Where Silence Has Lease
Tasha crouched low as she traversed the jungle inside the holodeck program, she followed Worf from behind listening to the various ambient noises around her. Her uniform was filthy and she was covered with dirt and grim associated with the program. She couched as she was told to by Worf while he continued on.
She felt honored when he had asked her to partake in one of his calisthenics programs. She decided it was a good way to prepare herself more in hostile environments. Even though she felt she was a good fighter, she decided she could do more.
She stayed there listening, her eyes wide with alert. Enemies could be lurking at every corner. She looked around, peering at everywhere dark brush or corner. She looked down as Worf picked up a weapon, he seemed pleased when she saw movement above him.
"WORF, LOOK OUT." She yelled as a small explosion appeared and an enemy flew down to attack.
She got up, and shimmied down an old pipe intercepting an enemy herself, she blocked an attack but found herself being launched over its shoulder. She quickly got back up grabbing a piece of metal from the ground. It lunged and she smashed her palm into its face.
Using the metal, she stabbed it several time finally pushing the body over. She looked up just in time to see Worf continue attacking. Within a moment, the enemy hit the ground dead. She breathed a sigh of relief until she noticed him looking at her with an axe he picked up.
She began to walk backwards now beginning to worry. Worf slowly approached her the axe raising. He lunged missing her and breaking a pipe in the process.
"WORF, THAT'S ENOUGH" she yelled out. But he was too into this, he lunged again and she once again jumped back.
"AT EASE WORF" she called again. He stopped, throwing the axe to the ground a look of satisfaction on his face. She took several deep breaths before continuing.
"You do this every day?" she asked
"No Lt. usually my calisthenics are more intense. But those sessions are too personal to be shared" he replied removing the glove from his hand.
"I see." She said and they both left the holodeck to rest and get prepared for their duties on the bridge.
"Did you enjoy yourself today Lt?" Worf asked as they stood in the turbolift after washing up.
"It was interesting I'll admit, it defiantly kept me on my toes. Remind me not to get on your bad side" she said remembering what happened at the end.
"My apologies, I am used to only running those myself. I was… in the moment." He said. "It will not happen again, if you decide not to do it anymore."
"Oh I wouldn't say that." She replied.
"Good, next time I want to increase the level a bit. Make it a bit more challenging."
"I look forward to it" she said a smile on her face.
The turbolift opened and they strolled on to the bridge taking their places at the station. After a few minutes she looked up and watched as a small hole opened up on the view screen. A hole in space is what they called it. Her sensors though were not reading anything out of the ordinary though.
"Lt. launch a probe." Picard said as he turned back to the screen.
"Yes sir" she replied and prepared it.
"You may fire the probe when ready Tasha" Riker said and a moment later it was launched. They watched it fly away but it disappeared after a few seconds.
"It's gone, I can't pick it up it's signal" Tasha said typing away attempting to retrieve it, but failed.
After listening to Worf's reason to go to yellow alert, she didn't think he was silly. In fact, she herself was a bit startled and wondered what they were dealing with.
She was frightened, that was a fact for sure. She stood in the dark corridor on what was supposedly the Enterprise's sister ship the Yamato. She couldn't understand how an entire crew of a huge starship could just vanish. A few seconds ago she heard what sound like a mournful screech. She was supposed to be on the bridge but wondered if something happened to her transport.
She grabbed her phaser and slowly began walking towards the sound. Perhaps there was a crewmember alive and needed help. She heard it again and began to walk slowly towards another direction keeping her weapon aimed in front of her. Suddenly she heard a male scream and she began to run towards it.
"One of them is in trouble" she thought with worry. As she ran she entered a corridor and quickly saw two figures coming into view. She stopped as they did and was relieved to see that both of them were alright.
"if we go through there, where will we be?" Riker asked.
"On the bridge" replied Worf
"We are on the bridge" Tasha pointed out to them.
"Let's go" riker said and the three of them walked through the door opposite of where they were standing before. If it wasn't enough already, it seemed a game was being played with them.
"This is impossible." Tasha said after she watched Worf walk through and reappear again. Worf seemed especially bothered and Tasha quickly ran over to calm him down. Soon enough they beamed aboard the Enterprise and made it back to the bridge. The three would be shaken up from there experience for quite some time.
Tasha, Worf and Geordi leaned over as they watched Haskell get up screaming and die right in front of them. She was shocked and while Doctor Pulaski attempted to revive him. Her efforts failed. She turned her head up as Picard yelled at him. And was he really going to kill half the crew just for knowledge?
She stood there in her quarters alone looking out the window like she usually did. She could see the clearing in the dark bluish like cloud. In 10 minutes, they would all be destroyed. She actually wasn't as scared she thought she would be. It brought back the memories though of her near death experience months ago.
She accepted that fact that no matter how she died, it would still be accepting for her. She walked into the turbolift and arrived at the bridge a moment later. She walked to her station and looked down, soon it would all be over.
"Let me ask you for once how are you feeling?" Tasha asked a small smile on her face.
"I'm scared, but if the captain truly believes that this is the only way then we must go along with it." Deanna said.
"I hope we find a way out of this before it is too late" Tasha said looking back the main viewer.
She sat in Ten Forward later that night sipping on a cup of tea thinking about today's events. Just hours ago, they survived from that creature and continued on their exploration. She looked out and wondered if they would ever see him again. She got up and walked to her quarters hoping that they would not.
Chap 4- In Between the Episodes