Distractions and Aftermath

Posted on 09 Feb 2018 @ 6:00am by Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart & Commander Rhyan & Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl & Lieutenant Mikail Kolmak

2,148 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Bridge
Timeline: ED7: 0635

ON:

The image of PALLAS appeared on the Bridge and spoke quickly.

"Captain, Ensign Marshall is on the move. He attacked me personally" she said indignantly before continuing quickly "he is currently located in Commander Rhyan's lab. I am unable to accertain exactly what is going on in the lab due to the blackout protocols that the Commander has initiated but I can tell from external sensors that Cadet Scott is there due to the trace element." she paused "I have alerted Commander Doyl and sickbay."

Azura nodded as he pushed himself up out of the command chair "Computer, override blackout protocols for Commander Rhyan's lab, authorization Aschart Beta 4." the traditional feminine voice of the computer acknowledged the command and answered it's compliance. "PALLAS have security details dispatched to the Commanders lab as well as medical teams. Bring Sarah protocols in to Alpha stage standby, should she set foot on the ship initiate Alpha protocols." he moved quickly as he nodded to the night shift commander he had relieved to retake his position. The unsettling revelation that the Ee were some kind of Iconian familiar if not the Iconinan's them selves unnerved him to the core as he made his way to the turbolift.

PALLAS followed the Captain onto the turbolift and spoke as she reported on what she was seeing in the lab.

"Captain, Marshall has been infected and is now dead. Cadet Scott it appeared has been possessed by someone or something, I am assuming the Sarah hybrid." she paused and blinked "Scratch that, the Commander has knocked a metallic coronet off of the Cadet's head and he has now slumped to the floor. My primary concern is the body of Marshall, I am detecting abnormally high concentrations of a purified Ee virus in his system."

"Computer, override safety protocols with regard to phaser setting inside Commander Rhyan's lab." he turned to look at PALLAS "Order the first responders to vaporize the Ensign's body, attack with extreme prejudice. I don't want a second hybrid."

In science lab two, Rhyan had managed to pull Jody away from the lifeless body of Jon Marshall and was gently resting his head on top of his crumpled, blood-stained uniform tunic. The cadet remained unconscious after his telepathic encounter with the hybrid, but was otherwise stable according to the medical tricorder Rhyan had pulled from the med kit on his workstation. He only hoped that Jody would forgive him for what Marshall had put him through for the second time.

As he closed the tricorder and set it down beside Jody, the door to the lab opened and a half dozen security officers erupted into the room. They carried phaser rifles and held them initially in the direction of Rhyan and Jody, then diverted their attention to Marshall's body at the far end of the lab. Rhyan stepped back as they pushed on into the room, ignoring him and immediately setting up guard around Marshall. Once the room was secured, a number of medical officers followed and immediately took care of Jody. One officer approached the Vulcan and offered medical assistance, which he declined - despite the bruises and dried blood he was sure covered his face and neck.

Maggie walked quickly into the lab and assessed the situation. "Commander Rhyan, we need to take care of Ensign Marshall's body."

She signaled to two of her security guards. "Vaporize the body." She ran her tricorder over Marshall's body, confirming that it did indeed have the Ee virus as they did so.

Just as the security officers fired, the body dematerialized in a shower of transporter sparkles.

Maggie tapped her combadge. "PALLAS, someone transported the body off the ship. Can you track it?"

"The Captain will be here in two minutes. I am briefing him on the occurrences thus far." PALLAS responded.

Maggie nodded and turned to Commander Rhyan. "What happened?"

"In my honest opinion," Rhyan replied, running his fingers across his aching neck, "Marshall got exactly what he deserved."

Seeing the less than approving look on Doyl's face, Rhyan decided to elaborate. "The ensign attempted to infect me with the Ee virus, presumably to create another Ee Hybrid. He also used Cadet Scott's latent telepathic abilities to make contact with the Ee hybrid we used to know as Ensign Sarah Kaminski, but that backfired and it injected him with his own virus and then killed him. I fear that the hybrid now has his body."

Maggie let out a long, slow breath. "Understood." And she did, all too well.

As Rhyan finished speaking Azura strode down the corridor and into the lab. His eyes taking in the scene. He pulled Doyle aside and spoke quietly to her. "It seems the body is no longer our concern. The impact that set off the red alert was one of our ships slipping into our shield to abscond with Marshall." He nodded to Scott. "How is the Cadet?"

"I think he'll live, but he'll need counseling aftre medical is done with him," she replied quietly.

"If our experience on the Nova is anything to go by," Rhyan interrupted, "then the cadet will likely make a full physical recovery in a day or two. Psychologically, only time will tell if he will recover from another intimate encounter with the hybrid. I do not, however, doubt Jody's resilience."

"Neither do I," Ashcart replied, agreeing with the Vulcan.

Doctor Kolmak materialized using the emergency transporter after he received the call from the Commander. He scanned the room and approached his two medical techs. He opened his tricorder to do a scan on the cadet while listening to their reports. Mikail nodded and ordered for the patient to be transported to sickbay immediately.

The doctor watched as the patient materialized with the medical team. He walked over to where the Commander and the Captain was standing. "Captain... Commander."

Seeing the green blood on his face and neck, Mikail opened the tricorder to do a medical scan on Rhyan. He knew that Vulcans do refuse medical care for they are able to heal faster than humans. "Commander, you have moderate contusions to your face and neck. I suggest you report to sickbay today to clear that up." He glanced at the Captain, "Cadet Scott has not contacted the virus. He is in a coma and will be sedated to protect his brain as there appears to be contusions, a concussion, and his metabolic function is very low. Where is the other person... Marshall?" He looked back at the Commander.

"As I was explaining to Lieutenant Commander Doyl, I believe the Ee Hybrid now has his body." Rhyan moved away from Doyl, Ashcart and Kolmak to approach and activate the screen on his workstation. He brought up a comparison of the Ee reproductive virus and the Hadronus virus. "I believe that the hybrid has been trying to recreate the original Ee virus to create more of her own kind. She isn't fully Ee, nor is she fully human. She is alone in this universe and she wants to change that."

The Vulcan grimaced as his neck spasmed. He tried to massage the muscle into submission, but it wouldn't relax. He saw the concerned expressions on his colleagues, but ignored them. He continued, "Marshall will shortly start transforming into an Ee. They reproduce by infecting other species with a virus that completely rewrites the host DNA, even if the host is deceased. I believe that Sarah - the hybrid - manipulated this whole situation to create another being exactly like her."

"Interesting," Mikail said. "The Hadronus virus is in sickbay and sealed in a biohazard container. This virus is still dangerous. I discovered it to be similar to Measles and Marbug or Ebola on Earth back in the 21st Century. It will be difficult to find the antidote for these viruses as they have been eradicated from Earth over 100 years ago. Sutherland is cleared from the virus. I'll be sure that we stay clear from Sarah...don't want my medical team get infected with her virus the one you called an Ee."

"So, now there are two of them," Maggie said. "As you said, Sarah is neither Ee, nor human. And now, she has Marshall. Is it possible that the two of them could reproduce as humans do?"

Azura wasnt sure if it was Sarah that had absconded with the Marshall's sorry carcass or if it was someone all together different but what he did know was he would be talking with the Chief of Intelligence. He listened to the exchange between the two officers and thought before calling out to PALLAS.

"PALLAS, have there been any intrusions that are similar to previous Sarah assaults on the ship?" he asked looking at the image of the Grecian goddess.

The PALLAS hologram shook her head "Negative Captain, at current the only attack on the Redemption was the minor processing uptick when Marshall re-fed the surveillance feeds back into my systems." she turned to Commander Doyl "Thank you for that by the way, the faux system schematics performed admirably. I can tell you sir, that the transporter signature is the same as the one that deposited Major Blackburn back on the ship." This news caused Azura's eyebrow to twitch before he raised it fully.

Maggie smiled. She was very glad the program worked as intended.

"Interesting, thank you PALLAS." he said as he mulled that information over.

The hybrid and viruses seemed to be a little complicated to the doctor. "I better get back to sickbay and monitor the situation. Thanks for the information, sir."

Maggie turned to the Captain. "I recommend that Commander Rhyan have a security guard with him until we are certain neither the Hybrid nor Marshall are still after him."

Before Mikail touched his combadge to request transport, he looked at the chief of security and said, "do I need more? I have one guarding the virus container in the quarantine area. I guess safe than sorry?"

Azura nodded thought it was the first he had heard of guards at quarantine areas. "I think it's a wise course to put a guard on Commander Rhyan for now. As for you Doctor, I don't think your in need for added security as you wern't the actual target. However I'm uncertain if there will be any further attacks, it seems the red alert was triggered by a shuttle slipping into our shield bubble with less than perfectly modulated harmonics. I'm assuming it was the hybrid and it was designed as a distraction from her real objective of absconding with Marshall."

"Did she want Marshall, or Rhyan?" Maggie asked. "She--it--ended up with Marshall, but was he the original target? And if it was Rhyan, will she try again?" Maggie shook her head. "I don't know. At this point, I just want to cover all our bases."

Azura shrugged, "That I don't know Commander. Hopefully we will get some information one way or another. It is curious to me that she didn't try to sabotage the virus research... makes me think it's possibly personal some how or Marshall distracted her enough that she didn't notice what was going on here."

Maggie nodded. "Yes, indeed."

"Thank you," Rhyan said as he gestured towards the commander, thankful for the extra security after his ordeal with Marshall and Scott. He gave thought to Doyl's query about the target of the hybrid's attack, but even he was unsure whether it was Marshall, himself or simply the Redemption - specifically, its transwarp drive - that she was after. In all reality, all three were probably true to an extent.

The Vulcan looked down to his hands, which were stained green with his own blood, and then turned back to his commanding officer and senior officer colleagues. "If you don't mind Captain, Commander," he nodded to Doyl once again, "I would quite like to take my leave of you to clean myself up and get checked over by Doctor Afton. Given recent events, I feel it would also be beneficial to update the doctor on the hybrid's experimentations with the Ee virus on Hadronus - this new information might help her find the cure were are in desperate search of."

Azura nodded "Agreed, after you've completed those take Commander I have a few questions for you. I'll be on the bridge."

Maggie was immediately contrite. "I'm sorry for keeping you from medical attention. Please contact me directly before you leave sickbay and I'll have someone meet you there." It would probably be Maggie herself, at least for the first little while. Just to make sure there was no repeat attack.

*tag*

OFF

Azura Ashcart
Captain
Commanding Officer
USS Redemption

&

Rhyan
Commander
Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl
Chief Security Officer
USS Redemption

&

Mikail Kolmak, M.D.
Lieutenant
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Redemption

 

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