Riker & team in sickbay on USS Nuntio

Posted on 03/11/2015 @ 2:00pm by Captain Joshua Riker & Lt. Commander E.M.H Theodor Gray & Captain Kheren & Lt. Commander Elisha Leóne
Edited on on 06/13/2015 @ 8:45am

Mission: Brave New World
Location: Sickbay USS Nuntio

Security Lieutenant Scott Giles and Ensign Randy Deloit escorted wearily the three officers going to the Nuntio's sickbay. Having the responsibility of ensuring the safety of both the first officer and the chief medical officer, not to mention the Chief of Ops as well, certainly gave them good reason to grip their phaser rifles tighter and look more often at their tricorders while they left the rest of the group.

But before they all moved out, Doctor Gray offered his hands to Riker as he shouldered the amazingly tall and surprisingly heavy Saurian officer.

"That overwhelming weigth you feel, even in this minimal gravity setting, is the high musculo-skeletal density of the Saurian anatomy. This one must weight at least three hundred pounds...

Grunting while moving forward with the unconscious Saurian Riker kept walking forward.

"Wrong again Doc, he's two seventy-five tops"

Pointing at the body Doctor Gray continued

"If you are quite finished proving to everyone you're not old it would make the most sense if I carried the patient."

Realizing he was not going to win the argument that way Doctor Gray played off the needs of the team.

"Besides that will leave you to disable the force fields we encounter with your command codes, unless of course you want to give me your command codes..."

"Not a chance old man" Riker quipped.

"You know you are older than me right..."

"Pardon me for saying so, Doctor, but you don't look any stronger than the Commander," Ensign Deloit observed, eyeing through his faceplate the unassuming, almost elederly appearance of the doctor.

"Oooh wrong answer kid." Riker said with an almost laugh.

In response, Doctor Gray took hold of the shoulders of the security man and lowly lifted him completely off the floor without any strain showing, keeping him aloft while he spoke.

"You should know that as a hologram, I am made of two things: photons and geometrically modulated electromagnetic energy... or if you prefer, forcefields."

Putting the man back down as if he was but a feather, Theodor Gray concluded by facing again the Phoenix' exec.

"The exertion of carrying him would require much of my stored power in the mobile emitter"

"Exactly, don't need you disappearing on us" Riker responded.

"True it would shorten it's autonomy time, but it will not do so significantly carrying the patient while we get to this ship's sickbay."

Reaching for the body Doctor Gray continued.

"And there, I can use the emitters of the ship itself while it recharges from it's systems once we reactivate them. Any potential problem will be more efficiently dealt with by you than me... or you being that encumbered." 

Having his hands on the body Riker was not overly willing to let Docto Gray carry him.  Stepping back slightly Doctor Gray smiled through his visor.

"Perhaps I should save power"

The doctor faded and blinked before reappearing in just his uniform.

"Really?  You know I hate that.  It's... creepy" Riker grunted out.

"Fine, but keep your suit on"

Doctor Gray blinked and faded again reappearing in full environmental suit.  Grabbing the Saurian off of Riker's shoulders and hoisting him into a fireman's carry Doctor Gray took only a second to calculate the strain.  This Saurian weighed over three hundred and thirty pounds.

"You said two seventy-five..." Doctor Gray scolded the Commander

"Must be the gravity." Riker said with a wink.

Pulling out his phaser pistol Riker motioned for the team to continue.

With Doctor Gray now carrying the Saurian the away team continued on their path to sickbay.

After the physical and verbal exchange was complete between the EMH and the first officer, Elisha followed directly behind them with her phaser readily poised in her gloved hand.

That was certainly an interesting demonstration by the holographic doctor she pondered as they made their way down the darkened corridor. Her keen eyes surveyed every aspect of their journey as they moved forward. Sickbay would actually be a welcome sight in this case, provided that there was nothing worrisome there to greet them upon their arrival.

As the team continued down the corridor they turned a bend and encountered a forcefield.  Riker put up his hand to signal the team to stop.  Walking over to a control panel Riker holstered his phaser pistol and popped the panel open.

"Watch my back" Riker said aloud addressing everyone behind him.

Hitting a few buttons and moving two chips Riker entered his command override code and watched... as nothing happened.  Stepping back for a moment Riker paused and stared at the panel.

"Something wrong Commander?" Doctor Gray inquired.

"The power is different here.  They rigged this forcefield up after the power shutdowns.  I just have to figure out how" 

Before anyone could make a suggestion Riker pulled out his phaser pistol and fired three blasts into the forcefield.  Looking at the surprised team, Riker holstered his weapon.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"He does that all the time," the EMH commented to Elisha next to him.

Leaning back in to the panel, Riker noticed which chips had activated when the shield was up.  With a quick reconnecting, he was now imputing his codes into the right section of power grid.  Entering his codes again the shield blinked and disappeared.

"Got it, let's move out"

With the obstacle out of the way the crew continued their path towards sickbay.

Noticing some worry on the face of Commander Riker, Doctor Gray inquired.

"What's wrong, Sir?"

"It was the shield setup" Riker said with a tone of worry to his voice.

"The shield had been set up after they started to cut power to parts of the ship.  I mean how desperate were they to keep whatever the hell happened here contained?"

"Apparently very intent" Elisha commented as they continued moving. "The question is... whatever they were blocking out... is it still here on this ship somewhere and are we now leaving a path open for this menace to follow us?"

Elisha was not sure if she was being overly cautious or a bit paranoid, but so far they had only found one unresponsive crew member within an entire ship filled with protective force fields. This was not routine by any means.

She was the first to notice that suddenly, a spark of red and then blue raced accross the entire frame of the EMH, like a short circuit running all accross an exposed circuit. In between each spark, the form of Theodor Gray switched from his fully space suited one to his standard uniformed one and then back. 

"Are you alright, Doctor Gray?" inquired Deloit as he too noticed the strange occurence.

"Ah yes, quite..."

For a moment, the elderly face seen through the faceplate was smiling in a very self-satisfied way. A second later, he disappeared completely, his portable holo-emitter falling slowly on the ground in the reduced gravity, right under the now unsupported body of the unconscious First officer of the Nuntio. 

"Teddy..." Commander Riker yelled as he slid cushioning the fall of the unconscious body.

Rolling the Saurian over Riker picked up the holo emitter and checked it for damage.  The fall itself, and the weight that landed on top it appeared not to harm the portable holo emitter in any way.  Pressing its activation button Riker watched as nothing happened.  The power readings appeared normal, but something was interfering with the generation of a holographic field.  Pocketing the holo emitter and picking up the Saurian Riker directed the away team.

"We have to get to sickbay now.  They should have enough power to allow us to tap into whatever overrides we need.  Not to mention their emitters for the EMH should allow us to stabilize whatever is stopping doctor gray."

Glancing over at Elisha Leóne Riker finished.

"Call the engineering team and the ship update them on what is going on"

With that final command Riker hurried off towards sickbay at a pace that would have been difficult without carrying three hundred pounds of alien.

The Orion Ops officer immediately engaged communications as she closely followed the first officer.

"Commander Rogers. This is  Elisha Leóne. We found an unconscious Saurian officer and are headed directly to sickbay. We are still encountering forcefields along the way..."

Elisha's respiration rate was increasing due to an adrenal-like rush accompanying her heightened senses. She tried to internally calm herself as she proceeded onward.

"Doctor Gray suddenly vanished... but Commander Riker has retained the EMH's  holo-emmiter. Please acknowledge."

As she awaited a response from the ChEng, she hailed the ship.

"USS Phoenix, this is Elisha Leóne.... Please acknowledge."

For the next few moments, nothing filled her headset but fluctuating static. She then repeated both messages again. Nothing but static continued.

She then addressed the first officer.

"Commander Riker, something seems to be interfering with communications with the Roger's team and the Phoenix. I have not received a reply from either nor can I be certain that they even received my transmission."

"Confirmed, Sir," Giles said after tapping his own combadge on his EVA suit. "The reactivated structural integrity field of the ship seems to be blocking the signal somehow. But we're still in contact with Commander Rogers's team and Chief M'ata's. Most unusual... This can only be the result of deliberate tampering of the system to prevent any comm signal to get in or out."

"Just perfect" Riker said as he walked towards the door into sick bay 

Leaning the Saurian's body up against the wall Riker began to activate the manual release when his communicator beeped

"Commander Riker! Re-instate all level ten force fields as soon as you pass them. DO IT NOW!"

Before Rogers could even finish his sentence Riker had hurried down the corridor and was using the maintenance panel to activate the shields he had dropped on the way here.

The hum of the shields raising filled the corridor as Riker turned back to his team and grabbed the Saurian body.

"I suggest we get inside sickbay... now!"

With his free hand Riker triggered the manual release and the door to sickbay opened.  The auxiliary lights provided enough of a glow for Riker to peer in and see no one.  Walking into the room Riker turned, and tripped falling to the floor.  Rolling slightly as to cushion the body he was carry Riker turned to look at his feet and saw one of the ships medical personnel lying on the floor.

"Secure the area" Riker shouted to the rest of the away team as he grabbed his phaser pistol and began scanning the room.  

Using command codes on the panel next to the door Riker activated the medical lights and looked in amazement as nearly a half dozen medical personnel and two apparent patients lay in various positions throughout sickbay.

Reaching into his pocket Riker pulled out the portable emitter and looked down at it.

"We need Doctor Gray back now, more than ever"

After confirming that the immediate area of Nuntio's sickbay at least appeared secure, Elisha turned to the first officer. Engaging communication she inquired "Doesn't this ship have an EMH program for such emergencies Commander Riker?"

"We don't need an EMH, we need Doctor Gray" Riker responded.

As she asked, there was a sudden flash of red and blue accross the lighting system, like colored electric discharges running accross the room. For a moment, all of them were touched by one or several of those discharges before they retracted into the system. Then, they shot out again and reached for the bodies lying in the whole room. And two bathed the body of Commander Shaell.

He was the first to blink his eyes open.

Riker switched his phaser pistol to max stun and pointed it at Commander Shaell.  Keeping his pistol aimed Riker spoke out

"I'll give anyone here ten seconds to guess what is happening before I put him back down."

Barely had he spoken that a three-fingered, clawed, hard leathery hand closed around his wrist faster than his eyes could register the movement; so powerfully,  his entire arm went numb in a second. Despite being still lying on the ground, the Saurian officer had reached up to catch his weapon hand while still lying on the ground due to the sheer surprising lenght of his giant-sized limb. Slowly, he then got up, still holding Riker while the two security officers leveled their phaser rifles at him.

"Release him now!" ordered Lieutenant Giles.

The Saurian only kept his huge slitted yellow orbs down on Riker.

"You... you are..." 

His voiced hissed like that of  a huge snake and then changed to a lower pitch as his eyes suddenly glowed red.

"At lasst! Again I ..."

A new hissing intake of air from his flat tiny nostrils and his eyes suddenly shifted to a blue glow and his voice to a higher, different tone.

"Help uss! You musst..."

The next hiss returned the immense eyes to their original unglowing yellowish color. And still grasping firmly the hand of the Phoenix first officer in a grip a Gorn could have any hope of breaking, the gigantic saurian slowly forced the phaser pistol to point towards the wall; a wall section where would lie the main EPS conduit powering sickbay.

Then, the powerful hand shook as if under a sudden seizure.

"No! " hissed the lower voice as the eyes flashed red.

"Flee!" shouted the higher-pitched voice that came with the blueish glow.

The eyes turned dull yellow again but only a hissing gasp escaped the lipless mouth as they became glazed like those of someone under hypnosis; yet, the crushing grip never weakened. If anything, it threatened now to shatter all the human flesh and bones underneat the pressurized suit.

With his other hand, Commander Shaell shifted the phase pistol setting to maximum. His hand trembled and once jerked sideways as if to prevent himself from doing what he intended; but after a few quick, imprecise touches, he managed finally to do it, all the while his enormous unblinking eyes eerily shifting in color and luminosity. Then, just for a second, the grip lessened. But as soon as Riker would have tried anything, the three opposed fingers thightehed again and the sudden pain made his hand clench reflexively. His weapon discharged it,s full power into the wall.

The beam vaporized the bulkhead instantly and everything that was behind it, opening a gaping hole in the wall to the adjoining corridor. And, as soon as the EPS conduit within it was cleanly cut off, all power in the room went off. In the sudden darkness, the only light left where those of the forcefields at each end of the corridor isolating this entire deck section and from their lamps.

It was enough, nevertheless, to discern the bodies all around them slowly rising from the floor with glowing eyes of red or blue.

His arm still feeling the pain from being grabbed Commander Riker looked at the newly formed hole in the bulkhead and back at the bodies as they rose.  Riker grabbed the portable holo emitter off the table and, shouting at his entire team, pointed towards the new exit.

"Time to go!"

As Riker gestured his hands the away team stepped through the new exit into the corridor behind.  As Riker turned he noticed several of the medical staff with red eyes attempting to follow.  Pointing his still set phaser pistol at the medical bed in front of them he fired and the explosion knocked the three of them down.  Gesturing to the rest of the team Riker continued his orders.

"Everybody out!  We have to fall back!"

The Orion Ops officer followed the lead of the first officer without question as her mind attempted to make sense of what her eyes were witnessing.

With the phaser raised and her finger squeezed against its trigger, Elisha's aim darted back and forth along with the focus of her eyes on the eerie form of the Nuntio's medical staff as she carefully stepped back toward the newly created exit.

"What is wrong with them Commander?"  Elisha asked, still in control of her faculties,  but nonetheless a bit spooked.

"This looks like something out of one of those secret 21st century Terran horror holograph programs that seniors would engage on Halloween to really scare the unsuspecting underclassman!" 

“Thiss iss no holographic ssimulation, Lieutenant. The Zzetarians are all over the sship.”

Everyone looked at the tall, slim silhouette of the Saurian that had walked out with them and was now closing manually the door of the small sickbay of the ship. The claws of his three-opposable fingers were gripping the panel with tremendous strenght as the sound of shearing metal confirmed that he had effectively jammed the door into it's frame. Then he turned his bald leathery red head to them.

For a moment, his slitted eyes flashed red then blue in rapid succession before they became black again. His voice sounded strained as he spoke very deliberately.

“I... we...I am... Commander Sschaell... Firsst officer of the... USsSs Nuntio.”

Watching the flashing eyes and the hostility of the lifeforms in sickbay it did not take Riker long to put the puzzle together.  Lowering the weapon he was aiming at the Saurian Riker turned towards the away team behind him.

"Whatever these things are, the blue ones seem to be on our side"

“You might rather ssay they are againsst them,” corrected Schaell, his eyes now mostly black with a faint bue or red tinge coming and going briefly from time to time as he spoke with a voice that eerily rose and lowered in pitch with the changing colors. “ Thosse that appear blue to our eyess are at war with thosse that are red at the other end of the sspectrum... and our bodiess and technologies are their current battleground.”

With an almost unbelieving tone Riker addressed the alien in front of him.

"Well commander, how can we help you?"

The giant humanoid straightened himself with some effort before he responded after a long hiss of breath.

“We... I... am functional for the moment. The warmongering Zetarian that tried to overtake me made the misstake of lodging itsself into my larger ssecondary brain, which iss under the complete control of my ssmaller cranial brain when I am consscious... and where hiss more peaceful opponent lodged itsself. Together we can trap and repress it while we are both consscious...”

For a second, he toteered as if drunk for a brief moment, then once again straightened himself.

“Sstill, the warring Zetarian iss sstruggling incesssantly. If at any moment you fear that I might compromisse your ssafety, aim your phasser at maximum stun on a tight-focussed beam right here.”

With his three-fingered hands, he made an englobing motion all around his pelvic area.

“Thiss is where my secondary brain iss located. That only will put it out of commisssion... at least for a sshort while. Anywhere else and you will knock me out instead... and the more peaceful hosst ssubmitting it... leaving him in complete control of my body and with the full force of my primal insstinctss. Beleive me, you would not like that...”

Adjusting the stun on his phaser pistol Riker made a mental note of where to shoot the Saurian if things went south.  Riker nodded in understanding.

"Got it"

Waving his hand Riker addressed the rest of the team.

"Our objective now is to find the rest of the away team.  Together we can figure out what is going on and hopefully stop it"

As the team started to fall out Riker gestured for the Saurian first officer to go in front of him.  While seeming polite it did not go unnoticed that Riker was putting him in the middle of the group.

"Stay with us, maybe you can fill us in on what we missed"

Elisha moved the setting on her phaser to a higher stun level as she followed the team behind the first officer. She too gazed at and memorized the location the Saurian pointed to on his pelvic region in case things got out of hand as they moved out.

"Sir, " the Orion questioned Commander Riker as she continued walking cautiously, "Do you believe that other key officers may still be present on the bridge?"

That's when security officer Deloit came back to them from a quick scouting ahead of their group.

“Sir, we've lost contact with Chief M'ata.”

Knowing what this information meant Riker hurried his own pace while addressing the entire away team.

"Let's pick up the pace, we need to find the rest of our crew. We head to where they should be and backtrack from there"

Noting the static in communications and assuming it had something to do with the energy beings flying around Riker asked anyone...

"And someone try and clean up our communications, we are blind out here."

"I have contact with the Phoenix," Deloit then reported, "but..."

Suddenly, the Saurian Commander whirled about and raised a warning hand towards him.

"No! Don't!"

They're not answering. Sir... I think you should listen to this..."

Boosting up and retransmitting his signal, the security officer let them hear like some very low, echoing, croaking voice sounding like someone speaking at an extremely slow pace. Nothing intelligible came out of the eerie voice... except a dread feeling that made the back hair of their neck stand up as they listened to it.

As they listened, the first officer of the Nuntio lowered his hand and stopped himself after the first step he had taken toward Deloit. Then, he put his three-fingered hand on Riker's shoulder, shaking his head down to him.

"The Zetarians... now they are on your ship."

They were still looking at one another in dismay when the noise of running feet brought all their attention to the forward end of their corridor. As they turned, they saw a pair of the Nuntio's crew coming from around a corner and rush at them, hands extended as if to charge at their throat. 

They made but a few steps that a tall, lithe form slammed into them as if flying. The spacesuited projectile rolled on the ground with them and an flurry of red and blue lightning crackled all over the three bodies as they struggled, two Human males against one female Caitian.

It was Mrriish. But through her face plate, they could see her eyes flashing with an eerie blue light.

Catching himself in a tumble Commander Riker quickly steadied himself and pointing his weapons at the mass of bodies in front of him. Pointing his phaser pistol at Mrriish and noticed teh blue glow of her eyes. Riker steadied his aim and asked aloud of the people behind him.

"Blue is good right? We decided blue is on our side?"

The answer he received was seeing the two red-eyed humans sent flying by a wide sweep of the felinoid female's arms as she jumped away from them and over the head of Riker to roll behind him. The brutal push slammed them head first into the farthest bulkhead. There, they slid down unconscious... or seemingly so. A few seconds later, blobs of reddish energies rose from their inert form and moved towards Riker and his team, casting sinister bloody lights all around them.

"Commander! maximum power, widesst dissperssal ssetting!" shouted Shaell as he pushed Elisha and the rest of the team back with his long, thin arms.

Hearing the command Riker raised an eyebrow and cracked a slight smile.

"My favorite kind" Riker said as he adjusted the settings on his phaser pistol

Setting himself in position that the entire away team was behind him Riker, with a soft pull of the trigger, fired. The glowing blast came from the end of his phaser pistol like a orangeish cone of light. As the phaser blast struck the glowing red objects they crackled with an electrically charged light before slowly dissolving in a cackle of white sparks and smoke.

Looking over at Elisha and her glowing blue eyes Riker did not say a word, but his eyes were clearly asking if the red energy beings were dead?

Seeing a cue from the first officer, Elisha aimed her phaser downward with her right hand as she reached below and pulled a tricorder up within view with her left hand. After she secured her phaser onto her EV suit, she now had both hands available to navigate her way through the tricorder components. The challenge was doing all of this accurately with gloves on while viewing the small display and features through a curved transparent visor. Once she had the awkwardness somewhat resolved, she began taking readings.

After a few moments, the Orion looked up and then over to the first officer.  

"The cohesion of their energy pattern has been disrupted by the higher-ranged output of your  phaser. For the moment, it appears that they are inert. However, they are slowly beginning to coalesce... and they may become a danger again if this continues."

Looking down and continuing to run scans Elisha could see their energy pattern gaining momentum.

"Sir" Elisha addressed Riker "Might I suggest that you trap them in a small confinement field before they regain cognitive-like functions again?"

"The sstrongesst EM field we can generate onboard iss a level 10 forcefield," acknowledged Schaell. "They can disrupt and trap their signal when they are not within an active sship ssysstem... or a biological hosst. Thesse... will have to be forcibly... removed... before they... decide to... regroup..."

Barely the Saurian had spoken that his body started to shake and he fell on the deckplates, suddenly under some kind of seizure. His face started to contort and, a moment later, eerie red and blue lights started to play on his face while his mouth contorted, slow, frightening croaking sounds coming out of it.

Elisha instinctively switched from the tricorder to her phaser and then readjusted the calibration to a higher-ranged output setting to affect the entities but not kill the Nuntio's officer. She then expanded the blast radius just before she skillfully pulled the trigger.

The energy burst caused the non corporeal entities to almost immediately vacate the slumped over Saurian body and travel directly toward her. Elisha cautiously backed up as she increased the energy level on her phaser to a lethal level and fired at point blank range. This time the energy readings of these ghostly beings were entirely vanquished, as confirmed by her subsequent tricorder readings.

The Orion officer appeared somewhat surprised as she spoke to the first officer.

"Commander...these particular entities appear to have been terminated."    

"Negative... they were jusst... disperssed."

Schaell was getting up with some pain and stiffness, but now his eyes were just enormous back orbs with a yellow slit, not glowing anymore either red or blue or any other color.

"If there are EM ssystemss or magnetitizing elements around to catch their own EM signature, their... esssence might be diffussed, dissperssed, contained, channeled, separated , fused... but never destroyed. Basic sscientific principle, Lieutenant; energy and matter can be transsformed but never desstroyed or created."

Coming up to his full towering height, the Saurian blinked his enormous eyes at her. But he spoke as much to the others as to her.

"As long as you are in thosse ssuitss, you are effectively inssulated from them... sso long as you do not open a connected ssystem like your comm channel, which one can then use as an entry point to connect with your own brainwaves... and take over by ssheer force. If more than one tries at at the same time, it can fry any sentient being's brain... and even a computer core... as they did before on Memory Alpha more than a century ago... and then on board the USS Spectre, and before that, the particle fountain station near the Azimuth Horizon anomaly."

Then with a look of frustration displayed upon her olive-hued face, Elisha inquired "Then how are we planning to rid this ship of these entities... once and for all?"

"That iss the right question, Lieutenant; how can we desstroy pure energy? And then, there iis the more important one; sshould we?"

"Yes!"

Tapping his phaser pistol Commander Riker spoke further.

"Sentient life should be respected for the fact that it is sentient. That does not ever mean that life should be immune to someone making the choice to end it. I have fought in too many wars and battles to ever agree to the point that life should always be protected"

Rubbing the tired from his eyes Riker continued

"In order to preserve life there are times when other life must end. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, extermination wars and violent conquest. History is full of examples when the only way to stop bad sentient life was to kill them before they killed any more good lives. If the lives of my crew are threatened I will not hesitate to take that action, because sometimes there is always someone who has to."

"I'm with you, Commander Riker," Schaell retorted. "But you may have fought in too many battles and may have lost perspective. Defending one's life or the life of others might force to kill, that is a sad truth but true nonetheless; but the example of History you state are all perfect examples of what not to do; else, had we perpetuated such barbarism, there would never have been a Federation... and the Klingon Empire would be all but supreme."

He spoke with the infuriating calmness of a Vulcan. Saurians were not in perfect control of their emotions like Vulcans were; they were utterly devoid of emotions... as long as their upper conscious brain was dominant, that is. Hence, why spoke thus, and then went on with the same cold tone.

"But I understand your emotional reaction. You do not have all the data to make a proper estimate. As it stands, we are caught in a war between two factions; and our bodies are their battleground."

"Much to our regret."

The eerily echoing voice came from the mouth of Lieutenant Mrriish, her eyes glowing with some inner intense blue light.

"We, are from Zetar. We escaped the destruction of our world from a cosmic catastrophy by turning ourselves into pure energy... at the cost of our physicality. Some of us understood and accepted this change as part of our continued existence... but some did not. Those who do not are just like you, Commander Riker; utterly intent on surviving whatever the means, at any cost... by regaining what they have lost... taking over your bodies."

The possessed Caitian woman then turned her glowing eyes towards Schaell.

"And they are beyond reason."

"You think I just want to survive?" Riker responded.

The eerily echoing voice that came out of the open-mouthed caitian spoke with no emotion; yet, sadness could be felt in the words.

"Your thinking is exactly the same as that of the... enemy, those among us who, out of fear, hatred or despair, readily disregard life as the easiest way to achieve their own ends."

Looking over at Schaell Riker spoke

"And you... You want to talk barbarism. How many times in just the history of the Federation has the peace been reserved because of war? How many being died at the end of Federation rifles and phaser banks during the Dominion War? During the various wars we have had with the Klingons?"

Wiping his mouth Riker continued.

"No matter how perfect you all think life is there will be someone, or something, out there that wants nothing more than to kill innocent life. Those type of beings can't be talked to or reasoned with. Sometimes the only way to protect life is to kill first whatever it is that is trying to kill you."

"That be the nature of the... enemy," the entity confirmed with the same emotionless yet sad-sounding tone.

Riker cracked the knuckles on his hand gripping his phaser pistol a little tighter.

"You can call it barbarism, but I don't have the luxury of being naive. There are innocent lives at stake here and the people standing right here are the only ones who can save them. A shepherd's job is to protect his flock. But sometimes a shepherd has to go off and kill the wolves. If you want to talk to them fine, but understand something. Killing is a last resort I get that, but if these things start killing innocent people then killing them is an option that is not to be taken off the table."

The Saurian nodded in a very Human fashion.

"Although your emotions overwhelm your judgment, your reasonning is not entirely wrong. On thiss I agree; between our lives and theirss, the choice is sself-evident."

He looked at the possessed Mrriish.

"Let uss try to talk thiss over and come to an understanding, if it proves to be possible.

"We mean you no harm," the blue-hued entity said through the Caitian's unmoving open mouth. "We only wish to live. If you help us, we will help you defeat our common enemy,"

Schaell didn't respond immediately to that offer but  looked at Riker.

Riker nodded in approval, still keeping his phaser pistol at the ready.

"Whatever we do, let'ss not expose oursselves or your ship to undue rissk."

He then looked around a bit and locked his huge eyes towards the nearby auxilliary control room. 

"My command codes are sstill active. With another officer of command grade, I can implement the sself-desstruct ssequence of the Nuntio. If all elsse fails, we can enssure that none of those entities will ever leave thiss energy-dead sspace."

Looking around at his crew Riker shook his head.

"The needs of the many eh..."

Gesturing with his hands Riker began to move towards the auxilary control room and gestured for the team to follow.

"Maybe the thought of being stuck forever will get these things in the talking mood."

"Commander, you certainly have a point here," agreed the Saurian as they reached the control room. "Now the trick will be to make ssure they undersstand what is at sstake."

"Once you are ready, I will do this," the echoeing, flat-toned voice coming out of Mrriish's open mouth said.

As both commanders reached the auxilliary computer station, Schaell paused, his huge eyes blinking at the Phoenix' first officer a moment before he spoke.

"Commander Riker; if we go through thiss... it means, at best, the desstruction of thiss sship and everyone aboard... not only uss and your people, but fifty-eight Sstarfleet officers and two dozen civilians, members of the the Federation Media that were on board when we were caught by the Azimuth Horizon anomaly. Unless we find a way to separate them from those entities and somehow bring them back aboard your ship... and assuming that your ship will be able to clear the area before the warp core detonates."

Patting the Saurian on the shoulder Riker spoke.

"I grew up in a Maquis settlement. It was a prisoner of war camp that was converted into a self sustaining settlement following the war. My father took a prison and turned it into a thriving colony of tens of thousands of people. I was raised in that. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who better understands that a small loss, no matter how great it may feel is always worth it if it avoids a larger loss later."

Removing his hand and walking over to the control console Riker continued.

"We set the alarm and make it audible. We make sure they hear it. As for everyone else, this is not us giving up. We will fight, we will press on and we will try and save everyone. I am very much alive and I plan to stay that way. We just raised, now we have to be willing to show our hand."

"You understand that we cannot warn your vessel. Any transmission would be used by our kind to board her. Although that might have been done already." the possessed Mrriish added then.

Schaell nodded to both of them. He put his hand on the control panel next to him. A light brightened under it.

"Computer, this is Schaell, Commander, Executive officer USS Nuntio. Destruct sequence One, code Eight, Eight Omega Z. "

"Voice and genetic scan confirming identification. Valid active rank confirmed. Command code confirmed. Destruct sequence on stanby. Awaiting second Command grade code to confirm activation."

Elisha Leóne was not feeling too comfortable about how this was all transpiring at the moment so she finally spoke up.

"Commander, I understand the rationale and risks involved with what is being prepared. However, we do not know what is transpiring on the Phoenix nor are they likely aware of all that is occurring here. If we do not open communication lines with them due to the inherent risk involved, we are acting somewhat capriciously."

The Orion meant no disrespect to the commander, but wanted to present another option before the self-destruct sequence was complete and initiated.

"Sir, I would like to attempt to access a section of the secondary external lighting array. If I am successful with this, then I can send a message via a blinking code to the Phoenix. There is a chance they may not even see it or recognize the Morse code itself... but if I also get to a portal window, I could see any message returned as well."

The Orion looked through her visor and into the partially concealed eyes of Commander Riker as she awaited his decision.

"A fine idea Lieutenant, but it does not change what we have to do here. We have to assume the Phoenix is infected. What we are going to gamble on them figuring things out and  saving as many people as they can. We can only make one bet and I for one am fine betting on the Phoenix."

Tapping the console Riker spoke to the computer.

"Computer, this is Riker, Joshua W. first officer of the USS Phoenix. Request transfer of command officer status."

"Voice and genetic scan recognized. Riker, Joshua W. Executive Officer of the USS Phoenix. Command officer status authorized for the USS Nuntio."

"You better get those Morse codes lights working quickly, because I just put you on the clock" Riker said glancing back over at Lieutenant Leóne.

"Understood Sir" the Orion responded as she pulled out her PADD from an enlarged pocket in her environmental suit as she instinctively walked toward the exit. She stopped for a moment as she pulled up the schematics of the Nuntio that she had downloaded before departing the Phoenix and began carefully scanning them. She was searching for the nearest access point to attempt this less lethal act of desperation, but found that it was somewhat cumbersome to maneuver the display accurately with gloves on. Nevertheless, she adapted to these circumstances rather quickly and was pursuing the blueprints expeditiously. 

"I will provide... escort," the possessed Mrriish said. Wether it came solely from the mind-invading alien or some part of the security chief as responding there... or both... was unclear. But the large Caitian female took out her phaser and walked in front of Leône, watching intently all around them as they moved away.

With the first authorization accepted and command codes transferred Riker knew what he had to do.

"Computer, this is Riker, Joshua W., Commander, command level officer USS Nuntio. Destruct sequence Two, code Alpha Alpha Seven Three Delta. "

"Voice and genetic scan confirming identification. Valid active rank confirmed. Command code confirmed. Destruct sequence active. Please select time for countdown"

"You have twenty minutes." Riker said, pointing aggressively at Lieutenant Leóne

Touching the command button Riker finished the countdown.

"Computer set self destruct sequence for twenty minutes"

"Countdown confirmed. Self destruct in T minus twenty minutes. Awaiting confirmation from highest ranking command officer for activation."

"Thiss is Commander Sschaell, Firsst officer of the USS Nuntio. Sset timer on audio and visual dissplay, all deckss. Code eight eight eight, desstruct... zero."

On all computer screens and monitors all accross the ship, white number on a black backdrop was seen and the voice of the ship's computer resonated everywhere.

"Self-destruct sequence activated. T minus 20 minutes... nineteen minutes fifty-nine... ninety minutes fifty-eight... nineteen minutes fifty-seven...

The Saurian then looked at the first officer of the Phoenix.

"Now we'll ssee how and if our intruders will resspond to thiss. The only place they can esscape is to your sship. but using non-concentrated light to communicate, Lieutenant Leone will prevent that; would they try to follow the path of the lightwave, they would simply disspersse accross sspace like the light itsself and be desstroyed just as surely as when this ship will detonate in an animatter explosion."

He looked around, his rigid face showing nothing of what he was thinking at the moment. Then he looked back at Riker.

"But before we come to thiss lasst resort and any attempt at a peaceful resolution fail, we musst try and find a way to ssave my crew... and oursselves, if at all possible."

Tapping his phaser pistol Riker just smiled.

"Well you know what I am willing to do to protect and save my people. You have any ideas in either of those brains you have on how to save yours?"

"I do... but I would need a crack engineer, a weapons specialist and split-second coordination with your ship and us... and it is not without risk... to both crews."

"We will figure something out, right?"

With a nod to each other Riker gestured for Commander Sschaell to go first and they left the room on their way to meet back up with the rest of the team.

 

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