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Chapter 44: Odyssey at Mars
0 reviewsCaptain’s log, Stardate 57657.3 - We have arrived at Mars
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Unhuman
Chapter 44: Odyssey at Mars
Captain’s log, Stardate 57657.3 - We have arrived at Mars, a planet in the same system as the legendary planet Earth. Mars has been converted into the home world of a cybernetic species known as: the Borg. I met a member of this race on Kobol: 1 of Six, who had been a model Six Cylon before she joined the Borg. I must confess, I found her appearance with mechanical parts more than a little disturbing. And I am told they were once enemies of the Federation in the Argos Universe. But in this universe, they are members of the Federation. I can only hope they prove worthy of our trust. Because we are dependent on them to install a series of upgrades on our ship to attempt bring it closer to Federation standards, as well as repair damage incurred when we were on the run from the Cylons.
Mars Orbit - Cruiserstar Odyssey - C&C
“Report!” Commanded Captain Penelope Illyria.
“DRADIS shows two Basestars with Federation transponder signals as well as two large structures in orbit,” reported Lieutenant Mikrieri. One is cubic, the other appears to be a shipyard.”
“Captain, we are being hailed,” reported Lieutenant Persa.
“On speaker,” Commanded Illyria.
What came our of the speaker sounded like thousands of voices speaking in unison. In addition, they could hear these voices in their heads.
“We are the Borg. Your ship will be adapted to serve our Federation. A pilot will be sent to guide your ship into the shipyard. You will yield control of your ship to us.”
Suddenly there was a tinkling sound as a transporter beam started to materialize a humanoid shape. It was much slower that the ones they had experienced when visiting Kobol. When they were there, they had been transported by the more advanced Medeusan version of the technology. The beam solidified in an amalgam of man and machine. This Borg had been made from a model One Cylon. His left arm had been replaced by a claw-like mechanical one. His left Eye replacement protruded prominently from his face. His body was covered in a black skin-tight body suit with various mechanical devices protruding. He walked over to the helm and unceremoniously pulled Lieutenant Larsun from his seat, giving himself access to the controls.
“We are being hailed by the Base ship,” reported Lieutenant Persa.
“I’ll get it here,” said Illyria, as she picked up the receiver.
“Are you enjoying Borg hospitality yet?” said a familiar female voice.
“What can I do for you Captain?” asked Illyria. She knew that the other captain was a model Six from her voice. And it didn’t cost here anything to be polite and use her title. The Cylons were supposed to be at peace with them and part of the same Federation.
“I can tell from your voice one of my sisters has wronged you. I’m Captain Sarah Six on the Basestar Eris. And I apologize for the misdeeds of my sisters. But we’re all Federation now. Look, I know the Borg can be terribly dull. Your crew are going to be bored to tears if they stay on the Mars colony the whole time your ship is being re-built. So I’m inviting your crew to come aboard the Eris for some R&R. We can give you a tour of our ship, throw a few parties, and even show you the sights in this system. What do you say?”
“I’ll send a Raptor over as soon as we’re in the shipyard. Illyria, Out” After hanging up the receiver, she turned to her 1st Officer. “They want to invite us over for R&R. What to you think?”
“It could be a friendly invitation from a Federation ship . . . or it could be a trap,” said Moore.
“Why don’t you and a squad of MACOS go accept their invitation after we’re in the slip?” commanded Illyria. “If it’s safe, call me and tell me that you’d like to share a drink with me over there.”
“Aye Captain,” said Moore. “I’ll get right on that.”
After the ship was guided into the slip, the Borg pilot turned to Illyria.
“Your crew is not needed for the upgrade. We have limited in recreational facilities,” said the Borg. “Your crew may spend the interval of our upgrade either on the planet or visiting the Base ships.”
“Thank you. I was just going to send some people over to the Eris,” replied Illyria.
“All personnel should be evacuated during the upgrade phase,” replied the Borg.
“Wait a minute! You can’t just order us off the ship!” exclaimed Illyria.
The Borg responded by walking over to the subspace transceiver control panel. A filament shot out of his artificial arm into the control panel. Suddenly the Admiral’S voice was on the speakers.
“Captain Illyria, one of my Borg subordinates says you have concerns. Is there a problem?” Asked Fleet Admiral Adama.
“Sir, the Borg want us to evacuate the ship,” reported Illyria.
“Go ahead and do that,” commanded Adama. “They may be exposing the inside of the ship to vacuum during the refit and don’t want your people in the way. I suggest you take advantage of this time to visit the planet and get to know the people on the Eris.”
“Aye sir,” replied Captain Illyria, before turning to her crew. “You heard the Admiral, let’s start sending people down to the planet.”
Commander Moore sat in the co-pilot’s seat as they pulled the Raptor into the landing bay of the Basestar. Once they had landed, they had to wait while the bay was re-pressurized. After the light turned green, the light came on, and the door in front of them opened. A blonde Model Six Cylon in a Starfleet uniform and a pair of Centurions that had Starfleet uniforms painted on, as well as their names painted on their chests.
“Welcome aboard! You must be Commander Moore. I’m Captain Sarah Six. These two will see that your ship gets refueled while I give you the tour. Come with me.”
Hesitantly, Moore led the MACOS through the ship. He was relieved that there was no attempt to take their weapons away from them.
“The Borg don’t have much in the way of recreational facilities on the planet,” explained Captain Six as she lead them through the corridors of the Base ship. “This is in part because they are a group mind and any pleasure that one of them feels, they all feel. So they do have a small bar where a few of them can kick back and relax. But only a few of them need use it at any one time. As a result we have had to expand our own shipboard amenities. We have rec rooms where each model can relax and socialize with only their own brothers or sisters. But while you’re here, we’ll open up access so your people can use any of them. We don’t have enough racks for all your people at once, but we’re going to make them ‘hot bunks’ while you’re here. Tell your people that can sleep in any free rack they find.”
As they toured the Base ship, Commander Moore was relieved to see that the various Twos, Threes, Sixes, Eights and Centurions he saw walking the hall were all wearing Starfleet uniforms. Her tour was pretty thorough and ended up in their version of a control room.
“Now that you’ve seen our ship, I expect you’ll want to call your captain and report,” said Captain Six, as she stuck her hand in the water tray. “I’ve activated the Com. You can speak and they’ll hear you on the Odyssey.”
“Captain, can you hear me?” asked Moore.
“Loud and clear Commander,” replied the voice of Captain Illyria. “How is it over there?”
“It looks safe here,” reported Moore. “They have some rooms set aside for recreation. I’d like to share a drink with you over here.”
“Understood,” replied Illyria. “I’d like to speak with their captain.”
“I’m here, Captain Illyria,” replied Captain Six.
“Captain, do you have an suggestions about how we proceed with this?” asked Illyria.
“They’ll probably want to upgrade your Raptors too,” replied Captain Six. “You have a small landing bay. I suggest you have your pilot bring back the one you sent here and take all your Raptors outside and tether them to the ship. That will make room for our Heavy Raiders to come over and ferry your people over here.”
“Acknowledged,” said Illyria. “Commander Moore, make it so.”
Captain Illyria went on the last Heavy Raider to ferry her people over to the Eris. After her tour of the Basestar, its’ captain brought her to the recreation room usually reserved for the Sixes. But now, in addition to the model Six Cylons of every shade of hair colour, there was also a number of her people enjoying the room, which was laid out in tables and chairs with a bar on the near end of the room.
Captain Illyria, her 1st Officer: Commander Moore, Captain Sarah Six and her 1st officer: Commander Cynthia Six were sharing a table.
“It’s a nice ship you have here captain,” said Illyria. “But I don’t want you to spend all of your time entertaining me. You have a ship to run. Do you have any suggestions as to what to do while we are here?”
“Well, there’s not much point in touring the Borg facilities,” said Captain Six. “There’s not much to see. But there are some interesting geological features on the planet below. The most interesting one is the Pyramids of Elysium. Also we could take the Eris to the other planets in the system. As long as we stay in system, we’re still guarding things here. The most interesting planets to see are Venus and Earth, both of which, like Mars, have been Terraformed. I say Mars was terraformed but it’s much to cold to go our without a flight suit. Venus and Earth, however, are warm enough you can wear normal clothes. Earth has been planted with a variety of plants from Kobol and the Colonies. And Venus has been planted by the Talosians and Medeusans with plants from their home planet. Both worlds are mostly bare, but we could go visit the planted areas. Other than that, there‘ just the rec rooms on our ship.”
Mars - Elysium Plain
Captain Illyria, along with a group of her crew were in a Heavy Raider, piloted by a model Eight. All of them were in flight suits.
“If you look down there, when the light hits it right, that mountain looks a little like a face,” said Lieutenant Cho Eight. “But the really interesting thing here is the Pyramids.”
Captain Illyria looked where the pilot was pointing. There was a cluster of four-sided pyramids, the size of mountains. They weren’t perfect. Time had worn off and broken off bits of them.
“Are they a natural formation?” asked Illyria.
“We thought so at first,” replied Eight. “But they’re made of transparent aluminum. You just can’t tell because they are so scratched up.”
After they landed at the base of one, they walked over close enough that they could touch it. It was covered in scratches, some deep, other as fine as hair. But if you looked closely, you could see minuscule patches that were still clear, but too small to see through.
“Does anyone know how old this is?” asked Illyria, via radio.
“The Borg have estimated that their are about 3 billion years old,” replied Eight.
“Three billion years . . . So someone was here to build this 3 billion years ago,” said Illyria. “I wonder what happened to them?”
“No one knows . . .” replied Eight.
Earth
Earth . . . it wasn’t a myth, it was a real place! And now Captain Illyria was standing on it’s surface looking out at a field full of tiny seedling trees . . . Someday this planet would have enough life to support a colony . . . . Someday, there would be enough humans to establish that colony . . .
“Someday . . .” said Illyria as she looked across the field of tiny seedling trees and felt the wind of Earth blowing on her face.
Captain’s log, Stardate 57747.4 - The Borg have completed the upgrade of the Odyssey. Our computers have ben replaced by more sophisticated duotronic computers. Our DRADIS has been replaced with sensors. Our sickbay has an Emergency Medical Hologram available if needed. Our missile tubes have been replaced with photon torpedo launchers. We have a dozen each on the back, the belly and bow of the ship with plenty of torpedoes to launch from them. Our lateral guns have been retained. But we have a forward Laser weapon that, while not as powerful as a phaser canon, can still be useful in combat. Our Raptors have also been upgraded with an improved sensor package and a pair of photon torpedo launchers.
Our next destination is the planet Tarquinus, where we will meet the locals and show the flag a bit. The Fleet Admiral wants us to be permanent stationed in this end of the galaxy, though he has promised that we will be able to return to Kobol periodically for shore leave.
Captain Penelope Illyria
1st Officer - Commander Ronald Moore
DRADIS operator - Lieutenant Terry Carter
Communications Officer - Lieutenant Sorbo
Helm - Lieutenant Larsun
Raptor Pilot -‘Lieutenant Jon ‘Small Hands’ Smytha
Raptor Sensor Specialist - Lieutenant Margareta ‘Shorty’ Cody
Chapter 44: Odyssey at Mars
Captain’s log, Stardate 57657.3 - We have arrived at Mars, a planet in the same system as the legendary planet Earth. Mars has been converted into the home world of a cybernetic species known as: the Borg. I met a member of this race on Kobol: 1 of Six, who had been a model Six Cylon before she joined the Borg. I must confess, I found her appearance with mechanical parts more than a little disturbing. And I am told they were once enemies of the Federation in the Argos Universe. But in this universe, they are members of the Federation. I can only hope they prove worthy of our trust. Because we are dependent on them to install a series of upgrades on our ship to attempt bring it closer to Federation standards, as well as repair damage incurred when we were on the run from the Cylons.
Mars Orbit - Cruiserstar Odyssey - C&C
“Report!” Commanded Captain Penelope Illyria.
“DRADIS shows two Basestars with Federation transponder signals as well as two large structures in orbit,” reported Lieutenant Mikrieri. One is cubic, the other appears to be a shipyard.”
“Captain, we are being hailed,” reported Lieutenant Persa.
“On speaker,” Commanded Illyria.
What came our of the speaker sounded like thousands of voices speaking in unison. In addition, they could hear these voices in their heads.
“We are the Borg. Your ship will be adapted to serve our Federation. A pilot will be sent to guide your ship into the shipyard. You will yield control of your ship to us.”
Suddenly there was a tinkling sound as a transporter beam started to materialize a humanoid shape. It was much slower that the ones they had experienced when visiting Kobol. When they were there, they had been transported by the more advanced Medeusan version of the technology. The beam solidified in an amalgam of man and machine. This Borg had been made from a model One Cylon. His left arm had been replaced by a claw-like mechanical one. His left Eye replacement protruded prominently from his face. His body was covered in a black skin-tight body suit with various mechanical devices protruding. He walked over to the helm and unceremoniously pulled Lieutenant Larsun from his seat, giving himself access to the controls.
“We are being hailed by the Base ship,” reported Lieutenant Persa.
“I’ll get it here,” said Illyria, as she picked up the receiver.
“Are you enjoying Borg hospitality yet?” said a familiar female voice.
“What can I do for you Captain?” asked Illyria. She knew that the other captain was a model Six from her voice. And it didn’t cost here anything to be polite and use her title. The Cylons were supposed to be at peace with them and part of the same Federation.
“I can tell from your voice one of my sisters has wronged you. I’m Captain Sarah Six on the Basestar Eris. And I apologize for the misdeeds of my sisters. But we’re all Federation now. Look, I know the Borg can be terribly dull. Your crew are going to be bored to tears if they stay on the Mars colony the whole time your ship is being re-built. So I’m inviting your crew to come aboard the Eris for some R&R. We can give you a tour of our ship, throw a few parties, and even show you the sights in this system. What do you say?”
“I’ll send a Raptor over as soon as we’re in the shipyard. Illyria, Out” After hanging up the receiver, she turned to her 1st Officer. “They want to invite us over for R&R. What to you think?”
“It could be a friendly invitation from a Federation ship . . . or it could be a trap,” said Moore.
“Why don’t you and a squad of MACOS go accept their invitation after we’re in the slip?” commanded Illyria. “If it’s safe, call me and tell me that you’d like to share a drink with me over there.”
“Aye Captain,” said Moore. “I’ll get right on that.”
After the ship was guided into the slip, the Borg pilot turned to Illyria.
“Your crew is not needed for the upgrade. We have limited in recreational facilities,” said the Borg. “Your crew may spend the interval of our upgrade either on the planet or visiting the Base ships.”
“Thank you. I was just going to send some people over to the Eris,” replied Illyria.
“All personnel should be evacuated during the upgrade phase,” replied the Borg.
“Wait a minute! You can’t just order us off the ship!” exclaimed Illyria.
The Borg responded by walking over to the subspace transceiver control panel. A filament shot out of his artificial arm into the control panel. Suddenly the Admiral’S voice was on the speakers.
“Captain Illyria, one of my Borg subordinates says you have concerns. Is there a problem?” Asked Fleet Admiral Adama.
“Sir, the Borg want us to evacuate the ship,” reported Illyria.
“Go ahead and do that,” commanded Adama. “They may be exposing the inside of the ship to vacuum during the refit and don’t want your people in the way. I suggest you take advantage of this time to visit the planet and get to know the people on the Eris.”
“Aye sir,” replied Captain Illyria, before turning to her crew. “You heard the Admiral, let’s start sending people down to the planet.”
Commander Moore sat in the co-pilot’s seat as they pulled the Raptor into the landing bay of the Basestar. Once they had landed, they had to wait while the bay was re-pressurized. After the light turned green, the light came on, and the door in front of them opened. A blonde Model Six Cylon in a Starfleet uniform and a pair of Centurions that had Starfleet uniforms painted on, as well as their names painted on their chests.
“Welcome aboard! You must be Commander Moore. I’m Captain Sarah Six. These two will see that your ship gets refueled while I give you the tour. Come with me.”
Hesitantly, Moore led the MACOS through the ship. He was relieved that there was no attempt to take their weapons away from them.
“The Borg don’t have much in the way of recreational facilities on the planet,” explained Captain Six as she lead them through the corridors of the Base ship. “This is in part because they are a group mind and any pleasure that one of them feels, they all feel. So they do have a small bar where a few of them can kick back and relax. But only a few of them need use it at any one time. As a result we have had to expand our own shipboard amenities. We have rec rooms where each model can relax and socialize with only their own brothers or sisters. But while you’re here, we’ll open up access so your people can use any of them. We don’t have enough racks for all your people at once, but we’re going to make them ‘hot bunks’ while you’re here. Tell your people that can sleep in any free rack they find.”
As they toured the Base ship, Commander Moore was relieved to see that the various Twos, Threes, Sixes, Eights and Centurions he saw walking the hall were all wearing Starfleet uniforms. Her tour was pretty thorough and ended up in their version of a control room.
“Now that you’ve seen our ship, I expect you’ll want to call your captain and report,” said Captain Six, as she stuck her hand in the water tray. “I’ve activated the Com. You can speak and they’ll hear you on the Odyssey.”
“Captain, can you hear me?” asked Moore.
“Loud and clear Commander,” replied the voice of Captain Illyria. “How is it over there?”
“It looks safe here,” reported Moore. “They have some rooms set aside for recreation. I’d like to share a drink with you over here.”
“Understood,” replied Illyria. “I’d like to speak with their captain.”
“I’m here, Captain Illyria,” replied Captain Six.
“Captain, do you have an suggestions about how we proceed with this?” asked Illyria.
“They’ll probably want to upgrade your Raptors too,” replied Captain Six. “You have a small landing bay. I suggest you have your pilot bring back the one you sent here and take all your Raptors outside and tether them to the ship. That will make room for our Heavy Raiders to come over and ferry your people over here.”
“Acknowledged,” said Illyria. “Commander Moore, make it so.”
Captain Illyria went on the last Heavy Raider to ferry her people over to the Eris. After her tour of the Basestar, its’ captain brought her to the recreation room usually reserved for the Sixes. But now, in addition to the model Six Cylons of every shade of hair colour, there was also a number of her people enjoying the room, which was laid out in tables and chairs with a bar on the near end of the room.
Captain Illyria, her 1st Officer: Commander Moore, Captain Sarah Six and her 1st officer: Commander Cynthia Six were sharing a table.
“It’s a nice ship you have here captain,” said Illyria. “But I don’t want you to spend all of your time entertaining me. You have a ship to run. Do you have any suggestions as to what to do while we are here?”
“Well, there’s not much point in touring the Borg facilities,” said Captain Six. “There’s not much to see. But there are some interesting geological features on the planet below. The most interesting one is the Pyramids of Elysium. Also we could take the Eris to the other planets in the system. As long as we stay in system, we’re still guarding things here. The most interesting planets to see are Venus and Earth, both of which, like Mars, have been Terraformed. I say Mars was terraformed but it’s much to cold to go our without a flight suit. Venus and Earth, however, are warm enough you can wear normal clothes. Earth has been planted with a variety of plants from Kobol and the Colonies. And Venus has been planted by the Talosians and Medeusans with plants from their home planet. Both worlds are mostly bare, but we could go visit the planted areas. Other than that, there‘ just the rec rooms on our ship.”
Mars - Elysium Plain
Captain Illyria, along with a group of her crew were in a Heavy Raider, piloted by a model Eight. All of them were in flight suits.
“If you look down there, when the light hits it right, that mountain looks a little like a face,” said Lieutenant Cho Eight. “But the really interesting thing here is the Pyramids.”
Captain Illyria looked where the pilot was pointing. There was a cluster of four-sided pyramids, the size of mountains. They weren’t perfect. Time had worn off and broken off bits of them.
“Are they a natural formation?” asked Illyria.
“We thought so at first,” replied Eight. “But they’re made of transparent aluminum. You just can’t tell because they are so scratched up.”
After they landed at the base of one, they walked over close enough that they could touch it. It was covered in scratches, some deep, other as fine as hair. But if you looked closely, you could see minuscule patches that were still clear, but too small to see through.
“Does anyone know how old this is?” asked Illyria, via radio.
“The Borg have estimated that their are about 3 billion years old,” replied Eight.
“Three billion years . . . So someone was here to build this 3 billion years ago,” said Illyria. “I wonder what happened to them?”
“No one knows . . .” replied Eight.
Earth
Earth . . . it wasn’t a myth, it was a real place! And now Captain Illyria was standing on it’s surface looking out at a field full of tiny seedling trees . . . Someday this planet would have enough life to support a colony . . . . Someday, there would be enough humans to establish that colony . . .
“Someday . . .” said Illyria as she looked across the field of tiny seedling trees and felt the wind of Earth blowing on her face.
Captain’s log, Stardate 57747.4 - The Borg have completed the upgrade of the Odyssey. Our computers have ben replaced by more sophisticated duotronic computers. Our DRADIS has been replaced with sensors. Our sickbay has an Emergency Medical Hologram available if needed. Our missile tubes have been replaced with photon torpedo launchers. We have a dozen each on the back, the belly and bow of the ship with plenty of torpedoes to launch from them. Our lateral guns have been retained. But we have a forward Laser weapon that, while not as powerful as a phaser canon, can still be useful in combat. Our Raptors have also been upgraded with an improved sensor package and a pair of photon torpedo launchers.
Our next destination is the planet Tarquinus, where we will meet the locals and show the flag a bit. The Fleet Admiral wants us to be permanent stationed in this end of the galaxy, though he has promised that we will be able to return to Kobol periodically for shore leave.
Captain Penelope Illyria
1st Officer - Commander Ronald Moore
DRADIS operator - Lieutenant Terry Carter
Communications Officer - Lieutenant Sorbo
Helm - Lieutenant Larsun
Raptor Pilot -‘Lieutenant Jon ‘Small Hands’ Smytha
Raptor Sensor Specialist - Lieutenant Margareta ‘Shorty’ Cody
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