It all started after a particularly disastrous mission. I had thought it would be a relatively simple one with little risk– getting some dilithium crystals and doing some exploring. The landing party consisted of myself, first officer Spock, Lt. Shane Anderson, and Lt. Lisa Smith. We split into 2 groups to cover more ground, and we had been there for maybe a half hour when I received a panicked communication from Smith. She and Anderson had been attacked by some kind of large animal. It sounded like she was in a considerable amount of pain. When we found them, the animal was gone, and Anderson was clearly critically injured. I wasn't immediately sure what was wrong with Smith when I saw her lying on the ground, shaking.

"I killed it.. I think something else bit me... Shane!" she cried weakly, reaching out in his direction.

"How bad is he?" I asked Spock when he knelt down to take the man's pulse.

"Near death," Spock said. I flipped my communicator open.

"Kirk to Enterprise, emergency! Beam us up now, and have a medical team standing by."

No answer. I repeated my message. Nothing. "Something must be blocking the signal."

I regretted not bringing Dr. McCoy. If he had been there, he could have at least done something. I have been told on occasion that I bring my chief medical officer on landing parties too often, sometimes by Bones himself, but you never know when you'll need a doctor.

I tried the Enterprise again. Scotty finally answered, and we were beamed up immediately. As the two lieutenants were being rushed to sickbay, Scotty was trying to determine what caused communications to go down.

"I just dinna understand it, Captain. Everything was functioning perfectly, and nothing's wrong with it now," he said.

"Well, at least it didn't stay down any longer. We'll have to look into it more if it happens again."

"Aye," he acknowledged, though I knew from the look on his face that he was probably going to obsess over it all day.

I stopped in sickbay later to check on Anderson and Smith's conditions. Bones came up to me with a sad glint in his eyes.

"Anderson is dead," he said quietly.

"What? What about Smith?" I asked, also keeping my voice down.

"She's recovering, but she's going to be devastated when she finds out. It's terrible; they were going to be married in just a few weeks, too."

My chest tightened. "I should have brought you with us."

Bones shook his head. "I doubt that would have made a difference."

"Doctor?" Smith called out. He walked over to her bedside.

"You'll be alright now. You just need to rest for a little while."

"What about Shane? You saved him too, didn't you?" she asked, sounding nervous, but hopeful in McCoy's skill. Bones took an extra moment to answer.

"He's gone. I'm so sorry."

"I know it was bad, but I thought if anyone could save his life, you could. There have been other times it seemed impossible, and you pulled those people through!" she said, voice shaking.

"I'm not a miracle worker. I did everything I could," he said gently.

"That's bull," Smith insisted, "you saved the captain from certain death by radiation poisoning! How could Shane's injuries have been too much for you? Or do you only make special efforts for your friends?"

Bones stiffened slightly. "That's not true," he said, keeping his tone calm. It wasn't fair for her to accuse him like that. What happened with me was a different situation, but people can lash out when they're grieving. If anything, what happened to my crew was more my responsibility as the captain.

"Leave me alone," Smith growled weakly. Bones came back over to me, looking tired. I squeezed his shoulder and headed to the Bridge.


About two days later, I noticed a strange creature on Deck 3. It was a small, black, sort of insect looking thing with beady yellow eyes. Before I could make another move, it flattened itself to the floor and slid right up to me. I found it was hostile pretty quick when it took a swipe at my leg. I backed away a few feet, but it was after me. I didn't have a phaser on me, so I broke into a run. I would have to come up with a way to trap it. Although, was that even possible when it could flatten itself like that? Could it be stunned?

I made an announcement to the crew, warning everyone to watch out for it and the potential of more of them being aboard. I got a report from a couple of the security officers that they attempted to stun it, but it avoided being hit by going flat.

"Maybe if we could just sneak up behind it–" Miller said.

"Keep at it," I said. It certainly wasn't one of the more deadly things we've encountered. How hard could it really be?

Turns out, it's a lot harder to get rid of than you might think. Stun doesn't affect it. I thought the kill setting had to do the trick. It vanished, but it popped back up again– the same one? Another one? The situation only got stranger and more concerning. More and more of these creatures started appearing as my crew started disappearing without a trace. I could only hope they weren't dead. None of the other creatures looked like the first one, aside from the yellow eyes, but they were just as, if not more dangerous.

Spock managed to get a tricorder reading on one of them, but all we got out of it was that they were alive.

"Well, that doesn't help at all. They're alive, but what are they? If we can't get rid of them with phasers, what will?" I wondered.

"It is my estimation that all of them are of the same species with at least several variations. I cannot say for certain whether they are intelligent or merely act on instinct. Whatever they have been doing to the crew hasn't left a trace. Perhaps a mind meld–" Spock suggested.

"No, you shouldn't risk it," I said.

"Captain, it may be the only way to get more information."

I shook my head. "Spock, we're not going to get any information if they make you disappear first. Let's see what McCoy can find out with a medical scanner." I called sickbay, and Nurse Chapel answered. "Nurse, where's Dr. McCoy? I need him to come up to the Bridge." She hesitated before continuing.

"Captain... he's disappeared. No one's seen him since last night."

It felt like all the air was sucked out of my lungs. Bones. Bones might be dead. My best friend.

I shook myself; now wasn't the time to grieve. He might not be dead, and in that case, I needed to figure out how to get him back, along with the other officers that have gone missing.

"Alright, we're going to get to the bottom of this. See if you can get a medical scan on at least one of those creatures. Kirk out." I turned back to Spock, but before I could say anything, I had to avoid a fiery attack by one of the flying creatures. Right before I vaporized it, I noticed another detail they had in common besides the eyes. The first one I saw didn't have it, but all the others did: a symbol in the shape of a heart, crossed out with a spiked x. Unfortunately, this realization left me with more questions than answers.