ISR -- Lotus
DATE: 07.18.2020 Transcribed by Courtney Lambert
[Background:] A ship called the Lotus was caught in a space anomaly caused by a thermal explosion. They are now far away from home and trying to make their way to familiar space. The anomaly that pulled their ship also pulled Cervius, an Earther, out of his time and into another dimension where the Lotus is.
[DECRYPTION OF TRANSMISSION START:] At the bottom of the ravine, they turn their lights on. They are still far from the ship. In the distance there are the sparks from the ship in the air. Above them are tendrils of Viren hanging down and oozing.
Zeynerx doesn't sense any hostility at that time. Valmara senses the life form on the ship. She gets off Androgene's back and walks alongside toward the ship.
Valmara sees the ship is decently large for the cavern. However, it is damaged greatly. Zeynerx sees the front half is missing and sees tunnels embedded into the walls of the caverns. There is extra matter scattered around these tunnels. To Osias and Adrogenes, the blast looks as if it was outward.
Osias and Adrogenes talk over it and determine that the ship is actively fighting against the ship. Zeynerx comments on the situation being similar to the previous one. They agree to go forward. Zeynerx seems a little cautious and thinks it is a trap because it seems too convenient.
As they approach the ship, there are slash marks all over the hull and severely damaged parts. One of the gun emplacements rotates toward them. Adrogenes puts up a shield. Valmara summons up a shield. It lights up the space.
There is a head that appears belonging to a Prakkum who seems to be the ship's captain. Adrogenes interrogates the Prakkum. He then asks his brothers what they think. Cadaran believes the male is honest. Zeynerx wonders if the creature the male mentions which took his crew is a predator of the Viren.
Cadaran scans the matter splattered along the cavern. He concludes that the matter is Viren and had been destroyed by the cannons that the male Prakkum had set up.
They are invited inside and they agree to enter. The Prakkum looks them over for any infections.
Valmara and the Prakkum speak together. He asks if he knows her. He asks her name. He recognizes her because of her mother who was on the other ship that was journeying with his. She was very old but well from what he had last heard from her. She was the group's knowledge keeper and was on the other ship that was not shot down by the Viren ship.
The Prakkum states that there are about nine crew members still alive and most of the crew was Prakkum. Adrogenes looks at Valmara at this words. They ask where they possibly are. The male states that they are probably in the main tunnel.
They try to send a message to the Lotus, but they are blocked and cannot contact them. Cadaran and the other Legacy crew member and the other Prakkum decide to stay behind by the ship to defend it.
The rest decide to follow. All the telepaths sense mind-forms approaching. The male Prakkum forms hands at each cannon and exclaims that they are being attacked. Zeynerx pulls out a gun. Valmara forms a spear an hurls it at Alpha mind form. It goes through, damages it, and the hole that it makes slowly fills up. She then fires a pistol at it. The bullets ripple through it like water, but the holes that they make fill up with new flesh.
Adrogenes fires his plasma beam at Alpha. Parts of the Viren are torn off, but it regenerates itself. He fires upon the Alpha and it melts into the plasma. The puddle of the Viren starts to reform into a new creature.
Beta attacks Valmara and summons up spores to attack her feet. She is damaged by it. It then swipes at her with its claws and she pushes her shield between it and her. It's claws dig through her shield and barely are stopped from clawing her face. Through the gashes she can see it's eyes, or what could be called its eyes.
Nyx attacks the mind form with a sonic cannon.
[Records at this point were difficult to unravel and transcribe. There was clearly a passage of time that passed before the next series of events.]
The group continues onward. The tunnel that they are going into has tendrils moving in it. Adrogenes borrows Cadaran's flamer. He presses forward burning their way through. The telepaths sense mental activity further down. Zeynerx senses that the Viren is collecting its consciousness.
As they enter a room and see armor lying there. Zeynerx sees armor on the wall and sees that something is inside it. He pulls out both swords and goes straight for it. He senses it is a Prakkum. As he approaches, the half Prakkumm and half Viren mixture crawls out of the armor.
Valmara holds back vomit that rises in her throat at the mangled and deformed sight of what was once a Prakkum. The corrupted Prakkum throws projectiles at Zeynerx. The shards are fired at Valmara who tries to dodge them but gets nicked by them. Valmara shoots the serated blades at the Prakkum. It causes them to disintegrate even before they hit him. Valmara growls at him and falls back behind Adrogenes and uses a medi-pen.
Adrogenes runs up in front of Zeynerx and fires the flamer at the deformed Prakkum. Valmara watches her own race getting burnt alive by Adrogenes. The corrupted form is left a burnt crispy form. It's flesh that it has is burnt.
Zeynerx senses something behind them. Nyx and Valmara turn and see another Viren that had been formed. Nyx sees that it has a something odd on its arm. It has something mechanical and energy on it. It raises its arm and begins to charge a weapon.
The Prakkum attacks Adrogenes. He draws his sword. The Prakkum summons the projectiles and shoots them at the Felhammer. He tanks the hit and absorbs the energy that they have.
The Legacy fire at the new entity that approached. Osias fires also. Together, they significantly damage the new creature but did not destroy it. Nyx decides to attack the new entity and cut off its arm that holds the weapon. Nyx does it successfully. The arm is lopped off and it tries to regrow, but without the mechanical parts to it. She grabs the mechanical part as the Viren organic matter tries to regrow toward it.
Zeynerx stabs the Prakkum being. Then he tries to bend its will. He gets backhanded mentally by it. He staggers back, disgruntled.
Valmara tries to reach out toward the Prakkum and tries to touch its mind. She finds that she is blocked, but there is something else beyond it. There is an opening in the there. She reaches for it and interacts with the Viren mind. It wishes to speak with her and the rest. She asks what guarantee it can give for their safety. It calls back the entities attacking it. Adrogenes sees it and demands the meaning of it all. He zeroes in on Valmara whom he senses in in contact with
someone.
The entity talks to Adrogenes, expanding its contact to even the non-telepaths who are confused.
Zeynerx and Valmara decide to walk into the next chamber like they were invited to. The chamber they enter is wide and there is a mouth-like thing in the center with tendrils going out of it. In these tendrils on the ceiling are cocoon-like structures enclosing Prakkum and other crew members. One Prakkum is there still alive. He calls for help once he sees them.
The Viren being welcomes them. Valmara asks how many are still alive. It drops the one living Prakkum down from the cocoon that held him. He falls to the floor. It seems to be alive and from physical appearances whole. Valmara helps him to his feet. She and Adrogenes sense that the mind of the Prakkum is not whole.
Osias walks up to the entity and calls him booger. The entity wants them to join him because he is fascinating. It gives them an ultimatum that they can all leave alive except one in exchange. It wants the other Prakkum.
Adrogenes makes a mental link with everyone except Valmara. He asks what their consensus is. They consider using Zeynerx's body, but it is not needed. Adrian Blake, the captain, says that he can offer himself in Valmara's place. He requests that they erase parts of his memory that he would not want falling into their hands.
After much discussion, they do end up wiping the man's mind. They turn Adrian over to the Viren who takes him up and scans him. Sensing their treachery and that they wiped his mind, the Viren Mind is angered. It does not accept Valmara's offer of her own knowledge to pacify it. It rejects her offers and says she will be one with her crew.
Nyx goes to Adrogenes and asks him to work with her on crafting something.
The Viren attacks Valmara and Zeynerx. It's tendrils drift toward them and curl around their feet.
Zeynerx gets slapped by a larger tendril, his body gets smooshed, blood and guts scattering everywhere. The Zavlion is left, floating bodiless in the space and goes straight for Adrogenes for shelter.
The body of the Viren Mind writhes and flings itself about the cavern, anger seeping through the atmosphere.
Nyx calls on Dark Nyx to help them. Zeynerx decides to lure the weak-minded Prakkum into getting him to take the grenade and use it. The grenade explodes and part of the being gets sucked into the blackhole that the explosion creates.
Valmara opens up a hole in the middle of the ceiling. There are explosions on the surface, clearly from guns being fired from the Lotus. Osias opens fire on the Viren and finds himself faced with disappointment. He goes off on a small eulogy as he expects imminent death.
Seeing only their destruction ahead of them, Adrogenes calls upon Galimus and orders the rest to return to the ship. Galimus comes down on him, and the tendril coming down on him and his shield gives out. The Viren (Foremind), fascinated by the power that has suddenly filled Androgenes, reaches for his mind and sifts through it, similarly to what Adrogenes did to the Adrian Blake. Valmara recognizes what Adrogenes has done, by calling on Galimus.
Nxy and Black Nyx attack the base of the Viren and fires at it with a sonic blast.
Adrogenes, now servant of Galimus, enflamed with wrath and fire engulfs the cavern with the flames. The ceiling falls in on the creature. It screams and writhes. They see Lotus above them. There is a ship that is attacking the Lotus, but it starts to disintegrate. The Lotus begins to descend into the atmosphere.
Adrogenes falls, armor-less, to the ground, assuring himself that what he did was a means to an end and feels the deep regret of having brought the Legacy captain to a meaningless death. The ship beams them up.
Nyx walks out of the transporter. The rescued young Prakkum is clinging to Valmara still, crying. Adrogenes remains on his knees, still regretful. [END OF DECRYPTION TRANSMISSION]
Written by Courtney Lambert To see more of her work, check out her other blog posts and her own website!
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