Captain Oroku Seifer - Earth Spacedock, Food Court
Seifer took a few stabs at his monochrome plate of bland, cold, uneaten potatoes. The replicator-peeled vegetable slipped under misplaced fork-pressure and spun off the table onto the floor. In his heart, he knew he would have his revenge against that particular food item. In no way did he ever intend on letting that little inanimate spud go without a taste of his vengeance. Oh, he would spend the rest of his life, plotting and scheming the most elaborate and harsh—
"—Well, well. How the mighty have fallen," came the interrupting voice of an old, Vulcan man, from behind Seifer. "Do you plan on staring at your mess all day, or are you going to pick it up?"
Turning, in shock, Seifer came to perceive his old Vulcan teacher from Starfleet Academy. "Master Chivaul??"
"You've become weak, Oroku. Where once you commanded one of Starfleet's most over-powered, uber ships of incomprehensibly small scale, now, you sit in this pale and unforgiving food court with nothing to show for it."
Seifer shook his head in disbelief. "Uh, I saved my crew from that horrible Calibus VII sickness, and stopped the cross-dimensional Nibiru from reconfiguring our space— Not that that hadn't been done before. Mine was just more recent."
"Fulfilled with accomplishment, you are entitled to magnificence and respect. Your lack of position is a betrayal to you and what you have done in the past."
Pointing, Seifer replied, "You know what? You have always been rude and mean to me, with no explanation whatsoever; for what I can only assume is because I stuck with you until the bitter end, and—"
"You talk too much!" Chivaul knocked Seifer's pointing arm away and launched a claw-posed hand right at the Trill's face.
Grabbing the wrist of the incoming attack, shocked, Seifer was forced to use his other arm to knock a second incoming hand, this time, toward his throat. The old Vulcan twisted Seifer's grip free and jabbed both his fists, forward again. Seifer, while seated, shot both his feet up and kicked the fists away. He kicked again toward Chivaul's chest, where his foot was met with blocking palms, with enough force to push the old man back a few steps.
"Oh, real mature, you decrepit old Vulcan!" Seifer responded before noticing a few officers nearby standing up from their meals and looking at them in shock. The Captain quickly got out of his seat and addressed the food court. "—Uh, it's nothing, everyone. This senior is just looking for his meds. Poor guy can't even go to the bathroom without—"
But Chivaul force-palmed Seifer in the face, then quadruple-jabbed the Trill in the chest, before a second palm with force toward the same spot. The Captain grabbed the incoming wrist with both hands, softening the blow as much as he could, before being knocked right over his table and onto the floor, next to the potato.
"This is all your fault," Seifer turned to the spud in shifting anger. "If only you let me eat you, instead of this run-around, we wouldn't be in this m—"
The old fighting Vulcan, showing no emotion, flew over the table with an incoming foot of immense force. Seifer quickly wondered if picking up the potato would be metaphor enough to stop his old teacher. Unfortunately, he had to roll away from it to live. Chivaul landed his intense stomp, while, Seifer, still on his back, flung kick after kick at Chivaul. Each kick was blocked by the Vulcan's even faster-moving left foot.
"I— told— you—! No visitors— before— nap time—" Seifer said in mid-fight, noticing the shocked look of confused faces around him. Chivaul leapt another downward-forced foot, prompting Seifer to decide to roll underneath him, toward the potato.
Seifer picked up the food, got up and placed it on a table. Chivaul, after landing and turning his position to face the Captain, stopped his attack and continued his unemotional repertoire. "Meet me in the Holodeck to finish this."
"Should I bring your ointment??" Seifer replied, unimpressed, as Chivaul walked his way through the sea of tables out of the food court. The Captain dusted his Odyssey uniform off and noticed an Ensign looking at him with wide-eyed disbelief. "He has a skin thing."
---
Captain Aeris - U.S.S. Zephyra, Sickbay
The U.S.S. Zephyra sat out in space, near Earth Spacedock. Aeris entered Sickbay in search of her Doctor. Naturally, her medical case was shared with the Zephyra where people more familiar with her could assist in her situation. Who knows? She could disappear for a whole year next. Maybe even forever? She thought to herself.
"Where's Doctor Lila?" Aeris asked.
At a nearby, unfamiliar device, was the Spacedock engineer, Lieutenant Winry, working away. She took notice of Aeris' entrance and addressed her. "Captain? They said you disappeared into a void or on vacation or something? I wasn't paying attention."
"Some kind of a jump out of this universe's existence, I believe," Aeris replied. "And how can my Doctor just disappear when I was clearly in crisis? Did they give up in three days or something?"
Winry returned to her large boxy device. "She left after two, actually. Though, she did mention consulting Starfleet Medical. I assume it was for you, or to transfer. She didn't say."
"Any luck on your end?"
The engineer began pulling hard on a tool she connected to the innards of her scanner. "Almost! I've been in here for a week, so I think the time has allowed me to perfect the dimensional scanner. Though, with it configured to your Undine medical equipment, it's only going to scan Fluidic space."
"Perfect. Should we give it a go?"
Winry nodded. "Hell yeah! Just need to get this out of here first—"
"Need any help?" Aeris asked noticing how Winry was struggling to remove the hyperspanner from the machine. Without waiting for an answer, the Captain began pulling Winry backward while Winry was pulling on the tool. After the two struggled, the threshold was suddenly broken and they both flew back onto the floor.
The hyperspanner hit the floor as well, causing the interdimensional scanning machine to unexpectedly start up with a rumble. Suddenly, thin beams of light began beaming out from random openings. The resonating sound began to increase.
"That's not good," Winry said, arching an eye brow while still on the floor. She took out her remote and tried turning it off with no effect. "Transporters and containment fields may not work on that thing. But, modulating the connected medical equipment might help. We just may need more than the two of us at operating consoles."
Aeris tapped her commbadge. "Captain Aeris to anyone nearby. Any assistance you can provide in Sickbay would be perfect."
Upon entering the sickbay aboard the Zephyra, Ensign Javan stopped just inside the threshold and looked around at the ensuing chaos. One of the Zephyra's other nurses, an ensign called Beltram, walked over to Javan and handed him a medical tricorder.
---
Captain Terry - U.S.S. Kitana, Bridge
Terry entered the Bridge of the Vesta-class U.S.S. Kitana. The ship was in space, a hundred kilometers from Spacedock. His body had been aching in pain from a sickness he'd been keeping to himself, plus something he just ate at the Food Court wasn't agreeing with him. At least he was better than he had been all week.
"You don't look so good?" Han said taking notice of him.
Terry waved it off. "Just an ache from a bottle of green Scotch last night. Never drink with a pan-dimensional humanoid, as I do on occasions."
"Captain," the tactical officer continued, dropping the other thing, "The Zephyra has disappeared from sensors! It's as if they're no longer in the space-time continuum."
The human stroked his chin. "I think you could say that about anybody who isn't in the same room as you. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
"No, I mean, the ship was there and then it disappeared. We detected the same phasing phenomenon that the Undine ships procured when they were sent back into Fluidic space," the Ferengi finished.
Terry sat in his chair. "Except they went through a portal? Hm. Send our readings to Spacedock. In the meantime, I want you to hail the Falzon."
"But— what about the Zephyra, sir?"
He nodded. "The Falzon, Lieutenant Commander." And after a few moments, the hail went out. "This is Captain Terry from the Kitana to Tran. I have to confess, I overheard you in the Food Court about the Molly. How can we help?"
