Screams In The Dark

Posted on Tue Nov 5th, 2019 @ 8:05pm by Commander Alexis Agrax (*) & Commander Liam Snow & Commander Gavin Holtztenn & Lieutenant Alexander Pierce
Edited on on Fri Nov 8th, 2019 @ 12:02am

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Daucine - Seabase
Timeline: 2396
1790 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Previously…

Before he could finish his thought, a shrill cry echoed throughout the floor. Gavin's head swirled around with a start. "... Did that come from the direction the Commander and her team ran off in?"

“I think so,” Alex replied, replacing his tricorder to its holster.

"... Then we should go." Gavin did not wait for Alex to respond, turning the rest of his form to run off down the hall.

Reaching his hand to his hip to have quicker access to his phaser, the Chief of Operations began to run after Gavin. Something did not seem right, but his team could be in trouble.

Alexis didn’t say anything to Liam as she was unceremoniously pushed in front of him with a look that left no room for argument at all.

“What is going on?” The woman demanded of the Intelligence Officer as she climbed down the ladder as the scream echoed again from above. She whirled around as she heard running footsteps and raised her rifle. It didn’t take long for her to lower the rifle when she saw Gavin and Alex appear out of the darkness. “You heard the screaming as well.” Alexis assumed easily.

"I did," Alex replied, phaser at the ready. "One of ours or someone else?" he asked, eyes darting around the corridor ahead of the group. "We saw evidence of some kind of experiment, everything was too encrypted to break from here," the Chief Operations Officer added in a hushed voice.

"And most of the logs were corrupted. It's not our scream. We thought it was one of you." Gavin stated adamantly. He looked about, frown evident. "And we couldn't get a hold of anyone. We need to get a hold of the team below. Comms weren't working, does anyone have a way to boost that?"

"I suggest we find our team quickly and get off this station." Liam said scanning the room. "Data from the experiments they were doing here has shown what they were doing was dangerous and as always happens with scientists... has went wrong."

"Agreed," Alex replied, a bit of apprehension in his voice. "I may be able to boost our signal but that dampening field could still keep us from talking to our team."

"I suggest we just go and find them and work on the signal together. Safety in numbers and we know they were going to Engineering." The woman in the group commented on raising her rifle looking back to where the scream had came from. Alexis was not normally scared but the scream had unnerved her enough that she was.

"Well... let's go hunting I guess." Liam replied as he threw his rifle up on his shoulder. The cowboy in him making a rare appearance. There was another shrill scream, and the sounds of scampering feet. Liam took his rifle down and shined the light down the corridor they were about to go down but nothing revealed itself.

Tightening his grip on his hand phaser, Alex stated, "I don't like this. What were they doing here?" As an ops officer who had spent most of his career in peace time, he had never needed to fire his phaser in anger.

Alexis turned at the shrill scream. It didn't sound like Lea so Alexis was sure it was someone else other than the team that they had brought down. "Go on you tell them... You know." Alexis said to Liam angrily. She thought they were getting passed the secrets yet there they were.

Liam sighed. He did know, it was his job to know. He could feel Alexis' eyes burning a hole in him, she hated secrets. Yet these were operational, not personal. He was sure she had things she hadn't told him but yet there he was in the spotlight.

"I don't think keeping it a secret helps anyone at this stage..." he began. "Long story short. The scientists down here found regenerative bacteria on the seabed. They tried to tap into its genetic code to replicate it. Section 31 got involved and pressured them into 'human' trials and that is when they went dark and off the grid." he stated plainly as he continued down the corridor, his eyes keeping watch as the scattering feet noises continued. He decided to leave out the name of the project, deeming it not operationally important.

"Section 31?" Alex asked. It sounded like it could be Starfleet Intelligence, but he had never heard of any organization going by that name. "Whoever they are, it sounds like they were up to something nightmarish." Human trials and genetic tampering never seemed to make a great combination and pretty much confirmed the fears inside his mind.

"If they were involved then it was something nefarious for sure. They were a very 'put Humans first' kind of intelligence group. Put Human interests above all. Although I don't know what their ultimate purpose here was I can assure you it's not going to be something good." Liam replied.

"We need to leave." Gavin resolved, looking between the group. "If Section 31 is involved, we are running multiple risks. Human trials means we're at risk of contamination and possible quarantine. We must leave as soon as possible."

"Couldn't agree more." Alexis pointed her rifle around as the small group made their way to a list. An eerie silence had taken over and was only interrupted by the strange noises that had been following them. “You guys all hear that right?” The woman checked glancing around, they hadn't found who the scattering feet belonged to yet but it was unnerving her.

Liam nodded, "Sounds like an animal scampering around, but as far as I know they didn't have any on the station." The quicker they got to Engineering the better.

"May not be an animal," Alex stated, gripping his phaser a little tighter. "Could be something other than Human," he added, not liking this at all.

"Let's not get too trigger happy," Gavin stated, stepping in line behind the group. "It might not be human, but it might not be hostile either. We don't want to spook anyone."

"Trust me right now it is spooking me more than I am likely spooking it," Alexis called from the front as the sound got closer before moving away. She couldn't even sense anything out there other than her three colleagues, it was frustrating for a second before Alexis turned to the side wishing she was still frustrated instead of confronting by what she found.

As the group shone lights around something stepped into the light of the beam. It was a creature like no one had seen before. Two hollow eyes examined the surroundings from their huge sockets. A broad nose rests below, but it's the normal mouth below that takes all the attention. It opened its mouth to reveal curved fangs and a forked tongue. Its short muscular body is slightly hunched over. Two broad tentacle-like arms rested at its sides and end in webbed hands with bent fingers, of which it has 8 in total. It wore a blue Starfleet that was ripped but you could make out the pips at the shoulder of a commander.

"No-one make any sudden moves." Liam whispered as the creature stood before them. It swayed like it was trying to find its balance, as if it were on a ship at sea. The eyes were empty, as if no-one was home but still there was something that implied a thought process. Liam could see blood on her shirt, and that didn't bode well. He had no idea if they could move fast, and he didn't want to find out if it decided to charge.

Reaching into his utility belt he pulled a little item from it. The creature twitched, its head noting the movement from Liam. For a moment it was as if it was waiting to see what he did next. Pressing the button it began to flash red, emitting a low hum and the creature went for him and the device. Liam threw it away from himself and the group the creature followed it, almost drawn to the noise. When it approached it, grabbed it, the device sprung open enveloping the creature in a stasis field.

Alexis frowned as she shone her rifle at the creature better. "What is it?" She said fearing she already knew the what it was from the uniform.

Gavin also had a sinkingly familiar feeling about the 'creature' in front of them. "... It was a Starfleet officer," he confirmed. "Or whatever it is has a desire to wear a uniform. I'm hoping the latter is the case, though I highly doubt it."

Alexis paled more if it was possible as she pulled out a tricorder to get an idea who the woman was. "Cannot exactly be many Commanders onboard." The woman pointed out as she could not make out any of the scientific readings coming off the being.

"... No, there aren't." Gavin took a step forward, peering at the creature. "... We need to go. We can examine this later, but I have a suspicion we shouldn't be here much longer."

"Agreed, I don't want to turn into one of those," Alex stated, pointing his phaser to indicate the creature before them. "We can take the tricorder readings back to the ship to see if reversing the change is possible," he added. He felt a tingling feeling in the back of his neck, almost a danger sense that told him that they should not be here.

"We need to find the others!" Alexis pointed out. "And possibly a rescue party would have been sent by now," Alexis added as she backed up a little bit joining Alex and the space he gave the creature.

"Agreed," Alex nodded. "Anyone know their last location?" he asked, edging a bit closer to the turbolift or Jeffries Tube access.

"Down... We are going down to Engineering." Alexis said simply as backed up a little making sure everyone was behind her. "I am going first. Snow you go last. Protect our asses" The woman instructed as she watched the creature until they got back to the operations room.

"Sure thing darlin'. You can trust me to keep the creepy crawlies at bay. I've got plenty of statis bombs on this here belt of mine." he said with smile as the group moved past him towards Engineering.

OFF::

Commander Gavin Holtztenn
Executive Officer
USS Cosmos
(PNPC Uhin)

Lieutenant Alexander Pierce
Chief Operations Officer
USS Cosmos
(PNPC McIntyre)

Commander Liam Snow
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Cosmos
(PNPC Carli)

Commander Alexis Agrax
Chief Of Security
USS Cosmos
(PNPC Gregnol)