S1- M6 - Under a Killing Holodeck

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Drury manor]

Ardyn continued her stroll with James, all the while holding back a curious little dinosaur from running off to wherever he pleased. She hated to admit it, but she kind of loved the authenticity of it. Of course, she wasn't going to tell the rest of the crew, as she still had a bit of an image to maintain,
The huge manor loomed almost stoically as Ardy came along, tugging Steve, who was hopping around and darting between the legs of the crew.  Coming to the gates of the manor, they were greeted by the butler, who invited them in.
Seeing the tiny sandwiches, Ardy quickly snagged one, somewhat unladylike, but she wasn't bothered, except when the lady of the house gave her a stern look of distaste.  Minding her manners, Ardy began nibbling on the sandwich.
"Madam, if I might ask, what is that creature you are holding? I've never seen anything quite like it. Ardy had to think fast. "Oh, Steve? He's a... very rare breed of... hairless cat! From Indonesia! My father is a passionate... collector of exotic animals and he gave me little Steve to take care of." The little raptor curled up onto her lap as she stroked his tail.

"I see." The woman said with a disdainful look. "How... Unusual."

Suddenly, the man she could only assume was Dr. Drury came up and argued with the servants. Ardyn's focus suddenly shifted to the others, all engrossed in their conversations. Suddenly, the doctor was clutching his stomach for a moment, then died.

Suddenly, the lights blacked out and a commotion ensued. When the maid came up with the candles, James was found bleeding. Somehow, the safeties had been shut off!
Quickly dropping Steve, she rushed to the exit. "Let's seal this place off. Whoever did this is still probably here"

[Fala Awen]

[Holodeck 1, Victorian England, Dorchester House, Green Drawing Room]

Everything started happening very quickly and Caelene did her best to keep up. Orantom had rushed over to the group of doctors; he was now checking on James. The Trill moved a bit closer and knelt down near the doctor, trying to get a better look at the situation in the flickering light of the lamps and candles.

Kneeling beside him, Oran gave Caelene a brief nod. "I assume murder was part of the team-building exercise," he remarked by way of greeting. "Humans seem to think an awful lot of their past as a medium of entertainment, hm?" He checked Hawke's pulse. Stable. He was alive, but unconscious, which raised some pretty pertinent questions about what exactly had gone wrong. "I'm assuming there was a safety failure in the holodeck. Happens more often than Starfleet would like to admit to us, right? Can we leave, or have I just ruined our chances of getting out of here alive like a dumbass?" He sighed, and started pulling off the ridiculous overlong pretentious coat Hawke was wearing. "Do you know what happened, Ms. Tam? Ensign Jacob, I know you're in here, can I get a hand?" he spoke into the darkness, before looking up for a source of light. It was so hard to work in this subpar environment. He really should've prepared, but here he was within five minutes, out of his depth. Again.

"I'm not sure what was supposed to happen in the exercise, but James was letting it play out, so I presume it was going according to plan," Caelene answered. "I imagine we were meant to work together to find out how the doctor was killed and by whom." Unfortunately, with James unconscious, he couldn't confirm that...but perhaps T'Ra or someone else would know.

The Trill shook her head, "I'm not sure what happened, but considering the James' injuries, it certainly looks like the safeties aren't working. I'll look into it, but I don't have answers for you right now." Even more troubling was the thought that someone in the room must have stabbed James...so now there were either two culprits - one who stabbed James and one who poisoned Doctor Drury (NPC) - or the same one killed both. And where was the knife?

Standing up, she turned in time to hear T'Ra mention the possibility of poison. If that was the case, they would have a lot of testing to do, presumably. All the food and drinks, possibly clothing or utensils... Poison wasn't a specialty of hers by any stretch of the imagination. Regardless, she didn't envy whoever looked into it - they wouldn't have the Shran to help them. They'd have to do it the old-fashioned way, which probably meant using some of Doctor Drury's equipment.

Will had jumped when the lights had gone off and was already looking around for the person who had seemly stabbed James. He moved carefully until he spotted Tam's form outlined by the lantern light. "Lieutenant" he said quietly "I don't think this was supposed to happen, James being stabbed that is. We need to stop this program." Will took a step back and called for the arch, to no avail "Something's interfering with Holodeck Operations. Ideas?" He asked Tam as he kept a watchful eye on the holograms.

Caelene turned at the sound of Will's voice. Frowning, she nodded, "Something must be wrong with the holodeck safety protocols...otherwise, James wouldn't have been hurt. Ordinarily that would take a command override, but I see no reason why that would be in place. Some kind of glitch must have occurred."

Malfunctioning safety protocols were bad enough, but now Will wasn't even able to call up the arch. This was not good. Getting even more worried, Caelene tapped the comm badge she had hidden under her costume, "Tam to Engineering."

Silence.

"Tam to Bridge," Caelene said. Still nothing. She glanced over at Will, trying to think quickly. "We could try to find an access panel, but I didn't bring my tools with me and there's only so much I can do without those. Still, I imagine it's worth a look." Weaving her way into the crowd, she procured a lamp and moved towards the open doorway with Will at her side.

Quickly dropping Steve, she rushed to the exit. "Let's seal this place off. Whoever did this is still probably here"

Hearing Ardyn's voice, Caelene moved closer to the other woman so she could speak quietly, "Ardyn...there's something wrong with the holodeck. Obviously the safeties didn't work and we can't get the arch or raise anybody on the ship. Will and I are going to look for an access panel, but I'm not sure how much we can do with limited resources..."

If they were inside long enough, someone from the Shran would surely realize they were overdue to return. Most of the Senior Staff, as well as a few other crew members, were inside after all. Their absence would be noticed and those outside could presumably find a way to get them out. How long was the exercise scheduled to last though? Probably at least a few hours if they were meant to find a murderer... And Caelene wasn't sure about James' health; he was badly injured, so the sooner they could get out the better.

OFF: Tag Will, soft tag Ardy/Oran/others

[T'Ra Jones]

[Dorchester Manor - Green Drawing Room]

T'Ra knelt down to get a closer look at the corpse of the holographic doctor. His hair was rumpled and a mess where his fiancée had caressed his face. Miss Wright was still clutching tight to the doctor's hand, but she had been reduced from utter hysterics to a quiet whimper, her eyes glazed over in a state of shock. Normally T'Ra would attempt to calm the distressed party, but the woman was also a hologram, and her priority was the crew.

"Evan, have you got a--" she started to ask, turning to find that he already had a tricorder out, waving it in his hand. He handed it to her, crinkling his nose with that knowing grin of his. "Danke, Schatz."

She waved the tricorder slowly over Dr. Drury, arching a brow in surprise. The readings were incredibly realistic. And incredibly disturbing as well. "Hemolysis," Evan murmured, reading the data from over her shoulder. "His red blood cells are being destroyed..."

T'Ra peeked over her other shoulder to see how Trea was doing with the captain. "How's Hawke doing?" she called out.

[Drawing Room]

Will had jumped when the lights had gone off and was already looking around for the person who had seemly stabbed James. He moved carefully until he spotted Tam's form outlined by the lantern light. "Lieutenant" he said quietly "I don't think this was supposed to happen, James being stabbed that is. We need to stop this program." Will took a step back and called for the arch, to no avail "Something's interfering with Holodeck Operations. Ideas?" He asked Tam as he kept a watchful eye on the holograms.

T'Ra kept her ears open as she worked, until something caught her attention and caused her to look back up, furrowing her brows slightly. Commander Waring had called for an arch, but a quick glance showed nothing. "Mr. Waring, Miss Tam, I trust the two of you will be able to get down to the bottom of this. Use whoever you need."

[Drury manor]

Suddenly, the lights blacked out and a commotion ensued. When the maid came up with the candles, James was found bleeding. Somehow, the safeties had been shut off!

Quickly dropping Steve, she rushed to the exit. "Let's seal this place off. Whoever did this is still probably here."

"It's unlikely that anyone will be able to get very far given the situation," T'Ra told the flight lieutenant. "But it would be prudent to confine everyone to this room if possible."

[Kirok]

[Drury manor]

Ardyn continued her stroll with James, all the while holding back a curious little dinosaur from running off to wherever he pleased. She hated to admit it, but she kind of loved the authenticity of it. Of course, she wasn't going to tell the rest of the crew, as she still had a bit of an image to maintain,
The huge manor loomed almost stoically as Ardy came along, tugging Steve, who was hopping around and darting between the legs of the crew.  Coming to the gates of the manor, they were greeted by the butler, who invited them in.
Seeing the tiny sandwiches, Ardy quickly snagged one, somewhat unladylike, but she wasn't bothered, except when the lady of the house gave her a stern look of distaste.  Minding her manners, Ardy began nibbling on the sandwich.
"Madam, if I might ask, what is that creature you are holding? I've never seen anything quite like it. Ardy had to think fast. "Oh, Steve? He's a... very rare breed of... hairless cat! From Indonesia! My father is a passionate... collector of exotic animals and he gave me little Steve to take care of." The little raptor curled up onto her lap as she stroked his tail.

"I see." The woman said with a disdainful look. "How... Unusual."

Suddenly, the man she could only assume was Dr. Drury came up and argued with the servants. Ardyn's focus suddenly shifted to the others, all engrossed in their conversations. Suddenly, the doctor was clutching his stomach for a moment, then died.

Suddenly, the lights blacked out and a commotion ensued. When the maid came up with the candles, James was found bleeding. Somehow, the safeties had been shut off!
Quickly dropping Steve, she rushed to the exit. "Let's seal this place off. Whoever did this is still probably here"

[Green Drawing Room]

EQ immediately put his water pitcher down.  He ran over to James and Ardyn.  The Captain was bleeding, really bleeding.

"Shouldn't we shut down the program.  End program.  Computer end program" he called out.

[Kirok]

[Admiral's Quarters -> Time Ship]

Kirok followed Agent Ferguson to his time ship.  It was one of the the newest Wells class ships.  Possibly from far out into the future.

Ferguson took Kirok to a time in the near future.  A time when the Task Force would meet it's greatest foe.  A time that would cripple both task groups.

And this occurred because Kirok's back did not heal.  His fitness for duty was calling into question.  Ultimately he was forced into retirement.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Green Drawing Room]

EQ immediately put his water pitcher down.  He ran over to James and Ardyn.  The Captain was bleeding, really bleeding.

"Shouldn't we shut down the program?  End program.  Computer end program," he called out.

[Green Drawing Room]

"Mr. Warring just tried to summon the computer arch," T'Ra informed the liberated Borg, "but it seems we are trapped in the holodeck for the time being, with an assailant still loose. I need your help tracking them down."

Evan tugged gently on her sleeve, directing her attention back towards the cold, pale corpse of Dr. Drury and the data that the tricorder had collected. "Several organs failed simultaneously," she remarked, furrowing a brow. "The data indicates the presences of a semi-metal element in his bloodstream..."

"Arsenic," Evan murmured, finishing her sentence for her. "And at a dosage twice the strength necessary to kill him. No wonder he was clutching his stomach in such pain. And that being said, it must have entered his system recently..." The doctor's teacup caught his eye, and he reached for it, gingerly bringing it towards his nose. After a brief whiff, Evan added, "Yup. That's arsenic. Smells like garlic."

[Kira Wyman]

City

A man about 3 metres away from Miriam frowned, presumably because of the Victorian attire she had on. She couldn't help but agree, the Victorian era wasn't her favourite. She much preferred the 40s and the 50s, the outfits they wore then were some of her favourite. She smiled and simply nodded, turning around and making her way for the holodeck. She'd only made it back onto the ship earlier the previous day after taking a leave of absence to visit her brother who had been critically ill.  She'd been told he was ill while she was still in service. She knew it was bad but she didn't realise it was as bad as it was. She took absence as soon as she could. The week she was meant to spend with him turned into a couple of months and a brief stint on a different ship, filling in due to a lack of personnel in a different fleet led to her absence being four months. However, she was glad to be back where it all started for her, on the ship which she thought was the best in the fleet. Even if she was late to the holodeck, giving a pretty poor first impression on her first proper day back on the ship.

Miriam walked up to the holodeck door and sighed slightly. She tapped the button next to the door and the door didn't budge. Instead, an error appeared on the panel next to the door and she frowned once again, tapping it again and getting the same error. Miriam sighed and shook her head. She tapped it a third time and the error reappeared. Miriam stood, motionless in the corridor trying to figure out what was wrong with the holodeck.

OOC - Hope this is ok for my first post back, if anything needs changing, feel free to tell me and I'll change accordingly.

[Kirok]

[Green Drawing Room]

"Mr. Warring just tried to summon the computer arch," T'Ra informed the liberated Borg, "but it seems we are trapped in the holodeck for the time being, with an assailant still loose. I need your help tracking them down."

Evan tugged gently on her sleeve, directing her attention back towards the cold, pale corpse of Dr. Drury and the data that the tricorder had collected. "Several organs failed simultaneously," she remarked, furrowing a brow. "The data indicates the presences of a semi-metal element in his bloodstream..."

"Arsenic," Evan murmured, finishing her sentence for her. "And at a dosage twice the strength necessary to kill him. No wonder he was clutching his stomach in such pain. And that being said, it must have entered his system recently..." The doctor's teacup caught his eye, and he reached for it, gingerly bringing it towards his nose. After a brief whiff, Evan added, "Yup. That's arsenic. Smells like garlic."

[Green Drawing Room]

EQ grunted his dissatisfaction.  Had he been alone he would have simply cursed.  But being with an officer made that option unacceptable.

"I'm on it.  Besides the scent of garlic on the suspect, should I look for anything else?  Specifically?"  the Liberated Borg asked.

[Kirok]

[Time Ship]

Agent Ferguson completed his show and tell.  "So, in a nut shell, if you do not heal and walk again the Federation falls into ruin.  This is the outcome" he said pointing again to the image before them.

"I see" Kirok simply said.  He was quiet for a long moment, contemplating his next question.  "Can you show me the outcome if I do allow you to fix my back?" he asked.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Green Drawing Room]

EQ grunted his dissatisfaction.  Had he been alone he would have simply cursed.  But being with an officer made that option unacceptable.

"I'm on it.  Besides the scent of garlic on the suspect, should I look for anything else?  Specifically?"  the Liberated Borg asked.

[Green Drawing Room]

Evan pushed himself to his feet carefully, balancing the teacup by its handle on his index finger. He stared at it quizzically, lost in thought for a moment before turning to answer the liberated borg. "A good place to start might be finding out who's responsible for this cup of tea."

[Kirok]

[Time Ship]

"I could show you some possible outcomes.  But as you might know there are a myriad of possibilities.  But I can assure you, the one that I showed you is the worst possible outcome" Agent Ferguson replied.

"No matter what you choose after allow us to fix your back is better than the outcome we just say.  You will have to trust me on that.  If you can" he added.

[Kirok]

[Green Drawing Room]

Evan pushed himself to his feet carefully, balancing the teacup by its handle on his index finger. He stared at it quizzically, lost in thought for a moment before turning to answer the liberated borg. "A good place to start might be finding out who's responsible for this cup of tea."

[Holodeck]

"OK, I will start there.  I am guessing the it was one of the wait staff.  First let's see if any of them are missing" he said.

He turned to the wait staff.  "Everyone please line up against the wall" he said.  While he waited he watched them file together.

City

A man about 3 metres away from Miriam frowned, presumably because of the Victorian attire she had on. She couldn't help but agree, the Victorian era wasn't her favourite. She much preferred the 40s and the 50s, the outfits they wore then were some of her favourite. She smiled and simply nodded, turning around and making her way for the holodeck. She'd only made it back onto the ship earlier the previous day after taking a leave of absence to visit her brother who had been critically ill.  She'd been told he was ill while she was still in service. She knew it was bad but she didn't realise it was as bad as it was. She took absence as soon as she could. The week she was meant to spend with him turned into a couple of months and a brief stint on a different ship, filling in due to a lack of personnel in a different fleet led to her absence being four months. However, she was glad to be back where it all started for her, on the ship which she thought was the best in the fleet. Even if she was late to the holodeck, giving a pretty poor first impression on her first proper day back on the ship.

Miriam walked up to the holodeck door and sighed slightly. She tapped the button next to the door and the door didn't budge. Instead, an error appeared on the panel next to the door and she frowned once again, tapping it again and getting the same error. Miriam sighed and shook her head. She tapped it a third time and the error reappeared. Miriam stood, motionless in the corridor trying to figure out what was wrong with the holodeck.

OOC - Hope this is ok for my first post back, if anything needs changing, feel free to tell me and I'll change accordingly.

While he was waiting for the staff to line up EQ had a thought.  He tapped his combadge.  EQ to anyone aboard the Sharn.  Please reply=/\= he said.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Holodeck 1, Victorian England, Dorchester House, Green Drawing Room]

Everything started happening very quickly and Caelene did her best to keep up. Orantom had rushed over to the group of doctors; he was now checking on James. The Trill moved a bit closer and knelt down near the doctor, trying to get a better look at the situation in the flickering light of the lamps and candles.

"I'm not sure what was supposed to happen in the exercise, but James was letting it play out, so I presume it was going according to plan," Caelene answered. "I imagine we were meant to work together to find out how the doctor was killed and by whom." Unfortunately, with James unconscious, he couldn't confirm that...but perhaps T'Ra or someone else would know.

The Trill shook her head, "I'm not sure what happened, but considering the James' injuries, it certainly looks like the safeties aren't working. I'll look into it, but I don't have answers for you right now." Even more troubling was the thought that someone in the room must have stabbed James...so now there were either two culprits - one who stabbed James and one who poisoned Doctor Drury (NPC) - or the same one killed both. And where was the knife?

Standing up, she turned in time to hear T'Ra mention the possibility of poison. If that was the case, they would have a lot of testing to do, presumably. All the food and drinks, possibly clothing or utensils... Poison wasn't a specialty of hers by any stretch of the imagination. Regardless, she didn't envy whoever looked into it - they wouldn't have the Shran to help them. They'd have to do it the old-fashioned way, which probably meant using some of Doctor Drury's equipment.

Caelene turned at the sound of Will's voice. Frowning, she nodded, "Something must be wrong with the holodeck safety protocols...otherwise, James wouldn't have been hurt. Ordinarily that would take a command override, but I see no reason why that would be in place. Some kind of glitch must have occurred."

Malfunctioning safety protocols were bad enough, but now Will wasn't even able to call up the arch. This was not good. Getting even more worried, Caelene tapped the comm badge she had hidden under her costume, "Tam to Engineering."

Silence.

"Tam to Bridge," Caelene said. Still nothing. She glanced over at Will, trying to think quickly. "We could try to find an access panel, but I didn't bring my tools with me and there's only so much I can do without those. Still, I imagine it's worth a look." Weaving her way into the crowd, she procured a lamp and moved towards the open doorway with Will at her side.

Hearing Ardyn's voice, Caelene moved closer to the other woman so she could speak quietly, "Ardyn...there's something wrong with the holodeck. Obviously the safeties didn't work and we can't get the arch or raise anybody on the ship. Will and I are going to look for an access panel, but I'm not sure how much we can do with limited resources..."

If they were inside long enough, someone from the Shran would surely realize they were overdue to return. Most of the Senior Staff, as well as a few other crew members, were inside after all. Their absence would be noticed and those outside could presumably find a way to get them out. How long was the exercise scheduled to last though? Probably at least a few hours if they were meant to find a murderer... And Caelene wasn't sure about James' health; he was badly injured, so the sooner they could get out the better.

OFF: Tag Will, soft tag Ardy/Oran/others

[drawing room]

Ardyn nodded at the Trill engineer. " Sounds like a plan. I'll head over with Kay and the others. See what else we can find. If worst comes to worst, the program should end when this whole mystery gets solved." Motioning over the rest of the crew to follow her, she began looking for things that seemed out of place. Everything looked in order. Looking over the room, she noticed a strange stain on the tablecloth , when suddenly, she felt a strong tug on her skirt. "Steve?!" The tiny raptor was acting erratically. He was not supposed to do that. Then he flickered.  That definitely doesn't look good.  "Hey, Caelene? Can you come  back over for a bit? Something's up with Steve.

[William Waring]

[drawing room]

Ardyn nodded at the Trill engineer. " Sounds like a plan. I'll head over with Kay and the others. See what else we can find. If worst comes to worst, the program should end when this whole mystery gets solved." Motioning over the rest of the crew to follow her, she began looking for things that seemed out of place. Everything looked in order. Looking over the room, she noticed a strange stain on the tablecloth , when suddenly, she felt a strong tug on her skirt. "Steve?!" The tiny raptor was acting erratically. He was not supposed to do that. Then he flickered.  That definitely doesn't look good.  "Hey, Caelene? Can you come  back over for a bit? Something's up with Steve.

[Drawing Room]

Will saw Steve flicker and immediately crouched down to get a closer look at the holo-pet. "That is all kinds of not right" he said.  As he visually examined the raptor. "It seems whatever affected the Holodeck as affected Steve's holoprogram." He stood back up and felt along a nearby wall until he heard a familiar click of a wall panel. Swinging it open he saw the Holodeck Access panel. "What'd ya make of it?" He asked as he looked at the lines of commands that scrolled by, normal for a holoprogram of this scale and detail.

[Kirok]

[Time Ship]

Kirok studied the man for a long moment.  Trust had been a hard commodity to come by over the past year.  But things had started to improve since Sloan had been killed.

His father's prognosis had improved.  His crew was no longer in constant danger from member's of Section 31.  And old member's of Section 31 had converted over to SFI or simply retired completely.

"Very well, I will trust you.  Besides, I assume there is some regulation again me seeing all of my possible futures.  What do we do we do now?" the half Vulcan replied.