Posted by Lieutenant Sural (Chief Engineer) in Trying to reach Deck 31

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Sathut (Counselor) in Trying to reach Deck 31

Posted by Commander D’Vash Odinson (First Officer) in Trying to reach Deck 31
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Galen’s reaction as the weapon was fired was to step back, his arm automatically going across the front of Sural. It wasn’t necessary because Sural had baked up quicker than the security officer’s reaction. Galen made a quick glance as Sural spoke, making sure the man wasn’t harmed. He kept his voice silent, but the phaser was still in his hand as it had been since leaving the mock bridge. As they had checked rooms and unlocked various barriers, the lead had swapped between them. As the shot had been fired, Sural had been in the lead. Galen silently cursed himself. It was his job to protect the Chief Engineer. And currently he was doing a lousy job.

NE Galen
security

There had been a pause. Sural’s mind computed the various options even as he glanced at NE Galen. He gave him a nod that was supposed to imply that his actions were proper. It wasn’t so much that Sural was reckless; to be honest he had not considered anyone down below here to actually have been one of them. Moreover, all that being said, he should have suspected there would be some residual crew from the alternate universe about. To have been caught by surprise like that indicated they had been lax - that he had been lax.

“What do you suggest, Mr Galen?” he asked in a low voice. “Can we talk him down from to assist us?”
- Sural, CE

Galens hook his head. “I don’t know. Let’s see how he reacts. If he’s been traumatized bad enough, he may not trust us, much less help us.” He had been prepared for a straight firefight. But running into potential crewman that weren’t part of the duplicity, he hadn’t figured on that.

NE Galen
Security

“Lt. Sural?”, the crewman questioned. He stepped further into the corridor, exposing himself, but still holding the phaser. He appeared shaken and unsure of what to think. When he saw Galens, he appeared even more confused. He recognized the security officer and then looked back around the corner out of Galen’s and Sural’s linee of sight.

“Mr. Galens, is that the real you? If it is, then who is that?”

He allowed the security man and CE to move forward. As they rounded the corner, they would see an exact double of Galen’s lying on the floor, unconscious, with an egg sized lump on his head. A sharp dagger, had been kicked across the corridor out of reach of the unconscious Galens.

NE Jobs (Computer tech)

In the adjacent Jeffries Tubes and access corridors too small for humans to easily access, a small entity stepped silently, cat-like paws and balance making his transit nearly soundless. Completely soundless to the not-so-sensitive ears of a human.

Sathut paused upon hearing voices, and sniffed the air. Four humanoids. One was Vulcan. He crept towards an access hatch, watching through the stiff grating.

Sathut, CNS

Galen nodded. “It’s me....” he stepped forward and shook his head as he glanced at Sural then back at Jobs. “Ok… so you know. There is a set of twins for several of us on the ship.” Soon as he said it, he had an idea. If this one wasn’t sure who he knocked out, then he could well be one of the ‘others’. Without missing a beat, he added. “I’m glad you are ok. When I hadn’t seen you since shift change this morning, I was worried. The Chief was wondering where we all were. He’ll be happy to know you are safe.”

The real NE worked third shift so wouldn’t have been at morning shift change. He just hoped it wasn’t a wild card that would backfire on them. They didn’t have a tricorder to check the guy. And the fact it seemed he knocked out the other Galen made Galen wonder if perhaps this guy was a doppleganger and thought he had hurt a real crewman.

NE Galen
Security

Jobs was still shaken and confused, blood still dripping fro the wound on his hand “Huh? I wasn’t on shift this morning? What do you mean twins? Like . . . clones, or actual twins? All I know is you, or him. . . came at me from out of nowhere, snarling about getting to the computer core. Then he lunged at me with that knife,” Jobs held up his bloodied hand, “I tripped, he went flying over me and smashed his head on the console. I didn’t really do anything. . .. “

NE Jobs

Sural had been quietly trying to work the logic of this situation. Was Galens an alternate universe agent? His logic sense told him that it was 74% unlikely; the logical thing would have been to disable him before now and he had had ample opportunity to do so. That meant that the Galens who was unconscious was the alternate universe one. He then turned his attention to the technician. Had Galens been the alternate one and the unconscious one being the real Galens then the technician would as well be an alternate universe agent. However, as the seconds passed by it appeared all was reasonably well.

“We too require to get to the computer core. The .. twins as you call them are attempting a takeover of this vessel or to destroy it. Their computer intelligence is in control of the vessel’s systems. We are attempting to circumvent this.” He paused. “Your help in restoring the ship’s primary AI would be invaluable.”

Sathut paused. It seemed these were all people of this world, except for the duplicate of Galen. He could only hear what was happening, as he was out of sight of the group. “Hello!? Yes, hello? Stuck in the access corridor. Some help would be appreciated! It’s the counselor!”

Sathut, CNS

Jobs jumped as the disembodied voice appeared out of nowhere. He looked around the room looking for the source while waving the phaser around wildly.

Sural turned. The Counselor certainly was agile in his getting about. “Mr Galens, please attend to NE Jobs’ injury and restrain your duplicate. I will see to the Counselor.” With that he turned and moved to the grating. “How did you get here?” he asked as his fingers worked the grating to get it off. With a snap, he unlatched it and swung it back on its hinge allowing the dimunitive creature to hop out.
- Sural, CE

Watching as Sural offered assistance to the counselor, he relaxed as Sathut came into view. When Galens approached him, he turned the phaser around offering the handle to the real security officer. “Here, I don’t like handling those things. I’m a computer tech, not a gunslinger.”

“Lt. Sural, how can we be sure there aren’t anymore of those twins in the core?”

NE Jobs (tech)