Here's the deal these days: They know exactly who we are. They know exactly where we live.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Cybil is currently talking with Jaime Reyes about the possibility of hacking the ship's systems. Just a normal day on the meatship, a normal conversation in one of the cold zones, where there are no working sensors, about getting the hell OFF the ship, or turning the big bitch around.

"Do you think we could have our resident tech nerds build something to bridge the gap from technological to the more organic parts of her systems?"

Comments

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. That's probably our best bet," says Jaime thoughtfully. "I think you need to talk to our lab nerds to see if we have the resources for that though, but if we do, the scarab can probably handle the hacking part, especially with the other hackers helping. The difficult thing will be doing it without damaging Stacy's systems. This is basically her nervous system and anything we could do could brain-damage her--which aside from being morally questionable, could delete information she needs to run the ship properly so we have breathable oxygen, or navigational information that we need to get home or..."

Suddenly, the bioluminescent lights on the ship flicker.

"What the hell was that?"

That, thought he doesn't know it yet, is the Yeerks activating their device that will cripple Stacy's brain, which will allow them to control her just like they control the minds of their hosts, but will destroy the information they need to go home to their respective worlds.

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

There was an Earth saying, 'When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras'. On board this ship, well, you were just as likely to get lizards.

Or in this case, a teenage Andalite.

Ax clattered around the corner and skidded to a halt.

< Prince Cybil, Jaime Reyes, everyone is in very grave danger! > he announced, watching the human woman's expression with his main eyes as his stalk eyes scanned the area. If she was herself infested, she would undoubtedly react to an Andalite presence. He didn't think that it would be possible for Jaime Reyes to be infested, since he already had a parasite. < Several members of the crew have had their minds taken over, including Robin, Sam, and Dox. >

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Her eyes flicker, but it's likely just recognition from the Bug-fight, and general caution and paranoia.

Her sidearm is out and quickly pointed at him.

"You! You showed up at the fight with the Bugs. Who and what are you? And what the hell are you talking about? Why haven't you introduced yourself to the crew?"

She's not firing though. Good sign. It looks more like cop instinct and worry for the crew due to a big unknown factor.

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

And she's not the only one being cautious. Jaime suits up, although he says, "Cybil, I don't know who he is, but he helped us a lot during the stuff with the Bugs."

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

A Yeerk would have fired. He would have to trust her for now.

< My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, I am an Andalite, and I possess the power to morph. > Ax said, holding up his hands in the manner he had learned on television. Barely a concession, since his tail blade was infinitely more dangerous than his hands.

< I have interacted with both of you under the guise of 'Phillip'. I did not reveal my true form sooner because in my own universe I am battling an invasion of alien slugs that are capable of crawling inside the heads of other species and taking over their minds and bodies. Some are on board this ship, and they are going to attack the rest of the crew, infesting those they can and killing those they cannot. >

A stalk eye swung Jaime's way. < You, for example, will likely be killed since I doubt that your own parasite would be interested in sharing your body. >

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

It's time to run, warn, and then fight. Cybil makes sure her gun is loaded and ready to go as she runs.

"For fuck's sakes, it's like one thing after another--you couldn't warn us this could be happening sooner?"

At the rate they're going, the on-ship disturbances that keep happening will make it so they never get any exploring/taking over the ship to go home done.

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

Ax easily kept pace with her, purposefully not pulling ahead.

< I have spent the past two Earth years fighting them in secret, > he said. < Contact with authorities has been minimal, and they generally attempted to shoot me on sight. Nevertheless, I apologize. >

He could only hope that Tobias and Lyta were all right.

[morphitudinous]

A disheveled and anxious Billy comes into view, crouching defensively with a small assortment of portable weapons strapped to his back. He stands a reasonable distance away, in the hopes of being able to react if Ax and Cybil turn out to be hostile as well. For the moment, though, this is the most practical way to find out.

"Captain, we have an emergency situation aboard! I've just retreated from the mess hall, where a subgroup of suddenly hostile podmates have initiated combat with the remainder of the crew!"

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Cybil levels his gun against him, but doesn't fire.

"Here's our little problem--blue guy here says they're brain slugs from his world infecting and controlling the crew. How do we know you're not infected with one of 'em?"

[neomite.livejournal.com]

By the time Eve had gone down the stairs, made four turns through the various, labyrinth-like fleshy hallways she had concluded, sobbing at her sudden lack of direction; that she was lost.

“Eve?”

Reprimanding herself for the lack of attention she had paid to her settings while chasing the line of flickering lights, she figured, mostly by the dank smell and lack of familiarity, that she was no where near the older woman whose comfort she sought. Eve had found herself lost… again.

“Eve…?”

Eve slid gracelessly to the floor, shaking her head from side to side comfortingly. Then the rumbling began. It was a low, malicious sound that wasn't a sound at all. It was a feeling, a vibration that emanated from somewhere ahead. It quickly permeated everything... the air, the walls... growing louder and deeper... daring Eve not to tremble in fear of it. A high pitched scream erupted from her throat; alerting anyone nearby to the cry of a terrified child.

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

Ax arrived on the scene first, since Andalites were capable of running faster than humans.

< Are you all right? > he asked, not unlike the way Stacy spoke to the crew. His bladed tail was arched high over his head, in case the little girl in question was also a Controller.

It was certainly possible that she was.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"I don't see a Dracon beam." What was her name? She'd gotten it on the list. "Eve--Eve, sweetheart, we need you to stop screaming. No more screaming, okay?"

[morphitudinous]

Oh, no. It really is a young girl. One hand remains on his weapon as inconspicuously as possible, but he tries to force his face into a relaxed smile. Assuming the girl isn't a Controller, scaring her any further than she already is won't help. His voice is unusually soft.

"Please try to calm yourself. We're here to help you." Which was technically true either way, if you expanded the definition of the word 'help' to include 'restrain until any Yeerks that may or may not be present wither and die'. But Billy sincerely hopes it doesn't come to that.

Mess Hall

[cityship]

Backup is here in the Mess Hall! In the form of telepaths, robots, and people with guns and stun-weapons! Plus an Andalite, but he's hanging towards the back, protecting a kid and there's a wall of people between attackers and them.

Re: Mess Hall

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"Everybody, down! Until the telepaths and 'bots sort out who's infested, everyone drop your weapons and get down on the floor!"

Re: Mess Hall

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

Connor, wild-eyed, panicked, and hiding his terror badly, was still staring up at Sparhawk from his place above Murphy. Everything about his body, from his tense shoulders to his wide eyes, practically screams for help. And then, in one short moment, it blinks out- replaced with someone else's frustration, someone else's fright. They dropped their weapons, and didn't move.

Re: Mess Hall

[tobiasf.livejournal.com]

Tobias spots Ax and flys back to him before dropping down as asked. < I'm not infested! > he calls to the telepaths. < I'm not even sure my head's big enough. >

< Finally...t's good to see you. I know you're you, because of that whole "die by your own blade before infestation" thing. What's been happening where you were? And who's the kid? >

Med Bay

[cityship]

Med Bay is trashed. There's apparently been a fight here, but the premises have now been vacated.

The injured that need tending need to be brought here as soon as possible--and then they will be restrained until scanning deems them clean of infestation.

Re: Med Bay

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"This is NOT what I need right now!" Brainy declares, seeing the Dracon beam damage to Med Bay. "Stacy, can you repair the damage?"

||Krrt. Lrt. Zz.||

Not good. This is not good. Stacy's unresponsive, and he has a good idea why, but he has to tend to the injured and hope someone else is dealing with the machine the Yeerks built to meddle with Stacy's nervous system.

Communicators. After all this nonsense, as soon as they have the resources, the first thing he's building is an independent comm system or finding a way to modify the translation equipment they've been provided to function as such. Operating in the dark like this, not knowing who's responding to what is horribly limiting.

The injured are all placed on beds, and other than Kon, are restrained. He has to use the manual controls for it, with Stacy unreliable. Brainy had been unconscious for a moment after all. No telling if Mia'd been infested while she and he had both been unconscious.

"Kara, I'll need your assistance." He hits some buttons on his omnicom and scans her, just to be safe. No Yeerk. He scans Kon. Same.

He tosses it to her. "Press the large green button to start a scan and scan my head. You should see something rather alarming and unusual."

He'd been experimenting with his omnicom scanner after being left alone to go take over the crew and with the knowledge he'd wrested from his Yeerk, found a somewhat reliable configuration for his scans.

When she does it, she'll see his Yeerk, stretched out and flattened across his brain.

Re: Med Bay

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

Kara catches it, using the least amount of strength that she can. She doesn't know if her strength will destroy Brainy's tech, but she's not so keen to find out.

She presses the large green button and steps up to Brainy. The look on her face is grave, serious. She's smart enough not to crack any jokes or to flirt with Brainy, even though in this proximity to him, all she wants to do is throw him against the wall and kiss him.

Other things come first.

She scans Brainy's head and sees...

"Rao...Brainy. That...there's this...it's like silly putty. Surrounding your brain."

Re: Med Bay

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"That's the parasite that briefly wrested control when I first woke up from Blue Beetle's nervous system stun pulse and attempted to suffocate you. It's what's making Robin attack the rest of us. He's a prisoner in his own mind--and he and Sam, while controlled, infested me," he says, getting Sam prepped for surgery, and starting scans with the equipment he has available.

"I am, however, immune due to the complex nature of my thought processes. I've overloaded my Yeerk with data, and while it can control one track of consciousness, it certainly isn't capable of controlling twelve of them at a time, and thus, I've reversed the control. I have all of its tactics and information available, and am controlling its motor function to prevent it from willfully escaping my head, lest I need more information from it. I fooled them into believe the Yeerk had control."

He pulls the goggles over his eyes. "I need you to scan each of the others, to verify who has a Yeerk or not. I'm almost certain Kate does, but make sure Speedy is still free of one and didn't have one slipped in while unconscious. Then I'm going to be instructing you on how to help your cousin, and administer medication to yourself to ameliorate the effects of the kryptonite more quickly. Then Mia and Speedy's injuries must be attended to."

The surgical glove comes down, and he gets to work, expecting her to do the same.

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

Jaime Reyes had underestimated him. Paco may have been an unwilling accomplice, but his mind was an open book to Sub-Visser 7. That, combined with his own knowledge, meant that it was only a matter of time before the Sub-Visser managed to break free of the disgusting glue Jaime had bound him with. He wriggled out of the nook where Jaime had stuffed him and landed on his feet, less gracefully than he would have wanted, but that was beside the point.

He needed a weapon. And this time, he wasn't going to fire any warning shots.

Paco headed back to where he and Jaime had fought, hoping that Jaime had left his Dracon beam there.

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

Another figure steps out from a nearby hallway, aiming a gun towards Paco.

"Stop there. Make any movement, and I promise that I will kill both you and your host."

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

Oh, fantastic.

Paco stopped and raised his empty hands, schooling his expression into one of nonchalance. This simply encapsulated the downside of a human host -- no natural weapons. He wondered if he might be able to dodge behind something before Scorpius shot him.

"Yes?" he said. "You had something to say?"

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"You are an invading species of parasites. You seek to take control of this vessel, and possess all possible hosts. Unfortunately for you... even if you had an alternative method for accessing my brain, you would find my mental conditioning quite difficult to break through." He smiles... and raises the pistol.

"Thankfully for you, we are on the same side."