Star Traks: Banshee

"Things That Go Bump in the Night"

By Brad Dusen

	Captain Andy Baxter walked onto the bridge of the starship
Explorer.  "What is it?"
	"We are getting a distress call from the Banshee."  Larkin
said.  It is a general message, pinpointing the location, and
that they need help."  Larkin said.
	Baxter sighed.  "Lieutenant Ford, plot a course for the 
Banshee.  Warp Nine."

	Carn backed up in the hallway, clutching a broken duranium 
rod.  "Stay back!"  He shouted.
	A talon swung from the total darkness.  "Stay back!"  Carn
screamed.  He fell and was dragged into the darkness.

	"What the hell happened?"  Baxter asked as he stared at the
Banshee on the viewer.  It spun slowly in space, adrift.  The 
internal lights were dead, the warp and impulse engines, Bussard
collectors, the deflector dish and the formation lights were all
off.  It was a black silhouette against a distant, multicolored 
nebula.
	"How should we know?"  Conway asked as he sipped his cup of
coffee.
	"Lieutenant J'Hana, life signs?"  Baxter turned.
	"None that I can find."  J'Hana said.  "But sensors cannot
penetrate a majority of the ship.  My guess is that the plasma
coolant was vented, which produces a scattering field."
	"Can we beam aboard?"  Baxter asked.
	"The bridge only."  J'Hana said.
	"Conway, Larkin, J'Hana."
	"Rapture."  Conway said as he got up.

	The bridge was dark, lit only by two recessed lighting
fixtures.  All the control panels were offline.  No one was on
the bridge.  That quickly changed.
	Three transporter beams lit up the bridge for a moment, then
faded as Conway, J'Hana and Larkin appeared.
	"Hello?"  Larkin called out as she clutched her tricorder.
	"Type II Galaxy-Class."  Conway said as he observed the
Banshee's bridge.
	"The tricorder can scan for about two decks down, and there's
no on in its range."  Larkin said.
	Conway walked over to a turbolift door.  "Commander!"  J'Hana
shouted.
	Conway slammed against the door.
	"The power to the doors and every system besides life support
is offline."  Larkin said.
	"Thank you, Commander."  Conway said as he walked away from
the door.
	J'Hana took a small automatic door trigger from her side pack 
and gave it to Conway.
	Conway opened the door and looked down the turboshaft.
"Larkin, give me your flashlight."
	There was no response.
	"Larkin?"  Conway looked around.  He suddenly felt a hand
on his shoulder.  "AH!"  He jumped back as Larkin walked forward.
	"What is it, Commander?"  Larkin asked innocently.
	"Jesus, don't do that!"  Conway shouted.  "I need your
flashlight."
	"Look at this."  J'Hana walked out of the observation
lounge.  She held up the model of the Sovereign-Class Banshee,
which had a rather large gash in it.
	"So?"  Conway shrugged.
	"Unlike the models for the first Sovereign-Class ships, these
are made of sitanium, a new metal that is nearly unbreakable."
For once, J'Hana seemed nervous.  "And something ripped it."
	"What?"  Conway asked.
	"I don't know."  J'Hana said.
	Larkin began to stare at the viewer, which was flickering with
an internal sensor display on it.
	"You have to have some idea."  Conway said.  "You probably have
hunted most of them on the holodeck."
	"That may be so, but-"  J'Hana was cut off.
	"Commander, look."  Larkin said.
	Conway turned to see the image of a body, severely bloodied and
laying motionless.  "Oh my god."  Conway said.
	"It's Captain Vorezze."  Larkin said.
	"Is he dead?"  Conwas asked in horror.
	"If he is not now, he will be soon."  Larkin said.
	"We have to get to him."  Conway shouted.
	"You suddenly care?"  J'Hana was almost impressed.
	"No, it's just that he's the only one who can tell us what the
hell's going on."

	A lone figure darted between the glow of the hallways recessed
lights, clutching a phaser.  There were footsteps behind him.  They
got closer... closer.  The person turned.  "Ahh!"  He screamed as
he fell back into the darkness.  The screaming stopped and was 
replaced by the sound of breaking bones and ripping flesh.

	"So how do we get off the bridge?"  Larkin asked.
	"If I remember correctly, there should be a trap door
around here."  J'Hana began feeling around the floor next to the
tactical console.
	"Do we have to?"  Conway asked.
	"We have to locate the crew."  Larkin said.
	"How do we know anyone's alive on this ship?"  Conway said.
"Plus, once we leave the bridge, we can't be beamed out."
	"Don't be such a wuss!"  J'Hana said as she opened the trap
door.
	"Think about it."  Conway said.  "What could tear apart
the interior of a Sovereign-Class starship.  This vessel has one of 
the most advanced security systems in the galaxy."  Conway shuddered
as he looked around the bridge.  "And whatever is on board made a 
big hole in that duranium door!"  Conway pointed to the ready room
door.
	"Oh please, the Borg broke down the sickbay doors on the
Enterprise and they're not that strong."  J'Hana said.
	"Oh really?"  Conway asked.  "Ever armwrestle one?"
	"I'd like to."  J'Hana said as she lowered herself into
the dark crawlspace.  "I'm going, and so is Larkin."
	"I am?"  Larkin asked.
	"Yes."  J'Hana said.  "You can stay here, where it's safe."
J'Hana smiled demonically.  "At least you hope it is."  She shut
the trap door after Larkin climbed down.
	"Perfectly safe up here."  Conway looked around.  "Perfectly
safe."  He quickly became conscious of a blue substance dripping
on his shoulder from the ceiling.  The commander looked up and saw
a dead Bolian wedged in the dome skylight on the bridge.  At least
Conway thought it was a Bolian, it was really more of a pulpy smear
with a Section Thirty-One uniform.  "WAIT!!!"  He screamed as he 
opened the trap door.

	The interior hallways were nowhere nearly as well illuminated
as the bridge, which didn't say much for the hallways.  Every light,
even the red and blue emergency lights, were out with the sole
exception of one recessed light every three meters or so, creating
a bright patch of light surrounded by darkness.
	"Could you tell where the captain was?"  Conway asked nervously
as he looked around in the near total darkness.
	"No."  Larkin said.  "But it was in a hallway."  They left
a bright patch and began walking through near pitch blackness.
Larkin fell as she tripped on something.
	"Commander, are you all right?"  Conway helped her up.
	"Yes, but I do not think he is."  Larkin picked up a head.
	"AAH!"  Conway jumped into J'Hana's arms.
	"It is Lieutenant Carn, an android."  Larkin accessed her files
of Starfleet personnel.  "He does not appear to be functioning."
	"Nice observations."  Conway smirked.
	J'Hana shined her rifle-mounted flashlight onto the floor.
Carn lay in several pieces, his legs snapped off his main torso,
which was ripped in half and what was hoped to be one of Carn's
fingers lay nearby.
	"I will take him to the cybernetics lab and try to revive
him.  You two should continue to search for other crewmembers."
Larkin said as she walked off with Carn's pieces in her arms.
	"Well, it's just you and me now."  Conway looked at J'Hana.
	"I will protect you, Commander."  J'Hana said bravely.  "At 
least until my life is in danger, then you're on your own."
	"Traitor."

	Larkin forced open the doors to the cybernetics lab on deck
3.  Like the rest of the ship, it was illuminated with a single
recessed light in the center of the room, casting large shadows in all
directions.  If Larkin had been equipped with an emotion chip, she
would have been scared out of her programmed wits.
	"Computer, can you boost the lighting in this room?"  Larkin
asked.
	A static crackle came from the rooms speakers.
	"The computer must be offline."  Larkin shrugged, moving a
worktable directly under the light.  She placed Carn on it and
attached his head to his neck.  She began to fiddle with his on
switch.
	"No... get... no... red alert... away... main... power...
evacuate... ship... intruders... away..."  Carn suddenly stopped.
He looked up and gasped.  "Where am I?  Who are you?"
	"I am Lieutenant Commander Larkin of the Starship Explorer.
You are in the Banshee's cybernetics lab."  Larkin said calmly.
"May I ask what has happened."
	"We have to go!"  Carn said with a tone of severe panic.  
"They're after us!"
	"Who is after you?"  Larkin asked.
	Before Carn could answer, a low, alien growl filled the room.
	"THAT!"  Carn said.  "We have to go!"
	"What is it?"  Larkin asked.
	"WE HAVE TO GO!"  Carn screamed.
	"But what..."  Before Larkin could finish, something jumped from
the shadows, knocking Larkin away from Carn.  "Show yourself!"
Larkin called out.
	Whatever it was moved into the light.
	"Oh man!"  Larkin screamed, as if feeling emotion.
	The creature jumped at Larkin, swinging its massive, razor sharp
claws madly.  Larkin saw it as it cut into her, puncturing her micro-
fusion reactor.
	After that, nothing.

	"Commander, there is a life sign up ahead."  J'Hana said happily.
"It is a Betazoid."
	Conway ran forward and found Captain Vorezze slumped in a turbo-
lift alcove.  "Captain Vorezze, can you hear me?"  Conway asked.
	The captain was covered in blood, his inner shirt was ripped, 
revealing deep flesh wounds.
	"Where is sickbay?"  Conway asked.
	J'Hana studied her tricorder.  "Just down the hall."  She said.
	The two picked up the battered Betazoid and made their way into
sickbay, where they found someone cowering behind the desk.
	"People!"  The person said happily, then sprang up from the
office.  It was the EMH.
	"Who activated you?"  Conway asked.
	"When the computer goes offline, all emergency systems, including
myself are activated."  The EMH explained, then looked at Captain
Vorezze.  "Ehhhh!  What happened to him?"
	"We don't know."  Conway said.  "I'm Commander Conway of the USS
Explorer.  The Banshee sent out a distress call and when we arrived, we
found the ship just like this."
	"What's going on?"  J'Hana asked.
	"I don't know."  The EMH said as he ran a dermal regenerator over
Captain Vorezze.  "I materialized here, almost all the lights were off
and I couldn't find a crewmember anywhere."
	"We're hoping that he can provide us with some answers."  Conway
looked down at Captain Vorezze.
	They became conscious, then of a low growl filling the silence.
"J'Hana..."  Conway said softly.  "Please tell me that's your stomach."
	"My apologies, Commander."  J'Hana said.  "But it isn't.
	In the darkness, something entered the ajar sickbay doors.  It
had a human figure, but crawled on the floor.
	"My god..."  The EMH gasped.  "Someone deactivate me, PLEASE!"
	"Don't tempt me."  Conway said.
	It moved into the light.  Brown and muscular, it had plates of
natural body armor and rather large claws on its hands and feet.  It
spotted the four and jumped at them.
	Before the creature got within a meter of them, J'Hana shot it
on level 16, the maximum, with her phaser rifle.  Such a blast could
technically collapse a small mountain and vaporize any creature in
the galaxy.  This time, it fell back and ran away.
	"What the hell was that?"  Conway asked.
	"I think we found our problem."  J'Hana said.
	Captain Vorezze shot up.  "Where am I?"  He asked.
	"You're in sickbay."  The EMH said.  "You were mortally
wounded, but I healed you."
	"We have to go, now!"  Jad said.
	"You're welcome."  The EMH walked over and put away the medical
equipment.
	"I'm Commander Conway, this is Lieutenant J'Hana of the USS
Explorer."  Conway said.  "May I ask what's going on?"
	Jad looked over at the open door.  "Seal that door and barricade
it with whatever you have and I'll tell you."
	Conway walked over and shut the door.  He moved two carts of 
medical equipment over to it.
	"Okay, tell us what's going on."  Conway said.
	"Perhaps I should start at the beginning."  Jad said.

ONE WEEK EARLIER

	"Captain, we're getting a priority one message from the star-
ship Scorpion."  Commander Vince DiSanto said.  "A Defiant-Class
Section Thirty-One warship."
	"On screen."  Vorezze said.
	The image of a middle-aged Bolian blinked onto the viewer.
"Banshee, I am Dr. Kroni of the Section Thirty-One outpost on the
planet Harkon VIII."  Kroni said.
	"What can we do for you, Doctor?"  Vorezze asked.
	"As you know, Harkon VIII has been thought to be lifeless for
some time now.  However, new evidence disputes this."
	"What kind of evidence?"
	"A creature was discovered a few days ago.  However, our 
resources at the outpost are limited and the only vessel available
was the Scorpion, which also has no science facilities."
	"And you want us to have a look at this creature?"
	"Precisely."
	"Well is this creature dangerous?"
	"Yes, but we have devised a containment system to hold it.  We
expect no complications."  Kroni smiled.
	"All right, then.  Give us an hour to make the needed security
precautions.  I don't want that thing running all over my ship and
eating my crew now."
	"Exactly."  Kroni responded.  "And we will rig the creatures
with transmitters so that, in the event one does escape, we
can track it down before it does any more damage.

	An hour later, Vorezze, Liz and Dan stood beside
Dr. Kroni in front of two large tubes.
	"Energize."  Kroni said.
	The two tubes filled with swirling light, then the
forms of two creatures appeared.  One, Kroni had said,
was a male and the other was a female.  Both looked vicious
and extremely unhappy.
	"My god..."  Liz said.  "Will those tubes hold."
	"I designed them myself."  Kroni said.  "I am confident
that we will experience no..."
	There was a loud crash as the male smashed open his
tube, ripping apart the trasparent aluminum.
	"Oh really?"  Liz sneered at Kroni.
	"Engage emergency force fields!"  Vorezze shouted.
	"Force fields are offline!"  Dan said.
	The female broke out of her tube as the male loomed
closer.
	"Err, uh, perhaps we should vacate the premises?" Dan
stuttered.
	"Agreed, now MAKE IT SO!"  Vorezze said as the four bolted
out of the room.
	The door crashed in behind them as the male entered the
hallway.  "Vorezze to bridge, go to red alert and seal off deck
20!"  Vorezze said as he dashed into a turbolift.
	"Bridge!"  Liz screamed.  The thought of putting 20 decks
between them and the creatures was looking good right about now.
	An arm broke through the turbolift doors, scraping into
the display in the back.
	"Go!"  Dan shouted.  The arm retracted as the turbolift
took off.
	
	A few moments later, the turbolift arrived on the bridge.
The four stepped out.  Charlotte turned to them.  "Is there a
problem?"  She asked.
	"You could say that."  Vorezze said weakly.

	A day later, the command crew and Dr. Kroni were assembled
in the observation lounge.
	"He brought it aboard, I say that he goes to hunt for it."
Dan pointed to Kroni.  "Can you say 'bait'?"
	"This bickering will get us nowhere."  Vorezze interrupted.
	"Agreed."  Velorn said.  "Perhaps it would be prudent to
evacuate the ship and leave a skeleton security crew behind, so
that no civilians or junior officers are placed in danger."
	Vorezze nodded.  "Good idea."  He hit his communicator.
"All civilian and junior personnel report to the emergency escape
pods and prepare to evacuate.  This is not a drill."
	There was a loud crash on the bridge.
	"What was that?"  Charlotte asked.
	Vorezze walked to the door as it slid open.  He saw one of
the creatures on the bridge, the crew hiding behind their stations.
	"This is a problem."  He said, his voice jittery as the
creature drew closer.  "Everyone, I want you to go out the other
door and get into the turbolift as quickly as possible.  Jad
drew his phaser.
	The crew got up and left just as the creature ran into
the room.  Jad fired at full power, but had no effect.
	The creature swung it's arm, shattering the glass display
case and knocking the Sovereign-Class model out of the case.
	"Stay back!"  Jad cried, swinging the model after loosing
his phaser.  "Get away!"
	The monster slashed into the model, knocking it out of Vorezze's
hands.
	"The bridge is clear, go!"  Kroni popped back into the
observation lounge.
	Vorezze ran out of the lounge and onto the waiting turbolift.
	The monster ran at Kroni, slashing into him and sending
him flying against the dome skylight on the bridge.

	"Get back!"  Dave shouted in engineering as the female
loomed closer.  She waved her massive claws around, crashing into
a plasma coolant tank.
	"Everybody out!"  Dave shouted as the wave go plasma coolant
came rushing at him.  The lights began to flicker.  The female
creature emerged from the coolant, unfazed by the biotoxin she was
just emersed in.
	"Riley to Vorezze."  Dave shouted.
	"Vorezze here!"
	"We're about to loose all power except for life support and
gravity."  Dave said.  "We have to get out of here!"

	Vorezze dashed through the hallways.  "Computer, launch the
escape pods."  He could hear the 'kerchunk' sound as each of the
escape pods lifted off, taking a majority of his ship's crew to
safety.
	He ran towards the shuttlebay when all lights went dead,
save for a few emergency lights and the ship rocked as the
intertial dampers went offline.
	Vorezze turned as a smaller creature came at him, one
that wasn't the male or the female.  He screamed as it attacked.

	"The next thing I knew, I woke up here."  Vorezze explained
to the stunned J'Hana and Conway as they stood in sickbay.
	"Yikes."  Conway stuttered.  "That would explain why we
can't find anyone else."
	"Only about 800 people got off the ship."  Vorezze said.
"That means that another 130 are still here."
	"In multiple pieces."  Conway added.  "Lieutenant Larkin
went off to go assemble your android, Carn."
	Vorezze sighed.  "We'd better find her before something
else does."
	As the three walked out of sickbay, the EMH called out
"Wait!  Don't leave me!"

	"Tell me the moment you see something."  Dave said to Rayhan
as the two walked through the murky green haze of the plasma coolant
filled Engineering, wearing enviormental suits to protect themselves
from the severe biotoxin.
	"The warp core has been shut down."  Rayhan looked up at
the warp core.
	"Nothing gets past you."  Dave muttered as he began fiddling
with the controls.  "In fact, everything has been shut down.  One
of the creatures must have ruptured a power conduit to the computer.
That would explain why the emergency backups didn't kick in."
	"I think we should first clear the plasma coolant out of here."
Rayhan said as he began climbing the ladder.
	"Boy, you're on a roll!"  Dave said with severe sarcasm.  "Try
to get the main vents online.  If necessary, we can go outside the
ship to get the coolant vented out into space.
	Rayhan reached the second level balcony overlooking the massive
engine room.  He began tapping on the button controls, trying to
override the system's failure.  There was a bright flash of light as
the warp core flickered, then went dark again.
	"Sir, I have partial systems online."  Rayhan smiled.  "But
I can't access internal sensors, or even try to get the lights
back online.  I guess we're in the dark, literally."
	"I take it that it was the symbiont and not you."  Dave
called.
	"Ha ha."  The Trill retorted.
	Rayhan could see Dave moving in the cloud of plasma coolant that
he now stood above.  There was a swirling in the coolant on the
other side of the warp core, moving towards the engineer.
	"Commander, you might want to get up here."  Rayhan called.
	"Why?"
	"Because you're not alone down there."
	There was a loud, piercing growl.
	"Crap!"  Dave lunged at the ladder, making his way up as a
claw slashed into his suit, leaking in the plasma coolant.
	"Hurry!"  Rayhan shouted, helping the commander up.
	"AHHH!"  Dave fell to his knees.
	"What happened?"
	"My foot was disintegrated."  Dave responded.
	"Ehhlk, that'll get rid of your foot odor."  Rayhan laughed.
	The creature jumped up onto the engineering balcony,
growling and drooling hungrily.
	"At the moment, I think we have bigger problems."  Dave
stuttered.

	"Larkin!"  Conway ran into the cybernetic's lab where Larkin
lay in a scrap heap.
	"Oh thank god!"  Carn's torso flopped on the table.  "I 
thought I would have to crawl my way out of here with my chin!"
	"Carn, what happened?"  Vorezze asked.
	"We are laying here in shredded pieces and you ask what
happened!?"  Carn shouted.
	"Never mind."  Vorezze said quietly.
	"Captain, I think our problem might have grown, though."
Carn's head said.  "The creature that ambushed Larkin wasn't
like the others.  It was smaller.  And you know what that means."
	Conway, J'Hana and Vorezze looked down with despair.
"Offspring."
	"Umm, not that I don't enjoy laying here with the knowledge
that any of a number of large, scary creatures could come in and
introduce me to oblivion,"  Carn began, "But there is a ship out
there and I think it might be wise to get ourselves over there so
we can figure out what to do next in a little thing called SAFETY."
	"I would have to agree."  Conway said.  "In fact I would have
to INSIST!"
	J'Hana smiled.  "For once, Commander, I agree with you."

	"I'm weak, take him!"  Rayhan pleaded as the beast drew 
closer.
	"I don't think that will work."  Dave said.  "But I think I
know something that will."  He hobbled up on his missing foot and
pushed a series of buttons.  With the very slight boost to systems,
the coolant vents were back online.  The yellow-green gas drifted
from engineering.
	"Now what?"  Rayhan asked, still backing up.
	The mother creature roared again as a loud crack filled the
room.  The dilithium crystal chamber split apart as the top
was raised up into the ceiling.
	Dave ducked by the female, who was still chasing after
Rayhan, and jumped on the topless warp core.  "Hey, you!"  Dave
shouted.
	The female turned from the whimpering Trill and hopped on
top of the warp core with Dave.
	The footless Commander hopped down and hit the emergency
pulse button, sending a small amount of antimatter up the tube.
	With a nervous, high-pitched growl, the mother monster
became consumed in a violent energy blast as the mutual annihilation
process took place.
	"Rayhan..."  Dave shouted.
	The sobbing Trill looked up.  "Oh, you did it."
	"I am missing a foot and you're crying on the second level?"
	"That seems about right."
	"You are hopeless."  Dave shook his head.  "But at least we
know that those things can be killed."
	"Now if we could only lure the others to the warp core."
Rayhan groaned.

	"It's pretty bad."  Vorezze said as he sat in the Explorer's
observation lounge.  "All systems are offline, and I have discovered
that the creatures are multiplying."
	"How many people are left on board?"  Baxter asked
	"115."  The head of Larkin said.  Commander Richards sat at the
table, slowly putting the rest of her back together.
	Vorezze looked bewildered.  "47 people have been killed."
	"That does not include, however, those who were injured and
on the verge of death."
	"We have to get them out of there."  Vorezze said.
	"I would advise against that."  Larkin warned.  "While our
sensors did detect that the plasma coolant had been removed from
main engineering, it has not been vented from the ship and we
still only have transporters to the bridge."
	"Plus there's no way in hell you can get me back over
there."  Conway said as he sipped a cup of coffee.
	"I'll go!"  Peterman said.
	Everyone looked at the Counselor.  "Kelly, you can't
be serious!"  Baxter protested.
	"I want to help."  Peterman said.  "Plus, those creatures
might be cute."
	A collective groan came up from everyone else at the
table.
	"If you're going, I'm going."  Baxter said definitively.
	"Captain, regulations state that you shouldn't go into a
dangerous situation and this is pretty damn dangerous!"  Conway
said, slamming his mug down on the table.
	"Hey!"  Ford shouted as a wave of coffee splashed onto him.
	"Since when do you care?"  Baxter asked.
	"I don't, I just had to say that.  Go ahead, please, I'm
asking you to go."
	"If I die, order him over there to collect my remains."
Baxter whispered to Vorezze.
	"Way ahead of you."  Vorezze smiled.

	"Captain's log, stardate 52499.2:  With the help of several
security teams from the Explorer, we are returning to the Banshee
in an effort to rescue the remaining crewmembers.  This time, we
will be taking a shuttlecraft into the main shuttlebay which, thank-
fully, is still using the emergency forcefields."

	Peterman stared out at the Banshee.  It was bathed in blue,
gold and red light from the nearby nebula, otherwise dark.  It
sent a shiver down her spine as she saw one of the most advanced
ships in Starfleet reduced to this.
	The Marco Polo landed in the main shuttlebay.  The three
emerged, only to be submerged in near total darkness.  There were
only two recessed light positioned three stories up, casting down
very little usable light.
	"Stay close."  Peterman said, her voice jittery.
	"Yeah, we make a tastier looking package that way."  Baxter
said as he looked around.
	They walked out of the shuttlebay and into a string of
equally poorly illuminated corridors.
	"The cargo bay is in this direction."  Vorezze motioned down 
a near pitch black hallway.
	"I'm not going down there!"  Peterman protested.  "It's dark
and scary."
	"That's what most people say to Commander Burns."  Vorezze
muttered.  "The cargo bay contains emergency batteries.  We
might be able to get at least the emergency lights back on."
	"Great, so instead of being pitch black it will just be
dark."  Baxter said.
	It was then that they became conscious of footsteps up
the hallway.  They didn't sound Human, it sounded more like
scuffing.
	"Well you're more than welcome to stay out here."  Vorezze
said, opening the cargo bay doors."
	The footsteps drew closer.
	"I think I'll go with you and Andy."  Peterman smiled.
	The three entered the cargo bay and quickly sealed the
doors.  It looked similar to the shuttlebay, though it had no
viewing balconies or outside doors.
	"In here."  Vorezze opened up a crate.  The batteries were
all reading 'charge me' on their status display.  "Damn!"
	There was an incredibly loud, but brief, crash, like something
was ramming against the wall.  Something WAS ramming against the
wall.
	"EEEEKKKK!"  A high pitched voice rang.  Vorezze turned, only
to see that it had come from Baxter.
	"Get back!"  He said, bracing himself against the other wall of
the cargo bay.
	The walls crumbled as several figures walked in.	
	"FREEZE!"  Baxter shouted as he raised his phaser rifle.
	"Don't shoot!"  A voice responded.  Commander Dan Smith and
a team of security guards, as well as J'Hana entered.
	"Commander, are you all right?"  Vorezze walked up to Smith.
	"I've seen better days."  Commander Smith replied.
	"Captain, we have rescued approximately 71 people and they
are being taken to the bridge.  Other teams are expected to report
in any minute now."  J'Hana said.
	"One question."  Jad asked.  "Did you really have to break down
a wall to get in here?"
	"The corridor here was being stalked by a creature."  J'Hana
explained.
	The crowd froze as the cargo bay doors opened and the same
scuffing sound filled the room.
	"Fire!"  Dan shouted.  He and his team shot into the darkness.
The figure fell to the ground.
	"That's Commander Riley!"  Vorezze screamed.  "That must have
been him we heard!"
	Dan walked over to the heavily stunned chief engineer.  "Oops."
	Vorezze and Dan looked down at Dave.  "Well I thought he was
a monster."  Dan explained.
	"I don't think that there are any monsters in the area."
Vorezze said.
	With a crack like thunder, a ceiling panel gave way and fell to
the floor as the very disgruntled male jumped into the cargo bay,
roaring loudly.
	As the crowd paused, gazing in awe at the deadly adversary,
Dan shouted, "Aren't getting sick of always being wrong?"
	"Fire!"  J'Hana shouted.
	The team raised their rifles and let loose a barrage of phaser
fire onto the male.
	"It's not working!"  A team-member shouted out.
	The male, unfazed by the phaser fire, ran into the crowd,
swinging his claws madly.
	Dave suddenly woke up.  "Antimatter!"  He shouted, still groggy.
	"What?"  Peterman asked.
	"Antimatter!"  Dave said, sounding either drunk or stoned.
	"That's it!"  Vorezze snapped his fingers.  He ran over to a
crate and tossed it open.  "Captain Baxter, a little help please?"
	Baxter ran over to Vorezze.  "What are you trying to do?"
	"If we hit the creature with antimatter, it will be destroyed."
Vorezze said as he removed the cases contents: a spare photon
torpedo.  He removed the antimatter bottle from the warhead.
	"Hey drooly!"  Vorezze shouted at the salivating monster.
"Munch on this!"  He rolled the bottle towards him.  "Everyone, get
down!"
	The male roared loudly as he picked up the bottle and crushed
it in his hands, releasing the antimatter.  In one large explosion,
the male was reduced to a rain of sludge and assorted body parts.
	"Sucker!"  Peterman smiled.
	"Stuart to J'Hana."  Ensign Stuart said over the comm.
	"What is it?"  J'Hana asked.
	"The remaining Banshee crewmembers have been shuttled back
to the Explorer."
	"Good, return to the shuttlebay and prepare to return."
J'Hana said.
	"Who here would be upset if they had to go to the Explorer
than remain here in this deserted, monster infested starship."
	A few Banshee crewmembers raised their hands.
	"Too bad, we're going anyway."  Vorezze grinned.

	"Captain's log, stardate 52500.2:  The Explorer has tractored
us to Section Thirty-One starbase beta three nine where we have
undergone a baryon sweep to kill the remaining creatures.  Though
sensors and visual inspection have revealed that the creatures are,
indeed, gone, I don't think many people will be sleeping well tonight.
The Section Thirty-One starship Zion has also arrived, bearing our
escape pods and the crew inside.
	"The Explorer has already disembarked for it's next mission.
Admiral Newman expressed his gratitude to Captain Baxter and his crew
by not killing them for knowing about Section Thirty-One.  What a guy,
isn't he?  Needless to say, I have given them my extreme thanks and
we are preparing to disembark ourselves."

	The bridge couldn't have been brighter as Vorezze emerged
from his ready room.  "Report."
	"All systems are fully functional."  Axik said.  "Especially
the lights."
	"I, for one, am just glad that this whole ordeal is over."
Vorezze sat back and sighed.  "Helm, set a course for the Loakri
System, warp 7."
	"Course laid in."  Commander Rachow said from conn.
	There was a distant rumbling, sounding like growling even.
Vorezze looked around.
	"Oh, I forgot to have lunch."  Charlotte smiled.
	Vorezze shook his head.  "Engage."

NEXT:
Vince and Liz are trapped on a barren, deserted world
where the only hope of survival is each other. "Basic
Survival Instinct" is next.