JDL - Into the Void pt. 2 - Capt Neyes, 2Lt. Garza, Lt. Clark(npc)

Posted on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 @ 3:23am by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Captain Landon Neyes & 2nd Lieutenant Jasmine Garza

2,818 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

"Cut the bitching!" Neyes snapped, turning toward the men and women. Their faces looked to him in slight surprise, and he tore into them. "You are officers in Starfleet, your Commander is missing, injured...", he could feel his words catch for moment as the hoarseness in his voice paired along side a flair of sadness. "Or she's..."

"...Or dead. How can you all be so flippant? Sniping at one another day in and day out. This isn't the time for any of that! Get it together." His breathing was solid and heavy, his powerful chest rising and falling with each exhausted intake of air. He'd been awake for less than an hour, and already he wished Ivanova had stayed.

That she was safe with him when he woke up. What could have happened to her between then and now?

Neyes turned back out, looking to the dense, dark foliage and tree-trunks. The climbing cylinders harassed them, dropping snow and snapping twigs. They were the normal sound of the forest, but everything was catching his attention too readily. He need to focus, to take his mind somewhere else. He was a man with eleven minds wrapped up in one head, each teaching and chatting blearily against a sea of white noise he constantly kept in check. Regulating his own thoughts kept a good deal of his energy tied up, and now he could feel them slipping, grinding against one another. Memories from lifetimes long passed would bleed into the current, escaping from their prison deep in his past. Keeping it all straight was an effort which he'd learned to master with practice and patience.

Very few were aware of Landon's mental discipline, his good friend Rob Lansine was probably the only one he'd shared it with openly. The struggle was Neyes' to fight, and he was a good soldier on the battlefield of being chosen for joining. Now he would need that strength.

Jasmine was shocked at this but he wasn't this bubbling idiot lieutenant. He was her superior officer taking a couple of deep breaths, "alright we'll continue to look for clues within the compound while my sergeant heads out to hopefully get the security chief."

Clark held up his hand. "No... We can't risk losing the Captain also." He responded, snorting at Jasmine and turning his attention to their wild eyed boss. "You ok, sir?"

"I need some time. A few minutes to meditate." Landon said, almost morbidly.

Nodding he kept quiet, understanding the man's pain as he replayed his words over in his head. Clark was a lot of things, an asshole being one of them, but he wasn't a fool.

He couldn't describe it to them, but he needed the clarity only his symbiont could afford to give him. "I need to 'Recess'... and I'm going to be different when I wake up." Landon could feel the moment tick by, and how each passing second meant Rochelle could be dying that much quicker, "I can't explain it fully, but I need to give over my conscious mind to Neyes, my symbiont. 800 years is a long time, and Neyes can use the skills we've learned better than I can. It's complicated, and symbionts aren't like you and I. They exist on a different level of perspective."

Jasmine and her Marines headed off to check out things that this lieutenant already checked out.

"Yes, Sir. We'll be here when you're ready to push on." Clark responded and watched as Jasmine started heading off. He looked between the two of them before jogging towards the Marine. "Hell no. You're here to watch them, so watch the one that we know is still alive!" He snapped and pointed towards the Trill before softening some, "he's hurting. We can't abandon him. Christ only knows what he'll do next."

"I have my two best Marines guarding him. Right now my real concern is the XO who apparently has been missing between 7 and 18 hours cause you damn squids can't get or keep your stories straight." Jasmine said glaring at the lieutenant not caring that he outranked her.

Neyes sat on a broken log, legs pulled up into a crisscross. His hands resting calmly at his knees before reaching for something. This had to be worth it, and he knew it was just dangerous enough to be his best chance at finding Rochelle. Without tricorders able to scan around heavy mineral deposits such as caves and rock formations, he needed his tracking skills to be at their best. From out of his bag he pulled a small focus object, a little wooden carving of his brother's. Tristan had given it to Landon when they were little, and it was the last and only thing he had left of his little brother. Aside from the picture in his quarters, Landon knew this was his anchor, his place to come back to. His hand squeezed the tiny carving as he breathed in slowly, summoning the calm he'd need to break up his mental barriers.

The feeling was almost like drinking, only the less pleasant aspects, right after waking on a groggy morning in a place you've never been before... that sudden and powerful rush of panic Only for Landon it wasn't going to subside, the recessing he'd need to perform was going to rip Landon out of this consciousness and replace it with something older and less personal. Time started to lose it's consistency, blurring and moving on top of itself. A feeling of power and ancient experience rolled forward in his mind. His past lives began to also come to the forefront, and there were moments while he sat he almost forgot who he was, at least currently. He breathed in, shallower with each breath, as his equilibrium began to crumble. The forest started to spin rapidly, but Neyes was still as a could be. Trees whipped around him, the air twisting and turning as he began to lose control of his perception, the crew with him felt distance and quiet.

For a minute Landon didn't make a sound, and he didn't move except for a trembling building in his hands. When he finally did take a quick sudden breath. His eyes snapped open.

In an instant, Clark was about to jump feet first into the Marine's ass out of straight ridicule. Like the missing Commander, he didn't see a point in the entire unit. They were self-entitled, crazy and disrespectful -- but the change in the Captain's demeanor caught his eye and attention. He snorted from beneath his mask at Jasmine, shook his head and trotted back to the Captain's side. "Sir?" He asked, stepping in front of the powerfully built Trill. "Are you alright?" All this for one notoriously vicious woman. It didn't make sense.

"Check out where they found the sock. I'll be right with you." Jasmine said to a couple of her men. She stood by and watched she wasn't the nurturing type and if she had any thought that the captain was in trouble she wouldn't have left but he wanted to be alone so that's what she was doing.

The Captain had slowly moved to stand, coming down off his log. A rigid and cold expression colored his features, but otherwise he seemed fine to the rest of the officers.

A deep, guttural noise sounded from Neyes' mouth, definitely not words. The Trill looked annoyed for a moment, then tried to speak again. "Dhji'dar an-...okxu." The words were deeper than Landon's normal voice, harsher. Landon had a softer, more lively tone. This one was hard and direct, like an old battle-scarred soldier.

Neyes pulled off his commbadge, and slapped it against the back of his tricorder. A few moments later, it chirped after his manipulations of the small device, signalling to return it to his chest. After doing so he spoke again, "I am Neyes."

His voice was striking, flared with a rich accent, and cut sharp with intent. His eyes moved to the team, held wide and open, taking in all the details of the men and women before him. He scanned over them visually, as if seeing them for the first time. "The first is missing... Have you found it?"

"No sir." Jasmine said walking up but keeping her distance. "And we've conflicting reports of when she went missing and we're looking for clues of where she went or if she was taken."

"The first was with this one. Sharing and giving. Only hours past." Dismissing the marines and security officers, Neyes turned out towards the woods, and felt the rustle of his daggers along the small of his back. Oddly, he smiled as he reached back and slid one from its holster. The grin was dark, and the blade shimmered the light of the forest as he turned it over in his hands.

"Is danger here?" Neyes asked, his eyes slowly looking back over his shoulder toward Jasmine. He seemed to be sizing her up. Naturally Landon had always kept his marine forces at arms-reach, choosing to never engage with them unless necessary. Now he was actively glaring at her, looking through glossy and piercing eyes. Their ice-blue hue bore directly into Jasmine's own, looking into her, looking for something...

Jasmine had her hand on her type 2 hand phaser who ever this was it wasn't the captain. "Possibly." Jasmine said not liking the look on his face or the dagger in his hand.

"Giving and sharing?" Clark asked, and shook his head. Now it was understood why they were wandering off into the wilderness to hunt for the Commander rather than waiting and getting help from the Noturans who knew this land. "Danger? All around us, Sir. There's animals that are prone to attack and, again, it's suspected 'the first' has been taken."

He never unlocked his gaze from hers, and he didn't flinch when her hand moved to her phaser. He was unaffected by her every word or action. Just staring at her. Slowly, Neyes laughed a soft, hauntingly pleasant chuckle. His fingers danced carefully with the dagger, spinning it quickly before deftly slipping it back into the holster at his back, looking around as he did so. Landon had never done it that quickly before, and now Neyes seemed to not even notice he had done anything of effort.

"This one thinks Jasmine is wrong. Danger is always." He turned back out toward the forest. "Always."

A breeze shifted through the trees, rustling softly. The sounds of the forest picked up for a moment as the branches and heavy boughs adjusted in their places, being pushed about by wind. A few plops of snow dropped from the canopy, a few bushes made hushed whispers of sound. Neyes immediately stopped dead in his tracks, looking darkly out into the woods. His neck twitched and he kept turning his head from side to side, seeming almost feral. He sniffed at the air, following it's motion. His fingers outstretched like sensors, slowly churning through nothing, as if he was weaving something out of the surroundings.

Neyes whispered, "Things move, Jasmine. This one hears them."

Jasmine watched and listened and looked at the dick head lieutenant. "Captain what's out there?" She asked.

Said dick-head Lieutenant looked between the Marine and the Captain. He'd heard about Trills in the past, their symbiotic relationships and knew, albeit vaguely, how they worked. This, however, took the cake and brought a whole new level to the meaning of creepy. Still he kept his position towards the Captain's flank and listened, watched and observed. His own phaser was within a quick draw's reach. "What do you know, Sir?"

Neyes grinned, his eyes closed, and continued to whisper. "Little bugs scurry in the dark."

A twig snapped, off in the distance, but close enough to hear clearly. Shadows danced about in the twilight of the woods, and details were difficult to decipher. The wind continued to whip at the brush, making hearing small sounds that much more difficult. Landon chuckled again, quietly moving back toward the team, "They sneak and skitter. They die so fast," he looked directly at Clark, "...But so do they."

He started to walk deeper into the woods, off in a skewed direction from their previous path. "Don't move, little bugs. Wait for me."

"Shit!" Jasmine said running quickly to stay up with the captain her phaser drawn.

Before the team could catch up with him through, he'd vanished into the shadows of the woods, seemingly without a trace.

Another loud snap echoed in the woods. Quick, short bursts of distorted whispering immediately followed. It bounced from the heavy brush and trees, coming from everywhere.

Stopping Jasmine spun around in circles like she was disorientated. Which to be fair anyone would feel that entering unknown woods, at dark while hearing all kinds of sounds and trying to figure out where the hell you commanding officer disappeared to.

The security officer was soon to follow, coming around a large trunked tree and hitting the brakes only to shake his head. "You fucking suck at watching these people!" He bellowed. "I fucking suck at watching them. They fucking suck at playing by the Gods damned rules!" His anger only welled out of fear. Fear the Vindicator had lost both of her commanding officers. For what? Lust? Or was it it's far more atrocious four letter counterpart; love. He hated both at that moment. The bastard hadn't even left foot prints in the snow, like a ghost.

"Calm down." Jasmine said as she stopped spinning and closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "You were the one right next to the captain.......you couldn't have grabbed him or something."

The sounds of whispers grew to howls, chilling and shrill in the darkness. Unseen, things started displacing the bushes and shaking their leaves. The sounds became howls and yelps, like hyenas circling their prey. Things grew progressively louder as the approaching sounds became loud and threatening. The Starfleet team was besieged as a figure leapt from the shadows, toppling over one of the unsuspecting security officers. He screamed in terror as the humanoid started clawing and tearing at him, not waiting for the others to react.

Then two more appeared from the underbrush. Then four. Several more humanoid-like creatures, dirty and feral, appeared from the darkness of the woods until there were nearly a dozen in total. More still seemed to be tearing through the unseen parts of the forest. Each yipping and howling menacingly, threatening the assailed team with their sharpened teeth and make-shift weapons. One raised its axe in the air, sharp bits of metal and wood piercing nearly a dozen places in its face, and screamed with a voracious fervor.

Jasmine knew her phaser was useless so she pulled out her two trusty Tsunkatse Falchions. The one thing he you learned quickly growing up on Vega colony was learning how to use blades. "Come you bastards!" Jasmine shouted as she swung at any that got close.

The small group of wild assailants hissed and hollered at the Starfleet team, their cacophony of alarming cries almost sounded like laughter. They were enjoying it. Each face looked on at the uniformed crew like prey, and the game was how terrified they could make said prey. The people, if one chose to call them that, had loose and tattered rags for clothing. Piercings and scars littered their filthy bodies. Sharpened teeth seemed to line inside their caked and cracked lips, which they weren't afraid to show off as they threatened towards the team.

One security officer held out a tricorder, as it sputtered and failed in the powerful magnetic fields, yet they continued to scan. Her face contorted into disbelief as something came across through the interference, "Oh Gods... They're Noturan!"

After fighting off the mobbing wild-man, they helped the injured security officer to his feet, and formed something of a circle. Back to back the team that had followed Landon into the wilds was now surrounded by screaming, crazed, monsterous Noturans. "Why weren't we told about these things!?" One of the security officers yelled out, holding out his fists after his phaser had failed.

Clark was about to snap his witty reply when a well black rocked cracked against his temple, dropping him to the snow in a twisted display of pain. What happened next would go down in the books as an 'unfortunate incident' that happens when teams go rogue. And out in the tree induced twilight roamed a wild man all but oblivious. They should have listened to him, they shouldn't have followed as the Captain went on his quest to rescue the XO.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Captain Landon Neyes
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR

Second Lieutenant Jasmine Garza
51st Recon Unit CO
USS VINDICATOR

Lieutenant Junior Grade Clark
Security Officer
USS VINDICATOR

 

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