Day of the Dead (Zombies, part II)

Posted on 28 Nov 2014 @ 1:12am by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia Ph.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Tharia sh'Kari & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov
Edited on on 28 Nov 2014 @ 1:22am

1,325 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: London, England - City Morgue (aka Holodeck 2)
Timeline: July 24, 1900 (MD -10, 2110 hrs)

[ON]

Backed into a corner, Dr. Carrie Ross struggled to keep the patient away from her. But it was no use; it was able to easily overpower her, and not even Inspector Quick's attempts to stop it with creative application of a truncheon could stop the living dead from advancing with one goal in mind: to eat her brain.

It was all over for Dr. Carrie Ross. Or rather, it would have been, had it not been for the for the fortuitous interjection of a single .455 caliber bullet, blasting a large hole clean through the zombie's head. At the entrance to the autopsy room stood a tall blue woman with silver hair and two eye stalks. In her right hand was a Webley revolver which had been freshly fired.

Tharia looked strangely to her hand. She would swear she carried a phaser, as usual, not an Earth ballistic hand weapon. When she looked closer she noticed her weapon wasn't the only thing that had changed. Her uniform had changed as well, into an Victorian suit. "Lieutenant Voutilainen I presume?" she asked to the woman she just saved. "Could you please explain why we are dressed so odd for this training exercise?"

"Training exercise?" asked Tuula. She chuckled slightly at Tharia's confusion. "This isn't a training exercise, this is..." Tuula could see Tharia's eyebrow raise and her face take on a stern look. "...fun?"

Tharia raised an eyebrow as she looked around her surrounding. "Fun? Why did you invite me for such a thing?" She asked in a tone like they invited her to do God knows what.

"Because it's..." Tuula pondered the question for a moment. "...fun?"

It was only when the women began to speak that Inspector Quick discovered he could quit with the cowering in the corner (stood behind Carrie Ross' chair). Quick had covered his eyes, and much of his face, really, with the black bucket of a helmet he had been wearing. As they spoke, he returned the helmet to his head, and smoothed out the long, navy blue tunic of his police uniform. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by a hydraulic wheezing sound coming from one of the walls of the morgue. The facade of the wall flickered away. It replaced by the holodeck arch and the doors of the holodeck opening to the corridor beyond.

Keval had been painting, trying to keep his mind off the lingering pain, and the not so fond memories of his encounter with his father when Kohl had sent him a message to his PAaD inviting him to a zombie hunt. The Andorian was unfamiliar with the concept and thought at first it might be an invitation to something similar to their first encounter when their swimming had suddenly changed from innocent to, almost seductive. So he had readily accepted.

Then he had accessed the ship's data base. Apparently this wasn't going to be some kinky free for all, not that he would have objected to that but something much more interesting. Dressed all in navy blue, complete with a waistcoat, but not top hat, he made his way to the holodeck for what he hoped would be a fun time.

"Keval, hullo!" declared Andreus Kohl from inside the holographic representation of a Victorian morgue. He flatted a hand on his own chest, and he said, "I'm Inspector Alistair Quick. Allow me to introduce Doctor Carrie Ross and our brave rescuer..." Kohl trailed off and waggled a hand in Tharia's direction, because he didn't know her Victorian character's name.

"Tharia sh'Kari" She introduced herself to the other man. Not having a clue about the need for a other name.

"We're using period-appropriate aliases for this exercise," explained Tuula. She wasn't sure who invited Tharia, but she knew that it wasn't exactly a common name in Victorian-era London. "For example, my alter-ego is Dr. Carrie Ross, coroner."

Keval paused for a moment, thinking of an appropriate name. The only thing that came to mind was two of his favorite authors from his childhood. "And I am Jules Dickens, I'm a reporter from the San Francisco Tribune, I'm visiting your fair city.. Glad to meet everyone."

"A reporter?" asked Tuula. "What brings you down to our morgue; do you know something newsworthy that we don't?"

"No, nothing that you don't know. Other than these attacks, like the one that you were rescued from, are not just happening here. They're happening in America and in the Indies."

Taken aback by this plot twist, Kohl turned his attentions squarely back to Doctor Ross. "Has this been your first body," Kohl asked, "to rise up from the slab?"

"Of course, what kind of a coroner do you think I am?!" exclaimed Tuula. "I always make sure they're dead before I start cutting them open. And if people were coming back from the dead, I'm sure everyone would have heard about it by now."

Having had the time to come up with a proper name, and figuring out what was going on, Tharia decided to at least attempt to join in. With what had happened during the last mission there was no harm in extra training with ghost beings. Even if they wanted to pretend they were in Earth's past. The only thing she knew about that era was the name Dick Deadeye. Her roommate on the Perefine wanted to be called that, and somehow she had remembered it. Although not where it was from. "My name is Dick Deadeye,"

"And are you a detective Mr. Deadeye?" Jules asked.

She looked at him for a second before replying. "Of course I am!"

He smiled in return, "Well I am a reporter for an American paper. Do you have any comment, any idea about what is going on?"

Was he kidding? He was asking her what was going on. She looked around before she gave a comment. But then it reminded her. Of course part of her normal routine. "No, no comment," And also no clue what's going on, she thought.

Keval cast a disappointed though not surprised look and nodded. "That is about what everyone is saying now."

"Doctor Ross," said Kohl. Rather than looking at Tuula, Kohl craned his neck to look over at the double-dead body of the dead man. He stared at him --stared at him hard-- watching to see if it sat up again. Kohla asked, "Do you recall where the body came from? Where we might look for his assailant?"

"He was found in an alley outside the Hook and Net," replied Tuula, staring down at what was left of the body. It was a truly gruesome sight -- the chest cavity opened up, his internal organs strewn across her morgue, and his skull caved in by the powerful .455 caliber bullet. "It's a bar down by the port frequented by longshoremen; a real rough establishment. I'd wager he got into a scuffle outside and was left for dead. As to why he came back to life, your guess is as good as mine."

"How about we take a stroll down to the Hook and Net?" said Kohl, without much hesitation (or thought, really). He waved a hand towards the door. "Maybe we can find the answer? Or a clue?"

"I'll hold down the fort here and see what I can find," replied Tuula. She looked down at the double-killed man and then over at the other three bodies in the morgue awaiting an autopsy. Then towards Tharia's gun. "With the appropriate protection, of course."

[OFF]

Inspector Alistair Quick (aka Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl)
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Jules Dickens (aka Chief Petty Officer Keval zn'Erinov)
PNPC Jared Nicholas
USS Galileo

Dr. Carrie Ross (aka Lieutenant J.G. Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.)
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Dick Deadeye (aka Chief Petty Officer Tharia sh'Kari)
PNPC Jaana Voutilainen
Master-at-Arms
USS Galileo

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