Posted by Ensign Mike Stone (Chief Engineer) in A lonely corner of the engineering deck

Posted by Captain Kara Nakuto (Civilian, Former CO) in A lonely corner of the engineering deck

Posted by Lieutenant Mike Stone (Chief Engineer) in A lonely corner of the engineering deck
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Night time. Was there even a boundary between night and day on the USS Viking? Shrouded constantly as it was in that isotropic, grey gloom? But certainly at this hour their skeleton crew of survivors was more sparse than usual, one lone and lonely man drifting nervously between the various blinking consoles of the engineering deck and silently whispering a prayer to the old gods that the ship would hold together for another night.

Ensign Poe had always hated the nightshift. Hell, he didn’t exactly relish the dayshift either. But at least there he could find others to accompany him amongst the ethereal screams and disembodied shadows of this most peculiar of vessels. At night he felt completely alone. Oh, deep down he knew that Stone would be around here somewhere, dodging cold spots and trying to ignore that ever-present, unsettling sensation of every hair on your body bristling with fear. But without the CE right next to him and practically holding his hand, this knowledge failed to provide him with any comfort.

“Four hours to go,” he attempted to bolster his meagre supply of courage. “Come on Poe. You can do this.”

Another shift to the next console and suddenly Poe’s hands were dancing over the controls, summoning a diagnostic routine for no other reason than to give himself something to do. A distraction from the hunched and twisted figure creeping always on the edge of his peripheral vision. With singular and determined focus, the young man stared at the screen…and waited.

=^=Anomaly detected=^= it announced flatly, the steady, even composure of the digital voice in complete contrast to Poe’s tormented form.
“Anomaly? What kind of anomaly? What the hell does…”

To his left, in the centre of a grey, nondescript wall, something was happening. At first it appeared as shadow, but this was no shade, more a complete absence of light. A void. And it was growing.

=Stone!=^= Poe moaned as he slammed a fist against his commbadge. =^=Ah, Sir…you better get out here. Something is…happening.=^=

The man’s eyes growing almost as wide as the gaping maw now before him, Poe watched, transfixed and terrified in equal measure as the void grew and grew…

No. No longer a void. He could make out something else now. Movement! Poe stared into the abyss as the darkness retreated to reveal one lone and monstrous figure. Large, much larger than Poe, its limbs bent and twisted like something from a nightmare, it continued to shuffle towards him. Long, knarled fingers reaching the edges of the opening and anchoring against the metal wall to pull its bulk clear of the darkness and out, out into his world.

With a deafening roar the creature broke free and tumbled into a heap at the engineer’s feet. And for what felt like an eternity Poe simply stared, open-mouthed, at this heap of skin and hair and broken flesh before him. Then with gargantuan effort, the man found some remnant of voice and used it to utter a question.

“Kara Nakuto? Is…is that you?”

• Kara Nakuto and NE Poe

Mike loved being woken up in the middle of the night. Sleeping was overated anyways. Tapping the badge he had next to his bed he replied slightly annoyed. =^=Poe this better be good. What is it?..... Poe?.. Poooe?=^=
Since there was no reply immediately, Mike asked the computer. =^= Computer what is NE Poe’s current location? =^= There seemed to be just a bit of static in the reply, but no actual answer. “Helpfull as ever.” Mike groaned as he slipped out of the bed. Poe was supposed to be in engineering, overseeing things. Or if he wasn’t someone was bound to know where he went. It was also close by nis quaters, so he went to check it out.

Lt. Mike Stone, CE

For an age she remained, crumpled in a bloody, quivering mass on the dusty floor of the engineering deck. Every atom in her body ached, every nerve ending raw and exposed in this unfamiliar and nauseating world. The overwhelming sensation of light stung at her eyes and she closed them tightly to return to the dark.

The dark. She had been trapped by it for what felt like a lifetime. Cocooned by it, suffocated within that cold and corpulent nothing. There had been a time when Kara Nakuto had considered the USS Viking the very definition of hell, Gre’thor made whole amongst the plane of the living. But now? Now Nakuto knew, knew with every cell, every inch of her being, that what the Viking had shown her had been a mere trifle. A teasing introduction to the world of abject and unescapable horror from which she had just fled.

The thought stirred something within the half-Klingon. Somewhere, deep in the core of her ravaged being a small light had flickered to life. Escape. Was it true? Was it even…possible? For decades, or so it had seemed, she had fought with ever-diminishing strength to escape her ethereal captors. But success had been torn so far from her grasp as to become nothing more than a paranoid fantasy. And then suddenly…a light. A pinprick of illumination against the vast infinity of the void. And she had followed it, thrown herself into it and landed…here.

Finally the woman raised her head and allowed her eyes to adjust to and absorb this new world around her. No, not entirely new but something wholly familiar, like the last fleeting tendrils of a rapidly dissolving dream. She knew this place. She had been here before, had lived and loved and laughed and cried between these walls.

The Viking.

“Is this…real?” Her voice a stranger to her own ears, years of silence punctuated only by her own screams. She had almost forgotten how to speak, the art of chaining words to form one coherent whole an insurmountable task.

“Is…am…are you real?” One hand slid from under her, ragged nails grating against the deck as she marvelled at the sensation of cold metal against even colder skin. Then reaching Poe she grasped for his foot, the man yelping in fear and leaping back just out of her reach.

“Lt Stone, Sir! I need some help here!”
She had been his Captain. Once upon a time. His chief, his mentor, his friend. Almost impossible to accept that this mangled and mutilated configuration of limbs was truly the noble warrior he had known. She looked different. Changed. Not her physical appearance, although gods knew her skinny frame, matted hair and drawn face were a far departure from the exotic and confident image of old, but in her very soul. Whatever had happened to her, wherever she had been for the last year, Poe could not shake the feeling that only part of her had been successful in her escape.

But now Nakuto was struggling to her feet, her six foot frame still powerful despite the emaciation. Allowing her gaze to take in the full expanse of the room her brown eyes grew wide.
“Who…who are all these people?”

Poe shuffled nervously, his own eyes searching desperately for Stone in the otherwise empty space. “Uh…people?”

“So you finally got more crew?” the former Captain continued, causing Poe’s stomach to drown in a nausea of fear and unease. Who the hell was she looking at.
“Lt Stone? Where are you?” the man yelled now, unable to bear any longer being alone with the half-Klingon, terrified beyond belief of the woman he had once gazed so admiringly upon.

Kara Nakuto and NE Poe

Mike heard Peo yell. “What are you yelling about?!” He almost yelled back.
It wouldn’t be the first time he had tocheck up on a NE who was terrified of some shadow in jefferies tubes caused by a blinking light. Or monsterous sound caused by a leaking pipe or some kind of other malfunction.

“This better be......good?? GOD!” It’s not an easy task to shock Mike, the CE of a derelict ship called USS Viking. A ship even scavangers don’t want to turn into old metal.
He thought he’d seen it all. He realized just how wrong he was, when he saw the zombified body of Nakuto.

Slowly he aproached the NE “Where did this come from? Is it a hologram or… living? Kara is that you?” He asked, recognising his old CO.

Lt. Mike Stone, CE

The half-Klingon turned to face the speaker, tormented eyes desperately studying his face for a thread of recognition. Of hope. It came only fleetingly, but the shadow of a smile remained on her lips.
“Stone?” Her voice drained of the strength it once possessed and yet still commanding. “I…was it you who did it? Was it you who brought me back?”

Her focus shifting erratically between Poe and Stone and eventually finding purchase between the two, Nakuto’s features deepened into a frown.
“I don’t recognise the rest. Who are they?”

Poe’s own eyes followed hers out into the empty space then retreated towards Stone, his own expression one of silent pleading towards his Chief. What the hell is she talking about? What ‘rest’?

But now the former Captain was moving on weak, unsteady feet, as if the act of walking was a wholly new sensation to her. Moving towards a console, her fingers moved of their own accord, muscles yet retaining precious memories that her damaged mind had lost. When the status report was presented in reply, Nakuto leaned close and studied every word.
“What in the name of Gre’thor have you done to my ship, Stone?” she barked, although if one were gifted with sufficient optimism they might suspect a trace of humour battling through the ragged tone. “It was in excellent shape the last I saw it.”

For Stone’s eyes only, Ensign Poe turned towards his superior and made a ridiculous face, a silent accusation that their ex-Captain had lost her marbles.

“I saw that,” came the voice behind them, spoken by one whose eyes could not possibly have seen.

But now she was returning to the two men and, one crooked hand reaching out for Stone as if he represented the only safe harbour in this churning, tumultous sea, she whispered, “How long was I gone? What events have passed in my absence?”

Kara Nakuto