I
The USS Avalon is currently traveling at Warp 8 in order to catch up to and retain a beacon. Starfleet is showing great interest in the information gather, and has sent the Avalon to retrieve it. Captain Freija Brynn exits her ready room, and takes her seat in the captain’s chair. Sitting next to her is her executive officer, Commander Sekona Bishop, who is hard at work. “Commander, what is the status of the beacon?”
“We have almost caught up with it.” Bishop pulls out a padd. “As you can see, we should catch the beacon in approximately 4 minutes, and then we should be able to tractor it into shuttle bay 2.”
“Make the preparations. I am going to go down and have a look with the team.” She starts to get up.
“Yes ma’am. We’ll notify you when we are ready.” Bishop begins to make preparations with Lt. Commander Kain, the tactical officer, and Lt. Junior Grade Riker, the helmsman.
Captain Brynn arrives in shuttle bay to find Lt. Commanders Michael Everest and Anthony Rivas making preparations. “Bishop tells me that we have about 3 minutes left now.”
Everest looks up. “Captain… may I ask why Starfleet is so interested in the beacon?”
“Actually I was given that information. Admiral Hawke contacted me and told me that Starfleet command was very interested in the data that it contained.” She walks over to Rivas. “Is the containment area ready?”
Rivas turns around. “Yes it is. The forcefield should be enough to keep everyone out.”
“I just hope that the admiralty asked it be secured like this to keep people out, rather than keeping something in.” Starts to shake her head. “I really wonder why they don’t want us checking this thing out to save time. But we have our orders.” Brynn’s commbadge begins to beep, so taps it. “Go ahead.”
Bishops voice comes over the comm., “We are ready to begin. Are you ready down there?”
“Begin the sequence. Brynn out.”
Riker matches the Avalon’s speed to the speed of the beacon. Lt. Commander Kain locks onto the beacon with the tractor beam and beams it into shuttle bay 2, where Lt. Commander Everest erects a forcefield around the beacon.
Brynn taps her commbadge, “We have it. Set a course for Starbase 7.
” Out of the corner of his eye, Lt. Commander Everest sees something move away from the beacon toward a Jeffries tube junction. “Hey Rivas, did you see something running away from the beacon?”
“Not possible,” Rivas says while shaking his head. “The forcefield is already up. So there is nothing getting in or out of 3 foot area around the beacon.”
Everest shaking his head, “I guess you’re right. Maybe I am just seeing things. I have been overworked today.”
Brynn walks over to Everest and Rivas. “You’re right, you both have been working very hard today. Once you finish up in here, why don’t you take the rest of your shift off. I can call you if something major happens.”
“Yes ma’am!” They both reply with excitement detected in their voices.
In holodeck 6, Yeoman Zachary Sharpe is running a holoprogram in which his is fighting side by side with one of his ancestors in an ancient earth war. Unknown to him, a small lizard creature has reached a panel of the holodeck he is in, and with an acidic spit, has cut through the panel and is now in the holodeck.
Sharpe is charging the enemy line when he notices that a fluxuation in the program and asks the computer to halt program and close it. He is surprised to find that the lizard is still there.
“What is that? Computer have you ended all programs.” He moves to the control panel and opens a comm signal to engineering. “Lieutenant Carlson, I am having problems in holodeck 6. Send someone down to fix it.”
The lizard simply sits there looking at Yeoman Sharpe. But when Sharpe approaches, it begins to hiss, and spits some acid that hits his shoe and starts to burn a hole in it.
“Whoa! What the heck?” He quickly backs away.
An assistant engineer enters the holodeck. “Cadet Nick Sharp at your service. So what seems to be wrong?”
“Well I noticed a flux in the program I was running, so I shut it down, but that thing,” he points at the lizard, “is still here, and it seems that the safeties were somehow turned off.”
Nick pulls out his tools and starts to check the control panel. “Diagnostics show that there is nothing wrong with the system and that the safeties are on. But there seems to be some damage to an emitter over there.” Sees a hole, and moves to investigate. “It looks like it was eaten away by a corrosive.”
“The lizard!” He quickly spins around to find that it is gone. He sees a hole in the bottom holodeck doors. He pulls out the sword he was using for the holoprogram and bolts out the door and sees the lizard running down the hall. “Computer, we have an intruder.”
The engineer follows Yeoman Sharpe down the hall after the lizard. It stops and spits at Sharpe, but he dodges the acid and it hit the engineer in the leg. It starts to eat away at his leg and he falls to the ground. With a swift move, Sharpe darts in and cuts the lizard’s head off.
He then moves to help the engineer. “Yeoman Sharpe to sickbay, we have a medical emergency.” He hits his commbadge again. “Captain, there is something down here you may wanna take a look at.”
“On may way.” And Captain Brynn starts for Sharpe’s location.
Captain Brynn and the chief science officer, Yeoman Alighieri, arrive on the scene as Cadet Nick Sharp is taken to sickbay. Brynn walks up to Sharpe. “What happened here?”
Sharpe points to the lizard. “That thing attacked me in the holodeck. When I and the Cadet pursued it when it ran, it spit some acid and hit the cadet in the leg.”
Has a concerned look on her face. “Any idea where it came…”
“Sorry for the interruption captain. Zach… where is the head?” Asks Alighieri.
“What do you mean?” Looks where the head was. “But it was right there. It couldn’t have just gotten up and walked away.” Sharpe starts running down the corridor. He finds a small hole in the wall leading into a jeffries tube. “Captain, we have a problem.”
A few minutes later, the captain’s voice rings out all over the ship over the comm system. “Attention all crew. There is a lizard like creature loose on the ship. It is highly dangerous. If you encounter this creature, do not engage it. Call for security and they will handle it.” A few hours pass without incident, until there is a call from Lieutenant Zoe Carlson down in engineering.
“Captain, that lizard thing is engineering somewhere. It just attacked three of my assistants. We need help down here.” The communication suddenly dies.
“Sharpe, Kain, Riker… get going.” She calls down to Rivas and Everest telling them to meet the guys in engineering.
Sharpe draws his phaser just as they reach the entrance. “You two should be careful. This thing has the ability to spit acid and can obviously regenerate its body. Set phasers for kill.”
Riker nods and opens the door to engineering, and quickly moves to help the injured. “Zoe… are you ok?”
Kain moves in and starts to search for the lizard. Sees and injured engineer and drags him out of engineering.
“Where are you, you crummy little lizard?” He sees a drop of acid drop from the ceiling. Looks up to see the lizard trying to eat a hole through the coolant tanks. “Everyone get out of here now!” Everyone begins to run out of engineering, and Sharpe stops at a panel to shut down the engines and begin the seal off process. The doors begin to close and he starts to run out. But the lizard spits at him hitting him in the leg. So he trips, and the doors of engineering crush his leg. “AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Everest and Rivas arrive at that moment and start to help Sharpe get loose. Rivas grabs one of the medical officers. “He needs to get to sickbay now.”
Everest, Rivas, Kain, and Riker return to the bridge, and they all take their seats. Rivas turns to the captain. “We can’t run the engines because that thing ruptured a coolant tank, and we don’t wanna fry the engines. Although the coolant should have killed that thing, whatever it was.”
Brynn sighs. “Any injuries?”
“Unfortunately Sharpe, Carlson, and most of the engineers had injuries caused by that lizard.” Rivas shakes his head. “How could something so small cause so much trouble?”
Bishop turns toward tactical “Send a subspace message to Starbase 7 informing them of what has happened and tell them we need a tow.”
“Already working on the message.” Kain finishes the message and send it to Starbase 7.
Riker spins around in his chair. “Any clue as to where it may have come from?”
“I knew I saw something!” Spins toward the captain. “I saw something scurry away from the beacon when we brought it aboard, but Rivas told be there was no way anything got out of that forcefield.”
Brynn scratches her head. “I guess its possible, and would explain why we had never seen it until now.”
Kain gets a beep on his panel. “Vice Admiral Addison says that they are sending the Concorde to tow us back.”
“Ok.” Brynn stands up. “Alighieri, you have the bridge.” Moves to the turbolift. “Come on people, let’s get something to eat. Its gonna be a while.
Hours pass, and repairs to engineering have begun. The bridge crew has eaten and is relaxing at their posts as the Concorde pulls into sensor range. Kain perks up at he notices this.
Gets a beep on the panel. “Captain. The Concorde is here, and Captain Sarkadov is hailing us.”
Brynn nods. “On screen.” Sarkadov appears on the view screen. “Greetings Vincent. Long time, no see. We seem to be in a bit of a predicament here.”
Sarkadov shifts in his seat. “What happened to cause you to lose engines?”
“Well you see,” Brynn smirks a little, “Well, this little lizard cause all the damage that put us out of commission.”
“Why does that sound…” Sarkadov is quickly interrupted by Commander Doran Slurp.
“Did you say lizard!?” He asks with a very concerned look on his face.
“Yeah, I said lizard. But it was killed when it knocked a hole in the coolant tanks is engineering.” She starts to show a little concern.
Slurp moves down next to Sarkadov. “Don’t you remember?” He turns back toward the screen. “Captain you are in serious danger. There is now way that thing is dead. We dealt with another one just like it over a year ago. We almost didn’t make it out alive. You need to find it, and find it fast!”
Brynn just shakes her head. “Your concerns are noted, but I seriously doubt that thing could have survived, an explosion like that.”
“No captain, you’re wrong. And…” His statement is cut off by Sarkadov.
“Enough Commander!” He turns back to Brynn. “I am sorry about that. He is a little overzealous at times. But even I agree with him. That thing is still there somewhere. I am going to send Slurp over to help you track that thing down, and also some engineers to help you with repairs.”
“Thank you for the assistance Vincent. I don’t think we will need Mr. Slurp, but if it will make you feel better, then he is welcome. Commander Bishop will meet your people in transporter room 3.” She nods to Bishop, and Bishop gets up and goes to the turbolift. “We should begin back toward Starbase 7, because the admiralty wants the package we are carrying as soon as possible.” Sarkadov nods. “Brynn out.”
Commander Slurp and a few technicians are transported over to the Avalon and find Bishop awaiting them in the transporter room. They all then proceed to engineering. The Concorde locks a tractor beam onto the Avalon and begins the trip to Starbase 7, traveling at warp 2.4. When they arrive in engineering, the technicians move to help the Avalon staff that is already working. Bishop and Slurp begin to look around for the remnants of the lizard’s body.
“Do you have any idea where that thing may be? Or at least a general area?” Slurp asks in an impatient way.
“Well we do have something to go on. Before Yeoman Sharpe made it out, the lizard spit some acid on his leg, and the explosion occurred just after the blast door closed. So it could not have been too far from this spot.” Bishop moves over to look behind a panel.
Slurp start to look along the wall left of the warp core and finds a hole in the wall that looks like it had been eaten away at. “Bishop! Over here! I may have found something bad.”
Bishop rushes over. “What do you got?”
Slurp points to the hole. “Now is this where it can in, or went out at? But this was definitely caused by the lizard, which tells me fully that it is the same kind we dealt with on the Concorde.”
Bishop examines the hole. “This is probably how it got in.”
One of the crewmen notices Slurp and Bishop examining the hole and walks over to them. “Excuse me commanders. I saw another hole similar to that near the junction for jeffries tube 45.”
Bishop and Slurp rush over to that tube entrance to find a hole eaten through it. “Now do you believe me Bishop.”
Bishop hits his commbadge. “Captain, we have a problem. Commander Slurp was right. We have two holes in engineering, which means that thing is still alive and loose on the ship. We are going to split up and try to track it down.” She Then turns back to Slurp. “I will follow this route and you follow the other.”
“Got it.” And Slurp rushes off to follow the hole that leads into another tube. As he begins to cut away enough wall to follow he hears Bishop scream. He rushes back and starts into the tube. He sees Bishop unconscious and then he sees the lizard. He draws his phaser and shoots the lizard with the maximum setting. The lizard bursts into flames and falls to the ground. He then grabs Bishop and starts for sickbay. Before exiting engineering he stops by a crewman. In just inside jeffries tube 45 there is a lizard. Grab it and lock into in the science officer with a level 10 forcefield around it.” The crewman nods, and Slurp heads for sickbay.
Slurp rushes into sickbay and places Commander Bishop on the table. “Doctor we need help over here. The commander is badly burned and needs help.” The doctor rushes over and begins treatment. Yeoman Sharpe and Lt. Carlson, who were already in sickbay from burns rush over as well.
“Commander!?” Carlson grabs Slurp by the arm, “What happened?”
“That crummy little lizard got the commander.” Pulls his arm free “But I got that little bugger. I had an engineer put it in the science office, under a level ten forcefield.”
Sharpe grabs his arm and spins him around. “Lets go. Well get rid of that thing once and for all.”
Slurp jerks his arm away. “Why do you insist on grabbing my arm? Anyway. If the doctor has cleared you then you can come with me.” The doctor nods and they proceed to the science office.
Upon arrival they see the lizard laying on an exam table with the forcefield up. However, the black burnt color was gone and the lizard’s skin was had returned to its normal green color.
Slurp starts to get excited. “Ok you two. Get your phasers set to maximum. hat thing is about to revive.”
“What?” Asks Carlson with a puzzled look on her face.
At that moment, the lizard awakens and tries to lunge at them, but slams into the forcefield. It tries again, and again. It draws back for a fourth time, and this time it slides straight through the forcefield like its not even there.
Slurp opens fire. “I told you.” However, the phaser seems to have no effect. “Come on, I need more fire power.”
Carlson and Sharpe draw their phasers and fire as well, and with the boost of power, the lizards falls dead… again.
They box it and move it to a cargo bay where they establish multiple forcefields of varying strength, and the suck the air out of the inner most one. Captain Brynn arrives in the cargo bay to try and resolve the situation.
Slurp approaches the captain. “We have to do something now.”
“I agree. But what? How do you kill something that seems to revive itself no matter what you do.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “why did this have to happen on my ship?”
Sharpe walks up to the captain. “May I make a suggestion.” Brynn nods. “Why don’t we place it in a probe and launch it into a star?”
“Hmmm…” Brynn rubs her chin. “That just might work. Isn’t that how you handled it the last time Slurp?”
“It is.” He says in a surprised voice. “I forgot about that part.”
“Its agreed then. We will stop and launch it into a star. You three prep the probe and handle that thing if it wakes up again, and I will go talk to Sarkadov.” She exits and makes her way to the bridge.
The team preps a probe and loads the unconscious lizard inside. The Concorde locates a star. The load the probe, and a few minutes later, they fire the probe into the star. After an hour more the coolant system is fixed. Slurp and the technicians return to the Concorde and it goes about normal business. The Avalon is about to jump to max warp, when a little green lizard grabs a hold of the hull. Then the Avalon makes its way to Starbase 7.
The End
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