All Crew Thread - Operation Deep Dive

[greenjoe]

Name: Narasi Perlyalna'Shirani

Job: Bridge Crew

Content:
Her greetings, she has a few logs copied from some computers from the past couple of days, she will post them here for everybody to see.

The first ones are from a pod that had crashed on an asteroid.

Spoiler

Log 1
My name is Batkhaan Ali. I was born on Gadpathur, before I was exiled. Then, I worked for the Eyes at Tartarus. I saw terrible things. I pretended not to. Work is not always easy for an Exile. In case I do not make it, this is my story. Do not judge me harshly.

Log 2
I thought it would be a simple job. I knew of the Eyes by my time in the ICSR. They have a reputation. That sort of rep is there to make business work. Got recruited by a Solarian. Ironic. MacGuffrey, former Captain. Took part in the invasion of Biesel a few years back. Has a new name. Enlightened Eye. He needs muscle, he doesn't care about my past. I sign up. I guess I didn't care about my past anymore either.

Log 3
So there I am, on an old Solarian destroyer. I get in one arguement too many with Enlightened's old crew, so I end up on reassigned. Tartaros. Hell. The Eyes were always ones for dramatic names. This one wasn't dramatic, it was literal.

Log 4
Tartaros. Deep in the Sea from the Meropis route. A research facility. I was to guard it. All sorts of animals. And later, people. I turned a blind eye. I could not afford to cause more problems. What lower ring of hell would they assign me to? The voices are endless. Watching people suffer while your mind wails out at you. It is torture. I held on with all I could. Then a member of the Ennead arrived. The inner circle, like Enlightened. This one was a skrell. Shadowed.

Log 5
Shadowed doubled down on the "human" testing. Tajara from Meropis, Unathi too. Traditionalists I'm told. I was also told they were allies. That doesn't matter in hell. All that matters is the research. The schedule must move up. The modernist agenda. I hear them talk about it more and more. The Eyes plan to rule the Spur after a second interstellar war. They would hide in the Sea and strike when all the peoples are weak. But the Modernists want to ignite the war, soon. They believe the cause is crumbling. Every day, I regret my choices more. The voices continue. There are no stars. No comfort. I lash out.

Log 6
The lowest ring of hell for an enforcer. I end up in a cell myself, a subject of experiments. They strip my brain layer by layer, my skull open. Psirens wailing nearby. Then I am saved. A prison break. Mass riots. Too many enforcers turned to subjects. We flee. Some takes the ships. I take the pod. I am thankful as a former doctor repairs my skull. Perhaps it would have been better to die there. We're in the Sea. In an escape pod. Where are we to end up. I write this diary, so my story can be remembered. Return my body to Gadpathur should I die. Perhaps in death I can do something good for my people for once.

 

And the second set are travel logs from the distressed ship we went to on Wednesday.

Spoiler

Travel Log – Meropis
We picked up our usual shipment from Meropis – two dozen phoron tanks, chilled and full – but the Outer Eyes contact handed us a few refrigerated containers and strict orders for their storage. Uninterrupted power supply, stored in rooms no hotter then 5c, no crew to spend more then thirty minutes a day within ten meters. The contact pays us up front and promises a second share when it’s delivered. After years of smuggling, I feel those old nerves crop back up.

Travel Log – Assunzione
I didn’t notice until a few days out from Meropis but the containers are marked Stafýlia on the manifest. It really hit me when we took a few days at Assunzione while we transferred some legitimate cargo. Phoron and the special packages remain aboard.

Travel Log – Mictlan
We’re avoiding Light’s Edge and all the better. Our paperwork is pretty tight, always is with the Eyes, so why risk independent pirates sticking their guns where it’s they’re not welcome. We were advised to avoid the Elyran border too – some upset between the Empire and them. None of our business. We got to Mictlan in good time. Four phoron tanks, one of the refrigerated containers. The contact hurried us along here. Seems they timed our arrival it while the docking facility was on holiday.

Travel Log – Biesel
Biesel was a nightmare. Our papers seem good, but we were still held up. Suspicion. I’m thankful the phoron wasn’t seized. They suspect but have no evidence. They seem uninterested in the special cargo at least. Collected four phoron tanks (I think the Eyes have a guy in the local biz slicing it out of their books) and dropped off all but two of the refrigerated crates.

Travel Log – Vysoka
We’re avoiding Burzsia by new orders, so all our cargo was dropped at Vysoka. It’s always a pleasant stay there, the locals are friendly. It makes me feel bad for whatever is in the special cargo, but I try not to think about it as we head back to Meropis.

Travel Log – Lemurian Sea
We were given last second redirect orders. After loading up on basic supplies (food, water, air, some passengers), we were approached by an Eyes ship. One of those big unathi hunks. We were to head into the Sea. It would be a safe route – if we go straight and do not deviate. When we arrive at the destination – Tartarus – we would be paid quadruple. Refuse, and our ship would be seized and passed onto a crew who would do the job.

Travel Log – Tartarus
Tartarus. I’m told it means hell. Fitting. I felt in my head thoughts that are not my own. Strange creatures flit in and out of the fog by the bridge. I had all our shuttered lowered, and it only made the noises echoing in my brain louder. We got to the facility in one peace. I found myself praying to Ennoia. Never did believe in the Assunzione shit but I need something to save me.

Travel Log – Final
Some sort of riot is breaking out in Tartarus. A crowd of madmen in prison orange are breaking down the airlock. We only have so many rounds. Ennoia, Goddess, bloody Si’akh for all I care. Don’t let this be the end.

 

[naut]

FROM: Captain Alessia Marino
SUBJECT: Recovered Tartaros Notes

Good evening, crew,

Following the conclusion of the expedition to (and subsequent destruction of) Tartaros, I've seen it fit to publish the data recovered from the terminals with information into the psirens and the Outer Eyes' links to them. If you're interested in the mechanism of action and what the station was doing behind the scenes, read up on the below.

Please note that we are still pending the decryption of a recovered data disk that may have more findings. All information here is subject to change.

___________________________________

Quote

 

Summary of Findings

Outer Eyes Strategic Objectives

• The Modernist faction of the Outer Eyes intends to deliberately introduce psirens into populated regions of the Spur.
• Their objective is the destabilization of interstellar civilization by using psirens to manipulate influential individuals and provoke large-scale political and military conflict.
• The proposed strategy involves placing psirens in proximity to governments, military leadership, and other high-value targets, relying on their psionic influence to create a cascading chain of escalating crises that would ultimately culminate in widespread war.
• Intelligence attributes this strategy directly to the Enlightened Eye, who is believed to have been the principal architect of the proposal.
• Despite extensive experimentation, the Modernists have been unable to implement the plan on the desired scale due to an insufficient psiren population.

Enlightened Eye Experimentation

• Prisoners held at Tartaros were subjected to invasive neurological experimentation intended to transform them into improved psionic hosts for psirens. Rather than implanting psirens directly, the procedures altered the subjects' brains to dramatically increase their psionic sensitivity.
• The enhancement process was considered technically successful, but came at the cost of catastrophic physiological damage. Surviving subjects exhibited drastically shortened life expectancy as a consequence of the modifications.
• The Enlightened Eye intended to apply the same enhancement procedure to carefully selected individuals throughout the Spur, creating highly receptive targets that nearby psirens could influence. This would allow psionic manipulation of political, military, and economic leadership without requiring large psiren populations at every location.
• Subjects exposed to these procedures may become persistent psionic conduits, capable of attracting psirens over considerable distances. Transporting such individuals beyond the Lemurian Sea presents an unacceptable containment risk.
• The subjects found in Tartaros were believed to function as exceptionally powerful psionic beacons, making it highly likely that psirens would attempt to accompany any vessel transporting them beyond the Sea.

Psiren Ecology

• Psirens are confirmed to be native organisms of the Lemurian Sea, not an artificial construct or direct product of ADPI experimentation. Their psionic capabilities evolved naturally within the Sea's environment.
• Psirens are not responsible for the anomalous psionic environment of the Lemurian Sea. Rather, they evolved within an ecosystem where elevated ambient psionic activity already existed.
• Their inability to leave the Sea stems from ecological dependence. Outside the Lemurian Sea, normal space lacks the elevated ambient psionic "background" upon which psirens appear to feed and thrive.

Psiren Classifications

Recovered documentation identifies several distinct morphological classes of psiren:

• Lasher - Smallest commonly encountered variety. Rapidly closes distance to prey and attacks using multiple tentacles.
• Darter - Larger specimen distinguished by enlarged ocular structures. Capable of launching psionically propelled projectiles ("kinesis darts") at range.
• Omen - Significantly larger caste capable of generating a dense defensive black cloud. Exhibits substantially stronger ambient psionic activity than lesser forms.
• Matriarch - Largest documented caste. Documentation provides little anatomical detail, though evidence suggests this classification matches the massive specimen previously encountered aboard the Ma'ki Xau'an, also called a matriarch.

Psiren Containment

• Psirens are ordinarily unable to permanently leave the Lemurian Sea due to their dependence on ambient psionic conditions unique to the region.
• Recovered research indicates psirens may circumvent this limitation by attaching themselves to sufficiently psionic hosts, allowing them to accompany vessels exiting the Sea.
• This limitation can potentially also be overcome through transportation aboard vessels carrying a sufficiently strong concentration of psionic activity. 
• Available evidence strongly suggests the purpose of the Sea Cleanse Protocol, a protocol listed in recovered terminals with little supplementary detail, was to prevent psiren escape by eliminating contaminated vessels before they could return to inhabited space.

Psiren Reproduction

• Recovered research indicates the Modernists had not yet determined the exact mechanism by which psirens reproduce and were actively investigating methods of increasing their numbers before attempting galaxy-wide deployment.
• Research logs indicate psirens may not reproduce sexually. Instead, they appear to accumulate psionic energy generated by prolonged violence, death, fear, and emotional trauma until reaching sufficient mass to divide into new individuals.
• Researchers associated these reproductive events with the characteristic psionic spikes previously observed immediately before psiren attacks on vessels.
• The above findings indicate that regions experiencing sustained conflict within the Sea may unintentionally create favorable conditions for psiren population growth.

Operational Assessment

• The Modernists' inability to reliably cultivate or reproduce psirens remains the principal bottleneck preventing implementation of their strategy on a Spur-wide scale.
• The primary strategic threat is therefore not the existence of psirens themselves, but the possibility of transporting them beyond the Lemurian Sea by means of sufficiently psionic hosts or vessels.

 

___________________________________

It is my hope that this information is useful to know for the general crew as to what kind of threat we were dealing with as well as helping to explain the reasons Command made the decisions it did during the expedition to Tartaros.

Be safe, and hopefully this should help enlighten you.

2468-07-18

Edited Saturday at 04:30 by naut

[CatsinHD]

FROM: Maria Leoz, Human Resources Assistant
TO: SCCV Horizon Crew
SUBJECT: Operation Deep Dive, Command Meeting
___________________________________

BODY:

Command personnel,

On Thursday the 23rd, a command meeting will be held to discuss future steps on the Horizon's operation within the Sea. This is in hopes to clarify vessel intent for a more cohesive and forward-thinking strategy. Please be prepared to discuss over operational details, so if you have not already, read over all memos present within this thread.

Following this meeting, should proper consensus be met, it is generally expected that Command should act in a manner that furthers the plan outlined during the meeting. While it will not be a requirement from Central Command, it does reflect poorly on teamwork aptitude that is valued and enshrined within the Conglomerate.

All Command personnel are advised to attend if possible, however attendance in not mandatory. I will endeavor to attend in kind to ensure clerical matters are handled and order is maintained.

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact myself or another of our HR team.
______________________________________________________________________________

DTG: 20-17:18-TAU CETI STANDARD-07-2468

SIGN: M. Leoz