“Steady as she
goes. Mister Dar, prepare to extend our
shields around that ship. Chief Kyman,
keep me updated on status.”
“Aye,
Skipper. Target vessel external
temperature, 500 degrees Celsius and rising.
Our hull temperature, 250 degrees and rising.”
“Standing by on
shields, Captain,” Dar reported.
Captain’s log,
stardate 62024.7
While responding
to a distress call from the planet Rhaandar, the Dauntless has encountered
a small cargo vessel from the planet on a direct course toward the system’s
star. We are now attempting to rescue
the craft’s crew before their ship is destroyed.
Koester,
commanding Dauntless, out.
“Captain, we’re getting
too close to the sun,” warned Lt Commander Phillip Winters. Captain Koester, like almost everyone on the
bridge around him except for the Vulcan science officer T’Pan and, for whatever
reason, Winters himself, wiped the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his
uniform.
“Distance to that
ship?” he asked.
“Cargo vessel is
still ten kilometers and maintaining distance,” Winters replied. “Still too far for us to extend shields.”
“Hull temperature
now exceeding 700 degrees Celsius,” Kyman warned from the mission ops
console. “Target vessel external
temperature exceeding 1000 degrees.
They’re losing structural integrity!”
“Dar?” Koester
asked his chief engineer. Dar accessed
the controls on the engineering console in front of him, then started shaking
his head.
“Still too far,
Captain. There’s nothing I can do.”
Unexpectedly, a
burst of static emerged from the speakers around the bridge, followed by a
joyful, relieved sounding voice.
“It’s gone! It’s finally gon…”
“There they go!”
Ensign Carter Breitling said as on the main viewscreen what little of the small
spaceship that could be seen against the brightness of the Rhaandaran sun
flared briefly.
“The cargo vessel
has been destroyed,” Winters confirmed.
“Mister
Breitling, reverse course. Take us out
of here, full impulse!” Koester ordered.
Quickly, the young officer at the helm turned the ship around 180
degrees, moving away from the sun and back on a heading toward the planet
Rhaandar.
“
“Let’s not do
that again if we can avoid it,” the captain said as he again wiped his forehead
with his sleeve. “Helm, standard orbit.”
“Standard orbit,
aye, sir,” Breitling acknowledged.
“That was crazy,”
Koester commented to his ship’s counselor, Tanzia Gera. “What would make someone deliberately fly
into a star?”
“I don’t know,
Captain,” the red-haired Trill counselor replied.
Space,
the Final Frontier…
These
are the voyages of the starship Dauntless!
Her
ongoing mission;
To
Seek, To Chart, To Explore…
Slipping
the Surly Bonds of Earth,
Going
Where None Have Been Before!
Star
Trek: Dauntless
“Operation: Liberate!” By PJK
A short time
later, the Dauntless had entered
orbit around Rhaandar.
“Phillip, hail
the capital city,” Captain Koester ordered.
“No response,
Peter,” Lt Commander Winters reported several seconds later. “In fact, I’m not receiving any of the
broadcasts you would expect from a planet with Rhaandar’s level of civilization. Just some short-wave transmissions.”
“Can you put them
on speaker?” the captain asked. A moment
later the static-covered voice of what sounded like a woman or young boy could
barely be heard.
“Help… I need help…
They’re right outside. They’re
trying to get in. There’s no way for me
to get out of here without them catching me.”
The captain
exchanged a look with Counselor Gera before asking, “Can we respond to this
transmission?”
“Unlikely,
Peter,” Winters replied. “The carrier wave
they’re using is incompatible with our subspace transmitter. And I can’t even determine where this
transmission is coming from any closer than a five kilometer radius.”
“That would be
hundreds of kilometers to search,” Koester said before tapping his
combadge. “Bridge to Commander K’danz.”
“K’danz. Go ahead,” the first officer responded a
moment later.
“Carrie, I need
you to lead an away team down to Rhaandar’s capital.”
“Aye,
Skipper. I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”
*
* * *
Fifteen minutes
later, the away team consisting of Commander K’danz, Chief Science Officer
Alasdair Wallace, Chief Medical Officer Justin MacMillan and security officers
Lt Colonel Sean McIntyre, 1st Lieutenant Michael Drake and Klingon
Lieutenant Ka’Dan materialized in the main square in the capital city of
“This is a city
with a population of over three million,” K’danz commented with a sense of
dread as she looked around at the open, empty spaces. “Where is everyone?”
“Indoors,”
Wallace replied to the first officer’s question a moment later. “There aren’t many of ‘em, but what life form
readin’s I’m detectin’ are all inside th’ buildin’s, Commander.”
“Doctor
MacMillan, take Drake and Ka’Dan with you and look around out here. Wallace, McIntyre and I will take a look
inside the building,” K’danz ordered, pointing at the Rhaadaran administration
building. The CMO nodded, then headed
off across the plaza, the two security officers close behind as K’danz and her
group entered the building.
“Why are the lights
off in here?” McIntyre asked as they entered the hall. He looked around, finally finding a pad next
to the door he assumed might be a light switch.
Touching the control, the lights slowly brightened. The scene that greeted the away team
surprised them all. Furniture, chairs,
books and papers were strewn about. It
looked as if someone had ransacked the building, piling stuff haphazardly
about.
The team entered
the first room off the hall, almost as badly trashed as the hallway. Inside were several computer consoles, part
of the planetary traffic control system.
On one screen could be seen the digitized view of the Dauntless high in orbit, apparently the
only such vessel near the planet, all other vessels grounded.
“Alasdair,
download the database of the computer system and transmit it to the ship. If this planet has been attacked, perhaps we
can figure out by whom?” K’danz ordered.
Wallace
acknowledged the order and started scanning the databanks. As he finished, a noise from out in the hall
drew the attention of all three officers.
Cautiously they made their way back out into the hall, where Wallace
continued his scans.
“I’m detecting
about half a dozen life form readings in th’ room at th’ far end of th’ hall,”
Wallace indicated. K’danz led the way
down the hall, followed closely by the Marine colonel and finally Wallace. As they finally reached the indicated door,
McIntyre took the lead, first testing the doorknob which appeared unlocked,
before swinging the door open inward.
Nothing happened until the colonel touched the light control just inside
the door. As the lights came up, a brief
scream surprised the away team members until shouting voices overwhelmed the
scream.
“Go away!”
“We don’t want to
hurt you!”
“Get out of here!”
Before he could
react, a chair flew through the air, shattering against the wall right next to
McIntyre’s head. Acting instinctively,
the Marine raised his phaser and aimed it at a Rhaandaran man picking up
another chair, pressing the trigger just as the man lifted it above his own
head. Both man and chair fell to the
floor.
K’danz also aimed
her own phaser as the other people who had been gathered in the room, crouched
in the far corner, all started rushing toward the away team. In moments, all the Rhaandarans were
unconscious on the floor.
“What was that
all about?” the first officer asked as Wallace knelt to examine one of the
unconscious beings.
“Perhaps we
should have Doctor MacMillan take a closer look at them?” McIntyre suggested.
“Sounds like a
good idea,” Wallace concurred. “I’m
getting’ some unusual readin’s from these people.”
K’danz tapped her
combadge, contacting the Chief Medical Officer and directing him to where her
own half of the away team was located. A
couple of minutes later, both MacMillan and the Marine 1st
Lieutenant Drake entered the room.
“Where is
Lieutenant Ka’Dan?” K’danz asked as MacMillan started examining the unconscious
Rhaadarans.
“We heard strange
noises on the opposite side of the plaza.
Lieutenant Ka’Dan is still investigating,” Drake explained.
K’danz frowned
before tapping her combadge. “K’danz to
Ka’Dan.”
“Ka’Dan here,”
the Klingon replied after about ten seconds, his voice sounding strained. K’danz exchanged a look with Drake.
“Are you alright,
Lieutenant?” she asked.
“I’m fine,
Commander,” Ka’Dan replied, suddenly sounding more like himself. “I just climbed over a small wall where I
believe I heard something unusual.”
“Did you find
anything out of the ordinary?”
“Uh… Negative,
Commander.”
“Well, then I
need you here with us in the administration building. We were just attacked by some of the people
hiding in one of the offices, and I don’t want any of the away team wandering
around alone.”
“Acknowledged,
Commander. I’ll be right there. Ka’Dan, out.”
“Commander, this
is amazin’!” Doctor MacMillan said as K’danz walked over to where the medical
officer was examining the man who had thrown the chair at McIntyre. “Look at these readin’s. Even unconscious, every one of these people
is feeling intense pain.”
“They don’t
appear to be injured. What could be
causing it?”
“I don’t know,”
MacMillan admitted.
“Dauntless to away team,” said the voice
of Captain Koester. K’danz tapped her
combadge once again.
“K’danz. Go ahead, Skipper.”
“Exec, I’m
beaming your team back up to the ship right away.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” K’danz asked.
“Nothing is
wrong. Not yet at least. We’ve just been informed by Starfleet that an
expert familiar with our situation is on his way out to meet us.”
“An expert? An expert on what?” the first officer asked
just as Ka’Dan entered the room, standing off to the side near the door. He nodded as K’danz looked at him.
“If I knew that,
I might have a better idea of what we’re facing here. Apparently someone at HQ knows more than we
do.”
K’danz looked at
Doctor MacMillan, who was placing his equipment back in the medkit hanging on
his shoulder.
“Do you want to
bring these people back up with us, Doctor?”
“No,
Commander. I don’t think I can do
anything more for them in sickbay than I could here. Nothing I’ve tried is reducing the amount of
pain they’re feeling. They’re better off
unconscious.”
“Very well,”
K’danz said with a tone of concern. “Dauntless, six standing by to beam back
aboard.”
“Stand by, away
team,” the captain said.
*
* * *
In transporter
room one, Chief Gregory Blackman activated the transporter console. The transport platform hummed to life, then
buzzed slightly. A look of concern
crossed the Transporter Chief’s face before he touched the intercom.
“Transporter room
to bridge. I’m having a slight problem
with the materialization sequence.”
“What’s the
problem, Chief?” the captain responded with concern.
“The biofilters
are having a conniption,” Blackman responded after checking his readings. “Reintegrating the matter stream through the
pattern buffer and attempting to rematerialize.” Blackman touched the console controls again,
and almost immediately the six members of the away team materialized on the
transport platform.
“That was rough,
Chief. What happened?” K’danz asked as
she felt herself all over, checking to make sure all the parts were in the
right place.
“It appeared for
a moment like the biofilter had detected some foreign matter, but then the
reading was gone,” Blackman replied as he placed the transporter in stand-by.
“Maybe you should
give the away team a quick physical, Doctor?” K’danz suggested to
MacMillan. However, before the doctor
could reply, the intercom whistled.
“Commander
K’danz, Doctor MacMillan, please report to the briefing lounge immediately,”
ordered the captain.
“On the other
hand, maybe it’s going to have to wait,” K’danz added as she tapped her
combadge. “On our way, Skipper.” A moment later, both the doctor and first
officer headed out the door.
*
* * *
A couple of
minutes later, both K’danz and MacMillan entered the briefing lounge behind the
bridge, where Captain Koester, Lt Commander Winters and Chief Kyman were
already seated.
“What’s up,
Skipper? Who is this expert that’s
heading here to meet us? And why?”
K’danz asked as she took her seat to the captain’s right.
“I’m not sure who
he is, exactly, but I’ve been informed by Starfleet Command that Rhaandar is
the latest in line of a strange phenomenon they have tracked over the last
several months. Admiral Wilson has
assured me the expert they are sending will brief us on everything he knows.”
“When will he
arrive?” Kyman asked.
“Any time
now. The admiral assured me they were
dispatching him in the quickest way possible.”
“Bridge to
Captain Koester. A Federation runabout
has just dropped out of warp two hundred kilometers out,” reported the voice of
Lt Commander Dar. “They’re requesting
permission to dock.”
“Thank you,
Dar. The Exec and I will greet our guest
in the main shuttlebay.”
“Aye, Skipper,”
Dar responded.
Koester looked at
Winters, MacMillan and Kyman as he said, “I’ll let you know what’s going on as
soon as I do. In the meantime,
dismissed.”
Everyone in the
lounge stood up from their seats, Winters and Kyman heading back to their duty
stations and the medical officer back to sickbay as the captain and K’danz
headed toward the nearest turbolift. A
few minutes later, the two senior officers walked into the main shuttlebay just
as a Danube-class runabout named USS
Colorado touched down on the middle of the deck.
“First a Rhaandaran
ship flies into their sun, then the away team is attacked on the surface by
people hiding in darkened buildings and now we have a mysterious Starfleet
expert arriving aboard,” K’danz commented in frustration. “What is happening here?”
“Hopefully he
knows,” Captain Koester said, gesturing toward the man in his late 70’s with
graying red hair that was stepping out of the hatch of the runabout carrying a
briefcase and heading toward the two Dauntless
officers.
“Captain
Koester?” the man asked, offering his hand.
As the captain nodded, the man introduced himself. “My name is Kirk. Doctor Peter Kirk.”
“Any relation
to…?” K’danz started to ask, but apparently the visitor was anticipating the
question, as if asked it constantly.
“Yes, Captain
James Kirk was my grandfather’s brother.”
“And what brings
you all the way to the Rhaandar system, Doctor Kirk?” Koester asked as he shook
the new arrival’s hand.
“The same thing I
have been chasing my entire adult life, and my father his whole life before
me. An organism so dangerous that our
only option is to annihilate it,” Kirk said.
*
* * *
The senior staff
were once again gathered in the briefing lounge, where one of the bulkhead
mounted viewers displayed an image of what appeared to be a magnified nerve
cell.
“Federation
scientists call them Neural Parasites,” Doctor Kirk explained. “Our first known encounter with them occurred
on Deneva Colony in 2267, when an infestation of the parasites attacked the
population there. Many were killed,
others driven insane by the pain they caused in an attempt to control the
colonists actions. Each parasite is an
individual cell in one mass hive intelligence, and they have moved through the
galaxy by injecting themselves into a host organism and then forcing that
organism to transport them to a new world, where they then proceed to attack a
new populous. The result of the attack
is mass insanity as those being attacked experience intense, unending pain, and
eventually death.”
“Exactly the
symptoms I diagnosed in those on the surface of Rhaandar,” Doctor MacMillan
commented.
“What prompted
you to study and hunt these parasites, Doctor?” Chief Kyman asked.
“I guess you
could say it’s personal,” Kirk replied. “My
father’s parents, George and Aurelan Kirk, were killed by these creatures on
Deneva, and my father would have died too if he weren’t rescued in time by his
Uncle Jim and the
Throughout the
conversation, Lt Commander Winters had been engrossed in a padd he was
holding. When Kirk mentioned the 23rd
century starship
“Yes, the first
clue to what would kill the parasites was when a Denevan pilot flew his ship
into the star. He was free of its
influence moments before the ship was destroyed,” Kirk said.
“Just like that
ship we encountered when we first entered this star system,” K’danz said, as if
a light bulb turned on over her head.
“Then if what
we’re dealing with here is the same type of parasite, this should be a
relatively simple mission,” Captain Koester said a moment before the alert
klaxon sounded throughout the ship.
“Intruder alert,”
announced the voice of the assistant chief of security, April Mendez. Immediately McIntyre was tapping his
combadge.
“April, report?”
“Internal sensors
have recorded unauthorized use of the transporter, Colonel. We’re still trying to determine which
transporter was used, and whoever it was covered their tracks, but we’re sure
someone or something has beamed aboard the ship.”
Before Mendez’s
report had even finished, Koester, K’danz and McIntyre were already emerging
onto the bridge. The security officer
looked up as they approached and added, “I’m backtracking the sensor logs… The transporter used is in cargo bay two.”
“Mack, take a
team down there,” Koester ordered. With
a nod, McIntyre headed into the turbolift.
Then the captain looked at his first officer and asked, “Besides being
attacked by infected Rhaandarans, did anything unusual happen while you were on
the surface?”
K’danz thought
for a moment before saying, “Drake said Ka’Dan heard something strange and went
to investigate it before I called them to meet us in the administration
building.” Then a look of dawning shock
spread across her face as she added, “And the transporter biofilters seemed to
detect something when we beamed back aboard!
Do you think…? Could Ka’Dan be
infected?”
“Computer, what
is the location of Lieutenant Rinja Ka’Dan?” Captain Koester asked.
“Lieutenant Ka’Dan
is located on deck ten, section twenty eight, corridor three,” the computer’s
female voice replied.
“That’s not too
far from cargo bay two,” K’danz confirmed.
“Security to deck
ten, section twenty eight, corridor three.
Detain Lieutenant Ka’Dan.”
“On our way,”
replied the voice of Gunnery Sergeant Christopher O’Laughlin.
*
* * *
On deck ten,
Lieutenant Ka’Dan was just turning a corner when suddenly two Starfleet Marine
privates stepped out in front of him, phasers drawn. The Klingon tensed, slowly turning to find
another private and Gunny O’Laughlin holding the phaser rifle he called Betty,
not quite aimed toward the floor but not directly at the Klingon officer
either.
“What is going
on, Sergeant?” Ka’Dan demanded to know.
“I’m sorry,
Lieutenant, but I have been ordered to detain you, find out your reason for
being on this deck and escort you to sickbay, sir,” O’Laughlin replied
apologetically.
“I was simply
heading for my quarters,” Ka’Dan said, gesturing down the corridor, which made
one of the privates aim his phaser at the Klingon for a second. Ka’Dan frowned at the Marine for a moment
before turning back to O’Laughlin and saying, “I will accompany you.”
The four Marines
took position around the Klingon, escorting him to the nearest turbolift and up
one deck to sickbay, where Doctor MacMillan was examining Commander K’danz.
“No indications
of parasites,” the doctor confirmed to K’danz, who smiled briefly before she
noticed Ka’Dan standing off to the side, covered by the four Marines.
“Ka’Dan is here,
Doctor,” she said.
“Ah. Lieutnenant.
Come here,” MacMillan said, gesturing the young Klingon warrior
over. As Ka’Dan stood in front of both
MacMillan and K’danz, the doctor started running his medical scanner over the
Klingon’s body, studying the readout on his tricorder screen. “Heart rate, respiration, brain waves, all
normal. Ka’Dan is not infected by the
parasites, Commander.”
“Lieutenant, what
have you done since we beamed back up to the ship?” K’danz asked.
“I returned the
away team equipment and weapon I used to the maintenance locker in the Marine
barracks,” Ka’Dan answered. “I was just
returning to my quarters to practice mok’bara before preparing for my watch at
1800 hours.”
“Something isn’t
right here,” K’danz said suspiciously.
“Bridge to
Commander K’danz! Get down to the main
shuttlebay!” ordered the voice of Captain Koester. “Someone is trying to launch several of the
shuttles without authorization!”
K’danz was already
rushing down the corridor toward the nearest turbolift before she slammed her
hand against her combadge and said, “I’m on my way!” Moments later she ran into the main
shuttlebay, where Colonel McIntyre and several of his Marines had their phasers
trained on, to the first officer’s surprise, several members of the Dauntless crew, including Lieutenants
John Smith and Michael Kafcos and Ensign Joella Faggio.
“What is going on
here?” K’danz demanded to know, her voice angry.
“We… We can’t help it… Commander,” Smith struggled
to say.
“We have to… Have to bring the rest of them aboard…!”
Faggio added.
“Bring the rest
of who aboard?” K’danz asked before the answer suddenly dawned on her. “The parasites!”
Suddenly
Lieutenant Kafcos made a break toward the open hatch of the shuttlecraft Khitomer. Before he reached the ramp, McIntyre had
taken aim and fired his phaser. The
officer from the Martian Colonies dropped to the deck like a limp sack of
potatoes.
“Take them down
to sickbay,” K’danz ordered as two of the Marines lifted Kafcos by the arms and
started dragging him toward the corridor while McIntyre and the others grabbed
Faggio and Smith by the elbows and escorted them out.
“Commander K’danz
to Captain Koester,” K’danz said as she again tapped her combadge.
“Go ahead, Exec,”
the captain replied.
“It’s confirmed,
Peter. The Neural Parasites have
infiltrated the ship. Three crew members
have been apprehended in the main shuttlebay and escorted to sickbay.”
“How did this
happen?” Koester demanded to know. “How
did the parasites get aboard the ship?”
“I’m not sure,
but I have a theory,” K’danz said. “I
need all the members of the away team that went down to Rhaandar in sickbay
immediately. And I think at least one of
them is going to be reluctant to report.”
“Trust me,
they’ll all be there,” Koester said with a tone of finality.
Several minutes
later, K’danz was back in sickbay. In
the biobeds to one side, Faggio, Smith and Kafcos lay unconscious, pumped full of
drugs to help them resist the pain Doctor MacMillan said they were
experiencing. In the examination area,
Alasdair Wallace was sitting on the edge of the exam bed while MacMillan ran
his medical scanner over him. To the
side, McIntyre and Ka’Dan stood watching, having just been examined by the
chief medical officer as well, the Klingon officer for the second time in less
than an hour.
“Commander
Wallace is clear too,” MacMillan confirmed before turning his attention on
K’danz. A few moments later he added,
“As are you, Commander. That leaves only
one member of the away team.”
Almost on cue,
the sickbay doors swished open and two Marines pulled Lieutenant Michael Drake,
literally kicking and screaming, into the room.
“I order you to
let me go! I’ll have your stripes!”
Drake shouted as the corporal and private dragged him over to the exam bed but
refused to let the Marine officer go.
“We found him
performing a pre-launch check aboard the
“Elevated
respiration an’ blood pressure. Pain
receptors are off th’ scale! It’s
confirmed, Commander,” the doctor said as he turned toward the first
officer. “Mister Drake has been infected
by the parasites.”
“We know you’re
acting under duress,” K’danz said to Drake, who had stopped struggling as his
condition was revealed. The stress on
his face was evident. “How many of those
things did you beam aboard? Tell me,
Lieutenant!”
Drake appeared to
be struggling internally. He opened his
mouth as if trying to answer, only to have it slam shut again. A tear formed in his eye as he finally forced
himself to say, “Four. I brought up
four.”
As soon as Drake
got the words out, MacMillan pressed a hypospray against the side of his
neck. With a hiss, it pumped a sedative
into the Marine’s bloodstream. Drake
slumped in the arms of the two enlisted soldiers, who lifted the unconscious
officer onto the exam bed.
“He’s still in
pain, but at least unconscious he won’t feel it as intensely,” the doctor
explained. “But we still have a
problem.”
“Yes,” agreed
K’danz, looking at the three other crew members cataleptic on the biobeds. “We still have one parasite loose aboard the
ship.”
*
* * *
An hour later and
following a thorough search of the ship, the last of the Neural Parasites had
been located and contained, taken to a science lab where Commander T’Ashara,
the assistant chief science officer, started examining it.
On the bridge,
Commander Wallace was working with the rat-like Ensign Aroe Euwess to fill the
ship with ultraviolet light.
“Anytime you’re
ready, Cap’n,” Wallace finally said.
Koester nodded,
then ordered, “Activate the ultraviolet lighting system.” A moment later, the lights on the bridge and
all around the entire starship dimmed, replaced by a deep purple glow.
“Everyone’s going
to be getting a tan from this mission,” K’danz commented wryly.
“Comin’ up on
thirty seconds,” Wallace announced.
“That should be
more than enough, according to the records,” Euwess added in her high-pitched
voice.
“Very well,”
Koester said. “Re-activate normal
lighting.” Seconds later, white light
resumed throughout the ship.
“Well, let’s call
Doctor MacMillan and confirm…,” K’danz started to say when the intercom
whistled.
“Bridge, this is
sickbay,” said the voice of the chief medical officer. “It didn’t work! Nothing hap…!” Unexpectedly, MacMillan’s voice was replaced
by the sounds of a scuffle and some muted cursing.
“Doctor? Doctor MacMillan, please respond!” Koester
requested. When nothing more could be
heard, the captain turned to Colonel McIntyre and ordered, “Take a squad and
get down there, Mack!” The Colonel
acknowledged the order and quickly disappeared into the turbolift.
“Captain!”
exclaimed Dar from the engineering console.
“I’m detecting unauthorized use of the transporter in both cargo bays
one and two!”
“Override it,
Commander!” Koester ordered. Dar worked
furiously at his console for several seconds.
“I managed to
shut down the cargo transporter in cargo bay one, but the transporter in bay
two had already started the materialization process.”
“Security to cargo
bays one and two. Seal off the areas and
detain anyone or anything you find there,” Koester ordered through the intercom
before turning to Lt Commander Winters at ops.
“Phillip, seal off deck ten.”
“Deck ten is
sealed. No one but the security squads
can get in. Nothing can currently get
out,” Winters confirmed.
“Exec, get Doctor
Kirk up here right away.”
*
* * *
Captain’s log,
stardate 62028.8:
When Colonel McIntyre
and his men arrived in sickbay, they found both Drake and Kafcos had managed to
break free of their restraints and attack Doctor MacMillan. The medical staff surmises that far from
killing the Neural Parasites, the ultraviolet light simply caused them great
pain, enough to boost their victim’s adrenalin levels to dangerous
concentrations, giving them the strength to overcome both the sedatives and
straps holding them to the biobeds.
After escaping
sickbay, both men rushed to the cargo bays, where Kafcos managed to beam aboard
an unknown number of the Neural Parasites, infecting dozens of my crew
including Lt Commander Setton Arbelo, Lt Commander Amanda Windsor, Ship’s
Counselor Tanzia Gera and, unfortunately, my daughter Gem.
Koester,
commanding Dauntless, out.
“Security is
conducting a thorough search of deck ten,” K’danz reported. The first officer sat in her seat to the
captain’s right, reading off the small console in front of her. On the other side of the captain, in the seat
normally occupied by the ship’s counselor, Doctor Peter Kirk listened to the
report. “So far Colonal McIntyre reports
they have contained six of the parasites and located four more crew members
that have been infected. The body armor
the Marines wear seems to be keeping them safe from the stingers the parasites
use to infect their victims, but Sickbay has run out of room to confine them
all.”
“Have Doctor
MacMillan and his staff sedate anyone that is found and then transfer them to
the aft shuttlebay,” Koester ordered, teeth clenched, a grim look on his face.
“Aye, sir. Do you want me to have MacMillan set up a
triage unit there?” K’danz asked.
“Negative. As difficult as it was to make this decision,
I can’t take a chance on losing my ship to these parasites.” Koester turned to look at Kirk as he said, “If
we can’t find some way to cure the victims and the people on Rhaandar, then I
have little choice. I will space
everyone who has been infected, including all of deck ten. You said these creatures need a spaceship to
move between star systems. That tells me
they cannot survive in vacuum.” He
turned back to see the look of shock on his first officer’s face. “If it comes down to it, it’s the only choice
left.”
“Cap’n!”
Commander Wallace said as he stepped out from behind the science console. “I jus’ received a report from T’Ashara. She’s confirmed what we suspected. The parasites have evolved. Ultraviolet light will no longer kill them.”
“Then we need to
find something that will, something that won’t kill the host, Commander,”
Koester said, starting to sound angry.
“The pilot of that Rhaandaran cargo ship somehow freed himself before
his ship was destroyed. If it wasn’t
ultraviolet light, what did it?”
“McIntyre to
bridge!” said the voice of the Security Chief.
“Go ahead,
Colonel,” K’danz responded.
“Commander, we
have a big problem. While I was
transferring Arbelo and
“Helm, break
orbit!” Koester commanded, surprising K’danz.
“Breaking
orbit. Heading, sir?” Ensign Breitling
asked.
“Straight toward
the star Rhaandar,” Koester ordered.
“But, sir… We’ll be destroyed!”
“And we’ll be
taking those parasites with us,” Koester confirmed. “Full impulse!”
As the Dauntless neared the star, the crew
tried to regain control of the parasitic infection, which had begun to spread
around the ship as those infected and free would liberate others who had been
restrained in either sickbay or the aft shuttlebay and who would then join in
trying to take over the starship, return it to the planet and bring aboard more
of the parasites.
“Distance to the
star?” K’danz inquired.
“Two million, two
hundred thousand kilometers,” Breitling reported.
Suddenly there
was a racket as two people rushed out of one of the turbolifts, one of them
headed directly for Breitling and the helm console while the other circled around
K’danz and the captain.
“We have to go
back!” the crewman in front of the two senior officers exclaimed. “We have to go back and get the rest!”
Meanwhile,
Breitling struggled with Arbelo, who was trying to change the starship’s course
and pull the surprised ensign out of his helm seat at the same time. Phillip Winters stood up at his own console,
his ever-present tan satchel sliding off his shoulder and into his chair as he
reached over and struggled with Arbelo as well.
On the main viewscreen, the Rhaandaran star moved away from the center,
indicating the starship had started moving off course.
Koester stood up,
but before the crewman in front of him could hold him back, he let swing a
punch across the man’s chin, knocking him unconscious to the deck where Chief
Kyman quickly pressed a hypospray full of sedative to his neck. Then the captain stepped forward just as
Arbelo managed to pull Breitling away from his console. The captain grabbed the
Vulcan-Terran-Efrosian ops officer by his uniform collar and flung him toward
the doors of the ready room where he then tackled Arbelo long enough for Kyman
to sedate him as well.
“Get us back on
course, Ensign,” Koester ordered as Breitling slipped back into his seat and
K’danz and the
“
“Steady as she
goes,” Koester confirmed.
“Radiation levels
are increasing throughout the ship,” Winters added. “Currently seven rem and rising.”
“Cap’n, the
metaphasic shields have just gone up,” informed Commander Wallace. Almost immediately the air temperature on the
bridge decreased. “Internal temperature
returning to twenty one degrees Celsius.”
“Metaphasic
shield temperature has increased to two thousand degrees Kelvin and rising,”
Winters reported.
“Sickbay to
bridge!”
“Bridge. Go ahead, Doctor,” K’danz replied.
“What just happened? Did you do anything unusual up there?”
MacMillan demanded to know.
“We’re entering
the photosphere of the Rhaandaran star, Doctor.
Why?” Koester asked.
“Because several
of the crew who were infected by parasites are no longer under their control.”
“Who? Where?” Koester asked with growing hope.
“Several of the
crew who were being held in the aft shuttlebay, including your daughter.”
“But not in
sickbay?” Koester asked.
“Negative. All the infected crew being held in sickbay
are still infected.”
New hope sprang
within the captain. He quickly turned to
Kirk and said, “Doctor, work with Mister Wallace. Figure out what happened in the aft
shuttlebay that didn’t happen in main sickbay.”
As Kirk joined
him at his console, Wallace started reading off statistics.
“Temperature in
sickbay was twenty nine point four degrees Celsius, aft shuttlebay was thirty
two point five. Air pressure in sickbay
seven six zero torr, in aft shuttlebay seven six five torr. Radiation levels five rem in sickbay, eighty
rem in aft shuttlebay…”
“Wait! Why so much of a difference in the radiation
level between the two places?” Koester asked.
“Probably because
sickbay is deep within the primary hull, one of the safest places on the
ship. The aft shuttlebay is obviously
closer to the external sections.”
“Doctor! The ship was exposed to a high level of
radiation for a brief moment before the metaphasic shields kicked in. Could that be what killed the parasites?”
Koester asked.
Doctor MacMillan
rushed into the med lab just off main sickbay, where Commander T’Ashara
continued to perform tests on the parasite being held there.
“T’Ashara, expose
the creature to eighty REM of ionizing radiation.”
“Aye, Doctor,”
the Vulcan woman replied before placing the container with the parasite inside
a test chamber and locking the door. She
set the controls for eighty REM, then activated the chamber. Several seconds later, she removed the
container from the chamber and placed it under the diagnostic sensor. The parasite inside smoked slightly but
otherwise pulsed as normal, almost like it was breathing hard.
“The creature is
still alive, though injured,” T’Ashara reported.
“I don’t
understand it,” MacMillan fumed. “What
will kill these creatures?”
T’Ashara
continued to study the readings, her eyebrow raising when she noticed a
convergence on the various tests.
Without a word, she lifted up the container again and placed it back
into the test chamber. She entered
several more commands into the control panel.
MacMillan was about to ask the Vulcan science officer what she was
doing, but thought better of it when it seemed T’Ashara had retreated into a
world of her own. Almost a minute later,
she opened up the test chamber once again, lifting out the container. MacMillan was amazed to see the burned and
seared remains of the parasite on the bottom of the vessel.
“What…? What did you do?” MacMillan asked in
amazement.
“I subjected the
parasite to a combination of both ionizing radiation and UV light. As I suspected, the parasites have not
completely evolved past their susceptibility to ultraviolet radiation. When combined with the ionizing radiation,
the creature’s external membrane breaks down and the nucleus is destroyed.”
The doctor was
filled with excitement as he tapped his combadge.
“Bridge, this is
MacMillan. We’ve got it!”
“What’s the
answer, Doctor?” Koester asked.
“The parasites
are resistant to either UV or stellar radiation alone, but in combination it will
kill them!”
Koester looked
over at Wallace and Kirk and asked, “Can we adjust the metaphasic shields to
allow in just enough ionizing radiation to kill the parasites without frying
ourselves?”
“It’ll take a few
minutes, bu’ it can be done,” Wallace agreed.
“Great. Doctor MacMillan, move all the infected crew
to the aft shuttlebay as soon as possible, then prepare a dosage of hyronalin
for dispensing through the air circulation system,” Koester ordered.
“Aye, Captain,”
MacMillan replied. “I can have the
dosage ready in ten minutes. The
infected crew in the shuttlebay in five.”
“Very good,
Doctor. Bridge, out.” The captain then looked back at Wallace and
said, “Prepare the shields, Alasdair.”
“Aye, sair,”
Wallace replied.
Less than fifteen
minutes later, everything was prepared.
“Are you going to
circulate the hyronalin before we alter the shields, Peter?” K’danz asked.
“No,” Koester
replied. “I don’t want to take the
chance it would help the parasites before the radiation can take effect.” He then looked toward his chief science
officer and ordered, “Alasdair, activate the shield alteration and UV
lighting.”
Almost
immediately, the lighting dimmed once again to a deep purple glow while the
perceivable temperature inside the ship started rising.
“Radiation levels
increasing. Seven REM and rising,” Chief
Kyman reported.
“Interior
temperature is now thirty two degrees and rising,” Winters added.
The crew
continued to wait, sweat forming on the brows of almost everyone on the bridge
except Winters.
“Is it working?”
K’danz asked hopefully.
“I’m sure Doctor
MacMillan will let us know if it does,” Koester assured.
“Radiation level
now forty five REM and rising,” Kyman added a few seconds later.
“Temperature at fifty
degrees Celsius and stabilizing,” added Winters.
“Come on, Doctor,
report in!” the captain implored.
Several more
seconds had passed, almost a full ninety seconds since the alteration of the
metaphasic shields started allowing radiation to flood the starship.
“Radiation level
now seventy five REM and rising. We’re
getting close to lethal levels, Skipper,” Kyman warned.
“Very well,
It took a few
seconds, but finally the Scottish brogue of the chief medical officer
responded.
“Here,
Cap’n. It worked! The parasites have all been killed off!
Everyone who was infected is cured.”
“Release the
hyronalin! Metaphasic shielding to
full!” Koester ordered quickly, not even closing the intercom with
MacMillan. As quickly as he could,
Wallace restored the shields that protected the starship from the star’s corona
and then started pumping the anti-radiation drug into the air circulation
systems. A faint mist could be seen
emerging from the vents around the bridge.
“Internal
temperature returning to normal levels,” Winters confirmed. “Forty degrees Celsius and dropping.”
“Helm,” Koester
said, wiping sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his uniform jacket. “Set a course back to Rhaandar.”
“Aye, aye, sir,”
Breitling replied with a smile.
*
* * *
Captain’s log,
stardate 62034.3:
Once we returned
to orbit, it took a day before Doctor MacMillan, Commander Dar and both their staffs
could rig together satellites that would be able to flood the surface
environment with both ionizing radiation and ultraviolet light.
“Engineering
reports we’re ready to deploy satellite constellation, Captain,” Chief Pono
Kyman reported from his post at mission ops.
“Very well. Take the ship to yellow alert,” Koester
ordered.
“Aye, Skipper,”
K’danz responded from her seat to the captain’s right as she altered the ship’s
alert status. A moment later Doctor
MacMillan emerged from one of the turbolifts.
“Are we ready,
Doctor?” Koester asked the chief medical officer.
“All set,
Cap’n. Since th’ radiation an’ UV levels
will not be as strong as what we experienced in th’ star’s corona, we’ll have
to let the satellites do their job for at least twelve hours before we seed the
atmosphere with synthetic hyronalin. If
it all works, the surface should be free of the parasites within twenty four to
thirty six hours.”
Koester turned to
the man sitting in the VIP chair to his left.
“Doctor Kirk, would
you like to lead the team that will assure our mission here is successful?”
Peter Kirk Jr.
nodded as he looked back at the main viewscreen, where the green-hued planet
slowly spun below them. “Yes,
Captain. I believe I would.”
“COB,” Koester said,
looking past Kirk to where Chief Kyman sat.
“Deploy the satellites.”
Moments later,
the clamshell doors of the Marine hanger bay at the aft end of the engineering
hull opened and every one and a half minutes a modified RAD-UV satellite was
launched until a constellation of two hundred and fifty orbited Rhaandar.
*
* * *
More than a day
later, an away team from the Dauntless
including Doctors Kirk and MacMillan, Commander K’danz and Lieutenant Ka’Dan, all
wearing anti-contamination suits, materialized in the same plaza where they had
first arrived almost a week earlier.
K’danz was happy to see several of the planet’s native inhabitants
already out in the open sunlight again, starting to clean up the damage they
had caused while under the influence of the neural parasites. They paused when they noticed the arrival of
the away team.
“Welcome to
Rhaandar,” one of the older men said as he approached the team. “Are you the ones responsible for freeing us
from the creatures?”
“Yes. Yes we are,” K’danz said as Doctor MacMillan
started scanning the Rhaandaran with his medical scanner. Meanwhile, Doctor Kirk scanned the vicinity
with a tricorder, looking specifically for the signatures of the neural parasites. His smile could be seen through the
transparent face of his suit.
“I’m not
detecting any of the parasite life signs, Commander,” Kirk reported.
“No indications
of any residual symptoms of the parasites,” MacMillan added. “They’re clean.”
K’danz smiled as
well as she tapped the combadge on the outside of her suit as the rest of the
team removed their hoods. “K’danz to Dauntless.”
On the bridge,
Captain Koester had been studying the information on a padd, a frown on his
face, before touching the communications control. “Bridge.
Go ahead, Exec.”
“It worked,
Skipper. The parasites are all dead.”
Doctor Kirk’s
voice joined K’danz on the communicator.
“It’s over,
Captain! After two lifetimes, we’ve
finally beaten them!”
“Yes,” Koester agreed,
taking another look at the screen of his padd, which displayed indications that
one other small ship had departed Rhaandar less than a day before the Dauntless had arrived, destination
unknown. “We’ve beaten them.”
The End
Return to 2385.
Return to Stories Archive.