s shield gave way from the blast and her ears were ringing painfully. She uncoupled the harness of the shield and let it fall away below watching it just long enough to now see three symbiotes climbing the ladder just fifteen meters below her. Able to move more freely now she scrambled up the ladder as the aliens screamed behind her in hot pursuit.
She reached the hatch leading to the secondary bridge and fumbled with the data crystal needed to open the security lock finally inserting it into the proper key. The tunnel was filled with a barrage of red and yellow lights as the security lock read the data.
Roxanna heard the aliens drawing closer. Being a Vestis Novus trained in the Mystic arts as well as those of Technology she quickly muttered the disruption spell she had learned in training in a desparate attempt to slow the aliens down. A small white ball of crackling light appeared before her and launched itself at the three approaching symbiotes. The mystic handling ratio was too small for the Q-zone the ship was now in so the ball exploded harmlessly in a puff among them just as the hatch opened behind her.
A symbiote was now only meters below her. Roxanna quickly climbed inside the emergency bridge and pushed the button to slam the hatch shut just as one of the creatures jabbed a hand turned blade into the opening tearing a gash in the Novus’ ankle. The hatch slammed on the creature before it could enter the room and she crumpled in pain on the floor as her boot began to fill with blood.
She crawled to the first aid station and cut the boot off with a laser scalpel and bandaged her bleeding foot. As she did so the lights flickered in the secondary bridge signaling that the destroyer was coming out of the jumpgate somewhere near the ‘Isenhower’ task force in Rhuk D’kai space. She crawled into the Command/Control chair of the Emergency Bridge and began reprogramming the ship’s central core computer to make it believe the main bridge had been destroyed so that it would give her control of the ship.
Crystal displays in the Security chair next to hers flashed pictures from the ships corridors and she could see Dore and his armbots fighting their way to the main bridge. She reckoned that his band had suffered about fifty percent casualties as every corridor between the robotic storage bay and the main bridge was strewn with robotic debris.
Roxanna finally convinced the mainframe AI to give her control of the ship and immediately brought up the navigational display. The screen was filled with stars slowly moving past the ship. In the distance a swarm of silver stars began to move towards Pee Dee and as they grew in size on the display, Roxanna could make out the massive hulk of the Confederation Spacecraft Carrier Isenhower hove into view.
Roxanna worked feverishly at the navigational controls desperately loading the jump coordinates for the area of space where the silicon prion could be found. The CSS Nile was coming fast for her sisters as the symbiotes had broadcast a distress signal to the fleet. She rushed to the security station and caught a quick glimpse of Dore flashing back and forth between his robotic self and the image of Lt. Kibble as he fought with shadowy symbiotes and those in Human form on the destroyer’s main bridge.
She quickly set up the point defense pulse cannon and typed in the coordinates for the approaching Nile at a non critical area of the ship in case the shot managed to penetrate the other ships shields. She saw the carrier launching Starhawks as she fired at the closing CDW vessel.
The shot struck Nile amidships and was deflected by her shield. Roxanna jumped back to the command chair and punched in the jump orders. The jumpgate opened quickly in a shower of stars and Nantahala disappeared into the wormhole.
Roxanna changed her bandages and got into a vac suit as the ship began it’s journey to oblivion. She injected herself with some medications from the first aide pouch which she hoped would provide some protection from both the symbiotes infection and that of the silicon prion. She closed the suit and collapsed to the floor in pain as the jumpgate opened and the ship arrived at the destination she’d planned.
She crawled into the security chair and looked out side into the darkness surrounding the ship. Concentrating with all of her strength she found the newly installed launch controls for the highly volatile ‘Pixiedust’ casters containing the radical substance from the Frost Corporation. She fired all the casters at once and the ship was surrounded by a golden dust.
Suddenly, small bright green lights began to glow around the ship and began to intermingle with the golden dust turning it a metallic green almost instantaneously. Roxanna knew that at a subatomic level colonies of a hexagonal shaped entity were now devouring the energy released by the ‘Pixiedust’ and would soon enter the ship.
She fell to the floor as she began to slip into a diabetic coma induced by the drugs she had taken's hopefully temporary effects in making her blood too acidic and she caught one last fleeting sight of the ship covered by a metallic green glow. As she passed out the seals of the hatch to the engineering access tunnel gave way and a wave of green slime began to enter the room. Roxanna caught the faint sounds of symbiotes screaming in terror and pain below as the prion invaded their systems and began to feed upon their psychic energy and then she descended into darkness.
She awoke and found the room empty. She was in great pain yet had enough energy to send a message to the nearest Centirion Fleet with the ship’s location and precautions to take in order to avoid invasion by the prion and to set up Class 8 quarantine for herself due to possible contamination by the symbiote that wounded her.
She made her way to the bridge and found none of the robots intact. The whole main bridge was a scene of destruction as consoles were smashed and burn marks from the improvised flame-throwers were everywhere. She found Dore still operational though he had been reduced to a badly dented trunk and head as his arms and legs had been torn from him in battle. His psychic emitter had been completely destroyed and he no longer presented the image of Lt. Aaron Kibble.
He looked helplessly at the Vestis and said "You have won Doctor Craig, but I was able to warn the One before we jumped. What next??? The zoo on Mnemen IV??"
"Nothing as radical as that my friend;" she exclaimed, "You will be well taken care of by the Omnet. After all it’s not everyday that one meets a Silicon Man!"
