This is my first story, so please be nice! I will try to update as often as I can.
Also, authors work for reviews! Even a "nice" or "bad" is great!
Chapter 1:
"Captain."
"What is it, Mr. Sulu?" James T. Kirk, captain of the star ship Enterprise, asked. "Please, don't let it be another bird-of-prey full of Klingons wanting my head."
They were only a few months into a five-year journey through space. So far, they'd been attacked by the afore mentioned Klingons, almost melted a planet, and had a very strange encounter with creatures that encased themselves in metal shells. All of the crew was tired of surprises, and Kirk really hoped this wasn't another one.
Sulu shook his head. "I don't actually know what it is. There's a blip on radar that looks about the size of a cargo ship, but it seems to be… drifting."
Just then, Lieutenant Uhura spoke up from her station at communications. "Captian, I'm receiving a faint signal. It sounds like a distress call."
"Ok. Try to clear it up." Kirk turned and addressed his first officer. "Spock, is there any chance the signal could be coming from Sulu' s blip?"
The Vulcan thought for a moment. "Considering that there appear to be no other ships out here, I would say that the probability is high."
"A yes or no would've worked, Spock. Alright, Sulu, set course for the blip," Jim got up out of the chair. "Oh, and unless you want to come with me, Mr. Spock, you have the conn."
Instead of taking over, Spock followed Jim into the elevator. He had been in enough scenarios with the reckless captain to know when he was needed.
"Captain, where are we going?"
Kirk pushed the button for the medbay. "I thought it'd be obvious. I'm going over to that ship, and it would be logical to take a medic with us, in case any of it's crew require help. Unless you have a different plan?"
"Actually, that is exactly the course of action I would suggest taking"
The doors opened, cutting off what probably would've been a sarcastic remark from Kirk. The pair stepped into the room, and were immediately greeted by the Chief Medical Officer.
"What is it, Jim? Have you had another allergic reaction?"
The captain laughed, and even Spock raised an eyebrow. "Nothing so drastic, Bones. We've encounters a ship that seems to be adrift, and…"
"And you want me to come with you in case of casualties. Let me grab my bag."
A few minutes later, the trio arrived at the transporter room. Before they beamed over, Kirk addressed the small party.
"We don't know what we'll find over there. So, phasers set to stun. Are we ready?"
The engineer at the control panel nodded. "Beaming in 5…4…3…2…"
The three men disappeared from the Enterprise. Moments later, they materialized in the cockpit of the cargo ship. They moved into a hallway and immediately stumbled over the body of one crew member. No one needed the trained eye of Dr. McCoy to tell that the man was dead.
His throat was cut, and at least one limb seemed to be broken. Most disturbingly, there were marks on his face that looked like they had been made with fingernails.
"Jim, what could have done this?" Bones asked.
Kirk just stepped over the body and kept walking. "I don't know, but… Oh, God."
Blocking the hall was a pile of bodies. There were about a half dozen of them. All had a cut across the neck, but others had broken bones, caved in chests, and snapped necks. A few had the claw marks seen on the first man.
"Mr. Spock," Kirk was looking noticeably pale. "How many men would be required to crew this ship?"
When he answered, the Vulcan was quiet. "No more than ten men, Captian. It is highly unlikely we will find anyone alive. I suggest we return to the Enterprise before whatever attacked them attacked us."
"No. If there's even one person still alive, we need to help them."
The group turned around and headed back down the hall. They passed a recreation room, bedrooms, and the kitchen before coming to the cargo hold. There, they found another body and a cage. The door of the cage was opened.
"Jim, whatever thing was in there, I don't think it left anyone alive. Let's go." Bones was looking around nervously, as if the creature could jump out of the walls.
"Let me try one more thing." Kirk pulled out his comm. "Mr. Sulu!"
There was some static, then a voice. "Yes, Captain?"
"Scan the ship for any life forms. Let me know what you find."
"Ok. Scanning… scanning… it looks like there's something down the hall, to the right. First door on the left."
"Thanks, Sulu. Kirk out."
He looked up to two pairs of expectant eyes. Both his CMO and his first officer were staring at him with curiosity.
"There's someone down the hall." Kirk said, answering their unspoken question.
Dr. McCoy was incredulous. "We know that a monster is loose on board, and you want to go toward the only other life form on this boat!"
"Look at it this way, Bones. If it's the creature, we can capture it. But if it's a person…"
"Fine, but you two are going first."
They exited the cargo bay, first Spock, then Kirk, then McCoy. All three had their phasers out. When they reached the door, Kirk signaled for silence. He grabbed the knob, turned it, and threw open the door.
As soon as the door was fully open, Spock lifted his phaser and pointed it into the room. An automatic light clicked on. It appeared to be a storage space, filled with shelves and boxes. One of the freestanding shelving units moved, as if something had bumped it.
"We know you're there!" Kirk called. "Come out with your hands up."
Bones sighed. "That thing may not have had hands."
"I have hands." The new voice came from behind the shelves. "Please don't hurt me."
A form stepped out into the light, hands up as requested. As soon the person did, Kirk lowered his phaser. The person, a young girl, looked to be about 17. She had long brown hair and dark blue eyes. She was skinny, cut, and bruised, but clearly not a threat.
"A child." Spock was confused. "How did you get aboard this cargo ship?"
The girl laughed. "This smugglers ship, you mean."
She put her hands down and took a step forward. Suddenly, she wobbled, and started to fall over. Spock dropped his phaser and caught her. He set her gently on the deck.
"Thanks. I didn't know if anyone would hear that signal I sent out."
Kirk grinned. "Just doing our job. What did you mean by smugglers ship?"
"They're alien traffickers. They capture rare aliens, then sell them to collectors and circuses and… other places."
"Jim, I hate to interrupt," McCoy sounded like he was eager to do so. "But we're on a ship with a dangerous beast. We need to go."
"Do you mean the thing that was in the cage?" The girl chuckled. "It's dead."
Three heads swung around to face her, disbelief clear in their expressions. None of them thought that the scrawny girl in front of them could have killed a creature that'd made such short work of the crew.
"How did you kill it?" Kirk asked.
She laughed again. "I didn't. One of the crew got in a fatal hit. But I threw it out one of the hatches, just to make sure. Can we go now? I'm starving."
"And you look like you need food." Dr. McCoy paused. "I fell horrible for not asking before, but what's your name?"
"Oh. I'm Stella. Nice to meet you. And you are?"
"I'm Dr. Leonard McCoy. That's Jim Kirk, and the pointy-ear is Spock."
"Charmed. Hey, I didn't hear a ship dock. How'd you get over here?"
Spock opened his mouth, about to start explaining exactly how the beaming capabilities on the Enterprise worked. Before he could go into full-on lecture mode, Kirk cut him off.
"We beamed over. And now it's time we got back. Can you stand?"
Stella grimaced, then got to her feet. "I'll be fine…." She started to sway, and Spock reached out to support her. "Ok, maybe not."
A slight smile tugged at Kirk's mouth. He pulled out his communicator.
"Kirk to engineering."
"Keptain!" The voice on the other side of the comm had a thick Russian accent.
The slight smile turned into another grin. "Chekov! Could you alert the medics, please? We're bringing in a wounded person."
"Vill do, keptian. Beaming een five, four, three…"
Stella uttered a cry of fear and clutched Spock as her body began to dissolve. Her cry trailed off a moment later, and the abandoned ship was left to drift the stars in silence.