Atragon9

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #821, STARDATE 51408.18 =/\= The Manticore is in orbit around Titan under cloak. T'Prise and Kansas are about to infiltrate the headquarters of the Antares Group to find out their connection to K.E.N., the attack on Earth's weather control system and the death of Atragon-9. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #821, STARDATE 51408.18 =/\=

A9 has lost track of time, plain and simple. He has being kept in a dark room for so long. His food seems to be delivered at different intervals all the time. Sometimes he is quite full when a new meal arrives, sometimes he is so hungry it seems like more than a day goes by between "feedings." He is also getting washed at an irregular schedule, but that is a generous term for these sessions. He is sprayed with a liquid spray that dissolves his overalls, then a spray of water from some sort of fire hose, followed by a disinfectant hose and a rinse again. Finally a new set of overalls are slid into the room after his body and the floor have had time to dry. His elimination needs are met with a toilet/bidet that is built into a corner of his room and is the only source of light, when he wanders near it. If he stays too long, the light goes out, so it doesn't help him to stay close to the plumbing in hopes of having a consistent source of illumination. This is his entire existence, punctuated only by the occasional visits to the HD holosuite of Millburn Park and that one visit from Charlie Thasus. He knows that it has been a number of weeks, possibly months, but he has no way to gauge this as his other break from this "norm" has been when he has been sedated during his imprisonment. One was early on, when there was a number of medical procedures performed on his wrist, neck and chest. One was his first visit to Millburn. The ones that truly worry him are the times he wakes up and realizes that it was a chemically induced sleep. He has no idea why Charlie keeps knocking him unconscious and he has no way to fight it. He knows that his TK is still intact, so there doesn't seem to be further medical testing being performed that would affect this. He has been given a great deal of time to live in his own mind. He has run through all of his plans of escape and he has stared at himself, in self-reflection and he realizes he is alone. Not just in the dark and in this cell, in all aspects of his being. Maybe that is something that the Federation Council always knew, always saw in him. Maybe that's what had made him excel in command of Special Operations. The ultimate lone wolf, but not in a good way. Now it has come home to roost in reality. He is not being interrogated, he is not being tortured, he has just been taken from the world and left alone, very alone.

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #820, STARDATE 51408.11 =/\= The Manticore has departed Starbase 18, under deep cover, to investigate the dealings of K.E.N. on Titan. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #820, STARDATE 51408.11 =/\= 140811.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #820, STARDATE 51408.11 =/\= The Manticore has departed Starbase 18, under deep cover, to investigate the dealings of K.E.N. on Titan. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #820, STARDATE 51408.11 =/\=

Thank goodness I have a new job and none of you have the address, whew!!

Hey, I may have been the annoying one who kept poking Paramount and StarTrek,com, but there is a long list of people who need to be thanked, as well. It is always dangerous to list people, as I inevitably forget a terribly important person, so let me start off by apologizing to the people I will forget to list ::facepalm:: and move on to thank the dozens (hundreds?) of players who show up every week to enjoy the sims in the forum. Okay, enough delaying, on to the individuals I would like to thank for keeping STSF up, running and happy, over the years. Amnor Borgette BluRox Dacotah FredM GromVik Hawser Huff Jami Joe Manning Jumper KBear Kent Kessler Laura Lebowski LoAmi Linus Moose Muon Quark NDak Nova Phoenix Precip Rob Scooter Seiben Serenity Sketti Sorehl Sovak Spyder Sumo

Don't help him, sheesh!

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #819, STARDATE 51407.28 =/\= The Manticore has arrived at Starbase 18, to check in with the hidden Special Ops substation there. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #819, STARDATE 51407.28 =/\= 140728.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #819, STARDATE 51407.28 =/\= The Manticore has arrived at Starbase 18, to check in with the hidden Special Ops substation there. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #819, STARDATE 51407.28 =/\=

Naah, just go to Fred's house and yowl into his windows, it will make him feel better.

::The darkness of Atragon's cell is broken by a blinding light on him. After shading his eyes from the over-sensitization for a few minutes, he realizes that a door or wall panel is open at the far end of his long cell and nothing is being brought in to him. He gets up and moves slowly to the opening, realizing just how much this small exertion tires him out:: {Frak, Charlie has really kept me captive for a long time, if I can't just walk across a room. Then again, without my exosuit the gravity... The gravity! It's not 1G, I must still be on Titan or in some sort of compression chamber that allows for adjusted grav levels and ... } ::His thoughts screech to a halt as he reaches the door and looks out at Millburn Park:: {Feldercarb, will you look where I am?! This is no holosuite, this is really Millburn! I don't know how Charlie got the rights to build his evil empire right on our favorite park from our childhood, but I know every twist and turn of this park and a lot of places where I can... escape! I must be watched, so I have to take it slow} ::A9 steps out of his cell and into Millburn Park. There are no guards watching him, that he can see, but he knows it can't be this easy to get away:: {It's been so long since I've been able to truly enjoy the warmth, the breeze, the smell of the trees and grass. This is part of why I took Pegasus over to Titan in the first place, to get away - to get home. I need to see if I can get to the border of the park, see if I can alert someone to my condition, get a message to the fleet. Anything to help me get away from... } ::He turns around to look back at the door he walked through and it isn't there. No building, no entryway. Spinning back around, he realizes there are no people in the park, either:: "No. Nooooo!!!" ::He starts running straight away from where his cell had been. He's screaming and waving his arms and running wildly, a huge burst of speed coming from the realization that he is not actually in Millburn Park, just an extremely high-resolution holo environment to look like it. After a few moments, as suddenly as he started his run, it comes to an end when he slams into a wall that should be the start of a foot bridge over Taylor Creek. He hits with his full force and crumples to the ground, his hands digging into real dirt. He finally gets his breath back and looks around wildly, at the wall, the dirt, the sounds and smells of the park. Suddenly the light goes out all around him, but he still feels the dirt and grass under him. He starts to giggle in a strained and nervous voice and doesn't hear the approach of a pair of quiet footsteps until it is too late and a hypospray is pressed to his neck: ::His next sensation is waking up, back in his cell, smelling his own sweat and the dirt on his hands and jammed under his fingernails. He curls into a tight ball and starts to weep::

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #818, STARDATE 51407.21 =/\= The Manticore is on its way to Starbase 18, to check in with the hidden Special Ops substation there. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #818, STARDATE 51407.21 =/\= 140721.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #818, STARDATE 51407.21 =/\= The Manticore is on its way to Starbase 18, to check in with the hidden Special Ops substation there. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #818, STARDATE 51407.21 =/\=

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #817, STARDATE 51407.14 =/\= The Manticore is still in orbit around Earth, as the crew finishes shore leave and the senior staff prepares to begin a new mission. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #817, STARDATE 51407.14 =/\= 140714.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #817, STARDATE 51407.14 =/\= The Manticore is still in orbit around Earth, as the crew finishes shore leave and the senior staff prepares to begin a new mission. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #817, STARDATE 51407.14 =/\=

::A9 watched as Thasus left his cell, carrying the chair (the only furniture in the room) with him. The magnetic click of the door closing seemed to shake Atragon as he sat on the floor. He looked around as if he was just waking up:: {Frak, Charlie is out of treatment and up to his eyeballs in subterfuge. Now that I think of him, I don't know if he's out of treatment or if he escaped, but he's insane, that much is clear. Just as clear is my own need for escape. Up to now, I had no idea why I was being held, who my jailer was, what was the goal of my captivity. Now, I have two out of three and knowing Charlie's goal is unimportant.} {Now I have to watch for any opportunity to free myself, even if it includes harm being done to my captor. I don't know how long I have been here, but he has been effective in hiding me from Starfleet, so my freedom is dependent only on my own devices. I will get out of here. I Must. Even if only half of the things he told me are true, he is a very influential and powerful sociopath. He must be stopped, he must be controlled, he must be leashed again.} {I suppose there are some who are truly irredeemable - there isn't a hole deep enough. I need to feel my hands around his throat, know that his death is on my hands, literally and figuratively. I look forward to that day. I ...} ::A9 scrubs at his eyes:: {I have to get out of this cage before I become a monster, like him}

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #816, STARDATE 51407.07 =/\= The Manticore is still in orbit around Earth, as the crew enjoys shore leave and the senior staff completes their command hand-over in the wake of A9's... Wake. The memorial service for him has just completed and the crew is returning to the ship from San Francisco. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #816, STARDATE 51407.07 =/\= 140707.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #816, STARDATE 51407.07 =/\= The Manticore is still in orbit around Earth, as the crew enjoys shore leave and the senior staff completes their command hand-over in the wake of A9's... Wake. The memorial service for him has just completed and the crew is returning to the ship from San Francisco. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #816, STARDATE 51407.07 =/\=

Charles Thasus sat in his office, in his mansion on Titan, looking out at his garden on the only home planet he'd ever known. Everything was on schedule, he was pleased and scared - and that pleased him even more. After all the time and effort to create his special sanctuary, will he be leaving it for good? His compound would be called modest on Earth but, considering the premium for space inside the domed colony on Titan, it raised a few eyebrows locally. The established citizens of Titan did not know what Thasus did for a living or how he wrangled the Titan colonial commission into providing him such a living/working space. However, few questions were ever asked, as he was a frequent contributor to public works and charitable causes throughout the city state. Still, anyone who spent any time considering the man found him "odd," in ways they could not name. He wasn't a remarkable man, no matter how people tried to focus their attentions on him. He seemed to be constantly changing, shifting, reinventing himself. There was something covert about the man and the few people he let be around him didn't know the half of it. After dismissing his household staff for the day, he slid aside a hidden wall panel in his office and stepped into a small turbolift that took him down 15 levels below the surface of the moon. Not a lot of people knew that the Titan dome was not simply an upside-down bowl, it was actually a spheroid with almost half of it buried in the surface of the planetoid. Thasus chose his property as close to the center of the colony as he could, so that he would have access to the greatest area of subtitanian space. After he moved in, he had broken through the "ground" below his home to gain access to an area filled with Titan dirt during colony construction - this was done to create a level surface for living spaces. He excavated 120 meters down and 2 kilometers in width. The finishing work was completed by a construction firm that had wondered how he got the special permission to use so much space and how he moved so much ground without heavy excavators that had never been brought to Titan. Like so many other questions surrounding Charles Thasus and his enterprises, they never seemed important enough to ask. No one put it all together to see a pattern. Careful, Charles was always careful. That was a lesson he learned the hard way, after being committed to the institution as a teen along with his cohort Xian Yi Huan. She snapped completely after they were hospitalized, but he learned to be ... careful. Careful and patient. He didn't slip up and he was willing to be very, very patient. It took a long time, but he "got better," and got out. He used the same techniques to amass his influence, his power. His own natural powers helped along the way, but he was always careful to keep them from being noticed, from being discovered. He founded the Antares Group and was able to distance himself further from any personal scrutiny, all while building his power base. Antares invested in a number of worthwhile causes and even a few that were more on the fringe, like Keep Earth Natural. They cared about the Terran ecosystem, but were always a bit sketchy with their plans to achieve their goals. It was so easy to direct them where and how to focus; when he decided to go for a bigger play, they were the perfect cover. Along the way, one of his contacts alerted him to one of his deep targets, one of his "long game" goals. He grabbed that golden ring just as the Terran weather game heated up. How interesting and fortuitous, he was so excited, he almost forgot to be careful. He couldn't know how successful the Earth project would be, how the Terran and Federation government would react and the resources they would put into play. When the Manticore came to Titan for the weather control center, he knew what he had been given, the perfect opportunity. Now he could dispose of his target in the worst way possible and he was giddy with fulfillment. Now the target is his, forever, and the Earth weather system is still vulnerable (with the control components on Milieu Station from an Antares subsidiary.) Everything is going his way. He tries not to gloat, but it's so hard not to, and why not, truly. He just has to see how his target will react to knowing who the hunter was, who the winner is, how the proper little martinet has fallen. Stepping out of the lift on B15, he makes his way to the trophy room and finally steps inside to face his enemy. He stands in the doorway, the light spilling into the dungeon-dark room. "Attie, you have been my guest for a long time, I suppose it's time we met face to face - or should I say, meet again. How many decades has it been, we're both getting so old..."

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #815, STARDATE 51406.30 =/\= The Manticore is still in orbit around Earth, as the crew enjoys shore leave and the senior staff completes their command hand-over in the wake of A9's... Wake. The memorial service for him is scheduled for later in the week and then the ship will depart on its next mission. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #815, STARDATE 51406.30 =/\= 140630.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #815, STARDATE 51406.30 =/\= The Manticore is still in orbit around Earth, as the crew enjoys shore leave and the senior staff completes their command hand-over in the wake of A9's... Wake. The memorial service for him is scheduled for later in the week and then the ship will depart on its next mission. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #815, STARDATE 51406.30 =/\=

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #814, STARDATE 51406.23 =/\= Earth's weather control system is now safely under the control of the Milieu Station, following the emergency control by the Manticore. With the weather emergency in the past, Starfleet is thanking the ships and crews involved. This includes commendations for every member of the Manticore crew. In addition, Sovak has just been promoted to the rank of Admiral. The senior crew (Lt. Commanders and above) are still in the conference hall at SFHQ, as the meeting is wrapping up. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #814, STARDATE 51406.23 =/\= 140623.txt

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #814, STARDATE 51406.23 =/\= Earth's weather control system is now safely under the control of the Milieu Station, following the emergency control by the Manticore. With the weather emergency in the past, Starfleet is thanking the ships and crews involved. This includes commendations for every member of the Manticore crew. In addition, Sovak has just been promoted to the rank of Admiral. The senior crew (Lt. Commanders and above) are still in the conference hall at SFHQ, as the meeting is wrapping up. =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #814, STARDATE 51406.23 =/\=

{Water - when was the last time I washed with water? On the ship, it's a sonic shower, and then I've run some holodeck programs of Millburn Park, back home. That lake, we would swim and kayak, they built the waterfall into it. We would have picnics there and, later on, we would have water training for Belisarius. It's so much harder to move or hold water than a solid object, it was one of my most difficult classes. As much as I dreaded those exercises, I got to play in water, in the lake. The observers did realize that their subjects *were* kids, so they always gave us play time when we went to Millburn. It wasn't much, but we hardly had any play time while training and I loved it. Such fond memories of splashing around and ... and ...} {Wet - I am being showered with hot water. Wait, when were my clothes removed? The water, it has a smell to it, medicinal, cleansing. I guess I haven't gotten clean since I have been here and there have been a lot of meals, a lot of sleep cycles - when they let me sleep. How long has it been? Why has no one come to look for me, rescue me. After all this time in Starfleet, all the terrible things I have done "for the good," here is my reward, my prize, my penance, my punishment, my fate, forgotten.} {Damp - I am cold, I am wet, I am waiting, I don't understand. Why clean my body if it will never be seen again outside of this room, by another person? Why am I still alive, what do they want from me, why haven't I been questioned?} {Dry - It must be warmer here than I thought, I am dry, I am warm, but I am still naked. Is this the next stage of my captivity? Nothing to hide, nowhere to hide, exposed, open. They are right, I am nothing. They have cleansed me and I am a blank. They ask me nothing, I have nothing to give} {Dressed?! - I don't remember falling asleep, but I find myself waking up, wearing a simple tunic and leggings. Familiar to me from my youth on Titan, yet totally plain, unadorned, no neighborhood markings or development coloring. How am I losing these big pieces of time and consciousness?} ::A9 realizes that he has fallen unconscious again and is awoken by the sound of a heavy door opening behind him with a bright light beyond in the outer room, He sits up and squints at the light as a figure wearing similar clothing as his, steps into the room and speaks:: "Attie, you have been my guest for a long time, I suppose it's time we met face to face - or should I say, meet again. How many decades has it been, we're both getting so old..."

=/\= USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #813, STARDATE 51406.16 =/\= Earth's weather control system was sabotaged by terrorists (Keep Earth Natural). Getting into the weather control center on Titan, a booby trap was detonated, destroying the control center and a person with the Admiral's uniform, exo suit and DNA. Command of the ship has been given to Sovak and Matt McFly. Manticore tried to control all of the weather satellites until a new station came online, but the strain was on the verge of destroying the ship. The new weather control system, on the Milieu Station, has now come online with only the slightest of hiccups (power surges, plasma conduit ruptures and the entire ship shutting down and restarting - but besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show?) =/\= END USS MANTICORE BRIEFING #813, STARDATE 51406.16 =/\= 140616.txt