USS Spectre Compile - March 1st-31st 2012 by Alan Reading ========================================================================= Mission: Slipstream Day: 1 Stardate: 2414.03.10 (USS Spectre - Deck 10 - Ten Forward Lounge - ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan - 18:00) (USS Spectre - Deck 10 - Ten Forward Lounge - Lt. Rodriguez - 18:15) (USS Spectre - Deck 9 - Holodeck 5, ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan - 18:30) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 11, Sector 9, Lower levels - MXO, Major Bruce Kowalski - 19:31) (Station Echo One Zero - Jefferies Tube - COUNS, Ens. Oggie Marsh - 19:39) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg) Zia Kirrin - 19:43) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - SciO John Linskens - 19:44) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - Security Officer, Nathanial Yates - 19:45) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ensign (jg), Zia Kirrin - 19:46) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - COUNS, Oggie Marsh - 19:47) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates - 19:48) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg), Zia Kirrin - 19:49) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – COUNS, Ens, Oggie Marsh - 19:50) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - SciO, Ensign Jonathan Linskens - 19:50) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section, ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan - 19:50) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 11, Sector 9, Lower levels - Marines, Lawrence Bignell and Tom Dillinger - 19:51) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates - 19:52) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - SciO, Ensign, John Linskens - 19:55) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg), Zia Kirrin - 19:56) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – SciO, Ens, John Linksens - 19:58) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates - 19:59) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg), Zia Kirrin - 20:00) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – TAC/ASC, Ensign Alexandria Smithson – 20:00) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section - Lt. Rodriguez - 20:00) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 12, Sector 6, Lower levels - MXO, Major Bruce Kowalski - 20:01) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates – 20:02) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – SciO, Ens, John Linskens - 20:03) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 11, Sector 6, Lower levels - Marine Tom Dillinger - 20:04) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg) Zia Kirrin - 20:05) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section - ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan – 20:05) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – COUNS, Ens Oggie Marsh - 20:06) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section, Lt. Rodriguez – 20:07) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – SciO, Ens(jg), Catriona Macbeth - 20:08) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section, ACEO Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan – 20:09) ========================================================================= Mission: Slipstream Day: 1 Stardate: 2414.03.10 (USS Spectre - Deck 10 - Ten Forward Lounge - ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan - 18:00) Varios sat as far away from everyone else in the lounge as he could and always made a point of avoiding the busiest times. He was trying a new dish, a thai-style steamed fish with jasmine rice. He wanted something light on the stomach since he was still a bit jittery and settling in. It had sounded nice but like most cuisines outside his own people's, he couldn't smell it and it tasted rather bland. There was one aspect of the meal that he could enjoy and that was the different textures, from the tiny soft rice to the crispier leaves. Two officers sat down near him to have their evening meal, Varios huffed quietly to himself and tried to ignore their presence but after a few minutes he could stand no more and began to eat his meal faster so he could leave. He scratched his ear absently between chewing and shoveling more food in. His exceptional hearing was proving good at picking up more than he liked and listening to the finer details of a delicate medical problem wasn't something that spurred his appetite. He quickly gulped down the last of his water and rushed to recycle his empty plates and tray. (Reply None) (Posted by Natalya) (USS Spectre - Deck 10 - Ten Forward Lounge - Lt. Rodriguez - 18:15) Guillermo sat at the bar at ten forward deep in thought. He was relatively new to the Spectre, only had been on her a few months, but that was fine. It was a nice change of pace. He had spent most of his career on Starbase Geneva, and he was ready for a change of pace. That's what happens I guess when the woman you were engaged to comes back from Risa pregnant and with a new lover. You kinda need to get away from the environment that reminds you of the past. So here was on the Spectre after his transfer was removed. He liked it here, it was a fine ship, just like his older cousin Lalo had said. But here he was sitting at the bar, finishing his drink, his mind drifting off to one of his happier memories. It went back to his last year on the academy baseball team. The Collegiate World Championships. It was the bottom of the Ninth inning, two outs, the academy team was up by one. The tying run was on third, the winning run on first, and the opposing teams best hitter was at the plate. Of all Guillermo's memories, this was the one he got lost in the most. This was one of his happiest, and for the last two months, this was the one who got him through the sad times the most. It was always so vivid. He remembered it like it just happened. Going up to the mound to meet with the pitcher, a now Lieutenant Ryan Darrows, an engineering officer on the USS Cavalier. They were both in their last year. Guillermo was the starting catcher, Ryan the closing pitcher. They had played together for four years, they had an almost psychic bond, their trust was phenomenal. Ryan wanted to walk him, they had the base to give, it would have but a lesser hitter up to bat. Guillermo knew they could get him to strike out. They had got him out twice prior, the poor hitter couldn't hit Ryan's screwball to save his life. Convinced Ryan nodded and let Guillermo go back to the plate. First pitch, curve ball, the hitter watched go through, strike one. Next pitch,screwball, strike two. Next pitch Screwball, ball. The hitter didn't chase the pitch. Guillermo then noticed that the runner on first was taking a nice lead. The kid was fast. Led his team in stolen bases, and in this situation most catchers wouldn't try and throw the runner out. An error could allow the guy at third to score. But Guillermo wasn't most catchers. He gave the signal to Ryan, Fastball outside, then duck. Sure enough as the pitch was thrown the runner on first took off, Guillermo got the pitch readied himself, and threw the most accurate throw he had ever had. Shortstop got there just in time. As the dust cleared, the umpire threw back his fist yelling out. They won, they had just won the championship. His gamble paid off. Looking back at his drink, he smiled. But he knew he couldn't keep living in the past. As he then glanced around ten forward, he noticed an ensign in the corner of the room eating as quickly as humanly possible. This struck Guillermo as kind of odd. The man, it seemed, just didn't want to be in that crowd. Guillermo had worked as a security officer long enough to recognize suspicious behavior. He was sure it was nothing, but with the issues on the station, and the whole mess with the Mithrandir, well it was worth following up on. (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Will Banowsky) (USS Spectre - Deck 9 - Holodeck 5, ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan - 18:30) Varios had booked some time in holodeck 5, it was a way for him to work out some of his nervous tension before taking over the night shift. He loaded the one program he had thought to bring with him and removed his glasses. He put them safe in a case, which he then tucked into his pocket. He was standing in a wooded area, it was twilight with the weather pattern set to randomize each visit. He ran the program and set off through the woods at an easy jog, it was cool and overcast tonight making the setting especially dim. Varios could see in these conditions better than he could on duty. He wasn't well suited to the bright lights of the ship, which often made his eyes tired and achy. After long periods of concentration at one of the console screens he often developed a headache, fortunately he kept a migrastik with him in his pockets at all times. It was a roller stick which contained essential oils which quickly and effectively helped ease the headaches. These pre-shift runs that he booked were a good way for him to energize himself and quietly consider the tasks ahead. (Reply None, Any) (Posted by Natalya) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 11, Sector 9, Lower levels - MXO, Major Bruce Kowalski - 19:31) "What was that?", exclaimed the MXO, his eyes wide opened now, animalistic, a bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck as he spoke. "Sir?", said Dillinger from immediately ahead, his attention turning momentarilly rearward toward his superior. "Boots? Heavy boots?.... weapons fire?", said Kowalski, his III-C raised and scanning the room in which they had just arrived. Bignell screwed up his face and glanced to Dillinger, shaking his head slowly as though to confirm that he too was reading nothing on his TACorder. "There's nothing sir, the beam is clear", said Dillinger. Kowalski shook his head, looking decidedly, and somewhat uncharacteristically worried now. "I don't like it", he said, his nerve fraying as he spoke. "It's a freakin warzone, can't you see it!!!!", he suddenly cried, "can't you see the blood on the walls? - Entrails, bit's of bone and flesh!", he added, his voice raising considerably. Dillinger felt his trigger finger tighten slightly on his weapon, this was not good. Their XO seemed to be having delusions! "Sir... there's no blood", he exclaimed looking quickly about the rusted, and apparently more and more derelict surroundings. Kowalski closed his eyes, screwing them tightly shut as he reached up toward his temples with one hand, then he slammed his fist hard into the side of his skull before abruptly advancing on Dillinger to pin him roughly against the wall, his breath coming in short, sharp inhalations and exhalations now. Then speaking through gritted teeth, he explained to his comrade how it was... or at least how it was to him! "In-friggin-subbordination soldier... not a very nice word... IS IT!!!", he began, his attention suddenly drawing then to an imagined sound off to his right. "There's blood, oh yes, there's blood, n freakin guts, and bones splintered, vapourized.... screams frozen in the air, tangible fear.... calling... CALLING ME!!!", he cried. "Can you hear them Dillinger? Can you hear them!!!" Dillinger's frown quickly grew, the muscles in his forehead drawing his brow ever downward as he reached up to the MXO's hands where they gripped at his tunic and held him in place against the wall. He wanted to retaliate, to lash out, to defend himself, but the chain of command had to be respected. Dillinger closed his eyes and stilled his mind as he too gritted his teeth, whilst Bignell looked on with an increasingly worried look upon his face. "Sir", he interrupted, "I see the blood" Kowalski turned his face towards the other marine, suddenly relaxing his grip on Dillinger somewhat as he did so. "Is it calling to you Bignell?", said the MXO, "can you hear the cries?" Bignell nodded. "Yes sir, I can hear it", he lied in an attempt not to provoke the XO any further in his obviously deteriorating mental state. Kowalski let go of Dillinger's tunic, the soldier then slumping downwards slightly just before his legs took the weight of his body once again. Kowalski then advanced upon Bignell, his face coming to a halt scant inches of the other mans. "What is it saying soldier?", enquired Kowalski, apparently slightly calmer now, "what do 'they' tell you?" Bignell looked about the room, his mind desperately looking now for something, anything to appease his superior and allay his delusional fears. "Just... just that, they want help sir", said Bignell. Kowalski gritted his teeth again, the sudden realization that the man might not be being entirely truthful now forming within his splintering mind. "Are you lying to me soldier?", he asked, Bignell shook his head and then glanced briefly to Dillinger who was now moving closer to the XO from behind. He wasn't entirely sure what his intentions were but... The MXO had not even taken his attention from Bignells face when he responded, purely instinctively, his right leg extending sharply and contacting Dillingers chest to send him sprawling towards the nearby bulkhead. Now it was Bignell's turn to be held up against the wall by the scruff, whilst Dillinger slowly rose to his feet, dazed, confused at what had just happened. The MXO, the man they had trusted, the man they had placed their trust in, the man that ALWAYS brought them home.... had just broken! NRPG: More to come... RPG: (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Jefferies Tube - COUNS, Ens. Oggie Marsh - 19:39) With an all-mighty tug, Oggie finally pushed his left arm out of the access hatch. He turned his body, grunted in seven languages until it too was now sticking out. Another grunt and Oggie's left foot was firmly placed outside the hatch. His butt followed after a short pull, then a turn back and Oggie wiggled the remainder of his body free of the tube that had enveloped him like a corset which was three sizes to small. "I ....." panted Oggie. "....have ............ made ....................oh dear ............................ it." He took several deep breaths and tried his calming technique on himself, hoping that that might help to calm down his heart, that was beating so hard that Oggie feared that it would crush his ribs from the inside. "I am ....." he started but fell silent when the marine left the tube. He shot the man a dirty look. IT wasn't that the marine had actually done anything to him but Oggie had enough trouble squeezing through a tube so that him making himself 'thin' enough so the marine could pass him was a complication that he could have done without. Oggie shook his head as he leant forwards and panted. Slowly the crimson colour withdrew from his face and he found himself capable of breathing a little bit easier. He looked up and found Zia looking at him with a strange expression on her face. Or perhaps the expression wasn't that strange and it was looking strange solely because of the spots that were swirling before his eyes. "I ...." Oggie started again, " think we made it, ............ right?" (Reply Zia, any) Oggie stretched his back with a pained expression but smiles encouragingly, or so he hoped. "So where ...... is everybody?" he asked as he looked around himself. He saw a few of the group standing to his left and a smaller group were standing near an open door. Oggie approached them and saw that one braver fellow had actually entered the room behind the door and was engaged by twirls of mist. Oggie frowned and was about to ask if others were seeing what he was seeing when he heard 'his' fellow in the room say: ""I...can't... understand... you.... you, you... thing." The rotund counsellor shook his head and stepped closer to the security officer, all the while examining the cloud. As he neared it, the cloud started looking more and more like an actual thing and when he was one step away from it, Oggie could recognise several strands of vapour/mist/cloud as actual limbs, turning the ghostly appellation into a humanoid shape of one sort or another. In fact, as Oggie peered at it, he felt that he recognised the colours of the shape as Star Fleet uniform colours. Oggie examined the 'head' bit couldn't make out any particular details when he suddenly shivered and felt a feeling of antipathy erupt inside him. Taken back by this, as Oggie was priding himself on being friendly and helpful to all that he knew, he took a step back when the security officer asked him: "So, do I shoot or not?" "Yes!" Oggie wanted to shout but somehow couldn't make himself say so. Instead he sighed and wiped away some of the sweat as it pearled under the tip of his nose. "You can," Oggie said finally, "if you feel that *that* is endangering you or us. But since there doesn't seem to be any actual signs of danger, it might be advisable to keep the finger off the button. Court-martial dignitaries tend to have a dim view on unwarranted use of weaponry." Oggie shrugged. "However, personally I can't escape the feeling that my life would be a lot easier in future if you blasted it. Don't ask me why, this geezer is just giving me the creeps." Oggie looked back. "My dear, have you ever encountered a similar vision? Or have you heard anything about it?" he asked Zia. (Reply Nathanial, Zia) Oggie narrowed his eyes as he saw the 'thing bend down' as if to inspect the floor. "What's he doing now," he asked dumbfounded and was about to turn to the others when his eyes suddenly caught a 'movement'. He turned back and as a brown smudge suddenly appeared on the floor. Oggie's eyes bulged out and he grasped the arm of Nathanial in exasperation. "This can't be," he hissed. "No, not him. Please! Anyone but *him*!" Oggie tugged the man's arm in frustration. It just wasn't fair. Why was it Oggie who always had to deal with the Counsellors' nemesis? The one that refused to be helped? The one that would entice every counsellor to shake their heads wearily? Why? Why, oh why? Two words were sticking themselves firmly in Oggie's head, repeating themselves over and over again. ~Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear~ and a sigh escaped his lips as he read the words on the floor. "Linskens here You OK?" (Reply by Zia, Nathanial, any) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg) Zia Kirrin - 19:43) "Thanks I hope it works, I hate feeling like this" Smithson said with a smile, adding: "You know Doc, I am regretting being assigned to this away team, I have had nothing but trouble with this Temporal and spatial anomalies.” “I will be sure to let the Commander know,” Zia replied, as she headed over Williams to report Smithson’s status. Having mentioned her concerns and requested information from Williams regarding the Sickbay on the station, Zia became aware of Oggie having emerged from the Jefferies tube, and at once went to see how he was doing. His face was an alarming beetroot colour and his breath was coming in heaving pants, but even as she looked at him with concern, the colour began to fade and his breathing began to slow down to normal. "I ...." Oggie gasped out as his breath returned, " think we made it, ............ right?" “That is right,” Zia assured him. “And all in one piece, is that not so?” Oggie stretched his back with a pained expression but smiled in what Zia took to be agreement. "So where ...... is everybody?" he asked, looking around. Zia followed his stare and saw that someone (one of the security officers) had opened the door and had entered the room beyond. As Oggie headed over to where the security officer appeared to be wrapped in some kind of mist, Zia followed. She was very curious to see what was happening. The mist seemed to resolve itself into a roughly humanoid shape as she approached, and the stories her brothers used to tell her of aehllh sprang to mind. She shivered and stepped a little closer to Oggie when she saw more of the misty shapes in the room but stood her ground. "So, do I shoot or not?" the security officer asked. ~A foolish question,~ Zia thought. ~If it is indeed an aehllh then weapons will not hurt it, and if it is not, then I doubt it is substantial enough to be damaged.~ She was about to say something to that effect when Oggie replied that since there didn’t seem to be any immediate signs of danger it might be better not to. He then added that personally whatever it was gave him the creeps. "My dear,” he added, turning back to Zia. ”Have you ever encountered a similar vision? Or have you heard anything about it?" Zia shrugged. ~Aehllh are the stuff of stories to frighten children~ she told herself firmly. Aloud she said, “Not since my brothers used to tell me stories to frighten me when I was small. I have not heard anyone mention strange mist-like beings, if that is what you are asking.” "What's he doing now?" Oggie, whose attention had apparently been distracted by the movements of the aehllh, asked in amazement. Then suddenly he grabbed at the arm of the security officer. "This can't be," he hissed. "No, not him. Please! Anyone but *him*!" Zia, more than a little unnerved by Oggie’s uncharacteristic reaction, looked at the words which gradually appeared on the floor. “Linskens here You OK?" she read aloud. “What is a linsken?” she asked the group as a whole. “Is it an aehllh, a… I am not sure of the word but I think it is goat?” Seeing the expressions of those who were looking at her, she added, “A goat, is that not the right word? A spirit of one who has died?” (Reply by Oggie, Nathanial, Alexandria, any) (Posted by Liz Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - SciO John Linskens - 19:44) John listened carefully at the slight murmurs emanating from the shape that he had identified as Nathanial. He shook his head and looked back at the other 'Rascals'. "The mouth is moving, or what I think is the mouth is moving, but no way I can understand what he is saying. I think we might have a problem here. There seems to be something shifted other than the shift in phase. I might have to............" John fell silent as a big amorphous shape came standing next to 'Nat'. John looked at the newcomer then noticed more shapes standing behind the two. Quite a few shapes actually. "I think we are in the middle of a shapy-thingy convention," John said out loud, grinning at 'Nat' as he turned to the blob. But then he grunted. "Am I making a mistake here?" he asked the others. "If that is indeed Nathaniel Yates, then it is logical to have him work together with his fellows, right? And since Nat is Star Fleet, I would say his fellows are Star Fleet too, right? So if a big blob enters the room after 'Nat' than the blob-thingy is most likely Star Fleet too, right? Now in the whole of Star Fleet there is only one blob and that one is far, far away, locked up in some cosy little counselling room where he happily blabbers with other counsellors about those cosy little counselling theories. Right? So if that blob is not here than who ..... or what ...... is that?" He pointed at the shape, but than narrowed his eyes. "Totally irrelevant," he muttered to himself. "Frightening, yes, but still irrelevant. Question is, how can we make ourselves heard when they are working on a different frequency?" John grunted. "Common grounds," he muttered, "we need to find common grounds. So what can they sense that we can sense? Sounds? Nope. Smells? Difficult. Vision? Hmm, would be nice. Hmmmmm, actually .......... They're on a station, right? We're on a station. In fact, we're on the same station. So why can they see what we can see station-wise but not in the same manner us?" John thought for a few seconds. "Mass? Hmmmmmmm. Naaaah. Inertia? Hmmmmmmmm. Naaaaah. On the other hand ....... Hmmmmmmmmm. Well, does it matter? They can see the station a lot better than they can see us. Sooooooooooooooooo." John walked back to his pile, rummaged through it and found a little stick. "Shoe cream applicator," he said as explanation. "Never leave home without one." John walked back to the two shapes and bent down to write on the floor in front of them: 'Linskens here. You OK?" "It will take a few minutes to bind itself to the floor but once it does, they should be able to see it. If it works. But it will work ..... possibly." (Reply by 'Rascals', 'Shapy thingies, any) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - Security Officer, Nathanial Yates - 19:45) Yates turned abruptly at the sudden grab, the fat Counsellor appearing in shock now at some realization or another, he then allowed himself a smile at Kirrin's following comment about a goat, but kept his finger loosely upon the trigger of his phasor as he returned his attention to the misty shape before him - Just in case. "No, not him. Please! Anyone but *him*!"... "Is it an aehllh, a… I am not sure of the word but I think it is goat?.... A goat, is that not the right word? A spirit of one who has died?" ~Does she mean.... ghost?~ thought Yates with a shake of his head as he tilted his head slightly to one side as though speaking to Zia without actually giving her his attention. "It's not a damned ghost! And it's not a damned goat either!", he snapped, "it's just... it's, Linskens... and he's alive... I think", he added whilst looking about the room for something that he himself could use to mark the floor, as the 'goat' just had. (Reply Any) Yates moved off, his phasor lowering now as he made note that the blurred shapes before them did not appear to be acting in anyway hostile. Then he grabbed at a charred piece of wood that had once been part of an ornate table. Returning to the group, he glanced at Oggie, who was now apparently hyperventilating. "Calm down Counsellor, I have a feeling that this will not turn out to be that bad after all" (Reply Oggie) Yates shrugged his shoulders and then began to write upon the floor with the charcoal end of the wood next to the earlier words that had recently formed. 'Starfleet - Ensign Nathanial Yates', he began. Then he checked his tricorder noting the chronometric reading therein. '19:47 - Your time is?' He then looked up into the blurred face that appeared to be scrutinizing what it was that he was doing. "Let's see how smart Linskens is shall we", said Yates. (Reply Oggie, Kirrin, Any) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ensign (jg), Zia Kirrin - 19:46) "It's not a damned ghost! And it's not a damned goat either!" snapped the security officer, "it's just... it's, Linskens... and he's alive... I think.” Zia considered this. “Ah, this Linskens is a person, is that right? Someone you all know?” She looked at Oggie for confirmation, then frowned slightly in puzzlement. “He is from the Spectre? But see, Oggie, if he is a person and if these people know him, then he cannot be a bad thing so you do not need to be afraid,” she added in a comforting tone. (Reply Oggie, any present) The security officer seemed to confirm this inadvertently as he lowered his phaser whilst he searched the room for something. Eventually he picked up a charred piece of wood, for no reason that Zia could fathom, and attempted to reassure Oggie. "Calm down Counsellor, I have a feeling that this will not turn out to be that bad after all" (Reply Oggie) The security officer shrugged and then began to write upon the floor with the charcoal end of the wood next to the earlier words that had recently formed. 'Starfleet - Ensign Nathanial Yates', he wrote. Then, after checking his tricorder, he added '19:47 - Your time is?' "Let's see how smart Linskens is shall we,” he said aloud. Zia considered this. “You think it possible his time is different from ours?” she asked. “But if it is, how could we see them at all? It is not reasonable to suppose that if they are ahead or behind us in time, we would see them because they would not be here. Unless…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember a conversation she had overheard at a diplomatic function several years ago. She had not been meant to overhear it and like a good Rihannsu she had done her best to pretend she had *not* overheard it, but some, at least, had stubbornly remained in her memory. “Some years ago my people tried to create an interphase generator, but there was some kind of explosion on the test ship and they abandoned the experiment. Could there have been something of the kind going on here?” She looked at Oggie. “Is that thing that you showed me something like that?” she asked directly. (Reply Oggie, Nathanial, any present, any) (Posted by Liz Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - COUNS, Oggie Marsh - 19:47) "It's just... it's, Linskens... and he's alive... I think". Oggie sighed and bit his lip, How little did that security man realise the danger they, well, Oggie was in. Well, not exactly dangerous danger, more like an annoying danger. Perhaps just annoying? Hmm, yes, as annoying as a nemesis can be. Yates moved off, grabbed a charred piece of wood and returned to the group. "Calm down Counsellor, I have a feeling that this will not turn out to be that bad after all." Oggie's eyes bulged and he shot a glance at Yates. ~Have had many counselling sessions with Linskens then, have you?~ Oggie snorted. ~Thought not.~ But he kept quiet and just grunted as the security officer wrote upon the floor with the lump. "Let's see how smart Linskens is shall we", said Yates. A short laugh erupted from Oggie's mouth. Linskens was a lot of things, annoying, too self-centred, unflappable, annoying, having an unshakeable belief in himself and his own world vision ...... Oggie's thoughts stopped for a second. Had he already mentioned that John was annoying? He sighed but picked up his train of thoughts. John was definitely all of those things and some of those things more than others but the one thing that John would never ever be, was in fact dumb. He was smart enough. Which might be actually the problem with John. He very well knew he was. Oggie grunted. "I'll make a wager with you, Mister Yates. I bet you that at this very moment John will probably cry out how dumb you are." He eyed the security officer. "You don't know him the way I do." (Reply Nathanial (IYW)) Oggie then turned to Zia. "Ghosts, My dear. But certain ghosts are scarier than others. The real existing ones are by far the scariest of them all. But I guess you are going to like them. He can be like that, you know? Very likeable. As long as you don't want him to conform or have a counselling session with him. But to answer your question about the 'inter-phasa-ma-jig', I have no idea whether our core was anything similar. I shouldn't think so depending on the description that the lead-scientist gave me, but then again, he might not have been too forthcoming with certain aspects of the experiment. It was all hush-hush, remember?" Oggie shot her a weak smile. "You wouldn't happen to have a level 7 painkiller on you, do you? I could use one, my 'back' is killing me." (Reply Zia) (Reply Nathanial, Zia, any) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates - 19:48) "I'll make a wager with you, Mister Yates. I bet you that at this very moment John will probably cry out how dumb you are.", said the Counsellor, a smug grin forming upon his face as he spoke. Yates paused, his expression hardening slightly at the apparent tone of the man. It seemed that he was actually enjoying the act of simply having the chance to prove someone wrong... in this case, Yates! Nathanial exhaled, shook his head and then returned to the task in hand, dismissing the argument entirely. "You don't know him the way I do.", insisted Marsh. Nathanial responded, without turning his attention from the writing on the floor. "Perhaps it's just as well that I don't then", said the security officer wryly, "yes, I'll admit that the man could probably be considered as... well, a little big headed maybe, but I've never had a problem with him in any other department", he added, wondering as he spoke, exactly why he was now coming to the mans defence. My god!, he wasn't even THAT keen on him himself! Marsh seemed to ignore the remark anyway, a certain pomposity in evidence as he changed the subject whilst he still felt he had the upper hand. He simply turned to his female colleague and explained the nuances of 'Ghosts' in recognition of her earlier remark, tagging the similarities to the erstwhile Linskens as he did so. Yates knelt back upon his haunches and waited for the response from their 'Ghost', whilst the rotund counsellor suddenly made a request for painkillers for his backache. Nathanial couldn't resist, he just had to respond.... "Perhaps if you lost some weight counsellor, you would not need painkillers for your backache", he quipped. (Reply Marsh, Linskens, Zia, Any IYW) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg), Zia Kirrin - 19:49) Oggie defined ‘ghosts’ in a way that intrigued Zia, and suggested that she would like these ‘ghosts’ that were, as she understood it now, not ghosts but people like them. He finished by answering her last question. "…But to answer your question about the 'inter-phasa-ma-jig', I have no idea whether our core was anything similar. I shouldn't think so depending on the description that the lead-scientist gave me, but then again, he might not have been too forthcoming with certain aspects of the experiment. It was all hush-hush, remember?" Zia nodded, and Oggie smiled weakly at her, then asked for a painkiller as his ‘back’ was hurting. Zia had no trouble interpreting ‘back’ as ‘backside’, and opened the medkit to look for the requested painkiller, one that would be suitable for a bruised gluteus maximus. "Perhaps if you lost some weight counsellor, you would not need painkillers for your backache", quipped Yates. Fortunately, since she liked Oggie and didn’t want to hurt his feelings, Zia’s face was hidden from the counsellor as she couldn’t prevent a smile. “This should decrease the bruising and numb the pain a little,” she said, producing the hypospray she had selected. “Bend over, please, Oggie, it should be applied directly to the bruised area.” (reply Oggie iyw) As she applied the hypospray as best she could, Zia reflected that there was a lot of truth in what Yates had said. ~When we are out of this situation, Oggie, we will have a talk about diet and exercise,~ she thought to herself. ~Yates is right, if there was not so much of you, you would not have got stuck so much and your backside would not be so bruised!~ (Reply Oggie iyw, any) (Posted by Liz Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – COUNS, Ens, Oggie Marsh - 19:50) "Perhaps if you lost some weight counsellor, you would not need painkillers for your backache", commented Yates. Oggie froze for a mere second then looked at the security officer as he slowly shook his head. "And loose the comfort-feeling for my 'clients' when I engage with them as their counsellor? No thanks. I'd rather face some temporary discomfort than create additional barriers between me and my flock, thank you very much." “This should decrease the bruising and numb the pain a little,” Zia suddenly said showing a hypospray. “Bend over, please, Oggie, it should be applied directly to the bruised area.” Oggie sighed. "If I must," he said then did as he was told. "Aaaaah!" (Reply by Nat, Zia, any (IYW) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - SciO, Ensign Jonathan Linskens - 19:50) John looked at the security officer as he walked around to pick something up. "Isn't he a smart lad?" he said to the others as he watched the man bend down as if to write on the floor. "Isn't he a smartie?" he asked with a grin but the grin dissipated when after a minute nothing showed up on 'his' floor. "Dumbo," John grunted. "Can't he figure out that the letters have to become part of the floor? Oh, Lord, there's one born every minute, right?" John sighed as he shook his head then eyed his colleagues one by one. "I wonder which one of you has figured that one out." He sighed again. "Doesn't matter. I guess. I thought that he might have put two and two together and used his phaser." John walked over to his pile and picked up the backpack and retrieved his tricorder. "Hmm, low power, but if I get close enough..." he muttered as he walked towards the security-ghost and waved the scanner in front of him. "Got cha!" he said with a grin then walked back and picked up his backpack. He demonstratively pressed a key on the tricorder. "Lock and load, baby," he said then pressed another set of buttons. "Now you know where I'm going," he said to the others with a nod. "I'll do a quick jump, say hi and see what happens. I'll be back in a few minutes or if you get lonely, you can follow me. But I suggest that you wait a minute or so just to see of my mortal remains drop down here somewhere. Hopefully all of it in the same spot." John grinned. "Ohkay? Here goe-oe-oe-oe........" John froze as soon as his finger touched the phase coil switch,immediately enveloped in a swirling mist. The movements of the 'cloud' restricted his own movements. John wanted to frown, but since he couldn't, he wanted to frown even more. In fact, John got annoyed but then caught himself and his mind sifted through all the data that he had collected, as little as it was. Strangely enough, the only thing that seemed to work was his own mind. John grinned without grinning as suddenly it started to make sense. Of course! Time-restricted motion! The body was moving through phase dilimination but remained rooted on the space-time coordinates. So there was movement , of a sort, in zero time. And you couldn't move if time didn't flow. But .......... John fell 'silent' as he found a problem. But if thinking is the movement of neurons in the brain, so physical movement, which couldn't happen in zero time, then how did he think? Or how did he think that he thought? Something didn't make sense there. Could neurons travel through phase? But what would instigate that ........... "Oe-oe-oes!" John suddenly felt extremely sick when he stumbled forward and felt himself caught. He gazed upwards whilst his eyes tried to re-engage again. As they did, he recognised the man, whose arms were around him. "Oh, uh, hi, Nat. Is your phaser working ok?" (Reply by Nathanial, 'Rascals', any) (posted by Adrie Geuken) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section, ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan - 19:50) After his run Varios had returned to his quarters to shower and change for his shift. As always he took his time and paid attention to the details, he always made the effort to dress immaculately for work. He's spent some time going over the scheduled work for the night on his PADD and prioritizing, planning and picking at the details as he always did. With his plan in place he went to the engineering section on the same deck to link in with the duty officer and get the handover. He always liked to be early so the handover could be conducted in a less rushed fashion, allowing the departing duty officer to finish up on time. Varios was probably the only person on the ship happy to see it running on minimal power. The reduced lighting suited him just fine and in these conditions he could do most of his work without his glasses. He still needed to wear when using the console screens which were brighter and since this was going to be the first order of business he put them back on. After discussing the handover from the duty officer and getting the progress report on the various projects and maintenance routines he sighed as he paced around the room, adjusting his plan to accommodate the updated information. It looked like it was going to be a tight shift as there was a bit of catching up to do from the second shift and he needed to review some data the USS Mithrandir was waiting on. His first impulse was to grab a small anti-grav sled laden with tools and disappear into the bowels of the ship for the rest of the night to tinker on systems. Temporal matters were not his area of expertise, in fact it gave him a headache bending his mind around the complex theories and Federation regulations and recommendations that one had to claw through in these instances. It made him glad he wasn't sitting in the big chair but didn't solve his immediate problem. He pushed his glasses up his nose even though they were in the right place. He was just fidgeting and procrastinating about the task at hand. He'd been over it in his mind, and the engineer who'd handed him the worked data had been pretty confident. All he really had to do was give it the final check over and if there were no glaring errors... hand it back. He forced himself to sit down and look at it, and ran a few simulations. It was a great relief and he was annoyed at himself, the task had been easier than expected and he'd wasted precious time fretting over it. It would set him back for the whole night and that was before any other unplanned tasks cropped up, and on days like this they always did. He opened a channel to the USS Mithrandir and sent back the data. After a brief discussion, the engineers on the other ship ended communications, they had a deflector array and a tachyon beam to be working on. Varios almost wished he was on the other ship, he didn't feel very useful over here running maths problems. (Reply none, Any IYW) (Posted by Natalya) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 11, Sector 9, Lower levels - Marines, Lawrence Bignell and Tom Dillinger - 19:51) =/\=Ok, ok... calm down, we can work this=/\= The Marine shook his head as he bit at his lower lip and looked to his compatriot laying in a pool of blood against the wall and holding his left shoulder where the seven inch blade had torn through it. "No, no you don't understand House. The MXO's gone freakin crazy, blown a freakin gasket... I - I, just don't know... I'm...", said Bignell, his own mind not entirely un-fragmented now. "Dillinger is down, we're stuck in this freakish sewer down here and the MXO's gone bye bye's with some demon running round in a dustbin... or something.", he added. "Houseman, I need advice here man. What do we do, we can't take down the friggin point man, it ain't right" =/\=Bignell, listen to me. I need you to find the MXO. Can you move Dillinger at all?=/\= Bignell took stock of his surroundings once again, the water was everywhere, where the hell was all this water coming from anyway! "I dunno, he's been creased by the MXO's blade, I've stopped the bleeding, that's about all I can do." It was then that Dillinger raised his hand into the air, his teeth gritting tightly in order to override the pain. "I can move, Bignell... help me up man, let's get this sorted", said Dillinger as he pressed himself hard up against the bulkhead and reached for his III-C beside him. Bignell looked on, worried, then he went to his friends aid, hauling him up by his good arm and then checking the pressure bandage that he'd placed against his shoulder wound beforehand. "Ok House. We are gonna head out. I'm not sure that Dillinger is in good enough shape to stay with me if I'm hunting the MXO but...", said Bignell. Dillinger shook his head. "I'm fine", he said, unconvincingly. "I'll be fine. Let's go find the MXO" Bignell nodded. "OK. Houseman, you need to keep an eye out up there. Kowalski has set the station auto-destruct" =/\=Jeezus... Man, are you freakin serious?"=/\= "He's paranoid House, he's lost the plot I swear. I ain't never seen the XO like this. Never" =/\=Bignell, can you override the destruct?=/\= "Negative on that. The sequence is keyed to the XO's voice command only. We gotta find him", said Bignell, "If we don't, I ain't saying what might happen here" A pause then followed, Dillinger was once again upright, his III-C cradled under his good arm as he checked the Tacorder for contacts. Nothing.... =/\=Do what you can, keep me apraised. We got enough stupidity going on up here ourselves with these fleeters talking to ghosts. It's not good, if we can't see it, we can't shoot it. It's not good at all and these people are talking to freakin ghosts!=/\= Bignell allowed himself a token laugh, one hand coming up to the side of his face to wipe away the water that had splashed onto it from a burst overhead conduit. Then he answered Housemans orders.... "Better than shootin dustbins House. The circus is in town. Checkpoint Alpha Nine in Ten Zulu. We gone" Bignell then reached for Dillinger, and together they moved onwards.... (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates - 19:52) ~Well that's not something you see every day~ thought Yates, as the ghostly form of Linskens suddenly began to take on a more corporeal form and materialize right there before him. Nathanial looked to Marsh, who seemed to visibly take a step backwards upon seeing John's face staring back at him, Zia just looked unsure of everything right now, and as for Yates himself, he was almost having to surpress the urge to laugh out loud! Linskens was then there, right there before him and apparently falling into an ungainly heap at the security officers feet. ~Hey, I know you love me Linskens, but please.... not in front of everyone~ Yates dismissed the entertaining thought that had just materialized in his head, and then he moved forwards instinctively, his big hands reaching out and preventing the counsellor from actually crashing onto the floor as he went down. The weight, imperceptable at first, then suddenly became more tangible as Linskens took full form and looked up into his eyes. "Gotcha", cried Yates with a wink. Linskens smiled, and then immediately hit out with a trademark wisecrack. "Oh, uh, hi, Nat. I had a thought! An actual thought! Isn't that amazing?!", he cried, as though surprised even by his own statement. Yates wasted nmo time at all and hauled the man to his feet, and then exhaled heavily as he stood to his full height once again, the medic of their group immediately moving forwards now in a conditioned response to the man's apparent difficulty. (Reply Kirrin, IYW) "Yeah, that really is amazing that you had a thought", said Yates, a tad bewildered now as to why the man would have come out with such a non-sensical and obvious statement, immediately after exiting 'ghostscape'... (Reply Linskens, Marsh, Kirrin, Any IYW) Yates turned to his colleagues, the Marines apparently off to the side now and engaged in what seemed like illicit conversation over their closed comms network. His eyebrow raised briefly in response, then he turned his attention back to Linskens holding his previous suspicion for now as his fingers reached upwards to scratch at his own head. "So, are you gonna explain to me what just happened here Mr Linskens?", he asked. (Reply Linskens) (Reply Linskens, Marsh, Kirrin, Any IYW) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 - SciO, Ensign, John Linskens - 19:55) "Yeah, that really is amazing that you had a thought", said Yates. "I would have thought so!" exclaimed John, suddenly fighting an overwelming urge to throw up. But the feeling passed within a few seconds just when Nathanial scratched his head and asked: "So, are you gonna explain to me what just happened here Mr Linskens?" John frowned. "Mister?" he erupted. "MISTER???? Nat! Of *all* the people!" Suddenly John felt very giddy again and he grabbed the security officer tightly, closing his eyes and biting his lip until the feeling subsided. He opened his eyes and looked reproving at Yates. "I am not a well man, Nat! Shame on you to try to take advantage of that. Shame on you, I say! Especially when time is not on my side. Well, I think time is not on my side....." he muttered to himself as he looked down for his tricorder but when he couldn't immediately spot it, he gave up the search and turned back to the security officer. "Listen, Nat I have a phase coil strapped to my back and just made a phase jump. We are here with a group of four from the Spectre trying to rescue you and your lot and work out what the heck is going on here and put a stop to it. Oh, we arrived by shuttle but the power went crazy when we approached the station and we kinda crashed. But we're all ok, thank you for asking. The coil is powered by a power pack and will keep me at this phase-level until my power runs out. Which could be in a second or in a minute, I have no idea." John fell silent and seemed to wait for something. When whatever-it was didn't happen, he looked back at Yates. "Probably slightly more than a second, apparently. Now then, before I get slung back to the base-phase, here's the thing. When you write on the floor, the writing must be permanent, otherwise we can't see it. Gotcha? Use your phaser if you can't find anything else. Ok, that was half a minute already. I doubt the power-cell will hold out much longer ......" Again he fell silent and waited. "Well, perhaps a little bit longer. Anyway, we have found out that energy is flowing to a specific place. Where that is we don't know yet but Ktell is hot on the case. But we think that this experiment is draining the power. It managed to pull in a starship from six months in the future. We 'fed' it with our warpdrive but we stopped that now. So did they. Anyway .... Hellooooh!" John suddenly noticed the female medical officer. "You're new here, aren't you? John's the name. John Linskens, man for all missions. And you are?" (Reply by Nat, Zia, any) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg), Zia Kirrin - 19:56) Zia watched in confusion as one of the shades materialised before their eyes and seemed to embrace the security officer, Yates, gazing into his eyes with intensity. "Gotcha!" cried Yates with a wink. "Oh, uh, hi, Nat,” the apparition (who was wearing what appeared to be a starfleet uniform, the teal colour indicating he was either science or medical) exclaimed. “ I had a thought! An actual thought! Isn't that amazing?!" As Yates hauled the new officer to his feet, Zia moved forward to run her makeshift medical tricorder over the man. ~He seems to be a human male, in good health. And if the security officer knows him, which he seems to, I suppose he is not a threat.~ she thought to herself. Aloud she said, “He seems to be unharmed by his appearance here.“ "Yeah, that really is amazing that you had a thought," Yates replied to the newcomer. "I would have thought so!" exclaimed the newcomer, who seemed to Zia inordinately pleased with the fact that he had had a thought. Zia was about to ask if this was the Linskens, when Yates answered the unexpressed thought by calling the man “Mr Linskens”. "Mister?" exclaimed the newly-identified one. "MISTER???? Nat! Of *all* the people!" And he hugged Yates again, causing Zia at least to speculate on the nature of the relationship between the two men. "I am not a well man, Nat!” stated Linskens, rattling on about how time was not on his side. Zia frowned and examined her tricorder minutely. She ran a check on herself, on Yates and on Linskens as the latter spoke on and on. She shrugged. The tricorder seemed to be working perfectly, and there was no sign of illness on the part of Linskens. He didn’t even have the same amount of elevated seratonin levels that the rest of them had. So intent was she on investigating whether or not the tricorder was functioning properly, or as properly as it could given that it wasn’t a medical tricorder but only one which had been adapted, that she missed the whole of what Linskens was saying to Yates in such an urgent tone. Suddenly Zia became aware that Linskens was addressing her directly. “Hellooooh! You're new here, aren't you? John's the name. John Linskens, man for all missions. And you are?" “I am Erein … that is, Ensign Athanasia e-Kirrin Cha'Mirok,” Zia replied, with a formal inclination of her head. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ensign John Linskens, Man For All Missions. I am also a doctor and I am pleased to be able to inform you that despite your concern to the contrary, you are in fact in good health and there would appear to be no reason for concern aside from a slightly elevated seratonin level. However, that is by no means a concern as yet and your seratonin level is still barely above normal. I would guess that you have not long been on this station. Did you come to rescue us all or did you just come to see your h'levreinnye Ensign Yates?” (Reply Linskens, Yates, Any present, Any) (posted by Liz) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – SciO, Ens, John Linksens - 19:58) "Did you come to rescue us all or did you just come to see your h'levreinnye Ensign Yates?” John frowned as his mind was forced to work in a way that wasn't expected. "Uh, what? H'lev..... Nat and me? Oh no, no, no. We're not like that. We're just mates. Or so I thought." he added with a stare at the security officer. "So you're Romulan raised then, Subcenturion? And what ...." John fell silent and he looked at the floor then at his watch. "I *definitely* should have been thrown back by now. It's two, three minutes at least and I'm still ......." John fell silent again then looked at the people around him. "You know what? Things aren't right here, you know? Things are just not right." (Reply 'Erein', Yates, Any present, Any) (posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates - 19:59) Yates' attention switched from one, and then to the other in regards their somewhat strange verbal banter. What the hell was wrong with Linskens anyway? Of course they were mates, but then again, if the addition of a simple 'Mister' before his name made him react as he had done, then perhaps they were not! Yates scratched at his head once again, puzzled now as to what they were going on about. Had Kirrin just insinuated that the two of them were actually lovers!!! "Excuse me, did you just....", said Yates, who then lost his thoughts completely. ~Perish the thought...~ John though seemed to be acting a little like a Duracell bunny right now, having been apparently convinced that he was about to be pulled back to his own base-phase, and then surprised that he had not been. "You know what? Things aren't right here, you know? Things are just not right.", said Linskens. Yates shook his head once again and raised an eyebrow. ~You don't say~ he thought, wondering as he did so if things were not really that 'right' with Linskens. It was then though that Kirrin brought Marsh and herself into the mix of strangeness by explaining to John how they were not even of this time, let alone phase! Yates then turned to Marsh, who looked as though he were either trying 'not' to gain John's attention for reasons known only to himself, or blend in with the scenery. Eiither way, he was remaining silent... which was nice. Yates returned his attention then to the other shapes that had not crossed over, before then coming back to Kirrin, who seemed to have a bee up her ass! "Oh pull-eeze", said Yates, suddenly butting in. "Can't we just solve this damned puzzle and go home for tea!", he snapped. (Reply Any, IYW) "Linskens say's that something here is 'feeding', for want of a better word on our energies, wherever it happens to find it. If it's doing that then we can track it... can't we?", he said, looking to the 'Man for all Missions' as he spoke... (Reply Linskens, Kirrin, Marsh, Smithson, Any) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg), Zia Kirrin - 20:00) ‘Man for all Missions’ Linskens frowned as he considered Zia’s question about him and Yates. "Uh, what? H'lev..... Nat and me? Oh no, no, no. We're not like that. We're just mates. Or so I thought." he added with a hard look at Yates. Then he turned back to Zia. “So you're Romulan raised then, Subcenturion? And what ...." There was a pause. Zia opened her mouth to correct the term Linskens had used, but before she could say anything he continued, " I *definitely* should have been thrown back by now. It's two, three minutes at least and I'm still ......." He stopped again and then looked at the others. "You know what? Things aren't right here, you know? Things are just not right." Zia sighed. For someone who was apparently considered clever, Linskens was not showing much sign of it now as far as Zia could tell. “It is abundantly clear to all of us that ‘things’, as you put it, are not right. Oggie and I should not be here,” Zia paused to consider this statement, and then qualified it. “At least, we should be here but not now, at this time. These others,” she gestured with her hand to the members of the away team gathered there, “have seen many strange things compared with which you appearing out of nothing is hardly a blip on the scale, and somewhere there are some marines who are doing I don’t know what but we haven’t heard from them in a while. So me, I do not consider it helpful or revelatory for you to declare that ‘things are not right’.” (Reply Linskens, Yates, Oggie, any present, any) (Posted by Liz) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – TAC/ASC, Ensign Alexandria Smithson – 20:00) “Oh pull-eeze", said Yates, suddenly butting in. "Can't we just solve this damned puzzle and go home for tea!", he snapped. (Reply Any, IYW) "Linskens say's that something here is 'feeding', for want of a better word on our energies, wherever it happens to find it. If it's doing that then we can track it... can't we?", he said, looking to the 'Man for all Missions' as he spoke... Listening to Yates whine put Alex in an apathetic frame of mind ~ you not the only want who wants out Mr. Yates ~ she thought. Looking back at Yates from her guard position in the doorway… “Mr. Yates while I agree with your sentiments, kindly pull yourself together, you are a Starfleet Officer” She said. ~ I am suddenly feeling worse and the tingling is getting worse a little ~ she thought and suddenly! “Doctor Assistance required” She managed to say before falling to the floor unconscious” (Reply Linskens, Kirrin, Marsh, Any) (Posted by Paul Davies) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section - Lt. Rodriguez - 20:00) Guillermo had done some asking around and found out the name of the young ensign. Then looking up the duty roster, decided to go pay him a visit. It worked out that at 20.00 hours he was supposed to be doing a regular security check of engineering anyways. This way it would seem like it was less harrasing and more what it actually was, part of his regular duties, checking on suspicious behavior. Or maybe he needed another counseling session and it was something to get his mind off of his ex fiance. "Ensign Ryden." he said approaching the young engineer. "Lieutenant Rodriguez, I'm a security officer here on the Spectre. I wanted to follow up on something, if you don't mind." (reply Rydan) "I noticed that you seemed to be exhibiting paranoid behavior earlier in Ten Forward, and I wanted to make sure that everything was all right." (reply Rydan) (reply Rydan) (Happily Posted by Will Banowsky) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 12, Sector 6, Lower levels - MXO, Major Bruce Kowalski - 20:01) "... and, I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, all eyes were upon me and yet, I was invisible to all but the wind", said Kowalski under his breath as he walked the dank, dark corridor, and ever deeper into the voids of the station. ~What was that!~ "Come to papa, lemme see that baby blue eye of yours... you friggin demon", he added, again under his voice, his trigger finger poised in the guard of the III-C's 'unleash the fire' button as he spoke. Then he paused to look up and around. The water was dripping faster here, the MXO moved on, wading calve deep now in the cold, almost alive water as it swirled around him creating tiny eddies here and there that dragged at the material of his fatigues. "So, here we are again. The snakes of the ether swirling like.... umm, swirling things, all around, and in the air like... like... ", Kowalski paused, and then hit the side of his head again with his flattened hand as though trying to dislodge a thought. "Two can play at that game, you here me. YOU HERE ME!!!!", he hollered. "Good, I'm glad that you can, cos you wouldn't like my pain in your head, diggin and tearing the flesh and matter from within you like... like... maggots, eating your... BRAIN!!!", he cried again. Then he shook his head from side to side, dismissing the crude, revolting imagery that was already forming within it... "No no no no", he voiced, once again in a calm, controlled manner that belied his obvious inner angst. "You can't get to me like that, can't eat my brains", he said his teeth gritting now as he checked his III-C tacorder once again, and for quite possibly the hundreth time. "Come to papa, come to papa little piggy" Then rounding the corner and pushing aside a sheet of rivited steel, he pointed his weapon down the corridor and then scanned. Nothing. But then suddenly there was the sound of something rolling on wheels, assailing his auditory senses once again, or so it seemed. The hair on the back of his neck stood up now as he checked the tacorder yet again. Still nothing.... Kowalski banged at the side of the weapon angrilly, breaking all of the marine codes he's had drummed into him from the very start. 'Never mistreat your weapon', and yet, the thought had not even entered his mind. Kowalski reached down to his right leg to unclasp the strap that held the seven inch serated 'death dealer' nestled in it's scabbard, his hand feeling for the handle as he knelt there, eyes wide and staring. Then he checked the tacorder again, and again, and again.... "Gonna gut you you demon, gonna tear you apart... oh yeah. Come to papa bear", he muttered under his breath, his mind fraying now to it's very limits as he struggled desperately to hold on to what little sanity still remained. "You want me? Then you come n get me you freakin mechanical demon. You... come... and... get me" And then as though the very words had incarnated substance from thought, the light changed up ahead, a shadow. Something rolling, a beam moving across the walls. Kowalski gritted his teeth, raised his III-C..... and waited. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – Security Officer, Ensign Nathanial Yates – 20:02) Had she 'Really' just said that!! "Pull myself together?", he inquired with a frown, "Pull myself together!!!" Yates was suddenly quite livid at the remark, he was actually tempted to go take Smithson's toy batton from her and stick it where.... but then she had suddenly gone a 'whiter shade of pale', called for medical assistance and then collapsed onto the deck in an undignified heap! Yates just stood there, unsure now of what to do. He looked briefly to Linskens, who still looked worried that he was going to be yanked back to his own phase at any time, then to Marsh, who still seemed to be acting on a strict rule of non-interaction as the medic moved in to assist in predictable fashion. "Can it get any worse?", said Yates, to nobody in particular. Then he moved to Smithson and Kirrin, stopping only to watch the show as it continued on. And it was a show... a damned comedy show! "Is she OK?", he asked, a little concerned now. (Reply Kirrin, Any) Yates pursed his lips together and exhaled in a kind of, 'I can't take any more of this', kinda way, then he looked to the Marines, who looked decidedly worried themselves... but not about the situation here it would seem. "Do you have anything to add to the discussion?", he asked Houseman. Houseman's face then suddenly changed from an expression of worry, to one of placid calm. "Nothing to add", he said stoicly. Yates huffed, shook his head and then looked back to Kirrin as she worked with Smithson. ~Marines and their training~ "So, what now?", said Nathanial, hoping now that at least somebody in the room besides Linskens wasn't losing it entirely... (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – SciO, Ens, John Linskens - 20:03) “It is abundantly clear to all of us that ‘things’, as you put it, are not right. Oggie and I should not be here." When Zia mentioned the rotund counsellor, John looked his way and gave the slightest of nods as acknowledgment and received a similar brief nod in return. "At least, we should be here but not now, at this time. These others,” she gestured with her hand to the members of the away team gathered there, “have seen many strange things compared with which you appearing out of nothing is hardly a blip on the scale, and somewhere there are some marines who are doing I don’t know what but we haven’t heard from them in a while. So me, I do not consider it helpful or revelatory for you to declare that ‘things are not right’.” "Oh pull-eeze", said Yates, suddenly butting in. "Can't we just solve this damned puzzle and go home for tea!" “Mr. Yates while I agree with your sentiments, kindly pull yourself together, you are a Starfleet Officer” a security ensign suddenly added. "Pull myself together?", inquired Yates with a frown, "Pull myself together!!!" “Doctor assistance required” The woman said as she turned pale and dropped onto the floor but John was reasonably sure that that had nothing to do with Nat's snapped response. "Can it get any worse?", said Yates, to nobody in particular. Then he moved to Smithson and Kirrin, stopping John from uttering a jovial response. He was thankful, as afterwards he was pretty sure that that comment would not have been appreciated. He shot Oggie a triumphant glance as if to say: "See? I can be sensitive to other people's feelings." "Is she OK?", Nat asked sounding a little concerned. (Reply Kirrin, Any) Yates pursed his lips together and exhaled then walked off to the marines. John watched him for a second then looked down at his boss as she lay down on the floor. He nearly grinned as he thought: ~See? I told you things weren't right here.~ But he refrained himself because even to a single-minded berk like John, it was clear that people were at the end of their tethers here. He looked over to Oggie, wondering why the counsellor hadn't picked it up then watched Nat as he walked back. "So, what now?" he asked. John nodded. "Now," he said as he pulled open his backpack, "we need the cavalry. Unfortunately," he stopped as he pulled out the phasecoil assembly and the powerpack, which he dropped almost immediately. "Wow! That thing is hot!" he cried out. He gingerly tested the pack to find out where the hotspots were. "Unfortunately," he said whilst examining the pack by touch, " I have no intention of calling the others in until I figure out why things aren't right here. It may seem obvious that something *is* wrong but until I can pinpoint what that is, I will not call them. Now then, can I open ...." John looked at the powerpack and touched the top only to withdraw his finger straight away. "Nope," he answered his own unasked question then brought his face as close to the pack that was lying on the floor as he could. Not happy with the results he lay himself down next to the pack to he could inspect it from the sides. He mumbled a few times, then sat himself up. "It's not a standard powerpack," he said. "So where did Kate .............No, he didn't. Did he? Hmmmm, makes sense actually. Long duration, increased power outage." John nodded. "Yep," he said with a grin. "The flyboy went for the experimental packs. Now there was something about them, what was it?" John got up and looked around the room, he took a few steps, then walked back to tap the pack with his foot. As he did so, his eyes suddenly bulged out as he remembered him doing exactly that not that long ago, when examining the power units of the shuttle. "Krellenium!" he cried out. "These packs contain Krellenium! Now *that* makes sense!" He grinned like a little school boy as he slapped Nat on his back. "It's Krellenium!" he shouted at him. "Just like on the shuttle! The Krellenium must somehow be able to tap into the power flow on this station! The power that is flowing somehere? I know where part of it went into. First into the power distributors on the shuttle through the Krellenium heads which caused the shuttle to crash and then the same happened to my powerpack! That is why my coil is still working! It's working off the energy that was nicked! Gimme that!" John suddenly ripped the phaser off the security officer. "Gotta tell the boys!" he cried as he ran over to the three 'ghosts'. A foot in front of them he aimed the phaser, checked the power setting then pushed the trigger and let the beam play over the floor. When he finished he grinned again as he tossed the phaser back to Nat, walking away from the floor were a crudely written text in large letters was visible. It read: "Come here now!!!!! JL" Smiling at the others, John walked back to his backpack and carefully placed his coil and powerpack back. "And now..." he said with a grin, "We wait for the cavalry." He then walked over to the medic and her patient and hunched down next to Zia. "Did you say that you travelled through time? Or did I misunderstand that, sub-Centurion? I would like you to tell me all about that, including every single little detail. It may not seem inportant but this is the first real clue that I got about the mechanics of this place. We know already that there is a phase-field of some sort here and we know there have been temporal distortions but no idea how they can operate together. They can't, you see?" John looked at the prone woman before him then suddenly added: "Once you have time, of course." (Reply by Nat, Zia, Rascals, any there, any not there, anyone else) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 11, Sector 6, Lower levels - Marine Tom Dillinger - 20:04) Dillinger leant against the wall for a moment, ostensibly to allow him to check his tacorder whilst still holding his III-C, but in reality to enable him to snatch a few seconds relief. About to push himself away from the wall again to carry on, he stopped. He thought he heard sounds coming from the vent by his feet. He held up his hand to attract Bignell’s attention without making a noise himself. With a grunting effort, he raised his bad arm and adjusted the comm unit on his helmet so only Bignell would pick it up. “Hear that buddy?” he asked, pointing down towards the vent. “Sounds like someone shoutin’.” He listened again, but if the sound had been there, it had stopped. “Did you hear it?” he asked again. “Or am I goin’ bonkers?” (Reply Bignell) Dillinger shrugged with his good shoulder. “I’m beginning to hate this fraggin’ station,” he muttered. (Reply Bignell, any) (Posted by Liz Geuken) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – ACMO, Ens(jg) Zia Kirrin - 20:05) The Seucrity Officer, Yates, was clearly losing patience with events and expressed his frustration, only to be put down abruptly by a snap from Smithson. Yates’ reaction to that was beginning to sound antagonistic to Zia but before anyone else could say or do anything, Smithson suddenly turned pale and gasped weakly, “Doctor, assistance required,” before collapsing on the floor in an apparent faint. Zia hurried over, pulling out her modified tricorder, and began examining the other woman. "Can it get any worse?" Yates exclaimed to no one in particular before joining Zia and looking down at Smithson’s prone body. "Is she OK?" he asked. Zia sat back on her heels. “Yes, she will be fine. She just experienced a vasovagal syncope,” she said, rooting in the medkit she had brought along from the control room. She looked up at Yates. “In layman’s terms, I suppose you could call it a hysterical faint." She thought for a moment, then explained: "We are all experiencing stress but Ensign Smithson seems to be more affected mentally by the happenings on this station than some others, as indicated by her behaviour in the past few hours. I cannot speak for the time before that since I was not present but in retrospect her threats to Ensign Marsh were obvious symptoms. In brief, in Smithson's case the acute mental stress built up until it triggered a temporary malfunction in her autonomic nervous system, which in turn led to lowered blood supply to the brain. Hence she fainted. I can bring her round and I can give her something to relieve the symptoms of the stress she is experiencing. But as I'm sure you're aware, Mr Yates, relieving symptoms is not the same as curing the cause. Removing Ensign Smithson from this situation or enabling her to cope with it better, which is more Oggie's field than mine, are the only things which will do that." Yates pursed his lips together and exhaled then walked off towards the marines at the back of the room. Zia watched him thoughtfully for a moment then selected a hypospray which she applied to Smithson’s neck, regulating the functions of the autonomic nervous system. As Smithson stirred and began to come round, Zia administered a second hypospray, this one containing a mild sedative to relieve the stress symptoms. The two were commonly used together without side effects and would have no adverse effect on the serotonin levels. “Sit up slowly,” she said. “Put your back against the wall. You will feel a little woozy but as the meds kick in your head will clear.” (reply Smithson) Linskens came over and hunched down next to Zia. "Did you say that you travelled through time?” he asked. “Or did I misunderstand that, sub-Centurion? I would like you to tell me all about that, including every single little detail. It may not seem important but this is the first real clue that I got about the mechanics of this place. We know already that there is a phase-field of some sort here and we know there have been temporal distortions but no idea how they can operate together. They can't, you see?" Linskens looked at Smithson for a moment before adding, "Once you have time, of course." Zia nodded. “If you would ask Oggie to come over here and keep an eye on Ensign Smithson whilst she recovers a bit more, I would be happy to answer your questions. And you may address me as Doctor, or as Ensign. Sub-Centurion is neither accurate nor appropriate.” (reply Linskens, Oggie, Yates, Smithson, any) (Posted by Liz Geuken) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section - ACEO, Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan – 20:05) Varios worked at one of the consoles and was characteristically absorbed in his work. Although he hadn’t been here long, he was already used to the nightly visits early in the shift from security, so when today’s officer appeared Varios paid no attention initially. "Ensign Rydan." he said approaching the young engineer. "Lieutenant Rodriguez, I'm a security officer here on the Spectre. I wanted to follow up on something, if you don't mind." It was a new question today but Varios recited the default answer automatically without looking up from his work. "No." He mumbled. What he’d expected to hear was, "Are there any problems today?” so the answer he had given was probably not what the officer had wanted to hear. He hadn’t been paying enough attention earlier on to notice that today’s security officer wasn’t the usual one he’d become used to. So when he realised his mistake and looked around he got a bit of a surprise, although he tried not to show it. Varios offered a warm smile and extended his hand to the man. “Sorry about that, too engrossed in my calculations. What did you want to talk about?” he asked sheepishly, scratching his ear nervously. "I noticed that you seemed to be exhibiting paranoid behaviour earlier in Ten Forward, and I wanted to make sure that everything was all right." Various mind boggled and his eyes nearly popped out his head, he might have laughed if it hadn’t been so bizarre. Hearing was one of Rydan’s strong senses, which was unfortunate because there was no mistaking what Lt Rodriguez had said. “Could you explain what led to this assessment please?” he asked carefully as he wound his eyeballs back into his head. He hadn’t been aware of displaying any strange behaviour, so naturally concluded that there must have been some mistake. (Reply Rodriguez) “Fascinating,” Varios thought to himself as a little amused smile crept onto his face. Apparently, the man had never seen an individual eating quickly and of course, there couldn’t be any reasonable reason that someone would want or need to do so. Noooo it was paranoid behaviour or whatever the accusation was… Varios thought it must be a very slow day for the security department, either that of this officer was really over keen. Keeping his tone pleasant to avoid getting any more points on the overkill sheet, “I suppose, sir, that you are an expert in the eating habits of Al-Leyans, or perhaps a behavioural analyst?” He paused for a second and looked down, pressing his lips into a thin line. He looked back up again to speak, with a pointed finger hovering in the air as if it had something to declare. Maintaining the same tone he added, “No, hold it. I understand now sir, many apologies, I didn’t realise I was breaking the speed limit on meal consumption. If you could refer me to the proper regulation I’ll gladly adhere to it in future.” He was speaking sincerely, though to some it may have come across as cheeky back chatting. (Reply Rodriguez) Varios felt slightly embarrassed and slightly horrified. He stumbled over his next words, stuttering slightly as he tried to get the conversation back on track, “Not at all sir, and many apologies. Was there anything else that led you to… uh… that conclusion?” Various assumed there had to be more to this than fast paced eating. He gulped hard and tried not to look as anxious as he felt as first day nerves multiplied like bacteria. Additionally he began to feel a bit restless due to the nature of the conversation and began to slowly pace around his visitor. (Reply Rodriguez) (Reply Rodriguez) (Posted by Natalya Yakovlev) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – COUNS, Ens Oggie Marsh - 20:06) The rotund counsellor was shocked. Not only had Linskens appeared out of nowhere, which wasn't really that big a shock because the scientist had a habit of turning up when least expected. No, what shocked Oggie more than anything else was his own reaction to the appearance and the hostility towards the scientist that had gripped him. ~This is not right,~ Oggie pondered, ~I should not behave like this!~ He examined his own mindset, trying to find out why he was behaving so. Sure, he had problems with John but so did every other counsellor that had the misfortune to cross John's path. Oggie sighed. ~Something's not right here, something very ..... intangible.~ He remembered Smithson's first spat, then some of the reactions of the others and Zia's discovery. ~Could it be? Could it all be related? Serotonins were known to cause mood swings but an increase tended to create euphoria and feelings of well-being, not paranoia. Oggie pursed his lips as he tried to tie up the little strands of information. As he did so, he lost sight of what happened in the room until he suddenly heard a snap. He scolded himself, not having been more alert when he saw the unstable security officer drop down to the ground, almost immediately taken care of by Zia. "Can it get any worse?" Yates exclaimed which Oggie ignored as he watched the scene. “Yes, she will be fine. She just experienced a vasovagal syncope,” Zia said after the finished the scan. “In layman’s terms, I suppose you could call it a hysterical faint." As Zia explained the term, Oggie's mind was already working on the possibility of linking what happened to Smithson to what happened to Oggie. Quite detached he watched the security officer walk away towards the marines, his mind still trying to recall all that had happened before, fitting the pieces together as if it was a jigsaw. It was confusing, so many pieces of information that seemed not to be related. Perhaps they weren't and it was all coincidence? Smithson could have an imbalance in her brain-chemistry. But that would have been picked up when she had her regular medical check-ups. So .......... "Uhhhhh, chubby? She wants you to sit with the patient." Oggie blinked, surprised at hearing a voice, his voice. He looked up and saw Linskens standing two steps away, nudging his head towards the security officer and Zia. Oggie cleared his throat. "Yes, of course," he said matter-of-factly then brushed past the science officer. As he did so, Oggie hissed almost inaudibly: "Mister Linskens, you are late for your appointment. Two and a half years late to be precise. You better have a bloody good explanation!" Before John could respond, Oggie had passed him and was now crouching down, and, somehow, managed to sit himself down on the floor next to Smithson. "Well, well, my dear. You gave us quite a bit of a scare. But the doctor took great care of you. Stay calm, you're not out of the woods yet. But uncle Oggie will be here to assist. Now tell me, can you remember anything from before? Did you experience a headache? A pain behind the eyes or something like that?" (Reply by Alexandria, RFM, any) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section, Lt. Rodriguez – 20:07) “No, hold it. I understand now sir, many apologies, I didn’t realise I was breaking the speed limit on meal consumption. If you could refer me to the proper regulation I’ll gladly adhere to it in future.” "There is no regulation, just seemed like you were avoiding something. I'd be a bad security officer if I didn't follow up on suspicious behavior. The food thing is fine, just wanted to make sure everything was ok, you seemed troubled" “Not at all sir, and many apologies. Was there anything else that led you to… uh… that conclusion?” "Not really, just the hurried eating and trying to be off alone and out in a hurry." ~Or maybe I am hoping to see a problem to keep my mind off my own.~ "Listen, I'm sorry if I am hassling you, seems I might be seeing problems that don't exist. You're new on the Spectre right. Lieutenant Guillermo Rodriguez, welcome aboard." Guillermo extended his hand in a greeting, feeling slightly embarresed. (Reply Ryden) (posted by Will Banowsky) (Station Echo One Zero - Deck 4, Sector 5 – SciO, Ens(jg), Catriona Macbeth - 20:08) Cat, who had been pacing to and fro ever since John had taken the leap to the others, was getting frustrated. John should have returned by now and the fact that he hadn’t concerned her. The fact that she could still vaguely make out the shadow that was Linskens was somewhat reassuring but she still worried that something might have somehow gone wrong with his grand plan. She stopped pacing when John's shadow dashed over towards her and the others, stopped almost in front of them and seemed to be writing on the floor with something. Impatiently she waited for the message to appear. As the words formed she read them aloud. “Come….. here….. now!!!! J…..L…” Grinning, she looked at the others as she began the sequence of actions that would send her to the same ‘phase’ as John and the others. “Well, are you ready?” she asked Tolqu and Ktell, then entered the final command. There was a disconcerting feeling like being pulled through cotton wool, then suddenly the away team became solid figures instead of vague shadows. Unfortunately Cat’s balance failed her and the muscles in her legs seemed temporarily turned to jelly and she almost fell, grabbing out at the nearest figure just in time. (reply whoever wants to be grabbed) “Thanks,” Cat said, clinging on tightly until she got back her balance and the use of her muscles. Looking round, Cat noticed that Tolqu and Ktell had made the transition safely too. Looking further round she saw a lot of faces she knew from the Spectre, and two that she didn’t. One was a rather fat man in a teal uniform; the other a slim, dark-haired woman also in teal who was kneeling next to Smithson, who seemed to be lying down on the job for some reason presently unknown to Cat. “Ensign Macbeth reporting, Sir!” she announced happily to Commander Williams. “Nat! Good to see you!” she continued, grinning broadly at the security officer. “What’s up with your boss?” (reply Nat) Cat’s mouth formed a silent ‘O’ but she didn’t say anything. “Who’re these two?” she asked, indicating the fat man and the dark-haired woman. “Are they from the station?” (reply any of the away team, Oggie iyw, rfm) Cat nodded to Oggie, then to Zia. “Nice to meet you, Ensign Marsh. And you too, Ensign Kirrin.” (reply Oggie) Finally, Cat turned to John. “We are here at your bidding, O master. How may we serve you?” she asked facetiously. (reply Yates, Linskens, Marsh, Tolqu, Ktell, any present, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre - Deck 7 - Engineering Section, ACEO Ensign (JG) Varios Rydan – 20:09) Varios felt slightly embarrassed and slightly horrified. He stumbled over his next words, stuttering slightly as he tried to get the conversation back on track, “Not at all sir, and many apologies. Was there anything else that led you to… uh… that conclusion?” "Not really, just the hurried eating and trying to be off alone and out in a hurry." Said Rodriguez. Well, it was true that Varios had wanted to leave in a hurry; the sharp-eyed security officer had been right on the mark with that one. Had Varios been inclined to talk about such mundane things he was sure the man would have found the reasoning very dull indeed. "Listen, I'm sorry if I am hassling you, seems I might be seeing problems that don't exist. You're new on the Spectre right. Lieutenant Guillermo Rodriguez, welcome aboard," said the security officer. ~You already said that~ thought Varios, unsure whether to be concerned or amused. He let the matter slide and accepted his hand, shaking it for a second time. “Think nothing of it. We’re all fine in here, I’ll let you return to your duties now.” He said, smiling. With that, he turned back to the console he had been working at to resume his work. As eager as Varios was to meet some of the crew, it wouldn’t do to have to explain to the next duty officer that he didn’t get the work done because he was too busy chatting. (Reply any IYW) (Posted by Natalya Yakovlev) =========================================================================