Fixing the Transporters

Posted on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 @ 4:27pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Jasper Offermans & Executive Officer Valiyi Uhin

Mission: Mission 7 - Sabotage
Location: Deck 7 - Sealed Off Areas
Timeline: MD02 01:25
1731 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Gregnol was sure going into this area even with everything looking like it was coming from there was a bad idea. The ship obviously wanted this area left alone and he would have happily left it be if he knew it wasn't someone sabotaging the ship through it.

Deacon carefully pried the access panel off the wall to open the door to the transporter room, looking at the circuit he growled, "Someone's been here before us, see the carbon scoring, that resent can still get that burnt wire smell, an the security sensors been bypassed, probably why nobody knew the room's been accessed." Deacon then scanned to see if their mystery guest did anything more creative with the locking mechanism, "Looks clear besides that."

Glancing at Reuben he nodded and tripped the door. As the hatches parted his nose wrinkled.

Gregnol stopped dead as he smelt something in the air. It was familiar and sickening all at the same time - a dead body. "I think I know what we are going to find in there," He said slowly glancing around hoping they all understood what they were going to find inside the transporter room.

"I'm beginning to hate this place," Jasper grumbled as he entered the room. His tricorder was scanning as if it were some sort of talisman against the voodoo that seemed to accompany the place. He shook his head and lowered the device, "way more energy being used than an abandoned transporter room should be using." His nose wrinkled at an unpleasant odor though he wasn't sure exactly what it was.

"Smells evil enough," Deacon said, "Always wanted to take a look in here ever since I heard about you guys ," Deacon admitted scanning the area with his torch,"Now not so much." his torch came to rest on a small dark object about the size of a briefcase, a brand new quantum micro-server. "You don't belong here" he whispered, following the power cables back to the transporter pad, then something else caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, the still form of a body, "And you don't belong here either. Skipper want me to get some lights on in here?"

Micheal saw the body at the same time as Deacon. "We've got a body in here! Nobody touch anything!" He suddenly had the concern that there could be traps of some kind. "Everyone, carefully retrace your steps back out into the corridor. Until I can determine otherwise, this room is now a crime scene."

Valiyi was sure to keep to the back of the group, uncertain of whether she should have tread within its depths before the first person set foot within. It was fortunate everyone else had the tendency to waltz right along in before she did, as she was barely about to set foot into the room before Micheal called out. She naturally decided to ask the question that first popped in her mind as she took a few steps back; "Identifiable?"

"Starfleet Uniform... Old Starfleet Uniform... Jasper do you... can you recognise him." Reuben said refusing to back up as he shined his light on the body that was there seeing the old uniform. It had to have been there a while but it was definitely not there when they had gotten everyone out of here last.

"I do." There was a hint of sadness as he gazed at the lifeless form, "He was our Captain." Jasper's eyes grew wider as he moved closer to the body under the pale torchlight. He noticed the damage to the body, the telltale marks for the reasons of his demise, "it's here! The cloud creature is here!"

"Sebastian Deauvuex... this is him?" Reuben said softly as he carried on getting closer. He was a Security Officer at heart, he knew the protocol. "We don't know that." The Captain said sharply. He didn't have time for dramatics when they didn't know what exactly had happened. "Before anyone starts panicking, let's do an investigation." The Captain could have simply stepped onto the transporter as the moment of death in an attempt to escape.

Micheal already had his tricorder out and was taking meticulous scans of the body. "Well," he said after a few beats. "While sickbay will give us a better time of death, according to my scans, it looks like he died when he fell and broke his neck. He clearly rematerialized soon after we sealed the room. The rate for decomposition looks like he's been here for a while."

A hint of relief touched Valiyi's voice as she craned her neck over to see the body. "I'll make sure Sickbay is notified in a timely manner. Would you think it wise to continue our investigation, or should we give pause to our crime scene?" She looked to both Micheal as well as Reuben for an answer.

Deacon backed off, letting the security experts examine the body, he bent down and looked at the box, "We might want to hold off on that." Deacon replied looking at the dust particles in the beam of his torch, "Hate to point this out folks, but this is a multiple crime scene. An officer from the 23rd century didn't patch a 24th century server into our computer system. We make it public knowledge we've poked around in here, it might spook our saboteur. Considering what they've done so far, I don't think we want that, yet."

Looking sympathetically at Jasper, the engineer sighed, "Our saboteur is smart enough to work in the one room on the ship that they knew they wouldn't be disturbed, and cold enough they didn't mind a rotting corpse. That also means their clothes are contaminated with the departed captains DNA. No offence meant to Captain Deuvuex's memory, Jasper-man, but the dust in here is mostly him. We're all going to stink of death from being in here."

"Yes but...." Jasper shook his head, "but that's not the cause of his death unless that cloud is the one doing it." He stared walking out of the room as had been suggested but paused a moment, "if that thing is here none of us are safe."

"What cloud?" Valiyi's gaze passed to Jasper, intent on learning more without necessarily prying. "This cloud, do you think it would hide for so long in the ship without someone noticing? How easy is it to hide?"

"I think it could hide easily, it passes through walls and sucks the life right out of you." Jasper pressed his lips together as he tried to remember, "I think they called it a D.. Dikironus, ium something like that." The ship was a mess after it was done and it all of us except those who got in the transporter." He drew in a deep breath, "you see the captain was operating the transporter when it came through the wall, it was the last thing we saw."

"Well you have all been out a month or more and it hasn't surfaced. It could be the man simply fell or tried to do the same as you guys after you have left." The Captain commented on softly as he started to think about how they were going to get the body back to the man's family.

Micheal continued to scan the area. "I'm not detecting anything more than us." He looked over at Jasper. "What would the readings show if this cloud thing was present?" He wasn't asking to give weight to the operations officer's claim, however, as Chief of Security, it was Micheal's job to ensure there were no threats to the ship and crew.

"Not much." Jasper let out a heavy sigh as he tried to recall all the things he could about the life form, "i't's not really matter or energy, uses gravitational fields to create motion and can move in and out of the space-time continuum." "The thing can change itself, at least temporarily into other things so it seems to just disappear." The man shivered as he thought about the creature, "from what I recall it didn't like copper based blood but sure new how to suck the life out of the rest of us."

Reuben suddenly turned and looked at them. "That is how Cassie survived?" He realised something that the men might not have and it was out of his mouth before he could stop saying it.

"Ok, New guy here." Deacon said breaking into the conversion, "Now while I'm happy that the killer cloud will find me unpalatable, I've sort of gotten to like you guys," some more than others he didn't add, "If it moves by distorting gravity fields then we could track it, or at least find some footprints by any anomalous readings in the AG's gravitaton stabilizers." Narrowing his eyes, he looked from face to face, "Now theoretical tracking aside, do any of you feel this creature somehow related to the sabotage or is it another problem we have to deal with?"

Reuben shook his head. "We don't even know this creature is here." The Captain pointed out looking around the Transporter room nothing was amiss apart from the body of Sebastian Deauvuex lying on the transporter plate like he had just materialised. He moved to the other issue of the transporter being active. "Uhin come over here a moment." He said calling the First Officer over to the console.

"We don't, but it may not be a wise idea to rule it out..." Valiyi trailed off, her eyes rested upon the body for a short moment, before she went to join Reuben. Her arms crossed over her chest as she frowned. "We're missing something here, aren't we?"

The man nodded and looked over his shoulder at the three people that were looking around at stuff. "We are missing something big." He said holding something up to her for a moment before he pocketed it. Something he knew as a Captain of a Starfleet Vessel she would recognize and would change everything they knew about what was going on.

OFF::

Deacon Kane
Engineering Chief
USS Mary Rose

Reuben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose

Jasper Offerman
Operations
SS Mary Rose

Valiyi Uhin
First Mate
SS Mary Rose

Micheal Robertson
Chief Armory Officer/Bounty Hunter
SS Mary Rose/Shuttle Alexandria