Something Wicked this Way Comes Pt. 1

Posted on Mon Nov 1st, 2021 @ 4:42am by Captain Garrett Lovejoy [ Taylor] & Captain Gary Taylor & Lieutenant Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen [Taylor] & Lieutenant Scott Gregory [Taylor] & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Lieutenant Kathleen O'Shea & Lieutenant Victor Barclay de Tolly & Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford & Captain David Tonelly [Reece] & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Commander Kyle Reece & Lieutenant JG Louis Bordeaux ( Magnus )

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Holodeck 1
4622 words - 9.2 OF Standard Post Measure

In Orbit of planet Zerth aka the boneyard


A distress call had been sent out and the Elysium had intercepted it and arrived in orbit above the planet. A small away team had been sent down consisting of Lt. Commander Kelea-Salik, Commander Taylor. CPO De La Rosa, Dr. Sthilg, Kaden Ross, Ensign Blackford, and Lt. Colonel Azhul to the coordinates of the signal.

Arriving at the site the team found the wreckage of what appeared to be an older Federation freighter.

"Man, I see why this planet got the nickname the boneyard. It's spooky." Fernando observed as the light was dim and the wind howled;

Gary chuckled, "Easy Fernando you aren't scared are you?"

Scared? No sir cautious definitely, The sooner we're done and back on the Elysium the better." Fernando replied.

"Fair enough." Gary answered, "Let's see if we can find anyone. Everyone, stay close. No wandering off on your own." He ordered as they moved to explore the wreckage.

Naxea smiled at Fernando, hefting her pulse rifle. She began to approach the freighter, as her eyes scanned the wreckage. "Had to be one hell of a wild ride," she commented.

Alicia was looking around, the place was creepy alright but somehow she felt at ease. She’d always loved Halloween, the fun of creepy stories and the dark nights that accompanied them. “BOO!!” She giggled as she leapt out on Fernando.

"AIeeeeee!" Fernando hollered in surprise and shock at Alicia's boo. "Please Counselor. You scared me out of ten years of my life and Heather would never forgive you for me coming back an old man."

A sonic boom was heard as an indicator that a fighter had enterd the atmosphere. After a few moments a Gryphon Fighter shot past. "Well, isn't this place a real fog-fest. I have to use my sensors just to fly around in this soup." The Away teams combadges chirped with Jess' chatter.

A second boom was heard as George's Raptor also entered the atmosphere. "Man, it's soupier than Ferenginar. Oh, sorry, Tink," he said to his Ferengi copilot.

"No worries, Demon. You're correct though. It's damn creepy out there."

Laughing at Alicia, seeing Fernando's reaction. "Come here Fernando, I'll protect you from that big scary counselor," Naxea teased.

Fernando blushed furiously and laughed at the gentle ribbing. "Thank you and it's still spooky out here."

Kaden who dressed up like Neo from The Matrix minus the shades his long trench coat being all leather and light armored riding boots. Rolled his eyes but kept examining the wreck as they approached. "Looks like your scans were right, Commander, certainly matches the time period of my ship I say this is a Valencia Class common freighter used during the Xindi Wars of 2099 to 2147."

Garrett's voice suddenly came through Gary's combadge. "Status Number One?"

"Just beginning our survey of the wreck and looking for survivors." Gary responded crisply.

"Very good. Keep me appraised of your progress. Lovejoy out."

Gary looked at the debris field. "By the wide dispersal of the wreckage, it certainly looks like she came in hard with no control. Just look at the depth of the impact crater."

Jessica brought her Gryphon near the crater and activated her floodlights. "That doesn't make much sense. Gary... When a ship hits the atmo hard, and begins to break up. The pieces of it will be scattered over a wide area. Like a hundred, maybe fifty kilometers.. So that leaves us with two possibilities. THe ship broke in half, a part of it landed here in a steep velocity, and another part disintegrated in the atmosphere and is now all around us. " Jess mentioned as she moved her fighter's lights around the crater. "We learned that from when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up back in the 21st."

Gary nodded at Jess's observation of the wreckage, "Let see if we can find the flight recorder 'black box' maybe that will give us some clues on what happened here."

"The data recorder would of been ejected on a orbital probe near the planet prior the crash someone should run a scan for it, Commander." Kaden said stepping over a collapsed beam.

"The probe would be powered by a nuclear power cell have them scan for any sort of artificial mobile radioactive signatures that should help pin point it." Kaden added.

"Jess, contact the Elysium and relay the information Mr. Ross just gave us and let them scan to see if they can locate it." Gary told the fighter pilot.

Victor was working in his office with Lt. JG. D’Graceful when an alarm had activated he might need to go check what was going on in Holodeck 1. “Edward, it seems there is radiation in one of the Holosuites. We have to go check it out.”

Ed being Assist Engineering officer, pulled up the Ships sensor information and pulled up the Holodeck alarm systems on his Padd. "The radiation is not showing up on external sensors, but it is hard radiation, I am picking up beta, delta, theta and gamma." Not waiting for a response, he hit his comm's button, "Bridge , Assistant Engineering Officer, I am picking up hard radiation getting inside the ship, recommend raising shields and activating structural integrity fields around the computer core, and other sensitive areas. Science should also be notified to shield there sensitive equipment."

Ensign Louis Bordeaux, the Engineering Officer on the Bridge raised complied with the request from Engineering.

Alicia was looking around, something about the atmosphere was giving her the creeps, “Commander...” She looked at Gary. “Something about this whole place is giving me the creeps! It doesn’t feel right.”

"You aren't alone there Alicia." Gary confirmed. "I think everyone is a little uneasy here. Fernando looks like he is about to have kittens. Lets see about finding some survivors."

Kaden walked by them clearly not bothered by the creepy atmosphere well not on the surface anyway deep down he was pissing his pants. But he wasn't one to show such an emotion to others well least Fernando was doing a good job showing it for him. "Aw come on guys you all don't think some Boogeyman coming to get us do you?" He asked.

As George moved to bring his starfighter into a hover as well, something crossed his field of vision suddenly and rapidly. "What the hell was that?! Jess, did you see that?"

Alicia took a deep breath and walked on ahead, She hadn’t noticed she’d separated from the others until she was suddenly knocked off her feet by someone, she scrambled backwards on the floor before she was suddenly set upon by someone. She screamed as she was bitten and scratched.

Fernando heard Alicia's scream and took of in the direction of it. He entered a gap in the ship wreckage, saw Alicia on the deck and something standing over her. "Get away from her!" He yelled as he fired his phaser rifle hitting whatever it was squarely but instead of falling, it ran off.

Fernando was at Alicia's side in an instant. "Easy Counselor, stay still. You've got some scratches and it looks like a bite. " He tapped his combadge. "De La Rosa to Taylor. Commander Kelea-Salik was attacked by something."

"We're on our way to you Chief." Came the reply.

Alicia sat trying to calm herself down, “It was...one of the ship’s crew! Not ours...one of theirs!”

"Easy Counselor, we'll get you back to the Elysium." Fernando assured her. "Are you sure it was one of this ship's crew?"

Damien had kept mostly to himself throughout the journey. The place crept him out, and gave him major Alien vibes. It was all too quiet, and in his mind, the sooner they could get out of here, the better. Hearing the scream, he raised his Phaser rifle, and hurried over, joining Fernando in firing some warning shots at whatever had attacked the Counselor. As Fernando knelt beside her, Damien stepped in front of them, flicking the torch attachment on, making a sweep of the area, keeping his eyes and ears peeled. "Immediate vicinity seems clear, sir." He reported.

"Help me get the counselor out here and back to the others." Fernando replied. "Then she can beam back to the Elysium for treatment. Then we can return to search for crew members

Damien nodded, turning the flashlight off, and slinging it over his shoulder, kneeling down next to Alicia, slipping an arm around her waist. "You ready Commander?"

“As ready as I’ll ever be” Alicia nodded just grateful to be getting the hell away. “Just watch your backs down here.”

Rushing over, Naxea gazed at the counselor's wounds--they seemed deep. She kept her rifle trained on the wreckage, covering the two security officers as they helped the counselor. Her eyes scanned the darkness and found nothing. "Everyone stay together and keep each other covered. Move in a column formation in order to keep each other covered."

Fernando nodded at the Colonel's order and quickly moved to carry it out. He KNEW this place was creepy and the attack on the counselor proved it.

Kaden hearing the screams had rushed to the others seeing that Alicia was being tended to. The flashlight he had caught something on the wall near him causing him to shine his light on it. His hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "Guys, you might wanna see this."

Something in the tone of Kaden's voice made Fernando slow and turn around. "What? What did you find?"

"A bad omen it seems." Kaden had his light shining on the markings Edmund Fitzgerald FFV-301 a heavy amount of dried up blood stains smeared all around it.

Damien looked around, looking at the bulkhead. "Edmund Fitzgerald." He muttered to himself. "What does it mean?" He asked, looking over at Kaden.

Little did they realise that Alicia’s bite was more than just a bite, a mass infection was now coursing through her veins the change it would cause would be one that could infect the whole ship.


< Base camp >

As Alicia arrived at base camp the infection coursing through her system was already setting in. Her skin was clammy as a high fever had set in, she was growing weaker, and she looked extremely pale. As she was brought into base camp her body went limp.

The medical team rushed to do their duty as they hurried her into the medical tent.

We can ponder this all later. The priority is the counselor," Naxea stated, keeping her eyes on the wreckage. She then heard a noise and was that movement within the darkness? Or were here eyes playing tricks on her?

Gary came up gave a quick look at Alicia and ordered "Beam the Counselor directly to Sickbay. What happened Colonel?"

"The counselor was attacked and apparently bitten by some sort of creature when she got too far away from the group," Naxea reported. "Whatever it was, it moved extremely fast and used to shadows and darkness to mask it's movements."

Gary watched as Alicia disappeared in the sparkle of lights of the transporter. "Damn." He answered with a shake of his head. "Still no sign of the freighter's crew?" He looked at Naxea, "You said a creature. Could you make out any details?"

"Not that well other that it appeared to be humanoid in shape. Senior Chief De La Rosa was the first on scene and had fired at the the counselor's attacker," Naxea responded.

Kaden was hunched over on his PADD next to the fire busy studying anything he could find on the Edmund Fitzgerald. He was munching on a s'more listening in on the conversation. "Think it could be native to the planet here? If that's the case why didn't scans detect them?"

Fernando shook his head, "Counselor said it was a member of the freighter crew." He looked at the others, "That's what she said." He insisted. "And what about the blood?" He questioned.

Kaden started making himself another s'more to munch on. "I been trying to figure this out myself if it was a member of the crew or worse what the hell was they hauling?"

"An excellent question, is there a manifest we can access to get the answer to that question?" Gary asked.

Kaden took out the PADD he brought with him looking up the ship’s information. “Edmund Fitzgerald, reported missing by the UESPA in 2133 was transporting,” Before sighing as he tapped on the PADD a few times. “This is where I been having issues, cargo is classified.”

"Classified by who Mr. Ross?" Gary asked.

"United Earth Government."

"God Dammitt!" Gary scowled and his his combadge. "Taylor to Elysium. See what you can find out on the manifest of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It shows classified. We need answers to know what we're dealing with."

Kaden took a bite of his s'more getting back to work on his PADD. "Don't count me out just yet, Commander, I know a trick or two just need some time." Before holding up his food. "Maybe some more Hershey bars and Graham Crackers."

Gary nodded at Kaden's reply but kept silent hoping either Ross or the Elysium could get him answers on what the freighter's classified cargo was.

Tags Elysium and any others


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USS Elysium: TIC

"I'd kill for a Talon or RCX2 right now." Kathleen said to no one in particular. The on-duty EWCO looked up at her with a confused look. A slight smile slipped across her face. "Another time and place, Ensign." She was used to having a steady and fairly complete data set streaming constantly for decision making purposes. But this was the new Starfleet, and the operational assets that she used to take for granted were no longer even deployed on starships. They had even pulled all of the Cerberus ships and equipment off the front line. All that work...all that they learned from post operational debriefings written in blood swept aside by a new, yet old at the same time, way of thinking.

"AC Op to Watch Commander. I'm picking up some odd readings." The Aerospace Control Operator was responsible for the operation and monitoring of the tactical sensor suite, computer, communications and other sensor systems for the surveillance and control of both the airspace around them and any away mission operational authority. "I'm trying to see if I can extend our active sensor suite and make heads or tails of it."

Kathleen made her way over to the officers workstation. "What do we have?"

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As George started back to up into orbit, to search for the crashed freighter's black box, his controls suddenly froze, the completely shorted out. His Raptor began a parabolic arc back to the ground below. "MAYDAY! MATDAY! This is Raptor Six One Seven, I have experienced full power failure! Emergency transport not working! Am on course to crash into the far side of the planet. Request immediate rescue!" He heard nothing but static as his ship fell from the sky like a stone. "Tink, eject, eject, eject!" Both aviators suddenly shot clear of their crippled craft. As they began parachuting to the surface, something screamed past them, buffeting them severely.

—————————————

< Elysium, Sickbay >

As the transporter effect wore off it was all too apparent that Alicia was in a serious condition, Inside her body changes were taking place and not ones for the better.

By the time the medical staff arrived at her side to treat her wounds she was already past the point of stopping the changes within.

Among the medical team was Tate Sullivan. Learning Alicia had contracted some sort of possible infection, she had arrived in protective gear. With a teasing comment about Sullivan always seeming to care for Alicia after she had suffered some sort of medical crisis on her tongue, Tate grew silent as she took in the sight. This was not good.


< Elsewhere >

Jess hovered near the team and kept her floodlights on the crash sigh. Suddenly something bit her in the cockpit. "Son of a bitch* She realized she had a bat inside her cockpit. Jess then opened her cockpit and let it fly away. "Commander, this is Vaii... You're not going to believe this, but there was a bat in my fighter, bit me and I had to pull the emergency cockpit release.

"A bat?" Gary asked incredulously "How did a bat get inside your fighter Jess and are you alright?"

"Gary, I'm the toughest bitch on the ship next to Nax and your wife, I can handle a little bat bite. But if you want me to, I can head back to the farm and have Dr. Sthilg poke at it." Jess smirked.

"I know how tough you are Jess but humor me. Head back to the ship and let the doc take a look at it." Gary replied.

A signal came through. ""MAYDAY! ..... This is Raptor Six One Seven, .... full power failure! Emergency transport not working! ..... crash into the far side of the planet. Request ....."

"Son of a bitch." Jess noted. "Commander. I'm going to look for him."

"Jess, Jess!" Gary tried to contact her but she had closed the channel.

"How far is that crash?" Naxea asked, checking the power level on her pulse rifle.

"Over that rise and then about 3 klicks." Gary replied. "How do you want to handle this Naxea?" he asked the Marine CO.

"I'll take a small team and secure the crash site and locate the pilots," she replied.

Tag all

====Raptor Crash site====

Jess landed her fighter nearby and opened the canopy. Climbing out of the fighter, an access port next to the cockpit opened and a phaser rifle emerged. A modification she made if she ever had to hoof it. She looked around, the bat bite began to throb. Causing Jess to sweat. "Demon!!!!" Jess shouted. "Tink!!!" She followed her tricorder in the direction of the ejection pod's emergency beacon. She began to get delerious as she moved towards a beeping marker on her tricorder.

Jess found the escape pod from Charles' fighter, but no one inside it She took a look inside, but then collapsed falling unconscious. The bite was turning Jess' skin white.

A few moments later, unseen hands reached down and lifted Jess easily, she was lifted by strong, furry arms, arms that were covered by the tattered remains of a SFMC pilot's jumpsuit. The beast brought Jess closer and sniffed her. It then threw its head back and howled. After housting the unconscious pilot over its shoulder, the beast carried her off into the darkness. It was followed by a smaller beast with large ears.


*Sometime Later near the Jess' fighter.*

Jessica suddenly woke up. Probably in the lair of something. She looked around and things seemed different. Her stomach growled... There was one thing she wanted.

Into her view stepped the beast that carried her earlier. It was huge! Seven feet tall and covered in muscles and fur. Its muzzle was long and its mouth was full of dangerous looking fangs. It was wearing a ripped fighter pilot's uniform, complete with shiny new Captain's bars.

The beast knelt before Jessica and bowed its massive head to her respectively. Then it looked off to its right and growled something.

A softer growl replied and a smaller beast, also covered in fur and with sharp fangs, started to struggle forward. Unlike the larger beast, this smaller one had bigger ears.

It was also dragging something. A person, tied up and gagged.

The bigger beast reached over, when they were close enough, and grabbed the person, yanking him forward. The beast then presented the gift to Jessica.

Jessica walked around the person. Smiling at him before. She smelt what was inside him and then grabbed him, Bitting down into his neck. She began sucking. Again and again, draining the person of blood until there was nothing left. She dropped the deceased man blood in her mouth on trickling down her pilot uniform. She looked at the beast. And licked her bloody mouth. "Yummy..." Jessica said. Jess then turned towards what was on a table in the cell. A blood red dress. She smiled at the beasts. "You know it's not polite to watch a woman change clothes." She said seductively, her blood red fangs showing.

Growling softly, the larger beast turned and stood guard as Jessica changed into the dress he had found for her. The smaller beast followed suit, like a loyal puppy.

The Vampiress Jessica Vaii smiled and stroked herself with her hands, Turning towards the two werewolves, she walked to the beasts and gave them both a good scratch behind the ears. "This is fun Lieutenant... We should go turn some of the other crew. They'll think it's fun too. I especially want Gary's blood in my mouth."

Both beasts reacted happily to the atrention from their mistress. The larger one turning to gently nuzzle Jessica, he growled softly in response. Bowing to her commands, he turned to the smaller beast and growled a command in a language they both understood.

The smaller beadt nodded, then turned and sped off on her mission.

The bigger male turned back to Jessica and bowed again, indicating that her orders were being carried out. Suddenly, his stomach started to grumble quite loudly.

"C'mon, my faithful hounds. Let's go find Gary, even Naxea. Mmm I want her blood too. Let's go hunt them." Jess mentioned. "Feast on them, but leave Gary and Naxea for me... Their blood will be the sweetest."

The two beasts fell in line with their mistress, their hightened senses always searching for any signs of danger.

Tag Mistress(start their next part wherever you choose ;-])

-Basecamp-

Kaden was hard at work cracking the security on the record of the manifest he was piecing together the ship's Captain Erica McSorley's code. One thing about 280 year old security freighter Captain's had access to classified manifest involving their ship. With a few minor adjustments a smile formed on his lips. "Commander, I got it!"

"Don't keep me in suspense Mr. Ross. Just what have you got?" Gary asked the bartender.

Kaden read over the manifest “You ever hear about Arik Soong? Was the former head of Cold Station 12 who was a batshit crazy genetic scientist unlike his brother Inigo Soong who was the lead cybernetic scientist on Earth. Apparently Arik Soong felt the attacks on Earth, Vulcan, and Denobula by the Xindi during the Xindi Wars was a sign that genetic engineering was needed to create the perfect soldier."

He got to his feet and walked over to the Commander. "Problem was as we all know genetic engineering is outlawed during that time as well but he been secretly doing the research anyways. One form of soldier he came up with was blending the DNA of a Vampire Bat with a Human least that is what the authorities found in his lab after he fled. Edmund Fitzgerald was tasked to transport his experiments to a facility for incineration guess they didn’t make it obviously.”

"So we're dealing with vampiric super soldiers?" Gary questioned as he looked at Naxea. "Super. This just keeps getting better and better." he said sarcastically.

Naxea was finishing donning her armor and gear from the gear lockers at the camp. "What the hell is it with you humans and creating freaks?" she complained, annoyed before donning her full face helmet.

"Now Colonel. It was a different time for Earth. It was threatening to come apart at the seams. Not condoning the experiments but with the attacks on Earth and the military needing a better soldier, it's easy to see how the experiments were able to continue." Gary replied.

"And once again, lives are in danger because of it," Naxea replied though the synthesized voice of the helmet. "I'm heading out to the crash site. Anyone else coming, move it."

Kaden tapped Taylor on the shoulder. "Commander, sorry to bother you again but I can bring my ship by remote down here if need I don't really like telling everyone this but if things go south got a payload of Nuclear Warheads we can use in case things get really bad."

Gary's eyes widened fractionally at the news Kaden had given him. "Good to know Mr. Ross. I won't ask how a civilian has nuclear warheads on their ship. We'll keep that as out ace in the hole... just in case we need it."

"You kidding? That ship is 290 years old nukes was standard for it back then. Plus it came as part of the package when I won at tongo." Kaden replied he gave him a friendly jab in the ribs. "Don't worry I don't plan to make everyone glow with them they take lots of credits and time to replace."

"I'll ignore the fact that your ship should have had those warheads removed decades ago. I don't get if you won the ship or not. However I'm going to ignore all that for the time bring." Gary replied with a smile of his own.

He looked over to Naxea, who was ready to get started. "Whenever you are ready Colonel we can go and get out people."

Damien had been sat on the ground, listening to the conversation, his eyes widening at the mention of Vampires. "Guess we're gonna needs Stakes and Garlic." He muttered as he grabbed his Phaser Rifle and made sure it was all ready. When the Colonel made ready to move, Damien stood back up, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. "Ready Ma'am."

Naxea nodded. "Let's go," she replied, turning and stepping off at a fast pace, taking long strides as she did so, driven by the irritation at terran history of violence, genetic experimentation and weapons of mass destruction. Sure, photon torpedoes were much more powerful but were much more stable than a nuclear weapon. The thoughts made her wonder if the galaxy would be a better place had the Bajorans not met the Cardassians. Her people were sailing the stars when humans were still traveling the oceans of Earth by sailing ships. Now once again they were dealing with an apparent human mistake.

Kaden followed them close behind his face in his PADD as he was busy bringing the Redemption down to the surface via remote.

Gary walked along beside Naxea, this whole affair was unlike any he had ever been involved in. His senses were on full alert as his eyes swept the area looking for anything but the landscape was desolate and foreboding.

Damien followed behind them, keeping his grip tight on his rifle, looking around cautiously. The place seemed deserted, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was following them. Or stalking them. "Ugh. I really need to stop reading Stephen King before bed." He muttered.

"I don't find his books that scary." Kaden replied in very eerie calm demeanor still focusing on flying his ship by remote.

Damien shrugged. "Maybe not scary, but they're definitely creepy enough for a place like this." He shuddered slightly, looking around. "Feels like we're walking into a scene out of Alien. And we all know how great that ended." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Never saw it," Kaden admitted.

"Oh, it's a classic," Damien said, glancing over at him, grinning. "Classic Old Earth horror." He chuckled, shrugging slightly as he returned his attention in front of him. "Didn't end well for the Marines though." He muttered.

"Need better Marines then," Kaden replied coldly.

Damien raised his eyebrows, chuckling softly, shrugging his shoulders. “I guess that’s one way of thinking about it.”