Chapter 2: Reckoning
Wesley sat up in his bed. "Computer, what time is it?" he asked. "Two hundred hours."
"Excellent…" said Wesley and got out of his bed. He grabbed the blueprints to the warp core and left his quarters. In the elevator he encountered Data. "Data is supposed to be off duty now! What am I going to do?" thought Wesley. He tried to act naturally and simply said "Engineering" to the turbolift's computer. "Wesley? Shouldn't you be in your quarters?" asked Data. "Commander LaForge gave me orders to install a few components to the warp core that are pre requisites for installing the modifications next week." Said Wesley. Data paused for a moment. "I have no record of such orders." Said Data. "Of course that wouldn't work. C'mon Wesley!" thought Wesley. "I am afraid I am going to have to escort you back to your quarters Wesley." Said Data. Wesley gasped and pointed at the wall behind Data. "What is that?!" he exclaimed. Data turned around to face the wall Wesley was pointing at. "I do not detect any anamol-" Data was cut off when Wesley hit the switch on the back of Data's neck that turns off positronic brain.
"For someone so intelligent… you sure can be stupid sometimes Data." Thought Wesley as he got out of the turbolift in engineering. As expected, the place was nearly completely deserted. Only about six ensigns were working in the area. "Mr. Crusher, why are you down here so late?" asked Ensign Smitt. "Commander LaForge ordered me to prepare the warp core for its modifications next week, so would you like to ask him and wake him up, in which case he will undoubtedly treat you as what you are – a red shirt, or just let me do my job?" dared Wesley.
"Wow this kid is a jerk." Thought Smitt. "As you were." Said Smitt. "As YOU were." Replied Wesley. He started work on the warp core right away. First he would have to drop the ship out of warp, which was relatively easy to do from engineering. But first he would have to block communications to engineering with a dampening field since the bridge would obviously try to contact engineering to know what was going on. Unfortunately the turbo lifts could not be controlled from engineering so he opted to not block communications and instead put to work a program he had worked on earlier after dinner which allowed him to falsify readings on the navigational computers on the bridge.
At three hundred hours he was finally ready to test the warp core. About forty minutes earlier Data had been found in the turbolift experiencing a malfunction and was taken to sickbay at the request of an anonymous voice in engineering claiming currently was working on a project that could severely damage Data's positronic net. Wesley picked up the supplies around the warp core and went over to the computer.
After easing the ship's speed up to warp nine he went over to the warp core to admire his good work. But then a bolt of energy shot Wesley from the warp core and knocked him unconscious. He woke up with Smitt and a few of the other ensigns around him. He was in sickbay. "Well this is unfortunate." Thought Wesley. "It was just a stray energy surge." Said Nurse Sharon. "He'll be fine." Then Wesley noticed Commander Riker was there as well. "You're lucky you didn't get hurt." Said Riker. "When Captain Picard gets up you're going to have a lot of explaining to do. I've had Geordi start uninstalling the modifications you made to the warp core. And he's pretty mad you made him get up in the middle of the night to deal with you." Riker said. "I promise sir it will never happen again." Said Wesley in the most insincere manner possible. Riker just smirked at Wesley's pathetic apology and said "I'm going to have Data escort you back to your room. And don't even think about turning him off again." Said Riker. Data walked into the room. "Now c'mon go back to your quarters." Said Riker. Wesley got up and went over to Data. "Ignorant fools, how could they ever understand." Thought Wesley. As Wesley and Data were walking down the hallway Data and into the turbolift Wesley made a comment "So installing some modifications is such a bad thing huh? Pigs." Said Wesley. "You are fortunate Commander Riker was so lenient with you." Data said as they got into the turbolift. "… but I won't be." Said Data right after the turbolift door closed.
Before Wesley could do anything, Data had grabbed a hold of Wesley's arm and began twisting and pulling it. A loud cracking noise and extreme pain followed as Data broke Wesley's arm. Wesley screamed in agony. "Turbolift, stop." Ordered Data. "Data… why?" asked Wesley. Data pulled out a dagger and tried to stab Wesley in the face. Wesley, thinking quickly put his broken arm in the way of Data's dagger. It hurt very badly, but getting a broken appendage stabbed was far more acceptable than getting a dagger planted in one's forehead. "Computer, beam one directly to sickbay." Said Wesley. "Command not recognized." It replied. "Data must have –", before he could finish his thought Data was on top of him, putting all of his weight on Wesley's head. Wesley screamed underneath the weight and pain.
A loud splatting noise went off in the turbolift as Data crushed Wesley's skull. Next thing Wesley knew, he was in sickbay looking up and Ensign Smitt and other ensigns from engineering looking at him. Riker was there as well. "You're lucky you didn't get hurt." Said Riker. "Data… Data attacked me." Said Wesley. "Data attacked you? You attacked him! He's in engineering right now repairing the damage to his positronic net after being deactivated. "No, he attacked me in the turbolift and broke my arm and jumped on top of me." Said Wesley. "Shut up Wesley!" yelled Riker. "Nobody's buying your story! You got hit by a stray energy wave in engineering, do you remember that?" said Riker. Data walked into the room. "Hello Wesley…" said Data. Wesley let out a high-pitch scream and jumped off the bed and ran into the other room. "Computer lock doors!" said Wesley.
"What the heck is going on?" he thought. "Wesley open this door up RIGHT NOW!" yelled Riker who was getting extremely impatient with Wesley. "Data's crazy!" he replied. Wesley looked around to see was in the ship's morgue, full of bodies that his mother had planned on doing autopsies on. "Creepy." He thought. "Riker to security. Worf I need help getting a door opened in sickbay. Wesley's made it not recognize my command." He said. "On my way." Replied Worf. "There's another door… and that back room has access to a Jeffrey's tube…" thought Wesley. Wesley pulled off his comm unit and threw it on the floor. "If I open up the access to that Jeffrey's Tube and hide underneath one of the sheets on these tables… they'll just assume I went into the Jeffrey's Tubes, while I'll actually be pretending to be one of these dead bodies. I'll get rid of the body I'll replace by throwing it down the Jeffrey's Tube's chute."
Wesley went over one of the dead bodies and slowly lifted the sheet. Wesley didn't have a lot of phobias (well actually he had a lot) but dead bodies really creeped him out. As he uncovered the dead face, all the sudden it's eyes opened and it bit Wesley's hand. Wesley screamed in horror and managed to break away from the zombie. He backed up against the wall and looked at his hand. It had given him a good bite. Then all the other "dead" bodies got up from underneath their sheets and sat up. Their attention was focused on Wesley. "Oh ****." Thought Wesley, panicking.
On the other side of the door Riker and Worf were busy getting in. "Computer, security override, Worf-1-2-3-4" said Worf. "Door requires one more security code to open." Said the computer. "What's going on in there, Wesley?!" yelled Riker. Wesley was too terrified to answer just kept inching closer to the door as the undead walked closer to him. "Computer, security override, Smith-0-0-0-0" said one of Worf's subordinates. The door opened just as the zombies were about to leap on Wesley.
Wesley, knowing he would be screwed if he let Data or the zombies get to him, Wesley decided to use the party outside the door as a distraction and squeezed past the group of zombies. Wesley made a run for the back room. As the door opened up Riker and Worf jumped into the room. Riker was descended upon by at least four zombies, who wasted no time in biting him in the neck and abdomen, and begin to eat him. Worf pushed away one zombie who jumped on him and pulled out his Bat'Leth and cut off several of the zombies' heads.
Wesley, who was clear of the undead got in the Jeffrey's Tube and began descending down the ladder. There was more space and corridors to hide from his pursuers below sickbay then there was above, making it a logical choice. "What the heck happened back there? Why did those corpses re-animate?!" thought Wesley, frantically moving as fast as he could.
In sickbay, Worf and Data stood over about twenty bodies of zombies, nurses, and a few of Worf's subordinates. "Worf to bridge" said Worf, who was in shock after seeing his own men killed right in front of him. "This is Commander Higurashi." Came from the bridge. "We have about twenty officers down in sickbay." Said Worf. "Including… Comander Riker." On the bridge, Commander Higurashi became pale. "I'm sending a full security compliment to sickbay. Stay put Lieutenant Worf." He replied. "Aye sir." Said Worf. Suddenly one of Worf's security team members who had been downed stood up and began approaching Worf.
"Sir?" asked Worf. A growl came from the man who had stood up. In response, Worf decapitated the zombie with his Bat'Leth. "It would seem that being bitten by one of these creatures results in being transformed into one of them yourself." said Data. "So it would seem…" Replied an angry Worf.
Meanwhile, on the bridge Captain Picard showed up on the scene. "Report?" Picard said to Higurashi. "There was an attack in sickbay, sir. About twenty officers are down, including Commander Riker." He replied. Picard showed shock on his face for a moment. "And that's all you know?" asked Picard. "I'm afraid so sir, a security team is headed to sickbay right now to secure the area." Higurashi replied. "Very well. I will be relieving you Commander." Said Picard. "Aye sir." Replied Higurashi.
Wesley entered an intersection in the Jeffrey's Tubes. There was a computer console here that he might be able to use. "I might be able to use the same kind of dampening field I used in sickbay to block communications across the entire ship." Thought Wesley. He applied the changes to the system and locked it so that only someone using this console could deactivate it. "It doesn't block everything…" thought Wesley. "But it's better than nothing."
Sickbay.
The new security team had arrived in sickbay and were coordinating with Worf. Dr. Crusher had also arrived but was being kept at a safe distance by the security team. Lieutenant Monk approached Worf. "Sir, we've finished examining all the bodies and fifteen of them are confirmed to have been corpses which Dr. Crusher had planned on doing autopsies on, while another two of them are either some of your security personnel, or officers on duty in sickbay." Said Lt. Monk. "There were more than seventeen bodies, lieutenant." Replied Worf. "Yes I know sir, but you see, we couldn't identify any obvious causes of death for the other four. And three of them were re-animated and we had to destroy their brains." Lt. Monk said.
"You are clear to enter the premises, Dr. Crusher." Said Worf. They both walked over to the fourth body whose cause of death could not be identified. Dr. Crusher kneeled down and began examining it. "Doctor, I assure you my security officers are able to identify a cause of death. I doubt you will be able to make any determinations without performing an autopsy." Said Worf. "I know that, but your men are security officers – and I'm a doctor." Beverly replied. "Okay." Is all Worf could say.
Suddenly the corpse that Dr. Crusher had been examining leaped after her, trying to bite her. "Stand back!" yelled Worf and aimed a phaser set at maximum setting at the zombie. It didn't fire. He tried again and didn't fire. In frustration he grabbed his Bat'Leth and crushed its skull.
Beverly was shocked from the violence she had just witnessed. Security officers came to Worf's side. "Wesley must have created a dampening field." Worf said and threw his phaser on the ground. "Worf to bridge." "Go ahead Mr. Worf." Replied Captain Picard. "It appears a dampening field has been put in place. Our phasers are completely useless." Reported Worf. "Recommend we drop out of warp sir." Said Worf. "Until we can turn off that dampening field I suggest you and your team use melee weapons Mr. Worf. I'll see what I can do about dropping us out of warp." Said Picard. "Yes sir." Replied Worf.
Worf went to a replicator and disabled it's safeties. "Computer, European Longsword." He ordered. Taking the sword in hand, he gave it to Lieutenant Monk. "Are you certain we'll be needing these?" said Monk, who considered melee weapons somewhat barbaric.
In the corner, Data struggled to keep from laughing at was going on, he was exhibiting very strange behavior he noted. He went to join Worf and Monk. "Lieutenant, in the event we encounter more of these creatures it will be necessary to defend ourselves." Reluctantly, Monk took the sword. "Computer… pitchfork." Ordered Data. Worf and Monk were slightly taken aback by Data's choice of weapon.
"Gather round!" ordered Worf. "We'll be searching for Wesley Crusher in the Jeffrey's Tubes. Team One will consist of Data, Monk, and myself. The rest of you split off into two groups. Communication will be limited in the tubes, and our phasers are inoperative. Before leaving go replicate a sword, spear or something of the sort to use in case we come across any more of the undead." Ordered Worf.
"Aye sir." Everybody replied. Worf and his group headed into the morgue to search for Wesley when Worf was stopped by Dr. Crusher. "Are you telling me that you didn't send a single one of your men to go search for Wesley?" she said in a hushed but angered tone. "The matter in sickbay seemed more important –" he stopped when she turned away in anger and disgust. Worf knew not to hold it against her though. She had lost at least half of her nurses and her son was missing.