Vivyra's Home

Posted on Sun Jan 26th, 2020 @ 7:02pm by Lieutenant Jane Sinclair MD, DVM & Petty Officer, 1st Class T'Kal & Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson & Lieutenant Xenia Windsor & Lieutenant Luke Osswell & Lieutenant JG Neza Glenn & Vivyra
Edited on on Sun Jan 26th, 2020 @ 7:07pm

2,217 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 2 - Love ORION Mistaken
Location: Over Vivyra's Home

Cindy took the bridge. It took all of her control not to stare too hard at Luke and even more for her not to drag him off in to her Ready Room. Surely, this was not a cause of Vivyra, whatever she had that might be causing it, was it? A small blush escaped and tinged her face pink.

The night had been restless with thoughts of Luke going through her head. Between that, the ticker tape and the escalating incidents of people involved in romantic entanglements, Cindy had very little sleep and she wondered if it was starting to show.

A planet came into view, it was, according to the best of Vivyra and other's information, the planet where Vivyra was from. Controlling her voice, while squirming in her chair, she called, "Luke and Neza, tell me what we have out there."

Rubbing the back of her neck, trying to focus on her work, Neza sighed. "We...have about 100 life forms down there. It is M-Class, mostly water though. Just the one small continent the has the buildings." She glanced around. "That's all I've got so far."

Purposely avoiding Luke's backside or gaze if he turned around, Cindy replied with a heavy gulp, "That's it? Nothing more?" Her voice started to get more strained. There had to be something more.

"I wish there were but, I've run the scan three times. If this is Vivyra's home..." Neza looked at the viewscreen, "It is basically an island on a planet of water."

"Perhaps we should call her up to the bridge to confirm it," Cindy stated uneasily.

Neza raised an eyebrow and looked to Cindy. "Captain, that might not be the best idea given the current situation on board?"

"It might not but she is the only one that can be certain. I feel like our options are shrinking." She looked over and asked Bec, "Do you have an opinion?"

"It does fall in line with what Vivyra described as her planet," Bec said turning to Cindy. "And I'd rather not have her on the bridge right now, given the circumstances."

"Very well," Cindy relented.

Almost robotic, Luke focused on his duty, the console in front of him and the threat assessments it was feeding to him. It was all he could do not to look up and see Xenia at the helm. Seeing her in uniform only made her more attractive. Had this been the Stone Age, he'd dragged her back to his cave tout de suite. But then he also felt Captain Cindy's eyes burning in his back, heard hear walking around with her tall legs, and...was she wearing perfume? He refocused, the Captain had asked him a question, and he replied: "Just a village captain, no defensive capabilities to speak of. There seems to be an area cleared of trees, could be a shuttle landing spot, but it is difficult to tell at this distance."

She called down to sickbay, =^=We are over Vivyra's planet. Jane? T'Kal? Do we have anything?=^=

Sickbay

“Hold on, Captain!” Jane yelled to the comm system. “I’m working on it!” She was deeply distracted as she worked. Desperate to get back to Vivyra. Desperate to see and touch and kiss and ravish her all day and night. But others wished her harm and only this work could protect her and she needed protection, yes she did, so innocent and precious and surrounded by people poisoned to want to attack her and—

“Doctor!” T’Kal said, shaking her from her thoughts. “The computer has finished its assessment.” She filled a hypospray with something from the pharmaceutical replicator. “It is safe and should be effective.” She handed the hypospray to her superior officer and began preparing more.

“Good. Distribute them to the other medical staff and start administering them to the crew.” Jane turned away. “Sickbay to bridge. We have something and we’re-HEY!” She was surprised by her nurse sticking her bare arm with a hypo.

It was as if a switch were flipped in her head. The mist hanging over her head, driving her to Vivyra, faded away, and she felt much shame and regret at what she had done, how she had acted. She panicked at how the entire crew must have felt as irrational as she had. Part of her still longed for Vivyra, some effect of the pheromone that would linger for some time. But rationally she knew she had been under a spell, and that the spell had broken. “Sickbay to bridge. I’m on my way up with an inoculant. My team is going to spread the rest across the ship. I’ll be up in five.”

Bridge

Cindy replied, =^=We will look forward to that. Good job, Jane.=^=

However, before Cindy could say another word, warning klaxons indicating unauthorized boarding started sounding throughout Legacy. "Bec, what do we have?!" Cindy cried out urgently.

"Two people beamed onboard," Bec said with a growl, she hit the comm button on her console. "Security report to deck ten! Two Orion females have boarded!" She closed the comm and turned to Cindy, but then an alarm from her console called her attention back to it. "Shit... shit... Orion ships hiding in the shadow of the planet! At least two of them, can't tell if there are more! Cindy, this is an ambush! We've been set up!!"

Hearing what Bec said, Neza's eyes snapped over to the sensors. "How the hell did I miss that?!" She was angry at herself now, because had she been fully focused, maybe she would have seen the ships.

The turbolift door opened, and Jane stepped onto the bridge, hypo in hand. She walked quickly to the Captain and injected her with the antidote to block the Orion pheromone. She also put her hand on Cindy’s forearm and looked her in the eye. “I’m sorry. For everything that I’ve done these past few days.”

Cindy's eyes darkened. She had been a fool. This was such a classic ambush. Phil would be chastising her for her optimism and not seeking all of the alternatives. Had she been concentrating too much on Luke? Did that cause her to lose sight of the obvious? Or was it that she believed Vivyra that she was a runaway and wanted help? Amnesty. And she brought her back. Why would she want to come back? Did Cindy miss the obvious? That Vivyra was to blame?

When Cindy felt the hypo go into her, she whirled about on Jane and said, "We can discuss all of that later." She then whirled towards Bec, "Get the shields up and find Vivyra! I want her taken into custody. Make sure that those handling her are inoculated. And find out what is on this ship!"

“Wait!” Jane called out. She ran to Bec and administered her with some of the antidote. “When this is over, please come find me.” She couldn’t stop her eyes from watering. “I owe you more than a brief apology as you leave the bridge. I’m still...really confused, but I know I’ve done wrong by you.” Part of her wanted to add ‘please don’t hurt Vivyra,’ but with her head clear enough to know she’d been deceived...she kept quiet.

Looking over at Jane, Neza hoped to catch her eye. She now felt utterly horrible for what she'd done, but had wanted to believe it was actual love between Jane and Vivyra. But not only that, she needed the antidote too, having been close to Vivyra while trying to keep others hands off her.

Cindy continued to call out, "Xenia! Don't let us get flanked. I need two Orion ships in front of us."

"I'm on it, Sir!" She threw the ship into reverse, keeping the two ships at a distance, and an eye out for more, in case the two they could see were huddled together to mask more readings.

Luke was half way to the door already as soon as the alarms started klaxoning. One quick look at Bec told him everything he needed to know. The doors opened with Jane stepping out. While stepping into the Turbolift he hit his combadge and barked: "Osswell to Security Team Alpha set weapons to heavy stun, and have a phaser rifle ready for me as soon as I arrive!". He turned around as the turbolift doors moved to close, granting him a quick glance to Xenia and the Captain. Then he was on his way down. It had not even crossed his mind he hadn't been given the antidote yet.

Bec stared at Jane with dark eyes. She didn't know how to respond to the woman, but gave her a curt nod. Then, she turned her steely gaze to Cindy. "I shall be the one to apprehend Vivyra," she paused and looked at her console. "Those Orions are moving fast." She muttered several swear words under her breath as she hit the comm again and gave Luke the update on the intruders, moving fast through the deck. Then she headed for the turbolift to go Vivyra hunting. The phaser she kept on her at all times now in her hand.

Xenia was watching the telemetry on her console. "They are moving faster than us, but not by much. The appear to be taking their time in getting here." She monitored their relative positions so she could react appropriately. "Neza, they don't appear to be manning their weapons, can you confirm?" She frowned, wondering if she was seeing that wrong. It wasn't what she expected.

"I can't tell one way or another what they are doing. But whatever it is, I'm not liking this." Neza double-checked everything. "I don't see any weapons...yet."

Almost as soon as the Science Officer had answered, Xenia saw a light on her console. "Sir, we're being hailed by the closer ship." Thankfully it still looked like just two vessels. When told to, she put the feed through. Sure, now comms are working, she thought.

Two Orion men flickered onto the screen, skin slightly more yellow than Vivyra's, but still green. The Orion in the foreground, their Captain, appeared to be looking down at them. "Greetings, crew of the Legacy. You will prepare to surrender your ship to us."

Cindy told her communications officer, "Put me on with him." With a curt nod, Eric's substitute did as he was told. "This is Captain Cynthia Lynette Jackson of the USS Legacy. Please tell us why you think we will surrender to you."

The response was an uproar of laughter. "Oh, you will want to surrender. It is only a matter of time, Captain. We have time to wait. Besides, you are illegally in Orion territory."

With Bec gone, she had nobody to turn to to back up her opinions. Of course, with Luke gone and the antidote clearing her head, Cindy responded, "We were not aware that there was an Orion territory. We responded on a mission of aid and amnesty."

One of the Orions laughed harder. "Oh, sweet little Vivyra told you that, did she? Well, we will give you a half hour to reconsider your response. Do not think of leaving. We will be locking weapons on you now."

With a stroke across her neck, she indicated that her communications officer should cut off the communications with the Orion ships. She then called out on the comm, =^= All officers except for Mr. Osswell and Commander Hudson are to immediately avoid contact with any Orions and those two are instructed to immediately arrest Vivyra and anyone else not supposed to be on board and put them in the brig.=^=

Biting her lip, Neza looked over at the viewscreen, then at Cindy. "Had us all played for fools. We need a plan, Captain, quickly." She only wished that she had one...

Jane was furious. She’d been played as badly as any of them. Possibly worse. She thought she’d truly loved Vivyra. But the pieces were starting to come together. Vivyra never loved her. Nor did she truly love her back. The pheromone, meant to either distract them or make them more pliable to capture...and enslavement.

She finished distributing the inoculant. Neza. Xenia. The young Ensign on duty at Navigation. Engineer Chambers. Her mind grew more and more clear as the inoculant took effect, and as her anger built.

Xenia continued their retreat, but welcomed the inoculation when Jane passed by her. The helmswoman gave the Doctor a friendly smile.

"We have to get this innoculant to as many people as possible and as quickly as possible," Cindy answered in reply. She looked at Jane and asked, "I don't suppose there's a chance that you could instantly create an inoculant that would circulate within our air circulation system."

Rubbing the spot where Jane had injected her with the inoculation, Neza sighed. She hadn't really felt the same way about Vivyra or anyone else during all this, but she still felt a huge guilt as her head cleared. Her eyes caught Jane's, both feeling bad that she had fought so hard for her, and at the same time, angry that she'd been played just along with everyone else.

RSS Feed