Ghost in the Machine (Khitomer)

			Episode 3 - Ghost in the Machine

USS Khitomer
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Characters

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Officers taking part in the Mission
Name	Position	Notes
Randal Shayne	Commanding Officer
Nolen Hobart	Executive Officer
Ash MacKenna	Intelligence Chief	Transferred out in Act 3
Malik Cain	Helm Officer	Joined during Shore Leave
Connor Dewitt	Chief Engineer
Lera Michaels	Engineering Officer
Ezra Zerva	Security Officer
Karsyn Croix	Com/Ops Officer	Joined during Shore Leave
Charles Matthews	Tactical Officer	Joined during Shore Leave
Marcus Forza	Tactical Officer	Joined Act 3
Talia Ohnari	Chief Medical Officer
Jacin Ayemet	Councilor
Ras El'Heem	Medical Officer
Richard Matthews	Science Officer
Amelia Semara	Science Officer	Returned from LOA Act 2
Vada	Journalist	Stepping Back After Act 1

MSNPCs
Name	Position	Author
Eridani / "Junior"	???	Talia Ohnari
Kirsty Lee Carpenter	Wedding Guest (during shore leave)
Quentin Collins	Wedding Guest (during shore leave)	Kirsty Lee Carpenter

NPCs & PNPCs
Name	Position	Author
Stella Sparks	Engineer, USS Khitomer	Talia Ohnari
Jenna Prix	Helm, USS Khitomer	Connor Dewitt
Ginny Lacy	Engineer, USS Khitomer	Nolen Hobart
Vanta Nebir	Security	NPC, KIA

Prologue

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Shayne is briefing the crew on their new mission, to explore a void in space, when Khitomer receives a distress call inside the void and he orders the ship after the signal.. Meanwhile, Jacin escaped from a Sheliak internment camp, and found her way back Khitomer via rescue from an unknown agent. When all hope seems nearly lost, Khitomer rescues the wayward Lieutenant from her stolen Sheliak shuttle just in time.

Act 1

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After a heartfelt reunion, Lieutenant Jacin receives medical care and a great deal of concern from her shipmates. No examination is needed to see that the woman has been traumatized by her experiences: her head's been shaved, and implanted with several cranial plates with unclear purpose. Its clear she suffered other injuries, but those have been mysteriously healed. For the moment, Doctors Ohnari and El'Heem deem it safe enough to remove all but one of the plates (leaving one at the base of her brain, considering it too dangerous to surgically remove without starbase facilities), and Ohanri convinces Jacin to stimulate the re-growth of her hair after the procedure.

Meanwhile, upon reaching the edge of the void, Khitomer's bridge crew narrows in on the distress call, and quickly recognizes it as an old Federation code. A brief investigation reveals that the source is in fact much closer than first thought, and closing the gap reveals Constellation class USS Eridani to be the source of the call. The ship is the source of a great deal of speculation, hanging suspended in a slow, three-axis spin. When the questions start to add up with no answers in sight, Shayne orders Nolen Hobart to lead an away team onto the ship.

Hobart takes bridge officers Connor Dewitt, Ezra Zerva, Ras El'Heem, and Richard Matthews as well as engineer Ginny Lacy and security team leader Vanta Nebir aboard USS Eridani, and the team prepares to find anything aboard the derelict ship packing no small amount of security and engineering equipment and with environment suits donned. The team beams aboard, and makes their way to the engineering section of ship where they force their way in with a crowbar. Once inside, they begin powering up subsystems and trying determine what happened to the drifting ship, only for the ship to begin righting itself seemingly of its own volition. Moments later, the ship powers its shields and impulse engines, jamming communications as it darts off into the void without any inertial dampers to protect the away team from the harsh acceleration...

Act 2

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Aboard USS Eridani, cargo and away team go flying every which way leaving Chief Vanta injured and unconscious when a crate hits her. It's a fight to get the inertial dampers up working before more damage is done.

Meanwhile, newcomer Ensign Semara and cleared-for-duty Lieutenant Jacin meet up with Captain Shayne, Commander MacKenna, and Ensign Michaels on the bridge. At the helm himself, Shayne chases after the wayward ship, determined not to let it escape with the away team. In response, Eridani opens fire on Khitomer. Meanwhile, Semara and Michaels search for answers how to either stop the ship or get the away team back. The bridge crew, unfamiliar with each other and navigating personal differences struggles at first to make a plan of action, but an insight from Jacin gives the first clue that the crew is likely dealing with some sort of intelligent entity that either is the ship or is in control of the ship. Operating on that premise, Khitomer closes in and uses its running lights to flash various communication patterns and Shayne "wiggles" the ship in the fashion of old-Earth pilots in an attempt to get whoever or whatever is aboard Eridani to communicate back. The attempts are met with silence... But Eridani does cease firing on Khitomer, giving the crew a respite to figure out how to proceed.

Aboard the renegade starship, Dewitt and Lacy have managed to wrest control of the inertial dampers before too much more damage is done, but the away team has more questions than answers now... and one injured member. Dewitt and Lacy remain in engineering to try restoring environmental controls and other essential systems, while Hobart and Zerva go to the bridge in search of clues, and El'Heem and Matthews head to sickbay with the unconscious Vanta hoping to heal her. When El'Heem and Matthews reach sickbay, they're greeted by a macabre scene: the frozen bodies of the former crew of stacked atop one another. They can't do anything for those already passed, but with Dewitt and Lacy restoring lights to sickbay and the bridge, they'll be able to help Vanta.

On the bridge of Khitomer, Semara has concocted a bold plan to gather more data about what's really going on, but it requires getting quite close to the ship that was hostile only moments ago. With the only obvious alternative being aggression, which Jacin firmly and rightly stands against, Captain Shayne orders relief helmswoman Prix to perform a maneuver to "show the belly" - a submissive gesture in the animal kingdom - in order to close the gap without hostility. Several tense moments pass, until the ships get so close their two shields briefly touch, overloading into Khitomer's comm systems. Mercifully, there's no casualties from the incident, and even better there's now quite a bit of data coming in about the nature of what's happening aboard Eridani.

The data gathered regarding Eridani's shield frequencies in particular proves invaluable, and Michaels formulates a plan to bypass the jamming to communicate with the away team alongside Semara. Additionally, the information clears a path for a series of scans that reveals a shocking conclusion: not only is Eridani possessed by a non-corporeal entity, but a juvenile. The influx of new information creates a stir among the bridge crew, who fear for the away team who has still not responded, but the calls for patience and level-headed thought win the moment, however.

Act 3

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Moments after El'Heem and Matthews get Vanta on the bio-bed, things go very wrong. An energy surge of some sort floods the biobed, washing over Vanta's body, and extinguishes the security chief's life before either the doctor or scientist can do anything about it. Unbeknownst to them, the entity aboard Eridani consumed her life force for itself, believing the unconscious Vanta "didn't need it any more". Now, as it declares over the ship's public address, it would like the away to play...

Fear reaches fever tilt among the away team, and XO Hobart orders the team to make for an airlock, disable some shield emitters, and launch themselves out the ship. Before evacuating main engineering, Dewitt and Lacy improvise a program to try to detect any more power fluctuations, and now a reading is headed straight for the XO and security officer. Hobart and Zevra take cover in the observation lounge with a burst of power ruining the bridge behind them, and find the running lights of Khitomer blinking in the windows...

Aboard Khitomer, Semara's Betazoid empathic senses alerts the bridge crew that not all is well with the away team, spurring them to action. Shayne demands action in sixty seconds, and the crews lands on an even riskier plan that brings them dangerously close to Eridani: They're going to fire an EPS umbilical at the ship and attempt to "feed" the non-corporeal "Junior" with "formula" composed of energetic gasses and warp plasma, hoping that this act will get the being to view Khitomer in a friendly light. Just as Khitomer begins to close, Michaels finally gains contact with the away team. Shayne fills Hobart in on their plan, but communications become staticky as the shield interference intensifies again as Prix closes the distance between the ships. In a revelation that will greatly increase the plan's odds, Shayne orders Hobart to deploy the solar capacitors - a historical piece of hardware installed on certain ships after the "Whale Probe" left many Starfleet ships without power.

The garbled communications leaves Hobart and Zevra wondering what, exactly, Shayne meant for them to do until the former-engineer XO works it out, and exposes the solar capacitors in time. The rest of the away team makes for an airlock, attempting to sabotage Eridani's shields on their way out only for the ship to start acting even more strangely with them still aboard!

Khitomer manages to score a solid umbilical connection straight into Eridani's EPS backbone with the solar capacitor now exposed, and the energy transfer proceeds apace. The transfer stops before the warp core can start, but not until "Junior" has gained considerably in strength. Between the new strength and close distance, Semara now declares she can sense the entity's presence and, using Jacin's historical reminder of the Horta as a precedent, she suggests she could initiate telepathic contact with the entity. She finally manages to communicate with "Junior", and in consultation with the bridge crew, begins attempting to negotiate the release of the away team in exchange for play time. The ploy works, and "Junior" drops the shields aboard Eridani, allowing the bridge crew to beam the away team back to safety mid-swearword just as tactical officer Forza comes aboard.

Epilogue

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Although the team is safely aboard and communications have finally been established, there's still the matter of the ship, the bodies aboard it, and Ensign Semara's promise to play with the entity she calls "Junior". The crew concoct a plan to manage all three at once: they will trade the bodies (which the entity believes are "toys") for a new "toy" (a jury-rigged probe) programmed to take a semi-random path in the direction of a sensor reading Ensign Michaels believes to be a group of adult entities. Ensign Forza collaborates with Crewman Sparks to create the probe, and Michaels gets a solid lock on similar entities closing with Khitomer.

After a long sub-warp rendezvous, Khitomer finally returns Junior to its kin, concluding the mission with a happy family reunion.

Shore Leave

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• Nolen Hobart and Talia Ohnari put together a wedding invitation to Connor Dewitt and Jacin Ayemet's upcoming nuptials. Also, they totally get together this time for real.
• Ensign Ezra Zerva consults Nolen Hobart about how to carry on after a loss under his command.
• Nolen Hobart and Connor Dewitt recruit Marcus Forza's help taste testing drinks for the upcoming wedding.
• Jacin Ayemet and Connor Dewitt share a pre-wedding date on the holodeck.
• Ras El'Heem and Talia Ohnari biopsy the deceased former crew of the USS Eridani.
• Connor Dewitt sets up a new "history annex" in memory of the living history annex aboard Arrow.
• Captain Shayne welcomes Amelia Semara aboard, risking the use of a "medicine" that inhibits telepathic reading. Concerned about her inability to empathically feel the Captain, Amelia visits Doctor Talia Ohnari, only to have the bad news explained to her. Amidst the trust built between the two women, Amelia reveals she's a practitioner of an old, taboo telepathic art of "communing" with animals - one that just might help with an ornery Pyrithian Bat.
• Marcus Forza asks Captain Shayne for some advice on how to get to know the crew.
• Amelia Semara hatches a plan to use her bridge recertification test as an excuse to play pretend aboard a old-style Constitution-class trainer with Nolen Hobart, Ezra Zerva, and Marcus Forza. Matthews and Forza come along for the ride, but ultimately Semara's inexperience and hesitation leads to a poor performance in the test.
• Ras El'Heem, Richard Matthews, and Ezra Zerva hold a game night in the crew lounge.
• Ras El'Heem explains Thoa’Rymm, Kressari fruiting day, to Stella Sparks and an embarrassed Marcus Forza. As a "necessary" part of the cultural celebration, the doctor then seeks to set up a still aboard the ship. The first night of Thoa'Rymm gets off to a spectacular start with the help of Forza and Forza, who helped light up deck 15.
• Talia Ohnari puts the fear of doctors into Marcus Forza with a bit of light "hazing".
• Ceylan Graves takes a shift in the astrometics lab.
• Ezra Zerva discusses a challenging family history with Jacin Ayemet.
• Worried about Nolen Hobart's elevated psilocynine levels, Doctor Talia Ohnari starts monitoring the commander's telepathic neurotransmitter levels. The monitor spikes when Nolen starts projecting a nightmare.
• The senior staff plan a whole litany of upgrades and remodels to the Khitomer.
• Jacin Ayemet asks Ras El'Heem to give her away at the wedding, and he accepts.
• Amelia Semara collaborates with Connor Dewitt to spec out a life sciences lab, approved by the Captain. The conversation devolves into a revolving door of other topics, including barbeque and the upcoming wedding.
• Marcus Forza and Imogen Lacy take an opportunity to indulge in a boxing sparring match.
• Marcus Forza experiences a bad dream recalling the memory of the day his father went missing in action, and discusses the topic with councilor Jacin Ayemet.
• Lera Michaels takes Imogen Lacy along for a reunion with her parents in Marathon, Texas.
• Talia Ohnari confronts Randall Shayne about his improper usage of a telepathic blocking treatment.
• Talia Ohnari holds a "hen's night" for Jacin Ayemet, inviting Lera Michaels, Amelia Semara, and Imogen Lacy.
• Ras El'Heem hosts a poker night with Richard Matthews, Marcus Forza, Ezra Zerva, and Amelia Semara playing and Lera Michaels helping out. After considerable distractions and banter, Amelia wins the first hand only for the stakes to get raised...
• Newcommer Lieutenant Karsyn Croix reflects on what brought him to join the crew of the Khitomer.
• Ezra Zerva shares an awkward dinner with his mother, joined by Is'Kah, visiting from the USS Chin'toka. After the dinner, Ezra goes back with Is'Kah to her hotel room, and nearly share an intimate moment, and promise to see where things between them go.
• Richard Matthews goes looking for clues about his timey-wimey past in a less than perfectly above-board manner.
• Ras El'Heem seeks help from Richard Matthews to calibrate his tricorder.
• Ezra Zerva holds a small service for the departed Chief Vanta.

The wedding between Jacin Ayemet and Connor Dewitt is the do-not-miss event of the month! Dewitt and Jacin both express their nerves to best man Nolen Hobart and bridesmaid Talia Ohnari, respectively. Meanwhile, the mothers of the happy couple meet on the Dewitt residence, and rejoice for the union that is soon to come. An old friend from the USS Arrow, former science officer Quentin Collins (as written by Kirsty Lee Carpenter), arrives on the scene and reunites with first Dewitt, then nervously with Jacin...

Ezra Zerva invites an old friend from the USS Ronin, Kirsty Lee Carpenter, to join him at the wedding and help him get his puppy Foxy Lady a bit more socialization. Richard Matthews and Lera Michaels both join the pair along with Karsyn Croix at the wedding. Meanwhile, Talia Ohnari is tasked with some last-minute adjustments to the wedding party. Instead of giving away the bride, Ras El'Heem will now play the role of flower girl and Amelia Semara is tasked to help gather up a basket full of flowers to carpet the aisle. During their work to gather up flowers, the doctor asks Amelia to help with Thoa'Rymm. Shortly after returning to the main wedding party, Amelia Semara finds Randall Shayne - freshly off his telepathic blockers, and doing poorly for it - and tries comfort the man by offering him a small plate of refreshments and a dance after the ceremony (since his fiance cannot be there). Meanwhile, Marcus Forza attempts to apologize to Ezra Zerva for being short with the man at the beginning of shore leave.

The wedding gets under way, officiated by Captain Shayne. Karsyn Croix uses the opportunity to get to know some of the Khitomer's Ensigns before the ceremony gets under way in earnest. Ras El'Heem makes a great show of playing flower girl, and at last the happy couple exchanges vows.

After the ceremony, a hangry Talia Ohnari enlists the help of Marcus Forza to steal some food from the Kitchen before the main dinner starts. Meanwhile, Quentin Collins meets the new science officers Amelia Semara and Richard Matthews (along with Karsyn Croix) and imparts them with a tease of a story of the good old times.

To be continued...

			End File