Lieutenant Timothy O'Shea rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes as he manned the tactical station; he'd had a long day working both second and third shift and was very tired. It was his own fault really; he'd stayed up pouring over his lines as "Troilus" for the ship's theatre's rehearsal of the Shakespearean play "Troilus and Cressida," which was slated for the weekend, and had therefore enjoyed little sleep. However, with the events on the ship of late, O'Shea needed no caffeine or other artificial stimulant to stay on his feet; his adrenaline had been working overtime ever since he'd been informed of what had happened to Captain Freeman. Keeping busy with reporting the ship's steady stream of malicious events didn't hurt either.
"Jevor to the Bridge," the chief engineer called, breaking the monotony of routine guard post check-ins.
"This is Zaras, Commander."
"Reiv and I are about to wrap things up down here; inform whomever's on duty in Sickbay that things are patched up. Reiv's going to handle the Science department scans from the Bridge; we'll both be there shortly," Jevor said.
"Understood Commander," Zaras replied.
"Lieutenant Zaras, I'm picking up a strange signal," O'Shea said a few moments later, looking up from his tactical station at the Bridge's duty officer.
"What is it?" she asked, walking around the command chairs to join O'Shea at his station.
"I think it's a faint distress signal, but I can't be sure," O'Shea replied.
"Put it on screen," Zaras replied, looking up at the viewscreen.
O'Shea's fingers danced over the controls for a moment, before he shook his head, "It's audio only, Lieutenant. I think it might be from a Federation ship. I'm putting it on speakers."
The speakers broadcasted only loud static along with a disjointed word or two. "Tune that down for goodness' sake," Zaras ordered loudly over the static. O'Shea did so, and normal speech was again possible. "See if you can get the computer to run an enhancing filter on it; maybe we can yet find out who this is that's in trouble."
"Aye sir," O'Shea replied, as he carried out Zaras' instructions. After a few moments, he reported, "It is a Federation ship, but the registry tag is badly garbled. And a name: 'O'Brien'. There's something about a cosmic string; presumably the ship struck it since it's calling for help?"
Zaras smiled at Lieutenant O'Shea. "I'd say that's a pretty good guess. Can you pinpoint the source of the distress signal?" O'Shea pressed a few buttons and glanced at Zaras as the coordinates were listed on the tactical station's panel. "That's about nine hours away at warp nine," she said, looking up and meeting O'Shea's gaze. He nodded and she turned her attention to the helmsman as she walked back around the tactical station to the command chair. "Helm, give us warp nine, heading one-seven-zero, mark thirty-three. Engage."
The helm did as instructed just as Reiv and Jevor arrived on the Bridge via the forward-starboard turbolift. The two nodded at the guards posted on the Bridge and approached Zaras. "What's happening Lieutenant?" Jevor asked, as he noticed the stars streak by quickly on the viewscreen.
"We've received a garbled distress call from a Federation starship at coordinates nine hours away from our location at warp nine. I've set us on course to intercept," Zaras replied, getting up and moving over to the first officer's chair so that Jevor could sit.
"Is that wise Commander?" Reiv asked of Jevor. "Our ship is sort of in need of a little help of its own at the moment. We don't want to spread our problems onto another ship."
Jevor waved off his objections with one hand, "We'll have plenty of time to solve our little distractions by the time we arrive at the coordinates of that Federation ship. Now, I want you to go to Science Station One there and begin your scans, Lieutenant Reiv." Reiv nodded and moved to Science Station One at the back of the Bridge to begin his work. Jevor then turned to Zaras, "Brief me further on this distress call of yours if you would Lieutenant."
Before Zaras could reply, the two became distracted by the increasing volume of Lieutenant O'Shea's voice as he conducted routine check-ins with the guards posted on the ship's various decks. "What's the problem, Lieutenant?" Jevor finally asked as he and Zaras stood and looked over the tactical station at O'Shea.
"Commander," O'Shea replied, looking up, "I've lost contact with guard posts in sections one through twenty on Deck 19."
Jevor made a face, "One through twenty?" He pressed his comm-badge, "Jevor to any guard on Deck 19." No response came to his signal. "Any guard on Deck 19, come in," he repeated. "Brig control, come in."
"Commander, I'm showing multiple phaser shots on Decks 17, 18, 19, and 20," O'Shea inserted.
"Any guard on Decks 17 through 20 come in!" Jevor called out. When no reply came, he continued, "Computer seal off Decks 17 through 20. O'Shea, initiate General Quarters Four." Lieutenant O'Shea did as instructed and the ship's normal lighting was replaced with a deep crimson hue; a distinctive klaxon also chimed in the background.
"Commander, someone has overridden the force fields on Deck 18; turbolift number four is in transit, heading for the Bridge," O'Shea reported.
"Computer lock out turbolift four," Jevor ordered. He looked expectantly at O'Shea.
"Turbolift four locked out at Deck 13," O'Shea reported after a moment.
"Jevor to Ivanovna," the Chief Engineer called over the intercom.
"Yeah?" came her drawn out, tired response.
"Lieutenant, take a security detail and arrest whomever is using Turbolift Four; you'll find it stuck on Deck 13," Jevor ordered. He was greeted with silence. "Ivanovna do you copy?"
"Yeah."
"Lieutenant, is everything alright?"
"Yeah."
"Well then snap to it! Let me know what you find," Jevor ordered.
"No," came Ivanovna's strange voice.
"What did you say to me?" Jevor inquired, becoming increasingly annoyed at his apparently apathetic Chief of Security. "Are you out of your mind?"
"No, she's not out of her mind," came back an evil, cackling voice, which only took Jevor an instant to recognize; it was that of Commander Yilaan. "I'm sure she's still in there somewhere." A blood-curdling scream over the intercom caused everyone on the Bridge, save Reiv, to wince at the volume. "Yep, I was right! She is still in her mind. The trouble with her is, so am I," Yilaan said, laughing hysterically before severing communication. The Bridge crew exchanged worried looks.
"Computer, lock out primary command functions, and disallow all further similar modifications from all Decks except for the Bridge," Jevor instructed the ship's main computer. He smiled in satisfaction at his quick thinking, "That ought to slow her down, eh?"
The computer, however, sullied his good mood. "Command functions locked out," it began, followed by a couple of beeps, "Access to localized command functions subroutine is denied."
Jevor struck the side of the tactical station with his fist in frustration. "Only the captain can localize command functions, remember?" Reiv reminded him. Jevor glowered at the Lieutenant but said nothing.
"Nice try Commander Jevor," Yilaan's skin-tingling voice reproved him over the intercom. "Computer, override Commander Jevor's primary command lock out. Authorization Yilaan, four-seven-charlie-tango-five."
Jevor's eyes grew wide as a nod from Reiv confirmed that his lock out had been removed. "Where is she, O'Shea?"
"Assuming she's with Ivanovna, Deck 15 sir," O'Shea replied. "They escaped our force fields on Decks 17 through 20."
"We're going to have to do this the hard way; come on Reiv, let's go," Jevor said, motioning with a hand phaser for Reiv to join him in leaving the Bridge to go after her. "The rest of you stay here, and don't allow her access to the Bridge! Use whatever means necessary. Zaras, you're in command." She nodded and went over to a nearby wall panel to requisition hand weapons for the Bridge crew as Jevor and Reiv entered a waiting turbolift.
As the turbolift with Reiv and Jevor sped along, Reiv spoke up, "Commander, if she can break your command lock out, that means that she can control the ship. If she can use her mental abilities to get into people's minds, it means she can control the crew. She can do anything! How do we stop her?"
"By getting to her before she goes any farther," Jevor replied simply. "Computer, locate Doctor Giovanni."
"Doctor Giovanni is in Sickbay," the computer replied.
"Is she conscious?" Jevor asked.
"Affirmative."
"Reiv, I want you to go after Yilaan on Deck 15. Kill her if you have to; I'm going to go to Sickbay. If I can get to the captain before Yilaan does, I can get him to issue some very helpful commands. Flooding all decks with sleep gas sounds good right about now, but if I do it myself, she'll just countermand it," Jevor explained.
"You want me to go after Yilaan by myself?" Reiv asked.
"Well, Lieutenant, I'd assign a security team to you, but we don't know who we can trust any more; who's freaked out, who's under Yilaan's control," Jevor said, patting Reiv roughly on the back. "I know I can count on you."
The turbolift stopped on Deck 15 and the doors opened. Reiv slowly exited the lift, looking back at Jevor to see him smile and gesture encouragement, before the doors closed and Reiv was alone. Or so he hoped, anyway.
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