STF

MPT-"Six Hours From Evil"- the other Leviathan

Posted Oct. 30, 2020, 1:58 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Ryder Raauhl (Executive Officer) (J Ridgley)

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in MPT-“Six Hours From Evil”- the other Leviathan

Posted by Lieutenant William Hampton (Chief Engineering Officer) in MPT-“Six Hours From Evil”- the other Leviathan

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Surda (Chief of Security / RTF) in MPT-“Six Hours From Evil”- the other Leviathan
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

The ship still lurched, vacant, the away team’s transporter beams briefly lit up the darkened transporter room. The members would notice first that the only lights were the red alerts notices which turned the entire room red for a second before plunging it once again into complete darkness, just to be lit again for a second. The only sound was the red alert klaxon, which called out to them, desperate to be acknowledged.

The next thing the team would notice was the semicircle of officers standing before them, hands at their sides, standing straight, as if at attention. Their backs, however, were turned, each body facing away from the team, except for their heads. Their blood shot eyes made contact with the team’s own gaze, as their heads were seemingly put on backward. They were the eyes of fear and terror. Their mouths were gone and simply replaced with hollow holes. Their semi-circle surrounded the transporter pad, the only way to get around them was to walk in between them.

Storyteller S

Casela looked around, swallowing the horror at the sight of the officers. She was sure this little display had been constructed for their benefit. “Fenrir, as quietly as you can go check the corridor, please. And be careful not to bump anyone.” Casela stepped down off the transporter pad next to the officer directly in front of her. She attempted to close the eyes, out of respect. But then she was turning sideways between that officer and the next and towards the door. She considered trying to sense the life form/Hampton from here, but despite the strength of her telepathy, she didn’t have the ability to use it to track anyone. The eerie silence unnerved her, and she resisted the urge to draw a weapon. Hampton had warned her her weapons would do no good, and she had no doubt that was true. She approached the door and looked cautiously down the corridor both ways, bracing herself for the sight of more terrifyingly dead crewmates.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS/RTF/KAI9 handler

Surda looked closely at the bodies, almost clinical. Her face was impassive, with no sign of surprise or horror. She would have time to be horrified later, or she would be dead. She stepped off the pad, following Casela out of the ring. “Anything?” She spoke quietly, scuffing her feet on the ground before speaking. She likely didn’t need to announce her presence, but it was a habit when coming up behind friends. After a moment of hesitation, she peered into the hallway with Casela. Surda wasn’t disturbed by death, after all, death was a fact of life, but this massacre? It was a tad creepy, especially if the rest of the crew was going to be so precisely placed. It seemed more like a haunted house or a museum than a starship.
-Surda, CoS

Durheim stood on the transporter pad for a moment, assessing his surroundings carefully. Absently, he began narrating his thoughts for the benefit of the small camera embedded into his goggles. “Emergency power… not surprising. Klaxon still sounding strong… life support still working. No immediate signs of battle damage; dead crew… likely automated overrides took over and shut off the main reactor.” Shouldering his bag, he stepped down and moved over to the ring of corpses; examining them with interest. Quietly, he muttered “Very precisely done… clever transporter manipulation? Not done surgically or manually…” Carefully, he prodded the neck of one of the corpses; finding no seam or twisting of the skin and flesh; he raised his eyebrows in admiration. “Very impressive.”

Slipping past the bodies, Durheim moved over to the console, intending to begin running a diagnostic. Pausing, he looked to his superior officers before proceeding - it would seem that stealth, or at least the semblance of it, was encouraged for this mission.

Crewman Durheim, Engineering
OOC: Jake is on LOA, so this might be wrong, but I figure Casela is RTF so this is her concern…but Raauh can yell at her later.
IC:
Why didn’t they bring a whole RTF team? Oh right, there are crazy time anomalies loose on Leviathan. Surda was part of RTF, but Casela was the only actual active member at the moment. Casela looked at Durheim, “Can you tell from here if the containment decks are secure? Before we move out I want to make sure we aren’t going to run into any of our anomalies.” She looked at Surda. “I am on the opinion this life form is hostile, or the potential when everyone else is dead. And since the Cmdr told the transporter chief to send us to the bridge and we ended up here…What do you think, Surda?” What are you up to Hampton? She was sure it was something. Even just to throw them off their game. Surda was CoS and Casela was more than willing to follow whatever she wanted to do. Casela was more than confident in Surda’s skills.
Lt Synthi-er, the Creeped Out

“I can try, Miss Synthi-er. So long as there’s no damage to the internal ship communications systems; I believe I can get something.” Durheim tapped at the console; frowning when nothing appeared to happen. Tapping at a few more keys and switches, he nodded to himself and began rooting through his bag. In the dark, it would be difficult to tell what all was in the heavy, crowded bag, but it was only a moment before Jonathan emerged; a mass of cables in one hand, and a portable fusion generator in the other.

Flopping onto his back, he kicked his feet; propelling himself along the floor until he was underneath the console. A small light flared, and there was a short moment full of indistinct muttering and metal scraping. A dull ‘click’ was heard, and the previously dark console flashed in a boot-up sequence. Durheim emerged; flashlight in his mouth and dust in his hair and on his back. The flashlight was pocketed, and he began tapping at the console again; sending a diagnostic query to the containment deck.

Crewman Durheim, Engineering

Surda frowned. “Keep the lights off. Don’t shut off the klaxon either. If there is a hostile lifeform here, we don’t want to give it a warning.” She turned to Casela. “I would suggest some sort of automatic recognition. Our transporters recognized these transporters and changed the end location.” Or of course, some sort of entity was manipulating them to induce psychological terror before brutally murdering them, but for now, she would stick with “transporter malfunction.” Surda turned back to the rest of the team. “I’d like to head to the bridge as soon as we can definitively say where the anomalies are. If they’re out of containment, shut down the whole deck and transport us straight to the bridge. If not, we’re walking.” She was technically ordering around the XO, but he was always welcome to disagree with her. She got the feeling he wouldn’t. Dead bodies usually increased the likelihood of people wanting to listen to their CoS.
-Surda, CoS

Jonathan nodded at Surda absently; deciding that there wasn’t much point to arguing. Silencing the alarm or turning on the lights may well alert… something to their presence, and caution was indeed good. But if anything was looking at the computer system, or sensors, or anything… well, it would be a bit of a moot point. And to be fair, every small bit of care and discretion could be well worth it - and the corpses did make for decent motivation towards that goal.

Raauhl had been silently studying the bodies, the location, and the reaction of his away team. He was unsure what trickery or menace was at play here but he already knew this image was going to require some meditation to suppress. He knew some of the officers not all of them, for Raauhl however the most disturbing part about the image was how their mouths seemed the be entirely missing, “We’ll move together, strength in number both physically” He looked to the bodies “And psychologically, finish up what we can hear and were move to the bridge” He said agreeing with the idea to get to the ships command center.

OOC: Don’t forget the Leviathan doesn’t have a bridge it was a Command Center in the well the center of the ship. - Jake

OOC: We’ll call it a colloquial term.
IC:
Surda thought for a moment. “Durnheim, can you access internal sensor logs from the command center?” She was walking around inspecting the bodies carefully. She wanted to know the time everyone died, and internal sensors would be faster than scanning each individually.
-Surda, CoS

“Hmmmmm… I’m not sure, Miss Surda. Internal communications seem to be limited; I’m positive that I can do that from here given enough time. But how long are you willing to wait? While we do have company, I suspect their conversation skills leave much to be desired.” He punched in the request anyways; after all, it might go through quicker than he feared.

Surda tilted her head for a moment. “We’ll worry about it later then. We shouldn’t waste time.”

Casela watched as Durnheim worked and then something occurred to her, and she was rather ticked off at herself for not realizing this sooner. “The anomalies are dead. Just like the crew. There was only ONE life sign. That would include the anomalies. Levithan’s systems are programmed to pick up the energy/life signs of the anomalies when scanning.” She was going to have to do more than a cursory glance at the containment decks schematics the first chance she got. She may not like being part of RTF but she was and she was not as familiar with those decks and how they worked as she should be. “I think we’re safe to move foreword, as far as the anomalies go. Surda?” She turned to Raauhl waiting for his order based on what they knew.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Surda turned to Durnheim, waiting for his confirmation.

Even as the thought occurred to Casela; the console in front of Durheim began spitting out reports from the initial request regarding the containment deck. Jonathan skimmed the display quickly; nodding as it confirmed her words. “Yes, Miss Synthi-er; while I don’t know that we could classify all of the anomalies under such categories as living or dead; they appear to either be entirely dead; or otherwise.... neutralized.” Durheim shared this news with a cautious tone; given the state of the ship, he was admittedly somewhat hesitant to trust the sensors; on either copy of the Leviathan. “Please do remember, Miss Synthi-er, that some of these anomalies are heavily shielded - and rendered effectively invisible to external sensors. As well; how much are you willing to trust whatever these computers tell us?” Durheim gestured towards the console; and looked around at the ring of corpses to highlight his question. “I may well be wrong here, but this appears to have been done quite deliberately - but for what purpose? It would seem that we were… expected.” As he spoke; Durheim’s tone grew brighter as his focus migrated from his work on the console to his surroundings, and his eyes seemed to light up. Almost unbidden, the phrase ‘Curiosity killed the cat” (or the appropriate cultural analogy) would spring into his companion’s minds.

Crewman Durheim, Engineering

“I’d assume that any heavily shielded anomalies out of containment would be recognized.” She sighed, weighing their options. “We don’t have time for this. You said they appear to be neutralized, and we’re going to have to operate on the assumption the computers are accurate.” Surda watched Durnheim carefully. She wasn’t a fan of the look in his eyes. “We shouldn’t stay here.”
-Surda, CoS

Casela nodded, “I agree. The sooner we move and do what needs doing, the sooner we get back to our Leviathan. Hopefully with helpful answers.” And based on who the life form was Casela didn’t think it mattered how fast they moved or if they stayed there. The power Hampton currently controlled…well they weren’t dead, which means he has something else in mind. That thought gave her chills.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

“Well then it seems we have gathered enough information to continue and move on with our mission, Chief if you would please lead us out with Casela taking up the rear, even though this appears to be our ship lets just assume every bit of it is hostile territory.” He looked to the Engineering officer, “Stick we me and between these capable ladies.” He had been impressed thus far by the officer and providing they all made it out alive would have to consider writing him up for merit. “When you’re ready chief.”

  • Lt Cmdr Raauhl, XO

Surda nodded and took the first step into the corridor. She had one hand on her phaser, and a knife in the other, but she knew neither would do much if Hampton decided to show up. After all, this ship’s version of her was dead already. She moved past bodies, not bothering to look at them. They could mourn these dead copies later, once they were back on their own ship. Her responsibility was to the living.
-Surda, CoS

Casela nodded and fell into step behind the rest of the team. She bit back her bad humor, but it didn’t stop the thought from forming in her head. Yep, you pretty boys stay in the middle. The girls will protect you. It wouldn’t help the situation and it really wasn’t appropriate. Not that it would matter, but out of habit Casela fell into a stance and pace that would make no noise as she moved forward. “Fenrir make note of cause of death. Just cursory. Don’t waste time on in depth scans.” The information might be useful later. Casela took the time to take out one weapon. The gun they used on Dave. It would produce high powered light waves that were deadly to Dave. It could also be made to emit sound waves as well. As far as guns went, it was weird, but it had it’s uses. Her Mark VII and tonfa were still securely in the loops at the small of her back. Every so often she would turn to walk backwards to check the corridor behind them as they moved along.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Bodies were strewn about the hallway. Several had phaser blasts in their chests, some appeared to be physically ripped apart, others were horribly disfigured. “You need a robot to tell the cause of death? Are you stupid?” Hampton said, standing before the team. The intermittent red lights illuminating his appearance for brief seconds. He smiled at the counselor. “Very Well.”

She didn’t even grace that with a response. He wanted a rise out of her, and she wasn’t going to give it to him. No she didn’t need him to tell her, she wanted it recorded so they knew the extent of what he was willing to do and could analyze the information later.

Surda frowned, but didn’t shift at all. She would give this strange, twisted creature no indication of fear.

Suddenly all the final memories of the bodies before them rushed into Synthi-er’s mind. She could hear their screams, feel their pain, it felt as if her own body were being torn in half, and the memories kept repeating, so did the pain. She saw the three security members before her, and their deaths. They had tried to stop Hampton, but he had forced one the officers to shoot her comrades at point blank range with the phaser set to kill, before making her shoot herself. Her sadness at killing her comrades, followed by the fear of killing herself flooded the counselor’s mind, as did the sensations of being shot with a phaser being set on kill. It repeated over and over and over.

Casela knew pain, she’d lived it, over and over. This was different. She fell to a knee in the middle of the corridor, teeth grinding together. She may have screamed, but she never gave in or begged Mad Man, and she wouldn’t do it for Hampton. She held out a hand for Fenrir and pushed herself to standing, briefly, before she collapsed again to the floor. Her skin felt like it was melting off her bones, at the same time she could feel the muscles and tendons ripping apart across her body, her limbs refusing to work as they were ripped from her. The air, hot and boiling from the phaser blast, burning the air in her lungs, and there were no breaths left for her to take. Her instinct was to lash out, telepathically, to kill whoever was hurting her, the way she’d killed the Jem’hadar. But there were her crew here, and it would kill them too. She would. not. scream. She bit her lip so hard she began to bleed.

Hampton watched the Counselor’s reaction with a twisted grin, before turning to the rest of the team. “If you three have any common sense you’ll leave her where she is, it’s not going to get much better for her.” Hampton felt it again, the feeling of pleasure he first experienced on Einstein, and then again on his Leviathan, watching people he knew deserved to feel pain suffer.

Mr. Hampton
Lt Synthi-er, CNS (Hampton’s Voodoo Doll)

She spoke to Ryder, although she didn’t turn away from the crazed man in front of her. “She knows your mind. Give her something else to focus on.” Her voice was deceptively steady. She observed Hampton, latched into some strange version of a staring contest with him. “What does she need to be punished for?” Surda had to keep Hampton’s attention. Pique his curiosity and appeal to his pride. He had gone to all the trouble of making a show for them, surely he wanted to tell them about his work. “You want her in pain. What did she do?” Surda didn’t snap at him. She didn’t seem angry. She almost sounded apathetic, like she had no actual personal investment in the answer. That was all a lie of course, but she had long ago mastered her voice.
-Surda, CoS

Raauhl had already gone to Casela, crouching next to her and speaking softly into her ear. Intimate things, professional things and anything that would pull her out from the nightmare she was dealing with. He held her, “Casela, focus on my voice” He repeated over and over, scared for her more than himself. He was beggening to doubt his decision to come here.

Hampton smiled at the security chief. Surda realized her voice was now gone. She could open her mouth, but anytime she tried to talk, she would not make a sound. “Shut up, and go find a poll on Rigel V to swing on with the rest of your friends Orion.” He smirked. “You think you are some sort of expert or capable officer? You are nothing but a pathetic bug. I do not have to explain myself to you.” He paused for a moment, “It’s a shame your captain has condemned the four of you to death.” With a chuckle he was no longer standing before them, but his laughter echoed throughout the ship. After a few moments, Synthi-er’s mind was cleared of the memories and sensations, but Surda’s voice was still gone.

Mr. Hampton

At that same moment, the XO would find his commbadge chirping for attention and the anxious voice of the captain bursting forth.
=^= Commander Raauhl. Report in! =^=
Clearly the situation on the Prime Leviathan was not as relaxed as they might have hoped…

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

Relived that Casela was coming back around and Hampton had gone despite leaving his laugh he was delighted when Cobbs voice broke the silence. =^=We are currently making our way to the bridge, our transport had been intercepted and we found ourselves in what I can only describe as a satanic ritualistic decorated room. We’ve just had an encounter with Mr. Hampton who seemingly attacked Lt Synthi-er on a physiological level, she seems stable and we’re going to continue for now=^=

  • Lieutenant Cmdr Raauhl

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