From: Jamie LeBlanc (plainsimplegarak_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jul 22 2008 - 21:22:58 PDT
"Invasion of Desperation" (Continued from "Out of the Fire...")
~*~*~
Location: USS STONEHENGE
Stardate: 2.80723.0020
Scene: Mutated Cargobay
~*~*~
The small away team took in a breath as a single unit and held it in their lungs tensely. The hive mind might have been impressed with that stunning display of togetherness if they weren’t so focused on swallowing up these lifeforms and adding them to their hive.
Rharn took a step backwards, her head turning so far it looked painful even for a Nocturian. Mutated crew were edging in around the cargo lift, cutting off their escape route, while more climbed down from the sides and front of the bay. Urika Shar shivered a bit and swapped her tricorder for her phaser in her dominant hand, having the good judgment to keep the device open and scanning as she dropped it into a pocket.
“A steady line of phaser fire might drive them back…” Matthew suggested somewhat breathlessly as he struggled to carry the weight of his husband and keep a phaser aimed on the mutated crewmembers all at the same time.
Kiros Karn knit his brows together. “But they’re our crewmembers…” he protested.
“Not anymore.” Aerdan replied, grimly. “They have almost fully completed their mutation. Their lifesigns read not only as a completely different species, but they are gaining a different dimensional signature as well.” Still, the white haired physician seemed unwilling to bring the phaser he was given to bear on any of them.
“We can’t just kill them…” The young engineer protested.
Rharn bit her lip. “I don’t think they are having any of the same moral compunctions about killing us.”
“That’s not true…” the voice was ghostly – both guttural and ethereal all at the same time, as if it had been ripped from the back of the XO’s throat. The words startled Matthew so much he nearly dropped his phaser, but Peter didn’t straighten up. He twitched a bit and stayed slumped. As Dr. Jos leaned back in towards his form, the XO continued on, “they aren’t seeing to kill… they are seeking to overtake us.”
“The Borg might argue that they aren’t trying to kill those they assimilate, either,” Ronnie hissed. “It doesn’t make it any more palatable.”
Peter forced his head upwards, bloody tears welling near the corners of his eyes as he fought against the creature. “So clear, I can hear it so clearly…”
“Doctor…” Matthew’s voice wavered with concern and pain as he watched his husband struggle.
Aerdan gave a short nod. “We should get him out of here.”
“With all due respect, Doctor… we should all get out of here.” Urika muttered.
“Phasers on heavy stun, we retreat on my mark.” Rharn said in a low tone. She lowered her voice still and made a soft clicking noise. She was rewarded by a slight trilling sound from T’nnent.
The away team backed up, slowly. Their feet made a shuffling sound as they grated on the floor, waiting for Rharn’s command. As they came up towards the lift, four mutated crewmember moved steadily forward, lie translucent acts on the prowl. “Do not fight us…” they warned.
Rharn looked at Matthew out of the corner of her eye and nodded slightly. “Now, commander.”
The brilliant lance of phaser fire cut out from both sides. Urika Shar gave a soft shriek as she joined in the fray, pushing the translucent crew back. They gave a harsh, piercing cry as the energy beam burned at their skin, but it did not drop them. “Highest stun setting if you’re not already on it.” Matthew growled, pushing the nearest one back as it reached out a hand towards Peter. The Chief of Security looked up, his expression pained as it cut through Dr. Jos. “Two more shots and there should be a clear path… get him to the lift.”
“What about you?” the Andorian’s antennae curled forward tensely.
“I said save my husband!” he growled, flashing out another shot. Aerdan didn’t argue as the XO’s limp form was pushed towards him, and he scooped the man up in his slender blue arms.
“Commander…” Rharn cautioned in a tone that said precisely who was in command. “you will retreat with the rest of us.” She paused and looked at the massing group. Her next words were tinged with sorrow. “Set phasers to kill.”
“Captain, you can’t be—“ The shocked tone of Kiros’ voice was cut off by the Nocturian.
“I am completely serious, Cadet.”
Another volley of fire cut off whatever snide remark the alien collective tried to make, the first ranks screaming in agony as they started to melt from the inside. It gave a small opening. “Run!” Matthew shouted. Aerdan didn’t waste any time, nor did Urika Shar. The science officer hit the controls for the lift as soon as the crew had been beaten back, flagging the doctor and his patient though.
Rharn looked up at the ceiling, clicking once again. T’nnent stared at the infuriated mutations rushing him and closed his eyes, hoping that his mate’s plan wasn’t completely insane. Just before one grabbed his ankle, he flexed his claws and simply… let go.
Kiros Karn wasn’t expecting to be in the middle of a firefight with mutated members of the STONEHENGE crew; nor did he expect to see a large green furred creature plummet from the ceiling like a four legged projectile. T’nnent for his part turned in midair, not unlike a cat, and landed soundly in the Captain’s arms. He swallowed a bit. “I thought I was supposed to be the dashing hero saving you, Rharn.”
She offered him the most fleeting of smiles. “We can worry about heroics later. We need to move.”
With yet another layer of phaser fire layed down, the team moved as a group back to the lift. Matthew frowned evenly. “They are starting to adapt… I can’t explain.” Even on kill, his phaser no longer dropped the mutations as they rushed forward. “Run!” the word escaped the security chief’s mouth like a gasp. The rest of the away team had no problem following that suggestion.
Matthew pushed Rharn and T’nnent behind him, nearly stuffing them into the lift as he kept firing. Inside Kiros Karn had ripped the faceplate of the lift, overriding the controls. If something was in the way of the doors when Matthew yelled clear, Kiros didn’t care. They were getting smashed.
At point Matthew lunged backwards as a translucent hand reached out and gripped the front of his uniform. He sucked in a dry breath, while in the back of the lift Peter looked up, a tear of blood draining down his cheek. “Matthew…!” he gasped.
Matthew Aspinall lunged backwards, gritting his teeth and pulling his assailant with him. He could feel beads of sweat draining down his temples as he pulled the trigger on his phaser again, to no effect. “You cannot resist us.” The mutation whispered, staring directly into his widened eyes, its fingers reaching out for his flesh.
“Like hell I can’t.” Matthew growled as he felt Rharn’s clawed hands grasp his shoulders and help pull him backwards. Just as he crossed the threshold he yelled “Kiros!”
The young trill didn’t waste a second, sparks flew from the control panel as the doors slid shut and clamped on the wrist of the mutated officer. It screamed, and the fingers kept wiggling even as the lift started its ascent until it hit the next floor. A collective hush went though the cabin.
“Commander, did they touch you?” Aerdan broke the stillness.
Huffing in a great breath the security officer straggled to his feet. “I don’t know. My chest feels a little numb, but that might just be the fact that my heart feels like it is in my throat.”
“Matthew…” Peter murmured, his head lolling back and forth.
His husband grimaced. “What happened to him?”
“I can’t confirm it until we get him to sickbay, but I think that when the alien force reached out to try to get us, it telepathically contacted Peter, much more directly than it ever did before. His neurocortex is hyperstimulated.” The Andorian murmured.
“In English, Doctor?” Matthew coaxed.
Aerdan’s antennae perked testily forward as he continued to tend to Peter. “His brain is overloaded by thoughts the alien fed into him.”
“Is he OK?” Urika Shar gave voice to the words Matthew couldn’t get out. The security chief reached forward, a pained look crossed his face. He wanted to scoop his injured husband up in his arms; but the risk of him being infected forced him back into a corner of the lift, teeth clenched trying to control his emotions.
The CMO shook his head slightly. “In short, no. We need to get him to sickbay as soon as possible. Without transporters that means we need to hope that the number of mutated crewmembers at the top level is low, because we have a very long run ahead of us.”
~*~*~*~
Scene: Sickbay
Time Index: One Very Long Run later.
Matthew paced behind his containment field in quarantine, looking very irritated at Doctor Suvek. “Can I see him?”
The Vulcan perked a smooth brow. “You may leave containment once you have been cleared of any interdimensional infection.”
“So that’s a no?” the security chief groused angrily.
Suvek gave an emotionless nod. “That is a no.”
~*~
Captain Rharn paced beside her XO’s bedside, as the human’s eyes flickered. “Peter?” she called quietly.
“Captain…” his voice was raspy, and Aerdan hovered protectively nearby. “Captain… I could reach them.”
The Nocturian bit her bottom lip lightly. “Is he ok to speak, Doctor?”
The Andorian nodded slightly. “He knows his limits.”
Rharn gave a small nod. “Peter, how strongly did you connect with them?”
“Them… yes, Captain, them.” He nodded his head a bit, balling his hands into fists. “They are not a race or a creature… they are a … ball…”
She furrowed her crimson brow. “A ball? Peter, are you sure?”
Slowly the XO nodded. “A ball.” He made a gesture with his hands as if holding a ball. “That contains information. Like … like a computer core, but far more advanced. A living, growing, imprint of information.”
“For what purpose?”
“Dying…” the XO rasped back. “Their entire universe was dying.” He stretched his hand out and grabbed a cup of water trying to drink. Aerdan dipped down and helped him drink. Pursing his lips he paused and then spoke. “They had a race… and entity. They called them the Guardians. They were non-corporeal. Like the Q. They knew they were dying and they couldn’t stop it. So they recorded the information.” He layed his head down, breathing heavily.
“What information?” Rharn prompted after several long seconds.
“Everything.” Peter’s eyes snapped fully open. “Every planet, every species, every comet, every ship – everything. Everything they could grab, they recorded and put it into this biological record, and sent it through the black hole.”
The Nocturian ran a hand through her electric blue hair. “Did they realize what affect this recorder would have when it came into contact with this universe?”
Peter swallowed lightly. “They counted on it.” Pausing for breath, he added, “They wanted to save their dying universe by changing another one to match theirs. While it isn’t hostile, Captain, it is desperate. Once it has fully assimilated the ETERNITY it can travel, and everywhere it goes it will change whatever it touches into a copy of its previous universe.” He paused and fixed his eyes directly on the Captain. “It is an invasion, Captain. An invasion of desperation.”
“It needs to stop here.” Was the Nocturians only answer. She looked up towards the CMO “Take care of him, doctor.”
She waited for the somber nod before she walked out of sickbay and towards the bridge.
~*~*~*~*~
NRPG: I left off short with Matthew to let Peter make a decision on whether or not he was actually infected.
Joy: I had this weird burst of inspiration that maybe the key to unlocking Izzy from the alien’s grasp is her realizing what truly makes her happy. Since the alien offers a ‘false happiness’ … not sure if that strikes your fancy, but if it does, I’d love to read it!
~*~*~*~*~
Jamie LeBlanc
Lieutenant Commander Aerdan Jos
Chief Medical Officer
USS STONEHENGE
"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"
~Julian Beck
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