"She's a vampire-human hybrid."

Michael didn't need it stated to her; she could tell. The baby's heartbeat was too slow for a human, the gaps of breath too far apart and the sound of the beat suggested a much smaller heart and lungs than a human's either, but there was no hint or signs of struggle in breathing. She smelt…right.

Perfect health.

Michael moved, shifting a hand down to touch the girl's free first. Even to touch, the baby was cooler. Her tiny fingers opened before wrapping around the end of her index with a surprising amount of strength for something so small. The length of her tiny forearm was about the size of her thumb; from metacarpal to thumb tip.

"How old is she?" Michael slipped her finger free before she hesitantly slipped her hands under the tiny being— barely the length of both her hand and forearm combined— and lifted her slowly up to her shoulder. The baby mewled softly before planting her face into her jacket. But she felt the child's sharp inhales which suggested to her the baby has a heightened sense of smell, scenting her and no doubt picking up on her differences from the Vulcan. Clearly a predator still, despite the diluted genes.

She could feel the pulse increase by only a beat, a hand coming to grapple at the fabric of her jacket though the baby didn't seem bothered as she touched the coolness of her neck, instead, seemed to enjoy it as she wiggled up closer with a grunt and buried her face into her collar.

"Three days old, according to the data here." Dr Culber spoke, looking at a monitor.

"This…can't be possible." Michael whispered softly "Vampires transform as their way of reproduction…"

"We'll upload all the data from the server banks and run a sweep; see if there are more babies about or in gestation. We'll have to find a way to transfer them to Discovery and go from there." There was caution in the man's tone but Michael nodded… her eyes not quite moving from this lightweight in her arms.


Michael's arms stayed around the baby, if a bit stiff through the transport but she felt Chris's presence even before that that offered her any solace to this discovery. His scent filtered through to her though she could feel his gaze on her, then into the bundle. Immediately though, she nodded him to follow, meeting his gaze though he seemed to guess something was wrong before Dr Culber guided her to place the infant onto the biobed, much to the child's displeasure.

Michael stood back though as he worked, Chris's attention coming to her, his hands coming to her shoulder; his warmth and concern leaking into her but also his support. He wanted to help …Michael couldn't help herself but she pulled him softly into a hug, burying her face into his chest. Their ranks vanishing for the moment…

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"No."

How could she be okay? This….child was not what she was expecting, let alone one that was made from her. Knowing this…it opened up a box she hadn't known was there. Being a vampire meant being sterile. Now, the transformation had literally robbed her of a functioning uterus, it had made her sad, that she had lost that possibility. She had come to terms with that; accepted that loss because…before, she had never thought about having or wanting them. Anyone she'd have ended up would have known this fact. Not to mention, it was listed under an important briefing for those who were wanting to turn; to know what they were giving up if they haven't had a child or made preparations before.

Now… there is this child. Made from her DNA, without her consent or knowledge, that left a very big question of why she was made and how…. Given the timeline, Michael had a horrible feeling of who ordered this… and no doubt partook of this experiment. It opened up a sense of violation and fury that she hadn't felt since her transformation.

Chris exhaled, his hand rubbing down her back. "Stupid question, I'm sorry."

Michael didn't disagree though pulled away, taking in the assurance he was offered which…made her feel better. His support. That was what she needed.

"Captain, Commander," Dr Culber spoke, pulling their attention away though they immediately moved to the edge of the bed for the update. The baby girl was disgruntledly looking up at Dr Culber, hands back in her mouth and chewing on them, clearly an indication of something other than discontent. "I've finished my analysis, I can now confirm this child is indeed a human-vampire hybrid, a genetic match to you, Commander Burnham." In his brown eyes, there was the look of an apology but the facts didn't lie.

"Vampires can't reproduce in this fashion, transformation is our method of repopulation. How is this even possible?"

"From what I can tell there's only 33% of her DNA that's vampire DNA, the test, and 67% is human."

On the monitor, the doctor pulled up the scans of the child. Displaying the child's system that was akin to a human baby's anatomy but the stomach and intestines were remarkably larger and the rest a little smaller, her bones and cartilage also didn't look to be made of the usual material either. In the child's skull, it was easy to make out the row of teeth and the ones still forming in the gums which already suggested that she'll lose her current set when she was a little bigger.

"The Human DNA was designed to give the child the necessary organs and functions to survive, but the vampire genes are…dominant, even at 33%."

That didn't surprise her, not really. Vampire venom was designed to override human genetics in the transformation. Designed to dominate. It made sense though to why it was prominent and also why the baby's appearance also clearly favoured towards her.

"Where did the Vulcan even get Burnham's DNA to create this?" Chris questioned, stepping closer, blue eyes taking in the infant though she felt his ebbs of curiosity get the best of him as he spared her a look before reaching down and picked her up, setting her to rest against his shoulder.

"Ooo" the coo left the baby's lips in a high pitched fashion though Chris couldn't seem to help himself and smile, watching as the expression was somewhat mirrored.

"Last year, under Lorca's command, a criminal known as Hardcourt Mudd put the ship into a time loop in an attempt to steal it." Michael started, "There, he developed the first resonate frequency weapon that was capable of shattering me."

"What?!" his attention moved, his eyes dropped, taking her just in case, regardless that the issue had occurred over a year ago. "You…shattered?"

"On the bridge," Dr Culber clarified, "It took a while for us to reconstruct Commander Burnham but… it's the only time where part of her matrix would have been stolen. It did go everywhere."

"Wouldn't you be able to tell if…you're missing something?"

"No," Michael sighed with a shake of her head "if we were to…break something off, our bodies produce a liquid we call now Vysol that enable the healing between the crystalline matrixes. Usually, acts like glue but it…can even help us regrow the crystalline matrix if the limb or section isn't put into place. If there was a shard missing, the cavity would have filled with Vysol and solidified into a new crystalline matrix. Vysol is very irritant to normal flesh."

"Which also does produce DNA cells that divides," Dr Culber spoke, "any shard can be sustained with blood to produce Vysol. Without it, the structural integrity of the crystalline matrix would…become unstable."

"Unstable how?"

"If vampires don't feed, they'll stop being able to produce liquids that enables them to move, so without blood, they'll break apart as a result. It's why the thirst instincts are so strong. The stomach stores the blood but the internal venoms break down blood and reconstitute it into useable liquids within the vampire body. Energy, hydration and internal maintenance."

Chris winced before he looked down, adjusting the infant to rest against higher on his shoulder, her face buried into his jacket with a gurgle. "I take it that this little miss is also gonna have to drink blood."

"Yes, with her it's… shown through many deficiencies. Her Iron is low, well, most of her metals are low so I have to get her on supplements to bring those up but, as she's part human, she'll need more than just blood to feed from." On the screen displayed the lists of what she'd need to intake, it was clear to see that this one was a little underweight. "I don't think she can stomach milk formula, so her diet won't be a human one. I'll need to review the notes left by the Vulcan to see what he was trying in terms of care. I'm…concerned about his use of drugs that forced the infant's growth."

"Drugs?"

Again, that didn't surprise her any less, though she waited for Culber to bring up some of the data on the screen. On it displayed another list but there was some that Michael could recognise and understand. It worried her that…some of those drugs had a high risk of addiction to it as well. Clearly not a legal use.

"Here, he's been using steroids and…a long list of growth stimulants that…I don't think were anything other than experimental. He's been putting it into her bottles even after her birth but in smaller dosages, I suspect he was weaning her off them as he appears to have a time table prepped for removing it from her bottle completely."

"Can you take her off them now?" Michael asked.

"No, at least not yet. Her body is…used to the drugs and I suspect that there's dependence on them. This has to be done slowly otherwise the baby might experience withdrawal and could suffer some health issues as a result. I'm….not comfortable with using them but it's necessary for at least the next week with her bottles."

"If Dvir used drugs to force growth, then we have to assume that the ageing process of the baby is also slower. How long did it take for her to grow?"

Culber scrolled through the monitor, pursing his lips. "About fourteen months."

"Human babies take nine, so we have to assume that without drug assistance, it would take longer than fourteen months."

"Most definitely, but I'll need to run a few tests then I should be able to gather more data."

Michael nodded voidly, "I'll look forwards to reading the full report once it's done if you'll excuse me, Captain, Doctor, I need to leave."


Michael found herself seated in the darkness of her quarters, audio suppressors on to the full, which severed her from hearing everything else from the ship, small mercies because…she didn't think she wanted to hear much more. She was glad though to feel the constant low presence of the bond; while Chris was no doubt otherwise occupied, she knew what she was feeling was his attempts of consoling. Clearly it was automatic in ways to help, he had no conscious way of feeling it…

Either way, it helped.

The baby's scent had lingered on her, so she showered and changed into a new set before she settled down at her desk.

Logically, she had no reason to blame the child in this because clearly she was a victim in this as much as she was. An experiment. Made because they wanted to see if they could. There was no doubt that there weren't other attempts before that had failed. The genetic tinkering, the amount of human DNA vs vampire DNA would have no doubt had a play. There was also a factor that the child could suffer, or had the potential of genetic illnesses. This uncertainty was hard.

Now, Michael was faced with the aftermath.

There were options, of course, of what to do. There would no doubt be willing members of the VL that'd take the child as their own in a heartbeat, the child seemed to feel fragile but safe in vampire care; she had a feeling a human couple looking after her would be much harder to stomach the dietary needs of her and in later life, her physical strength.

She could…of course keep the child herself. But that…presented a lot of difficulties. Herself, being one. She was hardly mother-material generally and a surprise baby didn't help. Caring for something so small and vulnerable… it was scary. This little person needed to be looked after, needed to be protected, needed to be loved… how much of that could she provide?

Her upbringing was rocky… not just before her parent's deaths but her adoptive parents too. They loved her, they cared for her and they loved her, but as the mixture of cultures; the position she was in… her struggles now was a reflection of being raised in a Vulcan culture when not a Vulcan.

Then there was the fact she was on Discovery. Discovery was not a generational ship, there was no way they'd allow her to stay if she did decide to raise her. If she left, she'd have to part from Chris… something she could live with but… she'd miss his physical presence.

Ding.

"Come."

Her eyes didn't raise though she picked up the Ensign's scent as she came in.

"Hey, I heard what happened, came to see how you're doing," Tilly spoke, breezing in, pulling forwards a spare chair to sit next to her.

Michael didn't move.

"Captain Pike's also taken you off the roster for the next few days as personal days. Dr Culber has…decided to keep the baby in sickbay for the time being for assessments, I don't think a few of the nurse's mind." Tilly mused.

Michael's head turned, sniffing carefully before her eyes dropped to her friend's hand. The sweet scent was not hard to miss. "You've been bleeding."

"Huh, oh yeah," Tilly's hand twitched though exposed the two circular puncture marks on her index finger. "Turns out…the baby bites. I should have expected that really…more so when I saw those teeth." Her tone turning thoughtful but her body flushed with amusement, her lips curling up. "I'm not the first one but she's so cute so she'll get away with it. God, she's gonna melt everyone's hearts" Tilly sighed out heavily.

Michael's lips curled a bit though she nodded softly. "At least you lot are enjoying the novelty of this."

Tilly's shoulders sagged, "You're right, I'm sorry, this must be very difficult for you." Her arm slipped around her. "Anything I can do to help? I know booze isn't a possibility but…is there some sort of blood type that'll give you the same buzz here or…"

"It's fine, Tilly." Michael smiled, "I appreciate the thought but… suddenly finding out you have a secret child made illegally is…hard to grasp." Emotionally. "I take it you know who the father is."

Tilly's stiffening said as much. "Sorry."

"Don't be. At least, with Lorca dead…there's nothing to worry about." He couldn't touch her, couldn't ever know of what came of his sick experiments. "Can… can you look through some of the files with me. I…want to know how she was made. I'll need to pass this information along to the VL.

"Of course." Tilly shifted around to the monitor, "Let's start now. Pike can no doubt help in keeping it quiet and… well no one else has looked at them. He's already ensured that. Only Dr Culber and his medical team for the sake of the baby. Nhan's still collecting up the station's content and there are plans to drop the Vulcan's body off for his family at one of the Starbase."


It felt better to work with Tilly about this, scrolling through the recordings, the development of his work and… the gestation of the child, the science behind it offering much more of her to process this. Though Michael was surprised that Dvir had decided to carry on the experiment after Discovery was thought destroyed, the need to appeal to the VL to create a half-breed might enable the federation to accept vampires much more, and his own personal curiosity of the vampire genome. Though Michael's curiosity got the better of her at that part.

"Go back."

Tilly swiped the screen.

"…on researching into the venomous compound that was delivered, I've managed to attempt to understand the transformation process and how to break it down." Dvir finished the log before the next log was ready to load.

"Did any of the teams find anything else from the station?"

"Aside from junior, yeah." Tilly's face looked a little hesitant but got over that quickly as she saw her impatient expression, "There were…other embryos. All frozen, a small piece of crystalline in a tub and a wide selection of sample tubes of silvery liquid... other than that, I don't know what else Nhan took back."

Michael jumped up from her seat, slipping an arm around her before she zipped from her quarters, straight to one of the science labs, leaving the woman to catch up, and as a precaution, gave her a bucket. She flitted to storage bay, startling Nhan who was filling in the inventory beside the refrigerated unit.

"By your god!" Nhan gasped, "I should really install a bell system…"

"Where's the silver tubes?"

Nhan blinked, face crinkling with a momentary expression of confusion at her blunt demand. "Er… Third box. Why?"

Michael's eyes took in the collection of items before picking it up. It was fairly flat like a case uses to house a collection of PADDs though was much thicker. She flipped it open before pulling a face at the scents that drifted off the vials. There were 20 in total, all looking the same though she could see a few didn't look like normal…

Nhan drifted closer, "Do you know what these are?" Her fingers reaching towards it but Michael grasped her wrist before her fingers could touch.

"Vampire venoms."

"Ah." She let go and the chief of security withdrew her hand quickly.

"I'm going to run a scan on them in the lab with Tilly. Dvir…seemed to have tinkered with them."

"Tinkered?" Nhan's voice dropped with displeasure, "keep me updated, I'd hate to know but I'll need to know what he's done."

"Will do." If this was important, she'd need the captain to know as well. This was not a small thing. Cornwell would also need to know… A child was one thing but…altering a vampire's natural means of reproduction…


It had taken a while for them to get anywhere with the samples. Tilly had recovered from her trip but she made sure that the woman had on thick and long gloves when handling any of the vials. One thing she wasn't going to allow was a possibility of Tilly breaking a vile and end up with any of its content within her system.

With each test, Michael found herself both interested but annoyed, but what she found was…groundbreaking. It tickled the scientist with her and yet… it had potential, at least for the VL but ultimately, this would have to be at the discussion of Cornwell because…her position would allow for the VL to have a claim, not just on the samples but also any of the…embryos and the knowledge behind them.

After finishing her adjustments, the door opened and the three people she had called came in

"Captain, Nhan, Tyler," She greeted, watching them take in the sight of the lab.

"Are all these venoms?" Ash asked, leaning to observe one that was still in the main case.

"Yes, and no." Tilly piped up. "Lieutenant Dvir's been busy."

"Indeed." Michael gestured them closer though Nhan was more hesitant to get any closer which was all fair; they were all poison for her. "Dvir's worked out how to modify the vampire venom in ways that…surprised me. One vial, the green top is the pure sample. A base to draw from. I suspect mine, as there was a small period of time where Lorca confiscated my venom" It was logical to assume he had withdrawn part of it from the original file and Dvir found a way to reproduce more from that sample. "Vampire venom holds genetic markers of each sire that's passed down to every childe, this helps keep the vampire evolution progressing with each new generation and adapts for each one. The main part of the venom is the genetic instructions of converting human DNA into a crystalline form."

"What are you saying?" Pike questioned softly,

"Out of twenty, 16 of them have had the baser instructions eradicated from its structure."

"So… it's like a blank venom?" Ash then guessed, his face becoming passive with a depth of concern of what it means, "Does that mean it's suitable for…other species, aside from human?"

"It's likely a hypothesis. One sample, we believe might have been designed for a Vulcan." From the line, she picked up a vial that had a slight greenish ting and held it out to Pike.

Pike reached forwards and plucking it from her finger carefully, though she was glad he held it around its middle. "So…this would turn a Vulcan into a vampire."

"Yes, they'd retain a form identical to ours, the only differences would be the external ones. But they'd be limited like us, only be able to turn their own former species. A human-vampire can't turn a Vulcan, which would be the same if a Vulcan-vampire bit a human. It's not compatible, even if the end result is the same."

"Lovely." Nhan replied dryly, "and you have 16 blank shots?"

"Yes."

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Ash asked, his arms folded in front of his chest, eyeing the bottles now, "I mean, no other species would want to undergo it, and if they did, it'll be for the sake of becoming a stronger being."

"Dvir's also been looking for medical uses." Tilly spoke up, "He wanted to get a hold of some of Lieutenant Stamets's venom, as he's able to pass down the tardigrade alterations that enable him to patch into the network."

Ash's eye's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, Stamets can make a vampire capable of that?"

"As we said, it adapts. It's now incorporated into his vampire genome and any vampire sired from him will also inherit that, and every vampire from that one… it's now permanently part of that Vampiric gene line."

"How does that help with medical uses, Ensign?" Pike reminded before they could end up in a completely different conversation, even if it was interesting.

"Oh, right, well he hoped to use the transformation as means as curing genetic illnesses. By eradicating the genes responsible for the end result and replace it with…synthesised and healthy DNA, it could become a way to deliver a rewriting process of a beings DNA, replace damaged or dying cells with a whole new program on one shot. Write away the illnesses…improve the immune system…"

"Which would quickly border into eugenics." Pike exhaled, "I can't deny the idea isn't a genius one but it's hardly legal and… this would ultimately be abused."

"I agree." Ash huffed, "I take it the last few samples are those."

Tilly bobbed her head. "We're putting together a report on it now."

"Okay, but, now that we have them, what should we do?" Nhan asked, eyes flickering to Ash for a moment with an air of suspicion, "Keep them here, send them off to biohazard at a Starbase…"

"Actually, I want to send and retain them at Bloodstone. Under vampire care, if you don't mind. I'll most definitely need to inform Admiral Cornwell of the baby's existence. My placement on this ship…may be in discussion, depending on…what I want to concern her."

It was no mistake what she meant.

"We can't not inform Starfleet, if Cornwell is going to hear about it, there will be discussions of ignoring protocols in Starfleet." Pike spoke, "Send your reports at the same time but as both, the child is yours, Commander, and any those other ones, you have the parental right of keeping her from Starfleet."

"What about the data?" Ash inquired tightly. "Starfleet's rules are very clear—"

"We'll keep it in house for the time being, if Cornwell acts faster than Starfleet, she deal with it." Pike interrupted, "You'll wait until after we've sent our reports before you report to Leland, Specialist Tyler, there is a child at stake." His tone dropped though it was clear that his mention of the child was purposeful, Michael had to agree, while it was unlike Chris to use that, it felt necessary.

Ash's face darkened but Michael gave him a soft look before he caved with a displeased sigh. "Yes…Captain Pike."