Tracking The Captain Down

Posted on Tue Sep 22nd, 2020 @ 11:06pm by Commander Sura Locke & Lieutenant Commander Carter Morrison & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Lieutenant Junior Grade David Jameson & Captain Sebastian Deauvuex (*)

Mission: Ishimura
Location: Planet Surface
Timeline: 2243
1966 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie hated to say it but she was not overly impressed with the planet as they arrived at the same spot that the Captain Shuttle had landed at. It was closer to where the colony was than the last time but it was still on the edge of it. Cassie glanced back at the group that was with her waiting for one of them to lead the way as they had been there before. “Sun certainly has a way to blind you.” She murmured wishing they had changed into desert gear or something before running off to track the Captain down. This was a secrete mission but did it mean they had to be blinded by the sun.

David stepped off the shuttle and took a sharp breath, struck by an overwhelming sense of something like deja vu. Everything here seemed so much more familiar than just his brief time here yesterday could explain. Worse, it was like he was seeing two scenes: the one right in front of his eyes and another from a different time... It was so amazing when we first broke ground and began finding artifacts...

No. He had never done that. David squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. But when he opened them, the impression of present overlaid by older memories was even stronger.

"Are you okay?" Eden asked as she disembarked with him and looked around. She shivered for no reason as it was a fairly warm temperature on the planet.

"Just..." It feels so good to be out and walking around again. Elena smiled pleasantly. "There's just so much to see. I never got the chance to take it all in properly before."

"I cannot say us having to track our wayward commanding officer is good." Cassie shot as she shouldered her rucksack and started a scan to figure out which direction the man had gone. "It looks like he went in that direction." She pointed to the colony. Any other time or place she would have been interested but this all just felt odd to her.

"All right. This time try not to wander off..." Sura looked at Eden pointedly for a second. "Keep your eyes peeled for the Captain, we don't know what we're walking into down here." She led the way forward, with the others falling into step behind.

"It's a beautiful place to live, isn't it?" Carter mused softly, gliding alongside David. "The sort of place you could raise a family." His hand crept out and he felt his fingers lock around Elena's, a brief flash of connection there.

David's fingers laced with Carter's. Elena sighed happily. "It really seems liked it."

Cassie nodded at Sura. She would not be wandering off anywhere but she did not miss the interaction between Carter and David. She had not known they were involved at all, but good for them but she did not think the planet was exactly a planet raising material. It had too much history and too many unknowns in what had happened to the away team. “Each to their own as you humans say.” She mused knowing it sounded rude as she was part human but as neither human or Vulcan’s accepted her it was allowed at points to let her feelings know.

"You're part of us too you know," Eden reminded her. She had a smile on her face but she was really worried about Cassie. She hadn't been her usual self lately. It physically hurt Eden to know that her friend was feeling so much and not sharing that with anyone. She resolved to spend more time with the woman.

Cassie said nothing to the woman just stared at her until it became clear to everyone she would not be arguing. She was neither human or Vulcan and that was not the issue right then and there. It would only cause a discussion that was centred on her and she did not want that at all. It would not be appropriate at all for her.

"Ms McAvoy, please continue scanning for the Captain's bio-signature as we go," Sura nodded at her. She caught sight of the two men holding hands as they walked and frowned. "Wow, Doc...do we all get that kind of treatment after a bang on the head?" she snorted.

Carter seemed to ignore the comment, taking in the vista and the slowly rising sun. It was wonderful to be back here, where they belonged. Together.

"Are you two okay?" Cassie finally ventured seeing both the men just not looking like themselves. It was starting to worry her about them both, they were acting different but she could not put her finger on what was different.

"Of course." Elena smiled and leaned her head against Tony, or tried - it was a little awkward. Her head used to be just a little above his shoulder height, but now it seemed to be a little higher than his head. "Being back here like this is just an adjustment."

Eden glanced at Cassie and the others and shrugged. "Alright Captain, Come out, come out wherever you are!" She said in a singsong voice though the sound never reached more than her normal speaking voice. This place was giving her the creeps again and some of their group were acting weird as was Sebastian. Could they all have been exposed to something when they were down here before and if so why was she not affected?

She did not expect the man to answer but it was worth an attempt she guessed. "He is nowhere within my sensor range," Cassie commented on knowing that he had before. That was unless he was able to mask himself which it might be possible with whatever was going through his mind.

"I just don't understand. Why would he do this? He's a Captain, he knows regulations. You don't come down to an alien planet by yourself without telling anyone where you are going!" Eden bit her bottom lip. She was scared, really scared for him.

Cassie's mind was whirling as she started to scan first for the Captain and then scan around them closer. Nothing was making sense. "I do not think it is him anymore." Cassie murmured staring at the two men who had remained silent for the most part. It was the only logical course of action but she seemed to be the only one who was seeing it.

"Huh?" Eden said, looking confused at her friend.

"Just stuff to consider that he might not be him anymore," Cassie replied back not even sure it was worth trying to explain something that she was sure she was wrong on but things just seemed to fit.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Sura noted at the young officers. "We have very little information to go on at the moment, all we know is that he came down here, alone. He could be in trouble. Or he could have lost his keys. We won't know until we find him."

Cassie stayed quiet. She has a theory and the two men who were silently following whispering were acting odd. It was just too much of a coincidence and as a scientist, she did not believe in them at all but she held her peace. "This place would have been nice." She commented as they reached the outskirts of the colony. "Any of this familiar to where you wander to last time?"

"Of course it looks familiar," Elena replied, walking forward and looking around. "We worked excavations here for nearly a month."

Eden looked completely confused. "We've never been here before. Starfleet has never set foot on this planet who are you . . . Oh." She replied. "Sebastian isn't himself?" She turned to Cassie, fear in her eyes as she waited for confirmation that she'd finally caught on to the situation.

Cassie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at everyone for dismissing her and looked at both men. "So who are you? What year was your excavations?" Cassie said looking at the Executive Officer for some instructions.

Sura had a hand on her phaser cautiously at the science officer's words. "Say, doc, how about a coffee when we get back to the ship?"

"Hmm?" Carter blinked. "Oh, yes, of course."

Sura drew the phaser now.

"But you hate coffee," she replied. "So who are you really?"

Elena was shocked, outraged even. "How dare you?" She took a step forward, hands on hips. "Pointing a phaser at someone for changing their mind about coffee? This sort of militarism is why I didn't join Starfleet." She tossed her hair, or tried to - David's hair was short, so it didn't have quite the same effect.

The girlish action did not escape Cassie. She was worried about David and Carter but it was also all very fascinating. "But the body you have did join Starfleet?" Cassie said, unlike Sura she held a tricorder at the pair scanning wildly. "Who are you?" She asked in a calmer voice trying to be the reasonable good cop compared to her Executive Officer.

"Please, don't hurt us!" Carter said, wrapping a protective arm around Elena. "We're innocents!"

"You're Starfleet Officers. Or you're supposed to be," Sura insisted. "Cassie, scan them again. Something is wrong here."

"You said you've been here before?" Eden frowned. "Does that mean you're the people who lived here before this happened," she gestured around her to the abandonment of the settlement.

"Aye. Our home was just over yonder," Carter motioned, his arm still holding Elena.

"Ensign Bowers. You were here with the previous landing party..." Sura observed, eying the helmswoman. "How are you feeling? Any strange compulsions?"

"Oh I'm completely a hundred percent me, I mean still me. As me as I ever was. This place still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I'm worried sick about Seb . . . I mean the Captain. Still me!"

Cassie was so so stunned at being called her human first name by the first officer that for a moment she was still before busied herself. “It seems only the males were affected.” Cassie commented looking at the two men.

"I'm not male," Elena objected.

"No, you are," Cassie assured quickly.

"Well at least the body you are in is male. I'm sure he'd have something to say about it if you weren't all floaty in his head." Eden answered her, helping Cassie along.

"I'm not 'floaty'," Elena objected. "And I'm female. The body I'm in is hardly relevant." She hmphed. "Where are you from? The 20th century?"

Cassie could not help but let out a chuckle. "It is our friend's... well my colleague's body though. I am sure his friends would want him back soon." Cassie explained as she finished her scanning.

Elena blinked, taken aback, and looked down at the body she was in. "Well... there's nothing I can do about that. I didn't exactly pick this." She waved a hand in front of a body that was a lot more male than what she might have preferred.

"Can you tell us what happened to you?" Cassie wondered wanting to go into her own theories about how they were turned into energy but it needed actually talking about with people who had it happen to them.

"I..." Elena looked off into the distance, her brows drawing down. "I don't know."

"We need help," Cassie commented on looking at the man who was looking more and more feminine by the moment. The three women were not going to be enough at all.

"Agreed. Call it in to the ship." Sura folded her arms, eying the odd couple of men in front of her. "We're definitely going to need some backup on this one."