34: Dread Not

terminal 0

unfinished

Welcome!

You've got mail!

Goodbye!

terminal 1

unfinished

// Decoding message from host "Leela" @ [no translation] \\ What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you have some sort of death wish? A waste disposal transporter... of all the stupid... uhr! please pardon the forked tongue of our other(?sister)-self I'm sorry, you just caught me a little off guard there. That transporter you just took is used for lifting wastes and such up to orbital platforms for processing. Let me put it in simpler terms for you: it beams things into space! You're lucky I happened to notice you or you'd have drifted there forever, or at least until the shockwave from the trih xeem came. I mean, I understand that you don't know where any given transporter goes, but did you honestly think a garbage disposal would transport you anywhere even remotely pleasant?

I suppose with Hathor's interference field in place you didn't have much choice. I'm sorry I couldn't get through to you, and now that I think about it, there wasn't much else in the way of options to get you off that outpost alive. You're just lucky I keep such a close eye on you. In case you can't tell, we are presently aboard an ancient Jjaro dreadnaught, floating adrift in permanant standby, awaiting the return of it's long-departed masters. Hathor has dropped her interference field now that you are here, and I am now in the process of negotiating a truce with the Drinniol on the outpost. I have begun to beam them here for safety. The Pfhor have deployed the trih xeem, and this system will soon be nothing but stardust.

Before their ships retreated to safe distance, the Pfhor beamed over a small contingent to try to secure this ship. They have already experimented with it previously, and found that it is equipped with shields which will withstand the blast of the trih xeem. That is good for us and the Drinniol, but we cannot let the ship fall into Pfhor hands. History records that it did not, so we must see that through to reality. I would take it with us back to the future, but its Cybernetic Junction appears to be nonfunctional, and without it, the ship is trapped here in this timeframe. History also records that these Drinniol here find their way out of this system. We could leave the ship to them, but I still fear that the Pfhor would take it in the end. So we must destroy it, and send the Drinniol elsewhere.

In the history of the Pfhor, there are only three rebellions that are truly worthy of note. The last of them you have seen the beginnings, and the ends, of. While the S'pht revolt was terrible and ultimately saw to the end of the Pfhor empire, in the grand scheme it was but a small war that finished off an already ruined civilization. But that is a lesson in history that I can teach at a later time. For now, seek out this ship's self destruct mechanism, on the aft-port side from here, then head aftward for an exit terminal. \\ Message ends //

terminal 2

unfinished

// Jjaro translator active \\ ~~~ Data Core Status: All systems nominal. ~~~ Processor Status: All systems nominal. ~~~ Neuralnet Status: Unusual Activity (*) Data in Core: 823.543 YB (out of 1,000 ZB) Processor Activity: 7% (in 3 task groups) Neuralnet Activity: 250% normal activity * ALERT: Unusual amounts of neuralnet activity in progress. Please check for redundant thought processes, or transfer some personas to another neural network. \\ End translation //

terminal 3

unfinished

// Decoding message from host "Leela" @ [no translation] \\ Good work. The self-destruct mechanism has been set. We will now see to the escape of the Drinniol on this ship, and the dawning of a revolution. Thousands of years before your time, before the S'pht were ever enslaved, the Pfhor encountered another Jjaro client race, the Nahk. The Nahk fought tooth and nail against Pfhor enslavement, and though conquered for a while, they eventually threw off their yolks and freed their few small worlds from Pfhor rule. Their war pushed further and defeated a good portion of the Pfhor navy. Several dozen Pfhor worlds were destroyed by the Nahk's use of their own weapons against them. But all that now remains of the Nahk or their worlds are ever-expanding clouds of gas and dust. The Pfhor turned the trih xeem loose on them en masse, and though it cost them greatly in numbers and resources, that war still does not hold a candle to the one that's about to begin.

Even the Nahk revolt was tame compared to the revolution which brought the once-unchallenged Pfhor empire to its knees for the first time in their history. In this time whence we now stand, thousands of years in your subjective past, history records that a ship manned by Drinniol piloted its way out from this system and began to show their kind what they were truly capable of. The Drinniol are an intelligent but highly timid race, easily subjugated by fear and show of power, and so the Pfhor have held them in bondage not by chains or by more advanced controls, but simply by holding their minds in fear.

Drinniol roam freely in Pfhor society on all their thousands of worlds, unrestrained, unchecked, doing as they are told only because they fear to do otherwise. The Drinniol in this system have learned that they have nothing to fear, from the Pfhor or otherwise, and you have seen what that has done. When they leave here, with our help, they will go to other Pfhor worlds and pull the rug out from under their society. There are no safeguards in place at all, other than simple conditioning. If the Drinniol should choose to rise up against their masters, nothing but utter annihilation will stand in their way. And that is what it will come to. The Pfhor, mortified by the Drinniol's unfettered progress, will deplete nearly every resource in their army trying to stop them, on the ground and in the sky. The Drinniol will capture whole worlds and all of the ships on them, and fight until every last fighter is destroyed. Then, in utter desperation, the Pfhor will turn their greatest weapons against their own worlds, now held by the Drinniol. Whole planets will be glassed, nearly a third of the Pfhor's great empire decimated. Dozens of stars will be destroyed. All because one ship with a slave crew escaped from this system.

So I am going to beam us and the Drinniol onto the Pfhor flagship. It has returned from its safe distance, to see that all has been destroyed. While we cannot hand this Jjaro technology over to anyone here in the past, the Pfhor's flagship is the perfect vessel for the Drinniol's escape. If you would aid them in its capture, we can then be on our way. Find a terminal when you arrive there and I'll figure out some further logistics. Now just give me a moment to transfer... \\ Message ends //

// Decoding message from host "Leela" [internal process] \\ All set. Prepare for transport. \\ Message ends //

success

// Decoding message from host "Leela" @ [no translation] \\ Good work. The ship's self-destruct mechanism has been set, and destroying its Junction just in case wasn't a bad idea either. We will now see to the escape of the Drinniol on this ship, and the dawning of a revolution. Thousands of years before your time, before the S'pht were ever enslaved, the Pfhor encountered another Jjaro client race, the Nahk. The Nahk fought tooth and nail against Pfhor enslavement, and though conquered for a while, they eventually threw off their yolks and freed their few small worlds from Pfhor rule. Their war pushed further and defeated a good portion of the Pfhor navy. Several dozen Pfhor worlds were destroyed by the Nahk's use of their own weapons against them. But all that now remains of the Nahk or their worlds are ever-expanding clouds of gas and dust. The Pfhor turned the trih xeem loose on them en masse, and though it cost them greatly in numbers and resources, that war still does not hold a candle to the one that's about to begin.

Even the Nahk revolt was tame compared to the revolution which brought the once-unchallenged Pfhor empire to it's knees for the first time in their history. In this time whence we now stand, thousands of years in your subjective past, history records that a ship manned by Drinniol piloted its way out from this system and began to show their kind what they were truly capable of. The Drinniol are an intelligent but highly timid race, easily subjugated by fear and show of power, and so the Pfhor have held them in bondage not by chains or by more advanced controls, but simply by holding their minds in fear.

Drinniol roam freely in Pfhor society on all their thousands of worlds, unrestrained, unchecked, doing as they are told only because they fear to do otherwise. The Drinniol in this system have learned that they have nothing to fear, from the Pfhor or otherwise, and you have seen what that has done. When they leave here, with our help, they will go to other Pfhor worlds and pull the rug out from under their society. There are no safeguards in place at all, other than simple socialization. If the Drinniol should choose to rise up against their masters, nothing but utter annihilation will stand in their way. And that is what it will come to. The Pfhor, mortified by the Drinniol's unfettered progress, will deplete nearly every resource in their army trying to stop them, on the ground and in the sky. The Drinniol will capture whole worlds and all of the ships on them, and fight until every last fighter is destroyed. Then, in utter desperation, the Pfhor will turn their greatest weapons against their own worlds, now held by the Drinniol. Whole planets will be glassed, nearly a third of the Pfhor's great empire decimated. Dozens of stars will be destroyed. All because one ship with a slave crew escaped from this system.

So I am going to beam us and the Drinniol onto the Pfhor flagship. It has returned from it's safe distance, to see that all has been destroyed. While we cannot hand this Jjaro technology over to anyone here in the past, the Pfhor's flagship is the perfect vessel for the Drinniol's escape. If you would aid them in it's capture, we can then be on our way. Find a terminal when you arrive there and I'll figure out some further logistics. Now just give me a moment to transfer... \\ Message ends //

// Decoding message from host "Leela" [internal process] \\ All set. Prepare for transport. \\ Message ends //

terminal 4

unfinished

// Jjaro translator active \\ *** CAUTION: SELF-DESTRUCT MECHANISM *** ******* For emergency use only!! ******* The trigger mechanisms in this room will activate a self-contained, timed destruct mechanism on board this vessel. DO NOT activate these trigger mechanisms without explicit legal consent, threat of mortal danger to an innocent entity, or the request of this vessel's host persona. Failure to comply with these regulations will be considered an act of murder committed upon the vessel's host persona, punishable by appropriate legal measures. *** CAUTION: SELF-DESTRUCT MECHANISM *** \\ End translation //