Book
2: All Star
By
Cory Parker
CHAPTER
ONE:
“Captain’s Log, stardate
53176.4. After a rather unpleasant
greeting by members of the former Jyinion Assembly military, we have come
across what appears to be the site of a battle, a battle where numerous ships
were destroyed. We believe that two
vessels have escaped, and we are currently searching for one of them. On another note, we are suffering from
massive systems failures. We’re having
loads of fun. Hopefully, nothing else
major will occur.”
“You have one hour of air
remaining,” stated the computer on board the tiny Jyinion shuttle. Princess Cimorene sighed and started to
bang her head against the bulkhead.
“Now sit back, and enjoy this flight’s presentation of ‘Have Custard,
Will Travel,’ starring J’San Bokep and Cerey LaHue.” The movie started on the main control panel. Cimorene started to bang her head harder.
“Why me?” she cried as she slumped
to the floor in defeat. “Why did the
Assembly have to fall right when I was going to take over? Why do I have to die in this tiny,
miserable shuttle that is showing one of the worst Jyinion films ever
made? WHY???” She started bawling her eyes out,
completely forgetting her princess training.
She started pounding the floor with her fists as the tears streamed out
of her crystal blue eyes. “I REALLY
hate it here…”
“ETA?” inquired Halloway.
“Four more minutes; we have the ship
on sensors,” reported Halvox.
“On screen.” The tiny red shuttle was motionless in the
void. “Life signs?” asked LaCroix.
“One, very faint. It seems that life support over there is
almost gone,” said Bannon as he examined his readings.
“Transporter room, as soon as we’re
in range, lock on the life form and beam it aboard. I’ll be down there to meet it.
Halloway out. Gabriel, as soon
as the life form is on board, tractor that ship into the shuttle bay.”
“Aye, sir,” responded the leathery
security chief.
“Sir,” asked LaCroix, “are you sure
that we should bring an unknown life form aboard? I don’t want to catch what passes off for measles around here.”
“Point taken, Commander. We’ll have Dr. Clinton meet us down
there.” Halloway stood and headed for
the turbolift. Rachel remained in her
chair. “Problem, Commander?”
“No, not at all,” she replied
sarcastically as the two entered the turbolift and went down to the transporter
room. Clinton was already there
waiting for them. He tried to hide a
laugh as his eyes fell on LaCroix. She
glared at him.
“Something funny, Doctor?” Scott coughed nervously and bit his lip.
“Uh…nope, nothing at all,
Commander.”
“Out with it!” she ordered,
startling Halloway.
“Um, well Commander, I just heard
this rumor that you and…um…”
“Me and WHO?”
“You and…Lt. Abbott were, you know…”
“WHAT IS IT!?!” she screamed. Halloway swore that he could see veins
popping out of her otherwise perfect forehead. Clinton closed his eyes and prepared himself for the coming
attack.
“You and Lt. Abbott were doing the
horizontal mambo!” he said quickly, as he held up his arms in defense. LaCroix pulled back her fist to deliver the
first blow when the transported began to hum.
All three officers turned and watched as a young woman in a tattered
pink dress materialized on the transporter pad. She was laying on the ground, unconscious. Clinton took out his medical tricorder and
began scanning her. “She’s disease-free,
but her heart rate is slowed. It’s
safe to deactivate the forcefield, Captain.”
Halloway nodded and motioned for it to be turned off. The transporter chief nodded and did so,
causing the air to briefly shimmer where the field had been. Halloway and Clinton rushed up onto the pad,
standing over the woman. Scott gave
her a stimulant, and she started blinking her eyes.
“Where…am I?” she asked quietly as
she attempted to stand.
“You’re on board the Federation
starship USS Haymaker. I’m Captain
Bobby Halloway.” Cimorene trust her
head up high and attempted to look proper.
“I am Princess Cimorene, heir to the
throne of the Jyinion Assembly. I
order you to return me to my homeworld at once!” she declared.
“Sorry to tell you this, Princess,”
spat LaCroix, “but your Assembly is no more.
So, in effect, we don’t take orders from you!” Cimorene arched one of her eyebrows at Rachel, but said
nothing. Instead, she turned to
Halloway.
“Captain, I must insist that you follow my
orders! As long as you are in my
space, I tell you what to do!”
Halloway shrugged.
“As
my…over exuberant first officer explained to you,” started Bobby as he threw a
glare over to Rachel, “your empire has fallen, and it seems that you are our
guest for the time being.” Cimorene
opened her mouth to argue, but she quickly shut it. She could recognize when she wasn’t going to get her way. Yet.
“Alright, Captain. I’ll do as you say. Will someone please show me to my lodgings,
if I am to be on board this vessel ‘for the time being,’” she echoed mockingly.
“Doctor, if you would be so kind as
to show our guest to some quarters?”
Scott nodded and motioned for the princess to follow him. She gave a quiet ‘haruph’ and strolled past
Halloway and LaCroix.
“Well, she’s a treat, isn’t she?”
snorted the commander as she followed Halloway out of the transporter room.
“Jealous, Commander?” asked Bobby
slyly as Rachel began to fume again.
Bobby grinned and headed back to the bridge.
Chief Engineer Monty hummed to
himself as he entered the main shuttle bay, followed by two of his engineering
staff. “Well boys,” he said to the
other two officers, both of whom happened to be female, “this is it, start
taking readings while I examine the interior.” They both nodded and started to work. Monty swaggered around to the back of the craft where he found
the main hatch. A simple touch on the
control pad caused the door to open with a ‘hiss’. “Avon calling,” he murmured to himself as he took a glance
inside. “Computer, adjust emitters to
allow me to enter.”
“Holoemitters adjusted. Grid displayed is area that you can remain
in with full cohesion,” said the computer’s voice as a yellow grid system
appeared inside the shuttle.
“Thank you.” Monty stepped inside and started scanning
the interior. When he approached the
pilot’s chair, he placed the tricorder onto a control panel. The interior lights flooded on as the
weakened batteries of the tiny craft began to receive power from a connection
to the Haymaker that one of the engineering officers had rigged up. The computers started to come back on
line. “Hmm…” pondered Monty as he looked over the control console. “Computer, what does this button do?” asked
Monty as he lightly pressed it.
“Self-destruct armed. This vessel with be destroyed in twenty kelnars.” Monty bit his lip as he thought of what to
do.
“Computer, how long is a kelnar?”
“A kelnar is twenty microkelnars.”
“Thanks for the clarification.”
“You’re welcome.”
Monty turned his head to face the open door.
“Hey, guys, this ship is about to blow to
smithereens, cut the power!”
Both the women outside tugged on the power
cord that connected the shuttle to the ship’s power. Tugging with all their might, it finally popped out, causing the
engineers to tumble to the floor.
Inside the shuttle, all of the systems were shutting down. “THANK YOU!” he hollered with a grin. “So, my little red friend, what could possibly go wrong
now?” Suddenly, the door behind him began
to close. “I guess that answers that
question,” he yelled as he ran and dove out of the shuttle, just barely escaping
before the doors shut. “Um, it’s your
ship now, ladies. I’m going back to
Main Engineering, where the warp cores roam, and the matter-antimatter
injectors play. Where I never heard a
discouraging word, and…”
“Go!” yelled the two engineers. Monty smiled and walked out the door.
=Asteroid Belt, Somewhere in Jyinion Space=
“Admiral?” Fallow turned and walked towards Mennol. The two were waiting inside an asteroid
belt in Fallow’s yacht.
“What is it?”
“Apparently, one of our shuttles escaped
the destruction of the ship. It is
emitting a weak homing device,” reported the Betazoid as he examined his
readings.
“Can you tell who it was on the
shuttle?”
“Not from here. We would have to get closer to…” Mennol’s
jaw dropped.
“What? What is it?” insisted Fallow as he tried to see what had stunned
his second-in-command.
“The…the shuttle is docked on board
that Federation ship we observed earlier,” he stammered. “Admiral, if the princess was on board that
ship…”
“I know what that would mean,
Mennol.”
“But how can we get her? That’s a Federation ship, Fallow. We just can’t barge in there and take
her!” Fallow suddenly grinned and patted
Mennol on the shoulder.
“Oh, yes we can. Contact the rest of my fleet. Tell them to come here immediately. If you can’t get the princess from the
Federation ship by negotiations, then we simply pound them until they do. We haven’t much time.” Mennol gave a sharp military nod and
proceeded to contact Fallow’s fleet.
Fallow’s grin widened. “We have
you this time, your highness…”
CHAPTER
TWO:
“Touch me again, and you’re a dead
man,” threatened Kerry as Scott stopped trying to stitch her back up. The two were in Sickbay, and Halvox was
ranting like a hyperactive child on speed.
Her left arm was a bloody mess, with three gashes traveling its length
and stopping at her hand, where two of her fingers were broken.
“Oh, it can’t hurt that much, ya big
sissy…” he muttered as he tried to continue.
“Quit squirming so much, or else this arm will end up shorter than the
other.” Halvox grunted and stopped her
excessive movement. “Now explain to me
again what EXACTLY you were doing on the holodeck?”
“I was just practicing my
self-defense training.”
“With the safeties off?” The Chief of Operations shrugged and rubbed
her forehead with her other hand.
“I get the most out of it that
way.” Dr. Clinton finished up his work
and patted his patient on her left shoulder.
She winced in pain and glared at him.
“Oops, sorry. That
arm will be a little sore for a day or two, so avoid using it, that’s an
order.” Halvox mumbled something
obscene and left. Clinton started to
put his tools away. He was walking
back to his office when the lights flickered off, plunging Sickbay into
complete and total darkness. Clinton
let out a yelp as he ran into a bulkhead, dropping his tray of tools with a
loud ‘clang’. He rubbed his head and
then tapped his communicator. “Clinton
to bridge. Sickbay’s lights just
switched off.”
“Sorry about that, Doctor,” came the
calming voice of Captain Halloway.
“Chief Monty tells me that more and more ships systems are failing. He’ll get to it when he can, Halloway
out.” Scott cursed under his breath
and fumbled through the dark as he searched for his fallen tools.
“Tell me that you are joking,” asked
Halloway. He was sitting in his ready
room, staring at Commander LaCroix.
“I’m afraid not, Captain. Monty said that with the current rate of
system failures, we will be at total system failure in a week.” Bobby groaned and stood.
“Computer, activate the EEH.” The air shimmered as Monty appeared,
looking unusually dirty and haggard.
“You’re not looking well, Chief.”
“Je ne me sens pas bien, capitaine,”
said the hologram as he brushed some of the holographic dirt off of his
uniform. Both Halloway and LaCroix did
a double take.
“What the hell did you just say?”
inquired LaCroix.
“J’ai dit que je me sens comme le
merde!” he replied exasperatedly.
“Chief, we can’t understand you;
you’re speaking in a foreign language,” said Halloway with a sigh as he plopped
back down into his seat.
“Tenez une minute, laissez-moi
executer un diagnostic sur mon programme.”
Monty froze as he checked his systems.
“Is this better?” he asked after a minute.
“Much. What was that, French?”
“Regretfully, Captain. It appears that my program has been
affected as well. Hopefully, we’ll fix
most of the problems, that is, if the remaining replicators don’t fail on us. I hate the French…” muttered Monty at the
end of his report.
“Commander, make these system
failures the ship’s number one priority.
I want every available crewmember, trained or otherwise, to assist in
the repairs. Hopefully, we will
weather the storm.” Suddenly, the
alarm klaxons started to blare loudly.
Very loudly.
“Self-destruct armed. This ship will self-destruct in 60
seconds,” trumpeted the computer over the wail of the sirens. Monty raised his eyes to the ceiling and
walked over to the wall.
“One moment.” He shimmered away as the two remaining
officers rushed to the bridge.
“Status!” ordered Halloway.
“The injector ports are frozen open,
an uncontrolled reaction is occurring within the warp core,” yawned Ensign
Bannon as he awoke from his nap. “I
recommend that we dump the core.”
“Not an option, Ensign, and wipe
that drool off of your chin.” Blake
removed the saliva with his sleeve while Halloway tapped his communicator. “Halloway to Monty, is it fixed yet?”
“Il
est presque… I mean, it’s almost fixed, Captain. Un moment…” The klaxons silenced as the room brightened. “Fixed, Captain.”
“Like I said earlier, Chief, fixing
the ship is our number one priority.
Get it done.”
“Aye sir, Monty out.”
“Never a dull moment, is there sir?”
asked Lt. Benn as she turned away from the conn. Halloway laughed slightly and rubbed his forehead.
“You’re not kidding, Lieutenant.”
CHAPTER
THREE:
Cimorene held her head high as she
exited the turbolift onto the bridge.
Heads turned as she took two steps out of the ‘lift (just like she was
taught), surveyed the crew (also taught), and turned and entered the ready room
with a sigh (you guessed it). Her dark
blue gown was rather small compared to her other dresses back on Jyinus, but
Cimorene figured that she would have to make do with what the ship’s
replicators had given her. Captain
Halloway stood, by Commander LaCroix, who was the only other person in the
room. “Your highness, have a seat,”
offered Bobby with a wave of his hand.
“Thank you, Captain Halloway.” She sat down on his couch, and stared at
him with the best puppy-dog eyes that she could muster. LaCroix laughed and rolled her own eyes as
she leaned against the bulkhead.
Halloway walked over and sat down beside the princess. “I must apologize for my attitude when I
came on board. I must have been
suffering from severe oxygen depletion.”
“Ha!” Halloway darted a quick glance at his XO, then focused his
attention on the princess.
“Captain, let me tell you about what
has been happing in the Jyinion Assembly.
For about 50 years now, my people…” Bobby started to tune her out while
he examined her body. The way her eyes
brightened up her youthful face. The
way her lips were as smooth as silk.
The way her dress hung off her slender frame, allowing her gigantic…
“Captain Halloway!”
“Huh? Oh, yes, please continue, Princess.” LaCroix now threw a glare of her own at the lustful
Halloway.
“I have been finished for the last
few minutes…Tell me, do all the males of your species act this way towards
females?” asked Cimorene as she turned to look at LaCroix.
“Regretfully, yes.” Halloway started to object, but he quickly
shut his mouth. He stood and stared
out his window, deep in embarrassed thought.
“So, Captain, what do you say?”
“To what?”
“To my request.” Bobby gritted his teeth and thought. What the hell had she said? He thought furiously as Rachel stepped
beside him.
“She wants to know if you will be
taking her back to Jyinus,” she whispered into the captain’s left ear. He gave a silent ‘ahh’ and turned back to
the princess with a beaming smile. She
returned it as she flashed her eyes at Halloway.
“No.”
“WHAT!?!”
“You will be staying with me until
we find out what happened to that other ship.”
“What other ship?”
“The one that we detected also
heading away from the battle site,” chimed in LaCroix. Cimorene crossed her arms and slumped down
on the couch. Crocodile tears started
to roll down her soft face.
“Way to go, now you pissed her off,”
mentioned Halloway softly to his XO.
“Look, I’m not the one who’s in love
with her!” she shot back.
“I am not!”
“Are too!”
“Not!”
“Too!” The two officers began to get louder and louder, ignoring
Cimorene and her faked anguish. The
louder Halloway and LaCroix argued, the louder Cimorene would bawl, as she
tried to regain their attention. They
suddenly stopped and turned when they heard the doors open.
“I came at a bad time,” stated
Gabriel after a tense moment of silence.
He turned to leave when Halloway rushed down to stop him.
“Not at all, Commander. What is it?” Both Cimorene and LaCroix quickly tried to make themselves
presentable.
“Captain, we have detected a ship on
a intercept course with us.”
“ETA?”
“Seven minutes.”
“I’ll be right there.” Gabriel nodded and left, his dark red frame
barely fitting through the door.
“Princess, I have to go to work now.
You are free to stay on the bridge and observe, but don’t touch
anything.”
“Haruph! I have better things to do that stay on your stuffy bridge all
day! I’m going back to my
quarters! When you are ready to take
me home, I will be waiting.” She stood
and walked out of the ready room, her head held just as high as before.
“Don’t hold your breath, Princess!”
shouted LaCroix after her. Halloway
arched his eyebrow and walked to the bridge.
“Captain, they are hailing us,”
reported Halvox as the two senior officers took their seats.
“On screen.” The view of the craft was replaced by a
stocky, gray-haired man who smiled warmly at Halloway. “I am Captain Halloway of the Federation
Starship Haymaker.”
“Jona Kene, regional…well, formal
regional magistrate of the D’Narin system.
The capital planet has been plagued by…a plague, I suppose.”
“He must not speak in public much,”
remarked Halvox.
“Since the government is in a state
of reorganization, we can not guarantee help from them. So, I have come seeking your help.”
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,
Magistrate, but the Jyinion Assembly has collapsed.”
“Oh, I’ve heard that rumor,
too. But have no worries, they will be
back on their feet again soon, I assure you.”
Halloway arched his left eyebrow in confusion as he glanced at LaCroix,
then turned back to Kene.
“Well, Mr. Kene, we are glad to
render assistance to your system.”
“Oh, thank you! I’m transferring a map of our space so that
you may find my planet.”
“You’re not coming back with us?”
inquired LaCroix.
“Are you kidding!?! I don’t want to catch that dreadful
disease! I’m going into retirement,
effective immediately! Good luck,
Haymaker!” With that, Kene disappeared
off the viewer. The red ship shot into
warp, leaving a brief streak of reddish light behind it.
“That was rather odd,” remarked
Halloway with a smirk.
“His fly was open,” stated Lt. Benn
matter-of-factly. The rest of the
bridge crew wisely didn’t make any remarks.
“Halloway to Clinton,” said the
captain as he tapped his badge.
“Clinton here. Sickbay’s still dark.”
“Monty’s working on it, Doctor. We are about to travel to a planet where a
disease is running amok. We need a
cure.”
“I’ll be more that happy to whip up
a cure, once my lights turn back on!”
“Use the main science labs if
necessary, Halloway out.” Scott could
be heard grumbling to himself as the computer cut off communications. “Miss Benn, bring up the new star
maps.” The Trill checked her console.
“They are not uploaded yet.” Halloway sighed and turned to look at
Ensign Bannon, who was asleep again.
“Commander…?” asked Bobby to
Gabriel. The security chief nodded and
calmly walked over to the science station, where Blake was snoring away. He slowly placed his mouth two inches away
from the ensign’s ear. By this time,
the entire bridge crew was watching in utter silence. Jenna could barely contain herself.
“RED ALERT! BORG ATTACKING!” roared Gabriel
loudly. Bannon woke up with a start,
his eyes wide open. He tried to stand
suddenly, resulting in a sudden tumble to the deck.
“Everybody run for your lives! The Borg are coming, the Borg are co…” He
fell silent as the entire bridge crew erupted in laughter. Even Lt. Comm. Halvox let out a bellow or
two. Lt. Benn was rolling on the floor
laughing her head off, nearly choking as tears streamed down her face. Bannon tried to compose himself as he rose
to his feet and sat back down in his chair.
“You awake now?” asked Gabriel with
a grin, patting Blake on the shoulder with a leathery claw. He nodded ‘yes’, and the Lt. Comm. returned
to his duty station.
“Uploading maps now,” reported the
ensign calmly. Halloway smiled and
turned to Lt. Benn.
“Miss Benn…?”
“Aye, sir. Course plotted.”
“Warp factor 7, engage.” The USS Haymaker entered warp, leaving the
sector of space that they were previously occupying empty. For about five seconds. A massive armada of Jyinion warships
suddenly dropped out of warp right where the Haymaker had been.
“Where is it?” asked Fallow
impatiently.
“It seems that they have entered
warp,” answered Mennol.
“I could have answered that one, you
fool! I mean, where did they go?”
“One moment, the computer is
calculating their heading…” Mennol was
thrown across the bridge as the panel exploded.
“What the hell?”
“Sir, twelve of our ships are
attacking the rest of the fleet!” reported the officer at Ops.
“Evasive maneuvers! Fire back! And pick yourself up, Mennol.
You’re setting a bad example.”
The Betazoid grumbled as he stood up, only to hit the deck again when
Fallow’s ship shook. He then leaned
himself against the wall, grumbling to himself.
“Forget that. I’m staying right here.”
“Sir, we have crippled five of the
traitor’s ships, but the other seven have gone into warp.” Fallow, his eyes blazing with rage, stormed
over to the reporting officer and grabbed his neck.
“Tell our fleet to follow them,
after capturing the crippled ships,” he said through clinched teeth. The unfortunate officer struggled to speak,
but all that escaped his lips were gasps.
Fallow cursed in Jyinionian as he let go.
“I’ll get right on it, sir,”
stammered the officer, who rubbed his neck as he quickly walked away. Fallow pinched the bridge of his nose in
annoyance.
“Good help is so hard to find these
days…”
“Fallow, what about the Federation
ship?” The admiral turned and looked
at his second-in-command, who was still sitting on the floor.
“We have traitors to deal with,
Mennol.”
“But we can track the ship…!”
“Not until we destroy the
traitors. Is that UNDERSTOOD?” Mennol picked himself up and nodded his
head. “Good. Once we repair our ships, we’ll be on our way. Besides, there are only so many places that
they can go. What, you think that they
are going to get lost?”
CHAPTER
FOUR:
“Where the hell are we?” Captain Halloway and Lt. Benn were in
Astrometrics, examining the map that Kene had given them. They had been there for the last 30
minutes, trying in vain to retrieve the map from the computer.
“Frankly, Captain, I have NO
idea.” Bobby frowned as he sat down at
the main terminal.
“I really don’t see what the big
problem is. We had the course laid in,
then suddenly, the warp engines cut out for a minute or two, and now you’re
telling me that you don’t know where we ARE!?! What kind of navigator are you, anyway?” Jenna suddenly frowned, her spots becoming
enveloped in her blonde hair.
“Look, CAPTAIN, it’s not my fault
that the map is faulty. Why don’t you
just stop somewhere and ask for directions??”
“Listen, LIEUTENANT, I am not going
to stop for directions! That’s why
you’re here!”
“What is it with men and not
stopping for directions? Tell me, is
it some pride thing or what?”
“Haven’t you been a man before?”
“That was a long time ago, and my
other hosts didn’t like to talk about him.”
“HIM!?! You mean, you’ve only been a man once?” Jenna folded her arms and turned her back
to Halloway.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe? What do you…wait, wait, wait.
This is getting us nowhere.
Let’s just assume that the map was correct.”
“But it wasn’t…”
“ASSUME, Lt. Benn! If it was CORRECT when we loaded it into
our main database, then what happened to it?”
“Well, while we are assuming, we
might say that Mr. Kene wasn’t as trustworthy as YOU assumed him to be!”
“I ASSUMED nothing! I was just trying to help out a species in
need, a.k.a. the details of our job!”
Through all this bickering, neither of them had noticed Lt. Comm.
Gabriel enter. He watched the scene
for a moment, then walked up between them.
“Ready room, take two…” he mumbled
as he handed Halloway a PADD.
“What is this?”
“Status report from Monty on the
ship’s systems. He says that we have
less time than we thought.”
“How much less?”
“About five days, give or take an
hour.”
“Why couldn’t you just tell me this
over the comm system?”
“It’s off-line.” The captain rubbed his forehead and sighed
loudly.
“Okay, this is what we are going to
do. Jenna, you remain here and figure
out where we are and where we should be going. Gabriel, go to Engineering and check on their progress. I want it in detail. I’m going back up to the bridge and…say,
since you’re down here, who’s in charge?
Commander LaCroix?”
“She’s off-duty, sir. It’s Lt. Comm. Halvox.” Both Benn and Halloway dropped their jaws
in horror.
“You’d better hurry, Captain. God knows what the other bridge officers
are going through,” said the Trill seriously.
“Point taken, Lt. See ya.”
With that, Bobby rushed out of the Astrometrics lab.
“I’m off to Main Engineering,
Lt. Say, what were you two arguing
about when I walked in?”
“Just a run-of-the-mill pissing
contest, Commander.” Gabriel arched
his eyebrow as he tried to visualize it.
“That would have been interesting to
watch,” he remarked as he left. Lt.
Benn ignored him as she set to her work.
“Where is that damned REPORT!”
screamed Halvox to the hapless Ensign Bannon.
She had the science officer backed in a corner, while the remaining
bridge crew sat in terror, watching with unblinking eyes.
“Um…uh…um…” Blake tried to find the right words, but he
was so flustered by Kerry’s badgering that he kept forgetting what he was going
to say. The half-Hellian continued to
back the young ensign into the bulkhead, causing him to cower in fear.
“LIEUTENANT!” Halvox whipped around to see Captain
Halloway standing behind her, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. If looks could kill, Kerry would have been
dead in seconds. It didn’t faze her a
bit. She merely blinked and walked
over to her station, where she casually checked the sensor readings.
“Captain on the bridge,” she
announced quite plainly. Halloway
sighed and helped the terrified Bannon to his feet.
“Are you okay, Ensign?”
“Mommy…take me home, the clowns
frighten me…please mommy…”
“Ensign?” It was becoming clear to Bobby that Mr. Bannon was not at all
well.
“Please sir, may I have some more
gruel? Just a little more…”
“Ensign Smith, if you would take Mr.
Bannon to Sickbay, it would be most obliged.”
The female nodded and softly grabbed Blake’s right arm. He was still mumbling to himself as he was
lead into the turbolift. Halloway then
turned his attention to the now subdued Halvox. “Lt., a moment.”
“Yes, Captain?”
“You sent that poor boy over the
edge, and now you are calmer that a puddle! What the hell is the matter with
you?” whispered Halloway.
“I’m going through the ‘Hon’Du,” she
whispered back.
“What is that, exactly?”
“The Hon’Du is what Hellian females
have every month once they reach maturity.”
“But you are only half-Hellian.”
“True, but with Human/Hellian
females, the chemical imbalance is sometimes a bit…overpowering.” Halloway thought for a moment.
“I thought that you were always…you
know…pissed?”
“Yes, and usually my Hon’Du is less
noticeable. But every few months, it
kicks into overdrive. Simple fact of
my biology.”
“So, is there any treatment for it?”
“No.”
“Oh. Okay then. How long
does this Hon’Du last?”
“A few days, a week at most.”
“Well, try not to yell at anybody
again, okay?”
“Aye, sir.” Halloway, satisfied with her answer, turned and took his
seat. Kerry appeared as calm as
ever. If an officer had entered the
bridge at that moment, they would have thought that everything was normal,
except Lt. Comm. Halvox was actually smiling.
Lt. Benn soon entered and took her place at the conn.
“I retrieved the rest of the map,
and have plotted a new course,” she said as she turned to face Halloway. He smiled and mouthed ‘See, I told you
so.’ Jenna huffed and turned back to
face the viewscreen.
“Let’s get a move on, then. Miss Benn, if you would be so kind?” The Trill tapped the engage button rather
hardly, sending the USS Haymaker into warp.
CHAPTER
FIVE:
Cimorene sat down in defeat once
more. “Stupid hair! Why can’t you be as beautiful now as the
rest of me is all of the time?” she asked out loud. Her quarters were too bare for her tastes, but they would have
to do for now. She was already late
for the dinner appointment in Captain Halloway’s quarters, but she had been taught
to keep potential suitors waiting at least 10 minutes, and the captain was kind
of the same as a suitor. Kind of. After another few minutes of fiddling with
her auburn hair, Cimorene finally let it go down with the tiny curls at the end
that she had always had, ever since she was a little child on Jyinus. Her mind suddenly flooded with memories of
her homeworld. Her palace, her
subjects, her father, all came back in a myriad of imagery. She quickly snapped out of it, and wiping
the wetness that now surrounded her eyes, she stood and prepared to leave. “Remember, in order to be successful, you
must project an image of success,” she stated to herself as she walked out into
the hallway and towards the cabin of Capt. Halloway.
Bobby Halloway smiled and hummed along to the music that softly filled
his quarters as he waited for his guest.
He checked the clock by his bed once again, and it still showed that she
was late. Although this was only a
formality, Bobby secretly hoped that she would show. The ring of the doorbell answered his question. “Come in,” he called out. The doors swished open, revealing Cimorene,
decked in a tight, dark red dress that only went the length of her knees, and
then not by much. Her hair dangled
over her shoulders, where two thin strips of fabric kept the dress from falling
away. Bobby pretended not to notice
and stood. “Thank you for coming, your
highness.”
“Thank you for inviting me into the
private area that you call ‘home’. It
is an honor, Captain Halloway.”
“For the purposes of this dinner,
you may call me Bobby.” He helped
Cimorene take a seat across from his chair.
Two lit candles stood in the middle of the otherwise bare table.
“Then you may call me Cimorene,
Bobby.” The captain nodded and walked
over to the replicator.
“Computer, dinner selection
Halloway-67.” Two plates of food,
followed by two empty glasses and a bottle of wine materialized. Bobby smiled and grabbed the plates first,
then returning with the wine and glasses; he proceeded to pour the crimson
liquid.
“What is this dish called, Bobby?”
“Chicken Alfredo a la Halloway, old
family recipe. The replicator doesn’t
do it justice.” Cimorene placed a bit
in her mouth and chewed it tentatively.
“Very…delicious, Bobby. Your ancestors were excellent cooks.” She then raised the glass to her lips, and
taking a rather large sip, nearly choked and spit it out. All over Halloway. He calmly took his napkin and tried to
clean the wine off of his clothes and face. “Oh my…I am so sorry, Bobby.
Please forgive me. It’s just
that this…drink is rather strong.”
“That’s all right, Cimorene. No permanent harm done. There’s more dress uniforms like this one…”
he muttered as he completed his wiping.
The princess looked truly sorry.
“Don’t the Jyinions have fermented beverages?”
“Is that what this is? We do, but I have never tried one
before.” Bobby’s eyes lit up like
wildfire.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. I am truly sorry about your uniform.”
“It’s okay, really. Just enjoy the rest of your meal.” She nodded and the two of them finished
their meal in relative quietness. For
the rest of the evening, the talk was normal diplomatic chitchat, little white
lies, and general bulls**t. Soon the
clock chimed 0100 hours.
“Goodness, Bobby. I seem to have forgotten my manners. You need to get to bed. You work and I do not.” Her brilliant smile flashed as she got up
from the couch where the majority of the evening had been spent. Bobby rose and followed her to the
door.
“It’s was a pleasure, Princess. Please come again,” he said as he leaned
against the frame of the door.
Cimorene flashed her smile again and headed down the hall, the edge of
her skirt flaunting with Halloway’s imagination.
“I’ll do so.” He watched her until she turned the corner,
then he went back inside and plopped on the bed. He immediately fell into deep slumber, with one thought on his
mind: Cimorene butt naked.
Dr. Clinton shook his head as he
watched Ensign Bannon slept in a biobed.
He had to sedate him heavily when he came in, and Scott made a note to
talk with Lt. Comm. Halvox about possible treatments to her raging
hormones. While he was on the subject,
he made another note to ask Blake what he meant by ‘Do I make you horny,
baby’. He said it multiple times to
Nurse Jessing, which disturbed both the nurse and the doctor, because Nurse
Jessing first name was Brian. “And I
thought LaCroix was bad…” he said to himself as he worked on Bannon’s medical
report.
“I’m going to get some sleep,
Doctor. Good night.”
“Good night, Mr. Jessing.” Mark nodded and walked out of Sickbay,
leaving Scott alone with Blake. A
suddenly scary prospect, considering the ensign’s current mental health.
“Well, at least the lights are back
on.” As soon as he finished his
sentence, Sickbay was plunged into darkness.
“Oh, great…” Scott got up and
headed over to check on Blake, only to find that he was gone. He turned around to see the sickbay doors
close. Scott grabbed the nearest
hypospray that he could find and dashed off after the wandering science
officer.
“Look at all the colors…” Ensign Blake Bannon danced through the
halls of the Haymaker, humming to himself while grasping at thin air. Several crew members looked at him oddly as
he continued dancing through the hallways.
“Watch out people, medical
emergency, coming through!” yelled Clinton as he hurried through after
Bannon. He finally caught sight of him
heading into the mess hall. Following
him in, Scott ducked as a cherry pie flew three inches from his head,
splattering against the bulkhead.
Blake was merrily throwing all the food he could replicate at the
diners, who started to leave in food-covered droves. The doctor crept along the floor, inching closer and closer to
demented science officer. Just as he
was about to jump him, Blake turned and fired a banana cream pie at his
face.
“Gotcha, doc!” he cried with
glee. Scott suddenly leapt at his
knees, tumbling the two of them to the ground. He quickly injected Blake with a sedative, and once he was
soundly asleep, Clinton rolled off of his patient and caught his breath. He picked himself off of the pie-covered
floor, and wiping bits of cherry off of his face, grabbed Bannon by the arm and
began to drag him back to Sickbay. “I
don’t get paid enough for this…”
CHAPTER
SIX:
“We have arrived, Captain.” Halloway stood as the Haymaker entered
orbit of the plagued planet.
“Thank you, Lt. Benn. Halvox, hail them.” The Ops manager nodded and pressed a few
buttons.
“I have Governor Jessen LaGran on
the wire, sir.”
“Good, patch him through.” A young woman sat at a table on the
viewer. She looked only about 30 or 35
years old, but she was clearly suffering from the epidemic. Her red hair was matted down with sweat
across her forehead, where a series of small, horizontal ridges protruded. “Hello Governor, I am Captain Bobby
Halloway of the Federation Starship Haymaker.
We had heard that your people were experiencing an outbreak of some sort
of virus.”
“You are correct, Captain
Halloway. Over 75% of my people are
infected with this…BULEH!” Commander
LaCroix turned away as Jessen vomited behind her desk. She wiped off her mouth gently with her
sleeve. “I apologize for that. As you can tell, I have fallen victim to
the disease myself.”
“How many fatalities are there?”
“Fatalities? None, just constant…oh, no…” The screen blanked out for a moment,
leaving only the sound of continuous vomiting transmitting over the comm
channel.
“That is the most disgusting virus I
have ever witnessed,” commented Rachel, who looked like she needed a space
sickness bag herself. Bobby patted her
on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure that Dr. Clinton will find them a
cure. Halloway to Clinton.”
“Yes sir?”
“Have you been examining the
transmission we have received from the planet?”
“Yes, and frankly sir, it’s
disgusting. I would need a sample from
one of the victims in order to synthesize a cure, but it shouldn’t take more
than…oh, I’d say, two hours, at most.”
“We’ll get you a sample ASAP. And, by the way, how is Ensign Bannon?”
“He wandered off earlier, but I
caught up with him in the mess hall.”
“When will we see him on the
bridge?”
“As soon as he wakes up, and cleaned
up.”
“Cleaned up? What happened?”
“Just a little food fight,
Captain. I’ll call back once I’ve made
a cure. Clinton out.” By this time, the governor was back on the screen. “Ah, Governor, we need a sample of the
virus.” She produced a small paper
bag, which was closed at the top.
“Will this much do?” As she sat the bag down, a small trickle of
green ooze squirted out of the soaked bottom.
“Oh
God…Now I AM going to throw up…”
LaCroix quickly headed for the turbolift, covering her mouth with her
right hand.
“Why they didn’t invent toilets on
the bridge, I’ll never know…” inquired Halloway rhetorically. “Miss Halvox, lock on to that…bio-matter
and beam it directly to Sickbay.”
“Yes, sir. Transport complete.”
“Governor, we will be getting back
to you in a couple of hours.”
“Thank you, Captain, for all
your…UMPH!” She threatened to hurl
again, but Lt. Comm. Halvox cut the communication.
“I have had just about enough of that,” she murmured as she started her other duties. Commander LaCroix re-entered the bridge, looking a little worse for the wear.
“Better, Commander?”
“Not really. Did we get the bag of…um…”
“Phlegm?” suggested Benn.
“Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. Phlegm.”
The Trill nodded and focused on the conn.
“Dr. Clinton is analyzing it as we
speak. If I were you, Rachel, I’d
steer clear of Sickbay for the next few hours.”
“No objection there, Captain.”
=Somewhere in Jyinion Space=
Fallow stormed into his ship’s brig
with a scowl on his face. Mennol
followed closely behind him, mentally scanning his mind and trying to keep
Fallow’s anger in check. “Drop the
forcefield,” he ordered bluntly to the guard standing at the controls. The air hummed for a brief moment as the
field fell and the admiral and his second-in-command walked in. The lone occupant, a young male with dark
skin, hazy eyes and short, wavy hair stood to face them. “Rothgar, I should have known that it was
you. Why did you and your ‘supporters’
attack my fleet? WHY!?!”
“Because you want the old way back,
Fallow. My men and I want a new
government, one run by the people of this once great Assembly. No more control by aristocrats or
dictators. The people have overthrown
the old regime because it was crumbling!
I am not the only one who believes this, Admiral! We have supporters on every world in every
system, and we will prevail! Your
fleet is nothing compared to the power of the Jyinion people. We simply want to be a democracy, and live
in peace.” Rothgar held his head high
with pride as Fallow contemplated his words.
“You know, Admiral, the young man
does make sen…” That was as Mennol got before Fallow produced his disruptor and
disintegrated Rothgar without a word.
“You were saying, Mennol?” inquired
the admiral as he replaced his weapon.
“Never mind.”
Mennol shook his head as he followed his leader back to the bridge.
CHAPTER
SEVEN:
On board the USS Haymaker, the one
place Dr. Clinton didn’t want to be was Sickbay. Unfortunately for him, he was the chief medical officer and one
of only two medical personnel on board (well, three, if you counted the EMH,
but Clinton was worried that if activated, he would be so sufficient that Scott
would be out of a job). “This is the
most disgusting thing I have ever had to do in my entire career…” mumbled the
doctor as he took a sample of the vomit out of its primitive container and
placed it underneath a scanner. Nurse
Jessing looked on with mild disgust.
“Hmm…”
“What is it, Doctor?”
“This virus…It’s not formed like a
normal flu virus.”
“What does it look like?”
“It’s…not normal, that’s all I can
tell you. Let me run a simulation on
this to see what the ultimate effect is on humanoid tissue…” Scott scanned the
bag with a tricorder, then he plugged it into a computer port. It took seconds for the computer to analyze
the data and display the simulation.
“Mild vomiting first 24 hours, increased vomiting for the next 48
hours…” Both medics’ mouths dropped when they saw what popped up on the screen
next.
“My God…Can it really do that?”
inquired Brian.
“Um, let me run another test.” The same result happened again. “Oh, no.
Nurse, put that stuff into quarantine now and begin synthesizing the
antigen. I need to warn the
captain.” Jessing nodded and hurried
to his work, while Scott dashed out the door.
In Main Engineering, Monty thought
he had died and gone to hell. Over 35%
of the ships systems had failed or were failing, and the rate was
increasing. “Have I ever mentioned how
much I HATE the French!?!” he yelled loudly to nobody in particular. Lt. Abbott ran up to him and handed the
hologram a PADD. “What the hell is
this???”
“Status report, sir.” Monty rolled his eyes and tossed the PADD
across the room.
“No time for fancy reports,
Abbott. It’s crunch time, every
engineer’s nightmare. Tell me the
contents of that PADD in fifteen words or less. You have ten seconds.”
Monty started to count while Lt. Abbott’s mind raced.
“In less than three days, all major
systems on this ship will have failed…Chief.”
“Fifteen exactly. Good job, Lieutenant. Every system?”
“Every single one, sir. Unless we get to a starbase before the warp
drive gives out.”
“Or we replace every single system
using our replicators.”
“Right.” Monty gritted his holo-teeth and rubbed his head. “Headache, Chief?” inquired Abbott.
“Yeah, just a…wait a minute, I’m not
programmed to feel pain! Computer, run
diagnostic on EEH.”
“EEH program failure in t-minus 5
seconds, 4…3…” Monty’s form began to
flicker and fade.
“Computer, close EEH and save
program in unaffected memory,” ordered Abbott as the countdown finished. Monty disappeared with a frown on his
face.
“Program saved,” reported the
computer after a tense moment of silence.
Lt. Abbott sighed and continued his repairs.
Captain Halloway smiled as he
surveyed the bridge. Lt. Benn was
casually checking her system every ten minutes while she played a game of
checkers with the computer. Lt. Comms.
Halvox and Gabriel were enjoying a lively conversation, and Commander LaCroix
was busy checking her eye makeup.
“Well, so far so good, eh?” he asked rhetorically. Just then, Scott burst out of the turbolift
and ran up to Bobby’s seat.
“Captain,” he said through heavy
breaths, “That virus down there…In less than 6 hours, every person infected on
that planet will be dead.”
“What!?! Are you sure?”
“Positive. I checked and double-checked the results. Nurse Jessing is preparing the antigen as
we speak, but we need an awful lot to fix all 4 billion of them.”
“How long until we get enough of the
cure replicated?”
“Well, if nothing goes wrong, in
about three hours.”
“So we have three hours to
administer it to the masses. No
problem.” Without warning, the lights
on the bridge went out.
“Big problem,” muttered Clinton.
“Halloway to Engineering. Monty, what the hell is going on down
there?”
“Lt. Abbott here, sir. Monty’s program had to be shut down because
of computer core failures.”
“Where are my lights?” The red emergency lights flickered to life.
“That was fast,” exclaimed Halvox.
“I’m sorry, Captain, but systems are
failing all over the ship.
Astrometrics, transporters, replicators…”
“Helm,” added Lt. Benn as the conn
control panel went dark.
“Wait, did you say
‘replicators?” Scott’s eyes were wide
with panic.
“Yeah, they just went out two
minutes ago.” The doctor turned to
Halloway with a look of terror.
“Captain, if we don’t get that
antigen, all of those people will die.”
“And speaking of dying, the ship’s
heading is stuck going towards their sun, half impulse. We’ll be destroyed in less than ten
minutes,” reported Jenna.
“I hate the French,” exclaimed Kerry
with a frown.
“Ditto,” added Gabriel.
“Well, it looks like we’re screwed
now, Captain,” remarked Rachel casually as she continued to fiddle with her
hair. Bobby rubbed his forehead and
sighed deeply.
“Oh, boy. Is this fun, or what?”