Jim Kirk sat in the captain's chair on the Enterprise. It was the middle of the night, and he had been unable to sleep, so he came to the Bridge. The lights were much lower during the night, and it gave the Bridge a rather eerie look, but he was glad the lights were low right now because he thought maybe he would just sleep there in the chair.

While he sat there, he suddenly heard a…howl? Jim sat up straight. Hikaru Sulu was doing a late shift. He turned in his chair and looked at Jim. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Jim asked.

Sulu scowled at that. "Nothing." He turned his chair back around, but then they heard the howl again.

Sulu turned around slowly. "Captain…"

"I heard it," Jim interrupted. "There aren't…" He did not even finish that sentence. "We didn't pick up anything strange on our last stop, did we?"

"Not any wolves, Sir."

"Wolves?"

"Well, that was a howl."

Jim frowned. "You think someone's playing a weird trick on us?" he asked. "After all, it's only three days till Halloween."

Sulu frowned. "Halloween. I always hate this time of year."

"Why? It's kinda fun."

"Not when things like this start happening. We're in deep space, Captain. There are no wolves in…"

Just then, they heard the howl again. Jim leaned back in his chair. "I suppose since I'm the captain, I should go and check that out, right?" he asked.

"You're exactly right," Sulu replied. "I think that would be the captain's job."

"You're so brave."

"Thank you, Sir."

Jim rolled his eyes at that sarcasm. "You do realize that when I leave the Bridge, you'll be here alone, right?" he asked.

Sulu's slight smile faded. He opened a compartment beside the helm and took out a phaser. "I'm prepared," he said.

"Good luck."

Jim left the Bridge and walked out into the dimly lit corridor. He hated the night cycle sometimes, especially when something weird was going on. He walked slowly down the corridor wondering what could be on the ship that was making that noise. Why did it have to be so dark? He stopped at a weapons locker and got a phaser. He started walking again but then thought he might not want any of the crew to see him walking down the corridor with a phaser. Some of them were rather jumpy. He concealed the phaser under his shirt and started moving again.

As Jim rounded the next corner, suddenly Leonard McCoy was right in front of him. Jim thought he might have almost jumped a foot. "Bones! What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm walking down the corridor," Bones replied. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I'm an adult. I can stay up if I want."

"Sure." Bones was silent a moment as he stared at Jim. "What's going on? You're up to something."

"What are you talking about?"

"Wow. You must be really up to something."

"I am not."

"Then what are you doing?" Bones paused a moment. "Why are you carrying a phaser? We're not being attacked by Klingons, are we?"

"Of course not. We'd be on red alert."

"Then what are you doing?"

Just then, they heard the howl. Bones' eyes widened slightly. "What was that?" he asked.

"That's why I'm carrying a phaser and sneaking down the corridor."

Bones swallowed hard. "Sneaking is good."

HOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Jim, are we really going down there?" Bones asked.

"I'm the captain of this ship," Jim replied. "I can't be afraid of anything."

"Oh, I can think of a lot of things to be afraid of, and something howling on a ship in the middle of deep, uncharted space is one of them."

"What could be making that noise?"

"A prank?"

"If this is a prank, someone is going to have some severe discipline."

"Jim, it is almost Halloween. You can't punish someone for having fun."

"I can for scaring the wits out of me. Like you said, we're in deep space, and I have heard nothing about anyone doing anything like this, practicing any sort of plays or anything."

"Neither have I."

They started moving down the corridor again. They were both startled when they heard the howl again, and it seemed closer this time. "Jim, what kind of animals did they have on that planet we visited?" Bones asked.

"We didn't pick up any animals," Jim replied.

"Well, what if one sneaked aboard?"

"We'd have seen it or had some security breech."

"Would we? What if it's some ethereal creature that can evade cameras and sensors?"

"You're being paranoid."

"No, I'm not. We've seen some weird stuff out here in space, and I'm going to just expect the worst."

As they continued, they heard the howl again, and it seemed further away this time, and Jim realized they were descending into the lower decks of the ship. "Maybe I should call Spock and have him come down here in case we do run up on something down there," Jim said.

"Good idea," Bones replied. "Then he can fight it while we escape."

"Bones."

Jim took out his communicator. "Spock."

After a moment, Spock answered, "Yes, Captain."

"Are you up?"

"No. Is there a problem?"

"I'm not sure. I think you should come down here. Deck ten."

"I will be there shortly, Captain."

"Bring a phaser with you."

Jim and Bones stood there waiting until Spock arrived. "Captain, is there an intruder?" Spock asked.

"I'm not sure, Spock," Jim answered.

Just as he said that, they all heard the howl. Spock looked down the corridor. "Now, you see what's going on?" Bones asked.

"Jim, have you seen what is doing this?"

"No," Jim said. "I've heard it a few times."

Spock joined them as they continued down the corridor. They finally came to the cargo bay which was truly dark during the night cycle of the ship. They peered into the darkness and could see nothing…at first. Then they saw two glowing red eyes staring at them from the other side of the cargo bay.

Whatever the creature was, it made it clear that it was what had been howling because it stood up on its hind quarters and howled. The sound was incredibly loud in the cargo bay. Spock started to stun the creature, but with a sudden swift movement, it was no longer where they had seen it.

"Where did it go?" Jim whispered.

They listened and could hear footfalls and slight growling and grunting as the creature moved. "Lights," Jim said.

The lights suddenly came on full power and were dazzling after being in such darkness. They moved on into the cargo bay keeping their phasers ready but they did not see the creature until Jim looked up and realized it was standing atop a stack of crates. "Look out!" Jim yelled as he realized it was about to jump down on them. He shoved Bones out of the way as the creature jumped down right in front of them.

Jim was horrified as he saw the creature before him which looked like a cross between a wolf and a human. It had red eyes and teeth that looked like they could bite through anything. It was taller than all of them and slobbered as it snarled. At that moment was when Jim saw the claws on the creature's paws.

Jim jumped back as the creature took a swat at him, snagging his shirt. He landed on the floor and rolled to his left and came back to his feet. Spock was attempting to get a good aim at the creature but it was making it difficult as it kept swatting at him with its monstrous claws. It headed straight for Jim and he barely got out of its way as it ran past him and made it out the door of the cargo bay.

"Red alert!" Jim yelled.

The ship began blaring an alarm. He pressed the button on the wall for the communication system. "Attention, all personnel! Stay in your quarters except for security personnel! We have a…creature loose on the ship! All security personnel report to your stations and report anything unusual to Mister Spock!"

Jim ended that transmission. "Well, that should create a panic," Bones remarked.

"This is serious!" Jim declared. "That thing could kill someone."

"How should we go about trapping it?" Spock asked. "It seems to be skilled at evading."

They hurried out into the corridor which was still dark, and was now flashing with red. "We need to make sure it doesn't get onto the Bridge," Jim declared. "Get security up there and seal that Bridge."

Spock was on his communicator as he hurried to the turbo lift. Jim looked at Bones. "Let's see if we can get a better weapon," Jim said. He went to the weapon's locker and got a phaser rifle. "You should take one too."

"You know how I feel about shooting at living things," Bones replied.

"This living thing can rip you to pieces and anyone else on this ship. Now, get a phaser. That's an order."

Bones got a phaser and set it to stun. It definitely was not the first time he ever had to use a phaser but that did not mean he liked it. He followed Jim as they continued down the corridor. They met some security personnel along the way but none of them had seen the creature. "How could it get through here without anyone seeing it?" Jim asked.

"Maybe it took another route," Bones replied.

They turned back and went another way. This time, they found two security guards lying in the floor. Bones hurried over to them. One of them had been slashed across the face, and the other looked like he had been bitten on the neck. Bones looked at Jim. "They're dead," he said.

Jim frowned. "Now, it's killed two people," he said quietly. "It can't hide in this ship forever."

Bones stood up. "How did it get aboard this ship?"

"And when?"

They both considered that. "It must have come along with the supplies we picked up on our last stop," Jim said. "That's the only way it could have gotten onto the ship."

"I guess that's why it was in the cargo bay. You think it ate some of our stores?"

Jim blew out a breath. "Let's hope not…but where is it now?"

"That's a good question."

"Let's check out the cargo bay and find out if it's been staying in there."

Jim and Bones moved back to the cargo bay to inspect it more. As they moved around the crates that contained their newly acquired stores, they could see that some of them had definitely been ripped open. Jim touched the large claw marks on the crates. He showed Bones his hand as he realized there was some sort of slime. "Look at that," Jim said.

Bones scanned Jim's hand. "It's some sort of biological compound…like a pheromone," he said.

"A pheromone? Like a…mate pheromone?" Jim tried to wipe the slime off his fingers.

"No. I don't think so. I think it's something that creature can smell though."

"For what?"

"Maybe to track its next meal? To track its next victim? Who knows?"

"You always have to think of the worst, don't you? You think it will track me?"

"How should I know? I don't even know what sort of creature it is, nor what its habits are."

"Well, it had to get onto the ship with those stores, so if we go back where we got them, maybe we can get it to leave the ship."

"Jim, it doesn't look exactly like a creature I have ever seen, and what if they don't want it back there?"

"They'll have to take it anyway. We're not cleaning up any messes for anyone."

They left the cargo bay and headed back to the Bridge. Bones went back to the medical bay to see if anyone had reported there wounded. Spock was on the Bridge when Jim arrived. "I think that creature came aboard with the stores," Jim said. "It ripped open some crates in the cargo bay that we didn't see before. We need to take that thing back where we got it."

"Captain, there are no more reports of anyone seeing the creature, and it is not appearing on any of the security cameras," Spock replied.

"Which means what?"

"It is logical that it has either developed a way to avoid appearing on them, or it has gone into the access tubes, or it is not what we think it is."

Jim scowled at that. "What does all that mean?"

"As we know, we have seen many strange occurrences while we have been in deep space."

"I think this would range up there right among the strangest."

"It is possible that this creature is not from a planet."

"What are you saying, Spock? Are you saying it's a werewolf? That one of the crew has become a werewolf? I don't happen to think that's possible. Werewolves are myths."

"I agree. However, we are in space, and some of the crew did visit the planet. We must inquire of the doctor whether he treated anyone of injuries."

Jim frowned. "Surely he would report something that weird."

"It would most likely not seem weird."

"Alright. You stay here and I'll go ask him."

Jim left the Bridge and went to the medical bay where Bones was examining one of the dead security officers. "Bones, did you treat anyone for a wound while we were on our last planet?" Jim asked.

"What?" Bones asked.

"Like…a bite wound or scratch or anything?"

Bones considered that. "I think so." Bones went to the computer terminal and looked up his records of treatments. "Yes. Ensign Barrows went on a hike while we were there, and he had a scratch on his chest and he escaped from whatever it was." Bones looked at Jim. "Why are you asking?"

"Something Spock brought up," Jim replied. "I'll talk to you later."

Bones watched Jim walk out of the medical bay. He had to wonder what they were thinking was going on, and why were they asking about injuries?