In the Dark

 

A Star Trek: Independence story by Claus Holm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In The Dark

1.

”We are getting a distress call, Captain!”

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun turned to face his helmsman, who had just reported the observation. He had been in the middle of a lengthy discussion with his security chief, Lt. Sharkar. The discussion had been concerning the Ferengi Qworn, the newest addition to the crew. During the last away mission, he had tried to purchase a illegal narcotic, in the hope to sell it elsewhere along their route. Calhoun, who himself had encouraged Qworn to join the crew, was a little embarrassed by the affair, and was glad for the interruption.

“What have we got?”, he asked.

“It looks like a automated signal. It’s coming from somewhere within 2 light years from our current position.”

“Let’s hear it!”

The main wiewscreen filled with a picture of a very human looking  alien. The only visible difference was 2 small bulges on the forehead, and the fact that his hair was actually feathers.

“Is there anybody out there? Please….we need help! Immediate help! Oh, Gods…they are dead! Half the colony are dead or missing…please! Help us!”

The man quickly looked to the left, as if listening for something outside the recorder’s field of vision.

“I…I think, they’ve found me. Quickly…if you find this, and I’m already dead….please tell my daughter I love her very much, and I…oh, Gods!”

An explosion rocked the recorder, and the man looked at someone or something approaching him.

“No, no…stay away! Aaaahhhhh…..”

The recording ended abruptly, showing only static for a second. Then the message started all over again.

Calhoun made a gesture, and Chandra cut the transmission.

“I’ve located the source of the signal, Sir!”, Miranda reported from the Ops console. “It’s coming from a planet 1.2 light years from here. A satellite in orbit is transmitting it in a loop.”

“Lay in a course, Chandra. Maximum warp!”

“Aye, Sir.”

The Independence changed course, and vanished into warp space.

Calhoun sat down in his command chair, and pressed the intercom.

“Bridge to sickbay.”

“This is the Doctor. “

“Doctor, we’re going to get a lot of wounded people in a short while. Are you  up to it?”

“The sickbay is understaffed, as you know, Captain. I’ve been training Ensign Kowalski and Lt. Jones as field medics, however. I’m sure, they can help me.”

“We’ll need them as exactly that: Field medics. We’ve got a distress call from a colony, stating that half of their colonists are dead or missing. The message is a few hours old, so things might be even worse now. I’ll send an awayteam down to investigate, and I want a medic on the team. Who would you recommend?”

“Ensign Kowalski would be my first choice. He’s been in one or two hot spots before, and is more experienced.”

“Kowalski it is, then. Meanwhile, you and Jones get sickbay up to speed as well as you can. If there is no immediate danger for contamination, I’ll have the worst cases beamed up to you.”

“Acknowledged, Captain. Sickbay out.”

Jennifer Glenn, his first officer, leaned over from the seat next to him.

“Sensor scans of the planet are inconclusive, Captain. It seems, there is a strong layer of ion radiation in the upper atmosphere. We might not be able to use the transporters.”

“That’s not good. We’ll have to go by shuttle, and treat more of the victims on the ground. Miranda, alert lt. Jones, and tell her that we’ll need her dirt side as well. The Doctor has to hold the fort alone.”

“Captain, I did not like the “we” in that first sentence. Am I still in charge of the away mission?”

Calhoun shook his head.

“No, Jen. I’m leading this mission myself. No offense, I have complete trust in you. You know that. I’m just more trained in this kind of situations. I grew up with them.”

“I know, Mac. But it’s still my job as first officer to make sure, you don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger. I’m supposed to keep you from taking this kind of risk!”

“There won’t be a risk. I’ll take every precaution. You just take good care of Indy, while we’re gone.”

Calhoun got up, and signaled Sharkar, who had returned to his security station.

“Sharkar, round up two good people and report to the shuttle bay, when we enter orbit.”

 

Shortly thereafter, the Independence placed itself in a smooth orbit around the planet.

“Make a fixed orbit, Chandra. Right above the colony.”

“Aye, Sir.”

Chandra’s hands flew over the controls, aligning the ship perfectly.

The planet was a depressing sight. The surface was grey and brown, with occasional white patches of snow. The water seemed only to exist in snow form – there were no oceans, and no lakes.

“Is it class M, Miranda?”, Calhoun asked.

“Barely, Sir. The air is breathable, but trust me: You don’t want to spend your vacation there. You don’t even want to go outside the colony for an extended period of time without at least a breath mask.”

“The colony seems to have some kind of forcefield protecting the buildings”, Glenn said, leaning forward to look at the screen over Miranda’s shoulder, “You’ll have to enter through one of these.”

She pointed at two points on the display.

“They look like some kind of portals or airlocks. My guess is, you enter and leave the colony through them.”

“Have we been able to establish contact with the surface?”, Calhoun asked, looking over at Chandra. She shook her head.

“No, Captain. The signal was coming from a satellite in orbit. I tried sending a message to it, but it seems only to transmit. It might be broken.”

“Fine, we’ll tell them we’re here face to face. Still, it would have been nice with more information on what kind of problem they had. From the look of the man on the screen, it looked like some kind of attackers, maybe a group of pirates or something.”

“It could also be a virus. One that makes the people aggressive or intoxicated. Maybe something like the “Naked Time” virus, the Enterprise ran into a few years back.”

“For all we know, it could be a plague. Miranda, tell the awayteam to report to sickbay. We’d better give them some kind of general protection first. And we’ll scan the air for any sign of bacteria or virus, before going out without space suits. “

Calhoun headed for the turbolift.

“Commander Glenn, you have the bridge. Take good care of Her, while I’m gone.”

The doors to the lift closed, and Glenn leaned forward on the console, resting her head in her hands.

“You seemed awfully quick in giving in to him today, Commander”, Chandra said with a smile.

Glenn looked up.

“I could see it in his eyes. No matter what I would say or do, he would go on this mission. I might as well save him the trouble of ordering me to stay.”

Chandra laid her hand on Glenn’s and smiled comfortingly.

Glenn went to the command chair, and sat. She looked at the grey planet below.

This was always the worst part.

 

The last hypospray hissed, and Calhoun rubbed the place on his neck, where the medicine had been pumped through his skin. It always itched like hell.

The rest of his team stood around him in the shuttle bay, assembling the last gear.

Sharkar and his two security people, Ensign Blake and Ensign Summers, were busy lifting the survival into the shuttle. The two field medics, Kowalski and Jones, were checking the tricorders and emergency rations. He himself had inspected the phaser rifles. He did not like to take any chances with the weapons.

Suddenly, his communicator beeped. He touched it.

“Calhoun here.”

“Captain, this is Glenn. The sensors are reading a major storm building up in the area of the colony. I’m sending Chandra down to you – she’ll get you down safer than any other pilot we’ve got.”

“Acknowledged, Glenn. We’ll be leaving shortly – everything is being packed as we speak.”

“Have a safe trip, Mac. Stay in touch. Bridge out.”

The team began entering the shuttle, as Chandra ran through the doors to the shuttlebay. She had her tricorder in her belt, and a phaser rifle slung over her shoulder.

“Reporting for away mission, Sir”, she chirped with a grin, as she shoved her way through the already crowded shuttle.

“Good to see you, Lieutenant. Take the helm, and take us down.”

Chandra sat down at the shuttle’s controls, and activated the flight systems.

“Bridge, this is the shuttle Curie, requesting clearance for take-off.”

“Granted, Curie. Bon Voyage”, came Miranda’s voice from the speaker.

The shuttle raised of the deck, and pitched forward as it flew out of the shuttlebay. It passed the forcefield holding the air in, and then began it’s decent into the upper atmosphere.

Inside, the crew grabbed hold of the handles next to the seats, as the shuttle began shaking violently.”

A high pitched howling began sounding outside, as the air rushed by the craft.

“I thought Glenn said, the storm was only building up!”, Calhoun shouted. Chandra did not reply right away – she was much to busy keeping the craft horizontal.

“You’d better buckle up, Captain!”, was all she managed to get out after a while. Calhoun took her advice.

Chandra scanned desperately for the eye of the storm. If she wanted to go down, she had to find somewhere more calm than this. She was only at the very top of the atmosphere, and it was already almost impossible to control the craft.

Then, she found it. A belt of about 600 meters, where the air was completely calm. She fired the thrusters, and flew for it as fast as the shuttle would go.

They all felt the change, when the shuttle went into the eye of the storm. The shaking stopped, and they looked at each other, grinning. Chandra had done it again.

 

At the Independence bridge, Miranda suddenly said:

“Uh-oh.”

Glenn got up and moved for her.

“I don’t like “uh-oh”, Miranda. What’s wrong?”

“It looks like there is some kind of electrical turbulence building up over the shuttle. It must be the engines. They are affecting the ionized layer!”

Glenn slapped her communicator.

“Glenn to Chandra! Cut your engines! CUT YOUR ENGINES!”

And then, Miranda in a flat voice said:

“To late.”

 

Blake shook her long, black hair, and was just about to say something – most likely something about the excellent piloting skills, Chandra possessed – when a lightning bolt struck the shuttle.

It was unlike anything, they had ever seen before – sparks scattered across the instruments, and along the sides of the craft. Sharkar threw himself on top of Jones, protecting her from the blast with her body. None of the others were quite as lucky.

The shuttle’s engines stopped immediately. The thrusters gave one, final burst, and then died as well.

The Curie fell like a rock for the ground below.

 

 

 

In the Dark – part 2

                                                                                       2

Sharkar groaned, and sat up slowly. It was getting a bad habit, being knock out cold like this. He shook his head, and a wave of nausea flooded his head…but it subsided. Slowly, he looked around the shuttle’s cabin.

Lt. Chandra was slumped over the controls, her hand still pressed against the smooth surface where the display used to be. Lt. Jones, the female field medic was working on her with some kind of surgical instrument. Sharkar was not a medic, so he could not tell what precisely Jones was doing, but he hoped it would work. He had gained great respect for the Betazoid conn officer over the past few months, and even found himself considering asking her out on a date several times. He hoped, she would be all right.

Jones seemed none the worse for wear. She was very thin and frail. He had quickly evaluated the rest of the crew’s physical condition, and found her the most vulnerable to the discharges. Apparently, his protection had worked.

Ensign Kowalski was using the dermal regenerator on Captain Calhoun, who had a large cut across his forehead. He did not seem to be affected by it, however.

Blake and Summers had taken minor bruises and bumps, but were both up and about – Blake was trying to dig out the environmental suits, while Summers was using a tricorder to scan the air outside. She frowned occasionally, and suddenly banged the tricorder with the heel of her hand. Sharkar almost cracked a smile at this, but quickly regained his composure.

Kowalski looked over at him, and smiled at him. He had a large bruise over his right eye, but his smile was warm, nonetheless.

“Are you alright, Sir?”, Kowalski asked.

“I’m fine. What happened?”

Blake, who got on her feet with her arms full of helmets, answered the question.

“It looks like some kind of lightning hit us. Summers said that it must be the ionization. The shuttle’s completely wrecked.”

“How about you, Lieutenant?”, Calhoun asked, “Any broken bones? You shouldn’t move around to much, before Kowalski’s scanned you.”

“I’m fine, Sir. Do we know, where we are?”

Summers closed the tricorder, and stepped back to the center of the cabin.

“Well, Summers?”, Calhoun asked.

“We know where we are, if that’s what you meen, Sir. The colony is about 2 miles west of our position. But the bad news is, the shuttle is dead in the water, and the tricorder does not read more than ten to fifteen meters away from the shuttle. It seems, the ion field is interfering with our tricorders as well.”

“You’re right. That IS bad news. How about the communicators?”

“They works on short range, but we can’t contact the Independence. We’ll probably need the communications equipment on the colony.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like much of a choice, does it? We’ve got to get over there. Jones, how’s Chandra doing?”

Chandra responded by sitting up and groaning.

“Who got the number of that Ferengi marauder that hit me?”

“Chandra, try to hold still. I’m going to seal the wound in your cheek. You’ll be alright in a few minutes.”

Chandra leaned back, and rubbed her nose.

“It feels like my nose came out the back of my head!”, she whined, and the rest of the crew had to laugh. It felt good, even under these dire conditions, to be able to laugh.

Jones turned of the dermal regenerator.

“You’re all back to your usual, charming self.”

Chandra rubbed her cheek, and sighed with relief.

“Good job, Jones. I’ll recommend you next time there’s an opening for chief medical officer.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I much prefer the science job.”

“All right, we can’t sit here all day. Let’s suit up, people! I’ll bet, they are worried sick over us on the ship.”

The crew began to put on the life support suits. Sharkar and Calhoun distributed the phaser rifles. 2 of them had been broken in the crash, so Jones and Kowalski opted for carrying medical supplies instead.

When everybody had closed their helmets, Calhoun’s voice came over the helmet communicators:

“Let’s do it!”

Sharkar turned the emergency handle, and the hatch swung open. It fell to the ground, the hinges almost broken off.

“This bucket of bolts is never gonna take off again!”, Chandra said, as they moved out of the hatch.

“You got us down in one piece. That’s good!”, Blake responded and padded on her back.

“Right. Any landing you walk away from is a good landing!”, Kowalski added.

“Thank you so much!”, Chandra murmured, and the group laughed again.

 

The trip to the forcefield was uneventful, but it took them almost 2 hours to walk the distance. The wind had apparently gone into a receding phase – but the storm was far from over. Visibility was down to 3 meters. They could still feel the wind tugging at them, and sometimes had trouble keeping their balance in the impractical starfleet life support suits.

Summers led the way, since for some reason, her tricorder seemed to work better than the rest of them.  The map over the surface gave them some idea of where they were, but they were still forced to rely on their instincts. Chandra had the best sense of direction of them all, and she led them, when the tricorder had to give up.

Finally, they saw the blue glow of the forcefield through the whirling sand, and a cheer went up from them all. Even Sharkar and Calhoun cheered. It felt good to be close to safety again.

Slowly, they moved around the forcefield, until they found one of the openings, the scanners had shown them. It turned out to be a forcefield airlock, able to accommodate a small truck. The seven crewmembers went into the airlock, and it closed behind them.

“Must be some kind of bio-sensor”, Jones said, astonished, “it did not respond until we all had come in.”

“Clever”, Blake said, “or maybe somebody is watching us.”

Sharkar slowly took the rifle from his shoulder, and held it at the ready.

“Relax, Lieutenant. These people asked for help. Don’t make it worse by shooting someone innocent.”

Calhoun had raised his hand to Sharkar’s shoulder. Now, he looked at the atmospheric sensor at his arm.

“According to the sensor, the air in here is breathable. Summers, can you verify?”

“Confirmed, Sir. The air is standard class M atmosphere now. No apparent bacteria or vira in the air.”

“Great. Suits off, everybody. I don’t know about you, but I’m dying to get out of this.”

They all agreed with him, and took of their suits. After a brief search of the airlock, they found a small locker, where they stored the suits. There were no signs of anyone operating the airlock manually, even though there seemed to be the controls to do so. Blake and Jones checked for blood, but found none. The airlock simply seemed to be abandoned.

“All right, let’s proceed to the colony’s main building. There’s got to be some kind of communications equipment.”

With Sharkar taking point, they moved out of the airlock, and towards the larger buildings beyond.

 

“Anything?”

Jennifer Glenn was pacing the bridge, her hands clenched into fists.

“No, Commander. I can see the shuttle, but I can’t find any signs of life.”

“Damn it, damn it! Why’d he have to be so damn stubborn all the time!”

“Commander, with all respect…that could have been you down there.”

“I know that, Miranda. That’s my job! HIS job is this ship, this crew! I’m…..”

Miranda interrupted:

“Commander, I just saw something!”

“What? What did you see?”

Miranda pointed at a picture of the shuttle on her screen. Something was different than a moment ago, but Glenn could not immediately identify, what it was.

“You see this hatch? A moment ago, it was closed. Now, it almost lying flat on the ground. That could meen, that somebody has just gotten out, and our sensors are just not reading them!”

“In that case, whoever is alive down there must be trying to get to the colony. All right, keep an eye out for them, Miranda.”

“Will do, Commander. Shouldn’t you take a brake? You’ve been here for hours. You look like you could need a cup of coffee or something.”
“You’re right, I could. I’ll be in the ready room. Call me, if there’s any news.”

“Aye, Commander.”

Glenn vent into the ready room, and as the doors closed behind her, Miranda whispered to the image on the screen:

“You’d better come back, Captain. You’d better not leave her like that. Otherwise…when I meet you in the afterlife, I’ll kick the crap out of you!”

 

The group slowly crossed the open area between the airlock and the complex of buildings that made up the colony itself. The buildings were large, grey and heavy-set – they looked like large grey bricks, thrown around by a giant bricklayer, who suddenly decided to take a coffee break.

And it was quiet.

Completely quiet.

I don’t like this!”, Chandra whispered, “Where is everybody?”

“Maybe they’re dead”, Kowalski suggested.

“Then where are the bodies?”

“Oh, we’ll find bodies soon enough!”, Calhoun said, pulling out his tricorder. “Switch to bioscans only. Maybe we can find the people faster that way. And try to find a way in.”

That turned out not to be a problem. A large door was placed between two of the large buildings.

A scannerplate was placed next to the door – but it did not seem to be very selective in who to let in. As Sharkar put his hand in front of the scanner, the door slided open.

The darkness inside was almost tangible. Calhoun and Sharkar snapped their flashlights on (placed on their wrists, as was standard Starfleet procedure), and the rest of the group followed their example.

The lights revealed a long corridor, with support beams every 5 meters or so. Summers and Jones pointed their tricorders into the door, and both nodded. All was clear.

Calhoun pointed at Sharkar.

“Sharkar, take point with me. Blake, take the rear. The rest stay in the middle. Summers, protect the medics.”

They moved into the darkness. The door slammed shut behind them.

Sharkar quickly checked that the sensor on the inside worked, before they moved on.

At once, they smelled something strange. An organic, almost physical smell of decay, on top of something unknown, something…alive.

They had not taken many steps, before Summers pointed at something at the wall. They shone their lights at it, and all stared, dumbfolded.

On the wall was a large smear of organic paste. It was a sickly green, and seemed to drip and run constantly. There was a small pool below it on the floor

“What the hell is that?”, Calhoun asked. “Summers, you’re the xenobiologist here, what makes that kind of secretion?”

“I…I don’t know, Sir. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Chandra leaned forward, and sniffed the paste. She wrinkled her nose as she stood up again.

“This is what gives off that strange smell, Sir”, she said, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, “And it doesn’t smell better close up!”

“What the hell happened here!”, Sharkar said, more to himself than to anyone else.”

“Don’t know, and I’m beginning to care less and less. Lets get to the control room!”

Calhoun walked on, the rest following him.

 

The sensors in the tricorders worked marginally better inside the complex, and they had little trouble finding the control room. They simply followed the signal from the computers – and then there was the maps.

On the corridor walls, and by a large set of stairs, they found large, three-dimensional maps. From what the tricorder could understand of the language (it looked like the scribblings of a four-year old with Parkinson’s disease), the control room was on the fourth floor, in the middle block.

Summers keyed the route into her tricorder, and they set off.

The corridors on the upper floors, as well as in the other buildings, were almost identical to the one they had interred in. Everywhere, there was the smell of the organic paste, and there was no functioning lights.

Sometimes they found large holes in the floor or the walls, sometimes there were furniture tumbled over or broken…but nowhere did they find any sign of the colonists.

Finally, they reached the control room. Blake and Calhoun covered Sharkar, as he made a leap into the room, phaser rifle drawn and ready. He rolled on his shoulder, and jumped up, ready to fire on anyone moving.

The room was empty. The computer screens was flickering in the darkness.

He waved the rest of the group in, but Chandra stopped in the door.

“Summers…you’d better look at this!”, she called.

Summers joined her, and they looked at the doorframe.

The door was of the same kind they had on board the Independence – double doors that disappeared into the walls. The doors had been open, and it was obvious why: The frame was torn apart, and large scratches ran across both the door and the frame.

“It looks like the marks of claws!”, Summers whispered, her eyes wide.

“I was just thinking the same thing. I just didn’t want to say it aloud!”, Chandra whispered back.

“We’ve got to tell the others…right now!”

They both stood, and Summers opened her mouth to speak…but then realized she would be speaking to deaf ears.

Calhoun and Kowalski was trying to make sense of the computer displays. They appeared to be very different from the LCARS system, they were used to on the Independence.

Blake was walking around the room, checking the perimeter, while Sharkar apparently examined one of the light bulbs, that sat in the ceiling. The corridors were to high for him to do it, but here he had something o stand on. He had climbed up on a workstation, and appeared to be loosening the bulb from the power source.

“Maybe we’ll just wait, until they’re done with the computers…”, Summers said.

 

Blake, who watched the group’s back, had walked a few meters away from the others, while they studied the computer displays. She had released the safety on her phaser rifle – something she normally would never do without permission from Sharkar or the Captain. Right now, however…she had a bad feeling. And Anita Blake was a girl, who liked to listen to her bad feelings.

Suddenly, her tricorder beeped. The bioscanner had found something.

She took a step back towards the group…and her foot touched something. Something soft.

She looked down, and had to bite her right hand not to scream.

A man was lying on the floor, his face twisted in a horrible grimace of fear and pain. He was covered in the organic paste, they had found earlier, most of in on his arms and face. His hands were stretched out in front of him, as if trying to stop something, and his body….

Anita Blake, who had helped carry the horribly twisted bodies from the bridge after the fatal trip through the singularity (some of them her friends and teachers) had just enough time to turn her head, so not to hit the body, before throwing up.

 

“It looks like massive claws, about a foot long. They came in from left to right, and continue round to his side, which means that he tried to turn away from whatever attacked him. He did not stand where he is lying now – there’s blood on the floor over by the communications screen. He’s been thrown clear across the room!”

Kowalski stood up, and closed his tricorder. The bioreadings on the man was clear enough – he had been dead for about 2 days – but it was the rest! He had never heard of a species that acted like this – not even the secretive Species 8472, that the Voyager had encountered in the Delta quadrant. They came the closest, but they were intelligent, and rational – even cool. The rage in this attack…it seemed like some kind of animal. But could an animal  destroy an entire colony?

He told the Captain his thoughts.

“I agree, Kowalski”, Calhoun said, stroking his scar thoughtfully, “something here doesn’t smell right, and I’m not talking about the paste on the walls. We have to get that communications system operational!”

“I’ve got it, Captain!”, Chandra shouted, and they all turned to her.

“It seems, that this computer can actually sense emotions and thoughts from it’s users. I was able to tell it to enable a universal translator program!”

The controls on the screens changed appearance, and suddenly appeared in Federation Basic.

“Good job, Chandra. Let’s see if we can contact the Independence!”

 

On the bridge, Miranda suddenly jumped in her seat, as the sound of an incoming call filled the air. She pushed the intercom.

“Commander Glenn, there’s a transmission from the planet’s surface – it’s them!”

It took less than five seconds before the doors to the ready room sled open, and Glenn sprinted onto the bridge.

“On screen!”

Calhoun’s face appeared on the screen, and both Glenn and Miranda sighed with relief.

“It’s good to see you, Commander!”, Calhoun said.

“Likewise, Captain. What the hell happened to you?”

“We crashed, if that slipped your attention. We’re unsure why, but lightning hit us pretty hard. The Curie is never going to fly again.”

“Our scans indicate it was the engines that created the lightning. They affected the ionized layer, and intensified the storm. Where are you now?”

“At the colony, in the control room. There doesn’t seem to be any survivors. Our scanners are not completely reliable, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone in the complex. But we’ve found the man who called us, however. Some kind of animal attacked him, and tore him to pieces!”

Glenn looked at him with concern.

“Is it gone?”

“We think so. Chandra is currently checking whether the colony has some kind of ships stored, so we can get off this godforsaken rock.”

“Captain”, Chandra cut in, “I think I’ve found something.”

Her face came into view on the screen.

“It looks like the colony had some kind of escape pod. It will fit 16 people, and it works without engines. It should be able to get us out of the atmosphere, and then Indy’s tractor beam can carry us the rest of the way.”

Calhoun turned back to Glenn.

“It sounds like we have a plan, Commander. I for one am glad – there’s just something about this place, that does not seem right. Jen, promise me something: If we doesn’t come back from this mission…don’t send someone looking for us. There won’t be anyone to look for.”

“I…understand, Captain.”

“Good. However, it seems like we’re going home now. Look for a pod being fired in the near future. We’re going to…”

Suddenly, Blake cried off screen:”

“I’ve got something on the tricorder – something moving!”

Calhoun looked at her. His face was in profile on the screen.

“What is it, Blake? The animal?”

“I don’t know, Sir. But there’s two…three…five…ten…holy cow!”

“Phasers ready!”, Sharkar shouted, and Glenn cached a glimpse of him, swinging his own phaser rifle from his shoulder.

Calhoun grabbed his own phaser, and looked around.

“Which direction, Blake?”

“They’re…all around us, Sir! Twenty ore more, and they’re closing fast! Thirty meters…twenty…fifteen…ten!”

“That’s impossible!”, Calhoun said, his voice hoarse, “They’d have to be inside the room!”

Glenn started to get up from the command chair.

Then the sound of a phaser rifle being fired sounded from the screen, Kowalski screamed…and the image vanished.

“Get him back! Get him back!”, Glenn shouted.

“No use. The transmitter was destroyed. There’s…there’s nothing, we can do.”

Glenn sat down in the chair again. She looked at her nails. She had a feeling, she was going to be biting them soon.

She tapped the intercom.

“Bridge to engineering!”

“McKeon here.”

“Get up here. We’ve got a rescue operation to plan and it’s got to be fast.”

“I’m on my way.”

Commander Jennifer Glenn leaned back in the chair. She was going to disobey a direct order from her captain. She was going to engage en something, that maybe was only an exercise in futility.

She did not care. One way or the other – she was not going to leave her people behind.

 

 

 In the Dark -part 3

 

"It looks like claws of the same kind as the ones that tore him up. And if they can cut through steel doors like that, I wouldn't want to see what they can do to a human body."

Kowalski got up from the floor, where he had been kneeling in front of the wrecked door into the control room.

"I agree", Summers replied, "let's close this door. Then we at least won't have them sneaking in on us."

In the background, she could hear the Captain and Chandra talking with the ship. She looked at the doors again.

"We can close this thing up. Give me a hand."

The two officers quickly closed the door. It could not close completely, due to the bending of the metal, but it was better than nothing.

Sharkar, who had been on a table examining the light bulbs, crawled down. Summers went over to him.

"It looks like these lightning units was destroyed by force", Sharkar said, holding one out so she could see it, "And it must have hurt like hell. The power flowing in them was fierce!"

"Maybe the animal has some kind of protection from electric shocks", Summers suggested.

"Maybe. I just hope, it's not immune to phaser fire!"

Behind them, Blake suddenly cried out.

"I've got something on the tricorder - something moving!"

The Captain looked at her.

"What is it, Blake - the animal?"

“I don’t know, Sir. But there’s two…three…five…ten…holy cow!”

Blake looked at her tricorder in surprise. It was beeping constantly, reporting every time it spotted a new reading.

“Phasers ready!”, Sharkar shouted, and raised his own.

Calhoun grabbed his phaser, and looked around.

“Which direction, Blake?”

“They’re…all around us, Sir! Twenty ore more, and they’re closing fast! Thirty meters…twenty…fifteen…ten!”

“That’s impossible!”, Calhoun said, his voice hoarse, “They’d have to be inside the room!”

Suddenly, something large and black smashed through the ceiling of the control room. Sharkar spun around, but did not fire. He was to shocked to do anything but stare.

The creature looked like nothing they had ever seen before, not even in the most exotic courses of xenobiology at the academy. If it looked like anything - it was something straight out of a nightmare.

It had a vaguely humanoid shape, since it had two arms, two legs and a head - but that was the end of any comparison with humans.

It's head was large, cylindrical and with a metallic shell. It had no discernable eyes or ears - only a large mouth with razor sharp teeth, and some kind of exosceleton - like an insect.

It's body was completely black, and with a large, bony tail.

The body was covered in slime - the same slime that had covered the walls in the corridors.

Kowalski, who stood only a meter from the creature, raised his phaser to fire. But he never got the chance.

The creature spun around like a ballet dancer, and lashed out with its right arm. The giant claws on the fingers cut through Kowalski's chest with a terrible, smooshing sound.

Kowalski screamed, and tumbled back towards the wall. His chest was spurting blood like a fountain.

Blake and Summers fired their rifles at once. Blake, who stood at a bad angle, instead of the creature hit the communications device the Captain had been using. The screen erupted in a shower of sparks, and Chandra (who had still been sitting at the console) threw herself back from the screen. Unfortunately, by doing this, she hit Calhoun and brought him out of balance. Both fell to the floor.

Summers took aim and fired without hesitation. She hit the creature squarely in the back, and vaporized most of the creature's midsection. It fell forward, screaming, and grabbed hold of Kowalski with both hands.

Still fighting for survival, Kowalski brought his hands up, and tried to keep the creature's mouth away from his face. He managed to push it a few centimeters away, before the creature opened the mouth. Something smaller, like a second mouth, jumped out at the open jaws, and smashed against Kowalski's forehead. It went right through.

With a sickening thud, Kowalski fell to the floor, with the creature on top of him. Though it was obviously dying, it kept biting at the dead mans face.

Summers and Blake both moved forward, and Summers took aim at the creature's head.

The phaser fired, and the creature lay still.

Blake reached out to remove the corpse from Kowalski, but Jones grabbed her arm.

"Don't touch it- look at the floor!"

Where the creature's blood had fallen, the floor had begun smoking and hissing, like it was melting.

"It's got some kind of acid in stead of blood. Not unheard of. We can't touch it."

Calhoun and Chandra had gotten on their feet, and now nervously looked at the ceiling. Sounds of things moving around was coming down through the hole the creature had made.

"We've got to get out of here!", Calhoun shouted.

Sharkar looked around for possible escape routes. He saw none, except the door they had come in through. The door that was now closed.

"The door is closed, Captain. We can't get out", he began to say...and then he realized that he was holding a phaser rifle.

He took aim at the door, and vaporized the entire doorframe.

At the same time, more creatures began coming through the ceiling. They simply punched through the plates with their arms. Sharkar thought of the strength it would take to punch a hole in a wall like that, and shuddered, against his will.

"The door's open! Lets move!", Calhoun ordered.

They began firing at the creatures, as they emerged from the holes, and the creatures quickly learned that the phaser beam meant pain. They vanished from the holes, but they did not vanish all together. The sounds of their movement was still heard.

"Let's get the hell out of here!", Calhoun said, and they all agreed with him.

"Chandra, lead the way to the escape pod!"

They began moving down the corridor, in a single file, phasers ready.

 

“All right, people. I want options!”

Glenn looked at the officers assembled in the briefing room with a serious face. McKeon and Miranda were there, as well as Councelor Walker and Lt. Rollins, the replacement helmsman. Next to him, the holographic doctor was sitting, with a padd in his hand, reviewing some data. Sharon Riker, the assistant chief of engineering were the last person in the circle.

“Well…”, McKeon began, “We’ve ruled out shuttles, transporters and atmospheric vessels. The shuttles create lightning, the transporters can’t lock onto anything through the interference and the atmospheric craft is to vulnerable to the high winds.”

“What’s left, then?”

“Not much, really. Unless we can get some kind of heavy-duty transporter enhancer down to them, we’ve got no chance of getting them on board – and we can’t just dump them.”

Miranda leaned forward.

“What about landing the ship on the surface? Our shields should be able to take the lightning storm.”

“It should”, Sharon Riker answered. “Unfortunately, this ship is not built to enter a planetary atmosphere. This isn’t an intrepid class ship, Lieutenant. If we take this ship in deeper than the upper ionosphere, we’ll fall like a sack of bricks.”

“Too bad”, Rollins murmured, “I always wanted to try to land a starship!”

“This is not the time for jokes, Rollins. Our crew is in trouble down there, alone with some unknown enemy, that most likely is what wiped out the colony. To summarize, I’m having a really bad day, and I’m NOT in the mood for your childish pranks. Do I make myself clear?”

“Um…yes, ma’am!”

“May I remind you, Commander, that the Captain’s last given order was to leave the planet immediately. What we’re discussing is in fact in direct violation of that order.”

Riker’s face was carefully neutral, but Glenn could detect the hint of evil glee underneath. Riker had never liked Calhoun very much. Glenn looked at her.

“I’m aware of that. In fact, I’m glad you brought it up. You are now all aware of the violation of a direct order. I’d very much like your input on this, so let me hear – what do you think we should do?”

Glenn looked at every officer in turn.

McKeon cleared his throat.

“Well…I think, we have to keep searching for a way to save them. I couldn’t look myself in the eyes in the mirror every morning, if we didn’t do anything possible to save them.”

“Miranda?”

“I say, let’s go after them.”

“Councelor?”

“I’m in, no doubt about it.”

“Rollins?”

“Hell, I like a challenge. I’m in.”

“Doctor?”

“Though he is somewhat of a hothead, I like the Captain as much as anyone. If you ask for this hologram’s humble opinion, I vote for a rescue.”

“It looks like you’re the only holdout, miss Riker. Care to join the rest of us in living a little dangerously?”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Riker’s mouth became a thin line, but she nodded her approval.

Walker leaned towards her, and whispered:

“Miss Riker, please report to me later. I think, we need a talk about your hostility problems.”

Glenn looked satisfied.

“Good, since everybody is in agreement, let’s proceed with the meeting. Does anyone have other ideas?”

There was silence in the room. Everybody looked into the blank surface of the table, trying to find some kind of answer, some way of changing the rules of the game.

No one spoke.

Finally, Glenn opened her mouth to declare the meeting adjourned, when McKeon suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing.

“Commander – I think, I’ve got it!”

 

 

“Look out, there’s one right behind you!”

Blake’s cry was just in the nick of time. Chandra threw herself forward, as one of the Aliens jumped out from a shadow. She ducked, and two phaser beams lanced out from Blake and Sharkar.

Sharkar looked in amazement, as his beam bounced harmlessly of the blank surface of the creature’s exoskeleton. The only other species he had ever heard of, who could do that trick, was the Borg. But these creatures were definitely not Borg – although he almost wished for it. With the Borg, at least you knew what you were up against.

Blake had more luck. She got her beam in between two of the protective plates, and the creature screamed. In a second, it was gone. They had all set their phasers to “vaporize” to avoid the acid blood.

Chandra got to her feet, and brushed the dirt of her uniform.

“Thanks, Anita. I owe you one.”

“Yeah, and you’re gonna pay in replicator rations, when we get home. Now, come on, I want to get out of here!”

They moved at a brisk pace down the corridor, Calhoun and Sharkar in front, followed by Summers, Jones and Blake at the rear. It appeared as if the Aliens gave them a wide berth, and the attack on Chandra was the only one they experienced….until they reached the last building of the complex.

As they crossed the threshold between the buildings, they all sensed something was different.

The smell became much stronger, and the paste on the walls, that had for the most part been scattered somewhat around, were now everywhere. The walls seemed to change appearance as well, but it was not until Summers shone her light on the wall that they realized just HOW much it changed.

“Jones…”, Summers said, her voice trembling, “is that what I think it is?”

Jones looked closer, and pointed her tricorder at the strange material, that had been placed as a kind of isolation on the walls.

“It the same readings as the creatures, that’s been attacking us. If I’m to guess, I’d say this is the bodies of their dead comrades, put up as isolation. Charming.”

“Yuck!”, Blake said.

“I’ll see your “yuck”, and raise you a “Ewww!””, Chandra answered.

“It’s like insects”, Calhoun said, while he let his light shine on the wall, examining it, “some insects build their nests by the bodies of their fellows. It means, that we must be close to these creatures’ home base.”

“And what do you suppose we do about that?”, Sharkar asked, his voice sounding strange to his own ears.

“Nothing. We proceed with extreme caution, we look everywhere before we take a step – and we get to that escape pod in a bloody hurry.”

Suddenly, Summers saw something moving a few meters longer ahead.

“Captain…”, she started to say, but before she could finish the sentence, a voice came from the dark ahead:

“Help…me!”

The officers let their lights converse on a single point.

On the wall, in what looked like a sleeping bag of slime, a man hung. He tried to move his arms, but the slime prevented him from doing so.

“Who are you?”, Sharkar asked, voice hard.

“I’m Chief Aslaan, Controller of the south sector. Please, help me!”

Slowly, they approached the man on the wall.

“What are you doing there”, Summers asked.

“The creatures left me here, maybe to save me for later. I’ve been hanging here for the better part of a day. Please, get me down!”

Calhoun nodded to Summers and Blake. They reset their phasers and began cutting through the slime. In a few seconds, the man on the wall was free.

He climbed down, and shook Blake’s hand.

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll never forget this…”

Calhoun cleared his throat.

“Mr. Aslaan, maybe you can tell us a little bit about these creatures – where did they come from? Are they indigenous to this planet?”

“No, not at all. No one is indigenous to this planet  - it’s a colony world. They came from a ship, that landed here a week ago.”

“Did they fly the ship by themselves?”

“No, not at all. The command center received a distress call from a ship, about a parsec away. His crew were dead, he said, and he was the last one left. We allowed him to land, and apparently he had lied. His crew were not dead – they were in some kind of hibernation. And they were all infected with this…lifeform.”

“How do you meen, “infected””, Jones asked.

“The creatures came out of their stomachs. I guess, they must have hatched in there, and gotten out when they were ready. Fifteen of them got away, and then the people on the colony started disappearing…They were eaten, I guess. I was one of the last ones left. I was on my way to the escape pod, when they jumped me. I thought, my time had come…but they just knocked me unconscious and left me here. Who are you, by the way?”

“I’m Captain Calhoun of the federation starship Independence. We heard a distress call from your satellite in orbit, and came to investigate.”

“Do you have a ship? Here on the planet?” Aslaan’s eyes became hopeful.

“Unfortunately, it’s still in orbit. We came here in a shuttle that crashed a few miles from the colony. We were also hoping to use the escape pod. Can you show us the way?”

“Of course, Captain. But I’m afraid, the creatures might have another opinion in the matter. The pod is located on the other side of the main hive. So far, they’ve killed everyone trying to get past them.”

The officers looked at each other. The situation suddenly looked a lot worse.

 

                                                                                       4.

“We’ve got to get past the hive!”, Summers said, her eyes determined, “It’s the only chance of getting back to the ship.”

“You’re right, Summers”, Calhoun said, “Of course, now that we’ve found a local guide, maybe he can help us determine another way. Mr. Aslaan – is there any other way off this planet than through the escape pod?”

“Not to my knowledge. The ship, the creatures came here in, was to battered to take off again – let alone leave the planet. Our supply ship does not arrive for another 2 months – I’m afraid it’s the only option.”

Calhoun looked at his group. In their eyes, he saw both determination – and fear.

“It sounds like we have a plan, people. Keep your head down and your eyes open. I don’t want to loose any of you!”

Slowly, the group began moving down the corridor, keeping formation.

As they moved deeper into the hive, the walls became more and more organic. It became painfully obvious, that thousands of Aliens had been turned into wall decorations, for purposes unknown. In the flickering light from the flashlights, it looked like they twisted and moved, as in agony – or in some kind of flanking maneuver.

After a few minutes, the group began to discard the supposed movements as only tricks of the light – which was exactly, what the Aliens wanted them to think.

 

The attack came suddenly, swift and with maddening speed.

The motion detector had just time to sound a single beep of warning in Blake’s hand, before the Aliens were on top of them. She tried to swing her phaser rifle up to fire, but she was to slow, way to slow.

The Alien dropped down behind her, swinging the large claws like knives. She felt one biting into her shoulder, and the pain was instant, blinding and enormous. Another appeared in front of her, as if by magic. She felt the phaser rifle being ripped from her fingers, taking a nail or two with it. That pain seemed like it was even worse – despite her security detail, she had always tried to take care of her hands and nails.
The Alien snarled at her, and opened its mouth. She thought of Kowalski, about that small mouth inside the large one, and dodged away. She came almost around the creature, avoiding the long, bony tail. She could see the group in front of her, could see Jones in front of her, trying to defend herself with a hand phaser against  another one…

…And there was a steel grip on her ankle.

She screamed, and felt the Alien drag her backwards. She kicked it, felt something break inside it’s claw – but it was not enough.

“Help me, somebody please help me!”, she screamed, her fear making her forget her training completely.

Sharkar appeared, running for her. He jumped past Jones, pushing her forward in the corridor.

“Go, GO!”, he yelled to her. Jones turned her back and ran.

Sharkar reached for her. She tried to grab his hand – her commanding officer. Sharkar would help her, she could feel it, she could….

….She could feel a sharp pain in her leg, as if something twisted it, and then her leg broke like a twig. She screamed, feeling the motion continuing, her leg being twisted around like the leg on a turkey on Thanksgiving, and the pain was the entire world.

There came a loud, liquid SNAP! And Anita Blake felt nothing more.

Her last image was that of Sharkar, reaching for her, and her last thought
He can save me, I know he can!

Then she was gone.

 

Sharkar stared in horror, as the two Aliens tore at Blake’s leg, and then they ripped it off completely. One of them began eating the leg, while the other dragged the remains of Blake into a small tunnel behind the organic walls.

He had almost touched her. His fingers had been mere centimeters from hers, when she had died – and he had been unable to help her.

“SHARKAR!”

Calhoun’s voice from longer down the corridor awoke him from the kind of half-trance, he had been on his way to entering. He spun around and looked for the rest of the team.

They were about 100 meters ahead of him, firing shots at the three Aliens attacking them. The Aliens dodged the shots with an agility and speed that seemed impossible.

Sharkar ran for his group. He raised his phaser rifle, took aim and fired at the creature, currently turning it’s back on him.

The hit was perfect, and it cut through the Alien like a knife through hot butter. Jones and Summers just managed to duck the acid spraying out, before the creature vaporized.

“Nice shot, Sharkar!”, Calhoun shouted, “Get your butt down here and help with the rest!”

While giving the order, he managed to hit one of the Aliens, and in vanished.

Sharkar, Calhoun and Summers concentrated their fire on the last one, and it was only a few seconds before it went down.

“Blake?”, Calhoun asked, already knowing the answer.

“She didn’t have a chance. They tore of her leg and ate it.”

Chandra leaned on the wall for support, immediately regretting it – it was greasy and warm, like the creature’s flesh.

“How far to the escape pod, Mr. Aslaan?”, Calhoun asked.

“Four hundred meters, approximately – down the corridor on the right, and past the reactor room – but that’s where we’ve approximated the central nest to be.”

“Any way around it?”

“No. Rather bad construction, really.”

Calhoun clenched his teeth.

“Let’s go. Hard and fast. Stick together, cover the back of each other. If somebody goes down, don’t stop. Run for your life.”

“Captain, permission to take the point alone.”

Sharkar looked very determined.

“Why?”

“Since Blake now is gone, It would make sense for us to divide up, and take front and rear. Summers, protect Jones and Mr. Aslaan. Chandra, you stay behind me.”
Summers nodded. Chandra looked as if she wanted to say something, but closed her mouth again.

Calhoun gave the order:

“Now!”

They ran forward, turning right, into the hive.

 

As they entered, what had once been the colony’s reactor room, Sharkar froze. He did not need to worry about being trampled by the group behind him, however – they had all stopped dead in their tracks. They simply stood and stared.

In the middle of the enormous room, the reactor core stood, glowing a dull red. It was functioning on reserve power only, but it was enough to produce the heat, the Aliens needed.

On the wall were hundreds of pockets like the one Aslaan had been hanging in. Bodies were hanging in them, but it was impossible to determine, whether they were alive or dead.

The floor was littered with eggs. They were half a meter tall, yellowish-green in color and with a throbbing in them that gave them a very living appearance.

Between the eggs, Aliens moved about like ants. They seemed to be arranging them in some sort of pattern, although none of the group could determine, what that pattern was. The Aliens seemed to move in a kind of dance, their movements all part of a larger hole.

Next to the reactor core, towering up over them, dwarfing the smaller drones – were the queen.

A monstrosity in black and green, with yellow pus coming from every pore of her body, she looked at them from her place behind all her workers. Her enormous mouth opened wide, as she screamed a wordless command to her drones, and in an instant, every eye in the hive were looking at the group of humans.

Then, as if they were one large creature, all the drones ran for them, claws at the ready.

“RUN!”, Calhoun shouted, and that brought them out of the trance.

Aslaan stumbled along, obviously not used to running, and Jones had to practically drag him along.

Summers fired at two Aliens, killing one, but only wounding the other. Acid filled the air, as the creature screamed in pain and danced around. Several of its fellow drones were hit by it, and apparently they were not completely impervious to its damage. Cries of pain came from them – but they kept coming.

Sharkar led the way between the eggs, jumping from side to side as to avoid hitting them. Suddenly, the egg just in front of him opened, but his speed was so great, he was already past it before he saw what was coming out.

Chandra, running behind him, was not so lucky.

Suddenly, what looked like a bony spider with an egg-sack tied to its posterior jumped into the air in front of her. She tried to dodge it, but it was too fast.

With a quick motion, it grabbed her head with its bone-like legs, and attached itself to her face. She stumbled, tried to keep her footing, but then something seemed to grab her legs. She fell hard on the floor, and the thing on her head squirmed around, trying to get a better grip. Then, she felt something being jammed into her throat, tasted something bitter – and lost consciousness.

 

Both Summers and Jones saw Chandra go down. Jones was too small to be of any use, but Summers grabbed the helmsman and threw her over her shoulder. She twitched in cramps, and the thing on her face had begun pulsing in an obscene way.

Around them, several more eggs were now beginning to open. More of the spider-like creatures were coming out, and the situation was rapidly getting worse.

The drones seemed to keep their distance now, forming a circle around them, driving them into an area with more eggs.

Sharkar felt something on his leg, and saw one of the spider-creatures try to crawl up his ankle. He grabbed it behind what had to be the head, and threw it away from him. He turned the phaser on it and fired. The creature vanished, and a scream from the queen made them all cover their ears.

“She doesn’t like it, when we hurt the small creatures! Aim for the eggs!”, Calhoun shouted.

At once, the officers started firing at the eggs and smaller creatures instead of the drones.

The queen screamed again, a scream of pain and desperation. The drones reacted to the scream, writhing and twisting as if the queen’s pain were transferred to them.

Calhoun looked up at the enormous monster, looming over them.

“If you can understand me, then call your drones off! We won’t hurt anymore, if you let us go unharmed!”

“Do you think, she understands you, Captain?”, Sharkar said, moving within talking range of Calhoun.

“I have no idea! But it can only get better than this!”

There was no immediate response from either the queen or the drones. Then, the smaller creatures seemed to…pull back somehow. They did not jump up, and no more eggs were opening.

“Hold your fire!”, Calhoun ordered. The firing ceased.

The drones slowly moved around, and a hole opened in their ranks. Aslaan pointed at it.

“Look, Captain! They are opening a hole for us. They’re letting us go!”

“I suppose so. Sharkar, check it out!”

Sharkar walked slowly into the path between the Aliens. On both sides, there were drones, snarling at him, salvia dripping from their mouths. He came to the wall, and saw the corridor leading to the escape pod. There seemed to be no drones in the corridor.

“It seems clear, Sir!”, He called back to the others.

“All right, let’s go. Summers, you first, Mr. Aslaan, Jones. I’ll go last – and I’ll keep a phaser on the eggs as long as I can. I have a feeling, they won’t let us leave voluntarily.”

Slowly, they walked in between the drones. Summers noticed, that even though the drones occasionally snarled at them, and once took a hit at her, they seemed to stay back. The queen had obviously given a direct order not to hurt them.

When they reached the corridor, she looked back. Calhoun had just begun walking backwards, his phaser trained on the closest egg.

“Sir!”, Jones called to Sharkar, “What about the people on the wall?”

“We can’t help them. We don’t even know if they are alive. Right now, all we can do is get out of here alive!”

Summers turned around, held on to Chandra’s body and began running towards the escape pod.

 

Calhoun moved slowly towards the wall, still trying to keep a line of fire at an egg. It was getting increasingly difficult, since the drones began closing the path behind him.

Then, a drone snapped the egg he had aimed at, and disappeared in the organic walls.

Calhoun turned and ran, as fast as he could. He could feel the claws cutting through the air behind him, as he ran faster than ever before in his life. He could see the escape pod at the end of the hallway, Sharkar waving at him to guide him.

Calhoun jumped, threw himself face down at the floor of the pod and slided all the way in on the organic  paste on the floor.

The pod was small, and his slide ended between the feet of his officers.

“SHUT THE DOOR!”, he cried, and Sharkar slammed the door in the face of the first Alien. The drone began pounding on the door, and Sharkar saw in amazement, as the metal of the door began bending inward.

“Fire the pod!”, Sharkar yelled to Aslaan. The colonist was sitting at a control panel, ferociously pounding the buttons.

“I need to take the shield off line first – otherwise we will bounce right off.”

“Then do it.”

A moment passed, as the drones pounded the door. Then, the humming of the forcefield, which had been heard all over the complex, ceased.

“The shield is down. I am now firing the pod. You might want to hold on to something.”

As the officers grabbed hold of the bulkheads, Calhoun tried to hold on to Chandra.

The pod suddenly shook violently. The pounding on the door suddenly stopped, and in the small wiewport in the door, they could see the drone thrown back by the enormous catapult firing.

Then, they were out in the free air. Through the wiewport, they could see the colony below them. With the forcefield down, the storm swept over the buildings and vessels on the ground. Summers noticed a small antigrav-car thrown away like a toy car.

“Something is wrong!”, Aslaan said.

Calhoun got to his feet. “What’s wrong?”

“The storm is affecting our ascent angle. We can’t get enough speed to break out of the atmosphere.”

“You mean – we’ll crash on the planet?”

“No, we won’t crash. I can land this pod rather painlessly. The only problem is, We’ll be landing relatively close to the colony – and with the shield down, it won’t be long before the creatures find us.”

Calhoun rubbed his scar.

“That’s not good. How far can you get us from the colony?”

The pod had already begun to descend again. It felt like taking an elevator ride in free fall.

“I can steer a little with the small thrusters and antigrav-power. Maybe…500 meters.”

“That’s not enough. I don’t suppose this pod has any kind of communications equipment?”

“No, nothing to go through our kind of atmosphere.”
“What did you people think about, when you designed this place? Escape pods next to the reactor, almost no communications – did you have a death wish, or something?”

Aslaan did not answer, he concentrated on getting the pod down in one piece. As they got closer to the ground, they slowed, until they hovered just over the rocks. Then, they felt the thump of contact, and the thrusters stopped with a small fizzle.

“So, what do we do now?”, Jones asked.

“We wait for them to get over here”, Summers said dryly and pointed out the wiewport.

Out of the colony, something that looked like a black wave was beginning to move in their direction.

If you did not know better, you could think it were ants or grasshoppers. But they knew better.

The Aliens were coming.

And this time, there was no escape.

 

                                                                                       5.

Glenn felt the hair stick to the side of her head. She wished, she could wipe it away, but that was impossible. She was in a spacesuit, and the helmet made it impossible to get to her face.

“McKeon to Glenn.”

“Go ahead.”

“How are you holding up, Commander? I know, you’re not much for moving like this.”

“I’ll live, Chief. Do you have anything on sensors yet?”

“Not yet, but…wait! Some kind of metallic object, moving up from the colony. It’s the escape pod, Commander!”

Great!, Glenn thought, I go through all this trouble, I pack myself in a space suit and strap on gravity boots. I have to endure the sickness of free fall for hours – and they find their own way out after all! Why is the world so cruel?

“…again!”

“Say again, McKeon, I didn’t copy!”

“I said: it’s going down again! The arc of descent puts it…about 500 meters west of the colony.”

“Then let’s set course for them. Roberts, Niko – are you with us?”

The two other officers confirmed that they were. The croup set course for the impact site.

 

“Should we stay in here?”, Aslaan asked.

Calhoun looked at him with contempt.

“They’ll break this pod apart in minutes. I intend to go out and fight them. At least, I’ll feel I die with some kind of honor.”

“I’m with you, Captain!”

Sharkar put his hand on his shoulder. His Klingon brow was held high – in some way, he looked as if he looked forward to this fight.

“Well, I’m game for being the last Spartans – but what about Chandra?”, Summers asked.

“She’s got one of their egg-creatures on her. Maybe that makes her some kind of hatchling, I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure, they’ll not hurt her, as long as it’s on. She’ll be safer than us.”

“Mr. Aslaan – do you wish to follow us into battle?”, Sharkar asked.

Aslaan shook his head.
“if you don’t mind, I’ll take my chances in here. At least, here I can breathe air in my last minutes, and not flying sand.”

“All right, you stay in here with Chandra. Jones, what about you?”

The field medic opened her mouth, but could not speak.

“I…I…”

Calhoun put his hand on her shoulder.

“Stay in here, if you like. You don’t have to go out there.”

She looked gratefully at him.

Calhoun looked at his officers.

“I know, this is not exactly the way, you had imagined dying. I’m sorry, it’s come to this – but we have to make the best of it. I want to say, that I’m proud of you, and that dying beside you – is the greatest honor, I could ever hope to achieve. Thank you, all. Now, let’s get those bastards!”

They all laid their hands over each other for a second, like a football team before a game. Then, Sharkar opened the hatch.

 

On the plains before them, they could see the Aliens approaching. They were like a black cloud, getting closer and closer.

“They’ll be here within 2 minutes, Captain”, Summers said.

“Shut the door, Jones. They’re coming.”

“I would not do that just yet, Captain!”

Calhoun looked up in surprise. Above him, four people in Starfleet spacesuits came flying in formation. The first one waved his hand, and from his combadge, he heard McKeon’s voice:
“Hi, Mac. I guess, you could say we’re right on time!”

Calhoun, for once, was speechless. Sharkar was not.

“Jones, get out here! Get Chandra and Aslaan. We’re leaving!”

Jones and Summers lifted the unconscious Chandra up, and carried her outside.

The four officers in spacesuits pulled out some spare pairs of gravity boots and breath masks. While Calhoun, Summers and Sharkar put them on, Glenn and Niko took hold on Aslaan, and McKeon and Roberts held on to Chandra.

“Don’t we get space suits?”, Aslaan asked nervously, as he put on the breath mask.

“No, Sir. We’re only going up to a height, where our ship can lock onto us. We’re wearing a transporter enhancer.”
“What?”

“Never mind.”

“Let’s get out of here!”, Calhoun shouted, ”they’re almost here!”

Less than 200 meters away, the first Aliens was beginning to form a circle, to surround the pod.

The four officers in space suits took off, and Calhoun looked at Sharkar.

“We’ll cover the retreat!”

“Agreed!”

They quickly climbed on top of the pod. Summers took off, and hung twenty meters above them.

“Come on, Sirs!”, she called.

Calhoun was firing phaser shots at the first Aliens. Sharkar was firing as well.

“Come ON!”, Summers shouted again. Her voice was echoed by that of Glenn from their combadges.

“All right, all right!”, Calhoun mumbled, and activated the boots. Sharkar was right behind him, as they took off. They flew in a large arch above the drones, taking an occasional potshot at them.

The drones snarled and jumped up, but Sharkar and Calhoun were to high to be reached.

While they moved up, and the air became colder and the wind more fierce, Sharkar could have sworn, he heard Calhoun mumble:

“Just when it’s was getting interesting!”

 

“Captain’s log, stardate 56071.2

We’re all back to the Independence, safe and sound. I have, on second thought, decided NOT to level the planet with quantum torpedoes. Even though this species – these Aliens – are killing machines, they are also living beings. I can’t destroy them just because they killed some of my crew. There is a strong feeling with the crew, that we should adopt an “eye for an eye”-policy, and I’m tempted. But as I said – I won’t do it.

Mr. Aslaan and Lt. Chandra has been checked extensively by the doctor. We are currently en route to Mr. Aslaan’s home planet to drop him off. In the meantime, the doctor has asked me to report to sickbay.”

 

Calhoun walked into sickbay. The Emergency Medical Hologram looked up at him from the display, he was studying.

“Ah, Captain. So good of you to come. You’ll like to se this.”

He led Calhoun over to the biobed, where Chandra was lying.

“Is she all right?”, Calhoun asked nervously. He had never been entirely sure about his feelings for his helmsman, and after haven taken her into a potentially lethal situation, he was not sure, she would ever let him find out.

“She’s fine. She’s resting, for the moment. Now, take a look at these readings.”

The doctor handed him a padd, and Calhoun studied it.

“This is Lt. Chandra’s bioscans from last week’s physical. The one below is from today. As you can see, there is a distinct difference.”

“Is this related to that...that egg-thing on her face?  I thought, you removed it.”

“I did not have to. It fell off on it’s own, dead. But apparently, it’s left something inside her.”

“Well, get it out!”

“Actually, I already removed it. The readings are from before I did.”

“Where is it?”

“In a stasis field in the biolab. It appeares to be one of the larger creatures, you described, only this one has a distinct difference.”

“What’s that?”

“All the readings, you were able to record on the Aliens, indicate they were male. This one, however, is female.”

Calhoun stroked his scar.

“A queen. Why would they inject Chandra with a queen?”

“I don’t know. All I know is, it should stay in the stasis field. If these creatures is anything as dangerous as you describe, I would not want to be around when their mother wakes up.”

Calhoun looked at the doctor, as a thought occurred to him.

“Maybe…maybe they could feel, we were getting away. Far away, on this ship. Maybe they sent this creature along as some kind of…messenger…to their own people. To tell them, that this is easy prey.”

The doctor slowly nodded.

“If that’s the case, then there’s no doubt, we will see them again.”

 

The Independence broke orbit, and went into warp speed. In a stasis chamber on deck 10, a small claw twitched once, as if the creature was dreaming of the glorious hunt, it would have. Not now. But soon. Oh yes, soon.