I'm so happy I got to get another chapter in before I had to be productive again. Hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it and tell me your thoughts so I can become a better writer. :D

Scotty was getting annoyed. "Chekov, we have to open up the doors to investigate what you saw."

He still wouldn't move, each palm on a different door and his back against the seem, sheer terror shone in his eyes. "I hate ta do this to ya lad, I don't wanna pull rank but I could order yae to move and do as ya're told." The engineer sighed. What was it going to take to move him aside? Thankfully, Chekov reluctantly peeled himself from the door and allowed them to open it.

"You were right about the bodies but cannae see any facesuckers or whatever ya called them."

Chekov looked inside, then ran inside examining every person on the floor. "I-I don't understand Meester Scott. They were here, right here." The medical team had already started their work.

"I can't give you a reason for their unresponsive state, but they are alive," one of the nurses informed Scotty. "We'll conduct a thorough examination once they are all in the med bay. "Carry on," Scotty told them, stepping aside to let the teams haul them away before turning to the security guard on his right. "Close off the area until we know exactly what happened. Everyone dismissed." He heard a small blip from an unknown location. His eyes narrowed and he looked around, then shrugged. Better focus on the situation at hand.

Chekov sulked out of the room. He'd swore he saw something, he knew it. "Not you Chekov," Scotty stopped him. "You are not in trouble but you should get some rest, I want you ta stay in your quarters for now." Chekov nodded, all he really wanted was a break.

The engineer watched him trudge away before leaving for the bridge. He ran his hand along the side of the ship, his lady. The smooth walls brushing his palm until he entered the turbo lift and pulled one of the levers-it squeaked. "Once the Capt'n is back I'll fix you." He told it, then the doors opened and he stepped back into the bridge. "Mr Scott." Uhura's voice called.

"Something happen while I was gone?"

"Not really except I picked up something unusual." She admitted.

"How so?"

"It started while the Captain was here, a small transmission showed up on my dashboard but it only lasted less than a second so I thought maybe there was some technical problem. I knew there were some buttons that needed fixing anyway so I didn't think to much of it."

"And?"

"It happened again for a little longer. I believe someone is sending transmissions from inside the ship to Origae-6."

"We should inform the Capt'n." He told her, placing a hand on her chair while she tried to contact him. "I can't reach him, there is something interfering."

Scotty turned and pressed the intercom button of the Captain's chair, "Mr Scott to Engineering." Static. "Engineering do you read me?" More static. He turned back to Uhura, "I leave engineering for a couple hours and the ship is broken." He rubbed his eyes before speaking again. "Imma go down and see what I can do to fix this, you have the con."

ooo000OOO000ooo

Spock was sure it was all the screaming but there wasn't time to sort all that out now.

"Run."

They all turned and dashed down the steel lift, down some spiralling stairs and into the dimly lit floor below. The red glow of it illuminated heads on a conveyor belt. "I told you this was a slaughter house!" Mccoy was yelling. "Damn heads are lined up!" Spock ignored him, and jumped onto the conveyor belt, Jordyn and Mccoy following. It lead into a dark passage and then had a sudden drop into tubes, they wouldn't fit in those but maintenance door was there as well, locked. Jordyn pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and picked the lock with ease. Mccoy had wondered what Jim was thinking with random specialties like a schematics and architecture major but now he was thanking the lord for her presence.

"Got it." They all heard a click and her hand pulled down on the handle without missing a beat.

"Fast. FAST!" Mccoy hurried them through and locked the door again, they hadn't yet lost their chaser. "You're not supposed to be here." A new voice directed at them."

"Oh c'mon!" Mccoy groaned but Spock had already grabbed his arms and pulled him forward.

"No time Doctor."

"For all the technology on this planet, I wouldn't expect a factory like one of the industrial revolution." Of course Finnegan was assessing the factory while running away. Since when did they decide it was a factory?

"Factory?!"

"Those were not real heads Doctor, if you flipped them over on the conveyor belt, then you would see that they were androids. They all are."

"Well I'm sorry I was more focused on escape than investigation." They took another turn. "Wait, does that mean they have superhuman abilities?"

"Yes." Their chaser grabbed the neck of his shirt and pulled him backward with such a force he felt like he was being choked. As quick as he was caught he was released and stumbled to his knees, the Vulcan had tackled the android, unfortunately, nerve pinches wouldn't work. He watched as they tumbled down another flight of the stairs while he ran after them, Jordyn right behind him holding a leg she'd found. A pair of hands seized his shoulders and yanked him up the stairs. "What?!" Jordyn wasn't behind him but their first chaser was. He thrashed in his grip trying to free himself. The android gripped harder, fingers digging painfully into him. "You're coming with me."

Spock was still struggling with the android but at least they were no longer falling down stairs but this time he had clambered to the top of a shelving unit, its contents were arrays of identifications with names-he knew what this meant and had to get away. He could hear his companions yelling from above him. His own attacker had almost reached him again. The ceiling above him was a mesh grate, its holes large enough to get his hands through. Once his grip was firm enough he swung his body off his standing position and proceeded across the ceiling, his arms already bruised from the stairs and screaming in protest.

An opening in the ceiling was not far, he had a 5% chance of making it if he hurried-better odds than most; but not good enough. He was pulling himself up when he was his attacker leap from the grates. There wasn't a way he could escape so he braced himself as he lost his grip and they both crashed down into the waste system below.

Jordyn was running out of time. Like Mccoy, she was being restrained by one of the androids. For what it was worth she put up a good enough fight for someone less gifted for hand to hand combat, especially against an opponent who was stronger, faster, seemed to not feel pain, and didn't get tired at all. There was one last thing she could do, though, he communicator was still hidden on her uniform, miraculously intact. She flipped it open and tossed it out of range of her assailant and shouted. "Jordyn Finnegan to Captain Kirk! I repeat, Finnegan to Captain Kirk! We're in the factory and under attack! Be careful! They're ANDR-" the android had let go of her to crush the communicator. "Nice try, but you won't be here for long and now we know exactly where your Captain will come looking for you."

ooo000OOO000ooo

Kirk heard his communicator beep at his side, interrupting the leisurely-and boring-circles he was walking in while waiting for the return of the last group, they should have been there a while ago and it was very unlike his first officer to be less than punctual. A desperate voice rang through the crackling of static. "Finnegan...factory...attack...careful...andr" and a crunch.

"You don't think they were ambushed like the other group, do you?" Sulu asked concerned but careful with his wording to not offend Amme.

"They were definitely attacked by something." Carson pointed out.

"What was the last word she said?" Amme quietly asked. "Andr… Like 'Ander' a name?"

"I have no idea," Kirk confessed. "Be we can't waltz in there alone. Let me contact the ship. Kirk to Enterprise."

Static.

"Kirk to Enterprise?"

More static.

"Looks like we're alone for now." Sulu commented.

Kirk was generally optimistic but this time he couldn't come up with a positive thing to say.

ooo000OOO000ooo

When placed upon a biobed it was supposed to pick up a heartbeat and display it on the screen above. Nothing. All the other ones-Riley, Zane, Nikita, someone she didn't recognize, Bronwyn-seemed fine enough from what she could tell without examining them fully yet but here was Dean Mcanally, dead. She signed, might as well examine him anyway, at least for the cause of death. She passed a scanner across his cranial region down to his thoracic one. There wasn't bone, no skin, tissue, it was all synthetic material that looked exactly like it. "You're not human." She breathed, unsure who she was talking to now.

Mcanally opened his eyes and sat up. "No I'm not honey, just a replica of someone who is no longer living."

Chapel stepped back and slowly inched away from whatever was sitting on he biobed. Mcanally continued while gesturing to all the other recovered bodies from the rec room, "And they won't be anymore either in just a few seconds."

As if on cue, the bodies started to tremble and it only got worse from there. They shook more violently until they were seizing and fully conscious with uniformed looks of terror and pain. Their bodies vibrated more and contorted while blood came from splits in their skin. Thuds sounded all around her when the fell to the floor in their convulsions and coughed up massive amounts of blood.

"I would run if I were you." Mcanally's imposter taunted her. Chapel stayed a few more seconds until something bursting from their chests? Backs?-She couldn't tell they were all covered in blood now and their heads in awkward and unnatural angles-tumbled onto the ground. She turned to run and slipped on the massive pool of blood unto the floor, it soaked through her uniform. In a panic, she scrambled in a graceless sliding manner towards the doors while hearing a cynical laugh ring out behind her.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Spock had somehow managed to kill the android. While they were in the assorted waste he'd encountered a sharp bit of scrap metal that he'd thrust into the android and impaled it. It wasn't dead then but the end of the metal was gotten caught in the walls of the large waste tunnel, immobilizing him and allowing the Vulcan to get into its circuitry. From there it wasn't hard to find its core and crush it, being protected inside the body, naturally it wasn't designed to withstand any pressure opposed upon it.

Now he was tiredly hanging onto a piece of drifting waste, letting the current push him along. He had to come up with a plan to get back to the doctor and architectural engineer. He reached for his communicator, gone, but his tricorder was still wrapped around his neck-the android had done so in attempts to strangle him. It was illogical but he was thankful for its placement now as it hadn't gotten lost. He readjusted it so it was in its typical position. There was light at the end of the tunnel, the piping fed into a pond. Artificially made too, the bottom of it was concrete and so were the shores. Seeing as that it wasn't overflowing he assumed there was a drain at the bottom.

Once out of the tunnel, his eyes adjusted to the blinding light after being in the dark for so long and he made his way to the concrete banks of the pond. Swimming wasn't something he was bad at but he didn't enjoy it either, nor the uncomfortable cold temperature of the water. He heaved himself onto the dry land, feeling the extra stress of exhaustion and the weight of the water trying to pull him back in.

Alone, he stayed on hands and knees allowing the water to drip off of him. He took off the tricorder slung around him and tested its functionality: slow but useful, and possibly broken? It indicated the presence of a lifeform that was not plantlife in front of him. Odd as well since it registered it in essence but without physical form.

"Remember me Mr Spock?" A voice called out.

Spock looked around. The voice was so familiar…

"Down here, within the water, we three are concealed."

Three? Concealed? He suddenly knew who was speaking to him. "Henoch?!"

[Reference "Return to Tomorrow"]