Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Voice Of The Viper (Part Two)

With master-criminal 'The Viper' imprisoned, one would have thought we could all rest easy in our beds.

But no; he has programmed someone to do something nasty when a codeword is heard; and it will be one of my crew. As the person is unaware, there is no way of finding out before.

I might as well walk around in a suit of armour; not that it would do me any good. A phaser would soon cut into that. I must be going paranoid.

At the senior staff meeting, I go over the situation.

"Well I know it isn't me!" says Worf, "Klingons cannot be hypnotised into mind control."

"Are you sure, Worf?" asks Geordi. Worf looks indignant.

"The only person we can be sure who hasn't been programmed by the Viper's voice," I tell them, "Is Commander Data"

Everybody agrees.

"Therefore, I am appointing him to oversee the situation; he needs to watch carefully for any unusual behaviour."

"What about me?" asks Seven, "A Borg drone cannot be programmed either. Had The Viper tried to program me, he would be assimilated by now."

I think that's why he chose someone else, personally!

"You may be right, Seven" I reply, "But we cannot be sure."

"The Borg would be supreme against such an attempt," she triumphs, "A drone cannot be programmed."

"Can you sense anything, Deanna?" Riker asks her, "Perhaps something in one of our minds?"

"No, I can't" she replies, "At the moment, the programming is buried deep into the subconsciousness of one of us."

This isn't getting us anywhere. I call an end to the meeting.

"Remember to travel about in twos or threes" I advise, "If one starts acting strangely, run quickly and get security."

--------------------

Riker, Deanna and myself are later in Ten Forward discussing the event.

"It could be years before someone says the codeword." says Deanna, "In the meantime we are all worrying here everyday in case someone says it. All this is making me hungry."

"Do you want a chocolate sundae, Deanna?" asks Riker.

Deanna's body stiffens slighly.

"CHOCOLATE!" she shouts. We look puzzled.

Deanna walks out of Ten Forward; at that time, we have just figured it out. Why are we always so slow in getting the answer.

"Calling all Security teams!" I say on my Com, "Seize Deanna Troi; she is the programmed member of staff!"

What is she doing to do?

After telling Data, we isolate her signal, and the force fields cut her off in the ship. When we arrive, all we find is her Com badge.

Why do crew members always remember to discard their Com badges when we want to catch them? One would think Starfleet would find a way around this.

"What do you think Deanna will do, Mr Data?" I ask.

"As she left Ten Forward" he says, "The Counselor does not intend to harm just you. It may well be the ship. Two locations that are possible are Engineering and the Bridge."

I call the Bridge; no sign of Deanna reported. Then I try Engineering; no answer.

"Everyone to Engineering; she may be forcing a Warp Core breach."

Why is it that the Enterprise is always so near to having a Warp Core breach. It must be a design fault that it is all so fragile. We'd be a lot safer if the ship was powered by coal.

When we get to Engineering, we see the staff all unconscious , having been stunned. Deanna is at the controls.

"Warp Core breach in fifteen seconds" the computer says.

It looks like either a last second rescue coming up, or this is my last Journal entry....

Data fires his phaser on her; no effect, as Deanna has set up a force field around herself. That's another thing they always remember.

"Warp Core breach in ten seconds" we are reminded.

Seven pushes through and adjusts her Borg shielding with the forcefield and walks through. She knocks Deanna out and stops the Core breach.

Whew! Still in one piece.

-------------

Later, I am telling Admiral Collins on the screen in my Ready Room about what happened.

"Counselor Troi is being treated by Doctor Crusher in SickBay." I tell him, "She should be fine, soon. How is The Viper?"

"He is under heavy guard, Captain." he replies, "We are making sure that no one listens to his voice."

"How are you doing that?"

"We are putting a soundproof screen all around his cell" he continues, "We call it a Screen Viper."

I say nothing; is that Admiral humour, or is he serious?

It's best not to ask.

17 comments:

A Army Of (Cl)One said...

Aha! I was close with my "free ice cream" theory, but I think the flaw in my plan was the Viper programming Troi in to thinking the Chocolate was in the warp core. He is a clever, sneaky bad guy.

The Curmudgeon said...

Captain, your lament about how the ship might be safer if it was fueled by coal got me thinking about an earlier Enterprise, the one commanded by James Tiberius Kirk. In my house the kids referred to that show as Star Trek: My Generation.

I'd always heard that Mr. Scott's character was an homage to the earliest steamship days in the British Navy, when the ship's steam engines were tended by Scotsmen, since they'd developed the technology and were the only ones who knew how to keep the finnicky engines from blowing up.

Can you confirm or deny?

Jim McKee said...

Thank God for Seven of Nine!

(Certainly not the first time I've ever said that.)

;-]

Renee said...

Deanna Troi is not as smart as she thinks she is. Very smart of the Viper to program her. It sounds like a part three coming up...

merlyn said...

Captain...do star fleet admirals even have a sense of humour?

*giggle*

-merly

Professor Xavier said...

I hereby volunter to grab Counselor Troi.

Jim McKee said...

Why would someone use an outside source when Blogger has their own version of the same thing? (audioblogger.com)

Osquer said...

I hereby volunteer to be grabbed by Professor Xavier!

Jim McKee: Just ignore the Spammer.

Lahdeedah said...

I don't understand why they don't put the coms in their skin, so they can't lose them without chopping off a limb?

Duh.

Troi is such an emotional fluttery thing. How could it not be obvious it would be her?

Florence Forrest said...

old joke I heard in grade 7:
a person runs in screaming, "The Viper is coming! the Viper is coming!"

Man holding rag and bucket enters. "I've come to Vipe your Vindows." hahahaa

Coal? not Gas? surely there would be plenty of that on the Entreprise - could be a renewable resource too. lol

You could start a whole new tac of "choose your own adventure Picard's Journal", plenty of plot ideas to go around by the looks of things:)

Jean-Luc Picard said...

Curmudgeon, there were one or two Scotsmen around.

Jim, there seem a lot grateful for Seven of Nine.

Kelly, sorry, but the story ended on Part Two.

Merlyn, all Admirals have a sense of humour extraction when they are appointed.

Professor, a noble gesture there.

Osquer, don't let this grabbing get out of hand.

Lahdeedah, would you want the Com in YOUR skin?

Florence, great joke there. You might be right about gas. There's a lot of hot air as well. You have some good ideas there.

Susan said...

They could always have chips fitted, all three of our cats are.
We just wish the chips had GPS then we could find them!

Surely there is the technology in the 24th C? It would get rid of the com badge leaving in a corridor thing.

Anonymous said...

Does ReadyRoom contain Ready Whip? Oh wait, you might not know what I'm talking about, it's a brand of whipped cream in the States. Perhaps you can look it up on the SCREEN VIPER?

Michelle said...

I love your blog - I'm a closet Trekkie :)

Thanks for the kind words on my blog! Winning the Extreme Makeover's the best thing that's happened to me in years! Be sure to check back this weekend for my "after" pictures!

Take care!

aug said...

chocolate is the BANE of the universe!

*goes into trance, walks into 7-11, buys a lot of chocolate and gobbles them down*

ugh... what just happened?

Paperback Writer said...

I'm glad to hear that everyone is safe.

But this line cracked me up, We'd be a lot safer if the ship was powered by coal.

Greatest.Line.Ever.

I would have to agree with you, Captain. It might be better to be coal powered.

Trinity13 said...

Ah yes, chocolate is most women's weakness.