Star Trek: Starbase 777 - fobosse-house

Rami's house looked cosy, though with the fog blocking the sunlight, it lost a lot of the brightness it was clearly supposed to have. There were some candles burning, which illuminated the space just enough that you could get around without bumping into things.

Ultimately cheeseless, and in the middle of a stampede, Paco very certainly looked bruised and worse for wear as he tried his best to find shelter through wading along with the crowd that has actively stomped and shoved him around. Slowly, he grew increasingly claustrophobic until he finally caught sight of a door just within arms reach. "OH THANK PROPHETS!" he said to himself as he reached to it, and pulled himself inside the house where he laid down on his back without much thought on whose house this was or whoever may already be inside.

After reading the writing on the wall (watching people collapse in evil fog), Shocei dodged into the nearest house. Seeing everyone else, she was at least happy to not be alone. Her usually calm expression was twisted into a remarkably good impression of an owl, with wide, yellow eyes and her mouth pressed small. None of this was in the training simulations.

Twelve had entered the house on the heels of the rest of the group. While she'd initially attempted to head toward the wounded individual, the El-Aurian xB had quickly determined that any attempt to get to her fellow medical officer and the person who'd fallen posed too high a risk. So, she'd turned and headed for safety and had silently raced into the building after being bumped about a bit in the rush. Once in, she promptly looked around as she checked for which officers were present and looked for any indication that any of them were either wounded or had otherwise been affected enough by what happened to have merited medical attention. "Anyone wounded?" The El-Aurian inquired then.

Shocei set her tools down, gave herself a once over, and finding that everything was where it was supposed to be and she hadn’t missed any mortal injuries on herself, she shook her head. “I’m fine. Is asking what that was as pointless as I think it is?”

Groznin was out of shape, he could admit that. Between sprinting into a house and the stress of it all, Groz was out of breath. He hunched down, hands on his knees breathing heavily. “What, was, that?” He panted, looking at Rami, or anyone who knew something more than the away team did.

"I've been stomped and kicked around a bit... I think I'm fine though..." Paco weakly answered, still on the floor. *"scary poison fog? something that may have contributed to the "bad harvests" they've been talking about?" *Paco theorized in reponce to Shocei's question. "some religious warning, like a plague or locusts, that will come to destroy us if we don't change our ways?? Or obey the power of the religious order???" Paco further thought, but thinking's too hard when you've lost your cheese and are in pain.

Twelve smoothly approached Paco then, stared at them for a moment and then mused. "You match the description of someone a friend of mine has met before-" Before she added. "You sound like you're in discomfort, I can give you something to help with the bruising for the short term if that'd help."

Looking much like the other Lt. Cdr. “Whats-his-name-again?”, Garcia tried to ease the burning in her lungs with deep gulps of oxygen. Not fresh open air oxygen, but oxygen from inside a house in which they were not locked but sealed in. She concurred. What the FUCK had been all that. “Jesus… even if they’re secretive, and I do think they deserve to have privacy. Something like this… we should have been warned!” She looked around to account for those that had made it with her. Ed and Tavek weren’t among them, she hadn’t even been able to see where they went or if…. No. No point in being a pessimist. “Is there…. Is there any form of communication between the buildings? A way to account for the people that are not with us?”

"I've lost a good cheese...." That is most of what Paco had to say to Twelve in regards to appearing in discomfort. "Maybe this is a fear tactic by whoever is running the place for obedience and keeping structures of power against those who snoop too deep, because if the fog is that dangerous, AND a naturally occurring seasonal phenomenon.... I don't think this planet can logically support life? Or at least... sustain a colony for this long?"

“Yeah but like… Religious plagues aren’t real. That’s why they’re religious and not endemic diseases.” She seemed like she was trying to rationalize it as much as explain it to herself. Looking around the house, she stands for anything that looks like it could lead to a basement, or ideally a cellar. In the back of her head, she was starting to recall emergency procedures for wildfire, which seemed more relevant than fog at the moment. If the air outside is toxic, they would need air from elsewhere. In the most dire of fire situations it could be found in the soil, digging up space to breathe. They had a whole house right now, but she had no idea how long it would last now. “And why they didn’t tell us. What’s the chance this is some kind of chemical weapon?” (edited)

Rami was sat by a low cabinet, fiddling with some sort of communication device. "What, you think we were born yesterday?" she asked, pressing some buttons.

A different woman, a Bajoran with a shock of orange hair, turned to Shocei and Paco. "It is real," she insisted, looking halfway offended, halfway afraid. "You can't- why would you say it's not real? We didn't make it up."

Rami just shook her head. "Your priest understood us a lot better. What did you do with him, anyway?" Finally, she grabbed a cup to lift to her ear and a microphone. "Maril, this is Fobosse. Do you hear me?"

"Religious plagues are real, as social constructs with bad consequences people follow them because religious figures have power and influence over societal order and also systems people believe in!" Paco rebutted, also halfway terrified and halfway offended. "See! I told you they're real!" he said to Shocei from the floor. Victory was brief because now was not the time to gloat. "Now, we need more context about the fog... does the fog usually happen regularly? especially at this time of year?" Paco asked the Bajoran. (edited)

She turned to look at the woman, less angry than wild-eyed with a panic she had nowhere to put. “Yeah, obviously it’s real. But what is it? Why didn’t you tell anyone who came here that we might all die trying to help you?”

“Petty officer.” Groznin warned, still out of breath. “We’re still Starfleet, let us behave courteously.” He still had no idea what the fog was or why it wasn’t mentioned in their briefing, but at the same time he still had no reason to be suspicious of the townsfolk. He honestly though Dmitri was over reacting at best, lying at worst about that plaque and the other “suspicious” things. The stew had been very good after all. “But please do, tell us what exactly is out there.” (edited)

"We didn't know it would come!" the woman looked about two seconds from crying. "It's out of season, and Arnin-" She turned to Rami. "Nothing happened to him, right? He was supposed to-" she couldn't get out another word before she burst into huge, heaving sobs.

She shot a look at Groznin, but said nothing. First away mission she’d been assigned in months, and this is how it goes? She’d be begging for a transfer if she ever got assigned another one. If that opportunity was even possible. Instead of dwelling on the cheery possibility, she went to poke around the house, assessing space and supplies available.

"Okay, so this may be a natural phenomenon if it happens seasonally..." Paco surmised, that helps. "What was Armin supposed to do that usually keeps the fog at bay? Has something like this happened before?" (edited)

At the engineer's question, Twelve moved to tap her combadge. They then decided instead, as she noticed one of the locals happened to have something that they' were working on, to remain focused on Paco. The lieutenant had not really answered her question brilliantly well. Even with that though, he seemed to be active enough that she was not convinced he was seriously injured. Visual diagnosis also seemed to indicate he was, physically just as he'd assessed. "Lieutenant- I suspect you're right that you're just bruised, I'll scan you all the same." The El-Aurian started then before she looked from him, to the others, then back to him. "Hmm." That seemed too much of a sciencey and non-medical conversation for her, so she just snapped out her medical tricorder and quickly checked Paco. She was and remained unsure how one addressed the terror that happened to be on display. She reckoned given how he acted, that she didn't need to, at present. No. She just checked her scan then looked to the command lieutenant commander. Twelve just then frowned at him then walked to follow the petty officer. "Petty officer, can I have a quick word?"

Rami didn't respond initially, listening to her little phone call. Occasionally she called something out, before pressing in another number and speaking quickly once more. "Six of your fellow officers are accounted for," she called out. "I have no word on the last two, or the priest."

A small Betazoid man was consoling the Bajoran woman, and spoke up in her stead. "Arnin taught us wards, and he holds the services in the church that keep the fog at bay. It wants to come for some months every year, because that is simply the way it is. But Arnin keeps the season contained, and he makes sure it usually stays gone for the rest of the year." The woman in his arms only started crying harder at the reminder of Arnin's uncertain fate.

Shocei was in the other room, poking through drawers but not taking anything. It seemed like she was just looking around to have something to do that wasn’t talking. She looked up when spoken to, answering in the same flat tone that seemed consistent, albeit a little odd for the situation. “What is it sir?”

Twelve watched the petty officer for a moment after she asked the question. After that moment Twelve asked one of her own. "Are you doing okay, Petty officer, with all that happened?"

"Okay... I see why Armin is such a pillar to your community then." Paco said, being as sincere and empathetic as he could. "What kind of services would Armin do? Would everyone be inside the church while Armin was keeping the fog outside at bay? Did he ever explain where the fog came from or what forces controlled it?" Paco continued to ask. As an anthropologist, he was genuinely curious at how the fog and a religious figure like Armin influenced how the community developed.

She would not engage on the jab, although she was surprised her simple question had awarded her one. Garcia was simply grateful they indeed had means of communication and that some of her people were okay. “Thank you, can you check the identities of the two officers that are missing?” Her heart throbbed. What if it was Ed and Tavek? She was their senior, she should have protected them! She should be with them right now! This was her responsibility…. Okay. Breaths. Nothing she could do now but make her best to find them… eventually.

Her eyes widened like she was looking at something, but with the rest of her expression, it seemed more like disbelief. There was almost some color in her voice when she answered, “No? Would anyone? I’m a tunnel rat, I thought this was going to be a simple repair mission. I’ve also managed to piss off everyone here and every ranking officer I’ve spoken to, which is impressive, even for me. I was on the station for two days before I left for this. Is anyone supposed to be okay with how this has gone?” Huh, seems like she was holding on to a lot of that. She doesn’t sound angry per se, but she has that harried look of someone who hasn’t had a moment to breathe in a while.

Twelve watched the other, outwardly calm as she happened to seem a lot as she allowed the other to just talk for a moment. Waited for them to finish before she stated. "No, I'd say nobody is." The comment made before she proceeded on and observed. "You've not pissed off me, Petty officer." Before she paused for a moment and then observed. "I'd.. say you're just processing all that's occurred and trying to deal with it." She cocked her head then. "Being a xB and who I am, that assessment isn't one I'd swear by but-" Twelve fixed them with another calm look. "Lieutenant Commander Rakim would, I believe say that you seem like you need time to be able to 'breathe'."

Evoras was leaning against one of the walls. Her knee was hurting, she must have stepped in some strange way it didn't agree with while rushing for this house, but considering that was the furthest thing from a new injury she just took a few moments to figure out that it didn't hurt more than was normal and opted to ignore it after. "I do agree with the Commander, it would be useful if you could help us identify our missing officers. I also think, considering the current state of things that we do need an explanation about what exactly you know this fog to be what it does and what exactly this means for things moving forwards."

"We could be better able to help Armin as well if we knew about the fog better." Paco said as he sat up. He wasn't that badly hurt, just aching in places from where he was stepped on. This was mostly directed to the colonists so it would be more worthwhile for them to cooperate

Shocei shook her head, and gave up on looking around the building. It was just a house, full of housewares. No Chekov’s gun or a pocket-sized deus ex machina in the silverware drawer. She leaned against a counter and started fiddling with a multi-tool from her pocket. “Yeah, I don’t think you were around for the routine repairs, Commander. They were real touchy when I asked why they hadn’t maintained their generators, which got somebody else upset. I had thought that they had a problem getting tools or training, that we could help them with that or something… “I dunno. Like I said, tunnel rat. Should probably keep me among my own kind.” She laughed, not entirely humorless, but it’s a little strained. Obviously this was stressful, to say the least.

Worried about the others from her division not with them, she also remembered to check on those who were. She looked over at the adjacent room where Shocei was, Lt. Cdr. Twelve addressing her. Maybe she had hurt herself? There didn’t seem to be any rush on the medical officer’s part though. She did feel, truly, sympathetic towards the PO. It was not her fault she had been thrown into this mess, she was fresh out of the oven… of course she had little to no training on situations like this, much less experience. Garcia had tried to gently give her some advice before but it seemed she had failed if the officer felt she was “pissed off”. Breathe. And assess. They were momentarily safe, no one seemed severely hurt in their shelter, they had communication with at least 6 others from their team and the locals knew what to do. She didn’t know how long this fog would last, but at least now they were getting some answers, even if vague, on its nature. She walked while avoiding all of the people and joined Twelve and Shocei in the other room. “Are you hurt, Shocei? And you, Lt. Cdr.?” (edited)

Twelve watched the Po for a moment, noted how they reacted. How they fiddled with the tool, what they observed. "We encountered the same sort of reaction following a incident while rendering medical aid." Twelve informed the other. "A plaque was spotted by a fellow officer, the officer asked about it, things got-" Her jaw worked a bit. "Unpleasant atmosphere wise, cold." "I suspect that there's something more at play, regarding what you experienced and what we encountered." The El-Aurian mused then before she moved to say more as the other laughed, distracted what she'd moved to say unspoken as Garcia approached and spoke. "I am unharmed, Lieutenant Commander." Twelve responded simply then before she added. "I was checking on the Petty officer."

She looked up and shook her head, answering, “No, I’m fine. Just wanted to get a look around because I don’t know when this is going to blow over.” Turning back to the other Lieutenant Commander (it seemed to be going around) she continued, “It seems like they don’t exactly want us here. I don’t know what they had your team do, but everything we did was routine. Any half-competent mechanic should’ve been able to do it. It’s not like this could be the first colony that doesn’t want outsiders around, but then why ask them over?”

”Well, in my experience, these kinds of isolated communities call us because they can’t deal with something by themselves. And between us…” Garcia moved to seat next to the PO, leaning in as if ready to share a secret, even whispering as to avoid letting the colonists present hear. They had the right to their secrets, and so did her and her crew. “They don’t like to need us. They don’t like to be reminded that they aren’t totally independent and self sufficient. That’s why some of them get really defensive about it.” She offered a soft smile as she kept going. “I don’t know if the job we did was out if necessity or out of convenience. I don’t know how many mechanics exist here. Could be the reason or could be that they needed the supplies and those in charge decided to put us to work since… we were already here. Convenient. But also could make some that are not part of that decision making feel offended.” (edited)

Shocei leaned in to better hear and possibly give the impression that she was receiving a piece of sage advice. She was at least trying to not make it look obviously conspiratorial. In a low tone she replied, “I guess I can understand that, but is it crazy to think this might’ve been premeditated? If not my everyone than by this mysterious leader no one has set eyes on?”

”You think the guy…” She kept her whispering tone and chose not to call him Pope, since she had her own Pope technically. “The leader, planned this? Even if he does control the fog, what exactly is he planning on achieving putting the life of several Starfleet officers in danger? It seems too much of a high risk with too much of a low reward…” Maybe scaring Starfleet off, or maybe scaring the colonists… Or maybe things had simply gotten out of control… still, they weren’t sure if the guy was to blame yet. But it was weird that this… priest of sorts was the only one that knew how to keep the fog at bay according to what was being said. Even more weird that he had been the last one to arrive at the feast, right before the fog got to them. And now he was not around. “Keep your ears sharp. As much as I respect everyone’s rights to believe in whatever they want, if they are being endangered purposely… then thats no longer a matter of simple faith.”

After giving himself a few minutes to lie down and not feel overstimulated by outside, Paco slowly got up and overheard just enough of Garcia and Shocei's conversation to say something. "Maybe we did something different compared to the last few crews that came here." Paco proposed in hushed tones. "Since so many of us were snooping in places we probably shouldn't, whether it was intentionally controlled or not, the fog may be a response to that if it were so rare, that we weren't briefed on it by the previous records of starfleet being here." Paco added, it would make sense if 'controlling the fog' was a means to controlling the population as a whole. "I don't think it's in our place to accuse people, because for the most part, the people here genuinely believe in what they believe in and may not have any part in what's going on. They're as afraid as we are, and they probably only know as much as we know." Paco lightly reminded them, with some knowledge that this hush conversation may already be heard anyway. The walls are quite thin, as they say both figuratively and literally. * "All I know is, someone who seems very vital to the stability of this colony is in danger and may fully need our help. This could be a natural phenomenon and Armin may have done something proven to ward it off in a typical time, but with the bad weather season as a bad omen, the fog rolled in earlier and with greater force than what he and the colonists usually able to prepare for." *Paco again theorized while also pulling out his tricorder and seeing if that still at least worked. If he could scan the fog's composition, that would probably give them more context to work with in a scientific point of view.

In the meantime, Rami kept making calls. She nodded along to whatever someone was saying, offering some calming words to them in return, yet... there was an unmistakable sheen appearing in her eyes, one she stubbornly tried to blink away.

1

Shocei continued flipping the attachments on her multitool in and out, causing a soft clicking noise at inconsistent intervals. She still seemed decidedly Freaked Out, even if she had startled somewhat. “I’m not accusing anybody of anything, but I am wondering why none of this apparently vital information made it into to the other reports or the brief. I didn’t do anything unusual and still got tangled up in this. What happened to the crews that came down here before?”

“Things get left out of mission briefings all the time.” This was a pretty bad omission, but not by any means the worst Groznin had encountered during his tenure in Starfleet. “If it really is this out of season then I do not put the full blame on them for not mentioning it. I believe the past teams came this time of year and ran into no issues.” He stated, still looking around. The missing members of the away team and the civilian concerned him, but he couldn’t control that right now, he set his sights on what he could control.

"Again, maybe this is something that has only happened to us and no one else. I don't want to jump into worst case scenarios yet either." Paco said after Groznin before he went over to a window. He thought of scanning the fog, but never mind. Bad idea. He then looked over to Rami and decided to walk over to her when there was a window of her not making calls. "Rami..." Paco called out softly as he approached her. "Are you feeling alright?" (edited)

"No, not really," she breathed out, just to repress her urge to sniffle. "Some people fell in the fog. My dad is not picking up the phone. I can't for sure locate where two of your officers went, but at least you guys have some kind of tools with you. But the priest doesn't, and he's gone, and if he is still out there he might as well be dead, and... and I don't know what to do. I know that the ritual happened, dad would not lie about it, but... but did something go wrong??.."

"Good riddance..." an older man mumbled under his breath at the mention of Maiek, expression sour yet guarded. "Looked like he was bad news anyways..."

4

“Does the fog… kill?” Groznin asked Rami hesitantly, ignoring Mr. Microagressons. He was curious about the ritual to apparently keep the fog at bay going wrong. It would be really really bad if the fog did kill considering 3 of their people were missing.

She bit her lip. "The fog? No. The beings living in it... can. "

"I'm very sorry about your dad..." Paco said empathetically. "So the fog itself is safe to traverse?" Paco asked. "What kind of beings?"

"Demons," the duo from before piped up. "Odd beings, chimeras from the mixture of our beliefs that eventually became our way. We worship them, we respect them, and they ensure the planet is safe and good. But when preparations are not done and rituals are not performed... they become angry. They become... petulant, towards us."

"You can travel in the fog, but it's... treacherous, for obvious reasons," she nodded towards the two people speaking. "Generally I would recommend that you, um. Don't. Do that."

4

3

While she said nothing aloud, Shocei looked absolutely bewildered by that statement. Kind of like if you lived in an advanced spacefaring society and someone had just mentioned doing rituals to ward off demons. Which someone had. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around how that was possible.

"Maybe if we mask up, we would have better chances in the fog." Paco proposed. He thought, it would make some sense if the engineers or medical team in the room at least brought some face masks or some similar PPE Like COVID. (edited)

1

She let out another sigh, "Well... I have cloth pieces also. Could also make some masks if needed, the main generators are warded and are still running. I just... what are you going to do when you get out? What is the plan? You may leave the house, but where will you go?"

“Nobody is leaving the house right now.” Groznin said looking around. He didn’t even know why people were thinking of leaving unless it was to find their missing members, and even then they wouldn’t know where to start. “How long does the fog usually last?”

"This is the first time in a long while when it just... came in like this. Normally it can come in for a day, or half. But this is so abnormal and sudden, I... I don't know. It was here just recently," she might've said something more, before her attention went to the ringing of the phone. "Oh! Um, sorry. Hold on for a bit..."

As the phone rang she snapped to look at it. This felt a little bit like visiting a colony and seeing they still use horses and carts, which did nothing to convince her this wasn’t some weird place they shouldn’t be. To the people closest to her, she asked, “Why do they have telephones? Are we going to find out they don’t pasteurize milk or something next?”

"In some religious communities and colonies, letting go of most or all technology is part of the practice. For most, it is to emphasize self reliance and avoid materialism and distraction ." Paco answered a probably rhetorical question "in regards to raw milk, some cheeses use unpasteurized milk, so it isn't that bad."

"Will you both shut up over there?.." a civilian snapped, because the room was, well. Full of them. "You think we're so stupid we don't hear nor see you thinking of us as a bunch of primitives? God, I wish it was the previous away team here and not you lot. Those at least were taught to keep their thoughts to themselves..." "Well, why do you think they make so many planets join them?" another one piped up, elbowing the first one almost too eagerly. "To "civilize" them, bring them up to their own standards. In reality they just look down on everyone... half the reason Enril left Starfleet all those years ago, bless her soul." "And Arnin still insists we need to accept them here every year," a third one complained, as the murmuring chorus of agreements rose in volume. "Even though we, frankly, don't need them anymore, nor their help! Fuck man, I'm tired of parading them around the town or my farm! It's a farm! They know what a farm is! And now they're stuck here!"

2

Groznin shot a mean eye towards Shocei, overwhelmed or not she was contributing to what was quickly becoming a diplomatic incident. He walked over to the townspeople. “I would like to apologize on behalf of the members of the away team. I’m unsure exactly everything that has transpired, but I can gather that it was inappropriate.” Probably some of the younger crew members who didn’t know how to act. You’d think their lessons from the academy would still be fresh in their minds, but apparently not. He didn’t particularly like colonies like these, mainly because they reminded him of home. Still he knew how defensive of their way of life people like these could be, members of his own family were still like that to this day. “If I, or my fellow crew members can do anything to help you, we will do it gladly.”

Shocei listened to the back and forth, feeling her face flush dark in embarrassment. A bigger part of her was growing more concerned the more she heard from the locals. If most of these people didn’t want them here, why would their leader make them come? She felt like she had been a little misunderstood, but that was hardly a new feeling, and one of many reasons she was a mechanic, not a diplomat. She tried to catch someone’s eye as the locals complained about their being there, and their leader’s insistence on them coming anyways. Clearly she had grown up on a very, very different kind of colony, but that comment would’ve been strange anywhere.

Breathe. Breathe... She puffed out the third one with all the force that her lungs would allow, before bouncing up and raising her voice right after Groznin's apology: "Hey! Enough! Go to the kitchen and find something to busy your mouths with! You're acting no better than these apparent people you're currently talking smack about!" Seemingly flabbergasted between the Command officer's efforts and Rami's scolding, the group did indeed slink away into the adjacent room. "I'm... so sorry for that," okay, no, too much. Everything is too much. She wiped the escaped tears off her cheeks with the base of her palm, looking at Groznin: "Don't listen to their heckling. Some of what they say is... true, but... my father just does what he thinks is the best for the colony. That's all." She didn't sound all too convinced herself. "I have some news. Your security officer has called me, they and the medical officer called Dmitri are okay. They reached the medical center, and will come here soon. They want to regroup. Your priest is... still missing."

1

After shooting a look at the back of Lt. Cmdr. Groznin’s head, Shocei risked saying, “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to upset anyone, but obviously I did. That’s my fault.”

Twelve looked to Groznin then to the others. The situation silently watched as the El-Aurian xB noted again how the Lieutenant commander approached dealing with the situation. How the other reacted both to the people around them and to how officers conducted themselves. Silent for a time, Twelve eventually stated. "I'm...happy to hear about the location of the other two officers." Her jaw worked a bit then and she asked. "If I may ask, does the civilian have a combadge?" The El-Aurian inquired then. "If so, is there a way to use it to in essence detect if they're in proximity, should the decision be made to go looking for them or-" Twelve's jaw worked a bit then."-If they in essence happen to be close to one of the groups?"

Ok, lots to process here. Dmitri was alive, which was better than the alternative of Dmitri not being alive. That would have messed him up for a while. No, he had to stop thinking about Dmitri, back to the mission. He gave a small nod of acknowledgment to the petty officer even as the colonists left them alone. Maiek was still missing, that was bad. Hopefully he was ok but if not… that would be so much paperwork, and it would be sad too. Groznin had dedicated his life to keeping people alive during away missions. He took a second to think before speaking slowly. “I think, if that works, it could be a good idea.” He told Twelve, but his hopes were not high considering the interference. “Otherwise, it might be best if we all stay put, wait to hear from Mizax and Durovsky again.”

The civilian lacked a commbadge... but he was issued a similar gadget to be able to be located and transported if a need ever arose. Theoretically, the officers could attempt to tune their tricorders to find the signal, though the fog might make the task a tad more harder than normal...

"Whatever they have, it's probably used for being located and transported." Paco finally spoke up after being quiet for a moment when the others got mad. "Assuming the frequency is similar to our commbadges, I can modify my tricorder to isolate its frequency against the interference of the fog, that way we would at least know a general direction of where they may be" He suggested as he started to tinker with the settings on his tricorder

Rami, in the meantime, did another call, back to the house where the rest of the group was.

What the fuck was that noise?..

3

"What the fuck was that noise?" Paco quietly asked himself as he heard a noise

Groz’s face puffed up slightly at the noise outside, but quickly defeated to its normal look. “I’m thinking that’s Dmitri and Mizax.” He said wearily.

With that possibility noted with a nod, Paco looked out the window, which was still closed, to check for any visual. He pulled out his tricorder and pointed it to the window to see if he could pick something up and confirm if it was them. "I'm guessing we are not to let them in..." (edited)

Thud-thud-thud, went the door. In such close proximity, Paco's tricorder picked up two commbadges...

"Two commbadges sir. It may be them" Paco said as he still looked through a window to see if it was them and where they are. They can't be too far off if his tricorder picked them up.

Literally by the door, my guy. ... Was that a fucking dragon on the opposite house's wall?

2

”Wait! Do we…” Her heart raced. Was that some sort of trick or were those their people... but this house, it was supposed to be safe! “There’s no fog inside! Unless it somehow got a way to influence all of us with all the sealing, those are our people!” She turned towards Rami. “Please! We got to help them!”

"Oh... shit!" Paco said as he saw that out the window along with them. "Garcia, I don't think opening the door is an option for us right now"

One of the villagers took a step forward, "Rami do not--"

The Betazoid tore the door open and reached out, grabbing onto the uniforms, shouting out a tearful "Hurry!!"

1

The fog was bad, but abandoning two of their officers was worse. Groznin went to the door ready to pull the two out of the fog. “Get away from the door!” Groznin said, talking to the civilians more than anybody else. “Those are our people out there, we have to try.”

"Everybody move!" As the door was torn open and the two officers were pulled in, Paco quickly held his breath as he tried to direct everyone deeper into the house and away from the door (edited)

Kirio ripped off their mask as they staggered inside, phaser still hot in their hand as they slammed the door shut behind them and Dmitri. They were breathing hard, heavy, shoulder stinging— did something catch them, or did they sprain it somehow, they didn't remember— they set down the box full of oxygen masks with trembling hands, sinking down to the floor.

As soon as both of the officers were inside, Rami slammed the door shut with an awkward yelp. After that, she awkwardly slid down by it's side, breathing hard. Some of the fog whisped inside, bringing in quiet, odd whispers... but soon enough, they would fade into the background.

Groznin tumbled to the floor with the force of absolutely yanking the two officers inside. This however led to one of the two officers ending up practically in Groznin’s arms. Which officer? Here’s a hint, it was Dmitri. “Are you ok?” Groznin asked, though he looked away as he tried to shimmy the man out of his personal space. This certianly wasn’t a situation he had pictured for himself when he woke up this morning. (edited)

With a complete lack of care about the fog whisps she risked exposure to as she rapidly approached, Twelve didn't even wait for the door to be fully closed. She just rapidly approached the two newly arrived officers. As she closed on them the El-Aurian snapped out her medical tricorder and started to scan them both. Did so as she visually checked the duo over for any sign of wounds.

"Wooooow. So you DID miss me, Groz!" He didn't have the energy to do anything except weigh Groznin down and laugh at his own comment. "Medical officers in here -" He gasped - "Kirio! Shoulder!" He pointed adamantly toward Kirio, who was injured and bleeding. "Oh, and you guys know what's interesting? What's really, really interesting?"

Kirio forced themself back together with a breath, rising to their feet. The talon mark on their shoulder had left obvious glaring tears in their uniform. "I found oxygen masks so we can go out and regroup, and find— find the priest." they said quietly, flatly, setting the box down before kneeling down beside Rami. "Are you alright?.."

"I have... I have not seen anything like that one before..." she replied, rattled but okay.

Shocei had stayed glued to the opposite wall, watching all of this unfold at a distance. It seemed like a medical situation, and given her complete lack of medical knowledge, staying out of the way seemed wisest. With her beady yellow eyes, she had a remarkably owl-like quality. (edited)

"Deep breaths with me, alright?" They placed a warm hand on her shoulder. "It's — nasty, huh?.. You should be safe in here."

Twelve completed her scans of the duo then promptly at the Lieutenants statement, looked to the indicated officer looked back and nodded, before she approached Kiro! "Lieutenant" She started as she approached, the word pitched quiet and calm as she stated. "You're injured, I know you're talking with someone at present, but I'd like to take a look at that wound and see what I can do for you."

"N-no, you have to understand. I have never seen that beast here before," she stressed. "It's... not one of ours."

Wordlessly they adjusted their position to allow Twelve access to their injured shoulder. "What do you mean, not one of yours?.."

"....there are others?" Paco asked as he looked through the box of oxygen masks and began handing them out to the other officers

Ignoring Paco, she went on, "Literally just that! We know our spirits, we know who haunts us. This one is not one of them!"

Yeah, Dmitri was ok. Groznin had to stifle a groan in response to his words. “Keep telling yourself that.” He said and then all but shoved Dmitri out of his lap so he could stand. “So there are more things like that out in the fog.” Groz had an underlying suspicion that the “things” were what remained of people, and this “new” one was either Maiek or Arnin. Neither was good news. “Are they people who died in the fog? The spirits?”

AND LET IT BE KNOWN THAT ANY ILL THOUGHTS GARCIA COULD HAVE HAD ON THE WOMAN EVAPORATED ON THE SPOT. “Oh thank God it really were you guys!” She turned towards Rami. “Not one of yours… maybe ours… maybe. Are they okay?” She then addressed medical.

"N-no, no. That's not..." she gestured a little bit, seemingly struggling to make sense of her thoughts. "When the colony was established, we brought them with us here. They manifest as pieces of mythos of all the different people here. But this one? It doesn't fit. It's... alien."

"It had his face," they said quietly, shaking their head. "It tried to masquerade as him, and I should have— I knew, when I looked at it, that it was wrong, and it..." Kirio swallowed, exhaling. "Started taunting me, singing about how the priest was dead, that they ripped him limb from limb.."

Twelve started to work on the security officers presented shoulder then. First, she scanned the wound carefully with her medical tricorder and checked for anything odd about the wound that might have affected treatment. The fog after all, seemed poisonous so she wanted to be sure that the beast within the fog happened to have nothing nasty on its talons. Once she'd conducted that check, Twelve started to treat the wound as she first played medical devices over it as she cleaned it, assessed the extent of the injury and worked to render medical aid. While she lacked the resources of a medical centre or a sickbay, she'd brought a well stocked medical kit on the away mission. Only issue was, she'd not prepared for well. Monsters. Thankfully though, a talon laceration happened to be well, a laceration! So she had what she needed as she continued to work on it, one hand occasionally raised to grasp the shoulder carefully as she worked. "Lieutenant, I need you to keep as still as you can."

"Right. Sorry, Doc." They released Rami with a reassuring pat, going stiff.

He fell to the floor with a clunk. His limbs felt like lead. Staggering to his feet and leaning against the door with one hand, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, he said, "There's specific beasts?" He said, glaring at Rami, who probably didn't deserve such treatment. "Should we fill out an index of them all? Should we assign them statistics? Should we warn the nice people coming to help us of their existence? No! Because we want them all dead!" By the end, he was yelling. (edited)

She angled her chin upwards, a determined expression settling on her face as she stared right back at Dmitri, despite the way he loomed. "Once, we had an old Vulcan woman in our colony. The only one, here to live out the rest of her life. When she died, the apparitions she brought with her disappeared. If this thing is still here, still so strong, it means that the one who brought it here, is still alive. These are the rules we live by. We don't share them with you, because... because you'd never understand us. So you only come during the calmest season." (edited)

"You owe her an apology, Lieutenant," Kirio grumbled, shooting Dmitri a hard glare. "It's a clue, obviously. Maybe.. maybe we can still find him out there. That thing was fucking with out heads."

Ok, so not the spirits of the dead, that was… encouraging wasn’t the right word for it. “So we brought it with us, one of our officers or Maiek.” He had had money on it being Maiek considering the beast had taken his face. Whatever that meant.

Twelves head snapped to the medical Lieutenants then. Chocolate hued eyes fixed on him as she-no they assessed the individual before them. Assessed this person that had started to rip into a local verbally. "Lieutenant." Twelve snapped after a moment. "I agree, you owe her an apology."" The El-Aurian started then before she asked him. "That said, I need to ask, did you inhale any of the fog?" She paused then and added, as she turned back to Kirio continued to work on Kirio's shoulder. "I'll be coming over once I've finished here to check on you." Twelve, as she reached the end of what she could do now for the Talon wound, checked it over for a moment more and applied a covering to her work. "Lieutenant, I've done all I can for your shoulder at present, the discomfort should be lessened." The El-Aurian informed Kirio. "I'll give you something now to help that along further and lessen the discomfort." Twelve stated before she prepared a hypo and administered medication.

"Back away from her, " one of the civilians stepped out, glaring daggers at the smaller medical officer, "or I'll break your jaw off. Now."

'Loomed' was perhaps a generous description for a guy who was five foot five. Considering how exhausted yet agitated he looked, he looked more like a cornered prey animal than anything that loomed. "Every time," he muttered, "Every time I encounter things like this, it brings me nothing but torment and misery." He felt like he was going to throw up. "Does anyone... Water?"

"On the table," she was sitting, so. "Help yourself to it."

Vulcan... dragon at the other door... Vulcan scientists in Berengaria VII noted flying reptiles, over two hundred meters in length, that breathed fire. some described this as a dragon, though the accuracy of this report, as far as Paco could remember, is put into question. Seeing the situation get tense, Paco decided it would be a ok idea to get between Dmitri and the civilian. "I'm sorry for what my colleague said, and I'm sorry for not giving enough time to understand you all and your community better, but now's not the time for this..." Paco, who is 5 foot flat, said plainly to the angry civilian. "You stay. I'll get you some water." Paco said to Dmitri before he set off

Twelve turned from Kirio then and promptly proceeded toward the other Lieutenant from medical then. They were the other person she, as a medical officer, was concerned with at present. As she approached she snapped her tricorder out again one handed, with the other she pulled a bottle of water from her satchel. "Here you go." Twelve started as she offered the other it. "You've just been through a lot, drink slowly." The El-Aurian informed Dimitri then before, as Rami stated what she did, Twelve glanced to that then internally kicked herself.. While she carried water with her, just as a mater of course as it happened to have a good few uses, she also happened to not carry too many bottles. Hm. Her focus forced with a effort of will back to the officer, Twelve started to scan Dimitri with her medical tricorder. Did so as she idly ensured she kept a eye out for that civilian. The threat he issued was a patient safety concern, potentially, after all.

Shocei stood, still against the far wall, but watching the room now. She didn’t have a weapon, unless you counted the hex key attachment currently flipped out. Unfortunately that was the least threatening tool attachment. She was also not particularly threatening, but she watched the agitated civilian closely.

Ah, poor Paco. Well-intentioned, but perhaps not the right move. "Do not speak for me, and do not speak for her. She has not asked me for an apology, and I have not offered one."

"Alright, everyone knock it off." Kirio evened out their tone. "We have work to do. Everyone take a mask, we're going to deal with that thing, regroup with the others, and set out to find the answers we need. Alright?" and, turning politely to Rami, "Miss, can I use your phone?.."

She gently guided the protective civilian to the side, before nodding to Kirio, "Mmm. Yeah. You can. If you want to call the second group, it's the last used contact."

"Thank you. I'm sorry for all the fuss, in an ideal world we wouldn't have been chased in, but.. we'll deal with it. And you'll all be safe." Phone time..

"Lieutenant." Twelve started, soft but sharp as she scanned Dimitri and checked him for injuries, for any sign he'd inhaled fog. "Take a moment, focus on yourself and your breathing, drink the water." The El-Aurian advised then.

Elevated oxygen, dopamine, norepinephrine, and traces of whatever hallucinogenic chemicals were in the fog. He also had an alarmingly high heart rate - though half of that was just that he'd been running really fast. "Hey. Don't scan me without permission." He was on a mission to be a dick to everyone today, apparently! Although, to be fair, you probably should ask before you do that. "I'll doctor me myself. See? I'm administering medication right now." He was using the water to swallow some pills from one of those little plastic jars.

”The lieutenant is right, this won’t help anyone. But…” She looked at Rami and for the first time the woman saw the ever-cheerful woman wear a mask of seriousness. “I respect your faith, I really do, and your right to your privacy, this I swear on my own God, his eyes and ears as my witness. Is there anything else, any other information that you usually wouldn’t reveal, but that could be the difference between my crew mates making out of this planet alive considering the situation at hand?” Anything not mentioned before. Any ritual, any clue, any ancient knowledge, if she had to start drawing circles on her uniform she was willing and ready.

Note to self, do everything in your power to make sure Dmitri doesn’t go on any more away missions that involve people outside of Starfleet.

"I can..." she looked up. "I can provide a room for us all to talk in. Or for you. Just... alone."

2

"The second bit of that apology was for me." Paco said to Dmitri and simply stayed quiet after that. He felt he didn't have anything productive to contribute for the time being.

She nodded, the stern façade melting away in relief. This was good, this meant they could finally get the information they so much needed… hopefully. “Thank you!”

"The other team is ready to go when we are," Kirio reported, successfully hanging up the phone, and.. oh, we're going to another room? They waited to follow, then. (edited)

The El-Aurian stared at the Lieutenant for a moment. "Lieutenant, if you'd prefer to allow the hallucinogenic chemicals to naturally depart your system, that's your decision." Twelve commented then as she watched the other and idly quashed her/their growing annoyance at how the other conducted himself toward superior officers and civilians. "I'd like you to remain in the building, if you chose to, until those chemical traces are out of your system and your vitals have normalised, though." The El-Aurian watched the other carefully for a time then. "Lieutenant, its my duty to check if you're injured especially given your fellow officers state." Twelve continued on then, uncaring that the other probably happened to know all this. They'd acted like they hadn't and like they'd not noticed how many pips she happened to have on her uniform collar.. "You're not seriously wounded, if you wish to be left with just the water that's your decision." Twelve continued on to say then before she looked around and located the masks. The other's 'I'm a doctor' comment ignored, especially given how his vitals presently seemed, Twelve confined herself to the statement "I'm going to trust you're aware what those are, should you require assistance please let me know." She then watched him for a moment longer as her jaw worked a bit. With his declination of any form of treatment following initial assessment, there wasn't really anything there happened to be for her to do now as a doctor at least. Twelve had followed first aid protocols as far as she'd been taught them. Scanned to confirm no serious injury then, when he'd issued declination of treatment, stopped. Far as the situation was concerned, the patient with the more serious injury had been treated and the medical Lieutenant whose name she'd not picked up yet seemed less of a concern.

22:33

Once the hallucinogenic chemical traces worked their way out of his system, he'd be even less of one, she reckoned. "Lieutenant, should you need to render medical aid to someone prior to your vitals normalising, please make another medical officer aware so we can assist." Twelve requested in passing as she started up and away from him. The El-Aurian, though tempted briefly, decided to attribute how he'd been to her, a superior officer, to what was indicated by his vitals. As such, she simply headed off to another part of the room, turned and simply listened to the engineering officer as they spoke.

She stood up, giving the room a once-over. "No one else please follow us. This is... I want to help them get out of here. That's all. In the mean time... try to contact my father, please." With that, she began going up to the second floor.

All those words translated to were 'I can't trust your competence right now'. It pissed him off, but maybe it wasn't entirely wrong. "It'll be fine. These are my normal pills. They make me normal." Leaving Twelve with that, he followed Rami.

Groznin didn’t think that there was any type of pill that could make Dmitri normal. He followed Rami.

"I'll go grab the other team, then," Kirio mused, putting their mask back up and picking up the box now that everyone had them. And if they didn't, fuck you, you do now. Ok, bai.

2

With the security officer having just stated that and having acquired a mask of her own, Twelve turned from initially following the group and headed after the officer. While part of her wanted to head upstairs, the larger part of her thought, what if people happened to be wounded. What about the fact the security lieutenant had already been injured once. Those thoughts considered before she stated. "I'm coming with you, Lieutenant." And started to follow Lieutenant Kirio. "Just in case any of their team require medical assistance or we encounter someone on the way who does." (edited)

He stopped following Rami, gritting his teeth. As much as he wanted all the knowledge now, he felt the need to stick with Kirio, as he had done so far, through the fog and the flames. He could get caught up later. Before he did so, he glanced at Groznin; there was something he'd meant to ask, at the beginning of all this, once he found out there were hallucinogenics involved. Some part of him, some paranoid part, wondered if they'd been in effect even before the fog swept in, or perhaps that he'd lost his mind all by himself. After all: what were the chances that Groznin, of all people, would be on this mission? And one where he saw his dead sister, no less? Two ghosts of the past, appearing like apparitions. "Groznin. Please look at me and answer honestly." He took a deep breath, and asked in whisper: "Are you real?"

In response to that question Groznin blinked a few times, opened and close this mouth a few times like a gaping fish, and generally gave the vibe of utter confusion. He knew Dmitri had mental health problems, he had been committed after all, but he kinda thought that those would mostly be gone now that he was a doctor in Starfleet. “Uh, um? Yeah.” He said finally, still not knowing the right thing to do in this situation.

Although a part of him wanted to mask up and help reunite the away team... but the fog 'dragon' outside definitely really injured someone, and going would be against his better judgement of not dying. Knowing more about what they would be dealing with would be beneficial to the group, so Paco decided to head up and follow Rami.

The funny thing about being put into a situation with your exact triggers plus the added spice of hallucinogenic chemicals on your very first mission does tend to unearth some old issues. "Funny," he said with a grin, his brief moment of vulnerability over, "that's exactly what a hallucination would say." Then he left with Kirio. (edited)

She was ready to follow Rami to the other room when her eyes caught the ones preparing to leave. She felt conflicted. There were two of her young officers on the other group, waiting to be rescued. An instinctive part of her screamed that she should be marching after them as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Less instinctive part, one she developed over the years, whispered that it would do more harm than good. She was a great engineer, not a security or tactical officer. In the middle of the fog, out there with that creature around, she would be dead weight. She turned around and followed to where she could be more useful, hoping Ed and Tavek would join her soon and that the three of them along with all the others would think of some way to leave this place.

Good riddance, house with the red roof! Finally, they weren’t split up anymore, meaning they had a better chance of wrapping things up and getting the hell out of here.

Finally, the engie gang was back together! Yeah, there was some horrible shapeshifting creature outside, but at least they had Garcia and Shocei again! Now, they had a fighting chance to get out of here.

Groz went upstairs. Time to get back to business and ignore Dmitri.

She’d started to follow the group upstairs, but quickly realized that she would be less than helpful and and probably just in the way. In a place devoid of maintenance access, she often felt that way. After everyone had filtered inside, she sat down on the stairs and popped her toolkit open to organize. Seemed like a better use of her time.

He sat on a chair, or perhaps the floor against a wall if there was no chair, looking equally annoyed at the world and himself. With any luck, the villagers would revile him enough to cast him into the fog to see his sister again, and maybe, if he kept walking enough, he'd find whatever Deima was looking for.

Groznin walked down the stairs and looked for Dmitri. He looked, forlorn to put it nicely. Well, he still needed to talk to him anyway. He walked over, even at his average stature he looked above the sitting man. “I presume that you know that you messed up big time Lieutenant.”

She watched Dimitri descend the stairs, offering a small smile. At least she wasn’t the only one who felt like talking to these people was trying to pin jello to a tree. It seemed like the fog was a contributing factor, but these people were weird otherwise. She was just about to say something when the door opened again, and she shut up seeing Groznin walk down. Better not. Anyways, polishing spanners with her shirtsleeve was much more interesting.

1

He looked up at Groznin with a piercing red glare. "Oh? You ignore me all this time and now you talk to me, just to lecture me? Don't bother. I know it's not coming from a place of care, or even respect. I'm not an idiot; you've made it very clear that our past friendship meant a lot more to me than it did to you." What a foolish idea, that anyone would have ever liked him!

Groznin furrowed his brow and his face puffed up slightly. The idea that their friendship had meant nothing was hurtful. As if those weren’t the most formative years of his life. As if it wasn’t Dmitri who had been the final thing to cement his departure. I want to see you succeed Dmitri.” He stressed the word succeed in an odd way, almost desperately. “I thought you were better. You’re a doctor now and you’re in Starfleet, I thought you’d-“ He trailed off, presessing his hand to his head almost in disbelief. “You can’t be acting like this.” (edited)

Shocei scooted up another stair to try her best to be unseen in this conversation. However, there was one positive. Her and the colonists in this house now had something in common: wishing they were anywhere except in the blast radius of what sounded like a conversation with a long history behind it.

"Funny," he said, looking away. "I thought I was better too." But something was missing, and always had been. There was a hole in him where a good person should be. "You wouldn't understand." He put his forehead against his knees, waiting for everyone else to come out.

Twelve smoothly headed down the stairs then. As they headed down, they looked about as they attempted to locate the individual they needed to have a word with. Once they were located, Twelve having reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped, the El-Aurian xB started to approach the medical lieutenant and the Lieutenant Commander as the duo continued to converse. She slowed her approach once close enough as she attempted to make that approach apparent. Something she reconsidered then as she noticed how the Lieutenant seemed to be. "Lieutenant, are you okay?" The El-Aurian asked then.

"We should be getting a move on," Kirio awkwardly tried to maneuver around everyone on the stairs. "Um. Don't forget your masks. I'm gonna wait outside, so everyone should probably join, like, soon..."

He laughed at the question. "No, but I'm functional." He stood up, brushing invisible dirt off his knees. "We have things to do." Fog time.

Groznin looked at the man and then looked away, his face somewhere in between sadness and blankness. “I haven’t in a long time.” He said softly before leaving to get a mask and put it on. It was time to go, get all of this over with.

1

"Do you have any idea where to look for mister tr'Shen?" she asked the room as she entered it. One of the villagers began approaching her with concern on her face, but Rami waved her off.

Ed lingered at the end of the stairwell, watching Rami closely. He wasn’t quite sure what to think, but her agreement to help was a good sign. He hoped. She didn’t seem to be the type to hold a grudge that bad, did she?

Kirio hovered near the door, waiting for everyone to follow so they didn't have to keep opening and closing it. "My first idea is the church, since we both saw the seals on the doors, but.. I doubt he'll be inside, if that thing is lurking around, so.." they shrugged. (edited)

"Isn't that the only place we haven't been?" He asked Kirio. "Or am I misremembering?" It felt like the day had lasted a thousand years.

"He can't be far away, right? It depends how far the fog-things can move..." So they were searching blind. Great.

Twelve looked from the Lieutenant then, to the Lieutenant commander and then back again. "Lieutenant, w-" She paused. "-I have been informed on several occasions that purely functional is not-" Twelve's jaw worked. "Sufficient." "While you are correct-" The El-Aurian "I am available should you wish to chat with or at someone at a later point-" Twelve paused then as she secured her mask and started toward the door. "Though I have been informed my social ability is not at all...sufficient, so w-" They blinked then, annoyed at themselves for another slip up. "-I can offer you information on counsellors on the station at a later point, should that be of assistance." With that, they started outside, paused and started to respond, paused as they caught a we and were annoyed with themselves yet again, then proceeded to speak. "There may be a way for Mister tr'Shen to be located by us using his locator to determine if he's in our proximity during our search-" Twelve looked around for Paco. "-should it be possible to adjust a tricorder to detect that." "Using that and starting where he was last seen or well, the church, we'd at least have a place to start from to commence a methodical search and a means to be..." Twelve searched for a way to put it. "Less blind."

Given that Paco had worked on that tricorder before, the device should be tuned by now. There is only one way to find out if it works, really... by going out there and trying to locate the elusive man.

1

"Well, off we go!" Off he goe'd.

"Um. Everyone stay safe, we'll be back with news as soon as we can." Off they goe'd.. 2!

She put on her mask and hustled to follow the group, no matter how much she didn't want to.