Fear is the Mind-Killer

Posted on Mon Jan 12th, 2026 @ 3:00pm by Captain T’Kal & Ensign Emmanuelle Larose & Senior Chief Petty Officer C'Hira Summers & Petty Officer, 1st Class Juno & Lieutenant Commander David Erickson & Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis & Lieutenant Commander Clay McEntyre & Lieutenant Karane Inda & Lieutenant CASTIEL 'Cas' Johnson MD & Lieutenant Megosho Gehente & Lieutenant JG Annika Johnson & Lieutenant JG Renata Novotná & Alaric Fenner & Ensign Siat-or-iian Elkovais

2,099 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X05: Nightmare on Ark Royal Street
Location: Lounge
Timeline: SD 8983.3 (31 October 2290, 21:40 hours)

Previously on Star Trek: Ark Royal:

The mourning period was short, however, as a rattling draw of breath came from David's body. His eyes were frosted over, his skin pale, and his movements stiff, but he clearly was trying to breathe and wheeze. He moved in awkward, jerky movements as he tried to sit up, turn and eventually pull himself to his feet, turning to face the assembled crowd, taking a lurching step towards the Captain.

What the hell was this?

And now the conclusion…


"Medical to security, send a fully armed team down here to the Halloween party." Cas replied as he turned. "Day of the living dead captain."

"Don't let him touch you!" Emmanuelle yelled out as she looked for anything to defend herself with.

C'Hira wasn't so lucky. She could not get away from his grasp and screamed when his teeth latched onto her arm.

Karane pushed through the crowd, a very Pissed Off expression on her face. In her hand she wielded a hefty adjustable wrench. "Ok you oversized Kuso yarō. Either you surrender and go quietly, or I use my little friend here to bash your skull into something I can use to lubricate the engine coils!" she said angrily.

The zombified David let go of C'Hira and turned his attention to Karane. "You...are....not...scared...." it slowly wheezed. It tilted its head like a confused dog.

"The only thing I'm scared of is a mis-aligned conduit fracture that'll blow up in your face at any second!" Karane growled as her grip tightened on the wrench.

The zombie looked around the room at the mixture of expressions, some terrified, some defiant, some curious, some furious, but its expression was one of complete bewilderment.

The doors to the lounge opened and a pirate stepped inside. Spying his treasure, he quickly threaded through the crowd which parted quickly as people saw him. His boots made ample noise on the deck since everyone was so quiet. He saw her near whom he assumed was the costume contest winner, judging by the detail in his zombied appearance, and walked up to her. "Hey, beautiful," he got out before she whirled around, saw him and clocked him across the face with a wrench. He hit the deck with a thud, looking up shocked. "What the hell, Karane? I told you I'd be on shift till late!"

"Crap... sorry. You startled me! I'm kinda confronting... well.. this thing!" She said pointing the wrench at the Zombie-David.

David looked up from the floor at the zombie and realized it was a mirror of him. "Whad da hell?" he said as his face started to swell.

Zombie-David stood up straight and his wound immediately began to heal itself. His skin took on a more human pallor and his uniform was restored. "I have failed to understand this ritual," he said.

Karane dropped the wrench, it fell with a loud clang to the floor. She strode right upto the Zombie and grabbed it by the collar with both hands. Her grip was tight and she looked it right into the air. "I am Lieutenant Karane Inda of the United Starship Ark Royal. Now identify yourself before I identify whatever you call a face as a threat to this ship!"

Not-David regarded her with something between curiosity and amusement. He faded into a wisp of smoke, leaving her standing and holding air, to reappear near his mirror on the floor. He knelt down and put a hand on David's shoulder.

David gasped as he felt something rush through him, and his face returned to normal. He stood up and looked at his twin with a cautious expression. "Thanks," he said. His twin nodded in acknowledgement.

Karane looked around, clearly not amused. She spotted a control panel over by the food synthesizer. "Ok, I'm fed up of this now." She said out loud as she walked over to the panel. Her hands raced across the screen as she played it like a pianist in a one in a lifetime recital.

Only a few seconds later a forcefield shot up trapping both David's in a circle. She stepped away from the panel and crossed her arms. "That's a level eight forcefield surrounding you on all sides. You never mess with an engineer. Especially when you've pissed her off so much!" She warned. "Because I know this ship better than the people who built her. So, now that you can't 'poof' away, I'm going to hand you over to our wonderful Captain." She looked over at T'Kal. "Captain."

"You do realize you've locked me in here with it," David said, indignantly.

"Is she always like this?" Not-David said under his breath, regarding Karane calmly.

"Pretty much," David said, quietly, resigned to his fate. "Drives me crazy, but it's why I love her."

Not-David gave a chuckle. "Reminds me of my mate. All emotion and action," he said, then turned to the Captain.

“What…. Exactly just happened?” Annika looked at T’Kal just as confused as everyone else.

“I do not know,” T’Kal answered Annika. “But let’s find out.” She took a step closer to the forcefield. “My name is T’Kal. I command this starship. Who are you? And what are you doing on my ship?”

"I am an explorer, same as yourselves," Not-David said, calmly. "I had been traveling home for some time when I came upon your ship. I happen to have a curiosity for lower life forms, so I thought I would observe. This ritual you have is fascinating, a celebration of fear and fakery; not something most cultures embrace. I thought I would attempt to...what's the phrase your people use? 'Blend in'?" I took the form of one of you and attempted to engage in the attempts to scare. I pulled some inspiration from your minds in the hopes of impressing you. Evidently, I have misunderstood your intentions. I apologize for any disruptions. My people have strict laws about harming lower life forms, so I assure you I had no ill intent."

Annika offered a more relieved smile as she looked towards T’Kal. “I’m not sensing any deception Captain, he’s as sincere as he appears.” She offered a polite nod to their visitor. “I’d be happy to provide our visitor with some information on our various customs, and holidays.”

“I’d be happy to rip a piece of his hide off.” Torii muttered as she glared at Not-David, “That was not funny! Tchachi are horrible beasts!” She stopped for a moment, “So, that was you who kissed me, and not…” She shut up with a blush.

“Stand down, Ensign,” T’Kal ordered to her Feixian security officer. She nodded to Annika, appreciating the empathic input.

She took a step closer to the entity. “Cultural misunderstandings are easy to make,” she said. “This was a Halloween party. The tradition is to dress in costumes and gather among friends. Sometimes the costumes are meant to evoke fear, but not always.”

“Many beings within our Federation enjoy the effects of being scared in safe and controlled environments,” Emmanuelle added, stepping closer to the Captain. “We use decorations or tricks to scare our friends but it’s meant in good fun. A scary monster jumping out at us from around a corner gets our heart racing. Making each other feel existential dread is not fun.”

“Very insightful, Ensign,” T’Kal said. “I would not have thought of that.” She turned back to the entity. “So yes. You happened upon us during an unusual festival of fear, but all meant in good fun. No actual, serious fear is ever intended.”

The being nodded. "I see," he said. "Fascinating." He looked around. "I would declare you an unusual species, but given the variety...you are an unusual culture. I will have to recommend further observation to our ministry of cultural research. From a distance, of course. I'd rather not have their metaphorical hide ripped off." He smiled in amusement at Torii. "Well then, Captain, I suppose the only thing left to do is apologize for disturbing your party and your guests, wish you all safe travels, and apologize to your engineer." He looked at Karane and smiled in a way that was, again, amused but apologetic. "Happy Halloween," he said to the assembled crowd before fading away to nothing like a ghost, despite the forcefield, leaving David alone.

David waved his arms, making sure the thing was gone and not just invisible, then recoiled as his hand hit he forcefield. He looked around at everyone staring at him, then after a moment looked at Karane. "You can let me out now," he said, somewhat exasperated.

T'Kal looked at David, but then shifted her gaze to Karane. "Lieutenant, please release him." She wanted to add 'at your convenience', but that wasn't fair to David. Still, it was tempting.

Karane grumbled something under her breath before lowering the forcefield.

Once he was free, the Captain looked around at the gathered crew. "Well, this has been...an interesting Halloween," she said. "Certainly one for the history books. We shall keep the lounge open if people wish to continue to socialize, perhaps salvage this evening. But no one will think badly of you if you wish to retire early."

As the crowd began to disperse Ozzie sidled up to Cid. 'That was something, huh?' he said neutrally as he looked at the space previously occupied by their visitor. He held two cups of soda in his hands, and handed one to her. 'Kinda ... intense.'

"I'll say," Cid said, taking the cup. "It got past a level eight forcefield" she said with wonder.

'You don't see that everyday,' Ozzie concerned, taking a swallow of the fizzy lemonade to try and dissolve the lump that seemed to have stuck in his throat. 'Say ... you wanna bounce? I'm not really feeling this any more ...

Cid gave a shrug and a smile. "Okay! Where do you wanna go?"

He gave her an answering smile. 'Anywhere but here - somewhere quiet? I'm sure you know a place.'

Cid brightened. "Yeah! Junction 12-J! It's out of the way, quiet and the access hatches are .04 meters deeper so there's extra room to curl up in the hatchway! And on the way, we can pick up some technical manuals from my room to read for fun!" She bounced on her toes excitedly.

'Nought-point-oh-four you say?' Oz replied with a smile. 'Sounds like the best junction on the starship. C'mon,' he said, leading them towards the door to the corridor. 'What technical manuals were you thinking about?'

"I could bring one on the plasma injectors. Oh! Or the deuterium injectors!" she said eagerly, following him out.

The Captain decided to set an example and stay put. She’d socialize with whoever wanted to stay, making sure they were okay, and she’d try to lighten the mood as best as she could.

Besides, she’d taken effort with the costume. She’d make sure she got full use out of it.

Along one of the windows, having watched everything unfold, Petty Officer Juno sipped at her punch. Her costume had been simple, a black dress and black pointy hat, but it got the job done. She gave a polite nod to the Captain when she pulled alongside. “Well that’s one for the records, Captain,” she said wryly. “But the real question is…are we out of the woods yet?”

T’Kal looked at her archivist, understood the reference, and allowed a small smile to escape her lips. “You might say we are…safe and sound.”

“When next we’re on Earth,” the archivist said, “I’ll bring you to my archive. I still have the friendship bracelets I got from the Houston show.”

“I’d…like that,” T’Kal replied. “Thank you.” She sipped her drink and looked out the window. “I trust you will remind me of this evening when we consider what to do next Halloween?”

“You can count on it, Captain,” Juno said with a smirk.

MISSION END

T’Kal
Taylor Swift

Emmanuelle Larose
Morticia Addams

C’Hira Summers
Rapunzel

Juno
Witch

Megosho Genhente
Napoleon

Ozias Nikolaidis
Talos

Chloe Delacroix
Heh-faye-stus

David Erickson
Long John Silver

Castiel Johnson
Doctor

Annika Johnson
Vampire

Karane Inda
Obviously a Zombie and annoyed engineer

Clay McEntyre
Colonial Marine

Renata Novotná
Pumpkin Pi

Valerie Novis
(Remained on duty)

 

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