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Posted by Warrant Officer Jonathan Durheim (Chief Engineering Officer) in MPT-LS: Year of Hell - CIC Bridge - Setting out (all welcome)

Posted by Commander Ryder Raauhl (Executive Officer) in MPT-LS: Year of Hell - CIC Bridge - Setting out (all welcome)

Glancing briefly at the second figure and wondered what hell was visiting them now.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

When the councilor yelled that it wasn’t the Captain, Adam leaped from his location to the side, away from the vomiting man allowing the strange engineering Chief to work his strange mechanical arms. Internally he steeled himself but in the moment before he could focus his mind a stray thought bubbled up, a memory of a large muscular man smiling wide Rule number four, always carry a knife and he quietly cursed himself for not following that line of thinking

Things could happen all too quickly in engineering. Reactor blips; vent blockages; energy spikes… it was a lucky day when you had enough time to actually do something besides die on your feet; never knowing what killed you. And there were those vocal tones and phrases that any good crewman’s brain keyed into.... an order that couldn’t be delayed; the statement of ‘that’s odd’; and countless other things that heralded something - usually, that the cold vacuum of space was on the metaphorical horizon. Durheim was already keyed up from Cobb’s strange behavior; and there was absolutely no hesitation at Casela’s order; as unexpected as it may have been.

Jonathan’s arms were more than custom-made; they were built as tools and extensions of himself; upgrades to the meager appendages of flesh and bone that he had sacrificed to an overloaded power coupling. They both shot towards Cobb; almost faster than the eye could see, propelled by unyielding mechanical systems towards Cobb’s torso. His limbs possessed far more power and speed than Durheim’s slight frame would suggest.

Jonathan was not intending to deliver a sharp, attention-getting shock; this was an attack - 50,000 volts was less than it sounded; but 2 amps was far more than it suggested. Immediate medical attention would be needed; or a morgue, if the man was truly unlucky.

-WO Durheim, CE

Quinn moved for the doorway, and turning her back on the imposter that was about to get what looked like a heck of a shock from the CEO, she pressed the thermos at her hip into the second Cobb’s hands and silently offered the still laden tray of mixed crossiants to the second Cobb. If this one turned out to be another imposter she was going be more than a bit upset. She didn’t like the idea of something playing games with them and posting as their Captain was more worrisome.

Quinn Kindle, Yeoman, RTF, Cobb’s Angel

Too far away to assist Cas, Juliet spun at the arrival of the second Captain. “YEOMAN!” She cried out in concern and stepped up quick enough to pull the young woman from the arm’s reach area around the newcomer. She was as gentle as could be, not even jostling the tray.

At the same time, biting back bile and a strong desire to double over and empty her stomach contents, she reached for Cobb’s mind. “Zachariah please tell me it’s you.” She had briefly touched his mind in her check in interview. She would know if he were the real Captain.

Till she got confirmation, the Yeoman would remain safely behind her while Juliet laid her hand on her phaser at her hip.

Jewels
RTF

Adam kept his head on a swivel, he watched for what would happen with the apparent imposter and for what the new arrival would do and say. He didn’t know the Captain well enough to guess if he was an imposter or not but this strange crew seemed close enough to be able to tell. He tensed and readied to move, he could reach either figure in a matter of moments but with a phaser or two in the mix, he didn’t move immediately. It would be a shame to have to reveal anything unless necessary. In the few seconds that he considered all this his face remained stone and his stance remained apparently relaxed, his regular steady flow of calm was more intense but still just that… calm.

CIO

The surrounding tension was palpable in its immediacy, the captain forced to take grasp of this emerging situation with expeditious precision. For reasons unknown, his crew had reacted with alarm at his appearance, both Quinn and Juliet seemingly desperate for an acknowledgement of identity from Zachariah Cobb. Meanwhile over by the blank and silent viewscreen, the counselor and engineering chief remained engaged with another currently unseen from Cobb’s own vantage point, although the scent of ozone beginning to radiate from their position suggested a less than agreeable debate. And then their was the Leviathan’s new Intelligence Chief, the man’s expression warning that one wrong move from the captain would see him taken out before either of them could blink.

“What’s all this about now, eh?” he questioned in steady whisper, one foot reaching forwards as if over a bottomless chasm paved only by thin tightrope. With another step he had cleared the doorway, his view at last unobstructed, gaze captured by the monstrosity before them all - Zachariah Cobb refashioned as Dorian Gray, every sin and transgression buried within him now painted as a scar across his face.
“What the bloody hell is that thing?” he murmured on a terrified inhale of breath. “That…that’s not me.”

At that same moment, the current from Durheim’s appendage made contact with the ‘other’ Cobb and resulted in a curious sight - for a brief second, as blue arcs of electricity surged through the thing’s body, it was as if the man was made wholly of water, waves churning against a translucent skin that was no more than a fleshy tank. Then immediately the Cobb-form returned, skin now melting like ice beneath burning sun, hollow eyes fixing onto Jonathan Durheim and casting a pitiful and torturous glance. Then with a noise as of rushing current, the entity disintegrated into a column of blue water, its shape held for a breath before spilling like a wave all across the CIC floor.

The last thing the crew would see, was each drop scurrying towards the room’s edges, as if enacting self-preservation at an individual, molecular level.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“Computer seal the CIC, and erect a level 2 biological forcefield” Raauhl said having watched the situation unfold, he had trusted the others to do thier jobs and it was going well until the entity or whatever it was disintegrated and they had to contain it so he decided now was the time to step in, “Captain it appears something has joined us on our journey, likly from the staarbase and as you could see was mimicking your appearance.

• Cmdr Raaubhl, XO

“Well I’ll be damned,” Zachariah exclaimed, momentarily mesmerised by the sight of the retreating water.

Jonathan had generally expected one or two possibilities, or variations thereof, to occur with his attack - humans generally behaved rather predictably when high voltage was applied. Mr. Cobb turning into water was decidedly not one of those things; and he couldn’t help but be caught off guard for a moment, an expression of shock and curiosity writ plain on his face as he stood there, arms still outstretched.

As the water(?) splashed across his sturdy boots, the engineer snapped back into action; leaping back to minimize contact with the anomaly, hand darting into a cargo pocket and searching for something to obtain a sample with. Seizing a rag and a containment pouch, he attempted to get at least some of the water as it scattered to the corners of the room; absently wondering if any of the consoles were in danger of getting shorted out.

WO Durheim, CE

For a brief second, the sight of Durheim gathering a few droplets for further analysis caused a ripple of fear to cascade through Zachariah Cobb, as if the substance on the floor could have some tenuous connection to his own biological constitution. But the gravity of the situation refused pause for idle thoughts and so quickly the captain appended the First Officer’s order with “Contain all of it. Don’t let a single drop get away!”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb