Empty halls and bloodstained walls

Posted on Mon Feb 17th, 2025 @ 4:04pm by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Commander Kyle Reece & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant JG Maxine Mckull & Josef Forstinger & Teevs Dosivi & Lieutenant M'Tuuri Sh'iss [S'hib]

Mission: Season 6: Episode 5: A church beyond heaven
Location: Alien Vessel Alpha
Timeline: MD:5
5011 words - 10 OF Standard Post Measure

M'Tuuri glanced around as the away team arrived at the airlock, staring at the vast and opulent docking ring that wrapped around the Church. Something felt off, she thought, spotting the odd A'janie wandering about, seemingly lost and confused she noted.

They, too, looked about like she was, as if expecting someone, or something.

"Wasss it always this empty?" She asked, her ears pinning back. "I only came aboard a coupurrle times but... I ssswear there were more people."

"I wouldn't know," Naxea responded, dressed in full Marine Assault Gear, hefting the CQB pulse rifle in her arms. "I prefer to keep my distance from religious nut jobs such as these A'janie."

"Same here, Naxea," The hulking form of Elysium's initial and current Chief Tactical Officer, Commander Kyle Reece moved with the group, as he spoke. "And the fact that I can't remember how many were here...that's double troublesome." He had his Starfleet-issued phaser rifle in his hands, as his eyes moved over every inch of ship interior as he kept his head on a swivel. "Something is definitely going on here. If one of us was forgetting things, it would be one thing. The fact that everyone is effected...?" He shook his head.

Teevs silently followed, tightly gripping his own hand weapon. The gradual disappearance of people from the station, followed by a disturbing lack of information about these people, left him unsettled. It didn’t take much convincing to let him come along: if he wasn’t a specialist, he could still fight.

Naxea looked at the hatch leading to the ship and then towards one of her officers. "Lieutenant Vale, take point once we get into the ship. M'Tuuri, bring up the rear. Everyone else, remember your spacing. Don't bunch up. Lieutenant Magnus, get that hatch open."

"Don't you think it's a bit odd..." M'Tuuri started, hanging back from the pack as everyone approached the airlock hatch. "That we've only just noticed these ships are empty?

Kyle shook his head as he replied. "Actually, it was noticed at least two days ago. My brother, Nicholas, and Rin both discovered the issue. They has spoken with the Captain of one of the alien ships. He had been questioning the A'janie about the disappearance of his crew, of whom he had claimed that he had at least twenty-five, but he couldn't remember who they were."

"But what about everyone else?" M'Tuuri shot back, looking around the vast and empty docking ring. "A purrlace this big? There ssshould be thousands aboard. Why are we only now finding it odd we can't find anyone?"

She scrunched her nose up, wrinkling her face into a frown as she looked back at the docking hatch, waiting to see what was on the other side.

Kyle nodded. "On that part, I agree. Even the monks seem to be missing now." He reached out and activated the hatch controls, ordering the computer to open the hates separating the Elysium and the station.

Amber maintenance lights lit up immediately as the circular door hissed open, its gears grinding angrily as it rolled to one side before stopping abruptly just shy of the alcove.

Servos whirled as the door repeated the motion, jutting back and forth ever so slightly before finally coming to rest, the amber lights blinking to green as an automated welcome message played.

The view inside, however, was anything from welcoming, and neither was the smell.

Kyle covered his nose with his hand. The smell was unmistakable. Many things had certain aromas that, once experienced, forever burned themselves upon ones mind and memories. Death was unmistakable from any other scent.

Sthilg clicked his tongue against the side of his mouth as he smelled death. Yet where were the bodies and the blood.

The sticky stench of blood made Teevs’ breath catch in his throat. His military training had him looking around about as much as Kyle was, looking for a sign that they would be in trouble. The pressure of the vessel’s atmosphere tickled his spine in an unpleasant way, like icy fingers. This was too much like the Bedia War, and he found himself relying on the intuition he leaned on back then.

Max was the one to take up next to the rear. She had been busy heading up the flight control department, and as much as she thought a trek through an alien starship might be a nice distraction, she quickly realized how wrong that assessment was. The scent of death was unfamiliar to her, but the scent of trouble was not. She pulled out her tricorder and opened it, scanning for anything that might prove helpful.

Naxea looked around, taking in the state of the corridor they stood in before checking her built in scanner in her suit. Nothing was registering. 'What the hell happened?' she thought.
"Vale, move out. Let's make our way to the bridge. Keep your eyes peeled and on your scanner," she ordered. "That goes for everyone. If you see something--anything off, speak up."

Josef had so far stayed quiet, Both about the seeming dwindling numbers of people and as the group continued towards their destination. Being dressed in his usual outdated attire, oje of the only hints that he may not be a history hologram was the phased clipped to his belt. He wasnt given his original weapon on this outing hit at least hs could somewhat defend himself with this thing.

Any Sense of Safety his mind had harbored and developed so far were however thrown out the window as the airlock opened. His facial expression didnt change, but the unmistakable smell of death brought back memories both old and new. Making his body tense up and his mind revert to high alert. "The Monks are such extreme pacifists, that they don't fight back at all even in a life or death situation. Surely the same cant be true for all of their guests. There must be some signs of struggle." he speculates out loud while taking a look closer look around.

What was more concerning, how he knew such information about these Aliens, or that he had no physical reaction to the smell or sights?

As the team moved down the corridor, Naxea couldn't help but get a sense of uneasiness. There didn't appear to be any signs of a fight. She honestly hated empty ships. There was something unnatural about it. She has a hard time believing a crew could just vanish without any traces of transporter activity. Something had to be left behind or disturbed.

"I'm not detecting any life sssigns," M'Tuuri called out from the rear of the group, waving a tricorder about as she followed. "but the ssscans keep locking onto sssomething and then it vanishes... I can't make headsss or tails of it."

She frowned, fiddling with the controls in an attempt to filter out any interference.

Up ahead the corridor deviated to the left, but the sight of the opposing wall gave the group pause.

Hundreds of scorch marks had peppered the junction wall, melting sections into slag.

"Hold it," she called raising her right hand, making a fist as she moved forward.

As soon as Naxea peered around the corner they spotted what had caused such immense damage to the opposing wall. It was some sort of automated sentry turret, crude and simple but highly effective in such tight and long interiors.

It was, however, still very much alive; unlike the rest of the ship. Its blinking red sensor bleeped loudly as it swivelled its weapon over to the sudden movement.

Naxea snapped back against the bulkhead. "Automated turret."

However, despite the panic, nothing happened. Its barrel remained silent as it stared intently down the corridor.

Naxea heard the turret click. In it's attempt to draw power from it's energy cells. "Sounds empty," she replied as she took her knife and tossed it down the corridor. The turret tracked the knife and again clicked as it attempted to fire. "It's empty.". Naxea rounded the corner.

"Lieutenant McKull, see if you can pull the the targeting data from this turret,". Naxea ordered as she moved to retrieve her knife.

"Understood, sir," came Max's monotone response. Wrinkling her nose, she stepped forward, breaking formation at the rear of the group. She approached the turret, watching as it took aim at her.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Its rhythmic attempt at disintegrating nothing reminded her of the ticking of a clock, only much less comforting. Stepping behind the device, Max interfaced her tricorder with it, trying to access the turret's systems. Maybe she could shut the device down, while she was at it...


M'Tuuri glanced at the turret and the rest of the away team before continuing down the hallway, her padded paws enabling her to slip by seemingly unnoticed.

But that was when it hit her, the smell they had all endured since coming aboard... it was getting stronger and made her nose wrinkle in disgust.

"Colonel... whatever that turret was firing at, I don't think they got it." She said softly, standing at the next junction and looking down the hallway.

M'Tuuri was no stranger to blood, or death for that matter... but even this made her stomach turn.

bodies, or at the very least parts of them lay strew about the entire corridor. Her eyes darted about, spotting weapons, helmets and other gear amongst the mutilated ruins of what looked like a suicidal last stand.

Coagulated blood covered nearly every surface; even the ceiling was splattered with gore that had long since stopped dripping.

She walked forward, feeling the cold wetness in the carpet as she approached one of the bodies, it was barely a torso, the rest of him was either gone or reduced to something unrecognisable if it wasn't still attached.

"I think all they did was piss it off." She said, hearing the footsteps approaching from behind as she reached for the helmet, tugging it gently free from the dead man's corpse.

Naxea fought back the urge to gag at the sight. Her mind raced for options. If a heavy phaser turret didn't stop whatever killed the crew, then what chance did they have with their weapons?

Kyle made his way to the turret, then he took in the gore that was past it. Though he had seen and experienced much in his career, the sight still caused him to pause a beat. The primitive lizard part of his brain, the one that operated the flight or fight responses, was started to work overdrive. He knew they were being watched, he just didn't know by who or what. "Everyone stay on your toes," he said as he started to move as if his eyes and phaser rifle were connected to the same swivel. He deactivated the safety as they continued forward.

The sight of these aliens made Teevs nauseous, a little color draining from his face. To see the familiar grey-skinned species, known for their tactical resilience, slain on their own ship was haunting. Kyle’s words only reinforced that tight knot in his stomach, and he adjusted the grip on his weapon.

"It's still recording..." M'Tuuri said, mostly to herself as she spun the helmet around to look at the HUD on the visor inside.

"I can probably play it back, find out what they were firing at."

"See what you can do," Naxea said. "Lieutenant McKull, how are you doing with that target data extraction from the turret.

Busy working with her scanner, Max's focus was on her task, even as she kept her ears open for anything of note. Interestingly, it was fairly easy to access the turret's targeting data. Or at least it would have been... if there was anything of note there.

Hearing Kyle approach, Max knitted her eyebrows together with a slight frown as she looked up, having managed to piece together some things. "Well, it appears clear this turret was active, for an extended period," she droned. "There is evidence that it was fired, but none of what it may have been firing at. As if its target were no one at all."

Kyle frowned as he listened to the report. "Well, clearly they were shooting at something. Carnage like that doesn't just happen." He paused a beat then added darkly, "Unless the Q was involved." The memories of the last time he had encountered the omniscient and omnipotent beings flashed through his mind. He had zero love lost on those creatures.

Max gave a small shake of her head at Kyle's words, commenting in her dull monotone, "The Continuum may be many things, but they do not simply slaughter those they encounter. Too much effort. Whatever did this, I doubt these men were the target of the turret."

Kyle decided not to rebuke Max's statement at that moment. He had a much different view - from personal experience- about the Continuum and how it behaved. Instead, he nodded as he replied. "You're right. Though, what were they shooting at?" His eyes moved over the carnage again, feeling a cold chill run through him that there seemed to be no sign of the target of the confrontation.

“It’ll be a little awkward to view but I got it playing,” M’Tuuri said as audio began playing from the helmet in her paws, several voices could be heard, all of whom in clear distress.

“Unless you want to put it on,” She suggested sarcastically while holding the helmet at an angle where people could see the inside of the visor, a grim reminder of what happened to the previous occupant evident across its surface.

"Just play the feed," Naxea replied, annoyed.

Max stepped up to the huddled group, peering up at the helmet though she could barely see anything thanks to her short height. Still, she had her ears, and she listened. But whatever she was expecting, what she heard next was... not it.

Kyle stepped closer to Sh'iss, as she activated the feed. He hoped it would give them at least an idea as to what they were facing.

The recording whipped around awkwardly, struggling to focus as the Benthai soldiers moved about hurriedly, his grey-skinned hand holding a rifle

- - Sergeant, report! what the hell is going on! - -
- - No idea Lieutenant, I was hoping you could tell me. - -

there was an uneasy silence as the recording glanced about, catching glimpses of dozens of heavily armed and armoured marines.

- - Weapons fire has been reported all across the ship and we can't contact the bridge. - -
- - I can’t even remember who's supposed to be up there. - -

The recording panned left as the Sergeant looked down the corridor, watching the turret the away team has encountered being set up by two other marines.

- - Until we know otherwise, we have to assume the worst, hold position and protect the senator, nothing is to reach his quarters. - -

“Uhh, skip… skip.” M’tuuri groaned, fiddling with the helmet as the recording zipped by with nothing eventful happening.

- - Open fire! - -

“Oh, too far…” M’tuuri said with a toothy grin before rewinding the recording every so slightly.

- - ators doors are locked and secured sir. - -

- - have we heard from any other teams? - -

- - No, wait what other teams? - -

- - well who reported the weapons fire? - -

- - Lieutenant, motion sensors just triggered up ahead, something is moving this way. - -

- - Ready weapons! get into position! - -

The Benthai ran ahead, kneeling next to the turret as others including the Sergeant took aim behind.

- - Hold fire until I say… - -

Everything went quiet, the idle chatter, the click of boots, everything but the servos in the turret whirling as it panned left to right.

But then it beeped, shifting its focus to the right-hand side as something came around the corner, too pixelated to make out for the away team beyond its size.

- - What the fuck is that! - -
- - Open fire! - -

The corridor lit up almost instantly, blanketing the end of the corridor in a haze of green as dozens of plasma rifles thundered rounds down range, it would have been impossible for anything to survive the initial volley and yet nobody stopped firing.

- - Are we even hitting it?! - -
- - my rounds are going straight through! - -

M’Tuuri glanced up, looking down the corridor towards the turret in an attempt to visualise what was happening on screen.

- - Front row! fallback! - -
- - Second row, fall back! - -
- - Keep firing! swap to secondaries if you have to! - -

the steady hum of weapons fire dwindled as the soldiers retreated, even the aggressive whine of the turret had gone silent as the creature it was firing at stepped lazily over the top of it with its front two legs, seemingly showing a terrifying level of intelligence.

- - Turrets overheated, keep falling back! - -

it was clearer to see now, even amongst the panic and shake of the helmet cam they were fighting something unnatural, an apex predator above all else.

- - Die on your feet Benthai and you will go to the hall of martyrs! - -

More weapons fire could be heard, intermixed with pained screams as soldiers died one by one.

- - Stand defiant until your last! make it earn your death! - -

The two Benthai soldiers ahead of the Sergeant continued firing their sidearms, standing their ground before being viciously smashed aside.

Blood and viscera went flying as the creature pounced forward knocking the Sergeant and the recording to the floor.

His death cries could be heard as he furiously poured shots from his sidearm into whatever was killing him.

“So uhh…” M’Tuuri said as she let the helmet fall to her side, not wanting to watch anymore. “That was fun, but I think we should leave now.”

For a moment, all was silent as everyone processed what they had seen and heard. Max sighed and stepped back, stating simply, "That much is obvious. There is nothing further to be gained here, nothing further to do."

Kyle grimaced as he spoke up. "While I agree, leaving us a good idea, we still need to figure out why we are forgetting things. There is no evidence that that issue will resolve itself if we leave. And, if we do leave, without that resolution, we could very well be leaving people behind." He shook his head at the idea. "And I for one, am not keen on leaving anyone behind. Especially not if there is a chance that they can be saved."

Max shrugged slightly at Kyle's words, a frown crossing her face. "And nothing to suggest the answer may be... gift wrapped, here," she drones. "The longer we remain here, the greater the risk that that... creature, could return. As clear as it is that we lost someone..." she lets out a huff of air, looking down at the ground solemnly, "Given what we saw I find it highly unlikely that such a creature would spare them out of the goodness of its heart."

Naxea was quiet, planning out scenarios. "We leave, we're dead," she said finally. "This thing will just keep killing. It's a predator and most likely knows that something is aboard the ship if it has keen senses which it likely does. She scanned the corridor with her tactical scanner, showing the power grid of the ship. Plasma didn't hurt this thing but I bet a couple hundred thousand volts of electricity can. Let's get access to this ship's deck listing and internal sensors."

Kyle thought about Naxea'a idea for a moment, then nodded cautiously. "Whatever we do, we need to be careful. We still don't know enough about...whatever this thing is. We don't want to become like these poor souls." He indicated the dead that surrounded them. "Clearly, from the information we have, a frontal attack won't work." He grew silent for a moment as he continued to think.

"Perhaps, it hunts from a central location, like a nest. Perhaps, if we locate that point, we can attack it, and either kill it, or at the very least, disable it long enough to get or memories back, if it's causing that issue, and possibly, rescue any individuals that it might be holding." When Kyle finished speaking, he glanced about the group, to see if anyone had a better idea.

Max shrugged silently. She didn't see the point, but it seemed that Kyle intended on going through with this, as crazy as it might be. With the course set, she knew going against the ship was futile. So she might as well do what she could. Gazing around, she considered their options for several moments. Given everything, she doubted this would work, but it was worth a shot. "If we had access to this vessel's internal sensor grid, we may be able to find some information. However, someone from medical would likely be best analyzing it."

"Alright. M'Turri, download that video. We need to get to a control area with restricted access to make it more defensible, so let's make our way to the bridge and quickly. Everyone stay close and keep your eyes on each other. Lieutenant Vale, take point."

"What if it's not here anymore? this isn't a big ssship, Colonel, surely it would have come for us by now no?" M'Tuuri grumbled as she fumbled with a wire from her utility belt.

"We haven't exactly been quiet." She added before inserting the small cable into whatever access port she could find, instantly scraping the data from the helmet's memory.

"I want to be sure and the only way to be sure is to get access to ship sensors. Until proven otherwise, we'll treat this as a worst case scenario with the creature aboard. And give Josef a real weapon that goes past stun."

Kyle stepped over to the German soldier, and handed him his own type two phaser. He indicated the additional settings. "As you can see, the top power graph, which is red, us now illuminated. Be very careful. Even on its lowest setting, it will still cause serious damage and injury." He then took the original phaser from Josef, and placed it in the holster on his right hip.

Josef so far had remained completly quiet. Never interjecting, or even giving a single peep from himself other than breathing. Some might take this as absence, but no, he was on high alert, his eyes turned from the group and twitching between every single possible approach, may it be a hallway or vent. At least, until he heard his name spoken and turned back to the group. Exchanging Phasers with Kyle he gave a nod. He still had to get used to these weird energy weapons-but it was much like pointing a TV Remote, and that he could definetly do.

"Dont worry, Ill be careful. Itll be like riding a bike, only this one hovers." he jokes slightly before turning back to face away from the group. "You know what this reminds me of ? Alien. The Movie from '79. Only we dont have a flamethrower and I dont think anyone here wants to volunteer to lure it into an airlock ?" he spews out, mostly to himself to calm his nerves. Which from the outside seemed hard like steel, but on the inside ? Not so much.

Kyle grinned despite the situation. "I think I watched that once. Is that the one with the little creatures that multiply in water and are killed by sunlight?"

Josef seemed to actually chuckle at the remark. "Hah, I wish. Thats a Gremlin from the Movie Gremlins. No, im talking about 8 foot tall black carapaced killing machines with claws that rip through steel, acid blood, and reproduce by laying eggs in people until they burst out of their chest. And if that thing is anything like that, I dont wanna end up like the Nostramo Crew. I mean it either shrugged off or is just immune to their turrets and weapons, and ripped them to pieces. Fucker could be in the vents right now waiting to ambush us." he goes on, actually checking his surroundings once. "Or it could be something completly different. Im no expert."

Kyle nodded thoughtfully as he listened. When Josef finished, he responded. "Well, Mister Forstinger, if you're game, after we get out of those mess, we could use the holodeck to relive some of those old sci-fi movies?" He gave the other man a friendly grin as he spoke.

After watching the video, Teevs had turned his attention back to the fallen remnants of the Benthai. They didn’t deserve such a horrible death. Kneeling for a second, he dragged his thumb in a little of the blood before streaking it against the back of his right hand, then stood and put his right fist into the palm of his left hand at about shoulder height. It was the Benthai martyr salute, and he held that pose for a couple seconds before lowering his hands. “May you find the solace of rest,” he whispered.

Turning to Kyle, Teevs took in a steady breath to try and calm his unsettled nerves. The tension in his shoulders indicated that he was still very attentive, almost waiting for something to break the stifling quiet or produce a subtle shift in atmosphere. He didn’t like this ship, his instincts were screaming that they needed to leave. “I can help translate their systems,” he offered, his voice nearly as tense as his body.

Kyle nodded to the man and gave him a slight grin. "We're happy for any help you can give us, Teevs." The big man reached out and gently squeezed the other's right shoulder in a friendly manner.

The hand on Teevs' shoulder reminded him of the start of the Bedia War, when his father did the same thing before he and his sister were shipped off. It was an eerie familiarity which didn't help ease his tension, but it at least provided comfort in knowing that he wasn't alone. He only gave a nod to Kyle as he waited to see what the next steps were.

After Kyle continued past Teevs, Forstinger moved up behind him and gave the alien an (encouragingly meant) fist bump into his shoulder. He had a much more cynical outlook on things, and unlike Teevs, did not seem-at least outwardly, phased by the carnage and death. "Hey, dont worry about a thing. We're gonna get that bastard one way or the other." he encouraged him, though it was more like the rough encouragement he was used to giving his friends. Not minding his language in the slightest. His mood seeming....rather well despite being in active danger. "And worst case scenario, I give you full permission to use my severed limbs as a self defense weapon or bait." was his last few words as he gave him a grin before patting him on the back and moving at a pace to be able to effectively cover the group with Kyle.

If the strange optimism didn't confuse Teevs, the blessing he received to use the man's limbs as weapons certainly did. The pat on the back made him stumble ever so slightly, and he watched Josef walk off with an expression that seemed fairly universal for 'what the fuck.'

The group began to make their way down the corridor. Naxea had her tactical scanner constantly scanning on all spectrums as they moved. After several minutes, they came to what appeared to be a science lab. The lab was in disarray with several monitors powered down. "Let's see if we can get one of these consoles up and running,"

Josef followed into the lab and quickly pointed his phaser towards all corners and sides of the room, even once looking up and above. Making sure nothing was lurking-even if Naxea had her scanner. It was pure instinct by now. "A Labratory? Do spaceships just have these like a Galley?" he comments, partially because he wasn't actually quite sure. Going around inspecting some of the equipment scattered around.

Kyle moved to the nearest console and tried to use it. "Hey, Teevs, can you come over here and translate this text for me?"

Finally, something other than playing soldier. Teevs followed Kyle, looking at the console and furrowing his brow in concentration. He then pulled a small datapad from his pocket and began typing onto it. "Let me see if I can get the computer to translate." Once he finished typing, he looked for an access port, a common addition to many vessels in the quadrant, and connected his datapad to it. A few seconds passed before the symbols on the console briefly glitched before being replaced with Federation Standard. "Benthai technology isn't much different from Lonian technology," he explained, though it was likely unnecessary. "Try now, Mister Kyle."

Kyle nodded and gave the other man a small grin. "Thanks." He then looked at the screen. "If what I'm seeing here is accurate, it seems that there have been disappearances, relating to this cathedral station, for the past nine months. It started when they pasted through a nebula, roughly ten lightyears away."

That made Teevs' brow furrow. It was unlikely to be coincidence, there seemed to be a rather obvious connection between the disappearances and the journey through the nebula, but what confused him was how those were connected. "That sounds like the Hite Nebula, but as far as I'm aware, there's nothing particularly notable about it. No planets, literally just a bunch of gas trying to form into stars."

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