Procidens Actio Pt I

Posted on Thu Mar 17th, 2022 @ 1:31am by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Lieutenant Sarah Wilson & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell & Commander Finchley Kerr & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Sandra "Phantom" Risa & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant Niali Korial MD & Commodore S'thenosis Gorgox & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Paranoia Nebula
Location: USS Sunfire
Timeline: Current

[Sickbay]

Niali began to prepare to bring the stricken officers they had had to sedate out of unconsciousness. She fully expected them to still be affected and had introduced the infrasound into the areas of the brain that were receptive to sound for an hour now. She began with Commander Baldric who had been sedated the longest. She raised the forcefield around her and proceeded to shut down the biobeds life support keeping watch on her bio responses, slowly bringing her back to consciousness. Once she was breathing on her own she administered another hypo of neural blocker and waited.

The rise back to consciousness was a slow one for Baldric, the medication counteracting the sedatives that had been given early to prevent her harming either herself or others whilst delusional. Sound returned first, muted sounds as though heard from under water, a light emanating from behind her closed eyelids, but her limbs seemed heavy and unresponsive. The sound of medical equipment, beeps and bleeps, hisses and soft clatters entered the soundgarden, intermingling with the low voices and the occasional grumble of discomfort.

“Commander Baldric, can you hear me it’s Doctor Korial, Niali” she whispered knowing full well patients who had been sedated to the level she had did not appreciate loud voices. “You are in sickbay.”

Jennifer heard the voice, calm in the chaos that her mind was. We're the aliens still out there? Why was she asleep? Had she been injured? So many questions were on the tip of her tongue. She slowly cracked an eyelid and took a glance around, trying to get her bearings.

Commander? It’s Niali Korial the ACMO, we had to sedate you because of an alien infection in your brain. If you remember you were having extreme hallucinations that we have discovered were carried by sound. We are now using infrasound throughout the ship. Many of the crew were infected. Do you have a headache or any nausea?

"Ahhh I'm not sure, everything is a bit fuzzy" Baldric mumbled, shielding her eyes from the bridge eyes.

Niali reduced the ambient lighting by fifty per cent. “Don’t worry Commander it will take a few hours for your own brain processes to take over again. You will not have any more hallucinations and I am going to give you some oxygen to help clear your brain.” She set the force field and entered the code for the bio-bed to produce ambient oxygen. “Just relax Commander, try to sleep for a while. You will be here for twenty four hours anyway.”

Baldric nodded sleepily, ignoring the fuzzy feeling and the slight buzzing in her ears. She was sure there was another mild sedative in there somewhere and chose not to fight it - if she was gonna be stuck in sickbay for another day she may as well catch up on as much sleep as she could.

Next Niali released the force field and woke Bonnie, it took a few minutes and as before Niali gave her a neural blocker.

Bonnie blinked and rolled over, the bright lights above her stinting her eyes. She felt disoriented as the last place she felt she was, was in an abandoned house covered in bees. Now, she was alone on a biobed on the Sunfire with no idea what was happening or how she had gotten here.

“How are you feeling?” Niali asked running a bio scan. “Do you know who you are?

The young girl blinked away the distortions and responded, "I think I'm okay now. Um. Queen of bees?" She responded and then glanced down at her black and gold uniform, and picked at it in an amused state, "Yep, definitely the Queen of bees." She smiled up at the doctor whom she had yet to meet, but had seen around the ship.

Niali smiled, “is that Lieutenant Queen of bees Bonnie? Do you have a headache?"

Grinning akwardly, Bonnie replied, "just a slight buzzing noise, but I think it's deminishing." The she huffed, "Um, so, can I go or do you need a sample?" Walking Hazzard that she was, Bonnie was accustomed to frequent visits with doctors, and they always seemed to want a sample of her in one form or another.

Niali grimaced, “buzzing?” She said. Running another bio scan she could find nothing that would worry her. She snapped the scanner closed. “I see no reason for you to stay and we need the crew. I will release you for duty but you are to report back if you feel ‘different’ in any way.” Niali smiled, “and keep away from those bees Lieutenant’.

Hopping off the bed and feeling refreshed she brushed her hair back and said, "Thanks Doc, I'll see you tomorrow probably." And walked towards the exit door, brushing past a container cart. Her breif touch unbalanced the cart which fell over, spilling its contents. But she was already gone before it even hit the floor. Another casualty in her wake.

Niali sighed, she would pick it up after she had woken Lt Vali, she would be happy to be able to rejoin her husband on the bridge. She thought of Finchley and a little knot twisted in her stomach as she hoped that, if he thought of her he would get the same reaction. She smiled and went over to Vali hypo in her hand noting someone had left some surgical instruments on nearby tray.

Her last unconscious patient and Niali released the force field, reduced the sedation gradually introduced another neural blocker and waited for her to become conscious, Auroras vital signs were slightly odd however and her neural activity was showing a deep dive, almost as if something was impressing itself on Aurora’s consciousness.

Aurora awoke quickly, sitting bolt upright on the bed she looked around before reaching out and grabbing the nearest object to hand. Thrusting it into Niali she quickly took to her feet, disappearing out of Sickbay.

Niali looked down at her open chest and the blood spreading through her uniform, there was no pain only a feeling of weakness. She fell to her knees pressing her comm badge as she sank to the ground =/\= Korial to the bridge Lt Vali is loose on the ship she… stabbed me..medical emergency and security…I…..=/\= everything went black as her blood spread across the floor.

Still on his way to his office, Finchley's communicator picked up Niali's message.

"What the fu..." he began, then bolted down the corridor. As he ran, he smacked his COMM badge and shouted "This is Kerr, I'm one deck down from sickbay, I'm heading there now!"

He slammed the call button for the turbolift and as the doors opened he hurried inside saying "Deck four."

Within moments the doors opened again and he sprinted out the lift and down the corridor. As he approached sickbay the doors opened and he ran in "NIALI...NIALI...WHERE ARE Y..." then he saw he prostrate figure lying on the floor, blood seeping slowly around her.

He rushed over to Niali, looking desperately around to see if her assailant was still there. The was no sign of Lieutenant Vali, so he began quickly assessing Niali's situation. A sizeable gaping wound in her chest, he checked for a pulse and thankfully it was there, it was erratic but it was still there.

"Niali, it's Finchley, I've got you...I've..." and he slowly lifted her from the floor up onto the biobed in front of him. As he laid here down he pressed his COMM badge and said "Dr Wilson to Sickbay now, Dr Korial has been badly injured!"

He desperately began trying to recall his basic medical studies on wounds.

"Right" he began saying to himself "you need to clearly assess the wound and cauterize it if needs be."

"I'm sorry to do this Niali, but I have to see the wound" he said as he began ripping back her uniform around the blood soaked wound. Once it was clear, he saw the ragged tear in her chest, though the wound itself was no not bleeding as freely as it had been when he first came into sickbay.

He looked around for a tray that had medical equipment on it and saw one two beds down. Quickly bringing it back to where Niali was, he looked down at the tray. His shaking hand wandered back and forth over the instruments, hesitating over them. He was a mere field medic at best, but had studies in medicine..."Ha...studies...what bloody good is that to you right now!" he chastised himself.

His hand finally fell on the small lance that was there. It wasn't exactly what he knew he should use, but it was the one thing he knew could be used to cauterize the wound and stop it bleeding so much. He took a breath, switched the lance on and seconds later began running it over the outer edges of the wound. The smell of the slightly singed flesh made him gag and he had to turn to the side as he threw up.

"Get a fucking grip Finchley!" he said, slapping himself across the face. Once more he turned back to what he was doing. Slowly he managed to stop the majority of the bleeding, though there was still a little.

"That gives us a fighting chance at least" he said, knowing he wasn't convincing himself in the slightest. He looked down at Niali's face, her skin was pale a waxy looking "Don't you dare die on me Niali, do you hear me!"

He knew he couldn't begin to try and close the wound because Dr Wilson would need to take an extremely close look to see if there was any internal damage that would require surgery. Instead, he began bandaging the wound as he'd been taught.

Looking back at the tray, he saw a hypo. Next to it was a small vial of adrenalin. It wasn't the best thing for Niali right now, but he didn't have time to look around for anything else, so setting it on a low dose, he pressed the hypo into her neck and depressed the release button.

Seeing a standalone oxygen cylinder, he rushed and brought it back to the biobed. Carefully slipping the mask, attached by thin tubing to the cylinder, over Niali's face, he gently lifted her head and slipped the retaining cord around the back and pulled it gently to tighten it a little. It was a manually setting cylinder, so he turned the knob till he heard a "Sssssssssssss..." sound, then carefully watched the barometer as it slowly rose. Once it was at fifteen millibars, he checked it off so the flow remained steady at that setting.

He looked down at Niali again, and some colour was beginning to show on her face again. He just wanted Dr Wilson there, right now to take over.

Meanwhile Dr Wilson has been in the cargo bay, overseeing the rest of the medical team who were treating the crew. She had heard the urgent comm call, but has expect Dr Perrin to be in sickbay. When Finchley called again she knew things were bad. She quickly called for a site to site transport and beamed herself to where Dr Korial's biosigns were . Tricorder and medkit in hand she appeared in a glimmer of blue. In an instant she began to work.

Seeing that Dr Wilson was there and now treating Niali, Finchley’s face darkened in anger. Taking out his phaser, he swept determinedly out of Sickbay. He had to think of what Lieutenant Vali would do, then it came to him…she would make for Savar. He found himself next to a turbolift, so pressed the button. Getting in when the car arrived, he slowly said “Bridge” after the doors closed.

[Bridge]

Moments later the lift doors opened again and he stepped out.

Hearing that Aurora was up and on the loose combined with the fact she had stabbed Niali, Savar reacted instantly. He tapped his combadge. "This is the Captain to security. Lt. Vali has escaped from Sickbay. She is to be apprehended and returned to Sickbay unharmed and placed under restraints."

"Shit." Dean stood up, yes for now he wasn't suppose to be completely in command of Security, but it didn't matter this second. Tapping his comm badge. Signalling for them to cut off all sensitive areas. Also different junctions and force fields in the Jeffress tubes.

Having abandoned her comm badge and found her way into the Jeffries tubes, Aurora was fighting to try and regain some control of her body. Her own consciousness pushed to the back of her mind by the creature, it needed to secure this ship for the nutrition it needed to survive. Aurora’s knowledge of the ship telling it just where to go.

A few minutes later Aurora emerged on the bridge, having been driven there by the creature. Her perspiration soaked hair was sticking to her face and neck, such was the internal fight for control of her body. For a brief moment she was herself again as she looked towards Savar. “Savar ... help ... me!”

Turning to look over at 'Aurora' coming in. To Savar, shaking his head. He had an idea, plan. Leaning to tap on the chair console to send a text. 'I'm going to distract...'them' and you can come behind and use the nerve pinch. Peaceful solution.' Coming around towards 'Aurora.'

Savar understood House's caution however this was Aurora his wife and he believed she would never hurt him. "No Mr. House, I have another idea." He whispered as he stood and looked at Aurora, her soaked hair and perspiration soaking her face and neck. "Of course I will Aurora. What do you need me to do?"

Aurora moved closer raising her hand with intent instead she took Savar’s hand, placing it on her face. She couldn’t speak she was too weak but she knew Savar would work out what she wanted him to do. Inside his mind there was a quiet voice.

Save me!

Savar heard Aurora's silent plea inside his mind, and he knew he would do whatever was needed to save her. He raised a hand and placed it gently on her cheek, establishing a link between them. *What do you need of me?* He asked.

In her head Aurora was deep inside the recess of her mind, the creature pushing her consciousness aside. “FEED ME!! I must have this nourishment!!”

Finchley looked pitilessly at Lieutenant Vali as he said “Doctor Korial is critically injured, stabbed mercilessly by you!”

"Commander, stand down. As much as I disagree, let it play out. She's not in her right mind. Even I can tell that." Dean shifted a little to glance at Finchley a moment, but he also moved to get into a locker for a phaser. Just in case it went sideways. "And I know she's your wife, but she needs to be sedated, Captain."

“Stand down from what, Commander House?” Finchley asked pointedly “I’ve simply reported what has now been corroborated by myself, Doctor Korial has been stabbed by her, regardless of what mental state you bring up, there’s nothing wrong in me reporting that, unless you want to disregard standard reporting protocol Sir?” he finished

"I never said there was. We have a different situation, however. Sickbay should be taking care of Doctor Korial. We have a little bit more of an issue up here at the moment." Dean reached up and started tapping his comm badge. It was to be sent to Finchley, and Sickbay. Hopefully they knew Morse Code. It said. 'We need an injection of psilosynine for Aurora.' Hopefully Aurora was distracted enough to not notice that.

“Dr Wilson is currently trying to save Doctor Korial’s life Commander, that is also a very serious issue” Finchley replied, and as a Senior Officer himself, he wasn’t going to let it go, a crime had been committed. “The situation here, serious as it is, doesn’t recuse the Lieutenant of the attack, and until a full investigation takes place and all the facts are known so a verdict can be reached, Lieutenant Vali will be, according to regulations in such a matter, be placed under arrest.”

He heard the morse code message and understood it perfectly as it was mandatory training for Intelligence officers as well as Operations. Surreptitiously, he moved his hand up to his own badge and coded back “Doctor Wilson will need to supply and administer it, for the moment though, she’s trying to save a colleague’s life. Perhaps a Senior nurse can do it.”

While Savar was in her mind the creature was gaining knowledge, enough to know that it needed the mind of Savar to gain control of the ship. Withdrawing from Aurora it used the link to move into Savar’s mind, it had time before it needed to feed again to learn to control its new host mind.

No sooner did the creature move out of her mind Aurora slumped to the floor unconscious.

Savar turned to House and Kerr, "Commanders, I understand your concern and I am well aware of the situation. The fact remains. Aurora is under an outside influence. Return her to Sickbay, place her in restraints if needed." He stated matter of factly even as he knelt beside Aurora. "It will be alright Aurora. You will fine." He replied not yet aware of the creature's influence and presence in his mind.

Aurora stirred slightly but didn’t awaken, the creature had shut her down upon leaving her mind. It’s plan could not be thwarted.

Finchley looked incredulously at Savar, saying "Captain, Like Commander House, I to understand that Lt Vali is your wife, however, saying you understand our concerns and are well aware of the situation, but plan not to arrest her for attempted murder of a fellow officer, without proof that any outside influence caused her to do what she did, doesn't cut it Sir. Returning the Lieutenant to Sickbay, fine, placing her in restraints, ok, but to then do nothing more is a breach of protocol...she attempted to kill a fellow officer. Till proof can be found that any outside influence caused her to do what she did, the Lieutenant should be placed under arrest, pending an investigation. Sir, I apologise for asking this question, but I would be remiss in my duty if I didn't, are you placing personal feelings for Lieutenant Vali, because she's your wife, before your duty to this crew as their Captain, and what happened to Doctor Korial?"

Savar gave Kerr a positively glacial stare. "I am not. I am proceeding from the perspective of being concerned for the members this crew and acting accordingly."

Finchley stared steely eyed back at Savar, he wasn't going to be intimidated "As you'd like to believe Captain."



[Sickbay]

Meanwhile back in sickbay Dr Wilson has Niali stabilised and was working on repairing the damage to her body. Working on Trills was always tricky. She had prepared the new protocols herself and was well versed in Trill anatomy and physiology.

She had heard the coded message from the bridge and shot a look to Dr Perrin, instructing him to take a hypo to the bridge with the requested medication and then refocused on the task before her.

[Bridge]

"I'm going to have to go with at least confined to Sickbay and under security watch." Dean let out a long breath, "Keeping her in a force field for now until we can figure out this mystery. I don't want to put her in the brig just yet. If we find it was her conscious doing then we'll go from there. She can't get medical attention from the brig."

Finchley turned to House and said "That's what I was referring to Sir, I didn't mean her going to the brig. If you'll excuse me Sirs, I have to go to my office to check on a request I've given my assistant to look out."

Dr Perrim arrived on the bridge to find a tense situation. Lt Vali was unconscious, and there seemed to be a standoff between the Captain and Commander Kerr. " Ahhhh... I'll just treat Lt Vali shall I?" He muttered as he moved towards the counsellor and began stablising her. The hypo still tucked away in his medkit in case he needed it.

Making his way to the turbolift, Finchley stepped inside. As the car moved off, he tapped his COMM badge and said "Commander Kerr to Doctor Wilson, can you give me an update on Doctor Korial's situation please."

[Sickbay]

" She's been stablised, we're working on repairing the injury. She should be back on her feet by tomorrow" Wilson reported as she worked.

"Thank you Doctor Wilson, Kerr out" Finchley replied.

[Bridge]

Distressed at what she had witnessed and concerned about what was still going on her scales had been puffing up in a show of emotional indignation. She moved down to where Savar stood and addressed him directly while keeping her composure.

"Captain Savar, it is of personal perspective that you are losing control of this situation." She gestured with only her hand towards Dean and then towards the unconscious Aurora. "While we may have corrected the problem of hallucinations on board, we still are dealing with a growing conflict of derilection and discourse amongst your senior staff..." She gestured to the viewer. "...and a monster out there which wishes to devour us as one would a Tridarian Wilderbeast. Can we please focus on the matter at hand, for I do not wish to be devoured today, sir." She finished by staring down at Savar as though unsure if he got the message.

Savar glanced at the Commodore. "Commodore with do respect I disagree with your statement. "Lt. Vali, is being placed in restraints in Sickbay, She cannot do any harm to herself or the crew. The crew is removed from immediate danger." he replied even as the the creature probed his mind looking for any advantage it could find. All while Savar answered his officers, not yet aware of the creature's presence.



Meanwhile Dr Perrim prepared Aurora for transport. "Sir's I'm beaming the counsellor back to sickbay so we can figure out what's causing her unconsciousness."



[Chief of Operations Office]

Finchley stormed into his office "KARADIS!" he yelled.

"Over her Sir" Karadis replied, at the console to Finchley's right.

Finchley paced up and down, the banged his fist on his table.

"What's wrong Sir?" Karadis asked.

"That damn...." but he broke himself off "...never mind, what have you got on the Ferengi ship engineering section?"

"I've pulled this from the Starfleet archive Commander" Karadis said, pointing to the screen.

Finchley walked over and began scanning what was there. His mind worked quickly, seeing in his minds eye the section that he had seen when he was with Korial and mentally projecting it onto what was now before him on the screen.

"The warp core's still intact" Finchley said out loud, "most likely operating on minimum power, but enough for what's required.

"Required Sir?" Karadis asked.

"We need an option, one that will distract whatever this thing is away from our ship, so that we can try to disable it" Finchley replied "and that Ferengi warp core could be the answer."

Karadis gave him a puzzled look.

"If we can lock onto the Ferengi ships warp core and transport it out into open space, we can then detonate it" Finchley began "hopefully that thing will see it as a..."

"Quick food fix!" Karadis said in realisation.

"Yes" Finchley replied "and hopefully it'll disengage from us to go 'eat', giving us the opportunity to then try and disable it before it turns back on us."

"That's genius Commander, I never thought you'd be able to come up with something like that" Karadis said.

"You're all heart with your compliments Karadis" Finchley replied.

"One of my downfalls of having a sparkling personality Sir" Karadis said.

"Yeah..." Finchley sighed "anyway, it's doubtful this idea will be taken up, but I want to have it as a back up plan in case whatever Savar decides on doesn't work."

"Sir, is everything alright, you seem...tense, and it's not anything to do with the Sunfire's giant squid thing predicament?" Karadis asked.

"Just leave it be Karadis" Finchley replied "I'd better get back to the bridge" he said, turning round and leaving.

Karadis watched him go. She'd known him a long time, and seen most things in him, but never this kind of depth of despondency. Whatever it was, he was very concerned, very concerned indeed.

Meanwhile Chief Ronson Mitchell watched the goings on on the bridge with a critical eye. Things were getting out of control, whatever alien presence was going on seemed to be spreading. Action needed to be taken. Without waiting for authorisation he loaded the Sunfire's highest yield photon torpedo and set it to detonate approximately 200km's from the Sunfire's current location. If the creature changing direction and went for the explosion - it would confirm his theory that it was after energy.

Pressing the 'fire' button the torpedo streaked into space.


TBC