Posted Nov. 22, 2021, 11:48 a.m. by Gamemaster Deus Ex Machina (GM) (Luke Hung)
Posted by Commander D’Vash Odinson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Bridge Main Sim
Posted by Lieutenant Cara Esmé O’Farrell (Counselor / Education Specialist) in Bridge Main Sim
Posted by Gamemaster Deus Ex Machina (GM) in Bridge Main Sim
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻snip
“Where is Mardusk. He likes a challenge. Anyone, how can we not get hit in an encounter here? I need countermeasure suggestions fast.”
- Jen, XOKelly tapped the comm and opened up a ship-wide message. Lt. Commander Mardusk I am not sure what you doing but we really could use you on the bridge,” she announced.
Kelly Bordeax CO
GM
“Orb,” Kelly asked knowing it was the only source of information. “You told us the hull specifications but is there a record of how the Darkness has held up to being attacked. You said the Lorn and another race has taken them on. How did that end specifically with damage sustained to the Darkness.” Kelly had no desire to take on even a baby model of the Borg cube but it would be nice to have enough info to do it if needed.
Kelly Bordeaux
“All known races, aside from the Lorn, flee when encountering the Darkness. Twelve years ago, Three Darkness ships attacked a key system of the Nine, 32 ships of varying size engaged the Darkness, all ships were destroyed. One Darkness ship was beleived to be destroyed as well, but there were no survivors of the space battle and the survivors on the planet had no information.”
“Three years ago, two Lorn ships engaged a Darkness vessel that moved into their space. The Darkness ship was destroyed, both Lorn vessels were heavily damaged.”
“Seven months ago and Enodorian fleet encountered a Darkness ship near a colony world, the 22 vessels of the fleet forced the Darkness ship to retreat. There were 4 destroyed and 12 damaged Enodorian cruisers.”
Jen typically had less than luck when considering information searches. And the Orb was no exception. Perhaps the captain may have better luck there, though he was not optimistic. Classically it was a data source that neither helped nor hindered rendering it less than useful, at least in this case.
- Jen, XOOkay, useful in the sense that they are tough - which they knew - and persistent for no reason. “Orb, if ships flee from them how do they do it when the Darkness is faster? Is there any common thread on why they pursue one and not another?” He wanted to ask why they would travel in packs when they seemed more to be lone wolves but then opted not to. That question would yield a ‘do not know the motives of the Darkness beyond chaos’. But he did ask, “Each tentacle has its own beam, and combined the output is considerably more. Do the Darkness tentacles target independently - as in multiple targets - or do they need to act in concert toward one target, whether the beams are in synch or not?”
- Jen, XO“Records indicate, in combat, the Darkness fires weapons in sequence from its projectors, not in collaboration. It is known to use massed beams against slow or planet based targets. The Darkness routinely ignores ships at random. Ships run, hoping someone else is the unlucky target.”
Her XO’s line of questioning spurred another thought in Kelly. “Added to the XO’s question,” Kelly asked the Orb, “what race is associated with the Darkness?” Looking at the XO, Kelly took a deep breath. “There had to be someone manning the ship right? If not we are dealing with an AI. If it’s a computer overlord situation I am pretty sure we are smarter than a circuit board,” Kelly reclined back in her seat.
Kelly Bordeaux
“No race has ever been assigned to the Darkness, there has been bio material detected in damaged fragments. When collectedt genetic growth started creating Darkness Octopus Starships.
“So you are saying the ship has a genetic component,” Kelly asked the orb knowing it would only probably say yes. It was more a rhetorical statement than a question actually. The only race that came to Kelly’s mind that was bio mechanical with that much power was the Borg. She did not think the Darkness was the Borg but everyone had an origin or evolution. Maybe there was some connection. “Orb can we get a representation of the genetic material associated with the Darkness in a schematic form,” Kelly requested.
Kelly Bordeaux
“Yes,” It wasn’t clear if the orb was responding to both questions. But out of its surface a small perturbance raised and it projected as light beam with the genetic breakdown and then the growth rate that started forming into a miniature holographic octopus. (Is there something you wanted to garner from this projection).
Kelly leaned forward looking at the DNA code morphing into the octopus like ship. “Do you think the ship is organic,” Kelly asked her XO. “A blend of AI and biological like the Borg? Maybe that is why it doesn’t have a race associated with it.”
Kelly Bordeaux
The DNA chain was completely organic. However, that would be the case even if there were a hybrid, or cybernetic organisms as the technological aspects would be added later. However the projection did not seem to have logical locations for technological add ons.
The turbo lift doors opened and Mardusk stepped onto the bridge. “Skipper, you called? What’s the situation?”
Mardusk, CoS
“We have an approaching vessel that has half the power of a Borg cube with a hull that will act like out shots are bee stings. We can out run it but need some a plan if we have to go on the offensive. The orb of knowledge is not much help,” she caught him up to speed .
Kelly Bordeaux
OOC: half the offensive power…
“Meet the Darkness,” Jen said, introducing him to the Kraken like ship taking pot shots at the asteroids. “Hull strength 4 times ours, anti proton beams, we can take a few single hits but a combined hit will punch through our shields. My suggested fall back if need to is to hope that we have tech that they don’t - metaphasic shields to lose them in the nearest sun.”
Jen paused for further updates. “They do not discriminate targets and may attack the base or the pirate carrier as much as us. They have left personnel on the base - neither of which stands a chance against that thing.” Not that they did but even more so. “I might propose in the getting out of the asteroid field to maneuver as close as possible to asteroids to use them as cover. It may slow them down a bit if they strike them and at our speed may keep ahead of debris until we are clear and can go to higher warp.” He smiled wryly and added in a dry tone. “Oh, and they have fighters. Little squids that have been known to make kamikaze runs on ships.”
- Jen, XOGM
Cara wasn’t going to be much help on the bridge. A ship with no crew meant no one for her to psycho-analyze. So there were two possibilities....”So eider it’s total AI and den that means that someone with de skill could hack de computer, or it’s controlled by remote and den someone with de skill could hack de computer and take control. Either way we might be able tae hack it and take control, or at de very least knock out de antennae it’s using tae send signals. ” Cara wasn’t a computer person but it made sense to her. Then she looked at both Jen and Bordeaux, “Should I go coordinate de evacuation of de families and civilians tae de emergency family shelters. If dat’ thing packs dat much of a punch those areas are reinforced and safer.”
O’Farrell, CNS
“No,” Kelly said. “I don’t plan on getting that close and we might need you here,” she replied to her counselor. “You are an expert on the sentient brain which means you have a fair to above average of predicting behavior. So if you can tell us what a sentient would do, you can also tell us what it wouldn’t do correct?” Every situation had a polar opposite. Cara usually was supposed to inform the crew what would likely happen based on her study of behavior so it only stood to reason she should be able to spot things that did not follow that pattern of behavior. At times spotting what wasn’t supposed to happen was more useful that predicting things. “Stick around. We might need you to analyze that thing or this situation in another way. Can you put someone else in charge of the civilians and monitor it from here,” Kelly asked.
Turning her attention back to the orb, she asked another question. “Orb you said there have been a few instances where confronting the Darkness resulted in a stalemate of sorts. Do you have any visuals on the attack patterns the Lorn and the other race used to engage the Darkness that let those groups succeed when all others failed?”
Kelly Bordeaux, CO
“I do not possess specific tactical data from those encounters only the reports. Nor were any notable tactics indicated in those reports.”
Jen had been quiet, thinking, and watching the advance of the Darkness. So they tended to fire independently and only focus their beams on easy targets. That meant that their targeting may not be the best with increased maneuverability. At least they had that. Quietly he said, “Helm, if we need to, not just use asteroids as a cover but utilize a highly evasive program.”
Something niggled at him. “Orb, the Darkness employs fighters. Could they be .. children of the Darkness? Do their sizes vary?”
“There are some size differentiation, but less than 20% from fighter to fighter. So there is a possibility that there is a maturity element to the fighters, but there is no evidence that the fighters can ‘mature’ to a full sized Octopus.”
“It seems this is more organic than mechanical, but not like the Borg in being individual drones. This looks to be one integrated being.” He looked to the counselor. “They seem to be very single minded. Is there anything we can direct to them - some kind of beam that might confuse it?”
- Jen, XO“Strobe lighting is a known cause of seizures for individuals who are photo-sensitive. This thing lives in space and probably spends a great deal of time ‘in the dark’, so it is possible it is sensitive to light. If you could make the entire ship light up like a giant strobe it might do something to it if we know where the ‘eyes’ are.”
“And that is why we pay you the big bucks,” Kelly nodded already glad she had refused to let the counselor leave the bridge. In her years and experience, counselors were one of the most unrated but highly used people on the bridge. They often thought differently than the other officers on the bridge leading to more helpful avenues to explore than not.
Kelly Bordeaux
” Low intensity lasers have been used to treat TBI and PTSD. High intensity laser, of course can do severe damage. Or maybe this thing is like a cat, shoot a laser beam off of an asteroid and it will pounce on it. The brain is nothing more than electrical impulses. You could try to use a few modified torpedoes to shock it. But I don’t recommend it. As I said earlier, run or play dead. Dr. Evrilla might be a better one to ask though, Cmdr. There is not enough data on the behavior for me to guess what cause will effect what reaction. It is single minded in its destruction and seems to have no....” Cara paused and turned toward the orb, “Orb, is there a common mineral or energy source between all the targets of The Darkness? What happens to what is destroyed? Does it take anything with it?”
O’Farrell, CNS
“This has been researched by many races. They Darkness, collect no resources, take no prisoners’, nor do they attempt to board ships vacated or surrendered. Nor have they ever in deed or gesture attempted to control an planet or area of space they have cleared.”
GM
Cara shook her head let her try it another way, “Orb, does the Darkness consume anything, as in do they eat what they destroy? Is there a common element or energy to what they attack? Is the Darkness hungry in other words? Is there a difference in the amount of mass to the amount of destroyed mass?” She looked at Jen, “All life has common needs, food of some sort is necessary. It could be consuming from what is destroyed. It could absorb the energy from the explosions, or be plant like and use a process similar to photosynthesis. Again Evrilla might have better ideas, or someone from sciences in exobiology or zoology.”
O’Farrell, CNS
“The Darkness has not been noted to ‘consume’ anything. Obviously the biological nature of their bodies does imply they consume some sort of proteins although their hulls have some photosynthetic properties, certainly not enough to go to warp or project their anti-proton beams. It is assumed that their bio consumption is done.. behind the scenes.”
D’vash had been quietly observing and listening to the conversations on the Bridge. A thought occurred to the Intel officer. “Captain, we know The Darkness is made of of organic material. We have its’ DNA sequence. Let’s say medical and science can create a virus, an infection that will alter its’ DNA and attack its’ systems from the inside out. . . .something strong enough to kill it or at least weaken it enough that an external attack is more likely to succeed.”
“Once we have the virus, the second step is determining how to administer it. . . .”
Odinson (CIO)
There was definitely the possibility of creating a bio weapon. Some variations of bio-weapons are considered ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and prohibited by treaty and ethics… but there are no treaties that the Federation signed in this region of space.
The Darkness Octopus closed to a few hundred thousand kilometers. The Atlantis had to move to the edge of the asteroid field to then go to warp to their defensive location.
GM
GM
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