Episode 12
Prologue
Once upon a time, in a land hundreds of
light years away, there was a cadet whose life seemed to be governed by the
game of velocity. She would train hard,
strive for perfection, and make sure she ruled the court. As a result, she became known as one of the
most potent velocity players at Starfleet Academy, one of the few to have
graduated with a perfect record.
But a series of tragedies befell the galaxy
as the cadet became an ensign, and separated her from her first love. As the war raged on, she could only dream of
her intense, heated matches, and long for the day in which they returned.
That day was today.
The target stormed over Erin Keller’s head,
creating a gentle breeze as it did so.
Keller ducked to avoid being touched by the target, and quickly rolled
aside to get out of its way. Once she
found her bearings at her new position, Erin quickly took aim for the disk-like
target and opened fire. The vibrant
orange phaser beam lashed out of her phaser and summarily struck the wall.
“Damn,” she muttered under her breath as she
watched the target dissolve from red disk to a blue one. As long as the target
remained blue, two points were awarded to Erin’s nemesis—Rachael Meyer. And should Erin take aim upon the target and
miss, Rachael would again be awarded points.
Erin knew she needed to earn a hit, and get the target red once more.
As the target bounced off the hologrid, Erin took several steps
back to get a clear shot at the target while it was still moving at a
relatively slow velocity. But to Erin’s
consternation, as she took aim with her phaser, the target veered in the
direction opposite the one she had anticipated, allowing Rachael to score
several strikes.
With each hit, the target increased its speed, making it more
difficult for both Rachael and Erin to take aim. Erin concentrated, and carefully took aim as the target seemed to
slow for a moment of vulnerability. But
just when Erin thought she had seized the moment, Rachael’s phaser beam
collided with the target, sending it in the opposite direction. Erin’s phaser beam waywardly streamed into
the ceiling, only widening the gap between their scores.
“Shit,” Erin cursed under her breath as the target went into what
she had liked to call ‘ballistic mode.’
While it was still possible to hit the target, the opportunities were
rare seconds at the very most. So Erin
made due haste to take advantage of the moment when it presented itself. As if by magic, the spinning blue target
came to a momentary halt while Rachael had her back turned. Without hesitation, Erin allowed her skills
to take over, and she fired.
The orange beam soared out of her phaser, but as it hurtled toward
the target, Erin realized it was obviously off course. But by some stroke of luck, the target
veered straight into it, and moments later, dissolved back into Erin’s
colors. Taking advantage of the
newfound sluggishness, Erin quickly cast several phaser blasts toward the
target before Rachael could even turn around—but by that time, there was
nothing that could be done…
The target vanished.
“Game over,” called out the computer. “Keller wins.”
Erin allowed a smile to crack upon her face as the computer
relayed the results. She slowly folded
her arms and turned to Rachael. “Hey,
good game,” she said in a warm voice—she almost meant it.
Rachael forced a diplomatic smile upon her face and took several
steps toward Erin. “So much for
beginner’s luck,” she grumbled. “You
could have at least humored me for a while longer.”
Erin raised an eyebrow.
“You’re lucky I let you hit the target once,” she quipped. “Usually, my opponent’s score is a big, fat
zero.”
Erin couldn’t help but
beam. It was the first game of velocity
she had played in years, but it seemed as if she had never stopped
playing. To her consternation, Rachael
seemed less than enthusiastic about the game.
Even so, Erin, on her high, didn’t feel like quitting yet. “Do you want to try again?” she inquired.
Rachael gazed quizzically at her phaser and phlegmatically fiddled
with the controls. “I suppose,” she
mumbled. “But go easy on me, okay?”
Erin shrugged. “Very well,
then. Computer, reset ho—”
She stopped mid-sentence. As the hologrid suddenly
disappeared. At first she thought she
activated the wrong program, but she quickly realized she never finished her
sentence. Nor had she ever seen the
program that replaced their velocity playing field.
It was a massive forest, darkened by a moonlight sky, and an eerie
fog rolling through the murky thicket around them. “What the hell?” Keller demanded as a small green-skinned troll
emerged from the mist bearing an axe and no reservations about using it. Erin quickly reached for her phaser, but
soon realized that it dissolved with the velocity program, leaving her
defenseless against the troll.
Not ready to become lunch for the holodemon, Erin approached the
green imp and introduced his face to the bottom of her boot. He squealed feverishly and tossed his axe
aside as he careened to the muddy forest floor with a satisfying splat.
“I’ll have you know you just assaulted the Holy Warlord of
Tehr’zul,” came the familiar voice of Matthew Harrison from the back of forest,
near the location Erin recognized as the holodeck doors.
She turned to the Commander and his companion, Bator, and
frowned. Seeing that it was Harrison
that interrupted her velocity match, Keller’s anger only grew. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
she demanded of him, coming only a few centimeters from his face.
Harrison slowly backed away, but not by much. “Coming to enjoy the holodeck,” he said,
matching Erin’s wicked tone.
“I believe it would be beneficial for your health if you enjoyed
one of the other holodecks,” Erin replied tersely. “Or else you might just find yourself
getting cozy with the Holy Warlord of Tehr’zul.”
“Leave the Holy Warlord out of this,” Harrison said evenly.
With that said, Erin reclaimed the centimeters Harrison had
withdrawn and looked him square in the eye with an icy glare. “You’re fortunate I don’t feel like battling
you tonight,” she snapped before pulling away from Harrison and turning back to
Rachael. “I guess we’ll continue this
at a later time,” she chirped before demanding the computer show her the way
out.
As soon as Erin entered the dark, cozy atmosphere of her quarters,
she was immediately relieved of her troubles.
She liked that effect her quarters had on her, and wished she could find
such refuges in other places on the ship.
But to her consternation, no such places existed, so after a long,
stressful day, Erin always enjoyed the retreat to her quarters.
With her skin still clammy and sweaty from the workout on the
holodeck, Erin knew a trip to the sonic shower would be the best way to rid of
her filth. But her encounter with
Harrison had only put her on edge, draining her of her energy. Despite the sonic shower, Erin could hear
her cozy bed’s enchanting call even louder, and more clear.
And so, without a second thought, she quickly migrated to the aft
section of her quarters and plopped down into bed, not even bothering to slip
into some more comfortable clothing.
This day had been longer and more tiresome than she had thought. Sleep would overcome her in a matter of
moments.
And so, not one to defer a dream, Erin slowly closed her eyes and
relaxed, allowing her thoughts to run free in the vast reaches of her
mind. Only to be stopped dead in their
tracks by a sound near her bed.
At first, she thought it was Cleo playing rough with his toys, but
that idea was quickly quashed by the fact that Cleo was already sleeping
comfortably at the foot of her bed, leaving one other option Erin dreaded to
think—she wasn’t alone. Slowly, she
opened her eyes, half expecting to see one of her friends playing some sort of
trick on her. What she saw was no joke.
A frail, one-eyed alien stood beside her bed, simply staring at
her with its haunting gaze. As it
realized it had been seen, the alien cocked its head and took a few steps back.
Erin was simply frozen…