Endgame (Part Two)

Posted on Fri Jun 25th, 2021 @ 4:20am by Lieutenant Lily Marlow & Lieutenant Commander T'Par & Lieutenant Orin Sempton

Mission: End of Line
Location: Adna Station
Timeline: Several hours later
4042 words - 8.1 OF Standard Post Measure

It was with a great feeling of relief for Lily, to be able to squeeze through the opening which led back onto the USS Majestic.

"Home sweet home, a few hours of rest and something to eat, not exactly in that order. "Lily announced to the others, "We can meet up, get things we'll be needing, to do the various tasks. Or even divide into teams. Hopefully we can find other crew to see who's been able to get back to the ship. And on that note, I will see you in a few hours. I don't know about you but, I'm definitely going to need some shut eye."

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A few hours later, Lily feeling a bit more human after having some sleep and food, she went to medical to get the items she might need to help out Splice. The thing that maybe possible would be for the jammer to be turned off, then maybe using the transporter? She wasn't certain, what she would be needing, until she got a glimpse of the device that Splice was in. She got medical supplies and placed them in a backpack. Best way to carry the items in. Lily certainly felt some unease, not knowing what to expect. Well that couldn't be helped, she felt that she would probably be needing some sort of weapon, a phaser would be appropriate. Well, she was going to head out and find out if the others got their prepwork done.

She checked to see if communcations was still working on the ship, she sent a call out to T'Par, Hawke and Sempton. No static was being heard.

"Hawke, T'Par, Sempton, are you awake yet?" she queried. "Please report."


T'Par had rested briefly before putting on a proper uniform with phaser, tricorder, and an engineering toolkit. She thought it logical to expect that it might be necessary to work with the computers on the station. She was already headed into the corridor when Lily hailed her. "I'm ready to return to the station, doctor," she answered.

Walking up to the pair, Laural was loaded for war. She looked more like a marine than an intelligence officer. She had a TR-116 slung over her shoulder with a phaser on her hip and a knife on either leg. Around her waist she'd strapped what could only be called a utility belt. tricorder, basic medical kit, palm beacon, anything she could think of, "I think I'm ready for combat this time"

Lily looked at T'Par giving her nod. "Impeccable timing" she stated then turned to Hawke.

"You certainly look prepared, Hawke, now all we need to do is for Sempton to arrive. Then we can get this taken care of, and get away from a hostile situation. I feel like I'm in a drill that I've had to take a part in, when on my last ship. It was a military style ship that I was on." Lily offered in explaination.

"It is a military scenario," T'Par agreed, rather matter-of-factly.

They all heard the sounds of scraping metal long before Orin walked up.

He wore a strange assortment of armor. A chainmail hauberk over a padded jacket, a pair of shovel greaves on his legs, leather vanbraces on both arms, a Roman Gallic helmet and a large round hoplon shield strapped to his left arm. A sword hung from his left hip, a short warhammer on his right and a dolabra was strapped to the backpack on his back. A singular phaser, looking completely out of place, was strapped to the inside of the shield. "My apologies." He offered, popping his helmet off. "I wasn't sure what to bring."


"Best to be ready for whatever might be waiting for us, we will be having one more person joining us. Sekat should be arriving soon. I felt I would be needing some help when we find Splice." Lily stated.

"I am here," Sekat announced as the tell-tale step-tap of his approach could be picked up. He still used his cane for support, but a keen observer would notice he wasn't leaning on it as heavily as he used to.

Lily gave a nod towards Sekat, "Glad you could join us. Alright then, its time to move on out. And we'll see if Gwendolyn and Glowbug are there waiting for us."

As they made their way to exit the ship, Lily remarked, "Commander Aldrich and Zeria are going on their own mission to cross wire Adna, so with all of us doing the different tasks we should be able to accomplish our goals and be done with this place."

When they exit the ship and are back on Adna, Glowbug is there waiting, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of Gwendolyn.

"Okay, where is Gwendolyn?" Lily queried.

No answer seemed to be coming forth from Glowbug. "Okay...then it looks like it will be Glowbug being our guide." she looked at the little firefly hologram. "Will you show us the way we need to go?"

Glowbug chimed, then darted around those that were there, stopping for a moment and then flew slowly around Sekat. As if to examine the male vulcan. And did the same for the others. Then chimed once more, setting off at a pace that wasn't too quick.

The scenery changed as they moved along, shrubs grew, taller and taller then changed to a forest scene, with a path leading between, towering pines, with the pine needles softening their footsteps. Sunlight filtered through the branches above, the sound of birds singing could be heard, Lily thought that it was a bit relaxing for the most part. She loved being out in the forest. Nearby there was the sound of a woodpecker tapping at a tree to get the bugs out from the trunk of the tree where it clung. The fresh scent of sun warmed pine also permeated the air.

"Oh wow, this is something else. If we weren't worried about a Station trying to play a deadly game with us, I'd enjoy this more." Lily commented. Looking at the others. She looked back towards the direction they were going, and something flashed and it wasn't from Glowbug, the flash momentarily blinding her. "What the heck?" she exclaimed, stumbling forward.

Where Lily was stumbling sharp eyed individual or individuals would see that there was something wrong in the path in front. And the forest went rather quiet.

Picking up her rifle, Laural gave it a quick once over before looking around, “do you lot hear that?”

Orin strained, trying to hear. "I don't hear anything. At all..." All was still, before a familiar sound was made, and Orin's stomach dropped. "DOWN!" He shouted before throwing himself to the ground.

The arrow passed through where he'd just been standing.

Sekat tilted his head to listen but was low to move as Orin shouted for them to go down. He couldn't, being dependent on his cane to get around. He had heard the whistle of the arrow through the air but hadn't been able to interpret the sound. "Are you alright?" he asked of the science officer, then turned to Lily.

The glowing bug was interesting, the Vulcan mused as he tried to make sense of what was going on. He hadn't been on the station until now, and had no real idea what Adna could do. "Lily?" he queried, "what exactly is going on?"

T'Par drew her phaser as she threw herself to the ground. Holograms or no, it was set on stun. It was always kept on stun unless there was a very good reason to change it. She aims a wide beam in the direction from which the arrow came and fires quickly. Then she pushes herself up to a low crouch and starts in that direction, holding a hand up to the others.


Lily had dropped to the ground, even though she couldn't see at that moment. She turned towards Sekat's voice. "Adna has been acting a bit crazy, safety protocols are off so we have to be careful. I don't know what that sound was, but it sounded dangerous, especially with Sempton yelling to duck. Adna tends to create challenges and changing the environment, like say for instance terrain, and killer vines, tall hedges. Plus dangerous foe. Remember when I told you about the vampires and werewolves, we had encounter? And people got injured? That is what we are facing. And right now, I can't see. There was a bright flash of light that has messed with my vision."

Lily turned her head to where she thought the other three could be, "Orin, T'Par, Hawke what are you seeing?"

Concern creased the older doctor's brow. "You are blind?" he queried carefully. "The sound we heard were arrows flying, and I believe none of us were hit thanks to Mister Sempton's quick warning. I, however, am unable to crouch. If I do, I many not be able to get up in time if we need to move."

T'Par didn't answer immediately. She didn't want to give away her location if she hadn't gotten all of them and, wide-beam or no, she didn't think she had. She pushed into the brush and found an unconscious vulpine humanoid, dressed entirely in Lincoln green and carrying a longbow and a quiver of arrows. She bent down and checked his pulse before scanning him with her tricorder. Then she took his weapons and crept back to the group. "There was a holographic archer in the form of a fantastical or unknown species. He is stunned but I am not sure he was alone." She handed the bow and the quiver to Orin. "Archaic weaponry is your specialty, lieutenant."

“Looks sturdy enough” Laural commented, putting in her HUD and linking it with her TR-116. “Perhaps we should show these archers what modern technology does?”

"I found the stun sufficient," T'Par notes.

Orin accepted the bow and tested the draw weight. "English longbow, draw weight about 80 to 150 pounds. This one seems on the lighter end," He grimaced as he continued "and the limbs have a twist in them." He put the bow between his legs and used the pressure to unstring it. "Once again, they made a weapon, without knowing the weapon. They'd not have hit us with this even if they wanted too. The twist in the limbs would throw off the accuracy of the weapon." He dropped the weapon to the ground, but kept the string. He looked at Laural. "Ma'am, is the headset capable to actually seeing a target made of hard light and being able to differentiate it from the surroundings?"

"At the moment, yes I am blinded." Lily replied to Sekat, quietly. "My eyesight should be coming back in a couple of minutes or so. This has happened to me before. In the mean time, is Glowbug still here? Most times he accompanies Gwendolyn. I didn't see her waiting for us."

"It's still here ma'am." Orin replied. "It seems to be waiting for us." He turned to Sekat. "My apologies. I should have known you'd be unable to get down."

Lily rose slowly up from the ground, blinking slightly. "Okay now, which way to go? Probably forward?"

Glowbug chimed once, as if in answer to Lily's question.

"Okay what was it that Gwendolyn said, One chime for yes and two chimes for no?"

Glowbug chimed once.

"Okay then, that works." Lily stated.

"Her answer is also coherent if one chime signifies no," T'Par pointed out.

"Um..."Lily responded, "That could very well be the case but, I think I will go with one chime for Yes and Two for no. Shall we press on?"

"I will guide you," Sekat offered, "until your vision returns." He placed her hand on his arm, patting it encouragingly. "I recommend we do follow the bug, as we were told it would guide us."

"Thank you, Sekat." Lily remarked. "Okay lead on Glowbug. Though I still wonder just where Gwendolyn is at."

"I'm sure we'll find her soon Ma'am." Orin called back, shield up, eyes scanning the forest as he moved forward. "She may be scouting the way, or looking for Splice."

Glowbug chimed once and moved forward not as quickly as he used to, there were people who weren't able to move as quickly as the others.

On other sides of the path where T'Par had sent her heavy stun, the vulpine archers stayed there, still stunned, from the attack. Glowbug stopped and darted among them touching them with his stinger, and them disappearing. One of the archers seemed to say, thank you as they faded away, as if shutting down.

Lily spoke up "Did those archers look like Foxes? Reminds me of an animated moving of Robin Hood where Robin was a fox." Lily mused out loud.

"Are we stepping into a Robin Hood set up?"

And sure enough, it looked like a scene from Robin Hood, the Archery Tournament.

Orin stared at the menagerie of animals walking upright, shooting arrows, cheering and pageantry of a 14th century tournament. His mouth opened and closed for some time, as his brain attempted to string words together and continually failed. His eye was drawn to a snake fluttering around, half in a balloon, zipping around the field. He closed his eyes tightly and rubbed them. "Now, I just feel like Adna's mocking us."

Lily's eyes chose to clear up just at that precise moment, shaking her head. "Are you serious? I will agree with you there, Sempton. I think she is mocking us. As if she has all the power in the world!" giving a bit of wrinkled nose.

Looking at Sekat, Lily says, "Thank you. I can see clearly now, and I am certainly going to enjoy getting done with this, charade. Adna probably doesn't consider us a threat." Lily mused quietly.

Glowbug darted up and down going side to side, chiming rather excitedly, dancing at the beginning of a path that seemed less trodden.

"Wonder what has Glowbug so excited, but this seems to go off the beaten path. And what is this?" Lily moving forward as she noticed something small but shiny, a silver bead, glinting in the sunlight that trickled through the branches above. "Hmmnn.. where will this lead?" Lily paused and looked at the others. "Care to trod the road less travelled?"

"The yellow brick road?" Sekat asked as the path changed before them. "Do we need to go beyond the yellow brick road?" He nodded towards the golden coloured path. "We must not be deemed a threat then, if we are given a clear path to follow."

"Or it could be a trap." Lily said quietly, stepping upon the yellow brick road, half expecting it to disappear out from under her. It seemed solid enough so she proceeded forward even more. "Okay so far so good." she said turning towards the others, then her eyes widened at something she saw behind the rest of the group. "Um... I see us, going towards the archery craziness ."

And if anyone should look they would see themselves approaching the archery contest and looking around at the site.

"They are probably just more holograms," T'Par said as she turned to see herself and the others. "We will have been thoroughly scanned by now. It's obvious we pose no direct threat to the intelligence running the program. It is simply designing obstacles to thwart us, not directing its full power against us."

Glowbug darted back and forth, then headed down the yellow brick road ahead of the group, and disappeared from view, a few minutes later the firefly came back chiming excitedly.

"Okay, Glowbug what's got you excited?" Lily queried.

Glowbug's only answer was darting back and forth leaving no option but to follow.

Around the bend and just a little bit further was the walls of a castle and an opening like a small archway hidden behind some vines. Glowbug disappeared behind the vines, chiming excitedly. For anyone following after the firefly, they would find themselves inside a small chamber, a crystal sarcophagus in the center with a woman inside. She had blonde hair, her ears looked elven. The sarcophagus had several tubes attached to it, which seemed to be keeping her alive. Then there was a sound of breathing, as from another side of the chamber something that looked like a mechanical dragon coming towards the small group.

Air breathed out from it along with steam... a rusty voice creaked out. "Friend or Foe."

"Friend," Sekat answered, watching for the glowbug that had accompanied them then looking at the female inside the sarcophagus. He instantly separated himself from their small group and made his way over to the female. The medical man couldn't help but not be concerned for her. "She seems alive," he said, as he took out his tricorder. "But I cannot seem to take any readings. My tricorder does not work."

The mechanical dragon breathed out "Protection. From. Adna." Another small cloud of steam came out from the mouth.

Glowbug scrawled out on the floor, Splice. then bobbed up and down above the containment which held the woman.

Orin sheathed his sword and raised his hands to the dragon to show he was unarmed, as unarmed as he could be with a three foot round shield attached to his forearm. "Almost looks akin to something we used on Earth called an iron lung. Negative pressure would vary to stimulate breathing." He walked up an put his hand on the crystal and immediately pulled it away. "Cold. Maybe something akin to suspended animation?" He looked up at the dragon. "Is she alright? Can we get her out?"

"Yes, be difficult but it is manageable. You have doctors with you?" A breath of steam coming out of the mouth. "Then you can bring her out of sleep. Make her safe. Then can I sleep or fly away, or stay with her. I am a Guardian, to protect her or others."

Lily looked over to Sekat "I think we can do this." And looked at the others.

"It would probably be safer to do aboard the Majestic," Sekat suggested carefully, "where we have the facilities to do so. If we do it here, we may risk losing her all the same. We still have the danger of Adna, regardless of the guardian." The Vulcan looked up at the dragon. "Is it safe to transport to the ship?"

"Almost time." the dragon said coming closer to the sarcophagus "Touch where she rests. Things will happen fast, and you will get to the ship."

At that same moment, the EMH Gwendolyn arrived seeming to be out of breath. "Its almost time, the others are near their destinations. Please, are you ready to take us with you?"

"Can she exist away from this place?" T'Par asked.

Gwendolyn looked at the dragon who slowly nodded, "Yes she can exist, that device she is in, supports her life. Plus it seems to have been made to be mobile therefore keeping her safe from Adna. Guardian, has been moving her when it is needed. And also Adna can't scan for you or her while we are here. As far as Adna is concerned, all of you are participating in different contests with the cartoon characters." pointing at Orin, "Right now, you are neck and neck with Robin Hood, in the contest. Oh and also if you are wondering about your replicas, Indigo had met someone who initiated Protection Protocol 179. We can't do that ourselves, but a solid being is able to do so. Indigo is our security, plus a chef. "

Orin pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I'd feel more praise from that if it wasn't a cartoon..." He grumbled before shrugging his eyebrows and allowing the glasses to fall back into place. "Anyway, moving this thing isn't going to be easy. If Adna can't scan for us in here, I'm assuming this is like a large Faraday Cage? That would make beaming her out next to impossible."

"I am certain the cartoon fox is nonetheless a skilled archer," T'Par reassured Orin dryly.

"I'd expect no less of Robin Hood," Orin replied. "even if it is a cartoon fox."

"Then we need to disrupt the cage to quickly transport to the Majestic," Sekat suggested, though he frowned. "Additionally, while we can transport ourselves and our patient, I am not certain if we can take the holograms with us. Not without some kind of datacore to hold their programs, until we can transfer them to a safe location. However...that is beyond my area of expertise."

"I'm sure our dragon friend here could fracture the cage enough for us to lock on. And as for the others, could we send them all right to the Holodeck?" Orin asked "The hard light projectors there should keep them all in one piece, right?"

Lily was amazed at the ideas that the others were coming up with.

The Guardian nodded. "I can do that." the answer coming out with steam. "When you are ready." moving towards the wall with lumbering steps.

Lily asked quietly, "I wonder just now long that dragon has been around." te she looked at the others. "Okay whenever we are ready, it looks like we'll be able to get out of here."

Glowbug darted out of the chamber, towards the outside, then he was back in flash, chiming wildly at Gwendolyn who smiled brightly. "Something is wrong with Adna, she is under attack. People from your ship have made it to their destinations. I can't give the command to set things in motion here. And don't worry about us." motioning towards herself and Glowbug. "We will be alright. Just don't know about him." pointing towards the Guardian.

Lily frowned, "Is he like some sort of construct, An animatronic with an independent computer?" giving a look at the dragon. "What will happen once this is taken care of?"

The dragon looked back. "I am waiting for your command."

Gwendolyn gave a shrug, "He's been around for quite sometime. I truly don't know."

Lily looked around at the others, uncertain if she should be the one. "Well I'm not the senior officer here. " she looked at T'Par, then the others. "Who wants to give the signal to have him break the wall."

T'Par considered a moment longer and then she nodded to the dragon. "Proceed."

The dragon reached out with his claws and ripped the wall, there is a spark a buzzing and then Gwendolyn flickered the same as Glowbug. "Oh.. Oh my." looking herself as things start to change. Wait, its okay I think we'll be seeing you on the other side." Glowbug and Gwendolyn disappearing from view, leaving the rest of the group there with the woman in the chamber along with the dragon. "This is the Majestic can you hear us? Will someone answer?"

Lily looked at the others. "Looks like we get to go home." giving a bright smile, then she looked over at the Guardian who had come near to where Splice is at.

Beyond the cage the group can see the flickering of holograms disappearing from view, the holographic scenes begin to fade away leaving nothing but the normal structure of a station devoid of what would normally be filled with humanity on other stations, but instead there are familiar grid patterns, much like the ones in the holodeck on the ship or on a station.

'Orin, what do you want to do where he is concerned." Lily pointing at the Guardian.

He quirked an eyebrow at the question. "Uh..." He crossed his arms and scratched his chin with one hand in contemplation. "Maybe the cargo transporters? I mean, it could possibly fit in one of the cargo bays until we have a place resettle the group. In theory?"

Lily nodded, "That makes sense." Looking at the others, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go home." she stepped to one side and contacted the Majestic, giving instructions about the woman in the medical device and also about the Guardian. Then one by one the crew is transported back to the USS Majestic.

END