Staging area

Posted on Wed Sep 28th, 2022 @ 7:05am by Captain Maia Sterling & 2nd Lieutenant Saul Humphries & Lieutenant Steve O'Carroll & Lieutenant Commander Sheena Toran-Blake & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Blake & Lieutenant Commander Robert Hendon & Lieutenant JG Gavin Ross & Lieutenant Jonathan (Jon) Riley & Lieutenant JG Marina Tanger & Lieutenant Kasey Tanger & Lieutenant Commander Havri Belbre & Lieutenant Isabelle Raal & Captain Karyn Somers & Lieutenant Rick Gibbs & Lieutenant JG T'Plana-hath

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Omicron Delta Staging Area
Timeline: 239508.03

[ON]

Captain Sterling stepped through the portal and onto a grassy mid-spring plain about 50 yards in front of her and down a rolling hill was an amphitheatre of sorts with a large projection screen. She turned around and saw the Leto about a mile away safely landing on a grassy field. Some of her crew had already stepped through portals and were arriving a dozen at a time.

Maia waited for her senior officers before proceeding.

Rick took a breath once he'd gotten his bearing. That was rather...an interesting thing to have as a representation. Stepping off to the side.

Belbre steps out of the portal. Out of habit, she sweeps the area looking for anyone that may be hostile. She looks at her tricorder and smiles with relief. "Captain, I am seeing no signs of hostiles in the area." She puts her tricorder away and awaits further orders.

"Alright, Havri but be careful, and don't forget the crew will be popping in as well," Maia replied.

Jon aside from a tingle in his toes emerged in what looked like a garden, "What the...."

Stepping out behind Riley, Marina looked around waiting for Isabelle to emerge next. As she did she turned toward her. “I said I didn’t want to come here Isabelle, I know what my mind will conjure up and I don’t trust myself.”

Isabelle offered a gentle nod, and a touch of her hand. “You have me, and you have your connection to your brother to keep you stable. Just focus on the here and now, business as usual not anything else.”

Captain Sterling saw Captain Somers come through the portal.

"Karyn gather your company. Make sure all are present and accounted for," Sterling requested.

As Karyn arrived through the portal "I will as soon as I find them Captain and where the hell are we?" She asked.

"This seems to be some kind of staging area, I'm sure that the caretaker will tell us what he wants us to do," Sterling said.

T'Plana-hath stepped through the portal and quickly scanned the area. Everything appeared to be calm and under control, so she stepped aside and awaited the captain's orders.

Robert exited the portal and looked around as he moved over to the others.

Ross exited into the amphitheatre type of area setting. It all looked regal in its formality. Earthly origins in nature, as follows with the Wonderland type of theme. Grass hedges were forming; God knows what kind of characters. He decided to begin filming the encounter on his tricorder, holding it outward, viewing what he was capturing. The Tricorder analytics showed increased spikes in background radiation, nothing of harm, just that whatever was powering this scene was immense in a generation.

“Captain, Commander. I am picking up static background radiation levels within acceptable limits. This planet is exhibiting thermos genesis forms of energy.” What was that? Something rustled behind him in the bush to his right near the amphitheatre seating…

“What have we here?” Gavin took a seat on the theatre slabs; he breathed inward. The air was crisp, calm, and smelling of flowers. “Fascinating place.” Ross began to follow the rest of the senior staff.

Jon was trying to process what was going on, he looked around "Why does some of this look familiar?"

"This may or may not look familiar to you but remember everything in this place is a figment of human fantasy, so things you will see will be familiar to you or not depending on your fantasies," Maia stated.

"I think we are meant to wait here until all of us are here. I believe The AI of this planet wants to brief us on what's going on." Sterling replied.

Jon was still trying to process, he looked around, "A mission file from somewhere..."

Robert sat down with his colleagues and leaned forward.

“ If any of you would like. We could fit a neural emi….” He began then Robert saw her. Sitting towards the back. Alice his wife. But not the version he saw every day. Here she was younger. The happy smile she wore every day since they were married. Was not in place. This was the version his mother had warned him to stay away from.

“ You touch vun part of that Yeomen's skin. I vill personally strangle all the life out of your body and feed you to the cat!” His mother's words rang in his ears.

With great difficulty, he turned back to his shipmates.

There was a breath taken before Rick decided to just sit down where he was. Trying to keep his mind clear of thoughts.

Marina was struggling, her eyes falling on a vision of Andreas holding their daughter Aurora. The Caliphate leader had always been a doting father over the children sired by the women under his control. Like any cult leader, he’d taken every advantage when he could get it. She turned away oO You’re not real oO she thought to herself. oO You’re not there! Neither of you is there! Oo

Isabelle was staring longingly at a vision of the man she had loved with all her heart, Kal’s death had cost her the life of their baby daughter, and almost made her commit suicide. She knew he wasn’t there, that he wasn’t real, just a figment of her imagination, but she looked longingly at him all the same.

Ryan, looking several years younger and wearing the uniform of a fourth-year Academy cadet stepped into view from the wings of the amphitheatre. He scanned the small group of Starfleet officers until his eyes fell on Marina and he smiled broadly.

Marina’s eyes fell on Ryan, for a moment she thought it was Ryan from the ship before she noticed the uniform and the fact that he was younger. It immediately took her mind off her previous vision as her feelings for Ryan came to the surface.

Lieutenant Kasey Tanger was starting to sense the minds of his fellow crewmates as if something or someone was probing them. He was maintaining a focus to avoid having his mind probed but his mental training was enough to help him see that the others were being affected by something. He had not stepped through the portal like the rest as of yet but he was sensing the probe. He was not sure what would happen to him after he passed through but he needed to help in any fashion he could so he stepped through the portal. Kasey then saw the amphitheatre. However, from his point of view the place was not very well kept and very rundown. He could tell the minds of the others were seeing many different visions than he was.

"Captain, I must say that this place is not the same for all of us. We will all see differences that the rest will not see and even my mind will eventually fall prey to this planet, which I am sad to say." Kasey stated in hopes his captain heard him.

“I am inclined to agree with you, Kasey.” Dr Ross had shaken his head one by one, checking the Leto members from a distance, passive scanning.

This didn’t seem to be going well since many of the memories, just from the crew’s looks, were perplexing, longing, and even annoyance he sensed. “What is everyone seeing? Pretty things? Happy memories? Or… Sad memories?” They all had beamed into a willing trap, like mice in an outside experiment. Or was it? Ross’s science tricorder showed increased parathyroid hormones in most of the crew.

Gavin didn’t see anything out of the ordinary; he turned. “Captain, what are your orders? Are we to wait further?”

"We head to the amphitheatre and take a seat, this is a staging area of some kind. We will wait for the rest of the crew to show up and find out what the caretaker wants of us. guard your thought though as this place is good at reading minds and emotions, Mr Ross," Maia said.

Gavin nodded at Captain Sterling, knowing he had thoughts that could entangle him. Yet Ross was confident this would not be a distraction on their first contact mission, as it were no less.

Marina slowly stepped away from the crowd, moving towards where she’d seen the version of Ryan that she once loved with all her heart. It wasn’t her head leading her move, it was her heart and she was willing to let herself get lost in the old memories for a while.

This younger Ryan moved to close the gap between them when Marina stepped up. It took only a few seconds before he held her in an embrace. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Are you ready for graduation?"

Marina smiled. “I’m ready for anything as long as you’re with me.” She looked back at the others and then at Ryan. “Let’s get out of here, and spend some time alone.”

[I]Ryan[/i] nodded. "Come with me then." He took Marina’s hand, leading her off in the lightly wooded terrain. Two minutes later they emerged in a clearing where a blanket and basket awaited them.

Isabelle moved towards Robert. “Doctor...I need you to keep me grounded, I could quite willingly get lost in what isn’t here.” She looked at the old scars on her wrists, that she’d chosen to keep. “I can’t go through losing Kal again.”

"You should be alright, just clear your mind, Isabelle," Maia said.

Great full of the distraction Robert gave her a small device from his medic kit.

“ Put this neural blocker on your forehead. Then set it to the level you require. It should help. I have more if anyone wants.” Robert said.

He looked over at the younger image of Alice his wife. Should he wear one as well? No. He knew the real thing was back on the Leto. Tending to the twins who by now would have conjured up a room full of puppies. No. He could handle this.

Isabelle took the blocker, placing it under her hair where it wasn’t so easily visible. She breathed a sigh of relief as she activated it and the vision of Kal disappeared. “That’s much better, thank you, Robert.” She smiled warmly.

Robert was in two minds about using one for himself. He decided not to. Hendon could handle this.

T'Plana-hath felt a niggling sensation in her mind. She concentrated on it for a second and realized that an outside source was trying to penetrate her mental defences. She shook her head and smiled. I am a fully trained Vulcan in the way of Nirak and trained at the Vulcan Institute of Defensive Arts, my mind and body are one. The sensation faded away. T'Plana-hath walked over to the captain "What are your orders captain?" she inquired.

"See that amphitheatre, we take a seat there and see what the caretaker wants of us," Maia replied.

T'Plana-hath di indeed see the amphitheatre, she walked towards it. Once she had arrived she took a seat and observed the other crew members around her, curious to see what their minds were allowing the planet to create for them.

Jon wandered in, looking around, "Wasn't Captain Kirk and Commander Spock here somewhere in the past?" half stating the obvious.

"Yes, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 visited this planet on Stardate 3025.3," replied T'Plana-hath, upon hearing Lieutenant Riley's inquire.

"I sort of remember now, we should be careful on what we think about," Jon said trying to not think about certain things.

Regarding T'Plana-hath, Gavin eyed the pantheon of seats. The sight was extortionary. "I believe the standing orders are carte blanche." His mind is as serene as waves on a Risean sunset. From a scientific perspective, all thoughts, all memories we bore in each of us were a process of chemical order. Understanding one's bio-stats and remaining in a state of ever-relaxed thoughts, and sights of the planet helped keep clear of any unwanted triggers for Gavin. It was not easy, but it was not unsurmountable.

Stepping through the portal, Sheena had cleared her thoughts as taught by her security training. Her mind relaxed, she saw the others and moved over to them following Maia's lead for the amphitheatre. Not knowing what the caretaker had in store for them bothered her slightly but not enough to cause ill thoughts.

Which he'd have mentioned, exactly what Jon had, only in more detail. Rick sighed, shaking his head. "People do want to listen to what they want to after all," mostly said to himself. "Doctor McCoy was killed here as well and brought back, Lieutenant." Having taken one of the inhibitors but not using it thus far. Gibbs was trying to see if he could find where Alice went to. Alice from 'Wonderland' is, not one of the crew members' Alice.

T'Plana-hath found the desires of her crewmates fascinating. Hearing Lieutenant Gibbs comment, she stated in his general direction "You are most correct Lieutenant, Doctor McCoy was 'killed' on this planet, which then repaired him. This also alerted the 'Caretaker' of the issue of the Enterprise crew not understanding the nature of the planet. I would speculate that Dr. McCoy really did not die, in the sense that we know it, but was 'made' to appear that way to those crewmembers around him at the time."

"I thought I saw something about the crew inadvertently causing mayhem because of being unaware of their surroundings, I'm not a historian so I'm going on history I did remember," Jon commented.

Belbre sat quietly and waited, she kept her mind clear of any thoughts that may cause a problem. She did not want to advertently think of something that could endanger the crew or herself till she learned more about what was going on. She was looking around at the beautiful scenery and enjoying the clean fresh air. She did think that a nice rootbeer float would be nice like her foster parents used to make for her. Suddenly one appeared beside her. She picked it up and took a long slow drink. It was delicious. She smiled and continued to drink more of it slowly so she could enjoy it.

Kasey Tanger was doing a good job keeping his mind focused on what was going on and not falling prey to what was happening to the others. He knew it would not be much longer before he would succumb to the forces at work but he would try to get an inhibitor patch applied as soon as he could. He noticed Marina walk off and he also saw others taking seats in the amphitheatre. He was concerned that several others may have wandered off like his sister and so he took it upon himself to go after her and then look for others, but he would need the blocker before too long.

Karyn had finally managed to group her Rifles "okay you lot try to control your imaginations" she said wishing she had something more than a hand phaser on her person.

"Everybody please come down and take a seat," Sterling ordered.

[OFF]

_____________________________________

A Post by:

Captain Maia A. Sterling
Commanding Officer
USS Leto NCC-80916

&

Lieutenant Steve O'Carroll
Asst. Chief Operations Officer
USS Leto NCC-80916

&

Lieutenant Commander Havri Belbre
Chief of Security/ Weapons Officer
USS Leto NCC80916

&

Lieutenant Commander Dr Robert Hendon
Chief Medical Officer
USS Leto NCC80916

&

Lieutenant JG T'Plana-hath
Intelligence Officer
USS Leto NCC80916

&

Lieutenant Isabelle Rahl
Chief Counsellor
USS Leto NCC 80916

&

Lieutenant jg Marina Tanger
Asst Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Leto NCC 80916

&

Lt. Kasey Tanger
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Leto NC 80916

&

Lt. Gavin Ross
Chief of Science
USS Leto NCC 80916

&

Lt Jonathan Riley
Chief intelligence officer
USS Leto NCC 80916

&

Lt. Cmdr. Sheena Toran
Executive Officer
USS Leto NCC-80916

&

Marine Captain Karyn Lynne Somers
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Leto NCC 80916