#39 "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Posted on Fri Jul 8th, 2022 @ 7:52pm by Lieutenant JG Jamie T. Kirk/AKA: "Jim" & Captain Sean Silk

Mission: A Patrol and Supply mission
Location: various
Timeline: current/somewhere in between

ON:

While the others had been all giddy over the city, and then galvanized into action by the Iconian information, Kirk had returned to Amandora, checked her reports and added a few to the pile, then went back to shuttlebay 2. There she assigned herself a Delta Flyer, made sure it was fully stocked for an outing and then lifted off, heading back down to Tython. She had a very bad feeling about all of this, that their explorations of the Iconian complex would bring down a plethora of problems upon their heads. No matter which angle she looked at it Jamie Kirk just could not shake the nagging at the back of her mind. It was not the Iconian stuff that worried her it was the colonists.

What did they know?

Were they hiding anything?

Did they have allies aiding them with Iconian technology?

All were legitimate questions that no one cared to ask. As a Tactical officer herself, Jim Kirk found all those questions relevant. With all that in mind, and jamming Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings over the intercom system of her craft, Kirk bounced her head while going in low over the terrain of Tython, switching to map of the earth scanning as she went. Every nuance, pitfall, ditch, bitch, doghouse, and cracks in the walls would soon be readily apparent. On the surface, of course, but it may aid in discovering just how far this Iconian influence had reached. If just the one complex then that stood to reason. Ancient Iconian structures and devices had been found all over the known galaxy, and some of the gateways used to travel through time, to other dimensions, and to alternate realities. Apparently, only the Iconians were smart enough to get the gateways to send them where they wanted to go. Everyone else, it was guessing.

"Silk to Kirk," cut into the music, which Kirk doused immediately.

"Kirk here. Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"I'm in the transporter room the Commodore just used," explained Sean. "I have the coordinates they were beamed to. Would you be kind enough to have a look-see out that way?"

Jim grinned at his casual way of saying 'go watch the boss'. "I think I can manage that, Mister Silk. Anything else?"

"Yeah," added Silk. "You mind having some company?"

"You cheeky bastard," laughed out Kirk. "You just want to go play in the woods, Marine, admit it."

Silk chuckled in return. "And?" They both laughed again. "Fine, you read me like a book. Transport me now, Ensign."

"Pfft," Kirk quipped in return. "Remember bucko your butterbar is equal to my singular pip, your majesty. But, since you asked so nice and polite, here ya go." She tapped a few controls on her Delta, setting auto-pilot as she got up and went into the back. At the transporter controls for the two-person unit she activated the system and locked onto Silk's bio-signature aboard Dora, his form materializing within moments. "You need a hand getting out or can I go back to flying now?"

"Bite me," said Silk, grinning as he stepped from the transporter pad.

"You'd like that too much," quipped Kirk, heading back to the front and getting back to her pilot's seat, taking the ship off auto-pilot. Silk took the position just behind her and over her head. "Sensors are all set, all you need do Silk is angle them. I've got your coords locked so angling that direction now." The Delta turned and angled for the coastal regions and the thick jungle outside the caldera. The jungle that was meant to help block the valley from intrusion.

The colonists had released nanites they did not know existed. Their fumbling about in the Iconian complex had triggered their escape and they went to work as they had been designed to do. With the omega molecules they carried they began to do what they had been purposed for; taking what was natural to a world and perfecting it to its maximum potential. Plants more robust and leafy, animals with denser builds and bones, and creatures from other worlds that were in their database. The command had been given (by total accident) and they were now terraforming this world to a higher level. The Preservers had designed them to do so and then the Iconians perverted the nanites to their own purposes and began to change worlds more to their liking, to better support the servant races that would be used to build their empire back up to its one-time greatness. Problem was the Iconians were gone now and there was no one to tell the nanites to stop.

Everyone in the hidden valley were being watched unbeknownst to them. The first interloper had proven to be one with the environment, using only what she needed to survive. That was allowed. But, soon enough, others were showing up and all of them were heading towards the cavern entrance made from granite slaps that had jutted up out of the soil and leaned together to create a triangular entryway.

Silk and Kirk chatted as they flew along, the two of them discussing the unease they felt.

OFF: