Chapter 7
Atrophy
Chekov stood shivering in a quarantine cell on in the medical bay at the other end of the ship, his aunt lying still and bloodied on the cot beside him. He was too late.
'You bastards!' he screamed, banging on the glass. 'You promised me she'd be safe!'
Silence answered him, and he looked uneasily towards the centre of the room at the remains of his friends. Sulu, Griggs & Bones lay stretched out beside each other on silver tables, pale and still. Sick welled in his throat as he watched the blood drip from Bones' fingers to the floor.
He slid to the ground sobbing. What had he done?!
It must've been hours later when he heard screams from the hall outside. Soon after the medical bay doors slammed open and Chekov backed into the corner of the cell as two guards came in dragging something. Too scared to look up whilst they where there, his stomach lurched as he heard the thud of something being lifted onto the table closest to his cell. Shaking, he squeezed his eyes shut and didn't move until the doors slammed shut again and the guards voices faded into the distance.
Slowly looking up, Chekov was horrified to see that Scotty had been dumped unceremoniously beside his colleagues; his throat gaping and blood pooling on the floor. Every drop echoed unbearably. Unable to help himself, Chekov's stomach finally turned at the sight of his dead mentor's blank stare.
'Oh no, Mr Scott...' he moaned.
He looked down at his aunt, the shock still in her eyes, and he clenched his fists angrily.
'Yes sir, everything is ready,' announced a loud voice. Chekov looked up as the doors opened again and a Caspian wearing a white coat walked in followed by the big Caspian who had laughed as his aunt struggled under the choking grip of one of his cronies.
Two more cronies opened the quarantine door and grabbed his aunt.
'No, leave her alone!' Chekov shouted. A crony shoved him out of the way and he slammed his head against the glass. He groaned and watched as the cronies lifted his aunt onto a silver table.
'Don't touch her, you monsters!' he screamed in Russian. The Caspian's ignored him and the cronies left.
'As you can see, we have five humans all in various states of decomposition,' explained the doctor. 'Ranging from four days to about thirty minutes'
'Now the last time you tested this on a Caspian it worked for two weeks. Since a Caspian outlives a human five to one, it is my theory that this will be five times as effective on a human,' he continued. 'And possibly more than that on a fresh corpse'
'Ten weeks would be more than enough,' said the larger Caspian.
'Are you ready, Prince Avery?' the doctor asked. The larger Caspian, Avery, nodded and the doctor tapped on the screen and started recording.
'This is Doctor Padra Shevsky. Test one on the human known as Christian Griggs, dead for three days. Please note the body has achieved full secondary flaccidity'
Avery placed his palm over Griggs chest. Chekov watched, a pit of nervousness twisting in his stomach. What was he doing?
The Caspian was concentrating so much that when he jerked upright suddenly Chekov jumped in surprise. Avery roared in agony and Chekov covered his ears to drown out the pain. The Caspian fell to the ground, clutching his throat and the doctor rushed to help him up.
There was a beat, then Chekov screamed. The Caspian's looked at him before turning to Griggs, who had sat up and was rubbing his chest. The handprints on his neck faded and his crushed throat snapped back into place.
'What the hell?' Griggs whispered. The doctor quickly stuffed a Hypospray against his neck and Griggs fell back to the table with a loud crash.
Chekov watched the nurse's chest rise and fall as the doctor tended to the Caspian.
'That was better than last time, yes?' asked the doctor. The Caspian nodded, but still looked very weak. 'Shall we try again?'
Still pale, Avery stood over the body of Sulu.
'Test two on the human known as Hikaru Sulu, dead for twelve hours. Body has acheived full rigor mortis,' continued the doctor. Chekov watched Sulu this time, the scream of shock catching in his throat as the gash on Sulu's stomach healed. Unlike Griggs, Sulu shot upright as the Caspian fell to the floor, grabbing the Hypospray out of the doctor's hands and kicking him away.
'Sulu get me out of here!' shouted Chekov, banging on the glass. Sulu jumped off the table and jabbed the Hypospray into the doctor's neck. Avery tried to stand, but he was still weak and Sulu shoved him easily to the floor. Grabbing his sword, he brought it down on Avery's head with a crunch, splitting his forehead and showering the helmsman with dark green blood. Wrenching out the sword he slit the doctor's throat for good measure.
Checking quickly that there was no one else, Sulu raced over and let Chekov out of quarantine.
'What the hell just happened?' gasped Sulu. He ran a hand over his stomach, his uniform was torn and covered in dried blood. 'Was, was I dead?'
Chekov nodded. 'Come on, we've got to get out of here'
Sulu looked over at the other bodies and his face fell.
'Bones... oh god, Scotty,' he said sadly.
'Come on!'
'Why, they're not going anywhere,' Sulu said, turning to look at the one Caspian lying on the... 'Wait where did he-?'
Pain shot through his side as Avery swung at him with the sword, connecting with his right arm and shearing off a chunk of flesh. Sulu screamed in agony, desperately reaching for something he could use as a weapon with his left hand. Chekov grabbed a scalpel and slashed across the Caspian's back, distracting him as Sulu knocked the sword from his hand and rammed it into the Caspian's chest. Sulu and Chekov shoved him backwards into the quarantine room and locked him inside. Gripping the sword, Avery fell to his knees and passed out.
Grabbing the gun he had shot Bones with, Chekov felt a small wave of relief that the doctor had not been revived and exposed him as the traitor.
'Come on, we need to contact the Enterprise,' said Sulu, wrapping a bandage around his arm. 'We'll come back for them'
The pair ran through the ship cautiously, keeping an eye out for guards.
'Is anyone else from Starfleet on board?' Sulu asked in a quiet voice. Chekov thought of Anya, but shook his head.
'What is that thing?' Sulu asked. 'Why didn't he die? And why didn't I?'
He remembered the slash of the blade and the hot blood gushing out of his stomach before being engulfed by darkness. Before Chekov could even venture a guess, a shrill woman's scream cut through the silence.
Chekov's stomach fell as Sulu edged out into the corridor towards the sound. A door slammed shut up ahead, the screams continuing but more muffled. Sulu heard someone laughing over the screams.
Anya struggled against her bonds as the Caspian thug Nikolai tore her blue Starfleet uniform off and threw it to the floor. She screamed, her hands going numb as she desperately pulled at the ropes that held her wrists. A punch to the face silenced her and she fell back, dazed, the blood pounding in her ears.
The Caspian suddenly stopped and she looked up at him, the point of a dagger shining through the front of his chest. A jet of green blood fell on her, before her rapist was pushed to the floor. She squinted at the yellow-shirted figure before her.
'Sulu?'
The helmsman looked confused. 'Who are you?'
'Anya. I was sent from the Enterprise, but the Caspian's found me first' she said as he cut through the ropes binding her hands and feet. 'Thank you'
She stood and pulled the thug's knife from his belt, he was still breathing. Just. Still naked and covered in blood, she turned the Caspian over and plunged the knife into his throat triumphantly. His remaining years forced themselves down her throat, burning her eyes and chest. She stood and faced Sulu, her eyes now flashing a darker shade of crimson. What the hell?
He couldn't help but stare at her as she collected what was left of her uniform. Giving up after seeing it was barely more than scraps, she tore a strip of sheet from the end of the bed that had remained untouched and wrapped it around her in a makeshift toga. She looked ridiculous, but it would have to do.
'Are you ok?' Sulu asked, eying the blood that was drying down her legs. She blushed and used the rags to clean herself.
'I've had worse'
She finally saw Chekov in the corner of the room, who started and tried to run for it, but she was too quick for him. Tackling the teenager, she held the knife to his throat.
'Where's Bones, you traitorous bastard!' she demanded.
Sulu's knife suddenly pressed against her own throat. 'Let him go, Anya,' he said calmly.
'He's the mole, he's the reason you're all here,' she insisted. 'They got to him and he sold you out'
'Sulu she's crazy! That thing in quarantine is her son, she's trying to trick you!' begged Chekov.
Sulu didn't know who to believe.
'Anya please, I don't want to hurt you,' he said. 'Chekov is on our side'
'Not anymore. It's his fault that they nearly cut off Scotty's head,' she said, her hand shaking. 'They killed everyone, even you...'
She turned to look at Sulu. 'Wait, Scotty said you were dead. Was it Avery who brought you back? Why?'
'The warships,' Sulu said automatically, as if in a trance. 'He doesn't have fifty thousand ships, he's going to use us to control the Starfleet ships and have us attack our own planet'
'What?' asked Chekov. Sulu snapped out of it and rounded on Anya.
'I don't know, it was in my head, I can feel it pounding in my blood,' Sulu replied, shaking his head. 'Why won't he die? What the hell are you?'