A bit of mischief in the making

Posted on Sun Aug 31st, 2025 @ 7:19am by Corey Valleroy & Connor Valleroy & Finn Drake

Mission: Lower Decks

The Chimera school let out for the day, and the kids started heading back to their respective quarters. Everyone was glad to be returning to a normal routine after recent events. Few things were more harrowing than a red alert to begin with, especially when the intruder alert alarm went off, instructing all civilians to shelter in place. Two of the boys that had just gotten out approached a third, roughly the same age as the two of them were.

"Hey, you're Finn, right?" the older boy said. "Hi, I'm Corey Valleroy, and this is my brother Connor. Sorry we haven't really had a chance to say hi to you yet."

Finn blinked, a little surprised but quick to nod. He shifted his schoolbag and offered a small, polite smile.

"Yeah, I’m Finn. Nice to meet you, Corey, Connor." His voice was even, with that quiet alertness kids get when they've had to grow up fast.

"Kind of a rough week, huh?" he added, glancing back toward the school building. "Red alerts aren’t exactly my favorite way to start the day."

He looked at them both, curious but guarded. "You guys holding up okay?"

"We're hanging in there," Corey "I'm not going to say that you get used to that kind of stuff around here, but... Anyway, how about you? How are you holding up? Heck of a way to start off your time on this ship."

Corey thought Finn looked a bit...cautious, for lack of a better word, but then, considering what tended to go on around these parts to begin with, who could blame him? Plus, considering what it apparently took to get on this ship in general.

Finn gave a quiet shrug, his fingers tightening briefly around the strap of his bag before relaxing again. "Yeah. Definitely not how I pictured my first week going," he admitted. There was a flicker of dry humor in his eyes, but it didn’t quite reach a smile. "Still figuring out where everything is—and then boom, lockdown."

He paused, then glanced between the brothers, a little less guarded now.

"I’ve seen some weird stuff before, but that alarm? That was new." His voice lowered slightly. "Ax—my brother—says it’s part of the deal out here. That weird comes with the territory. Still…" Finn looked around at the corridor, at the way people were trying to act normal even if their pace was just a little too brisk.

"...you guys been on the Chimera long?"

"Since the very beginning," Connor said. "Our uncle's the security chief. And yeah, weird is absolutely a part of the deal around here. About the only thing weirder than the stuff that happens around here is the people." He added a bit of a wink.

"You would know," Corey told his brother, "since you're the weirdest of all."

"Hey, I learned from the best!" Connor shot back. Turning back to Finn, he said, "I just hope weirdness doesn't...weird you out or anything like that."

Finn actually let out a soft chuckle at that—quick, quiet, but real.

"Honestly?" he said, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Weird I can handle. It's fake that throws me off."

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the edges of a grin playing at his lips as he glanced between the brothers. "And you guys seem like my kind of weird, so… I think I’ll survive."

Then, catching Connor’s earlier comment, Finn added, “Your uncle’s the security chief? That’s… kind of awesome. Guess you two don’t get away with much, huh?”

He hesitated just a moment, then offered, a bit more quietly but with clear pride, “My brother—Petty Officer Ronan Drake, but most folks call him Axel—he’s the Chief Support Craft Pilot. Runs shuttles, escorts, anything that flies and doesn’t happen to be the Chimera or any full size starship as a matter a fact..... Makes me wonder if he can now.”

He smirked faintly. “He pretends he’s just doing his job, but I know he keeps a close eye on me. Not that I mind. He’s kind of... the steady type, you know?”

Corey nodded. "Yeah, Uncle Mark's the security chief. We're a bit mischievous..."

"A bit?" Connor asked with a grin.

"Yeah, he does keep a close eye on us, but he's also understanding and tries not to be too harsh on us, and he does show us some cool stuff. And we do understand about having a steady type in our lives. Our parents are in prison 'cause they worked for our mom's family's shipbuilding company and it turns out the company was doing business with criminal groups who wanted special modifications for smuggling and stuff, and our parents and our mom's family are in jail for it, and since our dad and Uncle Mark were the only family on the Valleroy side, Uncle Mark wound up with us."

"Uncle Mark is doing his best," Connor said, "but we do miss our parents."

Corey nodded. "Though I guess their lawyer says he might be able to get them out in a couple of years on parole, so there is that."

Finn listened, his expression growing more serious as Corey and Connor spoke. He didn’t interrupt—just nodded, taking it all in. When they finished, he gave a slow exhale.

“Sounds like you guys got handed a raw deal,” he said. “But you’re still standing. That says a lot.” A beat passed. Then a slow, sly grin crept across his face.

“And trust me—mischievous?” He leaned in slightly. “You have no idea.”

He shifted his bag around to the front, unzipped a small compartment, and pulled out what looked like a flattened metal cylinder, no larger than a chocolate bar. He held it up between two fingers.

“Repurposed isolinear tag scanner. Found it in a junked-out crate in storage. Rewired it. Now it opens auxiliary access panels. Not the big stuff, just… places they don’t think kids belong.”

He tucked it back into his bag before anyone else could see. “There’s a duct crawl on Deck Three that runs right under the galley. You can hear the entire senior staff if you plant the right kind of static filter in the ventilation grate. And if you time it right? You can intercept snack deliveries before they get inventoried.”

He glanced between the brothers, eyes gleaming now. “You two say you’re trouble… but are you clever trouble? Or do I have to show you how the real mischief’s done?”

Then, with mock seriousness: “Also, I may or may not have a half-built hologame in the old environmental chamber that turns the whole room into a zero-G laser tag arena—but, you know, that’s still in testing phase.”

"Oh, you might be surprised at what we can do," Connor said with a wink.

"Yeah," added Corey, thinking that this kid might have potential. The difficulty with being family to the security chief was that practically the security department practically knew Corey and Connor almost on sight, which which could, at times make it difficult to get away with certain things. But someone who didn't normally hang out with security personnel might have a less well-known profile with security.

Corey continued, "Did you know this ship's been refitted off of a damaged and retired ship, but that they really didn't fully complete the job? Didn't want to spend too much time or materials on a bunch of castoffs, apparently. Back when the ship launched, Uncle Mark and some of the others actually had to swipe shuttles from some other recently retired ships in the shipyard just so we could have shuttles. Plus, that the engineering department's been rather understaffed the entire time. Reportedly, there are still areas in the lower decks that are hooked into the environmental systems but that have been sealed off."

Connor nodded. "I think some are mostly small storage rooms, but I think I overheard in school a while back that the hydroponics bay on Deck 11 isn't in use. Apparently, the science department's also understaffed."

Finn’s eyes lit up like someone had just handed him a fully charged tricorder and said go nuts.

“Okay, now you’re speaking my language,” he said, tone hushed but buzzing with energy. “Abandoned sections still drawing power? A sealed hydroponics bay? That’s not just opportunity—that’s potential.”

He looked between the brothers, clearly sizing them up in a new light.

“You’re telling me we’ve got underused systems, half-connected compartments, and a ship cobbled together from spare parts and ‘borrowed’ shuttles… and no one’s properly mapped what’s where?” He let out a low whistle. “That’s a playground. With hiding spots. And cover stories. And maybe—maybe—a forgotten replicator that hasn’t been logged yet.”

Finn took a step closer, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“What we need is a map. An unofficial one. If engineering's understaffed, then internal sensors aren't being actively monitored deck-by-deck. That means we could probably sneak in a few recon runs without setting off alarms. Hit Deck 11 first. If hydroponics is still powered, we might be able to repurpose it. Hideout. Workshop. Base of operations.”

He paused, letting the idea settle, then added with a smirk: “You two already have the last name that makes security twitch. I’ve got the face no one questions because I stay quiet and keep my head down.”

Finn extended his hand to them like he was offering membership into something far bigger than just a few kids being sneaky.

“What do you say? Wanna build something… legendary?”

"Tell us, what did you have in mind?" Corey asked with a grin as he took the offered hand...