"I'm getting a ship on long range sensors now, Captain," reported Lt. Ivanovna.
"Is it the Larson?" asked Captain Freeman, glancing back at his tactical officer.
"I'm not sure sir; there are strange power emanations coming from it, whatever it is. I'm not getting any sort of identification beam from it, Federation or otherwise," she responded.
"Go to yellow alert, and raise the shields," the captain ordered. "Bring us in Ensign Gates."
She acknowledged and soon the mysterious ship was within visual scan.
As it appeared on screen and the captain ordered its image magnified, Lt. Reiv whirled about in his chair, "It is a Federation vessel sir, and its markings do correspond with the Larson."
"Any more on the odd energy emanations coming from it?" the captain inquired.
"No sir," Lt. Ivanovna responded. "No definitive readings on life aboard either. Life support is functioning, but at a low power level."
The captain looked irritated, "This isn't getting us anywhere. Our questions only lead us to ten more questions and no answers to anything at all." He turned to his first officer, "Commander Yilaan, assemble your away team; we need to find out what the hell is going on over there."
Yilaan nodded, "Lt. Ivanovna, Lt. Reiv, walk with me." She then said over the intercom, "Sickbay, can you spare us someone for away team duty?"
"I can spare myself Commander," Dr. Giovanni, the chief medical officer, replied.
"Meet us in Transporter Room Three, Doctor," said Yilaan, and then, "Security, have two guards meet us in Transporter Room Three for away detail."
They acknowledged, and Commander Yilaan nodded at the captain as she exited the bridge with Ivanovna and Reiv.
The six crew members, including Ensigns Bradley and Goran from Security, beamed aboard the Larson without incident. They materialized on the bridge, and discovered a distinct lack of the Larson's bridge crew. The bridge itself was dark and there were strange patches of slimy material covering various chairs and consoles. The crew activated their palm sized flashlights and looked around. Dr. Giovanni and Lt. Ivanovna began tricorder readings.
"The slime substance is definitely organic in nature," the doctor reported.
"I am detecting the inconclusive life readings that we first saw with the Bristol's sensors; they're all over this ship," Ivanovna said.
"How many?" Commander Yilaan asked.
"I can't tell Commander," said Ivanovna with a note of annoyance in her voice.
"Where are they?" Lt. Reiv asked.
"All over Lt., but the highest concentrations of them are in the mess hall on Deck 7, Sickbay, and Engineering," Ivanovna responded.
"Alright, let's split up and see what we find. Maintain frequent communication; we don't know what we're dealing with here yet. Keep your phasers ready also. Lt. Reiv, you and Ensign Goran check out the mess hall. Ivanovna, you and Ensign Bradley check out Engineering. The doctor and I will investigate Sickbay," Yilaan ordered.
Everyone nodded in acknowledgement and went their separate ways.
In a few moments, Commander Yilaan and Doctor Giovanni arrived in Sickbay. The place was a mess; tables and trays had all been knocked aside, some consoles were smashed. It looked as though some sort of fight had taken place. There was no sign of the Larson's medical staff; only the same slimy substance as they found on the bridge.
"Where are the lifeforms?" Commander Yilaan asked.
"I can't get a precise reading Commander," the doctor replied.
Yilaan sighed and tapped her commbadge, "Yilaan to Bristol."
"Freeman here," the captain's voice crackled slightly through her commbadge.
"Nothing significant to report yet sir; these lifeforms are managing to elude us for the moment," Yilaan said.
"Keep us posted Commander," said Freeman. "Captain out."
"Well so where," Yilaan started to say and then gasped, "Doctor!" and pointed at a creature which had just darted out in front of them. The creature had six legs, stood about a foot and a half tall, and was about four feet long. It sat there and hissed at them, exposing rows of fangs and a long forked tongue. The creature appeared to be drooling a substance similar to that of the slime found about the ship. Yilaan went for her phaser, and the creature jumped out of sight around a corner.
"That was definitely one of the life forms we've been searching for Commander," said the doctor. "Reptilian in nature, very durable skin, high metabolic rate, and pretty damn mean."
"Your tricorder told you that?" Yilaan asked, referring to the 'mean' comment.
"Nah, it just reminded me of a dog we had when I was little. It was always nice to me, but mean as heck to everyone else," Giovanni said, smiling at the recollection.
Yilaan smiled and nodded, "Let's search around a bit more and see what we can find out about the Larson's crew. Then let's get out of here; I don't want one of these things deciding that we're lunch."
Giovanni nodded, and they began to explore other areas of Sickbay.
Meanwhile, Lt. Ivanovna and Ens. Bradley were exploring Engineering. They had found more of the slimy substance common to the rest of the ship. They were trying to determine engine status, when Bradley jerked her head to the left and said with a note of surprise, "What was that?"
"What was what Ensign?" Ivanovna replied in her thick Russian accent.
"I'm sorry Lt., I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye," Ensign Bradley responded.
Ivanovna went over to where the Ensign thought she saw something, and then rounded a corner. "I don't see anything Ensign, I..." Lt. Ivanovna started to say and then cried out in alarm. The ensign rounded the corner to see the security chief struggling with a four foot long beast, similar in design to the one that Commander Yilaan and Dr. Giovanni had run into earlier. She was swearing at it in Russian.
As Ensign Bradley was about to assist, she saw another one coming at her from her right side. She pulled her phaser and fired a burst set at 'heavy stun.' It hit the creature and bounced harmlessly off, striking an engineering panel and sending some sparks flying. The creature leapt in the air and on top of the ensign, knocking her to the ground and giving her a struggle of her own to deal with.
Both Bristol officers fought for their lives for what seemed like an eternity. Ivanovna fought on numbly, blood now oozing from several wounds. She finally managed to kill the beast that was attacking her, by making constructive use of the titanium wall next to her. Ensign Bradley was screaming in pain and Ivanovna went over to assist, following the sound of her voice rather than any sight, as the palm lights were either smashed or scattered too far to be immediately useful. The two women fought the second reptilian beast for several minutes. At one point Bradley let out a groan and ceased struggling; Ivanovna fought on however, and after a few more minutes the second creature was dead.
Ivanovna knelt down by the body of Ensign Bradley and checked for a pulse. "Barely alive," Ivanovna noted to herself, also noting that the hand she used to check on the ensign's condition was now covered in blood. "If we can get you back to the Bristol before you bleed to death," Ivanovna commented to the unconscious body of Ensign Bradley.
Ivanovna went for her commbadge, "Ivanovna to...." She stopped as she realized her commbadge was missing. She felt around for the ensign's; it too was missing.
"Bastards," she said to the two dead reptiles. At that pause in her actions, Ivanovna noted that she too was bleeding profusely, and that the pain in her right wrist was indicative of a break. Ivanovna sighed and began to feel around for the commbadges.
After several minutes, she still couldn't find them, although she had recovered one phaser. "What did you do?" she asked of the two dead reptiles, "Did you eat them or what?"
She sat for a minute more to catch her breath before trying to make it back to the beam in point on the bridge, when she thought she heard a group of heavy boots running towards her. She looked over quickly, but there was no one there. Ivanovna looked straight ahead again, her breathing became quicker, and beads of sweat were rolling down her face.
She heard a woman scream suddenly from around the corner. Katrina Ivanovna got up quickly and lumbered around the corner, but again there was no one there. "What are you doing Trina?" she asked herself. "Are you hallucinating now, or what?" She pulled Bradley into a storage room and locked her in, in an attempt to keep her from suffering further at the hands of future reptiles. "Now let's get to the bridge," Ivanovna said to herself.
She started to walk towards where she thought a turbolift was, when suddenly she was surrounded by smoke. She tried to continue forward, coughing violently, but eventually succumbed and fell to the floor. Only then did the smoke disappear and she realized it was another illusion.
She tried to stand, and as she did so, she heard a voice cry out; a little girl's voice. "Mommy!" it screamed, the voice rife with terror. Though it didn't come from her, Katrina knew the voice was her own, her own from another time.
As this was going on, Commander Yilaan had contacted Lt. Reiv and Ensign Goran for a report.
"Well Commander we found the same slime here in the mess hall," Reiv was reporting. "We also encountered a reptilian creature about four feet long. It made a move towards us, and we shot at it with our phasers. The beams just bounced off and hit the wall, but it was apparently enough to scare the creature away."
"I see," said Yilaan in response, a worried note in her voice. "Any ideas what might've happened to the Larson's crew?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, Commander," Reiv said. "We did a more thorough tricorder reading of the room and began to get some weird readings from behind a maintenance panel. We lifted out the panel and discovered what might be described as a nest for these reptile things. Our tricorder also picked up human remains amongst the nest. It would appear that these things devour humanoids, and their devouring is so complete that there's virtually nothing left; even the bones largely get destroyed."
"Good work Lt. Reiv! I think we should probably get out of here," Commander Yilaan replied. "Yilaan to Bristol, come in," Yilaan said, attempting to contact her ship.
The captain's voice came through, despite a great deal of interference, "Freeman here; what's your status Commander?"
"Captain, we can barely read you. We've solved a few mysteries here, but the situation has gotten dangerous; please beam us back."
A pause followed, then the captain's voice again, "Something about the location of your teams is interfering with transport. Get back to the beam in site and we'll get you off the Larson as soon as you're there."
"Aye sir," Yilaan frowned. "Can't have it easy can we?" she said half to the doctor next to her and half to herself. "Reiv, this is Yilaan. Something about where we are is interfering with transport; get yourselves back to the beam in site."
"Aye Commander," Reiv replied.
"Ivanovna, this is Yilaan, come in," said the first officer.
No response came from Ivanovna, and worried expressions crossed their faces, "Ivanovna, this is Commander Yilaan, respond please," Yilaan tried again. "Commander Yilaan to Ensign Bradley, come in." There was a pause. "Bradley, respond!" Yilaan added, a note of urgency in her voice. Yilaan then contacted the Bristol, "Bristol, this is Yilaan. We're out of contact with Ivanovna and Bradley; where are they?"
The captain's crackly voice came back, "We're scanning, hold on." After a brief pause he continued, "We aren't having any more luck scanning for life signs than before; but we're getting something other than the typical disarray of signals in a turbolift heading for the bridge, and in Engineering."
"Understood! I'll bet they're in Engineering." Yilaan replied quickly, before turning to the doctor to say "Let's go!" Both officers proceeded at a run to Engineering.
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