Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Hannibal Ashur (Chief of Security) in Main Sim - Brig

Posted by Rear Admiral Gamemaster Dresden (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Brig Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻 Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig : Posted by Captain Kenson Koh (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Brig : : Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig : : : Posted by Captain Kenson Koh (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : Posted by Captain Kenson Koh (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : : Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : : : Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : : : : Posted by Captain Kenson Koh (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : : : : : Posted by Captain Kenson Koh (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : : : : : : Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Brig : : : : : : : : : : As the room materialized around her, Molly sighed. With the Ensign inside the holding cell, she could finally have time to investigate why the woman was acting so strangely. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Suddenly, Cal’s voice came through the comm. =A= Harris to Wright, might I ask just what the hell is going on?=A= : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Molly sighed, yet again, reaching for her commbadge. Couldn’t she finish her investigation without him sticking his nose in it? They knew each other long enough, and he had already too much on his plate to be worrying about what she was doing. Did he not trust her judgement? Her hand stopped midway and instead retracted to its initial position by her side. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : “Computer, full scan of subject in holding cell B3.” : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : As she waited for the computer’s reply, she finally pressed her commbadge. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : =/\= Wright to Harris. =/\= Might I suggest you worry about what’s happening on the Bridge? Molly bit back the words and cleared her throat. =/\= I have a possible suspect in custody. I’ll let you know as soon as I know more. Wright out. =/\= : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : - Capt. Wright, CIO/COS : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The scan results came back and showed that the individual was not Carol Charles but of a different humanoid species. She did not correspond to any crew member on the ship. From the brain activity, the individual had telepathic abilities. : : : : : : : : : ____ : : : : : : : : : GM : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Molly sighed as the results came in. It was clear that the being lying in the cell was the intruder. First things first, she needed to let Cal and Ashur know that they had them. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Tapping her commbadge, Molly first contacted the Bridge. Her tone was far less annoyed than before. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : =/\= Wright to Harris, the intruder is in our custo– =/\= Suddenly the computer signaled a pending transport and two other beings materialized in different holding cells. Molly was unsure of what had just happened. =/\= Uh… Colonel, two new people just materialized in two of our cells. May I enquire the nature of the visit of our new guests? =/\= : : : : : : : : : : : : : : - Capt. Wright, CIO/COS : : : : : : : : : : : : Cal’s voice came through the comms. : : : : : : : : : : : : (OOC: Crossposting from the Bridge) : : : : : : =A= Just two more… guests… from the other vessel. The two from the Transporter Room. I thought it better we keep an eye on these trouble makers on our terms, don’t you agree Chief?=A= : : : : : : : : : : : : She knew he was right. Tapping her commbadge, Wright replied. =/\= Aye Sir. I’ll keep you posted. =/\= : : : : : : : : : : : : Before anything else, Molly contacted Ashur. : : : : : : : : : : : : =/\= Wright to Ashur. We found the intruder. We also seemed to have picked up two other members of the freighter. I am currently in the Brig. Did you find anything? =/\= : : : : : : : : : : : : She had one unconscious prisoner and two that were very much awake. She wondered if she would be able to get any information out of them. At least, she needed to try. : : : : : : : : : : : : - Capt. Wright, CIO/COS : : : : : : : : : : : : OOC: From my understanding, the two people the Dresden just beamed into the Brig were the same women that had been with them on the Valk. Is it safe to assume that Molly would recognize them? – Joana : : : : : : : : : : OOC: Yes. : : : : : ____ : : : : : Kenson : : : : : : : : As she waited for the replies from the Security team, Molly walked towards the new arrivals. They were the same women that had ‘welcomed’ them on board the Valk. How ironic, she thought. Approaching Namki, the one that Wright had spoken to in the freighter’s Engineering room and the one that had seemingly ‘possessed’ the Dresden’s Counselor, Molly observed the woman for a moment. Your nervous systems provide us with sustenance Namki’s words on the Valk floated in Wright’s mind for a second. There was now a forcefield between them so at least she was less concerned about making sure there were no physical contact between them. (OOC: Crossposting from Main Engineering. – Joana) The comm sounded. =^=Negative Captain, Everything seems normal so far. I am on my way to the Crew lounge to see what happened there.=^= Hannibal replied. Tapping her commbadge, Wright promptly replied. =/\= Thank you Lieutenant. Keep me posted. =/\= : : : : It would be clear to the other woman that Wright was not happy with the events that had led to their current situation. When she spoke, she did so in a firm yet peaceful manner. “What is it that you want from us? Are we really just a big piece of space food to you?” : : : : : : : : These women had taken out their own pilots, which Molly still felt made no sense. Unless, of course, the pair currently in their sickbay were not their pilots after all… But Molly decided to keep the conversation short for now. : : : : : : : : - Capt. Wright, CIO/COS : : : : : : “We need sustenance,” Namki replied, “we do not do it out of fun. We do it to survive as a species. If we do not have sustenance, our species will go extinct.” : : : _____ : : : GM : : : : Molly sighed out of annoyance, but when she spoke, her tone remained steady and calm. It was almost as if she didn’t want Namki to realize how frustrated and angry she really felt at what they had done to them. But it was in fact something Wright used to calm herself down. The last thing she needed was for her to lose her self control and for Cal to find out that she wasn’t keeping up with her counseling appointments. : : : : “So you have told me before.” Wright knew that asking what they had done to their Counselor and their Chief Engineer was probably not going to yield any useful answers. After all, Namki was cornered, and so, unlikely to give out information voluntarily. Finally, Molly continued in the same steady tone as before. As she talked, she paced on the outside of the cell. : : : : “Who are the men we beamed on board our sickbay? You told us they were your pilots and that without them you couldn’t fix your ship or even fly it. However, after we took them under our care and boarded your ship to help you out, you attacked us, and then infiltrated our vessel. It seems to me that they are not your pilots but rather two poor souls you used as bait–“ Suddenly everything connected in Molly’s mind. When they had transported to the Valk’s Infirmary, Lieutenant Satordi had pointed out that both men were dehydrated and malnourished. Was that… was that the aftermath? Were these women disposing of them? After a short pause, Wright insisted. “They are not part of your crew, are they? They are just two victims that you… consumed… and then used as bait for your next big catch, aren’t they?” : : : : The fire in Molly’s eyes intensified. : : : : - Capt. Wright, CIO/COS : : The three women were looking slightly gaunt. Namki’s voice began to tremble, “Yes. They told us they had detected you. We needed more sustenance.” : ____ : GM Molly stopped her pace in front of Namki and crossed her arms. She was getting tired of the only answer she was given being that they needed more sustenance. Wright got it, they were hungry. But she also understood that feeding them meant killing members of their crew, and she was not allowing it. They had done something to the two men and to members of the Dresden’s crew and they needed to know how to reverse them. The fact that the women seemed weaker did not go unnoticed to Wright, but to be honest, she couldn’t care less if they dropped dead. Approaching the forcefield, Molly spoke in a lower menacing tone. Her face only inches away from it. “I don’t think you understand who you are dealing with here. The organization this ship is a part of values life and peace and harmony. We would not hesitate to help you find a new, different way of sustenance that would allow you to live without having to harm anyone else. However, I am not bound by the same principles. My sole goal is to obtain the information I want, and you better believe that I will. I do not care if you need more sustenance. I am not letting you lose on this ship so you can feast on the members of her crew. There are people that you hurt along the way, people that are waiting for a way of undoing what you did to them.” Wright thought about the ship’s Counselor and how she had never seen her acting the way she had on board the freighter. “So, I suggest you start talking, or I will program the brig’s computer to take drain 10% of the air and pressure on your and your friends’ cells every thirty seconds. Then I can guarantee you that sustenance will be the least of your problems. Let’s start by, who are you, where do you come from, how many of you are there, and what happens to those you feed on?” Capt. Wright, CIO

Namki looked back at Ikki who was acting lethargic. “We merely touch and feed,” she said. “We cannot feed on females but we can control them. We have never reversed the feed. We do not know what you are referring to.”

Wright pondered on the piece of information that Namki had given her. Both the counselor and the ensign were females and Molly had seen what the alien women could do to them. Or at least to the counselor… And yet, Namki hadn’t replied to all the questions she had asked. The third woman joined in the conversation, distracting Molly from the problem at hand.

Samki, who was in a separate cell, stood up and hissed, “Your views do not matter. We feed and that’s all. All organic lifeforms feed in some way. Don’t judge us just because you do not feed like we do.”

---

GM

From the women’s perspective, Molly imagined it must feel as if she was talking to a cow. Only the cow here had them locked up and in cells and was denying them access to her meat. Looking at Samki, Wright responded. “We found other ways. We replicate our own nourishment on board this ship and we don’t need to hurt anyone in the process. I’m sure our Doctors and Engineers could help you. I hope you’re not expecting me to just drop the forcefields and let you feed on this ship’s crew. Because I will let you die before that happens.”

Samki just hissed.

Turning back to Namki, Molly continued. “You didn’t answer all of my questions, and I am not used to them being ignored. So… let’s start from the beginning… who are you, where do you come from, how many of you are there? And an extra question – why do you need to control the females?”

Speaking to no one in particular, Wright addressed the computer. “Computer, drain 10% or pressure and air from cells 1 to 3 every 30 seconds, starting on my mark.” Molly didn’t start the timer. She merely used it as a reminder that she was a person true to her word. But the anger that boiled inside her was starting to get too hard to control. She realized however, that she didn’t have a lot of leverage on her side. The three women were hungry, but unfortunately the food they needed was something Wright couldn’t give them. She hoped that medical and engineering could come up with some replacement that would allow both the women and the Dresden’s crew to live… but as an Intelligence officer, Molly was determined to trade that hope for more information.

• Capt. Wright, CIO

“We … come from …,” Namki started and trailed off as if trying to remember. “We remember being home on a planet … very green. Then there was a large lattice in the sky. Green became brown. A ship visited us. We were rescued ,,, three of us. We needed to feed … We fled that ship to a planet but people came after us, we fled again. We moved from ship to ship … We have been moving for a very long long time … we need to control females so that they would not betray us to the males …” Tears were moving out from Namki ‘s eyes and they streamed down her face as she was recalling and talking.

-GM

Hannibal entered the brig and stood near the back, observing the interrogation as quietly as he could.

-HA

Ikki turned towards the COS. Her face was one of desperation. Samki also noted his presence and hissed and stretched out. Her hand hit the force field and her face showed her frustration that she was not able to touch the man.

-GM

With Samki’s reaction, Molly looked towards Ashur and then back at the women. Him being there was like showing a piece of meat to a hungry human and not allowing them to partake. It was rubbing in their faces a much needed relief that they couldn’t have. It was… mean. Not that Hannibal knew.

He stepped foward after the outburst. “Is there something about me, or my gender that infuriates you?” He asked, noticing the outburst when he walked in.

-HA

The two women said almost simultaneously, “Need to feed …”
- GM

Wright didn’t know what to do. They had reached an impasse. If they didn’t eat, the women would die and that would be the end of it. The two men in sickbay would still be ill, and the Dresden’s Chief Engineer and the Counselor wouldn’t be helped. But their “guests” didn’t seem to know anything about their own feeding process or what caused on the victims. They were running out of time…

Stepping towards Ashur, Molly spoke to him. “Lieutenant, can I have a word with you for a second?” She asked as she pulled him aside and away from the women’s ears.

Capt. Wright, CIO

Hannibal followed Wright off to the side and out of earshot.

“They seemed to like my gender, I wonder if it has anything to do with them sexually.” He pondered as they walked out of earshot.

-HA

Molly shook her head.

“No. They want to eat you.” Wright paused for a second, pondering the best way to convey all she had learned. “There’s not many of them. I think they may even be the only three left… they speak about coming from a green planet and of a lattice in the sky… they speak of being rescued by a ship and jumping from place to place. They feed on male… cerebral activity?” It was not a question, even though it was formulated as such. But Wright was not a medical officer and her knowledge of biology was limited to the general education she had had at the Academy. She was not sure that was the right term. Molly quickly carried on. “They claim to control the female population so that they won’t betray them to the males… Everything adds up… the men we found on their ship… they were not their pilots but rather just… food. Whatever they did to the counselor… they seem to be controlling her. And they are hungry.” Wright looked back at the cells. “They are visibly weaker by the minute… and I ran out of options. I cannot let them free on the Dresden for them to feed on our crew. I thought that maybe we could help them find some other way of feeding… in exchange of whatever knowledge they have that would allow us to help our Counselor and our Chief Engineer… but they don’t seem to know a lot either.” Wright sighed. For once she was glad her starship captain days were over. “It is not our decision to make anymore. We need to take it to Colonel Harris. But we cannot let men in here. I don’t want us to rub ‘food’” Wright’s fingers motioned to add in the air quotes “in their face when they are already hungry.”

Capt. Wright, CIO

Hannibal listened to her explanation. “Hmmm,” He said thoughtfully, “Maybe I should go to the galley and have the chef dress me up, maybe a nice orange sauce.” He looked back at their guests.

A half smirk appeared on Molly’s lips. Ashur was more her kind of person than she cared to admit. Who knew that after his rough start on the Dresden he would become such a vital member of the crew.

“Let’s go see the Colonel. We can also ask the doctor can find some artificial means of satisfying their hunger.”

-HA

There was a small alert on the console outside the brig. Samki’s vitals seemed to be weakening.
-GM

Molly looked in the direction of the alert, but Hannibal was faster to get there.

Hannibal heard the beep and looked at the console. “Great, we might not have that kind of time.” He sighed, “So what would they need from me in order to live?” He asked, he really didn’t want to know.

-HA

From the information on the console, Ikki’s and Namki’s vital signs were not far off from Samki’s.
-GM

“What?” Molly was confused. As she checked Samki’s vitals, she was wondering what Ashur had meant with his words. Certainly he wasn’t thinking about–

Hannibal returned to the force field and looked at the guests.

After a moment he asked. “So what would you need from me to survive? What specifically do you need and how much of it?” He was aprehensive of the answer. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with this situation. He wasn’t some meal in his mind, but if the survival of the species was required, and he could help, he would consider it.

-HA

“Energy …,” Ikki replied breathlessly. “Energy from nervous system … sustenance …”

It might have occured to Wright and Hannibal that they did not specifically understand what they were feeding on. Just like a mosquito considers our blood as food. It might not realise that we call their food blood.

-GM

“Don’t you even think about it, Lieutenant.” Molly walked between the Security officer and the forcefield and guided him to the side again. “What are you doing? Are you seriously thinking of giving them… whatever they need from you? Look at what they did to the two men that we found on their ship. You are not ending in the same state. Not on my watch. We don’t know how to reverse it and we don’t know what they do. No.”

However, something was awfully frustrating. Molly noticed how the women kept using words like ‘nourishment’ and ‘sustenance’ instead of being more specific. Without knowing exactly what they fed on, it would be impossible to help them. It was almost as if they didn’t know what they were talking about…

Wright didn’t want to let the women die, but she would rather see them perish than anyone else in the crew. “Energy…” She finally said out loud. So many questions swirled now in her mind. “What’s so different about the energy in male and female brains? I mean… why can they feed on one but not on the other? It can’t be raw energy they feed on… or they would feed on the forcefield, no?” She recalled the strange energy signature that they had spotted in the Valk’s Engineering room. “How can we feed someone that doesn’t know or wants to tell us what they feed on? I would propose to take them to Sickbay but I am afraid we might not have the time or that the doctor might serve as their entrée…”

Capt. Wright, CIO

OOC: Neural energy is also connected to telepathic processes and the psyche. There is a difference between the male and the female psyche.
- GM
OOC: The real me knows that, but I am not sure Molly would have paid a lot of attention to her Academy science/medical classes… – Joana

“Captain, I understand, I don’t want to do it either. But if it keeps them alive for a little bit longer. Long enough for the doctor to come up with something well, so be it.” He explained, “I am not going to be their buffet, but If I can give them just enough to live, then it may be worth it. Besides, I’m not a senior member of the staff, I’m expendable.” He said with a smile, trying to seem brave.

-HA

The argument was pointless and only making them lose time. A decision needed to be made, for better or for worse…

“Don’t make me put you behind a forcefield too, Lieutenant. There’s no such thing as an expendable member of the crew.” She said in a much harsher tone than before. For the most part, Molly could be very cold and hard to work with. However, her heart and her moral code were in the right place, even if those same two attributes had caused her a great deal of pain in the past.

Tapping her commbadge she did the only thing she could think of. She just hoped it was the right one.

=/\= Wright to Lieutenant Vock, I have the three passengers from the freighter on the Brig. They are very weak and seem to be starting to starve. The women don’t seem to know what they feed on besides the fact that it is on the neural energy of males. I would advise against transporting them to sickbay, but we need a way to help them without killing one of our crew members if we are to keep them alive. Is there any way that you can help us? =/\=

Molly didn’t trust the women. Even if they assured Ashur that they would not consume more than the strictly necessary, Wright didn’t know if they would keep their end of the bargain or even if their primal instincts wouldn’t take over. On the other hand, the women didn’t seem to know what they fed on, so it was also likely they didn’t know how much they needed to feed on either. Their best option would be to send them to Sickbay so that the doctor could examine them and take his own conclusions, but an examination required the CMO to be near them and the Doctor was male. There was no way Molly would put him in danger as well.

Capt. Wright, CIO

Cross Posted With Sickbay Thread:

=/\= Vock to Wright. The passengers feed by touch and absorb neural energy through their skin, correct? Find out if they can absorb the energy from anywhere on their bodies, or if it is a certain point they must feed from.=/\=

The CMO’s voice seemed slightly rushed, as if he was moving quickly.

Vock, CMO