Originally posted on fanfiction.net - Link.
Note: This story takes place after the main events in the episode "Envoys" and in tandem with my story "A Not-Quite-Brief Debriefing".
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Sphere Madness
“Thanks for keeping me company while watching the Trivoli pulsar, Rutherford,” Tendi chirped as they rode a turbolift to the bridge.
“Sure, no problem. It was fun,” Rutherford smiled carrying a toolkit. “I was able to recalibrate the rest of the ODN relays on Deck Six in just under three hours. That’s a new Engineering record!”
“Wow, that’s great. We should do things together more often,” Tendi beamed. “Oh, Mariner asked me to play drums with her during the ship’s upcoming Talent Show. You should come and do something too!”
“Me? Perform in front of an audience?” Rutherford rubbed his neck. “I dunno. I don’t really have any talents other than engineering.”
“Come on. There must be something you can do,” Tendi pressed.
“Well, I suppose I could try…what the heck?” Rutherford blinked as the turbolift whooshed opened.
“INSIGNIFICANT BIOFORMS!” A large glowing sphere the size of a shuttlecraft levitated in the middle of the bridge while emitting bolts of lightning-like energy. “REVEAL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FELLOW TRANSDIMENSIONAL ENTITY!”
“For the last time, we don’t know what you are talking about!” Captain Freeman shouted as a security team led by Lieutenant Shaxs attempted to keep the glowing energy sphere at bay. “We haven’t encountered any other transdimensional entities like you!”
“LIES! DECEPTION!” The glowing sphere boomed while causing the entire ship to shake. “MY MISSING ENTITY’S UNIQUE ENERGY SIGNATURE IS IMPRINTED ON THE EXTERIOR OF YOUR BULGING ARTIFICIAL EPIDERMIS!”
“My external epidermal bulges are not artificial…oh, you mean my uniform,” Freeman realized glancing down at herself. “Are you saying it came into contact with your missing entity at some point?”
“AFFIRMATION! ADMISSION!” The glowing sphere roared and crackled with renewed fury. “YOU WILL PAY FOR THE TERMINATION OF MY MISSING ENTITY’S EXISTENCE WITH YOUR OWN!”
“Not on my watch!” Shaxs yelled beating on the energy sphere with his fists. “Rarrr! Back you overgrown false Orb of Contemplation!”
“Quick! Somebody scan my uniform!” Freeman ordered as bolts of energy continued to rock the ship. “Look for any unknown or unusual residual energy signatures!”
“Yes sir!” Tendi ran over and whipped out her tricorder.
“Look out!” Rutherford shouted shoving Tendi and Freeman behind the ship’s tactical console.
“Commander Ransom reporting as ordered, Captain…AAAHHHHHH!” Ransom appeared only to be struck by a stray energy bolt. “YEOOOWWW, THAT HURTS!”
“Captain, I’m detecting an unidentified quantum energy pattern embedded in the front fabric layer of your upper uniform,” Tendi reported. “It bears a close match to the energy signature of the glowing sentient sphere.”
“Good work, Ensign,” Freeman said as the fighting raged about them. “Any idea how it got there?”
“Um, not really,” Tendi fidgeted nervously. “It would be difficult to run into an energy sphere the size of the other one without knowing it. Unless it was a much, much smaller version of…” She blinked in realization. “Oh no. It couldn’t be…”
“FOOLISH BIOFORMS! YOUR EXISTENTIAL ELIMINATION IS INEVITABLE!” The ship’s lights flickered as energy bolts continued to shake the ship.
“Get down!” One of the security officers fired a phaser at the energy sphere which only caused it to grow even bigger.
“YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO HARM ME?!” The energy sphere shot back with an even more powerful blast.
“Aggghhh!” The security guard screamed as he was hit.
“Colucci! No!” Shaxs yelled and began punching the energy sphere like a maniac. “THAT’S IT! NOBODY ZAPS A MEMBER OF THE BEAR PACK! ROOOAAARRR!”
“Oh no!” Tendi bent over the security guard’s fallen form and scanned him with her tricorder. “He’s dead, captain!”
“Gahhh!” Colucci gasped with his uniform still smoking.
“Oops! Looks like he’s still alive,” Tendi corrected whacking her tricorder. “Guess I was wrong. Sorry!”
“We’ve got to get that thing off the ship!” Freeman shouted slapping her combadge. “Bridge to Transporter Room Two! Lock onto the transdimensional entity and beam it into space!”
“I can’t get a lock, Captain,” The transporter operator replied. “The entity’s energy signature is causing too much interference!”
“AAAHHHHHH!” More members of the security team shrieked as they were tossed around like rag dolls.
“Figures,” Freeman cursed closing the channel. “Does anyone know anything about the missing transdimensional entity this overgrown plasma globe keeps talking about?”
“Uh,” Tendi gulped. “Actually…”
“Um, Captain,” Rutherford cautiously spoke up. “My cybernetic implant is noticing a significant drain on the visual components of the ship’s life support system which correlates to the interval of energy discharges emitted by the entity. It’s possible the entity may be partially photoreactive.”
“So what are you suggesting we do, Ensign? Kill the lights in hopes of depriving it of energy?” Freeman asking sneaking a peek at the large glowing entity. “That thing looks like it could power a Sovereign-class ship for a year with juice to spare.”
“Well, I was just thinking,” Rutherford nervously rubbed his head. “The energy sphere said its missing entity had been terminated, but traces of the missing entity’s quantum energy pattern still exist in your upper uniform. If the entities are photoreactive we could try hitting the remaining residual energy pattern with a sufficiently powerful beam of highly concentrated, phased rectified energy which might re-excite the quantum pattern’s energy matrix enough to restore the missing entity to its previously coherent, complexly organized state.”
“You want to try bringing the missing transdimensional entity back to life by shooting me in the chest with a phaser?” Freeman gave him a look.
“Just your uniform,” Rutherford gulped.
“ACCEPT YOUR RIGHTEOUS TERMINATION!” The energy sphere boomed rocking the ship once again. “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!”
“That line’s taken!” Shaxs howled. “Find another one!”
“Ohhh, what hit me?” Ransom warbled sitting up only to be hit by another stray energy bolt. “AAAUUUGGGHHH!”
“Fine! At this point, anything is worth a shot,” Freeman quickly whipped off her upper uniform and tossed it near the raging energy sphere. She then shoved a phaser into Rutherford’s nervous hands. “Hit it, Ensign!”
“Okey-dokey,” Rutherford set the phaser to the calculated settings before firing it at the captain’s discarded upper uniform. “Hope this works!”
PHWZZZT!
“I LIIIIIIVE!” A second, volleyball-sized energy sphere rose up from the remains of Freeman’s scorched upper uniform.
“WHAT?” The first glowing entity ceased shooting energy bolts as the ship became calm once again. “YOU RESTORED MY MISSING ADOLESCENT PROGENY?”
“Yes, we have,” Freeman stood up from behind the tactical console. “And we did it despite your threats and attempts destroy…wait, your what?”
“Now mortals, tremble in fear as you look upon the instrument of your demise!” The smaller, reconstituted entity declared as sparks of energy ominously crackled around it. “I shall have my vengeance! Your remaining, fleeting lives will end in doom! Doom!”
“STOP THAT AT ONCE!” The larger energy entity boomed looming over its smaller counterpart. “WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT TRYING TO PASS YOURSELF OFF AS A DEITY TO PRIMITIVE CORPOREAL LIFEFORMS?”
“Moooooom!” The smaller energy entity protested. “Don’t interrupt! I’m trying to be all scary and imposing here!”
“Mom?” Everyone else on the bridge stared in shock.
“DON’T ‘MOM’ ME!” The larger energy entity snapped. “I HAVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU! I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR ONE MILLISECOND AND YOU GO AND DISAPPEAR WITHOUT A TRACE! I HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!”
“I was just having a little fun,” The smaller energy entity pouted.
“I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT’S FUN!” The larger energy entity snapped. “HOW ABOUT SPENDING A TIME-OUT IN A NULL SPACE POCKET?”
“No! Not that!” The smaller energy entity gasped. “You can’t make me!”
“WATCH ME!” The larger energy entity seemed to rotate around one of its horizontal axis’ in exasperation. “KIDS THESE DAYS. WHAT CAN YOU DO? THEY HAVE NO RESPECT TOWARDS ANYONE!”
“You’re telling me,” Freeman muttered under her breath.
“IT SEEMS THIS HAS ALL BEEN A TERRIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING,” The larger energy entity said. “PLEASE ACCEPT THESE GIFTS AS A FORM OF REPARATIONS AND APOLOGY.”
“That’s not necessary…huh?” Freeman blinked as the large energy entity shrank slightly and created a batch of state-of-the-art tricorders with purple stripes out of thin air.
“Ooo, neat!” Rutherford cooed examining one. “I can’t wait to test this baby out! And it even comes with a fully charged power cell. Alright!”
“Make sure to try the new multiphasic scanning feature,” Tendi chirped. “It comes with its own set of six-fold analytical algorithms!”
“Thanks, I will,” Rutherford grinned happily. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
“Uh, scientist intuition?” Tendi whistled nervously.
“FAREWELL, STRANGE BIOFORMS. I DOUBT WE SHALL MEET AGAIN,” The pair of glowing energy entities levitated upward before passing through a bulkhead into space.
“Well that was certainly an anomalous first contact,” Freeman rubbed her forehead. “I hate dealing with childish, powerful non-corporeal lifeforms. At least these didn’t dress up in outlandish costumes while giving themselves grandiose titles like Squire or Admiral or Marshal.”
“They really do that?” Tendi blinked in surprise. “I thought that kind of behavior was only exhibited by certain female ambassadors from Betazed.”
“And you,” Freeman turned toward Rutherford. “Nice job coming up with a plan to deal with the energy entities, Ensign. You’ll be given more important assignments and responsibilities after this.”
“Aw, thanks Captain,” Rutherford beamed with pride.
“Now go deliver all these new tricorders to the ship’s quartermaster,” Freeman ordered pointing to them. “And make sure to reserve the fastest, most powerful and best looking one for me.”
“Uh, yes sir,” Rutherford deflated slightly and began collecting the tricorders.
“Ransom, have Commander Billups send a repair crew up here before resuming course,” Freeman pointed upward. “The lights are still flickering a bit.”
“Ohhh, aye Captain. Ugh,” A frazzled Ransom shakily got to his feet with his uniform torn and scorched. “I’ll inform him and return to my duties right after I get a quick shot of Antarean brandy…er, I mean anesthetic.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Freeman waved and turned to Tendi. “Ensign, take Mister Colucci there to Sickbay,”
“Yes sir,” Tendi nodded and helped the fallen security guard to his feet. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll turn out to be just fine.”
“Mommy?” Colucci whimpered.
“I’m going to go procure a new uniform,” Freeman grumbled heading to her ready room. “The blasted replicator better not get my measurements wrong again. Shaxs, you have the bridge.”
“So, you okay?” Rutherford asked Tendi as the two of them waited for the next turbolift with Colucci.
“Are you kidding? That was great!” Tendi beamed happily. “Much cooler than my first encounter with a transdimensional entity.”
“You’ve encountered a transdimensional entity before?” Rutherford did a take. “When?”
“Oh, recently,” Tendi whistled as they finally entered the turbolift. “Hey, you should regale the tale of our entire encounter with the pair of transdimensional entities for the talent show.”
“Na, that doesn’t seem very appealing,” Rutherford scoffed as the turbolift doors gently closed on them. “Who would ever want to hear a silly, pointless lower decks story like that?”
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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Note: This story takes place after the main events in the episode "Envoys" and in tandem with my story "A Not-Quite-Brief Debriefing".
--------------------------------------
Sphere Madness
“Thanks for keeping me company while watching the Trivoli pulsar, Rutherford,” Tendi chirped as they rode a turbolift to the bridge.
“Sure, no problem. It was fun,” Rutherford smiled carrying a toolkit. “I was able to recalibrate the rest of the ODN relays on Deck Six in just under three hours. That’s a new Engineering record!”
“Wow, that’s great. We should do things together more often,” Tendi beamed. “Oh, Mariner asked me to play drums with her during the ship’s upcoming Talent Show. You should come and do something too!”
“Me? Perform in front of an audience?” Rutherford rubbed his neck. “I dunno. I don’t really have any talents other than engineering.”
“Come on. There must be something you can do,” Tendi pressed.
“Well, I suppose I could try…what the heck?” Rutherford blinked as the turbolift whooshed opened.
“INSIGNIFICANT BIOFORMS!” A large glowing sphere the size of a shuttlecraft levitated in the middle of the bridge while emitting bolts of lightning-like energy. “REVEAL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FELLOW TRANSDIMENSIONAL ENTITY!”
“For the last time, we don’t know what you are talking about!” Captain Freeman shouted as a security team led by Lieutenant Shaxs attempted to keep the glowing energy sphere at bay. “We haven’t encountered any other transdimensional entities like you!”
“LIES! DECEPTION!” The glowing sphere boomed while causing the entire ship to shake. “MY MISSING ENTITY’S UNIQUE ENERGY SIGNATURE IS IMPRINTED ON THE EXTERIOR OF YOUR BULGING ARTIFICIAL EPIDERMIS!”
“My external epidermal bulges are not artificial…oh, you mean my uniform,” Freeman realized glancing down at herself. “Are you saying it came into contact with your missing entity at some point?”
“AFFIRMATION! ADMISSION!” The glowing sphere roared and crackled with renewed fury. “YOU WILL PAY FOR THE TERMINATION OF MY MISSING ENTITY’S EXISTENCE WITH YOUR OWN!”
“Not on my watch!” Shaxs yelled beating on the energy sphere with his fists. “Rarrr! Back you overgrown false Orb of Contemplation!”
“Quick! Somebody scan my uniform!” Freeman ordered as bolts of energy continued to rock the ship. “Look for any unknown or unusual residual energy signatures!”
“Yes sir!” Tendi ran over and whipped out her tricorder.
“Look out!” Rutherford shouted shoving Tendi and Freeman behind the ship’s tactical console.
“Commander Ransom reporting as ordered, Captain…AAAHHHHHH!” Ransom appeared only to be struck by a stray energy bolt. “YEOOOWWW, THAT HURTS!”
“Captain, I’m detecting an unidentified quantum energy pattern embedded in the front fabric layer of your upper uniform,” Tendi reported. “It bears a close match to the energy signature of the glowing sentient sphere.”
“Good work, Ensign,” Freeman said as the fighting raged about them. “Any idea how it got there?”
“Um, not really,” Tendi fidgeted nervously. “It would be difficult to run into an energy sphere the size of the other one without knowing it. Unless it was a much, much smaller version of…” She blinked in realization. “Oh no. It couldn’t be…”
“FOOLISH BIOFORMS! YOUR EXISTENTIAL ELIMINATION IS INEVITABLE!” The ship’s lights flickered as energy bolts continued to shake the ship.
“Get down!” One of the security officers fired a phaser at the energy sphere which only caused it to grow even bigger.
“YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO HARM ME?!” The energy sphere shot back with an even more powerful blast.
“Aggghhh!” The security guard screamed as he was hit.
“Colucci! No!” Shaxs yelled and began punching the energy sphere like a maniac. “THAT’S IT! NOBODY ZAPS A MEMBER OF THE BEAR PACK! ROOOAAARRR!”
“Oh no!” Tendi bent over the security guard’s fallen form and scanned him with her tricorder. “He’s dead, captain!”
“Gahhh!” Colucci gasped with his uniform still smoking.
“Oops! Looks like he’s still alive,” Tendi corrected whacking her tricorder. “Guess I was wrong. Sorry!”
“We’ve got to get that thing off the ship!” Freeman shouted slapping her combadge. “Bridge to Transporter Room Two! Lock onto the transdimensional entity and beam it into space!”
“I can’t get a lock, Captain,” The transporter operator replied. “The entity’s energy signature is causing too much interference!”
“AAAHHHHHH!” More members of the security team shrieked as they were tossed around like rag dolls.
“Figures,” Freeman cursed closing the channel. “Does anyone know anything about the missing transdimensional entity this overgrown plasma globe keeps talking about?”
“Uh,” Tendi gulped. “Actually…”
“Um, Captain,” Rutherford cautiously spoke up. “My cybernetic implant is noticing a significant drain on the visual components of the ship’s life support system which correlates to the interval of energy discharges emitted by the entity. It’s possible the entity may be partially photoreactive.”
“So what are you suggesting we do, Ensign? Kill the lights in hopes of depriving it of energy?” Freeman asking sneaking a peek at the large glowing entity. “That thing looks like it could power a Sovereign-class ship for a year with juice to spare.”
“Well, I was just thinking,” Rutherford nervously rubbed his head. “The energy sphere said its missing entity had been terminated, but traces of the missing entity’s quantum energy pattern still exist in your upper uniform. If the entities are photoreactive we could try hitting the remaining residual energy pattern with a sufficiently powerful beam of highly concentrated, phased rectified energy which might re-excite the quantum pattern’s energy matrix enough to restore the missing entity to its previously coherent, complexly organized state.”
“You want to try bringing the missing transdimensional entity back to life by shooting me in the chest with a phaser?” Freeman gave him a look.
“Just your uniform,” Rutherford gulped.
“ACCEPT YOUR RIGHTEOUS TERMINATION!” The energy sphere boomed rocking the ship once again. “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!”
“That line’s taken!” Shaxs howled. “Find another one!”
“Ohhh, what hit me?” Ransom warbled sitting up only to be hit by another stray energy bolt. “AAAUUUGGGHHH!”
“Fine! At this point, anything is worth a shot,” Freeman quickly whipped off her upper uniform and tossed it near the raging energy sphere. She then shoved a phaser into Rutherford’s nervous hands. “Hit it, Ensign!”
“Okey-dokey,” Rutherford set the phaser to the calculated settings before firing it at the captain’s discarded upper uniform. “Hope this works!”
PHWZZZT!
“I LIIIIIIVE!” A second, volleyball-sized energy sphere rose up from the remains of Freeman’s scorched upper uniform.
“WHAT?” The first glowing entity ceased shooting energy bolts as the ship became calm once again. “YOU RESTORED MY MISSING ADOLESCENT PROGENY?”
“Yes, we have,” Freeman stood up from behind the tactical console. “And we did it despite your threats and attempts destroy…wait, your what?”
“Now mortals, tremble in fear as you look upon the instrument of your demise!” The smaller, reconstituted entity declared as sparks of energy ominously crackled around it. “I shall have my vengeance! Your remaining, fleeting lives will end in doom! Doom!”
“STOP THAT AT ONCE!” The larger energy entity boomed looming over its smaller counterpart. “WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT TRYING TO PASS YOURSELF OFF AS A DEITY TO PRIMITIVE CORPOREAL LIFEFORMS?”
“Moooooom!” The smaller energy entity protested. “Don’t interrupt! I’m trying to be all scary and imposing here!”
“Mom?” Everyone else on the bridge stared in shock.
“DON’T ‘MOM’ ME!” The larger energy entity snapped. “I HAVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU! I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR ONE MILLISECOND AND YOU GO AND DISAPPEAR WITHOUT A TRACE! I HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!”
“I was just having a little fun,” The smaller energy entity pouted.
“I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT’S FUN!” The larger energy entity snapped. “HOW ABOUT SPENDING A TIME-OUT IN A NULL SPACE POCKET?”
“No! Not that!” The smaller energy entity gasped. “You can’t make me!”
“WATCH ME!” The larger energy entity seemed to rotate around one of its horizontal axis’ in exasperation. “KIDS THESE DAYS. WHAT CAN YOU DO? THEY HAVE NO RESPECT TOWARDS ANYONE!”
“You’re telling me,” Freeman muttered under her breath.
“IT SEEMS THIS HAS ALL BEEN A TERRIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING,” The larger energy entity said. “PLEASE ACCEPT THESE GIFTS AS A FORM OF REPARATIONS AND APOLOGY.”
“That’s not necessary…huh?” Freeman blinked as the large energy entity shrank slightly and created a batch of state-of-the-art tricorders with purple stripes out of thin air.
“Ooo, neat!” Rutherford cooed examining one. “I can’t wait to test this baby out! And it even comes with a fully charged power cell. Alright!”
“Make sure to try the new multiphasic scanning feature,” Tendi chirped. “It comes with its own set of six-fold analytical algorithms!”
“Thanks, I will,” Rutherford grinned happily. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
“Uh, scientist intuition?” Tendi whistled nervously.
“FAREWELL, STRANGE BIOFORMS. I DOUBT WE SHALL MEET AGAIN,” The pair of glowing energy entities levitated upward before passing through a bulkhead into space.
“Well that was certainly an anomalous first contact,” Freeman rubbed her forehead. “I hate dealing with childish, powerful non-corporeal lifeforms. At least these didn’t dress up in outlandish costumes while giving themselves grandiose titles like Squire or Admiral or Marshal.”
“They really do that?” Tendi blinked in surprise. “I thought that kind of behavior was only exhibited by certain female ambassadors from Betazed.”
“And you,” Freeman turned toward Rutherford. “Nice job coming up with a plan to deal with the energy entities, Ensign. You’ll be given more important assignments and responsibilities after this.”
“Aw, thanks Captain,” Rutherford beamed with pride.
“Now go deliver all these new tricorders to the ship’s quartermaster,” Freeman ordered pointing to them. “And make sure to reserve the fastest, most powerful and best looking one for me.”
“Uh, yes sir,” Rutherford deflated slightly and began collecting the tricorders.
“Ransom, have Commander Billups send a repair crew up here before resuming course,” Freeman pointed upward. “The lights are still flickering a bit.”
“Ohhh, aye Captain. Ugh,” A frazzled Ransom shakily got to his feet with his uniform torn and scorched. “I’ll inform him and return to my duties right after I get a quick shot of Antarean brandy…er, I mean anesthetic.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Freeman waved and turned to Tendi. “Ensign, take Mister Colucci there to Sickbay,”
“Yes sir,” Tendi nodded and helped the fallen security guard to his feet. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll turn out to be just fine.”
“Mommy?” Colucci whimpered.
“I’m going to go procure a new uniform,” Freeman grumbled heading to her ready room. “The blasted replicator better not get my measurements wrong again. Shaxs, you have the bridge.”
“So, you okay?” Rutherford asked Tendi as the two of them waited for the next turbolift with Colucci.
“Are you kidding? That was great!” Tendi beamed happily. “Much cooler than my first encounter with a transdimensional entity.”
“You’ve encountered a transdimensional entity before?” Rutherford did a take. “When?”
“Oh, recently,” Tendi whistled as they finally entered the turbolift. “Hey, you should regale the tale of our entire encounter with the pair of transdimensional entities for the talent show.”
“Na, that doesn’t seem very appealing,” Rutherford scoffed as the turbolift doors gently closed on them. “Who would ever want to hear a silly, pointless lower decks story like that?”
--------------------------------------
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek: Lower Decks.
