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 Vince 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 Commander Rock
Counselor Al Snow (assisted by H.E.A.D.)

... And many more!

WWF TITANPRIZE - CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

    "Captain's log, stardate 090220.00. We are currently in orbit around a Class M planet called Hitoma. There appears to be no life on this planet, but I am sending an away team down to see if there is anything of use to us down there..." McMahon said, then sighed.  "In personal news, I'm somewhat concerned about the jokes Ensign Jeff Hardy has been making regarding my daughter and Lt. Commander Jericho..." Vince shook his head, "My daughter's ..." he paused, looking for a delicate way to phrase it, "... RUMOURED history with men ... has provided the young Hardy with a lot of ammo. I know my dear Stephanie detests the Y2J Unit. I am thinking of punishing young Hardy for his comments! End log."

THE SMACKDOWN

    Commander Shane nursed a drink as he sat at the bar, "Hey, Trish?" he asked Terri’s part time barkeep, "Have you seen my sister?"

     Trish shrugged, "Last I heard, she was practicing her self-defense with Lt. Commander Jericho in the Holodeck,"

     Shane frowned. His sister always liked mechanical toys, but enough was enough, "Pops would be pissed to hear she’s learning how to give and take bumps," he muttered.

    A voice spoke up beside Shane, "Commander McMahon... sir... I don’t think that’s all Jericho and Stephanie are doing in the holodeck,"

     Shane turned towards the voice. A man sat on the stool to his left, "Excuse me?" he asked, "And who the hell are YOU?"

     The man introduced himself, "Joe, sir,"

     Shane furrowed his brow, "Joe?" he repeated. He didn't recall seeing this guy before...

     "Yes sir. Just Joe."

     "Well, Just Joe, what the hell are you implying?!"

     Joe put up his hands defensively, "Hey, I’m not implying anything, but I overheard the Engineering crew saying some things about the Y2J Unit and the Chief Engineer…"

    Shane stood up, "What have they been saying?!" he snapped.

    Joe shrugged, "That maybe there's something going on between Jericho and Stephanie.
Something more... personal..." Joe said.

    "How dare anyone even THINK my sister would EVER get personal with a robot?" Shane snapped, his face red with anger.

    "But, I heard Ensign Jeff Hardy saying something about the two, and Ensign Lita, Ensign Matt, and a few others seemed to agree," Joe replied. "Of course, you know, Ensign Hardy may have just been making tasteless jokes... but ..." he shrugged, "If it wasn't a joke, then I just figured you should know, sir,"

    Shane seethed, and tossed his drink against the mirror behind the bar, "Damnit! That stupid Y2J Unit! How DARE he sully my sister's reputation like that! " he grabbed Joe by the collar, "What else do you know?!"

    "Hey, don't shoot the messenger, Commander! That's all I heard, I swear,"

    "Captain McMahon to Commander McMahon. Please report to my ready room," Vince McMahon's voice came through Shane's comm badge.

    Shane let go of Joe and tapped the badge, "Be right there, pops!" he replied. He gave Joe one last look, then  marched out of the Smackdown.

    Commander Shane McMahon would have to have a few words with the Y2J Unit a bit later...

MEETING ROOM

    "We've scanned Hitoma and have found no signs of life," McMahon started as he looked at the group before him: Benoit, Jericho, Shane, Edge, and Christian, "But I want to investigate it anyway. Perhaps bring back some vegetation and soil samples. I'm splitting the team into two groups." He turned to Lt. Benoit, "You will be assisted by Ensign Christian; Lt. Commander Jericho will be assisted by Ensign Edge. Shane will be in command of this mission so all findings must be reported to him." He explained, "You are to converge in Transporter bay 3 in 45 minutes! Dismissed," with that, he headed out to the bridge.

    The group began to leave, but Shane grabbed the Y2J Unit's arm, "You and me have to talk," he seethed.

    "About what, Commander?" Jericho asked.

    "Don't play dumb with me!" Shane snapped, then huffed past him and out into the corridors.

    Jericho furrowed his brow, then shrugged. He was sure whatever Shane had to tell him wouldn't be pleasant...

PLANET HITOMA - CAVES

    "Lt. Commander Jericho, I have a complaint!" Ensign Edge started as he walked behind the Y2J Unit, "This cave is SO totally messing up my hair!"

    Jericho turned to Edge, "Ensign, if you complain one more time, I will beam you back aboard the Titanprize and tell Captain McMahon you're as much of a crybaby as Ensign Angle! Got it, Junior?!"

    Edge blinked, "Wow... you would SO do that too, wouldn't you, Lt. Commander?" he said, "That totally reeks of unfairitude!" he pouted.

    Jericho stopped as he felt something beneath his foot. He knelt down, and studied what he had stepped on, "Get over here, Edgeward," Jericho motioned to Ensign Edge, "Shine the flashlight on this..."

    Edge did so, and Jericho picked up the object,  "Dude... that looks like metal..." Edge said.

    "Yes... it looks like a solar panel of some sort, but what is it doing on an uninhabited planet?"  He tapped his comm badge, "Lt. Commander Jericho to Lt. Ben-oyt. We're at coordinates 39.93.93. I found something. See if you can beam your ass over here and check it out..."

PLANET HITOMA - OPEN AREA

    Lt. Benoit studied the strange object in front of him. It was almost like a work of metallic art, "We've got our OWN things to look at here, Jericho," Benoit replied to the Y2J Unit, and closed the communication. He truly disliked that robot.

    Benoit stared up at the structure before him. It stood a good fifty feet high, the sunlight gleaming off its silver encasement. He studied the markings on the sides, but was at a loss to explain them.

    What was even stranger were the things his tricorder brought up. Inside the object were wires, siliconchips, microprocessors, and fiber optic cables. There was no doubt it was a computer! But... if the society was advanced enough to create something like this, then what happened to the society?!

    "Hey, Lt. Benoit, my beautiful skin is getting sunburned. Can you hurry up, dude? I don't wanna have ugly red blotches or..." Ensign Christian gasped in horror, "Or even peeling skin! Oh no!! That would look SO un-pretty!"

    Benoit turned to the prissy blonde beside him. He'd had about enough of the Ensign's whining.

    Before Christian knew what hit him, Benoit had him down on the ground, squealing like a little girl as he pulled back on the man's arm and neck.

    "Dude!!" Christian cried in pain, "I'm sorry, totally sorry!! I will totally keep quiet from here on!!"

    Benoit let go of the blonde Ensign and stood up, grinning wickedly, "Glad to hear it..."

SHANE McMAHON'S OFFICE - the next day

    Shane finished up his away team report. The group had beamed back to the Titanprize empty-handed. The original plans to bring back vegetation and soil from the planet had quickly changed. Everything was DEAD! Ruined most likely by some odd crop disease.

    Shane sighed. Now it was time to get down to personal business. He tapped his comm badge, "Commander McMahon to Lt. Commander Jericho. Report to my office.... NOW!"

    "Yes sir," Jericho replied.

    Shane rested his chin on steepled fingers. No stupid robot would sully his sister's reputation. And if Jericho didn't like that, then the Y2J Unit could very well find himself the victim of a horrible accident...

    Shane put his hands to his head. He wasn't feeling well... and he knew this confrontation with Lt. Commander Jericho would only make him feel worse.

    In fact, Shane hadn't been feeling well since he had returned to the Titanprize from Planet Hitoma the previous night. His head pounded, and his appetite had diminished.

    Commander McMahon took a deep breath, and suddenly found himself coughing violently. His chest hurt!

   Shane quickly caught his breath, and replicated himself a glass of water before the chimes on his door rang. Shane sipped the water and soothed his aching throat. The coughing seemed to be gone for now.

    The chimes rang again, and Commander Shane sat back down at his desk, "Come," he said, voice scratchy.

    Lt. Commander Jericho entered the room, "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked.

    Shane stood up, "Yes, I did. It's come to my attention that you've been spending a lot of time outside of Engineering with my sister..."

    Jericho furrowed his brow, wondering why Commander Shane bothered to even bring that up, "Well... I suppose... "

    "Stay away from her!" Shane snapped angrily.

    Jericho blinked, taken aback, "Pardon?"

    "You heard me! I dislike you, Lt. Commander," he started, "And I dislike you spending time with my sister outside of Engineering. STAY the HELL away from her!"

    "Excuse me, Commander... but are you ORDERING me?"

    "Yes, damnit! I'm ordering you! Now a good WrestleFleet officer wouldn't defy a direct order from his superior officer, Lt. Commander. And I know you're a good WrestleFleet officer..."

    "I AM, but this seems to be an order based on your personal hatred of me," Jericho replied.

    Shane quickly walked up to the Y2J Unit, "You WILL follow my order in this matter, or I will personally see that you lose your rank! Pops holds my opinion in high regard. If I tell him you should be demoted for insubordination, he WILL agree with me!" Shane glared at him, "Besides, how do you think my father would feel knowing his precious daughter was spending her off hours with a robot on the holodeck?"

    "Stephanie has asked me to teach her self-defense and fighting techniques. It's at HER request that she spends her off-hours on the holodeck with me. I'm helping her learn what she needs to know if she's ever confronted by a hostile life form. As her loving brother, you can't disagree with that!"

    "As her loving brother, I refuse to have rumours about my sister's perverted holodeck activities with a robot circulating around the ship!" Shane snapped.

    Jericho furrowed his brow, "Perverted holodeck activites? What are you getting at,
Commander McMahon?"

    "I've heard it's more then just self-defense you're teaching her, Jericho!"

    Jericho looked at Commander McMahon, and the energy surges circulating throughout his body caused him to burst out laughing. "Do you think Commander Stephanie and I have something going on?!" he shook his head, still snickering, "Well if that's not just the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!"

    "SHUT UP, JERICHO!" Shane shouted angrily. "My original order still stands! You will STAY AWAY from my sister!"

    Jericho grew serious, "Your sister would wonder why I've suddenly cancelled her
self-defense classes. When she finds out that you---"

    "You will NOT tell her who gave the order! That is another order, by the way, Lt. Commander!" Shane snapped.

    Jericho narrowed his eyes, "Sir, I must protest...."

    "You don't have permission to protest!!" Shane replied, "You are dismissed!"

    "But..."

    "Dismissed!!" Shane repeated.

    Jericho took a deep breath, but nodded briskly, "Yes sir!" he snapped, then quickly left the room.

    Shane watched him leave. As long as Jericho stayed away from Stephanie, everything would be fine. Besides, Ensign Angle had already expressed an interest in the newly divorced Chief Engineer, and Shane would me MORE then happy to see an officer of such integrity coupled with his little sister...

SICKBAY

    Ensign Christian trudged into sickbay dragging a pale and sweating Ensign Edge with him, "Taker-dude!! You gotta help Edge! He's looking totally gross!! And both of us have been coughing up some SO not nice stuff all day!"

    Dr. Taker signaled for Nurse Saturn, who quickly took Edge from his brother and placed him on a diagnostic's table. "When did it start...?" Taker asked.

    "A couple days ago - after we came back from that Hitoma place. My totally gorgeous hair began to lose it's shine, and I was starting to look a bit pasty..."  He covered his mouth with his hands as he began to cough violently. Edge's coughs soon joined his brother's. "Man, my chest hurts..." Christian groaned, then looked at his hands, and screamed.  There were splashes of blood from his coughing.

    "That's SO nasty, dude," Edge replied weakly, then stared at his own hands. The look on his face was that of shear terror, "Oh gawd... this is totally lacking coolness!!"

    "I don't want to die young!" Christian cried, "I want to die BEAUTIFUL, but not YOUNG!" He then looked at Dr. Taker, "If you don't fix us, dude... there are going to be some serious ramipercussions!"

    Dr. Taker sighed, and signaled for Nurse Bearer to lead Christian to the diagnostics table  beside his brother.  Dr. Taker tapped his comm badge, "Taker to Captain McMahon. I may have to put sickbay under quarantine. Ensigns Edge and Christian just came in here with nasty coughs and chest pains. They seem to be suffering from some weird-ass ailment..."

    "What's wrong with them?" Captain McMahon asked.

    "Damned if I know! I'm going to run some tests and see what comes up. I'll get back to you. For now, no one is to come in here unless they're exhibiting similar symptoms,"

    "I'll send the message throughout the ship then," McMahon replied. "I expect a full report at 1800 hours..."

    "I'll give your stank ass a report when I'm damn good and ready, McMahon..." Taker replied, then cut the communication. He went up to Edge's table and studied the readouts. He commanded Dr. Piro to tend to Christian.

    After a short while, two more people came through the door. Lt. Benoit, looking the worse for wear, was being dragged in by a man with long curly hair and a somewhat grungy WrestleFleet uniform.

    The strange man looked up at Dr. Taker, "I found him lying in the middle of the science lab," he said, indicating Benoit.

    "And who the hell are YOU?" Taker asked.

    "Ensign Raven," the man replied.

    Saturn spun around at the name, and stared at the new arrival. Damnit. He HAD found a way to worm himself into the Titanprize crew!

    Ensign Raven turned to Nurse Saturn, "What's wrong, Perry?" he asked, glaring coldly, "You look like you just saw a ghost..."

    "Saturn? You know this Ensign?" Taker asked.

    "Unfortunately..." Saturn muttered. He frowned. Well, might as well create a back story. It was better then pouring out his past history to Dr. Taker, "He was reassigned from the ECW Extremeship shortly before The Titanprize was taken over by the Nytrons..."

    Taker looked at Raven, "I don't recall seeing him on this ship," he frowned. Did Saturn really expect him to believe that story? Taker knew better. He sighed,  "I don't give a damn. As of now, Sickbay is under quarantine. He's stuck here," he turned to Raven, "Put the science officer on the diagnostics table over there, and make yourself useful somehow..."

    "Yes sir," Raven replied, then offered Saturn another cold stare as he followed the doctor's orders.

ENGINEERING

    Lt. Commander Jericho studied the readouts before him. Something caught his eye. Warp core fluctuations?

    Within seconds, it was gone. He furrowed his brow and tried to find the source of the fluctuations, but it was as if they had never existed. "Odd..." he thought.

    "Lt. Commander Jericho," Commander Stephanie began as she came up to him, "What time is our lesson tonight?"

    Jericho looked at her, "There will be no lesson tonight, Commander," he said.

    Stephanie furrowed her brow, "What?! Why not? I think I got the hang of that insuguri kick thing you were teaching me. I just need you to show me once more and..."

    "I will not be showing you any more, Commander. You'll have to find someone else to teach you," Jericho replied, then turned back to his monitor, "I found some fluctuations in the warp core a moment ago. I'm attempting to trace them. If you'll excuse me..."

    Stephanie's jaw dropped, "What ...?!" she started, then crossed her arms, fuming. How DARE he brush her off like that!

    Stephanie frowned. She would talk to him later about his behaviour. For now, she might as well get on with her OWN work…

COMMANDER SHANE MCMAHON’S OFFICE - the next day

    Shane’s stomach hurt. His chest hurt. His head hurt. His throat hurt. It was an effort just to stand up. It didn’t help that he had been unable to keep anything solid down all day either.

    Shane tapped his comm badge, "Commander McMahon to Ensign Angle…"

    "Angle here, sir!"

    "Ensign… My sister has expressed an interest in learning self-defense. I would appreciate it if you would be the one to teach her…"

    "I thought Lt. Commander Jericho was taking care of that, sir?" Angle said.

     "Yeah, well Jericho isn’t teaching her any more. In fact, I’ve ordered him to stay away from her outside of Engineering. My sister is not to know that, though… you understand, Kurt?"

     "Yes sir. I understand. And I would be honoured to teach your sister how to defend herself, Commander!" Angle replied.

     "Good. Meet me in my office after your duty shift and we'll discuss the lessons. Shane out…" Commander McMahon said, then tapped his comm badge again, "Commander McMahon to Lt. Commander Jericho…"

     "What is it, Commander Jerky?" Jericho replied through the comm.

     Shane frowned. How rude! "Ensign Angle will be taking over my sister’s self-defense lessons, so you needn’t worry your positronic brain about it!"

     "Angle," Jericho muttered, and Shane could hear the disapproval in his voice, "I don’t think that would be wise, Commander,"

     "I will decide what is wise and what is not! Your job is to follow my orders, got it?" Shane snapped.

     A pause, then barely contained anger, "Yes sir!" Jericho snapped, and rudely closed the comm link.

     Shane would have to do something about the Y2J Unit’s attitude… but not right now.

    At the moment, Shane was too busy collapsing to care about anything.

LT. COMMANDER JERICHO’S QUARTERS

     The Y2J Unit quickly got out of his uniform and pulled on a pair of pants. More specifically, the black leather ones he had worn on Planet Makota. He found them incredibly comfortable for some reason.

    He wondered why he was so annoyed with Commander Shane. Surely lacking an active emotion chip should prevent negative energy surges like that... though Jericho knew it never did. He had been having these energy surges for a while now. Most of the time they were directed towards Ensign Angle.

    Jericho sat down at his desk and tied his hair back, deciding instead to read over the pile of Engineering reports in front of him.

    He furrowed his brow at one of the reports. It seemed Ensign Jeff Hardy had found strange fluctuations in the warp cores much like Lt. Commander Jericho had. The fluctuations had not lasted long enough to trace.

    The Y2J Unit glanced out his window.  The large brown planet loomed before him, its sun burning brightly, but everything else DEAD. It was a shame. It could have been a thriving planet full of life. It obviously had been inhabited at one time, but perhaps lack of rain, lack of good weather, and lack of healthy soil had caused a famine. He shrugged. He was no geologist by any means. Whatever had happened to the inhabitants had been bad, he figured that much.

      Lt. Commander Jericho went to his dresser and pulled out a WrestleFleet issue t-shirt. He was officially off duty, but he couldn’t let these fluctuations pass him by.

    Suddenly the door chimed. He tossed the shirt on his bed and went to answer it. "Commander?" he started. Stephanie stood before him.

    Stephanie stared at him for a moment… my he did look good in those pants, especially with his hair tied back and----she quickly shook that thought out of her head, getting down to business, "Ok. What’s the deal?!"

    "The deal, Commander?" he asked.

      She frowned, "Yes! Why did you back out of my lessons?"

    Jericho shrugged, "You can always find someone else to teach you," he said.

    "I don’t WANT someone else!" Stephanie snapped, then quickly explained herself, "I mean, it’s not as if I LIKE you or anything, but I’m already used to you as a teacher! How DARE you leave me high and dry?!"

    "Well, you'd better start getting used to Ensign Kirk Angel as your teacher," Jericho replied. "He's going to take over your lessons,"

    "ANGLE?" Stephanie sputtered, then frowned. Angle was sweet and all, but that was besides the point! How DARE Lt. Commander Jericho hand her over to Ensign Angle without a second thought? "Listen you stupid bucket of bolts," Stephanie snapped, balling her hands into tiny fits, "You owe me an explanation, and I refuse to leave until I get one!" She pushed against his chest, attempting to get into his quarters.

    The Y2J Unit put both hands against the door, blocking her entrance, "I can’t allow you in, Commander,"

    "Oh give me a break! What is it, the typical ‘oh my place is a mess’ crap?"

    Jericho furrowed his brow and stepped away from the door to take in his quarters, "Well… no... my place ISN’T a mess," Stephanie took his moment of distraction to walk right in and sit herself down on his bed. Jericho looked at her and crossed his arms, "Commander! I didn’t give you permission to enter!"

    "I’m your superior officer. I don’t care!" she snapped, "Now tell me why you’ve suddenly passed my lessons off to Ensign Angle!"

    The Y2J Unit walked to the window and looked out at Hitoma. He turned back to her and leaned against the wall "It wasn’t MY decision to pass you off to the Olympic Jackass, Commander. I’ve been ordered to keep my distance from you," he said.

    Stephanie jumped to her feet, "WHAT?!" she asked. "Who the hell decided THAT?"

    "I was ordered NOT to say," he replied.

     "Oh this is ridiculous!" Stephanie snapped. "Since you like following orders, how about I ORDER you to tell me who it was?!"

     Jericho blinked. First Shane orders him NOT to tell, now Stephanie orders him TO tell. Two conflicting orders from two superior officers. He searched through his programming to try and find a solution, but to no avail.

    He stepped away from the window and went to the bed, grabbing his t-shirt.. "Excuse me, Skankanie. I have to step out for a moment," he pulled the t-shirt over his head. "Might as well check out those warp core fluctuations,"

        Stephanie jumped in front of him, "You are NOT leaving until you tell me what’s going on! And if you don’t tell me, I’ll complain to daddy that you’re being insubordinate…!!"

    "Whether by not following YOUR order, or not following the OTHER order, I will be acting insubordinate, Stephanie. I guess you can say I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. By the way, it’s rude to point," he said as he grabbed the finger she was shoving in his face, "Didn’t your father teach you any manners?" He pushed her hand away and walked towards the doors. They swooshed open, and he looked back at her, waiting for her to leave.

    Stephanie refused to budge, and sat down on his bed again, arms crossed, "I’m not leaving until I get an answer!" she said.

    The Y2J Unit studied her. She was acting very much the spoiled brat, "You’ll be here a while then," he said, "Would you like me to get your suitcase?"

    "This isn’t a joke!" she snapped. "I demand to know who ordered you to stay away from me, and you’d better tell me, or I swear I’ll--"

    "You’ll what? Beat me up?" he asked with a smug smirk.

    "Shut up!" Stephanie shouted, then grabbed a pillow off his bed and tossed it at him.

     Jericho caught the pillow and tossed it on a chair,  "If you chose to stay, Commander, that is your prerogative. But I cannot comply with your demands at the moment," With that, Lt. Commander Jericho walked out of his quarters, leaving a fuming Stephanie staring after him.

SICKBAY

    Dr. Taker looked over the readings on his monitor, and tapped his comm badge, "Dr. Taker to Captain McMahon," Taker began.

    "Report, Taker," McMahon replied.

    "I’m taking Sickbay off quarantine. I studied the disease currently affecting Benoit, Edge, and Christian. It not contagious and only affects those who were on Hitoma. Commander Shane should be exhibiting signs as well, but the stupid bastard hasn't bothered to report them. As for Lt. Commander Jericho, being what he is, his robotic ass should be fine and dandy,"

    "What signs would my son be exhibiting, exactly?" Captain McMahon asked.

    "Trouble breathing, chest pains, violent coughing, nausea, abdominal pains,"

    "Ok ok. Just… CURE it!" McMahon said.

    "I’m working on it, Vince! Apparently, this disease was picked up from the planet… which may explain why there are no inhabitants. The Hitomans may not have had access to the proper medication,"

     "But the away team had no contact with anything that could carry disease on the planet!" McMahon replied.

     Taker frowned, "Perhaps not, but SOMETHING made them ill!" He didn’t appreciate McMahon demanding answers from him, he really didn’t, "Now if your stank ass up will stop bothering me, I may be able to get to work!" with that, Dr. Taker closed the communication.

    "Ensign Angle to Dr. Taker! We have a medical emergency in Commander Shane’s Office!" Angle’s voice called over Taker’s comm badge. "I found the Commander collapsed on the floor, sir!" Angle replied.

     "Well bring him in here then, Ensign!" Taker replied.

     "I thought Sickbay was under quarantine?" Angle asked.

     "Not any more, now get your olympic ass in gear!" Taker demanded.

     "Yes sir!"

ENGINEERING

    Jericho studied the monitor before him. The fluctuations appeared again! His fingers flew over the operating station lighting fast as he traced the origins of the strange energy surges. He furrowed his brow when he found where the fluctuations were emanating from, "Hitoma?"

    Ensign Jeff Hardy looked over his shoulder, "Did you find something, Chris?"

    "Yeah, the warp core fluctuations are from the planet! I’m trying to isolate exactly WHERE," he frowned, "What the..? It’s from that strange structure Ben-oyt found!"

    "I heard it was a dead computer," Jeff said.

    "Well apparently it’s not so dead after all…"

LT. COMMADER JERICHO’S QUARTERS - later

     Jericho walked into his dark quarters, having told Captain McMahon about the so-called dead computer. He was ordered to go down and study it in the morning, since he seemed to be the only one unaffected by the disease that had overcome the rest of the away team. He reached into his closet to pull out a clean uniform for the next day… and heard soft muttering behind him.

     Lt. Commander Jericho froze. Had someone snuck into his quarters? He spun around, but it was too dark to see anything more then a petite feminine outline curled up on his bed.

    Wait a minute!

    "Steph?!" he started. Had she been here all this time? She DID say she wasn’t going to leave until she found out who ordered him to stay away from her, but he didn’t think she was SERIOUS! Jericho flicked on his beside light, and saw Stephanie sleeping ever so peacefully. "Oh, great…" he muttered, then kicked the bed, "Get up, Skankanie…"

    She merely muttered something in her sleep, and rolled over on her back. Jericho sighed. Well now… wouldn’t THIS be quite the scene should anyone decide to pay him a visit. He was already in trouble as it was, what with Shane thinking he was disgracing his dear sister’s reputation and all.

    If Commander McMahon found out Stephanie had fallen asleep in Lt. Commander Jericho’s quarters, the Y2J Unit could very well find himself demoted to maintenance crew!

    Jericho reached over and shook Stephanie’s shoulder, "Hey, Commander! Move your ass!" Still no response. Jericho sighed and sat down on the chair across from her. Did she purposely want to ruin his career?

    He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. Although he didn’t sleep, he would often spend his nights calculating ways to increase warp core efficiency and running through theories to return the Titanprize back to WrestleFleet space. So far, he had been unsuccessful with the latter.  "I’m not sleeping," he said aloud.

    "OH!" Stephanie gasped.

    Lt. Commander Jericho opened his eyes to see Stephanie standing beside him, studying him. He straightened up in his chair, "I don’t sleep, remember?"

    "I knew that!" she snapped, "I just thought... for a second there..." she shook her head, "Never mind. What time is it?"

    "Ask the ship's computer," he said.

    Stephanie did so, "The time is 0600 hours," the computer’s monotone voice replied.

    "Oh no!" Stephanie gasped. "What am I going to do? I fell asleep because you took so long to get back here, and now people are going to think you and I… EWWW!"

    "What’s the matter, Steph? The crew already thinks you’re a filthy, dirty, disgusting, skanky, brutal, bottom-feeding, trashbag ho!"

    "Shut up, Jerkicho!" Stephanie snapped angrily, "You know what, maybe it’s better you were ordered to stay away from me!"

    "Good. Then we have no problem." he replied.

    "You still haven't told me who ordered you," she said.

    "And I don't PLAN on telling you,"

    "Listen… The only superior officers you are required to follow over ME are daddy and Shane—" she stopped, and the realization came to her, "It was SHANE, wasn’t it?"

    Jericho stood up, "I'm not at liberty to say,"

     Stephanie quickly dropped to the ground and caught his ankle between her feet. He cursed as he fell to the floor face first. He rolled over on his back to see Stephanie kneeling beside him, her face determined, "Tell me, Y2Jerk!"

    "So... you learned something during our lessons after all," Jericho said, "But don't you eeeeeeeeeever do that to me again!" he snapped, and sat up. "Now I already said I CAN’T tell you who told me to stay away from you. Would you have me go against a direct order?"

    Stephanie let out a frustrated shout, "Fine then! Don’t tell me! I know it was Shane! He hates you… not that I blame him! It’s not surprising he’d give you an order like that." She jumped to her feet. "I think I’m going to have a word with my loving big brother. If you’ll excuse me!" she snapped, then marched out of his quarters with purpose.

TITANPRIZE CORRIDORS

     "Kurt!" Stephanie called out as she saw the Olympic Ensign walking towards her, "Have you seen Shane?"

     "Haven’t you heard?" Angle asked. "He’s in sickbay! He’s very ill, Stephanie,"

     Stephanie gasped, worried, "Ill?? What’s wrong?!"

     "He got a disease down on Hitoma. He’s in a bad way, Steph. He… he may not make it," Angle replied, and put an arm around her. Poor Stephanie needed comfort.

     Stephanie took a step away from him, "I ... I need to see him, Kurt... excuse me."

    "I'll come with you,"

    "No. No... I should see him alone. Besides, being that sick, he won't have enough energy for more then one visitor,"

     "OH… wait… Steph… Before Commander Shane got ill, he told me to take over your self-defense classes. Apparently Lt. Commander Jericho decided he doesn’t have the time or patience to teach you any more," Angle frowned, "He obviously doesn’t care that an innocent woman like yourself could easily be made into a victim,"

     Stephanie looked at Angle, surprised. She knew Jericho hadn't purposely cut the classes. Surely Kurt didn't just lie to her face about that! No... of course not! He was merely unaware of the real situation and Shane had been filling his head with ridiculous stories.

    Poor Kurt could be so naieve sometimes…

PLANET HITOMA

    Jericho studied the metallic object before him. He could see symbols on the side. Probably directions of some sort. He put a hand to the symbols... then jumped back.

    The machine began to glow! There was a sound... like a motor starting up. A control panel opened before him. Jericho looked at the panel, and saw a port on the side. The Y2J Unit quickly pulled a wire out from his forearm, and plugged himself in.

    Suddenly, he was brought to his knees by a barrage of information that invaded his positronic net. Quick cut images pounded in his head. Images of a farming colony. Of families. Of a large computer that was created to help the colony crops.

    The images continued searing through his mind, practically overloading his positronic matrix:  The computer malfunctioning. Parents screaming as their children succumbed to illness. Children crying as they suffered...

    The computer had poisoned the entire planet - The grass. The trees. The water. It had mixed chemicals it shouldn't have mixed, and fed it into the crops, causing a  lethal mutation that resulted in the release of microscopic spores. The spores would be inhaled into the lungs, and lead to agonizingly painful deaths for the colonists.

    This computer had even recorded every minute of it ... almost like some sick horror movie.

    Jericho quickly ripped his wire out from the machine and backed away. He knew the only reason the rest of the crew hadn't been affected was because of the transporter's filtration of all alien particles on the person it was beaming. Unfortunately, even the transporter couldn't filter out poison that had already been ingested into the human body.

    Lt. Commander Jericho hadn't been affected by the spores simply because his systems were not organic. They were, in fact, much like the machine before him... wires, silicon,  microchips, and fiber optics.

     Jericho tapped his comm badge, "Jericho to Captain McMahon... I know what's causing the warp fluctuations, and the current illness of Ben-oyt, your son, and the blondes,"

    "Report, Lt. Commander," Captain McMahon ordered.

    "The computer Ben-oyt found is sending out energy signatures that are messing with our own warp core signatures. Luckily, it's harmless... but..." this was the hard part, "The disease that affected the away team killed all the inhabitants of this planet."

    "WHAT!" McMahon gasped.

    "However," Jericho added quickly, "This was a farming colony that only had access to farm rearing equipment , such as the solar panel I found, and the computer. Even the Titanprize sickbay is more advanced..."

    "It better damn well be!" McMahon said, "Get your ass back here, Jericho. Now!"

    "Yes sir," Jericho replied, and quickly beamed back to the Titanprize.

SICKBAY - two days later

    "What are you doing!?" Stephanie demanded as Dr. Piro tended to her brother. "Get away from him!"

    "I'm following Taker's orders, little Stephie," Dr. Piro said. Stephanie shivered under his glare. She didn't know who creeped her out more: Dr. Taker, or Dr. Piro... although Dr. Piro DID try to kill her once...

    "Just don't touch him!!" Stephanie said, and shoved the skeletal doctor away from her brother. He smiled coldly, and walked to the other side of Sickbay, talking to Ensign... what was his name now? Raven? No matter. It wasn't important. Stephanie looked at Saturn, "How's he doing?"

    "The spore extraction is coming along, but he's not out of the woods yet. He took too long to report to us. It had more time to infect him," Saturn said as he studied the readouts on his monitor.

    "Oh man... being sick totally reeks of heinosity!" Ensign Edge muttered from his diagnostics table. He seemed to be better off then Shane, and was now sitting up staring at a hand-mirror. "I'm so chalky! UGH!"

    "And look at this!" Ensign Christian whined as he tugged at a lock of his hair, "It's so dull and lifeless!"

    Stephanie hadn't left Sickbay since she had first gone to her brother's side, and had had it up to here with the Cocky Kanatians, "SHUT UP ALREADY, YOU WHINY, PRISSY LITTLE BLONDE BIMBOS!" She shouted.

    Christian and Edge were taken aback, "Yikes," Christian started, "Are you, like... PMSing or something, Commander?"

    Stephanie pressed her lips together tightly, narrowing her eyes, "That does it!"

    "Woah... woah... Stephanie..." Ensign Angle said as he came through the sickbay doors, and quickly grabbed Stephanie's hands before she had a chance to wrap them around Christian's throat, "You've been here for two days straight. I think you need a break..."

    Stephanie sighed, "Yeah... you're probably right, Kurt," she said.

    He smiled, "How about if we head to the holodeck and I can start giving you your lessons?"

    Stephanie took a deep breath, and nodded. "Fine. Let's go. I'll come back later..."

    "Steph..." Saturn called out as he checked on Edge and Christian, "I suggest you take a break until tomorrow. You need the rest."

    Stephanie hesitated, though she knew Nurse Saturn was probably right, "Ok," she said reluctantly, "But let me know right away if ANYTHING changes with my brother."

    "No problem," Saturn replied.

    Kurt and Stephanie then left sickbay... Angle holding Stephanie's hand.

TITANPRIZE CORRIDORS

    Jericho watched Stephanie and Angle walk towards him, hand in hand. How disgusting! Stephanie offered him a quick glance, then her and Angle headed into Holodeck 6.

    Jericho fought the urge to go up to Stephanie and warn her that Kurt may have wandering hands. The Y2J Unit was prohibited from even TALKING to her outside of their Engineering duties, and knowing Angle, he'd report any contact to his good buddy Shane.

    The Y2J Unit shook his head, and stepped into the turbolift, "Engineering..." he commanded.

HOLODECK 6 - later

    "This is called a takedown," Angle said as he grabbed Stephanie and tossed her to the mat.

    "KURT!" Stephanie snapped angrily, "Watch your hands!"

    "OH! I'm so sorry, Steph!" he looked at her apologetically, "You know I'd never do anything so disrespectful on purpose. I have integrity..."

    "Yeah, yeah, I know. Just... be careful next time!" she replied. Even that pervert, Jericho, was more careful about where he grabbed her when he was giving her lessons!

    Stephanie shook her head and sighed. She found herself a little uncomfortable learning full-contact moves from Ensign Angle, yet Kurt seemed to prefer them above the various defense techniques Jericho had been teaching her.

    Well... she'd just have to get used to Angle's way of teaching, that was all.  Besides, it wasn't as if Kurt had ulterior motives! He was every bit the gentleman!

    Stephanie stood up and brushed off her pants, "I think we're done for the day, Kurt..." Stephanie said.

    "But... we've only been in here for thirty minutes..." Angle said. Did he look annoyed? No. Kurt would never get annoyed with her!

    "I... I'm too worried about Shane to really get into the self-defense stuff right now... so... I think I'm going to pop into Engineering for a bit..." Stephanie said.

    "Well... if that would make you feel better..." Angle replied.

    "Yes. Yes, I think it would." Stephanie agreed, and headed off to Engineering.

    Maybe she could convince Lt. Commander Jericho to find a way around her idiotic brother's ridiculous order, and continue her self-defense lessons... somehow...