Stop that Madman!

Posted on Fri Sep 19th, 2025 @ 9:04am by Jason Bray & Lieutenant Alan Harrison & Ensign Astrid Barlowe Ms. & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason

3,120 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Terrorpin
Location: Various

The Bray Foundation building had been anything but dormant since the emergence of the creature hours prior. The evacuation announcements had most of Jason’s staff flooding out, either by foot or by transport. He was all for keeping his staff safe; they could not do their jobs if they were under a pile of rubble. There were even offers to help those who would need assistance, which included a pair of scientists with more cetacean needs. Transport for them, while not impossible, had to be done right or else other forms of harm would come to them.

And he would be beside himself if he lost either of his aquatic employees due to his negligence.

It was an offhanded comment by the well-established dwarf sperm whale scientist, Dr. Ballast, that kept Jason from evacuating himself. With all the technology at their fingertips, there surely had to be a way to erect a field that was harmless enough for a giant, reptilian creature to bounce right off of. As he waved his goodbyes to Dr. Ballast and Dr. Jib-Jib, Jason turned to one of his nearby interns. “Would you like to save the colony?”

The intern blinked at him, brow raising as if she was waiting for him to laugh it off with a ‘just kidding, let's go!’ She should have known better, with that hopeful glint in his eyes and that wide smile. “Mr. Bray, I think I'd rather just not be here.”

“No matter! Please, make sure you get to a shelter safely. Do make sure our good doctors make it to their tanks.” Jason gave her a pat on the shoulder, before retreating down the nearest hallway. He knew exactly what to rewire to simulate a similar field to the odd fantasy situation they found themselves in. And no one was going to be able to stop him.

Astrid Barlowe was rethinking her life decisions. As she looked out the window of the shuttle, she could have sworn that there was some kind of giant...creature. A turtle? What kind of planet had giant bloodthirsty turtles on it?

She let out a deep breath and leaned back in her seat. She had been trained and drilled on so many weird and interesting medical scenarios, prepped for any number of catastrophes that could befall a distant fledgling colony, but she had to admit, Kaiju's were something else.

Gathering her hair in her omnipresent monster clip (fitting, considering the situation), she grabbed what she called her "Go-bag" and began rifling through it, double and triple checking her supplies. Even if the creature hadn't hurt anyone yet, she was sure the peace wouldn't last. Peace so rarely lasted for long.

With a jolt, the shuttle touched down and the pilot, another Ensign from her graduation class, turned to her with a grim look on his face.

"We're here," he said, his leg bouncing and his eyes drifting back up to the sky. He was obviously uninterested in staying here any longer than absolutely necessary.

She nodded at him as she stood up and collected her things, making her way to the now-open shuttle door. "Thank you, Ensign..."

"Thompson, and you're welcome," he said, waiting for her to finish disembarking before shutting the door and taking off once more.

Astrid watched the shuttle leave for a moment before taking a deep breath and turning to Haumea Colony.

"Well, here goes nothing," she muttered to herself as she picked up her bags and began heading towards the medical building.

Inside the hospital, Gunnar sighted a yeoman heading toward Leeza with a Padd. He gave the man credit for waiting until all of the critical care patients and emergency staff had been evac'd, but he knew his charge nurse, and the likely reaction to paperwork shoved in her face right now... He made a beeline to intercept.

"I'll take that." Smoothly extracting the PaDD, he gave it a cursory glance, initialing the necessary lines almost by reflex. "Anymore of this can wait," he advised sotto voce, as he gave it back. "We're finishing noncritical transport. Make yourself useful. Take down names. We'll need a list so evacuees can find each other."

"Yes, sir." The yeoman turned to go, then stopped as a notice popped onto the PaDD. "Uh, sir? Were we expecting a new medical officer?"

Frak. Was that today? Gunnar narrowly stopped himself form literally facepalming. "Tell me we can divert them."

"Sorry, sir. Shuttle just dropped them off. They're in-bound."

Frak. Frak. Frak. And transporters are tied up with evac. "Leeza! I'm taking the van!" He turned, then paused, looking to the yeoman. "Remind me, who am I getting?"

"Ensign Astrid Barlowe."

"Good. Let her know to wait." And with that he dashed out the door and had the hover-van in the air and on the way to the shuttle port at somewhat greater speed that he might usually go. At an emergency announcement that the creature was turning back toward to colony, he floored it.

As Astrid made her way over to the medical building, she took in her new surroundings and wondered just how many people lived here, not just Starfleet personnel, but also civilians. How many people brought families here? She tried to imagine her own family attempting to set roots here and she smiled to herself.

Mother wouldn't survive an hour here, she'd lose what little remained of her sanity.

Without her precious, vapid friends and society events, this would be nothing short of exile for Vanadis. It was a rather satisfying thought.

The thrum of an engine began to fill her ears as she walked and imagined her mother trying to fit into a fledgling colony like this. Astrid turned to see where the noise was coming from and was surprised to see a transport racing its way towards her. The driver seemed to be in a hurry, frantically looking around for something. Someone? As it came closer and closer it dawned on her.

"Lieutenant Arnason?" she called out, dropping one of her bags beside her and waving.

Braking as he came up alongside her. Gunnar leaned out the window. "That's me. Ensign Barlowe, I presume?" Hardly waiting for a confirming nod - who else would be out here in medical blue? - he parked and opened the van. "I'm afraid it's under ...less than ideal circumstances, but welcome to Haumea," he said with a brief but friendly smile. "Toss your gear in. The hospital is under evac, so I'm here to bring you to the -"

The hurried explanation was interrupted by his comm chirping. =/\= "Lt. Arnason, we need a medical officer at Bray." =/\=

Gunnar sighed inwardly. Even if he hadn't already met the Institute's Director (granted, under extremely odd conditions), he'd heard enough from Caithlin expect this involved the man's lopsided of ratio of crazy genius to limited common sense. But that just made the request all the more urgent. He cast a glance at Barlowe, who despite everything, looked fairly collected, and made a decision that he hoped they both wouldn't regret. "How about two?"

"No time like the present," she replied, tossing her gear into the back and clambering quickly into the passenger seat. As she strapped in, Astrid turned to the Lieutenant.
"Can I ask, does this have anything to do with the...I don't even know what to call it...The monster? I saw it on the way down from the shuttle."

"Partly, I'm sure," he replied, starting the van and heading toward Bray at speed. "I'd hesitate to call it a monster, since we don't know that it's anything but an extremely large and confused or frightened animal. Kaiju might be appropriate - or at least that's what I've heard used for similar in other places." He paused a moment to give full attention to a sharp turn onto a curve in the road leading to Bray. "But the other issue is Mr. Bray. He's brilliant and he means well, but ...he doesn't always think things through. So, be ready for anything," he said as he parked in front of the building.

Astrid simply nodded, biting the inside of her cheek absently as she considered his words and followed him inside. She'd expected that there would be surprises on a still-growing colony, though she had to admit that a...what was the word he'd used? Kaiju? was certainly not something she'd anticipated. It would certainly make for an interesting first entry in her log later that evening, that was for damn sure.

Hopping out of the vehicle, Gunnar grabbed his medkit and the emergency bag from the back of the truck. "Don't worry," he said with wry smile. "We've gotten through worse." Then paused, realizing that might not come across as reassuring as he'd hoped. "Not that this sort of thing typical. You just happened to arrive on one of the ...exciting days."

"Excuse me, can you hand me that interphasic coil spanner?" A hand emerged from behind the console Jason was working at. The holosuite room was large and mostly empty, save for the console to one side and the char marks high above on the ceiling. "I am quite glad you came, Lieutenant Harrison. Having an expert on the hardware side on the off chance I have no clue what I'm looking at?" He popped his head around the corner, beaming. "Always come prepared, yes?"

Alan looked around for the tool requested of him before he'd even had a chance to announce his presence. "I think this one will do the trick. Dr. Bray, I presume?" He'd somehow never met the head of the Bray Foundation in person during his time on the colony.

"DOCTOR?!" Jason looked horrified, though took the offered tool. "That's some other Bray. PhD or not, you can call me Jason." He disappeared behind the singular console that stood in the middle of the room, it's wiring hanging out and strewn all over the room. "I'm trying to create a field that will shield us from an impending terrapin disaster," he explained as a minute whirring filled the air. "No holograms this time. Simply the barrier keeping unwanted things out as we figure out what our plans are. I believe Mr. Lotor took the liberties of making sure there would be no holographic concerns any longer. But that doesn't mean this tech has to stay dormant-" he paused, slamming the back of the console shut and straightening up. "Yes, I believe that should do it." He tapped the top of the console. It lit up at his touch, whirling through line commands and screens until settling on one that had a readout for what the man described. It came complete with its own pleasant display of a stylized Haumea being protected by a harmless, green bubble. "I have it attached to our back up power supply so it is not running off of the township's power."

"Ah, Jason then," Alan replied, "It looks like you have things handled quite well over here. Did you need anything from me?"

"Yes!" Jason snapped his fingers, before he tapped the large, glowing blue indicator on the screen. "In case something goes wrong, of course!"

The display readout began to glow, before a rumble shook through the room. Then, the room began to glow an alarming shade of olive green.

"Harmless, he said? Perhaps we should we go... anywhere but here?" Alan inquired, looking nervously at the glow now filling the room.

"We will be perfectly safe right here, Mr. Harrison." Jason insisted. "Right where we want to be; in the eye of the storm."

From the outside, a bright green glow emanated from the Bray building, growing in intensity. Soon after, the sound of slow and distant stomping echoed through the air.

That can't be good, Gunnar thought, the green light raising the memory of the building as a dragon's lair. But the stomping brought the more immediate threat to mind. He paused to kneel and put a hand to the ground, feeling the vibrations that were growing toward tremors as the source got closer.

He rose, looked at door. The smart thing would be to get out of here, but... likelihood that Jason had pulled something that might mean they needed medical in there seemed high. He looked at Astrid. "I'm going in, in case whatever that is has left them unconscious in there. Do you want to wait with the truck?"

"With all due respect, sir, it sounds like we're both needed inside," She reached for her med kit and straightened, her eyes bright with excitement. "And anyway, I wouldn't want to miss out."

Gunnar had mixed feelings on that. On one hand, she was a junior officer, so his responsibility, and this was likely to be ...not particularly safe. On the other hand, it's what he would've said, and her first name was common enough where he was from that he almost unconsciously assumed a certain level of stubborn and determined it would be better to not try and challenge right now.

Besides, outside might not be any safer. So, he simply nodded and opened the door. Then had to pause a moment to reassure himself that the green was just lighting and not a reflection of dragon scales. He checked his tricorder. "Come on, they're in the holosuite," he said, adding a muttered, "That seems to be where trouble starts here," as he headed for the stairs. There was no way he was trusting a lift under current conditions.

Astrid followed behind, offering a silent "Thank you" to whatever gods might be in charge of this little piece of the universe. She had been fully prepared to dive right in and charge forward to do what she could, but she was relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with another reprimand.

As she crossed the threshold she paused for a moment to take in her surroundings, looking for any signs of a person in distress.

"The only life signs are in the holosuite," Gunnar called back, sensing her slow and imagining it was for the same reason he would have paused. "Bray is ...half a liter low on common sense, but he cares about his people, so I expect anyone not helping him was sent home."

Beyond that, he saved his breath for running stairs while quietly praying to whatever gods might exist or care to listen that that green glow wasn't some Wizard of Oz program gone wild.

The moment the doors to the holosuite slid open, a sickly green light burst forth. Nothing harmful, but that did not say the same for the ordeal both scientist and the engineer inside the room. Jason was trying to smother the flames that had previously burst from the console before their arrival with a giant overcoat. It would have worked, had the flame been much smaller.

"Ah! Lieutenant Arnason!" he called out jovially, as if they had just met for lunch, "Just in time! I need to recalibrate the readings of this stream of energy to be more ... Round, or at least less .... Stream!"

Gunnar resisted an urge to facepalm. Instead, he rushed over and physically dragged the Jason away, pulling the burning coat from his grasp and tossing it aside before the flames could spread to the clothes he was wearing. "Surely there's a fire extinguisher in here?" he asked, certain that Caithlin would have insisted on it if only to limit liability.

"Lieutenant! No, wait! I need-" It took Jason a fair moment to realize his own danger. And another tick before, "It should be kicking on. Should have earlier.... But Caithlin did have the foresight to make sure we had a more handheld one installed - ah, it should be behind that panel over there!"

Astrid resisted the urge to smile as she made her way over to the panel he had indicated and hurried to the console.

Alan saw they had the fire situation mostly under control, so he pulled out his tricorder to scan the energy stream. Hopefully, the recalibration wouldn't take long - time wasn't an asset they really had on their side with the "giant turtle" situation.

With a short nod of approval to Astrid, Gunnar turned his attention to Jason. "I'm not sure what your goal is here, but the kaiju is headed this way. I strongly suggest we leave while we still can."

"Is it? Excellent!" The news did not seem to deter Jason, who took the moment to survey what was actually occurring. "We can test the integrity of the shield. If we had a hard time getting in and out when it was holding us captive, surely a gigantic turtle will not manage to break through."

Gunnar went from brows shooting up at 'Excellent' to giving in to the urge to facepalm at what followed. "No! We had no trouble at all getting in. There's no shield out there, just a big, bright green light like a neon diner sign."

"Now, Gunnar I don't critique you in times of stress-... Wait, green light? Dash it all!" By this point, Jason was beginning to see the issues inherent in his impulsive little plan. "... Perhaps we should take the advice of our saviors, hm?" He asked, eyeing Alan with an odd apologetic gaze, "Perhaps before this becomes more of an issue?"

"Agreed, let's get out of here," Alan replied with a quick nod. He securely stashed his tricorder for what may likely be a mad dash away from here.

Jason himself was making way for the door as well, but not before looking back to the fourth of their set, a woman who he had yet to properly meet. "Let's not forget everyone!"

Relieved he wasn't going to have to hypo Jason and carry him out, Gunnar nodded emphatically. "We have a van parked at the entrance," he gestured for Astrid to lead the way, as he intended to follow the others out to make sure Jason didn't get some last minute idea and try to run back.

Lucky for Gunnar, Jason had no such intentions. He tucked a sizeable PaDD under his arm as they were running, he got a glimpse of the giant creature over the horizon. "Hopefully our aim is to study this fascinating creature."

Their conversation might have continued, if they were not fleeing for their lives. As they loaded into the van, the sight of the towering terrapin was almost close enough to touch.

And as they sped away, the creature seemed all too content with taking off the top of the Bray Building.

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