The adrenaline was still coursing through Michael’s veins. Just a moment ago, he was fighting for his life, for his ally’s life, against a monstrous amalgamation. Bui, what happened to Bui? His eyes flickered to the screen. He knew that’s where he just was, because he could still see his former sword lying on the ground. But seeing the stiffness in Archie, the appearance of this…hologram coming out of the corpse of the Synsmadr, and greeting him with such carefree reverence. Michael couldn’t afford to lose himself in the moment. Drawing on former Vulcan discipline training, he steeled himself with controlled breathing.

“That…creature that I just faced. We encountered something like it before. What is it?” He asked, his eyes darting to Archie for any information, but his XO was just as confused as he was. The alien hologram rose from his bow to face the two of them, “Recycled biological residuals from the surface stock, my lord. I apologize for your initial encounter. The system detected technology beyond surface means, and without a prior biomarker I had embedded in the chattel that utilizes our technology, it marked you initially as a potential threat.” It explained calmly

“Then why did it attack us in the chamber just now?” Michael asked, his tone slightly elevated.

“Oh, that was not an attack, my lord; Once I located you, I initiated clean-up protocols of the sediment left over from the trials. It was collecting the remnants of stock still viable and placing them in stasis. Once again, I must apologize for my ineptitude. I tried to recall you to this chamber earlier, but claimed your construct by mistake. IT appears in 50,000 cycles; my processes have slowed due to cache buildup.” It once again clarified.

“Right. And the remnants. Are they still…alive?” Michael hesitated in asking the question, scared to receive the answer.

“Oh yes, they won’t do us much good dead. Well, except the ones that killed themselves. All others have been secured, and life-saving measures have been implemented in the units that require them. Were you debating one for a potential new host, my lord? I can hold processing on the remaining stock; you’re more than welcome to take your pick.” The hologram answered eagerly.

A large amount of stress was internally deflated in Michael’s chest. There was a chance Bui was still alive, and even Hakon was being treated for his injuries. However, there was a tone at which this ‘program’ spoke of the Brynar people that was unsettling to Michael. Stock, remnants, chattel. It was clear it saw the people far beneath it, and what did it mean by taking a host? Did it think there was another program like it living inside Michael’s body, as it apparently was inside the Synsmadr? “Yes, let’s hold processing for now. There is much we need to discuss, and I have been fatigued from this riotous trek among the chattel.”

Arch: [Really?]

Archie turned to raise a brow at Michael as he sent the message to the Commander’s HUD.

Mike: [When in Rome.]

Michael responded via Text with a few hand movements from his glove.

At the moment, whatever this was registered him as a counterpart, or at best a superior. That gave him an advantage to better understand what was going on, and he needed to hold that gain as long as possible. “By the way, what is your designation?” Michael asked.

The hologram once again bowed before him, “I am the only remaining ‘Warden-Interdiction-Legislative-Lineament’ of Installation VX-035, at your service.” It responded promptly.

“Warden, interdict…W.I.L…” Michael muttered to himself. A snap of realization flashed across his eyes. “You’re the ‘Last W.I.L.L of the gods’ the Synsmadr spoke of.”

“Yes, my lord. Though our masters departed eons ago, the biologicals on the surface still revered the memory of the mighty Vezda as their gods.” WILL spoke fondly.

This time, it was Archie who had a flash of fear in his eyes. Turning his face to get his commander’s attention once more, he sent another coded message to his HUD Glasses.

Arch: [Vezda? Sir, this is bad…Really Bad.]

Michael only managed to register the message across the lens of his shades before WILL spoke again, this time sending chills down Michael’s spine.

“What’s really bad?” the Hologram probed, looking between the two.

It could easily read their messages to one another.

The two Starfleet Officers looked at one another for a moment, at a loss for words as they tried to independently come up with a feasible cover story. Archie was the first to clear his throat.

“I am sorry to tell you this, but as you have been in isolation for so long, you must not know. The Vezda Empire was imprisoned thousands of years ago by a being known as ‘the beholder’.” Archie delivered.

Not wanting the advanced program to jump to conclusions too quickly, Michael interjected. “The few that remained have also been in isolation, waiting for the right moment to return, which is why it has taken them so long to send scouts to this sector of space. The Masters are just now starting to rebuild their power base.”

WILL’s face tilted, not looking at either of them as it contemplated this information. Archie, realizing Michael’s intent, only nodded and smiled in response. Within a moment, it looked satisfied with the responses it received and smiled at the two of them. “Well, there is much to be done here to get things back in order. Shall we?”

Michael held up his hand, “Before we begin, I need you to lower the distortion field around the city. My ship is in orbit and has been given orders to fire on the planet if we don’t check in on time. In case the facility had been compromised.”

WILL tilted his head in contemplation again for a moment before nodding in approval. “Given the circumstances, that is a reasonable countermeasure. Communications should be restored to your equipment.”

Michael smiled, tapping his comm badge, “Angelus to Fox, Do you copy?”

[USS Fox, Bridge]

“Angelus to Fox, Do you copy?”

Romen snapped up in his seat so fast he could have given himself whiplash. “Fox to Away Team, we read you loud and clear, sir. Is everything ok?”

“Status 10-12, 10-29 Heilo, on location with a local Vezda management program. 
Assessing the site now. Out of range from primitive locals, please transport a 
Tricorder, Diagnostic Tool to my location.”

“We read you, sir. Please stand by.” Romen responded before muting the comms.

“10 what?” Yeager blurted out.

Romen shook his head, his face contemplative of the message he just received. “Ten codes. Old Earth Emergency Services’ shorthand to relay information over radio waves. Their meaning varied by location, so unless you were versed in that region’s code metrics, it was gibberish to anyone else listening. 10-12 I think was (with person, be discrete), and 10-29h was…” Taps his terminal for a moment and stops, “Caution – severe hazard potential.”

“Wait, did he say he was with a Vezda?!” Doc questioned.

“That would definitely explain severe hazard potential.” Trixie retorted.

“They’re in dangerous waters, but they appear to currently have their heads up over the waves. Send the package to the commander’s location, and include an Emergency Transport Unit, just in case we lose contact again. Maintain a lock on the commander’s position, and report if there is any deviation.” Roman commanded.

[Brynar; Bones of the Gods Control Room]

With a wave of its hand, the view screen shifted from the video feeds to a 3D diagnostic screen of the underground facility. The Vezda structure was designed like a large pyramid, with the control room they were in located at the top.

“Facility VX-035 is one of many shroud generation worlds in this sector. The primary function was to maintain the consistency of the subspace miasma in the region, to keep the local primitives contained. After initial activation, the shroud maintained its stability for thousands of years unassisted. VX-035 and all other generation facilities were placed on reserve, in case reactivation or replenishment was required. Approximately 243 planetary rotations ago, there was an anomaly within subspace that nearly dissipated the shroud completely, and has led to the unprecedented expansion of this region’s primitives.” WILL presented.

Michael nodded in interest as he watched the view screen demonstrate a shroud-generation network activate across what he could identify as the Shackleton Expanse. “Yes, that’s what drew our attention. Species outside of this region of space have also taken an interest and have begun expeditions as well.” He feigned. “Why haven’t you simply reactivated the system?”

WILL’s face protruded a look of frustration. “Once every solar cycle, I draw thermal energy from the planet’s Asthenosphere to recharge the facilities’ reserve power banks, but I must admit, degradation in the power storage units over thousands of years has rendered our capacity less than optimal. Not to mention, tectonic shifts have even disrupted energy draw from the planet’s inner core.” WILL continued.

“I have tried and failed to make a connection with any of the other generator worlds, meaning they must have gone offline centuries ago. This planet is an anomaly in the network, as it’s the only one that hosts biological lifeforms on the surface. I have regrettably had to turn to utilizing the surface stock just to keep my own program running.” WILL finished explaining.

“That explains him…” Michael said solemnly, looking at the discarded body of the Synsmadr he had been trying so hard to ignore.

WILL lowered its head in shame. “It was an unfortunate necessity. I had to maintain strict oversight and management of the selected stock to ensure the populace did not progress beyond intended development levels that would have endangered this facility.”

Michael nodded in agreement. “Yes, an industrial civilization would have excavated below the surface and exposed this all.”

“Well, now that you are here, hopefully we can overcome the power issues and get the facility back online. Once this planet Generator is back up and operational, I should be able to remotely activate the rest of the network and redistribute the Shroud once more!” WILL proclaimed excitedly.

Michael faked enthusiasm. “Yes, can’t wait!”

A Starfleet storage box was transported next to him, which drew his attention. “Oh, perfect! Just what we needed.”  Kneeling, he opened the box and withdrew the Tricorder and T90 Diagnostic Tool. Seeing the miniature Emergency Transport pin, he discreetly slipped it under his collar and motioned for Archie to join him.

“I am going to go with WILL and inspect the facilities’ power matrix to see if we can get things up and running on our own, or if we need to call in further help. In the meantime, can you please go check on the stock remnants pending status? I’m interested in that one unit we were looking at for the new host. Want to make sure it’s unspoiled.” Michael addressed aloud.

Archie understood what was going on. What this WILL program wanted to do threatened the operations of every Starfleet and Affiliate starship in the region, and could not be allowed to come to fruition. However, WILL had already demonstrated technological advancement far beyond their own, so if they had any chance to stop him, they had to do so with surgical precision.

Still, Michael’s concern about the survivors was not without warrant; his humanity wanted not only to stop this program’s malfeasance from coming to fruition, but also to rescue the innocents caught in its web. A lot of what it said about the people, and didn’t say, drew concern about their well-being. Opening the Tricorder Michael had handed him, he could see that the Fox was monitoring everything going on, and he also noticed the emergency transport on the commander’s collar, which put him at ease. At least if things came to a head, they could extract Michael from danger.

“Oh yes, I’ll un-restrict the transport network for you, so you can go where you please. The biologicals are being held in a containment room under the power matrix control room anyway!” WILL declared happily.

‘Please be careful.’

Archie mouthed wordlessly to Michael as they began to depart separately. He hated leaving the commander alone with that monster of an Alien AI, but their duties left them no choice.  Michael only nodded in confirmation, tapping the Diagnostic tool in his hand, following WILL through the Veil Portal across the room.

[To be Continued]