The tardigrade is a fascinating creature. Able to withstand living environments that range in extremes, whether they be extremes of heat, of cold, of high or low atmospheric pressure, even of radioactivity, these bundles of resiliency refuse to say 'die' in the most inhospitable conditions. And yet their peculiar name comes from an old Earth language, meaning 'slow steppers'.
This was certainly not the experience Tw'eak was about to have. For one thing, the Earth equivalent, when discovered, were microscopic. Larger animals on Earth of the size of the eight-legged monster bearing down on Tw'eak ranged in origin. Ancient Earth had seen large reptile creatures, the study of such fossils known as paleontology, and certain among those dinosaurs may have been similar - ankylosaurs, for example, both in size and mass. So, too, would Earth have known larger mammals in its time of comparable volume - whales like the orca, for instance, or land mammals like the rhinoceros.
This tardigrade, here in the mycelial realm, was gigantic in its proportions - its claws, its maw, its onrushing bulk, all suitably dangerous. And it was anything but a slow stepper. It was bearing down, its mouth slathening with hunger, towards the scent of the spores that Tw'eak held in her hand. Somehow, all of this - a battle in space, a rift into this unexplored realm, a threat to her homeworld, and now this new plan, to use the tardigrade's healthy appetite as a way to repair the damage to the mycelial network - all of this had gone down before she had even managed to have a second cup of katheka this morning.
The radiation-emitting House Mo'Kai probe that was her intended endpoint for this mad dash was some twenty metres beyond her, and now she quickly but gently turned herself away, and fled towards it. The spores trailed afterwards, like bread crumbs for the ravenous creature to pursue, leaving a brightly glistening trail through the air behind her. The effect would have been comical to onlookers, like something out of an ancient cartoon, were it not for the sudden appearance of corrupted Elachi near her away team.
Tw'eak covered the intervening ground quickly. She could hear the shriek of phaser fire from her away team, covering her and the tardigrade as they crashed into the Mo'Kai probe. Several of the Elachi fell, and Tw'eak sprinkled the spores onto the outgrowth of the probe. "Now!" she called out to the away team's engineer, Lieutenant Commander Yett. The Rigelian stepped in as the tardigrade chowed down, and Yett was able to work quickly and defuse the probe.
"Done!" he said after a moment, using the tardigrade for cover.
"Alright, go again," Tw'eak called out to the away team. "Give me cover!"
"Hold on!" Ralani called out, as she and Bianca traded fire with a large Elachi beta.
Tw'eak turned to Yett. "Do you have a phaser?"
"Yeah," Yett replied, turning his hand phaser over to Tw'eak.
Tw'eak stepped forwards. "HEY! Ugly!" she yelled at the Elachi, firing in its direction.
The Elachi turned its head, then its weapon, to fire at Tw'eak. As it did, she tumbled into the overgrowth of corrupted mycelial roots for cover. This gave Ralani the opening she needed, and her phaser rifle beams struck home at the back of the Elachi's shoulder, felling it.
Tw'eak straightened herself up, pleased, but Ralani was anything but. "Warn me next time before you do that!" she admonished Tw'eak.
"Sorry, Lieutenant," Bianca replied. "The Admiral's in the habit of expecting us to know what she's going to do."
"What, try and get herself killed?"
"Not every time," Tw'eak replied, sounding a little hurt. She looked back at the tardigrade, who had picked the probe clean. "Okay, big fella. Let's try that again - when you're all ready, that is."
"Ready," Bianca acknowledged.
"Let me just, uh..." Yett pointed towards the next probe, then positioned himself near to it. "I'm set."
Ralani just glared.
"Alright. Ready or not, here we come." Tw'eak took another clip of spores and, once again, shook a few loose before the hungry tardigrade. The behemoth lunged forwards into the stream, and Tw'eak made her way - a little faster this time... a little too fast.
"He lost the scent," Bianca called out.
"Didn't think he'd do that." Tw'eak pulled out another clip and knocked loose a few more spores, resuming the chase - and the Elachi, true to form, reappeared. Whether these were the same Elachi as before or not didn't matter. Tw'eak dropped the spore clip against the probe and then ducked around it.
"I wouldn't," Yett suggested. "If the Elachi aim for you and hit the probe, it can detonate."
Tw'eak took a step back and ducked into another bush. She looked up just in time to see three Elachi bearing down on Bianca and Ralani, and picked one off. The sudden fall of the lead Elachi caused another to look in her direction, and just as before, inattention to Ralani proved deadly. Bianca knocked out the third, while Yett deactivated the second probe.
"Okay. One more to go. We ready?"
"All set," Bianca noted.
"Just a second," Yett called out as he advanced to the next probe. "Good!"
Ralani also re-positioned herself into cover. "You two okay back there?"
Behind a larger tree much further back, Stamets looked to Patel, who nodded, and gave a thumbs-up to Ralani.
"Good to go," Ralani said to Tw'eak.
"Okay." She checked the clips. Only two left. So she had to watch her distance, but also keep herself safely clear of the tardigrade as it charged, the first time. Otherwise the last probe would take a little while longer to defuse... and who knows what the tardigrade might do to her. The spores were probably in her hair, the fabric of her uniform...
But this was no time to worry about that. Tw'eak had to make it happen a different way. And so, as she took the clip off and loosened its seal, she moved at a brisk walking pace rather than running, and kept the tardigrade's chomping maw tantalizingly close to her hand as she went. Being careful not to get tripped up by the undergrowth, she was startled as one of the Elachi actually managed to score a hit, turning her left arm with its impact. Her personal shield held, if weakened in power, and she got back up to speed, bringing the tardigrade to its final feast.
Tw'eak took a few steps further, giving the tardigrade (which the Elachi were also hitting - not that it noticed) a little space. She brought out the hand phaser and cut down two of the Elachi with a series of rapid shots, then looked beyond to face the tallest Elachi she had ever seen. This large bipedal creature was known as a predator, and the name was perhaps apt. This kind of predator tended to use its mind rather than its claws, and Tw'eak could feel the perceived heat and pressure of a telepathic assault beginning. She held up to it, her own mental discipline holding, as she could see the others concentrating their fire upon it, the last Elachi standing. Within a few moments, the pain of being repeatedly shot turned its attention, and Tw'eak raised her phaser to put a couple of shots into its chest and midsection. The Elachi had been defeated, the tardigrade well fed, and the probes deactivated.
"We're clear!" Yett declared.
"Well done, everyone," Tw'eak said. "Especially you," she added, patting the tardigrade on the head. "You know, I could learn to like these guys."
"This is all starting to come together," Stamets said as he and Patel approached. "J'Ula's plan, that is. I think I understand what she's trying to do."
"I'd love to know," Bianca replied.
Tw'eak nodded. "I think we all would."
"Back in my time, in 2256, J'Ula and House Mo'Kai learned about the classified Starfleet research - she steals the data on the spore drive and manages to build a weapon based on that technology. She puts her shiny new toy on her flagship and joins the attack on Starbase 1. That didn't work out so well for her, though. The weapon malfunctioned and the subsequent explosion threw her into this century."
"And directly into conflict with us," Bianca added.
"But why Andoria?" Ralani asked. "Why now?"
Stamets continued. "J'Ula worked out the bugs in her weapon's design. She determines that mutated spores are a critical component, so she sets out to get more of them. That's where the probes come in - she fires them into the Network, they put out Hargh'peng radiation, mutating the spores... and just like that, J'Ula gets more ammo for her weapon of mass destruction."
"That would be consistent with what we're seeing here," Tw'eak reasoned.
"Problem is - she didn't think it through. The radiation causes unexpected side-effects, as we've seen first-hand. Somehow I don't think J'Ula is worried about collateral damage, though."
"Probably not. But this all makes sense."
Stamets gave a nod. "Knowledge is power. Now that we know what she's up to, we can take steps to put an end to her plan and protect the Network from her actions. Hopefully we'll be able to work with the jahSepp on this-"
Tw'eak became aware of a growing hum in the distance. "Admiral!" Ralani called out.
Tw'eak looked up. "I see it."
In the skies above, its ebony form glowing with yellow-green energy, was an Elachi warship, emerging from the energy of the mycelial rift - converting to its tripod figure, its legs resting upon the same mycelial ground where Tw'eak and her away team stood, weapons at the ready.
Stamets pointed upwards. "I'm gonna say that's not a good sign."
That was an understatement. Tw'eak gritted her teeth and looked straight up at the oncoming Elachi craft towering over them.