Who Ya Gonna Call?

Posted on Mon Apr 20th, 2015 @ 2:54pm by Commander Angelica Fairchild & Staff Warrant Officer Nexi

Mission: Temporal Kickback
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Between "The Battle Commences" and "Posthumous Promotions"

After Enalia left and the Devidians were confirmed to be gone, an almost eerie quiet had fallen on the bridge. No one spoke, and only the ship's native beeping noises broke the silence. It was calming... but also somewhat nerve-wracking. As much as Angelica liked it to be quiet, this was almost too quiet. She didn't even have her security reports to keep her busy; Fredrickson was handling them, which left her alone with the remnants of her adrenaline rush from earlier to keep her company. As such, she was feeling downright edgy, and it showed as she tapped her fingers against the arm of the chair she sat in.

The lift doors opened and Nexi stepped out onto the bridge, with her pike in hand. She knew someone would probably try to take it from her eventually, but she wouldn't give it up without a fight, not after what had just happened in her quarters.

"Fairchild," Nexi said as she approached Angel. "What the hell is going on?! Aewia and I felt... something, and then these fucking, I don't know, ghosts or something floated through our quarters!"

Angelica dearly wanted to tell Nexi to put the pike down and watch her language, but she could hardly blame the woman for being scared of the Devidians or wanting to defend herself. Still, she didn't exactly feel like explaining it either. "Felt 'something' hardly gives me a direction to go on, but the ghost things... they're called Devidians. They're gone now, not that it would make you feel any better." Knowing they were gone certainly didn't make Angelica feel any better. "I know how distressing it is to see that sort of thing, trust me."

"No, you don't understand, Aewia and I felt people, well, die for a lack of a better word," Nexi said. Now that the danger was passed, she collapsed the staff of her pike with a flick of her wrist, and tucked the weapon into its sheath at the small of her back under her jacket. "But it wasn't like they were killed... it was like they stopped existing, like their essence was just... sucked out of them." It had been a disturbing feeling, and that was saying something considering all the things Nexi had been around, but she'd never felt anything quite like this before. "What happened?"

"I might not be telepathic, but I did watch three people die on that Romulan space station. Not the same as feeling it, I know, but it does give me some perspective. Sit down." Angelica gestured at the empty space beside her, where she would sit when Enalia came back to the bridge. "We made a mistake. Used triolic radiation to make our phasers blue... we thought it would be safe as long as it was only in the phasers."

"I don't understand, what does that have to do with those things?" Nexi asked. "And they... they sucked the life out of those people?!"

"The triolic radiation attracts them and then they... feed on neural energy." Angelica shuddered ever so slightly as she said it. "It's terrible, what they do to survive."

"We brought them here?" Nexi asked, rising from the oh-so-comfy chair she had been nicely invited to sit in. "The fuck, Angel, why the fuck would you use something like that if you knew it attracted those things?!"

"It wasn't my idea! And I did tell Amelia that it could happen... it was a risk we took to avoid contaminating the timeline." Angelica wanted to jump up and protest much more vigorously, but with Nexi's temper already running high she didn't want to risk it. Staying put was a challenge though. "I know this is my fault, all right? I don't need you to remind me."

"Please tell me we ain't doing that again or I swear I'll take Aewia and jump ship. I don't care about contaminating the timeline, and it's better than staying and being ghost food!" Nexi said in reply.

"We aren't doing it again... we're not even trapped in that time period anymore. We... jumped forward." It had been a bit too far forward, but Angelica wasn't about to drop that bomb on Nexi yet. "And please stop yelling."

"Fine, I'll stop yelling," Nexi said begrudgingly, crossing her arms over her chest with a disappointed scowl. She may not be yelling, but she sure as hell was going to have a talk with the Captain about this later! "So who all died?" Nexi asked curiously.

"Ensign On, Lieutenant Nosplet, and Commander Radt. Doctor Tenm may or may not make it," Angelica said quietly, not quite looking at Nexi anymore.

"They got Ven?" Nexi asked. Not Ven... And Doctor Tenm? Aewia really liked him! "Shit," Nexi muttered, sinking back into the chair.

"That was my first thought too." Angelica sighed, still looking away from Nexi. God, she felt so guilty for this whole mess. "There may be more we don't know about. I hope not."

"I don't know about what Aewia felt, but it felt like more than just 4 people to me... but then again, ain't never felt anything quite like that before, so I could be wrong," Nexi said.

"I don't have a full count yet... but I had security teams all over the ship." Reality was quickly hitting, and Angelica wondered how many men and women she'd sent to their deaths.

Nexi could feel Angel's grief and guilt, but she didn't know what to do about it. Nexi was a paid killer, she had no problems dispatching large numbers, but she rarely was personally responsible for someone's death. It was one thing to kill when someone was paying you to do it, but this was something else... "Yeah..." Nexi muttered, then nervously stretched out her hand to make an attempt at a comforting pat on the shoulder, but after the first pat it felt too weird, so she drew her hand back and tried to forget that ever happened.

Despite how upset she was over this situation she'd caused, Angelica smiled a little at the attempted nice gesture and resulting awkwardness. "Thanks. I know you're not really a people person and that wasn't really natural, but I appreciate it. Like, a ton."

Nexi just nodded awkwardly, really wishing she could just disappear now. "Yeah, just don't go spreading it around that I'm nice or nothing like that," Nexi grumbled.

"Your secret is safe. No one would ever believe it anyway." Angelica was quiet for a moment, not sure how she was going to handle this situation as it continued to unfold. She had so few people to turn to, and with Ven gone she had even fewer. At least Nexi and Aewia had each other. "You should be with your sister. She needs you after a trauma like this."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Nexi said, rising from the chair. "If those things do show up again, is there anything we can do to stop them?" Nexi asked.

"Something that can go out of phase or that forces them to phase completely into our reality. Maybe something protonic... I don't know for sure. I'll be looking into it." Angelica suspected in reality she'd be telling someone else to look into it. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything."

"Thanks," Nexi said, then returned to the lift to go check on Aewia back in Sickbay.