A Surprise Visit

Posted on Thu Aug 11th, 2022 @ 8:25pm by Lieutenant Christoph Ivers & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth & Callie Marshall & Lieutenant JG Melissa Jones & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov
Edited on on Thu Aug 11th, 2022 @ 9:36pm

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Bridge - Deck 1
Timeline: Mission Day 7 at 1230
4872 words - 9.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Bridge
To say the joint pain was bad would be a bit of an understatement. Not only had Ivan not been able to get comfortable in the three days since the onset of his symptoms, but there had been some nights when he had been shaking in bed from the agony. He'd come to the Bridge for duty today under total protest from his wife and hadn't moved from the command chair since he'd sat down. In addition, sniffles, a fever, and one bear of a headache made it all the worse.

He blinked at the back of Johnathan's head. They had been searching for days, but the doctors couldn't figure out how to kick this disease. Apparently it was a bacteriophage of unknown origin and it was prompting the decay of their cells, but it was very cure resistant. Many of the crew had fallen ill, including himself.

He sighed and shook his head.

At tactical, both Ivers and Cassiel stood side by side speaking quietly enough that no one could hear them, just the occasional indistinct sound as Christoph was addressing something that Madeline had brought to him. Unfortunately Christoph had been one of those to fall ill to the unknown virus, but he was for the moment still well enough to perform his duties. His joints were screaming in pain and he wanted to claw his skin off in places where it was itching terribly, even touching the PADD in front of him was starting to set him on edge because it was uncomfortable. He knew he needed to press on though.

Madeline was still one of the lucky ones. She stood there unaffected by their epidemic and felt some level of sympathy for those afflicted. Being ill was irritating, being incapacitated was infuriating. She took a moment to briefly glance out onto the bridge to see if she could get a read on the health of the other senior staff. A surprising portion of the crew had seemed to succumb to this virus, but like true Terrans, the vast majority were powering through.

The Chief of Intelligence entered from the turbolift. She had been among the first to fall ill, the doctors believed it was because her immune system was still compromised from the Ocampa surgical attempt. She carried a mug and walked down to the command well slowly, and she handed it to the captain. "Your Wife's orders." she said, as best she could. "Don't make me tell her you refused to drink it." She added as she turned for her console.

Ivan reached up and grabbed the mug slowly, pulling it toward him and giving a sip. Even those small movements hurt.

"And here I thought I was Captain of this ship." he said, taking a sip.

"Oh you are, she just happens to be a bit scarier" Came the reply from Kass as she gratefully leaned against her console.

Hearing Kassandra's melodic voice brought a grin to Johnathan's face. It acted as a mild salve to the pain he was feeling in his joints. Especially in his hands. They were starting to ache nearly constantly now, sometimes freezing up on him and bring unable yo straighten his fingers. He had tried a few different herbal remedies he had learned about as a boy, but to no avail. Whatever illness was effecting members of the crew, he was unable to cure himself, or Kassandra.

Madeline had glanced up and watched the little exchange between Kassandra and Ivan, but before she could put too much thought into it a warning alarm sounded from the tactical console and drew both her and Christoph's attention immediately down.

Given he was actually the one on duty, Christoph turned off the alarm on the console as he handed the PADD back to Madeline. "Captain, there is a ship entering the upper atmosphere. Configuration is unknown."

Ivan winced at the news. Who could it be?

"Maybe someone else heard about the Crystals." The Captain said with a frown. "It could be trouble though. Yellow alert."

The lights on the bridge and the rest of the ship shifted and began to flash yellow, the warning alarm bringing attention to the ship's state. Christoph brought the defense fields online and reached out to stop Madeline from leaving when she turned to do so. They'd see what was happening first.

Sovas seemed to among the lucky few who hadn't caught the mystery illness that was sweeping through the crew like wildfire as he sat at his station, going over their medical supplies and working on setting up ad hoc treatment areas for any projected overflow of patients that seemed to be an inevitability at this point. He was also doing his best to ignore and sublimate the agitation he was feeling coming from his unwelcome house guest in his mind as it seemed unsettled by the half-Vulcan's knowledge that those around him were getting sick, he suspected that it had some sort of sense of preservation for him, but he was also personifying and giving it traits that it likely didn't have and since he couldn't speak with it there was no clear answers coming for him. He looked up from his work as the announcement of the ship entering orbit and Christoph shifting to Yellow Alert, he saved what he had been working on and brought up the sensors and began to set up emergency power for transfer immediately as well as getting his response crews on standby.

Upon the ship going to yellow alert, Johnathan cringed slightly as he forced his very stiff and hurting hands to work his flight controls. While the Vengeance was a agile predator, out in space. As she was currently landed on a planet, she was as vulnerable as a deer being hunted by a mountain lion.

Troy was one of the few people to not be affected by the strange malady that had infected so many of the officers and crew of the Vengeance. It also meant he was tired from putting in longer hours to cover down on the essential day-to-day tasks required to run a Terran warship.

Callie arrived on the bridge, stepping out of the turbolift she made her way across to her seat. Up until now she’d been free of the illness that was affecting the crew, but it seemed the aching pains in her back and joints that she had put down to her pregnancy, were actually due to the infection. So far it wasn’t that severe, but she had been warned it would get worse.

Outside the ship, the large brown-tinted ship angled down toward them slowly, lumbering toward the desert surface. With little pomp, it landed just a few hundred feet away from the three ships of the Shadow Fleet.

Troy looked at the monitor situated between his chair and Ivan's. He kept eyes on the alien ship as he spoke. "Open a channel and hail them."

"They are refusing to return our hails Captain, I've resent on multiple frequencies and using the languages provided by the Kazon." Sovas replied as he looked up from his station to the captain before looking back to the sensors, curious about their unexpected guest.

"What do we have on sensors, Christoph? Are they ready for a fight?" Ivan asked, saving himself the pain of craning his neck around to look at his Chief of Security.

Christoph quickly studied the data readout with Madeline doing the same on the panel behind him. If he was going to keep her here she wasn't just going to stand and do nothing. "Sensors show the ship is heavily armed, multiple phaser banks and heavy shielding. However, neither their weapons nor shields are currently powered up, Captain." Ivers supplied with a frown.

"What the hell then?" Ivan asked rhetorically, gently moving his leather-gloved fingers. "Helm, let's ge-"

Johnathan interrupted his captain when his flight sensors beeped a warning. "Sir! This doesn't make any sense..." he turned back to face Ivan. "Sir, the Lovarr is powering up her atmospheric engines! It looks like Andrei is about to take off, Sir!"

"What?!" Ivan exclaimed, moving to stand up, but thinking better of it. What was his son doing?

Sovas was scanning the new arrival, working to gather as much sensor data as they could on their mysterious guest, his brow furrowing since unexpected surprises rarely boded well for anyone involved.

Christoph looked up from his console as dust could be seen on the image currently present on the viewscreen, no doubt from the Lovarr's engines. His brows lifted and then he frowned hard. Where the hell was Andrei going?

As Christoph looked on, Madeline turned as well, though her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Why would he run off? He wouldn't just run off. Something was wrong.

Kass bit back a snarl. What the hell Andrei? She thought as she watched her scopes.

Callie was as surprised as everyone else, she frowned as she kept her eyes on the viewscreen.

Troy wondered, like everyone else, what was going on with Andrei and the Lovarr. It was uncharacteristic for Andrei to make such a move.

Lovarr Bridge
"What the hell are you doing?" Andrei asked, attached to his command chair, his eye-sight completely gone. He was in agony, and had been for the past several days. "You can't do this! They'll track us down at any cost!"

"Enough!" Cerron roared and delivered a brutal blow to Andrei's already blooded, broken face. "I told you NEVER speak unless I have given command!" The Kazon turned to the others. "Leave this planet at once." He saw the opportunity and they were going to take it.

"You will fail, Cerron!" Andrei said, even louder, looking up with sightless eyes, his naked body doused with sweat. "By leaving, with me, you put the entire Nistrim Sect at risk. Remember what my father did to the Ocampa? Well he can do it to you too!"

He was desperate. He knew that, if they left this planet, he was probably a dead man.

Cerron grabbed Andrei by the jaw, squeezing hard and forcing him to "look" up despite the Terran's blindness. "Maj." He corrected Andrei and activated the agonizer on his collar once again. He'd leave it on this time, better his screams than his incessant prattling.

Andrei shook hard enough that his teeth chattered together violently. He had long abandoned his resolve not to scream as the currents raced through him, and his voice was hoarse and raw. He was covered in human and Kazon filth, and he could see nothing but light, particularly in his right eye.

Bridge
"Captain, the Lovarr has powered up its engines and lifted off from the planet, they are refusing to return our hails and Lieutenant Petrov is not answering his personal comms." He spoke up, his voice calm but the tone was much sharper than normal for him as he looked back to the sensors, scanning for any Terran life signs or signs that the Captain's son may have succumb to a mutiny amongst the crew of the Lovarr. "They are currently moving away at full impulse and making for the upper atmosphere."

More likely he's just a coward. Christoph thought to himself and scoffed from his station slightly, though kept his eyes down on his work. He didn't notice that Madeline had once again looked to the viewscreen. Her eyes narrowed, her expression darkened. Her hand curled into a fist. What were those filthy little aliens up to? She turned and joined Christoph's side, though her eyes were firmly boring into the back of Ivan's head as the Kazon ran off with his son and heir.

Johnathan waited for any orders from the Captain.

Kassandra looked at the Captain and then said "Captain, Kazon shields do not activate until they hit atmosphere, we can beam a team on board if we move quickly!"

"A team that will stand against 400 Kazon warriors?" Ivan said, shaking his head and experiencing shooting pain in his neck as a reward. "No, we have to give chase."

He wondered silently what his son was thinking. Was he that much of a coward? Was he that much of a selfish brat? Were the rumors true after all?

"Helm, prepare to launch and set a pursuit course. Let's keep them on sensors." Ivan said, but before any steps could be taken, a shimmer of purple light in front of the viewscreen caused the materialization of a man of moderate height and slim build with soft forehead creases, brown hair, and a trimmed beard. On his face was a smile that signaled confidence.

Madeline was slightly relieved that Ivan had decided to not just write Andrei off as "being Andrei" as everyone else knew him. It was short lived as the entity appeared and immediately she stepped away from Christoph and around the security console to stand in front of it but not in the way of Christoph should he draw too. She pulled her weapon and readied it, but kept it down at her hip.

Kass shifted and her phaser was on her console facing the intruder. She was not about to fire unless ordered but it was clear that she was armed.

After seeing the beam in front of him, Johnathan rose and drew his phaser, pointing it at the center of the alien's face. He held his fire though, waiting to see what Ivan would do.

The man's brows raised when he realized how well-armed the crew was. Nearly everyone pulled out a weapon, but no one fired. Disciplined soldiers - his lucky day. His superiors insisted on doing things this way, even though it put men like him in extremely dangerous situations. From their reaction, he thought he was going to be okay.

"I come in peace, in hopes of talking." he said, raising his hands in a surrender motion. "Just don't shoot. I am unarmed."

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my Bridge?" Ivan asked, his mind still on Lovarr and his son, despite this uncertain situation.

"I am Remm, an agent of the Vidiian Sodality. Perhaps you've heard of us?"

Callie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the small seat she had to use wasn’t particularly comfortable anyway, combined that with her pregnancy and the infection.

Kass straightened. "We have" Her tone flat. She pulled up what information they had on a PADD and walked to the Captain and handed it over.

"Anyway, I understand that you have recently come down with a certain illness from your exploration of the caves and recesses of this desert plain. We keep track of things here for our own purposes. No doubt many of you are feeling quite unwell; fevers, chills, and a distinctly painful joint ailment. Believe me; this will get much much worse in the coming days. And while some of you have not displayed symptoms yet, I can assure you: you do have it.

Callie looked towards their visitor “Are you here to help us? Or are you here to gloat?”

"I'm here to make a deal." the man said, looking at Callie. She was pregnant, and his eyes moved over her for an extended period of time. He looked away then, not being entirely sure who is in charge. "This disease is called the Phage. For generations, it plagued the Sodality until, finally, our scientists discovered a cure. For anyone who can afford it, we provide that cure. Without it, your skin will rot from your bones and you will have to resort to stealing organs to survive."

The man smiled, his eyes drifting back to Callie.

"Imagine how your baby will suffer...if your Captain doesn't cooperate." he said, looking between Ivan and Troy then, the two people he thought most likely to be in command. He noticed that Ivan was older and, from what he could tell, seemed to have a higher rank.

Callie shifted in her seat resisting the temptation to grimace at the pain in her joints. “I could just reach into that head of yours and take the cure right out of your mind.” She looked towards Ivan and Troy, the way her eyes met Troy’s conveyed the fear she was feeling at the thought of their baby suffering. Not that she would show her fear in-front of this enemy.

Troy glanced at Callie and her belly before turning his gaze to Ivan. "What should we do sir?"

"They wouldn't send someone of real value. It's too risky." Ivan said, narrowing his own eyes at Remm. "He's just their messenger boy."

"I'm their collector, sir. And I understand you've just lifted hundreds of Dallium Cobalt Crystals off of our world. We had no idea there were any here but you have shown us the truth. Return to us what is rightfully ours and...some of your ship stores, and we will cure you of this disease. Then leave our world. Immediately."

"There are no higher lifeforms or signs of ownership on this world." Ivan said, irritated.

"Nevertheless, the Sodality has a claim recognized by the Haakonians and, therefore, the Talaxians, therefore."

"Funny, since it was the Talaxians that lead us here." Ivan responded, forcing himself to stand, refusing to show his pain.

"Did they?" Remm asked, seeming mildly interested in the fact. "Well, that's a matter of politics, above my pay grade. I am only here for our matter of justice..and then a simple exchange. Nothing more."

Johnathan growled softly behind the creature. If this Sodality thought that they could extort this Captain or his crew, they had a few lessons of pain to learn.

Callie moved to stand up, wincing at the pain in her back and knees. “So what guarantee do we have that your sodality will give us the cure?”

Remm smiled thinly.

"You have no guarantee at all." he said simply, not hesitant to share that information. "We could just accept your payment and leave. But that would be bad for business, wouldn't it? What if word got around that our word was bad? People might do something stupid next time."

Ivan took one step forward, though Remm was on the other side of the helm directly in front of the viewscreen. He frowned and lowered his head.

"You have us at a disadvantage, Remm. There's nothing we can do; we need your cure." Ivan said, thinking. "In Terran culture, we shake hands as a sign of agreement and trust. I'll take your hand shake, one man to another....and we'll give you what you want."

Ivan bowed his head low, all the energy seeming to drain from his aching large frame. This was a low point, and he looked as powerless as they seemed to be.

Madeline’s hand twitched slightly as she listened to the alien’s taunting. Threatening Terran lives - a Terran child - she wanted to hear that voice beg for death. Her dark eyes were fixed on the alien and Ivan as Ivan advanced. The Butcher of Rakal V wouldn’t accept this, would he?

Sovas' gaze had shifted from the Vidiian to the pregnant Terran woman as he felt a seething anger coiling inside of him at the alien's implied threat against the child. It was quite difficult for him to find a reason to not simply accidentally engage the emergency transporter, beam the Vidiian man up several kilometers into the air so that he could become a wet stain and so much chucky gore on the hull of his comrades ship. Though the half-Vulcan waited to see what their captain would do as his fingers lingered over the console controls, ready to give the alien a rather gruesome one way trip.

Remm and Ivan converged on each other right between the helm and the command area. Ivan offered his large hand and Remm grabbed it like a foreign object, smiling as they shook. When Remm tried to remove his hand from Ivan's grip, it tightened. The joint pain made things difficult, but the Captain pulled through.

"Is this part of our strange ritual?" The man asked, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

Ivan didn't answer his question, but instead produced his dagger and pressed it up against the man's neck. Remm angled his head upward, starting to quicken his breathing.

"You, my dear Vidiian friend, are about to discover exactly how the Terran Empire responds hostile acts of any kind." he said, smiling slightly. "Mr. Anderson, one of you from security, come here."

Madeline glanced over her shoulder to Christoph, differing to him as her superior officer instead of just walking down immediately. When Christoph gave the nod to go ahead, she took the few steps down and then one up onto the slightly raised command platform. She stopped roughly a meter behind Remm, her eyes on Ivan.

Johnathan holstered his phaser, but pulled his dagger as he stepped forward, reaching up to take hold of the alien's upper right arm, in a grip stronge4 than he appeared able to achieve. Threatening his friends and those he cared about, had given him a jolt of adrenaline that was, for now, masking the pain in his hands.

"You two are going to find a clear place and a tarp. Then you're going to hold this man down, take him apart piece by piece, and keep him alive for an hour or so. Then cut his head off, nice and bloody, and we'll transport it back to the Vidiian ships. I want them to learn the lesson as well. And yes, Lieutenant Jones, you may have the body for whatever strange purpose you might have in mind."

It was a true struggle for Madeline to keep the smile she wanted to give tamed down to a cruel smirk. She felt like she had just been given a most wonderful gift. Her hands and arms were practically tingling and there was a wicked joy sparkling in her dark eyes. "By your command, Captain." She all but purred out.

"Cassiel." Christoph drew her attention briefly, tossing her a set of shackles which she snapped out of the air with ease.

Johnathan smirked as he nodded. "Aye, Captain. We can use the shuttlebay, plenty of room. I've also been very curious to see what a tractor bean will do to a humanoid."

"Make sure his body survives relatively intact, I need tissue samples to begin studying this.. Phage.. If he's come here to extort and intimidate us, then he does not need to fear infection. This could prove useful to understand how they cured this disease." Lt. Jones noted. "And how to recreate the means of curing this Phage. I would like to take through tissue samples from all points of his body to study this possible immunity, since he obviously does not fear infection from us. It will be quite excrutiating."

The man shook as he was grabbed and started to panic.

"No, please! Let's talk about this!"

"Talking is what got you into this mess." Madeline taunted, now drawing so close to Remm he could feel the heat of her body. She grabbed one of his arms, pulling it back behind him so she could get the shackles on. "No more talking, you're mine now."

Johnathan tilted his head towards Madeline. "Lieutenant Cassiel. ..the Captain said that we could both have fun here." He gave her an impish grin and friendly wink.

Madeline turned to look at Jonathan, quirking a brow as she seemed to just consider him a moment. After just a beat, she gave an easy smile and chuckled with good nature. "Alright, alright, I'll share."

Remm’s eyes were wide. Life expectancy in his job was short, but the prospect of torture was rare. He knew he would die screaming.

Callie watched with a look of amusement on her face, she was starting to like Ivan’s Command style. He took no messing and she was grateful for that, especially with the crew in ailing health.

"Lieutenants, do not forget to record it. It will be educational for his people" The chief of Intelligence said calmly.

"Oh the extraction will serve that purpose well." Melissa noted. 'How dare he jeopardize my Ami's life... I will find a cure for her and this crew.' Jones spoke again. "I also need him alive for several experiments into the nature of his possible immunity."

"No, Lieutenant." Ivan said with a shake of his head. "Dead and headless will have to do. I mean to send a message to his people."

"Shall we, then?" Madeline asked, giving a tug on the manacles she held Remm by and starting to move with him to the turbolift.

When the appointed officers had exited the Bridge, Ivan turned to the rest of the staff.

"We're going to take that ship by force, enslave the crew, and extort the cure from them."

"Sensors aren't showing any signs of defensive activity from the Vidiian ship, we could beam in canisters of anesthezine gas or agonizer grenades on their highest settings to sow panic and confusion in the enemy crew and take the ship relatively intact for the fleet," Sovas offered up from his station as he found the idea of humbling these arrogant aliens to be just what they deserved and cracking their ships data cores was something that he was keenly interested in just to see what they could find.

"Though what of Lieutenant Petrov?"

“As much as it’s not a nice thing to say...” Callie looked at Sovas then at Ivan. “We won’t be much use to Lieutenant Petrov if we’re all too sick.”

Kass crossed her arms. "Okay going to put it out there, what makes you think he requires our assistance?"

Callie sat back down, taking the weight off her legs again. “That’s a good question, I didn’t have chance to get a sense of what was happening over there before the ship departed.”

Sovas looked to the Intelligence Officer, frowning at her question.

He hadn't really had any interactions outside of his normal duties with the Captain's son and though he had a rather storied reputation, a Terran being aboard an alien ship with no explanation didn't sit right. "You pose a fair question Lieutenant, but what reason would the Lieutenant have to leave, I find it suspicious the Kazon just so happened to lift off just as the Vidiians land."

"If he is striking out on his own, he could pose a threat to not only our efforts but Imperial plans in the Delta Quadrant since he knows this ship and its capabilities. He is a Terran and we are ambitious, driven for glory and power." The half-Vulcan continued as he posited the questions running through his mind, he wasn't a security or tactical officer, but he was keenly aware that the knowledge Andrei could pose a danger to their survival.

Kass refused to look at the Captain. If Andrei had defected, it was treason. And There was only one punishment for such a crime. "Until we catch him, we cannot be sure of the situation. However, it is strange that our other Kazon crewed vessel remains beside us..."

"Lieutenant Marshall is right." Christoph spoke up from the back. "At this point, for better or worse no matter what is going on with Andrei and the Lovarr, we won't be effective against the Kazon if we can barely grip our weapons."

Troy looked to the port side Operations console. "Lieutenant Nyseth, scan the Vidiian vessel. How many lifeforms are there?"

The half half-Vulcan turned his attention back to his station as he began to run the sensor sweep with the obvious such as weapon empowerment and shield emitters being marked for future tactical assessment, a materials listing of the elements used for the construction of their ship's hull and infrastructure that was again marked for future assessment. He pulled up the life signs data as it completed and looked to Troy. "There are 383 Vidiian life signs detected aboard their ship, Commander."

Callie knew it was a silly question but she had to ask. “Lieutenant can we tell if those lifesigns are healthy or not? It may give us a clue whether their claims that this...phage, has truly been cured amongst their people.”

"Just a moment," The half-Vulcan spoke up as he altered the parameters of the scan to search for life signs similar to the infected crew of the Vengeance, causing a number of life signs to be highlighted in red. "It appears there are 41 infect amongst their crew, though from the scans it does appear that if their ship is analogous to ours, they are carrying out normal duties as they are spread across the ship."

Callie looked at Ivan and Troy, “So they’re not all cured.”

“So perhaps they’re lying, bud I don’t think so.” Ivan said finally. “Let’s take the next hour to build our plan of attack. And then, when the head is ready…we strike.”

END