SD 04/12/03 "Thriller" - I hate that hollodeck.
I hate it even more when someone gets hurt. Thank goodnesss for dermal generators.
To begin with, a shuttlecraft with a group of replacements came abaord, two of whom stood out. We finally got ourselves a new assistant for Lynx, a Sivaoan named Cosmos to-Ennien. Sivaoans are felinoids whom are not as widespread in the Federation as Caitians, or as strong, but they do have virtually photographic memories. Sadly, Cosmos has a degenerative nerve disease that a cure has yet to be found. He went blind as a result of it, but the EMH should be fitting him with a VISOR to give him his sight back.
The second notable face is that of our new Chief of Security, Tarra Nebendi, notable in more ways than one. We came across Tarra not long ago, or rather I did during a break in the holodeck that resulted in one of its strange malfunctions. Tarra is a fully sentient female Kzin or Kzinrette, with no hybryd background, which makes her quite rare. Rather than go to the Hegemony and be treated as property, she applied to Starfleet Academy and was accepted. It seems the "Freedom strangeness" followed her around. She signed up for a "cadet cruise" that allowed her on-the-job training, and the tub went through some kinds of time warp, resulting in the ship completeing it's nearly four year cruise in just days. Yeoman Nebendi graduated and transfered over here. Lynx and I were the only ones who saw her for any real length of time. It should be interesting to hear what she's learned.
Lynx wanted to be the one to greet them, so she did while I remained on the bridge. There was one minor incident, an instrument pannel malfunctioned and showered sparks. Lera was closest to an estinguisher, and took care of it, and a few sparks that had lit my uniform. Nothing like getting a mouthful of fire estinguisher - bleah!
After some time, R'Merr got an invitation via the comm from Lynx to go to the holodeck, and with the end of his shift soon anyway I let him go. Shortly afterwards, I got a visit from the "Mad Engineer," Demian Tempres. He had his kids and a pile of dirty diapers all in a wheelbarrow. He was all excited, saying he had a way for the replicator to recycle dirty diapers and was anxious to show me in the holodeck. Noticing the wrinkled noses in the rest of the bridge crew, although Lera seemed not to notice (probably since she deals with so many), I agreed to go with him.
When we got to the holodeck however, the doors opened to a scene that reminded me of a city after an orbital bombardment. It was probably his going ahead and wheeling his kids in there that made me follow, and the next thing I knew, a rocket was fired at us! I forced Demian and the kids down, and it exploded not far away. Another holodeck malfunction had brought on a battlefield! I would later hear the computer mixed up a file named "Dead Meat," for the dificulty level of a holodeck version of an old computer game, with the safeties off. Lynx, Tarra, Cosmos, Dammers, R'Merr, and that freeloader S'Varr had all gotten mixed up in this.
It was a few robots that attacked first, then mounds in the ground cracked open and burst forth a mess of zombies. More charged from over the hill too, some unarmed, some with armor and swords. We hacked and fired away, Cosmos finding some kind of battlesuit with a plasma cannon but being blind relied on Tarra for help. Finally Lynx had an idea, accessed the music files (which were still open) and selected "Thriller" from the Earth 1980's pop music star. She began dancing, and the zombies stopped and started following her lead. One winged one had grabbed Demian for some neufarious purpose, but with the music was dancing with him, much to his chargin. He got loose eventually, but fell into the pile of diapers, ugh! I thing the smell was worse than all the dead combined. Tarra in particular was gagging. But someone activated the sprinklers, and the zombies melted like that witch in The Wizard of Oz. The holodeck program then ended.
The diapers were gone, but Tarra was still reeling from the stench. Worse, Lynx's forearms had been burned. True to form though, her first thoughts were for Demian's kids, saying something about finding a nanny for them. We alerted the EMH, and it appeared here, giving the pair some basic treatment before they and Cosmos headed to Medical, as did I since Tarra was still woozy, I had ordered Demian to work on the holodeck, and Dammers I feel may still be a little edgy to Kzin. No doubt Lynx will be in the dermal generator for a while, though I doubt she'll be refering to Dammers and herself as "sore arm buddies."
In the meantime, I'm going to have to figure out a place for everyone to relax besides these crazy holodecks, and a more reliable source of food than those unreliable replicators. But what ...