Buying Time

Posted on Sat Dec 10th, 2011 @ 6:59pm by Commander Sakkath & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant

=^= Auxiliary Operations, Deck 295 =^=

AuxOps was unmanned on Gamma Shift, save in the event of an emergency, which Sakkath was immensely grateful for. It left him alone to sort through his thoughts.

No, he reminded himself, not alone at all.

Never in his forty-two years of life had Sakkath judged another being unworthy of life. With the exception of Li, he had never felt a particularly strong emotion towards another individual... until Rhys Balasz. The raw, unmitigated hatred he held for that man was such that the Vulcan would willingly forsake kolinahr to personally snuff the life from him.

But he could not afford to be emotional now. He had to concentrate, to keep Rhys's consciousness suppressed just long enough to complete his work.

Biometric sensors in Oralia's quarters were active and failing to register humanoid lifesigns. That was agreeable. A few minor adjustments were necessary... Kingdom Arthropoda, not Chordata. Arachnida over Mammalia.

There was only one indicator now, though several smaller lifesigns. Food, he thought, locking on to the largest concentration and the tarantula. They could be at this for a while, he reasoned as he energized the beam.

As the transporter beam released its contents, Ignatius stood very still for a long moment, one large cockroach impaled on her fangs. While she was still, she wasn't silent - at least not mentally; instead, she screamed out one long, head splitting shriek. Finally, words came: What just happened! I was fine, eating a snack here... no... there... and then I am here. How did I get here!? Her sharp senses picked up Sakkath's vibrations and chemicals, letting her know what her poor eyesight did not: Li's Mate was here. You! Did you do this or is this some trick of the mind that Rhys has managed?

Sakkath recoiled at the psychic scream, lifting his hands to his temples and gritting his teeth. Graciously, Rhys's mental presence was in just as much pain, and unable to exert control.

Grunting, he raised a hand to Ignatius. "It is a form of matter-energy conversion we call a transporter," he offered. "You are roughly 280 decks below Oralia's quarters. I brought you here because I require your assistance."

Moving quickly, Iggy shoved the roach off her fangs, letting it drop and skitter across the table she was on. Then, backing off only slightly, she rose up on her back legs, taking the classic threatened tarantula pose. Two hundred and eighty!, she started then paused, thinking. That's a lot. I have been warned about you, Li's Mate. She told me to avoid you. I would wager that she did not realize you would be so sneaky as to transporter me to you.

Sakkath opened his mouth to reply, and then stopped as emotion overwhelmed logic, the implications of what Iggy had just said sinking in. Li had told her to avoid him... Li had not simply realized what was transpiring, she was taking steps against him. Betraying him. He appeared visibly pained at that revelation, his face contorted in rage, hurt and disbelief. Iggy likely did not realize the significance of seeing a Vulcan in such a state, and yet there he was.

Before he even realized what he was doing, he had driven a fist into the nearest bulkhead, causing it to crumple like paper beneath his Vulcan strength. If nothing else, the pain helped him to focus.

"She is concerned for you," he stated, removing his hand, green and bloody, from the ruined wall. "I have been... compromised. I will return you to your domicile."

Returning his attention to the computer, he began to enter coordinates, his mind racing. Perhaps he could enlist the aid of one of the Vulcan physicians... surely they would understand, though he was not sure he had the time to bring one of them up to speed on the situation. Iggy was his first, best choice.

She could smell the complex chemicals coming off of him and knew he was in a heightened emotional state. Hadn't someone called him an emotionless... something, she couldn't quite nail down that memory, not right now. But she knew that bipeds didn't normally hit walls unless something was very wrong. Believing in her own ability to assess Sakkath and protect herself if needed, she calmed slightly and asked, Before you transporter me back, tell me: how have you been compromised? What assistance could I give?

The Vulcan paused in his work, placing both hands flat on the desk as the sleeves of his robe consumed them in crimson fabric. "The crystal that we believe assisted your awakening appears to have stored Rhys's mental presence. It invaded Li's mind when she utilized its amplificative properties, and mine when I touched her thoughts. He now seeks to control this body, to take both Li and his revenge." That was as logical as he could be. Urgency crept into his voice. "I require your aid to prevent him from controlling me, at least long enough to devise a final solution." His tone left no doubt as to what he meant by final... Rhys's consciousness had to be eradicated.

One that does not involve destroying the crystal? Despite the distance from her to Sakkath, she could see his single nod. Moving to the edge of the table, Iggy peered over then backed away again. It was too far to jump and the legs were too thin for her to climb down. You seem to be Li's Mate, not Rhys. Do you have a plan?

"I have had little time to formulate options," Sakkath admitted. "I had hoped you might assist me in holding off ... his consciousness," he said, unable to speak Rhys's name, "until a plan of action can be composed."

I will need to be in physical contact with you, then. She paced the table and finally paused, looking towards him as he stepped closer. Latching onto his garment, she crawled up his sleeve and onto his back, where she held onto him, one leg against the bare skin of his neck, her fangs and pedipalps close to his neck on the other side. This should allow you to continue your work without being impeded by me.

In the initial moments, Iggy felt very little emanating from Sakkath. Emotion, certainly, a mind racing with thought - but all simply the Vulcan. He began, slowly and with great care, to deconstruct the substantial shields he had erected, each one revealing something of the internal struggle he was waging to the tarantula. Iggy's claws dug into fabric and skin as she joined Sakkath's struggle.

She's calling me! Rhys's mental voice cried, mad with rage and desire. Me! Not you, Vulcan! She betrayed you, the spider told you... and she can have me back in your body, with none the wiser! Sakkath's thoughts echoed with laughter touched by obsessive madness, before dying into a eery silence and a sense for Iggy that Rhys had turned his dark eyes upon her.

You... The words dripped venom as though from Iggy's own fangs. You protected Li once, but you'll not protect him. I'm too entrenched. I've already won!

Entrenched, are you? Then when I kill this body, you will also fade away, die for a second time, yes? Ignatius shifted on Sakkath's back, knowing that her threat was likely a bluff - her venom couldn't kill an adult human; she didn't know what it could or would do to an adult Vulcan. She was banking on Rhys not knowing, either. Come out and face me here, Rhys.

"It is logical," Sakkath reasoned aloud, even as he kept most of his attention on the console before him. He had the computer running several searches concurrently: past telepathic incursions into foreign minds that resulted in a demonstrated loss of control, alien entities capable of possession and the means used to combat them, mental links to geologic formations. His own terminal, back in his quarters, would have proved ideal for such a function, but he could not risk returning there. "Better to lose my life than permit you to harm Li or any other member of this crew. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one," he said, shoring up what he felt certain was a bluff. But even now, Iggy was in danger on his account. He needed a solution.

Rhys, meanwhile, did not require a physical form beyond Sakkath's body, but his mental presence coalesced into an image of himself still in life for Iggy's sake. Fine. I'll crush you like the bug you are. If I'd had any idea some common spider would be interfering with me, I'd've taken care of you back on the Berkeley... and then have been there to comfort poor Oralia, he mocked her, 'poor' dripping with sarcasm and unveiled contempt.

In that same mental space, an Iggy that was nearly the same size as Rhys' image, shifted and shivered. Her hair rose slightly and she hissed, I am not a 'bug'! Nor am I a 'common spider'. She ignored the barb aimed at Oralia; she wasn't present and would never know what Rhys had said. Should have, would have, could have, Rhys, she taunted the intruder, ...the fact is that you did not take care of me. You did not even have the foresight to see how your first attempt on Li would end. You also fail to see how this attempt will end. She hunkered lower, her legs slightly drawn in and, in a creepy, threatening tone, warned, But I see your failure.

Oh, have you added prescience to your already impressive resum? Rhys wondered, trumpeting her supposed gifts. It walks, it talks, it predicts the future! I'm sure I can find a buyer for such a magnificent, exotic specimen down in the Pit. I'll need some startup funds for this new life of mine!

Wasting no more time, Rhys's avatar leapt at Iggy. Were this a true battle in the conventional sense, he might hesitate against a six-foot-tall tarantula. But for all the imagery, this was a battle of mental energy, and he unleashed it at his opponent without reservation.

Here was Rhys' miscalculation: in the physical world, Ignatius survived by sucking out the liquified innards of her prey. She was also built for tackling and wrestling with her prey, holding onto it as her fangs pierced the skin and her venom worked to paralyze and breakdown the prey's body. In this mental battlefield, her best weapons were those same things: long legs, meant to wrap around and hold onto; sharp fangs, best for sinking in and envenoming; her appetite, good for drawing out and absorbing the mental energies Rhys was made of.

Taking a hit from the energies Rhys threw at her, Iggy reared up, hissed and scuttled backwards. Even though his attack wounded her, she changed her direction and moved with a speed that defied Rhys' ability to track her. In a flash, she was on him, wrapping her long legs around him and sinking her fangs in, treating him like a particularly juicy cockroach.

Rhys roared in agony, but he was slow to show signs of weakness. He reached up, driving hands into Iggy's eyes, assaulting her senses. He had been a telepath since adolescence, having had time to refine even these aspects of mental combat. Iggy was a neophyte. He would utilize every bit of his training, his will, to push her back; to send her scurrying back into the dark.

But he could not deny what was happening to him. His presence was growing weaker as she quite literally fed on him. Inwardly, it was a diminishing of his strength. Outwardly, he appeared to be aging, lines creasing his handsome face, grey tinting his ebon hair. Growing angrier by the second, he reached deep into Iggy's mind, trying to find something, anything he could exploit.

And he found it. He called up everything he could, before too much of his strength left him, and the mindscape that surrounded them shifted. No longer was it the void of Sakkath's psyche, but Iggy's terrarium. Crystal shards were scattered everywhere, and in the corner, a very common spider sat, unaware of the world that went on without her, cold and alone, too stupid to even realize that there ever had been more. A lesser lifeform.

Pain lanced through her as Rhys partially blinded her, gouging out her primary eyes. Her physiology worked in her favor, at first - she could still see through her six other eyes. And what Rhys showed her, the fear he pulled out of her mind, was what she saw. For a moment, Ignatius faltered: the crystal shattered! And her... ignorant, back to wondering nothing more than when her next meal would come along. She nearly shoved Rhys away, almost moved to go around and pick up the shards of crystal. Even as that thought crossed her mind, she realized what this was. NO!, her cry was a piercing shriek. No! No! I am more than that!

In her panic, Iggy didn't let Rhys go; her legs tightened about him further and her fangs, imbedded as they were, weren't coming out until she pushed his dried hull away from her. You are nothing, Rhys. Nothing but a wraith. In another moment, you won't even be that, she hissed into his mind, cruelly and intentionally taunting him as she fed on him.

As her grip tightened, the aging process evident in Rhys's prone form seemed to accelerate. Skin tightened over bone and then began to sag as his hair fell away in silver-grey wisps. The light left his sunken eyes as what little fluid appeared to remain in the husk accumulated in his throat, producing a death rattle that echoed in the illusion of Oralia's quarters. And then... all was still.

Suddenly feeling very alone, Iggy paused. After a long moment, she hesitantly reached out to Sakkath, Li's Mate? Is he... gone? Why hasn't this awful image gone away?

With movement that should have been impossible, with force that belied such obvious atrophy, the seeming corpse drove its leg into the underside of Iggy's mandibles, enabling him to roll free and deliver a mental blast to her unprotected underbelly, tossing her away just as he had back in Li's quarters. Soon to be HIS quarters.

Because you see what I want you to see! Because I'm still here! the ghastly avatar shouted derisively, his pallid face twisted in a skeletal grin as he prepared another volley for Iggy, gathering his strength.

"As am I," Sakkath's measured voice interjected as he placed a single hand on the shoulder of the late Commander's image from behind, causing that grin to be frozen in place. The nerve pinch was naught but a visual representation of the mental lockdown the Vulcan had exerted, sealing Rhys away in the deepest recesses of his mind in this place where the physical had no meaning. As Rhys faded, he turned his attention back to Ignatius.

"I believe I have devised a solution, thanks to your efforts in occupying him. Are you uninjured?"

Iggy's avatar shrank and she shook herself, much like a dog might shake water off its coat. I am physically undamaged, as we might expect. I feel... strangely... powerful. Repercussions from what she'd just done would come 'round to haunt her in the coming days, but at the moment, she was riding on the high from Rhys' energy. Are we done? Even though he is not vanquished?

"Far from it, though our efforts here are concluded. I am going to sever the connection that holds us here," he warned, moments before they were both back in the waking world, their senses directed outward instead of in.

Nearly falling, though she was expecting the sudden shift from mental to physical, Iggy caught herself on Sakkath's robe and carefully crawled the remainder of the way down. Once there, she went under a table and curled in on herself there.

Sakkath took a deep breath to steady himself. His mind was becoming more and more used to being crowded, whereas his thoughts had often existed in isolation previously. He was not entirely sure how he felt about that prospect.

With his communicator still disabled, Sakkath accessed the station's comm system from the terminal before him. He doubted very much that the recipients of his hail would be grateful for being roused in the middle of the night, but Rhys's consciousness was not going to remain docile and politely wait until morning even after what Iggy had done to him.

=^= "Commander Leroy, Doctor McKinney, Lieutenant Dobry, please report to the Galileo Center. A neurocortical monitor, Doctor, and your canar, Lieutenant, may prove worthwhile in accompanying you." =^=

Sakkath lowered his gaze as he closed the channel, regarding the spider who had taken up residence below the terminal. "Shall I return you to your quarters," he asked, "or would you like to lay eyes on the crystal that has been the cause of all of this?"

The crystal? Iggy perked up. I will stay, Li's Mate. I would like to see the crystal and be here, in case you discuss what to do with the crystal.

"Very well," he said, collecting her with his uninjured hand. "We will be ascending the station once more, to the place where it is kept," he explained, even as he moved out into the corridor and entered the nearest turbolift. "In the meantime, you have more than earned a respite. Deck 210."

With his destination ordered, the turbolift slid shut and set into motion with an ease of effort that Sakkath hoped would match the plan they were about to enact.

__________________________
Lieutenant Commander Sakkath
With time to think

Ignatius
Psychic Vampire

&

Rhys Balasz
Hard to kill