And Then There Were Two
Posted on Sat May 4th, 2024 @ 2:15am by Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren
Edited on on Tue May 7th, 2024 @ 10:57pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: Chief Science Officer's Office - Deck 8 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD004 1215 hrs
"Rowena?" Alyssa stood, wanting to help, but the intelligence officer faded from view. What did she mean by it wouldn't help her here? She shook her head, puzzled. Myths and legends... She definitely needed to do some research, then talk to the doctor.
Rowena looked at the empty seat where the science chief just sat. She then put her mug back in the replicator before leaving the office. She gave a little smirk. "This is just way too easy."
Everything went hazy, then Rowena seemed to shimmer and then fade into nothing.
Alyssa blinked and looked around. Rowena was gone, but she didn't have time to walk out of the office. The science chief went to the door and opened it. No one was in the corridor.
She closed the door and turned back to her desk. What did Rowena mean, about Alyssa being right? Was it referring to legends and folk tales or about non-corporeal entities? No, she thought a moment later. About non-corporeal entities possessing people. Like Rowena? The other woman wasn't possessed. She'd sense it, wouldn't she?
Still, she could look at what she had about possession. She went to her computer and tried to log in to her personal files. She kept a separate database for her personal research. It contained all the information she'd collected over the years on ancient sites, archaeological digs, videos, holoimages, histories and anything else she found of interest to her archaeological, anthropological, and historic research. It included notes, diary entries, and local information on places she visited and the sites she worked on. She had one area for the papers she'd written and information for the ones she hoped to write. The section she wanted contained a wide range of myths, legends, folk, and fairy tales from around the galaxy.
There was information there that might shed some light on what might be going on with Rowena—if anything was. But when she tried to log in, she got a database error. She tried again, with the same result. Then she shut down her computer, waited for at least 30 seconds, and turned it on again. She still couldn't get in. It was like her entire database was corrupted or missing.
Where was her backup database? She had one… It took a moment to remember that it was in her quarters. She'd have to go check. Surely it wouldn't be corrupted, too? She wouldn't even consider the possibility that both were gone. She couldn't lose all that data.
Then Alyssa became aware of the heavy silence. As a telepath, she was used to the ever-present buzz from the minds of the other crew members. It was nothing specific, like thoughts or emotions. It was just a feeling of their presence, like a subliminal hiss of white noise.
Her mental shields kept out all but the loudest mental shouts, but the feeling of other minds was always there. Or had been. Now she could sense only one other person on the ship besides her. It was impossible. Only a few minutes ago the ship was humming with other sentient beings.
"Computer, where is the Pioneer crew?" she asked, hoping that it, at least, was able to scan them. If so, she'd head to sickbay to find out why she wasn't picking them up.
"Major Cornelius Tremble is on the Marine deck and Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren is in her office," the computer replied.
They couldn't be gone, she sensed them only a few minutes ago. "Where is everyone else?" she asked.
"There are two people assigned to the USS Pioneer," the ship replied.
Was the problem with the computer? It would explain why she couldn't get into her files. "Computer, where is Captain Malbrooke?"
"There is no one by the name of Captain Malbrooke."
Alyssa sighed. It had to be a computer error. She decided to try another way. She switched to the ship database on her computer and manually looked up the crew compliment. It showed only two names: hers and Major Tremble's. She checked for the nearest relay station to see if there was any indication of a spatial anomaly or unusual radiation that would account for the computer malfunction, but she was unable to access anything but the Pioneer's database and most of it was missing. She couldn't even reach some of her science colleagues she knew were within communication range. It was as if they'd never existed. "The bridge," she said aloud, just to hear her voice in the stark silence.
But what if the computer was right? The thought made her pause. It said there was one other person on this ship, and she needed to find him. Then she needed to get to the bridge and run some scans. There were certain types of radiation that would affect the main computer, but she'd need to check for it from the bridge's science station using the main sensor array.
She was almost to her office door when she paused and turned a slow circle, looking around. Something was missing. She could feel it, but she didn't know what it was. Radiation wouldn't muffle her telepathy so she only felt one person. And it wouldn't corrupt a shielded database. Think, Maren.
Didn't she have a photo of Jek'Lar on her desk? No. Why would she keep a photo of him in her office? She kept one in her quarters. Didn't she? She wasn't sure anymore.
That reminded her that she hadn't heard anything from him in a while. She didn't even know if he was still on Empok Nor.
"You know he really did go to Qo’noS to marry someone else. He lied to you. He lied about why he didn't look for you when he returned to Starfleet. He never wanted to marry you. You're not good enough for him."
"No." Where did that thought come from? He told her what happened, and she believed him. Didn't she? Then why the thought? Why the doubt now?
"Because you know he's now with one of the Klingon women on the station. He could never truly love a Betazoid."
Her legs began to shake and she sat in the nearest chair. Where did those thoughts come from? She never thought that before, and it felt odd. Like there was a mental brush of…something that didn't feel like her. "That's crazy." It had to be the stress from the sudden silence. The growing fear that everyone but Major Tremble had disappeared. Just like Rowena disappeared.
"I have to get to the bridge." She grabbed her bag with her PADD and a few tools she used on away missions and headed out the door to find some answers.
A Post By
Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren
Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
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