Chapter 7
2376 - Voyager - Deck 6 - Holodeck 2
The girls piled into the holodeck, and the large doors slid closed behind them.
"Computer, seal the doors!" Rachel shouted.
The girls heard the metallic click of the locking mechanism as it slid into place, firmly locking the doors.
"Well, that will give us a few more . . . uh, seconds!" Taylor said sarcastically.
"Where are we?" Naomi said in a hushed voice, turning in a complete circle to take in their surroundings.
They were standing in the countryside, at dusk, clearly after a long rain. The light from the setting sun created blood-red dancing pictures on the nearby trees. A soft wind ruffled through the girls' hair, moaning and making goosebumps appear on their arms. All the girls except Taylor shivered.
"Come on!" Taylor snapped, "We don't have time to look at scenery!"
Rhanda felt with her hands until she found the wall. She latched her fingers on the Jeffries tube hatch. She opened it, and noticed how strange it looked for a gray tunnel to be basically floating in mid-air.
"Over here!" she yelled to the others.
"Good! A Jeffries tub," Meredith said, hurrying over to Rhanda, "Let's get out of here; this place gives me the creeps!"
"Yeah," Rachel agreed, "Tom Paris was knocked out in this holodeck. This is probably the program that was on."
"Come on!" Naomi cried from inside the Jeffries tube, "Security, remember!"
Charlie, Meredith, and Taylor clamber in. Then Rhanda got in but poked her head back out to star at Rachel, who had taken a panel off a tree and was pressing the futuristic looking buttons.
"Rachel!" Rhanda hissed, "Come on!"
"Hold on!" Rachel said hurriedly, "Tom Paris showed me how to do this before he was knocked out. It'll take security off our tail long enough for us to get away!"
"Start crawling!" Rhanda shouted over her shoulder, "We'll be right there."
Suddenly, a loud thud resonated through the holodeck. Both girls froze. It was followed by two more thuds, a curse, and an exclamation of "It's locked!"
Rhanda and Rachel looked at each other in horror. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had made those sounds. Obviously, security had found the locked holodeck doors.
Rachel spun back toward the control panel, hit a button, then turned and ran for the Jeffries tube, and safety. The minute Rachel was in, Rhanda slammed the hatch shut.
But, the few seconds that Rachel took to climb into the Jeffries tube gave Rhanda enough time to see six holographic characters shimmer into existence.
x
Rhanda and Rachel finally caught up with the others, and all six of them began crawling as fast as they could away from holodeck two.
"What were those?" Rhanda exclaimed, when they were a safe distance away. There was no evidence of a pursuit.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"Those . . . those . . .," Rhanda stuttered, "you know, the holograms!"
"Oh!" Rachel looked pleased with herself. "I programmed the computer to make a holographic representation of each of us, so when security comes in . . ."
"They'll be talking to the wrong people!" Naomi finished excitedly, "Brilliant, Rachel!"
Rachel grinned. "Thanks! In fact, about now, they will be trying to take the holograms out of the holodeck - and of course the holograms will disappear as soon as they step over the threshold!"
The girls reached the sickbay hatch and pushed it open. They tumbled out of the Jeffries tube and were immediately helped up by the Doctor, who was looking very worried.
"What happened? Did you get caught? You must have succeeded - the com system is out!" he babbled.
Rachel smiled, "Yes, Doctor, our mission was a success." She frowned. "That was much too close for comfort, though."
"What? What happened?" the Doctor said immediately.
"Neelix and six security guards caught us knocking out the com system," Naomi piped up.
"We ran into the holodeck to escape them," Meredith continued.
"That was Rhanda's idea," Rachel added.
"I'm assuming you got away?" the Doctor joked.
"Barely," Rhanda said seriously, finishing the story, "Rachel created holograms of us to trick them."
"Hey! That was a good idea," Charlie pointed out, "Where'd you learn it?"
"Well," Rachel said, "I learned to use the holographic system two days ago - Tom Paris showed me. But, the actual idea to create holographic versions of us? Well, I got that from the Doctor."
The Doctor's eyebrows went up in surprise, "Me?" He recovered quickly. "I mean, that's understandable. I do come up with some pretty brilliant ideas, don't I?"
Rachel ignored him and turned to the other girls, "He used that concept to get away from Tuvok in the episode, 'Renaissance Man'."
"Of course!" Charlie exclaimed, "You mean when . . ." Taylor slapped her hand over Charlie's mouth.
The Doctor looked from one girl to another before mumbling, "I won't ask."
"Good," Rachel said dryly, "Don't."
"Frankly," Rhanda said, changing the subject, "I'm surprised the whole com system can be knocked out just by disabling one section in the bulkhead."
"It can't," the Doctor confirmed, "but, thanks to my vast knowledge of the ships systems . . ." He chuckled, "I managed to reroute the power from the com system all into the consol that you, um, obliterated, enabling you to deactivate the children, it would take several hours for you to understand it all. So I won't explain it. But your success would be all thanks to me." The Doctor smiled, pleased with himself.
You could almost hear Taylor grinding her teeth throughout the Doctor's speech, and when he called the girls 'children', she sputtered and looked furious. The girls, unlike the Doctor, noticed this, and pulled Taylor away from him as fast as possible. They huddled into a circle, leaving a very disgruntled doctor on the other side of the room.
"Well! I'm not surprised!" he said, annoyed, "There's still no one on this ship who appreciates my genius!"
x
Across the room, Taylor was still busy grumbling.
"Children! CHILDREN! We are NOT children!!" she growled, "He's younger than us, for Pete's sake!"
"Of course he's younger than you!" Naomi said smiling, "Everyone on this ship is younger than you. You were born 350 years ago!"
Taylor opened her mouth to retort, but Rachel held up a hand.
"Guys, guys. Let's just forget about the Doctor for a moment, all right!" she ordered. The girls nodded in agreement.
"Okay," she went on, "We knocked out the com system. I'd say we only have about an hour, maybe two, to do whatever we have to do before the repair crews fix it. Frankly, we need a plan."
The other girls looked down, thinking hard. Finally, Charlie shook her head.
"Okay, no plan," Rachel said, "We'll come back to the later. Now, who is the culprit?"
This time, she got a reply.
"The Doctor!" Taylor said enthusiastically. Five faces turned to her with arched eyebrows and looks of disbelief. She sighed. "Okay, maybe not."
"Neelix?" Rhanda suggested.
"No!" Naomi countered, "You saw how he reacted to seeing us!"
"Um, Tuvok?" Rachel put out.
"Doubtful," Taylor answered, "Janeway?"
"If it's her, than I'm a hologram!" Rachel shot back.
"Oooo, good one!" Rhanda grinned.
"Thanks! Chakotay?"
"Yeah, right," Meredith filled.
Charlie spoke up in a quiet voice, "What about Seven?"
There was silence. Then Naomi sad worriedly, "No! Seven wouldn't do it! We're her friends. What if the culprit isn't in the senior staff?"
The girls looked at each other in dismay, Naomi's words ringing out loud and clear. What if the culprit isn't in the senior staff? They would never figure out who did it if that was the case. They would have to catch the person red-handed.
"Okay, let's put two and two together now," Rachel pondered, "the people who have been knocked out are the Chief Engineer, Chief Pilot, Chief of Operations, Chief Transporter, and the first hand of the Chief of Security. The only department that hasn't been touched is here, the medical department."
"Wait!" Charlie exclaimed, "It has!"
Everyone looked at her, surprised at her uncharacteristic outburst.
"Tom Paris! Tom is also the person who helps the Doctor. He's like the nurse! It was two hits with one shot when they knocked out Tom."
"No wonder he was first," Rachel added softly.
"So, if all the departments have been hurt, who is the attacker going to go after next?" Naomi asked.
"There's only one answer," Rhanda said, looking sick.
The girls looked at each other in horror as Rachel said what they were all thinking.
"Captain Janeway."
Rachel turned around and walked to the other side of sickbay, "Doctor, how are you doing on the patients?"
The Doctor turned around, "Ah! So you finally decided to acknowledge my presence."
"We're sorry Doctor," Rhanda apologized.
The Doctor nodded at her, accepting the apology, and got on with his report, "I found a cure. But it will take at least two hours for it to be ready."
"Good work, Doctor!" Rachel said.
Rhanda looked relieved, "That's great! So B'Elanna going to be better soon?"
"Actually," the Doctor answered, "She's probably going to be the first to wake up. Her Klingon DNA is more resistant than human DNA."
"Wait a second! Backtrack, Doctor," Rachel said, cutting in, "Did you say . . . it will take two hours before the cure works?"
The Doctor nodded.
Rachel groaned, "The com system will be working again by then! We could be in the brig! Do you know how many attacks could happen by then?! Captain Janeway could die!"
"Captain Janeway?" the Doctor exclaimed, "What's she got to do with anything?"
"Everything, Doctor," Rachel replied, "We think she's the attacker's next victim."
"What!" the Doctor yelped, "We've got to do something!"
"What? What can we do?" Rachel sighed dejectedly, "We need a plan."
Taylor stepped forward and finally spoke up, "Good. Because I've got one."
x
"All right, Taylor," Rachel said, placing her hand on the biobed with a thump, "What's the plan? Let's hear it."
"Well," Taylor began, "We don't know who the culprit is, but we do think that the next victim is going to be Captain Janeway. Correct?"
The girls and the Doctor nodded, so she continued.
"We decided that the only way to find the culprit is to catch him or her red-handed, so . . . we have to find Captain Janeway."
There was silence. Then Rachel snorted, "That's so obvious! Why didn't we think of that before?"
"Way to go Taylor!" Rhanda complimented. Taylor grinned.
"I'm guessing I don't get to tag along?" the Doctor said dryly.
"Sorry, Doctor," Rachel agreed, "but you're needed here. You still have patients to tend to."
With a last glance at the Doctor, the girls headed out of sickbay. They walked in silence until they passed through the doors of sickbay and into the dark corridor, which brightened every few seconds with a flash of red.
As soon as the sickbay door closed behind them, Taylor grinned. She rubbed her chin and said with an English accent, "The game is afoot!"
Rhanda rolled her eyes, "She playing Sherlock Holmes again."
"Who?" Naomi said, looking confused.
Taylor beamed, "Elementary, my dear Wildman!"
Naomi arched an eyebrow and gave Taylor a look that said, "I beg your pardon?"
Rachel laughed, "Naomi, you've been hanging around Tuvok too much. We'll explain the Sherlock Holmes thing later. Right now, we've got work to do."
"Computer, locate Captain Janeway."
x
Seven of Nine's alcove beeped as she opened her eyes and stepped out of it.
"Regeneration cycle incomplete," the computer droned.
Seven ignored it, busy pondering what to do about her strange dream. She knew that Naomi Wildman would have called it a nightmare. Tuvok would tell her that she was having an "emotional response to trying circumstances". The Doctor would run scans and tell her to drink more fluids.
Suddenly, Seven realized that there were fragments of her memory missing. Just a few minutes here and there, over the last 24 hours, but they were missing. Maybe the dream was telling her the truth.
At the same time, she comprehended something else. Captain Janeway would listen to her. She needed to tell Captain Janeway before any more of her friends were hurt. Making up her mind, she headed out of the cargo bay.
"Computer, locate Captain Janeway."
x
Commander Chakotay tossed in his sleep.
"Leave!" his sleeping mind shouted, "I won't do it! I don't want you here! Get out!"
"Focus on the task at hand!" a feminine voice hissed fiercely, "You have a mission!"
Chakotay growled, "No! I won't help you." But it was useless. The alien woman had him pinned against the wall.
The woman was of a species he had never seen before. Raven black hair traveled down past her waist, tied together in three places with silver ribbons.
Her eyes were green, dark green, with a thin silver strip outlining the pupil.
She was humanoid, and her body was the familiar shape of a human female. He was amazed at the amount of strength this woman possessed. She could not have been much bigger than Captain Janeway, but he could not break free of her grasp, despite her petite form.
Her pointed ears and calm demeanor almost led Chakotay to believe she was Vulcan, had it not been for the way in which she spoke.
"If you do not do it of your own free will, I will be forced to do it for you. It would be much easier for both of us if you chose the former."
Somehow, Chakotay knew what she wanted.
"I won't harm my friend!" he snarled.
"She knows too much!" the woman snapped back.
"I won't," Chakotay said firmly, in a low, dangerous voice.
"Very well, your choice," the woman said.
Suddenly, both of Chakotay's hands were chained to the wall behind him.
"What the. . .? Let me go!" he shouted, pulling at the chains. Then he saw something that made his hopes lift. Earth's moon was floating behind her. It was a sign. And Chakotay knew what that sign meant.
"This is a dream. You're not real!"
"I'm as real as you are, Chakotay," the woman said, turning to leave, "Oh! And," she added, turning back to face him, "This is more than just a dream. Much more."
What was going on? Chakotay was frantic. Why couldn't he wake up? Why couldn't he break free? But it was no use. The alien woman walked away, leaving Commander Chakotay chained to the wall, hopelessly trapped within his own mind.
And, back on Voyager, in the first officer's quarters, in the first officer's bed, someone awoke. Someone with green eyes, dark green, with a thin silver strip outlining the pupil. Someone with and evil smile, and an even eviler agenda. Someone who definitely wasn't the first officer.
x
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Star Trek or Star Trek. I don't even own any rights to this story because it was written by my friend, pen name Rachel Pierce. It was written about our little Trekkie group, The Sisterhood of Teenage Trekkies. Though there have been changes to respect rights of my friends and myself. I have been given permission to post this story. Thank you and enjoy.