Star Trek: Starbase 777

The mess hall had been left almost untouched. There was the occasional knocked over table, but none of the lights had been broken, even if they weren't on right now. The faintly pulsing viscera that climbed the walls left the room hot and damp, thankfully unfelt by the team through their suits.

Hal Gertie eased into the mess hall with some of the other security/tactical officers, leading Team B in. He made note of any doors, vents, ducts, or anything else something nefarious could sneak through. The pulsing viscera, while unnerving, didn’t seem out of the ordinary for the moon at least…

Still holding out his tricorder to scan as he went, hoping to find some kind of clue as to what the viscera was, Sterling followed at the tail end of the group.

"Ahhh, the mess, now we're talkin'," Amber said, sweeping one corner of the room and ending up pressing down on a table idly, as though checking if the thing would disintegrate at her touch for whatever reason. "Aaaaanyone 'ungry?"

“Unless you are referring to the viscera, which may be digestible, although I am not certain, I do not believe this room houses any substances that are edible to humans.” He stated in a monotone as he circled the room.

She raised an incredulous brow at the response, then shrugged with a chuckle, remarking, "aye, well, I'd eat the damn goo if ya asked me nicely."

”Replicators might still be functional here. We have power.” Marze commented as she searched for any signs of perturbations. The lights and other structures were fine, but the knocked over tables raised some suspicions. What would have done that? “If yall up for a picnic among the flesh.” A joke obviously.

“I will not request that you eat the substance. It does not seem to be properly nutritional.” He deadpanned, staring at her with round, expressionless eyes.

"I would be very willing to eat." Shears responded, not exactly clear if it was a joke. They stayed near Xuan, with their phaser raised, aiming to protect all medical crew.

4

Xuan stepped into the mess hall after most of the other members of the party as to be ready in case anything attacked them inside. Thankfully it didn't seem like there was any big monsters or threats, at least, not immediately. "Yes, do not eat anything. Not that you would be able to through your EV suits. Which we are wearing for a reason."

She grimaced and nodded slowly to Sterling, once and then twice. Yeah, she’s got nothing. Amber moved on deeper down the rows of tables. “Picnic sounds greaat,” she commented loudly into the air as she walked, in response to Marze but directed at nobody in particular.

”Aye doctor, no fun while on the job, got it.” Still looking around, still looking for signs of recent activity. “Sorry red, we’ll have to have that picnic later. No moon flesh tasting then though.”

“Yes, let’s focus on the task at hand. We’ll have plenty of time to joke about everything down here once we’re back on the station.” He turned to Amber before he continued. “And be careful to keep your voices down. It’d be best not to draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“Thank you. Do not taste it.” He replied. He kept on scanning, opting to stick closer to the group. It most likely would not amount to anything, but he enjoyed being of use.

"Do you believe the viscera can hear?" Shears's antennae twitched inside their EV suit's sleeves for them. "If not, then sound is irrelevant."

Storm grey eyes noted the people who'd launched into the joke and then looked to the crewman. "Crewman, we lack sufficient evidence to prove that we've just got the Viscera to deal with." The Romulan stated simply. "So we lack sufficient evidence to prove that anything is irrelevant." "I agree with the commander, lets keep focus on the task at hand." He then tapped his combadge as he heard the message and responded.

”Viscera with no arms or hands or fingers to activate systems…” Marze looked over to Shears. “I’m with them. Outposts don’t just turn themselves back on alone…”

"I do not think it will be fun when someone contracts a disease or dies," Xuan responded to the 'no fun' comment with a straight face. "Yes, let's continue our investigation."

”I’ve a brain doc. I’m not eating this or touching it bare handed, but…” She did light up with an idea. “We could try and see if it reacts with other organic matter. So far, we only touched it with a metal barrier. If the replicators are online we could replicate some food or anything organic and see if the Viscera reacts to it…” It was just an idea, the whole “unmoving or reacting flesh vegetation” was unsettling.

4

“That could be a useful experiment to test whether or not it has the capability to sense its surroundings at all.” He remarked, “If it is possible, I believe we should try.”

"That may be a good plan. We will need someone to tinker with the replicators. Replicators are just resequenced proteins, but we could come close to simulating things such as meat," Xuan proposed, looking around to see if there were any OPS or engineering personnel who could assist with the task.

While the more scientifically inclined were working on that, Hal Gertie turned his own attention to the mess hall itself. He began poking around for… well, anything that looked important, really. Abandoned PADDs, free terminals, replicators…

Vara'l frowned a bit at the proposal made. "If it's a test you can conduct safely, it'd certainly be useful intel." The Romulan mused then before he added. "I'll let Lieutenant tr'Lareth know what you've got in mind, get his input."

She had a brain, but it was not “fixing replicators specialized brain”. She approached one of the machines and tried to test if it was online and if it had any meaty options, hoping they would not to need to actually fix or tamper with the replicators.

He stayed close to the team, all eyes and ears as Kairos strained to see and hear anything potentially harmful coming their way - a precaution - yet he couldn't help but be a bit mesmerized by what was happening around them. Pulsating, squirming mass... just like in all of his teammates. Just like in himself, in a way. "I could analyze it, but I doubt any of you will allow me to," he stuck his pointy black tongue out, before pulling it back and shrugging. "Testing the thing via something organic sounds like a good idea, though."

1

Maggie had vague Borg memories of a dog like creature biting her, so she let out a shudder at the tongue use by someone similar enough. “Did you um, have to lick it?”

"I am concerned with the idea of provoking the viscera. It would be worthwhile to test its senses, but its reactions cannot be predicted." Shears moved their head down, investigating the way it clinged to the wall.

“It is a risk, yes. We are prepared if there are negative effects.” He turned around to Shears, before realizing there was a piece of viscera stuck to his visual sensor. He struggled to pick it off for a minute, before eventually flinging it, without another word.

3

”We could always use the tables to give us some sort of coverage before testing.” She offered.

"Yah," came a simple reply to Maggie. You could swear there was a :) at the end of that confirmation.

3

"I mean... this was a research building, right? Can anybody maybe carve a piece off? Try to find the science rooms?" Ellie tilted her head, trying to ignore the fact that one of her coworkers was currently in the process of determining if this was, in fact, real diseased meat by licking it. The idea of such a thing made her want to expunge her guts out.

The replicator seemed to have shorted out. Probably worn out wiring, you'd have to pop 'er open for a better look.

"Perhaps a doorway that is covered?" Shears added to Sinau's suggestion.

“I am available to aid in this, if you require me. I am equipped to carve geological samples— possibly walls.” Sterling stood up a little straighter, with viscera juice still on his faceplate.

"Maybe? We'd need to test its durability then." Sinau responded. "Also, that replicator, can somebody pry open the panel for me?" The Romulan explained, she had lost a lot of strength since the Klingon war had ended, and hadn't kept in well enough shape to pry something off that was clung together by... muscle tissue, probably?

Amber was trying to figure out some way to say she didn’t quite enjoy the idea of provoking whatever it was they were trying to provoke, and ended up pacing around the replicator. At Sinau’s question, she spun around, prepared to help, looking first at her, then the replicator, then at Marze who’d been by its side, the latter with a very clear ‘we’re all gonna die at the end of this, aren’t we?’ look in her eyes.

Five's nose involuntarily scrunched up at the mention of ... sacrificing something to the flesh floor, before obediently squatting to start trying to scrape off the meat and access the panel underneath. "Whatever it takes," she muttered under her breath, "there's a lot at steak here..." Ew, Five.

6

Since she was the one tinkering with it before, Marze promptly worked on getting that panel off for Sinau with the assistance of Five. Her look to Amber before she squatted along the xB was a clear ‘if we die at least we die good’.

She rolled her eyes at the platitude, throwing up a hand in wordless surrender, then turned on her heel to tilt some tables onto their sides.

"Lieutenant tr'Lareth is in tentative support of the idea of the test." He reported to the group then as he looked to the others. "As well as preparing using the tables for if there's any immediate response, we're advised to try and isolate the area we test in to avoid accidents and keep the amount of what's replicated as small as possible."

Sinau crouched down by the replicator's wiring hatch. Putting a hand on its slimy surface. Taking it off when Marze ripped it off easily. "Thank you." She validated, reaching into the veins of the replicator. Adjusting her light to get a better view of the electrical wiring. "Give me one moment, and I can fix this. I've seen worse... One time, a kid had put a flour bomb in one of these." She told, trying to tell a story to calm her mind a bit. Making a purposeful effort to try not touch any of the flesh as she stripped wires from their dead and burnt out ends.

”Well…” She looked over to the metal being inside the metal suit and the blond woman inside the suit. “You’re our science guys. Can you turn my initial idea into something scientifically testable with some minimal safety against accidents?”

The guts of the replicator practically oozed with tendrils of viscera, clinging to the paneling, the wires, and yet parting so easily under Sinau's careful touch to allow her to work.

"Eugh." Sinau shivered. Pulling on dead wires, grabbing a few tools in her EVA suit. Thankfully, they had some kind of environmental protection, so she wasn't too worried about shocking herself on a live wire. If there was a live wire. "Scratch the I've seen worse." She mumbled to herself, working on tying wires together and trying to turn on the machine.

“I believe it will work as intended, as long as we take precautions. I recommend we have a ten-foot distance between the experiment and our officers, at least.” He suggested, “The table should be moved, as well, for more protection.“

The replicator sputtered to life. Good job, Sinau.

"Agreed. Let's all stand back," And with that Xuan did just that -- stood back.

Shears hoisted up a table, peeling it from the floor, and rolled it away, as Sterling recommended.

Amber, table-flipping as it were, perked up at Xuan's suggestion, and crouched herself behind a table. Probably her riskiest replicator order in awhile.

Trusting the others to handle the preparations, Kairos kept his watch on the situation outside. The possibility of the mass somehow reacting to the food, though... left him restless.

Sinau pulled her arms out, lightly drenched in... something. She didn't want to think about it too much, and she hoped that Federation burned this suit after everything. "I'll clear out." She stood up, jogging away while trying to fling stuff off her equipment and arms.

Hal Gertie stepped back with the others, hand still on his phaser. He eyed the viscera uneasily, ready to jump in if necessary.

“Allow me to deliver the replicated food, I am the least at risk for injuries in this scenario.” He encouraged, “As I, evidently, do not have flesh.”

Five scurried all too quickly to the perimeter with the others. "Can't you just..." ... "Throw it really hard and hope for the best?..."

Sterling's remark would earn the room a loud and genuinely tickled "Ha!" originating from behind one of the tables.

“It is more efficient to hand it there, seeing that if it is thrown there is a chance of missing.” He stated, gesturing in a throwing motion, “I, admittedly, also do want to see it up close.”

Marze crouched at the edge of one of the turned tables, getting partial cover while still being able to point her riffle to the point where the food would be delivered.

"Okay. Okay," Five blinked, exhaling. "You shouldn't stick up close. Back away as far as possible. For safety.."

“It seems that we are prepared to attempt it.” He looked over the group behind the table, “Is the replicator powered and functional?”

Five gave a thumbs up. "It looks like it's working just fine to me. Go for it, Lieutenant."

He dipped his head in a nod, making his way to the replicator and quickly entering a prompt. Raw beef, the first type of bait to come to mind. He paused for a moment, before taking it to the viscera, and placing it. Quickly, he took multiple steps back, finding a spot and standing there like a statue.

"Here goes.." He muttered. Then, having also moved and taken cover, Vara'l tapped his combadge as the test commenced. He needed to let the others know it'd commenced, just in case.

Nothing, at first. Complete stillness, quiet. A soft shudder, a ripple across the small area— and slowly, slowly, tendrils pulled the bit of beef under the surface, until there was a small bump where it once was.

2

"Oh," Five said in a small, small voice that wavered slightly on the way out. "I think I'm going to faint..."

“Impressive. And horrifying.” He tilted his head, “We can assume it digests similarly to serpents, which is quite fascinating. If it is digesting, at all.” He turned to the others, taking a step back, and nodded. “It appears to be safe. Approach with caution.”

He couldn't help but coo at that display. Sue him, it was cute.

6

Shears gripped her gun closer, disturbed by the sight. They anxiously flicked their antennae, as if terrified, forgetting they had their suit on.

”Safe as long as we don’t touch it at least.” She got up from her chosen tactical point.

”I reckon I’d be thinkin’ that’s pretty cool,” Amber said after waiting a second, then raising her head above the table’s edge after nothing else seemed readily forthcoming. “If I weren’t sat right ‘ere fuckin’ lookin’ at it.” Regardless, she rose and started for the bump. A scientist could pop it, like a zit in her mind, if they wanted, she was just there to pull security.

Sinau gagged in her suit. Striking her chest as she tried to relax her larynx muscles. "What.. the. Fuck." She cursed, looking away from where that happened.

He brushed off the hands of his suit, as if recreating the gesture to appear more human, before beginning to pick up the table. “No, do not try to touch it. It will consume you, or at least attempt to. “

Vara'l's grey hued eyes snapped to Five then and fixed on them. "Please don't." He stated softly then before he moved over closer to them so they could be kept in his view as he tapped his combadge and stated to the room. With how Fives tone had wavered, he wanted to be on watch if it happened that they did faint. "I agree with the lieutenant, nobody touches it." He stated as he checked his tricorder to see if anything had changed with the flesh. It'd just been fed, after all. (edited)

Nothing new. The beef was sitting under the surface, slowly being stripped away bit by bit and redistributed to the area nearby.

4

Five, absolutely pale in the face, gave an all-too-telling shuddery exhale and swallowed the saliva that had rushed to her mouth. "Cool," she said weakly. "Right, okay, of course. I'm okay,"

"Yes, let's not touch the... whatever it is," Xuan was equally disgusted but did not show it on their face. They looked at their colleagues who all seemed very disturbed, or well, everyone but Kairos who seemed to enjoy... whatever was going on.

"I suggest we look for doors now." Shears insisted. They let out a hissing series of clicks, walking as if some irritant had wormed its way under their shell and festering there.

“That is a good idea.” Sterling turned on his heels, beginning to wander the walls, “Allow me to repeat— do not touch the piles.”

"It's like a little single-celled organism," The tail curled upwards, reminiscent of a spitz dog's. "Explains how it gets some of the sustenance needed. Still, sustaining such a large mass... is something like this enough?"

“Perhaps that is why there is no crew aboard this outpost.” He replied.

”It’s just… assimilating more meat… how does something like this stay alive here?” So far it was the only life sign they got, which means it was alone, which means it had no food… or more meat to assimilate. Marze was not a biology expert, but she was pretty sure meat beings needed more meat to replace those proteins they lost due to metabolization. Unless… “Hey… do you think this thing was just… dormant, until the last scientists arrived?”

”Only gotta tell me thrice,” Amber snorted at the instructions, looking down at the thing with a bit of interest, a bit of disgust. Meat moon, then. Cool. “Aye, ‘n maybe we’re all next,” she helped.

“I do not believe so. Not if we are more careful.” He glanced towards the rapidly dissolving meal he’d hand-delivered to the being, “And we are not the size of steak, it would hopefully give us more time to escape than it did the beef.”

Shears stamped the ground a few times. They held close their rifle, feeling highly disquieted. They'd all but forgotten their role to protect the doctor on crew. "Could we attempt to ward it off? My phaser is set to stun."

"Alternate sources of energy, perhaps?" he offered. "Alternate sources of minerals and whatever chemical components it needs? Self-cannibalization? Or dormancy, yeah. Endless possibilities, which we hopefully will figure out!"

"Maybe it was... hibernating?" Sinau suggested. Rocking on her feet as she tried to keep them from getting woozy. She was really, really starting to hate this. The possibility that everybody had been eaten by a fucking living meat amalgamation is terryfing and it's starting to get to her.

Grey eyes watched Lieutenant Five then, concern for the other xB briefly allowed to be plain on the face behind the suit vizor. Allowed to be so before it disappeared behind that mask again. "If that changes, alert the Enarrain." He then turned to look at the people in the room as he reported. "The other team's been in contact, Lieutenant tr'Lareth reports he's heard his voice echoing from further down the hall where they are." The Romulan reported simply. "Given what we've seen and what they've reported, when we proceed on from here we should proceed with extreme caution.." He paused then and listened further before Vara'l observed. "..We rather need more information than we're likely to get here, unless we can get further data from what it's doing to the beef.."

“Further data would be a possibility if we had the tools of our typical workspaces, but not here.” He said, “Unless someone is willing to brave being assimilated into the walls, I do not believe it is quite possible at this time.”

Shears shifted to stand near Sinau. The shorter officer was rocking back and forth nervously. Shears was not very observant, but they noticed. They spoke but lowered their volume for all but her. "Is there a concern, officer?"

Sinau looked to Shears anxiously, before calming down, she was feeling a bit jumpy... "There is... yes." She said, looking around the room again, her eyes lingering on the meat orb. "This is just... I've never seen anything like this in all my years." She explained. "Everything feels... off." (edited)

”Well, unless we’re about t’ have that damn picnic,” Amber said, trudging away from the bump of flesh and towards the opposite wall from which they entered. “Best we get on with figurin’ out what that alternate source might be, aye? Fleet’s happy, we all get a nice shower, ‘n maybe a wee commendation t’ go with it. Think we oughta deserve one after watchin’…” she gestured to the bump as she walked, “that.” She gave the remaining door a try.

Shears' antennae twitched. "It is disgusting, yes." Shears felt a strong aversion to all activity in the room, feeling as if they were being grazed by malicious hands. She gripped her rifle close, standing with their back facing the wall next to Sinau. "I am on guard, though." They nodded. "I refuse to be intimidated."

"I can check the beef," was a phrase Xuan never thought they would need to utter during their entire career. The medical officer scanned where the eaten beef supposedly was with their tricorder to see if there was anything else they could gather from it.

Nothing new. It had been successfully consumed, in fact.

"Well... nothing else. I suggest we proceed to another area," Xuan said, agreeing with what the CTO said about moving areas to find more clues. They were thankful there was nothing else, the weird beef eating... whatever it was. was very gross.

"If we've got nothing else here, then moving would be smart," he nodded his head in agreement. "Some other room with a console or maybe quarters could be sooo good..."

“It may be useful to search for research labs or other scientifically relevant locations. If we wish to see more of their research, it is a good place to start.” He suggested.

”Wanna take a nap?” Marze checked her riffle and equipment, walking closer. “The meat must’ve made the beds extra cushy…” Not that she cared about soft beds, she cared more about friendly banter. And the guy seemed fun so far.

To the #crew-quarters !

He huffed out a laugh, a slightly off sound: "I think many would argue that I have too much energy! Also, alas, I'm afraid the beds got eaten. Well, let's go check?" And with that, he would be off, making way for his teammates as he was on high alert...