Smack

Posted on Sun Dec 21st, 2025 @ 7:39pm by Captain Tyler Driskill & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Sledge & Lieutenant Nixie Wilde & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Lieutenant JG Freya Walker & Master Chief Petty Officer Sparta Walker

1,306 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 3 - Discord of the Mind
Location: Captain's Ready Room

Sparta knelt down with his tricorder. He sensed it, per his ancestry. In a standard sweep, the tricorder missed it. He knew where to scan. "Found a piece of it." He put it in an evidence container for the lab. Then he moved over to the corner and looked at the room. "What is this guy up to?" It was a rhetorical question. One he would answer. "Is he playing with them?"

"Like a cat plays with a mouse," Nixie Wylde shook her head as she passed her tricorder slowly over the opposite corner, where a higher concentrate of chemicals had been found in the forensic scan of the room, but so far nothing of significance was triggering on further inspection. "They're obliterating their prey," she added, almost absently as she watched the small screen. "Either they're taking pleasure in the violence, trying to disguise the intention behind their actions by sewing chaos or trying to destroy evidence."

Sparta stood up, " It's killed individuals. We can assume it's aim was to kill The Klingon, at least for now. Why this tactic with the Captain?" He was thinking about victimology. " What do the deceased have in common? So much violence with the others, but he just causes pain and embarrassment for the Captain." Despite his pointed ears, he was willing to assume, not very Vulcan.

"For all we know, the intention was to kill him, but the attempt failed," Nyx pointed out, shaking her head with a sigh as she stood slowly. "Nothing here. It's just left over contamination from recent cleaning."

Sparta nodded, " Could be he got the dosage wrong. Magnesium Citrate was remedy on Earth for Constipation. Ipecac is used in the emergency treatment of certain kinds of poisoning. It is used to cause vomiting of the poison. They haven't been used in centuries."

"And a very human weapon for a changeling to pick, by the sounds of it," Nixie frowned as she shook her head with confusion. Because it made so little sense considering what she knew about them.

"Where is the cup?" He looked at her, "Is there anything with an old fashion biometric lock on the ship?"

"There certainly shouldn't be," Nixie replied quickly, meaning it as she folded her arms firmly. They just weren't secure enough, not when there were better alternatives now. "The cup's in the security office, locked down as evidence."

Driskill entered his ready room where security was conducting an investigation “so what we got?”

"Not a huge amount more than what we already had," Nixie had to declare, but preferred to be her usual blunt self about it. "Sparta here has managed to find a sample though. We were also debating the motivation of the attack against you. Whether it was meant to harm or kill."

"Logic would suggest that the motivation is relative given our limited knowledge at this juncture. Weather the intent was to harm or kill; matters little to Security's duty to make certain that a similar incident does not occur again. I would propose that focusing on the facts as we know them and the physical evidence should be the primary focus. The inquiry as to what the motivations were can wait until we have a suspect in custody." The Half Vulcan Assistant Security Chief interjected.

"Certainly one way of looking at it," Nixie gave a half shrug to the point of view, nodding lightly as she cast her gaze back towards the Captain, folding her arms. "On the other hand, if we can start coming to grips with the motivations going on here, it helps us predict its next move. To try and get ahead of it."

T'lar raises an eyebrow at the comment. She slightly inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Thank you for pointing out the deficiency in my Logic." She replied.

Nixie gave a small, easy smile, her hands in her pockets as she gave a casual shrug of one shoulder, because she didn't see it that way. The logic was sound after all. "No, it makes sense. But there's more than one way to catch a wolf, and unfortunately you don't usually know which is the right one until you either have a pelt on your back or you've become the prey."

"Then Logic would suggest we divide our efforts to maximize our chances of identifying the culprit." T'Lar replied, inclining her head slightly.

Nixie nodded lightly as she looked back to the Captain, her hands folding comfortably across her middle, thinking on the questions Sparta had raised. "Either we're dealing with an unhinged psychopath, in which case, T'lar is right and the whys and wheres mean nothing, we're at the mercy of chaos...or, this intruder has an endgame. If we can work out what it wants, we can lay out a trap for it. Changelings can be trapped by forcefields as sure as any solid. Now, I can't make head nor tail of its motive judging on the random nature of its victims so far...but the best guess would be our drive. Nothing else marks us out from other ships it might have infiltrated."

T'Lar considered the idea for a moment. " There is a logic to Lieutenant Wilde's theory. Such a drive would be of immense benefit for the Dominion, whether it be the Link as a whole or a subgroup intent on rebuilding the dominion to a more militant version similar to the prewar organization. A Delta Quadrant Dominion that would be as of yet outside the reach of the majority of Starfleet would be of great tactical advantage to a species that distrusts "Solids" as much as the founders do."

"The Report said the Vakra was aiming for the sonics section of the armory. Do we think that could be relevant? He is Klingon, correct? Does he have similar behavior characteristics of Klingon Warrior?" Nixie knew him best. The Captain had experience with him.

Nixie nodded lightly as she considered, rubbing the back of her neck lightly, taking the chance to stretch her shoulder with it. "Yes, the way of the warrior features heavily in his life and work. He's also very astute, it seems like he's always learning or practicing something new."

Sparta nodded, "Captain, permission to get sciences looking at Sonic weapons and Sonic shields." He assessed the replicator. " Why those chemicals? The choice of a weapon is telling. What does it tell us?"

"Anything that might help at this point" Captain Driskill sighed. The crew wasn't safe with this changeling aboard and Tyler wondered what it would try next. Another attempt on someone life, sabotage to one of the ship systems or multiple ship systems for that matter.

Joseph had entered the room, taking a look around as he did. He furrowed his brow, though he really had nothing to add to the conversation. He didn't want to ask what had happened as it was relatively obvious. He sighed and shook his head a bit before he looked rather suspiciously around the room, wondering if the changeling was still there, watching them.

"I still think that if we can figure out a way to lure it, we should try and trap it with forcefields, and wait it out, until it has to shift form," Nixie watching the Captain with an arched eyebrow before motioning with an expressive hand. "But we'd have to get that lure right. In the meantime, I suggest we get more security boots on the ground and have teams posted in the most sensitive areas of the ship around the clock."

“Make the appropriate changes to the security schedule, Lieutenant. I’m due on the bridge and we all have plenty to do.” Tyler stood up with a sigh and as they all filed out of the Captains Ready Room there were thoughts of how lucky he was.

 

RSS Feed