Creepy crawlies!

Posted on Tue Dec 14th, 2021 @ 4:30am by Lieutenant Myne Redal & Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford
Edited on on Thu Dec 23rd, 2021 @ 10:47pm

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: Holodeck 8
Timeline: MD01 1130
2445 words - 4.9 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

*So here's the thing. I like checking out holodeck programs to optimize them since it's really a minor effort mental activity for me. I shut my brain off and just fix the code most of the time. Tweaking and optimizing it without interfering with the programs of the users, while making sure they do not leech off too much from the ship's power grid. And I get to see what creative stuff people come up with, in a sense, I am an aspiring anthropologist! But sometimes, people make the creepiest weirdest things possible.*

Myne was in Holodeck 8 optimizing various parts of the code from what was supposed to be a Halloween program. A celebration Myne Redal did not understand. Really, none of Redal's hosts ever understood it, Humans are just plain weird. However, the dark forest in which this program was supposed to take place was not really intimidating. Foreboding, sure, but not scary.

After all, Redal's hosts had seen worse and done worse sadly. So Myne kept working, mind shut off or thinking of other fun things as she worked, optimizing the foliage on some of the trees, shadows, sun rays, and so on. Until the actual scary part of the program started. Not just started, there was a bug in it, which was actually the reason Myne was there in the first place, a bug she only understood the moment weird chittering could be heard around her.

Spiders, huge, creepy, waist-high mutant-like spiders. And not a few of them, but countless almost. "Craaaap... I found the bug. Crap!" She talked to herself before yelping as one of them rushed and knocked the precious PaDD out of her hand. Myne did not have enough time to think, she just ran to the only thing she saw in sight. A large rock, several meters high.

Of course, she did actually manage to climb it before talking out loud. "Computer, pause program!" Only to get a simple reply. "Error, operation unavailable." At least the spiders did not seem to climb after her. Actually, they were just surrounding the rock, raising their legs but not climbing, the user must have not actually had time to code climbing up surfaces for them. Lucky her.

"My PaDD!" Myne sulked and dropped down to sit on the top of the rock. Tapping her badge she sighed. "Security. This is Lieutenant JG Myne Redal, Assistant Chief Operations Officer. Can you send someone down to Holodeck 8? I need assistance."

Damien was sat in the Security Office, slowly working his way through the stack of PaDD's that had been left for him to sort out. A cup of coffee sat next to him as he read through the varying reports. They all pretty much contained the same report: 'Nothing has happened. Everyone's behaving.' But, it all still needed to be logged, so here he sat.

When he heard the call come through, he quickly pulled up her crew file. Looks like she was fairly new. No wonder he hadn't met her yet. Shrugging, he stood up, stretching. It was probably nothing. I mean, how much trouble could someone really get into on the Holodeck. Still, it got him out of the office for a little bit. Tapping his badge, he quickly answered, "This is Lieutenant Junior Grade Damien Blackford. Hang tight. I'll be there shortly."

A few minutes later, he was outside the Holodeck. Stepping up to the control panel, he quickly had a look at what program was running. 'Halloween Mania.' Well. That sounded like fun. "Computer, pause program."

"Error. Operation unavailable." Damien furrowed his brow in confusion. Okay. Interesting. "Computer, end program. Authorisation, Blackford-Delta-2" There was an error beep, followed by the same message. "What the hell?" He muttered, shaking his head. "Alright. Guess we're going in." If it was a horror program, god knows what he'd find in there. But, it kind of explained why she called for Security.

Sighing, he quickly pressed the button to open the doors, stepping inside, instantly getting the feeling of being creeped out. "Great. Just what I needed a week before Halloween. A heart attack." Sighing again, he slowly started walking through the dense fog. "Computer, are the safety protocols engaged?" There was another beep, followed by, "Information not found' He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Thank you. Very helpful."

Walking through, he cleared his throat, he called, "Lieutenant Redal. This is Lieutenant Blackford. Where abouts are you?"

A voice could be heard as a Lieutenant Blackford replied. If this incident reached Baeryn, Myne feared she would get an earfull. *Damn it Redal, why are you such a freaking unlucky asshole?!* She screamed internally at her symbiont. Honestly, one thing connected all of Redal's hosts, no matter the life paths they chose. Bad luck had always stuck close to Redal, and it only got worse as time passed for each host.

Hearing the voice call out, Myne raised her head from her knees, where her chin had been resting. "Erm, heya! I am further deep in the forest!" She called out as loud as she could. "Listen!! The damn program had a glitch and has thrown the computer in a logic loop. Find my PaDD on the floor somewhere, please. And be careful!! Lots of giant spiders around and I am not sure the safety features are engaged. And I mean lots!! They can't climb surfaces though!!" Hopefully, the Security officer could hear her. And not get gobbled up. *What a crappy day.*

Damien raised an eyebrow hearing her reply, shuddering slightly. "Spiders. Why did it have to be spiders? Why can't it ever be butterflies." He muttered, before sighing, shaking his head. "Well, once more unto the breach." Running a hand through his hair, he gripped his Phaser tightly and started walking further into the forest.

It didn't take him long to find the aforementioned PaDD. Crouching down, he picked it up, looking over it. "How old is this thing?" He muttered, looking over. "Er, Lieutenant Redal, I've found a PaDD, but it's... unique, I guess. Is that yours?"

As he waited for a reply, he heard a rustling coming from the nearby bushes. Standing up, picking the PaDD up as well, he gripped his Phaser tightly, taking a step towards the bush, before, stumbling back as the aforementioned giant spiders came tumbling out. Letting out a few, choice, swear words, he quickly righted himself, turning around, running in the opposite direction. 'Why did it have to be spiders?' He thought to himself once again.

"Yes! Please be careful with it!! And it's not that old, only four centuries or so!" Myne called out, more worried about her PaDD than about the spiders if anything. Damn holoprojections. "I am on a big rock deeper in the forest!! Run to me and climb fast!! Oh, some spiders broke away!! Quickly!! I think the things are on a timer to spawn more after a certain interval passes!!" She called out again, looking through the dark trees worried. Everything was fixable as long as she got her PaDD back.

“Only four centuries.” Damien mumbled to himself. “Sure. Only four centuries. Not that old at all.” As he ran through the woods, he groaned to himself. ‘Great. More spiders. That’s just what the world needs more of.’ He thought to himself, as he pushed his way through the shrubbery, making his way towards the sound of Myne’s voice, eventually pushing his way through some trees and spotting her, hurrying over to the rock next to her and swiftly clambering up to safety.

“You mind explaining what exactly happened here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Spiders appear and rush from all over, some almost catching Damien quite a few times. With some close calls, however, they remain at the bottom of the rock, making creepy sounds as they swarm the area once more. An endless number of them trying to climb but not being able to do so due to poor programming.

"Oh, you've arrived. And no weapons, smart!" Myne shook her head and took her PaDD right out of his hands without asking. "Whoever made this program did a poor job obviously. Security features are off, spiders and bugged, and the program keeps spawning more and more of them with no limits. I am Myne by the way." She said already focused on her PaDD and typing furiously.

Damien rolled his eyes as he looked down at the swarm of ever-increasing spiders. At least they didn’t seem to know how to climb. “Well, I wasn't exactly expecting to run into a swarm of giant, mutant, spiders.” Sighing, he shook his head. “Besides, I do have one weapon. My Phaser.” He retorted, pulling it free from its holster, changing the setting. “If for whatever reason, you can’t fix this, I can try and blast a way out of here.”

"Hah! Can't fix it? Really? Do you know who you're talking to kid?" Myne asked chuckling and then stopped to look at Damien. "Ah right, you don't know me, we just met. Yup, you have no idea who you are talking to. No worries I'll have this fixed in ten minutes or so. Since I'm in the code, might as well, fix the initial problems as well. So hold on tight, don't fall and whatever you do, try not to blow your toes or fingers with that thing!"

Damien raised an eyebrow as she spoke, quickly he might add. “Whoa whoa. Hold your horses. Take a breath.” Looking over the rapidly growing horde of spiders, he glanced back at her. “Pretend I’m an idiot and you need to explain things in simple terms. And I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of using this weapon. I was third in my class at the Academy.”

Blinking she stared at him. "You were third? And that is a matter of pride because? In Trill society, one strives to be first, the best, not settle for third. Being third means you are three times more likely to miss your shot from my point of view!" Her tone is teasing and her grin signifies she is just out to poke fun at him. At least to attempt to, in order to distract from the horse of scary spiders below them.

Getting back to her PaDD she continued to talk. "As for an explanation, I am the Assistant to the Operations Chief! And I am damn good with computers, been good at for centuries now. Basically, my codes as ACOO spare me the bother to hack my way into most ship's systems, such as the holodeck. Thus I can simply access the program code itself and make changes to it. Such as turning up the light!" As she said that the creepy night turned into day.

"Or put a cap on the number of spiders spawned." The horde began to vanish, leaving behind a total of twenty giant spiders instead. "Stuff like that. Now just to fix the computer commands and we should be done!"

“New Assistant Chief. Well, glad to meet you. Wish it were under better circumstances though.” He said, chuckling. “And there’s nothing wrong with being third!” He argued, rolling his eyes, smirking at her, looking around as the simulation changed, the sudden brightness causing him to squint slightly. “Jesus!” He exclaimed. “Warn a guy before you do that next time!” Looking down, he let out a sigh of relief as the number of spiders significantly reduced. “That’s great and all, but there’s still some here.” He pointed out.

"Nice to meet you too. Though these are nice enough circumstances. At least it wasn't boring, right?" She replied with a soft laugh at his reaction. "Well, if you like to feel consolation in being the third, I am not going to sandstorm on your parade! You are the one in Security! I thought you guys had to be ready and prepared for everything at all times!!" Myne teased him some more as she finished fixing the program. "Aaand done. Finally. Computer, pause program." With that command, the spiders froze in place. "See? Done! Everything works are intended now. Come, let's leave, I am done here."

Damien rolled his eyes at the young Trill, smirking at her. "I am ready for pretty much everything. But the Academy doesn't exactly train you for mutant spiders!" He chuckled, shaking his head as the program finally stopped. "Thank god." He muttered. Clearing his throat, he spoke clearly, "Computer, end program." The computer bleeped before the room reset itself, the spiders disappearing. "Ugh. Thank god they're gone. I'd rather face a hoard of Klingons than more of them spiders." Shuddering, he stretched slightly, before, nodding his agreement. "Yeah. Let's go." He said, moving towards the door.

"Yeah it does not. I did point that out to them, however. Any military institution should always train for giant mutant arachnids!! What if there is a creepy race of them out there that decides to invade and feast upon all mammals?!" Myne's voice kept increasing in tone and intensity until the last part. That is when she raised her hands as if they were claws and made growling and bite downs at Damien trying to scare him with a sudden movement. Chuckling, she followed him out once the program was ended shaking her head. "Really? You would rather face certain death rather than just try to talk spiders down from eating you? Pfff... scrady cat..."

Damien raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. This Trill was certainly an odd one, but the thought of a race of Giant, Mutant, Spiders sent shivers down his spine. That was one race he didn't fancy meeting. Walking out the holodeck, he did a quick check to make sure everything was indeed back to normal, before turning back to Myne. "Yup. Give me a raging horde of Klingon's any day." He said, grinning at her.

Glancing around, he smiled at her, leaning against the wall. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Redal. Interesting circumstances to meet under, but good all the same. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to call." Pushing off the wall, he offered her a quick salute, before turning on his heel, and heading back towards the Security Office. If this first meeting was any indication of how Miss Redal was going to be, then life on the Elysium was about to get even more interesting.

//OFF//

Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford
Security Officer
USS Elysium

Lieutenant JG Myne Redal
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Elysium