Don't worry, be happy!

Posted on Mon Jul 26th, 2010 @ 7:44am by Commander Basil Hart & Commodore Edward Fannin

1,360 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Silent Steps Of Murder
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Present

ON

Basil Hart rubbed his eyes, and injected himself with a small dose of Formazine to stave off fatigue for another few hours. He'd been up all night developing a drug that would produce the needed "Happy Gas" required to calm everybody on the station down and starve the Redjac entity. He finally had it, and could introduce it into the Station's environmental systems at any time. He never thought it was possible to mix and match so many drugs, but this case was unique. he needed something odorless, colorless, tasteless, and effective on several humanoid and alien metabolisms. But, he had it. He tapped his comm badge.

"Commodore Fannin, please come to sickbay. I have something to show you." he smiled.

Fannin stepped into the sickbay, he saw the Doctor standing at the counter... "Basil, how are you? Is everything ok down here?"

Basil smiled at Edward. "By George, I think I've got it! The Happy Gas is ready to deploy. I just might patent this stuff, and sell it on the open market!" He chuckled. "Aren't you going to ask me how I did it?" He grinned.

"Of course I am, but exactly why did you create it?"

Basil smiled again. "The way I have it figured, the entity will not want to inhabit a person with no fear. Hence, the happy gas. Since a Vulcan's Katra is not susceptible to the gas, this will both provide incentive for and facilitation of the entity taking possession of the Katra inside the jar."

He continued his explanation. "In order to make the gas work on everyone, I had to combine several different drugs into an aerosol form where the active ingredient could be absorbed through the lung tissue of the station's inhabitants. The prime ingredient is a non-addictive felicium derivative. Since this in and of itself would not affect everyone, I added several other drugs which have similar effects on other races, including the active ingredient from Omicron spores. It should last for a period of around four hours, and then begin to wear off with no ill effects and only a slight memory of a heightened sense of well-being. As soon as you and the others with the jar are ready, we can begin exposing the station to the gas. I have set the computer to automatically regulate distribution and saturation of the gas, as well as duration. That should give us plenty of time to make sure the enemy has in fact taken possession of the Katra inside the jar, and to beam the whole thing out into space. What do you think?"

"Will this work? Or you been sampling to much gas? Gimme the numbers, whats the chances that this plan will work. There's a lot of people on station, are we sure there won't be any severe reactions?"

"I've programmed in just about every biological variable I can think of, and all I can get the simulation to give me in the way of negative reactions is a mild rash. I have exposed several tissue samples to the gas, and the reactions were exactly as predicted by the simulations." Basil sighed. "As to the odds of success, There are no guarantees. however, I can safely say that barring some catastrophic system failure, this plan has the best chance of working of anything else we could think of. Look at the alternative, sir. A station run by an immortal psychopath who feeds on terror." Basil shrugged his shoulders. He was exhausted.

"Do it, your point is valid. When shall you induce the gas?"

"I'm waiting to hear from the others that the Katric Jar is ready. Might I recommend that the station be put under lockdown if it has not been already, so that the entity cannot flee on an outbound vessel? If you need an excuse, tell everyone that there is an outbreak of Vegan Choriomenegitis of a particularly virulent strain, and we have to wait until the quarantine is over before we resume normal operations. As soon as the Jar is ready, we can start exposing the station to the gas. I already have the automatic transporter protocols in place to beam the trapped entity into space, since we may be under the influence ourselves. I think we must all be exposed, lest the entity find an unaffected host to hide out with until the station is back to normal." Basil nodded. "Other than that' I'm ready on this end."

"Who else knows of your plan besides me?

"Well, we discussed it in the staff meeting not too long ago, along with several other options. So even though nobody knows I'm ready to implement it, we tossed around the idea with Commander Tolren, Colonel von Hackleberg, Commander Johnson, Commander Darkmoon, Commander Vrel, Commander Jackson, Commander Adams, Commander Casey & Lieutenant Russo. But even though that sounds like a lot, nobody but you and I know it's ready to go." Basil paused. "Do you want to implement it, sir, or would you like to advise the senior staff?"

"Lets do it.. What do you need me to do? We can always call for assistance if needed.. I Hope. I want this thing out of here...."

Basil smiled. "OK, sir. Please make the announcement that the Station is under lockdown until further notice, and the only the Vulcan Dignitary's Katric Jar will be allowed to beam to a waiting cargo ship. After that, Transporter room 5 will be shut down until the lockdown is lifted. That way, sir, the entity will know exactly where to go to locate the Katra. I've taken the liberty of pre-placing the jar on the pad. I'll release the gas now, and you can make the announcement. It'll take about a minute for the gas to take effect. All you have to do is press this button," he indicated a blinking patch on his panel. After you do, it will wait five minutes to engage the transporter. That will give the entity enough time to transfer into the jar. Are you ready?"

Fannin nodded. he tapped his com badge. "Bridge, initiate protocol 700 immediately. This is the captain, Repeat, initiate protocol 700."

"This is bridge watch command, Captain Fannin will Please authenticate."

Fannin didn't hesitate. "From lines Two and lines Twelve. India, x-ray, Five, gold."

"Initiating protocol 700 sir."

Sirens blared and doors were automatically shut. The outer ring was sealed off and all weapons were armed.

"Sir, the station is locked down and secure Captain"

Edward looked at the doctor, "Ready?"

Basil nodded. "Computer: initiate emergency medical protocol Lima Oscar Lima zero zero one."

"Operation initiated... Compound being introduced to ventilation system..." The computer said. After a few moments, it stated flatly, "Compound is now at maximum effective concentration throughout the entire base. Current concentration: fifty-two parts per million."

Basil was nervous. What if this didn't work? Within a few moments, he felt a lot better about the whole thing. He grinned widely. "Don't worry, Skipper. It'll work like a charm." He chuckled. "Can you imagine what that entity's doing right now? Panicking as it tries to find someone to scare! It won't be able to find ANYONE unaffected except that Katra! Ha, ha! Maybe you'd better push the button, Cap!"

Edward leaned over and hit the button. "This Should do it."

Loud laughter floated from various parts of the station, and Basil grinned like a schoolboy at Fannin.

In a lonely transporter room, a strange looking jar sat by itself on a transporter pad. A bodiless entity of pure rage, hatred, and grotesque perversion entered the soul of the old Vulcan. Something was wrong. No sight, no smell, no touch! What is this? Some kind of trick? It felt the gentle touch of the Vulcan. "Each of us hides a secret pain. Share yours with me." The stasis beam caught it, and the entity know something completely alien to it: it's own sense of terror as it sparkled out of existence. There was the impression of a sigh of relief as the soul of the Vulcan embraced oblivion.

Commodore Edward Fannin
Commanding,
Starbase Typhon

Commander Basil Hart
Chief Medical Officer,
Starbase Thyphon

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