Phobophage Nightmare Continues

Posted on Nov 05, 2017 @ 1:22am by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Nov 05, 2017 @ 1:22am

Mission: Fear Itself

“Phobophage Nightmare Continues”

(contd from Sarah’s ‘It’s Healthy and You’ll Eat It’)

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Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17] 1104.1909
Scene: Main Engineering -> Turbo lift-> Deck 39 corridor

So Von’s experiment, using Vulkovic as sort of a blood hound, seemed to have provided some clues but they were nowhere close to solving the problem. What they knew so far about the phobophage was that it was extra-dimensional, apparently still tethered to its home dimension, while being here and that too possibly in more than one state of being. Is that why it could not be seen and be detected by the tricorder, when Jasmine tried to scan for its presence, using the phase variance that indicated the presence of a portal to another dimension – a portal that was currently open.

Remembering Jake’s retelling of the phobophage’s reign of terror on the Gateway Station, almost a decade ago, Yu couldn’t help feeling a chill down her spine, especially when at that time, the entity grew stronger with each kill to the point, where it manifested an illusion of a Dominion fleet laying a siege on the station. From what Tomas mentioned, the phobophage was still connected to its home dimension, where the Borg helmsman described it to be pure chaos – a terrifying prospect. So the Asian woman wondered if the entity was still linked, it would be able to go home whenever it wanted to.

Jasmine stiffened, wondering what if the phobophage didn’t want to leave, considering the Phoenix had something akin to an all-you-can-eat buffet, which the entity seemed to be indulging itself in. But then again, on the Gateway, it ended up leaving for mysterious reasons and the station had a much larger population. Or maybe it was due to Towers stunning himself to a coma, though the prospect of people shooting themselves to unconsciousness wasn’t an idea the young woman would advocate anyway? Then again, that might not be the reason for the phobophage’s departure as Crichton said in that conference meeting, either it was driven away or left on its own.

Yu sighed as she turned around to head for the turbo lift, leaving Von, Kalani and Malin-Argo to work, while Eve had left with Tomas to sickbay, the latter still unconscious from his ordeal. Jasmine was interested to hear about his report on his observations of the entity and its place of origin. As the turbo lift closed, Jasmine commanded, “Deck 39.” She leaned against the wall, deep in thought as the lift made its descent.

So if the entity could be driven out, then it would be worthwhile to find out how? The information from the Gateway could maybe help find some clues. Yu believed with dismay that the ship couldn’t afford to wait for the phobophage to leave voluntarily, when it got full or bored, which brought up another question. Could it get bored or even feel any emotion, besides maybe hunger? And was it killing to satiate its hunger or for pleasure, assuming it felt anything at all? Well, so many questions and not much time.

The turbo lift stopped at Deck 39 and the Asian woman stepped out into the corridor, making her way to the security centre. While Yu had the full security complement from amongst those who remained on the ship, on high alert, she was now having doubts as to how effective regular security tactics would be against an enemy that existed on another plane of existence or in more than one state of being at a time – okay that last part was getting confusing. As long as they were unable to detect the phobophage, it’d be hard to get rid of it, either by killing it or sending it back to its own dimension. Jasmine wondered, whether the entity could be killed at all in the first place. The security chief admitted to herself that she’d be relieved if they managed to at least find a way send it back home and keep that portal closed permanently.

When Jasmine was a few feet from the Security Centre, she stopped, furrowing her brow and then sniffed – some kind of aroma pleasant to her nostrils. Yu inhaled a deep breath, taking in the scent, when her brown eyes widened. The salty, sulfuric smell was reminiscent of…the sea. Yu raised an eyebrow, wondering how that was possible. She was nowhere near a seashore. This was indeed odd. Jasmine froze, horror filling her eyes, when she finally realized what was happening. But then she was also confused, when a blood curdling screams interrupted her thoughts.

Yu turned and ran towards the source of the screams. The entity was attacking again, however what happened in the next moment, stunned the young woman. Water began flooding the corridor and the scent of the salt indicated to Yu that it was sea water and its levels were rising rapidly. Already within the first few seconds, it had reached up to her knee. Up ahead, she saw a struggling figure – it was one of her security guards. Then, sounds of splashing was heard from behind her. Jasmine glanced behind and saw Silsby approaching her.

“Lieutenant Yu,” Virgo inquired. “What is going on? Why is this deck getting flooded?”

“I’m not sure.” Jasmine turned forward, her attention on the guard, who was in trouble. “It’s Petty Officer Carter, come on!” She pushed on with her deputy following suit, however it was a struggle to move as the water was now past her waist.

“Help!” Carter yelled.

Jasmine tapped her comm badge. “Yu to Bridge.”

[[Bridge here.]]

“Deck 39 is being flooded. Water levels rapidly rising.”

[[Lieutenant.]] It was Kane who spoke, doubts evident in his voice. [[Lt. Byte informs me that internal sensors pick up no signs of flooding at your location.]]

“No signs of flooding?!?” Virgo yelled from behind as he slowly began using his arms to stay above water. “I’m swimming in sea water…here in space of all places.”

[[Lieu…..]] The channel was cut off, when the water levels were now at her neck level. Up ahead, Carter was splashing around, struggling to stay afloat and his screams were muffled by the rising sea levels.

Jasmine began swimming towards the security guard. “Carter, hang on. We’re coming,” she announced amidst gasping breaths. Stroke by stroke, Yu swam as fast as she could to reach the guard. Virgo came up beside her.

“We should be able to reach him,” the blond said, between gasps and spat out the water, cringing from the taste of the salt. The water continued rising, and the two security officers raised themselves to keep afloat. “What the….” The aSec suddenly shouted.

Jasmine looked in horror, when Carter went under. The Asian woman took in a deep breath and dove under water. There he was, floating aimlessly but didn’t seem to be struggling anymore. Jasmine pushed on, when suddenly some unseen force pushed her and Silsby away and then she blacked out.

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Scene: Sickbay
TI: Later

Jasmine opened her eyes and squinted as she was adjusting to the bright light. She could feel a throbbing in her head, struggling to a sitting position and realized she was in sickbay. For a moment, Yu was confused and wondered how she ended up here, when her eyes widened and then it all came rushing back to her. Flooding on Deck 39 and…Petty Officer Carter. She became frantic with worry, jumping off the biobed.

“Lieutenant,” Aerdan called out, rushing towards her. “I must ask you to remain at your…”

“Petty Officer Carter? Lieutenant Silsby?” Yu cut him off, glancing around the room and moving from one biobed to another. She sighed out of relief, spotting Virgo, lying rather comfortably on his biobed and looking rather grumpy. But the security guard wasn’t here. She whirled around and gazed at the CMO with a desperate look in her eyes, a tiny bit of hope that the guard had survived.

The Andorian gave her a solemn look, his antennae wilting. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant. But Petty Officer Carter did not make it. His cause of death are like all the other victims.”

“Uhm, pardon me,” Virgo interrupted. “But Carter drowned. We both saw it happen.”

Jasmine sighed, giving him a sad look. “What Doctor Jos is telling us is that the sea water and the drowning were all an illusion, a manifestation of Carter’s own fears.” At that moment, both Eve and Jake entered sickbay.

Crichton inquired, addressing both security officers, “How are you two holding up?”

“I have a bloody headache,” Virgo grumbled.

“Physically, I’m fine, sir,” Jasmine replied, trying to maintain a brave front but deep down she was feeling a mix of sadness, anger and helplessness in what she perceived a failure on her part to save Carter. The logical part of her told her that the security guard didn’t really die from drowning but from the ‘fear of drowning’ – a fear that the phobophage fed upon. “What happened? How did we get here?”

The ExO shook her head. “When the bridge lost contact with you, the Captain ordered Major Thytos and a marine detail to rush to your location. By the time, they arrived, there was no flooding and found all three of you on the floor.” He paused, noting the lack of surprise on Yu’s face as it was after all an illusion. “And Petty Officer Carter was already dead.”

Aerdan informed, addressing everyone in the room, “Upon examination, I found slightly elevated levels of hormones in their bloodstream, heart rate and blood pressure, not to the extent that would lead to a cardiac arrest.”

“Well,” Jasmine said, her voice a little hoarse. “We were in a high stakes situation to save Carter.”

Eve, in a calm voice, suggested, “It seems both you and Virgil were pulled into Carter’s nightmare and this is the first time that has happened, since the entity started attacking.”

“Do you think this means the phobophage is getting stronger?” Jasmine questioned. The prospect was disturbing. Up until now, the entity’s inducement of its victim’s fears were confined to just the person in question and others weren’t pulled in. But then again, both Andersson and Schad were alone at the time of attacks.

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~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX