Star Trek Discovery

Immortality

(previously named Lethal Substance)

Synopsis

A strange phenomena forces Discovery out of warp and they end in a remote sector no Starfleet officer has been to before. At least, that's what the crew believe until Pike reveals that the Enterprise charted the area two years ago. The Discovery crew doesn't understand why Pike is hesitant to revisit the system until they're drawn into a world of deception and deceit from which there seem to be no escape.

OOOOOO

Chapter One

Nowhere Land

Ensign Sylvia Tilly was beginning to pant hard but she refused to see the back of her roommate for the rest of the jog around the deck. She gritted her teeth as she fell into steps with Michael and grimaced as perspiration stung in her eyes.

Commander Michael Burnham on the other hand looked like she was enjoying the challenge. Her toned muscles glistened in the dim light of the corridor as her tank top clung to her upper body. She cast a glance at her friend with a faint upward curl to her lips. "Come on Tilly," she pushed lightly. "I watched you beat everyone at the CTP marathon run."

"Yeah well, I might have been preoccupied and high on adrenaline from the start. I was being haunted by a deceased classmate, remember?" she whined miserably.

Michael stopped and leaned over to place her hands on her thighs and Tilly thankfully did the same.

"Oh, my goodness," Tilly whispered through shallow breaths.

Michael laughed amusedly and was about to tease her roommate as the ship suddenly lurched, took a sharp turn to starboard, then decelerated rapidly and came to a full stop. The lights blinked on and off above their heads as the klaxon for red alert began to sound across the deck, then everything stopped, the corridor went dark, the sound of the klaxon shut off abruptly.

Burnham grimaced and pulled her ass off the floor, trying to spot Tilly in the darkness. Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, the lights came back on and the klaxon started to blare again. She gently reached out to offer her friend a hand up. "Are you all right?" she asked in concern.

Tilly clasped Michael's hand and grimaced as she was pulled upright. "Yeah, I think so," she managed through clenched teeth. "What was that?"

"This is the Captain," Pike's voice seemed urgent and sharp over the ship-wide communication's channel. "All senior officers - Report to your stations immediately."

OOOOOO

Saru took a deep breath as he gripped the back of his console and pushed himself upright. His landing had been rough as the ship had suddenly started to - wobble - for lack of a better word, and then decelerated so quickly that everything and everyone who hadn't been secured had been thrown violently to the floor. The Kelpien was working out the kinks in his back and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Pike who sat on the edge of his seat and leaned to his right. "Captain-," Saru called carefully as he watched his superior officer grimace ever so slightly. "- should I call for a doctor?"

Pike slowly pivoted the chair slightly to the right, to face the Kelpien at his station. As he did so, he placed his right arm over his chest and put his left hand on his upper right arm to hold it tight. "No," he said softly. "The doctors will have a lot of crewmen to tend to. I'm fine, commander."

The Kelpien studied him for a moment and nodded his head. "Of course, captain," he stated, although it was clear he didn't believe a word of what he was hearing.

"What is going on?" Nhan, Burnham and Tilly asked simultaneously as they stepped out of the turbolift.

"We lost warp capability," Detmer reported as she tapped away at her console. "One minute everything was fine and in the next the starboard nacelle destabilized and we veered hard to starboard; propelled by the port nacelle."

"Then we lost impulse drive," Owo explained. "A few seconds later we had a total power failure across the ship."

"We're running on the backup systems," Pike added seriously.

"What about sub-light speed?" Burnham asked curiously as she took her station.

"It might work," Detmer let on enigmatically. "But I don't recommend that we use it at the moment."

"So, we're dead in the water," Tilly deduced as she entered a series of commands on a panel behind Michael's station.

"We believe something hit us," Saru said seriously. "Something that destabilized the warp field."

"That would not explain the total blackout," Burnham pointed out.

"The longer we're delayed the more likely Leland manages to mobilize his flotilla," Pike reasoned grimly.

"He's waiting for us to come to him," Michael reasoned as the turbolift doors hissed open. "He wants the data from the sphere."

"You mean 'control'," Tyler pointed out darkly. "That thing is dangerous. It has merged with Leland and it's a fast learner."

"We need to get to our rendezvous coordinates where Number One is waiting with the Enterprise. Suggestions anyone?" Pike asked. "Can we use the spore drive?"

Lieutenant Nilsson hesitated. "I am not sure. The drive system is up and running again but until I know what caused the warp drive to malfunction and the ship wide power failure-," she trailed off as she called up a set of images and typed in a few commands on her console.

"Let's ask our Network navigator then," Pike said as he pushed a button on his armrest. "Engineering this is the bridge."

"Engineering, Stamets here," came the quick reply. "What's going on up there? Reno is running around like crazy down here, making sure all the wire fires are extinguished."

"Captain!" Tilly called eagerly. "There's a ship following us. I believe it's a Section 31 ship."

"I can confirm that, whoever it is, will drop out of warp next to us within three minutes," Michael reported seriously as she tapped away on her console.

Pike smirked unhappily. "Stamets, are you up for a little ride?" he asked.

"I'm on my way to the hub now," he said.

"Sir, there might be cascading malfunctions throughout the system-," Nilsson began to protest.

"I am aware of that but we have little choice," Pike reasoned. "If Stamets believe it's doable, we're jumping."

"I'm ready," Paul confirmed over the open channel. "Where too?"

Pike set his jaw. "Enterprise's rendezvous coordinates," he replied.

"All hands - Black Alert," Saru called out on the ship wide channel.

A low hum suddenly manifested itself across the deck as the plates began to vibrate ever so softly and then the ship phased out from its surroundings and popped up somewhere else entirely a few seconds later.

"Report," Pike said seriously as the view screen blinked, updated itself and displayed a view no one had expected. "I don't think this is the right place."

"No sir, it's not," Detmer replied as she tried to make sense of the readings at her console.

"It would appear that we're orbiting an unknown Minshara class planet," Saru said.

"Stamets, what's happening down there?" Pike asked.

"I don't know. I set the coordinates but the Network is not responding. Whatever it was that caused us to drop out of warp is obviously affecting this type of travel too. Give me a moment to figure out where we dropped off the grid," he said.

The bridge crew shared a troubling look as the open channel grew silent.

Pike smirked. He was used to challenges during his time in deep space; not much managed to surprise him anymore. His experience of being lost or off course varied from tragedy and loss to new friends and diplomatic relations with new species.

"Commander Saru. What can you tell me about the planet?" he asked curiously.

"Stand by, captain. I am trying to get a clear picture of it."

Spock clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to the science station, as it was his natural position onboard the Enterprise. He gently nodded at his sister and began to study the screen. "Captain, judging by the latest scan of the surface, it appears to be a densely populated planet. The level of technology rivals that of a human society."

Pike frowned. "Scan for ships in our vicinity," he ordered quickly. "Shields up."

"Shields are up, captain," Owo reported dutifully from the ops station.

"Go to yellow alert," Pike responded.

The lights flickered and a low sound indicated that the status had changed.

"There are no other ships in the vicinity," Burnham reported and glanced at her brother in a slightly disapproving way.

Spock simply ignored her.

"I have imagery data," Saru confirmed.

All eyes turned to the main view screen. The planet appeared to be smaller than Earth, or Vulcan, and its poles seemed huge in comparison but there was still plenty of land to inhabit in a subtropical zone. The equator zone was almost as big though, creating a vast band of desert with temperatures only a Vulcan would be comfortable in. The planet was blotched with irregular specks of glimmering blue across the inhabitable zone, mixed with green vegetation.

"Captain," Stamets called from engineering. "It appears we've ended up at the rim of the alpha quadrant. I suppose you could say that we are where no one has ever been before. At least not no Starfleet officer."

"Display our coordinates on the main view screen," Pike ordered, looking troubled all of a sudden.

Michael couldn't help but to see the subtle, curious look that her brother directed upon his commanding officer, like they shared a secret of some kind.

"The Sobada Star System," Spock said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.

Pike unconsciously clenched and unclenched his hand at the declaration. His eyes darkened for a moment as he set his jaw. "Thank you, Lieutenant Spock," he said curtly and pushed the intercom button on his armrest. "Commander Stamets, is there any way to jump away from here?"

Michael and Saru shared a look of confusion.

"Negative, captain. I don't want to risk it until I know what happened," Stamets replied. "Correct me if I am wrong but there is no way for Section 31 to follow us here."

"Start your diagnostic immediately," Pike said abruptly.

"Captain?" Burnham asked softly as she looked at him with concern. "Is there something wrong?"

He turned to her, his features grim, his face troubled and his stance stiff. "The Enterprise has been here before, commander," he replied and turned to Saru as he made to stand. "Assemble the senior officers in my ready room immediately."

Michael raised an impeccable eyebrow and watched the captain leave the bridge. She turned to her brother. "Spock, what's going on?" she asked in confusion.

"I believe the captain will tell you in a few minutes," he replied and headed after Pike.

OOOOOO

To be continued