Night Shift

Posted on Mon Dec 27th, 2021 @ 9:53pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Lieutenant Ayana Hillis & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr & Ensign Zack Ravencroft & Petty Officer 1st Class Amethyst Reece

Mission: Sinister Intentions
Location: USS Washington

Shran was soundly asleep, or rather as soundly asleep as he could be considering what had been going on when the comm system chimed for him. The voice of a shaky lieutenant was signalling for him, and as Shran reached over to hit the comm button, he knew he was about to get bad news of some sort. "Go ahead" he said wearily.

"Captain, this is Lt Luna on the bridge. Security just found ensign Parker unconscious in the transporter room. We have an unauthorized transport to the surface, and sickbay is reporting the patient T'Vall is missing."

Shran sat up in his bed, anger filling his body. He had ordered the yellow alert to prevent this sort of thing from happening. "Has Cmdr Grayson been informed?"

"We attempted to, but he wasn't in his quarters. I have a security team looking for him currently."

Shran got up out of his bed. "Notify doctors Howard and Dex I am heading to sickbay and would like to speak with them both when I arrive. And locate Cmdr Grayson and inform him I would like to speak with him as well." Shran moved to get a uniform on quickly, trying not to vent his obvious anger and frustration at this moment.

Jon had been found by security at Jeffries tube alpha two. Callie's tracking unit in his hand. He was escorted to Sickbay where he stood livid with anger over Callie's abduction. He stood with his mouth tightly clamped shut waiting for the captain to arrive.

As Shran made his way to sickbay Ayana made her way there as well and nearly ran into him. "Ayana, I thought you were watching him?" he said with calm as he could muster.

"I was. I stayed with him for over an hour after gamma shift took over before returning to my quarters for a few hours of rest" she replied.

He was angry but wasn't about to hold it against her. He too was asleep when this all happened. "We have a great deal more to understand about what has happened. I don't think it was a coincidence that this happened during gamma shift. I want you to go to the bridge and have an intense scan of the planet done. Tell Celes to be as thorough as possible. I'll be up shortly to get an initial report. And Ayana, put a security team together to go down to the planet. Full combat gear. I won't take any more chances." The Andorian continued his march to sickbay as Ayana altered her course to the nearest turbolift to follow her new orders.

Sam trotted to sickbay, tugging on her uniform jacket and with only one boot on, the other in her hand. Her hair looked like the zombie apocalypse and her mind was still half asleep, it was the first good sleep she'd had in three days, until she was ordered to sickbay.

"Whaz going on?" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took in the scene before her. "Oh dear...."

Dex had returned to her quarters from her shift in Sickbay to freshen up and feed Puss, she had sat down for a few minutes and had fallen asleep. She had left T’Vall sedated and under restraints. She woke suddenly with the order to report to sickbay. She jumped up from the couch and ran knowing something had gone badly wrong. The first thing she noted was the empty bio bed. She felt sick and knew that T’Vall had gone she met Sam at the door.

Shran entered sickbay looking like he was ready to explode. He took a moment to look around and survey the area as it were, seeing his requested officers all present, along with a few patients in biobeds and a group of security officers that were being seen to by medical staff. He motioned for everyone to follow him to the medical office and once inside he looked at them all, "How in hell did this man leave this ship?" Before waiting for an answer he looked to Jon, "Please tell me Callie is still safe in your quarters?"

Jon shook his head, "Wish I could sir but I found her tracking device in a Jeffries tube." Jon replied anger seeping into his tone.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed. He walked out of the office and grabbed one of the security officers, an ensign according to his rank insignia on his collar and brought him into the room. "Ensign, you were on duty here with gamma shift? Tell me precisely what happened."

The whole ordeal had poked at Zack's pride. How he was taken out so easily without expecting anything was a direct attack on his sense of duty. Even with the anger swirling within his mind, Zack had a stony face when he was addressed. "Yes sir. Our chef counselor came to try and speak to the prisoner." Zack's hand closed to a fist as his eye twitched with the anger in his mind before he hid it. "The next thing I know wake up on the floor, with a splitting headache."

"Alright ensign. You did your duty." Shran looked to Jon, "I have Ayana and Deanna on the bridge doing the most thorough scan of the planet imaginable. It won't take them long to locate something as a lead. Once they do, I want you to take them, this ensign, and however many security officers you deem necessary and go do and retrieve your wife. If T'Vall is with her, bring him back as well, alive."

Jon nodded, "Will do sir." Then he made a face, "Alive? Alright if you say so sir."

"Can't court-martial a corpse Jon. Besides, we may need him on the medical front." Shran looked to his two medical officers, "Samantha, you and Dex need to take a closer look into these patients. Have Eislyn assist you as needed. Something is going on where this T'Vall can exert some sort of control over people, and we need to know what it is, and how to free them of it. My only other option if you can't figure it out is to put all of these people in the brig or under suspended animation, and neither of those options are desirable. I think we can agree on that?"

"That's true but we will be done with him once and for all." Jon countered "And those he has under his control including Callie will be free of him."

"Valid points" began Shran, "but he is still a StarFleet officer, and I want him to have time to think on his transgressions in a lonely cell. I might even look into having him sent to a Klingon detention center, like Rurapente. Besides, we don't know what might happen to the people he seems to control if he simply were to be killed. I'm sure the doctors need time to figure something out.

Zack had been listening all the while the conversation was going on. His anger only rose when he heard that someone was mind-controlling the counselor, he could accept much but the disrespect towards others, especially women was not one of them. He would hunt down this guy even if it would be the end of him.

Dex was also fuming, it was down to her that T’Vall had been in sickbay. She felt sure that the part of his mind she could not see had been responsible for him being able to keep up the pretence. To be able to defeat sedation was a product of a mind the like she had never seen before. T’ghrek was still on board visiting Sam and she wished Shran would let him intervene. His was the oldest Vulcan mind she knew and she felt sure he could shed some Insight into why T’Vall was capable of doing what he did. She felt ill at the thought of her friend Callie in his clutches.

Dex could feel a mind in sickbay that was angry, overly angry. She looked around and saw Ensign Ravencroft, it was his mind she could feel. She walked over to him and smiled “Ensign, my name is Dr Shoniara Dex, are you feeling alright?”

"I am fine doctor," Zack said, eyeing the woman who had approached him. He made sure his anger wouldn't show.

"Ensign I am half Vulcan and I can sense your anger it is screaming at me. Be careful with it in this sort of situation. Challenge it, turn it into something you can use but, if you get near this Vulcan do not let him touch you, he will turn your anger towards yourself.” She smiled and touched his arm and turned back to Shran.

Zack narrowed his eyes at the woman, as much as he could use that kind of information when confronting this man, he didn't appreciate the meddling of his issues. "Thank you, doctor, but I can deal with it on my own," Zack said flatly, bottling up the anger inside. He would release it later if needed. He didn't trust anyone anymore, he had been able to trust after all the disappointments in his life. Those who have tried always gave up.

"Ensign, I only meddle for the good of my colleagues and my patients and I do not meddle lightly and it is Lieutenant Doctor.” She couldn’t help smiling.

"I believe reading someone's mind is considered extremely rude. Your parents must have had huge expectations, naming their child Doctor." Zack quipped.

She had to cover her laugh with a cough and whispered, “it is also extremely rude to expel one’s thoughts to others in such a..loud manner…and so long as you remember it IS Lieutenant Doctor you will do well Ensign.”

"You're a Doctor as well. So it's either Lieutenant Doctor or, Doctor Doctor." he thought for a moment. "Doctor Doctor!" he gestured as he was calling for her across the room. "Yeah. You better not come to me and say that I taking a piss..."

She turned away from him as Shran was speaking to her. That was going to be fun if the hotbed did not get himself killed on this mission

"Any thoughts doctors regarding T'Vall?" asked Shran.

Jon's anger was white hot. T'vall had Callie and who knew what he was doing to her. "I disagree sir. He WAS a Starfleet officer he abandoned all that the first time he did this." Jon replied firmly.

Dex cut in, “Sir T’Vall must be a touch telepath with also very strong telepathic control. There was part of his mind that was shielded even from me. I thought maybe it had been some aberration he was born with. I had sedated him yet he was able to break through and have Callie act for him, I think someone has taught him how to do this.

She turned to Jon, “Jon, we know Callie, I know how strong her mind is, I have seen it. She will fight and we WILL get her back.”

Jon nodded numbly, "I hope so, I truly do. If he's hurt her, I'll kill him."

Amethyst had been lingering out of the way doing her work until she finally decided to step in. “From What I’ve been hearing it seems our Chief Counsellor willingly helped T’Vall escape. Whatever control he has it must be extremely powerful, but the Betazoid mind can be a fragile one. If he attempts to force himself into her mind, it could shatter her psyche. I’ve seen it happen once before, it resulted in a permanent vegetative state.”

Sam watched the scene play out before her. There was anger, shame, resentment and a need to retrieve one of their own and hold those responsible to justice. Her job was to make sure that everyone stayed alive in order to do just that.

"Jon, we need him alive to work out how he's done this and prevent it from happening again" Sam said carefully, knowing it was a red flag to a raging bull.

"What if we break his arms and legs?" Zack asked in a matter-a-fact tone, being very serious. He had no mercy for people like this slime of a man. "He can't run or touch anyone with efficiency then." He added. "Maybe pull a few nails or so for good measure."

"Only if you want to be thrown in the brig for violating half a dozen Starfleet and interstellar protocols." Sam's look was deadpan.

"Taking precautionary measures to prevent this slime from running away and influencing anyone is a bad thing?" Zack rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Knockout gas then? This piece of shit has clearly pulled the wool over our eyes once. I for one do not intend to be fooled again." He knew he was probably out of line, but his anger was making his words harsher.

"And how will that go down at your court-martial?" Sam shot back "Do No Harm Ensign. Retrieve T'Vall in one piece so I can figure out how the hell he controlled Callie" her words were icy.

Dex stood there with her arms folded enjoying every minute of the Ensign’s interactions. She was going to have a lot to do with this man once the current situation was resolved. She wondered why Shran had not said something to him as he was definitely out of order.

Dax spoke “Captain I request to be on the away team. You will need a doctor?”

Zack didn't approve of it, he would do what he could if he was to face this man. But considering that they were dealing with a psychopath, he doubted he was a sociopath because someone who forced women to do his bidding had no conscience. He wasn't a shrink, but it made sense that he was a narcissistic psychopath, meaning that he would do everything in his power to stay in power. Zack doubted that everything from using the innocent as shields to blowing up the planet was acceptable to this man so long as he got away to start again. This kind of person was exceedingly dangerous and taking them out fast and by surprise would often be the best way, without those edges, the cost to bring him down could be very high.

"Look, we get Callie back in one piece. That's the most important thing. If T'vall happens to fall down a flight of stairs, we can't be held responsible now can we Sam?" Jon asked in mock seriousness.

Sam looked at Jon to gauge if he was serious or not. They'd been through a lot together and she thought she could read him pretty well "I need him in one piece Jon so I can analyze his brain" she gently reminded him, just in case.

“You are going to need a Vulcan for this Sam you know that, even if I am only half of one. I will also be needed down on the planet when we find Callie and these women.” She waited for the Captain’s pronouncement. He had made clear of what he thought was ‘Vulcan meddling’. But she believed he would be forced to agree that she was needed as she had a neural bond with Callie from the time they spent together in Dex’s mind.

"I can keep him in one piece more or less Sam." Jon's voice was utterly devoid of emotion. Some sick SOB had kidnapped Callie and was going to pay.

Shran had allowed everyone to voice their opinions, good, bad, or otherwise. He needed to make a few decisions. He recalled telling someone that tough decisions would be had here, and now they were. "Jon will lead the away team once we have an idea where to transport you. You'll take Ayana and Celes, along with Ensign Ravencroft here and several other security personnel. While I'm not sure how it will turn out, I agree a doctor may be required, so Dex will go with you as well if only to be able to provide medical aid, and hopefully keep Callie's mind in check should it be necessary. I want T'Vall brought back alive, but if he resists, I'll understand if measures are needed to be taken to subdue him. Samantha will remain here to work on the patients we have with counselor Jortho and be ready to deal with Callie and T'Vall once we have them both back. Let's all keep it together folks, and remember the regulations. We are StarFleet officers and that means something. Now, let's get going."