[Cylapse]

Blackout

Caid peered out over the vast view of the staryards from his quarters, slightly inclining one of his legs to rest it against the "window sill" of his view port. The day began with disappointment, the news that there had been a problem with the new reactor. For 'saftey' reasons, it had to be retrofitted, which would lead to a week-long delay before the installation would even begin. To Caid, this meant at least another month or two of burning Dark Matter, as he would not be hanging around Xiban any longer than he had to.

The door chime echoed and Caid made the rather spacious walk to answer it...the Captain of course had accommodating quarters. Standing to greet him was a somewhat pale Shapiro, leaning more on the doorframe than on his own two feet.

"Jarren." Shapiro's smile was weak, but there, and much stronger than when he had first left detox. Caid extended a hand to allow his first officer some support as they paced towards a table.
"Still no signs of Vega on the surface, from what I'm told." Caid mentioned, stepping over to his private bar as Shapiro worked himself into a chair. Xiban I was a huge planet, they both knew this, and the chances of finding him at this point were negligible. "But the authorities have promised to deliver him personally to us if ever he shows his face... For privacy concerns, I didn't convey the details, but they knew I was serious in finding him."

Shapiro nodded and accepted a glass as it was slid across the table to him. Caid sent his own over as well.
"Scotch or Whiskey?"...
"You don't have any of that Green Wine?" Shapiro complained, prompting a chuckle from his Captain.
"I don't think that actually exists...but I'll check into it." He took a seat across from Shapiro and poured them each a shot of whiskey, adopting a more solemn attitude. "I've read over your report...there is a lot missing..."

"With all due respect..." Dylan interjected..."There's a lot missing in my head...I've done the best I could." This made Caid laugh for some reason, and he hoped it would lighten the mood.
"Chill out and take your drink, I'm not witch-hunten here, Commander..." Caid downed his own shot, a twisted view of 'leadership by example'. "I'm just saying... this is gonna be hard to send to the Syndicate to explain two dead men, a missing doctor and the near-fatal removal of three detonators on Deck 12. We may have to clean it up a bit before sending to the council, but I've spoken with Lexter and he has no problems with doctoring the reports." Suddenly Caid bit his lip.
"And I sincerely apologize for the pun." A smile soon followed and he poured himself another shot. Shapiro cackled a dry laugh, as his voice was still not quite up to par, and took a drink.

"Speaking of." Caid continued... "I'm going to need a new one, now. And sadly, none of the fifteen new kids has any medical experience. So... looks like I'm stuck here until I pick another."
"You already check out the space yard crew?" Shapiro tried to clear his throat, instead choosing to hold his glass out for a refill. The drinks seemed to help his voice.
"Yeah..." Caid complied first by killing his own drink, before pouring them each another. "No cuties." They both laughed. "Seriously though, no one with any real qualifications beyond that of nurse, and well... You already used could do that, eh Commander?" Caid smiled and jabbed his friend in the arm, provoking a little energy. Shapiro ignored the half-joke.
"About the new crew..." He replied, changing the subject. "I did a little reading myself. These names caught my eye..." He withdrew a small datapad from his inner pocket and placed it on the table.

• Dycen Lore
  
• Ryan Mercer
  

"You know these people?" The captain queried as he set the pad back down.
"Well Tyler was issued the Stellar Wings award by the Council a year or so back, so I figured he might make a good night-shift helmsman for starters. Lore we've both served with, remember? On the Harbinger." Caid shook his head in denial. "Anyway...as for Mercer, I used to serve with his paps before he got his own command."
"Now that one I think I remember." Caid put the bottle away, idly noting the time display. "They gave him the Twilight, right? Last year."
Shapiro nodded.
"Keep me posted, Commander...Let me know what you think of them." Caid began, and a quote echoed hauntingly upon Shapiro's ears as he rose to his feet, preparing to leave.
"As soldiers?..."
"As crewmen, Dylan." Caid passed him an odd look as he lead him to the door. "Rest easy, eh?"
"Yeah, catch ya later." Shapiro paced down the corridor, a little detached, although a little more relaxed than earlier. As he made his way to his own quarters he passed by a young Ensign Yarovich, who found something familiar in him, although she couldn't determine why. She stopped dead in her tracks and watched him enter his room, feeling an anger rise that she couldn't explain.
*********************************************

"Hey!" A hard shove impacted his shoulder, and Dycen started to grind his teeth into each other, casting a half-glance over his shoulder. Another crewman stood-at-ready, glaring him down in a blatant fighting stance. It was already an irritating day, and this little prick wanted to get in the way? Dycen laughed outright and spun his weight into a side-kick, which met a solid block and evasion by his opponent, who in turn swept him out from under his feet. As he scrambled to recover, the red-headed man who just had dropped him kneeled down in a mocking pose, a grin spreading across his freckled face.
"You know I was just saying Hi...sorry if I scared you." he chuckled, running a hand through spiked hair. "The name's Kincade." He said, offering a hand.

Dycen rose to his feet and walked away.
"Hey! What the ****, you? I was trying to make a fooken friend - it's just my way, ya know?" The red-head half-pleaded. "I just got here. Despite the attitude problem, you looked like you might be a bit smarter than some of these other yups, you know?"
"Yeah..." Dycen looked straight at him. "I'm beginning to see that." A hearty chuckle left his chest as he opened the door to a lift and stepped inside. Of course, his new shadow followed him.
"Hey, Listen... I aint got a drinking buddy tonight, so if you want, we can hit the mess hall - scope out some tail? This guy Hudgens was tellen me about some girls that I have been dying to see. C'mon, I'll introduce ya...I feel bad, you know, for making you look like a little punk and all." He pushed him again, adlibbing a wink.
Dycen shoved back this time, a soft crack his reward as Kincade's back hit the railing.
"Ughh...suppose payback's a *****, eh? Heh heh." Tyler relaxed and let down his guard, nodding respectfully at Dycen as he stepped out of the lift. "Sorry."
"The name's Lore." Dycen called out. "Maybe I'll catcha for the drink later." He keyed in his deck number and returned the nod as the door closed, not bothering to wait for a response.

*********************************************

Ryan Mercer treaded his way down a tightly-cramped engineering hall, already three minutes late for his shift. He hadn't even so much as met his Chief, yet had been assigned relay repair in this vice-like corridor. It was up to him to make sure they could withstand the effects of a warp-point, a simple enough job, but in this hallway?... He paused to scan his eyes along an access panel, noting the junction number for reference as he continued to plot out in his head where his destination was. A four-way intersection stared him in the face.

"Okay...back there was J-37, if I make a left, that should put me..." He glanced in both directions, and then forward again. "That should put me just left of wherever the hell I am now." He laughed to himself, but it was a half-worried one. He was seriously a good five minutes late at this point, and still didn't quite understand the numbering scheme. Luckily, the Chief Engineer was on temporary sick-leave, and the repair would only take a minute. Ryan stared down the hallway, watching it fade to darkness within the deck's shallow horizon. It seemed to get more and more narrow the further down it went. Who designed this ship? Wynkaarans were typically bigger than humans, and there was only one on board anyway, so why this? He took a random guess and started walking, figuring that his original decision should stand as he made his way down the left path.

*********************************************

The Wynkaaran stepped into his quarters and paused, lifting his nose to the air in detection of a scent. Human... Shapiro stepped out from the shadows of a far wall, mirroring a recent act by the Wynkaaran in what had become tit-for-tat game of chess.
"I felt it fitting to approach you like this..." Dylan stated, leaning against a nearby chair as he moved inward. "You were ready to kill me the day before, and yet yesterday you saved my life. The makings of an enigma, Lexter? Or another plot to kill me..."
"Neither...although" The Wynkaaran sneered "The thought had crossed my mind. I had actually been following you with that intention. When you stepped into the Infirmary, I figured you had a physical and was about to leave. It was a matter of respect, really. And then I saw him reach for a needle when you declined the anesthetic. Naturally I had to stay and watch...It was a good show from my perspective, no offence."
"None taken, I think... but either way I'm glad you did...from what the Spaceyard doctors told me, I've had traces of so-called 'Liocine' in my system for at least a month or so. But they have no name for it, instead calling it compound Y-647, and they say the full potential of its effects are unknown. Charming isn't it?" Shapiro just laughed. "I suppose I owe you an apology, for everything I may, or may not have done. My memories of Nash and Faro come in and out, mostly through dreams. Its really hard to recall on a conscious level."
"Understandable." The Wynkaaran began..."I have heard your race is inherently psionic in nature, perhaps you would be one to take an interest in such studies? Improve your mental resistance, and perhaps even discover more about this chapter in your life? It could prove helpful, especially if a hearing is ever called..."
"I lack the psi-gene." Shapiro smiled. "Caid already tried barking up that tree once, when his studies started. As for the hearing, I can't bother worrying. I know Caid will do his best, and he mentioned your assistance, which again, is appreciated." As he spoke, he managed to rise again to his feet, as if preparing to leave.

The Wynkaaran nodded in acknowledgement as Shapiro edged his way towards the exit.
"Sorry to 'break in', but a few things had to be said. Thanks." The first officer offered a slight salute and stepped out of the Lexter's quarters.

*********************************************

Caid entered the bridge with a proud stride, inclining his goateed chin as he spoke to his helmsman.
"Connor, take us out of here, resume course to Iolo III. Real-space only, as we're going need to conserve Dark-Matter for a little while..." He leaned against the navigational controls and smiled. "Take her to Light-factor 11, lets let those sails out."
"We in a hurry, Captain?" Connor brought the engines to life as he spoke, breaking orbit in a very sudden, but surprisingly smooth manner. The deck plates rumbled only slightly, and Caid managed to avoid any trip-ups on his way back to the chair.

"That we are, Ensign. I've found us a new doctor, who, surprise-surprise, happens to be stationed on Iolo III. So I reason that we have no further use jerking around in Xiban." Caid watched the viewer, rather impressed at how quickly the planet had faded from the small sub-window which acted as a rear-view. Before him, a mere sector away, loomed the vast, swirling Tyrik warp-point. Tyrik was the home system of the Cynapse Syndicate, while Xiban, a small system in the far corner of the charted quadrant, acted as their back door into Hyperspace. Iolo would be the next system on their list, once through the heavy Traffic of Tyrik.

"We're passing through the warp-point now, Captain." Connor played the controls naturally, but it was clear he still had a few kinks that needed to be worked out as they neared the anomaly. The Xephyr's sub-spacial shields flared to defend against the warp-point but failed, locking up on a series of blown relays that had yet to be repaired. Lt Cruz offered a quick shout out from the engineering station.
"We're losing main power!" just as the lights went out.

*********************************************

Darkness. His breaths became heated and heavy as he looked back and forth and in all directions, feeling the walls like a desperate lover. Ryan Mercer was lost in a maze of corridors and junction tubes. A soft hissing sound could he heard nearby, the sound of gas escaping. Unbeknownst to him, a plasma coolant known as Hydracoren was venting into the access tubes, having sprung a leak in its unshielded passage through the warp point.

"Hello?"... the air got thin and he felt a slight lift in his lungs and stomach, an uneasiness that did not reside well within him. "God..." he whispered, knowing no one could hear him. It was still pitch black, not a single source of light from anywhere. He fumbled for his toolkit and dropped it, groaning in irritation as he listened for the sound of equipment spilling. It didn't, which concerned him. He leaned down and felt along the floor, finding only cold metal grating. His stomach twisted again and he echoed a throaty burp, almost ready to throw up all over himself... and God, it was as if he couldn't breathe. What was wrong with the air here?

"Is anybody there?...Hello?" he called in vain. It was as if all heat had fled the area. He stood up again, finding icy steel as his only company, the feather-light touch of metal along his ear from behind... He pivoted around and lost his balance, his voice scratching the air with harsh screams devoid of oxygen... It seemed as if he was floating, arms and legs unbound, perhaps dying?...maybe his own fear had killed him and this was what it felt like? Then why couldn't he stop thinking? He asked himself a thousand questions as the light-less room spun in his head. He thoroughly hated his first day on the job.

*********************************************

"Report." Caid glanced at his bridge crew, an act made possible by low-level emergency lighting. It had just been restored on the command deck a mere seconds before.

"Emergency Power is being distributed." Cruz uttered, "A few relays must have went out before we passed through the point." He was furious inside, but concealed it, as he had already told Crewman Mercer to fix the damn things over a half hour ago.

"Understood." The Captain activated his private console and keyed in a quick sequence. "All hands, this is the Captain. You may experience a loss in power, life support and gravity on any or all decks, so please be prepared to take standard emergency procedures. This is a minor malfunction and is being corrected, please stand by."

*********************************************

The Mess Hall scene quickly turned into a scatter-fest in the dark, as half-drunk crewmen took advantage of the rarity of a main power outage. Lore was swept up off of his feet and spun into a spiral dive across the room, instigated by the push of Kincade and unhindered by gravity. The view ports offered a small amount of light from the distant Tyrik star, and Lore looked above him to find himself staring up the skirt of Ensign Syra, who's drink was now a series of floating drops of liquid, streaking across the Mess Hall.

"You didn't... plan this, did you Tyler?" Lore grinned, noting the air grow slightly stale. Tyler took note as well and launched himself upwards, using the ceiling to springboard towards a small emergency cabinet. Two tanks marked O2 were thrown at Lore's direction, provoking the young officer to catch and distribute them to nearby crew members. Tyler threw another one, after accepting a quick breath from the attached mask while he ransacked the remaining emergency supplies.

*********************************************

A hypnotic barrage of words echoed in Ryan's ears, an unknown voice blaring from some unknown source...Was it God? The Psychic Continuum? The sounds were alien to him, inhuman. A familiar cold touched his hand and he was ready this time, seizing it in a firm grasp before realizing that it was his flashlight.

A bright beam shot forth as he turned it on, and the air-starved engineer waved it up at the ceiling...A thin green fog shrouded him, and he realized he was breathing in more of this cloud than any oxygen... And was he floating? Even worse, the walls were closer now than before. Much closer... and they were closing in. He could hear the groan of the titanium as it compacted. His eyes shot wide open and strained to stretch further, every vein in his body screaming for support. He watched the metal start to crumple as it wrestled itself to destruction, it wanted him... And it was gonna get him. "Oh God", the words drilled at the back of his mind, as he had not the strength to speak them. He was going to die, a fact that screeched with glee in his head. And that damned voice just kept on repeating itself. That horribly mutated, incomprehensible voice..."Shut it off!" he screamed, but no sounds would come.

"...I repeat, this is only a minor malfunction and is being corrected, please stand by."... But Mercer could not heed the advice, instead his focus was slipping and sliding, a roller-coaster of his own state of dementia and claustrophobia... all of it assaulted him at once, and then released him a violent drop to the ground, as gravity and power came back Online. The lights flickered to life and the entire ship was brought back to activity.

Two new crewmen, Roa and Morgan, both engineers, had managed to repair the blown relays at the request Lt Cruz. They had no difficulties in finding the relays and replacing the fuses within. Meanwhile in the Mess Hall, a disorientated Dycen Lore struggled to clear his own head, while an amused Tyler Kincade chuckled at what had just befallen them. They were both now soaked in the drinks they were enjoying before the gravity failed, giving them a quick lesson in Zero-G parties.

A long fifteen minutes passed as the crew helped each other recover from the brief outage of power. Ryan Mercer laid sprawled out in an engineering hallway, laughing as if he had all the time in the world... He was in trouble, yes, but he wasn't dead. And for some reason in his twisted little mind, that was something to be proud of. Perhaps he had lost a bit of sanity... but perhaps, he had acquired a bit as well. Out from within his own insecure world of panic and fear he emerged, alive and somewhat well, in the Cynapse Zone.

[ June 20, 2002, 16:09: Message edited by: Cynapse ]