Season 15: Episode 3 - Restless Spirit

[Tanner Lachlyn]

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Lek monitored the power levels and smiled. The old girl was going to be salvageable. Clearly too old for continued service, but she could be brought home and no longer classified as just 'missing'.

"Great work you two. Time to start on the Impulse engines. We need some maneuverability on top of the additional power. M'Nia, you track the deuterium injection rate. Gohun, you keep the EPS taps at level three. When you are ready, sing out and I will initiate the startup sequence."

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Lek looked up from the pool table and blinked in astonishment at the apparitions, not so much as they had appeared, but that they spoke. He looked stunned for a moment before he blinked again and snorted.

"You'd be more scary if you weren't dead. Now, I've got work to do and don't have time for interruptions. I suggest you go find someplace else to haunt or I'll figure out a way to scramble you with an EM pulse. Because while you can't hurt me, an EM pulse will scramble your ectoplasm all over the ship."

Tanner almost burst out laughing at Lek's response to the phantasm. She didn't but the laughter was there, right on the brink.

She manuevered herself closer to the ghostly figures, hands on her phaser encase it turns fowl. They had voices, garbled before but there. Now this communication was clear. It had intent. Intent was something all Security officers had to be able to distinguish.

"Sir," She said to Lek, "These only got more aggressive once the power was on. Would it make sense to conclude that they might respond to light or the new energy?"

[Kinley Garrison]

[engineering]

Kinley noted the power coming on, the systems and computers began waking up from low power mode and their long sleep. The ship began humming and throbbing back to life.

All of the repeating figures seem to become more substantial, and less transparent than they were before.

"œLek to Kinley, we have power, enough to give us some shields, not weapons grade, but enough to protect us from any radiation. It will take about an hour before life support can warm the ship up and provide enough oxygen for us to get out of these suits. Now, we're going to start work in the impulse engines to see if we can get her mobile. Lek out."

Kinley smiled. "œGreat job. I'm glad we've got it up. Let's see if we can get it moving. Keep me updated on your progress."

"Commander Garrison, I can take the far consoles," she said, indicating with the hand not clutching her phasers to a bank of computers against the far wall, where the Helmspeople and navigators usually sat. "If Reid wants to cover the Command consoles. Then I can double back to Science and Astrometrics,"

Reid to Garrison. If we want to get full control of the Jupiter we're going to need Command Codes to override the lockout, so we're going to need a Command-Level Officer to unlock the controls. Either that or"¦I could try to get us around it. The computer's security protocols are nearly twenty years out of date. I may be able to open full access, but it will take time. Orders, Commander?"

Kinley nodded to Reid and Lorut's updates. "œOkay. I'd get started on the override protocols for life support and communications. In the meantime, I'll get the Captain on the line so he or the Commander can come over to fully give us the controls. "œ She said, calling the Discovery to give them an update.

"œThis is Garrison to Discovery, we've got the ship's power and shields back up, and are ready for a member of Command to- What the-?""œ  
She was interrupted by the alert coming from the comm system.

"Repel the Intruders!"  The voice sounded over the comm system.   Suddenly a team of security personnel appeared at the entrance to Main Engineering, each with a phaser that they held in hand.   Behind them stood a burly-looking Grazerite with huge bull-like horns in an Engineering yellow uniform.  "No one messes with my girl, Jupiter, and gets away with it!  Surrender now or face the consequences!"

"œ Um, sirs, I'm going to have to call you back. The ghosts we're encountering- I think they're coming.

She said, pulling out her phaser. And began looking for a way to stop them from hurting her crew.

[Dem Broadshire]

Prologue

It had been weeks since the Dominion mission. Dem, like everyone else tried to shrug of all that had happened and move on in their lives. Except in his mind it had become apparent that he would not move on so easily. Every time he walked down a corridor, saw an officer, a sharp pang of pain pulled at his heart. A decision that he made would have resulted in one of their friends dying. Decisions that he made put the entire crew at risk, leading to casualties. Casualties that could have been avoided. This lasted for many weeks. Heavy Drinking, little engagement in any type of social interaction, Dem started to fade into the sea of gray bulkheads that surrounded the crew. More than the loss of the ship, Dem was constantly on edge. Whenever he was down in sickbay, and he saw an injured officer, he would start to panic. Dems breath would become sharper, vision would go blurry, and his broken mind would relay the horrible images of death that he saw stumble through this door a few months earlier. As the weeks progressed, he was even becoming nauseous. He could not perform his job. He could not help people.

Present Day
[Crew Quarters | USS Discovery]

Dem woke up to a searing pain in his neck. He was slumped against the side of his bed, his neck ajar, resting on the grey side of were he seldom slept. Caressing a bottle of spirits between his shaking fingers, he glanced across the room full of empty bottles and strewn blankets. Observing the StarDate in the corner, it took some time to calculate the amount of days left he had of stress leave. Until he promised himself he would see a councilor. Spying last nights dinner still in a small bowl next to the bed, he propped himself up and started to eat what was now a cold soup. He tried to concentrate on the cold, harsh taste of the food, or the smell of the carpet, anything that would stop him thinking about the heart wrenching grief and fear that had consumed him.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain frowned.  This was the last thing he needed.  First the Titan, then the ruse, then this ship... it was just one thing after another.

"Apparently the Prophets are testing me..." he stated, tapping the comm on his chair.  "Bridge to Sickbay.  Where is Commander Thane?"

Unfortunately, while he was trying to clarify, he did have to take quick action.  Quarantine was not a joke. So after he was satisfied with the call from Sickbay, he took action.

"All hands, this is the Captain. We are initiating biohazard quarantine Alert Level 1.  All non-essential personnel are confined to quarters."

"Computer, initiation biohazard alert Level 1.  Voiceprint authorization Tekin five five Beta Charlie." he stated, as the ship was bathed in blue light.

It took him a while to process this. While he had generally followed the mission thus far, this was a step in the wrong direction. A quarantine? How could this happen? It was clear now what he needed to do. While at first struggling to get up, he eventually got himself up and got ready to go on duty, with purpose that he had not experienced for weeks.

[Sickbay | USS Discovery]
After getting up to speed from Dr Sluchaynyy and Betaika, he decided to communicate with the Bridge. "œLieutenant Dem Broadshire Reporting for Duty Sir. Permission to report to the bridge to coordinate the Quarantine effort".

[Malik Grippen]

[USS Discovery-Bridge]

Alex smiled at the compliment of his flying skills. He nodded as he was ready to look at the scans of the nebula as soon as he got it. The tone of Malik's voice likely meant that there was something found that was a serious concern. "œUnderstood Mr. Grippen judging from the scans it looks like it could be slightly concerning." He looked at the scans and swiftly calculated the adjustment so that they could avoid running into it. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before something possibly concerning happened.

[USS Discovery, Bridge]

"Nothing that a professional pilot like yourself can't handle, Mr Graham. Next time we have some downtime, we'll have to go dogfighting over Normandy in the holodeck."

The Earth, World War II dogfighting holodeck program was mucho fun. Particularly with the safety protocols disengaged and the enemy pilots set to "˜Pro'. Malik had enjoyed many hours flying his holo-Spitfire over the English Channel.

Rayek rose from his seat to take a look at the console display of helm officer. "Excellent work, Mr. Grippen.  Continue to keep an eye on them, but if the ship is capable of it, Lek will have the Jupiter ready long before then." he assured the Risian pilot.

"Mr. Graham, downpitch your angle by point zero seven.  That'll give the extended shields been coverage over the Jupiter."

"Aye, commander." Malik continued to monitor the nebula for any further bad behaviour, he wondered how the away team were fairing against the ghost crew. To his satisfaction, he wasn't a part of that chaos. He enjoyed his place in this comfortable bridge-chair with cool climate control and relaxed atmosphere. A Risan Mai-Tai in a cup holder would be nice, but he didn't think the captain would approve.

He was a pilot, his job was to fly the ship and look good whilst doing so. He then noticed the ship doctor arrive and his eyes were drawn to the man's hair. Not bad locks for a Bajoran, he thought. The doctor's hair-performance was impressive, but wasn't at Risan level just yet.

[J.B Dersch]

PO2 Helga Tragnar
[USS Jupiter- Corridors] (earlier)

It took a lot of self-control for Helga not to snatch the phaser away from the trigger-happy Bajoran.  "Do us all a favor, ma'am.... Double check that you have that thing on stun.  I'll haunt you myself in revenge if you get me killed."

[USS Jupiter- Bridge] (present)

A phaser beam lanced out and pierced the white apparition as it faded away.  Helga ran toward Sydney to check on her and if nothing else block any further attacks...  "Are you okay?"

Helga gave Sydney and visual once over, but thankfully the woman didn't appear injured... maybe just a bit embarrassed.   At the quest of 'what was it?'  Helga could only shake her head.

"I'm not sure.  It seemed like just another of the replaying scenes at first... but then it seemed to directly target you."

Seeing that the officer was fine, Helga moved back to her position by the door to watch the hall once more, though she kept glancing back waiting for the loop of the Captain to reappear.  Weird that it hadn't done so immediately like all the rest.

Helga listened to the two officers banter back and forth, the hall way was quiet... same with the bridge.  There was no sign of the Captain apparition, which she supposed was a good thing. But it was weird, because every other crew sighting had looped..  So why didn't this one?

Lights suddenly flickered and came on overhead as well as on several consoles, as they began to power up.

Helga grinned to hear Lek's sexy voice over the comm.  Soon he'd have this bucket of a ship fully-powered and on its way out of this nebula.

But with the lights came other problems... the Captain in White was back and he wasn't alone!  With him appeared the what looked like the majority of his Senior Officers - also dressed in their formal dress uniforms - they are spread out across the bridge standing by their respective stations Helga assumed - perhaps haunting them?  Only they didn't look ghostly at all. They appeared solid as a living person.

Once more the Captain raised his saber "Repel the Intruders!" he called.  The order was sounded throughout the ship.

[USS Jupiter - Engineering] (present)
"Repel the Intruders!"  The voice sounded over the comm system.   Suddenly a team of security personnel appeared at the entrance to Main Engineering, each with a phaser that they held in hand.   Behind them stood a burly-looking Grazerite with huge bull-like horns in an Engineering yellow uniform.  "No one messes with my girl, Jupiter, and gets away with it!  Surrender now or face the consequences!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cmdr. Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

"Kommanderr Thane ees von uf zee patients afflicted, Sir. He just kollapsed.  "

Rayek heard the Captain's orders.   At Level 1, Security personnel would be patrolling to ensure non-essential personnel remained in their quarters.

Rayek rose from his seat to take a look at the console display of helm officer. "Excellent work, Mr. Grippen.  Continue to keep an eye on them, but if the ship is capable of it, Lek will have the Jupiter ready long before then." he assured the Risian pilot.

"Mr. Graham, downpitch your angle by point zero seven.  That'll give the extended shields been coverage over the Jupiter."

[USS Jupiter - Bridge]

As soon as Dersch heard Repal Borders he said "Security Team Weapons Up and Ready!" He took defense Positions along with two other Security officers around the Engineering Officers. This can't get any worse can it!! What ever! Main Goal Protect the Officers at ALL cost. He kept his eyes on the White Uniform wearer. Where the hell did he get a Sword!?! Man hope someone here is thoughtful in fencing! =^=Alpha 2 to Alpha 1 Do you read?=^= Dersch said into his comm badge. Need make sure They know we have company!

[Lek]

Tanner almost burst out laughing at Lek's response to the phantasm. She didn't but the laughter was there, right on the brink.

She manuevered herself closer to the ghostly figures, hands on her phaser encase it turns fowl. They had voices, garbled before but there. Now this communication was clear. It had intent. Intent was something all Security officers had to be able to distinguish.

"Sir," She said to Lek, "These only got more aggressive once the power was on. Would it make sense to conclude that they might respond to light or the new energy?"

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Lek had to admit he was surprised by the suggestion that power was connected to the apparitions, it was a connection he never would have made. Apparitions and ghosts were not part of Ferengi culture. The dead went to the Divine Treasury and bid for their new lives before the Blesses Exchequer, they didn't linger in the mortal realm, thus ghosts didn't frighten Lek. He'd heard about them from others, mostly humans and knew they were often associated with electro-magnetic fields, but now that security woman had said it, there was some logic that additional power in the ship could impact beings that relied on EM fields.

"Lieutenant, you may be onto something. M'nia and Gohun, you continue with the Impulse start up. I'm going to see if I can rig up a surprise for our guests."

Lek grabbed some components from his tool kit and a cable from one of Jupiter's power conduits to rig up a hasty EMP generator.

[Alexander Graham]

PO2 Helga Tragnar
[USS Jupiter- Corridors] (earlier)

It took a lot of self-control for Helga not to snatch the phaser away from the trigger-happy Bajoran.  "Do us all a favor, ma'am.... Double check that you have that thing on stun.  I'll haunt you myself in revenge if you get me killed."

[USS Jupiter- Bridge] (present)

A phaser beam lanced out and pierced the white apparition as it faded away.  Helga ran toward Sydney to check on her and if nothing else block any further attacks...  "Are you okay?"

Helga gave Sydney and visual once over, but thankfully the woman didn't appear injured... maybe just a bit embarrassed.   At the quest of 'what was it?'  Helga could only shake her head.

"I'm not sure.  It seemed like just another of the replaying scenes at first... but then it seemed to directly target you."

Seeing that the officer was fine, Helga moved back to her position by the door to watch the hall once more, though she kept glancing back waiting for the loop of the Captain to reappear.  Weird that it hadn't done so immediately like all the rest.

Helga listened to the two officers banter back and forth, the hall way was quiet... same with the bridge.  There was no sign of the Captain apparition, which she supposed was a good thing. But it was weird, because every other crew sighting had looped..  So why didn't this one?

Lights suddenly flickered and came on overhead as well as on several consoles, as they began to power up.

Helga grinned to hear Lek's sexy voice over the comm.  Soon he'd have this bucket of a ship fully-powered and on its way out of this nebula.

But with the lights came other problems... the Captain in White was back and he wasn't alone!  With him appeared the what looked like the majority of his Senior Officers - also dressed in their formal dress uniforms - they are spread out across the bridge standing by their respective stations Helga assumed - perhaps haunting them?  Only they didn't look ghostly at all. They appeared solid as a living person.

Once more the Captain raised his saber "Repel the Intruders!" he called.  The order was sounded throughout the ship.

[USS Jupiter - Engineering] (present)
"Repel the Intruders!"  The voice sounded over the comm system.   Suddenly a team of security personnel appeared at the entrance to Main Engineering, each with a phaser that they held in hand.   Behind them stood a burly-looking Grazerite with huge bull-like horns in an Engineering yellow uniform.  "No one messes with my girl, Jupiter, and gets away with it!  Surrender now or face the consequences!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cmdr. Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

"Kommanderr Thane ees von uf zee patients afflicted, Sir. He just kollapsed.  "

Rayek heard the Captain's orders.   At Level 1, Security personnel would be patrolling to ensure non-essential personnel remained in their quarters.

Rayek rose from his seat to take a look at the console display of helm officer. "Excellent work, Mr. Grippen.  Continue to keep an eye on them, but if the ship is capable of it, Lek will have the Jupiter ready long before then." he assured the Risian pilot.

"Mr. Graham, downpitch your angle by point zero seven.  That'll give the extended shields been coverage over the Jupiter."

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œUnderstood commander." Alex made the adjustment to the angle by downpitching it by zero seven. It was important that extended shields were there over the Jupiter. He had to admit that he was quite impressed with Lieutenant Grippen's work. He figured that he could learn more from the lieutenant so that he could improve his own work.

[Tanner Lachlyn]

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Lek had to admit he was surprised by the suggestion that power was connected to the apparitions, it was a connection he never would have made. Apparitions and ghosts were not part of Ferengi culture. The dead went to the Divine Treasury and bid for their new lives before the Blesses Exchequer, they didn't linger in the mortal realm, thus ghosts didn't frighten Lek. He'd heard about them from others, mostly humans and knew they were often associated with electro-magnetic fields, but now that security woman had said it, there was some logic that additional power in the ship could impact beings that relied on EM fields.

"Lieutenant, you may be onto something. M'nia and Gohun, you continue with the Impulse start up. I'm going to see if I can rig up a surprise for our guests."

Lek grabbed some components from his tool kit and a cable from one of Jupiter's power conduits to rig up a hasty EMP generator.

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Tanner watched the Ferengi go from 0-60 with an idea, "Do you need an extra pair of hands?" She asked, "I'm not an engineer but I'm not entirely useless either." She looked about at the other Security officers, "And I'm not doing anything else."

[Tekin Nevir]

Cmdr. Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

"Kommanderr Thane ees von uf zee patients afflicted, Sir. He just kollapsed.  "

Rayek heard the Captain's orders.   At Level 1, Security personnel would be patrolling to ensure non-essential personnel remained in their quarters.

Rayek rose from his seat to take a look at the console display of helm officer. "Excellent work, Mr. Grippen.  Continue to keep an eye on them, but if the ship is capable of it, Lek will have the Jupiter ready long before then." he assured the Risian pilot.

"Mr. Graham, downpitch your angle by point zero seven.  That'll give the extended shields been coverage over the Jupiter."

[engineering]

Kinley noted the power coming on, the systems and computers began waking up from low power mode and their long sleep. The ship began humming and throbbing back to life.

All of the repeating figures seem to become more substantial, and less transparent than they were before.
Kinley smiled. "œGreat job. I'm glad we've got it up. Let's see if we can get it moving. Keep me updated on your progress."

Kinley nodded to Reid and Lorut's updates. "œOkay. I'd get started on the override protocols for life support and communications. In the meantime, I'll get the Captain on the line so he or the Commander can come over to fully give us the controls. "œ She said, calling the Discovery to give them an update.

"œThis is Garrison to Discovery, we've got the ship's power and shields back up, and are ready for a member of Command to- What the-?""œ  
She was interrupted by the alert coming from the comm system.

"œ Um, sirs, I'm going to have to call you back. The ghosts we're encountering- I think they're coming.

She said, pulling out her phaser. And began looking for a way to stop them from hurting her crew.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was about to contact the away team to bring them up to speed, but as it turned out, they were already ready for him.  The Captain frowned as he looked out the viewscreen, which was currently showing aft so that they had a view of the Jupiter as its lights started to come on.  He tapped his comm badge instead of engaging the chair.

"Discovery to away team.  Do what you can, but for the time being you are confined to the Jupiter.  Contact the bridge the moment there is a medical issue with the team.  We'll handle system overrides later.  Discovery out."

"Bridge to Sickbay, I need a report... what exactly is this biohazard?"

[Kinley Garrison]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was about to contact the away team to bring them up to speed, but as it turned out, they were already ready for him.  The Captain frowned as he looked out the viewscreen, which was currently showing aft so that they had a view of the Jupiter as its lights started to come on.  He tapped his comm badge instead of engaging the chair.

"Discovery to away team.  Do what you can, but for the time being you are confined to the Jupiter.  Contact the bridge the moment there is a medical issue with the team.  We'll handle system overrides later.  Discovery out."

"Bridge to Sickbay, I need a report... what exactly is this biohazard?"

[Note: there's going to be a captain's log coming soon FYI. ]

[Engineering]

They were confined to the Jupiter? Medical issues? A worried look crossed Kinley's face. What was going on the Discovery?

The  ghosts were a lot less ghostly now that the power was on, and Kinley could see a few more of them moving, with some of the Jupiter's crew moving forward. She saw another man looking sickly now, and suddenly started seizing before he too collapsed.  Something was clicking, but she'd need more evidence.

"œ Reid, Lorut, if you can , I need you to see if you can decode the Captain's logs . I have a hypothesis on what happened here, but I don't know for sure yet.

  "œCaptain, could you explain more what's going on the ship? Everything alright? "œ

[Lorut Vila]

USS Jupiter
Bridge
MD01

Earlier...

Do us all a favor, ma'am.... Double check that you have that thing on stun.  I'll haunt you myself in revenge if you get me killed.

"Calm down, you won't die. I am an excellent shot; the Militia ensured that," she said. She holstered the weapon, though, and sighed. It wasn't like her to react like this. She was normally tense to real danger, yes, but she didn't believe in ghosts. If she didn't believe in the Prophets, why would she believe in ANYTHING?! "Besides, you'd be better than what already haunts me," she said.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later.

Reid, Lorut, if you can , I need you to see if you can decode the Captain's logs. I have a hypothesis on what happened here, but I don't know for sure yet.

Yeah, sure. She'd do that immediately after she found a tap-dancing hippopotamus. =/\=Yes, ma'am, we'll see what we can do.

The lights flickered a bit, but not before her focus was interrupted. A phaser beam fired out in Sydney's direction, from Lt. Tragnar's weapon. Hadn't she just complained about Vila's firing willy-nilly at nothing?! At least...nothing that Vila could see. Yet.

Are you okay?...."I'm not sure.  It seemed like just another of the replaying scenes at first... but then it seemed to directly target you."

She was still eyeballing the other two women. Why was she not seeing the same things yet? Other things, yes...she thought she saw some of the data she was working on flicker around the screen. But she was probably just tired-it was hard to function when she was operating on three hours' sleep, due to her current drying-out.

"Alright, if you're ok...I don't see anything right now"¦what was it?" She asked. Maybe because she lacked faith of any kind? Maybe because she was Bajoran. She had no idea.

She sighed deeply, but turned back to her console. The data was running, but no dice just yet. Her idea hadn't panned out. That's ok, she had more tricks up her sleeve.

Suddenly, she was startled out of her thoughts by a booming voice.

"Repel the Intruders!"  The voice sounded over the comm system.   Suddenly a team of security personnel appeared at the entrance to the Bridge, each with a phaser that they held in hand.   Behind them stood a person in Whites.  "No one messes with my girl, Jupiter, and gets away with it!  Surrender now or face the consequences!"

Vila simply picked up her phaser, which was sitting next to her on the console that she presumed was for the Helmsman, and fired in the direction of the...beings. They apparated then disappeared.

"See?" She said, with a shrug. "Run an override for the Captain's Logs. I am going to the Ready Room to see if I can find anything else. Perhaps his or her personal Hologram machine has something," she said. She looked around. "Security, I need an escort," she said, rolling her eyes. She could probably handle herself but she didn't need Reid or Tragnar tattling that she went alone. Hell, her personality alone was probably what was repelling the "ghosts."

[Rayek trLhoell]

PO2 Helga Tragnar
[USS Jupiter- Bridge]

[USS Jupiter | Bridge]

While the Cryptologist seemed optimistic about her chances of cracking the twenty-year-old encryptions in place, she didn't realize she wouldn't get the chance as the power returning also brought with it a new wrinkle in the Discovery Crew's recovery operation of the Jupiter...

The sudden yell caused Sydney to look up from the Comms Console she'd been diligently working at. Momentarily confused, especially as such an announcement was both out of character and beyond the access that she and Lorut had been able to obtain, it wasn't until she heard the Chief Engineer's voice in her helmet that she glanced over to see a Blue-Shouldered Officer in a very retro uniform looking at her as if she had been caught breaking into a vault.

Jumping back, causing her to tumble out of the seat and to the floor, Sydney began scuttling back as she took in the officer. While it certainly looked like the others they'd encountered, this one was clearly much more"¦solid than the others. Her mind tried to make sense of what she was looking at, but couldn't. Suddenly appearing ghosts, or in this case, very real-looking ghosts were beyond anything she'd studied in her years prior or during Starfleet. Glancing Vila's direction, she saw another standing behind her fellow Ops Officer, causing Sydney to yell out, "LORUT! LOOK OUT!"

Finding her back suddenly coming in contact with one of the vertical surfaces on the antiquated Bridge, Sydney pushed herself up onto her feet before reflexively reaching down to where her sidearm should have been. Her head snapped quickly to her hip as she finally remembered she'd forgotten to grab one. Failing to follow the usual Away Team protocol all because of her aversion to such devices was quickly proving to her why such protocols were in place as she found herself without the tools needed to defend either herself or her fellow officers from the suddenly appearing and clearly hostile apparitions.

[USS Jupiter - Bridge]

As soon as Dersch heard Repal Borders he said "Security Team Weapons Up and Ready!" He took defense Positions along with two other Security officers around the Engineering Operations Officers. This can't get any worse can it!! What ever! Main Goal Protect the Officers at ALL cost. He kept his eyes on the White Uniform wearer. Where the hell did he get a Sword!?! Man hope someone here is thoughtful in fencing! =^=Alpha 2 to Alpha 1 Do you read?=^= Dersch said into his comm badge. Need make sure They know we have company!

Even before Dersch's order, Helga had her phaser rifle up and firing at the white uniformed figure bearing down on Reid - carefully aimed to not be anywhere near the Operations officer- but as expected for ghosts, even these more manifested apparitions were not at all affected by the energy beam.  It passed through them as readily as it would an EMH.  She momentarily considered upping the power level to lethal to see if that might have some effect, but the risk to the other away team members had the idea shelved.

All around, her fellow teammates were attempting to fend off the Jupiter's ghostly bridge crew.  Some with phasers.  Others like ch'Azaahzel opted for something more physical.  Helga was surprised when his grapple actually managed to take hold of something.

Shouldering her firearm, Helga then vaulted over obstacles in her way to attempt a sidelong tackle of the uniformed officer as he swung his saber down towards Reid...

"Repel the Intruders!"  The voice sounded over the comm system.   Suddenly a team of security Bridge personnel appeared throughout the Bridge, each with a phaser that they held in hand.   Behind them stood a person in Whites.  Over the comms she heard"No one messes with my girl, Jupiter, and gets away with it!  Surrender now or face the consequences!"

Vila simply picked up her phaser, which was sitting next to her on the console that she presumed was for the Helmsman, and fired in the direction of the...beings. They apparated then disappeared.

"See?" She said, with a shrug. "Run an override for the Captain's Logs. I am going to the Ready Room to see if I can find anything else. Perhaps his or her personal Hologram machine has something," she said. She looked around. "Security, I need an escort," she said, rolling her eyes. She could probably handle herself but she didn't need Reid or Tragnar tattling that she went alone. Hell, her personality alone was probably what was repelling the "ghosts."

If Helga had been watching she'd have seen Lorut's phaser beam, like others previously go  right through her target seemingly to no effect.  The beam had instead struck the far corner of the bridge close to the viewscreen, where a layer of frost had been forming on the wall.  Except this time, the Bridge personnel all flickered and disappeared, just as Helga would have grabbed the saber-wielding ghost.   They were gone!  However the 'ghostly' Captain's voice continued to speak over the intercom. "Leave while you can! Remain and you too shall die."

At Lorut's request for escort, Helga looked to Dersch to see if he would take on the task himself or assign it to her or one of her team.

Meanwhile in [USS Jupiter - Engineering]

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Lek looked up from the pool table and blinked in astonishment at the apparitions, not so much as they had appeared, but that they spoke. He looked stunned for a moment before he blinked again and snorted.

"You'd be more scary if you weren't dead. Now, I've got work to do and don't have time for interruptions. I suggest you go find someplace else to haunt or I'll figure out a way to scramble you with an EM pulse. Because while you can't hurt me, an EM pulse will scramble your ectoplasm all over the ship."

Tanner almost burst out laughing at Lek's response to the phantasm. She didn't but the laughter was there, right on the brink.

She manuevered herself closer to the ghostly figures, hands on her phaser encase it turns fowl. They had voices, garbled before but there. Now this communication was clear. It had intent. Intent was something all Security officers had to be able to distinguish.

"Sir," She said to Lek, "These only got more aggressive once the power was on. Would it make sense to conclude that they might respond to light or the new energy?"

[engineering]
"œThis is Garrison to Discovery, we've got the ship's power and shields back up, and are ready for a member of Command to- What the-?""œ  
She was interrupted by the alert coming from the comm system.

"œ Um, sirs, I'm going to have to call you back. The ghosts we're encountering- I think they're coming.

She said, pulling out her phaser. And began looking for a way to stop them from hurting her crew.

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]
"Lieutenant, you may be onto something. M'nia and Gohun, you continue with the Impulse start up. I'm going to see if I can rig up a surprise for our guests."

Lek grabbed some components from his tool kit and a cable from one of Jupiter's power conduits to rig up a hasty EMP generator.

[Engineering - USS Jupiter]

Tanner watched the Ferengi go from 0-60 with an idea, "Do you need an extra pair of hands?" She asked, "I'm not an engineer but I'm not entirely useless either." She looked about at the other Security officers, "And I'm not doing anything else."

[Engineering]
They were confined to the Jupiter? Medical issues? A worried look crossed Kinley's face. What was going on the Discovery?

The  ghosts were a lot less ghostly now that the power was on, and Kinley could see a few more of them moving, with some of the Jupiter's crew moving forward. She saw another man looking sickly now, and suddenly started seizing before he too collapsed.  Something was clicking, but she'd need more evidence.

"œ Reid, Lorut, if you can , I need you to see if you can decode the Captain's logs . I have a hypothesis on what happened here, but I don't know for sure yet.

  "œCaptain, could you explain more what's going on the ship? Everything alright? "œ

Grazerite's were generally a very patient and slow-paced people. Despite his warning, the bull-like Chief Engineer didn't order the security personnel to attack immediately, he seemed to observe and listen as Lek and the others discussed their predicament. But when the Ferengi took hold of the power conduit, his eyes flared.  "Safeties off!  Stun only! Take aim! Fire!" bellowed the Grazerite 'ghostly' engineer.

The team of Jupiter security personnel began firing at the 'invaders' - Lek, Tanner, Kinley and the Discovery security team that was in engineering.  Thankfully, most of the Away Team had decent cover by this point, and Jupiter's security were doing their best to not hit the surrounding engines so the exchange of weapons fire was rather sporadic and cautious.

Phaser beams aimed towards the Jupiter 'ghosts' simply passed through harmlessly.  Most of the Jupiter phaser shots missed... all but one which struck Crewman Orosith, stunning the Orion female enough that she collapsed in a heap beside Dranik.

Suddenly over intercom came the warning. "Leave while you can! Remain and you too shall die."

Cmdr. Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

"œThis is Garrison to Discovery, we've got the ship's power and shields back up, and are ready for a member of Command to- What the-?""œ  
She was interrupted by the alert coming from the comm system.

"œ Um, sirs, I'm going to have to call you back. The ghosts we're encountering- I think they're coming.

Rayek blinked at the unexpected remark from the Science Officer.  Ghosts?!

[Sickbay | USS Discovery]
After getting up to speed from Dr Sluchaynyy and Betaika, he decided to communicate with the Bridge. "œLieutenant Dem Broadshire Reporting for Duty Sir. Permission to report to the bridge to coordinate the Quarantine effort".

No sooner had Garrison's call ended than the long absent Mr. Broadshire called.  Rayek was leery.  So far none on the Bridge were presenting with any sort of symptoms - at least so far as he could tell... but then Rayek wasn't a medical officer.  It seemed a reasonable request and surely if any on the ship knew how to avoid spreading contagion it would be a doctor.

Rayek glanced to the Captain for his orders but the Captain was already on top of things.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was about to contact the away team to bring them up to speed, but as it turned out, they were already ready for him.  The Captain frowned as he looked out the viewscreen, which was currently showing aft so that they had a view of the Jupiter as its lights started to come on.  He tapped his comm badge instead of engaging the chair.

"Discovery to away team.  Do what you can, but for the time being you are confined to the Jupiter.  Contact the bridge the moment there is a medical issue with the team.  We'll handle system overrides later.  Discovery out."

"Bridge to Sickbay, I need a report... what exactly is this biohazard?"

  "œCaptain, could you explain more what's going on the ship? Everything alright? "œ

Rayek cut into the conversation.
"Commander, you have your orders.  Focus on those. We will provide you with additional details later. Is that understood?"
Meanwhile...
NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]

Torra, who had launched the probe requested by the Captain sometime but hadn't yet had opportunity to inform him of that face as it seemed he was constantly in conversation with one person or the other, decided to inform him and the Commander via a message rather than cut into either one's conversations.  Both their message inboxes chimed.

Torra, glanced over towards the Science station where Ensign Rajagopalan was looking over the information the probe was sending to them about the nearby young star.

What he saw must have worried him, for the Human glanced to the Command area clearly looking like he wished to interrupt the conversation to bring up his own dilemma.

[USS Discovery, Bridge]

"Nothing that a professional pilot like yourself can't handle, Mr Graham. Next time we have some downtime, we'll have to go dogfighting over Normandy in the holodeck."

The Earth, World War II dogfighting holodeck program was mucho fun. Particularly with the safety protocols disengaged and the enemy pilots set to "˜Pro'. Malik had enjoyed many hours flying his holo-Spitfire over the English Channel.

"Aye, commander." Malik continued to monitor the nebula for any further bad behaviour, he wondered how the away team were fairing against the ghost crew. To his satisfaction, he wasn't a part of that chaos. He enjoyed his place in this comfortable bridge-chair with cool climate control and relaxed atmosphere. A Risan Mai-Tai in a cup holder would be nice, but he didn't think the captain would approve.

He was a pilot, his job was to fly the ship and look good whilst doing so. He then noticed the ship doctor arrive and his eyes were drawn to the man's hair. Not bad locks for a Bajoran, he thought. The doctor's hair-performance was impressive, but wasn't at Risan level just yet.

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œUnderstood commander." Alex made the adjustment to the angle by downpitching it by zero seven. It was important that extended shields were there over the Jupiter. He had to admit that he was quite impressed with Lieutenant Grippen's work. He figured that he could learn more from the lieutenant so that he could improve his own work.

Suddenly, both Alex's and Malik's console pinged with an alert.  The eddies that Malik had been tracking had begun to pick up speed and rotation, and was now a definite navigation hazard, directly in their path and the path of the Jupiter.

[Dem Broadshire]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was about to contact the away team to bring them up to speed, but as it turned out, they were already ready for him.  The Captain frowned as he looked out the viewscreen, which was currently showing aft so that they had a view of the Jupiter as its lights started to come on.  He tapped his comm badge instead of engaging the chair.

"Discovery to away team.  Do what you can, but for the time being you are confined to the Jupiter.  Contact the bridge the moment there is a medical issue with the team.  We'll handle system overrides later.  Discovery out."

"Bridge to Sickbay, I need a report... what exactly is this biohazard?"

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

The turbo lift doors opened, only a few moments after Dem had stepped in them. They seem to have gotten faster since the upgrade. What he saw through the confines of the door shocked him. He knew on the other side of the door would bee the bridge, but it some how took him by surprise, having not been in this deck for weeks. Suddenly feeling dizzy, Dem slightly stumbled before propping himself up on the side of the door with an outstretched hand. Images flashed across his mind, like a red hot needle poking into his skin. Downed officers, the sparks and flames, bulkheads being ripped out into space all plagued his mind. While it had only been a few moments, tears were already welling in his eyes. Soon enough, this "œepisode" subsided, and he attempted to calmly walk onto the bridge, discreetly rubbing his eyes on his sleeve.

Dem heard the captains call to sickbay, but he decided to answer on their behalf, having been briefed on the extent of the situation. "œCaptain" his voice cracked a little, aftereffects of his turbolift breakdown, some tears still nagging him at the back of his throat. Pulling himself together, he continued. "œCaptain, at the moment it appears to be fever, myoclonic seizures before imminent unconsciousness. It is too early to tell for far these symptoms will progress. 5 officers have reported to sickbay with these conditions, but it is early days. As per Quarantine procedures, I recommend that only essential personnel should have access to the bridge, and I will give you all a temperature check. Doctors Orders" Dem managed a curt smile at his playful remark, and started to take the temperature of the crew around the perimeter of the bridge, not wanting to face his commanding officers just yet.

[Sydney Reid]

[USS Jupiter | Bridge]

Previously"¦

The data that Sydney had been able to salvage from the Jupiter's Flight Recorder had done little to inform the Discovery Away Team of anything of use to what they found themselves facing. Of the little recent records she'd pulled, it appeared as if the ship had fled from an assault, most likely Dominion Forces despite there being a lack of specificity on such, and sought cover in the nebula. While it seemed to have served to allow the Jupiter to elude their unknown pursuers, the logs that followed were a mix of damaged or didn't make sense. It wasn't clear what had happened to the ship as it hid in the nebula, but clearly what the Discovery's Away Team had discovered had been the result of those unclear effects.

"Sir," She said to Lek, "These only got more aggressive once the power was on. Would it make sense to conclude that they might respond to light or the new energy?"

"œOkay. I'd get started on the override protocols for life support and communications. In the meantime, I'll get the Captain on the line so he or the Commander can come over to fully give us the controls,"œ she said, calling the Discovery to give them an update.

"œThis is Garrison to Discovery, we've got the ship's power and shields back up, and are ready for a member of Command to- What the-?"
She was interrupted by the alert coming from the comm system.

"œUm, sirs, I'm going to have to call you back. The ghosts we're encountering- I think they're coming."

"Discovery to away team.  Do what you can, but for the time being you are confined to the Jupiter.  Contact the bridge the moment there is a medical issue with the team.  We'll handle system overrides later.  Discovery out."

PO2 Helga Tragnar

Even before Dersch's order, Helga had her phaser rifle up and firing at the white-uniformed figure bearing down on Reid - carefully aimed to not be anywhere near the Operations officer- but as expected for ghosts, even these more manifested apparitions were not at all affected by the energy beam.  It passed through them as readily as it would an EMH.

Shouldering her firearm, Helga then vaulted over obstacles in her way to attempt a sidelong tackle of the uniformed officer as he swung his saber down towards Reid...

If Helga had been watching she'd have seen Lorut's phaser beam, like others previously, go right through her target seemingly to no effect.  The beam had instead struck the far corner of the bridge close to the viewscreen, where a layer of frost had been forming on the wall.  Except this time, the Bridge personnel all flickered and disappeared, just as Helga would have grabbed the saber-wielding ghost.   They were gone!  However, the 'ghostly' Captain's voice continued to speak over the intercom. "Leave while you can! Remain and you too shall die."

"œReid, Lorut, if you can, I need you to see if you can decode the Captain's logs. I have a hypothesis on what happened here, but I don't know for sure yet."

"Yes, ma'am, we'll see what we can do."

"¦

"See?" She said, with a shrug. "Run an override for the Captain's Logs. I am going to the Ready Room to see if I can find anything else. Perhaps his or her personal Hologram machine has something," she said. She looked around. "Security, I need an escort," she said, rolling her eyes.

Things had gone from bad to worse. It was as if an entire battle had broken out on the Jupiter's Bridge, but unlike the simulations she'd been forced to take part in before, these 'apparitions' didn't seem at all affected by the security team member's phaser weapons. While one of the security members seemed to have more success physically interacting with one of the 'ghosts', what it concluded to the Ops Officer only made her more concerned for her and her fellow crew's safety. The standard weapons were having no effect, and Sydney was surely not the type to be able to handle herself in hand-to-hand combat. With no phaser to use, even if they'd already proved ineffective, she reached back to grab the small pry bar tool she'd used previously and held it out like an impromptu weapon, even if she didn't think she'd really be able to do anything with it.

Suddenly, she noticed Vila's phaser blast pass through the 'apparition' Sydney had called out and struck one of the bridge's bulkheads, causing the lights in the room to flicker before dimming. Suddenly the 'ghosts' disappeared. While it was a relief, it also immediately reminded the computer scientist of her previous work with STEVE and comments she'd previously not paid much mind to that had come over the open comm channel in her helmet.

With new orders given by Kinley, Sydney called out to Vila, "Lorut, the Captain's Logs shouldn't be subject to the same encryptions as the Systems Lockout. Given the age of the security measures, just remember your Academy training and I'm sure you'll gain access to them in no time. I'll stay here and start isolating the locked-out systems." It seemed the two were on the same page about where they would each be most useful. Sydney was surprised that Vila decided to request a security escort. She hadn't even seemed like the type to admit such was an idea she'd thought she would actually need. 'Bajorans"¦' she thought with a shake of her head before rushing back over to the Communications Console.

Setting the pry bar down to be within quick reach, Sydney tapped her commbadge right before she got to work on the Lockout Encryptions.

"Commanders Garrison and Lek. I believe these"¦'ghosts' might function in the same way as our hologram system on the Discovery. Once we started to regain power, they seemed to increase in strength and the ability to physically interact with us. While we need the power to activate systems, we may want to limit power to only the necessary systems we need. Deflector Shield Emitters should be safe given their nature, but I think it would be inadvisable to divert power to the Life Support and Lighting Systems, given how widely spread they are within the Jupiter's bulkheads. Our EV suits should continue to provide necessary life support and vision, and the deflectors will shield us from spatial radiation. I may be able to get communications up, but I think, after that, I should try to get us access to the Flight Control systems. I can't be sure, but there were no reports of anything like what we're seeing in the Flight Recorder, meaning it probably happened after they entered the nebula. I'd advise we exit it as soon as we can"¦before this former crew returns. Any advisements, Commanders?"

While giving her evaluation of what she'd witnessed so far in the only way she could relate to the eerie phenomena from her specific expertise, Sydney had continued to work on breaking the encryptions in place on the various ship systems. Life Support had been fairly easy to isolate and gain control of given how it was more so governed by the Emergency Protocols as opposed to strictly Command Protocols. While she'd unlocked them fully, she waited for the expert opinions of Kinley and Lek before fully activating them; fearful they might cause the 'ghosts' to return and once again halt her work.

Even if it hadn't been ideal to work on next, the cryptologist set her focus on gaining access to the defector shields. While she knew gaining access to the advanced systems that allowed the use of the shielding system to be used in a Tactical-sense, the standard Navigation Deflector, properly calibrated, would at least provide the environmental protections they would need she was assuming had played a part in the state the Jupiter now found itself. If she could gain access, perhaps Discovery would soon be able to inform the Away Team what it was that had now confined them to the slowly reactivating ship.

Once those two had been isolated from the Command-Level Lockout, Sydney would call down to Commander Garrison over the open comm channel to inform her before starting to work on gaining control of the Comms Relay. While the Away Team had managed to maintain comms with the Discovery so far, things had certainly taken a turn towards the 'weird' and unexpected, and she didn't want to leave them with the inability to call for help if short-range comms were lost.

Next on her list was Flight Control, which would certainly be the biggest test of her skills, yet she still had several systems to isolate and unlock before even starting on that. Hopefully, Kinley and Lek would find some other solution to what was affecting them before there was a need to make the decision that flying out was their only option. While there had seemed to be no apparent reason the Jupiter wouldn't be able to handle flight, despite its age, Sydney was almost sure that the power needed to facilitate such would certainly result in the former crew returning to expel the 'boarders' that were working diligently to gain control of their ship.

[Malik Grippen]

Meanwhile...
NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]

Torra, who had launched the probe requested by the Captain sometime but hadn't yet had opportunity to inform him of that face as it seemed he was constantly in conversation with one person or the other, decided to inform him and the Commander via a message rather than cut into either one's conversations.  Both their message inboxes chimed.

Torra, glanced over towards the Science station where Ensign Rajagopalan was looking over the information the probe was sending to them about the nearby young star.

What he saw must have worried him, for the Human glanced to the Command area clearly looking like he wished to interrupt the conversation to bring up his own dilemma.

Suddenly, both Alex's and Malik's console pinged with an alert.  The eddies that Malik had been tracking had begun to pick up speed and rotation, and was now a definite navigation hazard, directly in their path and the path of the Jupiter.

[USS Discovery, Bridge]

All had been going well until his console chimed in protest, this pesky nebula was proving itself to be quite extraordinary. The sensor data clearly showed a sudden increase in ferocity of 'nebulonic-turbulence', as if the presence of the two ships angered the great cloud. The cause wasn't clear, it could take weeks to accurately model a nebula of this size weather patterns. What was clear however, there was now a risk to the safety of both vessels.

He turned to the bridge-centre, "Sirs, sensors are detecting increased levels of nebula disturbance heading towards both vessels. Recommend we advise the Jupiter to get their engines working sooner rather than later. Or we could tractor then out. Vacating the area as soon we can is preferable, or it's going to get 'choppy'. The nebula is unpredictable."

Dem heard the captains call to sickbay, but he decided to answer on their behalf, having been briefed on the extent of the situation. "œCaptain" his voice cracked a little, aftereffects of his turbolift breakdown, some tears still nagging him at the back of his throat. Pulling himself together, he continued. "œCaptain, at the moment it appears to be fever, myoclonic seizures before imminent unconsciousness. It is too early to tell for far these symptoms will progress. 5 officers have reported to sickbay with these conditions, but it is early days. As per Quarantine procedures, I recommend that only essential personnel should have access to the bridge, and I will give you all a temperature check. Doctors Orders" Dem managed a curt smile at his playful remark, and started to take the temperature of the crew around the perimeter of the bridge, not wanting to face his commanding officers just yet.

As the ship's doctor approached Malik's position, he spoke up. "Do I need to be naked for this examination, doctor?" For a Risan, being naked was as comfortable as pie. He was fully prepared to drop his pants in front of the bridge crew.