Ghosts of the Future

Posted on Thursday 8 June 2017 @ 07:11 by Captain Melody Jones & Commander Caroline Miller & Lieutenant Commander David Tan & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix
Edited on on Thursday 8 June 2017 @ 07:12

Mission: The Perez Nebula
Location: The Derelict ship, USS Merlin bridge
Timeline: Stardate 239406.02
4530 words - 9.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

"Bridge, transporter room 1. The away team has successfully beamed over. I'm keeping a positive lock on them."

"Copy that Lieutenant Brooks. Keep me advised." Melody replied, then changed the comm channel.

... David picked three others to go to the derelict. They made their way to the Transporter Room where EVA suits had been brought and began to suit up. Checking comms, both internal and to the ship itself, he stepped up onto the Transporter Platform, the others following suit. Taking a breath he looked at the others, who all seemed as concerned as he was to be going over to a substantially unstable environment. With a nod he turned to the Transporter Chief:

"Energise ....."

The four, Lieutenant David Tan, Lieutenant jg Lysia T'Seng, Lieutenant jg Matt Young (Security), and Lieutenant jg Elan Nyles (Engineer), all materialised on Deck Seven of the derelict. The deck plating creaked ominously under their sudden additional weight, but appeared firm enough so none of them were suddenly going to suddenly find themselves on the next deck down. Lighting was at a bare minimum, despite other systems being off-line. They had transported but with a firm lock on them, just in case, and that lock remained intact.

=/\= Away team, this is the bridge. Please keep an open channel at all times. We're got a positive lock on you so we can pull you out if anything happens. What exactly are you seeing over there? =/\=

=^= Stand by Merlin .. .. =^= David said. He spoke to his team:

"OK ...." Tan said through the suits com system, "Let's begin a systematic search. I'd rather not have us split up at the moment, but we will make our way up to the Bridge and Engineering. Lieutenant Young, Lieutenant Nyles, you head for Engineering, first priority is try to get some power. don't get into anything you are not certain of Lieutenant, you're a Junior Engineer. If you can confidently reinforce structural integrity we'll be abl ...."

"I wouldn't recommend it Lieutenant." she interrupted, "Anything we try could collapse the already fragile structure and cause a cascade failure. Sir."

"OK, understood. Once we can establish we have integrity I will suggest the Merlin send more Officers over. Keep an open comm both to the ship and with the others on the away team I want Merlin to hear everything, Keep a running update of your progress. Any issues and you back-track immediately, understood ?" both Officers confirmed their orders. He spoke to the Merlin:

=^= Merlin .. Away Team .. We are splitting into two teams now .. The ship looks old .. Very old .. But something is wrong or to be more precise 'familiar' about our location .. Young and Nyles are going to attempt to reach Engineering while T'Seng and I head for the Bridge .. .. .. =^= he stopped speaking as Lysia spun to face him, pointing behind her into the semi-darkness, =^= Stand by Merlin .. .. .. =^=

He followed her gaze, inching forward, his hand subconsciously moving toward the phaser at his waist, but as he moved forward he realised what he was looking at ... It was a body ! ... The woman, in her mid to late twenties from the look of her, seemed to be asleep at first, but as he knelt, he could see the agonising grimace etched into her face. He crouched, confusion flooding his thoughts, then took out a tricorder and scanned the body. "This isn't right." he said to no-one, but it was picked up by both the others in the team, and on the Merlin.

=^= Merlin .. Away Team .. We have found a body .. Lieutenant Commander insignia gold tunic .. Merlin .. Please confirm the age of the derelict =^=

=^= Away Team .. Merlin .. Our scans confirm the wreck is approximately five thousand years old .. Confirmed =^=

=^= Then we have a serious problem Merlin .. Because this woman looks to have been dead only a week at most .. Certainly not five thousand years ! =^=

=^= Repeat ? =^=

=^= According to my scan this Officer has been dead for only seven days .. .. .. The ship is in vacuum so that could account for the lack of decay but the scans are worrying .. .. We are continuing our way to the Bridge .. Tan to Team Two .. Keep alert .. we have come across one of the former crew =^= .....

She listened as the away team moved around the derelict, she thought that Caroline might be interested in seeing this.

"Bridge to sickbay. If you're not busy Commander Miller, I think you might want to come to the bridge."

"Acknowledged," Caroline stated. She finished recording her experiment and headed to the nearest turbo lift. It wasn't often she got summoned to the bridge so she was wondering what was going on. As the doors swung open, she saw something out the corner of her eye and ended up turning round. She then gasped. In front of her was Melody, looking like she had gone through hell. Her hair was a mess and her uniform was sooty and torn. She seemed to be mouthing something.

"What happened?" Caroline said stepping quickly towards her pulling her tricorder, common sense not asking the question how the XO had appeared in the turbolift behind her when she hadn't been there on the journey over but before she could even start scanning the XO fizzled out of view. Caroline's jaw dropped and then she jumped as someone put an arm on her shoulder and said "Doctor,"

Melody was stood behind Caroline with a concerned look on her face. She had heard the turbolift doors open to see Caroline just standing there, looking towards the rear of the lift. When she jumped and turned round, Melody could see she was as white as a sheet.

"Are you all right? You look as if you'd seen a ghost."

"You were ....." Caroline started flustered and confused as Melody was now behind her again and not looking in a right state, "You were right there," she pointed. "Covered in soot," she locked eyes with Melody. "A complete mess and then you disappeared."

"I haven't left the bridge. I called you up to have a look at this derelict Federation ship we've found. Scans indicate that not only is it over 5000 years old, but it has travelled through time as well."

The blond tried to take in what she was saying and convince herself she had not just hallucinated. That had been real. She had her tricorder out ready to scan. It was definitely real. She tried again, more confidently. "I saw you in the turbolift. For a moment and you disappeared out of view again. It happened. I don't know why."

Melody looked at her sympathetically remembering when she and Save'ena had switched bodies and Caroline had believed her when she was trying to explain. Melody called over her shoulder "Peterson, I want you to scan the turbolift and see if there are any anomalies."

"Aye Sir" Peterson came over, carrying a tricorder.

Melody gestured over to the command area and Caroline's chair "If you're feeling ok, I'd really like your thoughts on this."

Caroline nodded happy that Melody had believed her and taken the time to investigate. She followed her to her chair on the bridge.

Peterson called over from the turbolift. "Sir i am reading a residual temporal displacement signature and some very unusual chronoton particles."

... David and Lysia T'seng had made their way to Deck One and were outside doors that they assumed would allow access to the Bridge, He opened the manual access panel and looked at the controls, he couldn't help the feeling of foreboding, or more precisely, déjà vu, he was about to touch the panel when Lieutenant T'Seng gasped, bumping into him so both collided with the bulkhead beside the door.

"Lieutenant ?" he asked, eyeing the corridor nervously.

"I .... I could have sworn ...." Lysia stammered, fighting to regain her composure, "Sir, for a second I was sure I had seen a Lieutenant, in Command red, he was walking towards the turbo-lift and looked back, directly at me !"

Tan took out his tricorder and scanned the corridor, apart from some sporadic readings there was nothing else showing. But he trusted his Deputy, and if she was convinced something was amiss then he would look into it.

He stepped away from the door and approached the turbo-lift. As he did so his comm chirped to life: ...

"Make sure you feed all the information into the ships computer." Melody contacted the away team again. =/\= Away team, Commander Miller just had a unusual encounter. It could be related to the derelict out there. Has anyone over there seen anything strange? =/\=

... =^= Merlin .. Lieutenant Tan .. We are outside the Bridge .. Lieutenant T'Seng has just seen a Starfleet Officer in Red .. He apparently exited the Bridge through the door we were stood at and entered the turbo-lift .. The Lieutenant is convinced that the man looked directly at her before entering .. I've scanned the corridor but apart from minute traces of chronoton particles there is nothing amiss .. .. .. Team 'B' have yet to report any issues and are currently en-route to Engineering .. .. Commander there is something weirdly familiar about this vessel .. We know it's an Excalibur Class so that could account for the déjà vu but I think we need to be cautious .. If Young and Nyles can get any kind of stable atmosphere in here I believe we should send additional teams over =^=

Melody frowned. =/\= Acknowledged away team. Keep monitoring, there's something going on here. Let's keep it to just the cue to away team at the moment. I'm not sure i want to expose any more personnel to the risk of the hull collapsing. I'm not sure you'll be able to get an amosphere established, we are showing major hull damage on all decks. Try and get to the bridge and see if you can find out what happened and how stable the hull is. I'll get another team on standby in case you need any backup. =/\=

"Let's get onto the Bridge, we might find something there." he said after closing the Comm .....

As Melody turned to talk to Caroline she froze. For an instant she should share she fought a glimpse of herself standing behind Caroline's chair. She did look like hell. She felt the colour drain from her face and her mouth went dry.

"What is it?" Caroline asked.

Melody blinked. "I........ I thought I saw myself standing behind you. It must have been what you saw in the turbo lift." She called out to Peterson "Reconfigure the lateral sensor array to actively scan for temporal displacement signatures."

"Aye Sir" Peterson replied.

Melody whispered to Caroline "What do you make of all this? That ship out there, where do you think it came from, or when?"

"I have no idea," Caroline suggested. "Any kind of temporal displacement tends to be followed by headaches," she quipped. "Maybe I saw you from the future?" she suggested. The idea just dawning on her.

... Bridge of the Derelict : It was clear that no-one had been on this Bridge for a considerable time, stations were coated in a thick layer of dust, obviously accumulated over time, which made the discovery that the Officer they had found earlier had been deceased less than a week. He moved to the Command area, unwilling to sit in either seat despite his environmental suit. There was zero power, which was annoying, but he knew that Young and Nyles had reached Engineering, so hopefully they would be able to do something about it sooner than later. Lieutenant Elan Nyles had reported that the core was completely dead and there was less than four percent emergency power remaining, He continued to update Tan:

=^= Sir .. I don't understand this .. .. .. There is no way there could be anything left in the power reserves after so long .. The core too is causing me issues .. There is nothing remaining of the matter / antimatter chamber but it hadn't been removed manually or there would be signs .. It looks like it was simply drained so quickly that whoever was on this ship had no time to react =^=

=^= Depending on what systems were utilising the power reserves they would have lasted approximately a week .. Am I right ? =^=

=^= Yes Sir .. They would have been keeping numerous systems up and running .. Life support .. Artificial gravity .. Impulse possibly .. Thrusters .. Computer cores =^=

=^= Which tallies with the death of the Officer we found .. .. .. =^= David said, deep in thought, =^= Is there any way we can shore up what we have left ? =^=

=^= There's nothing running apart from artificial gravity and that in only twenty three percent of the vessel .. It should last us approximately fifteen hours before complete collapse Sir .. We would need to get power from outside the ship if we want to remain =^=

=^= Could a power transfer be done from the Merlin ? =^=

=^= We would need storage cells from over there and even then we would be on minimal power .. We would need the re-initiate the core with a matter / antimatter infusion before even thinking about trying to access anything else .. Power cells should give us some leeway as to how long we can remain over here =^=

David tapped the link on his EVA suit to speak directly to the Merlin:

=^= Merlin .. Tan .. Did you get all that Commander ? =^= but before she could reply the deck plates beneath his feet gave way and he dropped, thankfully Lysia had seen the deck giving way and grasped his arm. She dragged him back to solid ground and they both looked at the gaping hole.

"There is no way that should have happened." she said, kneeling, "Look at the edges, natural erosion over many many years, but how, if the ship has been in vacuum ?" he tapped the open Comm:

=^= Young .. Nyles .. Be careful down there .. We are seeing deck erosion up here .. I don't want anyone falling through the ship =^=

... They had been working in the derelict for thirty five minutes when David had the distinct feeling that he was being watched. He turned away from the Operations console, eyeing the Bridge with suspicion, he could see Lysia T'Seng working at the Science Station, trying, and failing, to get one joule of power into the stubbornly blank panels. There it was again, that feeling where the hairs on the back of your neck suddenly stand almost to attention, akin to when someone is very close behind you almost breathing into the nape of your neck. He spun !

"It there someone there ?" he said into his helmet, suddenly self-conscious that he may have been overheard, but a glance at Lysia said she hadn't heard his comment. Fighting off the cold shiver that ran the length of his spine, despite the climate controlled environment his suit afforded him, he returned his attentions to the Operations console, it was illuminated, albeit minimally. 'One of the two in Engineering must have managed to get some power up to the Bridge, good for them' he thought as he tried to bring up any existing logs, but as quickly as he began the panel shut itself down again. Frustrated he touched the activate button two or three times with no luck, he tapped the comm lick to the other team:

=^= Lieutenant Young .. Lieutenant Nyles .. You managed to get minimal power to one of the consoles on the Bridge but it's failed .. Can you try again =^= there was a few seconds' hesitation then Nyles replied.

=^= We haven't been able to get power up anywhere Lieutenant .. I said previously that if we turn anything on it will drain what little we have left .. Sorry Sir =^=

=^= Hold on .. .. .. You didn't bring the Operations console on-line a moment ago ? =^=

=^= No .. Not us =^=

=^= Keep working on a means to get power transferred from the Merlin =^= David said, closing the comm. He knew the Merlin had heard the exchange and he wondered what they were making of it ....

Overhearing the away team's conversation, Melody looked over to Peterson "Have we been able to establish a power transfer to the derelict?

Peterson double checked his reading before answering. "Sir" he started cautiously "We have been unable to establish a power transfer beam. Also my reading say that the power grid over there plus all the relays are totally non functional. They...... Shouldn't have any power at all."

"What? But the away team is reporting the consoles are working. Where are they getting the power from?"

"Unknown Sir. There is a very faint power signature on the bridge, but its not drawing power from the ships internal systems."

... Both David and Lieutenant T'seng had witnessed the consoles powering up, so how was it happening ? .... He contacted the two Officers in Engineering who again confirmed they had not been able to get power to the Bridge, in fact, due to extensive decay and corrosion, there was no 'physical' connection between Engineering and the Bridge, so even if they had the power there was no way to route it through. Tan told Nyles and Young they were on their way down and would try to recover any equipment that could shed light on what had happened and how. They began moving towards the Jeffries Tube, T'Seng ahead of him.

As he approached the opening he saw something glint in his helmet lights, kneeling, he brushed a thick layer of dust away, his eyes widening as he realised what he was looking at: There, laying beside the turbo-lift doors, was a Dedication Plaque. He reached down, lifting the plaque before wiping the remainder of the dust away.

"This can't be right." he said, turning the metal plate over in his hands. Lysia, now lowering herself in the Jeffries Tube asked if he had spoken but David remained silent as he read and re-read the legend:

~~~ USS MERLIN ~~~
~~~ NCC 84401 ~~~

He was still staring at the plaque in disbelief when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He spun, and as he did so the room changed subtly, it became filled with a misty yellow hue and there were figures, spectral, almost ghost-like and out of focus moving around the Bridge. He wanted to tell T'Seng who had already climbed into the tube but he was unable to. He watched, mesmerised, as one of the apparitions suddenly turned to look directly at him, it was holding something, metallic, possibly a knife ... David's mind was reeling, inexplicably David realised the metallic object resembled a Klingon Mek'leth. he tried to step back but could not move, he tried to raise his hands to defend himself from the coming attack but again paralysis held him rigid !

The spectral figure stopped before him it's arm thrusting the weapon forward into Davids chest. He clutched at the blade, trying again and again to pull it from him, but fell backwards. he slammed into a console and dropped hard to the deck, the spectral attacker atop him, it's ghostly grin almost causing David to vomit. Lysia had looked up and realised Tan wasn't following, she began to climb the few rungs back and heard Tan crash to the deck. As she re-entered the Bridge she could see him clutching his chest, his face twisted in apparent agony. She knelt beside him, hands on his shoulders trying to halt his thrashing ... Somewhere in his subconscious David could hear a voice shouting his name and he opened his eyes to see Lysia T'Seng kneeling over him:

"Commander .. COMMANDER !" she shouted. His efforts finally subsided and he raised his hands to his face, confusion flooding every fiber of his mind, there was no blood, he should be covering in blood. he raised himself to a sitting position with the help of his Deputy Chief and ran his hands over his suit, it was intact, not lacerated and bloody, nor was there any wound in his chest. Sweat was running freely over his body now as the initial shock began to subside and adrenaline reduced within his system. He could hardly speak as his eyes scanned the Bridge frantically searching for his erstwhile attacker, but the Bridge was back to normal, no yellow hue, no phantom people, and no attacker. He looked at Lysia, the fear and dread in his eyes obvious. She tapped her Comm:

=^= Engineering .. Bridge .. This is Lieutenant T'Seng .. Prepare for emergency transport =^= she spoke again

=^= Merlin .. Away Team .. Emergency transport .. Medical emergency ! .. Lieutenant Tan has suffered some sort of possible attack .. Beam us back now =^=

She felt the caress as the transporter beam took hold and the derelict faded from view. She found herself with the others on the Merlin's transporter pad. Tan's helmet was removed by one of those present and he was bungled onto a mag-lev gurney, T'Seng, Yong and Nyles looking on with concern.

"We need to get back over there." David said, "There is something terribly wrong on that vessel."

"You're going to sick-bay Lieutenant." T'Seng said quietly.

"Tell Commander Jones I need to see her immediately ..... NOW .... Lieutenant, get her to sick-bay !" a hypo-spray was placed against his neck and he felt the cold vapour pass into his bloodstream, it relaxed him enough so he could be lay back down and removed from the Transporter Room. Lysia relayed the request to the Bridge as she walked behind Tan en-route to Sick-bay .....

Melody, who was still monitoring the communication was moving towards the turbolift even before Peterson reported "Sir, all the away team is back on board."

She paused as the lift doors opened and turn back "Very good. Caroline, with me. Sounds like you might be needed. Peterson, you have the bridge.

Caroline nodded and quickly followed Melody into the turbolift.

The pair arrived in sickbay just as Tan was be moved onto a bio bed. Melody moved over to his side. "Are you ok? What happened over there?

... David had clutched the plaque face down to his chest as he was moved to Sick-bay, he shook his head at the Exec's question. Truth be told he couldn't begin to explain what had happened to him. He slowly raised the plaque, still face down and handed it to Commander Jones:

"If I had to give it a name, I'd say that, vessel, over there is haunted ... We saw shadowy figures, one, then another, but what happened on the Bridge was ....." again he shook his head, how do you explain that you were stabbed by a Klingon bladed weapon, yet no evidence remained, despite his feeling the cold blade penetrate his chest, felt and heard ribs shatter, tasted the bile in his throat as his internal organs succumbed to the sharp blade and he began to bleed internally. Yet, seconds later he was being checked by a concerned T'Seng, no sign of the attacker, blade, or any other phantoms, "We need to get back over there Commander, take portable power supplies with us, get those consoles operational, at least get at the ships logs recordings .... When you turn that over you'll understand why we need to get back, sooner than later." he finished, the last sentence almost a whisper ...

"Lieutenant all your vitals are akin to having been stabbed in the chest but there's no wound. Its like your body is in shock but there's no physical evidence. I need you to try calm your mind down. This is all in your head. Its not physical. Nurse 5 cc of Ambizine. This should help further."

She pressed the hypo to Tans neck and there was a mild hiss. Caroline turned back to Melody. "What is he holding?"

Melody took the object Tan had clutched to his chest and turned it over. She read it silently, her face betraying no emotion. After a moments pause she spoke quietly to Caroline "Is he going to be ok?

Caroline ran her tricorder over Tan and nodded not pressing Melody further though it was obvious from her reaction whatever she was holding was unusual and unexpected. "Yes. There is no physical wound. He's starting to calm down properly now. The stress is easing."

Melody nodded "As soon as you've checked him over can you both come to the observation lounge for a staff briefing." She then hit her comm badge " Bridge, I want a meeting of all senior officers in 15 minutes in the observation lounge. Patch me though to Lieutenant Tillatix."

Sav was communicating with the other fighters and having them doing sensor drills to keep them frosty and searching. Out here, in the Nebula, with nothing going on, it was easy to fall into routine and miss small sensor niggles that could turn into ships coming into their area. She heard the chime for communication through the phaser array and activated her comm link. =/\= Merlin, CAG, Dragon One, ready.=/\=

=/\= Lieutenant, I need you to cut a sample out of the derelict hull. Say about a meter square and beam it directly to engineering. Then I want you to return to the ship and report to the observation lounge for the staff briefing in approximately 15 minutes. Leave the rest of the fighters on a defense perimeter, understood? =/\=

=/\= Merlin, Dragon One, understood. I will use this time to shift fighters pilots out to keep a fresh set of eyes open for our perimeter. Tillatic out.=/\= Sav sent the signal to trade places with Dragon 4. They commenced their dance within the Nebula.

Melody then continued "Bridge, tell engineering I want a full metallurgical analysis on the hull segment and the results ASAP. Also tell them to put together an engineering team and have them beam over to the derelict, but I want to a security escort to go with them. Tell them to try and tap into the computer core and try and download any information they can. I'm heading back to the bridge now."

She gave a supportive look to Tan "It looks like we've got something of a mystery on our hands. Nice work over there. Now lets see if we can get some answers."

She looked at Caroline "It looks like time is not on our side. I'll see you in the observation lounge." And with that, Melody headed out the door.

It took three minutes for Sav and Dragon 4 to change positions. Now near the derelict, she found a hull piece of the right size already floating in a hull breach. She used her sensors to lock onto it and then locked their signal into the phaser array so the Merlin could use a cargo transporter to get the piece of hull inside. She watched it disappear. Smiling, she hit her comm. =/\= Dragons, Dragon One, perform a staggered shift change.=/\=

=/\= Merlin Fighter Ops, Dragon One, we are doing a staggered shift change. I need a fighter to replace me now. I have been ordered to a briefing that will commence in ten minutes. Move it, we need frosty people out here for Merlin's ears and eyes. Go.=/\=


OFF:

Dr Caroline Miller
Second Officer / CMO
USS Merlin

Lieutenant Commander Melody Jones
Executive Officer
USS Merlin

Lieutenant David Tan
Chief Operations Officer
USS Merlin

Lieutenant Save'ena Tillatix
CAG / Uroboros Squadron Leader
Bridge Command Specialist
USS Merlin

Lieutenant jg. Lysia T'Seng
Deputy Chief Operations Officer
USS Merlin
NPC [Tan]