Kill Caustic

Posted on 12 Dec 2017 @ 9:07am by Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart & Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl & Major Keisha Afton & Lieutenant Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide & Lieutenant Alexander Webb & Petty Officer 1st Class Lia McCarthy

2,669 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: USS Redemption
Timeline: ED6: 2200

ON:
"USS Redemption, This is Lt. Denning with transport group 4! We have your new crew members and a handful of civilians aboard but we are being followed by unknown craft. Weapons have not been fired, repeat, weapons have not been fired. Request intercept, over!"


-Commanding Officers Quarters-
PALLAS appeared in the quarters of Captain Ashcart. "Captain a transport is broadcasting a distress signal." PALLAS said simply before playing the signal for him.

"Shall I wake the senior staff and go to red alert?" She asked as she looked at him.

"Set condition yellow across the ship. Have Commander Doyle join me on the bridge. Put the other Senior officers on alert in case they are needed. Dispatch the CAP and scramble the alert squadron to take their place. Also inform the bridge, plot an intercept course and engage." Azura's pushed himself up from the table and looked at his wife and child. "I'll be back soon."

He moved out of his quarters and to the turbo lift to go to the bridge. He flung his black and gray duty jacket over his maroon undershirt leaving it unzipped as the turbo lift opened upon the bridge. This was night shift so the senior officers were not there. He was greeted by young faces save for the face in the command chair. A capable lieutenant commander who had served on the Redemption since she had first departed earth all those years ago.


-Lia, aboard USS Whitewalker Transport-
After being assigned the Redemption by Vice Admiral West, Lia had had the worst of luck getting there. She was told that the Redemption was beyond direct transporter range and there wasn't any reliable posts nearby so she tagged onto a transport group since they had a resupply drop due near the Redemption's area.

The ship that was following them was strange. The best they could tell, it was mirrored black, teardrop shaped, flying point first. It had no power signature or lifesigns aboard and seemed to just be floating after them.

They were running out of ideas. It didn't seem like a direct threat but at the same time, its actions are extremely concerning.

"M0nk3y, does it still not show up on scanners?"

Her datapad chirped an affirmative.

"Do a broadspec scan. Even super low freq. There's got to be something coming from that ship."


-Bridge-
Maggie changed back into her uniform and quickly made her way to the bridge. She looked at the images and checked the specs against the ship's database. "PALLAS, any idea what that ship is?"

"There are no direct matches found in any Starfleet databases, however there are some lore matches from colonies taken by the both in their early stages of assimilation."

"Show matches," Maggie said. "Include all events that happened after such appearances."

The list of matches populated on Maggie's display listing events taken from countless worlds spanning 15000 to 10000 years previous. The most recent of which was from before the Vulcan awaking. They all spoke of the demons of air and darkness or a servitor race of same.

Maggie swore under her breath.

"PALLAS pull up tactical view of system and give me count down to intercept of transport both by the CAP and Redemption." Azure said as he settled down in his chair, the yellow lights blinking along the walls of the bridge.

"Status report, all stations please." He called out addressing each officer over each department.

"Captain, have a look at this," Maggie said, transferring the data to Ashcart's personal screen. She quickly searched for the best ways to defend against the unknown ship and how many times one had been defeated.

Azura looked down at the screen on his armrest as PALLAS gave the readout of distance and time at current velocity to intercept. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"That's impossible, they have been extent for millennia." his eyes snapped back up to the holographic display that showed the CAP accelerating in tight formation towards the transport as the Redemption banked and began to accelerate after the CAP. "Keep a lock on that ship, also prepare the aft shields to be dropped as soon as the transport is within range. PALLAS initiate Sarah protocols."

The AI nodded and froze for several seconds as a subroutine Ashcart had ordered to be written and implemented by PALLAS to help secure the Redemption's computer cores. Each subsystem was isolated and the lockout was on a rotating pass code with the only way to interface with that subsystem being from certain designated terminals on the bridge or CIC if it had been activated by the Captain. That would at least by them time should Sarah show up or a hostile force try to 'hack' the ship.

Maggie made sure her security protocols were in place as well. She checked them daily, but now that they might be needed, she wanted to be absolutely certain. With the two protocols in place, she hoped the ship would be safe. But she knew that you could never be too certain of anything.

"Who was it that said you should do the impossible at least once a day?" Maggie asked. "Does this count?"

Azura watched as the central delta symbol that represented the Redemption closed with the symbol of the CAP escorts and the transport. The red pulsing dot that represented the unidentified craft maintained a steady distance from the transport until the CAP escorts surrounded the ship. At that point the red dot began to slow, he felt the Redemption several seconds later decelerating and heard the whine of the inertial dampeners as they strained to reduce the effects of physics as the helmsman of the large vessel executed maneuvers that would make a fighter proud. There was a tense silence on the bridge as the ship spun around on it's y axis presenting the docking bays to the transport. He listened as the Ops officer on duty cleared the transport for a 'hot' landing and and instructed them to land in Shuttle Bay 2.

"The ship is safely aboard," Maggie said. "Shields are up. Do you want me to take a team down to meet our guests?" she asked the captain.

He nodded "Yes commander, also contact sickbay and have a team dispatched to provide any medical aid should it be needed." he looked down and saw that the shadow ship had turned and began to leave the system.

Maggie nodded. She signaled for one of her officers to replace her and headed to the turbolift. Inside, she contacted sickbay to be on alert and then asked two security officers to join her.


-Shuttle Bay-
Maggie got to the shuttle in time to see the door open and the passengers begin to debark. Some were being carried on stretchers, others were walking of their own accord, but were visibly shaken.

Most of them were civilian team add-ons that were hired on to complement the current crew to account for transfers/promotions, etc, bet there were a couple Starfleet members as well. A few new medics came on and accompanied the stretchers to the medical area, and one of the stretchers had a PO designation on the board, labeling the bumps in the blanket as one Petty Officer Lia McCarthy.

Initial reports noted that Lia had been assisting people with getting ready for a potential emergency debark when she fell in a faint after crossing through the threshold of the USS Redemption.

Maggie checked the woman on the stretcher. "Take her to sickbay," she said. "And tell them to let me know when she wakes up."


After receiving his new posting aboard the U.S.S. Redemption, Webb had taken several shuttles, via 3 different starbases, ending up on the transport ship U.S.S. Whitewalker for the final leg to his new ship. A journey that had Webb, who preferred his alien artefacts over living people, somewhat on edge for the entire duration. His discomfort had only increased several hours before reaching the Redemption, when the crew of the Whitewalker became aware of an unknown craft following them. Despite his social awkwardness, Webb could sense that the crew was uncomfortable with this new development, even though the craft didn’t appear to be hostile, at least their ship never came under any kind of attack, it’s behavior seemed to be unusual enough.

After a few tense hours they finally rendezvoused with the Redemption. The crew of the Whitewalker has messaged ahead, and the Redemption had instructed them to come in for a hot dock into the shuttle bay. Two things happened as soon as their transport entered the Redemption’s shuttle bay. The first was the very rapid deceleration, for which they had been ordered to strap into the harnesses on their seats. The other was one of the other passengers, a young Petty Officer who’d tried to make small talk with Webb before the appearance of the unknown craft, had suddenly just gone limp, and fallen to the floor.

The moment they’d come to a halt, the tension inside the transport eased notably, and some moved to aid the fainted Petty Officer, and several of the other passengers who were still somewhat shaken. As the door opened to the shuttle bay, Webb’s only desire was to finally get away from others for a while. Find his quarters, and decompress. As he stepped out of the transport into the Redemption’s shuttle bay several medical and security crew members entered the large area. The young Petty Officer, and a few others who were unable to walk, were lifted onto stretchers, and taken to sickbay. Just then another Petty Officer in science blue, carrying a medical tricorder and PADD entered the shuttle bay. After a quick word with the Operations Commander who’d checked on the fainted Petty Officer, the new arrival, who Webb assumed was probably one of the head nurses, turned to address the remaining passengers. “Good news everyone, before anyone gets to do anything else, you all get to report to sickbay. We want to make sure no one was exposed to any kind of alien influence, considering what happened with McCarthy. Everyone ready?” Without waiting for any kind of reply, he tapped his combadge. “Grey to sickbay, go ahead and energize.” And with that, Webb was filled with the tingling/tugging sensation of a transporter beam.


-Bridge-
Azura watched as the red dot disappeared out of the system and off of the Redemption's scanners. This couldn't be a coincidence, an unidentified ship in the same location as the Redemption following a transport to their location.

“Sarah.” he said softly, he knew she was out there and he knew Ensign Marshall had something to do with it. As the other ship vanished he looked over the readouts and gave his orders.

“Helm, return us to standard orbit. PALLAS, contact the CAP and have them return to escort maneuvers around the Redemption. Alert the Marines and have a secondary squadron readied to be launched should matters require it. Maintain yellow alert for the forseable future, there's something more going on in this system than the virus.” Azura looked to the Lieutenant Commander that had been commanding the bridge before he had arrived.

“You have the bridge Commander Hawkins. I'm going to go down to the shuttle bay and check on our guests.” he nodded to the other man as he pushed himself out of the command chair and moved to the turbolift.


-Shuttle Bay-
Azura entered and watched the chaos that was unfolding in the shuttle bay, he found one of the medical officers and questioned them finding out that the officer that had passed out didn't have any obvious signs of injury.

“Very well, I want everyone on that shuttle to report to sickbay to undergo a full physical. If they had sustained contact with that ship we don't know if there isn't some kind of telepathic issues that isn't overtly obvious.” Azura said as he thought of Sarah and her unusual abilities.

-Sickbay-
When McCarthy had been taken to sickbay, Maggie tapped her combadge. "Doyl to Severide."

From inside the Intelligence hub Geri had been monitoring the situation carefully. Her analysts worked to identify the unknown craft while also performing checks on the transport's crew compliment. Upon receiving Doyl's call, Geri tapped her commbadge. "This is Severide."

"I think you might like to know that the woman who was just sent to sickbay is assigned to your department."

Geri was shocked by the revelation. West had not informed her of any new arrivals, thus giving her insufficient time to research exactly whom this person was. With the fluidic divides between Starfleet Intelligence and the Company, transfers were far less routine for her department. "I'm on my way." she replied flatly.

Arriving in sickbay, Geri sought out the security chief. She found the woman standing before a biobed with a young woman laying unconscious on it. She approached Doyl, looking around her at the woman on the biobed as she got within inches of the Security Officer. "Is this her?" she asked.

"According to the tag on her stretcher, yes," Maggie replied. "She also matches with the data we were sent."

"Do you have a copy of the data?" Geri asked secretly annoyed by the fact she had yet to see this data.

"I will transfer it to you in a minute," Maggie said, heading for a computer console. "Security is checking all new arrivals right now, so I have her personnel file and transfer orders."

Geri nodded in acknowledgment as she gazed down on the unconscious woman.

Lia awoke sharply and bolted upright in bed, screaming maniacally, "Get them off! Get them off of me!!!" Her movement enabled her to fight off the medical nurse and Lia ended up falling to the floor and she curled into a fetal position and sobbed.

The security guard that had been sitting nearby ran over to Lia. "It's okay. You're safe. Come on, let's get you back into bed." She looked at the nurse for assistance.

Maggie walked into sickbay. It only took her a moment to find Lia. "Hello, Ms. McCarthy. How are you feeling?"

"There will be no debriefing anyone while I am still treating them. All non-Medical personnel get out of my sickbay!" Keisha called out, her voice booking no argument as she stared down all of the security and intelligence officers.

Geri crossed her arms in dismay. "Well that's disappointing." she commented of the woman's outburst. She looked at the doctor. "She will remain in your care for as long as you see fit doctor. She will also be evaluated and treated by the ship's counselor before she is debriefed or reports for duty. Until then, I don't want to see her." Geri said coldly turning away from the doctor towards the exit.

Maggie nodded to the doctor. "All right. Please let me know as soon as I can speak with her."

It was several hours later that Lia had managed to partially open an eye and peek around the room. Realizing that she was in a federation medical bay, likely aboard the Redemption, she allowed her panic to subside and relax her tensed muscles. She felt extremely weak but rallied the strength to lift her arm to the camera that was undoubtedly watching her to show movement.

She then waited for whoever was to come, but she hoped it was quick. Getting to the Redemption had been a pain in the ads and felt like hell for it. Whatever West had in mind had better not take long, but she had a feeling that there was a reckoning of a coming storm.

OFF:

Azura Ashcart
Captain
Commanding Officer
USS Redemption

&

Alexander Webb
Lieutenant
Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Commander Madeline (Maggie) Doyl
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Redemption

&

Keisha Afton
Major
Chief Medical Officer
USS Redemption

 

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