Mangled After Midnight in the Maintenance Bay

Posted on Fri Dec 20th, 2024 @ 11:34pm by Lieutenant Commander Gulati & Captain Tyler Driskill & Lieutenant Nixie Wilde & Lieutenant Roan Gaeta & Lieutenant Tyler Rehman & Crewman Vakra Kor

2,433 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Mission 3 - Discord of the Mind
Location: USS Concord | Maintenance Bay

The Concord's repairs were underway, but it was more than just the starship itself that needed repairing. The cargo in the cargo bay that wasn't as secured had gone tumbling all around. Some equipment in the shuttlebay had done a little damage to the shuttles. The hot-headed Ensign Hunter Stevens had been assigned the task and Lieutenant Gulati had pushed herself into taking night watch. There were a lot of repairs to be made, and a shape-shifting menace was still afoot.

"Ensign," Lieutenant Gulati called out. No response from the I'll tempered man. He was well into thirties and had one pip on his collar to show for it. He also was not new to Starfleet. How he got assigned to Concord was anyone's guess but perhaps someone has cruel humor to have him assigned somewhere he had barely a chance of fitting in.

The maintenance bay had been dark. Gulati had called for lights only to find a shuttle being worked on and the work area a mess. More than a mess as she approached. Tools were on the ground, a phaser laid off to the distance. Blood she thought seeing a reddish-brown handprint smearing the front port side of the shuttle craft, hatch down.

"Security, this is Gulati. I need guards to the maintenance bay." She knew it was probably the last thing the Chief Petty Officer on duty for the security department wanted to hear. Something very wrong happened in or around the shuttle.

She entered the shuttle. It had been left idle, engines off, but systems on. A diagnostic had been running. A tricorder was left resting atop a console. The Benzite quickly picked it up to scan for answers. Residual signatures that she was all too familiar with.

The lieutenant knew security was coming, but she needed more than security. At the console she powered up the shuttle's transporters and made an immediate site-to-site transport of Lieutenant Tyler Rehman from wherever had been to the shuttle.

** Tyler Rehman's Quarters **

Tyler Rehman was brushing his teeth; the day had been long, and he just wanted to crawl into bed. He had already showered and was just finishing up his night routine when all of a sudden, he felt the familiar tingle of the transporter beam. "What the fu..." The toothbrush dropped from his mouth and hit the deck.

** Maintenance Bay **

"..ck" The beam deposited him in front of Gulati. He swallowed the residual toothpaste and dragged his arm across his mouth. "What in the world..." he glanced around before meeting the gaze of his Benzite friend. He saw her gaze drop and dropped his hands in front of his crotch. He was clad only in Starfleet issued boxer briefs and tank top. "Do you know what time it is? Why am I here?"

Gulati looked at him, examining him up and down and exhaling a puff of vapor. "Charming," said the Benzite. "I am well aware of the time; Lieutenant Rehman and you are here because it is here or at least was."

She handed Tyler the tricorder as she herself pulled a phaser. "Ensign Stevens was down here working on this shuttle. When I came by, he was nowhere to be found. There's readings indicating the changeling was here and there's a bloody handprint on the outside of the shuttle."

Having no choice, Tyler took the tricorder that was handed to him. He had really wished he had more clothing and definitely some shoes. Why couldn't Gulati just contact him like normal people. He opened the tricorder and punched a couple of commands into it. The device started to do indepth scans within the parameters he gave it. "Hopefully he is still alive," Tyler said, hoping of all hopes that he didn't have to deal with another death.

"Security should be here shortly," Gulati said reassuringly. "Let's have a look around before they get here. I injured before, and we still have some of it" she said patting her pocket. "I'm not sure why it felt the need to attack the helmsman."

As the two walked around the shuttle, Gulati remained close to Tyler. Her ears had been alerted to the splat splat splat series of noises, causing her to look at Tyler. "What..." she looked upward.

Ty could think of a hundred reasons why the changeling was attacking. Every single person on the ship had some knowledge about something aboard. It made sense to attack an engineer, a science officer and a helmsman. "Maybe it needed knowledge of navigation systems," Tyler said, he shrugged his shoulders. When he heard the splattering noise he stopped and both he and Gulati shared a look. His head tilted back as his eyes drifted upwards then he flinched. "I guess we don't need to look far." He held the tricorder over his head and scrunched his nose.

"We've located our missing helmsman," muttered Lieutenant Guilati. Dangling above, hung over a crossbeam like a rug left out to dry, and dripping blood onto the deck. "Perhaps it does," Hukati added in response to Tyler.

She could also think of some nefarious reasons. "Terror" the Benzite added. "Let's alone destabilizing and dismantling us. We've lost a Chief Operations Officer, Chief Science Officer, a helmsman, and though it fit Lieutenant Chaika's reckless personality to try to beam aboard the alien vessel before it exploded...I'm not so certain now. Maybe our Chief Engineer also fell victim to this changeling."

Tyler brough the tricorder down to close and he held the scanning device at his side. "It certainly fits the pattern," he said, responding without removing his gaze from the ceiling. His attention then fell to fall back on Gulati.

Normally, security arrived in pairs. Vakra came in alone. His head was bleeding, pink blood. He had his phaser drawn. His nose was broken. "Kor to Wilde. I was responding to a call. Met up with Mikaelson, who was assigned to patrol this deck. He is a changling. I think he broke my ribs." He didn't know what Gulati and Rehman had found. His rib was sticking out of his uniform. He had spent the last week doing everything as close to protocol. "I'm angry." He saw Gulati and Rehman. "Stay back, I don't know if it followed me in."

Lieutenant Gulati had kept her phaser ready. "You encountered it" said the Benzite. "The hell I'm staying back, Crewman. Your rib.. you need medical attention."

Vakra grinned at them, "This rib. I am a Klingon Warrior." He pulled the rib out of his body and slung it at the Benzite's breathing apparatus, in an attempt to damage it. Then his outstretched hand turned into what appeared to be changling good and aimed a punch at Rehman's chest, then at Gulati's chest with the other hand. The goal was to knock the wind out of both of them. Then he turned to goo and disappeared, leaving a phaser set to overload behind.

The damn changeling was devious. It's swipe at the Benzite apparatus had tore tubes from the device and caused the lieutenant to gasp and clench her throat. A phaser was whirring to a higher pitch, set to overload and she would need to rely on Lieutenant Rehman.

Tyler felt like his sternum was cracked in half, the air left his lungs in a swoosh, and he gasped for a few seconds before his breathing kicked back in. He then realized his sternum wasn't broken, but he knew he would be sore. The whirring caught his attention, he blinked to gain composure and ran on shaky legs to where the phaser laid on the deck. He fell to his knees and snatched up the phaser and began to manipulate the buttons to get the phaser's power levels down. The whirring got quieter and quieter as the power levels dropped until the phaser was completely powered down. He breathed a sigh of relief as he raised himself up to his full height. It was at the moment he heard the gasping noises, and he turned to see Gulati struggling.

Lieutenant Gulati met Rehman's gaze. An acknowledgement that they both had been dupped and had a very intimate flirting session with death thanks to the shapeshifter. "We are still planning on take it alive right?" Of course, but she was sure Tyler wasn't fond about the overloading phaser.

"Gulati to Security, we could still use assistance down here, and BOLO for Crewman Kor, the changeling is wearing his face presently."

Nixie rounded the corner in person before she could reply, her phaser out and more than ready to fire. Changeling? What the hell were they talking about? "What the..." she breathed, her green eyes wide with disgust as they took in the scene. As her gaze fell on the state of the two crewmembers still on their feet, she hit her commbadge. "Wilde to Sickbay, urgent medical attention required in the Maintenance Bay..." she signalled, her weapon still lifted all the same. "So who's going to tell me exactly what's going on here?" she demanded, because it was becoming clear that they knew something she didn't.

How the hell... Gulati took a deep breath as she thought about the Security Chief not being aware of what had been going on. "We are several days into the transwarp drive malfunctioning marooning us here and several of the crew have been killed" stated Gulati. "They haven't read you in on any of this?"

Gulati shook her head and placed a hand on her waist. She tapped her communications badge "Gulati to Driskill, we have another Changeling death. Why hasn't Lieutenant Wilde been read in on this?"

Driskill sat up in his bed "another" he whispered. "Get the Lieutenant updated and I am on my way" The Captain signed and got up from bed. Nixie and several other of the senior staff could have been the changeling and were not included in the briefing.

It was safe to say that Nixie was fuming, the anger glinting dangerously in her eyes. "We *will* be talking about this later," she half warned, her features tight. For now, she had a crew to keep safe. She put the call in to her team to search and secure the dangerous intruder currently impersonating Kor. "Do we know where the real Kor is?" she asked with concern for her team member.

Gulati looked at Nixie "Negative, we were only attacked by the imposter. We have not seen Kor, and I'm sorry Lieutenant. Why you weren't read into this..." The Benzite had no words. "Rehman and I require medical attention. If you need anything, you'll find us in Sickbay until they release us."

The Captain gave a nod to Rehman and Gulati "we've ordered extra security in key areas, crew are to travel in pairs and we are going to initiate blood testing. These are all suggestions Gulati had and I'm going to suggest to the Kobali before they depart tomorrow blood screenings for their people as well." He looked at Nixie "anything else you'd like, Lieutenant" he asked crossing his arms and awaiting the Lieutenants reply.

Rehman stood there, trying to focus as his vision blurred as well as his hearing. He felt like his pulse was pounding heavily in his ears. His hand went to his chest, and he winced when his hand came in contact. His heartbeat was rapid, and his breathing was changing. Then he heaved as clots of blood left his mouth and splatted down his shirt and onto the deck. He looked down at the small puddle as darkness began to surround his vision. "Well, isn't that just ducky," he mumbled before the darkness completely enveloped him and his small body collapsed to the deck.

A smidgen over five feet in height and relatively frail herself, Gulati wasn't exactly in any shape to carry Rehman. "I wouldn't recommend transporters. Not until we know what the hell that thing has been tampering with. Captain, a hand?" Gulati was struggling as she pulled the collapsed science officer up from the deck.

The Captain took the younger Tyler in his arms "hold on Lieutenant" he said softly as he started walking as fast as his legs would carry him. "I'm not losing anyone else" the Captain was trying to assure Rehman it was going to be okay.

"The Doctors will take good care of him" said Gulati as she followed the Captain carrying Rehman. I shall enjoy teasing him relentlessly about this thought Gulati smirking. Sure, a shape-shifting murderous menace was aboard and nearly killed them both, but it was the small things in life.

“You are going to be okay Lieutenant Rehman just hang on” Captain Driskill was running with Rehman in his arms. “That’s an order” he was trying to make Tyler feel better as the doors hissed shut.

Having been summoned to a medical Emergency, Doctor Gaeta looked with surprise at seeing the Captain carrying Rehman and running towards him. Already Roan didn't like the pallor of the man's face. "What happened?"

"He was attacked" Driskill said a hint of panic to his voice.

Security Dispatch came in the comms, "Security to Lt Wilde. We had a double tap emergency beacon from Vakra Kor's Comm. We can't find him on the ship to get him back up."

Nixie shook her head with a queasy mixture of frustration and concern at the news. "Where was the last known location of the commbadge?"

Security dispatcher answered, "We dispatched people there. Secondary transporter on the Brig deck."

A member of security answered, "Security to Wilde. There is a lot of pink blood over here. All over the panel."

"Go" Tyler told his security chief as it sounded like she may be needed and there were security officers posted in sickbay if they were needed.

"On it," Nixie shook her head sharply as she headed off at a run. The conversation about just what the hell had been going on was by no means over. But for the moment, her main concern was getting her crewman to safety.

Having stabilised Rehman enough for transport, Gaeta had with the help of others evacuated the Lieutenant to sickbay to work on him.

Tyler Driskill shook his head and looked over at Gulati "I've had about enough of this thing being on my ship and hurting our people."

Gulati nodded. She had no words for Driskill. She understood and right now she and Rehman needed to be treated. "We'll talk more about it after" she commented.

 

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