[Kova Sh'qaleq - Lounge Car, Orient Express, Front Ear Station]

Kova turned to see if anyone had actually bothered to listen to what she was saying. Other than Dr. Death of course. He seemed pretty sore about the tricorder, but he clearly wasn't thinking big picture. As Kova's eyes fell upon Chloe, who had mentioned something about codes, it was quickly obvious that something was very much wrong. Kova wasn't even sure if the woman was completely coherent. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked. The only reply she got from Chloe was the intelligence officer mentioning that she had the caviar. "The cavi--" Kova's eyes widened immediately as the realization washed over her. She started to take a step towards the bar when the girl began to spew what looked to be her breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Whoa!" said Kova quickly taking a step back. She knew that this poison had to be ingested, but exactly how sure were they of that? Kova maintained a healthy distance as she tried to coach Harmon's sidepiece into a chair.  That clearly wasn't happening. However, Alec made it towards her quickly enough to lower her as gently as possible to the floor. "Um, I can take it from here." There really wasn't a need to trouble Chloe for her access codes if she was pounding on Heaven's door. Kova was more than capable of bypassing the lockout. And surely, these were the sort of circumstances where such indiscretions could be overlooked.

Kova's hand danced across the arch's panel at what looked like a blur. The image on the screen jumped from code to code, but it made perfect sense to Kova. "The changes to this program happened recently," the Andorian remarked as she continued to go through the code. "Safety protocols and comms to the main computer were overwritten." The Andorian grit her teeth. Typically people rerouted routines, but this was a hacked rush-job. There was no finesse to any of it. That made it even more difficult to correct.

She continued to sift through the code until she found what she was looking for, the endgame protocols. Since she couldn't interrupt it with an emergency, then perhaps she could have the program run its course. She paused as she read through the code. "Dammit! We have to finish the story," Kova said. "Does someone know how this thing ends?"

She waited for a response, but she had been hoping for a speedy one. Annoyed that it wasn't happening on her time table, Kova's attention returned to the screen. "First, let's thin the herd then," she stated. She made a few modifications and watched as several people in the room just vanished. Some of the holograms had been turned off. That was a start. Allowing her attention to return to the screen, she didn't get very far before she felt the train jerk slightly after what sounded like an explosion. "What the hell was that?!"

The Andorian began to wonder if they were supposed to be trekking through some sort of warzone. Her eyes returned to the screen. This was the problem in front of her that she actually stood a chance at solving. "Okay... I can see all of our life signs... but this one is isolated." There were dots all aggregated with the exception of one. She looked in the direction that the explosion had come. "It's them."

With still no idea what was happening, Kova clinched her first in frustration. What the hell was she supposed to do. The only way to stop the simulation was to finish it. A heavy sigh left her lips as she noticed something else... a counter. Though, it was counting backwards. Something's... counting down. I can't stop it, or slow it down. I can... I can speed it up." Kova looked around. She supposed Chloe would have been one to give advice, but that wasn't really an option while she was hocking her guts out.

"Hey, someone want to weigh in?" she said raising her voice. "We can either sit with our thumbs up are asses for the next twenty minutes to logic it out, or we skip to the last page." She was hoping her raised voice would be heard by someone with authority... or pointy ears. Though, did the people like Chloe have twenty minutes? Besides, the bekh[fn]penis... it's not a term of endearment in this context[/fn] responsible for this was standing off in a lone car wanted those extra twenty minutes for something. Perhaps the smart move was to mess with his time table.

---

Tag: Matthew Harmon (Chloe), Ozu Saya (Alec; Soft-ish for Ryah, Saya), Eliska Bremmer (Soft), Leanna Mazal (soft), Charlie Fox (Bestower of Fates; Zombie Banshee; that bekh, Phoenix)
Soft Tag for All

[Leanna - Dining Car]

For a moment Leanna seemed to space out after feeling an unexpected jolt, almost as if she was no longer in the present as her abilities almost overloaded with the sudden feeling of fear, pain and death. Lea had experienced that kind of terror many times as lives were extinguished without warning or with the chance to escape. This was more and in stereo compared to the tragedy of Rani's passing and she had to fight to clear her head as the echoes of the dead joined that of her Employee.

A single tear began to fall as the Betazoid attempted to process it all and what it meant, until she sensed a familiarity, one that was intent on hurting others, as well as a sense of purpose that he was doing this for the greater good. That's when realisation kicked in about how he was responsible and what he had done. " I can sense another Betazoid, I believe he's the one responsible for all of this .... he's killed others and he's moving away from us" she said her voice still sounding distant, but knew she had to tell the others.

However as she finished speaking, she heard a hacking sound and quickly ascertained who it was coming from. Watching in horror as Left Ear's paws went to her throat, before she looked at Lea with her fur puffing out and attempting to reach for the medkit. " Left Ear stay with me" she pleaded as she dropped to her level and picked up the medkit, then opened it, unsure what to pick up first.

" Sven, help me".


[Nix - Lounge Car]

Nix had dutifully moved out of the way for Kova as the Andorian then successfully attempted to find the arch. Relieved that she had found it, along with the blame being pointed to someone else for all of this and not have it aimed at the Blue Beta. However that still didn't make it right as Chloe then began to gasp for air, before vomiting. Seeing that and feeling helpless scared Nix, because she didn't want anyone else to die, before the Doctor and Kova rushed to help her, before almost being knocked to her feet by an unexpected jolt and hearing the Doctor shout about the beef.

Nix wondered what the hell was going on, until Kova revealed that they had to end the story, a possible culprit and how something was counting down and the time frame they had to resolve it. " I don't know much about this story but surely we need to catch the culprit or the very least stop what's counting down ........... wait what if it's a bomb?" Nix offered with slight terror in her voice.


[Alex - Dining Car]

The unexpected jolt followed by chaos in the kitchen had led to Alex almost dropping what was left of the cured Turkish beef. Finding himself having to dodge plates, cutlery and everything else that had crashed to the floor, before managing to get out, still holding his precious cargo. Then the Server, rushed through and towards the dining car, just as he heard the Doctor shout out and Nix mentioning something about a bomb.

However he didn't say anything about that just yet as he rushed over to Alec, who was now tending to Chloe. " Sorry it took so long, we had some trouble in the kitchen but I've got the beef, luckily I was able to save it" He explained as he placed the platter down in front of Alec and stepped back, hoping that Chloe would be okay and looked towards Nix.

---

tag Ozu Saya for Left Ear & Alec, tag Sven Aune tag Kova Sh'qaleq

[T’Laara - Driver’s Cab, Orient Express]

“Rani? He was the first one who…” T’Laara gasped as the train rocked, and at the same moment she saw the metal device. Clutching the manifest, she looked at Charlie, thinking fast, wondering what to do. If this was really just a holonovel they’d open it and cut the right wire just in time. But in reality, she didn’t know what it was and they might not have time to find out. She looked to where the conductor was sticking his head out the window. The train was separated. To gain distance from this? “I think” she said stiffly, “someone should throw that out the window. Now.” The workers were closer, and couldn’t actually die.

Focused as she was on the possibility of further danger, at first she barely registered the Starfleet officer’s entrance. When Ozu Saya asked what was going on, she gave part of the answer, but kept her eyes on the device and the workers. “Charlie found that device in here. Someone called Phoenix is likely responsible.”

Tag Charlie Fox Ozu Saya


[Shavan Th’zhaar - Dining Car, Orient Express]

Shavan twitched his antennae in the direction of the sudden crash. Something more than poisoned food was happening. Which meant they had to get out of there- and had fortunately just found a potentially faster way to do it than editing the program. “Right, so have I.” Shavan responded when Doug said he’d seen this type of dampener before. Of course he didn’t mention that he’d learned most of this by using it in criminal outfits. "I’ll try to find it. Maybe we can use this to trace the connection and further narrow down the location.” If they could destroy it and take down the dampening field they'd be able to use the computer and communicate with the rest of the station. He took the PADD again and entered the commands necessary to do it. If it didn’t work they would just have to search. 

Tag Dugris Zaman

[Charlie Fox - Driver's Cab, Orient Express]

"This Phoenix, one of the passengers, came in for a tour of the cab. Wanted to get up close and personal with the engines," Charlie added to T'Laara's explanation, her eyes not once leaving the pile of coal that had been hiding what could only be a bomb. She straightened her arm and pointed at the device, which was blinking even faster than before. "I think it's active."

It was then that she turned toward the Conductor and his workers, believing they would be the safest option to handle the device, much like T'Laara had suggested. "So, which one of you has the best arm?"

They all turned to look at each other, a mixture of shock and confusion written all over their faces. But before any of them could respond, they disappeared into thin air. "This just keeps getting better..." Charlie muttered, then threw her hands up, a signal that she was about to lose it, or give up. "Either of you know anything about explosive defusal?" She spun on her heel to look at the other two women, though her gaze caught on the open door that the Chief had stepped through, and into the car beyond. 

"Someone separated the rest of the train from these three cars. Is there any way we can separate the driver's cab?"

---

Tags: Ozu Saya , Shavan Th'zhaar (T'Laara).



[Callista Maybourne, aka The Dead Dying Banshee - Lounge Car, Orient Express]

Callista Maybourne was aware that she was awake and that her body seemed to want to turn itself inside-out. She just wanted it to end. Her stomach purged and purged, and kept going even though there was nothing left inside of her. She began to shake violently again as her body went into shock.

---

Tags: Ozu Saya (Alec), Kova Sh'qaleq , Leanna Mazal (the poor Beta staff), Matthew Harmon (Chloe).

[Chloe Hudson - Orient Express]

Chloe had no idea what was going on. Suddenly she was knocked off her feet at the car shook. As she got back up again followed the Doc's orders and sat against the bar, continuing to vomit profusely. She kept looking back to Kova and the Doc, desperate for help, though she was struggling to focus on what was going on as she became more disoriented and her head continued to spin. 

---

Tag: Ozu Saya, Kova Sh'qaleq

|Dining car || lt. Sven Aune|

Sven looked on in horror as Left-ear started to choke and clench her throat. Whatever this poison was, it had a multi-species effect. His training kicked in. He kneeled down with her and got her to lay on her side while holding her head up so she wouldn't choke on any vomit. What a way for a nice event to turn out... Xander was right, maybe Frontier was a magnet for suffering. But he couldn't dwell upon that now.

He looked over at the med-kit. He wasn't a doctor. At most, he had basic first aid. But he did know how to purge a stomach. Xander had some issues with drugs and told him how to deal with that if he ever needed it.

"Lea, there should be hypo of, Andeno.... Avengo.... No... Adenvitgen. She's smaller built so, I'd say 10 CC's start with. I don't know anything about her physiology. I just hope this works."

It was a hope and a prayer. He had no idea how that medicine would work on Left-ear's species. Or what effects it would have. But if she was like a human, it should cause her stomach to convulse and expel it's contents.


The car suddenly jolted. "What the?"

Something was seriously wrong, and why couldn't they get the program to stop?

_____

Tag
Leanna Mazal
Ozu Saya

[Charlie Fox - Driver's Cab, Orient Express]

"This Phoenix, one of the passengers, came in for a tour of the cab. Wanted to get up close and personal with the engines," Charlie added to T'Laara's explanation, her eyes not once leaving the pile of coal that had been hiding what could only be a bomb. She straightened her arm and pointed at the device, which was blinking even faster than before. "I think it's active."

It was then that she turned toward the Conductor and his workers, believing they would be the safest option to handle the device, much like T'Laara had suggested. "So, which one of you has the best arm?"

They all turned to look at each other, a mixture of shock and confusion written all over their faces. But before any of them could respond, they disappeared into thin air. "This just keeps getting better..." Charlie muttered, then threw her hands up, a signal that she was about to lose it, or give up. "Either of you know anything about explosive defusal?" She spun on her heel to look at the other two women, though her gaze caught on the open door that the Chief had stepped through, and into the car beyond. 

"Someone separated the rest of the train from these three cars. Is there any way we can separate the driver's cab?"

[Sir Dugris "Doug" Zaman, MBE, PhD, JD, MBA, PE, RA - Dining Car, Orient Express]

The sudden crash jolted them, including causing PooDoo to jump suddenly and scream. Sir Doug then took the little creature in his arms and gently stroked her fluffy back.

"Here, PooDoo PooDoo PooDoo. It's okay, Pood. It's okay," he reassured the small ball of fur before setting her down.

"We can try to trace the connection, certainly," he agreed with Shavan, having released the animal. "We only really have one axis to explore, so all we need to do is walk and see where the connection gets weaker. No need for triangulation or anything clever."

Sir Doug could have tried to find it in 3-dimensional space, too, but the de-facto one-dimensionality of the train just made things simpler.

[Ozu Saya - Engine Car]

No, don't! Saya interjected. Let me look at it. She crouched in front of the device, continuing, If this is as real as the poison, or even if the holodeck safeties have been disabled, which seems likely, throwing it off the train would do no good. We are actually in a relatively small room. The device...I don't believe it has a particularly large range, but it may be enough to destroy the holodeck and kill us all.

No tools, she growled. I wish George were here. He's much better at this.

With extreme care, Saya used just her fingertips to gently twist the top of the device and lift it free. She blew out a heavy breath that fluttered her lips. I don't know if I can do this. It might be wiser to work on ending the program.

[Left Ear to-Ennien - Dining Car]

Left Ear pawed at Sven's hand, a claw nicking him accidentally. She started to shake her head at the hypo he'd suggested, then changed her mind and waved it toward herself. Her vision was starting to go dark from lack of oxygen, but she jerked the medkit close enough to see. Just before passing out, she hooked a tube of epinephrine, clutching it in her paw as she collapsed to the floor.

---

Tag Sven Aune and Leanna Mazal

---

Tag Felicity Ellis and Shavan Th'zhaar (T'Laara)

[Leanna - Dining Car]

There was still that lingering sense of loss, death and of course the possible danger of this other Betazoid realising that she knew about him. Whether she counted as a threat, she didn't know but even if she shut her mental barriers, there was still the chance of him using that against her. However she had more pressing matters to deal with as Sven answered her call for help. Watching as the Security Officer joined her beside Left Ear and immediately put her in a position so she wouldn't choke.

Leanna was definitely glad of his help as she had naturally panicked, especially after the mental assault that she had experienced. So when he then asked for Adenvitgen and what dose he thought she would need, Leanna was about to look in the medkit for it when Left Ear shook her head and pulled it close to her instead. The Betazoid realised that not only did the Sivaoan accidentally catch Sven but had also took out the drug that she needed.

" Sven, look that must be the one we have to use and quickly as she's passed out" she said, her voice still full of concern as she approached the Sivaoan and carefully took the epinephrine from her paw and loaded up the hypo. Then she administered the hypo hoping that they hadn't been to late. " Now we wait".

---

tag Sven Aune , Ozu Saya for Left Ear & Alec, soft tag Charlie Fox for Callista 

[Nix - Lounge Car]

Nix had dutifully moved out of the way for Kova as the Andorian then successfully attempted to find the arch. Relieved that she had found it, along with the blame being pointed to someone else for all of this and not have it aimed at the Blue Beta. However that still didn't make it right as Chloe then began to gasp for air, before vomiting. Seeing that and feeling helpless scared Nix, because she didn't want anyone else to die, before the Doctor and Kova rushed to help her, before almost being knocked to her feet by an unexpected jolt and hearing the Doctor shout about the beef.

Nix wondered what the hell was going on, until Kova revealed that they had to end the story, a possible culprit and how something was counting down and the time frame they had to resolve it. " I don't know much about this story but surely we need to catch the culprit or the very least stop what's counting down ........... wait what if it's a bomb?" Nix offered with slight terror in her voice.


[Alex - Dining Car]

The unexpected jolt followed by chaos in the kitchen had led to Alex almost dropping what was left of the cured Turkish beef. Finding himself having to dodge plates, cutlery and everything else that had crashed to the floor, before managing to get out, still holding his precious cargo. Then the Server, rushed through and towards the dining car, just as he heard the Doctor shout out and Nix mentioning something about a bomb.

However he didn't say anything about that just yet as he rushed over to Alec, who was now tending to Chloe. " Sorry it took so long, we had some trouble in the kitchen but I've got the beef, luckily I was able to save it" He explained as he placed the platter down in front of Alec and stepped back, hoping that Chloe would be okay and looked towards Nix.

[Callista Maybourne, aka The Dead Dying Banshee - Lounge Car, Orient Express]

Callista Maybourne was aware that she was awake and that her body seemed to want to turn itself inside-out. She just wanted it to end. Her stomach purged and purged, and kept going even though there was nothing left inside of her. She began to shake violently again as her body went into shock.

[[Alec Trenzal - Lounge Car]

Alec took a deep breath and looked up at the Andorian, most of his rancor melting away. They'd all been thrown into these extreme circumstances together; there was no reason to be waspish. I'm sorry, I don't know much about that kind of tech. I'm just trying to do my best with no resources to save these people. The story... he paused to think for a moment. The protagonist was a detective who happened to be on the train when the murder happened, but what's happened here is really nothing like that story. It was one murder, if I recall correctly, and it was a conspiracy between multiple passengers. The detective did solve the crime in the end.

Alex returned with the cured beef, and Alec returned his attention to Chloe. Thank you, Alec said perfunctorily, grabbing a roll of the beef. Miss? he said, gently gripping the back of her neck with one hand. I know this is going to be bad, but I need you to try to eat as much of this as you can. You're probably going to keep throwing up, but we have to get some of this down you. The curing process uses a chemical that could help neutralize the poison. I'm sorry to do this to you.

It was going to be awful for Chloe, but there was no other way to get the sodium nitrite into her.

He noticed the other woman beginning to shake and added to Alex, Could you get a couple of table cloths and cover her up?

[Alex - Lounge Car]

Alex nodded when Alec thanked him for the beef and took some, in order to get Chloe to eat some of it and now understood why he had asked for it. The Musician could only hope that it would work as he was then asked to help the other woman who was now shivering. Having something to do was definitely better than just standing there, waiting to see what happened with this potential bomb so answered Alec quickly.

" Certainly Doc".

Alex then went over to a couple of tables and expertly removed the tablecloths from them, then knelt down beside the other woman and wrapped them over her, tucking them in so as to cover her up properly.

[Charlie Fox - Driver's Cab, Orient Express]

I'm going to die.

Charlie listened as the person in charge took the opportunity to lecture them on how the holodeck worked, even though the Conductor and the Engineers, the people T'Laara had suggested handle the device for safety reasons, had vanished. Charlie seemed to be the only one concerned that the holograms were gone.

"Okay," she said, doubt obvious in her voice at the Chief's suggestion.

I'm going to die here with all of these Fleeters.

"If you think you can end this program before that bomb goes off, please, be my guest." Maybe she knew something they didn't? Still grossly dissatisfied, Charlie turned toward T'Laara and gestured for the Vulcan to follow her offside a little, giving the engineer space to work, but also giving them a little privacy. "I think we should prepare to detach the driver's cab. Just in case, y'know," she waved vaguely behind her toward the flickering device, "That doesn't work. It's possible that this Phoenix person is prepared to die with us all, but I think it might be logical to presume he has an exit strategy. Otherwise why separate the train in the first place?" There had already been an explosive used to separate the cars, without a tricorder to tell them otherwise, Charlie thought it made sense to assume this device was of a similar nature with a similar yield.

She pulled open the cab door and peered down at the coupling, and felt instantly overwhelmed. "Just in case," she muttered, glancing behind her to check on the Chief's progress.

[Ozu Saya - Engine Car]

Oh, hell. She definitely wasn't thinking straight. Saya paused and sat back on her heels, pressing her hands against her eyes.

I'm sorry, you're right. I don't think I can defuse this, not quickly enough. There should be a way to decouple the cars manually, though I'm not certain it's possible while the train is moving. She thought for another moment. Both of you, grab a crowbar, shovel, anything strong enough to give you leverage and get out there to the coupling. I will attempt to apply the brake. Theoretically, for just a moment, the momentum of the cars behind should continue to carry them forward to create a small amount of slack. I will signal you when to decouple. Then get inside the next car as quickly as possible. She made no mention that she would have to attempt to jump before the dining and lounge cars slowed too much.