Steve appears on the bridge at roughly the same time Mr. X appears in the brig, and then the view from the Lorean changes as the Earth vanishes. The stars don't move and neither did the Lorean... although Steve knew this to be an optical illusion. The Lorean had moved, just not far enough to change the star scape much.

Steve glanced at the monitor holding Mr. X and let out a sigh of relieve when he slumped over, so far the plan was working. With minimal information there was far too much that could go wrong.

Steve replies,

"We should try what we did before. You and Mike can get set up and then Amber will peek ahead to see how it would work. Then we'll see. Maybe it'll work better this time." Cody knows Steve well enough to pick up that he doesn't believe this.

Steve continues, "But yeah, I suspect we'll have to work this like we did with Caroline... except time time even you and Omar can't take the risk of getting into the cell with him. At least not yet."

"Lorean, now that we have him up close, do you detect anything unusual about him?"

Lorean nods, "He is a telepath, beyond that I don't know. I felt him try and reach out with his mind just before he blacked out. If he had had just a second more he might have gotten a message out too." On the display on the front wall several medical monitors appear one of which is an eeg. Lorean points it out, "I'm a little worried about that. Even unconscious there is more activity than there should be, but no where near the level there was before he blacked out. I think it might be safe for Michael and Cody to try now, but with the shields they are going to be a little limited."

Amber nods to Steve to indicate that it should be ok.

Steve looks at Amber and then nods to Cody.

Lounging in a chair, his legs propped up on a table, Omar waited for the interrogation to begin. He wasn't pleased at being told to stay away from Mr. X. Omar was used to being invulnerable, and when his associates told him that he was, he sulked about the ship. He was determined to rectify the problem...somehow.

Joani didn't have Omars patience and waited nervously for Michael and Cody. The whole setup reminded her too much of Carolines trial and her head alreasy started to spin with seemingly endless questions about how to properly handle this. Morality, ethics, virtue... she felt like she was the biggest obstacle of all, almost clumsy as if she stood in her own way.

Sometimes she even thought that she was the weakest link of the team because of her nature and how she perceived life. Without her there would be much less discussion she believed. Bracing herself without real necessity since she didn't feel cold she stared at the chair on which Omar sat, lost in her thoughts.

Cody prepares with Michael for the delving.

*Steve, I'll have Lorean recording our biometrics. If this thing goes badly, flash freeze the bastard. Morgan can always bring him back later...*

Morgan looks at Cody incredulously. "I'm not sure if I could. Liquid nitrogen would likely burst every cell in his body almost instantly. Best I could do wouldn't help with that kind of damage."

Cody responds,

*First of all, better him than us. Secondly from what I understand, flash freezing does form ice crystals in the body, even as it can put someone in suspended animation. However cell death doesn't actually occur completely until the subject is thawed out and the ruptured cell hemoraghe. Theoretically at least, quantum abilities should be able to revive him.*

"And you might be right, but we're talking about millions of cells. Humans are tremendously complex organisms. I might be able to revive him, but I wouldn't bet his life on it." Morgan frowned, "Still, if it is necessary, I'm flushing the tank at the instant I detect any anomaly in your or Michaels vital signs."

With grim determination Cody and Michael move into position outside the room. Not that location made much difference, but even the tiniest advantage could help today. Michael nodded to Cody and established the link then gave him the lead. Morgan stood nearby watching the vitals with his hand on the switch that would flood the small room with liquid nitrogen. On the bridge everyone else sat or stood in tense anticipation watching the scene going on below and the vital signs of the three individuals taking part in the drama. As Cody and Michael began their link there was a sudden increase in brain activity of both men as they came suddenly into near perfect sink. This was the first time they'd ever been recorded during one of these sessions and Michael at least would have been fascinated by the readings if he weren't otherwise occupied.

The seconds stretched out to minutes as the two men did the job that fate had called them to do. From the eeg of the target, it was apparent that he was fighting them and from their it was equally plain that they were not having an easy time of it. In less than two minutes both men had broken out into a sweat and expressions of intense concentration could were no surprise. Morgan worried more than once during the procedure that he might accidentally twitch and hit the kill button that would flood the chamber with deadly liquid nitrogen. After five minutes he almost did when all three men's reading started to climb, but Michael and Cody waved him off without looking up or even opening their eyes. A couple minutes later Morgan began to relax as the vitals of all three started to stabilize and even relax somewhat. It seemed the two telepaths had succeeded in getting past most of the resistance.

On the bridge most everyone had begun to relax, when Amber suddenly screamed, "NOOOO!!!!!"

Hearing the scream and reacting both to the scream and to his own tension Morgan jerked his hand down on the kills switch releasing the killing cold.

It wasn't fast enough. Michael's eyes and mouth opened in a silent scream of his own and he slumped limply to the floor. Cody was also rocked back and fell heavily against the wall as the psychic backlash left him almost without motor control for a moment. With a force of will he remained conscious mouth opening as if to call for Morgan to come to Michael's aid, but at that moment he couldn't quite form the words mentally to send and only managed a weak wave and point.

Morgan didn't need any direction though. Almost before Michael hit the floor he was in motion and reaching for the downed man sending a strong force of his own healing quantum into him. With a frown on his face Morgan picked him up and opened a warp to the infirmary then stepped through an placed him in a bed, wondering what had just happened. He hoped Cody could explain. At least Michael wouldn't die.

Steve watched the exchange between the three men with deep interest. Usually he'd be bored and looking at the instrumentation, but this time he was fascinated and looking at them directly. Walking away from Amber and Morgan for a moment he says quietly to Joani and Omar,

"Wow! Would you look at them go. I've never seen this side effect before, they must be throwing massive amounts of energy around."


(Amber screams)

Steve leaps for the kill switch but Morgan is much closer and hits it first. Steve watches the suspect freeze and then Morgan Warp out. He says,

"Lorean, is the suspect still functioning? Cody???"

Lorean had to resist the temptation to say that he as on ice in this grave moment and instead let her worry over Michael and Cody show in her voice, "He is dead unless Morgan can revive him. Cody should be alright judging by his vitals. I am worried about Michael though, his eeg is showing very little activity right now. I think he is in a coma."

Cody staggers roughly to his feet and exits the room, popping a couple of nova-strength painkillers on his way to the bridge.

With the others no doubt anxious to learn just what in the hell happened, Cody doesn't waste time or mince words.

*Micahel...if it hadn't been for him I'd be dead...he...shielded, most of the blast. Goddamn psychic boobytrap.*

He pauses for a moment to catch his pschic "breath."

*Good news is we know more now than we did before. He's human, a psion, but no ordinary psion. The guy was like the Caestus Pax of telepaths. As far beyond normal psions as a psion is beyond your average baseline's intuition. Our Mr. X here was merely a pawn however in a much larger game. Apparently he was approached by yet another enigma, who knew Mr. X was a latent psion and then somehow "erupted" him into something much more powerful than occurs naturally.*

*Furthermore, our Mr X-scicle was recruited specificly for his underpinning psycological resentment towards Novas in general. Apparently his predisposition made him an ideal candidate.*

*So what we have here is a conspiracy of uber-psions with a grudge against Novas. I still don't know if Mr. Y was also a psion or an alien in disguise, or whether he was the kingpin or just another double-blind.*

*..Oh yeah...and theres 3 more saboteur's we missed ready to blow the shipyards....Might want to pick them up right away.*

Cody feeds their names and descriptions to the central database.

Joani stared at Steve in total disbelief. She couldn't share his fascination for what was happening. As far as she was concerned Cody and Michael interrogated this man, almost the same they did with Caroline. Most likely Mr. X would end up dead for the greater good, still it made her sad and deeply regret that she had to witness all this.



Ambers scream jerked Joani out of her inner monologue. She saw Morgan hit the killswitch and knew that something had gone terribly wrong. With tears in her eyes she watched open mouthed as everyone around her started to act. Her own emotions paralyzed her and she was caught between fear, sadness and worry for her friends.

"Oh no... please...", was the only words she could stutter.

With the slight breeze in the air that heralded the displacement of a body's worth of oxygen, a young red-haired woman appeared in the infirmary on other side of Michael's bed. She didn't look up Morgan, didn't introduce or explain herself; she just leaned over Michael's still form and clasped one of his hands in hers. Her face was mask of shock and pain with tears slipping down to her chin to fall in a near heart-beat cadence. She was beautiful in a way that only nova's can be. In fact everything about her, from the perfection of her skin to the smooth line of every movement to even her quiet sobs shouted that she excelled humanity in every way possible.

And she stood there, bent over the bed and holding on to Michael's hand like a lifeline, apparently oblivious to the rest of the ship.

Omar jumped out of his chair when he heard Amber's scream. Instead of rushing to where Michael and Cody were, he runs to Amber to comfort her. While he was very protective of her, he had also recommended her to his friend Steve, whom she had ended up marrying. He stood next to Amber, his hand on her arm, with a loving, concerned look in his eyes. Their relationship was beyond friendship.

When a mysterious woman appeared suddenly though, Omar moved Amber protectively behind himself and began to run towards where Michael lay. On the way, long sharp bony gladius-like projections sprouted from his wrists. The aura surrounding him grew brighter, as increased quantum enregies flowed throughout his body. At times like this, Joani and the others knew to give him a wide berth. He was ready to commit himself to battle with the intruder.

Steve watched Omar attend to Amber while he listened to Cody's description. After Cody was done Steve says,

"Four questions. One, do you think he can be turned? It's a big step from disliking novas to working for the extermination of humanity."

"Second and Third, did he think that Mr. Y was also a mega-telepath? Did he know of any others?"

"And lastly, what's the deal with the light show? Was that a side effect of his powers? If so do you think we could generate that without you and Mike?"

(The Girl Appears)

Steve says "Hello?"

Lorean looks at Steve questioningly, "Steve, what light show are you referring to, I did not detect any lights during the confrontation."

After a moment Lorean looks around and sees the girl crying by Michael's side and looks completely dumbfounded, and says to herself, "How did she get there?"

The young woman doesn't seem to have noticed the commotion she's caused. Her lips have begun to move, repeating something over and over again while still leaning over Micheal's prone form.

Abruptly she looks over to Morgan, "Can you heal him? Can you bring him back? Please, bring him back." Her voice conveys every nuance of her fear and hope, near enough to break the heart of anyone listening.

The young womans voice brought Joani back to her senses and she felt great compassion for her. Joani could hear her pleading to Morgan and knew that the young woman was truly in love with Michael.

Trying to be as empathetic as possible she said to the young woman, "Michael is one of our dearest friends. I can asure you that everyone will do his best to save him. Right now Morgan is probably the best healer you can have.", Joani slowly approached the young woman and smiled confidently at her.

Steve says slowly,

"Interesting. Do you know that you glow whenever you say anything? Ditto Lorean. None of the others do. When the three of you were going at it was like watching Forth of July Fireworks."

"Except that I was the only one watching it wasn't I? Hmm... Lorean, would you please pick someone here other than myself and use the private link to talk to them and them only?"

Steve says,

"You aren't his lover. Child is possible but unlikely. So... student?"

Lorean sends to everyone else in the room, "Testing for Steve's benefit. Testing..." Then adding Steve back in, "I have no idea how she just got aboard. I have the shields up, even the psychic shields since we were entertaining our recent guest. This worries me, although I do not believe she is a treat despite that."

Steve says,

"Clever. That's all of you and not just one."

Steve sends,

*Lorean, check your database listing of 2nd and 3rd generation novas and see if she's on it. I'll bet Mike has been mentoring one. He is the top known telepath, he's a logical person to ask if one of them were having problems.*

EDIT:

*Hey, that's cute. That panel glows whenever I use the link. And now that I'm looking for it, the lights didn't shift did they? The shield itself colors pretty much everything in here.*

Lorean frowned, *Sorry, Steve, she's not listed among any registered Nova or Psion. First thing I did was scan through the files. In fact, I don't have any record of her at all.*

She glances away from Morgan, registering the rest of the people there for the first time. Faltering back a step away from them she bites her lip, still holding on to Micheal's hand. "I...oh..." Her voice falls to a whisper, "Oh, hell."

Joani searched quickly for Omars eyes and barely nodded at him implying to hold back. Sending over the link she adds *Let me try talking to her first, if she attacks you can intervene*

Slowly approaching the young girl Joani says, "I'm Joani. Joani Reikspar, you may have heard of me.", she smiled warmly. "And you are...?"

Omar relaxed slightly, letting the claws retract. In many matters he referred to Joani's judgement. This was not one of them, but deep down, he knew she was right. He returned over the link: * You are right my friend. It would be best if we talked to her.

Omar, taking his cue from Joani, also introduced himself, but with a different monniker. "My name is Omar...I am also known as the Ziggurat."

Morgan looked to the young woman, "I will do everything I can to help Michael. I have already healed his body, and that includes the slight brain damage that occurred. I do not know why he is in a coma or why his brain activity is so low, but I suspect it is his way of protecting himself and healing. He could wake up any minute, or a year from now, I just have no way of knowing yet. With Andrew's help I'll run some more tests." He looks over to Lorean, "Speaking of Andrew, can you bring him and the President back aboard please?"

Lorean sends the request for the men to return and teleports them as soon as they are ready.

She nodded to Morgan and took the step back to Michael's side, letting go his hand. She looked uncertain of herself now and kept glancing between the crew members. "I should...He...," she runs a hand through her strawberry-blond hair and closes her eyes for a moment, cussing very softly in perfect French.

After a moment she shrugs, coming to some internal conclusion, and looks back up to Joani and Omar. "I'm Kyria."

"Kyria", repeated Joani softly. "That's a nice name. I can tell by your emotional turmoil that you're very close connected to our friend Michael.", Joani looked at the unconscious man and sighed.

"Can you tell us how your connection to Michael is? It seems like no one of us has ever heard of or seen you before?", Joani tried very hard to be empathetic and sincere.
(in case make a rapport or charisma roll, whatever is more suitable)

Steve observes Joani and some of the others at work and every now and then focuses in on something that isn't apparent. He exchanges a glance with Amber, moves to her side, and rests a hand on her shoulder without saying anything.

Kyria seemed to have calmed down considerably after Morgan's reassurance and Joani's kindness, but she shakes her head at Joani's question. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't say anything until he wakes up. He'll," she swallowed hard and suddenly looked very much like a teenager caught out way past curfew, "he'll know what to say. And he'll be