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star trek: voyager - kathryn janeway

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[ captain janeway was certain of two things: one) there was no way of contacting voyager; and two) there were other federation signatures present in this strange, alien city that was eerily reminiscent of 20th century earth. neither served to please her, and she'd spent the better part of the morning trying to boost her combadge's frequency in hopes of setting up a homing beacon, but to no avail. she'd try again later, perhaps after dismantling this device she'd been saddled with, granted she could find anything worthwhile hiding beneath its infuriatingly pink casing.

as for those federation signatures... she was on the fence. while those frequencies possessed a distinct federation signature, they were also old and outdated, making use of a particular brand of waveform distribution that had been abandoned by starfleet before she was even born. the only reason she thought to scan for something other than the 24th century standard was her tendency to consider all possible variables, not just the most plausible. she'd come across enough in her time to not be too surprised by archaic federation frequencies, but wasn't so foolish as to trust them or assume they were really starfleet in origin at all. for all she knew, it was a cleverly laid trap, put there specifically to pique her curiosity and draw her in closer with a false sense of security and promises of home.

she debates contacting the source of those signatures directly, but ultimately decides against it, repinning her combadge to her chest and picking up the device instead. ]

This is Captain Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. This act of hostility is unwarranted and without precedence. If we have done anything to offend you or have crossed into forbidden territory, I assure you, it was not intended, and we will do whatever it takes to reconcile the damages.

[ she shifts, sitting up a little straighter on the park bench she's laid claim to. ] In the meantime, I request to be put in contact with my ship. The sooner we clear up this misunderstanding, the sooner we can discuss opening the floor for diplomatic relations that do not involve unnecessary aggressive negotiations. [ why yes, that's a not-so-thinly veiled threat. ]

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Dr. Marie Delacroix of the Von Braun, Engineering.

Welcome to the City, Captain.

Thank you, Doctor, though I'd rather not be here at all.

A common sentiment, but the ins-and-outs of the City remain a mystery.

Mysteries are meant to be solved.

Agreed, though my year here has not been enough to award me clarity. It is a complex interdimensional hub and those who knew it best have been most recently deposed from their positions of authority.

Deposed by the deities?

Deities deposed. Though what constitutes them as deities is unestablished. In speaking with the rebels about certain aspects of the City, it came out that there is some kind of hierarchy of 'divinities.' The supposed deities here answered to someone above them, their power may not be their own. Those above them have yet to make an appearance, but the current problems with the clock may pique their interest.

Rulers of ancient civilizations on my planet [ because in her time, it's rude to assume someone is human or from earth, simply because they appear to be terran ] often declared themselves divine and were worshiped as gods by the nations they governed. Just because someone says they are divine doesn't necessarily mean they are.

[ or maybe zeus really is commanding his pantheon to do his bidding. she wouldn't like it to be so, but it's an option her first officer has taught her to consider. even if she doesn't like it, sometimes science can't explain everything. (though she would argue not yet, always labeling the inexplicable as something science has yet to unravel vs something spiritual and not meant to be understood.) ]

I am in complete agreement. They are not the first to make such a claim to me, nor the first I have rebelled against.

[Although... the last one did manage to kill her.]

[ her experience with the divine has been... well, limited to q. and she isn't sure if having an omnipotent being with unlimited control over time, matter, and space asking her to have a child with him counts in this scenario. (though part of her wishes this nonsense were q's doing so she could yell at him until he sent her back to her ship. at least he can be reasoned with. most of the time.) ]

Were they as forthcoming as I hear these deities were?

[Marie is going to explain this. It's not like anyone ever listens to her anyway, but she keeps trying.]

My first encounter with a self-proclaimed deity was SHODAN. The Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network. Her programming was tampered with by a hacker to remove her ethical restrictions, creating a megalomaniac personality with nearly unlimited potential. Nearly. She is still only a program, with the limitations of one, no matter what she may claim. She is very talkative, she likes to gloat.

The deities here were more reserved than she, but also less destructive.

[ well, that would make janeway the first person to listen and to understand without much difficulty. ]

And there was nothing that could be done to restore those ethical subroutines to her program?

[Here's the story, Captain.]

She murdered everyone on Citadel Station. The hacker was sent back in to dispose of her, and it was thought he succeeded. One of her subroutines was found by my scientific vessel on Tau Ceti IV. It was brought on board and my colleague unleashed her onto the Von Braun's system.

There were other problems at the time. The ship's main functionary program, XERXES was unsecured and was taken over by the Many. A hivemind creature based out of biomass, added to by host bodies secured through mind-control. The SHODAN sub-routine had been in charge of their creation, but the many rebelled against her. They overtook both the Von Braun and our UNN escort vessel Rickenbacker. We were forced, for a time, to work with SHODAN to fight the annelids, she was the only one with full surveillance of the ship.

Then she set her sights on the FTL drives and intended to use their intensity to reshape the universe into her own virtual reality where she would be goddess. I do not know if she was defeated. I would have died at her machinations, had I not been brought here and attended to.

I suspect she is in the City now.

[ all of this is a little too familiar, from a verison of voyager's computer's central processor to a hivemind creature that sounds startlingly like the borg. nevermind a program gone wrong, as she's reminded of the hologram the doctor tried to assist that attempted to kill b'elanna. and alliance with the "devil" -- well, she's done that too, when she propositioned the collective. ]

I suppose the city is something of a sanctuary for someone who was fated to die.

[ it gives her pause, makes her look at being here in a slightly different light, taking in a perspective she hadn't yet accounted for. ]

Is there any way of being able verify that suspicion?

Not all are opposed to their lives here. The only contention is for those who wish to be free. But the necessity of powering the clock has become a higher priority than escape routes, at this moment. This is not the only sphere effected should the clock fail.

[As for that other question....]

I believe that she has entered the body of one of my former crew-mates through her cyber-rigs. She claims to be 'Rebecca Siddons' a worker from the Hydroponics deck of the Von Braun. She does not behave like Rebecca, nor look like her. She has also made several moves which belie to me that she is hunting for power in the City. She wants the clock under her control.

If I could... have access to her, unimpeded, I might be able to hack into the cyber-rig and remove her, although the technology in the City remains inadequate to that task.

Explain the clock to me. My colleagues haven't been terribly divulge when it comes to the inner workings of this city.

I'll keep an eye out for her, and if there's anything I can do to assist you with these efforts, should the necessary technology become available, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I wish I understood it better, but I have had very limited time to study it. The rebels were the first to truly divulge any information about it to me. From what I have been told, it is powered by the emotive energy of this City's population, and from that energy its gears power the multiverse in total.

It sounds incredibly fanciful, but I do not doubt it in entirety. If you have only just arrived, you will not have experienced the curses. They were... disruptions to daily life, causing mass and variable effects upon those who live here. The purpose was to evoke a reaction. The former deities were in charge of 'scheduling' them. They are gone and the curses with them.

The clock is overheating. The City is deteriorating.

[attachment::OCEANWATER]

Based on this knowledge, it wouldn't be that hard to assume that people are brought into this anomaly in order to provide the empathic sustenance for the clock. Curses, new arrivals, sending people back and forth -- all to illicit these responses. It's... fanciful, as you said, but not entirely implausible. Stranger things have been devised.

If the City deteriorates, there will be nowhere for those who wish to remain here to go.

[ scenarios she doesn't enjoy, and those pictures don't sit well with her either, though she adds them to her suddenly growing collection of information pertaining to this place. ]

There is no guarantee that there is somewhere for any of us to go.

Then we'll have to find one or find away to preserve this place in the event that a way out is discovered, so those who wish to can remain without the threat of vanishing into existential nothingness.

That is my hope. Unfortunately, my hopes rest in the actions of others at this juncture.

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