Mind Games: Splitting the Away Team

Posted on Thu Jan 18th, 2024 @ 1:50am by Commander Patricia Cooke & I-400 & Boso Gane & Lieutenant Commander Lahki Bakshi Dr & Lieutenant Akira Kogami & Lieutenant JG Eradaar Ezazzan & Lieutenant JG Danielle Sidney

1,472 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: From the Inside

Previously, on Star Trek: Missouri:

Patricia then shot the main I-400, disabling the unit, but not the rest of the I-400 drones.

"Cooke to away team:" She said, beginning to make her way back to the beam-in point. "I-400 might be plotting to depressurize the-!"

Patricia rounded the corner and she trailed off by what she saw, or rather, where she found herself, next...

And now, the continuation:

During the three way scuffle between the Missouri away team, I-400, and Klawe's men, I-400 approached Boso, the male Hebitian twin, via one of her drones:

"It's time for some mind games:" I-400 relayed through the drone.

"Split them up." Boso responded. "I won't be able to get to them together."

I-400 nodded. Fortunately, the AI had just obtained a way of doing just that:

[Away team's location]

"Cooke to away team-" Came Patricia's voice before it was suddenly cut off by static:

=A=Away Team to Cooke,=A= Akira attempted to radio back. =A=You'll need to repeat yourself, Captain, we're experiencing some kind of signal interference.=A=

"Sir, you might want to have a look at this:" A security officer interjected, showing Akira his tricorder:

The tricorder was revealing that the emergency transmitter of Patricia's combadge had been activated.

"Damn!" Akira cursed under her breath. "Guys, we've gotta get a move on! The Captain's in trouble!"

Lahki, too, was having trouble with the COMMS. =/\=Come again, Akria? I can't hear you. Let me move closer.=/\=

She headed away from the alcove, where she was putting her kit away after fixing up Eradaar. Once there, she nodded. "Go where?"

Eradaar rose after her treatment, feeling quite better. She offered a thanks to the Doc before resuming a more protective stance.

"You got it," she replied, to the Gorn. "Let's move out, I guess," she said.

"Wait, hold on!" The junior security officer responded. "I'm picking up the captain's emergency transmitter again in a different location:"

"Wait, what?!" Akira replied as she pulled out her tricorder to verify it for herself.

"Well, that can't be right..."

She tapped on the screen a few times, just to make sure that it wasn't some bug.

"Guys, have a look a look at this!" she called out. "I'm getting Patty's signal in five different locations!"

"What the hell? That's not even possible," Lahki sputtered. She wasn't a scientist but it didn't make logical sense. "Are you sure?"

In the confusion of the firefight, the Gorn had last track of her Captain. The ships Chief Counselor cursed herself as her tail thrashed to and fro. Somehow the enemy had been crafty enough to take advantage of the confusion. Now the Captain was no where to be seen. Eradaar listened to the confusion of her colleagues, then spoke up after she checked her instruments herself. Her tricorder was acting the same way.

"It's a possible ECM or jamming field," Eradaar offered. "We should be prepared for anything."

"It's completely possible," Danielle said. Trying to find the source to no luck. "Im theorizing one of two things Captains equipment is faulty or somehow its been compromised." She thought to herself

"Either possibility is not acceptable," Eradaar remarked, looking around, tense.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that" Danielle said looking rather annoyed.

Lahki sighed. "Give me a moment," she said, stepping to the side. She quieted her mind a moment, trying to see if she could "pick up" the Captain's signature. After a moment, a weak thought appeared in her head. "Move three clicks forward. Captain may be injured, but I can hear her," she said.

Eradaar was quick to follow Lahki's senses. She didn't ask questions, simply began to move forward. She pulled out her phaser and readied for a battle.

While I-400 had done its part in attempting to set up a trap, it seemed like the away team wasn't readily falling for it. Boso knew what his first two targets would need to be: The Betazoid and the Gorn. Take away their teeth and blind them and the others would be easy.

Boso had snuck up behind Eradaar as he got inside her head. The inside of the Gorn's head was quite different from other species whose heads he had invaded, but all species were the same in one regard: They had one thing they feared most; something Boso was looking to exploit to render them out of commission. At last, he found what he was looking for:

"You see your worst fears..." He whispered. "Your nightmares... Brought to life!"

Having done his thing, Boso quickly ducked back into the shadows. Gorn were a lot less predictable than other species, and if he accidentally set her off, the last thing he needed was to be torn to shreds before he could complete his mission.

Eradaar was, for the briefest of moments, paralyzed as something invaded and entered her mind. Tucked away behind decades of mental reinforcement was, in fact, her worst fear. Behind the walls of flame filled with the anguished cries of dying individuals, the remains of a shuttle could be seen. The flames licked at the melting frame of the type 8 shuttlecraft, the writhing dying visible as they also began to melt. Their cries cut short as they joined the mass of burnt bodies surrounding the wreckage. Just inside a nook, hidden between two reinforced frames and protected from the insane temperatures by some miracle, was a young hatchling Gorn trembling in fear.

As the hatchling trembled, so did the Gorn. On the outside she was paralyzed, her eyes wide yet distant. In the reflection of them was the flames of death and the loneliness it would bring. Eradaar's mind, for the briefest of moments, was lost entirely.

Lahki could sense what was happening, and quickly replaced the bad thoughts with calming ones of her own. "Someone's interfering," she said, quietly. "Don't let them get to you," she said. She moved forward a bit, "calling out" for the Captain with her telepathy.

For a moment, Eradaar blinked back to reality. She felt herself involuntarily shiver at the recollection of something so brutally cruel, yet so full of hope and assurance. She snorted, shaking her head, listening to the Betazoid Chief Medical Officer as they literally gripped the Gorn from certain defeat.

"Yes, of course," Eradaar replied to Lahki, a bit of fear and tremble in her voice as she did. How could anyone grasp such hidden pain from her? The Gorn followed after Lahki now, perhaps for protection from the horrors she endured in those few critical minutes. She had relived her life and had it not been for the hopeful moments, she'd likely still be trapped in that isolation.

"I will try to remain vigilant," the Gorn said.

The Betazoid had proven to be quite the powerful psychic, able to combat Boso's own. If he were going to truly succeed at the others, he would need to remove her from play next:

Boso started by responding to the Betazoids calls in the blonde's voice. While she remained in a fugue state, Boso could utilize the blonde in an attempt to lead the Betazoid away from the blonde.

Using the blonde's voice seemed to be working, as the Betazoid seemed to be following the false responses as he led her right to him:

"You have proven to be quite the worthy adversary." He said. "But, even the greatest psychics can be broken..."

She was still moving towards the voice...she realized quickly that she was getting two signals. Which to follow? She couldn't decide. A quick raise of her hand to her temple. "Ow..." she said. Too much data was coming too quickly. Still. She had overcome this before. She could again. "Era, please...keep moving forward. Maybe we should split up..." she said. "I'll go to the left, the signal is stronger there...and you head right...one of them has to be Cooke..." she suddenly felt unsure.

"I'm getting a third signal straight ahead," Akira added, indicating to her tricorder. "Perhaps I should head that way, make sure we cover all our bases?"

Eradaar kept firm mentally in reassurance of her life, her purpose, and her happiness. The darkness was kept away by it. She shared her insights, whispering almost, as she followed the group.

"Remember to keep positive and not let any negative thoughts in," she said. "We are Starfleet, we have purpose, and our purpose to keep our friends and Captain safe."

Posting by

Commander Patricia Cooke
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Lahki Bakshi
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Akira Kogami
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant JG Eradaar Ezazzan
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant JG Danielle Sidney
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer

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