The Huygens Incident (Pt. 3 of 3)

Posted on Saturday February 9th, 2019 @ 23:49 hours by Mayterial Droz

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Main Bridge, Deck One, U.S.S. Huygens
Timeline: Stardate: 72830.9
1452 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Previously:
"The warp core." Both starfleet officers came to the same conclusion in unison, they immediately rushed for the Jefferies tube they had both crawled out of. They needed to stop it before the damage would become catastrophic to the Huygens.

And now, the conclusion:

It hadn’t taken them long to make their way down the Jefferies tube, even though this time they had to go down six decks to get where they were going. They descended one after the other through the cramped crawl spaces between the decks. The light of the PaDD was enough to give them an idea of where they were in relation to each other. It also made it easier to navigate the corridor once they got there. The ship shuddered as they approached main engineering. The darkness gave way to a purple hue around the corner. The steady hum of the warp core struggled, a tangible stutter in the power supply. A second of absolute silence, then the hum returned.

“We need to get it contained. We need to get it out of there.” James seemed determined to save the vessel. So far they had come across at least two dozen dead officers on their way here. The creature, whatever it was, destroyed everything in its wake, “Any ideas?”

“What are you looking at me for?” Naylaa quirked an eyebrow, she wasn’t a biologist, nor was she an engineer. Nothing about this whole ordeal seemed like her speciality. “Look, I think we should just take a lifeboat and evacuate.”

“We need to make sure it’s contained here though. What if after this it goes after the next vessel, and the next. Is it simply feeding or is it growing and continuing to grow and threaten more than just a small science vessel?” James clenched his jaw and was adamant about the need to investigate and neutralise, “What if we try and find some way to communicate, or perhaps look if we can find a frequency to offset their frequency.”

“I really don’t have a good feeling about this, James.” No sooner had Naylaa said that or the hum died off again. Longer this time. For a moment both of the Starfleet officers felt their feet slowly float off the ground before landing back down with a thud, “It’s starting to affect life support and artificial gravity.” There was a slight quiver of panic in her voice.

“Now or never then.” James grabbed the PaDD and ran a programme, reconfigured it for a moment and rounded the corner. “You just wait here, I’ll be right back.”

“No! What the hell are you talking about!”

It was already too late, James rushed around the corner and disappeared from sight. The purple light coming out of engineering was pulsing, stronger now than the moment they had entered this section of the ship. The lifeboats were only a floor below them. The crackle of the creature seemed to become louder, or perhaps Naylaa had become more aware of it. Suddenly she heard a sound like the crack of a whip. Then again the hum of the warp core and the electrical current roaming freely.

James came back around the corner, he seemed to be in pain. And lots of it. He looked at Naylaa, sadness in his eyes and he coughed once, smoke emanated from his mouth. The hair on the left side of his face and head singed by heat. He dropped to his knees and reached for her, the PaDD in his hand as dead as any of the other devices on the ship. That’s when the life in his eyes left him and he dropped forward. Only then did it become clear what had happened, his entire back was caved in and charred black. Whatever was in engineering it had struck him in the back and done fatal damage. It was a wonder he had made it this far back.

“James! You damn fool!” Naylaa was stuck between a moment of grief and feeling absolutely lost. Until today space had seemed so inviting with new worlds and new civilisations. To boldly go. Now everyone around her had died. A creature or a spatial phenomenon. Without so much as a second thought. No mal intent. Nothing sinister. Simply a being that was awoken by their curiosity and out of instinct latching on to the Huygen’s strong energy signature. She turned and started to run. She had to get to the life pod. She had to get back to Starfleet. They had to contain this. Mark this patch of space as unsafe. Quarantine it. She rushed through the dark corridor and almost stumbled in the fading light. The further away from engineering she got the less residual light remained. She came back to the Jefferies tube entrance that her and James had crawled out of. Idiot James, why did he have to go in like that? What had been the point? The tears in her eyes was making it hard to focus on the rungs in her hands and under her feet. She had to keep going. She had to get out of here. The climb down to the last deck was a fast one. She kicked the panel out and pulled herself free into the corridor. The lights in this section struggled to stay on and the emergency red hue didn’t do anything to make her feel more comfortable. The smell of burned electronics had gone, the smell of burnt hair still lingered in her nostrils. She suppressed gagging due to the smell. She rushed to the end of the hallway and could now see the escape pod, not twenty meters away from her.

All of a sudden the light went black and she felt herself come free from the floor. Perhaps this was the moment the warp core failed. Her momentum carried her forward and upward and for a second she helplessly flailed her arms and legs trying to continue her path to the escape pod. A stutter as the auxiliary power kicked in and the grav plating came back online. Her upward trajectory was immediately cut short and she crashed to the ground, being able to catch herself on her elbows and one knee. A shot of pain coursed through her joints as she pushed herself up from the ground. She sprinted the last ten metres and punched her hand into the console to open the doors to the life pod. It didn’t respond. She clawed at the panel and ripped it aside to reveal the manual release. The doors hissed. Not a moment too soon as the lights around her flickered, she heard the hull of the ship creak and moan, it was probably still slowly spinning around itself and with the structural integrity fields now being drained of power as well it would only be a matter of time before the extensive damage to the ship’s superstructure would make it collapse in on itself. Naylaa looked back one more time before stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She put her hand on the console in the pod and immediately initiated the launch and the emergency beacon.

The shudder from the escape pod almost made her lose her balance again but this time she was prepared. She looked through the small window to see the ship, with in the background the black cloud they had been studying. None of the lights in the windows or on the outer hull were still giving off any light. She saw pieces of the hull and the bridge floating around the slowly spinning Nova class ship. An unworthy end for such a majestic vessel she thought to herself. She saw a crack run across the bow before the escape pod fired its thrusters to turn and set off on a course in the direction of the nearest Federation signal. A bright flash In the corner of the window was visible, Naylaa could only imagine what was left of the Huygens. She stumbled back and landed in one of the seats of the pod. Her heart was racing, her breath stuck in her throat, a pounding headache only made worse by the sheer panic. Her hands shaking with adrenaline that refused to dissipate. Through her window she could see the universe. A black silk sheet with thousands of pinpricks of bright light. Each of them suns. Distant worlds that were promised to her when they recruited her for the fleet.

In an instant the darkness was replaced by a bright purple flash and all that was taken from her.

[The End]