Star Trek: Starbase 777 - house-with-the-red-roof

The atmosphere in the house was quiet, but not quite solemn. It was almost like the people who were in here with the officers were desperately anticipating something...

Nevada scrambled into the house with the red roof. It had taken a significant amount of effort to make her way through the crowd, and so for a moment she only stood just past the entryway catching her breath in the silence. She barely had time to register the unsettling atmosphere of the house before she was already turning to help anyone else inside and to check if any of her fellow officers had followed. (edited)

Iki was almost forcefully pushed through the door, and looked back at it stricken as they were pushed further into the house. (edited)

"Ensign!" Nevada called to Iki to get their attention. She gestured for them to move over to stand with her. "I'm glad I didn't get fully separated from the group. It's a disaster out there," she said, keeping her focus on the sea of people churning outside. "What in the world happened?"

That... was the wrong thing to ask, really. "I- don't know..." Iki said, distracted. "I- no, I can't." They cut themselves off, taking a deep breath as if to steady themself. Due to their Vulcan upbringing, it was a little hard to tell, but- it didn't seem like it was working. "What do we know about the fog?" They asked, not really expecting Nevada to know more but requiring some sort of distraction.

Diahjir was strung tight, like a bowstring about to snap, one thumb pressing against the palm of his other hand in a desperate attempt to try and regulate himself. He was a Star Fleet Officer. And a member of senior staff, he needed to start acting like it. "I will scan the fog from here, see if there is anything strange about it."

"Uh... I mean..." fuck if she knew! Things had gotten out of hand way faster than Nevada could keep up with them. That guy had... collapsed? And the townspeople were certainly scared of it. Of course! There were townspeople stuck in the house with them. They could just ask them what the fog did. But first, V had to take care of her people. She eyed Iki's height. "You weren't injured in the crowd were you?"

"As long as you don't open anything!" came the stern, almost angry voice from one of the townsfolk, who was huddled in the corner over what looked to be some kind of communication apparatus.

Tavek had booked it into the house with Ed, before looking around to see who else he knew was in there with him. Starfleet people, but no one he recognized.. they’d gotten separated from the rest of Engineering. Not really knowing what to do, he waited to see what the scan would tell them.

Time to scan!! Through the window if possible!

Maggie was here! A blue shirt in a red roofed house, what could go wrong.

A woman spoke up too, different from the man fiddling with the device. "It's from beyond," she hissed, seeming to take issue with Diahjir's scan for some reason. "Arnin knows how to deal with it. He taught us, he keeps us safe. You think we haven't tried everything else? It looks inside of you and then it eats you from the inside out."

It took Iki a second to take stock of their body, but, no. They were pretty sure they hadn't been injured at all- being tiny meant you got good at moving with crowds. They shook their head slowly. "No, I'm fine. The fog-" Yeah, they looked totally fine.

Diahjir's scan revealed- well, it revealed that this was indeed fog. That, in and of itself, was not strange. But in that fog- A ping, and a note on the screen about a log from a year and a half ago, written by Saren tr'Lareth. Anyone with a PADD on them could probably look up what that log was about...

Nevada gave Iki a curt nod, and turned to the woman who spoke up. "What exactly do you mean by 'it eats you from the inside out'? And how do you normally deal with it?" Her voice was tense, but mentally she was already speculating on what it could be. Mold? Some sort of bacteria that lived in the fog? They'd clearly survived it for long enough; with luck, their explanation of how would be a clue as to what exactly the fog was.

The woman looked shocked to be addressed directly. "It makes you see things, and hear things... if you're lucky, and you get rescued early enough, it ends there. But it remembers, and the next time, you're weaker-" she got elbowed by the person next to her, a young Orion man, and shut up. Then, the man at the communication devices perked up at the sound of a series of pings, and picked up a sort of cup to hold to his ear. "Fobosse, Maril reads you. We have twenty-three people inside, as well as-" he looked over the room quickly, to count heads "-six officers. No wounded here."

“Fuuuuck…” He exhaled, leaning on his knees, “You guys just deal with evil fog all the time, then? Is this a normal occurrence?”

"Not this time of year," said the gruff man working the landline, "or we wouldn't have been caught by surprise."

“Seasonal murder fog. Nice.” He mumbled, “How do you guys usually deal with it? Do you just get inside and wait it out?”

"We perform a ritual, and it stays away. Arnin knows what to do, he makes sure it leaves us alone the rest of the year." The man listened back to the conversation he was having on the phone. "Rami is asking who you all are. Apparently some of you are unaccounted for, and the Sciencey Commander is trying to figure out who youre missing."

“I’m Tavek tr’Lleihn.. Does Rami know where everyone else that was with us went?” He asked, worried for his Engineering brethren.. and everyone else, too, obviously.

"Some of 'em, anyway. What's your friends' names?"

“Uhh… names? I’m Ed Castelo.” He stood up straighter, “How many are missing?”

"Two, apparently, and your priest. How you lost that guy is beyond me, but-" the man was distracted, answering questions in between phone calls being sent back and forth.

"Kadal and Markus," Iki provided for themself and their best friend.

“Nevada Bein-Amié. Uh… I’m new. With medical. They’ll probably know me. But maybe they won’t.” Every sentence she spoke got softer than the last. When she got done she looked at the floor and scratched the back of her head. What a wild first mission to be sent on. In a way, she was relieved. Her introduction to most of the officers here would be wrapped up in whatever the hell was going on; they probably wouldn’t remember her only as ‘that awkward new doctor’.

Eddie had been somewhat carried into the building with the massive stampede that had occurred once the fog had appeared, as a fairly spindly person he was easy to drag along in such a situation. At the moment he was near one of the buildings windows trying to scan the fog with a tricorder.

Edward, too, got a similar ping as to what Diahjir got. A match with the system, a singular trace recorded on 777, with it's Science division's documentation and notes on it. Peculiar...

3

"That.... That can't be right?" Eddie said to himself quietly as he ran the scan again getting the same result. He had a feeling the locals wouldn't like the revelation that the fog came from 777. He looked around for one of his crew members and beckoned whoever was closest over to share the findings.

It literally did not. Go read my status update, rockman.

3

He glanced to Tavek, shrugging as he moved to sit against the nearest surface. “Did you see where Garcia went?”

Tavek sat next to him, giving up on leaning on anything and choosing to sit on the floor against the wall, knees tucked up near his chest so no one would trip on his stupidly long legs in this packed house. “No.. I’m worried about her, Ed. And the other engineers too.” Everyone else was sort of a given, but Tavek only knew the engineers, not anyone else here.

“Me too… I didn’t see where Shocei went, either. I’m sure they made it to one of the houses, though, they’re smart.” He stated, fidgeting with his hands, “If we were able to make it, they were too.”

Nevada leaned over to take a look at Eddie’s tricorder. “A virus-like microorganism…” she muttered. As her eyes flicked over the report, a grim expression settled onto her face. When she was done, she looked up at the villagers once more. “Do you have any rituals to protect your houses if the fog does come? Are we… safe in here?” If air was getting in for them to breathe, theoretically the virus could get in too. She didn’t like the idea of them all slowly succumbing to the anxiety, hallucinations, and eventual sleep. They’d dealt with this before… surely their homes were protected in some way from it?

"Our doors are designed to not let anything inside," came the reply. "Our generators are warded, and running right now to keep the energy running in the town itself. We have oxygen supply running inside, and a carbon dioxide pump bringing it outside. We're safe here..."

“So that’s what those circles were.” He said quietly to Ed, now sorry he’d ever doubted the usefulness of those designs in the casing. Apparently they were saving all the air breathers’ lives.

“Oh, shit… I was just thinking they were decorative. That makes more sense.” He mentally kicked himself for that, “Good thing they weren’t, I guess.”

"They're wards," the man nodded, unknowingly echoing Maiek's words from not too long ago. "I know that it sounds insane, but... it works. Beasts don't step close to those circles. Unfortunately, we can't make them too big - could've enclosed the whole colony, heh, but... Arnen says it won't work."

“Wards? Is there anything specific about the circles that fends off the, um, beasts?” He furrowed his brow, “And have you guys actually tried larger wards, even if they don’t encircle the entire colony?”

"Well, not me personally, but Arnin said he did with the other church officials and it didn't work," the man shrugged. "I trust him. As for the wards themselves... well, the beasties just get stuck on the circle, and can't get to what is inside. The line has to be clean, and not overlap with anything else, and you're good. Some have drawings inside, but ah, I don't know much about that. "

“If it works, it works. I’m glad those circles are saving us now.” He commented. He kind of felt bad now, for judging this colony so hard.. they seemed genuinely nice, and resourceful in how they dealt with all this.

"-- oh, one moment..." a call! It was a rather short one. "Okay, I have news! All of your officers have been found. Two will soon arrive to Rami's house, and maybe after that they'll pick you up." Interesting use of the word "officers"...

He felt whatever anxiety was gathering at the edges of his mind vanish without a trace as he let out a breath. “Oh, thank god. Okay.”

Nevada’s shoulders visibly lowered the slightest bit and she let out a light sigh. Good, then. She felt bad they hadn’t been able to do anything to help with the rescues, but at least everyone was still alive. And from where she stood she saw no way she could have helped without similarly putting the villagers in the hours with them in danger.

What the hell was that sound outside?..

Nope. No relief for red house gang. “Uh… y’all hear that?” He grimaced, “Please tell me I’m going crazy and there isn’t more shit outside…”

Growling, and shrieking, something about ripping someone apart. A thud of a door. It was followed by a sound of giant flapping wings and shouts of anger, before something... large... began moving through the street, passing the house... and away.

“Fuck no. Fuuuuuck no.” He stepped back, arms crossed over his chest, backing up towards Tavek, “Guys?”

“Uh.” Nope. Nooooope. Whatever was going on outside was not any of her business, frankly. That was all happening outside of the house. She was inside the house, and so there was nothing to worry about. She shrugged and stated flatly, “sounds like our rescue team ran into a little bit of trouble.”

“Nope. Nope, nope, whatever is going on out there is not our business to be messing with right now.” He said, standing up to also back up even further from the door. Tavek was not about to chance whatever horrible creature was flapping around out there. He’d take literally anything else over whatever the fuck that thing outside was. He just hoped their rescue team had gotten somewhere safe. “I hope they made it to Rami’s house..”

The street became silent after the creature's last lumbering movements faded out in the distance. And then... ring-ring. The same man picked up, spoke a bit, before looking at the away team: "One of yours. Wants to talk with one of you."

“Uh… does it matter who?” He pursed his lips, secretly itching to speak to someone outside the house but certain a superior officer would probably jump in at the chance.

"Nah?" probably the wrong person to answer that, but he couldn't help himself. The man shook the phone at Edgar in an enticing manner.

3

“Fuck it. I’ll take it.” He huffed, straightening up as he walked over and accepted the phone. After a moment, he hung up and handed the phone back, and turned to the rest of the group. “We gotta get ready to head back out. Kirio said they’re gonna be looking for the priest guy.” (edited)

Knock knock.

“Holyshitokay. Um…” He exhaled, leaning against the door, “Mizax? That you?”

"Fresh supply of masks for ya," replied Kirio's voice cheerfully. "Maybe we should come up with a password..." (edited)

“Say something that only you would know. Um…” He cringed, tapping his fingers against the door nervously, “What happened a while ago to all the civilians?”

.... "You mean the Q bullshit, or the attempted station takeover?"

He looked to the others, nodding and waiting before letting them in.

With two medical officers in tow, their arrival was accompanied by a sliver of fog that whispered around them before dispersing. Kirio offered a polite wave to everyone, beginning to pass oxygen masks out. "Nice hair," they joked to Ed.

He laughed, exhausted from nothing in particular and nodding. “…you too.”

"Does anyone need medical help in here?" He asked, entering.

“Everyone’s fine in here,” she replied to Dmitri. She took an oxygen mask and turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. “What was that sound outside earlier? Sounded like… a thud. And a shriek.” Suddenly it occurred to her that maybe she didn’t want to know what was out there, seeing as they would all have to go back out there soon enough. She pushed the urge to vocalize that down, though. She had to know what to expect.

"Snake... Bird? Dragon?" Kirio glanced to Dmitri for confirmation that was in fact close enough. Subconsciously, they reached up to rub their shoulder, now absent of an open wound but with a uniform slashed and stained with blood. "Phasers on max stun seem to work just fine for it." (edited)

"A combination of the three," he confirmed. "I'm not quite sure how this geographical phenomenon works, but it seems to manifest very physically. It's something of a haunted holodeck out there. It's survivable, though, evident by our beating hearts and thinking brains." (edited)

“Snake bird what the fuck…?” He whispered, grabbing a mask for himself and for Tavek, “Fun. Fun and chill.”

"Fun and chill," they confirmed, now that everyone had their mask for fuck you reasons— "Let's go."

As soon as they came, they left.