USS Maleficus Part I
Posted on Fri Sep 29th, 2023 @ 9:56am by Lieutenant Commander Rowena McGowen
Edited on on Sat Sep 30th, 2023 @ 9:15pm
985 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: Airlock - Deck 3 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD001 0800 hrs
Rowena was on her way back on to the Pioneer as she stepped on to the ship as always, but then all of a sudden she felt a sharp pain a flash of light blinded her eyes for a second. She looked up and then saw the hallway of the Maleficus leading to the bridge. She saw the red alert light flickering in the hallway but she couldn’t hear the claxon.
Then she heard the voice of Captain Kurt Jamison over the com. “Commander McGowen, status of the transporters.” He repeated the question, but this time he was standing next to her, and she was standing at ops on the bridge. She turned to the captain as her breathing had gotten heavier. She took a deep breath and looked on her console. “They are operational.”
Then the voice of Commander Elizabeth MacPherson, the first officer came over the com clear as day. “Captain, there is no one here. The crew is gone. There are no bodies, not a…” She was interrupted by a loud scream that was also heard on the com on the bridge.
“Commander, what is going on?” Captain Jamison tried to remain calm as he asked the question. No reply came. And icy quietness fell on the bridge as they heard loud screaming on the coms. Jamison raised his hand as he wanted to order Rowena to transport them out when Elizabeth’s icy scream was heard. “CAPTAIN GET IS OUT NOW!”
Rowena was already putting in the command to the transporters. The lights on the bridge were flickering. Rowena almost panicked. “Captain, the transporters are down.” Rowena’s fingers were friendly going over the console.
Kurt tapped his badge. “Transporter room 1, what is going on, report?”
“Petty Officer Terry McGinnis here, sir, I don’t know what is going on, but all system are working, but every time we try to lock on, or send the order to execute transport the system runs back loop and we lose the lock.”
Elizabeth’s voice was now almost begging, as the rest of the screams died out. Rowena Hands were shaking and the entire crew could do nothing but just hear their fellow crew die on coms. Rowena fell through her knees as all of a sudden the console bleeped. Shakingly she looked to the console. “Captain…the transporters….” She hit the button on the console. The beam materialized on the bridge and left the crew in horror at what they beamed up.
Some bridge crew couldn’t hold back and threw up on the bridge. Rowena fell on the floor feeling her stomach turn a few rounds as well. She put her hand over he mouth and tried not to cry.
Kurt looked to the mash of dead crew that appeared on the bridge. He tried to keep his cool. Calmly her ordered. “Rowena, close all coms all connections with that freighter now. Tactical, lock on phasers.” He closed his eyes and looked away. And he rubbed his eyes.
Rowena slowly got up, her shaking fingers going over the console and closed all connections with the freighters. She did send the away team down to sickbay. She leaned on the console. “Captain, should we start the cleansing of the ship?”
Kurt was still standing there with his hands over his face. When Rowena repeated his question he finally looked up. He nodded. “Yes, start cleansing protocol. He then walked off the bridge. Rowena looked to the Captain for a moment, but then turned away trying to focus on her work, which was pretty hard with what she just witnessed.
Another flash brought her to Earth as she looked to a screen. She heard herself asking the person on the screen, “What about the, captain?” Lieutenant Kia Beltina, former helmsman of the Maleficus looked to her. “I don’t know.” She remembered this conversation. She wanted to ask her former crew if they were having nightmares about the Maleficus. At that time most of the crew had already disappeared or died. As she looked at her former crewmate her face suddenly changed.
A dark twisted voice then spoke through Kia. “Rowena….Rowena…you want to see what I did with the Maleficus.”
Rowena eyes grew as she softly whispered, “No…..no…no…” She looked to her hands, they were covered in blood.
And then she remembered. The Captain was possessed as she later suspected. After they destroyed the freighter where they encountered the paranormal entity, the entire freighter crew had completely disappeared except for one. The survivor killed the away team and did horrible things with their bodies. The entity had used the connection with the Maleficus to enter the ship and possess the Captain. They were able to get the entity out but something went wrong. The ship had been drifting for almost 27 days until the paranormal found them.
The ship was eerily empty, the only survivor was Rowena who couldn’t remember what happened. The Paranormal Unit did a complete clean up and took the ship in. they had falsified records so nothing would point to anything paranormal. Rowena was put in therapy, but neither knew that the entity had taken home in Rowena. Waiting for it’s next victim.
Another flash pulled her back to reality and she dropped on the floor of hallway. She rubbed her eyes for a second and looked around wondering what she doing the floor. She got up. A passing crew member walked up to her. “Commander do you need any help?” She rubbed her neck. “No thank you, Ensign. I am alright, I just need, I just need to get to the SCIF.” She walked away.
Lieutenant Commander Rowena McGowen
Chief Intelligence Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
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