Rock the Boat

Posted on Wed Nov 29th, 2023 @ 2:58pm by Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Remal Kajun & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Ensign Aubrie Fox & Lieutenant Thomas Haldeman & Lieutenant Alison Haldeman

Mission: Halloween
Location: USS Sunfire
Timeline: Current

-SNIP-
"Looks like they've pissed something off" Rhenora whispered under her breath as she took in the crewmembers on their knees. "Remal? What's happening?" She addressed the being who inhabited her husband.
-SNIP-

Remal was attempting to internalize communication with the 'thing' inhabiting him. There seemed to be a weakened sense of control at this particular moment but so much rage was building. The entities tendrils were searching Remals brain for reasoning but finding little.

He looked up at his loving wife, and tried to communicate, "Stun, m... stun, m..." Each time he attempted to deliver his words the being cut him off. Then all of the beings on the bridge stood and began closing in, desperate to exact their revenge.

"We would not have killed you, not right away, but one of yours hurt one of ours." Then they all chanted aloud simultaneously with one voice. "Blood for blood, energy for energy, penance must be paid." The kept moving, surrounding Tom, Rhen and the conn officer.

Tom brought up his phaser and shot Alie causing her to collapse to the deck. Stunning her. "Shoot them! Stun them!" He said to Rhenora and the Conn officer.

Rhenora fired her weapon, dropping who were inhabited around her. The stun seemed to work, for a few moments, freeing the poor victim of the creature's hold until it could reassert itself. Remal lunged at her, his fingertips grasping the front of her uniform and he could almost taste the fear.

Tom reacted as Remal lunged for Rhenora. he shot Remal stunning. He fell to the deck with a thud. ""I'm sorry Rhenora but we can't let anything happened to you. We need you."

"We need to regroup and come up with a plan" Rhenora nodded her thanks as Remal fell to the deck. The effects of the stun wouldn't last for long.

"Agreed." Tom replied. "Should we go to a more defensible position? We're rather exposed and have limited area to move about."

Alison was already starting to awaken, the affect of the stun on her pregnancy seemed to be negligible but being stunned again simply wouldn’t be an option without possibly harming her baby.

Rhenora turned quickly and initiated a site to site transport to Engineering. They could control the ship from there but hopefully be away from those under the control of the entity. The trio reinitialised into chaos.

"Reroute bridge controls to here" she requested as she took stock.

"That buys us some time." Tom observed. "Gives some time to think. Come up with a plan."

The Engineering team were rushing around trying to restore full power so they could get the hell out of here, or at the very least rescue the away teams then haul ass. From what Rhenora could see the influence of the entity hadn't spread this far, what was going on on the bridge though was a different story. Who knew what was going on up there now. She set up a monitor with a camera on the bridge, keeping half a watchful eye on those there whilst sealing the entrances to the Sunfire's nerve centre. The entity had proven it could go through shields though so it was only a token gesture.

"What if we sent a sonic pulse through the ship? It would give everyone a hell of a headache but it might make us unpleasant to the beings?" Rhenora suggested as she tapped at the controls.

Tom nodded in agreement. "It is worth a try. We have to make the bodies they inhabit unpleasant to them."

"Problem is it will effect everyone, including us." Rhenora mused, not looking forward to a migraine style headache that would effectively be self inflicted. She hates hurting her crew, even if it were to save all of their lives. "Grab that medkit and load up an analgesic, we'll need it"

Tom didn't need to be told twice as he grabbed the nearest medkit off the bulkhead and started to load analgesic into the hypo. Making sure he had an extra-large amount to handle what was coming.

"It's gonna take a few minutes to set up and execute, make sure none of those entities start taking over more of our people down here. I'm hoping it can only inhabit a limited number at any one time." Rhenora mused as she started working on the control panel.

"Get to work Rhenora. You'll have the time you need." Tom vowed as he had his phaser out with the Conn officer as the swept Engineering for any sign of crew possessed by the ghostly creatures.

It took 10 minutes to set up the sonic pulse, she kept glancing at the monitor watching the bridge crew to see if anything untoward was happening there. Those under the entities control seemed to be huddled together, wisps of green emanating now and then from between them. They were planning something.

"OK Tom, Are you ready? This is gonna give everyone one hell of a headache" Rhenora advised, mentally bracing herself for the onslaught.

"Ready when you are Rhenora." Tom replied, knowing they were all going to be in for one hell of a headache.

Back on the Bridge

"I told you we should have gone for their leader first. And whose job was it to take out their energy independent devices?" One of the entities inhabiting Bonnie asked. "We should have been smart enough to anticipate this."

"I was going for their Captain. I just wasn't expecting them to be able to kill one of us. None of the minds we've inhabited so far had indicated such a weapon existed." The being inhabiting Remal admitted. "They've likely gone somewhere else and are cooking up some other way to attack us, we much prepare ourselves. Almost half the ship is ours, but it matters not if we can't gain access to their propulsion and navigation systems."

"I'm on that. This one has details on how we can gain access, oh, and so much more. I'm having trouble... keeping her mind focused. She's a strange one. " The entity inhabiting Bonnie indicated.

“This one is strong minded, but the offspring it carries makes her weak.” The entity inhabiting Alison spoke up. “However She has her uses, they will be reluctant to harm her and the one called Tom is her mate, he could be easy to get to.”

"Good. Any advantage is a good advantage. We have reinforcements inbound. It's time to make them pay for their fight. Blood for blood, energy for energy, penance must be paid." He communicated. "Let's find them and use them before they can find some other way to stop us." He stood and broke the huddle they were in.

The one inside Bonnie stopped, "This one doesn't have a mate, but it has multiple options on board. She is lustful, but her fear is strong." It paused as it read through Bonnie's mind. "She says the ship will spiral downward to the planet if we don't restore power to the computer CORE and that the one with the offspring can help with that." It pointed at Allison.

The one inside Alison spoke again. “According to this one’s mind, they have rerouted the controls to shut us out, to regain control we would need to be in engineering.”

Engineering

"Damn, the system is taking too long to charge" Rhenora swore as she initiated the sonic pulse, and then nothing happened when she pressed the execute command button. "Another two minutes, and I'm reading a large energy pulse incoming from the surface"

There was suddenly a loud commotion just around the corner of Main Engineering in the hall, some laughter and a high-pitched flirtatious-sounding woman. An Ensign, half-dressed, with no pants, shirt opened exposing his chest, and lipstick marks on his face and collar stumbled into view. He took one look at Captain Kaylen and with a swagger said, "Wha'sh happenin' hot shtuff?"

Tom looked at the Ensign, his state of undress and his way of addressing the captain. "Ensign! Explain yourself." He demanded sharply.

The Ensign, hiccuped, then staggered over and leaned upon Tom's shoulder, "Why so serioush? Haven' gotten laid lately, eh? Shame" As the ensign spoke, his hand brushed against Tom's chest, the entity within him splitting and transferring into Tom. And just like that he was infected too. The Ensign, as he was, was beginning to look pale, almost malnourished as his lifeforce was being eaten from within.

Tom still had a few moments of clarity left. "Now Rhenora ! DO it now! Don't hesitate!"

"Tom!" Rhenora could do nothing but wait until the system charged, she rose her phaser and stunned him, dropping him by it would only last a moment. The previous ensign fell to the desk in a dedicated death form. His energy used to feed the creatures inhabiting the crew.

The system finished charging, a warning tone sounding before the sonic pulse was delivered.

"Warning, sonic pulse release in 5 seconds" the computer intoned.

TBC