The Lonely prt 2: Joy and fear

Posted on Saturday March 4th, 2023 @ 10:43am by Lieutenant Steven Edgeware & Lieutenant Commander Niali Deval Dr & Lieutenant Commander Alaina Trywhitt-Duffy & Lieutenant Lisa Creed

Mission: The Lonely
Location: Various locations
Timeline: Current

‘The galaxy is a cold place to be alone.‘

[ ON ]

-Not far from Oberon-

They were coming. Soon the loneliness would be over. Great joy would soon be upon the One. Joy. Alone for so long but the One could feel them coming nearer. Fear. Might they not wish to be with the One? But they would see. Yes, they would understand. Soon the centuries of loneliness would be over. Joy.

-Bridge-

Penny was just about to answer the question. When she heard laughing. A young girl dressed in a very old school uniform sat on the science console.

~Penny why did you kill me?~ Said a sad voice in her head.

“ Great Great Aunty Jane…..” Penny saw the Command team looking at her. Just then the turbo lift doors opened.

Steven returned to the Bridge against the Chief Medical Officer's advice. But he needed to be up there.

“ Captain, I think I know why all this is happening.” He said

Niali stood arching an eyebrow, “Commander Edgeware I believe the doctor asked you to stay off the Bridge?” She asked already knowing why but, she had to ask.

“ I have something import….import……oh my…..” Steven suddenly felt very cold. An Ensign in a faded uniform looked at him.

“ Help me…” She said before fading.

“ It’s the signal. None of what’s happening to us ssss…..oh crap.” Steven then felt like fainting. But hit his hand on the corner of the nearest console. The sharp pain helped wave off the dizziness.

-Deck Seven-

On Deck seven Jason felt a head rush and braced himself against the bulkhead, he felt unsteady again "Sickbay I need some assistance...." David dropped to his knees his body started to vibrate and he felt short of breath ~"It wasn't your fault Jason..."~ the voice repeated. He started to feel his hands shaking, his breath got short as he felt his heart race.

Alaina took the call and pounded down to deck seven. She found Jason curled up braced against a bulkhead. “What happened Lieutenant?” She asked already scanning him.

Jason started to hyperventilate ~"You did nothing wrong Jason"~ Jason clenched his fists and then passed out.

Aliana scanned his brain which showed enormous amounts of adrenaline spiking. She injected him with an adrenaline and memory suppressant. She knew if he did not recover she would have to treat him in sickbay. She hoped this was not the case as the bridge needed all its senior officers. She heard a movement suddenly behind her. Thinking it was a member of the sickbay team she turned to see …. Her mother. “Go away I don’t have time for you!” She shouted. Jason groaned and she turned her face back to him.

The voices got louder in his head, and the broken images of that fateful night filled his mind, but something wasn't right. He couldn't process and he couldn't feel his body, ~"If you were there it would have been you."~

Aliana tapped her badge =/\= Two to transport to sickbay =/\= deck seven vanished as the familiar comfort of sickbay rushed up to greet them. “Help me get the Lieutenant onto a bed,” she shouted as a nurse stepped up to help. They managed to lift him up. “Jason, Jason I’m going to sedate you, put you under for a while. You will not see anything or dream I can promise you.” She turned to the nurse, “ prepare for deep sedation.”

-Sickbay-

She tapped her comm. =/\= Bridge this is Commander Duffy, I am going to have to put Lieutenant Elliot into deep sedation. Do we have any idea what this is yet, or how to combat it?=/\=

Niali replied =/\= Doctor it has something to do with where we are going, the deeper into the nebula the worse things seem to be getting. If anything comes up we will let you know =/\=

-Bridge-

Shaking his hand to wipe away the pain. Steven managed to make it to the Captain's seat on the Bridge.

“ Captain I strongly suggest we turn around and put some distance from the signal,” Steven suggested.

The vision of the young girl began to age before Penny's eyes. From a school girl to an elderly old lady in moments. McTaggart blinked and with difficulty turned her head. She had to tell the bridge crew something important.

~Now come yer wee bad girl. If you had checked on me as yer Gran told you too. Then you would have seen me on the floor from that bad fall. Do you know I was on that cold cold floor for three days? My cats started to eat my face. ~ Said a voice in Penny's head.

"Sir I agree. The sensors are picking up strange readings. There is some kind of energy wave feeding off the ship sir. It is transferring this energy towards the direction of the alleged signal from DS3." Penny warned.

"Perhaps we can come at this from a different angle, We need to regroup and figure out what this phenomenon is, Sir", Jo advised.

Steven nodded.

“ Captain we must steer the ship away or there will be no one left who is still sane sir,” Steven warned

The Captian looked at Steven almost with a blank stare. like lights are on but no one was home look. Trensu blinked a few times like he was coming back to reality. He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. balling his hands into fists Trensu slammed his right hand into his chest. Trensu winced some. The adrenaline rushed through his body allowing him to focus. Trensu stood to his feet "RED, ALERT! Helm! bring us a round takes us out the way we came in warp 8!" Trensu know the crew left would snap out of any hazy they were in as their training kicked in. Adrenaline might be a short time fix but he could not be sure.

No sooner had the Captain’s words left his mouth. It became clear something was very wrong with the ship. The bridge crew's faces were tinged with red. As various warning lights came on their respective consoles.
Penny’s console was now matching her hair coloring. For some reason data that should have gone to Creeds console ended up on hers.

“ Sensors show the warp field has collapsed!” She said.

Jo turned to her console and tried to run a diagnostic on the failing system but her control console seemed to have turned into pudding. chocolate and butterscotch as a matter of fact.

"What the hell is going on"? Jo shrieked frustrated.

Steven rushed towards Creed's console and looked at the readings.

“ Sorry, Lisa I need to look at your console.” He said

" I can tell you for sure now that this is a trap," replied Lisa looking at Steven, continuing "that systems have been going down all over the ship for the past few weeks," as this had been something she thought was only small things but now she thought about it was one big thing.

The Oberon was still moving forward. It was clear that whatever was affecting her crew was now affecting the ship.

Jo came to the realisation that whatever was affecting the ship was affecting the crew in the same way.

Steven looked at Jo and Penny.

“ Well being pulled towards wherever this signal is coming from…” Steven said

“ These signal patterns. There is another buried within like a heartbeat….Oh my…” Penny said pointing.

On the view screen a large ancient looking derelict space ship hung before them. The top half was in the shape of a triangle and the lower half was a large bulbous section. That seemed to ripple with energy.

“ I know it’s been a while but that does not look like DS3.” He said.

-Sickbay-

Alaina began the process that would take Jason into deep sedation, he would not dream, there would be no rem sleep, and his brain would process nothing apart from keeping him alive.

The distorted images of the past raced, the explosion of the ship that his father was aboard, the bloody crime scene of the night Darleen was murdered, the confrontation with his family that turned violent, and the voice, the damn voice that kept making it seem like these events could have been worse. The voice. Jason couldn't remember the voice. He couldn't focus on it either, it seemed to be all around and nowhere. Jason couldn't feel anything either, he felt like he was floating in nothing.

Alaina put her hand on Jason’s shoulder and said softly. Jason, it’s Alaina do not worry I will be here all the time. You will not dream and I will wake you in a while.”

Word has started to make its way through the decks about Jason's collapse, while there was no word on his condition it still shook a few people, Alan didn't know what to do, he sat in the empty offices. He looked over to his section chief's office, the light was on in Jason's office. He tentatively walked over to the door, the light had been left on.


-Ancient derelict colony ship-

~ Soon the children shall arrive.~ The lonely said

“ Camouflage-unit-unable-to-comply,” said the ancient system control.

~ If the children do not see their old home. They will be distressed. Increase the entrapment beams. They must come. I could not bare another moment alone.~ The lonely said

“ Scanners-show-they-are-now-to-close-to-effectively-turn-around-you-will-have-your-new-companions-their-transportations-power-will-be-drained-with-it-we-can-recharge-power-the-children-of-Deep-Space-Three-will-be-yours” the ancient system replied.

~Oh joy~ the lonely said.

--Oberon--

Jason had worsened, it was a continuous barrage of images, overpowering emotions, and the voice, the voice wouldn't stop then it stopped. Jason sat upright with a scream.

Jason's scream echoed through sickbay as Gen entered, she ran the short distance to Jason "What happened?"

Jason sat there with a blank look, he stared at the wall, his eyes barely blinking. Gen took his hand, "Tell me what happened."

"We're not alone."

Suddenly a voice called out to the whole crew.

~ Welcome my children ~

[OFF]

To be continued in part III

Lieutenant Commander Ahkhsu Trensu
Commanding Officer
USS Oberon

&

Ensign Penny McTaggard
Science Officer
USS Oberon

&

Ensign JoAnn Grant
Chief Operations Officer
USS Oberon

&

Lieutenant Steven Edgeware
Second Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Oberon

&

Lieutenant Commander Niali Deval
Executive Officer/Chief Counsellor
USS Oberon.

&

Lieutenant Commander AlainaTrywhitt-Duffy
Chief Medical Officer.
USS Oberon.

&

Lieutenant Jason Elliot
Chief Intelligence officer
USS Oberon

&

Ensign Genevieve Middleton
Astrometrics
USS Oberon

&

Lieutenant Lisa Creed
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Oberon