What's The Problem?
Posted on Fri Sep 6th, 2024 @ 3:09pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Commander Lorut Vila & Lieutenant Commander Frasier Greene & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Lieutenant Kevin Bianchi Ph.D.
Edited on on Fri Sep 6th, 2024 @ 8:58pm
3,666 words; about a 18 minute read
Mission:
Silver Rain
Location: USS Intrepid: Ready Room
Timeline: MD2: 1545 hours
(Part 2 of "To the Planet...)
Vila smiled at Frasier as she pulled away. "I better go," she said. "If that man makes even ONE more untoward move, let me know. I'll have Albion on the phone so fast, the Crown Prince or whatever he is will feel more like the Pied Piper," she said. She knew she didn't make much sense. Human phrases never translated well, but Frasier didn't speak Bajoran. She smoothed out her tunic, and ran a hand through her hair. "You should return to Sickbay before someone sees you in here," she said.
"Considering I've already pulled you aside privately I suspect I've tipped my hand in regards to us in the open," Frasier wanted to sigh again as she stepped away, realising he'd complicated matters more and felt useless. "Whatever happens don't let anyone walk over you." There was more he wanted to say but couldn't find the right words. "I'll see you later."
Vila nodded. She'd realized that stepping out with the CMO was...kind of obvious. Oh well. It would've only been a short matter of time-seeing the XO starting to "date" would be an obvious change of behavior. She smiled.
"See you," she said. "Have Gocx on standby. I don't know why, but I can't shake the feeling that something is going to go South. Not here, per se, but perhaps when we land. I've had to spend years honing my intuition to stay alive...it's not failed me yet," she explained. She didn't know yet about the fate of the Lovelace.
"We'll be ready," he assured her with a gentle smile then left the room to prepare for battle with Nyx.
She tapped her Combadge. =/\=Lyo. I have sent Doctor Greene back to the infirmary. Doctor Gocx is available for bridge duty, if needed. Send Nyx into the ready room. If she's not here in three minutes, I will PERSONALLY escort her to a shuttle with orders to Cardassia Prime. =/\=
Her tone was strong and even. She took a moment to breathe deeply, and replicate a strong cup of tea. She was normally a solid coffee drinker-all day, every day, but she needed a small taste of home, so even though Vila hated Jumja normally, she needed it today. She settled in behind the desk, and thought for a moment about what she'd say.
Crossing through the bridge from the ready room towards the turbo car, Frasier bit his lip feeling a mixture of emotions and wayward thoughts as he paced. He glanced to Lyo expecting the Acting Exec to reel him back. Frankly, he could go to hell, at least until the Doctor was less frustrated by the scene that had unfolded.
Rylen heard the call from Acting Captain Lorut, the tone indicated she’d calmed slightly. As Doctor Greene skulked into a turbolift, Rylen could feel the guilt the doctor felt and it confirmed that he was having some kind of sexual relationship with Commander Lorut. To be honest, it wasn’t his business.
He was surprised to see Rena to the rescue, perhaps just a filler as Bianchi finished a session. Either way, he was both pleased and relieved to see her.”
Tapping the channel to the ready room, Rylen pushed down his own anger and embarrassment. “You’ll have two coming in hot, Captain Lorut. I guess you’ll just have to wait for your next shore leave to enjoy the Cardassian heat.”
It was a bit of a petty dig, but Rylen was currently the only one on the bridge acting as an adult. Quite frankly, it was exhausting. He had hoped it would be three quiet days and then Max would be back in the chair. Then again, hope was not running beside him recently.
Rena stepped onto the bridge, having gotten the call to have a Counselor to the bridge. She could tell immediately that something serious was happening. She put her mind to receive and calmed the room. "Where's Lorut?" she asked Lyo. Without thinking, she added a mental, teasing "Ry Ry?" to her thoughts. Oops. Instantly, she turned serious. "What HAPPENED, sir?" she asked.
“There is a personal power struggle going on between Captain Lorut and Lieutenant Nyx. You will find the lieutenant waiting for you in the Observation Lounge and Lorut in the ready room,” Rylen replied coolly as she caught his eye and he somehow heard her mention “Ry Ry”. Max would pay for this outrage.
Rena knew Max was elsewhere. "You should try to connect to the Lovelace...I am getting some kind of interference, but it's too far away for me to piece out just yet. Just a thought," she said. "Ready room, right? I'll see you later, sir," she said. The Counselor steeled herself for whatever was going on. She needed to finish her schooling and return to work - CLEARLY.
“Ready room, take Lieutenant Nyx with you. Sort this personal issue out before I toss both out an airlock,” Rylen responded. He could feel his anger at the indignity of Rena using his nickname. That was personal.
“As for the Lovelace we are too far for normal subspace contact still. Besides, we can’t run to him for such menial problems. If we can’t sort this personnel problem ourselves, we are useless as a command team,” he finished.
"I meant interference with his mind, sir," she said. What was HIS problem?! She'd been nothing but respectful so far. Maybe HE needed a session, too. "Why don't you come see me after your shift, sir? With the current...goings on, you'll need an ear," she said, with a smile.
“Perhaps bending your ear might do some good,” Rylen answered, swallowing his obvious annoyance that she knew of his private nickname. He didn’t know the circumstances of how she knew it, and he was sure she hadn’t forced it out of Max. It was probably Max’s fault, what with all his stray thoughts and the effects of carrying Rylen through the aftermath. “I’m sure the Captain is fine,” he added
"He's...not emitting anything, sir. It's urgent," she said, trying to make him understand. It wasn't advice for her or the Commander. It was because she was worried.
Rylen looked down, trying to hold back the bit of anxiety that bubbled up inside him. “You know that my empathy is no better than yours, Counselor, but if you feel that Captain Culver is in danger, then I will, as you say, try to sense him. Though I am worried that we are still too far away and I will meet the same success as you.”
Rena nodded. "I understand. Let me know," she said. "I...thank you. I know you will do what you can," she said, calming herself. She was probably just on edge because she couldn't read the away team and, thus, couldn't protect them.
"But if we're too far away...I hope it's just that..." she sighed. "I'll get Nyx. Don't worry, I am sure I can help. At least Lorut and I have an understanding. I won't hesitate to remind her," Rena said. The understanding being that Lorut wouldn't be defrocked and sent home if she could manage to just STOP IT for awhile. She sighed, and turned away again. She headed for the Observation Lounge.
Rylen rapped his knuckles against the armrest of the CO’s chair and accidentally activated the holographic controls. Rena was worried, which made Rylen worried. Rylen could hear close thoughts, like Rena’s amused use of Ry Ry, and he was an empath, so he could sense emotion. He wasn’t sure why Rena thought he would be able to reach that far telepathically.
Still, he was going to try. Shutting out the noises around him, he could only make out the bluish patterns of the bright lights and the darkness behind his eyelids. ’Max?!’.
He repeated this five times without response. It was as he expected. What he didn’t expect was his next response. “Hail the Lovelace, they should be within coms range by now.”
Wara touched her console, Rylen counted five times. She wasn’t getting a response. When she looked up, she looked directly at the acting Executive Officer. “No response on all subspace channels, Commander.” Her eyes shared the feeling of concern the Bolian woman felt.
Rylen bit his lower lip slightly. “Estimated time to P-25-J?” Rylen asked Lieutenant Armidale sitting at his operations station.
“With the subspace buoys being dropped, another twenty hours,” Callan responded.
Rylen could sense Cal’s anxiety building up as well. Rylen thought him a competent officer, but he’d never picked up that the young man was quite so intuitive. He was about to ask, but he was cut off by Callan’s new report.
“If we stop dropping the subspace buoys, we can be to P-25-J in six hours, at maximum warp, of course,” Callan offered a bit of a wry, knowing smile.
“Increase warp to 9.99, helm. Mister Armidale, I suggest you inform engineering that we’re going to be skipping out on our current duties,” Rylen ordered confidently.
In the ready room, Vila straightened out her tunic and then sighed. =/\=Hilarious, Lyo. Two minutes.=/\= The woman was serious; she had a JOB to do and this nonsense wasn't helpful. Still, it DID need to be addressed and it was best to nip it in the bud right away, as opposed to letting tensions build. She heard the knock. It had to be that damned meddling Rena; Rena was the only person on this ship besides Fraiser who'd listened when she said not to use the chimes because they hurt her ears-a result of whatever experimentation that Vila had been subjected to as a child at the hospital "camps." It had left her with a series of after-effects-the weird reaction to specific tones was just one of the more minor but nonetheless irritating ones. And of course, the Bajoran had refused treatment for it for the past twenty years. Maybe it was time. "Enter," she said. Sure enough, the chocolate-milk-toned face of Dr. Campbell peeked in.
"Come in," she said. "I assume Dr Bianchi is busy. Sorry you had to leave your work. Apparently, the Chief Engineer is convinced I am Satan today," she said. That wasn't entirely true, but she didn't really want to rehash what had happened. "Jumja tea?" Lorut inquired.
Rena shook her head. "I think a bit more than that happened, ma'am, with due respect. I can help, I am sure. And no thank you, I just finished some Rakatjino," she explained. "I understand we're waiting for Lieutenant Nyx?" At the XO's nod, Rena settled back. Interesting. A lot was happening currently. She tapped her Comms.
=/\=Lieutenant Dovenice Nyx, this is Lt. Rena Campbell. Could you please report to the Ready Room?=/\= Rena always tried to stay respectful and out of the drama. She was the Counselor, it wasn't good for her to become personally invested in ANYTHING outside of work. She suspected that a lot of big personalities got tangled up and came to a head, but she wasn't totally sure JUST yet.
≜The ship has picked up speed to over warp nine... I really need to get down to engineering,≜ the CEO answered. She hung her spanner and tricorder on her belt in one seamless move while she stood up from the lounge table. ≜But I'm on my way.≜ She nearly walked into the door. It didn't automatically open for her on her approach.
She tried again... A heavy sigh escaped followed by a muttered curse, then a comm to the bridge. ≜Who locked the observation room door?≜ She looked at the control panel which indicated no locks in place, nor any indication of issues.
Lieutenant Kevin Bianchi stepped off the turbolift onto the bridge, his usually calm and collected demeanor slightly ruffled and his shoes making an odd squelching sound. His uniform was slightly askew, the hem of his trousers looked wet and there was a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead. He brushed a hand over his five o'clock shadow, a familiar gesture when he was deep in thought or feeling out of sorts.
As he approached the command chair, he noticed Commander Lyo and his eyes narrowed in a mixture of curiosity and concern, wondering where Commander Lorut was and what the reason was for summoning him to the bridge.
"Commander," Kevin began, his voice carrying a mix of embarrassment and amusement, "I apologize for not reporting earlier. I was, uh... delayed." He paused, trying to find the best way to explain his situation. "There was a minor... malfunction in my quarters."
Rylen looked over the disheveled counselor. “Counselor, I’ve asked you here to serve as a mediator between Commander Lorut and Lieutenant Nyx. I expect you’ll deal better with that than your uniform issues.”
Rylen almost wanted to let the issues with Bianchi’s uniform go, but he had to say something. How did Max run this carnival when two of the three ring circus were a mess?
Kevin sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he explained quietly. "The replicator. I requested a simple cup of tea, but instead, it started producing a seemingly endless supply of hot soup — *Plomeek* soup. I tried to shut it off, but the controls got stuck, and I ended up wading through a small flood of Vulcan cuisine." He shook his head, realising how ridiculous this all was sounding as his ears turned bright red. "When I got the call to report to the bridge, I accidentally dropped my commbadge in the... soup. It took a moment to find it... and change my clothes."
“Mister Armidale, create a work order for Counselor Bianchi’s quarters and see to it that an engineer looks at his replicator as well, please,” Rylen ordered. “Your next problems, Captain Lorut and Lieutenant Nyx, are in the ready room. I hope they are easier than your personal replicator?” he suggested quietly.
"I'll see to her right away," Kevin replied with a nod, finally straightening his uniform and regaining some of his usual composure. The faint scent of Plomeek soup lingered behind him as he headed for the ready room.
Rena found Lieutenant Nyx still in the Observation Lounge. "Ma'am, Commander Lyo has asked me to escort you to the ready room. Do you want to talk about anything?" she asked, gently. "If not, that's ok, I'll just walk silently," she said. No pressure.
After Nyx and Rena appeared, Vila let them get settled.
"I am sorry things went so badly out there. Can we talk about it?" Vila asked Nyx, her former tone on anger tamped down.
As Vila was turning to Rena to explain what had happened, she was caught by a slimy tentacle. 'What the FUCK?!'
She turned her head back to the Chief Engineer. Before her eyes, Nyx had transformed. She was no longer the small, sweet, short Trill. She was now...a MONSTER.
A hideous Leviathan covered her office in some sort of green and golden...flowing goop. Eww. The Bajoran let out a SCREAM, followed quickly by, "Rena...run!"
With assuredness, Vila launched into her Bajoran Militia training, and with a smooth movement, her phaser was unholstered and aimed at the Changling-type hydra.
Bajor's mythology had a monster like this- the multiheaded sea serpent that is struck down by the Prophets and given as food to the people of the wilderness. In her local village's lore, the Leviathan was described a serpent and a symbol of Bajor’s enemies, who will be slain by the Prophets.
In others' villages, it is a sea monster and a symbol of the Prophet's power of creation. She remembered that the heads could be severed but needed to be kept away from the creature for it to die. She fired a steady stream of fire into the head closest to her. One fell. She didn't know what was happening, but a second one fell. She glanced into her periphery - Rena hadn't run, and instead, was holding steady fire, too.
"Take the heads. Out to the hallway. Get security. NOW, Lieutenant!!"
Lieutenant Wara Tete had barely heard the word security as she moved to the aft Observation Lounge. To her astonishment, the Kalek, a great beast from Bolian mythology was not only in the captain's ready room with their Captain, but its bulk was now sliming its way out of the ready room.
To her the Kalek was death defined. A bad omen. Nigh impossible to kill without the fresh herb of Bolar IX's moon, Imonegene. They would not kill this creature today, not with conventional weapons such as phasers.
Vila continued with her task, firing away to save her life, but also to keep the ship safe from this thing. The areas where the monster had struck her body were forming into raised welts and blisters, but Vila moved forward. She carried one of the still-gnashing heads into the hallway, but she found more carnage. The other two heads weren't moving, but instead, blood and guts and green-tinged goo were splattered about. She made quick work of the head she was carrying. When it was over, the deafening silence was a welcome sound. She waited a moment before speaking.
Rylen had entered, phaser drawn. He could see the beasties' heads littering the entire ready room and lounge. It also looked like the ick inside a tissue after blowing out your flue phlegm, except that it was everywhere. Floor to ceiling.
If nothing else, the destruction would give Max an excuse to redesign the lounge to accommodate more officers. "Things like this draw plenty of fun from giving those around it a final jump scare," Rylen addressed the gathered officers.
Taking off his combadge, Rylen dropped it right into a deep patch of goo. "Commander Lyo to transporter room one, go ahead and lock onto my combadge and transport it just aft of the observation room, please?"
"I'm sorry, just to confirm, you want to be transported into space?"
Rylen sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No, ONLY the combadge, if you'll indulge me?" Rylen was trying his best not to sound overly dramatic about this whole song and dance.
The combadge (and subsequently the creature) was shifted from the observation lounge to the icy depths of space. Nothing but darkness, the void, eternity and sadly, Rylen was right as the being thrashed around, trying to become...something, before accepting its fate as an icy blob in an eternity of darkness. Rylen's eyes closed just slightly with suspicion. 'A Changling?' he wondered to himself.
"Lieutenant Campbell. You did well today. Did Counselor Bianchi go to fetch medical and security? Might as well get Ops here, too," she said. She tapped her combadge.
Rylen signaled for Kevin to take a step back for just a moment. "Everything is in hand, Captain," Rylen explained cautiously. "It seems certain now that Lieutenant Nyx was an infiltrator from the Dominion/Borg Alliance. She must have been missing the transporters checks, or else she was running them. We will have to report this to Starfleet."
Vila sighed. What the hell? Now that it was over, she could feel the "come down" from the adrenaline, and she felt...tired.
"Right now, though, Captain Lorut, Counselor Rena, Counselor Bianchi," he paused to give Kevin a slight smirk and wink, "you should all have yourselves cleaned up and run through medical to make sure you're all okay."
Vila smiled. "Thank you, XO. Excellent work. And my apologies. We'll chat later. You have the Bridge until I am cleared by Medical...obviously." She said.
As the corridor that opened to the bridge exposed the grim fight behind the closed doors, it couldn't be helped that the bridge crew would be curious about the goings on. "Lieutenant Nyx has successfully transferred off ship," Rylen said, as if this nonexplanation was any explanation at all. "Everyone's eyes back on their duty stations. We've fulfilled our strange duties for today."
Rylen grabbed Vila's arm before she could get in the lift. "First, I guess I'm going to have to trust your instincts more, Captain?
"Second, the Intrepid is now at maximum warp. We're twenty-four hours out from P-25-J, they should be able to hear our subspace transmissions at this range. We're approximately five and a half hours from orbit, sir, if we continue at maximum warp.
"The way you felt about Lieutenant Nyx...I have a bad feeling about the Lovelace and our crew. Counselor Campbell and I both tried to use our empathy to reach out, but we're too far away. I don't know about her, but I'm a line-of-sight empath.'
Vila nodded. "I understand. And yes. My instincts are sometimes...usually...right. Perhaps launch a probe, we'll see what we can find. Otherwise, steady as she goes. We'll send out a search party once this mess is...cleaned up." It was all they could do. Spare a few hands...with orders to return after just a few hours if no news came back. She trusted that Culver would contact them in case of emergency. Or at least the other ships in the area, who would, in turn, contact the Intrepid. So the fact that that hadn't happened still gave her hope. It was all she had.
Kevin, seeming slightly shell-shocked, glanced between between Rylen and Rena and held up his hands in innocence. "Don't look at me... I'm just a counselor, not a telepath. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to recommend to Culver that he put in a request for more counseling staff. I clearly underestimated the situation here."
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