End Game (Part 1)

Posted on Thu Aug 4th, 2022 @ 3:54pm by Ensign 'John Smith' & Lieutenant JG Ethal Reade & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz & Chief Petty Officer Manishie Karalo & Petty Officer, 1st Class Christian Tremblay
Edited on on Thu Aug 4th, 2022 @ 3:55pm

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: Day 301 12:45
2539 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Smith could not believe he’d been so stupid as to get over cocky and attack William. The man had been got such a good food source. He had been stable and mostly maintained him apart from a few feet of the captain and a few of officers around the ship. He needed something now to allow him to go into statis and escape the ship before he got caught. But the question maintain how had the bastard who had stopped him on the other ships gotten here? He had spoiled it all now, the executive officer of the other Atlantis was not going to allow him to convince everyone that it had all been a big mistake.

Everything was impossible now and it made him angry. He would not be as sloppy again, he would start where he started his feeding frenzy last time as it had been perfect. He walked into the mess hall and saw that the mess hall had enough people in to make it worth his while. He closed the hatch behind him and jammed it easily so people would not be able to escape and sat down to regain his serenity for a moment and to watch the panic when people could not escape.

Liang Van was sat with a couple of off duty MACO Operatives when Smith rushed in. The man seemed a bit agitated and he saw Smith do something to the door control. "What's going on John?" he called over.

From her position near the serving bay, Calanthe froze. She hadn't heard Smith's entry but Van's query caught the attention of several nearby and the linguist paused mid-conversation with the cook to slowly direct her gaze towards the exchange. She hadn't come to eat, had popped in only to ask the messhall staff for clarification of something she and Lexi had uncovered in their efforts to produce the evidence Stenn had asked of them. Hackles raised instantly, Cal averted her eyes but held her breath to ensure she heard Smith's response.

Kiyara's shift was almost over, they only had the 'annoying zooming noise in the back left corner of the mess hall' to tackle on their list and then they could return to Engineering to log all of their repairs and have the evening to themself. They couldn't wait to snuggle up in their bunk with noise-cancelling headphones and a book. Today had been an exhausting day with a long list of repairs and quite a few draining social interactions. However, the annoying thing about non-specific repair requests was that it was exceedingly difficult to find the cause and subsequent fix. So for the last twenty minutes, they'd been elbow deep into the wall panel trying to figure out just what relay was causing the annoying buzzing sound and had only managed to make it louder.

“Nothing. Just here to chill out from that alarm.” John said simply before looking away. He was not even going to give them anything more than that, they were his food source no his equal.

Christian had come to the mess hall from sickbay after reporting to his post. When the alert had cleared, he'd decided to grab a quick bite while he pondered over what they had deduced in the meeting. When John had entered in a bit of a huff, Christian had taken notice. He then saw that John and barred the hatch before sitting down. Standing, Christian spoke in a clear voice, "Sir, why did you secure the door." Everyone turned to look at the morale officer at that.

Ethal had been in the mess hall fixing herself up with some caffeine. She had not been able to rest easy for the last few days but with duties still ongoing she needed something to keep the pep in her step. When she saw the moral officer bar the door, she was confused not really thinking anything of it.

The overhead speaker came to life.=^= This is Captain Stenn. All off duty Armory and MACO personnel report immediately to your duty stations. On the Captain's authority, all other personnel are to remain in their current location, seal all compartments.

Lock down the Bridge until the Captain's arrival.

Report any sighting of Ensign John Smith, do not approach, but report his location. =^=

The two MACO operative rose immediately on hearing the call to duty. Then stopped as they moved to the door, hearing the last sentence referring to Smith.

"What did you do, John?" One asked as he and his partner separated and began to close on Smith, drawing their batons.

Liang Van activated his communicator to report but Smith leapt up and seized one of the Operatives by the throat.

=^= Mess Hall! He's in the Mess Ha-. !=^= was all he could get out before he felt an enormous pressure inside his head, it felt like his head was going to explode and he slumped forward over the table.

"Go," Calanthe hissed at the gawping cook, gesturing with waving hand for the woman to move back inside the galley. It was, Cal suspected, not enough to be out of Smith's sight but keeping the kitchen staff out of the way would at least reduce the pandemonium. She glanced then across the room at Kiyara and slowly started to edge along the outskirts of the tables towards the engineer.

"His name isn't John," she called out, ignoring the clamour of her pulse at her throat to push forward with an attempt to buy the operatives a moment's distraction to gain the upperhand. "Or, at least, it isn't his only name. Right, Jan?"

Reade quickly responded and slipped out of her seat and crouched under the table. She was not combat trained so she did not see a point trying to go for John as she would only make matters worse at this current point.

It was like a light switch had been flicked and John went from looking at them confused to looking at them like a predator. The whole feel of the room went from a sense of confusion to something a lot more deadly . “You are always too smart, Calanthe. You and that other communication whore. I suppose she is the one who brought you into it all?” He demanded looking the woman up and down. “Did not realise that she had lost memory in this universe.”

Kiyara didn't carry a weapon on them, and there was nothing in her kit that could conceivably be used against whatever Ensign Smith was. Their mind was racing trying to solve the problem in front of them, but none of it came up in her favour. Which made them decide that keeping quiet and against the far wall was probably the safest thing to do.

Now thoroughly ensnared in the spider's web, Calanthe didn't allow trepidation to keep her from moving slowly towards the ex-Morale officer. She wasn't an intimidating physical presence but, that having been the case her entire life, Cal was more than adept at compensating. "You just got careless. Why don't you tell us what you want? Killing people didn't work out so great for you last time."

Ethal was keeping an eye on the growing situation trying to come up with a way she could help turn the tide. She was not one to do nothing and she was itching to help. She rummaged through her lab coat pockets for any electrical components to makeshift something useful but was also aware of others around her and if they needed her more

“Oh it worked out so well. Allowed me to travel through universes.” John said simple. It was as simple as that, he fed and moved on. “I have no feelings for any of you so killing you and powering myself up will not move me.”

"You were followed though." Calanthe's steadfast gaze betrayed only the slightest hint of her bluff. Any time now, guys. "And the more times you do this, the better we're going to get at that." One semester. That had been all her degree had focused on when it came to effective negotiation strategies, and even then that had been more in a diplomatic context. Placing herself in Smith's firing line ran the risk of provoking him but Liang Van had got the word out. All they had to do was buy time. "Wouldn't changing strategy make sense?"

“Why? I have killed you all every other time?” he laughed sitting back against the table looking at them all. It was in that moment that Smith no longer looked like the man that they all admired and liked but someone who was truly foreign to them all. “Yes being followed was unfortunate but I am sure that I will be able to succeed here as well.”

"You didn't kill Ben," Cal replied softly, dangerously pushing her luck. "Or the others in the pod. What happens if, next time, it's two pods of us that follow. Three. Four. Somewhere in this, you stop gaining the upper hand. Wouldn't it be better to negotiate now, before there's less reason for us wanting to?"

“I do not negotiate with my food source.” He said simply. “You do not negotiate with cows or pigs so why would I with you?”

"People die to pigs and cows every day," Kiyara spoke defiantly under their breath. There was nothing they could do in their current position, but perhaps it would help to stall for time. Perhaps the brighter minds outside the mess hall could use that time to put a stop to Smith's rampage.

"Yes, but I have been a predator for a very very long time," Smith said smirking as he looked at each of them as the Marines stopped dead in their attempts to move closer and fell to the floor.

This time, it became impossible to mask her wince. For reasons Calanthe didn't fully understand, her experience with Smith's attacks and the ongoing symptoms the crew had slowly succumbed to seemed, to the best of her ability to diagnose, fairly mild. If forced to speculate, it may have been her typical proximity to Lexi and the fact that neither of them had been keen on his company in the first place, but the worst she'd ever felt was a dull ache at her temples. There was nothing mild about the pain that started centrally and radiated outwards to consume her entire skull, forcing her to grab the back of a chair in a stubborn attempt to hold onto her consciousness. Blazing eyes glared at Smith and, through gritted teeth, the linguist hissed, "Vete a la mierda..."

“You said that last time as well.” Smith commented as he looked around at room at the remaining people stood there. “Anyone else want to attempt anything or do I finally just get to eat?” He questioned as the atmosphere in the room started to almost get darker.

"Does it provide more sustenance to have a willing subject?" Kiyara could barely bring themselves to say it, but there had to be a way to keep the others safe. There had to be a way to stall for time. The security team had to be right around the corner. They stepped forward. "because if it helps. I'm willing."

"Don't you dare," Cal muttered, the strain in her voice not allowing for a lot of qualification as to who she was directing that at; Smith or Kiyara.

“Oh I will dare.” Smith laughed at Calanthe on the floor taking it as a threat. “You?” Smith snorted in their face. “You would barely keep me alive for long willing or unwilling. Why do you think you feel so well compared to the rest?” It was true, some crew like Gerhard could maintain several feedings if he was smart and did not take to much to quickly whilst others like Leyton could barely sate his hunger.

Kiyara their teeth clenched. They immediately started to doubt themself. Why weren't they good enough? Then they realised the stupidity of that question, why would they want to be good enough to be consumed by this creature? They wanted to be defiant but immediately felt dread crawling into the back of their mind. They needed to stall for more time, "What makes someone more or less suitable?"

“No idea. Something stupid about your bodies either works or doesn’t for me. I do not know what it is. Not something I have ever established.” He admitted looking them over before shaking head. “You either have it or you do not. And you do not. You asked me this last time as well. Maybe next jump I will find out.” Smith could see the cogs whirling in their brain as they went through options.

Hands still clutching the back of the chair, having been forced into a crouch to keep from spinning sideways entirely, Calanthe's grimace screwed her face into a perfect blend of frustration and concentration. By now, they had to have bought enough time, and Smith had been stupid enough to fall for the distractions. Dark eyes lifted to glare at the man, a balled fist translating easily enough what she wished her next move was. The reality was a rather less impressive encroachment of darkness to the corners of her vision, coupled by a sudden intensely searing pain before she succumbed gently into a puddle on the floor.

Christian had used the distractions to inch closer to Smith. He had watched his shipmates succumbing to the effects being put out by Smith. The revelations had been startling, and while Christian could feel his head pounding, he pushed himself to keep going. He would not just sit by idle while this creature hurt his shipmates, but he could feel his strength leaving him. He grabbed a fork and he kept it hidden in his palm, but his weakness caused his boot to kick the nearest chair, the noise brought Smith's eyes to his. Christian froze in his spot as he felt the full intensity from Smith.

It was only then Smith realised between the people inside the room and the people he could sense just outside he had more than enough energy and the time was right to move on. It was not a perfect hope but it had been enough to recharge. Not every time had to end with complete murder, he kept telling himself though he could kick himself it had been nowhere near as fun despite the room of people lying around. They were not dead yet despite the energy connections from them to him filling every pore of his body with energy. It was more than enough, he did not get greedy, it had been how the pod had followed, he had overfilled and supercharged himself. He did not want this pesky bunch to follow him this time.

He took a big gasp from the room and that was it from the universe with the sensation of just stepping through a doorway he was gone leaving behind another mess hall filled with people energy depleted and a small shock wave from his jump.

It was over.