Shahr proceeded slowly through the derelict ship, tricorder held in front of him. He was scanning for… what was he scanning for? It’s not like the little computer had a sensor for “danger” or “insanity.” At the very least, it should tell him if a deranged crew member was about to jump out of the darkness.

“I think their sickbay is almost directly above us. But, I don’t see a convenient ladder, so we’re going to have to head down this passageway to some stairs, and double back.” Shahr said to Lieutenant Morishita, after consulting the map on his tricorder.

Hina nodded, shinging her light down the corridor. While she had gotten some power back, lighting hadnt been among the systems she had focused on. She was beginning to regret that decision immensely.

“Sounds fine to me… not as if we have much choice if we want to get there.” she said. She supposed they could always just say they didnt find anything and get the heck off this crazy ship they were stuck on, but she wasnt sure that would fly.

Shahr nodded in agreement, then turned his attention back to the blade in his hand. It was an Ushaan-tor. A miner’s pick that doubles as a ceremonial weapon. A small rivulet of blood ran down the serrated edge. He looked up at his opponent. It was his Imperial Guard copilot, from his atmospheric defense fighter a few years back. A cut on his cheek told Shahr that he must have landed a blow, but clearly it wasn’t enough to slow down his opponent. With a roar, Shahr’s former copilot stepped left. Shahr quickly pivoted to match, but his opponent was already shifting weight. A feint! Shahr realized too late he wasn’t going to be able to pivot back in time. He lifted his arm in futility, crying out as the enemy’s blade came singing towards his neck-

“AAAh!” Shahr yelled as he bumped into the Lieutenant. He jerked his head around. No Ushaan-tor in sight. His hand held a tricorder. He was standing on a derelict vessel, wearing a Starfleet uniform… definitely not in a duel for his life.

Hina whirled around as Shahr crashed into her. He seemed to be in the midst of some sort of episode. Which was terrifying in its own right, but fit right in with the atmosphere this ship was providing for them.

“Ensign?!” she yelled, grasping the man by the shoulders. “What is it?” she asked.

Shahr took a moment to catch a breath, his heart racing. He waited for it to slow, keeping his eyes on the Lieutenant to ground himself back in reality. “I… I believe I was hallucinating. For a moment, I was elsewhere. In a duel. A sword fight.” Shahr thought a moment. “I had a similar, but much less intense moment shortly after we came aboard, but at the time, I chalked it up to an unwanted memory. Now I am not convinced it was simply a daydream.”

Hina frowned. That wasnt a good sign. Whatever it was was getting worse. Her own incident had been relatively tame by comparison. She helped steady Shahr, patting him on the shoulder.

“We need to hurry… this is getting worse…” she said, pointing down the corridor. “How far until the stairs?”

Checking his tricorder again, Shahr saw they were close. “Looks like it’s about 20 meters. Should be in range of our flashlights as soon as we round this corner.”

“C’mon… let’s go then.” she said, turning to move off down the corridor. She blinked once and suddenly found herself in the corridor of a Federation ship. She took an additional step, and winced, limping. Thats right, she needed to get to sickbay. She had fallen down a jefferies tube, hitting her leg on the ladder before she arrested her fall. She braced herself against the wall, breathing. The Chief would be furious with her when she found out. She pushed off the wall, taking another step. She blinked again and the pristine corridor was replaced again by the darkened corridor of the alien vessel. Her eyes widened, whipping her head around. Shahr was only a step behind her. It had felt so real. She had been back on the Kongo, years ago, and she had fallen down a jefferies tube, hurt her leg pretty badly. She looked back at the andorian with her and just pointed down the corridor as if to say ‘faster’ before moving off herself.

Shahr quickened his pace, following Lieutenant Morishita. They rounded the bend without incident, and made it to the stairs. Climbing quickly, Shahr’s heart rate remained elevated. “I recommend we announce anything we see. We can keep one another accountable, since apparently we can’t trust our own senses.” Shahr suggested. “Obviously, I’m not back on Andoria like I saw a moment ago, but what if the next hallucination takes your place, or mine for you? This could get bad.”

Hina nodded. That sounded like a reasonable precaution. She only worried that the hallucinations might be so real that they would forget the plan.

“Sure… that sounds like a good idea.” she agreed, “Though at this point I’d say its already bad…”

“Affirmative.” Shahr nodded. A few more steps and they reached the sickbay. The door was stuck in a loop, cycling half-open and shut. Some of the lighting was operational inside, and it shone an eery light into the hallway each time the door cycled. Shahr waited for the engineer to take a look. She’d get it open faster than Shahr could.

Hina frowned at the door. Of course it wasnt going to be easy. She crossed ehr arms waving her light over the frame, looking for the manual override. She let her light settle on a panel moving over to it. She pried it off and discarded the cover, letting it clatter to the ground. She shined the light inside illuminating the release level and then reached in and gave it a firm yank. It sparked and came out in one piece, the door looking in a half open position. She rolled her eyes, letting the handle drop to the deck as well.

“Well… atleast the door wont crush us now…” she said.

Shahr grinned wryly. “One less concern on this nightmare ship.”

She nodded, squeezing herself through the door ahead of Shahr. She sidled through it sideways, and found herself in a brightly lit pristine sickbay. She looked around, trying to remember something. Why had she come there. It has been important. She looked down at her leg, gingerly taking a step. She winced and took her weight off it again. Right, she had fallen down the jefferies tube.

“Doctor!” she called, limping toward one of the bio beds. A raven haired man appeared, poking his head out of the office. He hurried over to her.

“Lieutenant… what have you done now?” he asked, assisting her to the bio bed fully.

“I fell… down a jefferies tube…” she said quietly. He shook his head as she sat on the bed, examining her leg. She winced as he prodded her. He looked up.

“Im afraid it’ll have to be amputated…” he said. Hina blinked her heart rate spiking. What had he said? She scooted down the bio bed, away from the Doctor.

“Doctor Tarrant… I just fell… it cant be that bad…” she said. The Doctor clicked his tongue at her, retrieving a bone saw.

“Now now… this will only hurt a little bit…” he said. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t what had happened. The Doctor grabbed her leg, powering up the saw.

“No! Doctor! You cant!” she yelled. “Help!” she added, trying to back away for the Doctor.

Shahr watched Lieutenant Morishita climb through the broken doorway and pause. He figured she was just taking a cautious look around, but then he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. She started limping towards a biobed, then climbed onto it. “Oh no” he thought, and hurried to pull himself through the door. She was shouting now. Shahr rushed through the debris-strewn room and reached a hand out to grab his shipmate’s shoulder.

She jolted at the second touch, jumping from the bio bed she had been sitting on, letting out another yelp as she found herself back in the darkened sickbay of the cursed ship she was currently occupying. She looked at the andorian ensign, trying to regain control of herself. She looked down at her leg, still covered by the leg of her uniform pants and reached out to touch it, finding it still intact. She let out a shuddering breath.

“Thanks… he wanted to take my leg…” she said, looking at the empty biobed now. She was terrified now. Not that she hadn’t been before, but it was confirmed now.

“We were coming her for logs right… to try figure out how this happened?” she asked.

Looking at the Lieutenant’s leg, Shahr nodded. “Yes, or a crew member prone to exposition.” Shahr’s gaze shifted to the room now, scanning for any clues. “Though I think perhaps our best bet is the doctor’s log. Hopefully they had time to start investigating the situation…”

Making his way to the desk in the corner, Shahr tapped at the console built into the tabletop. He was worried it was dead, but after a moment, it flickered to life. “Looks like we might finally be in luck” he called out to Hina. Shahr glanced over to make sure she was still ok.

Hina was still staring at the biobed. She was feeling slightly sick to her stomach about what she had seen. She looked up as Shahr spoke.

“Good we could use it…” she muttered moving to another console without noticing how Shahar was acting. She tapped at the screen, which was half cracked and flcikering, but still displaying some information.

Whatever Hina had said, Shahr didn’t hear it. When he looked towards the biobed he’d left her at, his father was sitting there, looking back at him. They were seated around the dinner table, home on Andoria. Shahr had just told his parents he’d been accepted to Starfleet. To his father’s credit, he didn’t fly into a rage, as Shahr had expected. Instead, he looked about conspiratorially. “Don’t trust them, Shahr. Their jovial nature is a ruse. They want to rule. They’ll use you. Sidle up and smile, then slip a blade between your ribs when it suits them.”

“No, that’s ridiculous.” Shahr shot back. They’d been allied with the pink-skins (and the rest of the Federation) for hundreds of years! Nobody was stabbing anybody. “It isn’t the Imperial Guard. They work for the good of all! When I prove myself, I’ll move up without having to take out the competition.”

“It’s a great recruitment speech, and it clearly fooled you. You have to watch your back, son. Don’t fall for the lies! Don’t come home in a body bag! When they express concern, that’s when you have to be on your guard. Don’t let them get you!”

hina looked over to Shahr as he spoke. It was clear he was having a conversation, though with whom she didn’t know. She frowned. Was this ship really worth it? Why had they stayed here? Did it really matter what had happened? She crossed the room and stopped in front of Shahr, who was still looking at the biobed where she had previously been. She put a hand on his shoulder.

“Shahr? Its not real!”

Shahr blinked and the scene was gone. He was back in the creepy sickbay. He narrowed his eyes at the Lieutenant standing before him. What did she really want? Would Shahr make it back to the ship, or be a convenient casualty so Hina could take the credit for solving this mystery?

“You ok?” she asked, noticing the look. She removed her hand from his shoulder, stepping back. “Come on… we need to find something that will tell us what happened so we can get off this bloody ship…” she said.

Shahr shook his head, trying to clear it. Hina was a shipmate. A trusted shipmate. There was no conspiracy here. At least, not from the Valkyrie. This ship, on the other hand…

She started to turn away, before looking back.

“What was that conversation you were having anyway?” she asked, simply curious.

Hesitating only a brief moment, Shahr answered. “I was talking to my dad. Or rather, he was lecturing me. About… trusting Starfleet.” Shahr watched her eyes. “It’s ok. I’m ok. But you’re right. We need to get out of here. Let’s see what the doctor’s logs have to say.”

The console had finished powering up. Conveniently, the latest entry in the doctor’s log was already open. On closer inspection, it hadn’t been finished, Shahr noted. “Looks like Doc didn’t bother, or didn’t have time, to save his or her last report. Shall we give it a listen?” Without waiting for a reply, Shahr hit play.

The computer began replaying the doctor’s last log. “Medical log, possibly my last. I know now the crew’s mania is caused by the subspace distortions we’re trapped in. But I don’t know how to help them. I also know I’m affected as well. I thought I was just reminiscing at first, but the hallucinations grew stronger. A smell here, a sound there… turned into full blown, waking dreams. I estimate I’m only aware of my actual surroundings for about half the day, and I suspect it’ll get worse.”

Shahr paused the recording. “Uh. Do we want to sit here and listen to this? We can just download it and go. Your call Lieutenant, but I would recommend we minimize time spent here. I am worried about the progression of my hallucinations.”

Hina listened quietly to the log as it played out before Shahr stopped it. What the doctor had said made a lot of sense. It explained a lot about what had been happening to them on the ship. It almost made her wonder what was going on on the Valkyrie.

She looked to Shahr, shaking her head.

“No… I think we found what we were looking for… download the log and lets get out of here…” she said. The sooner they got off this ship and away from these distortions the better.

“Yes ma’am.” Shahr acknowledged, and turned back to the computer. He transferred the logs to his tricorder quickly, and turned back to the Lieutenant. In the flickering light, he saw his father standing behind her, mouthing the words “trust no one” to him. Shahr made eye contact with the aging Andorian only briefly, then tore his gaze away and looked at Hina.

“Got the logs. I feel like another episode might be coming on. I see my father in the room here… Let’s go before it turns into a full blown hallucination.” Shahr thought a second. “Can we beam out from here, or do we need to make it back to the beam in site? I just don’t want… I don’t want us to suffer the same fate as the crew.”

“Me either…” she said. She tapped her commbadge. “Morishita to Valkyrie.”

“Valkyrie here.” a voice replied. She had expected to hear Saffiya, but wasnt going to argue. She hoped the Valkyrie was dealing with things better than they were.

“Two to beam out… please.” she replied, praying that they could get a lock on them. It only took a few moments before she felt the familiar feeling of a transporter beam, whisking her away from the creepy civilian ship she had been sent to. She hoped the others were able to get out as well. She could see Shahr in his own transporter beam before she fully dematerialized, leaving the ship behind.