Star Trek Hunter
Episode 8: The Bolian Web
Scene 19: The U.S.S. Atul Goel

8.19
The U.S.S. Atul Goel

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The arrival of the Vyvya and Malinia nearly twelve hours after the Hunter's arrival at the quarantine site for the Atul Goel brought home to the Hunter's crew how spoiled they had become to traveling at extremely high speeds using recursive warp, also known as the zip drive. The Vyvya and Malinia had been traveling at warp 5, obeying the Federation's speed limit as the emergency had been, for the moment, contained.

The Vyvya disgorged one of its level-8 quarantine labs, which then maneuvered alongside the Atul Goel and docked with the defunct medical ship. Transporting howling, frightened, hallucinating crew members from the Atul Goel by walking them into the quarantine lab was a slow, difficult task for Dr. Klox and his small team. The affected crew members could only be moved one at a time. But the lab was well apportioned enough to afford individual accommodations for each.

30 surviving crew members from Atul Goel. 13 survivors from Paleonus V. And finally, in a straitjacket and fastened firmly to a gurney, Fleet Admiral Scumuk, his head rolling, eyes unfocused, raving incoherently. The only words he said were, "you must go to the library! The library! Go to the library!" endlessly repeated.

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Justice Minerva Irons was in communication with Dr. Mettus Klox as the Vyvya's quarantine unit undocked and moved away from the now evacuated Atul Goel.

"I am only a second lieutenant, your honor. I'm not certain this is my decision to make."

"Lieutenant Klox, you are the commanding officer of the Atul Goel," Irons replied. "You are the only person who can make this decision."

Dr. Klox sighed. "I never wanted to command a star ship. I only joined Star Fleet because I fell in love and it was going to be the only way for me to stay close to my first wife. Five years ago I was just a simple country doctor. Now both my wives are in Star Fleet - which means I am too. Probably for life."

Klox sighed again, then keyed his communicator. "Atul Goel, this is Lieutenant Klox, commanding. Execute order 86. Keyword - papaya."

Captain Kelley had preemptively authorized self-destruct hours earlier; Dr. Klox's order completed the sequence. The Atul Goel's self-destruct mechanism was designed to dissolve the ship from within rather than causing it to explode and possibly allowing any contaminants to escape. Instead of blowing up, the Atul Goel gradually collapsed into itself in a molten foam of molecular acid. The ship's hull was the last part to dissolve.

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Justice Minerva Irons and her executive staff watched a holographic representation of the Atul Goel's final moments in the Hunter's executive conference room.

Irons turned to her people. "So, does anyone have any idea what the admiral was talking about? What library?"

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8.19