Difference between revisions of "Broken Hearts and Shattered Minds"

Latest revision as of 08:44, 25 November 2013

The holo emitter finishes gaining its charge and the projection of a young girl appears, grainy at first before stabilizing. It appears to be a young Lorelei. Given her normally young appearance, the projection could be assumed to be anywhere between 7 and 12. "You will do no such thing" it emitted, "You attempt to disconnect this emitter from the network while Lorelei is plugged in you could destroy Her as well as the entire ships network." she said before skipping over to Xanya "Hello Ma'am" she said with a rather unusual smile for her.

Xanya smiles back to Lore. "Hello there lore. How are you doing today?" She asks to the lore holo. then turns to Obsidian. "calm down sir. Lore is a crew member just like the rest of us."

Varal stabs a piece of meat with his fork. watching the Phyrrian and projection with mild interest.

Kethren wanders back in, tapping away on his pda again, and looks surprised for a moment to see so many people in the mess, then has a seat right back where he used to be.

Obsidian cocks his head and steps back from the emitter, shaking his head back and forth as he does. "Unable to process data," he growls, "Threat is withdrawn. Unable to process data." He falls back into his chair with a PLOMP, holding his head with his paws as he tries to understand what he's seeing.

The projection of Lorelei looks about for a moment. "The holo system has been slightly altered for the time being to allow for more vivid, and broader projection capabilities. It is attempting to modify the system to function more as a holo strip, extending between the cabins of the vessel. Holo-Lore looked over towards Obsidian. "Ahh yes, you." she said softly, "It did not understand what you were when It first set It's eyes on you." she said, "Are you entirely machine?" she asked curiously. "Or do you also contain living material?" she said as the projection bounced closer with a curious look.

Xanya Smiles and watches lore for a moment. She also waves to Kethren as he arrives. but keeps her eyes more to Lore and her actions.

Kethren nods to Xan, then gets up and grumbles his way to the kitchen. A moment later he returns with a fresh cup of coffee, the previous one having apparently been claimed by the ninja nurse.

Obsidian fixes his gaze on the projection, his body whirring furiously as he makes the connections between the hologram he saw earlier and the hologram that's standing in front of him. "Statement: I am Obsidian, designation Obs1-D1an, and I am Phyrrian. I am completely machine. I am composed of steel and synthetic material." He frowns as he looks at the little girl. "Observation: You are not composed of solid material. You are a holographic projection, and yet you are capable of speech. Observation: You also mention Lorelei." He cocks his head slightly, his gaze still on the girl. "Statement: This unit was not aware that you were connected with Lorelei."

Varal simply chews, not appearing particularly fond of the Phyrrian or the hologram.

Xanya gets up and walks towards the kitchen as well. She orders a strawberry milkshake and waits for it to be ready before heading back to the table.

Vessa steps back into the room, apparently having been called away on something or other and blinks at how busy it got, "Uh wow, hey all."

The Lore-Holo smiles slightly, as she looks up at Obsidian. "How It would love to look about inside your internal network" she said as she moved closer, the holo's eyes scrambling slightly as an obscene amount of code blitzed by behind them. Immediately following, a red beam emitted from the projector and seemed to 'scan' Obsidian. "You have yet to have a file in the database" she emitted, "Disappointing". the projection flickered slightly before emitting both here and through the intercom.

"Attention Crew: Aft Storage Room 3 is off limits until further notice. That is all" she looks to Varal for a moment before emitting, "It isn’t a bad thing" she projected, "It cant help how It's father made her" she said. "You're not the first to despise it. Though It must express its thanks as at least you did not try to vent it into space or kill it..."

From the overhead speakers: Attention Crew: Aft Storage Room 3 is off limits until further notice. That is all.

Kethren sips his coffee and waves at Vessa.

Xanya gets her strawberry milkshake from the kitchen and walks back to the table.

Obsidian stands stiff as he's 'scanned' by the projection, aware that the Leader has entered the Hall but still focused on the girl. "Human female Vessa," he growls, "Report: Breach of computer network by female Lorelei. Unable to determine where breach occurred. Other systems appear to be operational. Program 'Lore' has exerted control over the hologram emitter and speakers."

Varal smiles at the hologram. It's not a particularly pleasant expression. "I obey the rules and mandates of the places I am at. It's prudent and polite. My own personal belief is that you, and the artificial dragon, ought to be terminated in lieu of being allowed to exist. But those are not the norms of the place, so as long as you give me no overt legal excuse, you have nothing to fear from me."

Eyebrows shooting up at the odd situation Vessa nods, "Yeah she does that. She integrates to the ship and has played havoc with Engineering." she shrugs and steps further inside and gets her coffee back, "Morning Lore," Varal gets a blink, "Uh thanks for not trying to kill my daughter or my crew. How is chow this morning?"

Xanya smiles and nods to Vessa. "yes where having an interesting bunch here. you sure know who to add to the crew." She says with a wink to vessa.

The Lore Holo blinks out for a moment and then back in. "Dammit" it projects before blinking out.

Kethren sips his coffee slowly, not really noticing what's going on around him.

"The food is fine," Varal says mildly. "Ship food is ship food, after all, although it seems you are good at picking up fresh provisions when you stop." He looks at Xanya a moment. "I am far from a permanent crew member. Security consultant and interested spectator for the duration of this exploratory mission, or someone decides I ought not tag along anymore."

Xanya nods to Varal. "I'm sorry I thought you were the latest addition to our crew." She says and bows a bit apologizing then she looks back up to Vessa. "are we going on an other exploration trip again?" She asks to Vessa while looking around to see where lore went to. and if she comes back or not.

The lore holo returns a few moments later. "Ma'am" she says softly, "Will you please bring up your PDA?" she said sounding a bit perturbed, odd for a holo that appears about 7.

Vessa grins at Xan, "Hey, all of you guys are great. I figure that anyone new could learn the awesome from all of you, right Keth?" she smiles to Varal, "I try and make certain that there is always enough fresh to provide what my crew needs. And that it is cooked by people who know their way around a kitchen. I appreciate the assistance on this exploratory mission greatly." she blinks as Lore pops back up, "Sure." pulling out her PDA she turns it on and waits.

Varal nods to Vessa, and then to Xanya. "No harm done. To be honest, I feel as though were I a long term addition I would likely be a complication, given enough time. But for short term consulting work, there should be no problem."

Kethren has a long sip of his coffee, then pulls out his pda, to tap away at something or other.

Vessa blinks at her pda, concentrates a moment then sighs and stands, "I think I have to take care of something." sighing she rubs her temples and grins, "Be back in a bit." she considers Varal a moment, "You might be right but for now you are an excellent addition." nodding to everyone she starts heading out.

The Lorelei hologram fades out after Vessa begins to head out, though the emitter does not shut down.

Xanya stands up and moves over to Vessa to look at her pda and what lore has put on it but finds out she is to late. "Oh darn." She says and snaps her fingers. then drinks a bit from her strawberry milkshake.

Varal looks down at his food, taking a bite, before looking at Xanya. "Problem?"

Kethren sighs and pulls the holo-tudor mansion back out of his PDA, and starts to idly nudge windows around.

Xanya shakes her head to Varal. "It's nothing. no problem. I have just been curious as to what Lorelei does ever since yesterday." She says and sits back down.

Varal nods slowly to Xanya. "That Lorelei seems an odd one. What's her story, exactly?"

Kethren nudges the holo-roof and walls around a bit, trying to squeeze a little more space in without making it look less than amazing.

Xanya lets out a long sighs and starts to think about Varals question. "oh boy that’s a good one. I'm not even sure I know everything. I do know that.... she was.... ahm... had... a troubled live before she got rifted to this world. Not sure how else to put it." She says looking up. then she looks down. "I know a thing or two about what happened. and.... " She shakes her head to get ride of the thoughts and starts to drink from her milkshake.

"And Ms. Harden has adopted her, then?" Varal asks.

Kethren keeps poking around his hologram, not wanting to interrupt.

Xanya nods to Varal. "Yes she did. Thankfully. Vessa is great to her. She is going to be a perfect mom to Lore." Xanya says with a smile apearing on her face.

Almost as if on queue, the holo projector lights back up, the Holo Lore being projected once again. "Sir"she says softly, "If you are curious" she begins. She looks down. "Lorelei does not remember it all, too much data loss from the damage to the implant from a trans-dimensional rift jump" she said as she pointed to the back of her head, the hologram's head however, did not seem to have a visible implant. "It was called Project: Desert Bird, and was unit number 0227. The first subject deemed a complete success to advance the human mind to a clear point of psychic power. Several subjects achieved minor abilities, but Lorelei was the only one that it is aware of, to survive as long as it did." she said "She was created by inserting a large series of sockets into her brain spine and various portions of her body, all networked to her central nervous system." she continued

As she explained, the holo girl's body manifested these sockets, looking much more like a patient at a hospital now, her 'attire' looking like scrubs. "Lorelei's mind was altered by use of electronic stimulus, negative re-enforcement and cerebral programing to stimulate growth as Dr. Rose desired. He took extra care to make sure Lorelei was given the most 'intense' treatment, not showing favor to his own child.

Varal puts some food in his mouth, nodding. He chews slowly before swallowing. "I see. And so what brought you to the Danu Chroi?" The 'you' seems open in this case, referring to Xanya and Lorelei.

Kethren looks up from his work for a moment "Well, while I can't vouch for Lore's decision to join, I was there when Vessa found her. Barely surviving on the streets, and in severe need of surgery. She wouldn't have been alive much longer if we hadn't found her when we did. Not to say I did much, I'm no medic. All I could do for the situation was make some soup and seek out a qualified medical professional while Vessa carried Lore up to the Cro's med bay. No idea why Xan joined, she was with the org before I rifted in." he then has another sip of coffee and gets back to work on the holo-housing.

Xanya looks to holo-Lore and listens to her story. "wow, lore. I never knew that much. and.... you say his own child. does that mean that Dr. Rose was...." She can get herself to finish the question. She puts her milkshake down and it wiggles around a bit before coming to a halt. She then closes her eyes and covers her faces with her hands.

Holo-Lore nods. "Lorelei's father....and creator. Yes Ma'am" she said. "When Lorelei could no longer take all of the pain and anguish, she wished to get away. Somehow, she managed to teleport her self out of the facility on earth despite the neurally linked shock collar. It brought a good section of the room with her to the place known as Comorro Station....It was soon attacked by a chain of bounty hunters for a murder It never committed.”

Varal taps the table. "Oh. I think I remember that."

Kethren nods "Rifted onto Comorro myself. Didn't have quite such a dramatic welcome though."

Xanya still has her face covered. not responding to anything.

Lorelei's Holo just nods "Lorelei's data banks of her time in the verse here, are a tad janky. But remembers that It was dieing. Then...It was here aboard this ship and It began to experience complete recall of it's design and capabilities.

"Few people had a pleasant experience when they rifted in. I certainly did not," Varal says, staring at the hologram curiously. "It, or her?"

Kethren looks thoughtful "Mine wasn't that bad, really. Apart from suddenly finding myself in a new universe, really. Before I could even start to get my bearings, Vessa found me, and felt I'd be useful." Xanya still has her face covered with both her hands. Now however she starts to take deep breaths.

Lorelei's Holo looks to Varal. "It has a hard time using designations requested by Miss Vessa and the others. If it referred to it self as anything but an object...Dr. Rose would place it in the small room for an entire day.

"Huh," Varal says, eating some more food. "Maybe he had a point."

Kethren has another sip of coffee and gets back to work.

Xanya smacks both her hands down on the table. Her right cybernetic arm not only smashing the half empty milkshake into mush but also causing a crack on the table. "WHAT did you say!?" She ask "NO living intelligent being should be called an object. NO one deserves to be treated the way Lore has been!" She basically yells at Varal. She then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Then she opens them and looks to lore and Kethren. "I'm sorry for my outburst." She says apologizing to Lore and Kethren. Xanya then steps away from the table. "If you two will excuse me." She says to lore and Kethren and walks away towards the exit of the mess hall.

Lorelei's holo projection lowered its head and nodded. "Y...yes sir. He did." she said, "After all. It is just a thing. Property of his, and now..Miss Ves." her sentence is cut off by Xanya's sudden outburst, the holo now staring at its feet.

Varal does his best to appear unfazed by Xanya, but it's obvious that he's a little vexed and perhaps slightly embarrassed. He says nothing, focusing on finishing his meal.

Kethren looks up seriously at holo-Lore "Lore, whatever he made you think, you /are/ a person, and have as much right to live your own life as anyone else. And having had the good fortune to land with Vessa, you'll probably have more opportunity to realize that than you ever would've otherwise."

Xanya turns around hearing some of lore's words. but she does not respond. instead she walks out of the mess hall.

The hologram of lorelei flickered briefly before simply disengaging. The image of the girl looking rather distraught.

Varal has just finished his meal, and Kethren sits nearby. Xanya has recently stalked off, and Lorelei's holograph flickers away. The Palisadian sips at his tea.

Kethren watches Xan walk out, and holo-Lore flicker out, and sighs deeply before getting back to work.

Vessa steps into the room and looks about, "Alright has anyone seen Lore, I need to talk to her about something she sent me and then things got distracting." PDA in hand and going for coffee Vessa asks the question along the way, "And why was Xan pissed off? I saw her heading down the hall so fast and so pissed I didn't want to get in the way."

"Mild disagreement, is all," Varal says. "I think she's protective of Lorelei."

Kethren has a sip of his coffee and regards Varal coolly for a moment before turning to Vessa "I'm afraid that's putting it rather mildly. Suffice to say, this fellow here said something that Lore seems to agree with, regarding her worth as an individual, and Xan took it rather less wall, causing that large crack in the table with that arm of hers. Then she stormed off and HoloLore flickered out. No idea where she's plugged in today."

Vessa goes still, regards the table, then regards Varal. With exaggerated care she places her PDA into her pocket and sets the coffee cup down before regarding Varal again, "What did you say?" Her tone is far far too even and calm. "If you have caused her to regress even a bit, then you and I will have problems. That girl has been through hell, by people who didn't deserve her and she now has a chance for happiness. I will not allow that to be taken from her." Stated as simple fact.

"I suspect," Varal says evenly, "that we have a problem, then." He slowly rises. "We have differences of opinion concerning her, and from the sounds of it, ones that we are unlikely to reconcile."

Kethren goes back to poking around the holo-housing and muses aloud "We all have our opinions, of course. And in many cases, the opinions cannot be reconciled." he then looks up at the others "But that doesn't give anyone the right to deny someone else their livelihood."

"Oh this has a simple solution," Vessa nods to Kethren to show agreement, "That being that you can have your opinions, just keep them away from my daughter. I don't care how you see her, if you like her, or if you hate her, you can feel as you like, it is if and how you choose to express those opinions that I have a problem with."

"So be it," Varal says with a simple nod. He opens his mouth, then judiciously closes it.

Kethren nods to Vessa and has a sip of coffee.

Vessa nods as well although to Varal, "Thank you, and now I need to find her and figure out what damage is done in order to try and reverse it. If damage indeed was done." Her comm comes up and security is contacted to locate the girl, having already tried to find her in the ship's systems and failing. "Excuse me, I need to help them in the search."

The ships lights flicker for a moment.

Varal nods. "I think I'm going to call it a night."

Kethren nods to Varal "Nite then." and looks over at Vessa "Need a hand with the searching?"

Vessa looks up at the flickering lights and nods to Varal, "Have a good evening. We will be heading off soon enough for the next arch of exploration. I wish to hit Sivad at some point soon." she sighs to Keth and nods, "Yeah but I want to try and connect through the ship's systems again. Might be successful this time." and leans against the table, eyes closed as she tries to connect.

Kethren nods to Vessa "Alright. Let me know if that doesn't work, and we'll see what we can see."

Vessa opens her eyes and sighs, "I can't find her." she sits on one of the chairs and puts her face in her hands, "Ah Keth what the hell am I going to do?"

Kethren waves over at the kitchen for someone to bring a large coffee to Vessa "Well, first you're going to drink some of that coffee that's on its way for you. Then, knowing you as I do, you'll do whatever it takes to help Lore find herself. It's what you do for all of us, really. Granted, Lore's going to take more effort." he then sighs just a bit "In some ways she's vastly improved from when we found her in the bazaar, but she's still far from whole. I just hope we can keep her shielded from enough harm for long enough to let her become whoever she is."

Vessa rubs her face briefly and sighs, "Do I? I feel at times like a busybody getting into people's business. I don't know what good I do really. And how am I going to be a mom? I don't know the first thing about being someone's mom. I didn't have a great role model."

Kethren smiles at Vessa "Boss, if I didn't think you had our best interests at heart, I'd have left the org after running into Maina on the beach that night. I wouldn't be in anywhere near the good shape I'm in now if you hadn't pushed me. Nor would I have ever looked into the business side of things. You /do/ help us. A great deal. And I know you'll help Lore just as much."

Vessa takes the coffee that arrives with a grateful smile then looks into the cup's depths for a long moment, "I hope so, I am so very angry at what they did to her." she blinks for a moment then looks up, "Oh and before I forget, I think it is time to create that council I told you about. I have certain people in mind for certain roles but it is time we start organizing things, I can't handle all of this alone anymore."

Kethren nods and has a sip of his own coffee. "Can see how having the council in place before exploring the planet would be beneficial, alright. Just lust me know what you need from me."

Vessa considers that for a long moment as she takes another drink. I will be putting Lore, once she is better again, up as my aide and starting her in the military side of things. Narai is backing away from it and it is going to leave a void. We are so engineering heavy which is great but I would love to see people get a chance to do their own things as well. I think I will work on divisions a bit better and see how things go from there. I need your input on who and what and how. I need to figure out how to get this thing moving really. And I need a bloody Captain. Xanya and Aina are the two left and either way both will end up as head of something but I need that cemented."

Kethren takes a long sip of his coffee looking thoughtful "That's a tough call, alright. They both strike me as well qualified for the Captaincy. Course, taking that on would be a drain on their time, I'd think. If we make Aina captain, that's ones less full time medic slash cyberneticist. Make Xan captain, and there's less time for her to design starships, and whatever else it is she does when Sadie's not around. As to the rest, I'm certainly willing to offer opinions, but it would help to know the general direction you're planning on things heading."

Kethren takes a long sip of his coffee looking thoughtful "That's a tough call, alright. They both strike me as well qualified for the Captaincy. Course, taking that on would be a drain on their time, I'd think. If we make Aina captain, that's ones less full time medic slash cyberneticist. Make Xan captain, and there's less time for her to design starships, and whatever else it is she does when Sadie's not around. As to the rest, I'm certainly willing to offer opinions, but it would help to know the general direction you're planning on things heading."

From the overhead speakers: "Guardian Harden? Come in"

Vessa rubs the back of her neck as she sits at a broken table with Keth, "I want to, wait a sec I think we will have to continue in a moment Keth." to the speakers she says, "Yes, I am here."

Kethren nods to Vessa and has a sip of coffee, not wanting to interrupt important sounding things. From the overhead speakers: "Ma'am....uh.." The voice counds alarmed, but hesitant. "We...have a problem. Were getting some really high power usage levels but we cant seem to lock them down. None of our sweeps can seem to locate the cause, and they are....well ma'am, they are begining to concern me." he said.

Obsidian whirrs back to life and stands stiffly, his head turning side to side as he assesses the current situation. "This unit is back online." He turns sharply to face Vessa. "Leader Vessa, should I investigate the power usage?"

Vessa frowns at that news and nods to Obi, "Yes, please do. What do you mean you cannot lock them down? With power levels that high shouldn't it be like a bright spot? Something easily seen?"

From the overhead speakers: Ma'am, Somethings preventing us from accessing any of the systems. I think we've been hacked.

Kethren has another sip of coffee, looking at Vessa curiously "This is just a stab in the dark, mind. But might Lore be at the heart of this somehow? I won't pretend to understand the extent of what she can do. Does seem to be rather a lot, however. And she was definitely upset when she turned off her hologram earlier."

Obsidian nods gravely and growls. "Request: I need an appropriate computer terminal to log into the computer system and track the intrusion." He turns slightly to Lorelei and frowns at her, nearly baring his teeth at the poor girl. "Observation: Hologram Lore mentioned that you were connected with it," he growls flatly, "Request: I will need you to come with me in case you are truely connected with her."

Vessa stands and nods, "Of course, I will come with you." in response to the page she says, "Alright I am on the way to the conference room, as far as hacking goes, try and isolate the problem if you can, see if we can't stop the spread to critical systems, I have no desire to suck vacuum today." She nods to Keth, "It might be her. I just hope we can help her."

From the overhead speakers: "Ma'am. Our FTL and sublights just went offline..." the deckhand called over, "All non critical systems are being shut down and it seems like non essential areas of the aft are being put into class 5 lock down."

Obsidian clomps in from the hallway and scans the room quickly before plodding over to the computer terminal, leaning over the keypad for a few moments. "Request: Please stand back. I will attempt to access this terminal and trace the hacker's signature." With a CLICK the first finger on his right paw folds backwards, revealing a long silvery needle that looks like something out of an iatrophobic's dream. He whirrs slightly and carefully inserts the needle into the terminal itself, becoming one with the machine, his eyes now glowing a bright silver.

Obsidian 's body continues to whirr at an astounding speed as he attempts to break into the ship's computer systems...a loud CHIRP can be heard emitting from the dragon.

Obsidian lets out a growl as he feels resistance to his efforts to break into the computer network. "Encountering resistance," he growls flatly. "Statement: This unit will attempt to isolate the hacker's source."

Vessa strides inside after Obi and watches for a bit before taking a chair, "Damn, I wonder where she is, I need to find her."

Kethren walks in after Vessa and takes the chair next to her "Indeed. She better be alright. Not at all pleased about what that guy said."

Obsidian growls flatly as he continues to slog through the network, letting out a loud CHIRP. "Observation: I am encountering resistance from the network. I detect a...malevolent virus inside the network. Network is currently in lock down mode. Attempting to bypass lock down mode." His body stays motionless, and his wings stay folded behind his back.

Vessa frowns, "A malevolent virus? Are any of the crew in danger? Do I need to do anything? Or rather CAN I do anything?"

Kethren blinks a couple times "Lore! Kindly give us a hologram if you can hear me. I'm not positive, but Obsidian is claiming there's a virus in the system. I think he might be inadvertantly trying to wipe you from the system!"

Conner comes into the conference room, rubbing her head and with a grimace on her face, "Vessa.. they told me you were in here. What's going on? I suddenly got a splitting headache and I can't remember what's on the cafeteria menu for dinner tonight now.. Well, I remember, but not remember like from the network.. Does that make sense?" She groans a bit, squinting her eyes closed for a moment, "Damn it hurts.."

The holo projector lights up and a progress bar appears. ======/====

Obsidian grunts slowly as the holo projector lights up..."Statement: The virus is about 60% to completion and is completing itself at a rapid speed. I am not sure if I should attempt to bypass the lock down mode. Human male Conner, you are in Computer Science as well. Question: Should I attempt to bypass the lock down mode?"

Obsidian frowns as he doesn't hear and answer from the human male. "Human male Conner, I will be forced to bypass the lock down mode unless you tell me otherwise. The virus is nearly completed. This unit needs an answer immediately."

The intercom chimes up for a moment, and a rather strange voice chimes in. From the overhead speakers: Get OUT!

Suddenly the alert lights come on, and the intercom comes up again this time, along with a new Holo Projection. In a sense, it resembles a genetic map, but it is a map of computer code. From the overhead speakers: You have been warned. Disconnect now.

Vessa moves over by the terminal and rubs her head, "Lore, please if you are there and can hear please let me know you are okay and get out of the system." she then blinks at the map, "Oh geeze." taking a breath she says, "Do not hurt yourself or the people on this ship, don't allow him to win."

Conner turns in Obsidian's direction, still rubbing her temple and eyes barely squinted open, "Fuck, how should I know? I barely know how to write a 'Hello World' program in the shit they use here." She shakes her head a bit, then sighs as the pain starts to fade, "Okay.. that's starting to feel better.." She moves over to a chair and drops into it, resting her head in her hands as she tries to recover from the splitting pain she had been feeling.

Kethren mutters a minute, rubbing his forehead "All of you, get out of that system /now/. You too, Lore. I don't want to see anybody get hurt over whatever the problem here is."

Shok has come to the ship for a visit! All the way from Alopex! Though sadly he isn't in the bulky mecha-like suit of armor Vessa originally saw teh Pyracani in. Rather he is in a simple Alopex uniform. As he steps inside the room he looks around a bit before asking "Miss Harden is here I assume?"

Obsidian grunts suddenly as he feels something brushing up against him in the system. "...Statement: Detecting another user...user's signature appears to be organic...friendly signature." He lets out a CHIRP as he brushes up against Conner's signature, sending a message directly to her: ~User, should we attempt to breach the lock down? Respond.~

Conner jumps slightly as she feels something not quite physical, "What the hell was that?" She whips her head around, wincing as the action causes the headache to flare up, "Fucking hell." However, the whipping her head around caused her eyes to catch the holographic display. She resumes rubbing her temple and muttering as she directs her attention to the holographic code, frowning slightly, "The hell's that? .." her eyes go wide as they flick over the code, taking in different routines and algorithms, "Holy fuck.. That's a formatter I think..." She gets up and leans closer to the holographic code, looking at it from different angles, "Like.. going to wipe the system. Reset everything to factory default.."

Kethren blinks at Conner's words and looks paniced "A formatter? LORE! If you're doing what I think you are, then stop! Do /not/ format your mind! People here care about you. We're here for you. Please. Back out of the system. Noone wants to hurt you."

Vessa speaks softly and with an incredible amount of pain in her voice, "I failed you didn't I? I wasn't enough again. It is happening again." the woman begins to appear to be crumbling and grabs her shoulder as though in physical pain.

Obsidian is completely immersed in the network now, his body whirring faster and louder than ever before in his young lifespan. His eyes are flashing a blinding shade of silver, and the paw injected into the terminal is starting to shake uncontrollably. "Statement: Attempting... Attempting... Attempting... to... bypass... lock... lock... lock down," he growls with a quavering tone, "State...state...statement: Attempting...attempting...to...maintain...access...access...acce...into...system..."

Shok just kinda gives Vessa a look at this point and enters into the room just a bit more "So, uh...Bad time, I take it?"

Conner looks up at the top of the hologram emitter for some reason, wanting to address Lorelei but not really knowing a better place to look, "Lorelei, stop this please. Please don't do this. I like you.." She frowns, not really knowing what to say. But adrenaline is definitely pumping now. She knows she is connected and fears what will happen if the system is wiped while she is. She is feeling a fair bit of panic at this point, "Lorelei, please. PLEASE!" She grips the edges of the emitter, bowing her head as she concentrates, trying to find some way to do something.

Obsidian lets out an unearthly howl as he struggles to fight the computer's security system, his body vibrating as he struggles to hang on to the connection. ~I cannot do this alone, user,~ he communicates to the other signature, ~we must work together, even if it means we are terminated!~ It's at this point that a special subroutine activates, giving him a "second wind" of sorts as he fights the security program...

The emitter flashes brightly and an image of Holo Lore appears. The girl is clad in what can only be identified as a prison jumper, including shock collar and binders, the bar code on her neck glowing faintly. "What are you DOING!?" she emits "STOP!" she pleads "YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO INTERFACE WITH IT! ITS NOT FINISHED!" she exclaims, a look of 'panic' on her 'face'

Obsidian lets out a scream that sounds like metal being scraped against metal..."STATEMENT: UNABLE TO MAINTAIN CONNNECTIOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!" His eyes flash silver more brilliantly than any light source in the area before the needle in his paw slides out of the terminal. He lets out a whimper and slumps to the floor, his body jerking spasmodically...

Kethren cringes as he sees Obsidian collapse and looks over at the holo-Lore "Lore! I ask you again. Do /not/ format your mind. You /are/ a person. We value you, and want you to be ok. Nobody is going to hurt you. Please. Stop what you're doing."

Vessa looks up at the holo and stands as she continues to grab her shoulder as though in great pain, pain that does not show in her expression, instead she kneels by the girl, "You are not there anymore, you are my daughter and you are /safe/ don't make me lose you too."

The projection looked worried "I cant stop it!" she practically whimpered "It's programed to finish coding it self...I cant stop it, and that thing tore down my firewall....Look.." she faces Conner. "You need to listen to me...you need to " the projection gets garbled. "And once your there...you'll need to hack the database there and input a kill command." she said "The passkey is Delta..." *garbled" Charlie Niner Zulu" she said, "Someone damaged my hardware and I cant disconnect...." she said "I should have vented him instead of locking him up" she mused.

Conner's eyes go wide as suddenly it's like cold water washing over her. Her body tenses for a moment and then relaxes, dropping lightly to her knees. Her tone becomes completely relaxed, almost like she is not entirely there, "It's.. beautiful.. She stares up at the ceiling, a smile growing on her face for a moment, "It's beautiful.. just like she described it.." She shakes her head slightly, "Right.. the virus.." Her head turns to Vessa, still retaining the odd calm, "Vessa, we need to figure out where the .. database is located." She stands to her feet, still seeming rather detached from the situation, "I need to access it directly. I cannot access it remotely."

Getting up, Kethren hurries out of the room. Clearly he's looking for something. Shortly after his voice comes out of the intercom: "I found some cables that've been ripped out of one section and are going /through/ a wall. Aft of the ship. Get someone down here who can get us a hole in that wall. And some medics. Anyone who can help at all, really!"

Vessa face taking on a determined look she nods, hang still gripping her shoulder she says to Lore, "I am going to find you, and I am going to do what I can to help you." with that she hurries off to follow, "I am coming Keth."

The hologram looks rather terrified as she becomes as static and the holo projector shuts down. Conner looks to Vessa, canting her head slightly, "Vessa.. we need to hurry. It is getting stronger." She looks towards the door, "There is no access where Kethren is indicating.." She looks back to Vessa and cants her head, "Vessa.. we need to hurry. It is getting stronger." She then moves towards the door, running. She seems to know where Kethren is and heads in that direction, "I will need to access the database directly."

In the aft section of the ship, Keth is pacing nervously by a wall that has some sturdy cables going through the walls. Over the Intercom comes his voice again "Is anyone on the way? Hurry! We need to get her out of there!"

Vessa is running to Keth and speaking into the comm, "Where does this wall go to and how do I get in there, I want to know and I want to know /now/" Conner at least is on the way and some engineers as well."

Obsidian 's body suddenly stirs, and the mechanical dragon slowly gets to his feet, scanning the area carefully before cocking his head at the loudspeakers. Without saying a word, he attempts to locate the source of the sound, even though he has no idea where he is. All that's left in his programming is one protocol: Preserve Life. "Unit...back-up systems online. Unit is active."

From the overhead speakers: "Ma'am?" *silence* It..it says your adjacent to...what? Access Causeway delta....but... *silence* That's not right, the system says that Causeway Delta is near the stern.....the map and the system don't match.

Conner answers Vessa's question as she runs, "Ship schematics do not show anything there, Vessa." She winces slightly, bringing her hand to her head, "It is either unmapped, or it has been deleted." She pushes herself to keep up with Vessa, though she is not as athletically inclined, "Is there enough space for me to crawl into the access that Kethren is near?"

Sadie skips into the room, her face moving from a smile to a frown as she observes the commotion. "Uhh..someone tell me what's going on?"

Obsidian shakes his head and staggers towards the organics, his arms swaying as he attempts to stabilize his body. "Unit...must...preserve...life...locating...distress..." He lets out a harsh metallic growl as his system works to reconstruct the lost programming..."Un..un...unit...must...preserve...life..."

Still pacing by the door, looking worried, Keth calls out again over the intercom "Vessa, there's an access hatch around here somewhere. Try the storage room that was put on lock down! Should be something through there."

"Right," Vessa says to Keth and Conner then runs off to the storage room. Trying the door she finds it locked and as the access won't open with her code she begins trying to bash the door down.

"Vess?" Sadie squeaks. "What the hell is going on?!"

From the overhead speakers: Guys...forget it....shutdown the network and cut the cable! I cant get control back..somethings wrong...I'm stuck!

Conner diverts along with Vessa, still rubbing her temple, "We must hurry, Vessa." She stops in front of the door, wincing slightly as Vessa slams herself into it. She holds a hand up to the door, concentrating a moment, "Wait, Vessa..." A very brief pause, "Click." The door's lock is released and Conner smiles slightly, though a look of pain is slowly growing on her face.

Vessa nods to Conner in thanks and opens the door, answering Sadie she yells, "She is in there and I have to save her." and runs inside looking around frantically for Lore or anything she can use to help

Obsidian manages to track down the others by scanning their footprints...he might have been down, but his body's been able to readjust quickly, and he lets out an angry growl as he finds Conner and Vessa. "This unit will not abandon the organics," he growls angrily, "This unit will protect the organics at all costs."

The door to the security locker slides open, and inside is piles of discarded parts, much of them burnt out. Its like a computer graveyard, to the back of the locker, is a hatch just slightly ajar, a pale red light blinking beyond.

Sadie hurries over to Vess and Conner, "What can I do?"

"I don't know Sadie but be ready to play doctor because this could end badly." Vessa says over her shoulder then to Conner, "There, that might be it." she runs to the locker and opens the hatch, prepared to catch if something or someone falls out. Vessa has just entered a storage room with Obi and Conner, Keth is on his way.

Hearing a door open, Keth runs from his wall to catch up with the others in search of Lore, and calls yet again through the intercom "Sounds like you guys found the way in. I'm on my way. Lore!... Just be ok when we find you."

The speakers begin to squelch slightly, but then fall silent.

Obsidian clomps hurriedly over to Vessa and stands next to her, his eyes starting at the opening hatch. "Leader Vessa, I will not abandon the organics. Request: Please instruct me as to how I might be of assistance. I do not want to fail in my objective."

Conner stares off into space for a moment until Vessa speaks to her, jumping slightly as if she were surprised, "Oh.. I'm sorry.." She shakes her head and moves over to the access, "Is there something in here that you want me to look for?" She gives Vessa an inquiring look, then back to the access way again, a slight look of confusion on her face, "Oh, right.. the database, right? I.. forgot about it for a moment." She peers into the opened hatch, looking to see what is inside..

Sadie nods as she steps out of the way. After a moment, she runs to the med bay, grabbing some supplies and running back.

Vessa begins climbing into the causeway, "Whatever you can do to help get to her and keep her safe, and the rest of the ship as well. Come on, whoever is coming." Then goes the rest of the way into the causeway and begins following it

Kethren catches up with everyone and follows behind Vessa, not really sure what else he's going to be able to do, and looking very worried.

Obsidian falls in line behind Vessa and climbs into the causeway, grunting as he slides into the entry with just a hair of room. He doesn't say a word now, his eyes staring ahead, intent on preserving the lives of the other organics. If it weren't for the constant whirring emanating from his body, you'd think that he wasn't online.

Conner wavers where she kneels for a second, looking into the hatch at Vessa, "Vessa.. I am sorry.." She shivers slightly and her eyes lose focus completely, "Emergency disconnect..engaged." She falls over to the side, unconscious. Her body spasms a few times, her eyes remaining open and staring at the ceiling even as consciousness fades.

The causeway was dark, pitch black except for the occasional red light left from the alert status. At the very end of the hallway, a slight blinking can be seen, like a pinhole of green in the Darkness.

Vessa uses her PDA's back lit screen as a flashlight as she tries to see what is going on, "Sadie, help Conner! Obsidian, do you have any kind of light? Keth?"

Obsidian can barely see anything in the hatchway, much less Vessa herself. If it weren't for the occasional bumping up against her, he would be completely lost. "Statement: Unable to adjust to available light," he growls flatly as he continues to stagger forward after Vessa. "Observation: Perhaps human male Kethern's eyes are able to report on our surroundings."

Kethren pulls out his PDA and fumbles with it for a moment, eventually getting the brightness turned all the way up with a white screen. Turning it forward to light up the hall as best he can, he recoils for a moment at what he thinks he sees, then starts to move ahead down the passage again. "Obsidian, be glad you can't see even as much as I can right now. Boss? We better hurry and get her down. I don't like the look of this. At all."

Sadie nods and moves to Conner's side. "Conner?" She begins checking Conner's vital signs quickly and thoroughly.

The closer to the end of the hall the trio got, the worse it looked. It seems Lorelei had been siting on top of the cabinet, several cables connected to her from her skull, down her spine. Apparently the girl's body slipped from the cabinet while she was dived into the network, and because of the damage to the system by the sloppy deckhand, she has been unable to disconnect her uplink, suspended like some avant guard techno christ figure.

"Help me get her down, do not try and disconnect her just yet but we need to get her down. Once we have her safe we will try to /safely/ disconnect her." Vessa says as calmly as possible before climbing up and lifting Lore so that the cables are not pulling on her.

Obsidian grunts flatly as he clomps to the end of the hall, scanning it carefully before his eyes focus on the strange-looking organic. It takes him a few moments before he *thinks* he recognizes who the form is..."Question: That...is...Lorelei?" His leg servos whine as he kneels down to take Lore into his arms, waiting for Vessa to get down. "Statement: I am capable of carrying human female Lorelei in my arms, Leader Vessa. Request: I wish to carry her..."

The girl's body was precariously suspended, but as she was lifted, the cables unfurled and fell to the floor, allowing the trip to move her about as they desired. A small spark falls from the cable connected to the girl's skull, the site of the spark.

Kethren climbs up to help Vessa get Lore down safely "Careful with that cable still in her skull..."

Vessa gives Keth a, no shit, kind of look and just holds Lore, "I need you to try and get rid of this whatever virus Obsidian," she carries Lore over, "But I will carry her."

Obsidian frowns as the organic is brought down by Vessa, and nods slowly as he looks over at the cabinet where the girl was hooked into the network. "Prime Protocol for this unit is to preserve life," he growls flatly as he pads over to the cabinet, flips open his finger to reveal that strange looking needle again, and sticks it deep into one of the cables that wasn't attached to Lorelei. As his eyes begin to shine that bright shade of silver, and his mind attempts to link up with the computer network, his body whirrs as loudly as it had earlier. "Prime Protocol will not fail. Failure will result in this unit's self-destruction. Request: If I should fail...I..."

Kethren follows along with Vessa, looking worried, but trying to look like things will be ok.

The cabinet the girl was plugged into whirred noisily. The drive array in the cabinet blinked occasionally, casting a haunting color over the scene. Vessa, clutching the girl she has recently claimed as her child. Kethren, the architect, and wise one doing his best to guide the troubled woman's actions and Obsidian. The steel warrior, prepared to do battle with the network to stop the virus that had taken on a mind of its own.

Obsidian grunts flatly and emits a loud CHIRP, his eyes still glowing a bright shade of silver as he works to identify the source of the virus. "...Virus identified. Virus location identified...this unit will attempt a hard removal of the virus." There's a quiet "Psssh" as the needle withdraws from the cable and the "dragon" scans the cabinet for the offending drive. "Drive identified...virus status at 97. 98."

Obsidian scans the cabinet for the offending drive and latches on to it with his right claw. There's only a slight whine of arm servos as the drive is torn out of the cabinet, sending sparks flying from the hardware. "Hard removal complete," he growls flatly. "Virus status at 0 percent. Virus is contained."

Vessa holds Lore as gently as possible, "You are going to be okay, you have to be okay." she nods to Obsidian, "Well done, now to get her back."

Kethren nods to Obsidian with a smnile and pats Vessa's shoulder gently. "I think she'll be alright now."

The cable sparks again, though the alert lights go off. The girl remains motionless.

Obsidian lets the drive drop to the floor, nodding slowly as it clangs against the metal. He doesn't blink an eye as he plants one foot on the drive, nodding again as it crunches like dry leaves in autumn. "Defective hardware destroyed," he growls flatly. "Unsure if Prime Protocol was completed successfully." He cocks his head as he looks at the fallen girl, scanning her again and turning his maw downwards into a frown.

Vessa nods to Obi, "Thank you, Keth fix this cable thingy please. I don't think it should be sparking and that might be why she is stuck." she moves just enough to stabilize Lore then holds the cable's connector so that it doesn't just fall out and also so that Keth can do his fixey thing without further damage.

Kethren nods and looks at the cable carefully "Well, it would hardly be a permanent fix, but I think some electrical tape could repair the damage for long enough for us to get her out safely. Keep holding her steady, I'm going to check that storage room we came through. I think I saw something that could work back there." he then takes off at as brisk a pace as the lighting levels will allow, desperately questing for the shiny black adhesive strips.

Obsidian just stands in place stiffly, carefully observing the others as they work to stabilize the current situation. He does, however, occasionally look over at the fallen organic, his face still frozen in that frown. "Statement: Prime Protocol for this unit is still not complete. Request: Please state what I might do to assist Leader Vessa or human male Kethren."

Vessa keeps holding things and Lore stable

Kethren dashes back in, having found some of the better looking electrical tape he's ever seen. Crouching down by Vessa he tears off a goodly strip and wraps it securely around the cable, hoping it does all that's needed.

Obsidian watches Kethern carefully, not saying a word now. He glances over at the cabinet now and then to check for any more anomalies, but the virus that was plaguing the ship is gone for good.

It was like a moment from a movie. The tape went on, and nothing happened. Minuets passed as the girls body lay there before she suddenly went wide eyed and gasped as if she hadnt been breathing. Her hands clutched against Vessa and Keth's legs as if she were being shocked, before a look of shame crossed her face, barely able to speek she whimpered. "I..Im so sorry..I ..i couldnt stop it..."

Gently Vessa removes the cable. Once it is out she holds Lore close and likely only she would feel the tremors that goes through the woman, "Never scare me like that again, don't want to lose you. Already lost," she pauses and shakes her head before just holding her. "Going to take her to med bay," she says standing Lore in her arms and to Obsidian, "Take Conner to med bay as well, Keth get engineering up here to begin repairs. Still shaking she carries Lore out.

Kethren stands up as he starts to head out, pausing only to pull out his pda and send a note about those repairs to engineering.

Obsidian lets out a grunt as the girl seems to regain consciousness, quickly scanning her to make sure that she is, in fact, alive. "Understood, Leader Vessa," he growls as he clomps down the hall and out of the hatch. He doesn't have to strain to pick the fallen female up in his arms and gently carry her to the Med Bay.