A/N: Six months later...
"Mr. Lennier, however did you come up with this?" Captain John Sheridan asked, flabbergasted at what he was viewing.
"It wasn't easy. Before your arrival on the station I was...requested to stay in my quarters for a week after a somewhat less than successful attempt to celebrate your Earth holiday of Christmas. I was determined to not fail in any future attempts, so I spent a great deal of time researching the holiday. It would seem that most of the planet experiences the season of winter during the holiday."
"Of course, at least for those of us who lived in the Northern Hemisphere."
"Exactly, and I researched some of the activities during the season. I came across many references to various athletic endeavors on frozen water..."
"Mr. Lennier, I know about ice and snow."
"My apologies, of course you do. But we don't have seasons in the station, so I researched how to recreate the conditions sufficiently to host one such activity for Christmas this year. This was the result" he said was he gestured at the surroundings, their breaths creating clouds in front of them.
The entire floor of the hallway they were in was covered in ice. Ahead and behind the floor curved up out of sight as it followed the circumference of the station, creating what would have been a white ring if it could have been viewed through walls, ceilings and floors. A central path veered left and right as it followed the floor around the frosty ring. Sitting in the path near them was a small open vehicle.
"This is an unpowered vehicle called a 'bobsled', which..."
"...which people rode in while usually going down a hill" Sheridan continued. "They still have them, but I've never been in one before. Where did you find it?" he asked as he walked over and stroked its smooth surface.
"I didn't; I fabricated one based on some videos I found. The steering and brakes are accurate replicas, which mean they are not as efficient as they should be for safety."
"But how does it move? The floor is curved, yes, but the centrifugal force keeps us here. Did you put an engine in the bobsled?"
"I considered it, but the vehicle traditionally has no power; I made use of an external source. The frame the central station spins within is quite massive and the magnetic levitation drivers provided an excellent opportunity. This hallway is over just such a driver; I've mounted a specially designed electromagnet in the floor of the bobsled. When I activate the magnet it will be attracted to the drive as the point in the hallway comes within the vicinity of the drive. As a result..."
"...although the bobsled stays fixed in place relative to the external magnetic drive, the hallway moves beneath it as it continues to rotate. Perpetual motion and basically an endless downhill run."
"Essentially correct. If I cut power to the electromagnet the bobsled will coast to a stop from our viewpoint, but in fact will be speeding up to match the rotational velocity the rest of the hallway is moving at. It all depends on how you look at it" Lennier finished.
"I want to look at it from inside. Did you fabricate a helmet?" Sheridan asked.
"It is sitting on the floorboard in the front of the vehicle. I will not require one" he said, bowing slightly. Sheridan donned a helmet and together they squeezed into the bobsled, the captain in front and Lannier behind near the control panel. With no warning he hit the power button; the bobsled sat for a few seconds and then started to drift backward slowly.
Sheridan was just about to ask what had gone wrong when the bobsled suddenly lurched forward, having aligned with the external levitation driver. The brave captain immediately had his hands full as the craft yawed left and right as it seemed to rocket down a track. Several times they went into a banked turn and barely straightened out again before encountering another further along. After a few rotations Sheridan recognized a doorway again and understood they were looping repeatedly. He took to testing the full limits of the controls as he experimented with different trajectories through the turns, letting out a "Wahoo!" at least once. He finally signaled Lennier and with the power cut they slowed to a halt, with Sheridan applying the final braking to stop them where they had started.
A little shaky but grinning like the Cheshire cat, the captain slipped and slid his way back out of the icy area. "What do you plan to do with the ice when you're done?"
"It is a variant of what you call dry ice. When I adjust the temperature on the climate controls, it will sublimate into a gas and vent out of the area. I am pleased the test run was successful. Do you think it is an appropriate Christmas activity when the time comes?"
"Mr. Lennier, I do indeed. Do you think you can design some sort of adaptable helmet for the Centauri and Narn? I've got to get Londo and G'Kar in that thing together."
The End
A/N: Okay, NOW it's the end of the story. Some people have written song parodies of "12 Days" for their fandom but I wanted to take a short look at it from the angle of the impact of such gifts on the core characters. Merry Christmas, and I hope somebody like it!