The Tirok Maneuver

II

 For a moment the lights flickered and Mac'hla looked to the ceiling, wide awake.

Another malfunction?

Their room went dark, only illuminated by the stars and the glowing pets in their lap.

She heard a collective sound of confusion coming from the hall outside of the room informing her that it wasn't just her room with the power outage.

"Oh, dear." she whispered and stood, gently pulling the ferrets onto her shoulder.

Fortunately, Vulcans, being descended from cat-like primates, possessed the ability to see in darkness.

They caught a glimpse of their reflection in the mirror, jumping back in surprise at the reflection of their own glowing eyes.

"Surak, give me strength." she whispered, clutching her side where her heart raced.

Quickly turning, their foot caught the edge of their bed and they tumbled to the floor with a grunt.

Mac'hla stayed on the floor, looking at the ceiling, not bothering to stand back up.

"I will just stay here for a while." she whispered to her ferrets.

The ferrets chittered happily, excited to cuddle up to their adoptive mother.

For a moment they just layed on the floor, relishing in the peaceful hum of the warp coil just a few decks beneath them.

But why was the ship rocking?

Mac'hla sat up and looked out their window. Surely enough, the surrounding stars seemed to drift around unnaturally.

Mac'hla had only been on a boat one time in their life, and they had become incredibly seasick. The rocking of the Enterprise was not dissimilar to that feeling.

She swallowed back her nausea and rubbed her eyes.

Around their room were plenty of candles that they used for meditation, so surely this could provide them with some light.

Mac'hla's room, as well as Spock's had been outfitted to allow small flames for the candles used in meditation, however if a flame were to be started, even a small one, in any other room on the ship the automatic fire extinguishers would go off.

Mac'hla flicked the lighter and was immediately showered with powdered potassium bicarbonate and pressurized CO2.

She yelped in surprise and quickly ran into the hallway, choking on the freezing gas and powder.

Spock happened to be just outside their room, and was nearly knocked over by the frantic, powder-covered Lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, what–"

"Candle!" she wheezed, wiping away the powder, "Flame... extinguisher... on me!"

"Lieutenant, you are failing to communicate effectively." Spock said, trying to hide his amusement at her predicament.

"The lighting has failed, and so the logical action was to light a candle, but when I sparked a lighter it activated the automatic fire extinguishers... on me."

Spock raised an eyebrow, "And this is causing you to panic?"

Mac'hla straightened up, offended by Spock's suggestion, "I am not panicking. I am struggling to breathe."

"I see," he smirked, "I was under the impression that the fire extinguishers were modified to allow for candles in your quarters."

Spitting out a puff of powder, Mac'hla said, "As was I."