Gone
Posted on Tue Apr 30th, 2024 @ 11:41pm by Lieutenant Commander Rowena McGowen & Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Wed May 1st, 2024 @ 12:21am
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: The Morgue - Deck 9 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD004 1100 hrs
It was quiet in Marine country. Neil had checked himself through past Fry, who was Corporal of the Watch, and made his way down to the Morgue. As he entered, lighting came up and he saw the array of MARVEL-EAS suits in their niches, or layer out like bodies on the work tables scattered around the room.
The cycled air was clear, but his nose could pick up the solvents, lubricants and other fluids used to maintain the gear. He double checked, as a matter of course, that the armory was sealed and then moved over to his own suit. Pulling the helmet down from its resting place, he regarded it and his his own reflected image in the visor as his contact began linking over and he caught a flicker in the visor. Like a shadow was moving behind him and he turned, peering around.
It wasn’t really dark. His contact had light gathering and chased away the shadows in his left eye as one of the lighting fixtures flickered slightly. Neil notated that for maintenance as he waited for the helmet to warm up He could have done a field expedient power-up, but he didn’t see the need to overtax the system.
Not to mention that that spike would show on the Cure's bridge Ops station.
This whole thing was going to take some finesse anyway. Neil set the helmet down on on a nearby work table and regarded it as a flicker began within it and he saw the start-up process begin ticking down in his HUD. Things aboard the Pioneer were strange.
Tyler was acting up. His biometrics and actions were just…off.
Neil had spent the day trying to get a moment with Hermia and that hadn’t worked. He’d purposely kept the attempted contact on the sly. He hadn’t polled Rowena yet, having decided he’d rather see what the CMO’s pulse and opinion was on the whole matter. Neither had he trusted talking to the Counselor yet, though she would have been the logical person to give him a reading on the crew.
The trust just wasn’t there. Vura seemed alright, she was just too new to trust that fully yet.
Something flickered again in his peripheral and Neil frowned, but didn’t turn his head yet. His contact told him nothing was there. If something was there, then, that something was either really stealthy or had had the juice to make the Pioneer and her systems not see them.
There were only a few people that had that kind of clearance aboard.
At least there was only supposed to be a few. Neil activated the work table and began a system scan of his Suit as the helmet powered up enough to go online. The Morgue had its own systems though and he set up a sweep, which only came up with a series of random power fluctuations.
That wasn’t necessarily out of the norm.
Still, he felt like he was being watched. And it was making his teeth itch.
Rowena calmly walked in to Marine country. The lights were quite dim. She silently stood behind Neil observing him at what he was doing. She had one hand behind her back and in the other hand she had a mug of hot coffee. She silent took a sip and then softly said after she swallowed her coffee, "Major?"
Neil startled and turned slowly, straightening from the combat crouch he'd automatically assumed once he identified the source. "Welcome to the Morgue, Commander, "he said, leaning backward then against the work table. "What brings you down to the Morgue?"
His contact positively identified her bio readout and voiceprint. What Neil really wanted to know is how she accessed-in without the dedicated tell-tales telling him someone was doing that. Rowena had the clearance...but the system still should have flagged when anyone came in.
Rowena smiled to Neil. "I heard you were taking over the investigation in to the disappearance of Lieutenant H'ros, I was wondering if you need any help." She said friendly and warm and immediately added, "Do you think it has a connection with with the doctor?"
Neil smiled back and said, "I don't know about taking over. I'm facilitating a bit. Right now I'm dealing, but I will keep your offer in mind. As far as the doctor goes, I hadn't made that leap officially. Yet. I'm not seeing anything that would make me think it's a good idea to narrow the scope. Unless you have insights to offer? You are the Intel snoop, after all."
Rowena shrugs. "What I know is that Lieutenant H'ros was investigating her disappearance, it would make sense that could have something to do with it. But that was just me thinking out loud. I do remember him asking me things about her disappearance, that's how I know."
Neil leaned a hip against the work table and frowned, through the static he was picking up a weapons signature on Rowena. That wasn't necessarily strange. And it might even be a glitch, but he felt his hackles rising. "Right now I'm more concerned with the ship, operations and a Captain who appears to be on the verge of a breakdown of some kind.
Static filled his contact again and he shut it down with a series of blinks and a side movement of his eye. "With all that, I've decided to reach out to General Sobel and see if we can't get a recall." He picked up his helmet and regarded the ship's Second Officer. "I hate to work around the Captain, but a direct confrontation might send him off. What's your opinion?"
Rowena looked at the suits the major was working on as she started to speak. "I think the senior staff disappearing is a concern. The captain seems to be very apathetic about it. I am very concerned. I don't know how you feel about it, but a captain that doesn't care, is one thing, but right now slowly but surely the departments are losing their senior officer, I really think you should look in to that." She thought a moment. "Maybe we should divide and conquer. I will take care of the captain and you will investigate the missing department heads."
"Take care of the Captain? That's more my task as Exec," Neil stated. "And so far, he's erratic but hasn't done anything to endanger the crew or ship. That's why I'm hoping to do an end run. The Cure's comms should be able to slip through without Tyler noticing. We get back to a station, we may be able to defuse things and get to the bottom of the missing personnel."
Somehow Rowena got a bit nervous when Neil talked about trying to go back to the station. It was not in Malificus plan to return. Rowena maintained her composure and said, "Of course, sir, that may have been out of line. I will take on the missing crew then, while you get this ship to turn around." She turned around. She stopped and then softly whispered, "But I must stop you." She walked away before he could ask anything from her.
Malificus however could not let this slide. The lights turned off and on again and Rowena had disappeared to Neil. However, she was still standing there as she slowly put Neil's suit down and looked to the body of a dead Paul Micheal. She grinned and then slowly reached to her badge and tapped it. "Security to the marine deck, Captain Merrick, please report to the marine deck, we have a security breach!"
Neil blinked. In between the blink and the lights cycling he felt what best could be described as a brain freeze.
Like eating too much really cold ice cream when he was a kid.
Or not a kid, like that time on Proxima. With the twins.
Then he was falling and landed on the deck in a random hallway. He rolled slowly over and pushed himself up into a sitting position. The pain faded and he felt at his nose as his lips tasted blood and his fingertips came away with stained red. Ignoring that he blinked and his contact attempted to reset and link to the ships network. For some reason it was having problems. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the bulkhead and gave his own system a few beats to reset.
He was bleeding, so he was still alive. Everything else could shake out from there.
Right?
A Joint Post By
Major Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Commanding Officer, The Cure
Lieutenant Commander Rowena McGowen
Chief Intelligence Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
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