Atlantis

[Shrike7]

Re: Atlantis

Ariana followed into the gate room just in time to see Aya glomp the new arrival, which surprised her, causing a smile to creep across the woman‘s face. She seemed to recover quickly, that‘s good.

For her own part, the psychic stayed quiet. Her eyebrows raised as she learned about Siphon‘s own symbiote, frowning and turning away a bit, finding other things to hold her attention until they were ready to leave, checking up on the squad and similar.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Atlantis

Whatever Sarnael's reaction was to both Sho's comment and Aya's explanation, it isn't revealed by his armor. He started to make a gesture of some kind with his left hand, only to pause and look at it. Suddenly, the claws that had been used to fire the crescent bolt slid back to their 'stored' position.

"Okay, so maybe my age is starting to affect my memory a little after all..."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Swear to the Powers, I'm the only normal one around here. And I'm a mutant," Sho mutters, more to herself than anything else. Taking a breath, she moves over and leans against one of the consoles, taking in everything that Aya's said. "Suppose it makes sense." She voices what Siphon's thinking. "Maybe it's not just the memories," she adds after a moment's thought. "Maybe it's something about you, Aya. You said your mitochondria have something going on, so maybe it's proximity to you that started...whatever this is with Siphon and now, being back around you kickstarted everything again."

She glances around, looking for something to throw at Siphon, but, not finding anything, settles for some small cast-off from her pocket. "Or he's just a freak, but I knew that." There's absolutely no malice in the tone. It's meant to distract him from thinking too deeply about this, especially when there's other things they need to concern themselves with at the moment.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Perhaps to her surprise, Aya half nodded.

"Actually I've been thinking about that. The ... bond I believe is the word you would use, between us was very strong, on much more than a physical or mental level. It's technically possible that being in proximity once more to my own mitochondria woke his up again, resonated within him. An awakening if you will. You asked earlier if I might have actually caused this Sho, and I think maybe I actually did without realizing it would happen. I don't think it can be stopped now though. When this first happened for me, I had no one to explain it to me, and our people were on the verge of a civil war with the Ori. It wasn't pleasant discovering it alone. Neither of us actually knew why or how this even happened to us until long after we left our home world and went to Soltarus. It wasn't until we met the Nox that we discovered why we were like this, and that we actually weren't as alone as we thought."


Siphon seemed to nod slowly off to one side, though he said nothing. What she said made sense as being possible, and he suppressed a small chuckle at Sarnael for obvious reasons. At Sho's remark he does let out a slight chuckle, and at Ariana's reaction to Talvesh, he frowned slightly. Something clearly was bothering her about it, and he wondered if it had something to do with Nirrti. At the moment though, they had more pressing concerns.

"We need to move the city somewhere else. We can't risk that the cruiser got off a warning and that more ships won't be on the way anytime soon."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Allright, well, we'll worry about you regressing later, so long as you don't start getting too young on us. What do we need to do to get this show on the road, so to speak."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Siphon thought for a moment.

"The chair should have the ability to activate the stardrive, am I right on that Aya?"


She nodded back to him before adding, "yes it does. However it wasn't designed to be powered by only one module. If you want to try to fly it back to Soltarus, it won't be possible. There simply isn't enough energy."


Siphon shook his head.

"No, best to leave it in this galaxy for now, the rebels would expect us to try to take it back with us, and likely have some way of telling. We'd just make Earth as it is called now a target. No, somewhere in this galaxy would be best, at least for now."


Aya nodded, the idea seeming to sit well with her.

"That would be possible, we easily have the power to go somewhere here in Pegasus. There will be a library of addresses that you can select from that would provide a water based landing for us, and are pretty out of the way, uninhabited planets. Or at least they were when I went into stasis. Either way the sensors can help you determine which planets are suitable. If you all will excuse me though, I believe Sarnael and I have some things to discuss privately, such as the snarkiness mister."


She half smiled at this, clearly joking about that, but definitely not about needing to speak with him. Considering her reaction to meeting him, it was possible he was like a father to her in her eyes.


Siphon nodded, having thought as much. The interface worked the same way with Alverus, and he'd already proven he could activate the chair here.

"Alright, Aya and Sarnael go talk about whatever it was you needed to then while this is taken care of. Vorhan you may want to use the gate briefly to contact Peltas and let them know what is going on, we won't be able to do that from hyper-space. Ariana ... if you are up to joining me I'd like to speak with you about something. Sho, you might want to show Jacobs the hologram room, bring him up to speed on things since we've been here now that things aren't trying to kill us or eat us."

He turned to the rest of the Alveran contingent and then added, "Johnson, take the rest of your squad and secure the area here, and at the Z.P.M room. I don't want any nasty surprises, and until we figure out a way of determining if there are any more of those invisible things inside the city and clearing them if there are, no one goes off alone anywhere."


To this Vorhan chimed in.

"I believe we can modify the city sensors to detect them. It will take some time to do, but it should be possible."


Siphon nodded in agreement.

"Alright, do what you need to then, if it works at least we can give an all clear, or get rid of the rest of them if any are still loose. I know from that look you don't think there are, but we need to be sure they haven't decided to do something out of the normal, something the Tokra wouldn't expect."


Vorhan nodded, then set about working, and meanwhile Siphon turned, waiting on Ariana to reply one way or another before setting off once more to get to the chair.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Atlantis

Ariana was half listening as she wandered the room, jumping slightly when Siphon called her name. He was already continuing the set of orders by the time she turned to face him, so she just nodded and stayed silent until he glanced her way again.

"I'm fine. We can chat." She told him, falling into step behind him as he left for the chair room. She waited for him to speak once they were alone in the halls, her arms crossed over her chest, but somehow the pose looked nervous, instead of the usual angry or intimidating one expected.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Siphon was silent for a long moment before he spoke.

"I couldn't help but notice your reaction to Talvesh earlier. I have to admit, it does bother me, but not in the regard of being angry. There are some who simply can't stand the idea of a symbiote being within another person. I'm aware of these things, and if that is an issue for you I can do my best to make sure we don't swap when you are present. If you are worried about what happened with Nirrti happening from my own ..."

He trailed off a moment before deciding to trust her.

"It's physically impossible for Talvesh to leave my body. To do so would kill both of us almost immediately. There was an incident many centuries ago when we became one, it was necessary. His former host was killed in a brutal betrayal by one of our own people, I willingly took him in so vital information he had could be relayed. Unfortunately, we fell under attack on the return home, and my body was struck by a high energy type beam. For whatever reason, it didn't kill either of us, but it did fuse our nervous systems and such together. You'd have to surgically remove him to get him out of me now, and that would kill both of us. Before you ask also, with the Tokra, they would rather sacrifice their lives than be with an unwilling host. I've personally watched three do so in the life that I can recall. I don't want to sound insensitive to your own beliefs Ariana but ... I need to know here and now, is this going to be a problem between us?"


Ariana might take note that while his voice had taken an almost militaristic to it, he was not angered. More it seemed he was trying to determine if perhaps other considerations or plans needed to be undertaken so she could think clearly.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Atlantis

The woman listened as he spoke, a deep frown of worry creasing her face. "I..." She started, then changed her mind on what she was going to say, stopping their walk and leaning against the wall, starting her own story instead. Her eyes roamed as she talked, apparently not looking at anything in particular, just flitting around as she recalled her memories.

"Where I came from, there was a race of aliens quite similar. Nirrti looked something like a pale eel, i suppose, these were blue and had more meat to them, and a few appendages. Sort of like a starfish with a moth on one end, I guess. They called themselves, or we called them, Nomads. There was no back and forth between them and a host. They had access to the host's mind, as well. Far as we could tell, they were created, meant to be protectors of some dead race in the area. Some stray ship found them, brought the infestation back. The things were perfect actors, moving up the rungs of society and getting hold of ships to bring more of their own back..." She paused, letting what she had said so far sink in while she shifted in place a moment. Her gaze drifted downwards and stayed there, staring at her feet.

"They almost wiped out the whole system, sparking wars, using their own organic ships with a cloak tech we had never seen before for assassinations. I lost my husband to them. He knew what I could do, so they did as well. He kept his distance, we only spoke over comms, told me work kept him busy. I didn't know for months. I was already fighting them by that time, I found out they had him when he was bait to try and capture me. The feel of his mind..." She said, her voice starting to crack. She coughed and shook her head, clearing her throat.

"I think you get the picture. I thought I was done with all that, Nirrti and Talvesh surprised me, is all. You, or... You both, seem decent. If all you say is true, then things should be alright, but... I wouldn't mind some sort of proof later, if possible. I don't even know how, really."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Siphon was silent for a long moment, imagining the entire thing in his own mind, wincing as he realized the origins of the gou'ald had probably been very similar. Deciding that was something not appropriate to bring up here and now, he went back to thinking of how to respond to her.

"And now you know why the Tokra refuse to be with an unwilling host. The draw of having that kind of ability to ... completely suppress a host's own mind and use it against those they held dear can be very tempting to those with their own agenda. My own symbiote is an artificial life form as well, although he doesn't resemble anything physically like you described. His species, the Cral'nek as they wish to be called, they started as a medical experiment to supplement technology long ago. At some stage, they developed their own intelligence, and ultimately came to be recognized as a new species of intelligent life. I can see where the similarities, and the way Nirrti was, would remind you of these Nomads."

He paused, giving her request some thought. Finally he shrugged.

"To be honest with you, outside of offering everything my people have on the Tokra, the current governing Gou'ald systems and everything regarding myself, I'm not sure there is anything that I can do to prove to you I'm not a threat to you. I would offer you to peer into my mind if that were even possible, but my guess is that these Nomads probably possessed the ability to fool even a telepathic interrogation. Even if not, my mind is probably the last place right now you want to be in. With everything happening today it's been a mess, and meeting you ..."

Again, he trailed off, the woman perhaps getting the hint that something was bothering him. It took a moment before he finally continued onward.

"When you saw that flashback, and we had our brief communication, I told you there were other reasons for it being as strong an ability. Linking to your own mind ... it brought back memories I thought I had put behind me. My former wife ... I don't know if you've ever met an Asari, but she ... she and I shared a very strong telepathic link with one another, so strong that under normal conditions we could sense when the other was injured, even if they were dying. Some time ago we were part of an experiment for a new type of FTL drive. It was supposed to be a form of wormhole drive. The drive seemed functional, all of our simulations projected it to be a success, all that was left was a live test over a short distance. I had my ship at the starting point, with another of our ships several hundred light years at the target end point. Everything powered up the way it should, all in the green. The second her ship touched the event horizon ..."

For a brief moment there was a haunted look to his eyes, the subject still being touchy for him, but a moment later it was replaced with a determined look.

"Instantly vaporized, nothing left. No blast of pain from her death, just the link was suddenly terminated. The link between us was so strong and always active, when it cut off like that ... It damn near killed me. To be honest with you, I suspect the only reason I survived was because of Talvesh, because of that second mind being able to process and absorb some of the shock. Think of it this way, imagine being telepathically linked to someones mind, sharing minds even. Now you're doing whatever, sifting through their thoughts maybe, and suddenly someone kills the person you're linked to, while you're still connected. There's no time to put up mental barriers, no time to withdraw from their mind, you just suddenly are forcibly disconnected from them. I've seen similar things where someone was ripped from a telepathic trance with another person. None of them survived it, except me. Hard as it is to admit this, it hasn't been that the ability has faded without her, but more that ... I've been too afraid to use it even to communicate without words with those capable of it. Physically, I'm normal again. Mentally, I have no idea what kind of damage it did to me, if any. When you saw that projection earlier, I was hesitant to communicate telepathically with you even in a limited form. My fear was that it would harm you somehow being connected to me even for a moment, but I couldn't let it go without explanation. I would have explained it sooner, but we did have more pressing matters at the time, I hope you can understand the need to wait on that."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Atlantis

Once Sarnael had been led by Aya to wherever she wanted to talk to him at, he simply waited for her to start.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Atlantis

"There's more than one kind around here?" Ariana asked with a frown, before sighing and leaning against the wall a little further. "Never heard of Asari before. Is it a race, or a nationality?" She asked softly, recognizing the pain in the other man's eyes.

"We'll figure something else out later. THis all makes it a bit too fresh, yeah, but I'll be fine till then." She said after a sigh, pushing herself back up off the wall and starting them walking again. "Maybe I'm just feeling more out of my element than normal. I've been around thousands, millions of people, never found anyone else that can reach across minds, at least not like I can. Now I have you, and I think Thor, though I didn't actually try. And the wraith. That one was so much more powerful than I am, could barely keep him lifted and defend myself at the same time."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

Definitely conversations that needed to be had. Sho gave Siphon a nod. "C'mon, Jake. I know a ditch when I hear one. I think the room was over this way."

She will take a moment to get oriented to their destination from the gate room and set off with the man, intending to show him the room that they'd stumbled across. "Lots to see and hear. Might want to bring some extra pencils just in case."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Jacobs chuckled slightly, following her off as they entered the appropriate room after a few minutes of walking. Immediately he recognized the type of room, after all Alverus had something similar.

"Interesting, a holo-projection room. Guessing you can activate it by stepping up onto the platform there. Hey, if it's accessible, there should be an archive of everyone who ever lived here. Shall we see if what we think we know and have been told today is accurate?"





Aya turned to Sarnael after they had stepped out onto one of the balconies overlooking the water, sighing before speaking.

"I figure you showed up here looking to talk to Siphon about something. Since he probably can't help you right now, maybe I can. First though ... what the hell has gone on in the last ten thousand years? Where the hell are all the others?"



Siphon shook his head.

"The Gou'ald and the Tokra are the same species, just sharing different beliefs on some things. It's a very long story, but at one point they were at war with each other over things. Since the Ori issues though, that has changed, with a few exceptions like Nirrti. Asari are a species, that too is a long story. Haven't really had any contact with them since Daina's death."

He nodded slightly about the telepathic issues.

"Yeah sorry about that on my part. I had no idea you were a telepath, although as random as these flashes have been I'm not sure knowing would have made a difference. You probably could do it with Thor, though I don't recommend trying to do much more. The Asgard have very powerful minds, not even the wraith can penetrate their mental barriers. Ah ... speaking of wraith ...."

He trailed off, unsure of how to proceed, finally shrugging.

"The wraith you saw today are rebels amongst their kind, renegades if you will. They are a small fraction of the entire species. Most of them are actually quite friendly and they don't feed on people. One of our closest allies has been ... I suppose you could say we're combat partners in a sense. Talok, he's a wraith also, but um ... well Talok also has a symbiote so if you meet a wraith with a symbiote's voice and glowing eyes, don't worry, he won't try to eat you or anything."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Sounds like an idea. You want to play with it or should I?" Knowing Jacobs, he'll probably have her using it so he can monitor the thing. She'll stand on the platform and let the thing warm up before she starts to access it. "Let's start with Aya. Or..." She let out a frustrating noise. "Hey," she turns to Jacobs, "did the Ancients do the 'take your spouse's surname' thing?"

If just asking for Aya didn't bring the girl up, she was going to have to delve a little bit and see if she couldn't narrow the search a little.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

As Sho stood on it, a second series of panels emerged from the back wall near Jacobs, lighting up as they did. Looking over them, he slowly nodded.

"OK these look like they contain text documents which can be displayed, or linked to visual files should one exist. Hmm, I don't think anything along those lines ever came up, not sure. Why don't you see if you can find something there, I'm going to try and work this panel here and see if I can find anything relevant."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Allrighty. Just don't blow a fuse." She'll put her attention on the panel. "Let's see." And she'll start to address the database. "Let's access personal files. Looking for...Aya...Aya...Moroka. Aya Velnaros. Siphon Velnaros." There's a pause between each name to give the thing time to respond, seeing how it responds.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

The device was silent until she spoke Siphon's name, at which point there was a faint sound, and a holographic picture popped beside the female one. Perhaps a bit younger looking than right now, but the image that came up was very definitely Siphon. After it did there was a moment, and then the hologram spoke.

"Siphon Velnaros was one of the original inhabitants of Atlantis, and served as it's first and only pilot between galaxies. He was also directly responsible for a number of technological advances, some in conjunction with another scientist. Siphon was present at the time of the great migration, a time where our people split away from those who called themselves the Ori. He served as a navigator during the journey to the new home world of Soltarus, where he began work refitting many gate seeding ships. Siphon was one of those, along with his wife Aya Morioka, who discovered hidden clues within the fabric of our reality, clues that led to the realization that the universe as we know it was not a random act, but rather a deliberate creation by something far more advanced than we are. The two of them set to work modifying our first long range vessel, named Destiny, which was launched fifty million years prior to this city arriving here. Their work complete, Siphon then played a vital role in establishing relations with several local races in our first home galaxy. Through his efforts, an alliance of four races was established between our people, the Nox, the Asgard and the Furlings. Upon arrival in this galaxy, Siphon served as the head of all research departments, overseeing and directing many technological breakthroughs, including the ascension project. Fifteen thousand years ago, Siphon led a team to Proctara Valnashar in an attempt to garner readings on an anomaly that had opened up inside one of our outposts. Two members of the team went through the anomaly with Siphon to take readings, in an attempt to better understand how they worked. None of them were ever heard from again, and the anomaly closed before any kind of rescue could be mounted."

Here the hologram paused, a split vision now coming up showing both Siphon and Aya together, the time stamp indicating it being just before he was supposed to have vanished. Another much older picture was present as well, this one showing Siphon, Aya and four people who Sho didn't recognize, but that were grouped up with Siphon and Aya like they were close and belonged in the picture.

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Somebody's been busy." Sho takes in everything that the hologram states, wondering how much of Siphon's knowledge came from what he knew from their present, which would have been the Ancient's future. As it mentioned the anomaly, she perked up.

"Hey, that. Bring up information on the anomaly on Proctar Valnashar."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

A planet appeared on the holographic interface, first from an orbital view, and then a landsat type view.


"Proctar Valnashar was the site of the first anomaly incursion twenty thousand years ago. The entire population and all wildlife on the planet were killed off after a powerful alien race called the Klarnell attacked the settlement and unshielded outpost above the surface of the planet. At first indication it appeared all life had been killed on the surface, leaving only a small handful of people beneath the surface alive. The Klarnell apparently did not detect them or the underground outpost, which allowed them to survive the attack. Upon a later investigation, it was discovered that the only Lantean bodies found were male only, all females having vanished. With no female bodies present, it was believed the Klarnell took them as prisoners, something we determined to be true seven thousand years later. When the decision was made to continue using the underground outpost, and another anomaly opened up, Siphon Velnaros assembled a team to investigate it. After part of his team vanished and the anomaly closed, the decision was made to abandon the outpost, and lock the gate out of our network. An objection to this was logged by Aya Morioka on the grounds that her husband might find a way back there if the anomaly opened again, and that they still at that time had not determined if the Klarnell took their two daughters during the first incursion, or if they might still be alive somewhere."