It's Spreading

Posted on Fri Jun 26, 2020 @ 6:01pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Captain Madelina Weisz

Mission: The Nanjing
Location: Personal Quarters
Timeline: MD 2 || 1100 Hours

Calista had rematerialized in her office and began to make a frantic grab for a few things from her desk. She was in a complete panic. The doctor took what she hoped would be a calming breath and requested the computer lock her office door. Taking a seat behind her desk, Calista tapped her combadge. "Ahreen to Commodore Aravan," she began. The deep breath hadn't done much to stop the shakiness in her voice, but it was important she spoke with Michael. "Commodore, I need to speak with you as soon as possible. A secure secure location preferably."

In his quarters, Michael paused when his combadge chirped, then the message came through on override before he could tap it. The Chief Medical Officer sounded rushed and panicked, and he wondered what could cause that. Then he remembered the Borg Cube and feared the worst. He tapped his badge =^=Meet me in my Ready Room in five=^= he told her as he got up and fixed the combadge to his chest.

"Spencer, the Chief Medical Officer wants to see me," he called to the next room. "Lunch will be here soon and I should be back by then."

Spencer shook her head and called back out to him. His role as the ship's Commanding Officer was important. "Go, honey. We'll be here."

"No!" the doctor said a bit more forcefully than she'd intended to. "I mean... I would prefer my office, Sir." It was also farther away from the bridge.

"I'll return soon," he said with a sigh at the CMO's insistence. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and hoped this wouldn't cause a migraine, then headed out as he tapped his combadge. =^=I'm on my way.=^=

Calista paced the floor of her office while she waited for the Commodore to arrive. There was a little concern that the XO could show up to finish what she'd started, but all she could do was hope she'd have the chance to expose the Captain first.

It wasn't long before the Commodore entered Medical and assistants, nurses and other medical personnel started to flock towards him before he waved them off. He headed for the CMO's office and tapped the panel, then entered his authorization code for her to see.

"Who's there?" She called out, feeling just a bit paranoid. There was a glass vase to her left she could use as a weapon if she needed to.

"Commodore Aravan," Michael said, surprised she didn't confirm the authentication.

When she heard his voice, Calista confirmed the authentication and waited for him to come in.

The Commodore entered and looked at the Lieutenant, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a problem that couldn't be handled by Captain Weisz?" he asked.

"Captain Weisz is the problem," she said quickly, asking the computer to lock the door again when he was inside. Off course, Maddy could get into her office if she wanted to, but given the redhead was in the bridge meant Calista was safe... for now. "I went to her office because of some concerns I had regarding Master Chief Barnes, and these... these tubes came out of her office, and her eyes were pure black. She's... Borg... or something very close to it."

Michael blinked. "You're telling me that Captain Weisz is Borg, or something to it, and none of our sensors picked anything up on the ship?" He asked in disbelief.

He didn't believe her, and without physical proof, the doctor didn't know how else to prove it to him. "Yes, Commodore, that's exactly what I'm saying. She tried to turn me into one of the them, but I just barely managed to get away. You have to believe me, because if you don't, we're all screwed. Go see for yourself."

"Calm down and tell me what happened, Lieutenant," he said soothingly. "What signs did she exhibit and have you done scans of the away team that came back from the Cube?"

"I told you what happened. Her eyes went completely black and tubes snaked from her hand," Calista said, her voice elevating a touch. How else could she explain the XO's actions? "The scans that were run before they left, and after they returned, revealed the same results. Everything was normal. No one showed anything different until Master Chief Barnes interfaced with that box they brought back with them, and even recent scans show they're dormant. The only unusual thing were his biomonitor readings. It detected some elevated neurological activity last night that Captain Weisz explained away as... adult activities. Those readings were the reason I went to see her in the first place."

"Run a sensor scan," Michael ordered. "I want scans on every person on this ship. If anyone comes up with those same elevated readings, let me know. Scan all the department heads as well."

Calista nodded her head and moved over to the console in her office to run an internal scan. It took a few minutes, but the results began to appear. "Elevated neurological activity is being shown in Captain Weisz, Master Chief Barnes, Commander Rho and Lieutenant Dosan as far as department heads go," she began. "Also Lieutenant Devereaux, Ensigns Rivers, Tholav and Niecta." There were more, and she named off a few others before looking at him. "That's not even all of them."

"Not...all of them," he said, his face going pale at realizing half his senior staff seemed to be compromised. "How is this possible? Check for Borg environmental conditions."

The Commodore went to another panel and entered his authorization code and began to enter a series of commands while he waited for the response.

The doctor began to run the next requested scan and shook her head. "I'm not picking up any abnormal environmental conditions, Commodore," she stated, looking at the readings as they continued. "But... what if their acclimated because of the host bodies?"

"Shit," Michael said before realizing he cursed. "Sorry, Lieutenant. Grab a medical kit and attune a tricorder...no, three tricorders with those elevated readings and prepare to depart." He grabbed a clean PADD and began to send messages on it while he waited for her. "I hope this works."

"What are we doing?" Calista asked as she opened accessed a cabinet in her office that contained some equipment should she need to do an emergency transport from her office to another location. She removed a medkit from it, then a few tricorders that were adjusted to the elevated neurological activity. When she was done, she looked to her CO. "Done."

"Now, we get off the ship and try to get help," he said with a look of determination on his features. "And take the ship and crew back."