TITANPRIZE CORRIDORS
"This was all an experiment?"
Al asked as he and Lt. Commander Jericho walked down the empty halls.
"So it seems. A few days
ago, we entered a dark cloud," Jericho explained. "From what I could gather,
the entire crew was knocked out by an energy surge that enveloped the ship.
We were transported away, and when we awoke, we were on a holodeck designed
to emulate the WWF Titanprize, complete with pre-programmed crew. Everyone
was sent to a different holodeck. Luckily, the scientists conducting these
experiments weren't very careful with the personalities they programmed
into the holocrew. Guess they thought we'd be too stupid to figure out
something was wrong…"
"Well… I was wondering
why Foley was being NICE to me…" Al said. "But what tipped YOU off?"
"I just KNEW," he said.
"Now… we have to find out how to get out of here," he held out a tricorder,
and ran it along the walls, "Got it!" Jericho put his hand against
the wall… then pushed it THROUGH the wall.
"How did you do that?!"
Al asked.
"Everything is a hologram,
Al," Jericho explained. He moved his hand again, and the walls of the Titanprize
fell away to reveal a yellow and black hologrid. He went up to a panel
on the wall and opened the holodeck door.
"LOOK OUT!" Al shouted, and
pushed the Y2J Unit down as phaser fire just skimmed past the door.
Jericho pulled out his own
phaser and fired blindly down the hall. The shooting stopped, and
Jericho carefully stuck his head out the holodeck door. It seemed to be
all clear, "I guess they don't like their experiments escaping. Come on..."
he said, and pulled Al out into the hallway.
The two looked up and down
the corridors. It looked like the Titanprize! "We're on our OWN ship?!"
Al sputtered.
"They got access to the Titanprize
systems," Jericho explained.
Al tapped his comm badge,
"Counselor Snow to Captain McMahon..." There was no answer.
"This way, Al," Jericho said,
and headed to the turbolift, "Engineering, deck 5..." he ordered the computer.
The turbolift quickly complied. When the doors finally opened on deck 5,
Al and Jericho were taken aback, "What the HELL?!"
Deck 5 had been all but destroyed.
The floors and walls were blackened with phaser burns and even the back
up lighting was fizzling out.
Jericho ran towards Engineering.
It had succumbed to the same fate. Wires were spewing out sparks, and the
air smelled acrid. A thick fog of smoke hovered over the floor, and the
warp engines barely pulsed with energy.
"Is THIS how they got control
of the ship?!" Al asked.
"They got through our shields."
Jericho said. He looked towards Counselor Snow, who seemed to be listening
for something, "What?"
"Shhh... H.E.A.D. senses something..."
Al said, and slowly walked to a loose jefferies tube panel, "In here!"
he began to remove the panel.
"Wait!" Jericho shouted, and
grabbed Al's shoulder, "Get behind me..." Counselor Snow did so. Jericho
held up his phaser, and quickly kicked the panel away, then aimed the phaser
into the jefferies tube.
"Don't shoot!" a voice called
out.
Jericho crouched down and looked
in the jefferies tube to see Ensign Edge and Ensign Christian cowering,
"Get out of there!" he commanded.
"Ok ok! No need to go totally
postal on us. Can you... uh... put the phaser away, man?" Ensign Christian
asked.
Jericho rolled his eyes, and
held the phaser at his side, "Let's go..." he said, and cleared the way
for the cocky Kanatians to crawl out.
"Ugh... my hair so totally
smells like smoke," Edge whined as he stood up.
"And I'm all covered in dirt...!
This is SO not good for my complexion!" Christian added.
"How did you two get in the
jefferies tube?" Al asked.
"Oh! Well... Christian was
showing me this wicked cool facial cream he replicated..." Edge began,
then realized Al and Jericho were getting impatient, "Anyway, we wandered
into Engineering then must have totally blacked out or something... 'cuz
when we woke up all these fashion DON'TS were hanging around, firing at
some of the other Engineers. I saw the panel, and..." he shrugged.
"And... you and Christian hid
and let the others fend for themselves," Jericho finished for him.
"Well… DUH. What else would
we do? I mean... we didn't wanna mess up our good looks with phaser burns!"
Ensign Christian said.
Jericho shook his head, "Maybe
I
should mess up your good looks..."
Edge's eyes went wide, "No
way! You wouldn't!"
"Oh how I would!" Jericho replied,
then began to walk away, "Let's see if we can find some weapons in the
cargo bay. There's no way ONE phaser is going to work against these...
whatever the heck they are..." The four headed into the turbolift, "Cargo
bay 3..." Jericho ordered.
Something was nagging at Counselor
Snow. He and Jericho had just been in Engineering... but there was no sign
of Stephanie. On top of that---
"Hey, Al... you're all spaced
out. What's wrong?!" Christian asked.
Al's thoughts were interrupted,
"Huh? Wrong... oh..." he looked at H.E.A.D. then turned back to Christian,
"Nothing..." he said, "Nothing's wrong. H.E.A.D. and I are just trying
to make sense of all this..."
"Well good luck, man. This
is so TOTALLY lacking coolness!" Edge replied.
***
WWF TITANPRIZE - BRIDGE
The bridge had remained untouched.
Nothing was out of place, but it was empty, "Where IS everyone?" Al asked.
"Still stuck on the holodecks.
I'm going to do a ship-wide scan. Maybe we'll find some answers," Lt. Commander
Jericho said, and went up to an ops station.
"Wait..." Al began, "You mean,
I'm the only one you freed from the holodeck simulations?"
"Well... you were the first
holodeck I came to, Al..." Jericho replied.
"So... you were roaming the
ship before you found me then..."
"Well... yeah..."
Al furrowed his brow, and conferred
with H.E.A.D., "Good point. I'll ask him..." he said to the inanimate object.
"Chris... if you were already roaming the Titanprize when you found me,
how come you were as surprised as I was when the holodeck doors opened?"
Jericho looked at Al, and blinked.
After a moment, he spoke, "Well, I just...." Al aimed his phaser at the
Y2J Unit. Jericho took a step back, "What are you doing, Al?"
"And why did we go into Engineering
first?" Al asked, "Shouldn't we have come HERE first?"
"I wanted to see if the warp
engines were working..." Jericho replied, "Besides... we found THESE two..."
he indicated Edge and Christian, "Put the phaser down, Al..."
"Speaking of Engineering, after
seeing the carnage there..." Al smiled, and looked at H.E.A.D., "JR taught
me that word," he said proudly, then turned back to Jericho, "Anyway, after
seeing the carnage there, you didn't once ask about Stephanie. The Jericho
I
know WOULD have!"
"Why would I care about Commander
McMahon? Her and I don't even get along. We HATE each other..."
"If Jericho saw Engineering
in ruins, he would worry about Stephanie!" Al's grip on the phaser tightened,
"You AREN'T Jericho!" Al said, "So who the hell are you?"
Jericho raised his hands defensively,
"Al,stop this. Put the phaser away..."
"Answer me, damnit!" Snow shouted,
"Or I'll fire!"
"Wait a sec, if you're not
Jericho..." Edge began, then smiled, "I can do THIS and not be reprimanded
for it!" Before Al could make good on his phaser threat, Edge speared Lt.
Commander Jericho painfully, "That's for stealing my awesome hair style,
you reekazoid!"
"Oh kick-ass, dude! You just
totally speared that holographic Jericho! You SO reek of awesomeness!"
Ensign Christian said, and high-fived his brother.
Al turned his phaser on Ensigns
Edge and Christian, "And who are YOU?!"
Edge and Christian raised their
arms quickly, "Woah... Al! It's US!" Edge said.
"How do I know it's the REAL
you?!" Al asked.
"Uh... well..." Edge scratched
his head, "I dunno..."
"Maybe we should ask who YOU
are? I mean, you can be you, but not you... you know?" Christian replied,
then smiled and nodded, proud of his point.
Al rolled his eyes, and lowered
his phaser, "You MUST be real. I don't think our observers could get your
annoying personalities down that well..."
Edge smiled, "All right!" He
paused, "Hey, who are you calling annoying?!"
"Never mind. What happened
to you guys?" Al asked.
"Uhh... well... exactly what
Edge told you. We were hanging out in Engineering and came under attack
by some badly dressed dudes..." Christian explained.
"I guess that was the situation
they put you guys in to see how you'd react," Al replied. He looked at
the unconscious Lt. Commander Jericho, "He must have been partly telling
the truth then. He said this was an experiment or something. That we were
trapped on some holodeck,"
"Think we're still there?"
Christian asked quietly as he looked around the bridge suspiciously.
"I don't wanna be trapped on
some mirror-less holodeck by some weird scientist-types!" Edge fretted.
"H.E.A.D. says you're a total
lamer," Al muttered.
"What?!" Edge replied, "I am
SO not a lamer!"
"H.E.A.D. says you are..."
Edge glared at H.E.A.D. "I
am NOT a lamer! You're lamer then me! Actually... you're lameitude to the
max! In fact, you're a total lame-azoid!"
Al looked at Edge, "You DO
realize you're talking to H.E.A.D., right? I mean... you know they only
talk to and understand ME, don't you?"
"Fine. I don't care. They can
talk to you all they want, because I'm not talking to THEM!" Edge pouted,
"A lamer... hmpf!"
"Yeah! No one calls my brother
a lamer!" Christian piped up.
Edge looked at his brother,
"Chrisitian... you're TOTALLY defending me!" he sniffled, and put a hand
to his chest, "I'm touched. Really touched, bro!"
"I'll always defend you, Edge,
your my brother, man!" Christian replied.
"You're my brother too, man!"
Edge replied.
The two brothers looked at
each other for a moment, then broke into smiles, "Alright! We just had
a total bonding moment!" Christian replied, and high-fived his brother
again.
"Bonding moments RULE!"
"Enough of this!" Al snapped,
getting annoyed, "We have to get out of here..." Al looked at the holographic
Jericho's unconscious form and stepped over it, "Well, at least it wasn't
ME jobbing this time!" he muttered, then headed out into the holo-Titanprize
corridors, Ensigns Edge and Christian following closely behind.
***
HOLOGRAPHIC TITANPRIZE CORRIDORS
"What?" Al asked.
"Huh?" Edge started, "We didn't
say anything!"
"Not you... THEM..." Al indicated
H.E.A.D. "They say there's a door nearby," Counselor Snow went up
to a wall, and placed a hand against it. "Here?" he waited for an answer,
then pushed his hand through. He tugged at something... and saw the walls
of the Titanprize melting away to reveal a holodeck. In front of him was
a door.
"Woah," Christian whispered,
"That's a totally cool trick, Al!"
Al sighed and opened the door
carefully. The three Wrestlefleet officers quickly walked through.
***
ELSEWHERE - CONTROL ROOM
"How did you get out!"
"What are you doing here?"
"You're supposed to be in
the holodeck!"
"Where are the rest of my crew?"
Counselor Snow asked the strange creatures that stood before him. He aimed
his phaser at them, wondering if it even worked outside of the holodeck,
"Where are they?! I demand you free us and return us to our ship!"
"Yeah, or else... I'll hurt
you!" Ensign Edge chimed in, and took an attack stance.
"Yeah! I'll hurt you too, man!"
Ensign Christian added.
"The experiment is a failure.
The escaped android and his doctor friend have already freed the rest of
the crew..."
Al lowered his phaser slightly,
"Doctor friend? You mean Dr. Taker?"
"Yes. The dark one..."
Al frowned, "Jericho and Taker
freed the rest of the crew but not US three?"
"We are sure he was coming
to you three next..."
"Yes. He must have been.
The ship has not left orbit yet..."
"Yeah... suuuuure they were
coming for me!" Al shook his head, "I don't get any respect, you know!
Here I am, assigned to look after their mental well being, and they act
like I'm some sort of lunatic who..." he paused, "I am NOT a lunatic!"
he snapped at H.E.A.D., "Shut up! Why are you so mean to me!? You should
be grateful you have a job! Without me, you're nothing but a piece of plastic!"
another pause, "What do you mean without YOU I'm nothing but a crazy psycho?
I am NOT crazy! Am not!.......... NOT! NOT I say! I am
NOT CRAZY!" Al shouted.
"Please! Return these three
to their ship! IMMEDIATELY!"
"Yes sir!"
Al was still arguing
with H.E.A.D. as he and Ensigns Edge and Christian were quickly beamed
back aboard the Titanprize.
***
THE SMACKDOWN
"How'd you escape, Taker?"
Counselor Snow asked as Dr. Taker sat beside him at the bar, surveying
the establishment with his cold grey eyes, no doubt wondering who would
be next in his sickbay suffering a hangover.
"I realized it was a hologram,"
Dr. Taker replied.
"But how?" the Counselor wondered.
Dr. Taker merely looked at Counsellor Snow. He didn't even need to ask,
"Right... right. So.. uh.. tell me. What was YOUR situation like,"
"I was married to a skank 'ho,"
Dr. Taker replied.
Al furrowed his brow, "Which
one? There are a few onboard here,"
"Stephanie," Taker replied.
Al's eyes went wide, "WHAT?!"
"Then I commanded Kane to chokeslam
her from the Engineering catwalk,"
Counselor Snow gagged on his
drink and all but dropped it on the bar, "Was this before or AFTER you
realized you were on a holodeck?!"
"Would it have mattered? Anyone
married to her would do the same," Taker replied. Counselor Snow stared
at the dark doctor, looking for signs that he was joking. Taker's face
was unreadable, and Snow realized the doctor didn't joke.
"Geeeez....!" Al gasped.
"You gonna finish that?" Dr.
Taker asked, indicating Counselor Snow's discarded drink, "'cuz if you
ain't..." Before Al could reply, Taker helped himself to the drink, thoroughly
finishing it for the counselor, "I will,"
Al stared at Taker, mouth wide
open, "Hey!"
Without another word, the Doctor
got off his stool and headed out.
Al watched the dark doctor
leave. He then looked around the bar, only to see Stephanie screeching
at a snickering Ensign Hardy for being -- as Stephanie claimed --
an idiot.
Well, at least Stephanie hadn't
REALLY married Ensign Angle.
Wrestle Trek: The Series
By: Elektra1