Life Of The Party
| Star Traks: Waystation | |
| Episode name | Life Of The Party |
|---|---|
| Season | Stardate 58--- |
| Episode number | 4 |
| Writer(s) | Alan Decker |
| Year | 2381 |
| Stardate | 58387 |
| Chronology | |
| Previous in series | Waypoint Harbor |
| Next in series | Everything Right Is Wrong Again |
| Previous in timeline | Wildcards Pt. 1 [VEX] |
| Next in timeline | Everything Right Is Wrong Again [WAY] |
While the Federation faces the looming prospect of another four years of President Bradley Dillon, Commander Walter Morales and Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter are sent to a nearby colony investigate an anomaly. And as well all know, anomalies are never good.
Summary
In her office on earth, Fleet Admiral Nosira Ra'al watches election coverage in disgust and wonders if anyone will be able to prevent Bradley Dillon from being elected President.
Commander Walter Morales and Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter are taking the Runabout USS Cumberland to a nearby colony to investigate reports of issues with their sensor array. Porter is annoyed at being pulled away from his work on duplicating the chroniton storage panels used on Kathy Beck's time ship.
Back on Waystation, Bradley takes Yeoman Tina Jones to lunch and asks her the rather odd question of what political party she's affiliated with. Since he didn't run for president the first time, Bradley never joined a party, but now the two major parties in Federation politics, the creatively-named Federation party and the Republicrats, are both after him to join their ranks as their candidate. Jones says she usually votes for the Federation party candidate, so Bradley decides to join them. Jones is very surprised that Bradley would do that just because of her, and he says that he can't think of a better reason. Soon Joan Redding is reporting that Bradley has joined the Federation party.
Morales and Porter reach Hauser Colony, where they see the sensor issue. The colony's sensors were just upgraded, and now, right at the edge of their range, they're picking up a stationary blip. It doesn't move and the colony folks can't tell what it is, so they want Morales and Porter to go out and investigate. En route, Morales ponders asking Stephanie Hodges to marry him. Soon they reach the source of the blip, a large gray ring, about a meter thick, two meters deep, and twice the width of the runabout in diameter. The center of the ring is completely black. No stars are visible beyond it, leading Porter to conclude that it's a door. They send in a probe, which returns readings indicating that it is inside a structure. After dropping a buoy to indicate their location, they take the runabout through the ring and find themselves in what appears to be a large landing bay. One other dust-covered ship is present. They land and get out to investigate. Finding a door leading deeper into the structure, they open it and are immediately yanked inside by persons unknown.
Fleet Admiral Ra'al has a clandestine meeting with the head of the Republicrat party, Abraham Carter, in a Chicago park. Now that Bradley has joined the Federation party, the Republicrats need a credible candidate and fast. Ra'al tells Carter that they need to find a heroic Starfleet officer who is willing to give up his or her commission to run against Bradley and become President of the Federation. Carter loves the idea, and Ra'al says she will be in touch.
Morales and Porter are dragged into what can best be described as a dance party. Music is pounding, beings are dancing, but all of them look ancient. The one in charge of this shindig, Bachloss, is not pleased to have uninvited guests and berates Morales and Porter for being stodgy and unhip establishment-types. Upon learning that Porter is an engineer, though, Bachloss demands that Porter get his tools and do repair work for him while Morales is sent to sit at a table at the side of the room and wait. Morales is soon approached by Krasadora, an elderly woman who starts hitting on him. She explains that Bachloss' parents found the place for him and gave it to him as a graduation present. Bachloss started a party, invited a bunch of his friends, and it's been going on ever since, a couple of months in Krasadora's estimation. Or maybe years. They've kind of lost track of time.
Porter, meanwhile, is taken into a large chamber with a pulsating mass of conduit and cabling at the center of it. Bachloss gives him the simple command of "fix it." Porter doesn't even know what "it" is. Bachloss isn't sure either, but it seems to be the core of the place. It provides power, food, and other things. However it isn't working as well as it used to. There are fewer food, liquor, and music options available, which is hurting the party.
Continuing his conversation with Krasadora, Morales learns that they are all from Induskera, a planet a few star systems away from where Hauser Colony is now located. Having gotten Porter working, Bachloss shows up and tells Morales that he's going to have to wait in another room, since he's bringing down the party. Morales is led down a long wooden corridor past doors made of wildly different materials. When he asks his escorts about it, all they'll say is that they made it. They take Morales to a small bedroom and lock him inside. Several hours later, Krasadora sneaks in to see him, and Morales convinces her to take him to Porter. The guards left to watch over Porter as he worked have fallen asleep, so he and Morales are able to talk. The structure, whatever it is, is millenia old, so Bachloss' parents didn't buy it for him. They found it and gave it to him. The core can create new rooms, change the decor, and provide sustenance based on the desires of the structure's occupants. Porter has been able to reroute systems around burnt out conduits, bringing the place back to its previous functionality. Morales tells Porter to ask Bachloss for supplies, then has Krasadora sneak him back to his room.
As Morales expected, Bachloss goes to Morales and demands that he go out for the supplies Porter needs, since no one else wants to leave the party. He threatens to kill Porter if Morales tries anything. Morales goes to Induskera and soon returns with the supplies, as well as a group of Induskeran teenagers that he told about the party. The teens, seeing the elderly Iduskerans and hearing their ancient music, instantly declare the party lame and want to go home. Bachloss' friends, hearing that their party has been declared uncool, decide they want to leave. Morales escorts them all onto their ship. It turns out that the Induskerans have been partying there for 65 years. Bachloss isn't ready to give it up, but Porter tells him that he will have to because the core is failing. There's nothing Porter can do, and the whole place will cease to exist in about 20 minutes.
Featuring
- Captain Lisa Beck
- Commander Walter Morales
- Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter
- Lieutenant Commander Sean Russell
- Yeoman Tina Jones
- Dr. Diantha
- Bradley Dillon