Corridor Terrors

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2020 @ 7:01pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka

1,038 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Demons in the Dark

The halls were dark, lit only by emergency lighting. With most of the Tokyo's main systems offline, it was hard for the crew to move around. Taiga had also armed herself. She was a little paranoid about being stuck defenceless in the demititarized zone where anyone could take advantage of you. Right now the Tokyo was a sitting duck and an easy target for anyone wanting a spare piece of hardware, and with the Tokyo's advanced systems anyone wanting a piece of the latest Starfleet technology would pick the Tokyo first over other targets.

She was trying to get down to Engineering. With bridge consoles pretty much dead and useless, she needed to utilise the backup systems which were isolated by the Engineering computer to regain control of her ship. Also, she was still annoyed by the sudden outburst of Alex on the bridge earlier. She didn't need a crew that disobeyed her orders, especially at a time like this. It didn't help that the turbolift from the bridge had kicked her out here on deck four.

Taiga knew that Diego would be able to handle most of the bridge functions for now. He was a competant officer and she had no worries that he wouldn't do his job without fail. Plus, with him on the bridge once they had regained bridge functions he could get the Tokyo back underway quickly.

Still, the ship seemed lifeless and empty like some sort of haunted house. Many of the crew were either trapped on various decks, were assisting in repair efforts and civilians and non-essential personnel were in sheltered areas. She approached a wall panel and tapped on its cold jet black surface. The panel was cold to the touch, and only very dimly lit.

The main computer seemed to be offline due to something wrong in the ships power systems. Taiga already knew that, however nothing seemed to be coming through the ships main processor. However it did seem that local computer functions were available, at least for the surrounding sections.

"Seems that life support is stable on this deck at least..." Taiga said to herself. She scowled as she scrolled down the systems status list. "Can't say the same about the turbolifts". She let out a sigh. Engineering was a long way down from her present location, and she needed to get there as soon as she could.

"Sickbay..." Taiga said as she pinpointed her exact location. Deck four was high up in the ships saucer sectional hull and housed the Sickbay areas, as well as medical labs and science labs. Also the upper shuttlebay used by Starfleet Shuttlecraft and Runabouts had its lower hangar level on this deck.

Taiga had several options. The ships medical center would be her obvious next location, she should see if how the doctor and his staff were doing. She just hoped that there was not many injured.

She then had a thought. The Tokyo's Sickbay and Science Computer Cores were isolated from the ships main power systems. That way if main power went offline, much like it is now experiments and medical systems wouldn't be affected. The only problem is that the Tokyo was built for combat and rapid response operations, she didn't have an extensive science department such as a Galaxy or Sovereign Class housed. She shrugged, she could at least try to get there and weigh up her options from there.

She shut down the wall console, no need to waste what little power they had left. Turning she froze. There infront of her was the little girl again. Her skin pale, black veins showing through her pale grey skin. Borg implants on her face, and over her body.

"Mummy" the girl said. "You left me" she said approaching slowly.

"No..." Taiga said stepping back.

A red laser light ran up Taiga's body, eminating from the girls occular implant. "You can join me. Come be with me mummy. You can't be a bad mummy if you're assimilated"

Taiga began to walk quickly away. There was no way that this girl was real. How could she be, she hadn't even been born! She turned a corner quickly only to run into the girl again, her hand outstretched. "Come with me. I will assimilate you. It won't hurt..."

Taiga backed off, as she slowly drew her phaser. "Get back. I'll... I'll shoot!" she warned the girl. The girl cocked her head to one side.

"No mummy. That would be very bad" the girl said.

Taiga instantly reacted without thinking. A bright orange beam of light struck the girl, but it bounced off of a shimemring green field surrounding the girls body. The girl didn't stumble, fall or seem affected at all by the phaser fire.

"That tickled!" the girl giggled. Her voice dropped to a lower tone, as if made up of many voices. Taiga realised it was no longer the girls individual voice speaking, but now many more voices that of the Borg Collective.

"Captain Taiga Aisaka. You shall be assimilated. You will no longer fulfil your dreams of having a family, but you will join ours" the voice said as the girl approached. Taiga collapsed to her knee's and shuffled away. She held the phaser out and fired more shots at the girl, none of them were effective.

"NO!" she shouted. The girl seemed to move quickly, soon she was on top of her, looming over her like a large tree would loom over a dense forest floor. Taiga felt something sharp on her neck, something piercing her skin. She screamed as she fell unconscious, it all snapping to black.

[Some time later]

Taiga didn't know how long it had been, but she woke. She was laid against the bulkhead, her phaser a few feet from her. She reached out grabbing it quickly. There was no sign of the girl, no sign of the Borg. The corridors were still dark and lit by the red emergency lighting.

Shaken she pulled herself up. She seemed to be disorientated for a few seconds before realising where she was. "Engineering... I was going to Engineering" she told herself. "I best... find a way down there..."

Posting by

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

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