Final Resolutions

Posted on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 @ 8:08am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Delaney O'Callaghan & Curtis Vaan

Mission: Mission 14: Holoworld
Location: SS Holoworld
Timeline: MD06 09:00
2767 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Gregnol was not sure why he had decided to come back to the dead ship but he needed answers for the deaths that had occurred and nothing was making sense around how the deaths had occurred and why there was potential for a virus both biologically and computer wise. He knew viruses replicated themself by modifying other computer programs and inserting their own code but how did that work crossing from computer to living species.

It did not sit right with him at all. It was a civilian ship after all and the thought of a virus-like that was scarier to the man than it could have been inside of Starfleet. He still believed in Starfleet despite how jaded it made him feel over how he was treated. He still believed they did some good. The corridors seemed brighter as they walked along where Curtis and Jeassaho had escaped from to what Burnie had blown up to stop the holograms than it had the previous day.

“How much further to the core?” Leiddem spoke up, piercing the silence.

Despite Hiram's recommendations to desist from approaching the vessel at all, given the fact that there was an active infectious agent at play, one they did not have a full understanding of. He nevertheless responded to the call to board alongside the rest of the team, provided all of them followed proper quarantine protocols, which he maintained stringently. He was following, focused on his tricorder scans of the environment and not in possession of the directions to the core, he elected to remain silent at Leiddem's question, eyes merely glancing up, their rhythmic back-and-forth now a familiarity amongst the crew. The customary kit that he wore strapped across his shoulders at almost all times he was away from the Mary Rose remained, stocked, with weapons and medical equipment alike with both his spear and a disruptor that would be used if needed.

"Just down there. Follow the scorch marks," Burnie told Leiddem, nodding in the direction. Personally, he'd prefer to just drop a couple of torpedoes on the site and scour it with the ship's phasers for good measure, but they only had so many torpedoes and the Captain wasn't thrilled with his idea to try out some of his 'speciality' concepts for new torpedoes. So here he was with a nice big pack of explosives to set in person. Once they looked around and gathered some more evidence on what exactly had happened. Computer viruses were bad, but he could write them and debug - not as well as some, but he wasn't quite as freaked out over a virus that had attached to bits of a comm badge than most of the others. That didn't mean he wasn't going to make sure this place was reduced to molecules, and burnt ones at that.

The security crewman glanced back and offered a big grin to the engineer at just how big the scorch marks were. He had never understood the fascination with fire and blowing stuff up but he could appreciate the skill that the man had in blowing something up but not killing himself with the power. "Really did a number here, buddy. Some of your best work I believe." The man commented on it before returning his gaze forward.

"Aw, that's nothing," Burnie replied modestly, and patted his backpack with a grin. "Wait till you see what I can do when I have the right loadout with me."

It was not long until they reached the core or what remained of the core as it was a smoking stack of computer processors and components. "Well cannot see that ever doing anything ever again," Gregnol commented on.

Burnie smiled. "That was the idea. But we need to make sure nothing survived in back-ups further off."

If she was honest, Delaney wasn't entirely sure why she was present. When Leiddem had explained her potential for assistance, it had somehow made sense, but now amongst the actual group, and with Curtis along for the ride also, the young Operations adjunct wasn't entirely convinced that her usual 'go where the problem is' ability to slot into a variety of vacancies was really necessary. Rather than daunt her, the sensation of feeling like a spare part actually liberated the woman somewhat to revel in her own fascination rather than concern herself with a single focus. The first and most obvious distraction was the state of the Chief Engineer's recent problem-solving tactics.

"Holy shit."

It was a murmured appreciation, for Curtis' ears only, though the young Risian probably recognised the eagerness in his fellow programmer's enthusiasm. The fact that someone like Burnie actually existed made designing characters with extreme tendencies exceptionally more viable.

The last time that Hiram was aboard this vessel had nearly resulted in the loss of an individual he had come to regard in as close of terms as he could reasonably define a friend, and ultimately it was this that propelled Hiram's sense of caution, along with what Gregnol had previously revealed to him in the ship's cafeteria during their previous interaction, and his eyes flicked back and forth, scanning their environment as efficiently as any tricorder for their intensity, checking his scans meticulously before moving forward through to the core. He hadn't yet spoken, electing to remain silent and vigilant instead, poised mentally to react to any threat that may manifest, his body in full defensive mode without conscious volition that saw his pupils dilate and muscles tense. His demeanor was intractable as ever, expression having settled along its typical trajectory of eerie neutrality, the congenial mask slipped in favor of overarching protectiveness. He offered little comment at the sight before them, merely a lift of his chin to Burnie and a blinked acknowledgment of his technological capabilities. If they could eradicate the source of this virus at its head, and cut off its neck before it reached any others, he could only stand back and let the engineer do his work.

Gregnol nodded at Burnie and scratched his head. he really should have considered bringing Jeassaho along but he wanted her back on the ship if Burnie was there just encase, she would have been handy to translate stuff to his speech. "Let's set about doing that before we follow the trail to find out where the bodies have been going." He said knowing he would be no help other than security which he did far better than engineering things as it had been his occupation before he finally became Captain of his own ship. Once everything was confirmed as being dead the man nodded. "Nothing? Good." That was good in Gregnol's mind that meant nothing was going to spring to life and attack them anymore. It was over in that regard and he felt his body relax just a little bit. He glanced at Leiddem who was just staring at him and narrowed his eyes, the man was searching for something from him.

"I think this is the first time I have seen you looking quite this pale and stressed. Have you slept?" He whispered to the Captain. The man shook his head leaving the subject there, barely anyone had slept he was sure. He was no different.

"I'm reading organic tissue down that way," Burnie said, looking at his tricorder and then indicating the direction with a nod toward the easiest path.

"Aaaand of course you want to go that way too, right?" Curtis replied. He shook his head with a little shiver. "No thanks. The core is fried. Anyone who would have been on board is toast too. Why stick around?"

"And if they're still alive?" Jake asked, patting him on the shoulder. "If it was you, you'd want us to come help."

"Yeah...well I'm here so..." Curtis grumbled.

"If they're still alive, they're going to be pissed we tried to turn them into soufflé," Laney murmured to Curtis, keeping an eye on Ford to make sure he was out of earshot. She wasn't against rescue missions per say, but the programmer was already questioning what use either of them were going to be. Burnie had been very...thorough.

"Leiddem. Why don't you take the lead," Jake suggested, motioning. He trusted Leiddem in a situation like this one, and it made sense to have some muscle up front.

Leiddem looked back at Jake and frowned giving him the look that a sacrifice would give someone but stepped in front. He was not used to being the one to lead even in the Marines he had stayed near the back or the middle just in case as he was middle but he stepped forward. "As you wish." He said brightly not betraying his thoughts on the matter as they walked along dark corridor after dark corridor.

No one seemed too eager to follow, which was completely understandable, but if any functioning hologram was down there, a grenade could come in handy, so Burnie fell in a little behind him.

"What is that smell." Leiddem finally said stopping dead he already knew the answer but he wanted confirmation.

"Bodies." Gregnol said moving past Leiddem. He wanted to be the first to look and make everyone fall back if he did not like what he saw. He would protect the crew from those nightmares if he could after everything that happened. "Stay here." He ordered.

"Do you think we should follow him?" Leiddem questioned.

"After he just told you to stay here?" Delaney spoke up to shoot her friend a pointed look.

“Yes,” Leiddem said simply. He was not one to always follow orders but he needed someone else’s opinion on this.

"Captains always seem to think they should walk into danger alone," Burnie said shaking his head, and as if that more than explained ignoring orders, he walked on, following after Gregnol.

"Too true," Jake nodded in agreement, stepping in behind Burnie. "Staying together is safer than splitting up, no matter where we are."

With only an abrupt nod, Hiram took the rear, consulting his tricorder faithfully as they moved through the corridors.

Delaney rolled her eyes; mostly at Curtis because he was the only one who'd notice, but the exasperation was all Leiddem's. Their friend had this thick-headed need to constantly insert himself between threats and literally every other person in the galaxy, which left not a lot of room for his own well-being. The redhead smothered her concern over this with resignation. "We going or staying?" She wasn't about to leave Curtis behind just because everyone else had forgotten that he'd already dealt with more than enough.

"Okay! Okay!" Curtis made a little over-the-top show of following on. He didn't want to be left behind, especially not on his own.

Gregnol glanced back as several footsteps joined him and rolled his eyes. "I thought I said for everyone to stay back?" He wondered quietly as he stood in the doorway blocking what he was seeing from everyone else.

"Apparently we took a completely democratic vote to ignore orders." It was hardly surprising that Delaney had no qualms about addressing her commanding officer frankly, though the fact that she trapped Leiddem with an implicating deadpan was probably a shade on the unfair side.

"I'm not ignoring orders," Burnie objected. "I'm several steps back and staying at distance," he quipped with a quick grin. "But whatever's down there is likely to be more of an engineer than a captain issue to solve, so this saves me having to run from all the way back there."

"I am thinking whatever is going to be down there is going to be pretty grim. I am trying to save you all the nightmares. Some of us have been through a lot recently." The man admitted with a frustrated sigh as he looked at everyone.

"Can't be much worse than watching someone get snapped in half..." Curtis quipped. Jake gave him a light punch on the arm to quieten him down.

"Splitting off got us into trouble before," he explained to Gregnol.

Gregnol glanced at Curtis and filled away what he said for later. He wanted to know what he and Jeassaho had seen and what had happened to Robinson properly but right now he wanted to get some answers and revenge by blowing the place up if it was possible. "You all feel like that? I am not paying for your counselling later on." He said lightly trying to make the atmosphere less heavy.

"I'm going to have to see it anyway to decide how to handle this," Burnie said, patting his kit. "And it's not like I haven't seen dead bodies before."

Delaney, on the other hand, had not seen dead bodies before, unless you counted her great uncle, and he had been stretched out in a coffin at the time wearing his second-best suit. Certainly, she'd programmed enough holo novels to have dealt with the theme of death and demise, but as enthusiastic as the woman was about her hobby, Laney did not equate it to real life in any sense. Trepidation didn't sit well with the redhead, however, and in the absence of any other protest, she certainly wasn't going to be the one to ask to stay back. Her concern was marked by an uncharacteristic silence but that was the extent of it.

“We blow it up either way,” Gregnol said simply as he walked into the compartment that would have formerly stored stores and cargo but now held a power conversation unit dead and lifeless surrounded by body parts and wires. It was gory and reminded Gregnol of an incident on the Victory nearly ten years before where they had found a lifeless Borg ship that had decompressed. It was treated much like this ship was going to be.

“That looks like a replicator. Have they been using…” Leiddem stopped as he stepped over a puddle of blood and shook his head.

"I don't want to know," Jake frowned.

“Definitely not something I want to think on. Someone would have had to plug this in to the ship.” Gregnol mused as he tried to not breathe through his nose so the smell would not linger.

"I don't think we're going to find anyone left alive here, boss," Jake urged. "We should just leave it to Starfleet." He didn't want to admit it, but the hairs on the back of his neck had been tingling for the last ten minutes.

Leiddem moved behind the unit weapon raised as he heard a beeping and stopped dead as he saw a console alive and running. “Um… guys.” He called stepping back so everyone could see what the console said. TEST FAILED. ENVIRONMENT COMPROMISED.

"Curtis?" Jake nodded at the young Risan tech, who darted in with his own kit.

"Oh. Well, I don't think you were wrong about getting out of here," Curtis said, showing the findings to Burnie. "Whatever this program is, it's not part of the main holo systems. Looks like some kind of failsafe. A data worm. It's chewing through various parts of the computer core, and now...it's about ten minutes from hitting the fusion reactor and turning this whole thing into a pretty little crater on the side of a moon."

It barely took Burnie a moment to see enough to confirm the truth of that statement. "Frak!" The exclamation was at least partly a reaction to this worm pre-empting his chance to blow the ship up properly, but mostly it was alarm at imminent danger. "There's no way to stop it. it's too far into the sequence. We need to get out. Now!"

"That's it. Everyone out!" Jake barked, grabbing hold of whomever he could and shoving them back towards the exit.

"And this is why you don't let Leiddem organise staff get-togethers!" Laney, despite her own elevated adrenaline, had the forethought and integrity to wait for Curtis, and would have waited for her other friend had she any faith whatsoever that Leiddem wasn't going to try to go last, possibly to drape himself over anything that was about to explode. He was her friend, and she would have defended him 'til the last, but there were times like these when she just wanted to shake him.

Gregnol took the back pushing Leiddem in front of him and looked back to see the last words on the console - NYX WILL BE INFORMED.

Who was Nyx? And why had he heard that name several times from holograms?