Ghosts

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:26am by Cailus Griffin & Emilie Temple
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:31pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Deck 5 - Recreation Deck
Timeline: After "Patrolling the Ship"

Mission Post by Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin & Emilie Temple
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Deck 5 - Recreation Deck
Timeline: After "Patrolling the Ship"
Sat Jul 29th, 2017 @ 6:45pm


Awakening again, Emilie rolled over slightly, her arm still searing with an acute pain. The lights of the recreation deck flickered once more, as she peered up from her view from on the floor. She remembered the ground turning into an unpleasant slippy slide and then... darkness.

Coughing, she tried to push herself up with her good arm, her eyes settling on the helmsman who had been helping her, though he was still unconscious on the ground near by. She groaned as she lifted up her upper body and leaned against the wall behind her. Taking deep breaths, she tried to look around for someone to help them, hopeful that somebody had returned to the Recreation deck after it had been evacuated.

"Hello?" She called out, "Computer... can you alert -"

Then she saw him.

His tall frame, the red uniform, those piercing grey eyes. Her husband Nyx had appeared, almost out of nowhere, and was standing silently and rigidly in front of her.

"Nyx," Emilie gasped, half relieved and half surprised, "Oh my love, I'm so happy to see you. I think I've broken my arm."

And yet her husband just stood there, staring back at her in silence with those piercing eyes.

"Nyx!" She called out, more desperately now. "Please, what's wrong? You're scaring me."

Suddenly his face began to change, it aged and decayed right in front of her eyes. His body crumpled down, hair turning shock white, uniform now tattered and worn. His face became awash with pain, his mouth opened into a silent, horrifying scream.

"NYX!" Emilie cried, reaching out her hand to him. "NYX!"

Emilie's scream carried a long way, all the way around to the starboard/aft area of the Rec Deck, where the Chief of Security had been checking in on the four security officers guarding the school. Cailus reacted instantly, making rapid hand signals for two of them to stay put while the other two, a female Vulcan petty officer and a male Betazoid ensign, were to follow him.

The three officers abandoned all caution, bursting into a hard sprint towards the direction of the scream with their phasers in-hand. Cailus saw the source of the scream first: Emilie and one of the backup helmsmen, both clearly hurt, with a horrifically mutilitated man between them. Cailus' phaser was out as he rushed to secure the area, before returning his attention to Emilie.

Crouching down, having swapped his weapon for a tricorder, he analysed the more injured man in a flash before looking to Emilie. "Ma'am, it's Lieutenant Griffin," he said urgently. "What happened here?"

Emilie heard the rushing footsteps and for a moment recoiled back, unsure of what to expect. She feared something grave had happened to the ship and was starting to feel paranoia taking over her senses. All the while, the haggard and petrified face of her husband screamed in silence.

Seeing Lieutenant Griffin gave her a moment of reprieve, though she could only hope he was real. When he leaned over, now blocking her view of Nyx, Emilie carefully reached out with her hand and touched Cailus' face, relieved to feel the very real skin of his cheek.

"Oh thank goodness." She breathed. "The ship plunged... I fell down. I must have hit my head." She leaned in and gripped the collar of Griffin's uniform, her voice a whisper, "Do you see him too?"

"Yes, of course," Cailus said in confusion, looking back around. "I see him perfectly...what the hell? Where did he go?"

Emilie dared to peer around from Griffin's head to take another look, but the further she leaned she realized the horrifying figure had disappeared. She blinked, not sure whether to cheer or cry that he - whatever it was - was gone.

The young Vulcan ensign moved over to them from where she had been tending to the unconscious helmsman, her eyes severe. "Sir, it appeared to be Captain Temple, but he simply...vanished."

Wincing, Cailus shook his head; no wonder Emilie was such a wreck. He hated to think how he'd react if he saw Shae like that...or Harriet. "Damned hallucinations," he cursed under his breath. "Computer, locate Commander Temple and Katrine Temple."

The soothing tone of the computer's voice carried easily over everything, the calm female voice utterly unaffected by the groaning of the ship's bulkheads as the Pandora struggled through the dark matter field. =/\=Commander Temple is in the Astrometrics Laboratory. Katrine Temple is in the school.=/\=

Mollified, Cailus carefully grasped Emilie's uninjured shoulder, forcing her to look at him. "Did you hear that?" he said firmly, his mind already preparing for getting her and the ensign to Sickbay. "They're safe, they're both safe."

The tears fell from Emilie's eyes with sudden unrestrained emotion, as she looked to the Security Chief with a deep gratitude, "Thank you, Lieutenant. I was so afraid." She shook her head, wiping the tears with the sleeve of her jumper, "It was so awful, I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know where Katrine was and then... he was there. What was that?"

"Not real," Cailus said firmly, adding the harsh tone of command to his voice. He glanced at the other two security officers, who were tending to the unconscious helmsman who had been moved to lie prone on the deck. "Status?"

The Betazoid ensign sighed, shaking his head. His grey uniform jacket was sticky with the helmsman's blood, but Cailus was glad to see that the ensign didn't care in the slightest. "Stable, sir, I think. I'm not sensing any damage to his mind, but he does have a fractured skull and some damage to his spine. He requires immediate medical attention, but it'll be at least five minutes before Sickbay can get a medical team here."

At that, Cailus nodded, his face as impassive as ever, one eye on his own tricorder as he scanned Emilie. "Very well. T'Len, Fenrir, I want you two to stay with him until that medical team arrives. Keep your phasers on light stun and don't trust your eyes, no matter what you see. Trust your telepathy, and the mind of your partner. Clear?"

While they responded with the expected "Yes sir,", Cailus' focus was already back on Emilie. "Mrs Temple, I need to get you to Sickbay, but I'd rather not trust the transporter given our circumstances. Your arm is broken, so I'll have to put in a sling, and I don't want you trying to walk with a concussion. Do you think you can handle me carrying you to Sickbay?"

"I'd insist on it," Emilie replied with a half-smile, "There's no way I'm walking around alone with him popping up." She relaxed her body to allow Griffin to carry her, wrapping her good arm around his neck in preparation. "Are you sure he wasn't real?"

"Completely sure," Cailus said with calm confidence as he shrugged off his uniform jacket. As he used his phaser to cut a long strip from the bottom of the jacket, he was briefly grateful that Emilie was unable to see through his deception. With the makeshift sling complete and tied around her neck, he added, "I'm not going to lie, ma'am, this is going to hurt like hell. I need to put your arm in the sling before we go anywhere."

Through gritted teeth, Emilie lifted her shoulder and immediately felt the shocking pain throughout her arm; she was trying to hold back a strained whine as she slowly moved the injured limb safely inside the sling. She finally allowed it rest into the makeshift tourniquet but the pain was slow to subside. She would be grateful when they were back in sickbay and the Medics could repair the damage.

With that unpleasant task done, Cailus put back on his mutilited jacket, then hooked his arms under Emilie's legs and back, picking her up in a smooth motion. He winced dramatically, as if the effort was difficult. "We'd better make this quick," he grumbled. "Respectfully, ma'am, you're a lot heavier than Shae."

"Respectfully," Emilie replied with a raised eyebrow, "There are some things you don't say to a lady. Regardless of the situation."

"Then I hope you don't mention that to your husband," he said drily, glancing back at the two other officers as they stood guard over the wounded helmsman. Satisfied, he began walking swiftly down the corridor. The main shipboard lighting was flickering on and off, but the red emergency lighting worked reasonably well. The same could not be said of the first turbolift they came across, which had a glaring red light on it, signalling malfunction, requiring them to walk a good way around the saucer section to find another.

As they went, Cailus worked to keep up his usual impassive look, hoping against hope that there would be no more nightmares waiting in the corridors. With the ship at red alert and so many primary systems strained by the dark matter field, the halls were dark and empty with all the crew at their stations, the situation hardly helped by the disturbing silence or the flickering lights. It wasn't as bad as what Cailus had seen in the past, admittedly, but he was still distinctly uncomfortable, especially while having to protect a wounded civilian. On one occasion they passed by a team of security officers guarding a small auxiliary armory, but Cailus reassured them that the situation was well in hand and they should stay put.

'Come to think of it, ma'am," he said to distract them both as they finally found a working turbolift, "I'd be grateful if you don't mention me carrying you like this to the captain, or to Shae. Not that they're the jealous types, of course, but even so..."

Emilie had closed her eyes for most of the journey, though she felt childish for doing so, out of the extreme unease she still was experiencing in this situation. Somehow this beautifully bright, busy ship had become a living nightmare and she wanted to forget it before it was even over.

Once inside the working lift along with Cailus and the other red-shirt who had followed them in and stood in front of them without saying a word, she finally felt able to relax. Griffin was holding her facing the back and she watched as the panel helpfully indicated their journey towards Sickbay.

"But you're my hero for doing so, Lieutenant," Emilie commented to his request, smiling once more. "Though if it causes problems, I'll happily omit this little detail."

The turbolift was moving far slower than usual, probably due to power requirements in the rest of the ship taking priority. Hence why the lights continued to flicker at odd intervals as well. All of this had just added to Emilie's anxiety. However, as the lift changed direction and finally arrived on Deck 6, she wondered if she might finally be able to relax. Though she still had that nagging fear tugging around her mind.

"Sorry guys, I just have to do one thing," She spoke, "Computer, locate Commander Temple and Katrine Temple."

She smiled broadly as she waited for the expected, relieving answer. Instead, only a crackling static came over the speakers, followed by a unintelligible response for the computer.

Emilie tried a joke, "Maybe one of you two should ask? She doesn't appear to like me."

Bemused (and with his arms genuinely starting to ache), Cailus rolled his eyes. "Computer," he said sternly, "provide the current location of Commander Nicholas Temple and Katrine Temple."

Finally, the Computer responded, "Commander Temple is in the Turbolift. Katrine Temple is in the school."

Emilie paused, the smile remained fixed on her face for a moment as the information sunk in. She blinked, wondering if she'd heard that right.

She looked up to Cailus, wondering if he had heard it too. Slowly, she cleared her throat and spoke, "What did she say?"

Cailus was silent for a moment, frowning. The man standing front of them was as tall as the captain and had the same hair, at least as seen from behind, and Cailus hadn't really paid attention to the man when they'd entered the turbolift...

"It said that Nyx is right in front of us," he said doubtfully, glaring at the back of the man who was still politely ignoring them, not even having bothered to turn around to talk to his wife.

Emilie patted Griffin on the arm, to indicate for him to let her down. Her eyes were now transfixed on the officer in front of them. 'Had he always been that tall?' She thought, doubting her own mind, 'Did he always have Nyx's hair?' She just couldn't remember. The skin of her neck went taunt with fear, a heavy dread passed over her body.

Once her two feet had been carefully placed on the ground by the Lieutenant, Emilie stood to the side and slowly began to move around to see the officer's face. Her gut was telling her to run, her heart was pounding loudly, and she was distinctly aware that she was holding her breath. But she just had to know.

Opening her mouth as she moved to face the man, Emilie spoke quietly, "Nyx?"

Suddenly the officer turned, Nyx's face twisted into a horrific, silent scream; those eyes aghast with burning pain. Emilie took a step back and cried out in shock when the lights flickered once more, plunging the lift into darkness for several seconds. When they came back on, the apparition was gone.

"Griffin," Emilie whispered, breathing hard and staring at the spot where the ghost had been, "I'd like to get off the lift now."