That night was not a restful one for Jane, and she highly doubted that any member of her crew had gotten a good nights sleep after witnessing the chaos during game before. Jacob's body had been cleaned and then transported to the medical center where the commander had requested to do an in-depth examination of the body. Jane had gladly obliged and left him to do his work as she went about her duties to solve the issues the murders had brought on the ship.

Jefferson's body along with the two medical officers Jacob had killed had been sent off into space through the air lift- the medic with the decapitated limb passing shortly after admittance into the med center. There was no funeral. No service to commemorate the dead.

Her crew had gone about their duties in quiet shock, as if a blanket of blank acceptance had fallen over them, each of them quietly aquiecensing to the fact that four of their crew members had died the night before. None of them knew the reasoning behind Jacob's actions but instead of questioning the matter they went about their duties with a somber attitude. The games seemed to have cast a shadow over everyone aboard the ship as they conversed in whispers, all smiles wiped from their faces.

Jane exited her room and headed towards the bridge; she had to keep up the allusion that all was well in the ship and that the conflict had been taken care of and so out of necessity had spent the night in her room to show that sleep was possible. She had contacted the Star Fleet in order to report the deaths; four crew members dying in a tragic accident. She left the details blank.

The door swept open in front of her from a wave of her wrist and Jane stepped out onto the bridge. Her crew snapped to attention and Jane quickly released them at set them at ease with a brief command. Triss nodded her acquiescence from her corner of the bridge and stood to welcome her.

"Captain," her second in command stated, her yellow eyes examining Jane's appearance with precision. "Were you able to sleep?" She asked with concern.

Jane offered her a wane smile, thinking that even if she could sleep she wouldn't have been able to last night. The realization that anyone on her ship at any time could suddenly become affected was a nightmare to behold. She had rewatched the game and had found the exact time when Jacob had become affected; when his face first became blank and had begun walking down the hallway not caring of the noise he was making.

"I'll be fine. You however, deserve to get some rest. I can take over from here." Jane said, noticing the stress etched across Triss' green face. Her shift the day before had been majorly elongated as Jane had avoided her duties in order to spend time with the commander and experience the games.

After the event Jane had taken control and let Triss get a few hours of rest before she herself had step down and take her break in order to sustain from arousing suspicion. She should be exhausted; she had just fought for two hours before and then she had to deal with the death of four crew members. Jane doubted that Triss had been able to actually rest during her few hours off based on the sallow discoloration of the scales beneath the Treshiss' eyes.

Triss nodded her thanks and swept past her on the bridge, her short red skirt swaying as she descended the stairs. Jane turned her attention in front of her as she waved up her many screens and began to work, an unsettling feeling of doom resting over her head.

Time seemed to pass slowly as she watched their course progress to the outer regions of space towards the Time Gate while she multitasked finding more results of the affected throughout the many planets. She became so enthralled in her work that she didn't notice the commander enter the room. not realizing that he was there until he stepped to her side.

"How did your investigation go?" She asked.

"There were some things that I found that might be of interest to you." He replied in his deep baritone voice.

"Really?" Jane asked, turning to look at the commander. He stood slightly behind her as he watched the screens over her shoulder, wearing his tight uniform and blue captains shirt, his black hair styled into fashionable curls, the bandage that had covered his temple the day before removed. Though his eyes were clear and well focused Jane could make out the darkened bags beneath that told of his sleepless night.

"Upon my examination of his brain I came to the conclusion that all of the pain receptors and nerve systems had been shut off, along with the digestive and immunitive systems. However, his memory and other body functionings seemed to be perfectly in tact."

"So the 'affected' is incapable of feeling pain, fighting off disease, or eating- but has full access to any range of movement that they were capable of before."

"So if they were good at hand to hand fighting or shooting before they were affected, while in the affected state they will be able to access those talents in order to further them in their purpose of destroying everyone around them."

"Sounds pleasant."

The commander responded with a grim smile before his eyes flashed to the screens behind her. "Have you been able to find anything?"

"Only that the affected have been spreading all across the galaxy, and presumably the entire universe- the results of which just suddenly disappear."

"Interesting," he stated, pursing his lips in contemplation.

"Do you think that everyone just forgets the existence of the affected after they die?"

"I suppose we will soon find out. Have Jacob's body constantly monitored by camera and see if anyone starts to forget about the events of last night."

Jane nodded and turned to began typing out her instructions on the screen. "Wouldn't that be nice," she stated tartly, thinking of how favorable it would be if the garish memories were just wiped from everyone's mind and they all forgot about the murders.

After setting the cameras to record the body that was still located in the medical center- its decency respectfully kept under a thin white sheet- Jane noticed an irregularity through her screens. She peered at the crew member that had caught her attention; it was the Lestradeck that she had talked with only a few days before. Ezekiel's three fingered hand was paused in the air, his body not moving, the back of his large white head facing her. Suddenly he lurched out of his seat and turned around, his bug-like eyes open wide, his face devoid of all emotion. Jane felt her stomach drop as she stared in anticipation.

The Lestradeck lunged forwards, hands outstretched to the nearest red-shirted crew member, his sinewy three fingers gripping around her neck in an iron-like grip. Jane shouted and leapt into action, literally leaping off of the bridge and rushing towards Ezekiel, her heart sinking in realization that she was witnessing another one of her crew becoming affected.

She reached Ezekiel and grabbed his slender shoulders to wrench him off of his poor victim, the commander quickly joining her side to grab his flailing arms. Together they wrestled the crew member to the floor as Jane shouted out commands for the security guards to be called for.

The security guards were quick to arrive and handcuff the Lestradeck's arms behind his back, wrenching him upright as his legs flailed wildly in the air. His blank expression was very disturbing to see as he writhed and twisted in an attempt to escape.

"Once you get him in a cell tie him up so that he can't move- I don't want him to be able to do any damage to himself," Jane commanded to the security guards.

The two men in the brown shirts nodded and wrenched the Lestradeck's writhing body away and towards the elevator. The control room was left in absolute silence, the sudden act of violence too distressing to comprehend.

She looked around at her crew's confused faces and saw how they were unable to register what exactly had occurred; Ezekiel had never harmed anyone before and his sudden attack was distressing. She clenched her fingers, unsure of what to say in order to alleviate their concerns as their questioning eyes all made their way to rest on her. Perhaps she could say that Ezekiel had snapped due to the stress of witnessing the murders the night before, but saying such would only make her feel worse. Ezekiel was now dead as well, his body affected by the colliding universes because of the Time Gate.

"Back to work," Jane commanded, feeling shaken but relieved that she hadn't lied. Quickly her crew jumped back into motion as they began furiously typing at their screens once more, too afraid to make eye contact with her after her demand. She knew that they would still question what had made Ezekiel attack, but now they knew that couldn't turn to their captain for answers. Jane solemnly walked back down the row towards the bridge, the commander following close behind.

Once on the bridge she went straight to her screen, noticing urgent messages splayed across them. Reading through them quickly she learned that there had been another attack on her ship, one of her hangar workers had begun attacking his fellow crew members, injuring a few of them before finally being stunned- he was now being transported to the cells.

"Your cells will only be able to hold a small amount of affected before they become overrun."

She felt her stomach lurch in response to his ominous words. Overrun. Meaning that there will be more, much more. Her ship overrun by the affected.

Jane swung to face the commander, who had been reading the messages over her shoulder. "And what do you expect me to do instead? Kill them?"

He stared at her gravely, the corners of his lips pulled into a frown. "They are already dead- what's left of them is a killing machine. It's safer to put an end to them now rather than to store them and wait for them to kill us later."

"If we begin killing my crew we will have a mutiny on our hands."

"Then do it discreetly."

Jane paused, disgusted by his suggestion yet understanding the intention. "Don't you believe they can be fixed?" She said softly, her voice layered with a quiet hope. "Once we reach the Time Gate and put everything right?"

The commander clenched his jaw as he stared at her resolutely. "Our main goal is to survive long enough to reach the Time Gate intact, and if that means killing the affected before they kill us, then so be it." His voice was deep and gravelly, his intonation revealing how utterly convinced he was of his statement. "We have several days left, we should leave nothing to chance."

Jane swallowed roughly, understanding the basic need of survival. She knew that if worst came to worst she wouldn't hesitate to fire off a deadly shot that would keep herself or her crew alive, but until then she was determined to keep the kill count to a minimum. There was still plenty of space left in the cells for more of the affected.

She noticed something appear on her screen from the corner of her eye and turned to see another urgent message splayed across a screen, its design different from the ones of the attacking hangar worker. She realized with a start that it was a request for a conference call, from the Admiral.