The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“The Odyssey”

by ThatSquickGuy ()

Chapter 4

Part 2: Questions

Elizabeth paced back and forth. “Stuck in this stupid hold for hours!” She said to no one, except maybe the guards outside. She didn’t really know how long as all her equipment had been confiscated.

The Captain hadn’t even given her a chance to defend herself when she came with all her questions. No, not questions. Accusations.

For once, Elizabeth had been glad that Lieutenant Ibanez was there. The Captain had been acting extremely strange. Yes, losing a crewmember was the worst thing that could happen to a Captain, but Elizabeth had been quite scared about what she might have done if they had been left alone. The Captain was acting almost predatory during their encounter. As she replayed it over in her mind, Elizabeth remembered that the Captain did gesture to Lieutenant Ibanez to leave, but she had stayed. It was right after that moment that all the yelling started.

“You depressurized the shuttle bay!” The Captain shouted.

“Ma’am, I…”

“You killed Ensign Stamper and nearly killed Ensign Westenra!”

“No! I…”

“We have your code being used to lock out the system.” The Captain paused for a second as she paced in front of her prisoner. “Whoever did this knew exactly which systems to target and change. And I think you fit the bill quite nicely.”

“What?!”

“I’ve seen the footage of your shuttlecraft certifications.”

“I don’t see…”

“You quite obviously know all the correct procedures and systems that go into shuttles taking off and landing on starships. Far more than most civilian ambassadors. Rather odd don’t you think?”

“No. I often…”

“Additionally, I’ve noticed that some years are missing from your official record. I make a point learning about all the members of my crew. But I’ve had a very hard time with you. The Federation says you were working for them, but doesn’t have a real record of what you were doing. Strange, no?”

“I was on assignment for...”

“The Federation High Council. Yes. That’s what the record says. But to where? And for whom? These are not answered. Even an observer as young as you should have some kind of detailed record. It’s almost as if you barely exist.” The Captain turned away for a split second and gestured again for the Lieutenant to leave, but she stayed in place.

“What are you implying?” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed.

The Captain continued after a moment. “For a mission this deep into space a more seasoned civilian observer is normal. But not you. You have a short, barely there record. You were thrown on at the last minute. You were granted very special privileges on board, far exceeding the normal for someone of your position. All this from a very brief command from the Admiralty.”

“I represent the Federation Council, Captain. The same government that employs you.” Elizabeth’s tone rising.

“Do you? You have demanded nothing short of all our data since the moment set foot on board. Information that should be available to someone from the Federation High Council.” Captain Wayman got almost right in Elizabeth’s face then continued very deliberately, “But not to someone else.”

“What are you saying?” Elizabeth had to look slightly up towards the taller woman’s face. As she did she thought she smelled something sweet on the Captain’s breath. Sort of like candy. It was something she thought that she’d smelled before, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“In no uncertain terms. You are a spy.”

“What?!!” Elizabeth had the urge to grab the Captain and shake some sense into her, but looked over at Lieutenant Ibanez and thought better of it.

“An agent working for a foreign power.” The Captain mocked her a little as she turned and walked back away. “Here to gather our survey information for them and steal the majority of our current data as well.”

“What the hell makes you think that?!”

“Your incomplete records could be easily falsified to give a background, but without attracting too much attention. You have no awards, no real impressive merits to show why you should be on this expedition. A fairly routine survey mission would get you out of the spotlight and give you ample time to collect your data. Your Federation-provided codes would give you access to the ship and its information. The circumstances of your unusual arrival and lack of multiple assignment records from the Admiralty is extremely telling.”

“If I were a spy why would I tip my hand now?” Elizabeth’s blood was boiling.

“We have discovered an amazing planet. One that has a unique and very useful natural resource. A system that has many interesting alien vessels to mine for information. And is only 40 days straight hyperspace jumping from the heart of the Federation. This kind of incident with the death of a crewmember would make us head back to the Federation. Where you could leave and go back to whatever government you work for, so that they could seize it for themselves before the Federation had a chance to take advantage of it.”

“Why would I use my own code and incriminate myself? None of this makes any sense!” Elizabeth tried to get the attention of Lieutenant Ibanez to get her to stop this railroading. “Lieutenant, I…” But she just stood there watching with a look of cold intensity on her face as the Captain cut her off and continued.

“Many reasons. From the way I’ve seen you interact with the crew you’ve shown yourself to be very arrogant and you seem think you’re above everyone. Maybe you thought you just wouldn’t be caught.” The Captain said with a smirk. “Or, perhaps, you knew that your code would be one of the last we’d try, giving time for the ‘accident’ to happen.”

“Maybe you should look at whoever figured it out. Obviously, you have other people on board capable of getting into the systems.” Despite her almost calm tone, Elizabeth was trying her best not to scream in rage.

“Blaming others now?” The Captain was almost toying with her. She smiled as she continued. “Yes, my crew is very capable, but you are the only one who also met with both the people targeted in the incident. Quite a coincidence that right after you look at the alien ship part it gets blown out of the shuttle bay. And both the people working on it are killed or nearly so.”

“But…”

“We have your computers. We’re going through them to find whatever information you’ve copied. If we find any information other than what we knew we gave you…” She paused for just a moment to stare directly into Elizabeth’s eyes. “Well, I think you know how that will look. We will find where you’ve compromised our systems.”

“I…”

“When Ensign Westenra gets out of sick bay we will be interviewing her to find out about your conversations. Until all the information is reviewed you will be held here.” She turned around, “Lieutenant Ibanez, leave two guards outside at all times.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The Lieutenant replied.

With that the Captain and Lieutenant Ibanez had turned and left Elizabeth alone. Neither of them listening to her as she asked for a chance to explain. Elizabeth was frightened a little when she felt the ship jump back into hyperspace just a few minutes later.

That had been hours ago. Or at least it felt like it.

Elizabeth sat down on the cold, bare floor and hugged her arms around herself. She started to question her refusal of Federation Navy dress code, as her lack of pants started to bite her in the ass. She tucked her rather thin yellow dress farther under her and considered her options. They were few and far between.

There was almost nothing she could do. Nothing in the room could seemingly help her escape. Heaven knows she had looked. It hadn’t taken very long either. The room was tall, not wide or that deep, with completely bland, smooth, grey walls. The only thing that broke the smooth finish on the walls were docking clamps for a, right now unused, second level of cargo containers, but they were way over her head. No way she could get up there, even if she wanted to. Even the floor was boring. With nothing for her to even sit on, as all four of the floor docking clamps were being used.

Other than the not conveniently human-sized air vents, the door was the only way out of the room that didn’t involve going into space. She thought, as she looked at the enormous cargo hatch behind her. Not that going out the door would be any easier with two guards out there. Elizabeth fumed. They had taken her to the one storage hold that didn’t have any tools or anything useful in it, just massive, half-empty cargo containers filled with the ship’s food supply. This was worse than that time on Rura Penthe. But at least this time she wasn’t going to starve.

“Thank heavens for small favors.” She mumbled and rolled her eyes.

This was bigger than just those alien ships. Bigger than anything the Council could have predicted. And that planet was at the center of it.

She had never seen the Captain like that. She hadn’t been the nicest person to her, but the Captain had always at least listened to what she said. Something had happened to her. The way she’d had been eying her as she paced circles around her. Like an animal playing with its food. She had felt something strange earlier when they talked, but now it was worse. Much worse. How had somebody gotten her code? Why had they framed her? Could the Captain be behind it?

She had to figure out what was going on, but to do that she needed more information. Then maybe she could convince Lieutenant Ibanez that something was wrong with the Captain.

“More information. About what? An empty cargo hold?” Elizabeth snarked to herself. “I think I’ve learned all I can about this room.” She rubbed her bleary eyes and, with a sigh, pushed her long brown hair off her face. “I can’t do anything stuck in here. I can’t find anything else out. Not when there’s two guards blocking my only way out!” Her voice rising at the end of the sentence. It didn’t matter, they could barely hear her though the thick, airtight door.

She leaned back against the hard wall and tried to make sense of what was happening. If she could get to Lieutenant Ibanez alone maybe she could tell… Just then a loud alarm interrupted her thoughts and what sounded like further locks in the door engaging. Elizabeth ran over to the door. She heard a muffled announcement on the intercom, but couldn’t make it out. A few seconds later she heard two different voices outside her ‘cell’ then what sounded like people running away. She called loudly through the door.

“What’s going on?!”

She banged on the door. “Hello?! What’s happening? Please, I just want to know!” She waited for a response for a second. “Please, answer me!”

There was no answer. She probably shouldn’t have expected one. Elizabeth turned back around and walked further into the hold. She felt so helpless. She stood there for a few minutes thinking that maybe now that the guards were gone…

Just then the door opened behind her.

* * *

Evie hadn’t had much time to process everything that had happened in the last few hours. After she woke up, she had wanted to follow Chloe and talk to her. Wanted to tell her everything she thought.

And felt.

But by the time she got her feet back under her, the ship moved out from under her. Then all the calls came in about injuries all over the ship. She’d only had minutes to straighten and clean both herself and the room up before the first patient came in.

In the midst of all that, the Captain had told her that the away team was coming back in. Evie couldn’t believe the Captain told her that she let them back in without her having a chance to look at them. But after being told that everything in the shuttle bay had been destroyed, Evie had to agree to their return. She wanted the Captain to keep them in quarantine until she could look at them and the Captain agreed that was the best course of action. The Captain had assured her that they’d stay down on the cargo level while waiting for her. So at least she’d be able to examine them soon, and they wouldn’t be mixing with the rest of the crew. That was good, at this point she’d take what she could get. She was surprised that a few minutes later the ship jumped to hyperspace. It seemed a little abrupt to her to leave so soon, but she was too busy to worry about that now.

Now, nearly three hours later, after the last crewmember with his small, barely worth bandaging, wound had left, (seriously why did every little scrape have to be gently bandaged) Evie was finally ready to try to find Chloe.

It was at that moment when the lockdown alarm had sounded and Lou called her. She was livid that the Captain had not kept her promise of making sure the away team stayed in isolation. Why? She had promised! She understood the risks! Now some kind of contagion or alien creature might be loose on the ship. From the sound of it, whatever it was had already killed Frank and might kill Lucy as well.

She quickly got her things together and thought about what she might be walking into. Evie had stuffed her still slimy environmental suit into one of the hermetically sealed cabinets before any of the injured had arrived. So, she had to stop and get another suit before she headed up to the commissary and that meant going down first. The main station where the environmental suits were kept was on the cargo level right across from the shuttle bay. When she got there, she was kind of surprised that it looked like the away team hadn’t returned their suits yet. There were only three left aside from the emergency ones, but she didn’t have time to think about that right now. She quickly threw on one of the remaining suits and ran back to the elevator heading for the main level.

The sight that greeted her in the commissary wasn’t pretty. A huge puddle of blood dominated the floor. Fed by both Lucy’s very pale form and Frank’s now almost Lovecraftian body. Carmen had gathered almost everyone over to one side of the room except for a shirtless Nancy who was still at Lucy’s side. Evie tried not to look at Frank right now as she hurried to Lucy. Evie pulled Nancy’s bloodied shirt away and quickly wrapped one of her hemostatic bandages around Lucy’s neck. “This should stop her bleeding.” She said to Nancy. “Hold it down while it activates.”

“What do you need us to do?” Carmen asked.

Evie was engrossed in her scanner. “The scanner shows no airborne agents in the room. In fact, it only just barely shows that whatever this is coming out of Frank isn’t supposed to be a part of him.” She said as she slowly walked over to Frank.

“That’s what we were picking up as well. It’s extremely strange isn’t it Doctor?” Carmen commented.

“Be careful.” Nancy warned. “That thing was able to do this to Lucy in just a few seconds.” She was pointing at the large tentacle on the floor.

“We need to get Lucy down to sick bay once she’s stabilized. And I’ll need to take a look at whatever this creature is.” She used a fork to lightly lift up one of the creature’s tentacles. Evie quickly called for some of the security team to get a carrying board from sick bay and to come immediately in full environmental gear. While she was waiting, she got a sample of the blood off the floor.

“We’ve already scanned everyone. Twice, in fact and nothing out of the ordinary turned up. But apparently that doesn’t mean much.” Carmen said as she walked over. “I’ve asked her and Marybeth says that Frank was alone on the surface collecting the samples while the rest of the team was below. She says that was the only time they were apart.”

“He seemed fine when we got back to the shuttle.” Marybeth quietly spoke up. She looked like she’d been crying. “This thing must have gotten to him while he was outside the shuttle otherwise we’d have seen some trace. What is it?”

Evie didn’t answer her and instead drew Carmen aside. “Carmen, until I have a chance to look at everyone have everybody in here go back into their rooms. Just one to a room. If there are more of these things in people I don’t want to give them a chance to attack anyone. And keep as many guards stationed around the quarters as you can.”

“Right away.” Carmen turned to go, but Evie caught her arm.

Evie quietly continued. “Especially around Marybeth. We can’t take any chances. More of these things might be on board and I’m worried about her the most. Also, round up the rest of the away team and keep them quarantined.”

While Carmen was telling everybody what was going to happen, the two security officers Jackie and Steve showed up with the back board for Lucy. They were fully suited up as well. Evie warned the two new arrivals and everybody else about stepping in the blood until it could be checked and cleaned up. Nancy was reluctant to let her friend go.

“Evelyn, please check me out so that I can go with her.” Nancy pleaded.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that right now. I don’t know what to look for yet. Carmen did the right thing and scanned everyone. That’s what we can do for right now. I need to tend to Lucy first and look at Frank then I’ll know how to find these creatures.” Evie tried to comfort her. “I’ll look at you first once I’ve got this all figured out. But right now, you need to go with Lieutenant Ibanez back to your quarters. Keep the door locked. You’ll be safe there.”

Nancy waited until Lucy was safely being carted away to sick bay before she went back to Carmen. Evie pulled out a bag to put Frank’s body in and hurriedly set about getting it into the bag for transport back to the science lab. As she tried to pack all the grey tentacles into the bag she wondered aloud, “How was this thing able to so perfectly hide itself? And why did it die?” Evie shook her head worriedly as she zipped up the bag.