Memory transcription subject: Elvik, Federation Archivist

Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 2, 1 AA

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My mission was simple on paper. Get into the Argosy, and grab one of the mezari for testing. Having the largest population of any of the aurigan species, it was a safe bet to start our cure trials with them before moving onto the others.

For probably the first time in history we had to take specimens from an already civilized planet, rather than from some backwards hellhole. It was going to be a lot harder than usual too, as so very few of them were around, that missing people would be quickly noticed. So my best bet was to take one of the sleepers from the pods, someone whose absence wouldn't be noticed so easily, nor so soon. We might even be able to return them later.

It was nice to be outside for a change, walking under real sunlight, but the prospect of my mission was daunting. Being a venlil, it afforded me some modicum of freedom, and my falsified papers allowed me to blend in with the other workers that were setting up housing for the aurigans, but I still needed to secure, sedate, and somehow exfiltrate a specimen. The points of failure for my mission were many, and discretion was required.

While mingling with the workers for a few weeks, I made sure to familiarize myself with the Argosy as best I could, either by eavesdropping on aurigans, sneaking around when nobody was looking, or accessing terminals I wasn't supposed to. I had a decent plan of the ship now, and formulated a quick plan.

First, I would steal the key card from one of the gauran guards. This would be the easy part. Then I would make my way to the cryo section by sneaking through the vents. There I would open one of the pods, and sedate the occupant. Then I just had to carry them on my shoulder and pretend that they were drunk. The sedative would hopefully simulate heavy inebriation. If anyone asked, I could say he drank a bottle of fermented grain syrup meant for venlil children, the perfect alibi for why he was so drunk.

The hardest part was taking him all the way to my ship. That would require sneaking him away from prying eyes. Thankfully doing this when most of the aurigans slept would make it easier.

"Ok, enough reviewing your plan, time to act." I mused to myself, before grabbing a bottle of booze and starting to approach a gauran, miming drunkenness.

"Heeeey... big guy. Wanna come to my tent?" I slurred out and bumped into the large herbivore, my claws pawing at his chest. I quickly slipped his key card down against my wrist as I then leaned into him, pretending I was so drunk I fell into him while flirting.

I carefully picked my target beforehand, making sure he was straight, and would reject my advances, and as predicted, he huffed and shook his head. "You're drunk, little Venlil. Go home." The gauran then carefully helped me to my feet, while I slipped his card from one paw to the other, and then into my belt, all while acting woozy.

"Pfft, fine. You don't know- hyuk- You don't know what you're missing." I said in mock indignation, still wobbling side to side as I talked, before heading the other way, swishing my tail seductively as I raised the bottle. "I'm gonna go find some real men to party with!" I shouted back as I made a quick exit.

Now that the card was in my possession, I just needed to sneak in past the guards. Getting a noisemaker drone out, I activated it and piloted it remotely to the other side of the loading ramp they were guarding, and set it to automatic mode. It flew around in random patterns, all the while making an odd beeping noise. If approached too closely, it was programmed to fly away and crash itself into the ocean.

As expected, the guards went to investigate the beeping, and I was able to sneak up the ramp. Once inside I crawled into a duct that I knew led me to further into the ship, bypassing the corridor. The duct ended where a new section began, and this was where the key card came in hand.

Making sure there was nobody in the hall, I got back out of the duct, and used it to open the door that divided the two sections. On the other side I crawled into another duct, and made my way deeper into the ship, until I finally reached the cryo bays.

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Now though I needed to distract the other guards that were here, so I pulled out another one of the small drones, and flew it back to start of the section, where I'd crawled in. I then flew it forwards to the door to one of the cryobays, where the guards saw it, and immediately gave chase to the strange, metal insect.

Setting the drone to evade mode, I let it run loose through the ship with the guards chasing it, while I slipped into the cryo bay.

"Ok, let's see... How do I work this thing?" I mumbled as I looked at the control for the cryopods. There were several rows lining the walls, each containing pods grouped in circular clusters of six, with a mechanical system in the center for pulling pods out of the wall. Down below was a pit full of coolant, which was being pumped through the backs of the pods, being constantly circulated through the system. No doubt there was some sort of cooling system under all the fluid, keeping the coolant, well, cool.

Careful not to slip into the liquid beneath, I leaned over a balustrade, looking for pods that were still inhabited, and which looked like good subjects to take way.

I spotted a young adult male in one of the pods that would likely be perfect, it looked to be a fit, healthy specimen. Moving back over o the controls, I examined the buttons one more time, before experimenting with the controls.

Moving the mechanical device back and forth proved intuitive enough, and I was able to latch it onto the cluster of pods where my quarry lay. The mechanism moved the cluster of pods to the center and I tapped the controls for opening the pod I wanted.

As soon as the pod opened, a fine cryonic vapor spilled out, which briefly obscured the mezari that was hidden inside. Before I could approach him though, an alarm started blaring, 'Biological contaminant detected! Biological contaminant detected! Biological contaminant detected!'

Shit, was that me? I hoped that was me. No matter though, I was sure we could treat whatever was infecting the primitive. I quickly stabbed the side of his neck with the tranquilizer that would make him a sluggish mess, before moving in to brace him so he wouldn't fall face first into the metal floor.

I had to move quickly if I wanted to get out of here in one piece, so there was no time to reset the pods. As soon as I had my target I started to book it, awkwardly dragging him with me as he slowly woke up.

"Whrr- wht." The mezari tried to speak as I came face to face to the cryobay guards coming back from their wild drone chase.

"Heeyy, guys. Don't mind us. My buddy here's had too much to drink. Got into the venlil soft drinks, yanno? He was walking around really shit faced like. I think some critter got into your ship by the way, saw something flying around earlier." As I spoke, the mezari on my shoulder tried to communicate, but could only form random noises, and it flopped an arm up in a desperate gesture.

Internally I cursed that alarm, and hoped that they wouldn't see through my ruse. My hand was clasped around my tranq gun just in case.

"I'll take him to the medbay, this is a restricted area. My friend here will show you out." one of the guards said, starting to get closer.

I sighed and quickly drew the tranq gun from my belt, moving the unconscious mezari in front of myself to cover most of my body with his own. The first guard obscured the other's sight of me, and allowed me to shoot him without his comrade noticing until he was already falling to his knees. I then shot the other one as he was charging at me, causing him to fall face first onto his comrade.

I hated field work. So much. I sighed and recovered the spent darts from the guards, who were laid flat by the potent chemical cocktail, and continued to make my way out of the cryo section.

I didn't want to risk a clash with the guards at the loading bay, so I instead made my way up to one of docking and berthing hatches instead. Opening the hatch to the cool air sent a shiver down my spine and my fur stood on end. I then pulled the command pad for my shuttle out of one of my belt satchels, and summoned it to the hatch.

The anti-detection systems on the ship, combined with the fact most of the aurigans were sleeping, would hopefully prevent us from being noticed.

After my shuttle docked with the Argosy, I pushed the unconscious mezari inside, before crawling in myself. Setting the autopilot for Talsk, I got to work hooking up the mezari to the on board cryopod we used for retrieved specimens. This would keep him nice and easy to manage all the way back to the archives.

While I was hooking the beast into the machine, my paw was stung by a large thorn that had been embedded in its jacket. I cursed out loudly and pulled the thing from my hand. It had drawn blood, and so I poured some alcohol on it to disinfect the wound.

That must've been the biological contamination that the Mezari computer was talking about. I really really hoped it wasn't carrying some alien plague. No matter, I'd get a full check up and bloodwork at the archives once we got there.

Settling into the pilot chair, I closed my eyes and decided to drift off to sleep, my thoughts consumed by dreams.

I dreamt of great wonders, deep below the earth, towering arches covered in glowing structures.

I dreamt of great beasts slumbering for untold aeons, awaiting the time to awaken.

I dreamt of lightning and ruin, and the stench of burned soil.

I dreamt of vines, and voices, gnawing at my mind.

Their whispers filled my thoughts. Incomprehensible, at first, but growing louder and more clearer by the minute.

"The Mages."

"Make them pay."

"Avenge us."

"I am the First of the Bloodline."

"The Vaulters."

"One of them."

"Preserve."

"Endure."