The Glitch IV - Inversion (Ch. 1)

[Dark Silver]

They worked most of the evening, and long into the night since Yuffie had been brought in by the group.

Try as they might, she was barely alive when brought in...and all they did was manage to extend that fragile connection, she suffered even if she was unconcious.

Finally, sometime in the night, Doctor Crusher had told them to stop, monitor her as best they could..and pray to any deity they held in respect.

Crusher had made her report, Yuffie was in a coma, she was in critical condition, and there was nothing they could do to help her. She was dying. The redheaded doctor threw her scrub gown in the corner, placed a hand to her forehead, and sighed. She hated not being able to save her patient, there had to be comething she could do..

She turned in her chair, facing the wall, and closed her eyes. "Do you truly wish you could save the girl," a soft, silibant voice whispered, almost in her ear.

Crusher opened her eyes, looking into the sudden darkness, at the cloaked figure, the hood pulled so far over its head, she couldn't make out a face.

"Yes...but there's nothing...."

"Nothing you can do." the figure said matter of factly, though it's tone never rose. "But, with my help...you can save her life........"

Crusher looked torn for a moment, between the life of her patient, and this stranger and his offer. She had no idea who it was, what he offered....

But if he could save the girl..."Tell me...."

Within the hood, it seemed s if the figure smiled, as the pale eyes gleamed, and suddenly, to Beverly Crusher, it seemed as if the room was swallowed in darkness as she felt black robes wrap around her.

[LadyTevar]

Leah woke with a start, the dream fragmenting into nothing as soon as she opened her eyes, leaving only vague fears and feelings that something *bad* had just happened. Her eyes flicked around the room, looking for what could have been the source, trying to place where she was, what had happened...

... and it hit her like a ton of bricks once again. The castle. Cloud and Yuffie. Cloud and Darek. The Enterprise... she was on the Enterprise, and Yuffie and Darek were dead.

She rolled over in the bed, and realized she was naked. The covers were a mess, as if she'd kicked and twisted them in her sleep. She rose, stumbling her way to the bathroom, absently feeling for a lightswitch...

oh. right. "Computer... lights ...." bright lights flood "....on low...... and a glass of ice water...." Leah looked at herself in the mirror... still in Leandra's body. The face was mostly her own, the hair... the body... She sighed, turning away and stepping over to the replicator as it bleeped to announce the arrival of the ice water.

Cooooooooooooooooold water. Wow. But it woke her up. "Umm.. Computer, a bowl of ..." wait, this can make anything. "No... let's have four crepes, with applebutter and a light drizzle of honey, and a cup of hot chai tea."

Clothing... she'd have to have clothing too... damn, she wasn't sure what her size would be either. "And measure me for clothing, please? Suitable for the gameworld known as Zion, for a Cleric profession?" It was amazing how her love for the old StarTrek shows was coming in handy here. It was one of the things that had bonded her and Albert together.

"Computer... locate Albert, known also as Thog?"

[SirNitram]

"Entity Thog is in Holodeck Three, running the Tiffauge Castle program."

Thog was finding Tiffauge surprisingly easy with his options now. He was having to remember the mirror-puzzle from the beginning, but he was making progress, and his huge hammer proved excellent at smashing through the enemies present.

"Let's see... Through -this- one is Amon.." He murmured, turning and continuing along.

[LadyTevar]

"Tiffauge Castle?" Leah repeated, never hearing of the place before. That.. that wasn't the name of the fortress they just left, was it? "Umm... Computer, could you give him a message to join me in these quarters for breakfast?"

Her crepes had arrived, with the chai tea, and she moved them to the desk nearby to eat ... after she donned the robes that the replicator was just now delievering. "Thank you, computer."

"You're Welcome."

[SirNitram]

Albert got the message as he approached the door, and sighed. "Computer, end program." He said simply, stowing his hammer over his back and walking out of the holodeck. He knew the way, now, at least. He worked his way back towards the quarters they had been given, knocking. "Leah? It's me."

[LadyTevar]

She was dressed in a clean, new cleric's robe, and she'd eaten half her crepes. "Enter!" she called out

[SirNitram]

Albert stepped into the quarters, nearly doubling over to get through the door. "This ship wasn't meant for me.." He murmured, moving to join her and settle into a seat. "How're you holding up?" He asked gently, looking to her.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Justin awoke easily. Always a morning person.

"Computer, please replicate a quarter kilogram of peach stilton, half a liter of mango nectar at 15 degrees celcius and a single hard boiled egg, shell off"

The food materialized in front of him.

"Thank you computer"

He munched on the food as he headed down toward holodeck 4. He needed to practice. If he had the option of going back to Zion, he would take it. he had no choice considering what was happening. So if ever he was magic locked again, he needed to know how to use his staff better than he already did.

he entered the holodeck

"Computer, load Melee Weapons training program. Five opponents, increase difficulty until I am bested. Start on easy. Armor: studded leather. Weapon: iron shod quarterstaff. Randomize opponents with an emphasis on heavy armor and weapons." He pondered for a moment "And I want saftey protocols minimized. No injury, but I want to feel getting hit"

[LadyTevar]

She sighed, looking down into her cup of chai. "I'm ... holding...," she said. "How're you doing."

"Getting used to everything that's happened." Thog replied, setting his hands on the desk, not touching her but wanting to. He noticed she was wearing new robes, looking somewhat more tailored to her than the normal Zion Cleric garments. "I've figured out what the Scepter's supposed to do."

"What is it?" she asked, looking up at him.

"It's our way home."

"Home..." she repeated, setting down the mug, leaning forward to touch his hand. "Part of me wants to unplug the HDD and toss it out the window..." she muttered.

"Part of me wants to stay here," Albert admitted to her, resisting the urge to hold her hand.

Leah straightened up a little, frowning slightly at him. "What.. what do you mean?"

Albert looked around the stateroom, anywhere but at her. "At home.. there's a stack of insipid political termpapers, all waiting for me to read and grade. One of them is suggesting that America would be better off if we went out and formed our own empire, like the British did centuries before. Eventually, there will be more to do, and one day I'll have my own teaching position, where I can do more of the same."

Leah looked down, thinking of what waited for her at home. "... I've ranted about my job often enough... Archiving decades of paperwork, digitizing it for easy access. Working with various genealogists who are just *positive* that their ever-so-great aunt just *had* to have a birth certificate, despite the fact the woman was born in 1815, at home, in the middle of winter."

"I could help them here," Albert said simply.

Leah looked up at him again, still disbelievingly. "How? The nulls nearly killed us, our powers did next to nothing to them! I threw my most powerful holy spell at them, and it just did hurt them."

"I know..." Albert answered. "It was just as bad when I fought Darek." And then he could have kicked himself as Leah suddenly looked stricken. No make Le-dra cry! Thog wailed in the back of his mind as he rose and walked over beside her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

She buried her face into his abdomen, the heighest she could reach while sitting down, wrapping her arms around him, level with his belt. "... why did he do it..." she asked, unable to cry, all the tears gone in last night's shower.

Albert stroked her hair comfortingly, trying not to think of where her head was resting. "He did it for you," was all he could say.

Leah's head jerked back, looking up at him with dry, sad eyes. "But why? I'm not worth it!" her head dropped back, and she hugged him closer. "... i'm not worth that...."

"Was he worth it," Albert said without thinking, the added to it as Leah looked up at him in shock. "How many times have you risked your life to help him?" he clarified.

Leah looked down, nuzzling against Albert before answering. "That's different..." she muttered. "That was in Zion... death wasn't permanent there... And I've done the same for you many times."

Again, he stroked her hair, thinking of the words to say. "It is Zion... it is a game," he said finally. "Death... isn't permanent in games."

Leah pulled away, once again forced to look up at him. "But you saw it! Yuffie, Darek... neither of them could survive that! There's no way to bring them back!"

"They're dead, yes..." Albert answered bluntly. "But in games.. how often do people stay dead?"

Leah blinked, her mind racing. A thought came to her, something that she thought Albert had told her once. "Good always wins... Evil always returns... and the first isn't always true."

"Right. And the more heroic the death, if there's no body..." Albert reminded her.

".... the dead come back, just when you need him most..." Leah breathed, a smile breaking over her face as she was given a breath of hope.

Leah Happy again! Thog crowed in Albert's mind, even as Albert wished that the smile was really for him.

[Charon]

Matthew slowly woke up. As comfortable as the beds were. There was still something... not quite right about them. He didn't like the idea of sleeping long anymore, not even on a safe haven like this. Matthew quickly got to his feet and slipped on his shoes, not bothering to get something to eat despite the starving feeling he had in his stomach. Matthew once again made his way to the medbay. His eyes almost immediately on Yuffie. The doctors were gone, which meant one of two things, they had saved her, or she was going to die. Matthew was tired of waiting. He needed to see Yuffie now.

He headed for the doors to the medbay proper, intent on getting to Yuffie. No one stopped him as he passed through the doors and stepped up beside Yuffie. Smiling he brushed a scared and rough hand down her smooth face, wishing that it was his hand and not this abomination that he'd become.

"I know you can't see me. But I can only hope you can hear me. I'm sorry that this happened, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to stop it. I wish to God that I had been able to. Maybe my own fear got in the way."

Matthew's hand slipped down to gently hold the young ninja's. "I think I love you Yuffie. I don't know, but, the time with you meant more to me than almost anything else I've done. I'd have given it all up to be in this world, imperfect and evil as it may be, to be here with you."

Matthew pulled out the PADD with his free hand and placed it down gently, slipping her hand on top of it. "That's the real me. Just, mild mannered Matthew Hielmer. I'm not a hero like you. I don't think I ever can be. I'm just a regular guy after all. What you saw in this... face... I dunno. But I can only hope I live up to it." Tears were beginning to fall down Matthew's face. "I promise you Yuffie. I'll do everything I can to stop this thing. Even to my dying breath, because it's what you did for me. To help someone you'd barely known, just because it was the right thing to do. I can only hope I can live up to what it is you saw in me. In this," Matthew touched his current face, "In that." Matthew gently grabbed her hand and ran it over the image on the PADD.

With that Matthew knelt down beside the girl he'd fallen for and prayed. He didn't know if it would work. He'd never been a very spiritual man himself. But right now he was willing to try almost anything.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Justin assessed his opponenents. One was wearing a chain hauberk, with a heavy kite shield, and open faced helm and carried a mace. Another was a 16th century German zwiehander. The others were a geonose crossbowman, an english knight on horseback from the 15th century, and a dismounted knight circa 1346 brandishing a halberd.

This was going to be fun.

The crossbowman was already loaded and brought his weapon into the firing position. He squeezed the trigger, but just as he did so, Justin moved out the way and the bolt missed.

The Zwiehander and the mounted knight charged. Justin fucked the swordstroke and broght his stff around on the Horse's right leg right on the knee. He shattered it, and the horse fell with a sickening whine and threw his rider.

The blow foced Justin to is knee and he raised his staff to block the strike from the German's massive greatsword. He redirected the force of the blow, and using the momentum from that, riposted, using the other end of the staff to strike the Inantryman in the side of the head, spattering his brain on the inside of his helmet.

Seeing this, the chainmail clad soldier, and the dismounted Halberder took up a defensive position. The one with the mace and shield in in front facing Justin, the Halberder behind, using the reach his weapon offered to hold the staff wielding psycho at bay

With a Knight slowly getting hp behind him, a crossbowman reloading behidn the two who still stood, and those two in that position. Justin was in for some fun.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Of course, by fun he was thinking earth shattering pain.

The knight was still getting up. His only hope was to take out the infantry. He moved toward them and attempted to hit the maceman in the head with his staff. The shield however kept him from getting close enough to do it safely and properly. He had to overextend which allowed the Halberder to bring his polarm down and wrench the staff from his fingers.

'Shit" ustin said. The infantrymen broke formation and flanked him. The Halberder thrusted with the spear end, and Justin oved out of the way. But he couldnt keep track of two weapons at once, let alone unarmed, and he was soon sprawled out on the ground, thanking his lucky stars that the saftey procols were on.

[Dark Silver]

The darkness lifted, and Doctor Crusher looked up at the blacked robed man, his green eyes sparkling for a moment. Her body burned, her senses where sharper than they ever were, and on the edge of her vision, if she concentrated just a bit, she could see into the robed figure.

Her eyes widdened at what she saw, and a moment later, her lips curled into a long, slow smile.

"I thank you, m'lord...." she said huskily, as she rose from her chair.

The figured watched her within the shadowy hood, he smiled, stepped back, and vanished.

The red-headed doctor ran her fingers slowly over the headrest of her chair, as if feeling the leather for the first time. She looked around her office, her hand dragging over the desk lightly, upsetting a small stack of PADD's she had placed there.

Her smile continued, as she stepped from her office, and made her way towards the critical care section, where the young ninja girl lay in a coma, dying. She felt the wellspring of power witin her, flowing through every fiber of muscle, every blood vessel. The ability to give life......

...or death.


She was intoxicated with this power, touching the foot of a patient laying upon a bio bed, the healthy vitalsigns suddenly flatlined, loud beeping was drowned out by the rush of energy she felt surge through her, adding to the energy already trapped within.

Orderlies and nurses rushed past her, none seemed to notice her, all drawing upon the now dead man, his flesh pulled taunt over his bones, necrosis already set in, and hisbody was converting to ash.

She stopped as she neared Yuffie's room, saw the young man sitting next to her bed, the PADD he had pressed into the dying girls hands.

She could releave both pains. His and the girls....

She stepped forward, her smile soft as she spoke to the man, "Hello...I'm Doctor Crusher..."

[Charon]

Matthew cut his prayers short, someone was talking to them. A doctor. Matthew wiped his eyes of the tears and got to his feet, turning to face the woman who'd spoken.

"So how much longer does she have left doctor?"

[Dark Silver]

"I think," Crusher said softly, moving to the bed. She could see Matthew's lifeforce, the gentle, vibrant pulse and color swirling about and within him. She felt a sudden hunger within her..a desire....

A need.

But no, she had something to do, she looked to the young ninja girl's body, the pulse of her lifeforce was dull, barely a glimmer. It would be so easy to touch her, take away the pain she's feeling. To let her sleep forever..to never feel the pain of this war....

But no, the young man..

"I think she'll be ok..." she said, touching the young girl's cheek, then her neck. The pulse of life, it would be so easy.

Then, she felt the energy flow from her, and Yuffie breathed in deeply, the wounds began to heal within her, and the color of life began to return to her flesh.

With horror, Crusher felt the sudden hunger well up in her. Such desire, such need, it was immediate, she broke her touch of Yuffie, and backed out, towards the door. She didn't wait for Matthew, making some excuse about being needed elsewhere, as she rushed out of the Critical Care Ward, and then out of Sickbay.....


So hungry...

[SirNitram]

Albert sighed after a long moment. "Let's go check on Matt." He rumbled after a while in the quiet. "He probably could use some smiling, familiar faces."

[LadyTevar]

Leah pulled away from Albert's embrace, nodding. "You're right. I wonder if he's even eaten..." she muttered as she rose to her feet. "Do you know the way to sickbay, or should we just ask the computer?" she asked Albert as she took his arm and walked out of the stateroom.

[Charon]

Matthew watched with hope as Doctor Crusher said that Yuffie would be ok. He was smiling again. Yuffie was going to pull through, she was going to be ok.

Then he saw what happened. The doctor touched her and Yuffie began breathing more steadily, color returned to her far too pale skin. A sickening feeling began to well up in Matthew's gut. This was wrong, this was all wrong. He didn't know much about Star Trek, but he knew damn well that what Crusher had just done was impossible for them. That if she had been able to do that before she would have. Something was wrong.

And yet... Yuffie would be saved. Would it be acceptable to deal with the devil just this once? To risk eternal damnation for the simple chance that Yuffie may live?

Then Doctor Crusher broke contact and ran away. Before she was done. Flimsy excuses were made, and Matthew could tell that something had gone wrong with Doctor Crusher during the use of whatever power she'd gotten. Matthew watched the woman warily as she left and then turned back to face Yuffie. Slipping his hand into hers again, frowning.

"What do I do Yuffie? There's a chance you can survive this but..." Matthew looked back at Crusher as she rushed out of the medbay. "It means making a deal with the people I just swore to fight to my dying breath."

Matthew sank to his knees and placed his forehead on Yuffie's hand. "Who'd have guessed salvation and damnation would come hand in hand huh?" Matthew smiled grimly.

[Dark Silver]

Crusher seemed to stumble down the mostly empty halls. The occassional crewmember saw her, but she just waved them off.

She was hungry, so hungry..the need was great within her. Just someone...

She could hear the thrum through the deckplates and in the air. It wasn't the gentle thrum and pulse of the Warp Engines at work, fusing Matter and Anti-matter, it was more alive, more emotional, more...sustaining.

She continued down the hall, slowly drawing towards the stateroom of the humans....

[LadyTevar]

Leah stepped outside the dormatory-style staterooms they'd been given, waiting and giggling slightly as Albert had to manuver Thog's bulk thru the doors. "You'd think that with all the beings in Starfleet, they'd expect someone as tall as you are..." she teased him.

[SirNitram]

Unaware of the life-sucking entity that had been Crusher, Albert walked along, stooped. "Eh, I guess most really were humans with funny foreheads.. Pity." He shrugged a bit. "Doesn't matter. Say.. Did you hear something?"

[LadyTevar]

Leah gave Albert an odd look. "No... why?" Then again.. what would be odd on the Enterprise, really?

[Agent Fisher]

Jack jerked awake. He had some how taken off his ACU jacket and was just sleeping in the pants and T-shirt.

He sat up. He rubbed his face, feeling stubble. He put his boots on, and walked into the bathroom. After spending a few minutes figuring it out, he finished his business and walked to the replicator.

"Computer, 3 eggs, scrambled, 3 sausages, 2 biscuts and gravy, large mug of coffee, regular, 2 cream, 3 sugar."

The replicator flashed and his breakfast was ready. He grabbed the tray and sat at the table, and began feeding his hunger.

[Dark Silver]

"Nurse Okiwa to Doctor Crusher" the voice followed after Beverly as she continued down the hall. She heard the door open, and she ducked to one of the pylons which extruded into the hallway periodically. The two people who walked out, thier lifeforce thrummed and pulsed rythmically to her, was music to her ears, to her new sight, they were...

"Beautiful..." the husky whisper slipped from her lips, as she began to move to them, straightening out as she walked, a smile plastered to her face, the hunger though, echoing in her eyes...

"Hello" she said gently, a slightly husky tone in her voice. She looked to Leah, then up at Albert, a lovely smile on her ruby lips.

[LadyTevar]

Leah jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of one of the crew members. "Oh... you scared me!" she exclaimed, before recognizing whom it was. "You're... You're Dr. Crusher, right?" Leah asked, as her brain supplied the knowledge that this woman was the mother of that twit Wesley Crusher. "Why aren't you in Sickbay? Is ... is Yuffie ok?"

The smile on the doctor face was... odd. So was the way she looked at Albert.. as if she was going to take him down and eat him up. Something woke in Leah, that little femininely possessive corner of the brain that made her clutch Albert's arm a little tighter, step a little closer in unconcious body-language of 'back off, bitch, he's mine'.

When Leah spoke again, there was a touch more coolness in her voice. "Is that why you're here, Doctor... to tell us about Yuffie?"