The beginning of the end.

Posted on Wed Aug 20th, 2025 @ 4:26pm by Captain Mikoto Misaka & Lieutenant Touma Kamijou & Ensign Wendy Marvell & Commander Eila Juutilainen 'Illu' & Lieutenant JG Erskin Mon & Lieutenant JG Feeva Drylo & Lieutenant S'Mira & Lieutenant Aleksandra Litvyak 'Sanya'

1,329 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Atlantic Trouble
Location: RMS Titanic & USS Ermiana

[RMS Titanic]

The 'real' people on the holodeck all stood in the cafe parisian at the rear of the holographic Titanic. The muffled sounds of passengers and crew from outside rushing to the boat deck could be heard as they discussed the situation.

"So, as I've explained. The holodeck isn't responding. This ship is sinking, the safeties are offline and we have no contact with the outside. Anyone got any suggestions how we get out of this alive?" Misaka asked.

Feeva sighed. "No one's got a subdermal communicator, by chance?" She asked, mostly kidding. "Perhaps I can try the emergency medical transporter?" She asked/said in her usual wishy-washy way.

"It could be worth a shot:" Eila said. "Do we know if the holodeck is capable of blocking transporters?"

Feeva nodded, and scurried away to find a spot for the transporter. She tried to radio back to the main Bridge, with no luck. There had to be some kind of emergency Medical transporter in the holosuites, right?! She had to think. Oh, yeah, they were usually in the ceiling. She looked up, but was still walking, though had slown down considerably.

Misaka pondered. "That depends. The transporters might not be able to lock onto us as they may mistake the holograms for us." She explained. "Plus, I've read reports of this thing happening before, it never turned out good."

"I want you all to get towards the stern of the ship. Or better into one of the lifeboats." She ordered them all. She then looked at Eila. "Commander. How's your Morse code?"

Feeva stood up and made a move to head for the stern. She wouldn't leave, not yet. Her crew needed her.

"An old patient of mine happened to be obsessed with it, and taught me the basics." Eila responded. "Why?"

"It's about time we called for help. The nineteen-twelce way." Misaka said.

"Wouldn't it be rude to the radio operators, though?" Sanya immediately spoke up, referring to the officer's uniform her girlfriend was wearing, indicating the improper role. "Back in this time period, ships' radios were handled by Marconi Company employees."

"Thst may be true. But it's the only method we have to communicate with the outside." Misaka replied. "So, that's our next stop. I can also order the holographic crew to start loading up lifeboats."

Eila nodded.

"Sanya can also help." She volunteered her girlfriend's services, giving Sanya a reassuring nod that she can handle herself before heading forward towards the wireless room.

"So can I," Feeva piped up. "It might actually be good if we have multiple people sending out the signals. They did teach us in medical school at the Academy, in case we were captured or something," she explained. "Unless you'd rather me do something else," she said.

"You all have your orders. Get it done." Misaka said simply turning towards the doors leading back yo the front of the liner.


[USS Ermiana]

Wendy scowled. "The antimatter containment forcefield have stabilised. But I'm detecting a huge surge of power...." she paused. "It's in holodeck four. Where the Captain is..."

"Not exactly the best news to hear," the young Trill mused out loud as he continued at the Mission Ops workstation at the back of the Bridge. "I could try to overwhelm the system with power demands to other processes aboard the ship. It may divert the power away?" He wouldn't try without approval because he didn't want to be the one responsible if it didn't work.

"It's worth a try. But I'm detecting several strange fluctuations in the holodecks power systems. It's like it's... moving around?" Wendy replied a puzzled look on her face.

Erskin's eyebrow rose inquisitively, almost in the same way that a Vulcan's would when faced with similar information about the energy. "Fascinating," he commented at the information as he typed on the Mission Ops console. "Energy fluctuations moving around could occur in some situations, but the question is what's the energy flux doing and does there seem to be a pattern, or is it inconsistent?"

"From what I'm seeing, it appears to be randomized..." The young Caitian woman piped up. "I always sucked at trying to spot patterns, though..."

Leaving the Mission Operations workstation, the new Operations Manager joined the Caitian at the primary console. Tugging on his uniform tunic as he walked, the young Trill took up position at the Caitian's side, "Don't worry, I'm not always the best at it either. Maybe two heads are better than one." He watched, the symbiont spouting annoyance internally at him. "If we can find a pattern, we may be able to isolate the fluctuations or trap it long enough to let us release the holodeck doors. We can only hope that the people inside are doing ok in there in the interim."

Feeva had finally found what she hoped she was looking for in the ceiling panels. The problem was that she five-feet three-inches tall and the ceilings in the holosuites were six feet high. And they didn't have a ladder. She raised her voice, and called out.

"I think I found where the emergency transporter dial is," she said. "But I need some help!" She said.

[RMS Titanic]

Misaka walked into the wireless room. She looked at the radio operators there. "I need you both on deck assisting with lifeboats." She said simply.

"Captain, what about sending out a distress call?" The radio operator asked.

"I'll send something out. Move now." Misaka ordered. Luckily the holographic crewmen made their way out and Misaka turned to Eila. "Ok. Let's try and get hold of the Ermiana. Can you send an S.O.S.?"

"Sure can." Eila slid into the recently vacated wireless chair and donned the headset. "Alright, let's see if they get this..."

Eila fiddled with the radio's settings a bit before beginning to tap out her message:


[USS Ermiana Bridge]

Ensign Williams raised an eyebrow in confusion. She turned around in her stool away from the designated communications console. "Erm... sir... I'm picking up a strange signal..." she said.

"Huh..." S'Mira stroked her whiskers. "Looks like ancient Caitian hunting language to me."

Erskin questioned, "Can we decipher it?"

"Lemme see here..." S'Mira twirled her whisker. "My ACHL is a bit rusty, but if I'm remembering how the patterns go right, it looks like there's a message in it... SOS... CDR JUUT... TRAPPED IN HOLODECK. If I'm translating this correctly."

"Fitting," Lieutenant Mon mumbled.

"Wait... Isn't Captain Misaka in the holodeck right now?" Wendy asked.

"And if I were to guess..." S'Mira added. "CDR JUUT here might be an abbreviation for that Scandinavian chick that's our first officer: Juutilei- Juutileilei- whatever..."

"I'm afraid that I haven't met all the crewmembers since I reported aboard," the Trill Operations Manager answered as he typed on the workstation. "Even more reason for us to figure out how to disable the Holodeck and get the doors to release." He checked the readouts, "Could we try disrupting power to the holoemitters? I know that they're a separate system, but there may be a way to get them to disengage?"

"Knowing these Galaxy class ships... There's probably a backup system to that we'd need to disrupt power to as well." S'Mira deduced. "Think it's a safety feature or something to keep the holodeck running in the event of a power surge..."

Wendy tapped on the console. "I think I can pull up a visual link to the holodeck." She said. A few moments later the image of an old ocean liner with four funnels appeared on the viewscreen. It was sinking slowly, the forward bow now below the water line. It was also dark and the image showed holographic people panicking and loading into lifeboats.

"Woah..." Wemdy said. She tapped the console again. Three words appeared in red in the top right of the screen. 'HOLODECK SAFTIES: OFFLINE'.

Wendy turned to the others. "We need to get them out. Now."

To be continued...

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