Star Trek: Starbase 777 - village-cemetery

A place of quiet and mourning. The graves were well kept care of, with live flowers planted and left there by the graves. Small trees grew by some of the headstones. In the middle of it all, stood some sort of a small building...

2

He entered the place, wondering if it would look any different to the graveyards back home. He could never decide if he was perturbed or intrigued by places of death.

Something similar, something different. A mosaic of cultures... The ping became stronger, here.

Iki just kept walking towards the ping, not really looking around them except to make sure they weren't stepping on graves or about to trip, and not really saying anything either.

Going in the direction of the small building...

Kirio did not like cemeteries. They weren't like, a paranoid type, but something about them just... They didn't know, they weren't a fan. It felt too sacred. They kept a hand on their phaser.

For everything else that Shocei was uncomfortable about in this whole situation, cemeteries weren’t one of them. Everyone in them was dead, what are they going to do to her? She still kept to the paths and followed the group, but not for any cosmic punishment.

Groznin didn’t like cemeteries, not on the colony he grew up on, not on earth, not on Denobula, and especially not here. “Maiek?” He called out hesitantly.

THUD went the door of that little building, as it got kicked open. In the maw of the doorframe, stood a figure.

3

Egh. His face scrunched up and he took a step back. He didn’t like that at all.

Guy in the cemetery building. Okay. Fuck. Ed didn’t scream, but he did in fact jump nearly out of his skin.

Since everything had already gone to hell, Garcia did as her instincts shouted at her. Taking to objects from her belt, she positioned herself in a daring stance. “Be warned, I have my own wards!” Two spanners, a longer one held vertically and a shorter, smaller one pressed against it on the horizontal, at the top end. A cross. Of spanners. (edited)

3

Kirio pulled their phaser, careful to keep their finger from the trigger. Slightly more effective than a spanner, but useful nonetheless. "Hands up," they warned.

"Fuck you," came the laconic response, as the priest's figure moved a few steps down, clearly favoring his left side. His eyes were feverishly bright, and in his hand, was a very long dagger that he brought up to point at the group in an awfully casual manner, circling it with his wrist for further emphasis: "I know what your guts look like now, beast. I'll rip you open again if I have to. Come on, now!" (edited)

“Holy shit! Dude! We’re not the beast!” He exclaimed, stepping back, “Chill out…”

Twelve started to move to one side as she watched the figure as it approached. "The fog has hallucinatory qualities to it, if this is the civilian we advise caution." The El-Aurian advised then as she looked for a potential opportunity to get close, did so as she reached into her med kit and reached for a hypospray, just in case.

"I said hands up," they stressed, pointing their phaser with two hands, violet eyes narrowed in the fog. "Everyone take a step back. It wouldn't the first time something has tried to take his shape, so.. be cautious."

Now THAT'S what I call Maiek (2026). He put his hands up. "Alright, go ahead and stab me, then." There's no way the fog would say that, right? "Or you could ask me something only I would know? I'll let you do whatever tests you want, good priest."

3

Shocei, seeing the knife and the, at first glance, Regular Person, actually calmed a little bit. This was completely within the wheelhouse of things she thought was possible when she got out of bed this morning. Just a probably deranged man with a knife. She felt that in some way, she was watching over her own shoulder, commentating on the situation to herself. Super healthy. Another half second later, it occurred to her that she should not be in direct line of sight of anyone with a big knife, so she ducked behind the nearest large grave marker. She said a quiet thank you to whatever soul rested within.

Maiek - or what pretended to be him? - barked out a harsh laugh. There were splotches of something dark green on his robe and in his teeth. No mask or any other sort of protection in sight... "What, changed your tactics, now? The pathetic whimpering act didn't work, so now you come in with threats or tricks? Come closer, fucker!" (edited)

2

.... "Guys, I'm pretty sure it's him," they whispered to the crowd. "What do I do?.."

“Still a no! Don’t come closer to the guy who’s threatening to stab us!” He stared at Kirio.

"Well, duh, I'm not going near him!" they hissed in reply. "But... I don't know, what can we do to convince him?" (edited)

”I swear if its not our guy I am starting on a full “Vade Retro Protocol”!” Garcia still held her makeshift cross. “What were those good pills the doc took? To snap him out? Maybe hypospray that?” If they could get close that is. “He’s been out for too long for a talk I’m afraid…”

He looked a little surprised at Garcia's suggestion. Never had those pills been a solution to anyone's problems but his own. "Those were... Well, it's between me and my psychiatrist, really, but... I suppose you could call them downers. Makes me less 'up'. I can't turn them into a hypospray, though."

He stood where he was, standing tall despite the slight lean towards one of the walls, stubborn and ready...

She looked surprised in kind in return. “Ah! Sorry I thought you had been treating the fog effects! My bad.” She had pills of her own to take and those certainly would not help with the fog either. “Hey! You remember me? You helped me and my best friend! It’s true! From… uhnmm… prison… Thanks by the way!” The cross was lowered a few centimeters. Garcia wasn’t sure how specific she could get on those infos, she supposed she was vague enough. “Not much more I can offer… I don’t know you very well and you don’t know me very well…” Did anyone here know him well? (edited)

//tw: very brief and mild description of self-injury Maiek was still posed like a guard dog in that doorframe, yet his expression grew ever so slightly conflicted, seeing the behavior of the officers and hearing what Garcia had to say. He... knew what she referenced. "Prove you're real," he threw out, an order. "Prove you're not here to haunt me." He angled his dagger to his other limb, and left a small nick on his bared forearm - just enough depth to make it bleed green. He held his arm up for it to be seen, the droplet running down to his elbow, "Here's my proof." (edited)

Still from behind a solid object, Shocei offered what she hoped was a useful suggestion to the armed members of the party, “Doesn’t that thing have stun?” She sounded more than a little panicked.

”Oh uh… I don’t have…” She looked around for anything that would be sharp enough. “Anyone has a knife? Doc? Scalpel? Something?” She looked directly to Dmitri.

"By... Cutting ourselves?" At the sight of Maiek cutting his forearm, he had looked immediately uncomfortable. "I'm not a surgeon, but... I have a first aid kit. With needles. A pinprick might be hard to see from a distance, though."

He flipped the dagger around and held it out to anyone brave enough to take it. You'd need to come closer, though.

Groznin didn’t particularly like the sight of blood, but he didn’t particularly like the idea of being stabbed by a priest either. “Is there anything else we can do to prove that we’re real?” He asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.

Twelve approached slightly closer to the Romulan. She initially stopped and started to fiddle with her med kit. At what the Romulan then did, Twelve stopped that and then started to approach the Romulan. She then extended her hand and reached out for the blade. "We will offer proof."

Still holding it. He gave Groznin a silent, haunted stare. Asshole.

Twelve stepped closer and moved to take the blade then, the Romulan watched carefully as she ensured her other hand was visible. She, they happened to be certain that this was stupid in some respects. At present the El-Aurian lacked much care about that. If this was the civilian he needed proof and well, a cut could be treated, so could the product of her action resulting in something...else, she, they hoped. "We're going to take the blade now, make the cut." Twelve started then before she added. "That is, unless you'd like to do so, then we can offer you a palm."

"Just fucking do it already before I decide that I'm done with you!" he snapped, baring his teeth.

Groznin held his hands up. “Fine!” He really did not want to do a blood sacrifice today, but what he wanted even less was for the priest to be the one cutting him.

Twelve grabbed the hilt then and proceeded to do as requested. They simply took the blade and proceeded to make a cut on her arms outer side. They initially considered the finger tip then remembered they happened to have borg metal finger tips on that hand, hrm. Once done, the ex-Borg presented the arm to the other as blood ran down it. "Is this sufficient proof?" (edited)

His eyes followed the swelling of the beads, and as they ran down, down, down... (edited)

"You are real," he rasped out tiredly, all of the previous bravado leaving him in one exhale as he stepped back and then leaned against the doorframe, motion heavy. Suddenly, he just looked... worn out. "Fuck..."

"Okay, get over here so we can treat you—" Kirio was immediately moving over, offering Maiek their shoulder for support. "What the hell happened?"

He was glad Twelve had stepped in. Cutting himself was not something that would put him in a good state of mind. He approached Maiek and Kirio, and added, "We were with you before the stampede hit. You just vanished into thin air."

”Jesus… We gotta take him back to the house!” Although they still had people to search for, Maiek was in no condition to proceed with them. He needed somewhere safe to be treated. “He is too hurt and tired. Surely the colonists would agree…” After seeing him, went unsaid.

Groznin moved made a sigh of relief, only one of them had to be cut and bleed. That was good, Groznin wasn’t sure how good he’d be at safely cutting himself. Mostly he was just glad that the civilian they had brought was alive.

"You require a oxygen mask before this conversation continues." The El-Aurian stated bluntly then as she idly proceeded to reach into her med kit as she started to treat the injury. Mid way through the motions, she paused, turned and offered the Romulan his dagger back. "Your blade, sir."

The dagger was taken back into his hands, cleaned, slow and thorough, and then slid back into it's sheath by his thigh. He began speaking as he worked: "Saw locals falling. Ran to try and help. Ended up... lost, pretty much immediately. This thing deemed me a delicious little morsel, unfortunately. Kept me... awake." "I ended up here by accident. Had to gut a look-alike of our security Lieutenant here, sorry for that. Figured out this thing doesn't know how to bleed realistically, nor what living beings really even look like on the inside... I am not sure how much of my recent memory is real and lucid... except for one thing." Something in his facial expression changed, then. It was almost a smirk, though it's nature was... hard to pinpoint. It was not a good one, though. Too toothy... "I have a little surprise for you all in the back of this lovely little chapel. Would you care to go and look?"

Nothing more attractive than a man who could handle his dagger, as they say. Anyway, he replied, "I would care. Enthusiastically. Lead the way." Time for the truth!

“That… sounds like a trustworthy and normal thing to say to people in this scenario.” He mumbled, “Uh… how cool are you with people staying back? Or is this an everybody goes thing?”

Yeah, Maiek did need a mask.. wait! Yeah! Tavek didn’t even need to breathe anyway! “Good thing we’ve got a spare mask. I don’t breathe, so I’ve been saving this as a spare for when we found you.” He said to Maiek, going over and holding out the oxygen mask he’d been carrying to him.

Groznin really did not care to go look at a little surprise in a lovely little chapel. “Do we uh, have to?”

”Indeed, totally sane my dude.” She stored her tools preparing to follow. “Might be a good idea some stay and check the perimeter.” She offered to Ed and the others. One, because she really thought it was a good idea and, two, because she didn’t ask of anyone else to be cool with this level of insanity. “I’m going. There may be an… engineering explanation for all of this. Either way, I’m checking.”

"How uncurious of you. Aren't all Starfleet officers supposed to be enthusiastic about trouble?" he mused, muffled by the oxygen mask Tavek gave to him that he was now cradling near lovingly - couldn't blame him, for Maiek could quite literally feel some of his sanity returning with every breath. "The chapel has double doors, with these second ones having windows. You can take a peek in there." He was trying really hard not to laugh, actually. "Can I ask one of the medics to check my side? I got nicked there."

“…mmmmmfine. Okay. Uh… I’ll go with the crew going inside, just in case.” He whispered to himself, folding his arms over his chest.

“I’ll go too, then.” Engineers of a feather flock together, or something.

"Sure." He was right there, and it seemed like everyone else were engineers. "Shirt up."

”Give them a break. It takes some good decades to get to this level of reckless.” She joked with a smile, concealed by her mask. As Tavek and Ed put themselves forward then, she tapped them in the arm. “We watch each others back then.”

Groznin didn’t really want the group to split up, and what could he say, he was actually pretty curious. “Fine, I’ll go.” Just to keep eyes on the civilian.

Also nearby, Twelve glanced to Dimitri, watched them work for a moment and then turned away. He had this covered, they hoped, Twelve had something else to deal with. As she headed to tag along with the going to look group, Twelve rummaged in her med kit and grabbed what she needed as she started to address her knife cut. It needed seeing to. First she cleaned the wound then she worked on it with a dermal regenerator once she was satisfied. Once she'd treated it, the El-Aurian softly issued a. "Hrm." Then stated. "We'll follow you, lieutenant commander." As she looked to Beatriz.

Shocei, despite the wonders of peer pressure, stayed put behind the grave marker. There was no way in hell she was going to a second location with a recently-knife-wielding person. She opted to not say anything and hope no one noticed her.

”Guess all aboard Creepy Church Express!” She nodded to Twelve and Groznin.

Diahjir was worried that this would go... badly to put it lightly.

“Choo choo.” He supplied, exhaling and pulling his hair out of his face.

Twelve nodded and then started toward a window. When the door opened, she'd go in, but for now she wanted to look inside. Once close enough, she peered through the window!

And without further ado she walked to the doors, hoping medical and security were not much behind. “Mind the gap…. Ha.” She opened them.

Like the engineering duckling he was, he followed.

And so, inside... was an older man, dressed similarly to Arnin, tied to some random chair in the middle of a small room. He was staring right back at the onlookers, expression somewhere between abject horror, deep embarrassment, and utter confusion.

"That's elder Omur! He guided me here, after finding me in the fog," Maiek explained, utterly cheerful, while he did as he was told by the medic, shifting the cloth and the bone charms out of their way to access his damaged skin. "He then tried to kill me while we were barricading this chapel. Ain't all that just curious."

3

“That’s the, um… that’s her dad, right?” He turned to the others, brows up to the sky in shock. Horrifying, but okay.

“That’s not Arnin…” Groznin said, looking between both the man and Maiek in abject horror. What was the meaning of this?

“Sorry. Um… same outfit. Similar outfit, at least?” He mumbled, “I’m gonna stand at the back.”

”Wrong elder.” Garcia whispered to Ed. “The father is Arnin.” She would close the doors once everyone was inside.

He fixed Maiek up with a quick dermal regen. Good as new! Then he went to Garcia, taking a look at the man and then closing the door so the fog couldn't get inside, because they weren't all going in yet. "He's not allowed to vape. Doctor's orders."

While overhearing the commotion near the chapel, Shocei decided she may as well sit down and stay a while. She looked at the stone she had been hiding behind and noticing the dirt and algae growing on the engraving, she takes out her multitool and starts carefully scraping it off, just so the letters are visible. She was largely ignoring the business with the knife-having-stranger.

She raised both brows at the doctor that had just closed the door she still stood holding. “Hey rude! You could’ve asked me to close it.”

He shrugged. "Quicker this way." That man wasn't going to be much good to question if he was seeing things.

So that’s how it was with him huh. “And rude, mister doctor.” He was definitely not getting an invite to her next party at this rate. “If you’re worried about speed, better get quicker on learning your manners, just an advice from everything I’ve seen so far.” She crossed her arms. Her comment almost seemed motherly in nature.

He sighed into his oxygen mask and walked away, going to one of the windows to stare at a tied up old guy. Normal Saturday night.

Kirio figured it was safer to stay outside with the injured civilian in case anything happened, but.. "Freaky," they mumbled under their breath. They were sure everyone else could interrogate him, right?..

Maggie was here! And masked up, always remember safety kids!! She stood near the security officer, seeing them as a safe point given well, their job. “Yeah.” She muttered under her breath. “I remember when I thought this was gonna be a nice mission.”

Having looked through a window for a time, Twelve arrived at her own decision what to do especially given who had happened to have just gone in, opened the door. "The prisoner may require medical assessment." Twelve swiftly stepped in, allowed the door to close behind her unlocked but she hoped, closed sufficiently enough it'd let no fog in until the next person opened it. Then well, that'd be the next persons problem, so Twelve reckoned it. Once in, Twelve stated. "First, we do not intend to untie you, it has been reported you attacked someone." The El-Aurian commenced then. "Second, do you require medical assistance, given the reported...disagreement?"

Garcia went inside right after Twelve, but not before sparing Maiek a glance, wondering if he would eventually join. Part of her believed that, out of everyone around, he would probably have the best skills as an interrogator. And she was not sure how that assessment made her feel. She closed the door behind her.

He recognised that he was a member of senior staff -- that he had some sort of seniority and that he needed to set a good example. He rushed inside to get out of the fog, and he thought of things that he could say to interrogate. "You are an elder of this church, correct? Could you tell me exactly what this 'ritual' that keeps the fog away is?"

Fuck, he had no clue what church people did. He’d never been to one, never attended a service, and had never dealt with tied up church members. Maybe the latter wasn’t casual church shit. He lingered beside the other engineers, waiting for some kind of direction.

Seeing Twelve, Diahjir, and others approach them, the elder immediately began babbling: "No, please, do not approach me any further! That-- that insane priest of yours ambushed me and tortured me! I don't want you to do the same! Please, untie me and let me go to my family, please!"

"Hey, thank you for recognizing my position this time!" he grinned as he approached, though the grimace lacked any sort of amusement in it. "Before that, you called me a heretic, amongst some choice expletives."

2

The detective's eyes narrowed just barely, and they motioned for one of the medical officers to scan for injuries. "Now why would he do that?.."

”Torture is against Starfleet Code, we will do no such thing!” Though… had Maiek resorted to such desperate means? He was not one of their officers… but why waste time questioning someone by torture and have them re-question them? She looked at the tied man. A medical exam would show evidence for sure. “We do have questions though. We might be able to help everyone if you answer them!”

"It would mean a lot if you could answer the doctor's question about the ritual," they said. "And if you've got any wounds, we can treat them. We've got no intention of harming you."

He performed a scan, making sure to pay extra attention for signs of torture -- even if he did not believe the elder's story whatsoever.

"W-well I can't trust you!" they sputtered out, eyes bulging and shoulders hunched. Damn. Oh, and the medical scan came out completely, squeaky clean. Funny how that works!

"I know that you are lying about being injured. There is nothing on this scan that would indicate physical torture -- like you saif that you received." He spoke, his eyes narrowing slightly. Something was off here, and he just needed to figure out what.

"What can we do to help you trust us?" the detective asked gently, tilting their head. "I would like to not have to cut open any more crewmates, if that's alright."

Honestly… Garcia was not so sure if they should be worried about the guy trusting them… nor if that would bring them answers. The elder didn’t seem… right. The vibes were off, and that is to say a lot with all that had already happened. “Trust is a two way street. Why did you lie about the priest’s actions?” And if he lied about the torture, probably Maiek had spoken the truth. “What did you do to make him tie you up? Did you really attempt to hurt him?” Did he really try to kill him? Why? Was it the fog? Or was it… something else? Maiek’s words seemed to suggest the elder had had shelter here, away from its maddening influence. (edited)

He'd come in already, but was standing around watching, or maybe sitting down on some uncomfortable wooden chair somewhere.

Groznin was present, but he wasn’t great with people, he knew he wouldn’t be good interrogating this man about why he lied about torture. So instead, he stayed to the back.

Kirio turned their head a little to speak to Maiek; "Was it him, or did you get hurt when.." they gestured vaguely to their face.

"He got my side. Was smart enough to try me while I turned away from him. Not smart enough for everything else," he informed Kirio evenly. "So to the timeout chair he went!"

The figure deflated, giving way to frustration from not being believed to, "It was... it was self-defense. Please, release me and I'll... tell you everything! Yes. But keep your... him... away from me!"

Twelve looked to the others present and then returned her gaze back to the prisoner. "We will check for self-defence related injuries." The El-Aurian stated then before they promptly scanned the elder for anything that would have suggested self-defense, scrapes wounds or even bruises that might have suggested there was any credence to the mans story. As she did that, Twelve glanced over at Maiek and visually assessed them for any sign of injury. Twelve needed further information, even a treated injury, now effectively disappeared or no, that had caused disruption to garments offered data. When her tricorder then chimed a indication it'd finished the scan, Twelve looked to it. She was unsurprised by the result, utterly unsurprised. As she fixed the elder with her calm gaze and turned it to them, Twelve observed. "Your scan results have not changed in the past few minutes, Elder." (edited)

Kirio sighed, crossing their arms and leaning against the wall. "As it stands right now, you're a dangerous individual, and shouldn't be trusted unrestrained. You are not being untied, sir. Now— would you like more people to die in the fog, or would you like to be useful?"

”You have no injuries, our doctors checked you twice. Plus, if he was trying to hurt you in the first place, why stop after he had you defenseless? Why bring us?” Garcia observed, now feeling very curious about the man’s desperation. Why did he want Maiek away so badly? Was he scared about the possibility of retribution? “He subdued you and tied you with no damage. What are you so afraid of? Your story… makes no sense!”

Sensing defeat, the man decided to switch up his game - gone was the feeble hurt, out came, well... the truth. "Because he, nor any of you, should be here! The fog came because of you! It came from the underground, and it--"

"You are such a little pest!" the Romulan laughed, making the elder freeze up in absolute shock from Maiek's audacity. "You've had Starfleet running around this place for years now, annually. Yet now it gets all pissy? Buddy..." He looked to the officers, then: "You know, he was talking a lot about the main church before he decided to act stupid. Makes me think there's something real important in there... would I be right?"

She furrowed her brows even further. “The underground… wait yes! Arnin’s daughter, Rami, mentioned a sort of cave that is apparently inside the church? She said her father goes there for the ritual!”

Iki was cognisant enough to realise there were important things being said. They were trying to follow along, but it was hard, they could feel themself functioning suboptimally, an anxiety they usually managed a lot better having bubbled to the surface in a way that would require some serious meditation to get on top of again... and maybe a video call with their therapist. The fact that the fog played with your senses and made hallucinations real was not helping either. Normally, they'd have been able to reason their way out of most situations, but like this... they felt weak. Useless. "I would like to finally know what that ritual entails," they said, not quite loud enough to grab much attention or convince anyone who knew them they were doing fine, but certainly not mumbled or whispered.

He'd been inching toward Groz as everyone spoke - not to say anything; he just wanted to feel less alone. His head felt like sludge, and the silence of the chapel filled him with an unfamiliar peace. It was rare that his head was quiet, and he wasn't sure that he liked it. It was relief, in some ways... but he didn't feel like himself.

Groznin noticed Dmitri get closer, but he didn’t do anything about it. After everything that had happened that day there was no use in trying to avoid him anymore. He folded his arms and watched the other officers try to interrogate the elder and figure out how to fix this. This was going to be one hell of a mission report.

"She mentioned that!?" the man went pale, immediately biting his lip as his brain caught up to his blurt-out.

"Ooh, she mentioned that?" Maiek crooned, pleased with that information. "How curious. And yes, the scientist here posed a very good question. What is the ritual?"

"I won't tell you!" he tried to move his body, as if to turn away, but, well.. the chair made that task all the more difficult. "Only me, other elders, and Arnin can participate in it to... t-to calm the spirits!"

"And look where that got you," Maiek took a heavy step closer, only for Omur to immediately recoil. "I heavily encourage you to stop wasting our time and start talking..."

"Mr. tr'Shen.." There was a subtle, slight warning in their tone— not intended as anything but a signal to back off. They knew he tried to attack him, but threatening him wouldn't be the right way to go about things from their own code. Kirio's brows furrowed. "Well, your ritual failed, didn't it? Something went wrong. As far as we all know, the other elders are lost to the fog— and if you have no one to replace them, then all of us are going to be stuck in this forever, and we're gonna to have to learn to get along. So." (edited)

”Okay so what went wrong then?” Garcia pipped in with the same question she had once made Rami. Only this time, someone who actually could hold the answer was tied up before them. “If you know how to, what didn’t you do that you should have done to put all of us in this mess?”

Groznin stayed to to back, unspeaking and sending the occasional glance to Dmitri. He felt like something was about to happen, something big and bad, but he didn’t know what. He tapped his hand against his arm in nervous anticipation.

He glanced back at Kirio, holding his gaze on them for a moment too long to be comfortable... but relented, stepping back with a small sigh.

"Something... might've gone wrong, yes," he replied, looking to the side. "It was... unexpected, and I personally doubt that it was the fault of our previous ritual. We might... we might need to go and perform another one. Yes. That could be... a good idea." He looked up at the officers, then. "If you help me get to the main church... I might try to fix everything. Maybe there are others there, perhaps even Arnin!"

No way. He didn't trust this man and his 'rituals'. He approached Kirio and asked: "And what if his new ritual is just another attempt to get rid of us? Am I alone in thinking this is suspicious?"

"Not in the slightest, but what other choice do we have?.." The detective huffed, crossing their arms. "We have to get to the church regardless."

"They've mentioned the ritual a bunch..." Was Iki coming back to themselves, just a little? "We could at least go see, we'd probably outnumber them significantly." They had to call one another on honest-to-god landlines, they were probably not all deliberately congregating in a cave specifically to murder an entire away team. (edited)

"No you're not!" Garcia looked between Dmitri and the elder, nodding franctically. "First you attack one of ours, lie to us and act all frightened. Then you try to put all of this on our presence saying we are the ones to blame. Now you suddenly think it is a good idea to take us, outsiders, into one of your most sacred places to perform a ritual only a small portion of your people has the right to know how it works?!" She looked back at Kirio then. "Honestly, any choice that makes a bit more of sense than this! I don't buy it!"

"I am not taking you inside, obviously!" Omur snapped. "I only need help getting there! If i get to the church, I can get to the cave, and chase the beasts away! And then you can get off of this planet! Do any of you have a better idea on what to do, then?.."

"You're scared of it, aren't you?" Maiek's voice came through like a taunting ghost, "Arnin spoke of your gods with such reverie, and yet... you're terrified. Can't even face it alone. Are you not telling us something, old man?.."

Oh, he was getting inside that church. "What, so we don't find your giant fog machine?" It was all smoke and mirrors to him. "Who was the first to discover these 'rituals', may I ask?"

Groznin wasn’t going to say anything, but there were too many inconsistencies for him to feel right just waiting outside. He began tapping his foot as well.

"Whatever it is, I vote we figure it out for ourselves." Kirio cast a glance off to the side to Groznin, though kept their mouth shut. If he wanted things to go quicker he could, you know, help... But eh. "I don't know how much more information we can get out of him. But either way, you—" with a gesture to Omur— "are under arrest for assault of a civilian under the protection of Starfleet, and will remain in our custody until we can get in contact with local enforcement, and will proceed according to your laws. 'kay?"

A pause. As Omur's eyes widened in horror...

...Maiek just burst out into a wheezy sort of cackle, bending in two and smacking his hand against the nearby table. His other hand then was pointed at the elder, and he sputtered out a very triumphant, "Sucke-e-er!" (edited)

1

The tapping immediately got to Garcia. This new command guy was... something. Sometimes too quiet, sometimes too chatty. He held the authority of a high rank, a rank as high as hers but with definitely more power considering he was directly in the division responsible for coordinating them all, but she had yet to see him step into that role. Yet to see him wear said authority and give them all a clear order. Somewhat too... passive for an officer of his role. And if she was going to be honest, she would have expected more direction and decisive action. The kind their security Lt. JG. was currently demonstrating. Kirio, was it not? Theirs was a solution that made her a bit less wary of going to the church, knowing they had the elder contained. It may also discourage other elders they might encounter to take action against their group. "Okay, that's a bit better, I gotta admit lieutenant. Smart."

They moved to apply the space handcuffs equivalent, and, with quick, nimble fingers, untied the rope with practiced ease before tossing it over their shoulder. Going through the motions was second nature to Kirio at this point, reading off rights, etc... "You 'n me will keep up the middle," they said brightly, then, "Let's move." to the group. (edited)

And with that, the group should begin to step out of the chapel, back into the cemetery... back into the fog.

Oh, right— They put their spare mask on Omur. Tavek had given his up, so the spare came in handy. (They didn't know he didn't breathe, whoops.)

Groznin made a face. He hadn’t exactly been expecting an arrest, but he wasn’t going to say anything about it. After all it got him to move with the group, to give them all a reason to watch the ritual that Groznin was so curious about. Staying quiet, Groznin left with the group.

"Moving." He left the chapel. Great. The fog. His best friend the fog. Yay.

And out of the church and into the fog and home before dawn! At least she hoped as the chilly air surrounded her yet again, her ears expecting to again hear the whispers that had haunted them up until this point. At least the masks kept the worst of the illusions at bay.

Iki was sticking closer to the back this time, useless in a fight and not feeling great besides. They wanted to know what the ritual was, though. What had managed to reinforce these people's belief in the power of their leader to repel the fog?

Such was looking like a flesh-guy, people assumed you needed to breathe and eat and all that. He’d stayed quiet, as his input wouldn’t have been of much value here (he was much more used to making machines behave, not sapient people). He followed everyone else out.

People. Endless field of people, gathered around their gravestones, their whispers filling the air and turning it heavy. The fog, someone said. The ritual, other one feared. Liars, many of them hissed. Feathers. As if a great beast shed them all over the place, alongside some of it's scales. Some of them were slowly morphing into flowers. The front wall of the chapel did not sit still, either. It rustled, gently, the movement of a million tiny wings before suddenly this massive colony of moths took flight, undoing their formation in one wingbeat, flying into and above the leaving group, the little omens of death...

3

Aw, man. Omens of death were his LEAST favourite omens. "You will not defeat me," he muttered to himself, though anyone close enough might hear it.

He shuddered, marching right along with the others. The whole place creeped him out, really, what with the dead people and having just questioned a tied up dude.

Omens of death. Sure, some popular tales, some parts of popular beliefs could associate moths with death. But that was not the only symbology chained to them. Garcia could remember how her grandmother would greet and then farewell every moth that entered her living room. “It’s a visit. I’m old and I know a lot of people who have already passed, it’s why they come so much, I have a lot of visitors and one day I’ll fly to visit you as well.” The scenery changing around them. Moths were also a symbol of transformation. And in the middle of all of that dread and fear, Garcia felt like this moment was a confirmation that they might be taking the correct path. To dive into the deep and find the hidden truth, like a moth dives into the flame. The cave and its secrets awaited them. (edited)

2

There wasn't really a good moment for Iki to be confronted with lepidoptera. Like, at all. And even one wasn't good for Iki on most days, comprising a "ruin your day" kind of event at best and a "replan your next week because you will have to recover from the crashout of a century" at worst. Truth be told, though, this was probably the worst possible time for Iki to be confronted with... Iki couldn't even tell if they were moths or butterflies or what they specifically were. It probably didn't matter. With how the fears had manifested before, they had seemed dangerous, out to hurt, to kill, to confuse and to lead astray. The wall of beasts... Iki stopped walking abruptly, stiffening as if turned to stone. They sort of forgot to make a sound, though with how all the breath left their body and never returned to them, they might not have been able to cry out even if they'd remembered to. They had been wearing the mask, right? They had been wearing the mask. Was there a leak? Was it faulty? They couldn't think any more on it. Their eyes had closed of their own volition, and it didn't occur to them that this was the exact most dangerous thing to do right now. They were afraid to breathe, but their chest was starting to hurt now- although that might have been their heart working overtime. There was a reason people often confused panic attacks for heart attacks.

6

Kirio was more focused on the voices around them than everything morphing, changing. The fog. The rituals. Liars. Their thoughts were churning endlessly. There was a piece they were missing, and they had no doubt the cavern would be the key. Lingering close to the middle of the group, one hand on Omur's arm and the other on their phaser, "Keep walking. No funny business," they muttered, eyes sweeping the area for any sign of the source of the feathers.

He was reasonably comforted by the knowledge that everyone else was also seeing this, as well as the feel of the canister and mask in his hand. The meds were also helping. He pushed the omens into the back of his mind; he would not succumb to meaningless superstition. He was better than that. "Are you alright?" He asked Iki, who seemed troubled.

It wasn’t that Denobulans hallucinated often, but it was known to occurs and be a good way of dealing with stress. Groznin had experienced them, and for him at least, they were normally rather pleasant. That difference between those hallucinations and this one coupled with the knowledge that the fog had hallucinogenic properties clued Groznin in to know that this was the fog’s doing, and not his own brain. He looked around at the people and the moths, feeling more unsettled than scared. It was probably best to keep moving. “Everybody keep moving.”

His gait paused, before Maiek took a beeline towards Iki, not reaching out to them yet - but watching if any reaction followed to Dmitri's question.

There was blood rushing in their ears. They couldn't hear anything except their own pulse, and so Dmitri's question went unnoticed and unanswered, their eyes only screwing further closed.

"Ensign," he spoke up gently, standing to their side. "You're okay. You're okay..." Seeing as there was no reaction to his nor Dmitri's words, Maiek opted to try and hold their uniform sleeve, pinched loosely between his fingers. What about touch and movement?

Shocei watched the people appear, remaining sat against a headstone. At first she worried that the colonists were angry about something else, but a gut feeling told her otherwise. The feathers morphing into other things and the bugs? She decided none of that was real. Just more shapes in the fog. Maybe a projection or holograms or some other strange technology. Her growing worry melted away as she came up with her own explanations. When the rest of the team moved off, she grabbed her toolkit and went to follow, leaving a slightly cleaner gravestone behind her.

She was ready to move when she noticed three figures standing still. The science ensign, the rude doctor of before and Maiek. The Ensign had their eyes closed shut, forcefully, she couldn’t see if they were breathing, in fact they seemed almost morphed into a stone effigy. She worried, of course, but decided to ultimately stay put, against every wish to rush to their aid. Maiek and the doctor seemed to already be trying to offer them assistance, she didn’t want to make things worse by crowding around them. She hoped those other two knew what they were doing though, as she watched them like a hawk. (edited)

Someone was grabbing at their sleeve, and it returned them to their body, but only somewhat. They took in a sharp breath, then remembered that their mask might be leaking, and what the fog was doing to them. To everyone, but to them. "Please-" they whispered, their hands balled into fists so they wouldn't shake, nails pressing into their skin. There were tears wetting their lashes, starting to bead in the corners of their eyes.

Twelve stepped outside with the rest of the group. Once outside, as the El-Aurian beheld the endless fields of people, the fog, they initially just started to check their mask for damage. Then the moths came swiftly on the heels of all that, as Twelve worked. The presence of them, how rapidly they moved, twitched her focus in a shocked start away from that check. With what occurred with Iki noticed out of the corner of one eye, Twelve initially remained still as she inhaled then exhaled. Inhaled, then exhaled. Did they require assistance, Twelve answered that question swiftly, the two people with them noticed. Yes, but they had sufficient people present around them. So, she moved to follow the team, did so then paused as she noted another had stopped. Her jaw worked then. Was the group going to break up, some remaining with the ensign others going, she wondered or well worried? Would the whispers stop? Would the voices so many voices that whispered cease at some point? Voices that reminded Twelve of the first home she, they remembered. So many voices, she missed the chorus of voices. Missed it, missed the Collective, that hell, missed the Cooperative. "Lieutenant Commander, should we ask the others to hold a moment?" The El-Aurian softly asked the other officer that watched the priest and that doctor.

He took a moment to think of a less clinical way to ask them to state the nature of their problem. This wasn't an appointment. "What troubles you? Maybe we can help." Some part of him always assumed that if he could understand a problem, then he could fix it.

"Yes." That was the immediate answer. "Yes, please, ask them. Its not wise to leave them behind, we can spare the ensign a moment, I'm sure." Leave the three to continue? Leave them in the middle of the fog, with the creatures, no means of communication and someone clearly having problems? Unnaceptable.

Kirio paused, briefly glancing over their shoulder to see what the fuss was about. They remained stationary, though, their hold on the priest tight.

"Let's not do that, okay? Here, you can hold onto my arm," thick sleeve, warmth underneath, "or here instead," he picked up one of Iki's hands and bumped it against the metal coins and smooth bone and warm, silky cloth that all resided on his wide belt, tied to it and around his body. "Keep breathing. You're doing great."

Those words, they provided a anchor for the El-Aurian. Thoughts of home were all well and good but they were a individual, they happened to have duties to attend to. The emotional response fostered by this reminder of home in a grim sense, even if they happened to contain the statements they did was well. Not something Twelve much liked at present. "We understand, we shall do so." Mixed emotions. Home, cause voices in their mind that guided them from duty to duty was what she remembered. Oh, Twelve very much disliked this feeling. So, she pushed it aside as much as she could and focused on duty, headed toward the Security lieutenant. "We need to pause for a moment, the civilian and a fellow medical officer are checking on a officer in need of assistance." The El-Aurian informed the other then.

"Yeah, I can see that," they said quietly, remaining still. Instead, they focused forward, keeping a close hold on Omur and watching for any sign of shadows shifting in the fog in front of them.

Iki allowed their hand to unfurl, but barely, clamping immediately to Maiek's sleeve and not letting go again. Their breaths were shallow and loud, even through the mask. They knew they were panicking, which was the worst part. They weren't sure which parts of their thought process were rational and which ones were panic-based, and so everything felt urgent and nothing felt actionable. They tried to take a deeper breath, but it got stuck, and they started coughing. Was it the fog that got in their lungs? Was that panic or rationality? They needed to get out of the fog. "Go," they tried, trying to stop coughing. "Please walk." Their voice cracked and broke on the lump in their throat.

The detective nodded and continued along. To the church, then!

She would have offered the, amazingly, shorter-than-her ensign a smile if she hadn't been wearing a mask herself. A nod was given instead, before they all begun to march towards their next target again. "We're here for anything and everything ensign."

He began to lead them, then, murmuring some more of his nonsense to perhaps try and battle whatever noise was going on in their head.

After walking out of the cemetery's gates, Omur pointed out a shortcut towards the church...

He began walking, hoping Iki and Maiek would follow. Many solutions he could think of would not work here, like offering a glass of water, or an examination, or a hypospray. As he left the cemetery, he had little help to offer except to try and model the rhythmic breathing exercises he was taught. In four, out four... Except he always did it in fives, because four was a cursed and evil number.

The group would move swiftly towards the main church...