Cleanup on Deck Six!

Posted on 26 Feb 2018 @ 8:57am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Avery Stuart Ph.D.

4,799 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Crossing Over
Location: Deck 6
Timeline: MD 35 || 0830 hours

After going down six decks and swapping the phaser from armpit to armpit several times, Camila was really sick of the banana shaped weapon and was glad when she saw a sign that read "Deck Six" by one of the doorways they passed on every deck. She looked up at the other woman coming down above her. "We're on deck six. I need to get this door open before we can get in," she called out while poking at a panel one handed to see if any of the buttons did anything.

Joey looked down toward Camila and noticed her poking around something. From her vantage point, she couldn't really tell what it was, but it helped her to ignore the foreign feeling of the lizards... or parasites... she seemed to pick up from somewhere. "Do what you have to do," the taller woman said, slipping an arm around the ladder she was standing on. "If you need help, let me know, and I'll make my way to you."

While she was able to ignore the feeling of movement, Joey couldn't ignore the other sensation that hit her. "Move!" she ordered the woman below her. Holding it in wasn't going to work no matter how much she fought to do so, and in fact, it only made it worse for her when the act itself finally reared its ugly head.

Camila looked up and saw something coming her way at the same time she heard 'move!' and she pressed herself as tight against the ladder as she could. She felt something that was partially solid and partially liquid hit the back of her head and back, then nothing else. "Cazzo!" she bellowed and shook her head. "Che diavolo è stato?!"

"I don't have any clue what you just said," Joey began, her throat a bit raw and her voice a but hoarse. "but... my lizards have begun an uprising. Can you please get the door open before it happens again?"

"I don't know what I just said," Camila responded before she resisted the urge to wipe whatever it was off of her. She moved to adjust the weapon again and heard a tiny beep sound and looked at it. Where it was mostly green before, now the bar was mostly red. "Hang on," she said. "And keep your lizards, whatever they are, to yourself."

She aimed the business end of the weapon at the door and pressed the same stud she had before and a bright light filled her vision. When the spots stopped dancing, she saw that the door in front of her was completely gone. "Well, how about that?" she said. "It makes things disappear. Come on!" she called to the woman above her and climbed into the now gaping hole in the shaft of the turbolift to the corridor it led to.

"What the hell did you just do?" Joey asked as she made her way down to the substantial hole and climbed through it, grateful to be standing on solid ground once again. She found herself looking at Camila, then back to the hole in the bulkhead with a frown. "When we were told to come here, I'm fairly certain that didn't include blasting our way through walls. One thing I know for sure, though... I'm not cleaning that up."

"I made it disappear with this," Camila said and held the weapon up. "I need to find a bathroom or something to get your lizards off of me." She headed for the nearest doorway and looked at a plaque beside of it. "The USS Black Hawk Memorial. Isn't this thing called the Black Hawk according to the other sign where we were?"

"Yes," Joey confirmed, moving toward the door. "Should we try to get inside?"

"No," Camila said after a moment. "Unless it contains our memories. That would be odd. Let's see if we can find anymore people. Whatever we're on appears to be huge and we can't be the only people on it other than the ones we left behind." She looked at another sign across the hall. "Transporter Room Three. I wonder if that's how we're supposed to get around without climbing everywhere?"

The taller woman looked around before her attention returned back to Camila. "Possibly, but I'm not so sure it will do us much good in our current situation. I may not remember much, but I do know red doesn't indicate anything good. We need the power back on. I can't imagine we were on this thing in this condition all the time."

"I hear voices up ahead," the ombre hair woman said as she held up a hand. "Let's see if they have any answers for us." She motioned forward with the weapon and headed that way.

Joey looked in the direction the other woman indicated. "I hear them, too. It kind of makes me wonder how many others are here with us," she said, moving toward the voices cautiously. Sadly, she didn't know if they were going to be friendly or not, and didn't want to take any chances.

Meanwhile, the group in the hospital area had finished figuring out how to heal one another's wounds and were starting to venture out into the corridors. From around a corner, a tiny blond peeked out. "Ooo!" she exclaimed. "I found the source of the voices! Spots! Pretty! Blue! This way!"

She was quickly joined by three women, one of whom did, indeed, have spots, another of whom was blue, and the third of whom looked very disgruntled. "Oi!" said the latter. "I'm not Pretty! I told you that!"

"To be fair, you kinda are," said Blue. "Just like I'm blue."

"I get to be Smalls," announced the blond (Nurse Lane) proudly.

"Oh, all right!" relented the newly dubbed Pretty (Abbey). Finally, her attention turned to the newcomers. "Who are you?" she asked warily.

Camila held the silvery weapon in her hand, but had it pointed at the deck as the other women came into the corridor. She heard the names Spots, Pretty and Blue and wondered if they knew who they were and had their memories. "I have no idea," she said. "Who are you and where did you come from?"

Sadly, Joey didn't have a weapon, but for some reason she had a feeling she didn't really need one. Why? That was a question she'd look into further another time. Right now, her focus was on the group of people they'd just come across. "Are there others where you came from?" she asked as another wave of nausea hit her. No. No. No! Not again! she cried mentally, bracing a hand against the bulkhead in an effort to fight it off. Resistance was futile, and so were the booted feet she'd just been sick on.

Despite her usually cold, clinical, and even slightly cross demeanor, Abbey actually held a great deal of empathy and having lost her memory hadn't deminished it one bit. "Oh, my goodness! Are you alright?" she asked, disregarding the vomit on her shoes; that could be cleaned later. "Here, sit down here, against the wall. Put your head down and breathe deap."

"I... don't know. I think so. Second time this has happened. The first time got my companion," Joey replied as she sat down with her back against the bulkhead and did as she was told. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "There's something moving inside of me, and I have no idea what it is. It's really starting to freak me out. Whatever it is is not happy."

Joey took another calming breath and looked at the others. "That can wait, though. We need to figure out where we are... and if there are others with us. I'm guessing there are."

"Ewww...more lizards!" Camila said in disgust and tried not to remember that the woman had did the same on her.

“Oh!” exclaimed Jayla cheerfully. “You’re pregnant! It’s just the baby moving around is all.”

Abbey nodded. “Not sure how we know that, Spots, but she’s definitely pregnant.”

“I’ve never been pregnant,” said Penny in awe. “Does it really feel like lizards? What are lizards?”

Pregnant? Like with a tiny person pregnant? How in the hell did that happen? Even if she didn't remember who or where she was, she did know about the birds and the bees, and what could result from it, but never in a million years did she ever think it would ever happen to her. That raised a new question. One she couldn't bother herself with right now. "I don't know what lizards are, either, but it sounded good in the moment. It feels like... flutters," Joey answered, trying to take in the fact that this was happening. "Have you run into anyone else? We're trying to figure out where we are and if there's anyone else here."

"There were four others with us," answered Jayla. "We sent Tallman, Coffee, Sandy, and Red in the other direction. We may have medical knowlege; we were in some sort of hospital and seemed to know what to do with injurries."

"How do you know you've never been pregnant? None of us seem to know anything but you do?" Camila asked the woman who had made the claim. She raised the weapon and aimed it in her general direction. "Are you the one who's taken our memories?"

Penny blinked, unperturbed by the thing being pointed at her. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "On both counts. Although, if I did take your memories, I'm pretty stupid because I've taken mine as well. But, I don't think I've been pregnant. It just feels wrong somehow."

Abbey wrinkled her brow and studdied her own abdomen. "I... think I may have been," she added. "Maybe. I dunno. It feels right, though. Anyone else?"

"No idea," answered Blue.

Jayla shrugged, then turned her attention to the thing pointed at Smalls. "What's that thing do?" she asked. "Does it detect pregnancy?"

Joey pushed herself to her feet and looked between the others. She couldn't sit around and not accomplish anything while the others chose to focus on something that wasn't very relevant right now. Not when there were other things to be done. "I'm going to look around," she said, then began making her way down the corridor once more. If the others followed, it was their choice, but she was more than willing to go alone.

"Ooo! Wait for me!" said Penny cheerfully, hurrying to follow the other woman. "We need a name for you," she declared. "I can't just think of you as 'that woman' now, can I? I know! Boss! Cuz you just take charge. Or at least you did a minute ago. Will that do?"

"Smalls, do you ever stop to breathe?" asked Blue, who had followed them.

"Of course I do!" replied Penny, taking an exaggerated breath. "See?"

Camila just shook her head and headed after the taller woman. "Just call me Blondie for now," she said.

"You can call me whatever you like for now since I don't remember what my actual name is," Joey stated as she continued forward. "One of you said you came from a hospital of sorts? Did you notice if there were any first aid kits around?" Now... how in the hell did she know what that was, or why it was important?

"None of us thought to look around for any," replied Jayla sheepishly. She, too, didn't know how she suddenly knew it was important. "We could go back for some."

"I'm not sure we'd know what everything was for," Abbey added. "Remember us attempting to patch up wounds?"

"I dunno," put in Blue. "Spots worked out how to splint Tallman's wrist just fine."

"We should try to stay positive," the one typically known as Avery offered. Of course, she had no idea who she was or where is that had come from, but intuition told her this was not the first time she had faced a crisis with other people. To the woman otherwise known as Joey, the woman otherwise known as Avery offered, "are you feeling OK? I'm sure everything's going to be all right."

"I'm okay," Joey replied, offering the woman a nod.

Camila spotted a towel and picked it up to wipe down the back of her uniform the best she could and was surprised at how easily it came clean from the material, but she wished she had some water for her hair. "I hear more noises ahead," she said as she aimed the weapon she held ahead of her.

Around the corner, a group of about twenty people in teal and gold uniforms came around the corner and spotted the other group.

"Hold it right there. Who are you people?" Camila asked.

The spokesman, a blue man with a ridge bisecting his face stepped forward. "I'm Blue and we have no idea who we are. Who are you?"

"In the same boat you are," Camila responded. "Are there more people around here?"

"There's another group heading the other way," Blue replied. "None of us seem to have any idea who or where we are."

"You can't be Blue!" said the female Blue. "I'm Blue."

"You can be SheBlue," offered Penny.

"I am not being SheBlue!" answered Blue flatly. "It sounds indecent."

"Is this really important right now?" asked Abbey. "Can't you both be Blue?"

The female Blue shrugged. "I guess so," she muttered. "It just might get confusing. I guess... I guess you could call me Blue Girl. That would work."

"Fine," answered Abbey a bit more curtly than she really meant to. She turned to the male Blue. "We don't know who we are, either. We've given each other nicknames. That's Spots, Smalls, Blondie, and Boss. And I'm... well, Smalls calls me Pretty, so it'll have to do for now."

Joey looked at the newcomers, taking note that they were all dressed similarly with the exception of their collars. Hers was the only one that was red. Did that mean something? The others... their collars were primarily gold and teal in color. What did all of that mean? Maybe she'd find out at some point. "Since you found us, that means there are likely more people here... possibly people who are hurt. We should go look for them... do what we can to help them."

"I suggest we split up into smaller teams. There seems to be corridors and doors everywhere that we haven't explored yet. Wherever we are seems to be huge," Camila said. "We have about what, twenty, twenty-five people? I suggest teams of five."

"Given the current state things are in, that might not be a good idea to have teams that small," Joey said, looking over the faces of the others. "We don't have any clue what's behind the doors or what state they're going to be in. If one team gets into any kind of trouble, others may not know about it until it's too late. I'm going to look for injured. If anyone wants to come with me, they can. If not, that's okay, too. I'll check things out along the way."

"How about two teams of ten or twelve?" Camila suggested.

"If you all want to split up, be my guest. I'm going that way," Joey said, pointed in the direction she was heading in in the first place. "As I said before... those who wish to follow can. Those who don't... hopefully one of us finds something useful." With that, she turned on her heel and began to walk once again.

"I'll go with Boss," announced Jayla. "It's probably best if we split up with the teams since we seem to know something about Medicine." With that, she took off after the taller woman.

"Right," replied Abbey, turning back to the others. "Whatcha think, Blondie? Which way you wanna go?"

"We go that," Camila pointed in the direction that the tall woman went. "That way." She headed down the corridor with the weapon still in her hand.

Further down the dark corridor, away from prying eyes, three columns of light appeared, each one quickly yielding to an individual fully armored and bearing respirators. As soon as the transportation was complete, the leader raised a communicator and spoke to someone else in a garbled language. Each person was armed, but only two had their weapons drawn. The leader exchanged his communicator for a hand scanner of sorts and gestured in a direction, indicating that that was the way they would proceed.

Having no clue who chose to follow her, or that they had visitors, Joey carefully made her way down the corridor. Thankfully, she'd come across one of those banana shaped things Camila had earlier and opted to pick it up. It didn't seem too hard to use after a brief inspection, but she didn't think she'd actually need it. If only she knew what she was looking for... but she had a feeling nothing about the life she lead was easy.

Though Jayla had to run to catch up to the tall woman, she quickly did so and found she had to lengthen her stride to keep up. "Have you come far?" she asked. "We only made it down the one corridor."

"We had to do a lot of climbing to get her, so I would say yes," the taller woman replied. "Though, we didn't see much aside from these... tube things that lead here."

Camila caught up a minute later and fell in step with the others. "Wherever we are, it's huge."

Joey nodded in agreement. "I think it's a lot larger than even we think it is."

At that moment, the three newcomers turned the corner to come face to face with three aliens. Behind their face masks, they studied the three new lifeforms carefully. Save for their collars and wrists, their clothing was identical. Their skin and complexion was quite different. One, the woman with light hair, seemed hollowed by something, her face drawn with restlessness and baggage. Another had darker skin with strange markings that started on her forehead and disappeared into her hair. How far did those go? And the other, despite the expression on her face, her skin was smooth and radiant. The newcomers had a significant advantage as their facemasks possessed a form of sensor technology. This allowed the leader to discover that the woman with radiant skin was progressing nicely with a reproductive cycle... or had a very alive meal. The spotted woman had something similar inside her as well, but its composition appeared to be slightly different. Perhaps she too was procreating.

Their sensors also detected a weapon of sorts in the hollowed woman's hand. The two with their weapons made no movement, didn't raise their weapons or otherwise declare a standoff. Instead, the three looked at each other, but made no other movement or sound.

Joey stopped when she saw the three individuals that looked nothing like those they'd encountered before. They were even dressed differently. Her hand gripped the phaser in her hand tighter, but she made no attempt to raise it... yet. It stood to reason they were likely responsible for what was going on. "Who are you, and what have you done to us?"

The lead individual tilted his head slightly to the left. Her language was strange, foreign. Of course, they expected foreign objects and persons to be aboard. A ship of this design and prowess had never been seen before in this sector. It had to be explored.

Camila held the weapon at her side and looked at the armored individuals. "Do you speak our language?" she asked.

The boarders continued to look at each other, then at the female aliens, then back at each other. Not a single one of them said a word aloud to another. Finally, the two with drawn weapons decided to put them in their holsters. The leader looked back to the three women. He did not say a word, at least, not aloud. Instead, his mind emitted a telepathic pulse, seeping with friendship, comfort and peace.

At the knew feelings she was feeling, Joey tucked her own weapon away and studied the newcomers. It was clear they didn't speak their language, which meant communication was going to be quite difficult. What else could they do? Perhaps... if she thought something and directed it toward the one without the weapon? Can you understand me? Do you know where we are or how we got here?

Camila's eyes narrowed at the feeling coming from them, but when they put their weapons away, she lowered hers since she didn't have a place to put it on the body fitting outfit she was wearing. "Friendship," she repeated the feelings. "Peace. Comfort."

At that point, the other three women caught up to them. Abbey, for her part, blinked at the newcomers. "Are these... are you... more of us?" she asked them.

"Of course they're more of us, Pretty," said Penny. "That's why they're here."

"Maybe they're our jailers," said Blue.

"I don't think we're in prison," Jayla put in, not taking her eyes off the other three. "It doesn't feel like prison." She blinked. "How do I even know what prison is like? Have I been there?"

The leader viewed the brown-haired, red-collared woman quizzically. Her brain pattern was different than what he was used to, and whatever he was sensing from her, well, it was a jumble of unknown phrases. If he was reading her emotions correctly through, he could sense curiosity and reservation. The light-haired woman lowering her weapon was enough to tell him that the language barrier was not that deep.

Since language was a difficulty, perhaps actions would be better utilized. He turned and nodded to his associate on the left. The associate removed a small device from his belt and approached the nearby bulkhead. He clamped the device on the console embedded into the wall and pressed a button. Almost instantly, the overhead lights sprung back to life, as did the console. With the computer non-functional, the console was worthless, but it could at least provide local diagnostics.

Joey blinked against the brightness of the lights and looked to the one who'd just managed to restore some kind of power where they were standing. Hope flowed through her at the sudden change, but as she gazed toward the console, disappointment soon took over. She didn't know what to do with it, or how it even worked? But... maybe... they could help get the power back online. How could she get that across to them with the obvious lack of ability to communicate?

She chewed on the inside of her cheek while she looked thoughtful, hope coming back again. It was obvious the crew needed help, and it seemed the newcomers could provide that. Joey found herself pointing at the device on the bulkhead and gestured down the darkened corridor in the other direction, hoping they would understand she was asking if they would be able to do more.

"See, Smalls?" Jayla said to Penny. "I'm pretty sure jailors wouldn't do that."

"Don't you start, too," Abbey said with an annoyed roll of her eyes. "D'you suppose they might know who we are?" she asked nobody in particular.

After her shock at the change in lighting, Camila stepped closer to the armored beings and pressed her free hand to her chest, then raised it outwards to them, then brought it back to her side. "I feel what you feel. Can you help us?"

The leader cocked his head slightly to the right, wondering what she was attempting to communicate. He could sense that she was genuine, but her words were still foreign. Perhaps she was asking for help. Using his method of communication, he reached out to his colleagues and submitted a request. Then, he reached out with his feelings again, hoping to convey sympathy, the only emotion he could think of that would relate.

The tall brunette woman felt sympathy coming from him, but was a bit disappointed her request for help didn't come through. She needed another plan. Raising her hands and giving off an air of calm and friendship, she finally approached the three foreign individuals and gestured to the working lights. "Lights," she said slowly, then gestured down the darkened corridor that proceeded them, hoping once again they would see their need for help.

The blonde pointed at her eyes and back to the others. "We can't see in the dark," Camila said.

The boarders looked at the hollowed woman, and then down the darkened corridor that the brunette pointed down. After a moment of silent communication, the portable generator was removed from the panel. Almost instantly, the corridor was plunged back into darkness. The generator was then taken to the corridor in question and used to power it up. The boarders then looked to the women to see if this was what they wanted.

Joey couldn't help but feel frustrated, but at the same time, they did light up the area that was gestured to. She couldn't blame them for that. "I don't know how else to communicate we need that, but obviously on a much larger scale," she said with a frown.

Between not knowing who she was... where she was... and now this... she wanted to give up. Joey turned to the boarder and nodded her head in thanks, giving off a feeling of thanks. It wasn't exactly what she wanted, but how else could she get it across to them?

Camila growled as frustration bubbled up in her and she moved after the aliens. "No! " She shouted. "We need more of those things!"

She went to the device and pointed at it, then raised two fingers before she looked back at them. "More. "

The three looked again at each other. They had given the gift of light, albeit temporary. What more did these strange beings want? And why were they not capable of helping themselves on a vessel of this size and stature? Perhaps this was going to be more of a challenge than they thought, or perhaps they would have to utilize the plan that none of them were fond of. The leader could only hope some of their other teams were having better luck.

Joey focused for a few moments. She needed a way to get across to them that they had no idea who or where they were. The whole mess still confused her, but maybe they'd eventually figure things out. Then it hit her, she gestured to the corridor around them and gave off a feeling of being trapped.

Camila went to the console and jabbed at one of the few lit up buttons on it and waited to see what it was going to do. She reasoned that it probably wouldn't kill them and might be more helpful than trying to communicate with someone who didn't even speak. "Here goes nothing," she muttered.

The console sputtered and buzzed, trying to access what it normally touched. Finally it sputtered back three words: "Main Power Offline" along with a diagnostic diagram of the nearby power conduits, all of which appeared to be in perfect condition.

The taller woman blinked and moved over to the console. Did it really just speak to them? How was that even possible? "This says power conduits are in working condition, but why isn't there any power?" she asked no one in particular, looking back to the others. "There has to be a power source around here somewhere, and based on how far we came to get here, I think this place is a lot bigger than even we realize."

She found herself moving her fingers over the console in hopes it would tell her where that main power source was, otherwise, they were back to square one.

"What's happening?" whispered Penny to nobody in particular.

"Why're you whispering?" asked Abbey.

"I... don't know," replied Penny.

"I think they're here to help," Jayla answered. "But, I don't think they understand our language. Boss and Blondie seem to be doing okay, but I have no idea how to communicate with them and I'm not getting any ideas. My head hurts. I can't think."

The aliens looked at each other, communicating silently. Their mission had been impeded by running into this group of women. If anything, the encounter had been both informative and worrisome. Perhaps they had no choice but to fear the worst.

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