U.S.S. Merrimac [landing party]

[tomcat]

Sorek looked at Devon and replied in the flat, unexcited manner of Vulcans, "Your idea is logical Lieutenant, but the time and energy it will take for the Aladdin to vacuum the airlock, re-compress, and then vacuum again would be too much time for us to spend. Also, by the time all is said and done, the culprit of these noises might be gone, or worse. No, we shall go out together but feel free to have your team fan out and secure the hangar as necessary. I promise that I will be doing nothing more than evaluating the chamber with my tricorder."

That said, Sorek entered the airlock and moved to a position that allowed more of his fellow crewmen to join him. Besides Phillips, two engineers and the remaining four security crewmen joined the Vulcan, and the chamber sealed itself. A voice crackled to life within their EVA helmet - it was Marsden. "All right. Starting decompression now. When the back lock turns green, you may open the airlock and exit the ship."

Phillips took up a position to be the first man out, and he listened as the shuttle's internal environmental systems did a back draw of the air within the lock, drawing it back into the ship so it would not be lost to space. Their EVA suits began to register information of temperature and the total dispersal of all environment. There was a clunk sound and the back door of the ship illuminated green. Devon touched the command console and the door slid open and a stair ladder extended down the few feet to the hangar deck below.

Nothing moved throughout the hangar. The Merrimac was still producing gravity that gave them easier and safer freedom of movement, but the huge chamber was void of any environment. Everything lay about the deck as it had since the last living people were aboard the ship.

[bizarro316]

"Defensive Pattern Zeta," Lieutenant, j.g. Phillips ordered his men, phasers drawn out, as they spread throughout the hangar, taking up a defensive posture around the shuttlecraft. " I want constant communication and check-ins around the clock. Alladdin?," he went on, "--keep keep our backs covered. Anything out of the ordinary you pick up, let us know..." **Now where is the mysterious 'boogeyman',** he thought, then refocusing, opening a channel to Sorek. "Sir, we are in the process of securing the hangar area..."

[tomcat]

Phillips and his men fanned out, while the two engineers made a quick circuit of the shuttlecraft. There was definite signs of damage, but the hull integrity had not been compromised. Using engineering scanners, the two men began to get a more detailed evaluation of the ship and tried to see if they could visibly see where the ionic-flux displacer had been cut. The nacelle was bent and was held to the ship's main body by only one strut - the other being cracked in half.

Meanwhile the five security personnel, including Phillips, finished a complete inspection of the hangar. There was nothing, or no one, there. Items lay strewn about and the Galileo-class shuttle was perched and ready on the flight line, but no other evidence of the Merrimac's crew could be seen. Large containers lay about, some on their sides, evidently yanked from their pallets when the bay doors were broken open.

Devon looked at Sorek, who still stood at the back of the Aladdin. The Vulcan was scanning with his tricorder. The engineers were in deep discussion of what to do with the damage. He signalled to his men and the quartet began to move towards him. Phillips turned in the direction of the passage, its doors closed, that led into the Mac's hull. He walked over to the doors and saw that they were active. Moving closer, the door sensor detected his presence and they opened - the usual hiss unheard due to the vacuum.

Phillips suddenly heard a whisper that seemed to come from behind him. He turned, but as he did, something moved down the hall he was looking. The young lieutenant suddenly felt gooseflesh rise on his arms, as he saw that the Galileo's inner lights now glowed. Devon quickly looked back down the hall and there was nothing there.

At the back of the Aladdin, his arm tricorder scanning, Sorek heard Downer's voice come through his EVA communication system. The Ops officer told him that Captain Stonn wished to speak with him. Nodding to no one, Sorek re-broadcast back, "Captain? This is Lt. Commander Sorek reporting as ordered."

[bizarro316]

"What in the world?." Devon responded, looking around, phaser drawn, shaking his head, trying to make sense of the situation..He then tapped his communcator, continuing, "Security team. Phillips. Anyone hear or feel anything out of the ordinary? Sorek? Sir? I think you might want to head over towards my position...The strange sound? I believe that I am hearing them over here..And to add that to the wierdness..I feeling something as well.." He then contacted the rest of his team, continuing, "--Guys? Maintain defense posture and hold...In case of any surprises..Maintain position around the engineering team and the Alladin..."

[tomcat]

Heeding the young security officer, Sorek finished up his scan and walked over to where Phillips stood. "What has you so agitated, Lieutenant?"

[bizarro316]

"Sir?," Devon turned towards Sorek, then back into the direction where the he heard the mysterious voices, continuing, "--I apologize for the sudden quick reactions, but I just heard...Something...I can't explain it correctly," he turned back to Sorek again. "I know it sounds crazy--but...I think something is in here..With us..."

[tomcat]

Grahm's voice came over the speakers in the shuttle, as well as within the helmet's of the EVA's, "Galileo 042 launched and inbound to the Merrimac. ETA is 20 minutes."

"Aladdin acknowledges," was the reply from Marsden.

Outside the shuttle, Sorek looked at Phillips with a stone face, typical of a Vulcan. "It would be illogical of us to assume that a living creature could not live within the vacuum of space, but our sensors do not support your claim, Lieutenant, that something is present. Thus your statement is based on a lack of empirical data, not a mental state - but what was it that you heard?"

Both vulcan and man suddenly took notice of the corridor, revealed by the open door that Phillip's proximity had triggered. Crewmen of the Merrimac could be seen laying about the deck, their bodies frozen and lifeless. In a pattern of speech as cold as those that lay dead, Sorek called to the Aladdin, "Doctor Sherman, your presence may soon be necessary out here. With the Galileo on its way, prepare all the wounded to be transfered and then join us." Sorek then directed his communication to the Columbia, "Captain Stonn, we have found the first of the crew of the Merrimac. Also, it may be that Mr. Phillips has had the first experience with our unknown."

Sorek began to slowly walk into the corridor that exited the hangar bay and took him deeper into the Mac. He knelt down at the first body that he came upon. It was a young human female. Her skin was a greyish blue, though there was very little decay - such things would not occur in space. Ice particles were apparent wherever there were folds or creases of the skin, and her eyes showed the effects of a vacuumed environment. In truth, it was quite a horrible visage, one that would surely be part of one of Earth's ancient films. To Sorek, it was just an inevitability of living, pressurized tissue being exposed to space. He clicked on his tricorder and began to scan.

Behind him, Phillips stood staring at the horror that was once an attractive, human woman. He turned his head and looked down the hall and realized there could be over 300 faces just like this that they would have to see.

In the main hangar bay, the engineering crewmen received their orders and they moved over towards the yawning entrance. It took only a few minutes until the needed power was routed to the emergency systems and the charges were activated. The countdown was started and the men moved quickly to cover - none really sure what could possibly happen. Fifteen seconds passed and then a very non-dramatic thing occured - twenty charges flashed and then extinguished, burning hot enough to cut through the hull steel of which the door hinges were made. Compressed air then blasted out causing the now loose doors to blow out and away from the Merrimac's tail end. The pressurized air was strong enough to create enough force that sent the huge doors drifting away, clearing the path for the inbound shuttle.

In all the commotion of the moment, no one saw as the lights within the empty Galileo-craft that sat next to the Aladdin, went out.

[tomcat]

"Very well. Proceed with extreme caution," Stonn replied. "Whether it was intentional or not, it is entirely possible that the entity caused the deaths of the Merrimac's crew. Act accordingly and keep an open channel."

"Understood, Captain," was the short reply. Sorek then looked to Phillips, "Lt. Phillips, I will wait here for Dr. Sherman to arrive. I would like you and your men to proceed throughout this deck only and check all primary corridors and rooms. We will not worry about sub-halls and access passages. It is apparent that no one is living on this ship, and we need only the ship's log to determine the total number of lost and their names. The captain can determine whether or not the ship will be brought back into proper Federation shipping lanes and then back to Earth to retrieve the fallen."

Phillips was a little off put by the Vulcan's cander- three hundred lives were lost yet Sorek was so matter-of-fact. The young lieutenant wondered if he would ever get used to working around these people.

[BrianM]

Doc left the shuttle airlock and scanned the bay, spotting Sorek and Phillips near the open door to the hallway beyond. He marched over to them, speaking indignantly into his suit communicator, "We've still got injured crew in there you know. What's so important out he... oh." He stopped abruptly when he saw the bodies.

[tomcat]

Doctor Sherman stepped out of the Aladdin and was amazed by what he saw through the opening of the hangar bay. It was like you could step off and out into the infinity of space. It overwhelmed the man who dealt with tangibles, albeit infintismal in themselves when you looked at the number of cells and neurons, etc. that made up a living being. Still, he felt very small and almost a sense of vertigo, and so he turned away from the doors.

That was when he heard the whisper - almost completely unintelligible, but Sherman was sure he heard, ".... comfffooorrt.... "

He looked back over his shoulder and saw the engineer crewmen, the shuttle, open space, and a portion of KC1, as the Merrimac drifted a bit, pulled by the gravity well in which it hung. The brilliant light from the massive red star causing him to squint. But then the Mac, was tugged back the other way and the hangar bay dimmed again as light no longer shined inside.

Sorek noticed his approach, "Doctor, I am aware of the fact that crewmen are injured aboard the shuttlecraft, but I am certain that your personnel can attend them. But we need to move along with our mission here, and it would seem best that your time be used to get us some answers of what happened to the Merrimac's crew."

Sherman looked down at the body. It was an awful example of a human being exposed to the vacuum and frigid cold of space.



Brian, I like your post too, but use what I gave you in my post as you want.

[donimator]

Sorek took a moment to observe the crew. Human frailities were certainly a part of his being, but were something that hitherto he had kept in check. The emotional response of the crew to seeing so many dead, Federation personnel dead, might compromise his ability to observe any changes in their mindset caused by this supposed alien presence. They were professional, they were well-trained, they would do their jobs. Of that he had no doubt. Though, he would certainly evaluate their state of mind more frequently to look for anomalies. Something unexplained happened on this ship, but the safety of the crew under his command was at least as important as unearthing the mystery of it all.

[bizarro316]

**Jessica...,** Devon thought, looking at the dead human female thinking about his fiance back home on Belle Terre..**..Alone..On that dangerous frontier world...** He then shook his thoughts loose, regaining his professional composure..Looking over his shoulder back towards the hangar bay, activated his communicator, "Anderson? Sanchez? I need you up here now to help with the continued search..Harper and the rest of the team, remain here and await the rescue shuttle and assist wherever neccesary..Phillips out.."

Turning to face Sorek, Phillips went on, "Sir, I did hear something..Something..I can't explain it..But something is..HERE.."

[donimator]

Sorek continued to calibrate some readings on his tricoder as he talked with Lt. Phillips. He was pleased that Dr. Sherman had begun a cursory examination of the bodies so that he could focus on some detailed scans.

"Lt. Phillips. The presence of an entity does not alter the need to investigate the ship as fully as directed to determine if it is possible to salvage. Preliminary indications of such have proven negative through empirical observations. The primary mission still stands until such time as a definitive threat is recognized."

Sorek knew he was being hard on the young officer. He felt something was off too, but refused to give in to speculation until some hard evidence presented himself. He realized he must provide some comfort such that the mission did not fall apart through unfounded fears.

"Perhaps it would be best to form larger teams with your crew and increase the contact frequency. Proceed with caution and take no unnecessary risks. Until we better determine what happened here, it would be best if we limit our perimeter. I leave the deployment details to you, Lieutenant." There...that should put his mind at ease.

[bizarro316]

"Aye, Commander," Devon responded, holding his composure in check. **More concrete proof? Vulcans and their logic..I know I heard and felt something..Why can't he see past his 'logic' and react on instinct?**

Once Anderson and Sanchez arrived, Devon spoke, immediately getting a plan into action. "Anderson? Sanchez?" He turned to Sorek, then back to his men, continuing, "--don't let the dead here rattle you. We have a job to do. I want this corridor swept and secure for the other members of the away team. Anything out of the--ordinary," he made certain Sorek heard that 'word'.."--report to me immediately. Move out."

[donimator]

Sorek nodded in satisfaction at the security officer's command of his subordinates and turned again to the Doctor. How does one look rumpled even in an EVA suit? "Dr. Sherman. I assume it would be beneficial to examine one or more of the deceased in detail. I also assume that such an examination could only be performed on the Columbia. I would suggest the strictest quarantine protocols if that is your chosen path. Thank you, Doctor."

Sorek strode off to return to the hangar area to receive a report from the engineering crew.