Oh, how such a relaxing place can become so frustratingly busy…
Pre-flight checks complete, not like Barrier Gate really cares. A coffee in hand, notes over my sensor display and some time to think. Its been so long since the meeting was organised that I’ve forgotten the initial reason for this whole discussion. Didn’t get alot of time to check back through my stuff to find that out, either. Visuals on Crowley.
Somethings happened to him. Or around him. His whole demeanour was off. Blunt. Flighty on topics even remotely close to what he was up to. Guess I wont be getting any information out of him about that without difficulty. Well, best to stick to some less cautious topics. Like disappearances. He brushed it off that people go missing all the time. Its different, Crowley. These… these disappearances aren’t normal. Neither is your tone, but I feel like if I probe, you’ll do something rash. Yeah i spend time in Omicrons because thats where those I trust have vanished from. What would you have done?
He mentioned seeing other places. Taus, Omegas, deeper Omicrons. Kappa, Zeta, Pi…. Thats somewhere I haven’t been.. the way he spoke… theres gonna be some form of clue there. Core, Order and Corsairs supposedly guard the place… Technocracy too. Revenant… He knows her as Raven. One and the same. Pi… for someone who claims they’ve never been, that description was quite in-depth… other system names. Edinburgh, Roussillon, Orkney. Omegas. Drake.. “if you can access it… and escape alive”. Cayman. Then. He changed the subject. A history lesson. Zoners first discovered Coronado.
A heartbeat… then a voice. Feminine. Clearly neither of ours. Someone or something was out there listening. And Crowley… his change.. the light shifts on his armour… My ship flagged a new message indicator… Crowley. I went to speak, but another message. Theres a visitor. Oh really? The female voice wasn’t enough of a giveaway eh? Don’t be alarmed? Its in our heads.. so its… one of them… I came out here to escape this.. not to invite more damnit! I wanted them to reveal themselves…
There was a chill that remained after whatever it was I just felt. Some… connection? Crowley changed too. The shift in colours… does his armour change based off interactions with his environment? I couldn’t help but notice how it lined up with the colouration in the recording he sent me… When i questioned with this far out? I got the usual: remember what i said. So, go and look into deeper Omicrons, Taus and Omegas? I took a diversion of my own and then the description slipped my mind… he got bored of waiting, and spoke of some unique place here, in Coronado. A wrecked alien gate. What? Here??
Looked up from my notes. This alien contact closed alarmingly fat. They moved past and away from us. I was relieved when it kept going. Then… the echo of many voices: “Follow.” Everything screamed out to deny. Until Crowley intended to go. Yeah… need to keep an eye on him. The trail it left, it led us directly to the wreckage. He spoke of a routine survey mission. Then cut himself off. He knows more than he lets in on. A curiosity question. A simple motion. “I have met this one before”
And then it focused its… thoughts on me. Do i see them? Crowleys suit started to flash green as he moved out of the corner of my vision. Green… Im sure theres something i was going to say earlier about something green….see them… yes i can physically see you.. but do you mean something else? Quiet my mind, relax, become a pebble on a riverbed? All you aliens are the same, thinking in damn riddles that make my head spin! The most sense i can make of that- “i think the close approximation is Meditation”. Meditation. Allow myself to become rested and more open to thoughts.. with one of them here? I suppose they’ve had their chances to kill me if they really desired that..
So i meditated. Allowed my mind to clear of the thoughts and emotions i was in turmoil over. A vision of a ship began to fill the void in which my mind cleared. It wasn’t… quite there… things shifted and that which was surrounding it was visible through the vessel…a system not spoken of, somewhere distant. A route through that which I knew, yet I had never “completed” the journey. Here to Cortez, Magellan, Vespucci, Kansas. There was more… but a voice disturbed my meditation. Technocracy. Didn’t seem alarmed by the alien presence, even asked if they were interrupting.
Wait. Wheres Crowley? Between being called friend and the alien knowing of my loss.. i was struggling to focus on anything now. The vision slipped away and i instead focused on those present. The alien moved towards me. A sense of… initial panic. Target locked, weapons focused. No power to the weapons yet though, just being ready incase of a fight. A warmth, almost relaxing. Yet there was no reason for its origin from within me. Are they… Are they projecting their emotions? And they are expressing… comfort? Warmth? Care? I muted my comms array before I said anything. What were they seeing in me?
Maybe a good time to… learn just what or how they are able to communicate… This was a chance. “I can hear you.. and yet… How?” With comms muted I was not transmitting my words. But it probably was clear enough what was going on. The echoing voice spoke and in that moment, something clicked. They're telepathic. Communicating through the mind. They were amused by my realisation. I asked how they knew of my loss, but I already knew. They were in my mind. Of course one of the largest things in my thoughts was so easily found out. Another blip on the radar, another alien. A larger one.
I leant a little to see if they knew of my missing friends… no. Of course they don’t. Was worth a shot. Comms back on. Green light. Green… green seas? OH! ”The Green Swamps!” I blurted out before i could stop myself. Thats what it was that i couldn’t remember. The voice in my head was curious of something. Now i knew what was happening, i was able to think my conversation to the nomads. The meditation had enabled the dual communicating too. Exploring, learning of new things… seeing what is out there to be seen..
Bretonian Intelligence agent on sensors. Oh, wonderful. Wait until they find my installed cloak. Ah well, they have no real jurisdiction to do anything. The aliens scattered, and yet I could still hear their thoughts. They had more questions, and assured that they would “not lay a mote of Our self upon thee”. Emphasis on the ‘our’.
The Intel guy was curious about mine n Crowleys cloaks. Well, it was inevitable. Lets have a little fun, eh? What cloak? “Play smart all you want”. So uh, this isnt an oddly shaped disco ball, like it was listed as on Canary Wharf? And what i bought it for? You tellin’ me someones got one over on me? Now i gotta track them down… ill get them back for this!
Yeah a little overdone. But hey. The name will mean they might look into the station thats clearly selling stuff to unlicensed people in the heart of Bretonia. As Crowley departed, two more contacts. One a recognised Zoner, from Delta. Whats he doing here? The other contact i didn’t recognise, no recognisable transponder. Time to go i think. Gonna need some time to lay low, wouldn’t put it past the Bretonian to put tails and trackers on us. Tau-29 isn’t far away. The Freeport will be a good place to lay low and give my ship a once-over. New message from Crowley. “Find me where we first met. Where you weren’t interesting enough to monitor… yet.” He informs of two separate meetings. We first met in Delta. But Honshu and Sigma-13 was where he told me i was not interesting enough to monitor.
Cant think just yet on that. Scour my ship, get myself prepared for looking into Pi. Whats there that could be a clue. Leaving Coronado, there was a strange song. An echo of a melody. It seemed to be everywhere.. but where? By what? Whats happening to me? Ignore it.. maybe it will go away. I have things I need to do, people to find. More areas to hunt for answers, or clues.
