Crawling Through The Belly
Posted on Mon Oct 1st, 2018 @ 11:30pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Tobias Beckett
Edited on on Mon Oct 1st, 2018 @ 11:37pm
1,921 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: SCIF Deck 9 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD001 1240 hrs
May 28 2394 1240 hrs (relative time)
The last thing that Tobias Beckett remembered hearing was the voice of Joran Thal ordering the SCIF into lockdown. The last thing he remembered doing was executing that order as he primed the data erase sequence. Now his head was throbbing his vision was blurry, Masters and Calhoun were nowhere to be found. He saw Warrant Officer Thal slumped in a corner among some damaged consoles. "Sir, are you okay. Shall I send for medical?"
Joran slowly opened his eyes and squinted as he tried to regain his surroundings. His head was spinning but that seemed to dissipate as he sat upright. Holding a hand up to stop Tobias, he said, "I'm... fine. I just got dizzy all of a sudden." He straightened his uniform front and cleared his throat. "Why are the consoles damaged? What happened?"
"I am not sure exactly what happened. You had ordered the SCIF secured as there was an incoming spacial anomaly. That is the last I remember. It seems that whatever has happened has severed our connection with the bridge." Tobias corrected one of the computers and began to hack away in an attempt to gain any information that may be useful.
Joran frowned as he blinked a few times in an effort to clear his head from the dizziness. "Yes, I remember that, but the consoles weren't damaged." He stood up and walked the few feet over to Tobias. "What do you suppose happened?"
"The good news my Intel clearance is still working, part one of the bad news is most of the computers are down. It seems that the ship was attacked..." Beckett's voice trailed off as his eyes widened. After a moment he gathered his thoughts. "Well sir it seems here is the big bad news. There is no contact with the bridge because it is not there. Deck 1 is gone..." After a few minutes Beckett established computer connections all over the ship. "Once more sir you are currently the most senior ranked person on their feet if these reports are to be believed. You are in command."
"Who attacked the Pioneer though, and why?" He paused a moment to consider their options. "We should probably make our way to main engineering so we can establish control of the ship and see if our attacker is still within sensor range." He gestured toward the door and made his way there.
"To answer your question sir, well I cannot determine that from here." Beckett nodded and followed Thal out of the SCIF. When the two men exited they were greeted by a grizzly sight. Sergeant Gaagii one of the Marines charged with guarding the SCIF, lay dead. His boded contorted and twisted and his face contorted into a look of both fear and horror. "I don't know what did this and I don't think I want to know."
Joran pulled out his sidearm phaser at the sight of the dead man. It was as good a warning as any to what might lay ahead for them on their journey to main engineering. It definitely wasn't an exploded panel or being thrown against a bulkhead due to a structural integrity problem. "Well, whatever it is might still be loose on the ship. Keep your eyes peeled." At that, he started down the corridor toward the turbolift.
Beckett stayed hot on his heels until they arrived at Engineering. Upon that arrival Beckett found nothing but more death. "I am no medical officer but these wounds look like an combination of animal wounds and disruptor blasts."
Joran frowned as he looked around the compartment for trouble. He wasn't aware of any attack. None of this made sense. "I wonder what caused such disparate wounds like that." He walked over to a console and started tapping into the ship systems. "Main power is offline. I'm going to try rerouting bridge controls and sensors to main engineering."
"Acknowledged." Backett replied as he began to tap out commands into his console. His eyes widened in a bit of surprise. "Sir, it seems that main power and the warp core was taken offline under order of Lieutenant Diari. I don't get it sir, why would she leave the ship dead in the water."
"I'm not sure..." He turned to check the EPS manifold display when suddenly he became very disoriented and braced himself against the bulkhead as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw other officers back in engineering, going about normal, routine work as if no emergency was taking place. "What... happened?"
Lieutenant Thalk had been running a warp manifold diagnostic as per the captain's orders, when he noticed two intel officers in main engineering. The Klingon turned toward Thal and caught him while he staggered. "Warrant Officer, it is a surprise to see you in engineering, so I was going to ask you the same thing."
Joran braced himself as he blinked several times. His eyes refocused on the man that he knew wasn't on the Pioneer anymore. "The ship... it was under attack. We were adrift and... intruders?" He couldn't make sense of what was happening but clearly that wasn't the case anymore.
Thalk chuckled at the idea of intruders. "Mr Rox no one gets on this ship our Marines see to that. However, I can assure you that all is well here. Perhaps you should get to Sick Bay and get checked out."
Tobias had fallen to the deck, as the vertigo hit him hard. Within moments he had gained his bearings and looked around as he was helped to his feet. The first thing that he saw was Joran speaking with Thalk. Beckett could have sworn that Thalk was transferred to Obsidian Command. The second thing he noticed was a red headed woman in engineering gold was helping him to his feet. "Are you okay? You took quite a tumble." The woman said. Tobias had a difficult time focusing but he saw that the woman was a Trill and he was sure that he did not recognize her.
Tobias rubbed his temple as he spoke. "Thanks Ensign...." Tobias had noticed the officer's rank pips but was at a loss for her name. "Forgive me ensign but I do not recognize you. Perhaps I hit my head harder than I thought."
She smiled softly "Chief I am Ensign Laree Thal, the Assistant Chief Engineer."
Joran stood there and stared at the woman he knew was dead. He never would have thought that he'd see her again and yet here she was. He was quickly realizing that he was not aboard his ship. Turning to Beckett, he spoke in a soft tone, "Let's get out of here... The bridge would be our best bet for help. The captain can assist us with whatever this is." His eyes slid back to the beautiful woman that had been the love of his life one last time before turning to walk away.
Tobias was never one to argue with a superior officer, and right now Joran was the closest to that bill that Beckett had. As such he simply nodded in the affirmative and headed for the door right on the Trill's heels.
"Wait Joran will I see you later? We have dinner plans." Laree called out as the two men left he was acting stranger than normal but to simply blow her off was not like him, Laree thought.
Joran stopped as the doors hissed open and turned toward her. He remembered to be polite and hopefully smooth things over. "Yes, you'll see me later. I have something important to attend to." And with that, he exited engineering and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it as he held a distant stare. He flipped the lighter closed and took a drag.
Beckett was hot on Joran's heels and when they entered the corridor. "Sir, I am at a loss. What exactly is going on here? Who is the Ensign? How or Why is Thalk back? My brain is spinning I am at a loss."
Joran shook his head in confusion. "I don't know why Thalk is on the ship." He sidestepped the question about the woman he knew intimately and pressed on. "I think we're floating through different quantum realities. I read something about this a while back. This has happened before, on another starship."
Beckett fought hard to get a hold of himself, he came very close to asking Thal for one of those cigarettes just to calm his nerves. "Right so we go to the bridge, or perhaps the SCIF. The SCIF should be immune to quantum singularities. At least in theory." He jogged a bit to catch up as it seemed Thal wanted to get away from Engineering as quickly as possible.
Joran called the turbolift and when it arrived, he entered it. "Bridge." He looked to Beckett with worry. "Let's see if we can appeal to anyone on the bridge for help." After a minute, the lift slowed to a stop and the doors opened. As they exited the lift, Joran became dizzy again and braced himself against the turbolift door. Looking up, they saw Romulan military officers at all the major stations on the bridge. His eyes slid back to Beckett before one Romulan walked up to him. "State your business on the bridge. You're not allowed here without clearance."
Beckett's eyes widened as the turbolift doors opened and he saw all of the Romulans. He knew when this was, or more accurately he knew why this was. Beckett gave the Romulan salute to the one who spoke. "Our apologies we did not mean to come to the bridge. There seems to be a malfunction with the turbolift. We will get it taken care of right away." He bowed his head and stepped back into the turbolift as he did. Tobias pulled Joran back into the turbolift, when the doors closed he ordered it to halt. "Sir, I know why things are the way they are on the bridge. Years ago Starfleet Intelligence monitored communications in the Romulan Empire. These missives spoke of a potential invasion of Federation space. Starfleet Intel was able to squash the invasion before it happened. However, in this timeline they must have failed or the information was never gained. Perhaps we can use this to formulate a way to set things right."
Thall thought deeply for a moment before his eyes lit up with an idea. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two cigarettes and handed one to Beckett. Then he pulled out his trusty lighter, which still existed in this universe, thankfully. He flipped it open and thumbed the flint wheel, causing the lighter to flash alight before reaching over and lighting Beckett's cig. His eyes gazed at the flame as he brought it back to his own face, the tip of the paper cigarette beginning to burn and sizzle softly. "Then we need to enlist some help, Mister Beckett." And with that, he barked at the computer to take them back down to the SCIF.
A Joint Post By
Warrant Officer Joran Thal
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Pioneer
Senior Chief Petty Officer Tobias Beckett
Intelligence Specialist, USS Pioneer
PNPC Malbrooke
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