Disclaimer: The characters herein are owned by Paramount. I am in no way affiliated with Paramount.

Chapter 3

The lab, lit only by early sun, rested in silence. Light orange hues poured in from the large transparent wall in the front of the lab. Early morning made the lab appear as a place of tranquillity, not of terror.

Mr. Spock and Ensign M'rowt, a large caitan of regal appearance, headed their search towards the rear of the lab while Ensign Chekov and the petite blonde-hared, blue-eyed Ensign Vega began in the front. The search would not be easy, as none of the lighting in the lab was functional. Nor were the environmental controls working properly, as the lab was very cold.

In a small, dark room off to the left Lieutenants Uhura and Caruso were searching through the disordered remains of Dr. Roberts' office. The room looked like a violent storm passed through: furniture overturned, discs scattered over the floor, the computer station a mess. Uhura managed to find what she was looking for at the communications station. The small communications console would be easy to remove due to a break in the countertop. Caruso started shaking her head. She gathered up the discs on the floor but doubted they would contain anything useful. The discs were in one, messy pile in a corner behind the desk, some broken, as if they had been flung one at a time against the wall.

"Dr. Roberts was an extremely neat man. I studied under him at the Academy several years ago. This doesn't look like the way he would keep his office." she mentioned to Uhura as she picked up discs. Uhura, who was under the console, replied "I agree. Look at this." Uhura removed the console, revealing its mechanical innards. "This is not the standard type of transmitter used in federation communications stations. Someone replaced it."

Somewhere in the middle of the lab Vega was glancing around the jet-black countertops. I'm so glad Pavel was assigned to work with me she thought. As her eyes moved down the glance became a stare. Her body instinctively jumped back, her heart racing in terror.

She found one of the lab workers.

Or what was left of one.

The Academy taught her plenty about this type of situation but it did not help her at the moment and she let out a blood-curdling scream that broke the silence. The only sound from Chekov was a sharp intake of breath as he saw the body. Normally, he would have been the one to scream but she beat him to it. Chekov took out his tricorder for analysis as the sound of hurried footsteps brought Lieutenant M'rowt and Mr. Spock. "Ensign!" M'rowt exclaimed as they approached. "Ensign," he repeated more calmly once he saw she was in no danger, "arre you all rright?", his golden eyes alert for trouble while his large golden mane and tail flared around his head.

It looked as if it were hundreds of earth-standard years old: a rotting skeleton, desiccated remains of skin hung loosely, some had fallen to the floor and surrounded the body. The body was curled up and twisted, crying in agony even in death.

The chirp of a communicator echoed in the room. "Spock to Enterprise…"