Sub-plot - Shifters - (Everyone who signed up)

[Evangeline Irvine]

UGAP was becoming more and more of a problem. They were diligent in blaming R4 for all the strife they were causing with their rifts and fluxes throughout time-space. Every time R4 tried to strike out at them, UGAP found some way to twist the story to their advantage and make it out to be a deliberate attack from the terrorists--terrorists!

Whenever Eva heard that word used to describe R4, her blood boiled. Who were UGAP to go and point the blame at them? It was their own damn fault that all this was going on! How dare they use R4, a respectable association in it's own right, as their scapegoat? It was cruel and pointless, and because of it too many lives had been lost.

Like the Henry Blake situation. He'd had to fake his own death when UGAP found out about his fundings of R4. They'd kept him safe for a few years now, but UGAP had found out about him regardless. When he'd wanted to go back to his home to clean the place out, his own son had been there to stop him from getting away with anything. Multiple good R4 members had been killed that day.

But not all hope was lost, R4 still had a chance against UGAP. Especially with the breakthrough their scientists--specifically the genetic engineers--had made. They'd created a new life-form. When Theo had first taken Eva to see them, she hadn't exactly understood what the slimy humanoid shapes were supposed to have been. But one of the scientists had explained that they were something called shapeshifters.

These creatures would be able to take the form of any person they saw, and in taking any said person's face, they would also receive their memories. Thus a plan was born to send several of these shifters aboard the Venia--one of UGAP's main vessels--and have them knock out and take the form of members of the crew. Then, when a sufficient strike-team had been assembled, she herself would patch in a fake distress signal from the UGAP headquarters, and that was when the fun would start.

Seated safely in her bunker, Eva waited impatiently for the Venia to arrive. She'd stationed the shifters out of view behind some packing-crates, and once the ship landed they'd stow themselves on board. Before much longer her wait was over, and she sat forward on her seat, watching the screens in front of her fixedly.

"All right, troops," she murmured, flicking on the comm, "Remember what you're here for. The objective is to get inside, steal the faces of the crew, and then wait for my distress signal. Oh, and, please, don't forget, you want to knock the crew out, not kill them. Not just because we're above them, but because we'll need a reason for the government to want to take the Venia out."

What was the point in this? Could they even understand what she was saying? Her eyes snapped up again as the Venia's loading-ramp lowered. That was their cue. "Time to move out. Best of luck." They were going to need it.

[somerandomhippie3]

With a spring in her step, Julia waited anxiously for the steps to lower. Sure, being on the Venia was nice, but there was really no place like home. She'd bundled up some art supplies and Nicaule, and was planning on taking both back to her flat. It was a long thing, high up and with sweeping windows. It was lovely to wake up with, and made the best view for painting. Perhaps she'd even left herself some good tea to steep up quick.

As soon as the loading ramp lowered, Ni gave an anxious rumble, and shoved her way out of Julia's arms. She frowned. Normally, the cat loved sitting in her art case for a ride, simply poking her nose out along the way. Chasing after the cat, she rounded a corner, and was quickly clotheslined.

~x~

A large form, which could only be described as slimy, checked to make sure she had been knocked out when she'd whacked her head on the ground. Yes. It placed hands on her temple, and slowly began to melt.

It melted, running down itself and into it's form again, until it finally settled on something identical to the woman laying cold before it. It scrunched up it's forehead, then nodded. It seemed to be thinking, which was a bit of a new process for it. Now that it actually had memories to think about, the whole thing was rather more enjoyable.

Stowing the body nearby for someone to hide in a better fashion, the thing picked up the art supplies, totally ignoring the bristling cat in the corner. It brushed itself off purposefully, and walked back up the ramp with confidence. It had a job to do.

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam had the day off. This was a rareity, as he was usually in the kitchen from about 5am through till 8pm, then he got two hours to himself before collapsing into bed and starting the whole process again. But after a great cry of 'freedom!' the previous night, he slept for about eleven hours straight - sleep? Comatose was more like it - and woke up the following morning feeling great. This was going to be a good day. Nothing could spoil it, nope.

A quick shower made him feel refreshed, and he dressed before heading to the mess hall - someone else could cook him breakfast for once. Alex fried a mean bacon sandwich, and coupled with a glass of OJ, it left Sam feeling entirely satisfied.

Now, what was he to do with himself?

[karen5]

Sitting back, Eva watched as the shifters hastily made their way toward the ship. Only one of the crew was prepared to leave the ship already, and she was quickly taken care of. Eva sighed as the shifter carelessly left the woman just to the side of the ramp, hidden enough not to be easily noticed but still easy to spot if you happened to be looking.

"Hopefully they won't be this sloppy when it comes to the actual job they have to do," she sighed, pushing back. She was fairly sure she could leave for a minute without anything too terribly out of order happening, and so, heaving a sigh, she got to her feet and left the bunker in order to retrieve the woman before she awoke and blew this whole operation.

Sean yawned and stretched out on his bed, grumbling in annoyance. Despite his exhaustion, he simply couldn't sleep--hadn't been able to all night. If only they'd stopped off on Delta Prime--then maybe he could get some time off at home to unwind. He wasn't sure why he was so stressed--it wasn't exactly like he had anything to be stressed about. Perhaps it was just the underlying tension he'd felt about the ship since Natalie and Will seemed to have fallen off the map.

Deciding he might as well go and get something to eat, if he was awake anyway, he rolled off the bed and left the sleeping quarters. He'd only made it maybe half-way to the mess hall when something made the hair on the back of his neck prickle uneasily. Pausing, he glanced around, but aside from himself the hallway was empty. He made to move on when he heard something move behind him.

Whirling around, he came face to face with the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. It was some sort of monster, lacking a face--lacking distinguishing features of any kind. The thing, whatever it was, took a swing at him and he only just ducked in time. It then brought a knee up to meet his face, and he cried out in pain as he fell to the floor.

Sean wanted to call for help--how the hell had this thing gotten on board?!--but before he could make a sound, the beast had descended upon him, closing it's hands around his throat. Choking and gagging, he twisting futilely in an attempt to break free, but it's grip was firm and unbreakable.

Black dots were blurring his vision now. He could barely see for them. The lack of oxygen sent his heart into a flurry, and his brain began to close down on him. He couldn't fight anymore. Accepting death was all he could do. There was so much in his life he wished he could have done better; he wished he could have met his parents, and smoothed things over with Silk. But he wouldn't get the chance now. Everything was disappearing.

The last thing Sean saw was his own face, grinning sadistically down at him.

After dragging the woman through the shadows and getting her into the bunker, Eva had tied her up and then left her off in a corner. She'd wake up soon enough. Straightening up, she turned back to the computer screens--and gasped loudly when she saw what was happening. One of the shifters was strangling a man, and that man...

Sean Irvine. Her brother.

"I said not to kill anyone, you moronic lump of slime!" she shrieked frantically into the comm, gripping it tightly enough that her knuckles turned white. But she was too late. Cussing, she kicked her chair and sent it toppling to the ground. She'd never even gotten to meet him. And now he was dead.

Pulling herself together, she tapped into the comm system again. "Don't you ever"--the word came out as a venomous hiss--"disobey a direct order again." Closing her eyes for a moment, she sighed and then picked up her chair in order to seat herself in front of the monitor. "At least have the decency to clean up after yourself, then. Make sure no one finds him."

[Sam O'Connor]

A walk, that's what Sam had decided on. Wandering around aimlessly would help him to think about what he actually wanted to do with his day. It was ridiculous really, his first day off in two weeks, he could have sworn there was tonnes of stuff he wanted to do with his time, but the constant cooking and slaving in the kitchen had made his mind run blank. Wonderful.

He was ambling along, thinking about how maybe he could go back to his room and search for some new recipes on his computer when he saw the most perculiar sight. There was Sean, the ship's resident interrogator lying on the floor with his eyes wide open, with, uh, Sean, the ship's resident interrogator standing right over him, tugging at his jacket.

What the hell?

Was he seeing double? Was there a strategically placed mirror somewhere in the corridor playing mind tricks with him?

"Oi!" Sam said loudly, slowly beginning to realise that the Sean on the floor wasn't breathing. As he drew closer, walking cautiously, he could also make out the red marks around Sean's neck. He'd been strangled, presumably, by... himself? He kept his mind focused, prepared to use his powers if need be, approaching the other Sean who was wearing an uncharacteristically malicious grin. "What's going on?"

[karen5]

The man--his name was Sean, according to the memories--was dead, and the new Sean smirked. The woman, as all the shifters referred to her, was screaming in his ear, but he didn't care. He'd taken a life, and he felt powerful because of it. There was was no need to have done so, but now that he had, he knew he could, and he wasn't afraid to do it again if he had to.

Her grating voice still buzzing in his ear told him to hide the body, and with that he couldn't argue--he had to keep up the facade. Glancing around, he spied a closet and made to hide the body in there. Before he could, however, a voice spoke up behind him, and he glanced back at a tall, thin man with prominent ears.

"By God... it's Sam," the woman murmured, her voice stunned. But he'd already known the man's name--Sean had heard it before, by eavesdropping on the crew's thoughts. "Say something!" her voice snapped. The shifter rose to his feet and faked a very convincing expression of disgust.

"This... this thing with my face attacked me. I managed to kill it, but I don't know what it's doing here. What do you propose we do with the body?"

[Sam O'Connor]

Wanting to be sure, Sam edged forwards and crouched down, taking Sean's already cool wrist between his thumb and forefinger - there was no pulse. Oh, this is definitely not a good day. Not at all.

The Sean that was stood in front of him was silent for a moment, and he could have sworn he heard that buzz of another voice from somewhere, but then it went quiet again. He must have been hearing things. Then he spoke, and Sam couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me?" he said, his Irish lilt thick from the shock of the situation.

"We take him to the infirmary," he said, even if he was dead, they'd know what to do with him there. And then, Sam was still suspicious about this situation. Who was to say that the Sean on the floor, the dead one, wasn't the real one, and that the one in front of him wasn't the fake? The biosign detectors in the medical bay would be able to tell straight away.

"Come on, I'm going to need your help," he said, wanting to keep both Sean's together, but also because there was no way he would be able to lift the body by himself, not without using his powers (which would have made it SO much easier).

[somerandomhippie3]

With an eager expression, the Julia shifter poked it's head around the corner. Ooh, look! One of them! All shifters could tell their own kind from others, most of the time. Others smells could get in the way, if they weren't paying attention, but most times it was easy enough to tell. He was hauling a human away, with another human standing there. It bounded out, ready to help. Maybe, if he was good, the woman would promote him. Or something like that.

"Oh, no!" it called, in a higher voice than it was used to. It coughed self-consciously, then continued. "Do you need some help? Here, let me help..." It grabbed onto the human's legs, and started hauling. "Where do you want to take him? Is there anywhere to take him? I don't really know. I'm Jessica-- uh, I mean, Julia." It held out a hand, dropping a leg, then quickly picked it up. "What are we going to do?" It looked to the other shifter, bouncing on the spot.

[temp]

T.E.M.P moved slowly down the ramp and raised an eyebrow at the situation. They hadn't seemed to realize she was there. She remained quiet for a moment before raising a finger.

"Crewmen. What seems to be the problem?" she moved over to the group and spotted the body. With the same face as one of the crewmen. It was the face of Sean Irvine. She glanced around at the people around her.

"What is going on? You claim he is a copy?" she had overheard the whole conversation. She pushed Sam out of the way and aproached the body. "A visit to the medical bay will not be needed. I have an inbuilt scanner." she informed the group.

Her eyes flashed as she scanned the body. It took only moments before she came to her conclusion. It was no copy. It was Sean Irvine. Her mouth formed her first word before she froze. A large flowing figure stood, hidden, just inside the loading hatch. It's hands were placed on what appeared to be a holoprojector. They rippled and began to shrink as the entity was absorbed into the panel.

T.E.M.P's avatar fluctuated for a few moments before she recovered. She straightened her body quickly. "It is a copy. It's DNA does not correspond to that of a human."

[karen5]

The shifter wearing Sean's face could sense Sam's distrust, and knew that he'd probably guessed at the truth by now. He was prepared to knock the human out if he had to, but then one of his own came charging over, wearing the face of the ship's psychologist. It began rambling, offering help and stuttering slightly through an introduction.

"Yes, we know who you are," he said with a nod, gripping Sean under the arms and preparing to carry him to med bay, whether or not Sam agreed. But it was then that another voice spoke, and he glanced up, frowning. It was the medical computer system, T.E.M.P. An inbuilt scanner? This plan of the woman's was going down faster than you could say, "fail".

But sensing another one of his own behind him, he knew that not all hope was lost--they could take T.E.M.P.'s form, and Sam would be none the wiser. He resisted the urge to smirk when the tampered-with avatar confirmed that the late Sean Irvine's body was indeed actually a "fake".

"Of course it is. Look, Julia, T.E.M.P. and I can take the body to med bay for further examination, and then I should probably be the one to go and tell the captain. You can head back to the kitchen and get something prepared--the crew's likely going to need something to steady their stomachs once they find out about this."

Not that they'd find out the truth...

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam wasn't stupid, he could tell that something really rather dodgy was going on here, but short of pinning them all to the ground with his powers and screaming like a girl for help, there wasn't much he could do. Also, it was sort of hard to pin a hologram down, even if she had just barged him out of the way moments ago. He'd resisted whining like a child.

Having the situation taken out of his hands, he merely nodded and waited for them all to disappear around the corner. Heaving a sigh of relief, he slapped his hands to his face, murmuring something about how this was a terrible, terrible day. Then he heard something.

Were his ankles purring?

Peeking out from between his fingers, he saw Ni, Julia's cat, weaving her way around his ankles, covering his jeans with fur. Phew. Crouching down, he tickled her behind the ears. "Hello there." Yes he was talking to a cat. She looked up at him with her large eyes, then trotted off around the opposite corner. He stood curiously for a moment, and was surprised when she looped back to him, rubbing up against his leg again and a loud meow before vanishing around the corner again. Did she want him to follow him.

MEOW. Uh, maybe that's a yes.

Sam trailed after her around the ship's corridors before he was eventually brought to the docking bay - that's when Ni disappeared altogether. Peering to see where she had got to, he was suprised to find a small bunker there. As he approached, a flash of blonde hair launched at him, dragging him inside before he had any time to react, locking them both inside.

"What do you think you're...

... Eva?"

[somerandomhippie3]

With a sigh, the shifter wearing Julia's clothes relaxed as it noticed one of it's species standing in the doorway. That could have been horrible. It beamed at the hologram- TEMP, it was called- in relief.

"Well, good thing nothing happened!" it exclaimed. "That could have been horrible. Why, it might have hurt you!" It thought it was pulling off the sweet attitude of this face rather well. It was actually kind of refreshing. "I'm so glad you're safe," it patted Sean's impostor on the hand. It then explained the plan, and Julia nodded eagerly. It liked calling itself Julia. It gave him a sense of identity, a sense of home. It liked that. " Sounds like a plan," it chirped. "I think a nice cup of hot chocolate will help calm everyone down after such horrible things like this." It started out.

"Kitty!" it suddenly exclaimed, spotting the cat. It jogged over. "Oh, Ni, are you OK? You poor kitty..." The cat glared, moved away from the petting hand, and instead went to twine around Sam. Julia felt slightly heartbroken. It liked cats, cats were soft and furry. It sighed, and trotted off down a hallway. Now, to find the kitchen.

~x~

With a groan, Julia- the real one, mind- blinked furiously. Good thing it was dark. Looking down, she smiled blearily at Ni, who was twining around her ankles. She reached down to pet her, then discovered her hands were tied behind her. They, in turn, were tied to a chair, as were her ankles. Oh, fun. Espionage.

"I wish I was a cat somedays," she confessed to Ni, mostly to make sure her voice was still working. She wriggled against her bonds. If she had enough time, and remembered enough of her yoga, she could potentially be out within the hour. Then she could see what was going on.

[temp]

The being that had infiltrated T.E.M.P's systems smiled to reassure Sam before kneeling down to grip Sean's body. With a firm pull she slung his form over her shoulder and followed the others to the med bay.

The being liked being the hologram. It was interesting. It was so used to being organic that a thing of technology was a complete new way of exsisting. It was still trying to get to grips. The hologram was strong and that it liked.

[Evangeline Irvine]

This is almost as bad as watching a suspense film, Eva noted, on the edge of her seat as she stared blankly at Sam's face on the monitor. He'd been such a nice kid, she'd even considered him a friend. But he was working for UGAP. How was that possible? Why would he even consider doing that? She couldn't understand. It just didn't make sense.

She watched as two more of her shifters entered the scene, and they smoothed over her brother's murder. Ignoring the slight twinge of loss, she watched as the one wearing Sean and the one wearing the woman tied up behind her carried his body off. They'd tapped into the Venia security system by then, and she watched Sam as he bent down suddenly to pet a cat.

With a stifled yelp, Eva realized that the cat had been with the woman she had in the bunker, and that it was clearly trying to show Sam where she was. Sam would follow it, of course. That meant that she'd have to get him in here before he could call back to them for help. She could help him far more than they could--she'd be able to bring him into the light.

Glancing back at the still unconscious woman in the corner, she shrugged and made her way outside, stepping behind the bunker in order to take Sam and that wretched cat by surprise. Before long she heard footsteps, and a soft meow hit her ears as the cat wandered into the open bunker after it's owner.

After a moment of pause, Eva sprang out, latching onto Sam and pulling him into the bunker with as much force as she could muster. Once he was inside she spun around, slamming the door shut and locking it before spinning back to face him. He looked almost galvanized, and she crossed her arms, just as she had that first day they'd met almost a decade ago.

"I think I'm trying to help you, Sam," she said simply, frowning as she took him in. He'd grown up well, if she was going to be honest, though his ears were still more prominent than most. "What in the world do you think you're doing, working with--" she broke off at the sound of movement behind her.

Whirling around on her heels, she found the woman was waking up, and she went over to see if she was all right. She didn't want this plan to go down because one of the targeted died of a brain hemorrhage or something. Glancing back at Sam, she waved him over. "You know her, right? Try to keep her calm when she comes back around all the way. This isn't the best place for a panic attack."

She then went back to her monitors to see how the shifters were doing...

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam's mouth hung open like the docking bay of a ship, open to all vessels. Of all the people in all the worlds in all the Universe, he had not expected to see Eva again. Well, he had hoped that maybe one day he would, she'd been a good friend that day back on Beta Cygni when they first met. And, she had grown into a beatiful young woman, just like he'd imagined she would.

He made a strange sound which was like a combination of an indignant snort and a confused chuckle. "Help me? What?" He felt the urge to cross his arms as well this time, seeing as he'd just been taken hostage, and his eyes flitted around the bunker - she had surveillance on the Shifters... was she part of R4? No way. "What do you mean what do I think I'm doing working for the UGAP," he asked, filling in the end of her sentence for her, "are you working with R4?!"

He would disregard the fact that he was only a chef for now.

Sam hadn't noticed Julia there at first, so turned at the sound of her voice. Oh wow. He did indeed scamper over as Eva went back to the monitors, and began tugging at Julia's bindings. They were locked in here anyway, what harm would it do? Ni rubbed up against his legs and back, tickling him as he tried to get Julia free. "Hey, hi," he said to both Julia and the cat, "are you okay?" The bonds were strong and fiddly, Sam struggled to make any leeway with them.

Sitting on the floor properly, he continued to fiddle as he glanced over at Eva. "Working for the bad guys? You know, I never would have guessed that in a million years. If you see the shocked expression amiss from my face it's because the disappointment is too strong." Usually, he wasn't this judgemental, but he felt almost betrayed by the hopes he had for years being squashed by the single fact that she worked for the terrorist organisation that had killed thousands of people.