Out of the Blue

Posted on Fri Jan 24th, 2025 @ 12:38pm by Mana'i & Lieutenant Commander Atna & Lieutenant JG Eudlo
Edited on on Wed Jan 29th, 2025 @ 6:05am

2,162 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Serpent's Tooth [3]
Location: Hallway 347-B, Outer Docking Ring - DS13
Timeline: MD-6 - 1450

Lieutenant Eudlo had never really been a chief before, but it was something he'd got used to by the time Lieutenant Thul arrived. Now that he was only assistant chief again, he felt unsettled. Restless. Like he needed to do something. Without really thinking, he'd volunteered to lead the security certification course, available to all crew. He expected that they'd be ready for combat, but only a couple of attendees had done all the required reading.

There was a smattering of uniform colours present, Eudlo had only remembered a couple of the names of the half-dozen crew there to get their phaser carry qualifications. They had stopped in hallway 347-B for a rest, they'd been marching around the outer docking ring for the better part of an hour.

"Alright everyone, let's pick it back up. Part of the tactical deployment experience is limiting your downtime. You've got to keep moving, you've got to keep active." As he spoke, a strange shadowy portal opened in the middle of the room, near the ceiling. "You've got to keep.. what the.." Eudlo tried to continue, but as something dropped through the portal, he lost his train of throught enitrely.

Everyone present drew their phasers and pointed them in the direction of the newcomer as the portal disappeared back into itself.

"Who goes there!" Eudlo called out reflexively, drawing his phaser, trying to make sense of whatever it was that had emerged.

The last thing Mana'i could remember was being swallowed by cold, dark shadow. And falling. And falling. And falling. Then a pinprick of light manifested before her very eyes, swiftly growing larger and larger with every second of descent... until it enveloped her, and the next thing she knew, her face and body were making contact with solid ground that was definitely not stone. Breath, along with a strangled gasp of sorts, rushed forth from her mouth as she struggled to gather her bearings. Lights. So bright. Cold air. Metallic gray walls... and... and... hold on. Where was her icepick? She would be given the answer, unceremoniously, as the tool dropped out of yet another, smaller, portal of shadows, and embedded itself in the metal floor inches from her hand.

Yet, as her eyes gradually adjusted to this jarring new environment, it became abundantly clear that she wasn't alone. Glowing blue eyes widened as she stared down the barrels of the security officers' phaser rifles - weaponry she'd only barely become aware of just... minutes ago? How long had she been falling? Who were these people? Why did they look so similar to the scale-covered creatures that Dynax had summoned forth?

"Who are you people? What is this foreign place!?" She demanded, standing shakily and grasping the handle of her icepick. The air immediately began to chill, as if the warmth had just been sucked out of it. Frost began to form in patches, on the walls, on the window. "Have you- are you agents of Makuta Dynax!?" She pointed an accusing finger at the bare-headed one she assumed was the leader of the group.

Eudlo stood there with his mouth open, not really saying anything. Instinctively he turned to Commander Atna, who happened to be taking his course, hoping she would have something useful to say.

Atna held her hands open, and quickly put her phaser on the floor, showing her palms. "My name is Atna. Our technology will learn to translate what you are saying if you can say a bit more." She told the arrival, quite aware that it would probably be gibberish to the mechanoid until the translator got a hold on its language.

Mana'i did not understand a single word of the language the pointy-eared one spoke to her. The gesture of laying down her arms, though, was enough to get the Toa to loosen her grip on the handle of her icepick - if only marginally. Just because one among the party lay down their arms did not automatically mean that the party itself wasn't hostile. Mana'i narrowed her eyes and reached out with the power of her Mask to the pointy-eared one and her companions - which was what she needed to relax at last, shoulders losing most of their tension. "Fine. Not servants of Dynax." She decided. Warmth seemed to seep back into the air, bit by bit, and the frost on the windows, walls and floor melted, leaving behind minute spots of dampness behind. "Tell me where I am." She demanded again, addressing the pointy-eared one. "And where are my Brother and Sister Toa? Do they yet live?"

"Everyone, lower your weapons." Atna ordered her colleagues at the first sign of success from the gesture, and all complied. After 'dynax', the translator seemed to finally understand the biomechanoid. "You are aboard the starbase Deep Space 13. We are a space station in proximity to an anomaly that serves as a portal between universes. We have discovered a number of lifeforms not native to our own reality." Atna said, before realising she should perhaps try something simpler. "You are in a place where many have arrived without wishing to. We do not know why and we do not control it, but we wish to do everything we can to help you and everyone else who has appeared to get home. We are peaceful scientists who seek to learn all we can, we mean you no harm."

This explanation seemed to surprise Mana'i greatly - not merely because of the content of it, but also because, well, she'd not heard any others so unlike her speak her tongue with such fluency. "You speak the language of my people. How?" She asked. Obviously, she'd missed the part about translator technology - yay for totally foreign languages! "And what do you mean... others who arrived here without wishing to?" She let go of her icepick at last, and studied Atna with great interest. "Well then. If you do not serve the Makuta, then what are you and your... kind?" She asked, gesturing at the others surrounding them. "I... have never seen life quite like you before. Are you... flesh and blood?" It was a strange question to ask, perhaps, but when your entire world is technoorganic, maybe the idea of life that's not part machine might be foreign.

"We possess technology that allows us to interpret and appear to speak any language we encounter. We call it the universal translator." Atna responded, gesturing to the starfleet badge on her chest.

"I apologise but I am unfamiliar with 'the Makuta'." Atna said directly. "We are a united Federation of many thousands of peoples from many different worlds - from the spheres orbiting many stars. We work together to discover the unknown and explore the unexplored." She said, her impression was that this being was not necessarily of a spacefaring people, despite the obvious advances that led to its construction. "There are others like yourself - most of whom are now our friends, who came here from far away, in ways we cannot yet explain. We are flesh and blood, yes. I am from a world called Vulcan, it is but one of many worlds within our Federation. I must admit that beings like yourself are also unknown to us. May I ask where you are from?"

The Kanohi mask that covered Mana'i's face did not normally convey much emotion, beyond the movements of her mouth and the dimming or brightening of her eyes according to her mood. This time, though, the glow of her light blue eyes seemed to widen as the pointy-eared one - a Vulcan, she'd called herself? - mentioned something that was of great interest. "Thousands of peoples from many different worlds, hailing from many planetary bodies" Most people who'd come by these parts - yes, even the more esoteric ones - would probably hardly bat an eye at that notion, but certainly, the white technoorganic woman seemed utterly thrilled by the very idea! She studied each and every one of the flesh beings surrounding her now - all of them wonderfully different in appearance. "So I was right all along. There is life beyond Spherus Magna! Oh, I must- I must write of this discovery, my brothers will be-" Manners, Mana'i. You still have a crowd of armed individuals surrounding you, she had to remind herself.

"Oh. Well. Um. I suppose I owe you all an explanation." She added, quickly. Mana'i turned to the window and placed her gauntleted hand upon it, gazing out at the myriad of stars beyond, twinkling like diamonds in an endless sea of shadows. "I hail from the planet my people call Spherus Magna. Specifically, Ko-Metru. I- um. I'm sorry, none of what I'm saying must be making sense to you at present, I'm sure." She turned back to the others now, studying them with wide, glowing blue eyes. "I want to hear more. I want to hear everything. I promise to be equally as forthcoming. A barter of information, if you will." She added enthusiastically. "I really mean you no harm. This I promise."

"Such conversations often begin this way. Clarity and understanding inevitably come in time. First contact with new lifeforms is among the most cherished encounter for our peoples." Atna said in a way that she hoped suggested understanding, despite her lack of affect. "To discuss such matters further is an ideal outcome for us. The free exchange of culture and knowledge is a foundation of our civilization. But you must forgive us, we are so armed because we had been conducting training exercises with these weapons when you... arrived. Would you perhaps indulge us by allowing us to continue this discussion elsewhere? We have places better suited to such things." Atna suggested, not entirely yet sure where they would go instead.

"Well, I don't see why not. I'm sure he might have an idea of where we could go." Mana'i gestured to the bald one who'd first spoken to her.

“There’s an, uh.. the.. docking lounge. That’s roomy. And close.” Eudlo said, trying to balance diplomatic and security considerations while still being a bit freaked out by the sudden appearance and biomechanical nature of the newcomer.

"Very well. That will be a good place for us to gather our leaders." Atna said for Mana'i's benefit.

Mana'i let the Vulcan and the bald one walk ahead of her as she retrieved her icepick from the floor (and left a divet behind where the blade had buried itself in the floor, whoops). She noted that the others around them, all these uniquely formed individuals, followed suit - maybe they still thought she could be hostile, she assumed. After the first impression she'd given these people with her ice powers, she honestly didn't blame them. "There are others like me? Wayward others who have arrived here against their will? Tell me about them." She requested. "And I would love to hear about you, too. And, of course, you. The smooth-headed one. I don't think you've spoken since we first met." She added with a hint of playfulness.

"I suppose I should really properly introduce myself now. My name is Mana'i. New Toa Metru of Ice." The title likely meant nothing to these creatures of flesh and blood, she reckoned. Most would've hailed her a hero back home - albeit somewhat begrudgingly. It'd only been some centuries ago that she'd been considered a deviant in thought amongst her fellow scientists.

"Hello. I'm Eudlo." The Deltan said, his mind snapping quickly back to its usual friendly conversant mode, switching in an instant from cautious security officer to charming socialite. "A pleasure to meet you."

"If you would follow me, we shall make our way to the lounge. We are a peaceful people, but we are cautious. We do not hold prejudices against new life, but you are quite unlike anything in our experience. I hope you will be willing to continue this discussion with my leader and fellow senior officers." Atna said, gesturing towards the door. "Our comrade Dr T'Zor will be there, she is the first arrival from another reality. The other two extrauniversal arrivals are present, but they must be traveled to separately."

"Oh, yes, yes. Caution is always prudent." The word Atna used was ostensibly an honorific of some kind - perhaps an academic? Or perhaps a rank. Such things did not exist, not formally, back on Spherus Magna. But then again Mana'i had, admittedly, interacted little with the Ta'koro Guard and their ranks. Thoughts swirled round her mind as she mulled over the possibilities that lay ahead. Interdimensional others like herself. Amazing. Surely this dimension would be interesting, to say the least.

Atna led Mana'i out of the room, gesturing subtly to Eudlo to get on the com to everyone. She was taking note of every term Mana'i used that she didn't recognise.

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