MSNPC Lt. Commander Laria Herren - We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes

[Jalana]

(( Because I very much enjoy reading "Dark Laria" aka Kidha ))

 

((Bridge - Deck 1, USS Constitution-B))

 

Herren: Computer, Emergency Program 47. Herren 5-9-2-3-Zeta-Epsilon.

 

As Kidha issued the command, they were on their feet and crossing the bridge towards the OPS console. They removed the concealed Type-1 phaser that the real Commander Herren had been carrying. Emergency Program 47, something they had quietly dropped into the ship’s computer, did exactly what it was supposed to do. It locked out the consoles on the bridge without their prearranged access code.

 

T’Seva/Ch’Nilmani: Response

 

Ignoring the duo of senior officers and their concerns, they finished crossing the bridge to be near one of the turbolifts and the ready room in case an escape route was needed. The Human woman at OPS (a different Human than the prior woman sitting at the OPS console when she was last at the bridge), looked up from the console in confusion. They reached out and grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled her to her feet to stand in front of them.

 

Anderson: Commander?

 

A Vulcan man, who seemed like a tactical or security officer who had been milling around since the chief was on the bridge, was quick to get into action and point a phaser at them. Kidha grinned, amused by the solid.

 

Siann: Commander, stand down or-

 

The Vulcan junior tactical officer didn’t finish his command. The phaser beam made contact and the disruption effects of its maximum setting promptly disintegrated him into his component atoms. There was a moment’s scream before silence and an empty space where the goldshirt had previously stood. Which left three other officers still standing, along with the ops officer. Not the most comfortable odds.

 

Herren: ::Her face twisted into a smile:: No respect for the chain of command, that one.

 

While Kidha had the little “cricket” phaser at the ready, they didn’t particularly care who was being aimed at. Ideally, they would have gotten the first officer off the bridge. Leave some junior officers to handle before seizing control of the vessel. But the contingency was never the ideal scenario. Ultimately, they weren’t sure where things would go from there. Maybe the solids would retreat. Maybe Kidha would have to retreat. It didn’t really matter. Whatever was going on with their brothers and sisters, the ship’s systems had been secured. Formerly Lieutenant Commander Herren kept a tight grip on the operations officer as she tried to pull away. She looked between the first officer and tactical chief, curious what they would do next.

 

T’Seva: I don't believe we have actually met.

 

Oh, yes, so very clever of the chief tactical officer. Maybe the second officer who murdered someone in cold blood was an imposter. Did the Bajoran/Vulcan tactician want a gold star for figuring that one out? Kidha sneered at her dismissively.

 

T'Seva: So...how about we talk about what you want?

 

Herren: Well, at this point, I’m afraid I’m going to need you all to vacate your positions aboard the ship. Permanently.

 

The impulsive desire to fire a grazing shot at one of the solids was nearly overwhelming. But they resisted it for the moment. There would be time enough to kill the solids after toying with the pair of officers doing the talking a bit.

 

T'Seva: Tactically, you are on your own. Your emergency code will be dealt with soon enough. So...what do you want? What do you hope to get from this?

 

Well… there was something to be said for confidence.

 

Herren: On my own? On the contrary, T’Seva. We could be anywhere. You think I came alone? Besides, I think you’ll find this new emergency code to be rather… robust. You’d be amazed what you can do with the commanding officer’s access.

 

Ch'Nilmani: And :: Nodding towards where the man had been earlier. :: That was a mistake.

 

Kidha followed his head nod to the space formerly occupied by the defiant Vulcan. Oh boo hoo, somebody who didn’t know how to surrender to a superior foe had been disintegrated. A mistake on the Vulcan’s part, not Kidha’s.

 

Herren: I’m not going to lose any sleep over a dead solid who forgot his place.

 

T'Seva: Response

 

Ch'Nilmani: Where's the real Herren? If you hurt a hair on her or anyone else of my crew, I'm going to be very unstarfleet when it comes to dealing with you.

 

It was a difficult question to answer. Both of the command Trills had been unceremoniously dumped in a sensor-proofed maintenance junction beneath the captain’s office down on the station in case any more intelligence could be extracted from them. But Kidha didn’t want to say something that would cast suspicion on the outpost. The crew couldn’t know for sure how long Herren and Rajel had been replaced. So obviously, a lie was called for. But what to say? The changeling pondered that briefly.

 

T'Seva: Response

 

They decided on a tone for the answer. Mock sympathy followed by something guaranteed to really upset the first officer and throw him off his game. It was clear that the Starfleet officers were not eager to turn things into a firefight so the threat of behaving in a very unstarfleet like manner was an empty one to Kidha’s mind. Unless Ch’Nilmani intended to rush the armed person and get vaporized especially easily.

 

Herren: Awww, are we worried about our Trills? ::Beat:: If it’s any consolation, I don’t think any part of her hurt. Not for long. If you clean out the nacelle plasma stream filters you might find a bit of her. Some stray particles here and there.

 

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva: Response

 

Kidha decided to spill what plans she had for the bridge crew, phrased as a story.

 

Herren: Listen, listen. Calm down. I have a plan. The news from Frontier Day was so distressing that the bridge crew began to suspect each other of being assimilated by the Borg and turned on one another. There were no survivors. And I’ll reluctantly take my place as first officer.

 

The implication was clear. They would all be killed. Which was a real shame. Ideally, only the first officer would have to die for “Laria Herren” to replace him. But unexpected circumstances demanded sudden and aggressive action. So all of them would have to meet the same fate as the idiot Vulcan. The Human in front of them was starting to breathe faster.

 

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva: Response

 

Herren: It seems like the entire ship is going a bit mad. Which is the beauty of the whole Frontier Day attack. Everyone will be so distraught by the deaths of everyone on Earth that Commodore Rajel and I will be able to keep this crew quite ineffective in the aftermath. Let the assimilated fleet spread across the Federation and finish what was started so long ago.

 

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva: Response

 

As Kidha listened, there was a sharp impact to their stomach. The operations officer was trying to wiggle free and grab control of the phaser. That didn’t work out for her. The changeling quickly tightened their arm around the ops officer and squeezed. Infuriated by the meager escape attempt, they hissed out a threat while dreaming of all the nasty ways the Human woman could meet her end.

 

Herren: Do that again and you’ll wish you were disintegrated.

 

The operations officer whimpered slightly as Kidha tightened their grasp to send a painful signal that it was better for her to comply.

 

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva: Response

 

Not Lieutenant Commander Laria Herren

Not Mission Specialist/Not Second Officer

USS Constitution-B

 

===as simmed by===

 

Lieutenant Commander Laria Herren

Mission Specialist/Second Officer

USS Constitution-B

A239402AG0