Unexpected holodeck arrival

Posted on Mon Feb 1st, 2021 @ 9:51am by Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Commander James Smith

Mission: The Gauntlet
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: Current

{ON}

Arriving at the holodeck for a meeting with Owen, Krysia was looking forward to seeing their father again if only quickly via subspace. She was accompanied by Ensign Mason Legace at the behest of Aeryn, who wanted her in her quarters resting after a sudden rise in her blood pressure. She’d promised Aeryn as soon as she’d seen her father she’d go back to her quarters and rest. “I won’t keep you too long Ensign” Krysia smiled warmly at Legace.

"Not at all, Ma'am." He had smiled in kind. "I hope you enjoy your time, I will.." He paused and looked around the hologrid, "just stay out of the way for the time being." He then took a few steps backwards, and then off to the side.

Krysia smiled. “Thank you, I appreciate your presence here.”

"So, are we ready to catch up with ol' Grandpa Nash once more?" Owen asked as he saw Krys enter with Ensign Legace. As XO, Aeryn had been in touch with him to let Owen know that Krys needed as little stress and hassle as possible with her getting closer to term.

Krys smiled warmly as she looked towards Owen, “You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this! A chance to see dad again.” She motioned to Legace. “This is Ensign Legace, he's been assigned to escort me home once we’re done. It seems my blood pressure is up more than Aeryn likes, she wants me off my feet and resting.”

Legace acknowledged his superior and given a sharp one-off salute to him. And then he had grinned a bit.

"Good to meet you Ensign, thank you for taking on this duty, I know that Krys can be a handful at the best of times.

"Computer, begin transmission, authorisation Nash Beta-one-nine-seven," Owen instructed. The computer produced the arch and soon they were in the Conference Room of the USS Maiden, with a representation of Captain Nash sat before them. He stood up as soon as he recognised Owen and Krys.

"Finally, its been too long since we last caught up, its good to see you both again," Andrew Nash said, however, a sudden intake of breath caught his and Owens attention.

Krysia pursed her lips as she massaged her stomach taking a moment to hang onto Owen’s arm. “It’s okay!” She offered a smile. “I’ve been getting false labour pains, Aeryn says it’s just Braxton hicks. My body is getting ready for when these two arrive into the universe.” She grinned.

Her grin soon turned into a frown when the holodeck grid flickered and came to life with a program they hadn’t requested, in the process the arch disappeared too. “What’s going on?” She looked around concerned.

Suddenly the Conference Room of the USS Maiden disappeared and they were soon inside another program, one that wasn't requested. Owen recognised it as one of his chapters from the "Deathstalker" Holonovel series. "Hold on, this is the Sunstrider Two... This is my "Deathstalker" Holonovel series...what the hell is going on?" he asked as he walked over to a side panel on the Bridge of the Sunstrider Two.

Mason turned and witnessed the arch disappear. He was perplexed for the moment. Although, there wasn't really anything of concern at the moment, so he had kept his mouth shut. Especially with the Commander in the room.

Pulling the Panel off, Owen had a look at the various circuits and ODN accesses and suddenly realised that they were in trouble. "Ok, that's wrong for a start. For some reason, the Holodeck Grid in here has picked up on my voice authorisation and triggered one of my other programs..." he said.

Working away on the internals of the access, he stepped back when several sparks flew. Looking up, Owen gave a command. "Computer, shut down holodeck program in progress, authorisation Nash Beta-one-nine-seven." Looking around to see the program continue without interruption, Owen stood up and looked at both Krys and Legace.

"Ok, that should have worked, I think we're stuck in here until we can find a way to get either Engineering or the Bridge to re-route power...thankfully this should be a quiet part of this chapter," Owen added.

Krysia looked at Owen in concern. “I’ve never heard of the Deathstalker novels Owen, I don’t know what to expect!” She took a few deep breaths keeping herself calm.”

Owen looked over at Krys as he saw Legace help her over to a seat. "It's ok, it's a fictional Space Pirate storyline with people ending up with superhuman abilities whilst the rest of the Galaxy is out to try and stop them... Oh, yeah, that could be bad..."

Out of nowhere, there were thumping sounds against the hull. Owen looked up at the ceiling. "Ozy, give me a report," he said to the fictional ships AI, Ozymandias.

"Ah, Owen, good to have you back, I can happily confirm that we're under attack by Imperial Forces, it seems they've located us by penetrating our cloaking system," Ozymandias said in a chipper tone.

"Ah, excellent, would you mind taking us out of here and make the jump to Hyperspace?" Owen asked.

After several ill sounding beeps, the holodeck shifted to a desert scene, instead of keeping them on board the Sunstrider 2. Owen looked around them as he tried to make out where they were now. "Ok, not what I expected..." he said.

“Great!” Krysia sighed. “Now we’re in the boiling hot dessert!!” She looked concernedly at Owen. “Owen ... are the holodeck safeties on or off? In this heat we could dehydrate in no time without water!”

Mason quickly realized that the holodeck programs at play all had heuristics that would be taxing to the body. If there was an issue with accessing the program and cancelling the program, then he had best watch over Lieutenant Kaleri-Smith. As per protocol, when attending to a crew member who is within a vulnerable state, such as carrying twins, Legace was carrying his extensive medical kit with him. Walking over to Krysia, he had paused. "Krysia, everything will be ok. I know it is hot right now," He raised his forehand above his own eyes blocking out the hot desert sun. "But we will fix this and get out of here."

He withdrew his medical tricorder to begin monitoring Krysia's levels of electrolytes, not just for her, but for the Commander as well. Time would tell.

They remained where they were at least within a short distance of knowing where the arch had approximately been, Owen needed a chance to try and fix what was happening but Krysia needed shade. Having spotted the shade of some large trees nearby she had made her way over to them and tried to cool off. “Any ideas how long we’ve ...” She paused as the program shimmered before it suddenly changed completely to an arctic environment. Snow thick on the ground, temperatures plummeted and visibility was down to barely anything.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!!” Krysia glanced towards where Owen was barely able to see him through the falling snow. “Owen? How’s it going?” She was starting to shiver, wishing she had a warm coat.

"Oh, you know, it's going," Owen said quickly back as there were further sparks from the Arch Panel as he tried to see if he could re-route any of the safeties from the other holodecks or even try to regain control of the holodeck that they were trapped in. Noticing that the temperature was dropping quickly, he looked at Krys and could see that she was shivering. Shedding his duty tunic, Owen threw it over to Krys before getting back work.

"Here, put that on, it should keep you warm," he said as he looked at the readouts from the control area. "It looks like the Holodeck has got itself stuck in a loop, playing different programs out but not completing them. If I can isolate a program and keep it stable for long enough, it's possible that the Holodeck safeties will kick back in if the program completes itself," he said, before getting back to work.

With the temperature dropping, Owen noticed that it was also beginning to snow as well, with the flake settling on the ground around them. "Well, it's been a whilst since I've seen snow..." he added, before catching a stern look from Krys and then getting back to work. Removing an isolinear chip and replacing it in another vacant slot, Owen stood back as there were further sparks flying.

Once the light show had finished, Owen checked his handiwork and started to see some form of nominal function begin to return to the arch controls with half of the panel lighting up.

Moments later the holodeck switched again but this time it was a scenario that hit every nerve and survival instinct that Krysia had as they found themselves in the middle of a Borg invasion.

Around them holodeck characters were being captured and assimilated, those resisting were dying right in front of them. “Owen!!” Krysia cried out as she found herself being dragged away by a terrified crowd, separating her from both Owen and Legace, before long she was totally out of sight lost in the holodeck environment. It was only then she felt a peculiar sensation as she was captured by a Borg, it’s holographic nanites doing their intended job as she lost consciousness.

"What the hell???" Owen shouted over the noise as Starfleet officers were either defending themselves against Borg Drones that were invading the Pandora or being killed or assimilated before their eyes. S he heard Krysia scream out, Owen looked around and couldn't see her.

"Krys!!! Krys!!! Where are you???!" he yelled as he looked around for her. Instinct kicked in as he ducked from a shot fired by a nearby drone. Seeing a fallen comrade on the floor near him, Owen picked up both the Phaser and also the tricorder. "Legace!!, With me!!" he shouted as Owen started down a corridor at pace, trying to find somewhere where he could work but also try to locate Krys.

Owen's mina concern had now become threefold: Find Krysia and make sure that she was stable, avoid any Borg Drones trying to either kill or assimilate them and make sure that he found a way to shut down the holodeck. Recalling from his training days at the academy that even a holographic tricorder still had the same functions of a normal one, regardless of the program being run, this now offered him a chance to complete his goals.

Mason had rushed alongside the Commander. He was oblivious to the holodeck simulation being benign. Everything being presented was not benign in any degree. Grabbing a phaser rifle from a nearby storeroom on the deck, Legace had caught up with the Commander. "What the hell is going on Sir?" He asked, calm but with seriousness in his voice as he pointed his phaser forward and around them as they rushed along the corridor dodging the invasion by the Borg drones.

Krys awoke to find herself awaiting assimilation, though how holographic nanites would affect her body was another matter entirely, it was then she felt the first twinge. A twinge that became a pain, which then became a whole lot of pain as her twins decided to make their impending arrival known to all.

Owen began scanning for lifeforms as he made his way down another corridor knowing that if he could locate Krys, he had a hope of trying to get her to smoke safety, however, he was also concerned that would a drone infect her, that would cause complications for her body and cause anxiety for the twins...

Krysia slowly slid herself off the hard bed like platform she was lying on, pausing to hold herself up. The next thing she felt was her water breaking, no matter what she had no choice now her twins were on their way. She started moving, she had to find Owen, the nanites in her system were doing their job converting her body preparing it for its opponents, her skin was slowly losing its natural colour.

As they ran down the corridors, following the readings from their various tricorders, Owen looked up when he heard a familiar voice call out for help. Looking at Legace, Owen nodded towards a room off of the corridor and as they ran in, they saw Krysia holding herself up against a small platform. Owen nearly stumbled as he saw a pool of liquid on the floor.

"Krys? Is it...time?" he asked her almost in shock.

Krysia nodded as she looked at her brother then at Legace. “I’m sorry Lieutenant ... your job just got a whole lot harder!” She looked back at Owen. “We need ...” She paused as she was wracked with labour pains. “This program needs to change Owen! It won’t stop the twins, but it’ll stop the nanites in my system!”

"I'll do my best, God knows the last thing we all need right now is to end up being assimilated..." Owen said before moving away and letting Legace get on with his role.

"Holy Frack!" Legace had spoken to nobody in particular. He had a general medical kit and another triage kit that he had scavenged from Pandora's corridors. Taking out his medical tricorder, he assured the Commander and Krysia... "I'm going to do my best. We need you to stay calm! I need you, Krysia, to stay focused, don't fall asleep on us!!" Legace had studied the effects of borg nanites in medical school on many bodies in lab sessions. He understood their assimilation heuristics and processes. It was not looking good to be able to save Krysia. Her twins were another story. If they already hadn't become infected via the mother's womb's invitro biologics and blood and body barriers.

Taking a hypospray, he injected into Krysias neck a neural, cognitive sedative. The serum was often used in massive doses to help delay the nanites' processes, only if a few minutes or more. "I'm going to try to slow down the progress of the nanites, your twins, Commander, Krysia..." He didn't even look around to see if there were invading Borg. He continued on his primary mission to keep Krysia safe and deliver the twins in health.

"The twins have entered the birthing canal." His tricorder was tracking the vital signs of the birthing twins. Krysia's Braxton hicks contractions were translating within his medical tricorder as the babies began to enter and a crowning of her cervix. Krysia was becoming sedated. Mason had injected her with a serum to slow down the nanite progression. Her contractions had slowed, just giving Mason enough time to spread Krysia's legs apart for better birthing.

“No, no ...” Krysia shook her head. “This is ... too soon! The twins aren’t due yet!!” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I can’t give birth here!! I need James!!” She cried out as Borg implants starting appearing through her skin, the process of assimilation was beginning.

~ Sometime Later ~

Krysia lay where Legace had found a more comfortable spot, the holographically generated Borg implants had carried on generating due to the program not changing from their current scenario. Krys’ hair and face were covered with perspiration as she looked at Legace. “I need James! ... I can’t do this without James!!”

Mason rubbed at his forehead, he was sweating in the altered Borg environmental systems. He turned to look at Commander Nash, giving him a hopeless look, that he couldn't even think of how they could get James, let alone, get out of this never-ending holodeck series of hells presented. With extreme caution, he was overseeing Krysia struggling in her situation for as long as she could.

Suddenly the holodeck shimmered and changed, gone were the Borg, the nanites and the implants on her skin but now they were in a temple. “Great!” She glanced at Owen. “Now we’re stuck in ... another of your programs!!” She screamed as she tried her hardest not to give in to the contractions that were telling her to push, she knew she couldn’t hold out forever but she would try for now.

"Hey, I didn't choose for this to start fritzing out whilst we are in here," Owen protested and then realised that she was taking out her frustrations on him whilst she was going through labour. The last thing she needed was more stress in this situation.

~ Meanwhile in Sickbay ~

Aeryn was busy tidying and organising medical supplies when a spike in Krysia’s blood pressure set off a medical alert. “What the hell?” She tapped her comm badge. “Sickbay to Kaleri-Smith, Krysia are you alright?” Not getting an answer she tapped again. “Sickbay to Smith, James I’m getting a medical alert from Krysia’s blood pressure monitor, I can’t raise her.”

James had been deep in thought running a check on all vessels in the system when the emergency call came through, Smith replied, “Where was she going Aeryn.”

“Last I heard she was going to the holodeck with Owen, she has one of my medics with her.” She hoped nothing was seriously wrong. “I’m headed there now.”

James looked around at everyone who had suddenly stopped working to look toward him. Jumping up from his work station he said, “Continue monitoring the ships in the area and report to the bridge if anything out of the ordinary happens.” James ran out the door as he hit his comm badge, “Aeryn I’m on my way to the holodeck now. I’ll meet you there.” Without waiting for an acknowledgement he ran the distance toward the nearest turbolift and then to the holodeck.

~ Back in the holodeck ~

Krysia had held out for as long as she could, she was squeezing Owen’s hand for all she was worth. “Where in the hell ... is my husband!!?” She burst into tears. “I need James!!” She looked at Legace. “I can’t hold on any longer!!”

"Keep breathing. Your vitals are holding. The neural inhibitor has slowed down your contractions. We have not a lot of time though." He then gave her a sedative through his hypo for the pain she was experiencing.

Waiting for the next contraction Krysia put everything she had left into it, the holodeck ringing out with the sounds of a woman about to give birth. Taking time to breathe between contractions Krysia looked at Owen as a sudden shift in the h9lo matrix signalled a change, there was a sound of loud banging and a crash before James suddenly appeared at her side taking her hand.

James located an access shaft and made his way to a point where he could cut a hole into the Holodeck. Grabbing onto the plasma torch he carefully started to cut a hole that he could fit into hearing Krys scream he doubled his efforts knowing that he couldn’t make it work any faster then he could. He watched as he finished cutting the hole and he pulled it away with a magnetic clamp to keep it falling in in someone else. He jumped down into the holodeck and rushed to Krysia side and kneeled next to her and grabbed into her hand.

Aeryn arrived in time to see James disappearing without her, not that she could blame him. Not knowing his plan she waited outside the holodeck, she could only surmise that there was something wrong with the doors so she stood ready to assist or to follow James if he returned.

"Good to see you made it, I was starting to get a little worried," Owen admitted to his brother-in-law, seeing James and had found his way into the holodeck and looking around at the scene that surrounded them: An old Mayan Temple from Earth past.

After greeting James, Owen finally decided to give one more try at getting the Holodeck Arch working. Rigging up the tricorder as a receiver for the signals being sent out by the Arch vis the main computer, he punched in his access code to bring the Arch back online. Looking around him, the Arch re-appeared and seemed to be responding to the tricorder.

"I think I've got it fixed... well sort of," Owen said as he heard Krysia call out. Looking over, he knew the time for her to give birth was nearly here. Giving one last go at a program, Owen typed in a program code and then followed it with his access code again and the scene changed to a hospital birthing room.

With the Tricorder working in tandem with the Arch, Owen walked over to the bed which Krysia was now lying on. He could see Legace working away doing what he could to help the birth along. He could see his stepsister working hard and held on as she reached our and gripped his hand.

Managing a weak smile as tears ran down her cheeks Krysia gripped both James and Owen’s hands as the first of her twins made an appearance into the holodeck landscape.

Mason was smiling, as he helped deliver the baby, however, most of it was being done by Krysia herself. She could no longer hold out, as the child was crowning and then birthed. Using a laser scalpel, and bandaging the child, he gave a medium tap slap to Childs bum, allowing the Baby to cry out in a healthy birth. Only to see that the second born was coming soon, Krysia's contractions still being recorded on the tricorder. "We're almost due for the twin now!" He informed.

Krysia smiled as she looked at her baby, “It’s a boy!” Happy tears ran down her face as she looked at their son. She was tired, very very tired and she wasn’t sure she was going to have the strength for another birth. “I can’t!” She let James hold his son,
“I’m so tired!! I ... I can’t!!”

Mason monitored the extreme stress that was being placed on the Lieutenant. He turned to James and Owen "I need to get Krysia to sickbay /now/!" He stressed. If there was a way to get her out, they needed to re-double their efforts. "I'm giving her a transfusion of steroids to help her remain stable. This cannot hold off for much longer or we will lose her and the second child." He spoke to the two men ensuring Krysia could not hear.

Owen could see that the situation was getting tense and that both Krys's life and the life of the other twin were in danger. Running to the Holodeck Arch, he checked to see if it was still working via the remote setup on the tricorder. Making sure that this was still in place, Owen tried for a crazy idea.

He worked on the tricorder for a moment and decided it was worth the risk. Looking back at the others gathered around the bed, Owen typed in his personal code and signalled for a site to site transport from the holodeck to Sickbay.

Monitoring the process as it worked away, Owen also watched as the power levels in the Holodeck began to drop, a consequence of him transferring power from the power grid to make sure that the site to site transport worked. Once the others disappeared from the holodeck, Owen was left alone in the dark as the holodeck shut itself down.

He sat down for a moment and sighed, before hearing the holodeck doors opening as the grid had shut itself down. Hauling himself up, Owen gathered his strength and left the Holodeck at pace, running towards Sickbay.

~ Sickbay ~

Aeryn had received news of the site to site transport, rushing back to Sickbay she looked at Legace. “Report”

Presenting with the newborn, Legace immediately had handed the child off to the nurses to take the child into the fetal unit. "Lieutenant Kaleri-Smith has been infected by borg nanites, though it was on the holodeck I don't understand how it could have happened." He shook his head, he was not an Engineer. "She has already given birth to the first twin. The second is nearing birth, yet I fear she is extremely incapacitated at this moment." He was concerned deeply as he reported to Aeryn.

“Nanites?” Aeryn would have asked more but she didn’t have time. She grabbed her tricorder and scanned Krysia.“I see no sign of any nanites now but we don’t have time to wait, it’s going to have to be a Caesarean.” She looked at Krysia. “Don’t worry Krys, you’ll both be fine. I promise!” She looked to James. “James you can join us, and be there for your wife.”

James had finished briefing his staff before returning to the sickbay to be with his wife. James nodded to Aeryn as he approached the biobed that his wife was laying on. He hated being this far from Starfleet Medical, but he knew that the Pandora had a great medical staff and they would make sure that Krys and the baby would be ok. Standing next to his wife he leaned down and said, "I love you." He still had not changed since cutting a hole into the holodeck, but he didn't care that he looked dirty and his hand had been slightly burned from his trying to use the plasma torch at a dangerous level.

Moments later the Sickbay doors burst open and Owen came through. “Commander ... we’re heading to surgery. We can’t wait any longer, don’t worry Krys and her baby will be fine. Oh, and I want to hear all about the Borg incident when we’re done.” With that, she turned and headed off to prepare for the Caesarian.

"Understood, I'll have a report ready for you for when your free," Owen said, slumping down on a seat and catching his breath. For what should have been a simple call to his father to catch up, had actually turned out to be a hell of a day. He was glad of the chance to catch his breath.

As they prepped ready Aeryn looked at Legace. “I wish we could do this via transporter, but right now setting it up and getting it right would waste precious time. This is more invasive than I’d like but we don’t have a choice. Let’s get this done.”

~ 45 minutes later ~

Aeryn smiled as she handed the small bundle to Legace to clean up and weigh. “Congratulations!” She looked down at Krysia and Janes sat alongside. “The two of you have a healthy daughter. We just need to weigh her and check her over and you can hold her James, I just need to finish up here so it’ll be a few more minutes.”

Legace had taken care of the child and curiously looked at the lil newborn. He smiled, always enjoying being a part of any delivery in his profession. "She's adorable." He spoke to nobody in particular. He immediately went to the pediatric unit and completed the data into the computers.

James had tears in his eyes as he watched the doctors walk off with the baby he looked in on Krysia who had just undergone an intense surgery but her and the babies were going to be ok. He looked over at Owen who had not left their side either and could wait for all of them the ability to spent time as a family and even having her father meet his new grandchildren.

Once she’d finished repairing Krysia’s wounds Aeryn left them in recovery before heading out to Owen. “Commander ...” she smiled warmly, “You have a happy healthy niece, Congratulations! Krys will be in recovery for the next few hours and she’ll need to stay overnight for observation. “As much as I hate invasive surgery we had no choice so her recovery will take longer as a result.”

Owen stood up to see Aeryn holding his niece in her arms. He stood over by Aeryn and looked at the baby and felt a tear run down his face. After all of the previous months that his stepsister had gone through, the pain and emotional issues she had suffered whilst on board, this was a happy moment for Owen and he felt a warm glow inside.

"Welcome to the universe little one, boy will you have some adventures. Welcome to the Pandora," he said to her, stroking her head gently with his index finger.

“Your nephew is doing well too, I’ll keep the twins overnight with Krys and see how they’re all doing in the morning.” Aeryn smiled warmly. “I’d best get this little one back with her parents. You’re welcome to stop by anytime to visit.”

"Thank you Aeryn, thats very kind, I'll let you get back to your duties and allow Krys to rest," Owen said before making his way back towards his quarters and towards making a very happy call to his father.

Mason had returned from the pediatric unit. He sided up beside Aeryn who was attending. "How are we doing?" He smiled. Legace was always excited when newborns were around on the ship.

“Pretty good actually” Aeryn smiled warmly. “Would you take this little lady to her brother, do a check over just to be sure and then the twins can join their mother and father in a private room. I’m keeping Krys in overnight just for observation. Oh and well done Mason, you did a great job under difficult circumstances.”

Legace had nodded, a slight smile in return. He had then reached gently and held the swaddle of the newborn, he had grinned seeing her tender face, eyes closed. He had then left once again to oversee routine computer analysis of the twins bio readouts and functions. So far, they were as healthy as could be. And looked to ready to meet their parents. Mason would be staying on ensuring that Krysia would be well taken care of overnight if needed. Seeing to it, he then went about setting up a privacy suite in the Sickbay.

{OFF}