SEASON FIVE

EPISODE 7: END GAME
PART ONE

By: X_C

 SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER. THESE ARE THE VOYAGES OF THE WWF TITANPRIZE. IT'S MISSION: TO EXPLORE AND ENTERTAIN NEW SOCIETIES AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS.  TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO WRESTLER HAS GONE BEFORE!

TITANPRIZE CREW:

Captain Vincent K. McMahon
First Officer, Commander Shane McMahon
Chief Engineer, Commander Stephanie McMahon
Chief of Chiefs, Commander Linda McMahon
Chief of Security, Commander Kane
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Taker
Diagnostics Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jericho
Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Austin
Transporter Chief, Lieutenant Commander Debra McMichael
Communications Officer, Lieutenant Rock
Counselor Al Snow (assisted by H.E.A.D.)

... And many more!
 

"WWF TITANPRIZE-CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

    "Captain's Log, Stardate 061384.00. It's always been an unspoken rule on this ship that you don't cross the boss. Well, I may have to start cracking the whip aboard the TitanPrize, as one too many officers have dared to question my judgement. I have accepted a dangerous mission from Wrestlefleet, a mission that other captains don't have the grapefruits to swallow!

    The TitanPrize will explore the Calloway-9 Nebula, perhaps the most dazzling and frightening cosmic phenomenon in Federation space. More colorful than Lieutenant Hardy's hair and brighter than Ensign Edge's teeth, it houses some of the fiercest ion and plasma storms in the known universe. Chances are it also contains some of the most spectacular scientific discoveries that man could ever hope to find, and I, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, will be the one to bust those cosmic secrets wide open!

    Actually, I will be on Earth while acting Captain Rock guides the ship through the nebula. I figure my... lovely wife Linda is acting like a power-hungry shrew lately due to the fact she's getting zip attention from her loverboy, Vinnie Mac. For some reason, the crew's a little ticked off that I'm sending them through Calloway-9 while their fearless leader enjoys a second honeymoon but...."

    Captain McMahon stood up and stretched his weary muscles.

"They're just the crew. They're not being paid to question my decisions!"
 
 

***

THE BRIDGE

    "Asshole on the Bridge!" Acting Captain Rock barked  as Vince strolled out of his Ready Room.

    "Stand down Lieutenant Crock!" Captain McMahon favored his Communications Officer with a hard glare. He didn't question allowing Rock to steer his precious TitanPrize; behind that motor mouth and arrogance was a man who could become the pinnacle of everything Wrestlefleet stood for... but damn if he didn't brass the Captain off once in a while!

    "Jabroni, shouldn't your candy ass be in Greenwich giving the old lady an attitude adjustment?"

    "I'm headed for Transporter Room 3, Rock." Vince assured him. "With my son Shane and Lt Commander Austin recovering from injuries they received brawling in the bar on Caly-fornea, I wanted to remind you that Stephanie's got the ultimate stroke. You step out of line, she's got my blessing to phaser blast you back in place."

    Acting Captain Rock cocked his head and arched his eyebrow. "Look here Captain McMahon, there's a lot of places in this universe the Rock likes to be. Underneath that two credit slut daughter of your sure as hell ain't one of them. If I wanted to bow down to dirty panties, I'd hit my knees in the ship's laundry!"

    "Lieutenant Rock will not deviate from the mission." Kane's voice was an ominous hiss.

    "Pardon me you big red retard?" Rock whirled around and faced the security officer. "You keep that oven roasted nose out of the Rock's business!"

    Captain McMahon sighed. "Good-luck crew."

    "Ensign Christian!" Acting Captain Rock didn't acknowledge Vince's departure. "I want this ship on the border of the nebula faster than you can lick a farmful of llama's nipples! Just bring it!"

    The blonde leaned over to his brother, who manned navigation on this shift. "Fellow ensign, I sooo don't get what that means!"

    "Perhaps licking a llama's nipple makes ones teeth shinier." Ensign Edge whispered back.

    "Hey! Blonde piles of steaming monkey crap! Does this look like homeroom? Stop whispering and gossiping like two little girls before I slap the damn taste out of both your mouths!"

    "Aye sir!" Christian and Edge chorused. Maybe now was not the best time to unveil their sensational new  "Arriving at the Nebula Pose" they had worked on all night....

***

COMMANDER MCMAHON-HELMSLEY'S QUARTERS

    "Hunter?"

    Silence.

    Stephanie adjusted her eyes to the inky black darkness, to the watered down starlight that trickled in through her sweeping view of the cosmos. The silk sheets on her bed felt ice cold against her skin, much like the empty space next to her.

    Where Hunter should be, but wasn't.

    Stephanie knew that Ensign Helmsley was not on the bridge tonight.

    "Damn you Hunter." He'd promised, but his promises had about as much substance as the atmosphere outside her window. Pretty words, but it was all window dressing.

    She watched as the slowly fading light of Caly-fornea's silvery-blue moon turned the snow globe on her nightstand into a glowing liquid sapphire. Lt Commander Jericho, a pile of sophisticated circuits, had given her the nicest birthday gift...ever, and Hunter hadn't even noticed it. What kind of husband didn't notice a present from another man? It was right in front of his eyes!

    Stephanie tapped her comm badge. "Chris?"

    "Chris is indisposed right now."

    A feminine voice? Chyna's voice? What was Chyna doing in Jericho's room?

    "After midnight?" Stephanie demanded.

    "We're playing..." Chyna said sweetly. "...a game."

    "Fine." Steph threw her comm badge on the floor.

    Men. You couldn't live with them, couldn't vaporize them with phasers....

***

COUNSELOR SNOW'S OFFICE

    "Come." Counselor Snow inhaled deeply as he sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by candles. Perhaps meditation would quiet the voices, as Ensign Blackman had suggested.

    "Stop acting like a nut and listen to me." Stephanie flung herself down on the couch, pajamas and all.

    "We are listening." Snow nodded at H.E.A.D

    "Hunter doesn't give a damn at all, you know." she plunged right in. "I confront him, I dress all sexy, I bitch, I moan, I practically beg and plead for just a second of his time, and I get jack."

    "Who's Jack?"

    Stephanie scowled at the doctor. "Forget it. The point is that I've gotten kissed more this past year by Lieutenant Hardy than my own husband. God!" Stephanie gagged until the counselor calmly handed her a glass of replicator water. Would the taste of Aerialian never go away?

    "Perhaps it is time to cut your losses?" Snow suggested. "Your hubby did rescue a book of fairytales instead of you."

    "Please." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I've reflected on that incident, and I realize that Hunter would have saved me if that metallic moron Jericho hadn't grabbed me and hogged all the glory."

    "That does sound like denial, yes." Snow nodded at H.E.A.D.

    "I'm the patient, idiot!" she snapped. "I'll do anything so The Game'll play with me again! Whatever it takes to make a real marriage...just give me some advice, a tip, something, anything! Dammit Doc!"

    Counselor Snow leaned close to the bizarre plastic face that he'd trusted for so long. It was so wise..."H.E.A.D. makes an excellent point. Stephie, me thinks you're only hot for Hunter to avoid the wacky confusion of loving a toy robot without a human heart. "

    "Wow." Stephanie looked at him, wide-eyed. "A big nut is spreading mental wellness throughout the TitanPrize."

    "Must be frightening to love a - a thing." Snow rambled on.  "A man-sized computer. A 'droid whose feelings are mere electrical impulses. Probably does seem safer giving yourself to a selfish bastard like Hunter. I mean-"

    But Stephanie hadn't heard a word. She was already walking back to her own quarters.

*    *    *

THE SMACKDOWN

    "Our time has come." To call Hunter's smile cocky was the understatement of the year. The room reeked of his arrogance as he stared down the other degenerates. "Tonight, on the anniversary of our first failed rebellion,  the game we started comes full circle."

    "No one's going to stop us this time either." X-Pac's tone was bitter. He'd kept the anger in for so many nights, but no more..."Especially not that unoriginal repeating jack-ass Crock."

    "He can suck it." Road Dogg laughed scornfully. "Now that titanium twit Jericho, I don't trust his ass for a second. Damn bucket of bolts is always playing the hero."

    Hunter's eyes snapped with arctic cold. "Stephanie will have to kill it then."

    "That's the X factor in all of this." Tori chewed on her lower lip. "We know for a fact that the nebula is lethal enough to provide a distraction. It was our base of operations for so long. Stephanie...I love her like a sister, but she's been Wrestlefleet all her life...."

    "There's a reason they call me the Game." Hunter leaned back in his chair, one hand strangling the neck of a beer bottle. "I've been playing that spoiled princess like a damn piano. She's so freaking desperate for me to love her? Little Stephie will stab herself in the heart if she thinks I'll look at her twice."

    Tori could taste blood from chewing through her lip. She was afraid to ask what Ensign Helmsley would do if Stephanie refused to take part in this mutiny. "Even the Commander sees her father is out of control. She'll join us."

    "Just remember this." Hunter glowered at them. "Stephanie is expendable. The only thing she's got that we need is the McMahon name and we don't need it that bad." He pushed a padd into the center of the circle.   "My darling bride has provided us with the ultimate weapon and doesn't even know it. "

    Road Dogg smirked. "Good lord Hunter. The command codes for the entire ship!"

    "Man, I don't even wanna ask how you got these." X-Pac laughed. "Double shifting in bed or what?"

    "God no." Hunter made a face, like he'd swallowed something nasty. "It was easier than that. Injected her with an overdose of that Maivian-8 antidote Dr. Taker prescribed. It made her so dopey she just spilled her guts. "

    "Hunter." Tori cringed. Didn't she have the stomach for degenerate dirty work anymore?     Manipulating Steph was necessary, but...."That's some pretty bad medicine. She could have fallen into a coma."

    Ensign Helmsley shrugged. "McMahon knocked my ass down to waiter, and I was one of the best damn tactical officers in Wrestlefleet! You think I give a damn if his precious angel never wakes up again?"

    "Man, this ship's ass is grass!" X-Pac whistled as he examined the padd. "We can manually disarm every phaser on the TitanPrize. Not to mention lock down all personnel in their quarters."

    "We now own every damn transporter on this ship!" Road Dogg popped a grape in his mouth, the picture of smugness. "Screw this waiting tables garbage. All the losers on the crew are gonna start bowing to me!"

    "And if they don't?" Ensign Helmsley unholstered his weapon and energized it, until the phaser glowed with deadly plasma at its tip....

*    *    *

    "Don't move." Ensign Matt barely breathed out the warning as he and Lita pressed themselves inside a curved window frame, their reflection fearfully bright against the backdrop of space. If they hadn't been highly flexible Aerialians....

    "Really Matt?" Lita hissed, praying that her comm badge wouldn't crackle to life. She didn't dare to even flinch, let alone deactivate the thing. "No kidding."

    Matt was able to sneak a dirty look in her direction. This is one fine first date, he told himself bitterly. Trapped in the Smackdown with degenerate rebels planning a hostile takeover of the Titanprize.

    What could have been more romantic than trespassing in the ship's popular lounge, to watch the gorgeous meteor shower that was taking place of the starboard bow? Young couples did it all the time. It was just Ensign Hardy's luck that he'd pick a night where he could get both he and Lita shot and stuffed in a Jeffries tube. Of course, if his perfect little brother had been here, the great Lt Jeffrey would have saved the whole ship by now...

    Lita squeezed his hand and smiled apologetically. The Maivian-8 virus, a naughty little bugger that had created a rash of bizarre romances aboard the TitanPrize, had been cured. Her attraction to Matt had not. The older Hardy wasn't obsessed with his job, wasn't intimidated by her strength. He hadn't had his lips on that...that skank in Engineering!

    "Chyna." Matt mouthed the name at Lita, as the tall, striking waitress waltzed into the Smackdown.

    "Since when did we celebrate...this?" Chyna's razor-sharp voice cut to the chase.

    Hunter laughed. "We're not throwing a party to honor our...our humiliation as it were, dearest. Oh no. This is about nothing less than some of Wrestlefleet's damn finest officers taking back the dignity and rank that was stripped from them! It's about not letting that incompetent fool McMahon get away with sending us on deadly missions while he's all cozy back on Earth!"

    "You knew the risks when you signed on." Chyna reminded him with a sneer. "You chicken?"

    "I fear nothing!" He pounded his fist on the table. "There are some things worth dying for, and the glorification of that egomaniac Vince ain't one of them!"

    "Maybe you want to be a waitress for the rest of your life." Tori said. "I don't."

    Chyna's pride had been destroyed on that fateful day, and the debris was still kicking around in her mind. She was going to become Wrestlefleet security, a breakout ensign who would show little girls everywhere that they could own the galaxy if they wanted, that they could play with the big boys out among the stars and ships.

    And then there was the rebellion. Failure. Capture. A career that had faded into the horizon and disappeared...

    ...Until now. Commander Kane had been impressed with her strength on Caly-fornea. There was still hope for a successful, though tarnished rise through the ranks of Wrestlefleet. And then there was Eddie, wonderful, devoted Eddie. A friend as pure of heart and intention as young Ensign Crash....and the all-important respect of Lieutenant Commander Chris Jericho.

    "I understand your anger." Chyna said, bowing her head. "I just can't be a part of it anymore."

    "Jesse!" Hunter pinned Road Dogg's wrist to the table, the illegal plasma disruptor clattering free of his grip. "Don't. I believe deep down that she's still got the neon green blood flowing inside her veins. You won't stand in our way, Chyna."

    It was a statement, not a question.

    "Billy was prepared to share degenerate secrets with Wrestlefleet." Hunter said flatly. Nobody knows what happened to him." A ghoulish grin creased his handsome features. "Could've been sucked into a black hole for all we care."

    "G'night, Hunter." Chyna knew Eddie would be waiting for her; they had a late night walk planned. "Be careful."

    He seemed amused. "With a game like this, you can't afford to be careful."

*    *    *

    An argument had broken out among the degenerates - not all agreed with the wisdom of letting Chyna just turn her back on them. The squabbling masked the urgent whispers of Ensigns Matt and Lita.

    "You're closer to the Jeffries Tube hatch." she murmured. "Crawling over you might be too much of a disturbance."

    Ensign Matt nodded grimly. Sometimes being a Wrestlefleet officer meant discarding the whole idea of being a gentleman. Girls first was an irrelevant concept with so much at stake. "Only one of us can slide along the wall at once. You'll have to wait for me to enter the hatch fully before you escape."

    "Sounds like a plan." Lita smiled. No doubt silly Jeff wouldn't have had enough guts to leave her behind to do what was needed.

    Matt slithered around the sweeping curve of the window frame, his Aerialian body easily twisting around the sharp corner that met him on the other side of the hatch. He moved snake-like down the narrow tube, leaving room...now all he had to do was wait.

    Lita yelped as her flame-red hair was practically pulled out by the roots.

    "I thought I heard someone back here." Tori's face was the picture of triumph, and Lita suddenly like a prisoner of war being sized up for a fresh grave. "Who else was here with you?"

    "No one!" Lita said defiantly.

    Her wild attempts to claw and scratch her way out of Tori's grip ceased as she felt a hypospray puncture her throat. Almost instantly, her muscles turned into a warm, thick liquid underneath her skin, the world around her blurring and spinning in slow motion.

    Her tongue loosened under the power of the intense sedative. "Matt...."

    For some reason, the name seemed important to her....

*    *    *

CORRIDOR B-54, SCIENCE AND RESEARCH DECK

    "Checking your height again, Ensign Crash?" Chyna couldn't help but chuckle as she watched the little Houdianan marching down the hallway, an old-fashioned scale propped on his shoulder.

    "Oh, no ma'am." Crash smiled pleasantly. "Lieutenant Benoit requested this. Says sometimes the traditional equipment works better than the flashy stuff."

    The young ensign was beaming with pride. Benoit may have been gruff, impersonal, and downright scary sometimes, but you didn't take the honor of assisting the best scientific worker in Wrestlefleet lightly.

    "If you're looking for Ensign Guerrero, he's in Astronomy. Er...said something about the stellar mapping in there giving off mood light."

    Chyna almost giggled. It was clear that itty bitty Crash wasn't quite sure what mood light might be used for. She was glad she hadn't kissed him when they had both been infected with the Maivian lovebug - to spoil such adorable innocence would have been a crime!

    "Ensign Crash..."

    "Miss Chyna?"

    "I uhhh doubt this applies to you, but have you ever been faced with a really tough moral dilemma?" She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She didn't want to disillusion the poor boy, not when he thought so highly of her. "Where you want to do both the wrong thing and the right thing?"

    "Of course I have, Miss Chyna!" Crash replied. "Growing up with Cousin, I was tempted all the time to help him play naughty tricks so he wouldn't whoop me. Is that what you mean?"

    "Well...not quite." Chyna said sadly. "I just wonder what Ensign Guerrero must see in me. He's so good and hard-working and talented, and I have the criminal taint on me."

    "You're his Mamacita." Crash pointed out. "The past really doesn't seem to matter, now does it?"

    Chyna shrugged. "When I look back on the way I betrayed...everyone and everything, I just don't feel worthy of a man as loyal as Eddie."

    The Houdianian smiled sweetly. "Funny you should mention that. Ensign Guerrero is always saying the exact same mushy stuff about you. He doesn't know why a...er...." Crash flushed bright red. "...goddess would spend time with a mere mortal Wrestlefleet officer. He uhh gets gooey sometimes."

    "I don't wanna hold Eddie back." Chyna found she was glowing inside, thanks to Crash's kind words. But still..."He shouldn't hitch his wagon to a fallen star."

    "Ey Mamacita!" Ensign Guerrero's husky voice floated down the corridor. "Is that your sweet perfume I'm smelling from here? Latino Heat wants you in Astronomy so you can show all these stars exactly how to shine!"

    "Coming Eddie." Chyna realized she was tingling all over. When was the last time she felt like this....she wasn't sure she ever had.

    Ensign Crash continued to beam as he headed for Lt Benoit's research lab. So many fine ladies on the ship didn't have a clue about the spells they cast over certain lovestruck men. The young Houdianian thought romance seemed so simple and sweet. You fell in love, you shared your feelings, and lived happily ever after...why didn't anyone else follow that logic?

*    *    *

COMMANDER MCMAHON-HELMSLEY'S QUARTERS

    "Off to another grueling, miserable shift in Engineering." Stephanie pouted prettily as she gathered up her equipment pack. "I may be gone, what, 11 or 12 hours since Ensign Lita has blown off her duties."

    "What a witch." Hunter oozed sympathy while his wife ran her fingers through her silky brown hair, so obviously trying to entice him somehow, some way. Pitiful, he thought. "I'd take a laser scalpel to her kneecaps if she was my ensign."

    Stephanie laughed. "You're awful sweetheart! Besides, I get more mileage out of punishing Lt Hardy in her presence."

    "Whatever you like." Hunter shrugged.

    She wanted to scream. How could mentioning Jeff's name NOT provoke her husband into a blinding jealous rage? For god's sake, the nasty Aerialian freak had pawed her all over the ship and played enough tonsil hockey with her...Hunter knew that!

    "Kiss me good-bye?"

    "Sure babe." Hunter pecked her on the cheek before disappearing into the dining area of their quarters. He waited until Stephie had stormed out the door, her eyes ablaze. That temper was almost beautiful, but not beautiful enough to save her if it came to that.

    "Computer, this is Ensign Helmsley."

    "Go ahead, Ensign."

    "Please turn over command of the WWF TitanPrize to Ensign Hunter Hearst Helmsley-Security Clearance Ten, Priority McMahon-Helmsley Alpha Beta. Manual Override Codes are now being processed from Commander McMahon-Helmsley's computer. "

    Hunter's fingers flew over Stephanie's computer, violating every security barrier it attempted to throw in his face, eventually yielding to the numeric sequences he had so deviously stolen from his wife's mind.

    "Computer, who is recognized as the Captain of this vessel?"

    "Captain of the WWF TitanPrize is Hunter Hearst Helmsley."

    Hunter smiled. Yes, he was that damn good!

TO BE CONTINUED