Pike mulled as he sat at his desk, Agent Tyler taking his leave now the debrief was done but they were now awaiting further orders. He couldn't deny that… this mission could have gone seriously wrong but it opened up his eyes to the fact that… the Red angel and the signals were from the future. But also… the thing that came out of that rift was also from the future.

Which… all in all opened up a threat they hadn't even conceived of...until now. How that linked with Spock, Pike couldn't fathom but now, they had a starting point to work with and seeing how the strands tied together. They needed context.

The door pinged though his eyes rose to see them open and Saru came wafting in. "We've continued our analysis of the debris, so far we've not found any probe parts and have recovered plenty of our shuttle."

"None?" He had seen the playback; it definitely should be floating around

"It's… hard to say where it could have gone but we've got a few teams on it."

"Good, I don't want any more surprises today."

"Of course, I've made the appropriate changes to the roster for the absence of both Detmer and Airiam as you requested. They're prepping a shuttle now."

"Anything else?"

Saru paused then nodded, "Someone's been...accessing the ship's deflector dish, a few hours ago, a huge amount of Terabytes were sent off the ship in several bursts."

Pike's eyes narrowed but he understood that that was not good. Not ordinary. Only select few had access with that without a captain's permission. A security leak was not a good thing to have, not now. "Can you find where they're going and who's sending them?"

"I can do, I'll ask Commander Nhan to oversee it"


"Are you sure this is okay?"

Saru smiled softly at the Lieutenant as she made adjustments to the shuttle's settings, nerves of this whole trip ticking at her with a mild sense of discomfort; maybe she should stay and help oversee the rest of the mission

"If it wasn't, I'd keep you here and we'd carry on with the mission."

Keyla exhaled heavily before nodding with a smile. "It'll only be for a few days, then we'll be back." She promised, "It's… just been so long since I've met any of our old crew…we've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Indeed. It's always good to reconnect with them." Saru agreed softly, his hands coming to gently push down the fabric of his jacket "Personally, I'd prefer to have Discovery drop you off but given our orders to stay here—"

"Its fine, Sir. The shuttle can handle the journey to and from Cestus lll at maximum Warp. Long trip but…it'll be worth it." From her last few messages with Gant, he was with Januzzi and Weeton so it'd be a very familiar meet up. Old friends… they should have kept in contact, not wait over a year to get back in contact… Keyla supposed it was probably her fault, her time on Discovery and its…colourful missions throughout the war was very distracting and very, very classified. After this visit, she'd definitely try harder.

"Airiam's got our room at the colony booked and helped get the room adjusted for Airiam's equipment once we're there… but—"

Saru held up his hand, interrupting her with a fond expression. "No doubt you're still hesitant about leaving but this is okay. It'll be good to hear from you once you're there, it'd be nice to hear about our former crew and if we need you, I'm sure we can get to Cestus lll in a heartbeat but right now, you're on holiday and you should take the opportunity to unwind and relax. "

Keyla's smiled. "Aye, Sir."


"You've been glued to your PADD for a while,." Keyla noted switching the ship onto auto; they weren't far but the trip had been long though she had hoped Airiam would be up for conversation but her friend had been oddly quiet recently. Perhaps this trip could do her some good, a break too. Everyone had been overworking but it almost felt wrong to be the only ones taking that break away from the ship.

There was no reply.

Keyla turned. "Airiam?"

Her head turned, face passive for a second before the soft plastic of her face curled. "Sorry, I was focused."

Keyla chuckled, "You've been focused for a while, what are you reading?"

"I've copied some Sphere data to…. See on alternative augment designs. As great as my augments are…. The memory capacity if not infinite."

"Ah." Fair enough. They were presented with a lot of ancient and powerful technology there; of course, Airiam would want to look back for an upgrade. With her own eye, she knew finding means to have it the best or at least improved was always going to make living with it easier. With Airiam…. It wasn't surprising. "Well, let me know if they have eye technology, it'll be an interesting read nonetheless."

"I will do."


"Wow, the planet is hot!" Detmer exclaimed, the heat seeping into the shuttle as the doors opened. "Almost like Vulcan but…without a huge city but a lot more water and plants."

Beside her Airiam moved out, taking in the view but prodded the dusty floor with a sour look. "This is probably worse than sand." Her tone drying up. She looked to her. "What's first? I'll need to check over my room and make sure everything is set and that we're checked in."

Detmer nodded though her mind spun on the options, "Gant's expecting us to meet him by the colony walls soon. We can detour back to the complex once we meet up so he knows we're not standing him up."

"Alright."

Detmer smiled, slipping her arm through hers and took the lead. As they walked, she felt her excitement grow, her step practically had a bounce in though Airiam didn't say anything. Her eyes ran over the few people milling about, taking in the hairstyles and colours though there was getting less and fewer people. None familiar and none barely noticed them passing.

"Are you sure he's here, Keyla?" Airiam pressed after a moment, doing the same thing. A note of concern in her voice.

"Maybe he's late?" Detmer patted her arm.

"Keyla!" The voice made her jump but she spun around to see a figure in the treeline, waving to them.

A grin slipped onto her face, "There he is." She let go of Airiam and hurried towards him. "Kamran!"

"Detmer, wait!"

In her excitement she drove forwards and pulled him into a hug, letting out of laugh of relief. "It's so good to see you!"

"Keyla…"

"How've you—" She stopped suddenly as she pulled back, though her joy of seeing him suddenly turned to a chilling horror as she noticed that once light brown eyes were now a deep crimson red, framed by pale, flawless skin.

Detmer felt her blood run cold and a sudden yelp from behind her before she felt his hand suddenly wrap around her throat in a vice grip. The ice and stony nature setting in the fear that now… her fingers dug in but even though she knew it was useless.

"Gant!" Her voice high pitched and rasped.

"We've been waiting for you, Keyla." Gant spoke, his face moulded into a sharp smile.


Ophelia had felt the difference in the clan as they waited; that today was the day they were waiting for. Captain had been notably nervous so no one bothered her unless they were willing to lose an arm or a leg.

Gant had left with Weeton and so… they waited.

Until they heard sharp cries and running feet that suddenly surged the air into a tense excitement that not even Ophelia could ignore.

Within a moment, Gant was back and in his arms was the redhead that struggled and whimpered in his grip; too weak to get free. Carelessly, he shoved the human woman forwards, sending her flying into the centre of their home and winding her almost immediately as she landed on her back, the force still sending her rolling. Pale dust and dirt sticking to the clean blue of her uniform before she settled on her front, her body panicking to breathe as she lay gasping for breath like a fish out of water.

Her lips curled up before she jumped from the rafters, the captain staying up but she kept her eyes on the human…until Weeton arrived with another in tow and shoved her to the floor.

Her eyes narrowed though this human did struggle, it didn't look human. There was no bared flesh, only plastic and metallic alloys, blue eyes that were so clearly prosthetics and there was barely a human scent coming from her. Masked under the electronics. She could hear the mechanical joins and whirls. Though from the heartbeat, it was clear this one was just as terrified but…they didn't want this human, if you could call it that. It looked designed to have been a female but… in all honestly, Ophelia wasn't going to give it a label. It wasn't worth her trouble. She hated implants and machines.

"This is it?" Januzzi questions, his arms folding over his chest. "She's tiny…and a little pathetic." Dissatisfied.

"Why don't you go stand guard with the robot one if you want to be interested?" Weeton suggested, dusting himself off.

Finally, though, the human woman sucked in a breath, pushing herself up to her knees though her eyes were wide, taking them all in before they landed to her and widened further.

"What the hell is going on?! Gant!" She demanded though she looked horrified to see the robot one with her as well.

"Hold her," Ophelia ordered. Immediately, Gant and Narwani suddenly grabbing one of her arms, forcing the human to stay on her knees, Narwani grasping the straight orange hair and pulled her head back that caused her to cry out, but quickly, the vampire shoved a wad of material into her mouth, gagging her though it didn't stop the whimpers and the sounds but it was better than the talking.

Captain jumped down then, breath baited as she crept close though stayed out of the human's line of sight now she was restrained, instead moved behind.

"Ugh, implants." Ophelia mused, fingers running down the metallic, the human trying to flinch away from her cool touch. "Never mind, they'll be gone soon… shame though there's no original one." She held the eyelid open, touching the warm synthetic piece. Soft outside though there was no doubt it was built from a type of Carbon fibre to keep it light.

"Leave her alone! Keyla!" The robot shouted, grunting as Weeton kicked it in the back, sending it face down into the floor.

"If it speaks again, rip off its jaw." Ophelia sighed, "It's bringing down the mood."

Weeton nodded though he moved and suddenly grasping the robot by the jaw and simply held it against him, ensuring it wouldn't speak and letting it watch.

Her head cocked to the side, letting go of the eye though brought both her hands to her cheeks, feeling the recoil and the struggle.

"Now, now, my little treasure trove, let's see what you've got to offer."

Detmer whimpered, eyes clenching shut but the human mind had no resistance against the vampire's intrusion. It was like sinking into a shallow sea and submerging within the memories and thoughts that fluttered in the predictable paths. The emotion was first, fear and terror, horrified to see her former crew like this… the hunch that she knew who she was. Ophelia had to admire the reasonable conclusion given the human woman had only ever heard of her.

She pushed in deeper, emotions tied to thoughts, the anxiety of leaving the ship, excitement to see Gant… the Discovery stationed by orders while… Burnham was away.

"Hm?" She followed that thought. Burnham. Good. There were clear images of her childe there, but…there was something different about her but she pushed to the visual thoughts, images flashing through next. One most recent stood out.

"She's so cute!"

A star ship's dining hall, large and white but her attention was to a table, seeing from the human's eyes. Burnham was there sitting in front, a warm weight in her arms. She looks down and— Ophelia felt herself pull back from her mind but the image and thoughts lingered in her own mind.

A Baby.

No, not a human baby. She could see the face buried in her arm, blood pooling from the bite the baby was inflicting, feeling soft flutters of the infant's tongue that lapped at it… no pain from the bite. It was confusing, but… from the appearance of the baby, the strength and the bloodlust it had, it was Part vampire. Burnham's part vampire.

A low growl echoed but she dived back into the human's mind, ignoring the wine of pain from it. Going deeper.

Flying the ship's helm, fingers touch diverting the ship's motions, the planets and the rift… captain Pike and Stamets… The thought of the captain caught her interest so she followed those memories. Tall, pale and very handsome with both strong jaw and cheekbones and a good statue that was shown through the tight uniform, his brown hair flecked to grey; not wearing a typical badge. It was different to Saru's one. A clan-mate badge. Captain Christopher Pike Ophelia followed that but she slowed. Tracing the memory down though she saw it, for a second; Burnham and the captain. Closeness that didn't belong to a captain and officer, matching badges and his hand coming out, coming to Michael's shoulder and her eyes… the red showing a depth of emotion that that only could be there if—

Rage coursed through her next… growing within her like a volcano about to erupt. "Oh, that bitch…." The words hissed out, the others back off, sensing her rage though Captain stayed, tensing up. "A mate and child… How dare she…" No. She didn't deserve any of them. Not a mate and certainly not that baby girl. Ohh… she was going to have to rectify that.

With a growl, Ophelia plunged her fist into the woman's gut, the force enough for the human to scream and spit out the gag at the same time before it was swiftly followed by a regurgitation of her stomach onto the floor. No doubt breaking a rib and starting internal bleeding too. She was let go and dropped onto her side but Ophelia stepped forward and brought her leg down onto the human's thigh, hearing the satisfying crack that echoed before the screaming started. The sounds echoing off the walls and vibrating back but it was all music to her ears.

The robot woman struggled, muffing sounds echoed but Ophelia was not done. She darted down and dug her fingers into the implant and pulled it without mercy from the flesh; blood pooling immediately through the screaming stopped as the human convulsed and passed out. Though in the few seconds of silence, the vampire dug her fingers in and roughly pulled out the fake eye as well and a new spurt of blood seeped from her socket. It pooled down quickly, soaking into the dirt and the uniform though a swift nudge to the broken limb stirred the human back before she began to shake and convulse in the dirt, her only eye rolling back and her heart picked up…

Ophelia's foot rose to her chest, putting pressure onto her ribs…

A hiss caught her attention, just in time to see the Captain dive at her, the force knocked them both away but Ophelia threw her childe off her easily but the woman caught herself and moved to the human within a heartbeat.

"She's mine. You promised!" She snared, baring her fangs and crouching over the human with a vivid possessiveness. Eyes pitch black and ready to defend.

Ripping off her childe's head for her insolence was temping, but Ophelia knew there was a line to ensure the balance of power if she was to keep the Captain in her place. Ophelia straightened up, stepping back and allowing the captain to do what she needed for her new pet. Dropping the broken implants to the floor and stepped on it, feeling the eye crush under her boot. Like she was stepping on a snail shell.

Satisfied, Captain gently picked up the human and brushed back the red-soaked locks, running her tongue over the deep wound that washed her venom over to start healing up the wounds before the lack of implant would kill her. Captain's posture stiffened as the taste hit her but she seemed to power through, her attention moving to her throat before she had the strength to bite down into the soft flesh.

A pained, half groan-half whine escaped the human's lips. Captain pulled away, swallowing thickly before grabbing her wrists, repeating there and down her legs before she picked her up and they were both gone.

There was a whine behind her pulled her attention. Ophelia turned back to the robot, but seeing it now; a reminder that this was one of Burnham's friends…. If it was fully human, then turning it would have been an option. Another to their clan but…no this wasn't human enough. Moving forwards, her hand came to its head, though through her touch, she didn't feel the presence of a mind she could connect to.

She gripped the warm, plastic face, Weeton letting go quickly and stepping back but Ophelia took the time to study this thing. Her fingers came to the uniform jacket and quite easily tore it from its body. Another tear saw its vest and pants too to the floor. Like its face, the rest of its naked body was fake, yet shivered still. Plastic and metallic plates. Shaped to a female form if its chest shape was any indication but no detail of its former sex.

It was useless.

Its breathing was quick and it was possibly terrified but she didn't care. Her nails dug into one of the panels along its temple and began to tug, watching the synthetic eyes flutter and a whine of pain, though, for a second, she saw three red dots flicker in those eyes for only a moment before it was gone- hearing a slight ding from one of their equipment but nothing she noted- leaving the fake blue filled with something akin to terror.

"I'm going to rip you apart now. Piece by piece."