A Dark Place
Posted on Oct 23, 2017 @ 7:21pm by Lieutenant Cantor Von
Edited on on Oct 23, 2017 @ 7:21pm
Mission: Fear Itself
"מקום חשוך"
(cont'd from "Refrain" written by SusieQ)
- Translation from Hebrew: "A Dark Place"
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LOCATION: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17]1023.0815
SCENE: Main Engineering
[[Main Engineering,]] Chaucer's vox indicated, but other parts of his communication relayed the smell, uniqueness of the box given to him by the humanoid female from the Starbase, the Captain giving the order, their pheromones being a mated....pair.....
Cantor Von blinked at the over the information overload as he walked beside the Gorn toward Main Engineering. The lizard humanoid's gate - more stalking than walking - attempted to match his own slower walk. As with most Gorn, he could tell it was uncomfortable for Chaucer.
Cantor Von had been stationed on the Rogg Shipyards in the Gorn Hegemony fresh out of Starfleet Academy with an engineering team as part of a technology sharing with the Gorn. Communication had always been difficult because the vox device Gorn used to communicate with the rest of the Federation species only translated the verbal component of their communication. Gorn communication, however, was far more nuanced and complicated than just words. It included scale tension, pheromones, and slight movements among other subtle modes of communication. Essentially the vox only provided about 25% of what the Gorn was trying to say - if that. Likewise, other species communicated only verbally, while the Gorn was picking up a barrage of information with their inadvertent movements and pheromones. This led to a lot of miscues and confrontations between the Starfleet engineers and the Gorn technicians.
Von had figured out a way to partially bridge that communication gap after a while, using his telepathy to "push" and "pull" the other parts of the communication the Gorn sent and received. And it had not been easy, considering the unique construction of the Gorn neural system. But after several weeks, his practice had led to a much richer communication between himself and the Gorn. It was like going from a blurry black and white picture, to an in-focus and color (though not high resolution) picture. The difference seemed to provide a good measure of relief between the two groups of engineers and his superior officers had used Von as the de-facto translator for the remainder of his posting. Unlike any of the other Starfleet officers, he had made some friends among the Gorn.
When he had been assigned to the PHOENIX he had been sought out by Chaucer - his previous reputation had made it through the Gorn "grapevine" so to speak. Despite the single word [[Greetings]] from Chaucer's vox, the Gorn had exuded excitement, nervousness, hope, and happiness. Chaucer turned out to be a bit chatty for a Gorn - probably why he had been selected to join Starfleet. Not that anyone could really determine this just from his vox communications
Needless to say, Von and Chaucer had become fast friends. They had a standing Monday night stalking session on the holodeck which Chaucer always looked forward to. For him, hunting with a packmate was a strong bonding ritual that he had missed since joining Starfleet.
[[It is a threat.]] Chaucer said, relaying that the box stunk of death and decay, and that it might be a danger to the crew. Scale attenuation had Von pull across the telepathic bridge that Chaucer had "protected" it with energy. He had put it in forcefield containment.
Von looked at the toga that Chaucer was wearing and pushed the equivalent of a raised eyebrow.
[[My name is Chaucer.]] Trying to please his fellow packmates, fit in, bring the pack together.
"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Von replied to the vox's incomplete statement trying to figure out how to push a joke and failing miserably.
The Gorn Assistant Chief Engineer entered Main Engineering with Von and made their way to one of the engineering labs that radiated off the central core. The cobalt blue lab was littered with tools and tricorders with the wooden box sitting on a containment pedestal behind the light shimmering of a forcefield.
Von picked up a tricorder and opened it as he approached the box - then halted. He blinked at the box in confusion and then took a step back. The Betazoid felt the Gorn's worry and concern as Chaucer looked from the box to Von, then back again.
[[Are you injured?]] Von knew his body was exuding threat signals and with his mind unfocused, there was no telepathic push to help Chaucer make sense of all the signals. Essentially, he had just flipped out in the Gorn's mind.
[[Should I destroy it?]] This was Gorn "concern"; not the calling of medical staff, but to kill the threat to the pack.
Von regained his focus, taking a couple more steps back away from the containment pedestal. "Yes...sorry, Chaucer." Von pushed control, embarrassment, and anger at the box that he knew would comfort Chaucer. "It's radiating some powerful psionics. I wasn't expecting that."
[[Normal fields detected.]] Chaucer radiated curiosity that he had not detected something powerful enough to "injure" a packmate.
Von viewed the tricorder data, nodding/pushing his agreement. "Yeah, I can see that. The wood carbon dates the box to late nineteenth century Earth, as reported by the Starbase team's analysis. Hang on, did you check the diagnostics on the metals?"
[[I did,]] replied Chaucer, pushing nothing unexpected.
"Except the disk. Some of those elements aren't found on earth," Von moved the schematic of the disk to a nearby holographic table. Closing the tricorder, he manipulated the 3D model in the air with his hands, zooming in to various features.
[[A meteorite?]]
The Betazoid shrugged. "Definitely a possibility. Hey, look at this." Von zoomed in to where the disk met the internal structure of the box. "Look at how it's fused into the box."
[[Not normal. Molecular bonding.]] Incredulity came from Chaucer and followed with excitement over the unexpected, though the Gorn's features or posture relayed none of this.
"I don't think that was even possible on earth, post-World War III. Does it still work?"
[[Yes.]] Chaucer, activated a control that started up the music box and a tinkling tune began to play-
---
Location: Unknown
Scene: A Dark Place
Cantor Von curled up on a floor that resembled obsidian glass as a horror he could not define assaulted his mind. Around him wind blew and he could make out a building in the distance, red lights barely registering with his tear-filled eyes. His mind screamed with agony, the melody that had began to play was now causing his teeth to vibrate. "Get....out...." he whispered, but the sound was ripped from his lips by the howling wind.
---
Location: USS PHOENIX
Scene: Main Bridge
Lt. Byte sat motionless in the command chair, commanding third shift while the festivities went on in the Vulgar Tribble decks below. Lieutenant, JG, Virgo Silsby, ran yet another diagnostic from his tactical station as he looked up at the android in the center seat. Byte had not moved since he had come on shift, making the tactical officer wonder if he had fallen asleep. Did androids even sleep? Had his batteries run low? This caused Silsby to smirk at his internal joke.
Suddenly his station lit up with alerts and information. "Lt. Byte, I'm getting a quantum distortion field coming from one of the engineering labs. It reads...." he was no engineer, but he knew enough about field mechanics never to have seen that before, "22.7 megacochranes field strength."
Byte swiveled in his command chair, suddenly animate. "That is not possible, Lt. Silsby. Such a field would destroy both this vessel and the Starbase. Please recheck your findings."
Silsby looked up, panicking. "Confirmed, sir!"
"Red alert," announced Byte, as klaxons sounded and the lighting on the bridge dipped into crimson. "Mr. Avari, summon all senior staff to the bridge and notify Starbase 56 that we are experiencing an emergency. Mr. Silsby, lock down Main Engineering. Divert auxiliary power to the warp core containment shield."
"Aye, sir."
"Mr. Lessen, emergency disconnect with Starbase 26. Move us away at onequarter impulse power.
The Bajoran Flight Control Officer's eyes widened, not used to using anything but thrusters this close to a Starbase. "One quarter impulse, aye." She inputted the command to accelerate at one quarter impulse at a parabolic course away from the Starbase.
---
Scene: Corridor
Kane gestured toward an abandoned lab. "And this is a science lab that is quite abandoned." Ellie giggled at this, but froze as the lighting in the corridor dimmed to red and klaxons sounded.
[[All hands, Red Alert. This is not a drill. All hands, Red Alert.]]
Kane frowned, glancing up as if he could see the main bridge decks above him. "What in the hell....." He tapped his comm badge. "Kane to bridge-"
The Commanding Officer of the PHOENIX and Ellie were viciously slammed into the corridor wall. Before he could register it, he was on the ground in a heap and cries of surprise echoed down the hallway. Kane shook his head to clear the impact and looked around. Ellie was slowly getting up herself. "Are you okay?" he asked. "I need to-"
"Go," she managed, "I'm okay."
Without another word, Kane sprinted toward the nearest turbolift.
---
Scene: Main Bridge
Byte picked himself off the ground as if being thrown from the command chair was a routine day in the park.
"All stop," he commanded, his voice as calm as it was before. "Damage report."
Blood dripped from a broken nose as Silsby blinked through the pain. "Inertial dampeners are offline. The field seems to have anchored us here, overloading them. We're lucky the ship didn't break apart." Silsby cursed at the pain. "Minor casualties on all decks. Structural integrity-" he swore again, "structural integrity at 78%. I think-I think the inertial dampeners took the majority of the hit."
Byte sat back down in the command chair. "Dispatch damage control teams-"
"Sir," said Silsby. "The field just vanished."
---
Location: Unknown
Scene: A Dark Place
He could breath, but only through fits of terror. The tune continued to thunder in his mind. This place....he shouldn't be here, it was an anathema to his very being, tearing at his mind, with the box's tune as its claws. Rational thought seemed to fragment under the onslaught. He knew he was going to die, to cease to exist, and he welcomed it to be relieved of such an existence. The red lights that dotted the building across the abyssal plain seemed to mock him as he writhed on the black glass.
---
Location: USS PHOENIX
Scene: Engineering Lab, Main Engineering Lab
[[You are injured.]] Anguish, concern, worry, rage, fight-or-flight - all these things assaulted Von from Chaucer as the world of the engineering lab returned to Von's raw senses. He tried to speak, but his voice didn't work. Above him, Chaucer squatted protectively over him, his dark blood dripping from a small laceration to the side of the Gorn's head.
He roared, and the vox tried to translate into something. [[I turned it off.]] More subtext pushed into Von's mind. Chaucer would kill it, tear it apart. It attacked his home (the ship) and his packmates (the crew). He would tear it limb from limb. RAGE.
"What....what....happened...." things began to regain focus, as Von's thoughts struggled to compose themselves.
Chaucer looked about. [[We are in danger.]] Strong, scaled arms picked up Von as if he was a rag doll and the engineering lab blurred as the Gorn picked up full speed. Von blinked at how fast the Gorn could really move if he wanted to. They slowed in a minute as they came to a containment field. The Gorn engineer raised a clawed hand to destroy the nearby control panel when Cantor regained his voice.
"Wait, Chaucer," he pushed calm, that he was better. "No need to tear that up. I'm okay. Listen, I'm okay!" He grasped a scaly arm, pushing imperative.
[[You are injured.]] Disbelief, anger, frustration at the impediment on his journey to sickbay. He put Von down on the carpeted flooring.
The Betazoid pushed himself up, cradling his head. "I'm fine, Chaucer. Just shaken up a bit. Let's contact the bridge and report."
---
Scene: Main Bridge
The turbolift doors opened to reveal a disheveled Captain Kane.
"What the hell is happening?"
---
NRPG: Jerome, apologies if I took too much liberties. It kind of just flowed, so I went with it. Feel free to nix anything you don't like. I was going to write what happened in the Vulgar Tribble, but I thought others would have fun with that.
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Marko J. Sertic
aka
Lt. Cantor Von
Chief Operations Officer
USS PHOENIX
