Lower Deck Tales: Ship of the Dead

[CeJay]

Just in time for Halloween, The Star Eagle Adventures returns with an all-new, horror-themed Lower Deck Tales short story. Read at your own peril ...

Lower Deck Tales: Ship of the Dead
A Star Eagle Adventures short story​

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 58432.1. I am happy to report that our recent mission to provide medical assistance to the colony on Delta Cephei III has been completed successfully and that the crew has performed well given the challenging task. As the commanding officer it was of course my duty to ensure the team worked efficiently and I dare say, judging by the results, that I have succeeded in getting the best of out them. I have often wrestled with the notion of making command decisions which could very well have grave consequence. Upon reflection some of my decisions on Delta Cephei very much fell into that category and I was forced to make some hard choices. Of course a good leader does not shirk away from such responsibility and maintains a fearless and confident –“

“You have got to be kidding me?”

“Goddamn it, Aliris, you do not interrupt the captain when he’s recording his log.”

The beautiful, dark-skinned Risian woman stepped into the cockpit of the runabout and dropped herself into the chair next to the clearly flustered Graham Torain. “First of all, you’re not a captain. You’re a Lieutenant. Junior Grade. And have been for what? Three months?”

The blonde-haired lieutenant’s face morphed into a frown. “Five months next Wednesday. But that’s beside the point. I’m in charge of this mission and the highest-ranking officer on this ship. That makes me captain pretty much by default. It’s an old Earth tradition. Look it up.”

“And here’s the second thing. A four-day trip to a colony to treat a mild outbreak of the Levodian flu is neither a mission nor a challenge. And the hardest choice you had to make over the last 48 hours, was if to taste the local cuisine or to stick to the replicator.”

“And of course you stuck to the boring old replicator,” said Jonas Gradwokski who leisurely strolled into the cockpit from the rear compartment. The young Petty Officer was a man molded for his security position, his muscle-packed physique nearly exploding out of his uniform. “No sense of adventure in your bones, skipper, eh?”

“Oh don’t encourage him, Jo,” said the Risian with a smirk as she looked over the helm controls.

“You people are all way out of line,” said Torain and turned to his own instruments, trying hard to mask his sulking expression but failing quite miserably.

“Don’t go and upset Graham again. He’s done a great job on Delta Cephei.”

“Thank you, Yifei. I’m glad at least somebody here appreciates my leadership,” said Torain who practically lit up over seeing the Japanese nurse join them. The lithe young woman gave him a warm smile in return.

Aliris and Jonas exchanged a knowing look, one that didn’t go unnoticed by Graham. “What?”

“God, you’re so obvious, it’s painful to watch,” said the Risian ensign with a bemused smirk.

Graham’s face reddened slightly and the shot a quick look at the nurse sitting at a station behind him. He seemed relieved to find that she appeared too distracted with her work to pay much attention to what Aliris had said.

“You mean like when you get all googly eyes for Chayton when he steps into the room. Now that’s pathetic,” he said defensively.

Gradkowski inserted himself in between the two officers. “Hey, Aliris goes googly eyes for any man with a pulse. That’s just how she’s wired.”

“Mmm, that’s right, you big strong hunk of a man, you,” she purred seductively and squeezed one of the security officer’s huge biceps.

The Petty Officer laughed as he allowed her small hand to roam his massive arm before he looked back towards Graham. “Every man but you, it seems.”

“Nothing personal. I just don’t go for superiors. It makes things complicated,” she said with a chuckle.

“Whatever,” Torain shot back and then gave the security officer a death stare. “Wanna give us some room here, Petty Officer.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” he barked. “Wouldn’t want to cramp your style, sir,” he added as he stepped away from the two pilots to take a seat at the aft station.

“And I don’t get what you see in that guy Chayton anyway,” said Graham Torain while pretending that this entire conversation didn’t really interest him in slightest. “The man hardly says more than two words at a time and seems to have no ambitions whatsoever. I hear he’s been a med tech for the last five years, ever since he joined, not been promoted once. That’s lousy, even for an enlisted man. He seems to have no friends and nobody knows the first thing about him.”

Aliris peered at him. “Been studying up on the competition, eh?”

“What? No,” he said a little too quickly. “I just like to know about the people who serve under me.”

“Sure. Well, if you must know, women love the strong silent and mysterious type. And it helps if you look like a guy who can take care of yourself. Plus, I have a thing for men with an indigenous background. Something wild and primal about that.”

“You have a thing for brutes is what you’re saying.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe,” she said and then glanced at the nurse sitting in the back. “But I’ve got my own competition to worry about,” she whispered.

“Perhaps I can help take care of that,” said Torain with a boyish gleam in his eye.

The Risian burst out laughing despite herself, causing pretty much everyone in the cockpit to look her way. Nobody with a more heated expression on his face than Torain. “Sorry,” she apologized meekly. “But sure, if you can, by all means”

A computer chime caused a much-needed distraction and Aliris jumped at it. “Uh, this looks like some sort of distress signal coming through.”

Torain looked perplexed. “What?”

But Yifey seemed very interested by this news and turned towards Aliris. “A distress signal? Who’s sending it?”

“I’m not sure. This looks … I think it’s … “

“Klingon,” said Gradkowksi who had positioned himself behind the Risian and was looking at the display over her shoulder. “That’s a Klingon signature. I’d bet my phaser rifle.”

“Well, then you gotta be right. You love that thing more than life itself,” joked Aliris and turned to look at Torain. “What do we do?”

“We’ll forward it to the nearest starship,” he said and brought up his long-range sensor display. “Eagle is two days away at high warp.”

“We have to at least listen to it first,” insisted the nurse. “See if we can help.”

Aliris raised her eyebrows in silent agreement and didn’t miss Torain’s momentary indecision.

Then he nodded. “Alright, pipe it through.”

“It’s audio only,” said Aliris and within seconds the small runabout cockpit was filled with a static-laden voice.

“I say again … this is the Klingon Defense Force vessel Lukara. We require immediate assistance. To any ship in range … this is a distress signal from the Klingon vessel Lukara. We require assistance.”

“Klingons. I knew it,” said Gradkowski.

“Is this all there is?” asked Jiang.

The Risian nodded. “It’s a continuous loop after that.”

“Alright,” said Torain. “We’ve listened to it now we’ll have to forward it to somebody better equipped to handle an emergency.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jiang objected. “They clearly need help as soon as possible. If we’re the nearest ship we have to respond. That’s Starfleet regulations, right?” she asked and looked at Gradkowski who merely shrugged.

“She may have a point there, ‘captain’,” said Aliris with a smirk. “Time to make a command decision.”

But Graham Torain looked visibly uncertain and clearly reluctant to answer to a distress signal. And from a Klingon ship no less.

“I don’t see how we have a choice in the matter,” the nurse added and then gave Torain an instant look. “Graham?”

Those eyes focusing on him were apparently enough to finally sway him. “Alright. Aliris, set a course and send word to Eagle that we’ll be delayed.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” she said playfully and went to work.

“I’ll go prepare Chayton and Telvin to treat Klingon casualties,” said Jiang and headed for the back.

“I’ll get my rifle,” added Gradkowksi and followed her.

“Way to show strong leadership,” mumbled Aliris once they were alone in the cockpit, promptly eliciting yet another angry frown from Torain.

* * *​

 

[mirandafave]

Oh welcome back CeJay and the lower deck crew of the Eagle. I always enjoy your lower deck stories and to be honest I sometimes feel you enjoy the freedom of them more yourself because you go off on great tangents. Good stuff.

I gotta say, for a small chapter here we get a lot of stuff on the character interactions that settles us into the glut of new characters. I definitely want to see how Jorain and the others measure up when faced with an emergency situation.

I've a feeling that it won't be a straight forward situation either - what with a name like Ship of the Dead and blood dripping title ... call me physic but I think there may be something up!

 

[CeJay]

Thanks, mirandafave, and it's good to be writing again. And you are right about what you said about LDT, it does give me the freedom to experiment with stories that I wouldn't be able to tell with my regular characters.

And yeah, I suppose that cover art isn't exactly subtle about this story's direction. But hopefully it sets the right mood.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

 

[CeJay]

"I have taken command. The captain has fallen sick. We don't know why."

"Can you give us any details on his symptoms? What's his current condition?" asked Jiang of Lieutenant K’thor, the Klingon officer they had made contact with after finding the Lukara adrift. The man looked almost bored, as if dealing with the Starfleeters was all a great inconvenience to him, no matter that it had been he who had sent the distress signal in the first place.

"Bah. I'm a warrior not a healer."

"Of course," she said and looked at her fellow crew for help, clearly a little intimidated by the warrior’s attitude.

"Uh, we've noticed that you seem to be adrift. Are you experiencing technical difficulties as well?" asked Torain who apparently wasn't that much more comfortable with speaking to a Klingon than the nurse had been.

K’thor shot the man a death stare, as if wordlessly challenging the audacity of his question. A few droplets of blood trickled down his nose which he quickly wiped away with back of his hand. "The engineer is not feeling well either."

"How about you?" Jiang tired out carefully. "I've noticed you have a bit of a bleeding - "

"I'm fine. Now are you going to ask questions all day or will you be coming over to use your famed Starfleet medical skills to help the captain before he expires? Serves me right to accept help from a bunch of children. Will there be a proper starship arriving soon?"

"I assure you, sir, you have made no mistake asking for our help. This is right up our alley," Torain said quickly. "We will beam over shortly. Nebuchadrezzar, out," he added and closed the channel.

"Klingons give me the creeps," Jiang mumbled.

"Yeah, but they are so fierce and striking," added Aliris.

Torain ignored the comment. "OK, I suppose we should get over there," he said and looked at the nurse. "Is your team ready to go?"

Besides from Yifei Jiang, the medical team consisted out of Crewman Telvin whose most distinctive features besides his youth and inexperience, were his bald head and delicately formed Tiburon ear lobes and medical technician Chayton; tall, brown eyed, dark haired and overall handsome, of Native American decent, his most distinguished characteristic was the fact that he said little when prompted and barely nothing at all when not.

Jiang nodded shyly.

"We're not going over there alone though, right?" said Telvin, shooting the others nervous glances.

"I'm the captain," said Torain but corrected himself when he noticed the Risian’s disapproving frown. "Commanding officer. So obviously I should stay with the ship.

"As I said earlier," said Gradkowski, "no sense of adventure."

"Fine, I'll come along. I wouldn't mind meeting some of those hunky Klingons, anyway," said Aliris and rose from her chair.

"Actually, I was hoping Gradkowski could ...uh ... join us," said the Tiburon.

"Oh yes, he's right, I totally should."

"I don't know," said Torain, clearly slightly unsure himself. "I don't want to intimidate the Klingons."

Aliris laughed at that. "Us intimidating them? I think it takes more than one security officer to intimidate a ship full of Klingons. No offense, Jonas, I know you are a big, strong feller yourself."

He waved it off. "None taken. And no worries Telvin, I'll protect you from the scary Klingons," he said and presented his phaser rifle.

The Tiburon looked appeased but Graham Torain appeared only more concerned now. "Please don't wave that thing into anyone's face. I don't want us to be single handily responsible for the repeal of the Khitomer Accords. That goes for you as well, Aliris. Remember, you are representing the Federation over there. So be on your best behavior."

"Who me?" she responded in a tone of mock surprise. "Whenever am I not? Besides you forget. Not only am I representing the Federation. I'm also a walking advertisement for Risa," she said and unzipped her uniform jacket just before stepping into the transporter alcove. "I hear those Klingon ships are awfully hot."

Graham Torain rolled his eyes as he watched the five crewmembers dematerialize.

* * *​

Everybody in the away team had a certain idea as what to expect on the Lukara and it mostly involved a welcoming committee of angry and cantankerous Klingon warriors armed to the teeth with disruptor pistols and razor sharp bat’leth swords. They had however not expected what they came to find.

Darkness.

Utter and complete.

"Are we ... are we dead?" Telvin asked, his voice sounding hollow and unsteady.

There was no immediate response.

"Uh, guys, are you there?"

"Relax, Telvin, we're not dead. The lights are just out," Aliris finally said.

“Did anyone think of brining beacons?” asked Jiang. “Because that would have been a good idea.”

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” retorted the Risian with just a hint of annoyance.

“Wait a sec.”

And then there was light. Gradkowski had turned on the tracking light of his phaser rifle, for the first time allowing the away team to get a glimpse of their surroundings. It wasn’t much but enough to make out what looked like a Klingon transporter room. As expected the members of the away team stood on the transporter platform itself. Otherwise the room appeared empty.

A sudden metallic rattle made the team turn towards the doors.

Telvin looked as if he was going to suffer from an imminent heart attack. “There’s …. there’s somebody out there.”

The noise continued and Gradkowski shined his phaser on the apparent source.

“Well, of course there is,” Aliris said and headed for the doors. “They’re probably trying to open the doors to welcome us,” she said and then began to try and pry the doors open. “Chayton, give me a hand over here.”

The Sioux didn’t hesitate and within moments he had positioned himself opposite the Risian to help her open the two heavy door panels.

Their efforts bore fruits and the doors gave way.

“You want to point that somewhere else?” a fierce voice asked. It was a Klingon woman and Gradkowski’s phaser and light were aimed directly at her.

“Jonas,” Aliris said.

The security officer lowered his rifle. “Sorry.”

There was enough light coming from the corridor now to afford the away team a decent look at the Klingon. She was tall, with long black hair and a distinctive, bony forehead. Her bare arms showed off her muscles, giving little doubt that she was well trained in the ways of combat.

“Apologies for … all this,” she said gruffly and gestured to their surroundings. “We’ve had some … difficulties. I’m B’Nera and I’ve been assigned to the medical bay.”

The Risian nodded with understanding. “I’m Ensign Aliris from the starship Eagle. These are –“

“An ensign?” she nearly spat, interrupting her and looking over the rest of the young away team. “K’thor was right, you are but children.”

Jiang stepped forward. “We may not be senior officers,” she said. “But I assure you I’m a fully trained medical professional and very capable to look after your sick and injured.”

B’Nera seemed to weigh that statement for a moment. “I suppose we don’t have much of a choice. Follow me. You must see to the captain straight away,” she said and set out down the corridor without affording the Starfleet officers another look.

Aliris and Jiang exchanged a quick look and then followed along with the rest of the away team.

It became quickly apparent that things weren’t much better outside of the transporter room. The corridors were illuminated by weak, crimson red light which tended to flicker on and off constantly, making it difficult for the away team to navigate the ship and follow B’Nera who had adopted a brisk pace.

“This ship feels a bit empty. Is that normal?” asked Telvin when he hadn’t spotted a single crewmember besides B’Nera while walking the corridors.

“Crew is busy with repairs,” she replied curtly, never slowing down.

“Right.”

Then the Klingon medic finally stopped in front of a set of doors. “This is the sickbay.”

“What’s … what’s that sound?” asked Telvin and looked further down the corridor but was unable to see anything in the dense crimson murk surrounding them. “It sounds like … like banging.”

Gradkwoski followed his glance. “I don’t hear anything.”

B’Nera shrugged it off. “Probably the stabilizers have gone out of alignment,” she said. “We mustn’t tarry. The captain requires your help.”

“Agreed,” said Jiang.

This time Chayton and Gradkowski pried open the door. The first thing that hit the away team was the repugnant odor emanating from the room. It smelled of blood, sickness and death, nothing like the sterile environment of a Starfleet sickbay.

“By Galartha’s Peak,” exclaimed Aliris and quickly covered her mouth and nose.

Jiang and the two med techs handled the unexpected odor slightly better and led by the determined nurse, quickly rushed into the medical bay. Thankfully what they found didn’t quite match the appalling smell.

A handful of bodies were occupying most of the beds, either sleeping or in a coma, but other than that nothing seemed to be much out of place for a starship’s infirmary. It wasn’t as clean as a Starfleet facility, and the flickering lights left much to be desired but that didn’t stop Jiang to get out her medkit and head for her first patient.

“Him first,” said B’Nera, and pointed at the one bed which stood apart form the rest.

“I think I’ll do my own triage first.”

“Him first,” she practically barked. “The others are all in a coma. The captain is still conscious.”

Jiang realized that she was right and quickly began her diagnosis.

The broad-shouldered and portly Klingon looked past middle age with a full, graying beard and a large mane of curled, black hair. At first glance he did not appear to be injured in any way. He did however have a high fever, his skin looked damp from perspiration and sickly pale in places. His eyes were strangely out of focus as if he was looking right past the bulkheads. He did not appear aware of his surroundings.

“Captain K’ven,” B’Nera said but without trying to approach the sick man. “I have brought Starfleet healers. They will help you … and the others.”

But Jiang seemed to be frustrated by what her tricorder told her about her new patient. “Temperature is eighteen degrees higher than normal and he appears to suffer from chills and acute myalgia.”

“Influenza symptoms?” said Chatyon who stood by her side.

“Perhaps but not a strain we’ve ever encountered before. Let’s start this off with 2 cc of bicaridine to try and lower his body temperature before he burns up,” she said.

Instead of helping to treat the Klingon captain, Telvin once again looked off into the distance. “There it is again. Louder this time.”

“Jeez, Telvin. Stop jumping at every noise, will you?” said Grawdkoski with a chuckle.

“B’Nera, you don’t look so good. Are you alright?” asked Aliris who had noticed that she was bleeding from her nose.

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly and wiped the blood away. “I’ll be right back,” she said and headed through a door presumably leading into another section of the medical bay.

In the meantime Jiang and Chayton were not making much progress. “I don’t understand, he’s not responding to the bicaridine at all,” the nurse said with apparent frustration lining her words and then turned to the others. “We’ll need some help here. I’m completely in the dark here.”

“What do you need?” Aliris asked.

“Get B’Nera back here or somebody else who can tell me anything about what’s been going on here. I need some medical history, I need to know what the early symptoms were, what treatments they have tried, blood work and medical sans. How the hell am I supposed to even start treating this man without any of that?”

Aliris shot the usually shy Japanese woman a curious glance. “Alright, don’t get hysterical. Jonas and I will go and find somebody who can help. Telvin, why don’t you go get B’Nera back here.”

“Uh … maybe I should stay here,” he said.

“Now, Telvin,” Jiang insisted.

“Alright, alright,” he said and followed the Klingon woman’s earlier path while Aliris and Gradkowski left the sickbay to scour the rest of the ship.

“I can’t believe they left their sick captain here while the rest of the crew goes off playing hide-and-seek,” said a clearly exasperated Jiang as she tried another compound on the Klingon in hopes to stabilize him. When that didn’t show any effect either, she uttered a heavy sigh and then glanced towards Chayton who appeared unfocused himself.

“I know you have this whole mysterious thing going on and that you don’t like to share your feelings or … you know, talk, but I would really appreciate some encouragements right about now. Maybe it would help making this whole experience a little less creepy.”

He turned and his brown eyes looked straight into hers. “Something is very wrong here.”

“Really? That’ all you’ve got to say?” she said and attended to her patient again. “Honestly, maybe you shouldn’t talk after all. Maybe –“

Captain K’ven practically jumped into a sitting position, reached out for Jiang’s lower arm and held on tight, his glazed over eyes starring at the terrified nurse with haunting intensity.

Jiang couldn’t help but scream in surprise and terror.

“The dishonored dead … Kahless save us, the dishonored dead have returned … the dishonored dead are here …”

“Let go, let go of me,” screamed Jiang.

Chayton reached out for the Klingon’s firm grip and after a few seconds managed to dislodge him from his hold on the nurse. Not a moment after K’ven collapsed back onto the bed, mumbling incoherently in an obscure Klingon dialect the universal translator was unable to decipher.

* * *​

 

[Gul Re'jal]

A ship of the damned Klingons...

A ship of Klingombie...

Let me guess, the Feds won't be able to swiftly return to their vessel and Jiang will regret ignoring Telvin's impressions. And sick Klingon captain won't be their biggest problem.

 

[mirandafave]

Damn - if there's anything worse than a zombie it has to be a ship of Klingon zombies! Ok, they might not be zombies but it is Halloween and it is damned spooky whatever is happening on that Klingon barge.

 

[CeJay]

“I cannot believe that I finally get a chance to visit a Klingon ship and the only Klingons we’ve come across are either unconscious or otherwise uninterested.”

“Not exactly what you had hoped, huh?” said Gradkowski as he waved his rifle into yet another dark recess only to find it as empty as all the other spaces they had searched while roaming the ship.

“I’m a cultural ambassador,” she said walking down the corridor. “It’s what my people do. Difficult if there’s nobody around to pay attention to me.”

Their boots clattered loudly as they walked on the metallic floor of the corridor but besides of the echoes of their footsteps and the flickering of the lighting overhead, there was barely a sound to be heard.

“You have to admit that all this is a bit spooky,” said Jonas.

“Don’t tell me the big tough security officer is scared of an empty Klingon ship,” she mocked.

“Didn’t say I’m scared. I can handle whatever is going on around here. Just discomforting that it’s so quite, t’s all.”

They both heard the moan at the same time and froze.

It had come from further down the corridor.

They looked at each other for a moment and then nodded quietly as Gradkowski started out first, keeping his rifle trained forward, Ensign Aliris just a step behind him.

Coming up to a corridor junction, the security officer paused and then swung around, ready for whatever.

Aliris followed suit.

Nothing.

Then footsteps. Behind them.

They whirled around and the light on Gradkowski’s phaser revealed a glimpse of a person rushing around the next corner.

“Who was that?” the security officer whispered.

Aliris wasn’t as shy. “Hello? We’re with Starfleet, we’re here to help.”

No response.

She walked towards the corner to follow whoever they had spotted.

Gradkowski hesitated only a moment before joining her and they both carefully rounded the corner. A Klingon man was standing at the far end of the corridor section and Aliris recognized him immediately when the flashlight illuminated his face.

“Lieutenant K’thor?” she said and slowly stepped closer. “We need some help to treat your captain.”

“Aliris, watch out,” Gradkowski yelled and then forcefully pushed her into the bulkhead.

Just in time to avoid being decapitated by a well-placed disruptor blast fired by the weapon K’thor had pulled out of his belt.

The security officer returned fire but the Klingon had already rushed off.

He offered his hand to the Risian who was picking herself up from where she had landed. “Are you alright?”

“Bruised but otherwise alive,” she said as he pulled her back onto her feet. She massaged her sore shoulder she had fallen on.

“What’s going on here?” Gradkowski asked with obvious confusion. “Why did he just take a shot at us? Did we do something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s something else. And I intend to find out what it is. Let’s go,” she said and followed K’thor down the corridor.

It wasn’t difficult to pick up his trail as he made plenty of noise rushing down the empty corridors. Being aware that he was being followed, he turned and fired a couple of pot shots towards his pursues which Aliris and Gradkowski avoided easily enough by pushing themselves against the bulkheads. But it seemed clear that K’thor was too much in a hurry to try and take proper aim.

Gradkowski never got a clean shot to try and stun the Klingon and stop the mad dash across the ship either.

It did however come to an end when he stormed into a room Aliris thought she recognized.

“It’s the transporter room.”

The two Starfleet officers entered just in time to see him dissolve in a bright crimson light until he was completely gone.

“He must have managed to redirect power somehow,” said Aliris, seeing that the room was now lit, at least as well as the rest of ship, and some of the consoles appeared operational. “Check the coordinates, where did he go?”

Gradkowski quickly did as he was told but after just a moment he began to shake his head. “I think he may have beamed to another part of the ship but I can’t really make heads or tails out of this,” he said and looked up. “Should we go after him?”

Aliris needed a moment to catch her breath and think. Then she turned back to Gradkowski. “To be perfectly honest with you, Jo. Nothing here makes a whole lot of sense and I haven’t got the slightest idea what to do about it.”

* * *​

Telvin had quickly come to regret leaving sickbay, as what he had found beyond was nothing but a maze of empty rooms and corridors. Worst yet, the lights, already dim and shining in an ominously red glow, tended to cut on and off with every step he took, causing him to see phantom movement around every corner.

And then there was that banging noise again.

It sounded almost as if somebody was pounding pipes together or perhaps knocking them against bulkheads. And it seemed to originate from all around him and from nowhere at all at the same time.

“Hello?” he nearly whispered into the crimson gloom. “Is anybody there?”

His response was a low, pained groan.

“Hello?” he said a bit louder, now that he thought that somebody was there for certain.

Footsteps. He thought he heard footsteps. Just behind him.

He turned around to see nothing at all.

Telvin took a deep breath and turned back.

And shrieked.

A Klingon had appeared just a couple of feet away, stumbling right towards him and then collapsed, crashing into him.

They fell together onto the hard metallic floor and like a panicked animal he tried to free himself from the weight of the Klingon pressing down on him.

It took him a few seconds to realize who had dropped on him.

“B’Nera? Are you … are you alright?”

She clearly was not. She was alive but seemed to be sweating profusely and a steady tickle of blood escaped her nose.

He quickly picked her up from the floor to get her into a sitting position by leaning her back against the bulkhead. “B’Nera, can you hear me?”

She looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time. Then she did something Telvin had not expected. She smiled. It was a big one, revealing her sharp teeth.

“You … you don’t look so good. You should come back to sickbay with me.”

“I feel fine,” she said and wiped away the blood. “I don’t need sickbay. I need something else,” she added her hands beginning to pull at the neckline of her tunic which already displayed an impressive amount of cleavage.

Telvin tried hard not to notice. “Uhm, you look hot. Like you’re burning up.”

“Yes,” she almost purred now, her facial features turning lecherous. “I’m very hot,” she said. “I need you … I need you right now.”

“I … I help anyway I can but –“

She practically leaped at him, causing the Tiburon to fall onto his back with the Klingon woman on top of him. He immediately tried to push her away. “Wait a minute, wait a minute, this isn’t right. You’re not thinking straight.”

“I’m thinking as clear as crystal,” she purred. “I’m about to die but before I do I want to experience pleasure. Come on, fight me, Starfleet. Make this interesting,” she said as she tried to shove her face into his.

Trying to hold her back and crawling away from the seemingly possessed woman at the same time, he didn’t appear much of a match for her. “You don’t want me … this is really more Aliris’ thing … maybe she could – “

“You are a man, aren’t you?” she said and pushed harder until she was close enough to lick his cheek just before biting into it.

Telvin screamed but the adrenaline caused by the sudden pain was strong enough to free himself from B’Nera. He managed to get back onto his feet and shoved her away hard when she tried to move in on him again.

She fell into the bulkhead and slid down to the floor, apparently loosing consciousness for a moment.

Telvin found it near impossible to focus on anything as he was gripped by sudden dizziness and his vision went blurry. He reached for his cheek and found his hand covered with blood.

He turned and stumbled towards the direction he thought he had come from, trying to return to sickbay. But after just a few steps he could no longer tell where he was or which way he needed to go.

The banging was back and seemed to be coming from right in front of him now. Just beyond a set of heavy, metal doors. He somehow found the large manual release lever and pulled down.

The doors opened to reveal complete darkness.

The banging stopped.

Telvin took a step towards the threshold.

“Is ... is anyone there?”

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

What's Klingonese for "Braaains . . . ?"

This is a seriously fun/spooky tale, Cejay. Great job of creating the ominous atmosphere and cast of young, nervous 'Fleeters. How appropriate for this time of year.

I'm interested to see if these really are Klinzombies or if something else is going on.

Good stuff, Cejay!

 

[Mistral]

How cool-a freakin haunted Klingon ship. Neat idea!

 

[DarKush]

Hats off to you CeJay. This is a great return for your series. From the story title and image to the tale itself, it definitely evokes the Halloween spirit.

I like this collection of young, nervous, inexperienced officers, and the reactions of some, especially Telvin feel very real. The Klingon ship is a great setting, it puts me in the mind of ENT's "Sleeping Dogs" though I think you use the Klingon ship to greater effect. I like how you have slow built up tension as well as the horror. We are getting to know these characters before anything potentially bad happens to them and that's a good thing.

You also have set up a nice mystery with these Klingons. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out if they are ghosts, zombies, or people haunted by ghosts or the undead.

 

[Kyhrk]

Man, these youngsters are in for one crazy time. A ship filled with crazy, infected Klingons on a seemingly haunted ship is a recipe for disaster. Alas that's life in space, never a dull moment especially for this in Starfleet.

 

[CeJay]

Thanks for the great comments everyone. I've been wanting to write a story like this for years but never really knew how to make it work in a Star Trek setting until I came up with the Lower Deck Tales. I'm curious to see if it worked once we get to see the finished product.

* * *​

“I’m loosing him, damn it, I’m loosing him.”

Captain K’ven’s condition had worsened significantly over the last few minutes and whatever Jiang and Chayton had tried to stabilize him seemed to have had the exact opposite effect, almost as if the Klingon was determined to die.

“Give him 5 cc’s of cordrazine,” said Jiang while she continued to monitor his vitals through her tricorder.

Chayton gave her a surprised look. “That could kill him.”

“He’s already dying and we tried everything else. Give him the damned shot.”

The med tech didn’t hesitate again and quickly applied the hypo-spray.

The stimulant showed immediate results. K’ven rose a few inches from his bed, stiffened for a moment and then collapsed again.

The nurse shook her head. “His nervous system reacted but his vital were almost completely unaffected. I just don’t understand this.”

“His blood pressure and heart rate are crashing. ”

“I know,” she uttered in frustration. “Try to find something like a cardiostimulator before he goes into shock.”

Chayton nodded and went to search for an appropriate instrument to keep the Klingon from dying.

All help seemed to come to late when the medical tricorder confirmed sudden cardiac arrest.

“No, no, no,” said Jiang, dropped her tricorder and in lieu of having any useful equipment nearby, climbed onto the bed and on top of K’ven, located his heart and began to apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation with both her hands. “Come on, come on, you big stupid, eight-chambered heart. Don’t give up on me now.”

K’ven gasped, giving the Japanese nurse some hope as she looked up at him.

“When there is no more room … no more room in Gre’thor … the dishonored dead will rise …. “ A last gurgle escaped his lips and then his body went completely limp with his empty, lifeless eyes seemingly transfixed on the Starfleet nurse kneeling on top of him.

“No, no, come back, come back,” she urged as she restarted her efforts.

Chayton picked up the tricorder which now sounded a noticeable, single-toned beep to indicate the patient’s condition. “He’s dead.”

But Jiang continued to try and restart his heart, not paying the med tech any attention.

This continued for almost a full minute without showing any effect until Chayton placed his hand around her arm. “He’s dead,” he repeated.

Yifey Jiang gave him a blank look, then turned back to see K’ven’s unmoving face before she finally slowed down and eventually stopped. “I’ve never … I’ve never lost somebody before,” she nearly whispered.

Chayton helped her off the lifeless body but said nothing, not even when tears shot into her eyes and she began to wipe them away. He continued to watch her as she took a few steps away from the bed. When she turned around she found him still giving her that empty look.

“What are you? Vulcan? You could at least try to show some emotions. A man we tried to save just died,” she said angrily and stepped right up to him, having to crane her neck slightly to look into the large man’s eyes. “I’m really sick of your entire attitude, you know that. You could say something. Like how we did everything we possibly could, like how there was nothing we could have done differently. Something. Say something, you big useless oaf,” she yelled at him and pounded his chest in frustration.

Chayton said nothing at all.

* * *​

“I don’t like this, Aliris, I don’t like this at all. First almost the entire crew seems to be missing, and then the man in charge starts shooting at you without provocation. It was without provocation, I mean, right?”

The dark-skinned beauty from Risa rolled her eyes which Torain of course couldn’t see. “Yes, without provocation. I didn’t as much as look at him before he tried to take my head of. Usually men get to know me a little better before they try that.”

“But not by much,” mumbled Gradkowski with a wide grin.

Aliris shot him a ‘shut-up’-look

“Ok well, clearly things over there are out of control and our help is apparently not appreciated. I think you should come back,” said the lieutenant over the comlink.

“It may not be fully appreciated but it’s clearly required. Their captain is gravely ill and there were at least a handful of other sick crewmembers in their infirmary. I think we should let Jiang and her people at least try to help them as much as they can before we call it quits.”

Graham seemed to think about that for a moment. “No,” he finally said. “Get our people and bring them back to the runabout. If the rest of the crew feels about you being there anything like K’thor did you’ll be way outnumbered and quickly fall prisoners or worse. I’ll advise Eagle of our situation. I think we should leave this to the big boys.”
“But don’t we have an obligation to help those who …”

“Those who ask for it, not those who try to kill us while we do,” said Torain, cutting her off. “This is a direct order, Ensign. Return to the runabout as soon as –“

The link disconnected in mid-sentence.

Aliris glanced at Gradkowski in surprise. “Graham, you still there?”

Nothing.

“Aliris to Torain, can you hear me? Nebuchadrezzar, please respond.”

It was of no use.

The security officer in the meantime had stepped up to the transporter console. “I think there may be some interference coming from the engineering room that is causing problems with communications,” he said.

“Great. B’Nera did mention that they were having some technical difficulties. Can we at least still beam out of here?”
“I think so.”

She gave him a pointed look to which he merely shrugged. “Hey, I’m a security officer not an engineer.”

“Right,” she said. “I suppose we’ve got our orders and I’m getting an increasingly bad feeling about this place. Let’s grab the rest of our people and get off this bucket,” she said and headed out of the transporter room.

* * *​

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Jiang is Japanese? I'm a bit confused. Is she married to a Chinese guy?

So, the captain is dead. Will he raise in a moment and consume someone's brain?

Why do I feel that it won't be so easy to just grab the people and return to the runabout?

 

[CeJay]

Well spotted, Gul Re'jal. Jiang was supposed to be Chinese but inexplicably turned Japanese when I started writing this. However I'm sure a Japanese person with a Chinese name is not unheard of, especially in the 24th century. For example she could have been born in Japan but be ethnically Chinese.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I never heard of a Japanese with a Chinese name (living in Asia I have friends of both nationalities ). Even though they use almost the same characters, Japanese read them completely differently (and Japanese surnames are usually two-character, while Chinese one-character).

For example she could have been born in Japan but be ethnically Chinese.

I don't think it works that way in Asia She would still be considered Chinese.
But her mother could be Japanese and father Chinese, while she was born and raised in Japan, so she identifies with that country more. Such things do happen

 

[Gibraltar]

Terrific stuff, Cejay! A runabout full of green 'Fleeters, a ship full of zombified Klingons... the possibilities are endlessly gruesome!

 

[DarKush]

Another solid entry, adding to the tension. I really do like these untried officers. They feel unpolished, rough around the edges. I liked Jiang's response to losing K'ven and her anger at Chayton. Chayton remains a mystery.

For editorial purposes, you mentioned "K'Vort" in Graham's exchange with Aliris. I don't recall a K'Vort being in your story. I know the K'Vort is a class of Klingon ship. Is it the class of this vessel? Or maybe you meant someone else?

Also, what is Aliris's role on Eagle?

 

[tablepad]

nice story.. i think I've seen a similar movie before..

 

[CeJay]

Thanks for the comments everyone, glad to see that the story is working out for people so far.

I probably got a bit overexcited with this myself and started posting the story before it was really ready. Good catch, DarKush, Graham should have said K'thor. I've fixed that. And in order to prevent any future confusion, I've also decided to make Jiang Chinese as she was originally intended.

Aliris and Torain are both shuttle pilots assigned to FlightOps.

And tablepad, thanks for reading. I'm using genre conventions quite freely in this story as you have been able to tell. Hopefully you've never seen his movie with Klingons though.

 

[Mistral]

I never heard of a Japanese with a Chinese name (living in Asia I have friends of both nationalities ). Even though they use almost the same characters, Japanese read them completely differently (and Japanese surnames are usually two-character, while Chinese one-character).

For example she could have been born in Japan but be ethnically Chinese.

I don't think it works that way in Asia She would still be considered Chinese.
But her mother could be Japanese and father Chinese, while she was born and raised in Japan, so she identifies with that country more. Such things do happen

I'm of the opinion that she's from Alpha Centauri, which everyone knows is a greater melting pot of ethnicity than the even the Old United States was. Being at least fourth generation, the cultural distinctions between Chinese and Japanese would have long since been blended and blurred. I suspect her parents were just happy to have married someone of the same basic racial stock. Hence, the Chinese name and Japanese cultural outlook. Or something like that.