There were no weapons stored on the bridge. Nyota would need to make her way down to supplies to arm herself. Unfortunately, the supplies room was opposite the docking bay.
She took shallow breaths as she stepped along the corridors down. It was colder on the lower decks of the ship already, the walls felt cold as she tracked her hand along, steadily guiding her forward where her personal light source could not.
Quietly descending the metal steps, she reached the floor of the docking bay and supplies. Nyota froze in the shelter of a broken door, she could hear something. Her fingers found her light source, temporarily switching it off. She held her breath in the dark, listening.
The faint sound of purring echoed down the hallway. The purr was interspersed with a series of clicking and slurping noises, it sounded wet and gooey. Nyota covered her mouth to exhale, turning, she stepped through the broken door into the darkness.
Tiptoeing down the corridor, she knew the docking bay was on the left, and the supplies room was on the right. She hugged the right side wall, slowly feeling her way down the corridor, carefully placing measured footfalls to the ground to ensure she made as little noise as possible.
The purring got louder, gurgling and slurping. If she wasn't so frightened, Nyota might almost say the thing sounded happy. She knew she was nearing the doors as a stench hit her. She covered her mouth and nose, desperately trying not to wretch. The smell was foul, the thinning air hung with the stench of deceased flesh and blood. Sidestepping evermore slowly, her fingers found the open supply room doors. She backed into the room, tucking herself into a corner to listen again.
While the noise was now louder as she was nearer the source, it did not appear to have changed. Tiptoeing into the room, she cupped her hand over her light source and switched it back on, the light diffused through her fingers, providing her with an aid to her vision.
She found the phaser locker, arming herself as the noise changed. Happy gurgling was cut off by an inquisitive array of clicks. Nyota glanced out the doors and through into the docking bay, noticing something shift in the darkness. She extinguished her power source.
It was suddenly silent. Her heart fell into her stomach as one hand froze around the phaser, the other hovering around her light source. The sound of soft footfalls carried, it was moving.
In the dark, Nyota tried to get her bearings. She needed to get back to the bridge, to safety, to the computer. From there, maybe she could figure out a way to seal it off. The footfalls stopped. She held her breath.
After a long moment, the gurgling started up again. Slopping and slurping, Nyota grimaced, assuming this thing could only be eating the corpses of her crew mates.
Carefully finding her way out of the room, she made her way as quickly as she could back down the corridor towards the metal staircase that would take her up the decks. Nearing the broken doors, distancing herself from the sound, Nyota cautiously flicked her light source on again.
The light seeped through her finger diffusion efforts, hitting the wall at the end of the corridor and catching the attention of the thing. She heard a hiss, like a sharp intake of breath, and saw a shadow dart up the wall behind her, wet footfalls approaching her, fast.
She switched the light source off again, hoping the darkness would offer her a chance at cover. Running for the direction of the stairs, she tripped up the first step as she reached it. Violent toned clicks echoed loudly, it was so close to her now. Scrambling to her feet, she leapt up the stairs, jumping the debris of the door at the top and running down the next corridor, not stopping to look back.
Once she had made it up another floor, she stopped running. Panting in the dark, legs shaking, heart pounding in her ears and sweat running down her neck, she rest her hands on her knees, holding her breath to listen.
It was quiet here. All she could hear was the hum of the ship again. She exhaled a long breath, trying to steady her breathing and turned on her light to make it the rest of the way to the bridge.
On the deck, she squeezed through the doors and stood, shaking. She needed protection. While she was out of the woods, there was no way she felt safe. Nyota looked about, there was no power to seal the doors but she had to think of something to keep whatever that was away from her.
xxxx
Khan approached the Admirals office at the end of the work day, stack of PADDs in his arms collected from his work centre. He couldn't say his contribution to the work today was of any particular use, his mind was elsewhere…
"Have the records destroyed." Khan heard Marcus' voice, the doors already open. He paused outside to eavesdrop.
"It's not a violation of anything if it comes from an Admiral. It was my green light that set that mission off, now I want it off the books. No written reports, no media news reports, and definitely no public memorial services." Marcus stated in private conversation. "Send the necessary condolences and grievance counsel to the families, but I want nothing more on the matter. The goal was met."
"Sir." Khan announced himself.
"Hold on." Marcus said to the person he was engaged with, pausing their conversation.
"The days reports." Khan placed the PADDs on the desk. "I'll be turning in."
"Very well." He responded, disinterested, turning in his chair, back to his call.
Khan got to his computer as soon as he reached his home.
"Shutters activate." He asked the rooms computer. Slowly the blinds drew, shutting out the last of the daylight, the soft glow of houselights taking its place.
He awoke his comm, immediately tapping into the transmission to the USS Enlightenment.
"Uhura? Lieutenant Uhura are you there?"
He got no response, just static. Adjusting his frequency, he tried again.
"Uhura?"
"Oh look, the asshole is back. Have you decided to finally help me?" She snapped, sounding out of breath.
"Why am I an 'asshole'? I told you I would help you."
"You said that then you disconnected on me for twelve hours! Thats what assholes do!"
"I was helping you, it's just not been that simple."
"Oh, you think you got problems?" Nyota grunted, heaving a sigh.
"… What are you doing, Lieutenant?" Khan listened to her a moment, huffing away.
"There is something on this ship." She told him, her voice sounded echoey, like she was far away from the microphone. He heard a scraping noise, the sound of something being dragged. "So I am temporarily barricading myself in on the bridge."
"What is on the ship?" He said, tapping into the computer software he uploaded to Enlightenment. He read the data.
"I have no idea, all I know is it's definitely not human, but it likes to eat them."
Khan studied the ship report. Temperature at one-degree celsius. Remaining power at eighteen percent. Complex lifeforms aboard ship; two.
"Have you seen it?"
"Sort of. When I found out something else was onboard, I decided to arm myself. Only trouble is the weapon supplies room is right opposite the docking bay, where it somehow got in. It was dark, I barely got a glimpse, but it chased me. It sounded… disgusting."
"The parasite..?" Khan muttered to himself, thinking.
"What-?… Oh god!"
"What's happened?" He snapped back to attention. Nyota made noises of upset.
"I… I'm moving debris… whose foot is that?"
Khan frowned, casting the mental image aside and returning to his thinking.
"Listen, Uhura, you do not have much auxiliary power remaining. I'm going to access the computer and try to re-divert some of your ships power to secure you on the top levels and the bridge." He explained. "I need you to sit tight for a little while longer whilst I figure out how to get you out of there, okay?"
Nyota sighed, the sound of scraping and huffing died down, and he heard the crumpling of material. Her voice sounded clearer when she spoke again.
"Okay, Khan." She said, resigned "Not like I've got anywhere to go."