I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore (Group Log)

Posted on 23 Jan 2021 @ 9:42pm by Captain Mallory Thorne & Commander Kristiana Petrova & Commander Indi Hawk & Commander Marcus Wilcox & Lieutenant Alexandra Dering & Lieutenant Callisi Veera & Lieutenant Madalene Sabine & Lieutenant Quinle Rahl & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D., M.S. & Ensign Ceaser Wolf

2,509 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: The Quagmire

No one could, or would ever, remember what happened in those next few moments.

The captain gave the order to fire, and they watched as the phaser light leapt away from the Odin and streaked toward the Romulan ship. After that? Nothing. Instead, a group of officers slowly regained consciousness in a foreign room. It was made out of some kind of pale, smooth, gray stone. The shape was roughly circular, and there were no lines in the stone walls themselves. Nor in the floor. It was as if the whole room had been carved out of and into a single piece of stone. The ceiling was nearly twenty feet above their heads, and there were only narrow rectangular windows that dotted around the top to let in light from the outside.

Wherever outside was now.

"What the..." Mal groaned as she opened her eyes.

She was laying on a floor. It was cold. It was hard. It was not the bridge.

Light came from above, but there was a dim glow that seemed to fill the entire room without any obvious source to it. With a grunt, she carefully pushed herself up to a sitting posture so she could look around. She wasn't alone, and everyone else was wearing a familiar uniform, and she tried to count them but everything was a little blurry. She shifted her gaze around, trying to take in more of the scene and clear her sight, but with little help. Things were still blurry, although she could make one what seemed to be...five large blocks of white or gray high on the walls. There was writing or images, but she couldn't make them out yet.

"Sound off," she called out, although her voice was hoarse and the sound of it echoed in her own aching head.

Madalene slowly stood with the help of Cydwenn, "w what happened?" Cydwenn asked slowly looking around while making sure that her new chief was able to stand on her own.

"N not sure," Madalene said a little slow, as she worked on getting reorientated with where ever they were, "...lieutenant Sabine and ensign Sov here," she added as something clicked in her mind that the captain was calling a roll call, "we appear to not be hurt," she added.

Everything was fog, deep, dense fog. Lexi felt like her mind was trapped in a bog, swimming through mud. Panic set in. The last time she felt like this was... wait, what was it? Something had happened, but she couldn't, for the life of her, remember what it was just then. The fog was pervasive, invading every part of her brain.

Cold. That seeped through. Why was she cold? She focused on that one clear sensation. She was lying on stone. Cold stone. Or so her fingers told her as she moved her hand against the surface she was laying on. She slowly opened her eyes as voices filtered through the fog. She hadn't made them out yet, but her eyes told her that her hand had not lied to her brain. They were indeed in a stone room.

"Cole!" She was bolt upright in the next second, the sudden clarity of the need to find her husband and make sure he was all right having pierced the fog like a lighthouse beacon. "Cole?"

At the edge of consciousness, the sound of Lexi's voice calling his name brought him out of his in between state. At first, he didn't say anything, just stared up at the ceiling and listened, uncertain if what was happening was even real. Though to no one in particular, he declared out loud frustratingly, "When I asked what was next, I didn't mean it!"

Hearing his voice, Lexi scrambled to her knees, crawling around people to sit on the floor beside Cole. "That's why 'next' is a four-letter word, Love," she teased lightly, trying to ease some of the fear and confusion and stress that was starting to settle over her own mind, and likely his too. "Are you all right?"

Cole's brow furrowed when he realized he wasn't alone. "Yeah, I think so..." Looking over at, he quickly pulled himself up and started checking her over intently, making sure she was all right too.

A short distance away, another figure also registered the cold. Though, to her, it felt even colder. The whole universe felt cold without the fire that had coursed through her veins back home, but this was more, deeper. The next thing she noticed was that she was lying down on whatever the cold surface was. She could feel her uniform, even her gloves, but the cold was seeping through them. Her right hand moved to her thigh, but her ever-present weapon was not there. That meant that wherever she was, it had been removed. And that brought her fully awake.

Aleina pushed herself up quickly, and partially regretted that. But the dizziness would pass. She gave it a moment then looked around her. Slick, gray stone walls and floor -- that explained the cold -- with some kind of plaquards with writing on them partway up and tiny openings farther up surrounded them. Her training, her background, forced her to adapt quickly or she would not have been able to assess that much. But it didn't tell her anything. She couldn't make out the writing or imagery, whatever it was, just yet.

Shoving up into a standing position, she began to look around at the others. She didn't know all of them, so she couldn't even begin to guess which were missing, if any. So instead, she focused on the captain. Making her way over, she squatted down beside the woman. She looked... disoriented perhaps? "Captain, are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm alive," Mal said. "I have to say that 'all right' is...a separate issue."

Another groan, another body coming to. The Daughter of Ts'usu rose up to a seated posture, that about being all she could manage at this point. The call to sound off was made, that much was still echoing in her head. "Veera, Callisi. Lieutenant. Sakana kyu ki san mizumi ichi." Name, rank, serial number. The lower light seemed alright by her standards. The pounding headache and yet another hole in her memory did not.

"Stone." she assessed, running her hand along the floor that she sat upon. "Anyone remember more than nothing?" she looked around at those more awake than her.

Quinle had stood on the bridge, her hands clasped before her as she watched the shot being fired. Everything since she had come on the Odin felt out of the ‘normal’ so she should not really be surprised when the world went dark, but there was still a level of that in her mind when she awoke on the cold stone floor at hearing the Captain’s call. Running through a mental check in with her symbiot before she replied, “Rahl present.”

Placing her hands next to her on the floor next to her, helping to brace her as she sat up expecting some kind of physical reaction to whatever happened. Other than the chill, and the stiffness that accompanied it, she did not feel any serious issues. Then she tried to focus around her and the blurring of her vision set in, drawing a deeper frown to her lips than the small one that normally turned her lips at a down angle.

Marcus felt the cold on his face, confused. He stayed still, letting his mind sort. Red Alert, Scrambling fighters, then? He couldn’t remember. He rolled over onto his back slowly, some soreness? Pain? He wasn’t sure. His whole body didn’t feel right. The distant echoes of people sounding off came closer to the forefront of his mind. “Commander Wilcox present,” He said a little hoarsely as his eyes scanned the room. He attempted to stand, but the dizziness kept him to a kneeling for the moment.

Mallory's eyesight began to clear, at least a little, as she regained more consciousness and heard the voices of her staff. "I remember the ship was answering a distress call... There was a civilian ship under attack and then...nothing." She frowned. "What does everyone else remember? What's your last memory?"

"Heading to the bridge for the same distress call," answered Kris, sitting up and rubbing her head, eyes closed. "Anyone got the plates of that truck that just ran me over?"

"Um, um I think I was heading to the bridge, I think," Madalene said looking art Cydwenn, "....right I would've been heading for the bridge during a red alert situation," she said again still looking at Cydwenn like she had the confirmation she was looking for,

“I was on the bridge...”Rahl pretty much agreed with what all the others were stating as she brushed off her uniform, this time the dirt was not imaginary as she often found on her uniform, a habit of the ages of trying to look presentable, but real dirt from the cold stone underneath them all. “Is anyone hurt?” They should be, right? They had all had been incapacitated, that meant they went through something that should have caused injury.

Cole was already pulling himself up to his feet, feeling concerned about the same thing. Lexi was fine, and he needed to make sure everyone else was too. "I'll be looking everyone over, Counselor," he said, stiffly, feeling the same all over. "And I have no idea what I was doing before...whatever this is, happened. I just...don't remember." Bent over and pressing his hands on his upper legs, he looked around at everyone else, feeling confused about his memory.

"I was in my new office." Callisi paused, the words odd for her to say. "At the call for red alert, I felt my place was better suited to the bridge, so I started there. The last thing I recall with clarity was getting into the turbolift." she paused, trying to will the memories to the surface. To no avail. At the call for aid, she turned towards Cole. "I don't feel any worse for wear, but I won't object to a check up." the cyclopean rabbitess offered her compliance. This medical check should go over much better than her last trip to medical. The new face didn't hurt in that regard.

“Deck 4, going towards shuttle bay. Had just gave the order to prepare to scramble fighters,” Marcus added in a moment of silence. He felt around his head, attempting again to slowly stand.

Cole hadn't noticed Marcus, otherwise would have suggested the air group commander try not to stand, at least not in the moment. He headed on over to Callisi, who happened to be the closest one to him besides Lexi. When he got to her, he crouched down and started looking over her face intently. "I don't have a tricorder, Lieutenant. So, I'm going to have to check you over the old fashion way." For her, that included pinching the large vein in one of her ears between his fingers in order to take her pulse. He wouldn't have wanted to surprise her, all things considered. "Are you alright with that?"

"I... I understand. Continue, with my consent." she replied. He had no trouble finding her pulse. In fact, at the contact it seemed to jump a bit. Not that she'd say anything to bring it to notice. Her ears were very warm, perhaps that's how they regulated body temperature. Warm, and soft. She stayed as still as she could during the examination, though the occasional twitch or involuntary swivel seemed to be beyond her to control. Strange environment, strange surroundings, she was on alert.

Not surprised by those, and that she had a faster than normal pulse than if she had been human, Cole continued of what he could of a basic exam on the Ts'usugi. He started looking into her one good eye, checking her pupil's reactions as others spoke out on what they could remember, making it fast as he has so many to check over.

She didn't resist, and her pupil contraction was normal, if a bit drastic. Seemed that she didn't enjoy the bright light. At the conclusion of his inspection, she offered a soft smirk, "Clean bill, I presume?" she asked, though it was mostly in jest.

He nodded, "Clean bill." He gave an assuring smile and then finished with, "If you start feeling light-headed, nauseated, not well in any way, I want to know. Alright?"

She gave a nod, "Hai Ishi... I mean, yes doctor."

Lexi frowned at Mallory's question. "I was in sickbay with Cole... I think. It's all a little confused in my head. Sorry." She hated feeling confused; she was an organized, ordered individual who always knew where everything was. But not now. She followed her husband, crouching beside him when he did. Something inside of her was scared, scared of his disappearing on her, though she could not identify why. He wouldn't do it on purpose, she knew. Still, the fear nipped at the edges of her awareness, so she kept close to him.

Aleina shrugged. "I was on the bridge, at the pilot's console," she answered the captain's question in the way of her breed, straightforward and efficiently, no wasted words.

Cole gave a final nod and then started leading Lexi away when she started speaking, causing to stop as he listened to what she had to say. I was in Sickbay? He still tried to remember and found that he couldn't.

The counselor looked over all those assembled, then walked stiffly to the Captain’s side, looking up towards the walls but frowning as the little bit of light from above made her vision become blurry once more. Stopping an arms length away from her she settled in quietly, waiting for an order, or a question more than as to her health and memory.

Suddenly, Cole and Lexi were there beside them. "How are you both doing?" Cole asked, looking them both over.

The counselor looked to Cole and Lexi. “A little chilled, a bit of trouble focusing, but overall fine,” Quinle answered Cole and offered a calm smile. “Shouldn’t we have injuries? Possibly drug reactions? What else might have rendered us unconscious other than trauma or medication?”

"Any number of things, really," Mal said distractedly. She was looking around this large chamber as her eyes fully and finally adjusted to the dim light and recovered from waking. "The universe we knew was full of strange things and I don't believe that this one is any different." She frowned slightly and then turned back to those with her. "If everyone is well enough--" This, to the doctor. "--then I think we need to try to find out more about where we are. I think I see doors to tunnels there. We should take a look around. Learn what we can..."

 

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