View source for Mid-Way

{{EpiSidebox
| series   = [[Star Traks: Waystation]]
| ep_name  = Mid-Way
| season   = Stardate 56---
| ep_num   = 7  
| writer   = [[Alan Decker]]
| year     = [[2379]] 
| stardate = Unknown
| image    = 
| prevse   = [[She Blinded Me With Science]]
| nextse   = [[The Rules Of Relativity]]
| prevti   = [[Maintenance Cycle]] [VEX]
| nextti   = [[Penny For Your Thoughts]]  [VEX]
}}


Strange things are afoot on Deck 50. This is exactly the type of case that calls for the talents of Starfleet Intelligence Agents [[Samantha Dallas]] and [[Batyn]]...but this isn't their series, so we're sending in Yeoman [[Tina Jones]] instead. This should go well.


==Summary==
The residents of Deck 50 on [[Waystation]] are seeing strange things in their corridors, such as men on horseback and a marching band with elephants.  Each vision delivers the same message, "It's coming."  Not surprisingly, the residents decide to register a complaint.


After peeking-in on the construction progress of the new Waystation Welcome Center, Yeoman [[Tina Jones]] is called to Ops, where Captain [[Lisa Beck]] asks her to look into the situation on Deck 50.  She goes to the deck in question, meets with the residents, and then decides to stay on Deck 50 to see if she can find any sign of mysterious happenings.  After several hours of nothing, she is suddenly buzzed by a bi-plane towing a banner reading, "It's Coming!"  She immediately calls in Lieutenant Commander [[Craig Porter]] for help.  He's less than thrilled to be called in and believes that the whole group is hallucinating until an ice-cream truck roars around the corner and stops in front of him, Jones, and the gathered group of Deck 50 residents.  Porter suggests that they all enjoy the hallucination and eat some ice cream.  Everyone but Jones orders something, and as soon as they take a bite, they vanish.  Jones continues to refuse ice cream, and soon she is confronted by a man...well most of a man.  He's not quite solid.  More translucent really.  The man introduces himself as "It" then says he's really "He" now.  He tells Jones that the others are with him and having fun feeding the Chaos.  Finally he gives his name.  It's "Entropy."  Jones has no idea what that means, but now she is determined to save Porter and the others from whoever this guy is.  She demands an ice cream, takes a lick, and then finds herself on the lawn of an estate.  Porter and the others are there being attacked by shrubbery, or in Porter's case, his own beard.  She helps Porter, and they get everyone into the house, which is also in complete disorder.  Entropy appears to taunt them.  Jones and Porter figure out that he reacts badly when they increase the order in the room.  They order the Deck 50 residents to start cleaning.  This weakens Entropy until he finally shatters.  Everyone is instantly back on Deck 50.  


Porter cannot figure out what could have caused the situation on Deck 50.  He suddenly has an idea and rushes off.  The next morning in Ops, Porter explains that the station's power cores caused the problem.  After the battle with the [[Collectors]], the upper core and lower core were thrown slightly out of alignment.  It wasn't enough to set off alarms in Engineering, but the effects from each core were meeting at Deck 50, where they were gradually wearing away at the fabric of the universe.  If they hadn't stopped Entropy, the universe could have been destroyed.  Of course, since they caused the problem in the first place, the Waystation crew can't feel too heroic.

==Featuring==
*Captain [[Lisa Beck]]
*Commander [[Walter Morales]]
*Lieutenant Commander [[Craig Porter]]
*Yeoman [[Tina Jones]]

==Also Featuring==

==Author's Comments==
This story contained a couple of elements that had been floating around for a while.  The Entropy as villain part actually came from the short-lived Star Traks RPG.  The first game, which also had the beginning of the idea of the [[subspace generator]], also had Entropy as the antagonist, and cleaning up was what led to his defeat.


The other piece is the ice cream truck.  [[Anthony Butler]] had the idea of an evil ice cream truck roaming space, but he never was able to build a story around it.  Eventually I asked him if he'd mind if I used the idea for a story for [[The Traks Files]].  The story, which would have been called "Thawed", was going to involve Agent [[Samantha Dallas]] investigating a series of disappearances surrounding the ice cream truck.  She would, after tasting the ice cream, get trapped in some kind of pocket dimension or something.  Meanwhile, Agent [[Batyn]] was going to either fall in love or start enjoying life or something and not realize that Dallas was in trouble.  Obviously, it never got written.  It just wasn't enough to build a story around.  So finally the ice cream truck ended up as a minor part of "Mid-Way."  Them's the breaks.

==Links==
[https://www.star-traks.com//waystation/stories/page4/52_WAY_WAYMID/  Mid-Way]