Hell Shuttle
by Shayney

My answer to the "Halloween" challenge (story must involve a ghost, blood, and chocolate).

The "rituals" mentioned in passing in this story are completely fictional. It's just a story, and not a very serious one. Nothing practitioners of the Craft would ever do!

Any resemblance to other haunted shuttlecraft stories is strictly coincidence.

Date Posted: 31 October 1999

Spoilers for "Innocence."

Characters and situations owned by Paramount/Viacom. Used without permission. No copyright infringement intended.

"Mr. Paris, I do not understand your reluctance to accept the shuttlecraft you have been assigned."

Tom squirmed under Tuvok's implacable gaze, and tried to come up with an excuse a Vulcan would find acceptable. "It's just that I'm more used to flying a Class 3 shuttle. . . "

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "You are saying that your skills are inadequate?"

"No!" Tom sighed heavily. "Look, the truth is. . ." He hesitated, knowing how it was going to sound, then spit it out. "The Magellan is haunted."

Tuvok's eyebrows rocketed upward. "Haunted, Mr. Paris?"

"Tuvok, no one in the crew wants to get anywhere near that shuttle. It has a reputation."

"Explain."

"It's jinxed. Missions always go wrong in that shuttle. And. . . there are strange sounds. Things move on their own. Lights go on and off by themselves. Harry and B'Elanna have put it through complete diagnostics again and again, and everything checks out. . . but the weird things keep happening."

"I have flown the Magellan myself, and encountered no unusual phenomena."

"But Ensign Bennet died," Tom couldn't help pointing out.

That didn't go over well. "Mr. Paris, there is no evidence suggesting that Ensign Bennet's death on the Magellan was anything other than unfortunate coincidence. The atmospheric interference around the Drayan moon was to blame, not a 'jinx.'"

"That's not what Deirdre Cormick thinks."

"Ensign Cormick was close to Ensign Bennet. She is distraught over his death, and is not thinking rationally."

"Look, Tuvok, would it kill you to let us take another shuttle instead? For Cormick's sake?"

Tuvok paused, considering that. Finally, he said, "Voyager's shuttlecraft are rotated according to a pre-planned schedule. To deviate from this for no other reason than crew hysteria is illogical. In addition, no other shuttlecraft are currently in serviceable condition. I regret causing Ensign Cormick distress, but perhaps a mission on this vessel will help her recover from her irrational fears."

"All right," Tom said, giving up. "The Magellan it is. Just keep those pointed ears up, in case we need bailing out."

Dismissed by Tuvok, he went down to the shuttle bay. It would be all right, he told himself. Just a routine asteroid scanning mission, close enough to Voyager that they could be quickly rescued should anything go wrong. Nothing to worry about. . .

When he reached the shuttle bay, he was surprised to find Harry Kim waiting for him. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking over for Ensign Cormick," Harry said. "She's feeling a little under the weather."

"Really?" Tom asked.

"No," Harry admitted. "She didn't want to get into the jinxed shuttle. And neither did Ayala, who was next on the list. Which left me."

"You're not afraid?" Tom asked.

Harry seemed totally unconcerned. "I'm not superstitious."

Yes, well, Tom hadn't been either, when he was twenty-three. But he was very glad to have Harry Kim as a companion on this run. Tom had a feeling Cormick would have been too upset to get much done. And Ayala hated him. Harry, on the other hand, was his best friend.

They got into the shuttle, Tom in the pilot's seat, Harry at co-pilot, and began the pre-flight checks. The bay doors opened, Ops cleared them, and they launched without a hitch.

"So, what about you?" Harry asked, once they were clear of Voyager.

"Huh?"

"Are you afraid?"

"Not afraid, but a little. . . nervous," Tom answered honestly. "I know it's not logical, but anyone who's been spacing for any length of time will tell you. . . some ships are just bad luck. It's been that way ever since the days of masted sailing ships."

"Well, so far. . . " Harry broke off as a series of loud thumps sounded from the back of the shuttle, as if they'd hit something. They looked at each other, startled.

"Now I'm afraid," Tom said.

Harry began scanning. "Nothing," he said, puzzled. "Must be a malfunction." He got out a tricorder, and found nothing with that, either. "I'll go have a look. Watch my console." He got up and went aft, tricorder in hand.

More thumps, louder. "Harry?" Tom called anxiously.

"I don't see anything," Harry called back. "The noise is so loud the deck is vibrating, but there's no sign of what's causing it." The banging stopped, and Harry came forward again. "Can the shuttle's sensors and this tricorder both be on the fritz?"

"This thing has been jinxed since the day we started constructing it," Tom said uneasily. "Remember? Parts and tools kept going missing. There were all kinds of freak accidents and injuries. We used to joke that it was possessed by demons."

"That's what Deirdre Cormick thinks," Harry said, still fiddling with the tricorder.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. She came to warn me this morning, when she found out I'd be going in her place."

Cormick hadn't tried to warn him. But it figured. Everyone liked Harry, while Tom was still "that damned traitor" to many of the crew, both Starfleet and Maquis.

Harry gave up, putting down the tricorder. "She and some of her friends had some kind of séance or something, here in this vessel."

"A séance? One of those parties where you try to talk to dead people?"

Harry nodded. "They're into the occult. They wanted to try and contact Bennet."

"Did they succeed?"

"Yes, according to her. She said. . . it's ridiculous, but. . . she said Bennet warned them that this ship was possessed by a demon."

"She really believes that?"

Harry's answer was cut off as the lights went out. "Damn!" Tom cursed.

Harry's eyes were wide in the dim emergency lighting. "I just checked all systems yesterday. This shouldn't be happening."

The pounding started up from the back of the shuttle again, making Tom's skin crawl. "Bennet? That you?" It was a feeble joke.

The lights came on again. Harry shivered.

"Scared?" Tom teased.

"No, I'm cold," Harry replied.

It was cold. "Computer, temperature?"

"Twenty-five Celsius," the computer replied. Normal room temperature. But it felt much, much colder than that.

"Raise temperature five degrees," Tom said.

"Acknowledged."

"Harry, what else did Cormick tell you?" Tom asked.

"She said Bennet asked her to destroy this shuttle." The lights flickered and went out again.

"What?!"

"I don't think she's going to do it," Harry added quickly. "But. . . during the séance, Bennet told her he was trapped here. By the demon. His soul can't go free until the demon is destroyed. And the only way to do that is to destroy the shuttle."

Tom's first impulse was to scoff, but sitting there in the dark, freezing, he didn't find the story as silly as he might have otherwise. "Do you believe any of it?" he asked.

"No," Harry said firmly. "She's a grieving woman with unusual religious beliefs, that's all."

The pounding started up again, making both of them jump. Then the lights came on again. But it was still freezing.

"Computer, temperature?" Tom asked.

"Thirty Celsius."

That was positively toasty, but he and Harry were still shivering.

"That can't be right," Harry said. He reached for his tricorder - and gasped. It was floating in midair, as if held by someone invisible. Tom gaped stupidly, unable to believe his eyes.

Ever the technician, Harry immediately checked his readouts. "Artificial gravity is functioning normally."

Heart thudding, Tom reached out slowly toward the levitating tricorder. It was icy cold. As soon as he touched it, it fell to the deck.

Harry stared at it as if it were a venomous snake. "There has to be an explanation," he said. "Some kind of malfunction. An alien energy we can't detect."

"Either way, I think we should call this mission off," Tom said. He turned to plot a course back to Voyager...and the lights went out again. This time, the console went dead as well. "Call the ship," he told Harry.

Thankfully, the comm was still working. "Kim to Voyager."

"Tuvok here."

"The jinx strikes again," Tom couldn't resist saying. "You're going to have to come pick us up."

"We've suffered some technical difficulties," Harry explained. "Systems are working only intermittently. Currently, we have no engine power."

There was a pause. "Are you in immediate danger, Ensign?"

Harry looked at Tom. "We're being pulled toward a type-H star, but it will be several hours before we'll be in any real trouble," Tom reported.

"Life support is functioning, except for the temperature. We should be fine for a few hours," Harry said.

"We'll be in range in forty minutes," Tuvok said.

"Acknowledged," Harry said, and cut the connection.

Tom got up and opened the emergency supply bin overhead, fishing out a couple of blankets. He gave one to Harry and wrapped the other around himself.

"What are we going to do for forty minutes?" Harry asked.

"We could always talk to the ghost," Tom suggested, only half-joking.

"I don't speak ghost," Harry replied.

"How did Cormick and her friends do it?"

"They had a ouija board, I think. Oh, and she said Bennet answered yes-no questions by. . . rapping. Once for no, twice for yes."

"Hear that, Bennet?" Tom called. "Once for no, twice for yes. Are you here?"

Two loud knocks sounded from the back of the shuttle. "A coincidence," Harry said weakly.

Tom decided to test it. "Am I taller than Harry?" Two knocks. "Am I younger than Harry?" One knock. "Am I better-looking than Harry?" One knock. "A ghost with no taste, obviously," he joked.

Harry wasn't laughing. "There has to be an explanation," he repeated.

"Yeah, how could anyone, dead or alive, think you're better-looking than me?"

"You know what I meant," Harry said, glaring.

Tom turned his attention back to the ghost. "Do you love Deirdre Cormick?" Two knocks.

"Is what you told her true? Should we destroy this shuttle?" Two knocks. And then an alarm sounded.

"There goes life support!" Harry said, turning to his console. "But there's enough air to last until Voyager gets here."

Tom slid his chair close to Harry's. "Do you think we should do it?" he whispered.

"What?"

"Destroy the shuttle."

Harry looked shocked. "You really think it's possessed?"

"We've seen so many weird things since we got to the Delta Quadrant. Why are you balking now?"

"I'm. . . keeping an open mind. But destroying a shuttle seems awfully. . . drastic. We're so low on resources. . . "

"What else do you suggest?"

"I'll get back to you on that," Harry said, and began searching through the shuttle's computer database.

Well, at least it would keep him busy. There was nothing else to do, except sit in the dark and freeze. Tom tried to ask the ghost a few more questions, but this time, there was no answer. So they waited, while Harry combed through the folklore database.

"There are a lot more ways to conjure a demon than to get rid of one," Harry reported.

"Isn't it always that way."

Harry continued. "Demons are apparently partial to the blood of a virgin, spilled on Samhain. That's some kind of holiday in October. Or the flesh of a newborn baby, offered during a new moon. Or the heart of a -"

"Please, Harry," Tom said. "We don't want to conjure a demon."

"Unfortunately, all the recipes for getting rid of one involve ingredients we don't have. Like holy water. Or a live goat." Harry sighed. "Voyager's database is larger. Maybe there will be something there."

Tom doubted it.

"Voyager to Paris." Janeway's voice sounded from the comm, and suddenly the lights came on.

"Paris here."

"Life support and engines are back online," Harry reported.

"Ready to tractor you in," Janeway said.

"Hold a minute, Captain," Tom said. He cut the connection. "Harry, it's now or never. Should we do it?" Two loud knocks sounded, and the lights started flickering.

Harry looked unnerved, but he said, "No, Tom. Look. . . how about if we just take it apart? We can use the parts for the rest of our shuttles."

"If we do that, they all might end up possessed." The lights were still going on and off, and the rapping was reaching ear-shattering levels. There was a smell, too - horrible, like the recycling system was backing up. Tom wondered briefly if he would even be able to destroy the shuttle.

In the end, the decision was easy. Maybe all this was only coincidence or a computer malfunction or mass hysteria. . . but what if it wasn't? If he was wrong, they'd only be out one shuttle. The captain wouldn't be pleased, but she'd get over it.

"Bennet, help me if you can!" he yelled. The shuttle shook violently, but systems stayed online. He set the warp core to overload, and programmed the autopilot to fly the shuttle directly into the star ahead. "Emergency beamout. Now!" he called as the thrusters kicked in.

They materialized safely in transporter room two. Immediately, a voice came over the intercom. "Janeway to Paris and Kim. I want to see you in my ready room. Now."

Harry looked like he'd rather face the demon.

"Look," Harry said as they headed toward the turbolift. "We'll tell her it was just another malfunction. No one has to know that you-"

It was tempting, really tempting, but he couldn't let Harry do that. "No," he said. "I don't want you lying to the captain to save my sorry butt."

"Tom-"

"I said no. Besides, you're a terrible liar, Harry Kim."

A short while later, they stood at attention in front of Janeway's desk. "It was my decision, Captain," Tom said. "Ensign Kim had nothing to do with it. In fact, he tried to talk me out of it."

Janeway looked at Harry. Harry looked as if he wanted to say something, but didn't. "Very well," Janeway said. "Dismissed, Ensign." Harry went, casting an anxious glance at Tom as he left.

"Care to explain your actions, Lieutenant?" Janeway asked.

Tom thought carefully. Finally, he said, "I know Lieutenant Tuvok doesn't agree with me, but. . . that shuttle was evil. I destroyed it for the good of the ship."

"Lieutenant Paris. I'm aware of the rumors about that vessel, but shuttlecraft are inanimate objects. They can not be good or evil."

"I respectfully disagree, ma'am."

"Vandalizing Starfleet property is a serious offense, Mr. Paris. I can't let this go. And I don't want a member of my senior staff, fourth in command, encouraging wild superstition. You have to set a good example."

"Yes, Captain."

"You'll pay for replacing the shuttle out of your replicator rations. And if you ever pull anything like this again, I'll bust you down so far you'll be saluting Naomi Wildman. Got it?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Dismissed."

Tom fled, relieved. He'd gotten off light. Getting rid of the devil shuttle and possibly saving Bennet's soul was well worth a few rations.

Janeway may not have approved, but Tom found himself something of a hero to the rest of the crew. Word had gotten around fast, and several people congratulated and thanked him as he passed through the turbolift and corridors on the way to his quarters. Including Ayala. And pretty Ensign Cormick, who was so grateful she even hugged and kissed him. He had a feeling he'd be getting a lot of free drinks at Sandrine's tonight.

He'd only been in his quarters a few minutes when the door chime sounded. "Enter," he called.

It was Harry, bearing gifts. He put a large bar of luxurious Risan chocolate on the desk in front of Tom. His favorite. "Thanks," Tom said. "But why?"

"I figure you won't have any rations for awhile, and I owe you," Harry said.

"No, you don't, Harry. I was in command, I was the pilot-"

"I'm not talking about that. I. . . I think it might be my fault that shuttle was possessed." Harry sat on the couch, looking uncomfortable. "Assuming you believe in this stuff, which I'm not sure I do," he added.

"What?" Tom said, confused.

"Remember when we were first building the Magellan? That day when I cut my hand?"

"Yeah," Tom said. "You bled like a stuck pig. I was trying to drag you off to Sickbay, but you wanted to wipe up the blood first. Even though the way you were bleeding, you were just making more of a mess. . ."

"I checked the date on the injury report," Harry said. "The day it happened was October 31 on Earth. Samhain."

Tom stared blankly for a moment, then it clicked. The blood of a virgin on Samhain. . . He looked at Harry in surprise. "You mean. . .?"

Harry blushed furiously and glared, daring him to make something of it.

Tom laughed. "Now that's scary," he said.

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