Columbus Stories 1.3 - Pleasing Forms

[Michael J. Tritter]

[Location: Executive Officer's Office]

Tritter than looked towards Ryan, he than asked the other man, "What do you need to get started?" Ryan looked at him for a moment and replied with "Silence and to be left alone to be totally honest" Tritter nodded slightly "That can be arranged, I will not be far if you need me" Truth be told, it was nothing but pure anguish for him to leave the other man alone in the office by himself, but he had faith in their abilities. He would than give his Husband a lingering tight hug before he would leave, the affectionate gesture was returned by the other man. He whispered that he loved him to him, which was returned.

He would than turn on a heel and make his exit, it was very difficult for him to pry himself away from his Husband. He defaulted back to doing what he knew, keeping calm on the base and making sure that mass hysteria and panic was not spreading. He headed to the population dense areas, namely the promenade and civilian housing areas, to be the traditionally calm figure, handling people's concerns and just trying to keep calm, something the large man was very good at.

In the mean time, Ryan had found a relatively comfortable spot to just sit and relax. He needed to clear his mind so he could focus on communicating with their dark visitor and not get sucked into a rabbit hole if you will. He nestled into the chair, closed his eyes, he let his arms hang relaxed and eventually his body would relax as well. He than started to pick up on the entity, who appeared before him mentally as a roughly six foot tall shadowed figure, with no discernible features. The entity chuckled a bit and says, "I knew there was one of you here" Ryan's own figure was identical as to his own physical appearance.

He wasn't scared of the dark entity before him, he than added "It is kind of obvious what you are as well" The dark entity than approached Ryan, they stood about three feet apart. The entity seemed to be sizing him up. Ryan than shifted focus and said, "What brings you to a place full of families and children?" The entity seemed to exude a... stronger dark presence at this moment, "As one as strong as yourself knows, we require energy and this is where will get it. We won't stop until we suck this base dry... Your precious Captain is where we are going to start, we will corrupt his faith and bring him into our fold"

[T'Prina]

[Main Lab]

Throughout the meeting in Commander Tritter's office and through the walk to the lab, T'Prina felt an uneasy anxious feeling growing. Icy tendrils like fingers, grazed the back of her neck, an uncomfortable prickling sensation. It was illogical, she knew no one was actually touching her. She reached down and grabbed the sleeve of Jett's coat. The familiar smooth worn leather was a somewhat comforting feeling, and helped drive away some of the unsettling feelings. She was not quite holding his hand, but nearly.

The Vulcan had given professional appropriate nods when given the orders to investigate the unnatural phenomenon. But she was hearing... Whispers. They started out quietly, like crispy, rustling leaves, but they grew louder.

Po tor du meskaraya tor nash flalik komihn?

She shook her head, peering around owlishly. To her knowledge, nobody near spoke any sort of Vulcan. The voice could not reasonably exist. But still, she heard it so it must exist.

Du dungi aishan ish-vey tevakh.

T'Prina bit her lip, and focused on the slight pain. That was real, not this disembodied voice. With a deep breath to steady herself, she focused on the task at hand.

[Main Lab]

Xander didn't bother changing out of his costume, sitting on the edge of a table as he looked to T'Prina in question. "So what do we know about these things? Did they give us any useful information or just leave us in the dark in normal Starfleet fashion?"

[Main Lab]

The ensign's question startled her out of her inward thoughts. Before she could answer though, Lt. DeGroat spoke up, from where he was seated at T'Prina's station.

"Well now, Ensign Dorset, just make yerself at home." The stout man drawled out in his lazy southern twang, but squinted in disgust at the data he was compiling. "None of these damn sensor readings make any sorta sense, and they just keep coming in from all points on the station. Now, as a scientist I don't buy into any of this supernatural hogwash that I've been hearing bandied around on the comms."

He set his stainless steel thermos down with a hollow thunk, the contents long gone, as he glared over at his subordinates. "Now if we got some sorta energy based life form flitting around and messing with our systems, we are gonna find it. Full systems scans on all wavelengths, audio/visual frequencies, energy outputs, the works." Color seemed to drain out of his face as the lights flickered in the lab, and the temperature in the room dropped dramatically.

"I.... I need to go...." DeGroat stammered uncomfortably before sprinting out of the lab, much faster than a man of his girth was usually capable of.

T'Prina cleared her throat before speaking. "It appears Lt. DeGroat has been affected by what ever this... presence is. However running more in depth scans is a logical plan. We need to know more if we are to find a solution to this, situation." She walked over to her station and began looking over the already gathered data. It was chaotic, just as DeGroat had said, but she pulled up a program that would help extrapolate the data.

"Ensign, you can use the terminal next to mine to oversee the scans. ANaLYN, please see to stabilizing all the environmental systems that you can. It is important that we protect everyone under our care."

Uf thol, Fosh-lan. Hi ri hiyet.

She turned to Jett and handed him a tricorder. "I am aware that scientific pursuits are not quite your interest, Tom, but I need you to run a full spectrum scan, on me. I have already adjusted the settings, all you need to do is push this button. I am... hearing things that are not there, and I believe it may help point us in the right direction." She frowned as she made the admission, but the more information they could gather, the better the likelihood of finding the answer.

[Puzzles - NPC post as Rixxy]

Rixxy stood behind the bar, slowly polishing a glass beer stein. The tropical bird feather adoring her pirate captain's hat flopped merrily from side to side as she swayed a bit with the music. However the atmosphere in the room had faded from the joyous merriment of earlier to a sickly apprehensive paranoia. Less and less people were crowding the dance floor and and lots were headed towards the exits. She set the heavy mug down with a solid thunk and tromped on over to Leanna, bionic leg playfully disguised as a wooden peg.

"I dunno if you noticed, boss, but the mood in the room's drained like air out of a balloon. Everyone's all jumpy. You think they'd enjoy whatever this weirdness is." The Klingon shrugged non-chalant. There were still enough steady drinkers that it wouldn't dip too much into her night's tips, but she knew the Betazoid enjoyed a party and the good feelings that went along with it.

"What do you think we should do? Convince 'em to stay some how?"

[Johannes Kentrat]

[CO's Office]

Document. Document. He couldn't fault anybody here being confused. He was just as confused, really. Yet, this had to be a joke. This was some gigantic celebratory scare attempt. Poltergeist? There was no better explanation? Johannes was not at all aware that acting was taught at Command School.

But...if nothing was really pressing, perhaps this is how one just stayed entertained on a starbase. If he was going to go 'document', he'd go follow the one man that seemed to have a dog in this fight.

[Enroute to Chapel]

Apparently the refurbishment schedule had put this section of the ship on hold. He didn't say anything to the Captain, he just followed behind with a tricorder. Steps quiet, yet quick, staying out of his way and just observing. Documenting.

Adeyemi cast a gaze behind him, but Johannes could feel it not on him, but through him. He was looking for something. Was this...was this that voice that other girl heard? They certainly seemed at the same page.  However, the stare his captain was throwing about was frantic. Terrified. Like a young boy lost in a ventilation system, for a personal comparison.

Then he started talking to the air. This situation had barely developed and he was losing his grip. It didn't seem like he expected Kentrat to follow. He gave a hard swallow and started moving toward him, not ready for the reality developing in this seemed farce.

The captain barely had a head start when he started into a sprint. Kentrat had superb form and kept behind Adeyemi, breathing even and hard.

That was his captain. He wouldn't let him face whatever danger there was alone. He understood fear, he'd felt it for so many years. This was real.

"Loyal little sooooooldier boy."

Belief was strong.

[Jenna McKinson]

Knox to Lt. McKinson. Get sober and meet me in Engineering. Bring your friend, too.

[ Puzzles ]

As Jenna was about to reply to Leanna, her combadge went off. She then tapped on her combadge.  "Aye. We are leaving right now"  Jenna grabbed Molly's hand and ran out with her. Molly waved as the two ran off.

[ Passageway ]

Molly and Jenna both knew they would not have time to change. As they continued to run. Molly felt a chill in the air that made her stop. Jenna had continued to run and she had been on a one track mind at that point. She shivered as she felt that she was being watched. She continued to walk forward. Her shoes made a loud noise that echoed.

"How could you?" A voice echoed in the distance. Molly looked around with a jolt. Her goosebumps were everpresent at that moment. She knew she didn't just hear a voice. She shook it off and jumped when it got louder. It was like someone was toying with her.

"Idiotic little slut," The voice said again. How did they know about her? The voice couldn't be real she knew that as much. She continued ahead as she felt the hairs on her neck stand on end. A cool breeze flowed over her face and made her jump.

"Guess you had to settle for that filth, since no man would ever want you," the voice whispered in her ear. Molly took off in a full on sprint not knowing where she was going in fear. The voice laughed no matter where she went the voice was loud and always nearby. She had no idea just how lost she had gotten.

The loneliness she felt was as cold as her breath which she could then see. The walls that once comforted her became cold and unforgiving. The laughs that were there before began to echo. Blackness was starting to sound inviting. Maybe the voice was right. She loved being around Jenna, but she worried what others would think. Jenna was the first person she came out to and was so accepting. That spark between them grew, but at what cost?

Jenna then appeared. She too heard the laughing and raised her eye brow. Molly was visibly shaken and she was not going to have it "Speak of the devil there is the filthy deviant trans now." Jenna smirked as she was not easily swayed by strange voices.

"Right you could be one of two things. One, you may be a ghost that has somehow crossed into our plane. Though I am a spiritual person and do believe in such things...Strange a woman of science believing such things. Call the tabloids and put me in the funny papers. Two, you could be a new form of being not yet explored. While I do like the opportunity to meet new beings, I think I am going to have to ignore protocol here as you did cause my woman a great deal of pain. Now I am going to have to ask you to kindly back off," Jenna said reaching for her minitorch. When she did her speech, she had her epipe in her hand. When she finished she took a puff of it and kept it in her mouth as she aimed toward the voice.

There was a bit of silence and Molly decided this was the time to strike. She grabbed the torch and opened fire toward the voice. "Expelliarmus," She exclaimed. To her surprise there was screaming. Taking the moment as a cue, the two ran off. After a while they stopped to catch their breath. Jenna was the first to break the silence. "Expelliarmus really?" Jenna exclaimed. "Oh what would you have used?" Molly said in retort. "Riddikulus obviously," Jenna said. Her tone and intination matched that of Alan Rickman. Molly shook her head. "You're right,"Molly said. "This would be where I would take points away, but your so damn cute I will give them to you instead," Jenna said giving Molly a quick peck on the lips. Molly smiled as she took Jenna's hand.

[ Main Engineering ]

Jenna and Molly walked in still holding hands. They didn't care who saw. As Jenna led Molly over to where Knox and Dan were. "Chief and Knox,"Jenna said. "Sorry that we are late. We had a run in with our new guests." Jenna said with a tone of disgust and snark. While the two waited for a reply Molly winked at Jenna.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[CO's Office]

Document. Document. He couldn't fault anybody here being confused. He was just as confused, really. Yet, this had to be a joke. This was some gigantic celebratory scare attempt. Poltergeist? There was no better explanation? Johannes was not at all aware that acting was taught at Command School.

But...if nothing was really pressing, perhaps this is how one just stayed entertained on a starbase. If he was going to go 'document', he'd go follow the one man that seemed to have a dog in this fight.

[Enroute to Chapel]

Apparently the refurbishment schedule had put this section of the ship on hold. He didn't say anything to the Captain, he just followed behind with a tricorder. Steps quiet, yet quick, staying out of his way and just observing. Documenting.

Adeyemi cast a gaze behind him, but Johannes could feel it not on him, but through him. He was looking for something. Was this...was this that voice that other girl heard? They certainly seemed at the same page.  However, the stare his captain was throwing about was frantic. Terrified. Like a young boy lost in a ventilation system, for a personal comparison.

Then he started talking to the air. This situation had barely developed and he was losing his grip. It didn't seem like he expected Kentrat to follow. He gave a hard swallow and started moving toward him, not ready for the reality developing in this seemed farce.

The captain barely had a head start when he started into a sprint. Kentrat had superb form and kept behind Adeyemi, breathing even and hard.

That was his captain. He wouldn't let him face whatever danger there was alone. He understood fear, he'd felt it for so many years. This was real.

"Loyal little sooooooldier boy."

Belief was strong.

[Outside Chapel]

Adeyemi's eyes were rolling wildly in his head. His lips had been chewed until they were bloody. He had ripped open the top of his uniform, exposing the top half of his heaving, sweaty chest.

He whirled around, glaring at Kentrat balefully. He raised his fists.

"You are coming to get me!" The captain yelled.

"That's right, he's coming for you. He is going to kill you."

"You want to kill me!?" Adeyemi demanded, stepping closer to Kentrat, fists still raised. "Not if I kill you first!"

"Kill him!"

The captain was old, but he was still well built and strong, and maintained his fitness. He lowered his head and charged, bellowing a stentorian war cry.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"

The door to the chapel swished open and a robed figure emerged, wielding a giant, old fashioned leather bound Bible.

"BEGONE!" Friar T'Vol said, and swung the large book with a smooth economy of emotion that belied his age and profession.

The Bible connected with Adeyemi's forehead with a resounding thunk and sent him sprawling to the deck.

T'Vol was in action immediately, raising the Bible high and jumping in the air to bring it down again, harder, when Adeyemi tried to scramble to his feet. The captain went down, hard.

"I hope you don't mind," The Vulcan holy man said to Kentrat, not even breathing hard. "That I didn't undergo the traditional sacrament of exorcism. I thought alacrity would be logical."

[Leanna Mazal]

[Puzzles - NPC post as Rixxy]

Rixxy stood behind the bar, slowly polishing a glass beer stein. The tropical bird feather adoring her pirate captain's hat flopped merrily from side to side as she swayed a bit with the music. However the atmosphere in the room had faded from the joyous merriment of earlier to a sickly apprehensive paranoia. Less and less people were crowding the dance floor and and lots were headed towards the exits. She set the heavy mug down with a solid thunk and tromped on over to Leanna, bionic leg playfully disguised as a wooden peg.

"I dunno if you noticed, boss, but the mood in the room's drained like air out of a balloon. Everyone's all jumpy. You think they'd enjoy whatever this weirdness is." The Klingon shrugged non-chalant. There were still enough steady drinkers that it wouldn't dip too much into her night's tips, but she knew the Betazoid enjoyed a party and the good feelings that went along with it.

"What do you think we should do? Convince 'em to stay some how?"

[ Puzzles ]

As Jenna was about to reply to Leanna, her combadge went off. She then tapped on her combadge.  "Aye. We are leaving right now"  Jenna grabbed Molly's hand and ran out with her. Molly waved as the two ran off.

[Puzzles]

Leanna turned as Rixxy came walking over to her, loving the pirate costume she was wearing and how she had disguised her bionic leg so well. However any joviality and fun that she was having was soon extinguished when she told her about the change in mood and how people should be enjoying whatever weirdness had caused before asking what they should do and that's when she noticed how quieter the bar had become and was surprised she hadn't picked up on it sooner. Then again with her own positive thoughts and break from reality thanks to her stint on stage had buoyed her up so much she had closed out any negativity.

She knew that she needed to clear her mind and focus and as she began to lower her guard and defences she heard Molly and Jenna being called away and managed to wave back as the couple left. Then continued although soon wished she hadn't as an icy cold sense of dread and utter evil threatened to consume her.

You know he never left you, he's always watching and waiting for his chance to claim you once more

" Stop it whatever you are, just leave this place"

Why would I want to do a thing like that when there's all this fun to extinguish

At that point Leanna had to pull herself back and looked at Rixxy " We need to find out what's going on and what's causing the weirdness" she said getting up from the Booth along with Seamus.  " Then we get the band to keep playing and increase the offers that we have on the drinks call it an Halloween special so hopefully that will stop anyone else from leaving and if anyone asks about the weirdness we tell them that its all part of the special effects we've installed for the party" she added knowing it wasn't ideal but at the same time didn't want the bar to close early especially after the last incident.

[Auzual Knox]

[Main Engineering]

Jenna and Molly walked in still holding hands. They didn't care who saw. As Jenna led Molly over to where Knox and Dan were. "Chief and Knox,"Jenna said. "Sorry that we are late. We had a run in with our new guests." Jenna said with a tone of disgust and snark. While the two waited for a reply Molly winked at Jenna.

It was very good timing, as Jenny and Molly entered, 50 % energy had been drained, the antimatter chambers had turned from blue to purple and all consoles blew up at once in a huge electrical explosion.

Oh ....

"YESSSSSSSS. WE ARE STRONGER NOW. WE CAN DO ANYTHING TO YOU NOW."

Everyone heard them now, as the lights flicked and went out. Emergency lighting came on and the Computer sounded three alerts immediately.

"Antimatter containment field is at 40 %"
"Main power down."
"Reserve energy is at 80 %"

Knox looked to Dan, to Jenna and then to Molly and nodded her head once.

"Everyone. Stop them draining anymore power. Divert power from nonessential systems. Jenna, you have a way of handling consoles, see to them. Molly, keep the antimatter chambers from going offline, or worse. Commander Howell, any suggestions on how we keep them out?"

Knox to Captain. We are experiencing issues in Engineering, Sir. We have to shut down all nonessential systems, divert energy and prevent any further energy depletion. And, Sir, they have warned us that they are stronger, now.

[Xander Dorset]

[Main Lab]

The ensign's question startled her out of her inward thoughts. Before she could answer though, Lt. DeGroat spoke up, from where he was seated at T'Prina's station.

"Well now, Ensign Dorset, just make yerself at home." The stout man drawled out in his lazy southern twang, but squinted in disgust at the data he was compiling. "None of these damn sensor readings make any sorta sense, and they just keep coming in from all points on the station. Now, as a scientist I don't buy into any of this supernatural hogwash that I've been hearing bandied around on the comms."

He set his stainless steel thermos down with a hollow thunk, the contents long gone, as he glared over at his subordinates. "Now if we got some sorta energy based life form flitting around and messing with our systems, we are gonna find it. Full systems scans on all wavelengths, audio/visual frequencies, energy outputs, the works." Color seemed to drain out of his face as the lights flickered in the lab, and the temperature in the room dropped dramatically.

"I.... I need to go...." DeGroat stammered uncomfortably before sprinting out of the lab, much faster than a man of his girth was usually capable of.

T'Prina cleared her throat before speaking. "It appears Lt. DeGroat has been affected by what ever this... presence is. However running more in depth scans is a logical plan. We need to know more if we are to find a solution to this, situation." She walked over to her station and began looking over the already gathered data. It was chaotic, just as DeGroat had said, but she pulled up a program that would help extrapolate the data.

"Ensign, you can use the terminal next to mine to oversee the scans. ANaLYN, please see to stabilizing all the environmental systems that you can. It is important that we protect everyone under our care."

Uf thol, Fosh-lan. Hi ri hiyet.

She turned to Jett and handed him a tricorder. "I am aware that scientific pursuits are not quite your interest, Tom, but I need you to run a full spectrum scan, on me. I have already adjusted the settings, all you need to do is push this button. I am... hearing things that are not there, and I believe it may help point us in the right direction." She frowned as she made the admission, but the more information they could gather, the better the likelihood of finding the answer.

[Main Lab]

Alexander offered up a cavalier smirk at the other officer's somewhat annoyed comment about making himself at home. "I already am, Tex, but I appreciate the considerate invitation all the same," he drily responded. Luckily, the rather portly man didn't seem to hear him, he was so busy grumbling about the data. Xander started to open his mouth - likely to make another poorly thought out, smart-ass retort - but was cut short as the lights in the lab sputtered and the temperature noticeably plummeted, sending a noticeable chill over his unusually exposed lower half.

When the Texan ran from the lab, Xander snorted in derision (even if it sounded a little strained and his own face was slightly paler than normal). "For a bunch of 'supernatural hogwash' he certainly got out of here in a hurry." His flippant tone faded, however, as T'Prina began to speak. Everything she said was highly logical and the picture of calm, but Xander couldn't help but notice the way her hands were trembling as they went over the controls. So, in a very uncharacteristic moment, Xander replied only with, "Aye, good plan," and a respectful nod.

Turning to ANaLYN as he moved to the station, Xander added, "Maybe if these beasties like the cold so much, a little tropical weather wouldn't go amiss." He winked at the little girl conspiratorially and moved to the console the Vulcan had indicated. The data was... atrocious. Even with T'Prina's program extrapolating things.

[Thomas Jett]

[Main Lab]

Jett followed T'Prina as they headed out of the meeting with Tritter.  The situation was a little over his head, but he noticed T'Prina slowly holding the sleeve of his coat.   Tom responded to the situation by allowing her.

He figured that she was anxious and nervous about something, but he could not figure it out.  They had been in worst situations.  As much as he wanted to comfort her and try and tell her everything was going to be fine.  But that was not his role, his role was to support her and to listen to her if needed.

As he smiled and only said "I'm here if you need me"

Jett observed T'Prina as she was acting a little strangely.  He kept relatively quiet during the meeting as most of this issues were above his pay grade.

As he listens to the science people talk, Jett was reminded of al old earth song. He began signing it on the side in order to kill time while the scientists did their work.

"If there's something strange in you neighborhood
Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)
If there's something weird
And it don't look good
Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)
I ain't afraid of no ghost
I ain't afraid of no ghost
If you're seeing things running through your head
Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)
An invisible man
Sleeping in your bed
Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)
I ain't afraid of no ghost
I ain't afraid of no ghost
Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)
If you're all alone
Pick up the phone
And call ghostbusters
I ain't afraid of no ghost
I hear it likes the girls
I ain't afraid of no ghost
Yeah yeah yeah yeah"  As he finished singing to himself

Jett spoke to himself and said "Maybe we should call the Ghostbusters"  Thankfully no one heard that comment.

As he noticed T'Prina leaving the lab, it appears that everyone was acting strangely.  Jett wondered "Why am I not affected? "

As he finished, he saw T'Prina giving him a tricorder.

She turned to Jett and handed him a tricorder. "I am aware that scientific pursuits are not quite your interest, Tom, but I need you to run a full spectrum scan, on me. I have already adjusted the settings, all you need to do is push this button. I am... hearing things that are not there, and I believe it may help point us in the right direction." She frowned as she made the admission, but the more information they could gather, the better the likelihood of finding the answer.

Jett looked at the Tricorder and for a second nothing made sense. He could not understand the wording the scanners the sensors he only focused on the button.  "I don't think I understand this...ohh" Jett said out loud.

He then figured that he was holding the Tricorder upside down.  As he moved it to the correct way, the LCARS system in the Tricorder made sense "Apparently, I'm not good reading up side down"

Before begging the scans, he approached T'Prina and said "I don't give a damn if it's science or not.  You are important to me.  If you hear or see things that are not there, focus on me.  I am real."  He then attempted to kiss her on the cheek to prove a point.  He was tempted to kiss her on the lips but decided not too.  It might not have been the moment.

As the attempt finished, he said in a calm voice "Would a ghost do that?"   The kiss was powered by feelings and he wanted to kiss her.  This just seemed like a good excuse. At the same time, there was a lot of restraint he was not sure how she was going to react.

"We will figure this out together as a team,"  Jett said

Tom then having the Tricorder is the right way, began the scan.  He informed her out loud "ok, I am beginning scans."

As he turned out the scans, he began explaining "You know now, that I am scanning you and I read your vitals...this seems like the best time to do this.  Also, you can't run away.  Do you want to go out with me?  Be warned I can tell if you are lying,  Starfleet Training.  Also, did you like the attempt of the kiss" He finished his questions with a big smile as he waited her response.

He looked at the scans and checked the spectrum.  As he finished, he turned serious and said "All right, as you can see there is an anomaly in the Ultraviolet Spectrum.  Which is not visible to the human eye, this explains why some people might see things.  When I taught flight school in Starfleet Academy, I taught that in the right conditions certain humans and eyes could see ultraviolet, not the same way as animals can.  However, it would be describing the conditions.  They might appear like a ghost to some people" He showed her the scans and smiled and then confessed.

"I also wonder why not everyone is affected the same way.  But,  Ultraviolet affect different people in different ways.  You might be more sensitive to that spectrum than me.  It explains the discrepancy.  Or at least that my Hypothesis.  Not bad for a pretend scientist"

"I was kidding;   I was bluffing about the whole can tell now a lie thing.  I  wanted to get an honest answer out of you"  Jett said with a big smile as he figured he pulled a prank at her.

[Jenna McKinson]

"Everyone. Stop them draining anymore power. Divert power from nonessential systems. Jenna, you have a way of handling consoles, see to them. Molly, keep the antimatter chambers from going offline, or worse. Commander Howell, any suggestions on how we keep them out?"

[ Main Engineering ]

Jenna and Molly gave a small nod to one another. They split off and ran off to where they were needed. Jenna cracked her knuckles as she approached a terminal. "Alright I am going to divert power. I am not taking everything off at once. We don't want to risk overload. keep your eyes on those levels and let me know if you need more or less power to keep things stable," Jenna shouted to Molly. It seemed they were ready to be a dream team to help keep things in check. Jenna's mind began to focus on her work and it seemed that she zoned everything out in order to keep focus on what Molly needed.

Molly ran over to the terminal that handled the antimatter chambers. While she was doing so, her brain began to work. She then had the look on her face like she had a brilliant idea. "Hey short stuff, what if we could use one of the chambers to trap the voices?" Molly called out. Jenna smiled widely proud of Molly in that moment. "Brilliant Giraffe! Now we will just need a bait of some kind," as Jenna said this Paul, a very skiddish ensign, began to protest. "Won't that overload life support? I think we should run some tests first and a few simulations," Paul said. Jenna knew Paul to be spineless in many moments. She knew that he knew that there was no time for that. "Hey Molly is that true?" Jenna called out. "Yes... That man has no dick," Molly called in retort.

[Michael J. Tritter]

[Location: Executive Officer's Office]

Ryan was oddly calm as he remained seated, his overall posture remained relaxed, eyes closed. His spirit presence if you will was strong and confident as he focused on the devil that stood a few feet ahead of him. He was an eerily calm personality, as if being face to face with this malevolent force did not scare him. He than calmly replied "You may dream but this station and it's crew are not yours" The devil than laughed at him and said, "You piddly human can't make me leave. My minions are coming after the rest of the crew and theres nothing you can do"

Ryan didn't let out his full plan... He had a way to deal with the minions and he was going to be shutting them down shortly, but he was focusing on the main devil. He had plans for the others, with a method to overload them all at once. Little did they know that he had been secretly planning a way to permanently banish them with the Executive Officer's help, as well as a few crew members that agreed to keep things hidden from their supernatural visitors.

He than turned his focus back on the devil and replied with "Such is not as simple as you think" With that, he left the devil hanging. He would than proceed to make his way towards he knew where Tritter was, since he knew he was keeping order on the Promenade, which Ryan knew was quite a task. He stepped his way through the area that was mostly calm, he saw his Husband not too far away, he was bouncing around like a ping pong ball from place to place, ushering people around and being that calm presence that everyone counted on. Ryan was also a very similar demeanor, due to their very similar backgrounds.

Tritter than noticed his Husband entering the area. Tritter than made his way over to the other man. They kept things on a professionalish level, but the two men got within a close distance to each-other, they were comfortable and relaxed around eachother. They spoke to eachother, barely above whispers, Ryan whispered the following to him "The plans are on pace, we will be ready to do as we discussed" Tritter than replied with "Good job Honey, thank you for helping" Tritter knew he didn't have to help, but he knew that his Husband cared and that he wanted to help. Although it was taking a good bit out of him, as the type of thing is exhausting. Tritter than waited for a moment before he told hiim, "Let's get to work, I need you to keep things from blowing up around here"

Ryan nodded slightly, "Thank you" and he went back to somewhere quiet where he could work quietly on keeping things on a better path. He had sat down once again and got relaxed, he than proceeded to focus on pushing the demons out of the life support and other critical station systems, as they were starting to be overwhelmed with it. Eventually, he would start to notice that the systems got a bit more stable. Tritter seemed to notice that the systems seemed to behave better as things kept going on. The lights were stable, no alarms were going off and similar things were happening.

[Xander Dorset]

Jett looked at the Tricorder and for a second nothing made sense. He could not understand the wording the scanners the sensors he only focused on the button.  "I don't think I understand this...ohh" Jett said out loud.

He then figured that he was holding the Tricorder upside down.  As he moved it to the correct way, the LCARS system in the Tricorder made sense "Apparently, I'm not good reading up side down"

Before begging the scans, he approached T'Prina and said "I don't give a damn if it's science or not.  You are important to me.  If you hear or see things that are not there, focus on me.  I am real."  He then attempted to kiss her on the cheek to prove a point.  He was tempted to kiss her on the lips but decided not too.  It might not have been the moment.

As the attempt finished, he said in a calm voice "Would a ghost do that?"   The kiss was powered by feelings and he wanted to kiss her.  This just seemed like a good excuse. At the same time, there was a lot of restraint he was not sure how she was going to react.

"We will figure this out together as a team,"  Jett said

Tom then having the Tricorder is the right way, began the scan.  He informed her out loud "ok, I am beginning scans."

As he turned out the scans, he began explaining "You know now, that I am scanning you and I read your vitals...this seems like the best time to do this.  Also, you can't run away.  Do you want to go out with me?  Be warned I can tell if you are lying,  Starfleet Training.  Also, did you like the attempt of the kiss" He finished his questions with a big smile as he waited her response.

He looked at the scans and checked the spectrum.  As he finished, he turned serious and said "All right, as you can see there is an anomaly in the Ultraviolet Spectrum.  Which is not visible to the human eye, this explains why some people might see things.  When I taught flight school in Starfleet Academy, I taught that in the right conditions certain humans and eyes could see ultraviolet, not the same way as animals can.  However, it would be describing the conditions.  They might appear like a ghost to some people" He showed her the scans and smiled and then confessed.

"I also wonder why not everyone is affected the same way.  But,  Ultraviolet affect different people in different ways.  You might be more sensitive to that spectrum than me.  It explains the discrepancy.  Or at least that my Hypothesis.  Not bad for a pretend scientist"

"I was kidding;   I was bluffing about the whole can tell now a lie thing.  I  wanted to get an honest answer out of you"  Jett said with a big smile as he figured he pulled a prank at her.

[Main Lab]

Alexander audibly groaned as T'Prina's friend struggled to even read the tricorder. "We're doomed," he mumbled under his breath. "If our fate rests on that man's shoulders, we're completely doomed." If he thought it couldn't possibly get worse, he was wrong. Not even two seconds later, the man started flirting with Lieutenant Cranky Vulcan. Xander stiffened and turned away to stare into the middle distance and try to put his mind on something else - anything else - as the two next to him went through an outrageously sweet and horribly impractical moment. Why now? What about a ship full of possibly-supernatural-but-definitely-spooky-beings makes you think this is a good time for romance? Luckily Xander kept his commentary to himself this time, but his lips were pressed into a noticeably thin line from the effort of refraining.

Xander's attention only came back to the situation when the man started talking about science finally. Grouchy mood forgotten, his head immediately snapped towards where the man where he stood reading the tricorder. "UV, you say?" Xander fiddled with the controls at his station and started to filter through the scans, focusing entirely on the ultraviolet spectrum. There was definitely something off there. A definitive fluctuation. Would you look at that... Pretty Boy found something useful.

"If this ghostie is visible in the ultraviolet spec, then maybe, with the right tools..." Xander immediately moved from his console, jogging over to one of the holographic projectors used for displaying enlarged versions of microbes. A couple forceful tugs and a slight twist had it breaking off in his hand with an audible snap. He then made his way to the old dinosaur of a spectrophotometer and delivered a fierce kick to its side, kilt swaying around his knees as the clanging echoed through the lab.

Alexander dropped to his knees and slipped his fingers under the edge of the bent panel, prying the entire thing off with a bit of leverage and exposing the wires inside. "Hey, one of you give me your tricorder. Now."

[Daniel Howell]

"Hello Commander Howell. Commander Tritter has informed us that supernatural forces are at work on the Station. And, whilst he and his husband are going to fight said, well, evil spirits, we are charged with insulating our systems and thus preventing any energy drainages."

Knox went on.

"Ha ha ha haaaaaa. Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaa."

"However, Commander, it would appear that it has already begun. One presumes that the more energy we lose, the stronger they become . Have you, seen the clouds? Or heard the, the voices? "

She looked at Dan, wondering if he understood her and concerned, though hopeful, that he had also experienced what had been occurring. Moving closer to him and she whispered.

"Dan. It has already begun. And now we all need you to prevent if from getting any worse."

Speaking a little louder and nodding to the purple-ish swirls in the antimatter chamber.

"Any thoughts?"

Main Engineering
Upon arrival, he noticed the strange goings on in Engineering, the purple tinge on the power core was something he most certainly needed to investigate. He was surprised to hear the major issue was evil spirits, but not one he completely brushed off. He was very much a believer of the supernatural and like anything in that job, anything went. "Well, I'm not entirely sure how I protect systems from unseen supernatural forces I'll be honest with you... and I'm not 100% a standard insulation is going to work, but it's worth a try I suppose." He lowered his tone continuing "I'll see what I can do, but it's gonna take time." He then raised his voice back to normal level finishing "I'll need to get a second opinion first, but leave it with me."

[ Main Engineering ]

Jenna and Molly walked in still holding hands. They didn't care who saw. As Jenna led Molly over to where Knox and Dan were. "Chief and Knox,"Jenna said. "Sorry that we are late. We had a run in with our new guests." Jenna said with a tone of disgust and snark. While the two waited for a reply Molly winked at Jenna.

Just at the right moment, Jenna and Molly walked in. "Ah my second and third opinions." Dan greeted them before continuing "No worries, I'll let Lieutenant Knox brief you..."

[Main Engineering]

It was very good timing, as Jenny and Molly entered, 50 % energy had been drained, the antimatter chambers had turned from blue to purple and all consoles blew up at once in a huge electrical explosion.

Oh ....

"YESSSSSSSS. WE ARE STRONGER NOW. WE CAN DO ANYTHING TO YOU NOW."

Everyone heard them now, as the lights flicked and went out. Emergency lighting came on and the Computer sounded three alerts immediately.

"Antimatter containment field is at 40 %"
"Main power down."
"Reserve energy is at 80 %"

Knox looked to Dan, to Jenna and then to Molly and nodded her head once.

"Everyone. Stop them draining anymore power. Divert power from nonessential systems. Jenna, you have a way of handling consoles, see to them. Molly, keep the antimatter chambers from going offline, or worse. Commander Howell, any suggestions on how we keep them out?"

Knox to Captain. We are experiencing issues in Engineering, Sir. We have to shut down all nonessential systems, divert energy and prevent any further energy depletion. And, Sir, they have warned us that they are stronger, now.

Before he finished his sentence, energy levels took a sudden drop by over half, causing a huge power fluctuation which in turn sparked a surge. There was a huge electrical explosion, a blinding flash and a deafening bang. The room descended into darkness and chaos as the main lights went out, engaging the emergency lighting, which was sketchy at best. Dan had hit the deck in the process of the explosion and getting back to his feet, three alerts from the main computer quickly bought Howell back to base so to speak. He called out to Jenna and Molly "Follow Lieutenant Knox's orders."

[ Main Engineering ]

Jenna and Molly gave a small nod to one another. They split off and ran off to where they were needed. Jenna cracked her knuckles as she approached a terminal. "Alright I am going to divert power. I am not taking everything off at once. We don't want to risk overload. keep your eyes on those levels and let me know if you need more or less power to keep things stable," Jenna shouted to Molly. It seemed they were ready to be a dream team to help keep things in check. Jenna's mind began to focus on her work and it seemed that she zoned everything out in order to keep focus on what Molly needed.

Molly ran over to the terminal that handled the antimatter chambers. While she was doing so, her brain began to work. She then had the look on her face like she had a brilliant idea. "Hey short stuff, what if we could use one of the chambers to trap the voices?" Molly called out. Jenna smiled widely proud of Molly in that moment. "Brilliant Giraffe! Now we will just need a bait of some kind," as Jenna said this Paul, a very skiddish ensign, began to protest. "Won't that overload life support? I think we should run some tests first and a few simulations," Paul said. Jenna knew Paul to be spineless in many moments. She knew that he knew that there was no time for that. "Hey Molly is that true?" Jenna called out. "Yes... That man has no dick," Molly called in retort.

"Jenna, shut everything down now, rather small short outs than large explosions right...?" The room was full of smoke making quite hard to talk and Dan was coughing in between trying to get orders out. Taking in another breath, he continued "Molly, divert emergency power to the acoustic dampening field, if we can cause a refraction in the sound waves, it should continuously bounce off the field if he bump it every time." Coughing some more he then finished "no time for simulations, keep an eye on the life support and make sure it stable and if it's not, then stablise it."

[Jenna McKinson]

"Jenna, shut everything down now, rather small short outs than large explosions right...?" The room was full of smoke making quite hard to talk and Dan was coughing in between trying to get orders out. Taking in another breath, he continued "Molly, divert emergency power to the acoustic dampening field, if we can cause a refraction in the sound waves, it should continuously bounce off the field if he bump it every time." Coughing some more he then finished "no time for simulations, keep an eye on the life support and make sure it stable and if it's not, then stablise it."

The two women called out "Aye Sir" in unison. As Molly was diverting the energy to the acoustic dampening field, Jenna was shutting things down. She didn't need to speak as she knew how Molly operated. They only needed to exchange looks as simple hands signals to get their point across. The smoke was getting unbearable for the both of them. They continued to push through even though the fringes of reality and councisness were beginning to fade. "Jenna,this somehow reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole in your head. Do you remember that?" Molly said to try and keep things light hearted. "You know I was playing and that thing couldn't cut butter, Jenna said in retort. They both coughed laughing at that moment as they kept their focus on what they were doing.

[Johannes Kentrat]

[Outside Chapel]

Adeyemi's eyes were rolling wildly in his head. His lips had been chewed until they were bloody. He had ripped open the top of his uniform, exposing the top half of his heaving, sweaty chest.

He whirled around, glaring at Kentrat balefully. He raised his fists.

"You are coming to get me!" The captain yelled.

"That's right, he's coming for you. He is going to kill you."

"You want to kill me!?" Adeyemi demanded, stepping closer to Kentrat, fists still raised. "Not if I kill you first!"

"Kill him!"

The captain was old, but he was still well built and strong, and maintained his fitness. He lowered his head and charged, bellowing a stentorian war cry.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"

The door to the chapel swished open and a robed figure emerged, wielding a giant, old fashioned leather bound Bible.

"BEGONE!" Friar T'Vol said, and swung the large book with a smooth economy of emotion that belied his age and profession.

The Bible connected with Adeyemi's forehead with a resounding thunk and sent him sprawling to the deck.

T'Vol was in action immediately, raising the Bible high and jumping in the air to bring it down again, harder, when Adeyemi tried to scramble to his feet. The captain went down, hard.

"I hope you don't mind," The Vulcan holy man said to Kentrat, not even breathing hard. "That I didn't undergo the traditional sacrament of exorcism. I thought alacrity would be logical."

[Outside Chapel]

In the silence after the captain's accusation, there was only the sound of a deep, rapid breaths and the clattering of the tricorder across the floor. Johannes already had his hands up, ready to receive whatever savage attack his captain would launch. He could perfectly imagine the muscles tightening in Adeyemi; he was feeling them as well.

"Are you scared?"

"Not really. I lost to bigger at Academy."

He could feel the hollowness in the voice, or at least the voice that spoke to him. He could feel it starve. He believed in it. It was there, playing wormtongue to his Captain, but not near the power over Kentrat.

His heart skipped a series of beats at the charge levied against him, but then, inexplicably...a gigantic book appeared out of nowhere. This base had actual books? Surprises around every corner. He offered a blank stare to this robed man knocking his captain unconscious, and only a small nudge was given to his eyebrow at the explanation.

"I don't think you were wrong, sir."

Quickly, Kentrat ushered the this slumped husk into the chapel, sat him up, and clasped the man's hands in ropes. Here he would sit...until this was over.