Control

The first try didn't work. We couldn't simply control the dream by realizing it was a dream and forcing our will on it. Clearly this dream was being broadcast into our minds and was forcing its restrictions on us, though it had not anticipated some of our ways of communication. Ambri and I both entered the control chairs and used it to try to control our bodies. Forcing ourselves to move in our sleep was not an easy task, but eventually we got some movement going in our fingers. We were careful to make sure we attempted this only when the creatures were not nearby or looking at our bodies. Probably after an hour we could feel the fatigue on our minds, this meant we were actually exerting real effort on ourselves by doing this, but we were making progress. Our hands were just a few inches apart, and if we could coordinate it properly we might be able to get them to touch. With one final effort we made our attempt, our connection with the ship was broken once we did it, we simply did not have the capacity to stay in that state, however we both felt that something had changed.

Our hands must have been touching now as we started to feel the unrealness of the dream. Things seemed more out of place and I could feel it falling away as if I were waking up. Using our connection helped us stay together in the process of coming out and when we locked eyes from our position on the floor we knew we had escaped. We laid there motionless at first, making sure we weren't discovered and trying to observe what was going on. We could not make out anything they said as they spoke a language we did not know, however their minds seemed a bit more open and I could feel some of what they felt. I still felt a faint connection to Niracina as well, the signal being sent into us seemed to be linking us which gave us an advantage I'm sure our captors weren't aware of. I communicated with Ambri that I would need help to use this connection to pull Niracina free of the dream. She let me know that she would give me as much energy as she could to do this.

It was a slow process, but with some effort and time we were able to get Niracina to wake up, though we had to inform her that she needed to maintain the powered down state to ensure that our captors were not aware of our having escaped their induced sleep. Niracina spent some time taking in as much data as possible on them as well as figuring out how they got through the web. Ambri and I recovered as best we could in the uncomfortable position we were in. Once we had all the information we needed and had figured out where the source of the web and the dream signal was coming from we made our move. It took only moments to stop the signals, one quick electric blast through the walls of the ship and out towards the signal quickly disabled the web, the dream broadcast and the ship that was the source of it. The aliens had not been anticipating any retaliation and so had no additional shields going which meant instant electrical access to their systems which caused them to go down, though we didn't know for how long. Our shields were then turned on and we ensured that the aliens couldn't leave. Once all of this happened the ones that were on the ship quickly tried to escape, but having no way of getting through our shield they instead all huddled together in a corner with Ambri and I watching over them.