Captain's Log

by Sara Lufrano

Sol System date 2405.16.6.3
Captain Amber Paisley
Explorer Fleet Starship Definitive

While observing the planet Apex Nine in the Outer Straus System, a mysterious cloud of organic matter, comprised mostly of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, appeared near the ship. It moved like ocean waves. Quickly the cloud surrounded the ship and seeped inside.

I put all decks on high alert. Kalal Trainer, Chief of Bioengineering, confirmed that the cloud matter was everywhere inside the ship. He listed everywhere it was, in the air, the water, the food, and our clothes, right now, right here it was on our skin. There was no doubt that it was inside all of us. Trainer told me he was almost positive that there was no threat. He would run more tests to see what else may lay in their elemental makeup.

I lowered the ship-wide alert to yellow. I trusted Chief Trainer, but I needed the Doctor involved as well.

The Doctor, Tom Orlando, had already heard everything about the cloud but was more concerned with the recovery of nine of his patients quarantined with Blargius Muscle Flu from a prior mission to Nelves Titan. Those infected with Blargius Muscle Flu had a one in four chance of death and symptoms that kept the patient bedridden until they passed on or recovered with lifelong tissue scarring. The real problem was that those affected with the flu were fully recovered and showed no signs of ever being infected by the virus.

I liked to think that having my nine crewmembers back to work wasn't a problem, but the Doctor didn't see it the same way. I reminded him that since the flu was no longer a threat to their health, he could get to work on the cloud substance's affects without disruption. I chose to ignore his mumblings about “real” priorities.

While I was content in waiting for Trainer and Orlando's conclusions, my First Officer, Sam Castle, expressed his distaste for me not taking the organic matter more seriously. Castle reminded me that the organic matter was inside our bodies. Castle's concerns were exacerbated due to a phobia of “body snatchers.” After what happened to him on Shalous, I don't blame him.

It was at this point that I thought I heard a tinny, small voice on the bridge. It was hard to tell what language it was, but I'm sure some of it was English. Something

about final destruction of them. Castle heard a different voice; he described his as being deep and slow.

The Doctor came on the view screen. Before he could get a word out I asked if he had heard any voices. He recommended me for a brain scan and psychotics medication. Behind Dr. Orlando there was an Ensign Jaino doing jumping jacks, running in place, and doing cartwheels. After reminding the Doctor we aren't running a fitness gym he assured me it was all for science. Ensign Jaino had come to sickbay with a broken leg five minutes ago, the bone sticking out of the skin. The Doctor speculated that due to the effects of the cloud of organic matter, Jaino's body had healed at an unprecedented rate. Castle gagged a bit. After what happened to him on Explodus, I don't blame him. Castle agreed, loudly, that these things, Specs, he began calling them, could be capable of anything.

Chief Trainer came on the view screen with a priority message. Crewmembers in Bioengineering were communicating with the Specs. Trainer told us that the Specs yelled, whistled, talked to each other, talked to the humans, they called out to their leader. Castle informed Trainer that we heard them on the bridge as well but not to that extent. Mr. Trainer requested to come to the bridge so that I may speak to the Spec that had infected him. Trainer warned me that his Spec was aggressively Napoleonic.

Once Trainer came onto the bridge, the voices started twittering, cheering, and roaring. It was mildly annoying. I addressed myself to the Spec infecting Chief Trainer. It explained its plan in detail and its reasons for taking over my ship. The Specs, who called themselves the Lclalies, were going to take us to Dextrous Cannus to destroy their enemies, the Xxuzula. I confidently addressed the Lclalie and questioned why we would fight this war for them. The sly little thing laughed.

The First Officer walked to the drive console with heavy feet, his arms swung wildly. Worry was painted on his face, his mouth clamped shut. He punched in coordinates. I ordered him to halt, but he slammed his fist onto the console, initiating a jump to Dextrous Cannus. Dextrous Cannus, was a known system with five planets where only one of the planets was made of solid matter, OP-93. Last time the system was catalogued there were no life forms present.

The Lclalies cheered. Castle gasped and hugged himself as he apologized for disobeying an order. The leader of the Lclalies reminded me they would use us as weapons to destroy the Xxuzula and there was nothing we could do to stop them.

Without warning, the entire bridge crew was beamed down to OP-93. I called back to Definitive, and the Warp Chief reported that she moved outside of her own control. I ordered her to beam us back but she regretfully could not complete the order. She could not lift her hands above the beaming console. I contacted Dr. Orlando and gave him control of the bridge until we were able to beam back.

The ever-present Lclalies told us we were standing in the middle of hostile territory and that in order to survive, we must fight. They said the Xxuzula were fierce, frightening, unforgiving warriors with no remorse or conscience. The Xxuzula were, in simple terms, killers.

Castle was trying to make himself vomit out the Lclalie inside of him. His Lclalie laughed and assured him that it was deeper in his body than that. We had no weapons, we had no defense. How would we survive against such skilled and terrifying creatures?

Off in the distance we noticed circular lights flashing and quickly bouncing toward us. I looked to First Officer Castle. He shook his head in disbelief. The Lclalies gave a battle cry and awkwardly moved members of the bridge crew toward the lights. First Officer Castle shuddered at the sight. After what happened to him on Cenjal, I don't blame him.

The Xxuzula were actually clusters of handball-sized lights. As they approached, they shot energy beams from the middle of their torso-sized bodies. As the beams struck a rock formation next to the crew, they fell to the ground for cover. The Lclalies demanded we fight, fight or die. Castle lurched toward the Xxuzula and kicked one, sending it up into the air, it went higher and higher until it disappeared into the sky. He buried his hands into another and ripped it in two pieces that dissipated quickly, the light dying.

Chief Trainer pulled Castle away from attacking another Xxuzula and then was struck himself by an energy blast. He did not fall to the ground. Instead he looked back to me, shrugged his shoulder, and then looked at the Xxuzula. It fired at Trainer again. It struck him again and puffed away into nothing.

I called to the crewmembers who were laying on the ground. They were dazed by the blast but other wise uninjured. The Xxuzula stopped firing on us and backed away. The Lclalies yelled for us to keep attacking, they moved our arms, our legs toward the Xxuzula.

The Doctor called down and excitedly explained that he found a way to remove the Lclalies from our bodies. I ordered him to beam down immediately. Once Dr. Orlando was on the surface of the planet he extracted the Lclalie from each of us. He pushed a pinky-sized needle into everyone and followed it up with a spritz to close the wound. When he came to me—I swear that it was completely and utterly involuntary—I slapped him. The Lclalie inside me screamed and struggled as the Doctor removed it.

I assured the Xxuzula that humans were not their enemy and that the Lclalies were controlling our bodies. I apologized for First Officer Castle's deadly uncontrollable attack. The Lclalies gathered into a cloud again, pulsed and swayed, and they spoke as one. They vowed they would destroy all of the Xxuzula, that they would be back and in control of a larger, more powerful creature. The Xxuzula all clumped together and formed one giant energy beam that disintegrated the whole of the Lclalies.

The bridge crew and myself beamed back to Definitive. My recommendation moving forward is to set an observation satellite around the planet and monitor the Xxuzula. First Officer Castle agrees completely on the destruction of the Lclalies. I don't blame him.