From Christopher Jackson Lt. Soman Drath All Hallows Eve. Following Des' proposal. The group sat, tentatively looking to each other; waiting for the first one to tell their story, Soman included. He looked to the Captain. There seemed to be a fountain of stories behind those eyes of his. Santos, however merely nodded; not wanting to steal the thunder from his officers. Suddenly, Soman noticed a shape out of the corner of his eye that gave him the perfect idea for a story. With a clearing of his through, he got the groups attention. Soman: I'll begin, if no one minds. There were no protests from the group. Soman: I'm not what you'd call a story teller, so you'll have to bear with me. What I'm about to tell you is all true. It happened a few years ago on the old Enterprise D, during my posting there. I had been assigned module replacement and upgrade of the LCARS interfaces in the aft Jeffries tubes. If you've ever worked aboard a Galaxy Class starship, then you know that there are no quick task. Let me see, it was Stardate 47653.2. I was working with two other ensigns. Mordon, a Benzite and Gollss, a Tellorite. So, there we were; crawling around Enterprise D's Jeffires tubes with nothing but the sound of the ships systems and our own breathing echoing off the bulkheads. I was in the middle of replacing a module when the everything went dead. Power, lights, communications, everything was out. I laid there for what seemed like an eternity, tapping my comm-badge trying to get in touch with anyone. I was afraid we were under attack, so, per my training, I took a palm beacon from my kit and a laser welder and tried to make my way to the nearest station hub to meet with a superior. I was several sections out; probably a full 50 meters away from the nearest hub, and the access doors had to be opened manually. As I moved, I was becoming more and more apprehensive about the entire situation. I was certain we'd been attacked and hurt badly. 10 meters in, I heard a tapping. I opened the access hatch and found Mordon limp on the deck, his arm was twitching. He was wheezing as if he weren't getting enough air, but his sprayer was working properly. Before I could investigate it, I heard what sounded like snorting and a frantic shuffling coming from the nearby junction. I called out, "hello!" Almost immediately the shuffling and snorting got closer and louder. I'd been in tunnels during the occupation and been afraid; but this had me trembling almost to the point that I couldn't think straight. It just as suddenly stopped with a bang as it ran into the closed access hatch. I then heard a loud squeal, like an animal in pain. Against my better judgement, I moved to the hatch, brandishing my laser welder for protection; praying to the Prophets for protection. I opened the hatch and came face to face with Gollss, but he looked different somehow, more animal like. His mouth was covered in foam and blood ran from where he'd just struck the hatch with his head. He frantically scrambled back from me, snarling at me as I approached him. I wasn't sure what to do. I was nearly scared out of my mind and I didn't even know why. Before I could make a decision, Gollss had turned and ran back down the Jeffries tube. Then I heard a sound I'll never forget as long as I live. This roar echoed through the entire Jeffries tube system. It wasn't Gollss'. If you had asked me ten, I would have said it was death itself. I was frozen. Fortunately, Gollss came running back at top speed, knocking me off to the side. My palm beacon flew to the other side of the junction so I was shrouded in darkness. I hit my head hard on the bulkhead but before I passed out I saw what was chasing Gollss. It was from my worst nightmares. It was big, had long protruding teeth, spikes all around its head; and . . . Soman paused for effect gauging his audience's attention. Soman: . . .it was wearing a Starfleet uniform. There were several shocked faces around the group. Only Xristha seemed unaffected by the tale. She was the first to speak up. Xristha: So what happened next? Soman sat back. Soman: I passed out and awoke 4 hours later with a tri-corder in my face. Higjwaij: What happened to Gollss? Soman pulled a piece of ripped gold fabric from his pocket and displayed it to the group. Soman: I found that a few dozen meters away from where I was. Soman looked around at the rest of the officers to gauge their reactions. Fin. Make a difference, help support the relief efforts in the U.S. http://clubs.lycos.com/live/events/september11.asp ********************************************************** USS Vanguard: http://vanguard.iwarp.com Gamma Fleet: http://www.gammafleet.org.uk _Free_Lists: //www.freelists.org **********************************************************