Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dagen Thor (CE) in Holodeck- Halloween Hoedown…Werewolves and Vampires and Ghosts - oh my (Open to all)
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As a set of rubbery wings attached to Vanessa’s leg and began to move up her thigh, she no longer cared about rank and file. Grabbing the edge of Calvin’s costume, Vanessa dove under it as she grabbed the edge of her cheerleading skirt and held it tightly against her quads. Being under the sheet kept more of the flying mammals off her body except for the one scaling the slope of Mount Slade. “Get it off. Get it off,” she screamed at Calvin as she jumped up and down raising her knees as if she was going through tires in PT.

Reaching down she plucked it off her leg and then tossed it directly at Calvin. Whether it landed on his chest or his face was no concern to Vanessa right now. The man was an Ex-Marine. He probably cuddled these things in his sleep out in the field. Vanessa was not an Ex-Marine which meant she was completely fine with letting Calvin do the marine thing and saving the day or at least her upper thigh.

After throwing the bat, she dove under the edge of the sheet and pulled it down as it fully prepared to trap the Captain with the winged mammal.

Elvira felt one smack into the blossom that her three amigos were just admiring. The small claws did not scratch her chest but felt like fingernails tickling her skin. Small beady eyes glanced up glowing yellow as its small mouth opened revealing tiny but sharp incisors.

Angel looked down at the tiny creature and a brow rose as she contemplated it. “If you are thinking what I think you are thinking you may find a bad taste in your mouth.”

As if the bat could understand what Angel was referring to it lept up instantly aiming for her hair getting its wings twisted in the updo as it let out an eeking screech.

A touch too slow in reaction time, Angel missed catching the little creature as it leapt. “Logically I should let you stay tangled there for the effect,” she said with a look of ‘Vulcan longsuffering’. “This is a wig, but your screeching is irritating my ears.” Reaching up she pulled off the wig and bat with it. Her own hair was substantial but not nearly as substantial as the ‘part’ required. According to Bat, the rest of her was ‘more than substantial’. Looking at said tangled bat, she dropped it and looked over toward the larger Bat.

Several swirled about Bat as if they were balls thrown at him by a pitcher in a softball game.

Bat danced about faster than one might normally think his bulk would move, swinging the wooden cross like a baseball bat and aiming without much aim at the flying dark dots.

A soft thunk sounded in rhythm as the wooden cross connected with the bats sending them flying in all directions and at times into other people that ran and scattered around the space.

“What the hell Bat,” a crewman yelled as on of the mammal projectiles impacted him in the chest as if it were a fly to deep center field. As if it was going to do anything, the man threw it back at Bat as if they were playing some weird ball game.

Bat was having fun and ‘aiming’ was a help for him rather than flailing wildly as at the start. This Earth game of ‘baseball’ had become a fascination for him, though it was something that had not totally caught on on Bolia. They liked to chat too much. Bat liked to watch but secretly had holodeck times where he played. That said the throw was high and he ducked it.

A large swarm of the creatures swooped hard and fast between the small space between Dagan and Reia.

“Hey, great!” Dagen said. The forests around his home growing up had bats, or at least bat like creatures, as Terrans would describe them. He tried to lock onto one with his eyes to see them but they were quick and, for the moment separated him from Reia, wondering still what she was thinking of doing with the drum that would be heard over the thunder.

A flock moved to T’Lora’s arms attaching and appearing to try and lift her off the ground.

A stray bat flapped full speed toward Deeg’s mouth as if ready to satiate the zombie’s need for brains.

Deeg stared wide eyed and with mouth open in surprise at this development and seeing the chaos about him. Sebastian, nearby just marveled at the addition. “There just ‘has to be’ a dark ruined castle on a hill somewhere close by,” he said.

“All hail the spirits of those that come before us and the spirits that will be our souls after we turn to dust,” the figure spoke raising his hands to the sky unaffected by the bats swirling and dipping towards the participants of the party.

A large group of partygoers began to run to the holodeck door desperate to open the controls and leave this little party. No matter how they punched or jabbed at the console, the doors appeared to be locked and sealed shut.

Deeg would have swallowed a bat had Sebastian not swatted it out of the way with his mocked up scanner. Their eyes moved to the shambling figures. Deeg shook his head. “Out-zombied by a holodeck simulation. There has got to be some rule against that.”
Sebastian looked at the confusion. “Not your normal party …”
Deeg frowned, looking more a zombie than before. “Was no issue on people getting in and out before.” His paranoia was starting to kick in ..

In the confusion, more figures began to spill from the shadows of the woods. They all moved with different gaits and strides. Some appeared to clear the distance with a speed not human. Others moved in slow, shambling steps. Amongst them all, a large horse emerged through the trees with a rider on its back. Galloping straight at Reia, the figure on the horse leaned down scooping the butterfly up with one arm as his black cape seemed to engulf her frame. Lifting her up to the edge of the horse’s back, Reia would see a vacuous black hole where a head should be.

Dagen was in no small way surprised at this but he recovered fast. This was all a game. Humorously he thought to himself, ‘Well, on the one hand he won’t be trying to kiss Reia’, and, ‘He had so better not get between her and any food or he’ll lose more than his head.’

Rearing the horse into a two-legged stance, the figure laid her over the horse’s back. Lightening and thunder echoed in the night dulling the screams of those in the room.

“There are other forms of death,” the hooded figure spoke and nodded at the man on horseback as if signaling him. Dropping the horse to all fours, the horse, the man, and Reia took off for the woods.

Slade.

Everything had happened so fast now Reia found herself laid out over a horse of all things. Looking up into what? Something that had once been human and maybe had a head at one time? She had stopped wiggling because her costume and wings, along with the position she was in, only served to constrict her movement.

• Reia

Dagen absently scratched at his neck; the collar on this costume was tight and he wasn’t used to that. Watching the figure disappear with his wife he thought again, ‘Mind your manners my headless friend .. Reia is part Orion after all.’ Turning he looked back to the others and slowly made his way toward them while trying to ascertain whether Bat was winning or losing in his battle with the bats.

Dagen

OOC: Waiting to see what happens with the bats and if they settle down before putting together a posse.
OOC: Sorry guys. Reports being due and Thanksgiving crazy at the school had me cross eyed but I am back.

IC:

Dagen looked back at the departing figure. It was hard to tell entirely what path the horseman was taking. Dark on dark was not a good mix for tracking anything with one’s eyes. He frowned. This must have been planned to some degree else Reia would have been screaming like a banshee and the headless one would have black eyes where he didn’t realize he had any. However a holodeck program didn’t last forever and they needed to get on with the quest to rescue Reia, providing the bats left them alone. How did one overcome a person with no head? How did he think without a head?

He looked again at their compatriots. A ghost. A cheerleader. A gaggle of engineers.
- Dagen

The group of party guests trying to get out of the door to the holodeck suddenly became overrun by the group of stumbling creatures no one was paying attention to with the dive-bombing bats occupying most people’s attention. They fought and screamed but each one was slowly pulled back into the shadowy bushes.

Deeg and Sebastian watched people battling. “Not good,” Sebastian said. “Off to the rescue?”
Deeg nodded, and the ‘four’ of them, Deeg, Sebastian, Bat and Angel went to rescue one figure being pulled into the bushes.

“Dagen,” Vanessa waved a hand at the chaos around her. “Okay, which one of your engineers messed with this program to get back at me for the Be Late for Something Day. How was I supposed to know you were running a warp core test and half of your crew decided to take that day to be late? HR requires I do those stupid services. The least I can do it make them fun but this....okay this is not fun,” she ducked as a bat swooped over her head.

“Um, not us.” He saw the four engineers trotting toward the bushes where a crewman had just disappeared.

A booming crash followed by a blinding light filled the space from the lightning and thunder followed by a pronouncement from the large skeletal-like figure who arrived before the bats. “You have until dawn,” the voice boomed, “before your friend becomes mine.” Another loud boom and flash of lightning made everyone squint before looking up to see a large digital timer counting down in the sky.

“This was supposed to go till morning?” he asked. That was long for a traditional program or party ..

“Ugh this is a disaster,” Vanessa yelled throwing up her hands. “Computer end program.” Her command did nothing to change the walls or scenery. Looking at the engineers, Vanessa raised an eyebrow. “Okay, seriously I apologize for the Don’t touch my nacelles in-service last month. HR requires me to do it and that sounded much more fun than Workplace Safety in the Engineering Department. Just turn this off,” she let out a sigh watching the counter in the sky counting down.

Vanessa Slade CNS

Dagen didn’t mind that .. thought of putting that on a t-shirt for Reia .. not that he’d listen to it anyway, but thought that was cute. Given how Bat was trying everything to get Angel’s attention, she might like one of those too. He was growing concerned over the roughing up of some of the crew. Part of him frowned at their relative panic. It was a holodeck after all for ancestor’s sake, and they were trained. This was the ‘navy’, not a sailboat. “Who actually put this program together?” he asked, eyes shifting in the direction of where Reia had disappeared. He felt this was going to be a long night. It felt more like a ‘escape room’ game that was popular in varying decades.

=^= Computer, initiate diagnostic program control application for this holodeck and program currently running. Pause program until results are confirmed by myself and a command level person of this crew. =^= Someone’s imagination had gotten the better of them in this program.

Dagen, CE

=/\=Access denied=/\= the computer’s tinny voice replied. =/\=Simulation is not complete until all life forms have been neutralized.=/\= Next to the timer a counter appeared. With each crewman being pulled off into the bushes, a number was taken away. It did not take a genius to see it was counting down the removal of the crew.

“Jesus,” Calvin blurted out feeling the bat suction to his chest. While he was not scared of a holographic bat, the way Vanessa not only abandoned but trapped him with the leathery winged flying rat was a bit jarring. “Seriously Slade,” he barked out as he pulled the sheet over his head trapping the bat in the fabric. Tossing it to the side he looked at the counselor breathing heavy.

As Deeg, Bat, Sebastian, and Angel stood looking into the bushed, a skeletal hand emerged from the bushed clasping the wrist of Deeg. While the holodeck strived for realism, there were safety protocols that prevented obvious injuries. The long scratches however as the hand began to pull the man into the densely packed bushed were felt. They stung and left long red streaks on his arm as the red welts soon began to produce a thin line of blood as the nails moved over Deeg’s arm. Without help, Deeg would get pulled into the bushes.

Holodeck AI

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Reia and Headless
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The horse moved at a speed that felt almost dizzying. Up hills and down it sprinted towards the large castle up in the distance. It stopped however at the carriage house and pulled Reia off by her wings from the horse, dragging her to the heavy wooden door.

Vanessa Slade

This whole situation had come as quite a surprise to Reia. Nothing aobut this evening had been preplanned except the costume she was wearing.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you know how long it took me to get these bloody wings right?” she asked while being dragged, kicking and screaming, from the horse and into the cottage, “Oy, Headless, what the hell? As soon as I figure out who you are, I’m going to tear your life apart.” she said fighting him all the way.

The figure did not seem to care as he drug Reia by the back of her shirt, mashing the wings in his fist. His steps were steady and purposeful as he approached the door.

Reia was convinced that this was some real person playing along with the Counselor because, at the moment, this seemed too good to be part of the program.

• Reia

As he pushed the heavy oak door open, he swung Reia around and tossed her through the doorway before closing the door behind him. The clunk of the wood against the frame sounded much like she was being tossed into a dungeon instead of a cottage.

The room was dark until Reia moved. Then it suddenly lit up with candles coming to life as if all lit at once. The room had stone walls and rustic, thick oak furniture. A fire wooshed into existence in the small fireplace. The room smelled like a root cellar with potatoes, fruits, vegetables and herbs hanging in corners or piled high in boxes or shelves.

“Come sit with me,” an elderly female voice suddenly broke through the silence.

Woman in black

Calvin the friendly ghost, CO