Away Team

[Atoz 77]

AWAY TEAM >>

"Captain's log, Stardate 51948.7: The Odysseus is making a brief stopover at Rala III, to help with an upgrade of the planet's tropospheric network. While here, we expect to take advantage of some unique shore leave opportunities."


"Any change, Mr. Rosh?" asked the First Officer, strolling calmly back and forth across the bridge.

"No, sir," the Security Chief replied. "Sensors are still showing the ion storm far down-system." They had been anxiously watching the progress of that storm for the past two hours. With the hardware part of the upgrade complete, the ship's computer was now uplinked to the satellite network hub -- the most critical part of the entire procedure. If the storm came down on them now, forcing them to break the link before it was done, it would be an irritating setback.

"Lieutenant Stephano?" said Fawkes patiently.

"Just a bit longer, Commander... " the science officer said, running a nervous hand through his dark, curly hair. "Uplink complete!"

"Acknowledgement from the surface, Mr. Fawkes," said Penner at Communications, not waiting for him to ask her. "Their first check shows everything AOK."

Fawkes leaned around Rosh's shoulder and touched a control on the Tactical station. The main viewscreen engaged, showing a beautiful blue globe beneath them, streaked here and there with wispy white cloud cover.

Penner left her station to better enjoy the view. "Is it true this planet's almost completely covered by ocean?" she said.

"Quite true, ensign," said Fawkes. "The largest sea farming project in the Federation, I believe."

"I've heard the native Ralians are like mermaids," added Caeli from the helm. "They spend most of their time underwater."

"Yes, but there are several artificial islands for the benefit of visitors."

"I can't wait for my turn on shore leave," said Penner longingly. "I've got this adorable little swimsuit I haven't even had the chance to try on yet."

Caeli turned around in his seat. "I'm curious, Amelia. If you grew up on Earth's moon, where did you learn to swim?"

"Lake Armstrong, of course. For your information, Luna was terraformed way back in the--" Suddenly she broke off, about a millisecond before a warning indicator began blinking on her station. "It sounds like a distress signal, Mr. Fawkes," she said, slipping back into her seat and seating an earclip in her ear. "S.S. Matilda. They must have been caught in the ion storm."

"Let's hear it on speakers, ensign."

"It's pretty badly garbled, sir," said Penner apologetically, as she touched a button on her console. A burst of white noise hissed out of the speakers, then a man's voice, distorted by ionic interference from the storm. Every now and then, a word or two might come through clearly, but not enough to convey any meaning. The Comm officer, with her keen ear, was able to provide a little more context:

"Mayday... this is Matilda requesting assistance... engines have been disabled by... something I can't make out. Passengers and crew incapacitated? -- I'm not sure, but that's what it sounded like. Matilda calling any... the message repeats after that, sir."

"I have them on sensors, Commander," said Stephano at the Science station. "They're right smack in the middle of the storm. Appear to be drifting."

Fawkes tapped his comm badge. "First Officer to Captain. We need you on the bridge, sir."

***
It was highly unusual for a modern spaceship to be caught in an ion storm. Long range sensors and subspace alerts meant that there was usually plenty of warning, so that the ship could prepare or, if all else failed, take refuge in deep space. So the very fact that the Matilda had allowed herself to be caught was troublesome. Captain Atoz lost no time ordering the Odysseus to break orbit and proceed to the rescue at Warp Five.

"Class G charter transport vessel," the ship's computer was reciting in her pleasant feminine voice, "registered to a Captain Allan Hardeman of New Canberra. Crew complement of nine. Primarily cargo, but cabin space for up to ten passengers. Last engine overhaul was on Stardate--"

"Thank you, Arachne, that's sufficient," said Atoz, standing behind and bracing himself against the back of his command chair as the deck plates trembled.

"I'm not able to maintain a Warp Shell, Captain," reported the helmsman.

The main lights of the bridge flickered momentarily as the ship plunged deeper into the storm, and the simulated eyes of Arachne's holographic avatar began to dart about her uneasily. "Captain, I am receiving warning indications from a number of peripheral systems. The main sensor array has gone down. I do not like this..."

"It's only a Class 3 storm," Atoz said reassuringly. "Odysseus can take it." Arachne gave him a tight little smile and then vanished from the main viewscreen. Atoz couldn't help thinking that, although there may be advantages to having an Artificial Intelligence computer interface, there were also drawbacks. Arachne had spent her entire life on a planet, and had clearly never had to deal with ion storms before.

"Continue on Impulse, Mr. Caeli," said Atoz, taking a moment to judge the severity of the turbulence. "Three quarter speed."

"Three quarters aye, Captain," replied the Roman, his fingers dancing over his console. "At the rate the storm is carrying the Matilda away from us, we will overtake in... one hour, twenty-one minutes."

***
An hour and a half later, the Odysseus came within visual range of the Matilda. The cargo ship was simple in design -- a prow shaped vaguely like a broad, blunt arrowhead, connected by a long spine to the bulbous thruster pod in the rear. In between were six interconnected cargo sections. Amidships, a single warp nacelle thrust upwards like the fin of a fish. The ship was tumbling, pitching back and forth at the mercy of the tempest.

"Matilda this is the starship Odysseus. Please respond," Penner was saying. Fiddling with her console, she finally removed her earclip. "No contact, Captain. I was getting that same recorded distress message, but now even that's stopped."

"Captain, I am picking up life signs over there,"said Stephano at Sciences. "Not positive how many. Internal atmosphere looks okay, too."

Fawkes was at Tactical next to Rosh. "Let's get a couple of tractor beams on that ship before she tears herself apart," he said grimly. There was so much ionic interference, the main viewscreen was next to useless, but they could see the cargo ship steady down under the stabilizing grip of Odysseus' beams.

"The ship is secure, sir," said Rosh. "Ready for towing."

"Set course for the nearest edge of the storm, Mr. Caeli," said Atoz. "Best speed."

"Aye-aye, sir," the helmsman replied, looking over his console. "With the other ship in tow, it will take two hours, sixteen minutes to clear the storm."

"That is, if it doesn't get worse," remarked Fawkes.

"Captain, I am reading minor structural damage," said Rosh, "but not sufficient to account for the engines and stabilizers being off line. Perhaps it is due to internal conditions that I cannot assess."

"If that's true," said Fawkes, "maybe an Away Team could get her running again. Take her out under her own power."

"And the passengers and crew could need medical help, Captain," said Stephano.

Atoz held the back of his chair for balance as the ship rolled hard to port, then back to starboard. If it was going to be tried, the decision had to be made immediately. Just now they were enjoying a brief lull during which transporter contact with the Matilda was barely possible. But as the storm continued to build towards a Class 4, boarding might no longer be an option. "Okay, Charles. Give it a try."

***

Six vertical columns of blue light appeared inside an open space in the passenger section of the Matilda. The transporter beams shimmered for a few seconds, faded almost to nothing, then revived, stronger and more powerful than before. Finally they solidified into six Starfleet officers wearing transparent life support masks, who immediately had to catch their balance as the freighter heeled over slightly because of the storm.

Fawkes pressed his comm badge. "Transport complete."

"Acknowledged," said Penner's voice. "I have your signal for the time being, Commander, but the storm is getting worse. We could lose contact at any moment."

"Understood. Fawkes out." The others in the Away Team had already begun looking around the room, a combination dining room/lounge roughly five meters wide by ten long. The port-side wall had glass-steel portholes looking out at the raging ion storm. Along the forward wall were two food/beverage replicators and a holoscreen. There were three sets of pocket doors. The lounge was decorated in bright reds and oranges, the starboard wall covered with an eye-crossing abstract geometric pattern.

"Very cheerful," said Lt. Cmdr. Vespis sarcastically, her antennae fluttering with distaste as the Andorian engineer adjusted the shoulder strap of her tool kit.

"Notice the food on the tables, Commander," said Lt. Moira Blackadar, Security. "I count four place settings." The food was half-eaten, but looked as if it had been left sitting for hours.

"I don't read anything toxic in the atmosphere, sir," said Lt. Margaret Yee, Medical officer, holding her tricorder in front of her, but evidently not trusting her readings enough to remove her face mask.

That task was done by Blackadar, who whipped off her mask while Fawkes was still fumbling with his ear straps, sniffed the air experimentally, then took in a deep lungfull. "Smells like the morning after St. Andrew's day, mind you," she said, wrinkling her nose.

There was a sharp smell in the air, vaguely evocative of stale food and unwashed clothing. The two remaining men in the party, Science officer Stephano and Engineering ensign Jameson, stowed away their face masks as they looked around without making any comment.

Fawkes moved to the holoscreen and touched the comm panel next to it. "This is Cmdr. Charles Fawkes of the Federation Starship Odysseus. I'm in the passenger lounge. Is there anyone on board?" There was no answer, even though it was clear that the system was working. He tried several times with no luck. "We'll split into pairs," said Fawkes at last. "Vespis and Jameson, get to Engineering and see what you can do. Stephano and I will head for the bridge. Blackadar and Dr. Yee, it will be your job to find out what happened to the passengers and the crew. Be careful. Stay in touch."

***
Proceeding through the first set of pocket doors, Vespis found the access hatch to the dorsal service corridor, which ran the length of the ship. There Fawkes and Stephano turned forward towards the bridge. "Somewhere around here," said the Chief Engineer, as she and Jameson made their way aft, "there should be...aha!" In a small alcove there was a monitor panel mounted on the bulkhead, where Vespis easily got into the ship's computer. "According to this, the engines suffered an injector overload, and the computer shut them down. That doesn't make a bit of sense. Where were all the engineers, asleep?"

"Maybe it happened too fast..." said Jameson, a little bit distractedly -- he kept darting looks over his shoulder.

"Couldn't have," said Vespis. "Look, the plasma sequencer is shut off. The manifolds are stone cold. Even you wouldn't make a mistake like that, ensign. Not with an ion storm coming down on you."

Jameson suddenly turned around so fast, the tool kit he was carrying slung over his shoulder struck Vespis a glancing blow. "What is the matter with you?" she asked irritably.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said. "I... I thought I heard something."

"Like what?" said Vespis, looking down the corridor.

"Sort of a chittering sound, tiny claws running across the floor, like..." He held one hand up to the nearest metal framework, drumming briefly with all four fingernails. "Didn't you hear it, sir?"

"I think it's your imagination," said Vespis, pushing past him into the service corridor again. "Let's get to Engineering and see what kind of mess they left us."

***
Fawkes and Stephano found the corridor leading to the crew quarters sealed shut by an emergency door. There was a man's calf-length black work boot trapped in the lip of the door, and when Fawkes with difficulty pulled it free, he was surprised to find that the boot still had a foot in it. "What in the name of Heaven happened here?" gasped Stephano, his eyes nearly popping out.

"Looks like he was running away from something," said Fawkes laconically. There was a deep scar on the material of the boot, as if it had been scratched by a large hook.

Stephano shook his head in disbelief, still staring at the boot. "Yes, sir. But what could have scared a man enough to make him leave his foot behind in an emergency door?"

"No point in speculating at this point." Fawkes tried his comm badge, but got only static interference from the ion storm. "Let's get to the bridge."

Drawing his phaser, Fawkes turned back into the main corridor. The next hallway beyond was a three way intersection, empty except for a small pool of black, sticky liquid, dried almost to hardened crust. Stephano knelt and did a slow sweep with his tricorder over the ghastly substance. "It's blood, Commander," he said, turning pale. "Human blood."

***
Blackadar and Yee had decided to start with a search of the passenger section. Next to the lounge were a baggage compartment, a small gymnasium and a spa. The two women moved from one to another, Blackadar leading the way with one hand resting on the grip of her holstered phaser. The doctor followed behind, her tricorder held ready but idle. The water in the whirlpool tub was hot -- the circulating pump had been left running, a towel draped handily within reach.

The first stateroom was empty. The second also appeared unoccupied, but Yee noticed from the doorway that the bedclothes were rumpled, and other small items in the room seemed in disarray. As she stepped inside for a closer look, she was aware of a quiet, rhythmic thumping noise. "Careful, doctor," warned Blackadar, still in the hallway. "We don't know what we're dealing with here."

Moving slowly, Yee inched around the bed, where the thumping sound was coming from. She held her breath and took the last meter in one sudden jump, her back slamming dramatically into the door of the closet as she tried to stay as far as possible from whatever it turned out to be... and then let out her breath with a hiss of relief. It was just a little round cleaning robot, thumping against the wardrobe as it ran over and over a dark stain on the carpetting. "It's okay," Yee called out, feeling a little sheepish. "It's only a--" As she took a step forward, the closet door behind her slid open and a dead body tumbled out on top of her. Which made her scream.

"What the devil's wrong with ye, doctor?" snapped Blackadar, more unnerved than she cared to admit by the ship's emptiness. "Have ye never seen a dead man before?"

"Yes, I have, lieutenant," said Yee stiffly, her heart hammering in her chest as the security officer pulled the corpse off of her and laid it across the bed. "It's just... they don't usually jump me like that."

"He didn't jump you, the poor lad," said Blackadar, pointing out the smear of dried blood on the floor of the closet. The cleaning robot immediately rolled over and began trying to scrub it up. "I'd say he was badly injured, and for some reason he hid himself in the clothes cupboard."

"Hid himself from who?" said Yee, as she tentatively began to examine the body.

"Or what," said the security officer. "Apparently something that can't open a cupboard door."

[Atoz 77]

Engineering was a shambles. Equipment lockers were hanging open, their contents scattered over the deck. Three empty chairs, dumped together in a heap, slid from one end of the compartment to the other with the motion of the vessel. There was a big crack in the main engineering console, which was dark and completely inactive. A dark, glutinous stain lay in the middle of the damaged area, dripping to a small puddle on the floor.

"Is that blood?" gasped Jameson.

"Of course n--!" said Vespis automatically, naturally thinking of Andorian blood. But once reminded, she had to admit to herself that it was the right color. "Probably just lubricating fluid," she said, gesturing at the open lockers, which could easily have spilled their guts as a result of the storm. She tried the console, but it was dead.

"I don't like this ship," Jameson muttered to himself. "Why do I always get stuck with assignments like this?"

"Because you're expendable," said Vespis jokingly, as she strolled past the wall-mounted monitor panels. "Containment looks good. Reactors are pulling fine." She pressed a button. "Injector pathways are clear. Why did they--?" The engineer stopped short as she turned a corner and her eyes lit on a particular panel which had been slashed completely open. Broken isolinear chips littered the deck, as a few electrical discharges sparked half-heartedly from within the gash. "The plasma conversion sequencer," she said with a heavy sigh. "That will do it."

"Commander? Sir?" whispered Jameson, tugging frantically on her sleeve.

Sitting on top of the main console was what looked at first glance like a disembodied hand. As the thing began to move slowly across the panel with a faint clicking sound, it became clear that it was a small hairless animal of some kind, supported spider-like on five long, radially spaced legs. At the end of each leg was a single hooked claw. In the center of its body was a slight hump, presumably the head. Three beady red eyes stared at the two officers solemnly. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like that," said Vespis uneasily.

When the creature didn't do anything else, Jameson soon lost his fear. Cautiously he crouched in front of the console, poking gently at the creature with the muzzle of his phaser. The thing didn't back away -- it merely stood balancing on three legs while the other two, apparently double-jointed, reached up to claw at the air.

"I wouldn't provoke it, ensign," said Vespis, looking around in the corners of the room, wondering if there were any more of them in hiding.

"I think it's harmless, commander," said Jameson. "I don't even see a mouth..." The next second, it had darted forward and raked one of its tiny claws across the back of his hand, leaving a superficial scratch. "OW!" the engineer exclaimed, drawing back. "The little rat!"

Suddenly there were three of them on top of the console. Then four. Vespis wondered how the creatures could possibly be just appearing out of nowhere, and when she watched the fifth one materialize, on the deck next to Jameson's foot, she got it. Their pale skin was able to change color to blend in exactly with the background. They had been there all along, but so perfectly camouflaged they were invisible.

The four on the console pounced on Jameson so quickly he didn't have time to fire his phaser, sinking their hooks into his uniform and literally climbing up his body. It turned out that they did have mouths -- on the underside. One of them fastened its claws onto Jameson's forearm and began chewing through the fabric of his sleeve with its tiny fangs. The engineer backed away, yelling in fright and desperately trying to brush them off before they reached his face.

Vespis drew her phaser as another half dozen came rushing at her across the deck, their claws clattering delicately against the metal floor. She managed to hit one with her first shot, but unfortunately the weapon was set to level one, and the beam merely knocked it backwards. The others scattered, coming at her from all directions.

"Jameson! Come this way, towards me!" she called, backing into one of the maintenance annexes while she frantically raised the setting on her phaser.

One of the creatures had managed to latch itself around Jameson's neck with four legs. As he reached up to try and pluck it off, the fifth leg swung upwards, revealing a hidden stinger on its underside. "Help me!" he screamed, as the barbed needle plunged into his shoulder.

***
"Captain Hardeman, I presume," said Fawkes, addressing the dead body in the pilot's seat.

Both the bridge and the corridor leading up to it had several charred spots on the walls and floor, as if an energy weapon had been fired at them. To Fawkes, it didn't look like the kind of damage he associated with phasers. And sure enough, there was an odd-looking weapon lying on the floor near the dead man. Stephano knelt and picked it up. "It looks like a medium-power Cardassian disruptor, sir," he said. "The kind they make available on the Black Market."

"Hardeman was a smuggler," concluded Fawkes. Phasers have to be registered, and there weren't many reasons for a legitimate cargo carrier to have one. "But he obviously wasn't much of a marksman."

"Unless he was shooting at something that moved too fast for him," said the science officer. "Or something that was resistant to energy weapons. Or..."

Fawkes was trying the controls. The main console looked as if someone had taken an axe to it. It wasn't a very methodical job -- just random hits -- but enough to effectively put the controls out of commission. He crossed to the flight engineer's station, found it pretty much intact, and called up Communications. "Away Team to Odysseus. Come in please. Odysseus come in."

"This is the Odysseus," said Penner's voice promptly. There was a background hiss of ionic interference, but it was almost neglible -- presumably she was sending a meson stream piggybacked alongside one of the tractor beams. "Stand by, Mr. Fawkes."

Atoz' voice replaced hers. "Charles? Is that you?"

"Yes, Captain," said Fawkes. "I'm on the bridge now. It doesn't look good. I haven't gotten a report from Vespis yet, but it doesn't look like we're going to be able to fly this thing, after all."

"What about the crew?"

Fawkes had to take a deep breath here. "The captain is dead, sir. We haven't seen anyone else, but there are signs of violence."

"What do you mean, violence?"

"Well, sir -- Hardeman's body has bruises and slashes over the head and shoulders, as if he were beaten with a club with some kind of hook on the end. His larynx looks crushed. And there is a puncture wound in his trunk as if something long and thin were rammed into him."

Nine crewmen still unaccounted for, plus passengers. The entire ship seemed to shake and tremble in the storm as Fawkes waited for the Captain's reply. "We're still reading life signs," said Atoz. "Your six plus an indeterminate number of others. Weir tells me that some of them have an abnormally fast metabolic rate for humans, but because of the interference, she can't tell much more than that." He paused. "We need to find out what happened, Charles, but not if it puts the Away Team in unnecessary danger."

"I understand, Captain," the First Officer replied.

"The bad news," Atoz continued, "is that we no longer have a clear transport signal. If you can get to Matilda's transporter and link her system with ours, transport might be possible."

"I'll gather my people together and get back to you. Fawkes out." He stood for a moment, pondering his next move. "Stephano, let's get back to..."

But Stephano was gone!

[Atoz 77]

Yee got out her medical feinberger and thoroughly scanned the body, while studying the display on her tricorder with increasing amazement. "Well, this is strange..." she mused. "This is... very strange."

Blackadar sighed impatiently, but before she could say anything, there was a loud rapping noise from the ventilation duct over their heads. "Hey! Hey!" said a slightly muffled female voice. "Are you Starfleet? My name is Lindsey, Lindsey Burnham! Can you get me out of here?"

Cautioning the woman to move back, Blackadar loosed the grille with a shot from her phaser, and ten seconds later, a young girl of about sixteen scrambled through the opening and landed heavily beside them. She was dressed in a fashionably diaphanous dress which looked as if it had been through a great deal more wear and tear than its designer had anticipated. She hugged the security officer as if she were her long-lost sister and was about to do the same to Yee, but her eyes lit on the corpse that the doctor was examining. "Danny!" she screamed, covered her face with her hands and started to cry.

Blackadar started to say something sympathetic, but the girl suddenly looked up. "You're Starfleet!" she blurted, wiping tears off her face. "Have you... have you got a disintegrator gun or something? You've got to burn them out or something! Please..."

"Calm down, Miss Burnham," said Blackadar, grabbing her firmly by the arms.

"There's no time!" Lindsey insisted, struggling. "We didn't have any weapons, so we had to hide. Then it got Danny, and I had to... I had to..." She started to cry again.

"Calm down," Blackadar repeated, speaking more sternly and shaking her a little.

"Lindsey," said Yee quietly, gently putting her arm around the girl's shoulders, "Danny is dead. And the eggs won't hatch for another few hours."

"Eggs?" said Blackadar.

Yee nodded. "The puncture that caused him to bleed to death was made by an enormous ovipositor. Something has laid five eggs inside his abdominal cavity. And they're growing very rapidly."

***
Vespis charged across the engineering compartment, slinging her tool kit by its shoulder straps and using it to clear a path to Jameson. "I'm stung! I'm stung!" the ensign was shouting, almost hysterical with fear. Vespis grabbed him by the collar and pulled him with her through the doors into the maintenance shop, firing her phaser almost at random, just to keep the things from following too closely. Her phaser was on level six now -- a heavy stun setting -- and the two she managed to hit ruptured as if bashed with a sledgehammer.

The deck in here was littered with fallen equipment, spare parts, and a dead man in gray coveralls who looked as if he had burst open from the inside out. Jameson stumbled, but Vespis was in no mood to be gentle. "Keep your tail moving, you stupid pinkskin!" she cried, pushing him ahead of her as she turned to fire again at the pursuing creatures.

Beyond the maintenance room was a straight corridor. Once on flat deck again, the creatures were even faster, striding on their five legs so rapidly they appeared almost to be cartwheeling. "Oh, Zek!" said Vespis, looking for someplace to hide. At this point, her comm badge chirped at her. Through the static, she thought she heard Fawkes calling the Away Team together. "I'm a little bit busy right now, Papa!" she shouted back, squeezing off another shot with her phaser.

Jameson had found a narrow ladder leading to an inspection hatch in the ceiling. Just as soon as he was clear, Vespis leapt up the ladder behind him. The creatures tried to follow, but the rungs were just too far apart for them to catch hold of. The two officers scrambled upwards into the safety of the cramped crawlspace, panting and trying to catch their breath. They had left their tool kits behind in their haste to get away, and Vespis realized that Jameson had dropped his phaser in the confusion.

"I'm stung," Jameson gibbered again, but the edge of his panic had been dulled by the exertion of running. "It stung me it stung me..."

"Let me take a look," said Vespis soothingly. The ensign's uniform was torn in a half a dozen places, on his arms and also around his shoulders. Blood was oozing from some seriously deep flesh wounds. The Andorian's antennae quivered with distaste. The creatures had been trying to eat him alive!

The puncture on his shoulder from the sting was superficial in comparison. "Relax, you big baby," she said. "It barely broke the skin."

"It might be poison!"

"There's no sign of it," Vespis replied. "No swelling, no discoloration. I think you'll last until we can get you to Dr. Yee." She paused to look around. "Speaking of which... I think if we follow this conduit, we'll come out near auxiliary control. It's worth try."

"But what if they climb up here?" Jameson said.

Vespis had also been worrying about that, not relishing the idea of being trapped in such a confined space with those things. "One problem at a time, ensign. One problem at a time." Climbing over his prone body, she managed to wiggle her way forward five meters, where she came up against a closed hatchway. Her finger hovered over the OPEN button for a few seconds while she toyed with the possibility that more of the things were waiting on the other side, then she pressed it. The hatch slid back.

Facing her was not one of the creatures, but instead a man with a neatly trimmed beard. He was also holding a portable laser cutting torch, aimed right in between her eyes.

***
"Stephano? Lieutenant Stephano, report!" Fawkes strode out into the corridor, but all he found was the science officer's tricorder lying abandoned on the deck. The corridor at this point was about four meters long, taking an abrupt 45 degree angle both to left and to right. They had originally come up the left-hand leg, so Fawkes turned the other way. Around the corner, he discovered only Stephano's phaser and a thin trail of fresh blood.

"Fawkes to Away Team!" he said, slapping his comm badge. "Report in!" The interference still made reception difficult, but he did at least receive an acknowledgement from Blackadar.

"...read you, Comm...er," she said, through the static. "...e have som... ng to report..."

"Save it until I see you," said Fawkes. "Fall back immediately to the passenger lounge where we beamed in. I repeat -- Meet up in the passenger lounge." Blackadar acknowledged. "Vespis! Commander Vespis, do you read me?"

All that he got in response was a terse, "...usy right now, Papa!" Close behind that was a sound that could be a phaser discharge, or could be half a dozen other things. Right now, Stephano was his priority. Fawkes holstered his own phaser, made sure the science officer's was set to level five, and jogged off down the corridor.

***
"You heard as well as I did, doctor," snapped Blackadar. "Commander Vespis is in trouble."

"I also heard Mr. Fawkes order us to meet him here," Yee insisted, "in the passenger lounge."

The girl, Lindsey, was busy exchanging her dress for a shirt and pants from her boyfriend's wardrobe, while hovering near Dr. Yee now as if afraid of being left behind. "What are you, crazy?" she cried, siding with the doctor. "You can't go out there! That creature will kill you! Our only chance is to barricade ourselves in here where it's safe!"

"How much can you tell me about this creature, miss?" said Blackadar.

Lindsey shuddered, very close to tears again, but Yee put an encouraging arm around the girl's shoulders. "It's invisible, I know that much," she said. "You can sometimes hear it stalking you, but you can't see it. It killed Mr. Morris -- that's Dad's partner -- first, in the cargo bay. Then the crew went hunting for it. It got two men before they even knew what hit them. And they had weapons, too. And then the eggs started hatching inside the bodies and..."

Blackadar looked very skeptical. "Where did it come from?"

"How the heck do I know?" Lindsey shouted back at her. "I'm studying to be an artist! What do I know about Science?"

Yee could see that the girl was on the verge of completely losing her emotional equilibrium, and yet in the present circumstances, she didn't want to give her a even a mild sedative. But there was still a question which she had to ask, so she did it gently. "Lindsey, you mentioned your dad. Is he...?"

The girl found her hand and gave it a hard squeeze. "The last time I saw him was when he boosted me into the ventilation system. I can only hope he's still alive."

***
The bearded man didn't blink once. Perhaps it was because he was terrified beyond reason, or perhaps that was just the kind of man he was. "Hand me your weapons, slowly," he said, and Vespis held back any protest. This was a man who was past caring who got hurt, as long as he himself was safe. Once the three of them had climbed back down to the service corridor, the first thing he did was search Jameson to make sure he wasn't armed. The second thing he did was raise the setting on Vespis' phaser to ten, one of the Kill settings. "That's so you know not to mess around with me," he said. "I'm getting off this ship."

"There's no need to threaten us," said Vespis reasonably. "Our starship has us in tow."

"Starship?" the man said sharply, as if this were totally unexpected.

"Yes, a starship," retorted the Andorian scornfully, her antennae standing upright. "Did you think we just flew here on our gossamer fairy wings?"

"Move!" said the bearded man, gesturing with the phaser.

"But that's back towards engineering," said Jameson, wincing a little as he rubbed one of the painful wounds he'd gotten from those strange five-legged creatures.

The bearded man shook his head impatiently. "There's an escape pod adjacent to Cargo Bay Five. That's where I'm heading."

"Listen to that, pinkskin," said Vespis testily, as the ship rocked a little from side to side. "That's a Class 4 ion storm out there. Those little creatures might be scary, but you can't seriously think launching yourself into that is better."

The bearded man scoffed. "What you've seen in engineering are infants, Andorian," he said. "There are two adult quintapods loose somewhere on this ship. Try to imagine one of those things the size of a tiger. Only you have to imagine it, because you can't see it." He waved the phaser again. "Yes, I'll take my chances on the ion storm."

***

Fawkes hurried down a stairway to the forward service deck, following the trail of blood. Moving swiftly down the corridor, he charged into the Life Support room, crouching just inside the open doorway with his phaser at ready. The light in here was relatively dim, and all around he could hear the gentle wheeze of air circulation pumps. He could also hear something large moving around, although he couldn't see it.

Striking a balance between caution and haste, he darted across the room, threading his way in between various pieces of machinery. He found Stephano sprawled face up across the CO2 recycler with a puncture wound just underneath and to the left of his sternum. Fawkes couldn't find a pulse. Even so, he was just beginning to arrange Stephano's limbs for a fireman's carry when something clattered against the coolant duct just behind him.

Fawkes spun around just as a heavily muscled leg slammed into his chest, shoving him backwards and slashing his left arm with its claw. He tried to roll with the blow, but there was too much clutter. The thing, whatever it was, continued to attack, eerily silent. Two more unseen claws came flailing in from out of nowhere, but he managed to duck them both, more by luck than anything else. One snagged the front of his uniform, ripping a gash in the fabric, but missing his flesh by only millimeters. Fortunately his groping hand found his phaser, and he fired point blank.

He couldn't be sure if he'd hit the creature or not, but the bright orange flash of the phaser beam seemed to unsettle it. Fawkes could briefly make out the thing's shape as its skin cells adjusted to the glare. Claws slashed at him again as it tried to retreat. He fired again, and this time he hit it for sure.

[Atoz 77]

"I don't think this is a good idea," said Lindsey, her voice quivering slightly as she cowered behind Dr. Yee. The doctor privately agreed with her, but didn't say anything.

"Your complaint is noted," said Blackadar, leading the other two cautiously down the middle of the corridor with her phaser ready and set on level six. "But since I'm the ranking officer here, we do what I think is best."

"Actually my..." said Yee, about to say that her date of rank preceded Blackadar's by about a year and a half, but the security officer glanced backwards with a stern look which made her change her mind. "... my tricorder shows no life forms for at least the next ten meters." At that point, there was a sealed sectional hatchway which led to Cargo Bay 4. Blackadar was about to press the OPEN button when the comm panel next to it crackled into life.

"This is Commander Fawkes. Away Team, report in."

"Thank goodness, sir!" said Yee, activating the reply circuit. "Blackadar is with me, and we've found a survivor! There's some kind of animal loose in the ship--"

"I know, doctor," Fawkes interrupted. "It attacked Lt. Stephano. He needs medical attention urgently. Where are you now?"

"Section Three, Corridor B, Commander," said Blackadar crisply. "About to enter Section Four."

"Good, I'm in Corridor A, near the passenger compartment," said Fawkes. "I'll meet you in Cargo Bay Three. Then we'll decide--"

Suddenly another voice broke in over the comm circuit. "Hello? Starfleet people? This is engineer's mate Sem Darouvar. I guess I'm in charge now..."

"Where are you, Mr. Darouvar?" said Fawkes' voice.

"The crew's quarters. There are six of us trapped in here. The emergency doors--"

"Are you in urgent need of medical assistance?"

There was a very slight pause while the man thought it over. "Some of us are injured, but I don't think anybody's about to die of it, no."

"If you're relatively safe where you are," said Fawkes, "then your best bet is to remain there until we have the situation under control. Is that acceptable?"

"Whatever," said the voice. "We just wanted you to know -- it's all that Burnham guy's fault. The rest of us had no idea he was transporting those things."

***
Vespis looked up from the comm panel and clearly saw the guilt etched on the bearded man's face. "I take it you're that Burnham guy," she said coolly.

"Don't jump to conclusions, Andorian," he said, nervously checking a small device he took from his side pocket. "Anyway it was Morris. He assured me the quintapods couldn't escape the stasis cage."

"Oh, naturally," said Vespis, folding her arms. "That doesn't surprise me one bit."

Burnham nodded. "It's just like I told Hardeman, it was a failure of technology--"

"Oh no, that's not what I meant," said Vespis. "I meant it doesn't surprise me that you still refuse to take responsibility for what you've done. You still want to blame someone else."

"My daughter was on this ship, Andorian!" Burnham said, waving the phaser in her face. "Do you think I'd risk her life?"

Ignoring the weapon, Vespis looked him right in the eyes. "I've met people like you before, Mr. Burnham. I think you're accustomed to not caring who gets hurt, as long as it isn't you. And I think you only worry about consequences when they bite you in the rear end."

He stared at her for a long time, until Jameson was sure he was going to pull the trigger. But he only held up the small device, which turned out to be a timer. "I leave you to worry about consequences, Andorian. Because in about eight minutes, the merculite charges I left on the antimatter junction are going to go off, and this ship will be nothing but a ball of hydrogen."

***
Yee ran her feinberger over Stephano's body. "He's alive, just barely," she said, injecting him with a hypospray. "But there's not a lot I can do for him here."

"Stabilize him for transport," said Fawkes, "then get him and Miss Burnham back to the ship as soon as possible."

"That may be awhile, Commander," said Blackadar, working at the cargo transporter console. "I can't link up to the Odysseus' transporter system."

"Can you reroute it through the subspace transmitter?" said Fawkes, joining her. "Penner has a meson stream tied in."

"I've tried that, sir," said Blackadar. "This cargo ship isn't designed for that kind of alteration to its systems. I can't get it to work."

Fawkes blew out a heavy sigh. "In that case, we have to get to engineering. There should be a master relay station where we can switch it over manually." He turned to Lindsey. "Did you say there were two of those creatures?"

"I heard my dad and the captain arguing," she said quietly. "They said there was a mated pair."

"That's just lovely," said Fawkes bitterly, as he checked the setting on his phaser.

***
"Are you totally insane?" said Vespis, as Burnham shoved her and Jameson ahead of him through the doors into Cargo Bay 5.

"Keep moving," said Burnham. "I don't plan to spend the next twenty years in a rehabilitation colony." The cargo bay was a large open space with rows and rows of cylindrical containers. As their captor nervously scanned the room to the left and right, Jameson seized his chance. Darting suddenly to the left of the doorway, he pushed over a large drum with a dull thud and sent it rolling towards Burnham.

Caught by surprise, Burnham lost his balance and was run down, narrowly avoiding getting his leg broken. Jameson leaped over the barrel, but the man swept the phaser around, firing practically at random. "NO!" shouted Vespis, diving for cover as the beam caught the ensign across the hips. Jameson didn't have time to scream as he flopped to the deck, flesh and bone boiled and cauterized instantly.

Burnham staggered to his feet, but Vespis was already running, squeezing into the narrow aisle formed by rows of stacked containers, darting this way and that every time she saw an opening. She paused against a vaulted structural rib to catch her breath, just as she heard the sound of more canisters toppling over. Then the phaser discharged again, as Burnham yelled something inarticulate.

The Andorian made her way to the end of the row and peered around the edge of a barrel. Burnham was flat on his back, struggling with something which loomed over him. The quintapod was probably no larger in mass than a lion, but the vaguely spider-like shape of the thing -- combined with the eerie silence of its attack -- was unnerving. It appeared to be standing over the man, holding him pinned down while its fifth leg stood poised to ram its sharp ovipositor into his abdomen. Vespis wondered why Burnham didn't shoot it, but then she saw the phaser, lying on the deck out of reach. He was defenseless!

"Hey! Ugly! Leave him alone!" shouted Vespis, her blue blood seething as she leaped out from behind her cover and charged the thing. Later on she would stop to consider that Burnham possibly deserved whatever he got, especially after what he had done to Jameson, but right now she was filled with rage. The only reasonably heavy object within reach was a magnetic clamp, so she snatched it up in passing and bore down on the quintapod, hefting the tool like a club.

The creature turned its three eyes ponderously to face her and reared back on three of its legs. Vespis screeched to a halt, realizing in a flash what a pitifully small weapon she had, then dashed back the way she had come. The quintapod loped off in pursuit.

Burnham, breathing heavily, opened his eyes as the comprehension dawned on him that he was still alive. He glanced over at the phaser, and for a second the idea crossed his mind that he should pick it up and go help the Andorian who had saved his life. "Screw that," he muttered to himself, scrambling to his feet and running for the corridor. He squeezed himself into the escape pod, flicked off the safety release, and pulled the LAUNCH handle.

***
Although its radial body plan made it too wide to fit into the narrow aisle in between the stacks of containers, Vespis could hear the creature following along the more open area of the cargo bay itself. She was relatively safe if she stayed where she was, but she remembered the explosives which Burnham said he had placed on the antimatter junction. She had to get to Engineering, now!

Surprised to discover that she was still holding the magnetic clamp in her hand, Vespis began banging on the backs of the storage containers, making as much noise as she could. When she was certain she had the thing's attention, she hurled the tool towards the rear of the cargo bay. It made a highly satisfying clatter, and the quintapod turned to investigate. There was no time to wait for it to move off -- the Andorian pushed herself through a gap in the barrels and took off running for the corridor.

Vespis remembered with dismay how quickly the little ones had been able to move in the open hallway, and she could only hope that the bulkier adult was slower. She could plainly hear its claws clacking loudly against the duralinium floor as it chased her, but didn't dare glance behind her to see how close it was.

Up the long Corridor B she sprinted, heart pumping, lungs bursting, thinking only of the explosion she had to prevent. The door to engineering was just ahead. She was still a couple of meters short when the hatch to the next cargo section slid open in front of her. Vespis had a split second to wonder despairingly how many of these creatures were running loose, then she caught sight of Fawkes and Blackadar in the opening. Without thinking, she dove headfirst, sliding facedown across the deck as their phaser beams lanced the air over her head and slammed into the quintapod.

And then Fawkes was kneeling beside her, helping her to sit up. Vespis responded automatically, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Papa, I've never been so glad to see you!" she gasped, once she could breathe again. Then she remembered... "ZEK! The antimatter junction!"

***

Five shimmering shafts of light materialized in the Odysseus transporter room, two of them lying prone. Yee immediately turned to help the emergency teams who swooped down upon Stephano and Jameson. Doctor Pierce, the ship's Chief Medical Officer, quickly scanned the science officer, gave a few brisk orders, then turned to the ensign.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly to Yee, shaking his head as he looked at the readings of his feinberger. "He didn't make it."

Once the platform was clear (Blackadar gently but firmly pushed Lindsey into a corner out of the way), the transporter engaged once again, and this time Fawkes and Vespis materialized. The First Officer strode to the console and activated the comm panel. "Away Team present and accounted for, sir," he announced.

"Glad to have you back, Commander," said Captain Atoz from the bridge. "It might interest you to know that according to Mr. Rosh, several minutes ago someone tried to launch an escape pod."

Fawkes exchanged glances with Vespis and Blackadar. "Tried to, sir?" he said.

"Apparently whoever it was didn't realize that he was launching directly into our tractor beam," said the Captain. "He didn't get very far."

Fawkes gestured towards the transporter technician. "Beam the occupant aboard."

The transport lock wasn't easy to make, but by now the ship was approaching the edge of the storm. A single column of light shimmered on the pad, and moments later became Burnham, looking wildly around the room. The first person he saw was Vespis, and he hung his head in guilt and shame. Then he caught sight of his daughter, standing by the doorway with Yee. "Lindsey! Sweetheart! I'm so--" He broke off when he saw the bitter look of hurt and disappointment in her face. He had left her! He had saved himself and left her! How could he ever be able to make that up to her?

Whatever he planned to say, he wasn't given the chance. A pair of strong hands clasped his arms from behind. "Sir, you are under arrest," said Blackadar, "among other things, for the murder of Ensign Evan Jameson, for violation of Federation laws regarding the transport of dangerous lifeforms, and for being a complete and utter prat. Come along then."

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