Chapter 23 - Teaser! (Patreon)

This chapter fought me like a half starved Bajoran sinoraptor, but I got it done!  :-)  Giving it the final review tonight and tomorrow evening.  Enjoy!!

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Turning away from me, T’Maz spoke aloud in large room, “Computer, run simulation ‘T’Maz Program 6B, Collector Boarding Incursion USS Tikuma’. Objective mode.”

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at the overly pedantic name. The preciseness of Vulcans… Perhaps I should be thankful that she hadn’t included the stardate to make it even more specific.

Immediately responding to the command, the near silent and calm atmosphere of the holodeck was filled with the chaos of a starship in the midst of an emergency. The red alert claxons were blaring, the lights dimmed and flickered randomly as the ship was struck by energy weapons. I could practically taste the acrid smoke in the air caused by electrical shorts and damaged components. The ship itself felt like it was was shaking apart and I found myself bending my knees to stay on my feet. A few holographic crewmen had been knocked to the ground by a few sharp impacts that they had been unprepared for and others were giving the injured aid.

The room we were in was the main shuttle bay, if I wasn’t mistaken. As the Tikuma was a galaxy-class starship it was indistinguishable from the Enterprise, beyond a few different markings here and there. The space was cavernous, multiple decks high, and I was struck again by how inadequate the shows had been in depicting the immensity of this space due to budgetary concerns, I’m sure. There were a dozen or more shuttles in view in their various berths, cargo transporter pads on some walls, storage areas, repair stations with spare part storage and tools, photon torpedo racks, an observation lounge and a large elevated transparent aluminum clad control booths to supervise operations in this space. There were multiple entrances, and ladders and stairs to the upper levels. It was huge. This was definitely the main shuttle bay on a Galaxy-class starship.

“I’m assuming the incursion begins here in the main shuttle bay?” I asked T’Maz, as we had been ‘placed’ in a corner of the large shuttle bay, probably because the space we now occupied was free from any action that was about to take place.

“Yes.”