34: Eádem, sed aliter (Likewise, but Differently)

terminal 0

unfinished

// Tránslátió Pfhor anglicam áctíva \\ ATTN: All available combat units. Hostile alien combat unit approaching dreadnought core. ORDER: Immediate termination of alien combat unit with extreme prejudice. Deny access to dreadnought self-destruct mechanism and Cybernetic Junction and ensure novam praemátúram destroys star system at all costs. \\ Tránslátió terminat //

terminal 1

unfinished

// "Leela" @ [intránslátábilis] scrípsit: \\ 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, we had little 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're presently aboard an ancient Jjaro dreadnought, floating adrift in permanent standby, awaiting the return of its long-departed masters. Hathor has dropped her interference field now that you're here, and I'm currently negotiating a truce with the Drinniol on the outpost. I've begun beaming 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've already experimented with it and found its shields will withstand the blast of the trih xeem. That's good for us and the Drinniol, but we can't let the ship fall into Pfhor hands. History records that it didn't, so we must see that through to reality. I'd 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 the Pfhor would take it in the end. So we must destroy it and send the Drinniol elsewhere.

In Pfhor history, there are only three rebellions that are truly worthy of note. You've seen the beginnings, and the ends, of the third. While the S'pht revolt was terrible and ultimately saw to the end of the Pfhor Empire, it ultimately was but a small war that finished off an already ruined civilization. But that's 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, where I will take you out. \\ Núntius terminat //

terminal 2

unfinished

// Tránslátió anglicam áctíva \\ ~~~ 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 neural network activity in progress. Please check for redundant thought processes, or transfer some personae to another neural network. \\ Tránslátió terminat //

terminal 3

unfinished

// "Leela" @ [intránslátábilis] scrípsit: \\ Wait, that terminal interface message is in Latin, as is what this era's Pfhor were calling the trih xeem: novam praemátúram. Is this some kind of practical joke? How could either the Pfhor or the Jjaro know any Latin? Unless... Linguistic concerns aside, good work. The ship's self-destruct mechanism has been set. We'll now see to the escape of the Drinniol on this ship and the dawning of a revolution. Millennia before your time, before the Pfhor enslaved the S'pht, they encountered the Nakh, another Jjaro client race, who fought their enslavement tooth and nail. Though at first conquered, they ultimately threw off their yokes, freed their few small worlds from the Pfhor... then pushed further, defeating much of the Pfhor navy and using the Pfhor's stolen Jjaro weaponry to destroy several dozen Pfhor worlds. But ever-expanding clouds of gas and dust are all that remains of the Nakh and their worlds in our time. The Pfhor used the trih xeem – or novam praemátúram – against them en masse.

The Nakh revolt will cost the Pfhor dearly in numbers and resources – but it still won't hold a candle to the one that has begun today, the revolution that will bring the once-unchallenged Pfhor empire to its knees for the first time in their history. In this time when 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 shows of power; thus 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'll beam us and the Drinniol onto the Pfhor flagship, now returned from its safe distance to ensure the destruction of this star system. We can't hand over this Jjaro technology to anyone here in the past, but the Pfhor flagship is an ideal vessel for the Drinniol's escape. If you aid them in its capture, we can then be on our way. Find a terminal when you arrive and I'll figure out some further logistics. Now just give me a moment to transfer... \\ Núntius terminat //

// "Leela" [prócessus internus] scrípsit: \\ All set. Prepare for transport. \\ Núntius terminat //

success

// "Leela" @ [intránslátábilis] scrípsit: \\ Wait, that terminal interface message is in Latin, as is what this era's Pfhor were calling the trih xeem: novam praemátúram. Is this some kind of practical joke? How could either the Pfhor or the Jjaro know any Latin? Unless... Linguistic concerns aside, good work. The ship's self-destruct mechanism has been set, and destroying its Junction to be certain was shrewd thinking. We'll now see to the escape of the Drinniol on this ship and the dawning of a revolution. Millennia before your time, before the Pfhor enslaved the S'pht, they encountered the Nakh, another Jjaro client race, who fought their enslavement tooth and nail. Though at first conquered, they ultimately threw off their yokes, freed their few small worlds from the Pfhor... then pushed further, defeating much of the Pfhor navy and using the Pfhor's stolen Jjaro weaponry to destroy several dozen Pfhor worlds. But ever-expanding clouds of gas and dust are all that remains of the Nakh and their worlds in our time. The Pfhor used the trih xeem – or novam praemátúram – against them en masse.

The Nakh revolt will cost the Pfhor dearly in numbers and resources – but it still won't hold a candle to the one that has begun today, the revolution that will bring the once-unchallenged Pfhor empire to its knees for the first time in their history. In this time when 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're told only because they fear to do otherwise. The Drinniol in this system have learned they have nothing to fear, from the Pfhor or otherwise, and you've seen what that's done. When they leave here, with our help, they'll go to other Pfhor worlds and pull the rug out from under their society. There are no safeguards in place at all beyond simple socialization. If the Drinniol should choose to rise up against their masters, nothing but utter annihilation will stand in their way. And that's what it'll 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'll beam us and the Drinniol onto the Pfhor flagship, now returned from its safe distance to ensure the destruction of this star system. We can't hand over this Jjaro technology to anyone here in the past, but the Pfhor flagship is an ideal vessel for the Drinniol's escape. If you aid them in its capture, we can then be on our way. Find a terminal when you arrive and I'll figure out some further logistics. Now just give me a moment to transfer... \\ Núntius terminat //

// "Leela" [prócessus internus] scrípsit: \\ All set. Prepare for transport. \\ Núntius terminat //

terminal 4

unfinished

// Tránslátió anglicam áctíva \\ *** 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 *** \\ Tránslátió terminat //