The USS Aries Stardate 2260.44

Scarlett felt a spark of desire between them at Spock's flirtation towards her. Their eyes met for a moment, but they both knew they needed to be careful and curb their desires for now. "I suppose that's true," Scarlett responded. But then a thought came to mind. "But why did they wait so long to send out a distress beacon?"

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Elyse stood outside of the morgue. She hated even thinking that her brother was in there. It seemed impossible to her. She kept thinking that this was all a horrible nightmare she was going to wake up from at any moment...except she didn't. She heard Kal's voice and she knew she needed to go in there. She drew a deep breath and released it. She walked in and slowly walked over to where Kal was standing. She thought she was going to be sick when she saw the body...his body. It made it all too real. Tears came to her eyes and began to trickle down her cheeks as her eyes looked him over. But then...she noticed something odd. A wound that wasn't consistent with Jeni's story.

"Kal...doesn't that look like a phaser blast to you?"

Kal shifted his light onto the wound. "It does but didn't she say there were raiders? For all we know, they had phasers of some kind. "McCoy will do an autopsy, if that's your worry," Kal assured her. "Elyse...try to say goodbye ok? You were family, you were close, don't let him go until you told him how you feel, ok?" Kal said. "I'll...leave you but I'll be right over there, ok?" He said then he stepped away.

Elyse wasn't going to say goodbye to her brother just yet. Not when she was now convinced that there was something going on. She looked over at Kal. "No, I need you to help me get Levi back to the Enterprise. I want Leonard to look at him. Something weird is going on here Kal."

Kal sighed but didn't want to disagree with Elyse right then. He called for the teleport and both corpses were teleporter to the Enterprise Morgue. They promptly left the Aries.

"Scotty tried to get into the engineering room that led to the ship's storage but the door was locked and this door was a blast door. Getting through it would take hours they didn't have right then. That, and Sofia said Liam said it had been irradiated. He decided, for now, to abandon it and continue with the repairs.

Kirk came back to his room and found Amara there. She was laying on their bed in little more than a bra and panties. Her usual underclothes but she still looked sexy as hell. And Kirk knew he could use some cheering up right then. When he came into the bedroom he took his shirt off.

"Man im starving," he said. "Were you waiting for me? Or just feeling like being sexy?" he asked as she smirked at her. He was deciding on what to do with her right then. He had several things in mind right then but he wanted to see what she was going to do first.

Amara was waiting for James to get back to their quarters. He had been running around all day since they had gotten to the Aries. Amara had heard about Elyse's brother. She knew that she had been close with Levi and she couldn't imagine what Elyse was going through right then. Amara knew that James would probably be hungry and tired, but she was hoping to distract him for a little while. She grinned when she saw him take off his shirt. She motioned for him to come closer to her and she whispered something particularly naughty in his ear. She grinned when she saw his eyes widen. However, before he could attack her their bell chimed. There was then a knock on the door followed by Elyse's voice.

"Captain, I really need to speak with you."

Kirk groaned as Amara lowered the front of her panties just a little with a finger and gave him the look she gave him when she wanted him to do to her exactly what she had said. He moved to the door and unlocked it. "Oh Elyse, come in," He said and backed up for her to enter. "Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked, based on her troubled look.

Elyse didn't even seem to notice that Jim didn't have his shirt on. She was a woman on a mission. "Captain, I strongly believe that Captain Brown and my brother were killed by the crew of the Aries. They're covering something up...I know it!" She didn't realize just how frantic and almost crazy she sounded and the charge she was making was a very serious one.

Kirk's eyebrows raised up. He knew there was something that they were not telling them but murder? Mutiny? He couldn't even imagine that. He came up and put his hands on Elyse's arms.

"Elyse...Elyse, I know you want to find reason in the death of your brother but sometimes...it just happenns. Captain Tetniar said they were killed by raiders that beamed right onto the bridge and they have a corpse of one of them. I've seen it," Kirk said. "I know you don't trust Jeni, but she's under a great deal of stress right now. And she is a joined Trill. They are not always easy to read. Now consider that a moment and the fact that you've just been dealt a serious blow here with Levi's death. And you're exhausted," Kirk suggested.

"Sleep on this, think on it and come back tomorrow with an objective head about this," He asked her.

Elyse just sighed and shook her head and turned and walked out of the room. Amara had heard Elyse and she looked at James when he walked back into their bedroom. "I'm worried about her," she admitted. 

Elyse, meanwhile, walked down to sickbay. Leonard was just getting off duty, but she stopped him. "Leonard, I need you to do an immediate autopsy on Levi's body."

McCoy was so tired! He had just cleared his last patient though he had several he had to keep an eye on. Well, Beta shift would. He was going to get a glass of Bourbon, have sex with his lovely, red headed beauty of a wife, then get some sleep! However before he got very far down the hall she came up to him. She was abrupt and had a feverish look in her eyes.

"I'm not doing that right now...Not with officers and crew in there," McCoy said as he continued on past her though he knew she turned to walk with him. What she said actually irritated him and he stopped and looked at her. "Elyse, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how disrespectful that would be? Have a little compassion. They've lost over half of their ship mates," He said as he continued down the hall.

Elyse was getting extremely frustrated and upset. She was agitated and very much on edge. "And what about compassion for me Leonard? I just lost my brother and I'm certain he was murdered." She saw Leonard stop and turn and look at her. "But you don't care and neither does Jim." She didn't let Leonard speak. She just turned and walked the opposite way down the hall. She had no intention of going back to their quarters that night. The Officer's mess had a large viewing screen that looked like a huge window looking out into space. Most of the time, they were at warp and so everything was going by so quickly. Tonight though they were still and Elyse just sat there staring out into the darkness of space and desperately wishing she could talk to her brother one more time.

Jeni called a meeting in her quarters early the next morning. She attacked Owen once more and she didn’t take a shower after. She wanted his scent on her. Owen, Naoko, Liam and Genevieve had all come in. There were other crew and Officers, but they were in this just as deep as everyone else. No one wanted to be court marshalled. Nor did they want their lives to be destroyed by this. They were all in survival mode.

“Naoko, where are you in dismantling the converter?” Jeni asked. Naoko had been key in building the converter that allowed their ship to use the alien crystals. Liam’s part was modifying the warp core to use the crystals.

“I haven’t been able to get close to it. Not with their engineering crew in there,” he said. “Well you better figure out a way. If they find that converter, we’re fucked,” she said.

“Liam, see if you can ‘devise’ an engineering accident. We need them to clear out long enough to dismantle the converter. How long will you need?” It would be faster with someone to help me...I could take Gene,” He said and nodded to Genevieve. Jeni shook her head.

“No, I have another task for her. Naoko, Liam, you need to unhook the warp core and get that converter dismantled. Either that or destroy it beyond recognition. I could remove the modifications to the warp core in a couple hours,” Liam said.

“Destroying it would be much faster,” Naoko agreed. “Alright then, make it happen...dismissed,” she said and they all nodded and stepped toward the door.

“Owen, all of your notes…” She began but he spoke over her. “Sickbay was all but destroyed, the likelihood of anything surviving is low,” he told her. “I don’t care of likelihoods, find a way in there and double check,” she told him. He gave her a long look and her cheeks colored but she needed him as an Officer right then, not her lover. Thoughts of what he had done to her last night made her cheeks feel warm but her eyes retained their hard look at him. Having his child inside of her was making her crazy for him. She wanted him inside her right then...always, and never wanted him to stop fucking her. His bright blue eyes made her knees feel weak. ‘Stop that!’ She scolded herself and her hand instinctively moved to her belly as if the baby knew its father was nearby. He turned and stepped out into the hall.

“Gene…” Jeni said as she looked at her. Her eyes were searching, like a hawk looking at its prey. “I didn’t want to get you involved in this, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to be,” She said.

Genevieve didn't want to be involved with any of this. She had been against the mutiny and had only killed the aliens when there was no other choice. She had cried when Captain Brown and Commander Turner had been killed. She and Levi had been friends since the Academy and knowing that Jeni had been the one to kill him had not caused any warm, fuzzy feelings for her. To be honest, she and Jeni had never gotten along. They worked together because they had to, but Jeni was ruthless and cold hearted...except where Dr. Bradley was concerned. They didn't fool her. She knew that they were lovers and that they were in this together. Genevieve, unfortunately, had a heart and a conscious and she was fully against all of this.

Genevieve shook her head and looked at Jeni. "No, you're not going to pull me into this. There's no way you're going to deceive Captain Kirk. Just come clean now. It would be easier for everyone if you did."

Jeni never liked Genevieve. She was too pretty for one thing, and her accent annoyed the hell out of her. She was a good pilot but there was a reason she had been put on Beta shift. Jeni narrowed her eyes. “Is that what you think? Well, let me tell you how that would play out, shall I? We all confess and draw you right in with us. If they discover what we did because of you, do you think we’ll just let you ruin our lives? If you think that, you are a fool. No...No that will not be how it goes,” she said and stepped right up to her.

“If we’re found out the other officers and I will nail you to the wall so hard you’ll feel the spikes in your hands and feet!” She said as she grabbed her in a hold. Jeni was highly trained in martial arts and she grabbed hold of Genevieve’s neck and pulled her hair back. Jeni’s eyes were now a Jaguar’s eyes.

“I will fucking destroy you! Do you know that? I will make it my mission, in life!” She hissed into her ear. “Do you understand me now?” She asked in a dangerous tone. When Gene didn’t answer right away she shook her and applied pressure on her neck. “Do you understand me Ensign?” She asked in hiss.

Genevieve was not a confrontational person. She was a happy, positive person and she was extremely intimidated by Jeni. Genevieve had been trained in hand to hand combat, but she was not confident enough to protect herself against Jeni. She winced when she felt Jeni grab her in a hold. She felt herself beginning to tremble when Jeni then grabbed ahold of her neck and pulled her hair back sharply. Genevieve was helping to take care of her father. Her mother had passed away a few years ago and her father was unable to work. Genevieve sent money to her father in Paris to help him. She knew that if she was thrown into prison that her father wouldn't be able to survive. He was counting on her. 

Genevieve fought back tears. She wouldn't allow Jeni to have something else to bully her with, and that's what Jeni was...a bully.

"...Yes...Captain."

Jeni gave her one, final shake then allowed Gene to straighten. She felt her trembling and heard her fear. She was confident that she sufficiently had Gene’s attention. The threat was a real one, not just something she said to illicit her compliance. She’d do what she said she would do, they all would.

“Good...now, is there anyone here on the ship that you know or are friendly with? We need access codes and we need them now,” She said. When she saw Gene’s expression change she knew then she was onto something.

“Don’t you hold back on me Ensign!” She said and gave her a condescending slap across the face then grabbed her chin and gave it a shake before she let it go. “A pretty little thing like you? Speak?” She said.

Genevieve immediately thought about Silas. She didn't know him very well, but she had seen the way he had looked at her. Genevieve was aware that she was attractive, but she didn't like using her appearance to get things. She had never done that before. However, seeing the fire in Jeni's eyes made her realize that she didn't have a choice in the matter. Gene's cheek burned from the slap Jeni had given her and her eyes watered. She kept her voice as steady as possible. 

"There is an Engineer...he saved me yesterday and I know he's attracted to me."

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Elyse felt like an emotional mess. She hadn't slept and had just sat there all night in the Officer's Mess alone. She was now doubting herself and didn't know what to believe anymore. Perhaps Jim and Leonard were right. Maybe she was throwing accusations around falsely. Perhaps she was just seeing things that weren't truly there because of her grief. She needed to have closure with Levi...she needed to say goodbye.

She finally stood up and left the Officer's Mess. She walked down to the morgue. She felt rather numb as she walked in. She slowly walked over to where her brother's body was. She slowly unzipped the bag and looked at his face. He looked exactly the way she remembered him...well his hair was a little longer, but she rather liked it that way. She was quiet a long time as she looked at him.

"If I had known that the last time we talked that it would be the absolute last time, there is so much I would have told you Levi. I never felt like I could talk to Holden or even our parents the way I could talk to you. You truly listened to me and encouraged me in a way no one else did. It was expected of us to go into Starfleet, but you told me that you would support me even if I decided not to go down that path. You were always there for me when I needed to talk to someone and you never judged me."

Tears came to her eyes, but she forced herself to go on. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you. I don't know what the universe is going to do without you Levi. You are going to leave such a big hole in my life and everyone else's that you touched. You're gone from this life too soon. I know that there were great things in your future. You deserved more. The best I can do is to try and live life the way you did...one day at a time. You never set your future in stone because you knew it could change at any moment. I want to live my life that way and I know that if I keep you in my heart that you will continue to live through me." 

She wiped away the tears that continued to stream down her cheeks. She touched her fore and middle finger to her lips and then touched them to his forehead. "Goodbye Levi."

Levi’s face was a pale gray and his flesh was cold. He was dead but he would always be her brother. The brother that truly cared about her. The brother that loved her. And it was alot more than her just knowing that he loved her. He proved it so many times when they were growing up she could never have counted them all. They were alot alike and he would live on inside of her now, if nowhere else. No one knew about his passing yet besides her. And she knew she would need to tell her family about his death.

McCoy had been standing by the door for quite some time. He didn’t move or make any noise. He was just there if she needed him. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Liam had set up one of the main power relays to explode. THey had always been dicey since one of the aliens had damaged their power grid directly. But he needed to make certain that he distributed too much power to the right one to contain the explosion to only where he needed it to happen. That much plasma would likely melt everything in the room and that would solve the converter problem. Naoko helped by distracting the right people at the right time in order to allow Liam the time to overload the grid. It had to be done using the interface which meant that Sofia, who was watching the repairs like a hawk, would need to be distracted. To do that, Liam would need to distract her and Naoko would overload the system.

Naoko positioned himself near the console while Liam moved into the main power distribution access. It was separated by a wall from the main room and his past with Sofia would give what he was going to do to distract her some merit. He didn’t have alot of time to really think about this but he needed to do something. He poked his head out.

“Hey, Sofia, could you give me a hand here please?” He asked sweetly as she conferred with Silas who held a length of conduit over his shoulder. While Liam and Sofia were at the Academy, Liam had stopped her from being raped by his room mate at the time. He had her pinned on her stomach and was trying to pull down her panties so he could have at her when he came in. The look Sofia had given him. She was frightened and the helpless look in her eyes...as if begging him to help her without saying a word had spurned him into action. He beat the living shit out of Marcus and the man was expelled that evening. He never spoke to Sofia again after that. Obviously he knew why. She had her studies and had to deal with that in her head as well. She had never thanked him for what he did but he didn’t feel she needed to anyway. He knew she and Marcus fooled around. And she had been in her bra and panties but no meant no regardless of when she said it. And the look in her eyes was plain.

When Sofia came around the corner Liam stepped up to her and planted a massive, passionate kiss on her lips. Liam was known for being a good kisser and he laid a doozy on her right then and he put his hands on her hips and pressed his body up against hers. There would be no doubt of his intentions.

Elyse had no idea that Leonard was standing outside of the morgue listening to her. She just stood there for a long while looking at him before she zipped the bag back up. As she stepped out of the room, she saw Leonard standing there. She looked like she had been up all night and her cheeks were tear stained. She just looked at him a moment before she turned and started to walk away.
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Sofia would never be able to forget that night with Marcus. She had never intended for things to go as far as they had in first place. She had been a little drunk and Marcus had tried to take advantage of that fact. When Sofia had realized that he had gotten her down to just her bra and panties, she had tried to stop him. She had told him 'no' several times...each time getting progressively louder and more emphatic, but Marcus had just become angry and had flipped her over onto her stomach and had pinned her down to the bed. Sofia barely knew Liam, but she had never been so grateful to have him walk in as that moment. Sofia had just wanted to try and forget that it had ever happened. She had been embarrassed and felt rather ashamed, though she had no reason to, and so she had never talked to Liam again. But now, here he was. She felt that she owed him an expression of gratitude. Enough time had passed that she felt like she could talk more easily to him. She had been trying to find the right moment, but it never seemed to happen. They were all so busy with the repairs. Sofia and Scotty had worked until extremely late the night before and then had gotten up early that morning to continue the work. 

Sofia heard Liam call her name and she excused herself from Silas. She felt that perhaps now she could talk to him. She walked around the corner, but before she could open her mouth to say anything he had pressed himself against her and kissed her! She was so stunned that at first she didn't do anything, but once her brain kicked in she pulled back and pushed him back from her.

"Liam! What are you doing?"

Liam was taken aback by her reaction but let her push him. He smiled. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I saw you again. I just didn’t know how to tell you,” Liam said as he wiped his lip of moisture with a finger. “I didn’t expect you to push me away though,” he said with a grin. “I’m no threat to you Sofia, I think I’ve proved that much,” he added with his hands up and away from his body as if to suggest he was unarmed.

Sofia didn't like men thinking that they could just kiss her like that. She didn't want to think that Liam was like Marcus...she couldn't. That would break her heart.

"I'm with someone Liam, someone I love very much."

Liam paused but he still grinned at her. “Well how was I to know that? You barely said a word to me. I thought it was you either liked me or you hated me for some reason. I was hopeful of the first way and could believe that you hated me, after what I did for you,” he said. “I certainly didn’t think you not like to be kissed. And I’m not great with words,” he said though that wasn’t true. Liam had a way with women. Her reaction had actually caught him off guard.

Sofia had a wonderful relationship with Scotty and she truly did love him and saw a future with him. She wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize what they had. She sighed and looked at Liam.

"I've been meaning to talk to you, but it's just been rather crazy," she said. "And I certainly don't hate you Liam. I was always sorry that I never took an opportunity to thank you for what you did to help me that night. I suppose I was just embarrassed and didn't want to think about it, but I am grateful for what you did."

Liam continued to grin at her. Sofia was indeed quite lovely if he were being honest. And it had been a while since he had been with a woman. But she was taken and he could respect that and her for staying true to the man she was with. “Well, whomever he is, he’s a lucky man to have you Sofia. Friends?” he said and offered her his hand.

Just as she took it the entire ship was rocked by the explosion. Sofia was thrown forward into Liam and he hit the wall behind them hard then dropped like a sack of potatoes though she had fallen on top of him. She saw immediately that he was bleeding badly from his head. He had hit the edge of the conduit cover and she thought his skull might be fractured.

Naoko decided they needed a bigger bang than just the one system. And he didn’t really care who got hurt by it. Engineering is a dangerous place. If more of the crew died well, that made it all that much more believable.

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The Enterprise lurched slightly from the shockwave of the explosion. Scotty and Keenser had been in a crawlspace when the explosion happened. Luckily he had been kneeling when it happened and the conduit that burst, did so over his and Keenser’s head. Metal and conduit insulation flew across the crawlspace and he only just jumped clear of the plasma that burst from it. Keenser was burned but not badly though he had to shut the emergency hatch to avoid the caustic fumes. Keenser was much more equipped to handle such fumes but Scotty was not. He helped pull Scotty back. Keenser was very strong for his size, after all.

“Thank ye!” Scotty said in between fits of coughing. Two men fell off of the catwalk above the warp core and one woman screamed as she was burned from the plasma. Naoko grabbed hold of the plasma inhibitor and he sprayed her with it. Plasma, when exposed to oxygen only continued to burn. The Crewman, Petty Officer Garland had melted furrows of flesh on the side of her face, neck and shoulder.

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On the Enterprise Kirk looked up from his chair. He wondered what that lurch was and looked at Amara and gestured for her to patch him through to the Aries ship wide comms. She did so immediately.

“Scotty, whats happening!” Kirk asked.

Sofia smiled and was about to take Liam's hand when suddenly the entire ship lurched violently and she was thrown into Liam, who was thrown into the wall behind them. He hit his head extremely hard and then dropped to the floor in an unconscious state. Sofia could immediately see that he was bleeding from the head and she feared he had a skull fracture. She needed to get him to sickbay immediately. She heard Garland scream and then heard the tell-tale sound of a plasma inhibitor being sprayed. She looked over and saw that Scotty was alright, but she could tell that Keenser had also been burned. She needed to get them all out. She saw Scotty look at her and she gave him a signal that she was alright. She pulled out her communicator. "Transporter Room, I need you to beam Harris, Garland, and Keenser directly to sickbay." She planned to stay behind to help Scotty. After they were beamed up she looked around for Silas to ensure he was alright.

"Silas!"

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Scarlett and Spock were on the bridge working on the consoles when the explosion happened. Scarlett was thrown back, but Spock caught her. Sparks flew from the console she had just been working on and she knew that had she been standing any closer that she would have been badly burned. 

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

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Despite the interruption, James and Amara had gone on to have quite the passionate night. Twice last night and then once more when they woke up. With everything that was going on, they both seemed to need each other even more. However, once they stepped onto the bridge they both switched into work mode. Amara had been looking at the Aries through the view screen when she saw it lurch violently. She had already started patching him through to the Aries when he gestured to her to do so. She knew that quite a few of their crew, including Spock, Scarlett, Scotty, and Sofia, were on the ship doing repairs and she was concerned about them.