Crossover: The Reality Bomb

[Monroe]

"All away teams are on site." Commander McCarthy said walking up to Primal. The man had lost one of his arms in the space battle but the Asgarde medical facilities were fully equipped with a cloning facility that had replaced his arm allowing McCarthy to return to duty once Turner had given it the Starfleet seal of approval.

"Sir sensors are detecting another vessel emerging from the multiverse." Ensign Outaj said as a holographic representation of the ship that emerged appeared.



"What an ugly ship." McCarthy remarked.

"It is from an alien universe." Primal reminded him. "Hail them."

"No response," Ensign Outaj said then added, "Wait now comes the response."



"This is the great and powerful warlord Fwiffo of the super fleet of cloaked ships you see before you! And as such since we lead such an impressive fleet if you open fire you would surely be destroyed. So please don't open fire now!"

McCarthy grinned as he looked over the sensors, "Only one ship came through from the multiverse Optimus Primal."

"What can we do for you, Fwiffo?" Optimus asked as the Asgarde ship's weapons stood silently.

"We're a little loss. See the Captain found that what I had been saying all along was coming. The Ultimate Evil! The Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah retreated after losing to our grand fleet, that I heroically provided rear support for three systems away. They escaped through Subspace just as the Ultimate Evil Struck! The Captain went after them and I heroically followed. But I was so far behind I was lost and ended up here."

"You mean your cloaked fleet ended up here?" Primal asked.

"Yes-yes. So if you will not blow us out of the sky I will tell the Captain that we did not find the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah here. And if they are here, we'll provide a rear guard while you destroy them."

"And why should we bother with your mission to stop these Ur-Quan?" McCarthy replied.

"Well, you don't have to, but the Captain would be very pleased if you did. And... I'll throw in a secret Precusor artifact which the Spathi have kept hidden for ages. The Ultimate Evassior... the name is a working title, used to confuse enemy missile locks."

Primal considered this, an optional side quest as it were...



Meanwhile on the Asgarde vessel two crew men were walking through the engineering section. "Primal wanted us to see if there are any Asgarde weapons on the ship not get lost down here." The female mumbled to her fellow crew member as they ran flash lights along the walls looking for a storage compartment.

"Shh, you hear that?" The other crew member asked holding up his hand and looking around. A small feint sound of an engine whirling was in the background followed by a series of small clings like metal feet against the floor.

"What is that?" The woman asked as she pulled out a tricorder and began to scan the area, "I'm not picking up anything." She then let out a startled yelp as a small robotic spider like creature bumped her foot then skidded off around a corner. "Something just brushed past my leg."

"Its your imagination." The male replied rolling his eyes, "If the tricorder isn't seeing it then its not real."

He chuckled and turned around. A human in dark somber clothes stood an arms length behind him. "Oh we are very real." He said as his arm transformed into a long sword like object before thrusting forward into the man's chest. His other hand reached for the screaming woman. The fingers not stopping at her skin but slipping through into her brain as the nanite replicator began to download her memories.

[Mikey]

Having responded to Primal's communication with the alternate-universe contact, Ashok stood on one of the platforms of the Asgard ship's bridge, peering at a playback of the comm on some sort of advanced pict-screen. He had, typically, abandoned his armor for his simple habit, and his head was uncharacteristically bare - his attempt to train himself to completely (if temporarily) block his reliance on psychic abilities through force of will, rather than to just tame them. Without the centering touch of the Shroud of Lemartes on his scalp, however, his anger rose quickly at the sight of the malformed xeno Spathi.

"Disgusting," he muttered. "I am hard-pressed to think of something else to pursue, if it means allowing these abominations to live. What of these 'Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah,' anyway?"

Primal said nothing, but gave a sly look as he pressed a stone on an adjacent bridge console. Ashok's pict-screen wavered and changed to show the image of a great, black, segmented body lined with clawed legs; what was presumably the head was ringed with four manipulative arms and covered with red eye-spots of varying size. It was as if the vilest tyranid the Angel Sanguine had ever seen had been further tainted by the touch of the Warp. His bile rose as he said, "...except that, perhaps. What do we know of their aims?"

"Apparently," the Maximal answered matter-of-factly, "their aims are simple - to completely eradicate anything which isn't them."

"Very well," Ashok answered with an air of finality, as if there was no possibility of a dissenting opinion, "we accept this task. To slaughter these obscenities would be to do the universe a favor." The librarian's eyes began to burn with a smoldering glow, and his fists clenched and teeth ground as he struggled to control the rage inside him. Finally, he turned to Primal with clear eyes and asked, "Is this ship able to create materials for us, like the last one? It would appear that I'll need more Hellfire rounds."

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Primal nodded. "Yesa, it can." He looked back to Fwiffo. "We accept your proposal to aid you against these Ur-Quan, Fwiffo. We can't do anything to aid our teams below at the moment."

Ashok grinned and leaned forward. "Excellent, Primal. We shall annihilate them."

The Maximal snorted. "Don't get too cocky, Ashok. We don't want this to turn into an Autobot Shuttle Massacre."

"A what?" McCarthy asked, brow wrinkling in confusion. "What's an 'Autobot'?"

Primal waved him off. "I'll explain later, or have Rhinox. He's better at stories than I am." he turned to face the hologram again. "Okay, might wanna send us all datatrax on these Ur-Quan, Fwiffo."

[Monroe]

"Data-what?" Fwiffo asked then blinked his one eye before opening and closing his two claw appendages, "You'll help! Oh the Hunams in this universe are just as good friends of Fwiffo as the real hunams! I'll send all my knowledge about the Ur-Quan!"

Primal nodded, "Good, send us when ready."

"They're evil! And... rather rude... and mean. In fact I think its best if I hold this position while you go out to look for--"

"You don't have any information? Their tactical weaknesses, where they might be?" Ashok asked blinking in surprise at the weak willed crawdad before him.

"Tactical weaknesses? Well... when they massacre poor little Spathi they usually stop to collect the bones for their bone pit. The Captain showed me a picture once, I didn't come out of my room for a week. Which was bad since I was navigating the ship through hyperspace and missed the rendezvous point. Hunams get very cranky. Very cranky indeed."

McCarthy sighed, "What about weapons?"

"They're very dangerous."

Primal interrupted the string of curses that came out of McCarthy. "Can you be more specific?"

"Not really..." Fwiffo replied shrugging his shoulders a bit as his one eye looked off to think, "Nope never seen them."

"You've been at war with these people and you don't know what weapons they have?" Ashok asked lifting a hand to his face to cover his expression.

"Well... I may have missed the battles. The Captain always handed out battles to the other races in the alliance. But it did help that I never learned of the battle plans. I think my translator was broken since I always arrived late to the battle or not at all..."

There was a community sigh around the bridge of the O'Neill.


------------

Turok and his four comrades appeared in a flash of light on the planet's surface. He recognized the architecture as Latino but everything was ran down. As the poorest of the Reservations his people could be put on had been left to decay a further twenty years. In the distant a massive blue structure rose above the city scape.

Old news papers and broken cars lined the streets. His team had been inserted into the living district and so it was the most ran down of the city beyond the areas left to the wild life of the other worlds. In the distant an occational check point broke the otherwise bare street. Each building had some strange lock on its door.

The sidewalk next to where they appeared a kid's tricycle with no front wheel lay haphazardly strewn along the crumbling concrete.

"Welcome to Earth." Crewman Cromwell said letting out a small whistle.

Turok turned to Jack, "Where to?"

[Sionnach Glic]

Cain shivered as he re-appeared in an old, empty warehouse, the strange feeling of the transporter wearing off. Just a few seconds later, the radio in the helmet he was wearing snapped harshly into life. A cold, disjointed female voice handing out orders seemingly at random. Cain listened for a moment or two, trying to catch any sort of useful information in the orders as his comrades finished beaming in. However, the presence of one of the Federation's universal translator devices did him little good. Although he could understand the words, the jargon and phrases were strange and unfamiliar.

"...Ongoing sector sweep. Biotics confirmed. Continue surface sector sweep. Remote compliance. Expunge. Seek passive signature imprint. Unit seven mandate sub-level restrictions..."

Cain fiddled with the helmet until he figured out how to turn the damn thing off. It was nothing but a distraction if he couldn't understand it. He turned to his two companions; Jurgen, as always, and an odd tall individual who had asked to be reffered to by rank.

"Let's go." Cain said quietly, the harsh and synthesised sound of his filtered voice surprising him.

Jurgen and the Master Chief, also kitted out in replicated uniforms they had spotted local authorities wearing, nodded and followed silently. As he strode over to a door in the far wall, Cain fidgeted with the scratchy fabric of the uniform. Although it seemed pretty well armoured, it clearly wasn't made with comfort in mind. Still, better than coming down in normal garb and getting standing out like an Ork at a dinner party.

One thing Cain seriously regretted was the loss of his weapons. It had been decided that they'd be a give-away if anyone noticed them, so the team was instead armed with a pistol and submachine gun.

Cautiously, the Chief pushed the door of the warehouse open, leading the three of them out onto an empty, run down street near the coast.

"We need to find wherever the local authorities are operating out of." Cain said, looking around at the ruined buildings. "If our target's with the resistance movement then maybe the authorities have his location recorded."

"Right. But where would we find the HQ?" Jurgen asked, looking at Cain with the helmet's blank eyes.

"That looks like a good direction to start searching." The Chief suggested, pointing at a tall, imposing structure that their orbital recon had pegged as the main base of operations for the military.

Cain nodded silently in agreement, beckoning Jurgen to watch the rear. As they advanced further into the city, Cain began to wonder how the other teams were faring.

[Aaron]

Dietrich peeked her head cautiously around the window frame of an abandoned structure on the edge of the city, they had arranged to be dropped outside of the wire in a tall building in order to recce a way in.

"What do you think?" she muttered to her companions.

The female Kallen shrugged and indicated a series of canals and apparently abandoned warrens that could be glimpsed intermittently through the skyline. "Might be a way in through those."

Iceman had been gazing skyward, "we might be screwed her, those look like the transports or gunships we where warned about". At this he indicated a small group of organic looking aircraft making there way in the teams direction.

"Shit! Everyone find some cover, stay away from the windows and cover the door." Dietrich indicated a rusting but otherwise sturdy looking metal door at the other end of the room and pulled her shotgun out from her coat. She also fumbled the strange looking radio the Starfleet crew had given her and thumbed it on.

"Cain, Primal, this is Dietrich. Looks like my team is pooched, we have aircraft inbound. They must have picked up my PDT or the insertion. We'll lay low and try and avoid them. Might be in for a fight though."


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Phebes, Ashok and two squads of Starfleet crew had squeezed into a salvaged shuttle from the [i]Kirk[/i], the Apothecary cursing under his breath as he seated himself at the pilots station, adjusting his new sword so it wouldn't dent the panel. A crewman who's name he never caught made to protest, at which the Marine merely shook his head. "My friend, I imagine I have far more experience at combat insertion then you do. You may operate the auspex and weapons though, you already know the plan."

He smirked, though it was hidden by his visor as he heard Ashok bashing his head and various gear off the shuttles upper bulkhead. For all the talk of this organizations multi species makeup it appeared that they didn't often encounter beings of their size. Receiving acknowledgement form his fellow party members that they were ready, he signalled to Primal to have the hanger doors opened and gunned the engines to there red line. The shuttle shot from the bay and banked sharply, the hull groaning under the stress.

"You know, these things aren't really designed for thi...." Protested the co-pilot.

"Cease your complaining crewmen, I know what I am doing."

The odd black form of the Xeno vessel began to fill the veiwport as they approached rapidly. "Ready on the weapons?" the Apothecary bellowed.

A meek nod was all he got in reply before a sustained blast ripped a hole in the Xenos ship, immediately followed by the shuttles rapid rotation, ending with the aft troop door facing the newly formed hole, bodies of Thralls floating in the void.

"Brace for collision." Phebes shouted through his helmet vox. Seconds later the shuttle impacted with the Ur-Quan ship, it's momentum pushing it deep in the hole and tearing off the starboard nacelle.

"Blow the door! Everyone out!"

Ashok swiftly hit the manual door release, firing explosive charges and sending the hatch flying across what was apparently the Thralls barracks.

"For Ithaka!" Phebes shouted as he thundered out of the craft, newly replicated sword gleaming in the strange light of the Xenos craft.

[Mikey]

A couple of black Ur-Quan bodies lay scorched and twitching under the slab that had been the rear hatch of the shuttle, but for the moment no other xenos were to be seen. Ashok instantly stepped a few paces into the room along with Phebes, then signalled the Starfleet personnel to take up a pattern behind them. Following the apothecary's example, Ashok had procured a gladius after the fashion of the Ultramarines, and it was in his right hand now; but to his mind it hardly replaced the force staff to which he was so accustomed. A smoldering red glow grew in the librarian's eyes, giving him an eerie cast as it highlighted his pale, drawn face and - as his lips curled back in a rictus of hate - his pronounced incisors. Noticing the light growing in Ashok's eyes, Phebes took a step toward him. "Brother-librarian..."

"I will manage," Ashok said thickly. "It is... difficult. I have always relied on my psychic abilities, and to abandon them feels odd... incomplete. But I have taken oaths to the Emperor, to Sanguinius, to the Angels Sanguine, and to the Deathwatch. I will accomplish my undertaking and fulfill those vows, however I must." Ashok's voice dropped and he continued, "Brother-apothecary, I must ask you to avoid close proximity to me."

Phebes turned, and even his vox-filtered voice registered surprise. "In a boarding action? Brother, the Codex indicates - correctly - that close support is-"

"You don't understand," Ashok interrupted sharply. "With my abilities, I could fight the curse of the Blood Angels and still be an unparalleled warrior. Now, I must succumb to the Rage and use it as my weapon. When that happens, however... there are no battle-brothers, serfs, or allied forces - only targets." The librarian's shoulders slumped under his massive pauldrons and he went on quietly, "You are a proven brother of the renowned Iron Snakes, Brother Phebes, and I mean no disrespect - but in the throes of the Rage, I could kill you three times over before you could raise your bolter. I have no wish to do so. Please stay clear of me."

Phebes was about to retort about the "three times over" comment, but recognized both the seriousness and the self-loathing in Ashok's tone and let the matter drop. He simply nodded and indicated the doors in the left and right walls ahead. He was about to ask the librarian' opinion about which door to choose when the portal in the right-hand wall opened to admit one of the foul xenos, clambering along the wall.

"Guardsme- you!" Ashok called to the Starfleet personnel. "Two ranks, serried fire on all further targets. This one's mine." The Angel Sanguine's bloodthirsty grin further highlighted his vampiric appearance, and his boots dented the floor as he advanced. Raising his bolt pistol left-handed he fired a single shot into the midsection of the caterpillar-like creature. The blot detonated a split-second after impacting the thing's body, filling the xeno creature with hundreds of needles armed with mutagenic acid. The Ur-Quan's body split as its flesh dissoved, and it fell to the floor in two separate steaming pieces. Ashok began to sprint towards the open doorway when one of the Starfleet men yelled a warning.

Before Ashok could change his orientation, a heavy tentacle swung downward from the Ur-Quan who had crept unseen along the ceiling, striking the librarian on the neck and back and sending him sprawling. Two volleys of fire spat from the Starfleet line and vaporized the alien, while Ashok rolled upright from his prone position and dashed into the corridor ahead amidst the shadows of three more of the xenos. His sword flashed in a blur of motion and he disappeared from sight.

"Brother Ashok!" grated Phebes' voice from his helmet speakers. There was no response for a tense moment, then Ashok stepped deliberately from the doorway he'd just entered. His sword was covered in alien ichor, the light in his eyes was now a steady sinister gleam, and his face bore a distrubing feral expression. "Brother-apothecary," he growled with some difficulty, "take the squad... go." He pointed with his pistol at the left-hand door. "Purge every xeno you can find. I- I will meet you here in for- forty-five minutes..." The Starfleet crew made to move toward the closed door but Phebes hesitated. "GO!" Ashok pleaded, then turned with an inhuman snarl and darted down the corridor he'd just come from. His howling voice echoed down the corridor back to the small room, "For Sanguinius and the Emperor! Death! Death!"

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

Arawden hunkered down against the parapet of the rooftop on which he materialized and at once raised his rifle and put the scope to his eye, hissing with disgust at the state of the human city. Scanning the building where Dietrich's team had planned to transport, he finally noticed the woman looking out through a window. Hearing a strange hum from above, he raised the angle of the scope and widened the viewing area. A number of strange, biological-looking aircraft hove into view. He activated his comm unit, struggled to remember the human female's name, and said at last, "Dietrich? There are hostile aircraft inbound to your location."

"I see them. We're gonna be pinned in here, and it's only a matter of time until they come in after us."

"We shall see. Wait for an opportunity to move." Arawden closed the channel and shouldered his rifle.

Dothude uncloaked by the Eldar's shoulder and laughed quietly when he saw where Arawden's scope had been aimed. "You are very confident indeed, my slim friend, if you think that gun can take out those aircraft."

"What I think is that brains are a warrior's most important assett. The immediate priority is to relieve Dietrich's situation." Arawden swung the rifle a few degrees to the left and fired. Dothude began to chuckle again at Arawden's apparent lack of aim as a trash can exploded in a spray of shrapnel a few blocks from Dietrich's location. Almost immediately, the Combine aircraft swung toward the disturbance.

"Now," Arawden said, his smugness filtered by his helmet's speaker, "you are unfortunately correct. I have no weapon capable of dealing with those aircraft."

[Aaron]

"GO! GO! GO!" Dietrich yelled to her team at the explosion of the rubbish bin, the team bolting for the door, Iceman tearing it from it's hinges. The team pounded down the stairs and into a nearby alley. They moved swiftly, keeping buildings between them and the Combine aircraft until they came to what appeared to be an old culvert.

"Looks like we can use this to get closer, it runs in the right direction", Iceman commented.

"Anyone bring a flashlight?", Kallen asked.

A series of heads shaking was the only response.

"We don't have much choice, stay frosty and eyes open. There's probably all kinds of bugs in here." Dietrich levelled her shotgun at the void in front of her and proceeded inside.

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"Are we just going to let him go...um, sir?"

Phebes regarded the nameless man in gold. "He must walk alone for now, we cannot aid him." The Apothecary gestured down the corridor, "come, I wish to capture this ship. Form two columns, you four, watch the rear. I do not wish to be surprised."

The ships lighting was poor, though his auto senses and enhanced sigh penetrated the gloom with ease, helped somewhat by the lamp packs the Starfleet men had on their rifles. Sword in front of him and his bolt pistol in his other hand, he held up a hand as they approached an intersection of corridors. He could hear the muffled sound of creatures trying to conceal their steps and the snuffling of large beasts. As he crept forward, the head of what looked like an ancient terrain animal poked around the corner, eyes widening as it spotted Phebes. Reacting instantly, the Apothecary sheared it's head from it's shoulders and the corridor was quickly illuminated by flashes of laser firing pouring in the direction of the now headless Xeno.

"Warriors to me!" Phebes shouted, the element of stealth no longer required. He threw himself into the corridor as the SF men pounded forward and begin to lay into the massed ranks of Xeno's, all similar in appearance to the one Phebes had slaughtered. Phebes himself was a blur of motion, moving almost to fast for his squad to see. Everywhere his sword flashed or fist raised, a dead alien followed. The men behind him simply fired blind, hoping not to damage the armoured whirlwind. The sound of booming laughter filled the hall, grating from the Astartes helm.

Minutes later it was over, Phebes drenched with alien gore and fluid, the walls painted in a macabre portrait by the strokes of his sword.

"Not a worthy one in the lot", he grunted and gestured for the squad to follow once more.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Primal paced on the O'Neill's bridge. "Report?" he asked.

McCarthy glanced up from his station. "Phebes reports the ship taken. No casualties and... and sir, you're going to wear a trench through the bridge."

The Maximal stopped and focused his optics on McCarthy. "Hah, hah. What about the infiltration teams?"

McCarthy looked back at his PADD and sighed. "Dietrich's last report states her team was compromised, but they were able to evade captire-for now. The others were inserted successfully, but no word as of yet." He shook his head. "I wish I could be there."

"No, your place is here," Primal said, smiling. "Although I know the feeling. Where I come from, I preferred leading the charge against Megatron and his crew."

McCarthy paused for a moment. "Sir... where do you come from? The others have shared their stories somewhat freely, but you and Rhinox, aside from some odd slang, are kinda tight-lipped."

Primal sat down in his modified command chair, lost for a bit in data-retreival. "My homeworld is a planet known as Cybertron. My race was old when most others were young. We strode the stars... until the original Megatron, and the Great War that ensued, tearing our planet apart..."
*****
Rhinox leaned forward as a small holo-projecotr sprang to life. A small arachnid-like mechanical device appeared, waving and hopping around. "Interesting," he muttered.

Ensign Hernandez looked over his shoulder. "Sir?"

Rhinox looked over his shoulder. "Oh, sorry. Just studying some of the datatrax in the O'Neill's files." He stepped back and showed her the hologram. "This is called a 'Replicator'. Nasty piece of engineering." He looked back at it and rubbed his chin. "These things almost took over their Milky Way Galaxy a few times. I sre as Pit wouldn't want to run into them."

[Monroe]

Outaj tallied another mark on the piece of paper next to his communication terminal and sighed. Leaning over he pressed the button he had setup sending the 78th message back to Fwiffo telling the alien to sit tight. He had learned around number twelve what Primal was going to respond with and he was tired of interrupting Primal's story, as he was interested in it much like the Commander was.

Meanwhile on the Spathi Eluder, Fwiffo once again curled up. His large eye swinging around the displays that constantly mocked his approaching doom. One display said '97% Oxygen until you die alone and cold in space' another-- one of the largest, showed the current state of the escape pods. Why weren't the hunams responding? Was it something he did? Had the Ultimate Evil killed them all? Who knew. Poor Fwiffo would die all alone out here in space... unless he did something... it was then that he figured out that maybe the Ultimate Evil would try a small attack hidden in his new found hunam allies. The Ultimate Evil was sneaky and cunning. A subversive attack seemed well within its evil powers.

Fwiffo uncurled from his little ball he had rolled into and began pecking at the controls scanning the Asgarde ship. It was there that he found the ship's sensors passive sensors flickered slightly. Only point seven percent but when all technology on the ship is designed towards Eluding capture scanning the other ship's sensors is a high priority. Several warning signs popped up around Fwiffo saying 'WARNING: DOOM IMMINENT! RUN!' Being one of the most toned down warnings on the ship Fwiffo was still worried. He pondered jumping into the escape pod.

"Please God don't let me die today. Tomorrow would be so much better!" He screamed the traditional Spathi prayer to God. And hit the hailing button once more to the Asgarde ship...

Outaj sighed and marked the 79th time the Spathi tried to contact them and once again hit the recorded message. "Fwiffo I know you're worried but we have everything under control. The Ur-Quan ship is already cleared of enemies. Please don't message us unless you have something important to say."

Fwiffo yelped and pressed it again...

[Deepcrush]

Huron-Fel awoke on board the new vessel. Fully rearmed and ready for battle. Dothude had even helped the mostly human crew attach several small energy weapons to him for use against weak targets. This way he wouldn't have to waste ammo. The crewmen stepped back and called for teleportation.

Huron felt the energy flow over and through him. The sight of the ship disappeared and a new sight formed. He was five meters above the water next to a beach. Then he fell. With a massive splash his Dreadnought body found its way to the water's bottom quickly enough that he was still standing upright. His weight luckily enough didn't sink far in the muck. So much debris was littered that it formed a nice bedding for him to walk on. Making his way to the beach edge while staying in water deep enough not to be seen.

"Attention all units. I have arrived."

Dothude replied quickly. "Stay invisible Big Dead One. The prey scouts the sky."

Huron-Fel sent a single reply ping. Dothude understood, the Big One would be silent until needed.

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Dothude laughed at the Eldar. "Clever for such a little thing. Now, let us provide cover for the exposed team." With that Dothude ran to the edge of the building he and the Eldar were standing on, near silent dispite his size and weight. Without pause he jumped and activated his cloak. Only with the comm-link that everyone had been given could the Eldar know that the large being had cleared the five meter jump.

"Come tiny one!"

[Mikey]

Arawden leaped lightly over the parapet and landed lithely in a crouch, taking cover in a stand of shrub-sized weeds against the building wall until he could get his bearing on the cloaked Yautja's thoughts and comm signal. As Dothude began to head towards Dietrich's team's last location, the Eldar skittered from cover to cover on a course slightly to the right. "You have somewhere else to be?" came Dothude's comm.

"No - what I have is longer-range but lower-caliber firepower than you, my monstrous friend. The last place that prying eyes will look is the building which Dietrich's team just vacated, and it is sufficiently high to cover both squads. Good hunting." Arawden inclined his head toward the Yautja then sprinted off and clambered silently up a rusty fire escape to the roof of the the ramshackle building. Dothude saw a flicker of motion as the Eldar's cloak spread around him, and then nothing. A single squad of Civil Protection police had gone to investigate the source of the aerial drones' interest and stood between Dothude and the culvert for which he was heading. Suddenly, one of the CP's heads exploded like an overripe melon. Searching for the unknown angle from which the shot had come, the other two men spun frantically. One happened to turn the right way only to see his own ribcage flayed open as the heavy slug struck him. The other didn't even see his death as the Yautja's arm-blades gutted him silently. Nodding his appreciation to the rooftop, Dothude cloaked himself again and headed off to support Deitrich's team.

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

Ashok burst back into the room in which they had landed, finding Phebes surrounded by a semicircle of disturbed-looking Starfleet security crew. The Federation personnel thought they had known war, but they didn't know war in the way a Space Marine made it. Ashok glared insensibly at the group of people, and they in turn stared agape at his condition. His armor showed a couple of dents on the pauldrons; his sword, naked in his right hand, was nicked and steamed with Ur-Quan ichor; there were welts all over his head and neck, and blood wept from a couple of old scars; and there was a feral light in his eyes along with a slavering, wild look to his predator's mouth and pronounced incisors. "Your timing-" began one of the Starfleet crew.

Phebes cut him off. "Don't speak to him, or even go near him, until I can attend to him!"

"This is our ally, 'apothecary.' And he doesn't appear to be that badly injured." The ensign turned abck towards Ashok, took a few steps forward, and said, "Are you, 'librarian?'"

The black-armored Angel Sanguine had turned back to inspect the way he had come in. Upon hearing the voice right behind him, Ashok roared, "Traitor! Spawn of Chaos! You will not take our Emperor!" He whipped around impossibly fast, both arms held out. First, the bolt pistol in Ashok's left hand connected with the young man's jaw, sending teeth flying and spinning the man around 180 degrees. Before he could fall, Ashok's sword cleaved into the ensign's shoulder and carved its way down to his groin. Ashok span again as Phebes took one halting step forward.

"Where are we, brother?"

"Primarch, to you," came the response, as Ashok's eyes narrowed and their lambent glow dimmed slightly. "And we are on the traitor Horus' barge, where I will find and kill that daemon-spawn before he may harm our progenitor."

"Well met, then," Phebes answered, choosing his words carefully as they rang toneless from his battle-helm. "Together we shall stop the traitor." As Ashok continued to relax Phebes had inched closer, until he now swung his arm around Ashok's shoulders in a gesture of camaraderie. Just as Ashok was about to answer, Phebes planted an injector firmly in the back of the librarian's neck and sprang clear. Ashok howled for a moment, then dropped to one knee. Finally, his eyes closed as his brain forced itself into a cataleptic state and he fell leaving a debossed outline of his form in the deckplate. Phebes activated the vox-link in his helmet. "Primal? We're ready to come back aboard."

[Reliant121]

Deep within the cavernous bowels of the Vanaheimr, a light flicked into life. Not a ambient light, not the light of a control panel. Not even the dull light of emergency power. But a single button mounted upon a eery, tomb like housing. The room was filled with such housings, however this was the only one closed. The light flicked on and off, casting surreal and disturbing shadows upon the dark walls. Slowly, the flickering stabilized, and the light stopped fluctuating, becoming a soft beacon among the everpresent darkness in the room.

A second light glittered into life. This one was brighter than the first. It too flickered at first, as if it was struggling to gain enough power to run effectively. Mirroring the first, it two stopped flickering and held fast, further illuminating the cold and lifeless room. Within minutes, more buttons and displays sprang into life as the control system automatically drew more power from the main energy grid. The system had, however, been online all this time.

Gently, a soft hissing sound came from the side of the pod. An eery mist slipt effortlessly from within the pod, and billowed out into the small enclosed room, casting further shadows upon the walls. The housing depressurized slowly, exhaling like a breathing creature. Finally, the pressure had equilized.

Suddenly, a sharp flash of light erupted into the pod, like the flash of a camera. As quicky as it had sparked into life, it dissapeared. For a few minutes, there was a lack of movement or action. But, slowly, a figure could be seen as the gases inside began to exchange with those outside the pod. The figure was small, much like the pod. No more than a metre in height. A bulbous head, mounted upon an emaciated body, a slight shadow among the misty air inside.

The door swung open dramatically. And the creature stepped out.

Dagfinnr gently and softly walked over to the control panel near the door. Silently, he accessed the computer systems. Taking in every detail of the ship and its crew, he learned all of what the valiant Vanaheimr had discreetly observed. It seemed that an untold catastrophe had occured. And this ship was the only one that was capable of saving it.

"It will, however, Require an active hyperdrive, to achieve this," Dagfinnr said softly to himself. He was well aware of the silent menace lurking within the ships systems, the lack of surveillance equipment told him so. But he knew how to avoid that hidden threat.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

A small crystal began glowing on McCarthy's console. "Sir, we have an energy spike," he reported to Primal.

The Maximal walked over, rubbing his chin. "What kind?"

McCarthy shook his head. "Not sure. Some equipment powering up... " He shook his head and sighed. "Not telling us much beyond that." A wan smile lit his features. "Actually, that's a standar scenario in Starfleet."

Primal chuckled, then held his left arm out. Panels unfolded as his double-barreled cannon extended with a ca-chink!. I'll assemble a small party and head down to..."

"Sorry," McCarthy said sheepishly, blushign slightly. He examined the data. "Lower decks, deck thirty-nine alpha."

"All right. I'll head down with a four others." Primal turned his cranial unit to the comm officer. "We'll check in at two-minute intervals, Outaj. If we don't... sound general quarters."

Outaj nodded, but rolled his eyes abruptly. "Fwiffo, for god's sake, we're all-"

Primal paused. "Wait, is Fwiffo sending us messages?"

Outaj straightened in his chair. "Yes, why?"

A groan escaped the heavily-armed Maximal. "Take down what he's been trying to tell us and inform McCarthy." He swiveled to McCarthy. "Take appropriate action to whatever Fwiffo's been telling us, understood?"

McCarthy stood up, saluting. "Aye, sir."

Primal shook his head. "Oh, for the days of simply worrying about Mgeatron and his redacons. I miss Waspinator..."

[Aaron]

Phebes regarded the prostate form of Ashok on the shuttles floor as they glided into the Asgard vessel's bay, his Brother was deep in asleep and only time would tell if he managed to emerge from the Black Rage with his mind intact. If not, there wasn't much Phebes could do for him save for restraining him until he was needed.

The shuttle came to rest with a slight bump and the Starfleet squad disembarked, the final member detailed to bring a cart to carry the Librarian to their makeshift infirmary. As he waited the Apothecary amused himself by studying the hanger bay and committing the layout to memory, he almost missed the slight movement in a corner, near to what he understood to be an Asgard shuttle.

Curious, as no one else should be in the area, he flicked on his shoulder lamp and highlighted the object as he closed in on it. It appeared to be a large metallic spider made up of small blocks. As he watched it scuttled around the area, occasionally pausing to investigate a nearby panel or object. Though Phebes was not sure what it was or whether it was a function of their current ship, he decided that he could not let it wander unsupervised. Drawing his sword, he raised it high above his head and brought it down swiftly on the spider, striking it with the flat of his blade. The creature let out an unintelligible series of noises and then collapsed on the deck, small blocks scattering off it's limbs.

The Apothecary keyed his Vox with a thought and selected the bridge frequency, "Phebes to bridge, I have found something in the hanger. Please turn your pict-screen to my frequency and observe the image I am sending you." At this he centered the metal spider in his lamp beam and switched his camera to transmit.