Chapter Title: Trail of Blood
Chapter Synapses: Hyperion encounters a disabled Federation passenger ship, curiously not transmitting a distress call. What is more curious is why the ship is derelict
Written by: Seraph Koji
Sirens blared as Starwind entered the bridge, "Status report?"
"We hit someone." Ivano stared blankly at the screen.
VonBach explained, "Blue mentioned odd energy signatures, so I told Quatre to slow to impulse and close."
Ivano continued to stare, "I dropped out of warp, and a body hit the shields. Computer registered an impact and set off a red alert."
"Reading a ship. Bearing 031-mark-288." Talara reported.
"Stand down red alert." Starwind, sufficiently curious, motioned for VonBach to take Tactical, "On screen."
"Federation transport ship." Talara reported then smirked at the name, "Australia class Sydney."
"Open a channel." Starwind ordered, "This is Captain Victor Starwind of the Federation starship Hyperion. May we render assistance?"
"No response,"VonBach offered a suggestion, "Figure she's derelict?"
"Figure she's a ghost ship." Ivano glared still, now at the Sydney.
"Sydney, please respond." Starwind tried again. No success. "Talara, scanned the ship for life?"
"Course, sir. I got life signs. But something is messing with my scans. No idea what you'll face." Talara replied, "I know you got atmosphere."
"Good enough." Starwind turned to VonBach, "Get Winters, Collins, and Sen and beam over."
Four beams of light pierced the darkness of the transport ship. Once bodies materialized, flashlight armlets lit the surroundings. The air was stale and smelled of death.
"Away Team to Hyperion." Collins tapped her badge, "Beam over a security team to secure this area. Then let's get Phral over here to turn stuff on."
"I think Ivano was right." VonBach shined his light around, "Ghost ship."
"VonBach and I will check the Bridge and mess. Winters, you and Sen check out the Infirmary and Engineering." Collins ordered, "Then we'll all move from there to quarters. A liner like this, I expect we could use at least another team to help with those."
"Captain's Log, stardate 57584.7. Hyperion has encountered a passenger liner named the Sydney. We have classified Sydney as a derelict ship. I've reviewed passenger and crew manifests. There were a good thousand people aboard. Fifty were commissioned officers, and of them, ten served aboard Sydney. I've sent a few away teams to the derelict to try and secure the ship and investigate the cause of her abandonment."
Winters pointed her phaser rifle about as she entered the engineering area, Sen followed with a medkit.
"Yeah. Emergency power." Sen gestured to the dark warp core.
Winters looked about, "Doesn't seem to be much in the way of technical problems, though."
Where Collins and VonBach were, the smell of death hung heavy in the air. They looked about in the mess hall. Food still sat on tables.
Collins touched the food. It was cold, but none had gone bad. "This happened quickly. And not too long ago."
"This place is giving me the creeps." VonBach confided.
"But the air seems so stale." Collins looked about, "When did this happen?"
VonBach, who had drifed off toward the kitchen area, froze, "Ma'am!" He called.
Collins ran over and shined her light down. A trail of blood tracked out a door to a cooking supply room.
VonBach walked to the door. It didn't open. He tried manual release. Nothing. "Door's locked."
"This doesn't feel right." Collins said uncomfortably.
"Nothing here does." He stood back and pulled his phaser pistol. He blasted the release and the door slid open.
Collins approached, and reluctantly shined a light inside. She looked away, "Oh, god!"
Winters and Sen rounded similarly broke into the infirmary. A man in a white coat charged, "Monsters!"
Sen grabbed the man, thrusting him violently against a wall, "Calm yourself!"
"We aren't monsters." Winters reassured the man, "My name is Sarah Winters. I'm from a ship. Hyperion." The man started to relax, "That is Sen Asim. He's from my ship too. He's a doctor. Do you need medical attention?"
"No." The man, now calm, moved away from Sen, "I'm Kyle Bryson, Sydney's resident physician." He was still nervous, "Get out of here. Get off this ship, go to high warp, and don't come back."
Winters tapped her badge, "Winters to Hyperion, three to beam up. Get Collins and VonBach out too."
The Away Team, Starwind, and Doctor Bryson sat at a smaller conference table.
"A ship. I don't even remember the name, but it was old, was assigned to deep-space research. It came out of warp." Bryson explained, "This ship had gone to the edge of the spiral arm. It saw the emptiness between galaxies. The place of deepest darkness."
"Have we ever sent a ship out that far?" Winters asked.
Ignoring her, Bryson continued, "We didn't think they were a threat. Until they came aboard. They were crazed. At first, a few people sought shelter in the infirmary, but soon, I fled into the Jeffries tubes." His voice was shaky, "I heard screams. The whole time the ship was here, screams. I caught a glimpse of the Captain. They let him live. They made him watch as they defiled and tortured the passengers and crew. Everyone else died. Everyone but the Captain and I. And the Captain… he's mad. He's seen the same darkness. The emptiness of the soul. He blinded himself, but is still mad. He's like them. He's been after me, to either kill me or make me like he is." Bryson paused, "He will kill your men, Captain, but he won't just kill, he'll desecrate."
Starwind nodded and tapped his badge, "Starwind to Bridge, recall our away teams."
Alert sirens blared, though not Red Alert sirens, and Bryson ran to a corner, "He's come here! He'll kill some, and turn others! He'll make this ship like Sydney!"
"That isn't red alert." Sen eased Bryson's fears.
VonBach glanced around, "No, it's a proximity alert."
Starwind was already gone.
"I saw them." Collins spoke softly to Bryson, "The bodies."
"Each an atrocity." Bryson said, in an equally quiet manner.
Collins' eyes were glazed with horror, "How could a person do such a thing?"
"Easy." Bryson replied, "They aren't people anymore. They are demons. Demons that will rape you, kill you, wear your flesh and eat your insides." He paused, "In that order, if you happen to be fortunate."
"How… I mean, you lived."
"I hid. Hid from the sights and sounds." Bryson replied, "The Captain… he couldn't hide. The only way to handle such inhumanity in your eyes is to relinquish yours. Become the beast."
Starwind entered the bridge, "Report."
"All teams are in except Six. Some energy field went up around the Bridge." Talara reported.
"Starwind to VonBach, grab big guns and prepare for site-to-site straight to Sydney's bridge."
"We're in reverse now. Sydney is drifting toward us. I'm trying to maintain our distance." Ivano reported.
"Just drifting? No propulsion?" Starwind asked. Ivano nodded, "A little more distance, Ensign. The proximity alert disturbs our guest."
"The derelict disturbs me." Ivano replied, candidly.
"VonBach to Bridge. Ready."
The team still aboard Sydney crowded at the front of the small bridge. As the door slid open, a figure became visible. It was Jason Forester, the Captain of Sydney, but his eyes were gone, replaced by bloody gouges. His uniform was torn and bloody. His face cut and hair worse than unkempt. Dispute the lack of eyes, Forester seemed very aware of where things were, and seemed just as crazed as Bryson described.
"Oh!" One of the team yelped. This was what Forester needed. He lunged across the bridge, grabbed her, and began to claw at her skin. Another team member shot him. It startled him, but did not knock him down.
"Maximum stun!" the lieutenant screamed.
"Than kill!" The ensign being mauled screamed.
"Gladly." VonBach entered from the door Forester opened, "Sir, I relieve you." VonBach pulled a combat knife from his belt and threw it, planting it firmly in Forester's back. Forester stumbled away from the ensign and turned to VonBach.
"He was weak. They all fall. No resistance. No defense. They were broken." Forester growled, "They were deserved."
"That's enough crazy, thanks." VonBach pulled a phaser more closely related to a shotgun from its holder, "Now stand relieved." He shot several bursts into the Captain, causing him to fall to his knees, "Or kneel relieved."
The ensign grabbed Forester' head and jerked it, snapping his neck.
"Oh, see, you took my fun!" VonBach complained, shooting a control panel, "Force field's down." He shot the corpse of Forester, "And that was earned."
"Ensign Yentz to Hyperion, get us the hell out of here." She tapped her badge.
"Gladly, ensign." Starwind smiled, and motioned for Talara to do so. "Winters, lock weapons on the Sydney."
"Sir?" Winters glanced at him, "Its evidence. Against those madmen."
"I suspect those lunatics will be caught without the aid of an Australia class transport." Starwind explained, "Let's send those poor passengers off. Get a yeoman up here with the flute."
Soon after, Bryson, now the sole survivor, stood with the senior officers of Hyperion on the ship's bridge.
"May Sydney rest in peace." Bryson lowered his head.
The yeoman played the tones, and VonBach fired two torpedoes at the Sydney's warp core. They were now a safe distance from the ship.
"Talara," Starwind turned to Operations, "Send a bulletin out on an old ship sent for deep-space research full of murderers."
"Aye, Captain."
"And may Sydney rest in peace." Starwind added, as the debris from the transport floated through space.
