#phaser on kill.au

[sohelish]

ofdeomnes: but what are hels thoughts on tribbles

You're joking, eh. She'll always prefer cats? Animals don't excite her the way they excite me? Seriously tho. It depends if they are a security threat or not)))

In general it's more like: mm, can I knit a sweater out of the fluff?

[sohelish]

The Aktau incident

'You test?' The universal translator wasn't working well, but it functioned enough to establish communication. The transaction was simple anyway. It didn't require an elaborate negotiation. No need to over-think it. Pfft, sure. The latter wasn't Helena's strong suit.

'Test it. Me?' On the one hand, it seemed like a decent idea. Why buy something that wasn't working? There was always a risk of that happening, of course. But here, she'd been provided with an opportunity to negate that risk. On the other hand...

The woman stared at the alien device with unveiled suspicion. Ironically, it didn't look unworldly at all. If anything, it reminded Hel of one of those aesthetically pleasing neo-fountains. A person was meant to admire them and relax, studying the intricately carved details and listening to the sounds of running water.

This thing bore a striking resemblance, and the less threatening it appeared, the more Hel's scepticism grew. She weighed all the pros and cons. Once, twice.

'Alright.' Her Bosses knew where she was. The deal was relatively open and transparent. The Lvessians seemed to be a very peaceful people. Nothing about them suggested they'd turn on her out of the blue. If they did, there were contingency plans.

Still, Hel was quite nervous. And extremely thrilled.

'What do I do?' She asked, watching the Lvessian merchant approach the device. He gently pushed a component that was prodding out - a metronome? The ticking that followed was infernal. 'Should we maybe---'

That sound was so disturbing. It felt like it was drilling into her skull. Hel began to utter something in protest but couldn't hear herself speak. Was she even opening her mouth? Could she move?

The woman blinked - ah! That she could feel herself do. She blinked again and again rapidly.

Until she found herself staring at the monitors all of a sudden. They gave off the impression of being both familiar and very distant at the same time. The latter - literally, too. Because Hel was very aware of how considerably she had to lift her head to see the upper readings.

'Снова на мониторы поглядываешь, эх, Хэлька. Мама твоя будет недовольна. Разве она тебе не сказала идти читать ту книженцию?'

Hel slowly turned her gaze towards the voice.

'I won't be reading that. You know it.'

'I know, that's why I brought you this.'

The man kneeled down beside the young girl and handed her a paper book. Really? That got her full attention. The piece looked old and worn. Would she dare touch it at the risk of it falling apart? She did reach out, examining the title.

'История свободы мысли.' Helena hadn't read this one, but she could tell what it might be about. The notion forced a sinister chuckle out of her. 'Mom's going to freak, дядь Кость.'

'Yes, well,' the man patted little Helly on the head. 'That's just her way. Not much we can do about it. Now go, out of the grown-ups' way. I've got work to do.'

With that, he walked off, leaving the girl alone with the book she'd been clutching, staring at it as if it was the most precious thing.

And yet.

Hel's head snapped, her eyes fixed sharply in the direction of his departure. That wasn't the way to the science lab. Or the bio lab, nor was it the optimal route to the engineering. Docking bays, cargo holds - more likely. What business could uncle Kostya possibly have there? Hel felt herself blinking again. Finally, it hit her - the realisation that the device was working as intended. Interesting.

The next few moments playing in her mind were about her following uncle Kostya's movements whenever he was doing something she considered strange. 

One such case stood out. The girl made her way through the crowd and concealed herself in the side corridor, peeking out. She was surprised to witness Konstantin Zhdanov talking to Richard Redford, her father's brother. Why would uncle Rick even come to Aktau-5? He was such a busy man.

'Is everything ready?'

'Mhm.'

'Are you sure? This is important.'

'Yes-yes. It's done. But I don't understand, Rick. Why would you want to store something like that here? We're not exactly the proper facility.'

'It's only temporary. I don't have another choice, and I can always count on you.'

That was when a loud stomping interrupted Helena's focus. She could feel a pair of arms wrap around her.

'Helly, what are you doing here!?'

Damn it. Жэка... зараза.

'Dude, come on. I wanna show you the thing. Come on!'

Before she could process what was happening, Hel felt herself being pulled and dragged off by her brother Eugene. He took her down the same corridor Konstantin and Richard were currently using for their private meeting.

'Hey, uncle Kostya! Hey, uncle Rick!'

He remained forever oblivious to what was going on. Helena, however, felt Richard Redford's heavy questioning gaze fixed on her.

When she sensed herself blink next, the woman knew what was coming. By then, she'd settled in, watching it all like a movie.

Helly Redford was running, running for her life... not really. No. Her mother was chasing her, letting out an occasional cry. The child had yet again managed to upset her to an extent and didn't want to deal with Oksana, so she rushed off, hoping to hide.

There had to be a vent somewhere - an emergency maintenance corridor that led to another part of the station. Hel's dad left the schematics lying around, and she took the chance to study them, thinking it could come in handy one day. Aha!

She ducked to the side and unsealed the panel. How fortunate it was that it had to remain open at all times in case of trouble. How difficult it was, though, to move the grate. She didn't expect it to be so heavy. Hurt her shoulder doing it.

However, she was determined. And so the girl hopped inside and started crawling. Behind, she heard her mother's voice echo: да, что ж это за ребенок такой, а!?

Of course, she read the schematic wrong. Or, perhaps, she took a wrong turn somewhere along the way?

When Hel finally made it out, not only was she totally whacked and exhausted, she also ended up in the wrong section entirely. The vent was far above the ground, so when she kicked out the grate and jumped down, she miscalculated and fell roughly on her side. The pain was hot and blunt. She was generally disoriented.

It took her a while to adjust her eyes and see that she'd landed in one of the cargo bays. Damn it. An odd one at that. Weren't these supposed to be filled to the brim? The area was relatively empty, and there was something different as well. The humidity was all off. The environmental control settings must have been turned to extremely dry.

Hel made an effort to get up, fighting through the pain and fatigue. Her slightly worn will was overpowered by sudden curiosity: why did so many things in the bay appear abnormal?

More importantly, what was it about the seemingly alien tube that resembled a high-tech sarcophagus? To anyone who lived on the station, it would be obvious enough. The object didn't belong.

Carefully she approached it, scrutinising. Everything was forgotten: the aching, the misfortunes, all were replaced by a rush of excitement. That was what the archaeologists from the stories must have felt when they came across a mystery that could make or break their career.

Her ecstatic state was short-lived, however. The secrecy of a concealed alien object was tainted by the quick assessment of the screens.

By no means was Helena an expert in any manner. But she had spent enough time trying to understand the numbers and readings on the monitors scattered around Aktau-5. The girl did it in a misguided attempt of a regular child - striving to grow up a bit quicker.

Not that she needed to know a lot to figure out a few simple facts. The screen, attached to the alien sarcophagus, showed one set of data. Meanwhile, the panel on the wall connected to the station's computer and was painting another picture entirely.

She gulped. The station readings were somewhat standard, but the indicators on the monitor of the alien pod were displaying a rapid rise in numbers.

Hel decided not to stay for too long under these circumstances. She rushed towards a relatively small cargo crate, doing her best to move it through the pang in her shoulder. She'd need it to get up and crawl into the vent again at any cost.

If it weren't for the instilled fear and the adrenaline pumping, she probably wouldn't have made it out. Fortunately, she did - breathing heavily, on the verge of collapsing.

Her work wasn't done, though. Work... when did it become a kid's task to go through all that? It didn't matter. First things first, she hurried to talk to her father.

Helena had chosen to go to him because, well, he was her favourite parent. Which was ironic since he didn't seem to give a damn about her. But Harold Redford's indifference for whatever reason provided her with more comfort than her mother's crusade to change who she was.

She had chosen poorly. Harry didn't appear to be bothered much, having listened to his own daughter's frantic tale. In fact, he barely glanced away from the engineering station.

'How many specialists are working on this station?' He asked, and Hel had to focus hard to remember the answer. 'How likely is it that none of them noticed the readings in the cargo bay were abnormal?'

When she didn't answer, Harold let out a deep existential sigh. That was when Hel knew - she'd lost this battle. That sigh was final.

The next round was with her mother. She'd been in the bio lab, taking care of the specimens. When Hel entered, the woman dropped everything and stared at her.

'What have you done now?' There was judgement in her eyes as well as something else. Fear. But was it the fear for her daughter or of her?

That conversation went better, all things considered.

'Are you absolutely sure? It's not one of those pranks you and your brother pull on everybody?'

How weird - her kids hadn't done anything like that in years. Helena nodded to the former and shook her head to the latter.

'Alright,' Oksana Redford moved to put the samples away. 'Найди дядю Костю, расскажи ему. Бегом.'

Why didn't she go straight to uncle Kostya? Oh, yeah. In the back of her mind, she'd already thought him responsible and guilty.

That she did. Still, when she told the man everything. When he leaned down in front of her and grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, saying it would be alright. She believed him. She trusted him.

Even as the alarm went off and the station corridors turned red.

Enough, she stated. Helena couldn't speak. But in her mind, she concluded that this much would suffice. It wasn't like she didn't know what would happen next. The horror, the screams, the deaths. As far as she was concerned, the demonstration was over.

'The evacuation route is that way, go, kiddo.'

Uncle Kostya's last words to her.

Enough, enough.

She focused on her inner voice in the now, in the today.

It works. It works well. It...

'It works.'

At last! 

The woman could feel herself blink and hear herself talk, coming back to a normal state.

Her first coherent thought? It was a pity that the trader didn't give her a proper warning. She would've set the timer and checked how long this mental trip had taken her.

Hel glanced at the digital clock on the wall. A rough estimation, but it couldn't have been longer than a minute or two. Impressive. Such a vivid experience, effective and quick.

The mind-numbing sound was a crucial part of the mechanism, no doubt. Although there must have been something else to it. Helena did her best to shake off the brain fog. Radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation? The scientists would have to study this device further. She made a note to ask them about it. After all, this was very curious and exciting.

'I'll take it. The payment will arrive as promised.'

She made her way towards the appliance she'd called the "neo-fountain" and stopped the metronome part with her finger.

It was hard to tell whether she didn't notice the sheer astonishment with which the Lvessian trader was looking at her. Or maybe she chose not to.

[sohelish]

the drowned continent idea

a piece of land that drowned ages ago has recently been “uplifted back onto the surface” thanks to the latest tech wonders (probably use of stolen alien tech)

Hel and your muse get to explore the new territory: build, claim, study any remains that might be present - from traces of ancient humans to shocking discoveries of alien/another realm’s involvement

bonus points if it turns into a survival action thriller because there are some monstrous creatures present. or there’s some rogue AI that decided to murder everyone. or any other deadly contingency. 

[sohelish]

s.tar tr.ek au worldbuilding test. alien!Hel

Enn Hel Tei is a Caraymorian female from the planet of Caraymorr (literally the world of Caray trees -- those that dominate most of the planet’s surface). Her people only recently built starships and developed warp technology. 

Caraymorians are telepathic and telekinetic species, possibly distantly related to Betazoids. Humanoid and visually almost indistinguishable from humans safe for their height, being on the average shorter than humans, and their average running speed being noticeably faster. Mammary glands are not as distinctive or useful because Caraymorian females carry their fetuses longer and by the time they are born there is little to no need for breastfeeding anymore. They give birth to more than one child on the average since more than one egg usually gets fertilised, which is partly the reason why they haven’t gone extinct yet with such birth rates. Caraymorian blood is pinkish-purple when oxygenated because their oxygen-binding protein is hemerythrin.

The race is hostile and highly militant. It is said that the Caraymorians resembled humans more in their earlier development stages until their brains evolved and the species became capable of establishing telepathic connections and training telekinetic abilities. This should’ve facilitated their efforts to unite and develop warp technology however the dominantly conniving and opportunistic beings started waging mind-wars against each other, which froze their development, while individuals concentrated on grabbing power, manipulating and destroying each other. You’d think that with the discovery of such abilities the Caraymorians would give up technology, however instead they went on developing more tech weapons, mind-bending people to use them against each other.

A few times the race was at the verge of self-destruction and total extinction but somehow managed to stop in time, eventually implementing a strict hierarchy of the society. There are levels of power to which one individual rises depending on the cunning and resourcefulness, sometimes age. If you outsmart the majority of people in your cell, you might be promoted out of the cell. You may demonstrate the ability to gracefully murder your rivals or you may be the best fighter... at the top, the final cell forms a council of the strongest who rule over the people. The Caraymorians wage wars amongst each other over the land, technology and resources, sometimes for sport, with the permission of the council. They are also engaged in conflicts with the other species that inhabit the planet -- the Arcturians, the occupants, who came across Caraymorr a while ago and claimed some of the lands in order to build bases and a spa retreat. Telepathic abilities of the Caraymorians do not affect them so their conflicts mainly escalate to physical fights.

There are also the powerless Caraymorians that are still being born, who are sent away to the monasteries of the powerless right away after birth for they have no mental defences against their kind. They formed their own religious state and also are at odds with the majority population of the planet. They claim that their trickster God of-many-faces-and-arms favours them and bestowed power upon the people to test them. Since they started to destroy each other and wage wars, they have failed the test and are doomed, unlike the pure-born powerless... The powerful majority just laughs at the crazies.

There are also the Tevlanians (Tevlan is the name of one of the many seas, the sea all of the Tevlanians came from according to the legends), the blue-blooded humanoid species with amphibian features who have been native to the Southern areas of the planet. They lead their own life, their society being very chill. They are neutral and promote peace and a simpler life of agriculture, living in harmony with nature. Their Southern lands are also considered a resort area where parties that are at war meet if they want to conduct negotiations. The Arcturians have been trying to get their lands and beaches for themselves for years but the Caraymorians protect the Tevlanians: if they do not wish to “play war”, Arcturians are not allowed to force them to do so.

Technically the Caraymorians’s first contact with aliens was the arrival of the Acturians, who just settled on the land that was temporarily free at the moment. Realising that they were technologically inferior and were unable to repel the invaders mentally, the Caraymorians stopped most of the scheming and infighting in order to facilitate the development of technology. However, even after the scientific boost, they couldn’t force them to leave, since the lands lay across the Tevlanian area, which would mean they’d have to pull them into the open conflict as well. The situation seems generally tense, yet the Arcturians are often willing to live by the rules of the natives even if they do so reluctantly. Mostly they worry that the Caraymorians will snap and mind control the Tevlanians who can easily drown them. Meanwhile, the Caraymorians acknowledge that the arrival of Arcturians forced their progress and they “play fight” each other sometimes, sometimes they trade and work together.

The second contact was with the Orion Syndicate who often deals with the Arcutirian bear mafia. The Orions are mostly interested in the technology and weapons the Caraymorians have to offer. This caused the UFP to worry and work on negotiating with the population of Caraymorr. So far they are not popular with anyone but they are trying.

Added information:

There is also the independent city of the Northerners who live around the mountainous area and own some of the mines. The city is called Eidesnorr and is a closed-off community that wants nothing to do with the other lifestyles presented. This neutral hard-working society was built on the ancient settlement of the mixed races. That’s where the common ancestors to the Caraymorians and Tevlanians used to live and in a way, they are still present, although the Tevlanian genes are most dominant. They welcome anyone who wants to move in and contribute to the city, however you have to prove yourself. Quiet and self-sustained, Eidesnorr trades some of the minerals to the other fractions, but their progress and development have been stifled by everyone else, especially Caraymorians who control the majority of the resources. Rumours have it that a radical group is forming there and that the Eidesnorians are not so neutral anymore, possibly already plotting a revolution with the powerless Caraymorians against the masses.

+ you may notice that Caraymorr shares the similarities in the name with the caracolobu - the squirrel-cat species I came up with for another storyline. That’s supposed to be sort of an easter egg thing. Where are the caracolobu from? Caraymorr obviously. The Arcturians were the ones to domesticate them shortly after their arrival to the planet... or perhaps it was the squirrel-cats themselves who chose the Arcturians all along because of their space-travel potential. Either way, yes, the caracolobu live on the Caray trees, as you may have guessed. Their fir matches the colour of the trees, that’s how they hide there, they blend in. So the trees are bright orange to yellow to red-ish.

[sohelish]

inner vc: hel is telepathic in your main verse, you know what that means...

me: *trying to ignore it*

inner vc: make her a betazoid in tr.ek au.

me: no. must. resist.

inner vc: but she is also telekinetic... okay, what if you created a race...

me: *screams in agony*

[sohelish]

s.tar t.rek online is fun. not the best graphics but the story is interesting, the format is interesting, space battles and space design are intriguing.

meet hel redford from st.ar t.rek lol I’m struggling to find her exact shade of blond even though the character creator is incredible. it’s a masterpiece, seriously.

[sohelish]

‘When I ran security on a starship, there was this girl under me - Sanchez. That’s all I know about her. Her name is Sanchez. She never talked about herself. Gave insight when needed, carried out orders when needed.’

‘Ah, Sanchez. Best friend I’ve ever had.’

[sohelish]

The Doonnarh and their wars

In order to rebuild and reclaim their planet after the devastations of the civil wars, the Doonnarh had to put their collective minds to further technological advancements. Back then, they weren't isolated from the entire galaxy yet, so they travelled extensively and inquisitively in search of assistance.

They came across more trouble than worth, in the long run, even though the cultural exchange with some races provided them with the technology that is heard of today.

The Bubble is one of the first feats that went up as soon as the Doonnarh progressed. It may have had something to do with what they saw occurring in the galaxy, or maybe they were projecting their own hostile behaviour onto others. Overall the Doonnarh exhibit more introverted tendencies as a race. Which has everything to do with how they crawled out of the caves underneath the surface and onto the land they would eventually destroy.

Where they got the schematics for the Bubble, how does it work - all of these things are closely kept secrets. A certain elite scientific cast is monitoring the now-ancient protective cloak.

The next interesting feat to kick in was the invention of time travel by the Doonnarh and their advanced studies of temporal mechanics.

Truly, why waste time exploring the hostile galaxy nearby when you can apply time-travel principles and covertly sneak around other dimensions and timelines? First, they were simply curious to find new paths to progress, making deals with the other Doonnarh from the neighbouring time-space layers. Soon, however, they discovered that the Doonnarh might be somewhat consistently unfriendly or unwilling to cooperate.

Then, the Doonnarh temporal wars began and, technically, are being carried out to this day as they slowed down to mutual jabs. The Doonnarh agents would time-travel, steal from and attack each other, all fighting to become the best, most progressive Doonnarh.

Life would play a cruel trick on them when the next generations would realise - extensive time travel doesn't mix with their physiology. Lots of new diseases emerged as a result of being constantly exposed to temporal particles. Long missions to other sides caused long-term damage and trauma. Along with many of the Doonnarh becoming, let's say, allergic and sensitive to the particles and the radiation.

This caused the conflicts to slow down crawl and led to the Doonnarh's current policy where they would employ agents from other races to assist them in their agenda.

[sohelish]

heh. me:

the Doonnarh society is a very convoluted democracy that strives towards the truth, perfection and general progress.

also me: they kinda sorta started stomping in development so they invented time and dimensional travel to reach out to the Doonnarh from other timelines but since the others didn't agree to share their knowledge and tech they decided to attack them and steal from them.

[sohelish]

oooooh. pardon the spamming but this realisation just hit me...

where Hel grew up on a space station in the trek verse, not seeing much of any nature until she was over 16

and now, years later at the age of 35 she is working for an alien race whose planet is 98% artificial environment...

[sohelish]

this post made me think about the Doonnarh and their efforts of building artificial environments and such. them engineering and saving the projects and maps of their world. and how some wouldn't mind stealing those along with their programmes and tech, and their engineering secrets.

so in addition to the plot points of Hel gathering intel for the Doonnarh she can be in charge of finding/stealing back anything that was stolen from her bosses.

[sohelish]

The X in the Doonnarh-X stands for the planet GxXun. You can say "the Doonnarh from the planet GxXun" or "the Doonnarh-X," mixing both is rather redundant.

Having worked for the Doonnarh-X for quite some time Helena started to suspect a sinister thing. There were long circulating rumours and speculations that there are other Doonnarh from other planets in existence. However, there is no good proof to suggest that.

Based on circumstantial evidence, Hel thinks that the other Doonnarh are actually the Doonnarh from different dimensions and timelines. Not that Helena's bosses provide her with enough info, but that is her working theory.

Those from the planet GxXun communicate with their own alternate selves... and also fight with their own alternate selves in that hypocritical way since the Doonnarh-X almost destroyed each other in the civil war ages ago. Now they are literally stealing tech and resources from those Doonnarh in other dimensions and timelines who are not willing to cooperate and support the Pr.ime-verse Doonnarh.

[sohelish]

I'm also thinking about the aliens Hel works for in the trek verse, writing scenes in my head where she talks about them.

and she says: they have 7 different words for disaster, all a different shade and level of it agshjdjdk

funny or sad? who's to decide?

[sohelish]

Hel vc: well, they are not harmed in the making they are being eaten separately after

our tribbles are not held in cages... at least

and their death is swift

and it supports a woman so...

This women’s day

Ly @lykaiia and Hel are starting a zero waste tribble-sweater production

The sweaters go to everyone who wants them, especially those Ferengi women who would like to wear clothes 👀

This production supports women 100%**

**It does not support the tribbles

[sohelish]

what you think when I say my mind is 90% st.ar tre.k rn: well she’s obv playing sto, maybe even watching d.s9

the reality: I’m obv playing the online game, I am also playing multiple characters at the same time breathing in the lore through my nostrils like a digital junkie, I am watching d.s9 sure but also reading every single fic I come across, I’m writing mini-stories in my mind, I’m trying to headcanon all the possible ships/crews Hel Redford has served with, her relations with the people and how much information did she pass on to section 31, what impact it would’ve had in the long run, what possible negative outcomes in the name of the greater good it would’ve had on the people she used to serve with because she basically betrayed their trust, if she ever time-travelled and if she did omfg what could she have possibly done to the timeline bc we can all agree Hel shouldn’t be trusted with that, but wait what if she had been a temporal agent all along: triple twist, what does she think of androids and AIs in that particular au, also whether she likes replicated food or prefers the real deal and whether she likes raktajino more than regular coffee.