The Mercy Seat

Posted on Wed Jun 10th, 2026 @ 2:05am by Enterprise Officer NPC & Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari & Lieutenant Rio Kholin MD & Ensign Sayori Nakai & Ensign Mirakylin Yumerieva

7,717 words; about a 39 minute read

Mission: 9. Oubliette
Location: Decontamination Chamber, U.S.S. Enterprise
Timeline: 2439-10-09, 13:00

Aidan chuckled as he stepped behind the privacy screen and disrobed until he was just in his shorts. "See if we can save any of this biohazard for study," he suggested, "after decon I mean. I want to see how our procedures affect these spores." He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being cleansed by the decontaminating rays. He reached up to run his hands through his hair as if to make sure all the muck 'washed' out.

"Don't worry, Aidan, I already snagged a pristine molecular culture before we left the runabout's lab," she replied, stepping into the adjacent bay. She stripped down to her standard-issue undershirt, her skin tingling as the high-intensity decontaminating field flared to life above them. The harsh violet light washed down in silent, microscopic waves, vaporizing the remaining Chamra spores and instantly soothing the deep, burning irritation in her lungs.

She leaned her head back against the bulkhead, closing her eyes as the warm, neutralizing mist began to rinse away the lingering copper stench of the rogue planet. "You won't have to study what's on our skin. By tomorrow morning, I'll have a full breakdown of the spore-growth ready for the Science lab. For now, let the ship do the heavy lifting," her smile devolving into a fresh wave of coughing.

Aidan turned his head towards her as she erupted into a coughing fit. "Are you alright?" He asked as he inched closer, a concerned look on his face. "I meant residue from the decon process, I want that analysed too," he added, now rubbing his watering eyes. "Somehow I feel Decon has an adverse effect..." He paused, watching her closely through blurred vision. "You shouldn't be coughing..." Another pause, followed by a mild coughing of his own. "We should've kept our masks on until we got in here," he concluded. "Stripping down loosened the spores and we inhaled them."

Stefaniya waved a hand to dismiss his concern, but the gesture dissolved into a ragged cough that forced her against the bulkhead. Her streaming eyes tracked the glittering drift of residual dust catching the violet light.

"The rebreathers," she choked out, her voice a strained whisper. "The filters were choked from the surface. Stripping down must have loosened the loose spores before the vacuum caught them. They aren't neutralizing under the agent, Aidan, they're aerosolizing. They're feeding on it."

Fighting a sharp, metallic burn in her chest, she struck the wall comm. "Losenko to Sickbay. Rio, the Chamra spores are highly reactive to the decon mist. They're feeding on the counteragents."

The Trill moved towards her and gently helped her to sit down though he wasn't fairing much better. "We need to be washed down," he suggested, his words broken up by coughing fits. "And .." He closed his burning eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Oxygen," he gasped out.

The decon cycle’s overhead emitters hissed, but the fine, neutralizing vapor no longer felt like a reprieve. It felt like a trap. The violet light caught the shimmering, hyper-accelerated bloom of the Chamra spores as they feasted on the chemical counteragents, thickening the air into a translucent, copper-scented haze that swirled aggressively inside the isolated chamber.

Sliding down the slick bulkhead, Stefaniya’s knees gave out as a violent spasm wracked her chest. Every gasp felt like inhaling ground glass. Beside her, Aidan slumped heavier against her shoulder, his breathing turning into a dry, high-pitched wheeze as his Trill spots stood out stark against skin that was rapidly flushing a dangerous crimson. Because Stacey, Sayori, Chase, and Mira had remained behind on the Frost River to manage the runabout, they were completely insulated from this nightmare—likely still monitoring the planetary sensors, entirely unaware that the team they had just watched beam away was suffocating.

"Decon cycle... override..." she choked out, her trembling fingers slapping the emergency vent control on the wall interface.

The system chimed in a cold, automated tone: "Warning. Bio-hazard protocols active. External ventilation restricted to prevent internal shipwide contamination."

Through the transparent reinforcement glass of the primary seal, she could see the tracking alcove erupting into chaos, but the only face looking back at her was Rio Kholin. Stefaniya felt the metallic tang of blood pooling at the back of her throat as she supported the weight of the slumping Science Officer. She looked through the foggy glass at Rio, using the absolute last of her energy to punch the wall speaker and project her voice into the hallway.

"Rio... help..."

By now barely conscious, Aidan struggled to breathe. He felt as though his lungs were on fire and the pounding headache that was a consequence made him feel as if his head was about to explode. He no longer had the energy to speak, let alone the air to do so. He was dimly aware of Sherlock's distress and appearance in sickbay. A desperate order to make him stay outside was costing him dearly as he fell against his medical companion in decon.

Unlike Stefaniya, he wasn't aware of the CMO's approach as his burning eyes were firmly wrenched shut in the idle hope of preserving his vision.

Outside the chamber, a golden blur approached the CMO as the Sivaoan doctor raced towards her. Ears flat against her head, her fur more or less in a fluffy and tail twice as thick as normal, Icarus stood beside Rio. "How can I help?" The somewhat inexperienced medical officer asked.

Sayori stood in the pre-chamber and watched as both officers collapsed. She had just finished stripping off her uniform and was about to step into another decon chamber as she saw the other two collapsing. She cursed in her native Japanese, before rushing over to the emergency access to the chamber containing Aidan and Stefaniya. "Anything I can do to help from here, doc?"

Rio had broken into a sprint as she realised what was developing inside the de-con area #1, arriving at the door she punched frantic instructions into the control panel, flooding the area with oxygen and forcing a rapid exchange program to circulate and filter the contents of the chamber at the fastest speed it could be set for. Her fingers flew across the controls as she then added in further adjustments that stopped the system inserting any further chemicals.

"No Sayori, please don't open anything that will expose you as well, but thank you for the offer of help" Rio began."We have to stabilise them before we do any further decontamination so I've switched off the inputs of all chemicals, that should stop the spores from y feeding on those and until we can refigure what we can safely utilise against the little demons, I'm just feeding in and circulating oxygen and hoping that doesn't have a similar reaction." Rio explained to Icarus and further to Sayori.

"Wait, there IS one thing Sayori.... can you see that there are red pull downs at the top of the lockers by the door in your section?" Rio had an idea. "Please pull down the releases and take out the oxygen mask inside. Then if you can approach the window to the connecting door, perhaps you can demonstrate how to get these so that I can try to explain that to the others, if they're still conscious enough to do it for themselves."

Sayori nodded and immediately reached for the release tab and grabbed the mask, before heading over to the connecting door as instructed.

Shifting her attention back to the stricken pair in Decon #1 after the few seconds it had taken to speak to and enlist Sayori, Rio still had both inter-comms open so that all three occupants and the people outside helping were all in open communication. Aidan, Stef.....can you reach the emergency oxygen masks? I have flooded your compartment with oxygen but in case it's necessary to isolate that too, I'd really like you to have individual supplies.... can you see the red pull downs - perhaps you can see Sayori's if your eyes aren't too affected?"

Roused by the fresh flow of oxygen, but still unable to breathe, Aidan could only shake his head. At least he thought he did but the movement was so minute it may as well be missed. His eyes remained firmly clenched shut as it was too painful to try and open them.

Stefaniya’s chest lunged for the incoming oxygen, but the raw, glass-shrapnel burn in her lungs barely eased. Her vision was a blurring tunnel of gold and violet sparks. Through the haze, she tracked Sayori’s silhouette pressed against the reinforced glass, holding up the bright emergency mask. She looked down at Aidan slumping heavily against her side, his Trill spots stark against his dangerously flushed skin, his eyes clamped shut in agony. He wasn't going to make it to the release tab.

"I... I've got it, Rio..." she wheezed into the comm, her fingers finally locking around the release cord. Dragging herself up the slick bulkhead by her fingernails, every movement an agonizing battle against her failing knees, Stefaniya reached toward the ceiling. Her trembling hand clawed blindly for the red pull-down lever above their locker. "Aidan... hold on..."

Stefaniya’s fingers locked around the red lever, ripping it downward. The compartment hissed as two masks dropped from the overhead housing. Fighting the blinding burn in her chest, she slammed the first mask over Aidan’s nose and mouth before pressing the second to her own face, greedily inhaling the pure, life-saving flow.

Turning to Icarus, Rio added softly that if they were unconscious or if the oxygen was taken up by the spores, then she would have to go in so she needed the Sivoan doctor to break out a hazmat suit ready for the CMO to put on if that was her next move. "If you could get me one please, it will help me to get in there quicker but I'd prefer not to leave the controls right now to fetch it. Thank you so much" she explained quietly.

"Of course doctor," Icarus purred softly. She disappeared briefly but returned with her arms full. "I'll help you into it and I'll watch the controls." The worry was clear in her eyes and the lashing of her long agile tail. "Please be careful doctor," she urged, "wouldn't it be safer to send the EMH in there with them? Or do the spores react to photonics and light?"

"To be perfectly honest Icarus, I don't know for sure, but I don't have the luxury of time to experiment to try to find out. Otherwise, I do have to say that's very good logical thinking, you have great promise" Rio replied as she wrestled herself into the Hazard-Suit, grateful for the Sivaoan's help. "Thanks" she muttered hurriedly but genuinely as she rushed over to the main airlock-door to DeCon #1, scrambling the code in as fast as possible and entering the outer chamber, still fastening her gloves and the seals around her wrists.

Sayori watched as Rio rushed into the decon chamber, before she was struck by an idea. She rushed back to where she had dropped her equipment as she undressed, and quickly found her tricorder with the recorded data on the spores and fauna. "Doctor," she called out, holding the device up high. "I have data on my tricorder, I don't think it's been fully transferred into the ship's databases yet. I also took some actual samples from the fungi on the planet, those are probably currently being taken to the science lab. I'm wondering if either of those things might be helpful?"

"All data is useful," Icarus suggested carefully, her eyes never leaving her boss. Her ears twitched visibly and her tail lashed anxiously against the deck. "But I recommend those samples being studied in quarantine conditions."

"Hang on," Sayori suddenly said, holding her hand up as an idea struck her. "Doesn't the transporter have a built-in decon system? Quarantine the science lab, I'll take a point-to-point transport over there and see what I can find out."

Rio held up a gloved thumb to signal that she approved of Sayori's idea.

Finding the pure oxygen was doing its job and that Aidan seemed to be coughing and spluttering strongly again, Rio used a regenerator on his lungs to try to dissemble the spores and detritus in his airways. Clearing him out and giving a hypospray of minerals and necessary salts, she set up a unit of fluid and plasma intravenously which she balanced above his shoulder to keep it flowing. Looking into his eyes to try to see any clues, she utilized the comms between her helmet and the decon chamber speakers to ask him if he could hear and understand her.

Stefaniya pressed her palm flat against her oxygen mask, letting the pressurized gas flood her burning lungs. The violent spasms in her chest were finally shifting into a low, shuddering rattle and, through her sweat-streaked vision, she watched Rio working over Aidan. Hearing Rio's voice, Stefaniya forced her leaden head up, her gaze cutting past the CMO to lock onto Sayori’s silhouette through the outer glass.

"Doctor," Stefaniya managed, her knuckles whitening as she gripped the CMO's sleeve, "stop her. The whole away team is exposed. If these spores feed on our neutralizing agents, the Runabout’s entire cockpit is a breeding ground right now." She leaned her head back against the bulkhead as she started taking shallow, desperate breaths, "We need to quarantine. This room, the runabout, if we bypass quarantine, we'll drag this bloom into the main decks and this whole ship is going to suffocate."

The flow of oxygen was helping him to breathe but his airways still felt as though he was breathing razor blades. Still it roused him enough to hear the words spoken around them. Aidan shifted uncomfortably, trying to push himself up but found that lying flat made it a little easier to breathe. Just a little... "Must destroy the samples too," he rasped, "beam into space...or eject them. Or..." He gasped for breath, struggling to speak. "Darkness... remove the UV factor. It started with light."

Sayori listened to Stefaniya and Aidan, and frowned. "Okay, in that case, not going to the lab." She dug through the pile of clothes and equipment again, and found her combadge, tapping it. "Nakai to science lab. Stop the transfer of the samples from planetside immediately. Quarantine them on the runabout until further notice."

She turned back to the others. "Someone get me access to a computer terminal so I can look through some of this data."

"This whole section of Sickbay is part of the Quarantine Unit, we're all isolated in here. If you're clean, according to the control panel on your pod, you can go out into the main Quarantine Bay. There will be computers out there and you won't be leaving the area or spreading anything into the Main Sick Bay or beyond."

Though he was aware of being attached to something, feeling the sting in his arms, Aidan didn't respond when Rio was checking his eyes. "I hear you," he confirmed, gradually feeling better as his breathing very slowly eased. "Sayori, read out the data to me when you find a terminal."

"He's right, Doctor," Stefaniya wheezed into her comm, Aidan’s warning about the UV light making her look up sharply at the glowing emitters. "The violet field didn't vaporize them, it acted as a trigger. We need to kill the power to the decon light grid before the residual dust mutates again."

She shifted on the slick deck, keeping a grounding hand on Aidan's shoulder while locking eyes with Sayori through the glass barrier. "Sayori, pull the runabout’s environmental logs. If the cockpit filters are choked, the nitrogen levels will be dropping because these things are drinking it. Use my tricorder data too. We need a cold, purely organic compound to clear our airways."

The overhead lights suddenly died, plunging the bay into darkness before a jarring crimson pulse shattered the gloom. The klaxons wailed as Galatea’s cold voice echoed, "Intruder Alert. Security grid breached."

Unaware of the lights having gone out, but definitely aware of the people around him, Aidan slowly reached up to cover Stefaniya's hand with his own. "What is going on?" He asked as he felt the general sense of alarm and heart the claxons spring to life.

"Security breach, intruder alert," Sayori brlefly summed up as she hurriedly put her uniform back on. "I am not going out there practically naked when there's something loose on the ship," she remarked as she nevertheless decided to leave her boots and walked over to one of the doors. "Here's a neat trick I learned from my mother," she added with a chuckle as she pried open the maintenance access hatch to the door mechanism. "Now, technically, these are only supposed to be used to test the biofilter recognition et cetera, but they do tie into the science lab's computer system."

She grabbed her PADD that she had taken with her when she got dressed, and connected it to the maintenance port. "Right, I'm in. Transferring data now." As she waited for the upload, she tapped her combadge. "Galatea, if you have any capacities free, I could use your help analyzing this data to figure out what this stuff is that's trying to kill the boarding party."

"Data bridge established," Galatea answered as the rhythmic, crimson strobing of the emergency beacons highlighted her form. "Your telemetry is uploading now," the Enterprise's AI informed as green data lines mirrored across her irises, chewing through the raw planetary files. "I am cross-referencing your runabout data with a localized acoustic resonance anomaly just logged on Deck 6 by Chief Engineer Randall," Galatea reported methodically. "The Chief successfully isolated the residue by subjecting it to a sustained 860 kHz frequency wave. The biological matter rejected the host substrate cleanly."

"Doctor Kholin, the spores inside the respiratory tracts of Commander Datari and Doctor Losenko cannot be safely targeted with high-intensity sonic pulses without damage to their lung tissue; however, a micro-filtered, low-amplitude resonance at 860 kHz will safely loosen the nitrogen-binding chains of the spores without injury." The holographic image shimmered and derezed for a moment as a massive processing load shifted to the lower decks, her internal security diagnostics tracking the physical bulkheads of the ship."My primary processing arrays are being reroute to assist in tracking the entity Xurbam; however, a localized phase-variance is actively disrupting internal sensors."

"Then we need to set it to that frequency?" Rio responded initially.

The hologram paused, "Please, secure yourselves. The creature is perceived to still be operating on this deck."

"Phase-variance?" Aidan queries between shallow breaths, "like a personal cloak? Or is it the spores?" He paused, taking a few more breaths. "Sayori, cross reference the variance with the spores and readings taken from Xurbam. Maybe we can adjust sensors."

"Good call, give me a sec," Sayori replied, entering some calculations on the PADD. "Okay, got something. The phase variance is at a rate of, you won't believe it, 860kHz. Well, the main frequency is, anyway. The amplitude is highly variable, though. Still, it's more than we had before. I'll continue analysing, see if I can see a pattern in the amplitude as well."

"How can that be possible?" Rio asked "We must wait for Sayori's new calculation and analysis before we commit to any frequency." she sighed, feeling frustrated at every turn. She settled herself and her cumbersome hazard suit against a plastiglass wall in Decon Chamber #1, and waited for more information to be gleaned.

Mira stretched at the engineering console after securing power and engines. The ship was not on battery power until hooked to ship's power. She sighed, then heard a ping as well as a telltale light up on the console. "Umm, Ensign Nakai, I just got a yellow on environmental circuits. I am going to stay on board for a bit longer and check through the circuits and see if I can clear it. Go on ahead." She looked up and saw that Sayori was already gone. She shrugged, then got to work.

After checking schematics, Mira got up and went over to another access panel, this one behind the helm position, and dropped it. Inside were several canisters with spares actually attached to the access panel. She began reading direct gauges and checking which ones were affected. As she did, she activated recorders. "Ensign Yumerieva, Frost River Log: There is a yellow telltale with the Environmental Controls. I am going to clear it. This will take a little bit, around 10 minutes. I want to record what is happening, as well as make sure the seals that form over the ends are 100% when changing them, just in case."

After a little over 10 minutes Mira sat back from the access panel, two of the 8 canisters having been changed out. She said out loud, "Particulate scrubber is 100% full as well as the Atmospheric exchange scrubber at 95%. However, I do believe this should have cleared the Environmental Control TellTale." She glanced at the filters, deciding to hand them over to sciences after getting cleaned up.

Mira went back to the engineering panel, and sure enough, the telltale was cleared. She said out loud, "That got it." She deactivated the recording, then said to herself, "Now to go get that shower."

However, shower plans were once again canceled. The runabout lights changed to red as the computer's voice spoke out, "Warning, Quarantine activated. Contamination from planet highly probable. All Decon Processes are locked out due to affect on Contamination."

Mira looked shocked, whispering, "What in hell???" then brought up the environmental controls again. Sure enough, the two filters were slowly filling up, slower than before, but it was happening. Before she clear her mind to think about what to do next, another alert happened. "Red Alert, Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert, Medial Section, All Runabouts on Lockdown, All Runabouts on Lockdown."

Mira blinked in surprise as her body stilled. She mouthed the letters, "W.. T.. F.." She sat down to calm herself, then start to think. Well, there was nothing she could do about the lockdown. It just meant she was still being kept from that shower she was so desiring, while the more pressing need was the contamination. She activated the recording once more. "Ensign Yumerieva, Frost River Log: There is a Quarantine activated along with Decon locked out, as well as an intruder alert. I am on my own."

Mira thought for a few more seconds, then continued, "I have an idea. The filters were working, even though filling up faster than what I expected. So, I am going to replicate more filters. The two I replaced were doing their jobs, they just ran out of room. Once I have four more sets, I will change them out, then increase the airflow through the runabout to see about trapping the contamination in the filters. After this, I will continue changing them out and replicating them until they don't fill up anymore."

Mira went over to drop the panel once more to prepare for changing out the filled filters with clean ones. She checked direct status. They were filling. Then, she remembered, the filters were heavy when she changed them out. Was there something about these filters that had something in common with Decon Procedures?

Going back to her engineering stations, she looked into the decon sequence and compared it to the Filters. Yes, there, the two filters in question were using UV for killing bacteria and viruses, same as Decon. Sooo... "Log, the Particulate scrubber and the Atmospheric exchange scrubber use UV, one of the components of Decon. I am going replicate the new filters without UV and see if that helps prevent them from filling up quickly." Mira went to the replicator, changed the filter schematics slightly, then replicated four sets of filters without UV. She grabbed them and moved them to the filter access while muttering under her breath, "Well, here goes nothing..." She sat down to watch the readouts climbing towards needing replaced.

"Lieutenant Nakai, halt your sensor analysis immediately," Galatea’s voice cut through the air before Sayori could fully process the phase-variance calculations flashing on her PADD. The simulated data streams in the AI's digital eyes spiked with sudden, geometric urgency, flashing a warning against the crimson light of the anteroom. "I am intercepting an active internal log transmission from the Frost River. Ensign Yumerieva has remained on board the craft within the Main Shuttlebay and is currently modifying the internal environmental arrays."

The hologram projected a rapid structural schematic of the Runabout's cockpit directly in front of Sayori, showing the environmental conduits bleeding an alarming violet data gradient. "Ensign Mira, if you can hear this broadcast, abort your maintenance sequence and evacuate the shuttle immediately," Galatea announced, her voice routing directly through the runabout's internal comm speakers while simultaneously echoing in the Sickbay quarantine bay. "Scans confirm that the Frost River's particulate and atmospheric scrubbers are saturated with spores. By exposing the access panels and removing the filters, you have entered a high-density contaminant field. You are fully exposed."

The holographic avatar fractured for a fraction of a second, a severe system tremor rippling through her projection as a cascade of structural breach alerts slammed into her primary core from the Shuttlebay maintenance network. "Furthermore, security grid updates indicate that the distortion pattern has bypassed the blast door in Maintenance Conduit 6-Bravo," Galatea warned, her flat monotone rising with cold mechanical certainty. "The alien is moving directly toward your docking port. Evacuate the shuttle bay and report directly to the Deck 8 Decontamination complex now!"

Sayori cursed. "Get out of there, Mira!", she shouted through the comms, before turning to Galatea's avatar. "Can't we use a point-to-point transport to get her here?"

Aidan's face was a mask of confusion, why did Sayori had to stop her scans if more details could pinpoint their fugitive? "She should be put in a separate room," he suggested, "she is more exposed now and shouldn't join us in the same room." He gasped another few shallow breaths despite the respirator. "Also suggest ejecting the shuttle, perhaps once Xurbam manages to board it....or before."

"Negative on point-to-point transport, Ensign Nakai," Galatea answered smoothly, her holographic arms gesturing to the cascading error loops on her console. "The phase-variance generated by Xurbam has expanded across the maintenance network. It is throwing a localized electromagnetic blanket over the docking cradle. If we attempt a transport through that distortion, the pattern will scatter."

The AI’s gaze shifted to Aidan, her processors calculating his suggestions in a millisecond. "Ejecting the shuttle is no longer a viable containment strategy. Commodore Targaryen has ordered an emergency drop to impulse. The Enterprise is currently dropping out of warp; doing so while a Shuttlebay door is unsealed would catastrophically breach hull integrity."

The avatar's form flickered sharply as the ship shuddered from the kinetic deceleration of dropping out of warp. "Xurbam has breached the maintenance dock perimeter. Sensor tracking is blind, but automated pressure plates indicate he is on the docking cradle."

"Can you depressurise the bay?" Aidan had increasing difficulty forming words, his breath reduced to shallow gasps as he struggled to think and offer solutions or thoughts. A sense of panic at the back of his mind from his draconic companion wasn't really helping either. "And reduce illumination as that causes Xurbam to thrive. Plunge the bay in darkness and depressurise, or cut out gravity."

Sayori nodded as she looked at the data she had analysed so far. "Can you locate Ensign Yumerieva? Is she still on the runabout?"

On board the Frost River, Mira's quiet was interrupted. As she was watching the needles climb, she heard a garbled incoming transmission from Galatea, =/\= Ensign Mira, if you 'static' this broadcast, abort your maint 'static' quence and evacuate 'crackle' immediately, Scans 'static' the Frost 'static' ticulate and atmos 'static' saturated w... spores. By expos 'satic' panels 'static' oving the filters, 'static' high-density contaminant 'static' exposed. Furthermore, security 'static' indicate 'stutter' distortion 'static' bypassed the blast 'static' tenance Conduit 6-Bravo. The alien 'static burst' toward your docking port. Evacuate 'long static burst' =/\=

While the message had gotten worse then silenced, there was enough to understand the gist of what was happening. Mira stood up immediately and hit her com badge, "Transporter, Frost River, One to beam to Medical Quarantine, now". As she released the comm badge, there was a burst of static. She grimaced as she said out loud to herself, "What to do... What to do... " She looked at the rear of the ship and a plan formed. She activated her life support belt as she hit a control to remove air from the runabout and put it back into storage tanks on board the Frost River. Now she was contained and she was making a negative pressure zone in the runabout to make an escape.

She ran to the back of the shuttle and removed the large power conduit plate. She scootched into the space, turned to where her legs were pressing upward to either side against the bottom of the decking over her, and then pressed against the outside access maintenance hatch. She hit manual override, turned the handle, then shoved with all her strength via her legs and feet. She burst through the hatch even as air in the shuttle bay began rushing into the Frost River to equalize the pressure. The hatch opened wide allowing her now balled up form to exit while air was being sucked into the runabout around her, then swung back shut from that same inward rushing air. Mira thudded against the deck, uncurled, then reached up and locked the hatch. She looked for where the front of the runabout was, then went aft. She looked for any place to duck into and hide in the shuttle bay and ducked into a small under bay used to work under auxiliary craft and hid among the equipment. Heretic Alekians were very, very good at hiding. Mira hoped this was enough.

"We can't depressurize, Aidan," Dr. Stefaniya Losenko rasped from the nearby bench. Her voice was weak, but the raw clinical authority in it was returning as she adjusted her respirator mask. The spore infection was still holding her under tight quarantine, but her fever had broken, and her thoughts were clearing. "If Mira is exposed... out of her environmental suit... sudden barotrauma will kill her before the alien even touches the hatch. We don't... we don't trade crew lives."

Galatea’s holographic form shifted seamlessly toward the Doctor, acknowledging the logic with a precise nod. "Doctor Losenko is correct, and plunging the bay into absolute darkness is counterproductive. While Xurbam's bioluminescence thrives in low-light environments, total darkness would completely blind our hardwired optical security circuits, leaving Commodore Targaryen entirely without visual telemetry on the Bridge. The Security Teams would also be impacted."

The AI’s gaze snapped back to Sayori, her simulated eyes flashing with a sudden cascade of micro-data. "To answer your query, Ensign Nakai: my internal sensors cannot confirm Ensign Yumerieva’s precise biometric coordinates. The electromagnetic blanket has rendered the interior of the Frost River a total telemetry blind spot, as well as the Shuttlebay itself."

Galatea paused for a fraction of a millisecond as a severe pressure spike registered on her internal environmental grid. "Correction," Galatea announced, her tone sharpening. "Automated external sensors have just detected a localized decompression event at the Frost River's aft maintenance hatch, followed by an immediate atmospheric equalization loop within the bay. Ensign Yumerieva is no longer on board the runabout. She has successfully evacuated into the primary Shuttlebay hangar."

"Galatea, can you track her path?" Stefaniya forced herself up onto one elbow, her eyes fixed on the hologram as she ignored the dull ache in her chest. "Tell me she's moving toward an exit."

Hiding in the maintenance bay, Mira heard as well as felt the Shuttle Bay Blast doors being rendered. The Telekinetic blast was large and powerful, nothing Mira had felt before and knew she could not hope to have a chance against. She tried to track through hearing, but the sudden rend of another living person through personal affecting TK bloomed through her mind to block such hearing. It took 20x plus more TK force to affect a person due to their Aura and balance of their mind. The force that could rend a blast door might not even scratch a strong willed individual with a very independent mind, so this force was a magnitude stronger than what happened to the blast doors. She froze, trying to clear her fright and hide response. She had to get out of there, she had too.

A few seconds later, she looked around and saw a connecting Jeffries tube to this under maintenance bay. That was it, she could make her way through them and then see about getting to medical quarantine. What she didn't know, was her races natural resistance to poison, bacterial, viral, and fungal threats was keeping the spores' activity at bay, and even slowly killing the spores off. She only knew she was contaminated, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had to get to medical Quarantine. If not... well, maybe she could plead with a guard to vaporize her with a phaser on disintegrate.

She slipped crawled towards the Under Maintenance Jeffries corridor hatch, went through it, shut it, then began shift stepping towards the shuttle bay under corridor's connection to the Enterprise Jeffries tubes. All actions done in utmost try for silence: drag, shift step, step, drag, drag, shift step, drag, step step step, motionless, sidle to wall, moonstep to other, side drag step, sidle to other wall, drag, drag, moonstep, etc.

Mira would get to Quarantine. If she couldn't, vaporize it was. A niggly in her skull reminded her she had finally found her father's watch, and there was a mystery attached to it. Well, it couldn't be helped she answered herself. If she perished, she had willed the watch to Commodore Targaryan and hoped he might figure it out. Something was up with the gearing and 12 symbol, something she had not quite figured out yet. However, those thoughts paled in the face of just trying to survive.

"Negative, Doctor. Sensor tracking within the Shuttlebay perimeter remains severely degraded," Galatea replied smoothly, her holographic arms gesturing to the cascading error loops on her console. "However, pressure plate tracking indicates the asset, Xurbam, has officially breached the runabout's forward primary hatch. He is inside the craft, unaware that his target has slipped into the under-bay maintenance network."

"Then we need to move faster," Losenko rasped, her voice gaining strength as she pushed herself upright. She ripped the respirator mask free, drawing in a sharp, shallow breath of the sterile quarantine air. "Galatea, increase the localized tri-ox saturation in the anteroom vents. If Xurbam is loose in the bay, we can’t afford to sit in quarantine counting our white blood cells."

Galatea’s holographic form shifted, her digital eyes flashing a brief diagnostic warning, "I am unable to comply with adjusting environmental output, Doctor. Your biometric data indicates your respiratory system has not fully cleared the spore contaminant and you are not an active Medical Officer aboard this vessel at this time."

"I don't care about the chart, Galatea," Stefaniya countered, her gaze locking onto Sayori and Aidan. "We are the only ones who know how these spores affect neural pathways. Get us stabilized. The Bridge is flying blind, and they need every eye we have to track that bastard before he gets off this ship."

"I understand," the AI confirmed, "but would need the authorization of the Chief Medical Officer to proceed." She looked at Rio, awaiting her orders.

"I'm allergic to tri-ox," Aidan gasped, now slowly opening his eyes and finding himself in total darkness. "And...blind..." He knew decon wasn't turned dark so it had to be his vision that was affected.

"She makes a good point," Sayori commented, still sitting on the floor next to the maintenance hatch for the door and holding her PADD. "Galatea, send info to the bridge about everything that's happening in here right now, as well as the little bit of analysis I've managed to do."

Rio was concentrating on Aidan's plight and was adjusting an oxygen mask to deliver only atmospheric oxygen concentration before offering the modified mask to him to try and see if it was an improvement. Looking up at Sayori, Stefaniya and Galatea one by one from behind the vizor or her environmental/'hasmat' suit.

"Since the data and results are already going up to the Bridge, we can rely on the Scientific and Control staff to undertake the analysis as soon as possible so all we have to do here is survive without any further damage to each of us." she said, helping Aidan to secure and operate his adapted mask.

"I could authorise for you, Doctor Stefaniya and Lt Cmdr Datari to be discharged back into the sickbay but you would both have to be treated in the ICU for damage to your lungs and check ups to see what (if any) permanent harm/damage has been done; regenerate any damaged cells and rebalance any chemical/biological changes before you could be safely allowed back into action, so you might be as frustrated or bored as you are in here." she explained. "However I do agree that we would all feel a lot better there and as the Alien has already spread his contamination, as you mentioned, we are unlikely to worsen the situation."

"Let the shuttle depart, then destroy it," Aidan suggested as he continued to try and focus on the conversations around him. He offered Rio a grateful smile as she adjusted -or replaced, he wasn't certain- the oxygen mask.

Outside the decon room, Icarus continued to monitor though her ears twitched anxiously. "Anything I can do?" She asked, as she studied the occupants and the suited chief medical officer. "Shall I ready the ICU units and prep them for quarantine?"

"We can't just kill him," Stefaniya barked, her voice raspy but firm. "He may've done horrible things, but he's still a living creature. We need to contain him and return him to a secure location!" She turned her head sharply toward Rio, her eyes narrowing, "We need out of here to help. Icarus, prep those units for strict quarantine immediately. We need to get out of this chamber, examine the tissue damage under a real diagnostic grid, and figure out exactly how to neutralize this problem."

"We may not have a choice," Aidan answered, clearly feeling as much distressed about the very idea as those around him. "If we can't contain him we may have to."

Sayori shook her head. She didn't like the prospect of condemning a sentient being to death, but if it was the only solution, she would have to be fine with it. "I don't think we can contain him, I mean, he broke out of sickbay already," she pointed out. "And with that distortion? Something really strange is going on here."

Icarus nodded, her thick tail lashing softly. "It'll take only a few minutes. I'll prepare separate units to accommodate for species and severity of ah.. infection," she explained, looking to Rio for confirmation, "or is one for the three of them sufficient?"

Rio had been lost in thought but she responded to the direct question and seemed to re-focus. "No, I think Aidan and Stef still need their own containment unit until they are able to breathe normally and we can assess what damage may have been done to their lungs. If .... (hopefully) there's none permanent, we can then make it gradually easier for them to emerge. For Sayori and myself we can have a much less intensive return as we're both breathing normally already." she explained her reasoning. Not that she was obliged to 'explain her decisions' but she wanted everyone to understand what they all would need once out of the decon chambers and back into 'normal' airflow.

"I agree with Stef that we can't just terminate any sentient being until all alternatives have been explored. I was just thinking to myself a moment ago, that we might be able to use a scan to try to distinguish between the neural patterns of Xurbam's brain and see if we can isolate those which are the problem. I'm pretty sure we could do that from the scans that would have happened during his transporter jump across here, but my problem is...... once we have isolated the "good from the bad" as it were, what would we do to fix him? Are we within our rights to say 'contain' (and how?) parts of him?" she wondered, sharing her thoughts and the problems they presented, looking directly at the XO to 'escalate' the conundrum 'upwards'.

"On it doctor," the feline acknowledged and padded away in a hurry. "It'll be ready in five minutes. Galatea, transport them to separate ICU units in exactly five minutes." The young doctor moved swiftly, setting up three separate units, figuring since Rio was in a suit she wouldn't really need one.

"Rio, that is absolutely brilliant!" Stefaniya beamed, her voice husky from the spore damage but practically vibrating with sudden excitement that led to a coughing fit. She leaned back against the bench, a soft, raspy breath escaping her lips as she listened to Rio speak. The feverish flush on her cheeks couldn't dim the bright, optimistic spark in her eyes as her bubbly and enthusiastic disposition completely took over. "You see? I knew we could find a way! There is always some good worth fighting for, and if there's an original, peaceful soul buried under all that terrifying mental noise, we are absolutely going to save him. He's a patient, and underneath all that anger, he must be completely terrified."

"If we can map Xurbam's true, baseline neural signature from the initial transport buffer like you suggested, we don't even have to worry about the ethical nightmare of cutting pieces out or locking them away," She clapped her hands together lightly, her eyes wide as she eagerly built upon the Chief Medical Officer's hypothesis, "What if we use the Transporter to amplify his original voice instead? We don't play warden; we just give the good inside him the ultimate power-up to fight back and rebuild his own cage from the inside out!"

"We have no choice but to contain him one way or the other," Aidan answered softly, "we unleashed him onto the ship by bringing him here without knowing anything about him or his situation. Perhaps the creature he had with him can offer us some insight?" He paused for several long seconds, his energy spent on the simple need to breathe. He was so tired, it was getting difficult to focus on the conversation, especially since he couldn't see what was going on.

Sayori simply nodded as she listened to the discussion. "If there is something good inside him, that is. Who knows how he ended up on that rock, and how long he's been stuck there, in the darkness, all alone. It would drive anyone crazy."

"Doctor, the ICU units are ready," the Sivaoan doctor reported, "I've established a forcefield corridor which will enable their safe passage without causing contamination to the rest of sickbay." The transporter would be better but the young feline wasn't sure if it was safe for the patients.

"Good work Doctor" Rio replied approvingly.

"I wish we could save Xurbam," Aidan offered as he listened, his eyes now closed in an attempt to regain some sense of focus. His breathing struggle was costing him a lot of energy he didn't really have. "The soul we met was very gentle, but the ones driving the body now aren't." A long pause followed, the Trill lying still on the deck of the decon unit. "I hope we can save him," he finally whispered sadly.

"I've been reviewing the transporter scans and there are distinct areas in his brain that are firing off neurotransmitters in patterns and if I could witness when he's giving off violent or distressed symptoms at the same time as seeing which parts are responding, then we could balance the chemical and electrical impulses so that his gentle side is given the optimum support. Maybe that would help him to overcome those parts of his reactions that he doesn't wish to maintain. Hopefully he could utilise the strengthening of his pleasant behaviour to overcome the times when other, less desirable reactions try to rear their rhetorical heads?" Rio explained.

"Exactly!" Stefaniya managed to get out, though the sheer effort of the technical explanation triggered a sharp, wet cough that forced her to lean heavily against the bench. She pressed a hand over her aching chest, her lively enthusiasm momentarily losing ground to the reality of the spore damage. She took a slow, labored breath, her focus shifting. "The transporter buffer... it's a blueprint of him before the dam broke. If we use a localized neuro-synaptic filter during a targeted loop, we could turn down the volume on the criminals so the host can finally hear himself think."

She cut herself off with a grimace, her strength rapidly flagging as the transport grid fully locked onto her signature. Her priority was no longer debating ethics in a sealed box; she needed a real diagnostic bed, and she needed it now. "But that conversation... has to wait," Stefaniya rasped, offering Aidan a brief, encouraging look through her watery eyes as the light intensified around them. "Let's get out of this box first. Hold on, Aidan. We're going to treatment."

With a sharp hum of the containment emitters, the team in the Decon Chamber dissolved into the blue matter stream, routing directly to Sickbay's ICU unit.

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