Chapter 12: It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!
“E-Engineering?”
“Yes…”
Everyone (on both sides of the comlink) groaned silently, knowing what was going to happen. 5…4…3…2…1…
“NOOOOOOO! HOLD ON B’ELANNA! I’LL SAVE YOU!”
Before anyone knew what happened, Aseawen hit the controls of the Turbolift and opened the doors. Conveniently enough, they had stopped exactly at Deck eleven. They did not have to climb out through the roof or even do as much as watch their step. With a loud battlecry, the obsessed authoress burst out, only to find… no one?
Cautiously, the other students stepped out into the corridor. Something strange was going on: if the Hirogen were trying to take over Engineering, surely they would not be as stupid as leaving the Turbolift unguarded? The Hirogen were big, but not stupid. It would be everything but “cunning”, to basically invite your prey to team up and attack you from behind.
Unless…
“Uhm guys…” Slayer suddenly whispered nervously, “call me paranoid, but I think this could be a trap!”
“I don’t care!” Aseawen said defiantly, “I have to save B’Elanna!”
“But who is going to save us?” SuperSanne squeaked in an unusually high voice.
Aseawen smirked confidently.
“Feh! Like those walking steroids could get me!”
“I… I really d-don’t think y-y-you s-should…”
Not paying attention to Firebirdgirl, who had turned ghostly white, she continued to boast
“I’ve seen every episode a million times, so I know exactly how to deal with these spotty overgrown…”
“Aseawen…”
“Grunting, bulky, idiotic…”
“A-Aseawen…”
“Smelly, braindead, pathetic excuse for a…”
She trailed off when she saw that her fellow students were all shaking, mumbling incoherent sentences and were frantically pointing at something.
“They’re right behind me, aren’t they?”
The others slowly nodded, and Aseawen suddenly noticed a large shadow looming over her. Curiosity getting the better of her, she broke the Number One Rule of ‘how to survive in a horror movie’: never, ever, EVER look over your shoulder (even if the monster is not there, it will jump out in front of you the minute you turn your head back).
She grinned sheepishly at the Beta hunter, who did not look like he was in a good mood.
“Walk,” he said gruffly, surprisingly not trying to shoot them.
“And what if we don’t want to, Mr. Vocabulary?” Darkninga dared him. He raised an invisible eyebrow and pulled out his weapon, which was almost as big as her.
“Well,” she gulped, “if you put it that way…”
“I can’t believe this…” Istarwyn muttered, kicking the forcefield that contained them. The Hirogen had not taken them to Engineering. Instead, they had been locked in Cargobay Two with the other students and the rest of the crew. The only one missing was the Doctor, who would probably save the day. They just hoped that he would hurry up, because a certain chief engineer was about to loose it and you do NOT want to be trapped behind a forcefield with an insane half-Klingon who likes to thrash holograms with a Bat-leth in her spare time.
“Come on, just ONE autograph!”
“No!”
“Poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke…”
“Stay there! Don’t come any closer… Tom! Make that… that thing stay away from me!”
Unfortunately, her husband was too busy prying a group of rabid fangirls of his legs and the other crewmembers were facing similar problems. Even Neelix was not spared, which is kind of creepy if you think about it.
SuperSanne nervously glanced around, trying to make herself as small and invisible as possible. It was not the Hirogen guard she was afraid of. Oh no… she had bigger problems on her mind.
Please don’t let him see me, please don’t let him see me!
“Miss SuperSanne, can I have a word with you?”
Oh CRAP!
Very slowly, she turned sideways to the Head chief of Security she had been trying so hard to avoid. Pretending not to hear him, she quickly turned her head back and focused on a spot on the floor. The Vulcan remained emotionless as usual and continued to stare at her, but she did not move. Maybe if she ignored him long enough, the Hirogen would shoot them before he could mention… IT.
15 minutes later, her “writing romance” teacher had still not moved. She could almost feel his eyes piercing through her skull. Was he trying to read her mind? He could not do that without a mindmeld, could he? She continued to keep her eyes fixed on the floor. Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him…
“Miss SuperSanne, are you…?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I NEVER WANTED TO WRITE THAT TUVOK/Q FIC! I WASN’T FEELING WELL! MY HAMSTER ATE MY HOMEWORK! TV TOOK AWAY MY CREATIVITY! IT’S A CONSPIRACY, A CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU!”
Then, right when Tuvok was about to make a typical Vulcan remark, a second Hirogen guard walked in.
“The Alpha wishes to speak to you,” he said, “I’ll take over”
The guard, however, raised an invisible eyebrow.
“I have strict orders to stay here and watch this prey, under any circumstances!”
“And who gave you these orders?” the other Hirogen asked with a hint of sarcasm
“The Alpha himself,” their guard said, while taking a closer look at his colleague. “Wait a minute… who are you? I haven’t seen you during the hunt!”
“Voyager is a big ship, you probably just missed me,” he said a bit nervous. When the guard continued to look suspiciously at him, he regained his composure. “If you wish to stay, that’s fine with me!” he snapped. “I’ll just run off and tell the Alpha that you don’t feel like following his orders today”
This seemed to change the guards mind. The prospect of an angry Alpha wasn’t exactly a pleasant one, and he knew it.
“Alright,” he grunted, “just make sure the prey does not escape, or the Alpha will have your head instead”
He headed for the exit and the minute the doors closed behind him, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
“Thanks Doc!” Sikar grinned
“How’d you know it was me?”
“Just guessing”
The Doctor walked to the control panel and tried to lift the forcefield. While he was working, he started to explain.
“When the Hirogen were trying to get into Sickbay, I transferred my program to the holo-emitter. I hid in a Jefferies tube and waited until they left. When the coast was clear, I altered my appearance to match that of a Hirogen hunter. I then quickly made my way to the transporter room, but they have rerouted all controls to the bridge,” he sighed, “including those of Cargobay two. I can’t access the forcefield!”
“Can’t you just reroute the power?” Chakotay asked.
“I’m a Doctor, not an engineer!”
“I’ll tell you exactly what you have to do,” B’Elanna said, pushing Aseawen away, “just listen carefully…”
And so, after the Doctor managed to get them out, they quickly made their way to the bridge. Using the element of surprise and a human shield of Redshirts, the crew took back the ship and beamed the Hirogen onto an M-class planet. Surprisingly, none of the students got seriously injured. SuperSanne had a few scratches on her arm, KayB broke a nail and Aseawen’s ego would need some time to grow back to its normal size after B’Elanna’s rudeness. Another happy ending… for now…