I'm with Cupid

Posted on Sun Sep 29th, 2024 @ 8:52am by Lieutenant Commander Alex Flynn & Doctor Intharia T'Zor & Ensign Abra Akzhouri & SubLieutenant Attania Viren

1,451 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: DownTime [1]
Location: USS Excalibur, Deck 3 - Executive Airlock
Timeline: After 'Icebreaker'

As expected, the Excalibur had accepted Alex's command codes and the executive airlock on deck 3 opened with a hiss. It had been a slightly awkward manoeuvre to get the Cupid to lock into it, but Ensign Akzhouri was a far more skilled pilot than her single pip suggested.

The entire team emerged at once, stepping through the airlock into what the maps uploaded to their tricorders told them was the senior staff lounge, where VIPs who had just stepped through the same way they'd come would be treated to cocktails and canapes, or whatever passed for good hospitality in the 23rd century.

The sense of nostalgia was obviously only afflicting Akzhouri and Flynn. Thari and Viren were much more detached in their observations, they did not linger on any of the details. "I believe the turbolift to the bridge should be out that door and around the corner." Intharia said. She much preferred the modern decor Starfleet had adopted, the simplicity and bright colours from this era seemed gauche to her.

"I think there's something wrong with the computers." Viren said after tapping at one of the small displays for a moment. "Unless I'm doing something wrong?" She phrased it as a question to the Starfleet officers.

Akzhouri moved over to her, looking at the same display. She tapped a few controls, and made a face that was not positive. "I think you're right. Duotronic systems shouldn't be capable of this sort of error, they'd either shut down or go into debug mode. This is.. weird."

“Can we work around it?” Alex asked.

“It seems like command functions aren’t affected, just information retrieval. I think we’ll be fine, ma’am.” Akzhouri said.

“Good, let’s get to the bridge.” Alex said, bringing up the map on her tricorder. She led the team into the turbolift, and once everyone was inside she told it to take them to the bridge, and twisted the handle next to the door to begin the journey, just as she’d seen done in historical holo-recreations.

“This class of vessel is quite significant in your history, yes?” Thari asked, having seen the model more than a few times as she learned the history of the Federation.

“Oh yeah. The constitution class was one of the first steps beyond tactical parity with our neighbors and into tactical superiority. Add to that they led one of the largest periods of peaceful exploratory expansion, you’d be hard pressed to find a ship more emblematic of Starfleet in the 23rd century.” Akzhouri said.

“What about the Miranda? Workhorse of the fleet. Nobody was letting the connie’s get scratched in the Dominion War.”

“Kitbash, doesn’t count.” Akzhouri said dismissively.

“Kitbash..?” Thari asked as it seemed to settle unspoken between the two women.

“A ship that’s made of repurposed parts of other ships. It’s one of those things that once you see it you can’t unsee it. Starfleet’s been doing it since day dot.” Akzhouri said, her affection for fleet history obvious.

“And this is a problem?” Thari asked.

“No, but when there’s nothing original about it I don’t think it can really be a great for its era. A personal prejudice.” Abra admitted.

“Is it my imagination or is this turbolift taking a really long time to go just two decks?” Alex asked.

“I was thinking the same thing. It definitely feels like we’re moving.” Viren agreed.

Alex let go of the handle, but the rushing sensation and the appearances of decks going by continued. The display read only nonsense. “Can either of you do something with this panel?” Alex asked Viren and Akzhouri.

“I can have a look,” Viren offered hesitantly, “but duotronics really aren’t my thing. I think, maybe.. uh, Ensign..” She gestured towards Ensign Akzhouri.

“No problem.” Abra said, approaching the panel and flipping it back. She reached inside it , making what seemed like half a dozen discrete movements before the lights flickered and the turbolift seemed to come to a stop. The doors parted.

A long, non-descript hallway waited beyond. It was straight with a number of doorways going off to the left and right. Alex flicked through the directions on her tricorder. She had lost their location measured against the plans. “Has anyone found where we are on the map? We should be looking at the bridge right now.”

“There wouldn’t be any hallway that long on deck 2. We must have gone down, perhaps deck 5 or 6.” Intharia explained, reviewing the deck plans.

“If the lift isn’t working, we’ll take the jeffries tubes.” Alex looked at her tricorder to check where the nearest entry point would be, it was straight ahead, within the impulse engineering complex, or the access hallway next to the rec lounge, depending which deck they were on. Alex led and the others followed.

They passed through two doorways, but a third door would not open. Alex tapped at the control panel, and it opened. It revealed another long hallway, the same length as the last. “That can’t be right. This should either be impulse engineering or the access corridor.” She felt momentarily crazy, but stashed away the tricorder on her belt.

Without waiting for feedback, Alex led on ahead, through another pair of doorways, straight ahead, where a third door would not open. She entered the same commands, and the doors parted, revealing yet another identical hallway.

“I think somebody’s fucking with us.” Alex said, looking around to the others. She took her own tricorder out and started taking recordings, looking for holographic indicators.

“According to the plans of the vessel, we should be outside the walls in any direction from the turbolift at the distance we’d have covered at the end of that hallway.” Intharia observed.

“Viren, have we walked into a hologram?” Alex asked the Engineer, not detecting anything herself.

“I can’t see anything to suggest that. If we have, it’s a really good hologram.” Viren said, activating her holo-visor to view tricorder scans in real time.

“Thoughts, Doctor?” Alex asked. It wasn’t perceptible, but a small ember of panic burned inside her.

“This is unlike any phenomenon I have encountered.” Thari said. She was unable to take her eyes off her tricorder shaking her head involuntarily as she tried to understand what could be happening.

“Okay. Command decision time.” Alex said, drawing her phaser. She tapped a few settings and fired it into the nearest wall, deleting it from existence. Within was an empty lab, as the plans would suggest. She fired again, and again, deleting wall after wall until she had vaporized a dozen panels, more than enough to lead to the outer hull on a constitution-class ship.

“Right. We’re getting out of here. Back the way we came.” Alex said, tapping her combadge. “Flynn to Hou Yi team, come in.” There was no response. “Flynn to Cupid, relay message to the Bellerophon.” Another silence.

As they moved back towards the way they came, they eventually went further than they’d come from. The turbolift was not where it had been. They were stuck in the same loop of hallways. “Any suggestions?” Alex asked.

“Pick a direction and run as fast as we can, phaser our way forward.” Abra suggested, thinking what she’d do if she’d found herself in the same position in a shuttle.

"I have no other suggestions." Intharia admitted.

Viren shrugged when they looked at her.

“Let’s go.” Alex said, phaser pointed forward, running and firing. One, two, three identical hallways were cleared, a constant phaser beam moving ahead of them. Six, seven, eight. They stopped, Alex panted heavily.

Thari wasn’t quite out of breath, but she felt the exertion. “We may have to accept that we are stuck here, Commander.” She looked to Akzhouri and Viren, in case either one had a suggestion.

“I’ve got nothing.” Viren said, trying not to sound disappointed in herself.

“Maybe we… whoah.” Alex said, as the orientation of the room seemed to shift. It was like the gravity was starting to shift in the same direction they were heading. Soon it was hard to stand, and the team began to slip forward. Before anyone could do anything, the long hallway was suddenly a shaft beneath them.

Thari tried to grab onto something, but the passing hallways seemed to avoid her grip like smoke through her fingers.

Akzhouri tucked herself into a ball as she'd learned in flight school. Viren froze in panic.

The room tipped fully and they fell, again and again they passed through the identical hallway, before disappearing into darkness.

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