S1E5 Brain Games

[Martin Jackson]

[Bridge]

Jackson transported the Doctor and the Captain to sickbay, then concentrated again on the little shuttle, looking for any sign of returning communication... or anything else, really.  The situation was awful... even Dylan had gotten hit.  But all Jackson could do was follow orders and try to help out where he could.

"Lawrence," he asked, turning to the science crewman, "did the lifescan turn up anything?"

[Lek]

[Bridge]

Jettis was silent for another moment, pondering his options. Something suddenly clicked in his head as Cleroux spoke, and he gave a 'one moment' hand signal to the crewman.

"Vaughan, have you determined the way this infection spreads? When you can, correlate the most recent checkup with someone who has come into sickbay. Or better yet, anyone who was in sickbay while the outbreak flourished. Check for any warning signs, any at all, even the smallest thread. The counselor was a new addition as well, check the file from his mandatory checkup." Viruses could work quickly, but not that unnaturally so. Things don't just teleport into the bloodstream, something felt wrong to the First officer.

Turning back to Cleroux, he nodded. "If we receive no response, we will be attempting to beam the ship occupants aboard. If there are no other ideas, we won't have any choice other than to destroy the shuttle and high-tail it back to the Starbase."

[Bridge]

Lek smiled when his engineering console beeped.

"Sir. I have the frequency of the capture field! We have them now sir, reversing polarity now!"

The Challenger shuddered violently as the two fields clashed, it was a question of which gave first, the unknown's or the Challenger's

[Lizzie Vaughan]

[Bridge]

Jettis was silent for another moment, pondering his options. Something suddenly clicked in his head as Cleroux spoke, and he gave a 'one moment' hand signal to the crewman.

"Vaughan, have you determined the way this infection spreads? When you can, correlate the most recent checkup with someone who has come into sickbay. Or better yet, anyone who was in sickbay while the outbreak flourished. Check for any warning signs, any at all, even the smallest thread. The counselor was a new addition as well, check the file from his mandatory checkup." Viruses could work quickly, but not that unnaturally so. Things don't just teleport into the bloodstream, something felt wrong to the First officer.

Sickbay

Lizzie listened to Jyur's response and called up the Councillors medical file.

According to the Councillors joining physical that I performed on him upon his arrival, he was is perfect health. There was no sign of any illness and certainly none of the chemical markers that are present now. As for how the contagion is spreading, the only possible method is airborne. That does not explain the wide distribution nor how some are getting sick rather than others. Please let me know when we are clear of whatever is holding us so I can monitor the patients for signs of recovery. She replied, not liking the conclusions she was being forced to make.

[Dylan Torngate]

[Sickbay]

Dylan awoke and looked around the bay, his head groggy. He recognized where he was. Apparently, the Doctor just couldn't take no for an answer. What had she done... Drugged him?

Knowing where he was, he called out. "Cadet Saunders!" he spoke, hoping he could convince at least one person in this place he wasn't crazy, before he found himself wracked with another coughing fit.

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Bridge]

Jettis was silent for another moment, pondering his options. Something suddenly clicked in his head as Cleroux spoke, and he gave a 'one moment' hand signal to the crewman.

"Vaughan, have you determined the way this infection spreads? When you can, correlate the most recent checkup with someone who has come into sickbay. Or better yet, anyone who was in sickbay while the outbreak flourished. Check for any warning signs, any at all, even the smallest thread. The counselor was a new addition as well, check the file from his mandatory checkup." Viruses could work quickly, but not that unnaturally so. Things don't just teleport into the bloodstream, something felt wrong to the First officer.

Turning back to Cleroux, he nodded. "If we receive no response, we will be attempting to beam the ship occupants aboard. If there are no other ideas, we won't have any choice other than to destroy the shuttle and high-tail it back to the Starbase."

As the crewman overheard the Commander's conversation with the Doctor another idea, worse than before, began to form.

"Captain, from a Tactical viewpoint we may be dealing with something much worse than previously imagined. If this contagion is spreading so quickly and is so effectively putting us out of action, it is not outside the realm of impossibility that we are victim to a military-grade bioweapon. Quick to infect, cause damage, and die out. Usually, right before the user arrives to conquer the previously infected territory..."

Rhymus worked on his console, plugging in data to run tactical sims on their situation. "At the current rate of infection... It is doubtful we will make it back to a Starbase before everyone is infected. And if my theory is correct, anyone immune to the disease won't stand a chance when we get boarded."

[Lawrence Klaustrin]

After everything that happened, Lawrence decided it was best to leave the matters of the field to others for a moment. There were a couple different tasks for him to do anyway.

[Bridge]

Jackson transported the Doctor and the Captain to sickbay, then concentrated again on the little shuttle, looking for any sign of returning communication... or anything else, really.  The situation was awful... even Dylan had gotten hit.  But all Jackson could do was follow orders and try to help out where he could.

"Lawrence," he asked, turning to the science crewman, "did the lifescan turn up anything?"

The science officer ran several scans on the mysterious ship, both for identification and signs of life.

"There is life on board. I'm seeing at least ten individuals, though not of any recognized species. Similarly, the ship is not found in our database, although it appears to take influence from a bunch of others, most notably Klingon."

[Dylan Torngate]

[Bridge]

The plan, being adopted, tested, and ready, was put into practice. The engines were warmed, the deflector ready, and the field was reversed. The result of the said test was, to put it mildly, not what was planned. The ship shook, the sparks flew from components, and the ship surged under the power of her impulse drives before alarms began to blare and the engine components failed. Not shut down, not overheated, failed.

A grinding sound, higher in pitch than the first stabbing out of warp by this field, was heard as two of the four mass driver accelerators, commonly referred to as impulse drives, ground out, by either old age of sabotage. The drive's internal systems lost their shielding, and debris and pieces of equipment instead of thrust were jettisoned out the back as both starboard drives went from the normal red, to a piercing orange, before a dull, dark gray.

The ship shuddered, whined, and moved about one and a half feet before her systems gave out. It was like pushing against a solid hand. Not much give. On the plus side, however, the field seemed to have weakened, and it would be possible to send an away team to the ship, if so desired.

It appeared that while damage had been accrued, the solution may be within reach...

[Lek]

[Bridge]

The plan, being adopted, tested, and ready, was put into practice. The engines were warmed, the deflector ready, and the field was reversed. The result of the said test was, to put it mildly, not what was planned. The ship shook, the sparks flew from components, and the ship surged under the power of her impulse drives before alarms began to blare and the engine components failed. Not shut down, not overheated, failed.

A grinding sound, higher in pitch than the first stabbing out of warp by this field, was heard as two of the four mass driver accelerators, commonly referred to as impulse drives, ground out, by either old age of sabotage. The drive's internal systems lost their shielding, and debris and pieces of equipment instead of thrust were jettisoned out the back as both starboard drives went from the normal red, to a piercing orange, before a dull, dark gray.

The ship shuddered, whined, and moved about one and a half feet before her systems gave out. It was like pushing against a solid hand. Not much give. On the plus side, however, the field seemed to have weakened, and it would be possible to send an away team to the ship, if so desired.

It appeared that while damage had been accrued, the solution may be within reach...

[Bridge]

Lek picked himself up from where he'd been thrown and hissed as he saw the ship's systems' readouts.

"Impulse engineering engines at fifty percent! Shields down! Structural damage to decks five and six! Force fields holding!"

He tapped rapidly on the engineering console to dispatch damage control teams to the sections of the ship most in need. Lek only grunted as he heard that Lieutenant Ringeisen was a casualty and that sickbay was too overwhelmed by the sick to respond.

"Whatever we are going to do Sir, we have to do it fast, we're running out of crew and we're out of ship! Only bright spot I can see is that shuttle's shields are down and we have transporters. We can either board them or bring them to us on your order."

[Martin Jackson]

Jackson managed to stay upright as the ship shook and trembled.  The readouts were... not encouraging, to say the least, but if reports were correct, they could at least use the transporters.  The resolution to the situation wasn't too far away... all they were waiting on were orders.  Jackson prepared the transportation system for immediate use.

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Bridge]

The plan, being adopted, tested, and ready, was put into practice. The engines were warmed, the deflector ready, and the field was reversed. The result of the said test was, to put it mildly, not what was planned. The ship shook, the sparks flew from components, and the ship surged under the power of her impulse drives before alarms began to blare and the engine components failed. Not shut down, not overheated, failed.

A grinding sound, higher in pitch than the first stabbing out of warp by this field, was heard as two of the four mass driver accelerators, commonly referred to as impulse drives, ground out, by either old age of sabotage. The drive's internal systems lost their shielding, and debris and pieces of equipment instead of thrust were jettisoned out the back as both starboard drives went from the normal red, to a piercing orange, before a dull, dark gray.

The ship shuddered, whined, and moved about one and a half feet before her systems gave out. It was like pushing against a solid hand. Not much give. On the plus side, however, the field seemed to have weakened, and it would be possible to send an away team to the ship, if so desired.

It appeared that while damage had been accrued, the solution may be within reach...

Rhymus jerked with the ship, being thrown from his console to the wall as the ship attempted to force their way out of the bubble. It took him a moment to finally get back to his feet and go over the plethora of data coming in.

Security was having a hell of a time keeping everything under control. Panic was slowly beginning to consume parts of the ship and could spiral out of control at any moment. If they still had a ship when it happened.

"Captain, this may be a bit obvious right now but if we keep pushing the ship we won't have anything to return to a Starbase in!"

He quickly got to work on damage control, sending additional security to hot spots on the ship and seeing to the weapons.

[Lawrence Klaustrin]

Rhymus jerked with the ship, being thrown from his console to the wall as the ship attempted to force their way out of the bubble. It took him a moment to finally get back to his feet and go over the plethora of data coming in.

Security was having a hell of a time keeping everything under control. Panic was slowly beginning to consume parts of the ship and could spiral out of control at any moment. If they still had a ship when it happened.

"Captain, this may be a bit obvious right now but if we keep pushing the ship we won't have anything to return to a Starbase in!"

He quickly got to work on damage control, sending additional security to hot spots on the ship and seeing to the weapons.

Maybe he wouldn't get transferred off. Everything they tried seem to go wrong, not just his ideas. Whatever mistake he made was minor compared to the Captain himself needing medical attention. The multiple crisis going on wasn't his fault.

He was concerned, though being in such close proximity to someone who fell ill so suddenly. It would be hard tell what were symptoms and what was adrenaline before it was too late. There was nothing to do except keep working.

"If we bring them here, we could have force fields set up around them in advance, assuming we still have the power to do that. It should give us a nice advantage, unless they're borg, or worse. I'd imagine they'd have a better ship though if they were worse."

[Jettis Jyur]

[Bridge]

With all the chaos going around, Jettis didn't even get a chance to answer any of the questions posed to him. It was mere seconds when a frantic call came through the comm;

"Security to Bridge! We have been boarded! Unknown attackers, but they're taking over deck 10! We're going to need-" 

Communications with the poor officer were cut short with a startling burst of static- and then silence.
After a terrified moment of pause, he turned to Lek, barking out an order. "Red alert! Forcefields around Sickbay, and all Cargo bays being used by medical. Take whatever power you need." He wasn't sure whether the crew were being killed or simply knocked out, but he'd be damned if he allowed a massacre of the whole ship underneath them.

He didn't wait for a 'yes sir' before tapping his commbadge, opening a link to the CMO.  "Chief, the ship has been boarded, and crew are going down. I'm ordering a force field around all sickbays, but I need you on the other side with as many medical and security officers as you need. Keep in touch."

Turning to Rhymus and Klaustrin, his diplomatic mood was lost. "I want a way to get out, and if need be, destroy that ship. Get a lock on the boarding party and if at all possible, transport them to the brig. Communicate with the other security officers, keep me updated on which decks are endangered."

Half the ship sick and the other half injured in some other way, it appeared the bridge were the last men standing.

[Lek]

[Bridge]

With all the chaos going around, Jettis didn't even get a chance to answer any of the questions posed to him. It was mere seconds when a frantic call came through the comm;

"Security to Bridge! We have been boarded! Unknown attackers, but they're taking over deck 10! We're going to need-" 

Communications with the poor officer were cut short with a startling burst of static- and then silence.
After a terrified moment of pause, he turned to Lek, barking out an order. "Red alert! Forcefields around Sickbay, and all Cargo bays being used by medical. Take whatever power you need." He wasn't sure whether the crew were being killed or simply knocked out, but he'd be damned if he allowed a massacre of the whole ship underneath them.

He didn't wait for a 'yes sir' before tapping his commbadge, opening a link to the CMO.  "Chief, the ship has been boarded, and crew are going down. I'm ordering a force field around all sickbays, but I need you on the other side with as many medical and security officers as you need. Keep in touch."

Turning to Rhymus and Klaustrin, his diplomatic mood was lost. "I want a way to get out, and if need be, destroy that ship. Get a lock on the boarding party and if at all possible, transport them to the brig. Communicate with the other security officers, keep me updated on which decks are endangered."

Half the ship sick and the other half injured in some other way, it appeared the bridge were the last men standing.

[Bridge]

Lek snarled at the report that his ship was under attack and that they were losing, but regardless of his anger, he reacted immediately to follow the First Officer's orders.

"Aye Sir! Locking down decks six, seven, and ten! Force fields active and holding. Sir, I recommend we destroy that shuttle as it seems their crew has taken the fight to us and perhaps it's time to return the compliment."

[Jettis Jyur]

[Bridge]

Lek snarled at the report that his ship was under attack and that they were losing, but regardless of his anger, he reacted immediately to follow the First Officer's orders.

"Aye Sir! Locking down decks six and seven! Force fields active and holding. Sir, I recommend we destroy that shuttle as it seems their crew has taken the fight to us and perhaps it's time to return the compliment."

[Bridge]

Jettis nodded grimly as the Ferengi spoke. "I'm seconds away from taking your advice, Lieutenant." It didn't make sense to him, how they had such a small, defenseless ship, but the ability to do this. Destruction comes in small packages.

"What's ship status? Will power hold long enough to get us the hell out of here, somehow?"

[Lizzie Vaughan]

[Bridge]

He didn't wait for a 'yes sir' before tapping his commbadge, opening a link to the CMO.  "Chief, the ship has been boarded, and crew are going down. I'm ordering a force field around all sickbays, but I need you on the other side with as many medical and security officers as you need. Keep in touch."

Sickbay

Lizzie listened to the com in horror. What she had feared was coming true.

Vaughan to Jyur. Received and understood. Out. 

She turned to her exhausted staff.

"All you nurses stay here. Keep the patents stable but don't try anything not already prescribed unless instructed. Everyone else who is not ill, grab a med-kit and a phaser and join me outside."

"Yes Doctor." The staff replied.

Picking up her own kit again before taking a phaser from the sickbay weapons locker, she headed out into the passageway. She was joined seconds later by the remains of her medical team.

Seconds after they exited, a forcefield appeared in front of the doors to Sickbay. Lizzie gave a curt not.

Computer. Location of the intruders?  She asked.

The Intruders are on deck 10.  The computer responded.

Turning to her team, she gave them a shark like smile.

"Lets find these intruders and send them back the way they came! I've never lost a ship yet and I'm not going to start now!" Her voice was as cold as ice. She tapped her com-badge again.

Vaughan to all security personnel. We have intruders on Deck 10. Meet my team at the section 2 Turbolift and we will fan out from there. 

Lizzie led her small team of Techs to the Turbolift and took it to Deck 10 section 2.

Deck 10 Section 2

The medical team were met there by a small contingent of security staff. They were all enlisted. She looked round and saw a Chief she knew quite well.

"Any chance of any more support Chief?" She asked.

"Not a good one Doc. Most of us have been hit by this damn bug. There may be a few more, but we should not count on it." The Chief reported.

"Right. Let's pair off. A Security person with a Med Tech. That way we stand the best chance to fight them off."

"You got it Doc!" The Chief replied.

Lizzie looked at one of the younger crewman.

"You're with me!" She said, leaving no room for discussion.

The security crewman nodded and the two of them began to make their way down the corridor.

They had barely made it 25 meters when they were met by weapons fire.

"Can you see who or what they are?" Lizzie asked the crewman as they took cover and returned fire.