LtCmdr Jovenan – Starfleet gonna do what Starfleet gotta do

[Jovenan]

((Corridor, Deck 3, USS Karnack))

Acting as the emergency repair team was already a challenge to the four definitely not engineer/technician officers. Doing so while constantly avoiding or fleeing from the predators that kept learning and inventing new solutions to catch them was nigh impossible. Luckily, they had made it to the next deck without casualties, with the exception of Lt Storm’s pant leg – and perhaps the mental fortitude of three fourths of the team. Jovenan worried about Vitor’s continuing and worsening development, but she had concerns about Lt Storm as well. Besides the pain and disorientation the telepathic disturbance the Dark Things caused to the Lieutenant, Jovenan wasn’t sure if the small Thing had broken something besides her pant leg. Doctor Bancroft had declared her fit for duty – even if Jovenan had asked from the Lieutenant herself – and Vitor had kept up the atypical haste by giving orders, so Jovenan had few options but to act in the similar way.

Jovenan: Commander, Bancroft, would you go down the corridor? If you see ruptures, fix them, and also close all the doors except for the ones we need to come after you. I will seal this hatch and see that the other direction is good, then come after you. Storm, would you stay and watch my back?

Bancroft: Aye, ma’am. ::eyes locking onto Silveira’s:: Commander, after you, sir.

Storm: I can try, Commander.

Lt Storm handed over the welding equipment to Vitor, who just nodded and turned away. Jovenan watched him go with Bancroft for a second, wondering what he would do in this situation if he has his normal self – they could really do with him right now – but she then took out her own welding torch and visor and kneeled over the hatch they had just come from. They weren’t expecting an immediate attack like in the lower deck, but she was still cautious if Lt Storm expressed any indication of telepathic pain. Even if the Lieutenant wasn’t going to be in full combat capability if that happened, Jovenan had seen it fit to draw her away from the guys for second.

The sparks flew from the metal as the torch drew red-hot lines around the edges of the hatch. Seeing that her actions might require explanation, she paused her work for a second to speak.

Jovenan: The Things got the other hatch open, so if they manage to open this one too, the air could travel between the decks. Besides, it’s better to make sure they can’t use this route to get here.

Bancroft: ::suspiciously:: Commander Silveira?

Silveira: It’s the lights… Nevermind let’s close that breach…

Storm: The sooner, the better.

Jovenan lifted the visor off her face. Through its darkened shield and the bright sparks lighting up her immediate surroundings, she noticed only now that the corridor’s own lights had turned back on. The green gleam of the chemlights was overpowered by the even, white-ish shine of the fixtures in the ceiling.

Jovenan: Let’s hope that’s enough to incapacitate or scare off the Things.

Bancroft: ::excitedly, to Jovenan and Storm:: Power’s back. Grab a phaser! ::activating the phaser, to himself:: Doc Crashcart is in.

Silveira: Crashcart? More like Roy Rogers to me. Now stop playing and get over here Doc Rogers…

Looking at where the two other officers were, Jovenan could indeed see that they were holding phasers. Although it made sense that the phasers were also operational with the Faraday shield coming up – as evidenced by the lights turning on – she hadn’t even thought of the option. They had suddenly stopped being the helpless and weak prey grasping for anything that came to their way. The weapons were going to level the playing field, even tip it for their advantage. No matter how smart and physically capable the predators were, you didn’t bring claws and fangs to a phaser fight for a reason. Jovenan grimaced; ten or so days ago, she would have wished for a tricorder or a hypospray, so celebrating over a phaser served as a symbol of the gruesome turn in their journey.

Lt Storm went to fetch them the weapons. Meanwhile, Jovenan tested if more work needed to be done with the hatch, while also keeping an eye for the other side of the corridor for a surprise attack. Fully air-proof weld would have been desirable, but at this point, she was going to be satisfied if it didn’t become a fully open hole between the decks if – when – the ship actually took off. Lt Storm returned soon after with the phasers, setting one aside for Jovenan.

Storm: Be aware, yours is set to kill.

Kill? Jovenan glanced at the Lieutenant. She didn’t know if she could trust herself with a phaser set to kill – did she even want to kill the predators? Nevertheless, she turned back to her work, with the intention of switching it to a heavy stun at the first opportunity… or keep it that way, she didn’t know yet.

Jovenan: Thank you, Lieutenant. I’m almost done here, and then we can move on.

Sparks emerged once more as the welding torch’s tip reached the plates of metal alloy, engulfing everything in light. The fragments of burning metal shining in white released a subtle clanking sound when they met the shield of the protective mask and fell down to the floor. Through the splutter of the torch, Jovenan could hear a howl, startling her momentarily and making her look around her for a second before resuming her work. She had to trust that Lt Storm, holding the phaser towards the other end of the corridor, was going to be able to stand her ground for a few seconds more it would take Jovenan to finish her work. The howl repeated, but it had changed somehow – the cadence was off, or the pitch or rhythm, whatever, something she could recognise without putting it to words.

Bancroft: I– did you hear that? Help?

Silveira: Weaklings…. We are beyond help…

Storm: I heard … help?

Jovenan stopped and raised her visor. Had they heard something as well? Help what, who? Had they heard one of their colleagues call for help? To whom did Vitor refer with the “weaklings”, and why did they sound different all the sudden? Her confused thoughts were pierced by a shout coming from Lt Storm.

Storm: They’re coming!

Bancroft: Contact front. Weapon up!

Dropping the welding torch, Jovenan grasped the phaser from besides her and aimed it at the other side of the corridor, where a Dark Thing emerged behind the corner. It didn’t charge immediately like the ones they had almost come in contact with on the lower deck, instead it loped to their view and stared at them with its several eyes. Seeing one this close for this long for the first time after the Waterfall Cavern, Jovenan’s mind alternated between the fear of a prey and the strength one could feel when bearing a phaser. She wanted to flee and hide in some hole, but she also could just bring her finger to the trigger and save herself and her team. The creature’s mouth moved as it growled, almost spelling out the consonants for a word, h n g r.

Silveira: They're gone… As we are all going to be as well if we don’t hurry… Help me here… We must close the breaches…

Storm: ::to Sil.:: No their not, Commander. ::to the creature:: Help? Is that what you said?

“Help”? Is… Was it the creature that said it? Jovenan knitted her eyebrows. And the growl the predator before them kept emitting, hngr, hngr, hunger. That couldn’t be, the Dark Things were intelligent for animals, but there was no chance they could speak. They were imagining it, seeing things that they wished to see, humanoid shapes in rock cliffs and flames, typical overreaction arising from the evolutionary need to detect dangers in the wild.

Bancroft: It either doesn’t understand us, or doesn’t care to. ::a beat, not looking away:: Commander? What’s the move here?

Jovenan inhaled deep. She wasn’t yet ready to fully accept that the Dark Things were trying to communicate with them, but judging from what they had seen, it wasn’t an entirely outlandish to view them as the heirs to the original dwellers of the planet, who must have possessed that ability. It was a lot like on the Resolution Genesis planet again: those creatures had also been just plants attacking them, until one of them rose up and had the face of Genkos’ old colleague. Seeking to establish communications with a new lifeform was an acceptable pursuit to take some risks for – they were Starfleet, after all, even on this planet.

Jovenan: Do not lower your weapons yet! We… we should use this opportunity and keep trying. ::pause for hesitation, then to the Dark Thing:: Can you understand? Do you need help?

Silveira: We all need help… But it’s been too long… Too much… They lost their reasoning… My… Our…

Without turning to check, it appeared to Jovenan that Vitor had not left the spot since the Dark Thing had appeared. His speech was becoming more and more delirious and unclear. He sounded like losing his reasoning, his functionality, his identity itself.

Silveira: Target me…

What!? Jovenan turned to see him. His face looked like his own still, even if partially covered with a bushy beard, but his eyes lacked the gleam she had seen there before. He wasn’t himself, or he was, but not entirely. Vitor she knew and loved wouldn’t have asked for any of them to violate such vital weapons safety rule – not without a reason.

Storm: Lieutenant?

Bancroft: ::hissed:: Yes?

Jovenan: Storm, Bancroft, keep your phasers on the creature.

The two lieutenants positioned themselves differently on the corridor, while Jovenan backed away, keeping her phaser first at the creature, but lowering it to an angle where she could still raise it quickly and fire if needed. She stepped back until she was nearer to Vitor, but she didn’t point the phaser at him. Instead, she just looked at him to the eyes, occasionally glancing to the scene ahead of them before returning to him.

Jovenan: ::quietly, to Silveira:: Vitor?

Storm: ::At a near whisper:: I’ve been ordered not to use telepathy, so I won’t, but I’m going to open my mind up and see if it will make a connection. But if it goes wrong…or if I’m totally incapacitated…

Jovenan turned back to the Lieutenants. She couldn’t concentrate on all the changing factors here. There was no way knowing what was happening to Vitor, there was no way knowing what would happen if Lt Storm tried to contact the creature telepathically, but she did know that if they lowered their guards, it would likely charge at them.

Bancroft: ::hoarsely:: Yeah. Got it.

Silveira: Response

Jovenan: ::to Storm:: You’re taking a great risk if you try that. We might not be able to save you if things go wrong. I won’t order you to do this, and you can back away now, but if we can communicate with them…

Storm: I’ll be as careful as I can, Commander. Promise.

Hopefully, that was going to be enough, because there was a chance for a great disaster at their hands. They couldn’t afford to lose a teammate, yet they were putting one in danger right now. Maybe even more. If something happened, would Bancroft stay to get Storm out, possibly dying in the process? Would Vitor run away, or would he be the cause of their demise with his changes? Where would Jovenan stand? With horror, she remembered that her phaser was set to kill, so she quickly changed the setting to mere stun. If she was going to need to target Vitor like he suggested… Did it matter, if she needed to stun him, the creature would get him. Would she do even that much? She felt trapped.

Bancroft: ::gritted teeth:: One wrong move. One wrong look…

Jovenan: Vitor, you need to snap out of it. We need you!

Silveira: Response

Storm: Here goes.

The Lieutenant put down her phaser and kneeled. If the predator were to attack now, she would have been entirely defenceless. She was placing her trust entirely on Bancroft and Jovenan. Tightening her grip on the weapon, Jovenan readied herself to fire, even if her eyes darted between the predator, Vitor and the Lieutenant. Her back was to the rest of the corridor, and although it was probably empty, the feeling of being surrounded was near to overwhelm her. Lt Storm raised an arm. Like her, Jovenan had to just trust that the tactical officer knew what she was doing.

Bancroft: I don’t like this.

Jovenan: Neither do I.

Silveira/Storm: Response

The creature groaned, in an animalistic voice, but the vagueness of the howl or the growl had vanished. It was a word that it tried to utter, a word that the Universal Translator was now able to interpret: paaaiiiiinnnn. Paaaiiiiiinnnn. Paaaaiiiiinnn. Jovenan’s eyes widened. It did talk. It was not unlike the Horta: “no kill I”.

Bancroft: You’re in pain? Or you want to cause pain? ::angrily:: Which is it?!

Jovenan: Easy, Doctor. ::to Storm:: Try to tell it we don’t want to cause pain, but we are capable of causing it if we are attacked.

Silveira/Storm: Response

The – well, what to call it now? – being spoke again, trying to express itself through words and through body language that went beyond their interpretive abilities. Its groans took another form, repeating words: Hunger. Pain. Help. Hunger. Pain– Those were words, but it wasn’t language, there was no grammar, just a litany of words with little meaning besides their dictionary definition. They had got something, but Jovenan sighed out of disappointment.

Bancroft: Yes, yes! Pain. Hunger. Help. ::frustrated:: Don’t you know any other words?!

Jovenan: Hunger and pain are very basic needs and states. It might be able to communicate simple concepts, but it might not be able to think beyond instincts, or doesn’t have the vocabulary.

“Help”, on the other hand… Jovenan didn’t know what to think of it. If they had a ship and all their typical resources, they might have continued studying these beings. But they didn’t, and they had also met this species in three different places on the planet. There must have been thousands, maybe even millions of them. They couldn’t help the beings. They were exhausted, afraid, in danger, on a deadline. Deadline might become more literal if they couldn’t get their affected crewmembers, like Vitor, to treatment.

Silveira/Storm/Bancroft: Response

Jovenan: We have to convince it to leave us alone. Something that uses just basic words, rooted in biology or herd sociology.

Silveira/Storm/Bancroft: Response

Jovenan’s eyes went from the animal to Vitor. He looked awful. She frowned. They were walking on a tightrope, constantly in threat of making a wrong move and falling, even if their sights were at safety. Not just a tightrope, one with lions below them, their demise even if they survived the fall. Unless the lions weren’t hungry.

There was no attempt to hide her reluctance when she spoke.

Jovenan: What would it take to alleviate its pain?

Silveira/Storm/Bancroft: Response

TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11