Posted by Lieutenant David Michaels (CSO) in Holodeck - Investigations

Posted by Lieutenant Riley Dekker (CNS & 2O) in Holodeck - Investigations

Posted by Lieutenant Tom Jarvis (Internal Security) in Holodeck - Investigations
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
David had initially put it off, but now felt as good a time as any. The holodeck data chip had been sitting on his desk now for a few days, while he’d had time to mull things over. He knew that Riley had been anxious about what could be on the chip, especially knowing the source from which it came.

Pacing in front of the holodeck, David waited for Riley to arrive. One thing he had promised himself was that he was not going to do this alone, he was going to include Riley in this strange game of manipulation and deceit that Jackson was using to get under David’s skin.

-David Michaels, CSO

An unfamiliar face in a black on black uniform came around the corner. As he passed, he made brief eye contact and nodded at David.

• Tom, IntSec

A day on the holodeck with David was often a good way for Riley to spend his day off, but he knew what the scientist had planned was a far cry from a warm sandy beach and the steady rhythm of waves lapping the shore. Still, Riley had readily agreed to it. The cloud that hung over them had to be lifted. The anxiety that nibbled at the edges of both their psyches needed to be dealt with and postponing the inevitable wasn’t going to get the job done.

Riley came around the corner, David’s back to him, and noticed an unfamiliar face over the CSO’s shoulder. Riley flashed a curious smile at the Lieutenant. As ship’s counselor, Riley knew pretty much everyone aboard. Sure some officers were regulars in his office and other’s spent their one hour a year with him as required by Starfleet, but he knew faces and the Genesis had only a small number of lieutenants aboard.

Riley put a hand on David’s shoulder and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before something clicked. The black on black uniform. Of course.

“Lt. Jarvis, I presume,” he sounded more confident than he was.

Julien had told him of the Internal Security Officer’s posting when it happened and of people’s unique inability to imprint memories of him. Then there had been recordings he’d listened to, provided by the man himself. While he could never remember the person, the bits and pieces around him were there and the surprise of rediscovering him never became old, because that part was always wiped from his memory. Riley knew the rest of the crew, knew there was no one aboard who would wear the black on black of Internal Security and for a moment he wondered if this man’s expertise could help them.

Dekker, CNS

Tom stopped and nodded, the smile was polite, but not necessarily friendly, as if it were noting more than a courtesy.

“I see the recordings have helped Doctor. You are correct. I am Lieutenant Jarvis. I assure you I haven’t skipped out on my check ups.” he said.

“The recordings and your uniform. Without the distinctive black on black, I don’t think it’d have crossed my mind.”

He then looked to David. The look in Tom’s eyes seemed to imply that he already knew David.

• Tom, IntSec

Riley looked to David, “I know you may not know who Lt. Jarvis is, but he may be of some help in our quest, if you’re open. I have a feeling there are things about our current time he knows that we aren’t privy to.”

Riley’s trust of Jarvis came from his uniform, the recordings, and his knowledge that Julien had trusted the man. It wasn’t his gut. Without the context of ingrained memories, he had no gut feeling about the Internal Security officer and that was a little disconcerting.

Dekker, CNS

Bump

bump

OOC: Did this thread die?

OOC: Hope not, waiting for James to pop back in.

Charley

Bump

David looked over at the other man. “I’m sorry, I don’t really remember you. This matter is a bit…” He paused, biting his lip. “Personal.” He said, letting out a sigh. He held up the data chip. “I have no idea what could be on this program. It was given to me by someone with less than honorable intentions.”

-David Michaels, CSO

Riley imagined Jarvis dealt with trust issues on a daily basis. His profession hardly engendered immediate trust in his fellow officers, but that doubtlessly paled in comparison to people’s inability to form a bond with the man. Riley was sure he’d talked with Jarvis about this very issue. He couldn’t imagine that he wouldn’t have. He made a mental note to check the recording the Lieutenant had provided.

He looked at Jarvis to see his response to David. Riley had said as much as he could. He wouldn’t push a man he didn’t remember on David, not on this subject. It would be up to Jarvis to convince David to let him join their investigation, that is, if the man even wanted to.

Dekker, CNS

OOC: Sorry I missed this.

IC: Tom shrugged and smiled warmly.

“I have resources you may not providing that the issue resides in Federation member races or issues connected to them. Outside of that my resources are rather limited and you may want to engage the CIO. I have no problems assisting as long as doing so doesn’t violate internal security protocols.”

• Tom, IntSec

David nodded. Another set of eyes couldn’t hurt. After all his intentions of keeping his private matters, well - private, it just hadn’t seemed to work out that way for him. The more he tried to shield his fellow crew from his past, the future none of them had yet to experience, the more it seemed they found out.

“Very well,” David said, activating the program and stepping through the doors.

When the three men entered the holodeck, it was night. They were in a wooded area, on a walking path of sorts. Ahead through the trees were lights coming from a large grouping of buildings. Sounds erupted through the night sky. Loud shrieking whistles accompanied by flashes of light. There was also several shuttles and fighters swarming above, weapons fire could be heard, but through the tree canopy they couldn’t see who was firing, or what was being fired at. Searchlights pierced through the trees from a few of the shuttles above.

As the doors to the holodeck closed, David stood in place. Riley would sense his mix of high emotions.

“This is the night I left my home,” David said softly. “This is the night I was lost in time.”

-David Michaels, CSO

Tom looked around watching the events unfold.

“You’re our our guide here. Lead on.”

• Tom, IntSec

Riley wasn’t sure how much of the anxiety he felt was his own, but entering a world so unfamiliar to him and yet important to David was disorienting. The sounds of battle, out of sight, were equally jarring.

“What’s happening? Who’s fighting?” his dark eyes looked questioningly at David.

Dekker, CNS

“They are called the Rellex,” David said. He sighed. “I don’t have time to give you their complete history, but in my time they evolved into one of the greatest threats the Federation had seen. They are humanoids that can shift into forms of pure psionic energy. This is but one of many attacks they made on the Federation. We had a base of operations here, specifically for the Department of Temporal Investigations.”

A large blast of light and energy boomed directly ahead of them, a Federation fighter exploded in a ball of white and blue and orange.

“This way!” David said, covering his head with his arm instinctively, even though they were on the Holodeck, and the safety protocols were in place. He had lived through this before. The memories were haunting enough, but having it recreated for him was a different kind of painful.

Leading Riley and Tom through the trees, they soon came on a paved path, heading towards the area with the buildings. As they made their way down the path, groups of civilians and those dressed in Federation uniforms ran down the path in both directions. David recognized one familiar face, and called out to the woman, but she ran on by. It was difficult to remember this was merely a simulation and obviously Jackson had not programmed the bystanders to be interactive.

As they reached the clearing of the trees, they saw many large buildings ahead. “There,” David said, pointing. “Those tall buildings are the residential quarters, and the shorter longer shaped ones are the warehouses and labs. During the battle, Jackson stole a temporal shuttle from the main hanger bay, as well as several weapons from the armory.”

Did Jackson mean for them to observe his side of this story, or perhaps for David to relive his own memories of events? The scene was confusing and disturbing for David, and even the non-empathic security officer would be able to detect such unease.

-David Michaels, CSO

Tom noted the discomfort in the man’s body language.

“Computer. Reset time index at current minus three minutes, use current location as start.”

At Tom’s request, nothing happened. David would have laughed, if this entire simulation wasn’t disturbing enough to him. He cleared this throat.
“Computer reset time index minus three minutes, keeping current location.”

There was a slight beep as the computer acknowledged. Of course Jackson would only allow David to control the simulation.

As the computer made the adjustments…

“The important events could have been in progress here while we were walking through the trees. Looks like we might have a lot of people to back trace to find this Jackson.”

• Tom, IntSec

Riley was thankful for Tom’s presence. He was already proving useful, seeing possibilities that they missed.

“I say we start with the hangar bay. We know Jackson will end up there, if we haven’t missed him. It seems our best shot at getting some idea of what he’s after.”

Dekker, CNS

The holodeck shimmered around them, and the program vanished, only too reappear once again. They found themselves standing exactly where they were, but now there were even more people running about. Many of them were screaming. There were many balls of light flying around in the sky, as well as various shuttles and fighters.

“This way,” David said, pointing in the direction of the hangar.

As the trio passed one of the residential buildings, the doors flew open and a man and a woman came rushing out, causing David to stop in his tracks. A loud siren began wailing.

“They’ve discovered an intruder in the main hangar,” The man said, to which his wife gave him a panicked look. He held up his hand. “Don’t worry, he will be fine. He knows how to take care of himself. We have to get to the control center!” They ran down the path and then veered off to the left into the trees.

“Those were Jackson’s parents,” David said. It was curious how Jackson had managed to create this simulation. Surely he would have had to had obtained data recordings from that night. But how?

“Let’s keep going,” David said, moving closer to the hangar bay.

As the entered the large space, they saw several shuttlecraft parked inside. They did not look like the standard Federation shuttles, these were shaped more like arrowheads, and constructed out of an unrecognizable kind of alloy.

By one of the shuttles, a man with longer dark hair was hurrying around the outside. He was taking various crates and containers and loading them into the shuttle.

“There,” David said, walking closer. As they approached, they could hear two voices speaking, one of Jackson, and the other - a woman.

“You know we can stop you,” The woman said.

“If you really wanted to do that, you would have done it already,” Jackson said, grabbing another container and running into the shuttle with it.

As David made his way around the shuttle, he froze dead in his tracks. Standing before them was a woman wearing a Starfleet uniform that much more resembled the current uniforms. Her hair was auburn red and striking green eyes.

David may not be the only one to recognize this woman. Riley had indeed seen her face before, in some of the holo-frames in their quarters.

She was David’s mother.

-David Michaels, CSO

OOC: Would Tom recognize her? He has extensive dossiers on every member of the crew but a time traveler might have lots of blanks to be filled in.

• Jud