Paired Off And Confused

Posted on Wed Oct 21st, 2020 @ 3:44pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Jasper Offermans & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Jinx Jorasco & Chief Operations Kendra McIntyre & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Laurier Cami & Oliver Lucas

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: Deck 7 - Sickbay
Timeline: MD 02 - 09:00
1810 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been an hour since everyone had started coming into sickbay in dribs and drabs. It was fast becoming a weirder situation that no one knew the answer or even the question to. Gregnol looked at the group that had assembled and frowned. There seemed to be no order or pattern to the switches, distance, relationship, species did not seem to matter at all.

“Okay, okay! Enough! Let's talk about this properly,” he called over the confusion, which would only be added to by it being Eden who was attempting to calm the situation down. They might all know who he was, but it did not help.

"The captain's right," Burnie said, hoping the title might help with the dissonance of those words coming from Eden's mouth. "I ran a full diagnostic and there were no unusual power spikes or other anomalies, so whatever did this, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the ship."

Gregnol nodded at Cassie before frowning, as it was Burnie. This was going to be complicated, more so than anything they had faced other than the other universe. Was this something to do with 'The Collector'? Or was this just plain and simple some cosmic event that was going to give them all more PTSD? He needed to get them all badges.

"Are we sure about that?" Liha asked, directing the question to Gregnol because, weird as it was that he was in Eden's body, it wasn't nearly as strange for her as Burnie being Cassie's.

"Burnie and Anderson have looked through the grotto and nothing has changed there. Has anyone noticed anything strange onboard?" Gregnol asked once everyone had quieted down again. It was going to get harder and harder to have a discussion if there was not some type of order soon.

Eden shook her -- his -- head? Whatever. "Nothing, then again, I don't always notice everything. Should I make us all name tags so we know who we're talking to? It might get confusing, especially if this spreads. Oooo, could it spread? Or was it just a one night thing? Were people who were awake affected?"

"Seems like it was just a few of us," Jake replied, awkwardly shifting around. He'd been trying to avoid the stomach-turning weirdness of seeing himself standing opposite. Not that any of them could help it. "Maybe some clarity of who is who would be useful. Could avoid some awkward situations." He glanced at the captain, who was actually Eden, out of habit.

“Da. I agree with Jake. Everyone go stand by their body.” Gregnol jumped down from where he was trying to talk to the small group. He moved instantly to where Eden stood in his body. It was strange seeing himself in anything other than a mirror. He unclenched his jaw and took a deep breath. He did not want to give Eden back her body with muscle tension from just how uptight he was.

Burnie was already standing near Cassie, but took a step closer so they were side by side. Liha crossed the room to stand next to her own body, giving the person inside it a warning look, because if he'd taken any liberties once she was back to herself she'd break him in half (which she now felt even more confident she could do).

Jake shifted awkwardly, standing next to his own body, one that was looking at him with an expression he didn't even recognise. "Uh...hey..." he murmured, feeling like he was treading on eggshells just by breathing.

Eden couldn't help but crack up at this. She knew she should be more bothered with what was going on, but then again she often found the oddest things funny. Eden considered this a gift, the ability to see humor in many situations. "We'll figure this out, guys. I know it's weird, but you have to admit it's hilarious, just look at all of us!"

Avalon frowned slightly. She didn't find it funny at all. In fact, she was a bit traumatized by seeing her body without the help of a mirror.

Jinx-Avalon went over to her body and crouched down, reaching out to scratch at Zambi’s head, but the raptor growled at her, and she pulled back quickly, hurt. “Um, sorry about this,” she told her much shorter self. “Has she been fed? Exercised?”

"Fed...hopefully. She's not tearing apart your quarters, but it was all I could do to just get dressed and find someone to help," Avalon replied.

Jinx listened to the discussions. “I could maybe run some scans on the people affected,” she offered. “Maybe help Medical run some brain scans, too? I’ll check the sensor logs. Maybe we passed through some strange area of some kind of exotic energy that caused this.”

"Medical has already checked me over as the one with the longest range of brain scans from transporters. Nothing came up with it all," Gregnol admitted, looking at himself, wondering when had he aged so badly. He had lines around his face, he had a beard, and his usual dark hair was speckled with grey. When had that happened, and why had not Jeassaho said anything, even in jest? "But sensor logs is an excellent suggestion," he admitted, regaining his composure to look at the person who had spoken.

Jinx moved over to an open console to try and log into the Science database and the sensor logs. It was so weird being the correct size to actually work a station properly!

"I think the medical guy is hiding out in the office if you need his help," Cami offered.

"He locked himself in thinking it was infectious," Gregnol added with a bit of a grin. He did not blame the man, but it was still amusing.

Dixaho stayed quiet, just looking at her body, and frowned as she saw how pale she looked and how just how sickly, if she was honest. It was easier to see outside looking in. They needed to get in the right body. "Gregnol?" Dixoho murmured, her voice was so much calmer and softer than her normal tones. "How are we going to explain this to the rest of the crew?"

"We do not," Gregnol said, looking around at everyone. He was pretty sure that it would cause a panic, and they did not have time for panic.

"We don't?" Burnie asked, dismayed.

"Of course we don't," Liha snapped. "We're on a mission to rescue people in a minefield. The last thing we need is for everybody to be anxious, wondering if it's going to hit them next. And 'we recently underwent a random body swap?' How do you think that's going to sound to Fenris Rangers? They don't survive out here by not being suspicious."

That last was a point. Most of them were Romulan, or as paranoid as the average Romulan. "Okay, so we don't tell Fenris. But isn't keeping from our own people going to cause other problems?" Burnie asked. The problem foremost in his mind was Cassie trying to play him around Nollel, but he couldn't exactly put that out there as an example. Fortunately, there were more mission appropriate things to consider. "Most of us don't have the same skill sets as the people we look like. Cassie's a great scientist, but she's not an engineer. And what if things go wrong and Eden is commanding the ship instead of Gregnol?"

Cassie bit her lip as she wanted to point out that science used to do a lot more technical stuff back in her day. "Eden has Bridge Officer training," Cassie said gently, knowing that Eden had moments where she popped out with the most Eden-like stuff, but she had been married to a Federation captain and had bridge experience.

Eden nodded enthusiastically. "I can do it. I was in starfleet after all. That was a long time ago, but not so long ago to my brain because of the whole pattern stored thing. It might not be perfect, but I really think I've been around Gregnol enough that I can pretend."

Training was one thing; sitting in the big chair during an emergency something else entirely, but Burnie decided against pushing the point. His main concern had been to make Gregnol think about it.

"A few people do," Jake agreed. "We'll make do, right? Between us we can cover for each other."

"Maybe." Liha tipped her... Jake's... head and eyed the way her body was standing. It didn't inspire confidence. "I can run a rescue op or fight, even in this body, but what do you know about engineering?"

"I've followed Burnie enough to know that things either blow up or you hit them really hard until they work," Jake shrugged.

"Hey, now," Burnie objected, then grinned. "Sometimes you have to use duct tape too."

Liha rolled eyes to the point that Jake's eyes almost went to all whites. "Tell me again how I need time as an apprentice to qualify for an engineering license here?"

Jeassaho had stayed quiet for a long time but there was no way she could for that comment. "He will be fine." Jeassaho piped up crossing her arms. She could cover easily for anyone who needed help with Engineering. She was not going to let anyone be in Engineering without supervision especially people in the wrong body. She kept glancing at Reuben and noticing just how wrong he looked stood there with hands on his hips. It was a mannerism she had never seen in him before and she did not like it.

“I’ll have to get you some care and feeding instructions for Zambi,” Jinx told Avalon. “If she gives you any trouble, call me. She’s probably really confused. We’re very...close. Um, and you’ll have to carry the stepstool around with you. Nothing outside my quarters is made for someone my -- your size.” It was so weird being able to use a console normally as she studied the sensor data of the last twenty-four hours.

"Uh, okay, sure." Avalon rubbed her forehead. What the hell was she going to do?

"We will figure it out," Gregnol assured, seeing Avalon in Jinx getting stressed. Jeassaho did the same mannerism when she was stumped or trying to figure stuff out. "We have an idea of what to do now. Science and Engineering are going to investigate, along with Medical once we get him out of his office, whilst the rest of us act as normal as possible." He knew it was harder said than done, but at the moment it was all they had.

“We should still get everyone updated medical scans,” Jinx-Avalon said. She gave Avalon a reassuring smile. “Relax. You and I have it easy. At least we’re the same department.”