The fight was easy enough. Runt had gotten a clip on the ear, but nothing more. That, however, wasn’t anyone’s concern.

What was everyone’s concern was the bloodied, broken, and war torn hallway Amira, Runt, Williams, and Ivvën had found. Right beneath them, and the way to engineering was right across the hall.

Corpses of Starfleet and Vaadwaur lined the walls and floor, each with injuries that made even the good doctor sick to her stomach.

“Oh…god..” Runt covered his snout, the smell worse than it looks. He leaned against Williams for support, trying not to throw up.

Amira took a deep breath, sizing her shoulders up. She’s been through worse, she’s seen worse—but the fact that a majority of them were part of the new crew transfer made her head light.

Williams felt his stomach leap into his throat. He saw the others at his side didn’t look much better. Now wasn’t the time to lose their edge. He swallowed his fear.

“Doctor, any life signs?” She fumbled with a tricorder and scanned the bodies scattered throughout the corridor.

Amira already knew the answer; it was in the air, and she could just..tell. But either way, she still scanned the room. All she did was look at Williams and frown, shaking her head.

“Oh god. Oh god. They’re all dead. Oh my god. Okay.” Runt was in full blown freak out mode now; the good cop bad cop facade was done, and there was nothing for the cat to cling onto for sanity now.

Ivvën was staying completely silent. His eyes wide, surveying the scene. It was carnage. . .and for what? To conqueror? What good did it bring if his fellow crew would be slaughtered? To bring pain to other life forms? He shuddered at the thoughts.

”Runt. . .” Amira glanced at the shaking cat. “You need to keep a cool head right now.”

Williams nodded. He shifted the phaser rifle and rested a hand on Runts hackle raised shoulders. “We’ll be okay. It’s time to put our Tactical training to use.” He turned to Amira as well. “We should secure engineering. We can access an ops console there and find the rest of the crew.”

All Runt could do was nod as Amira glanced at him.

“As far as I know, Engineering should be secure. Let me check, though. . .” She furrowed a brow and walks over to an ops console, working away at it.

“What does it say?” Williams asked, looking over her shoulder, as Runt stayed close to him.

”..There’s chaos among the whole ship. Engineering isn’t safe—it…seems like nowhere is.” The doctor took a deep inhale. Her problem wasn’t the chaos, it was the lifeform indication; currently, there were more Vaadwaur uninjured and alive than the USS Morro Bay’s crew. The worst part? Sylvester was actively bleeding out—she could see it on the vital readings.

”What?? Then we have to secure somewhere-“ Williams glanced around. “Maybe one of the cargo bays?”

”NO!” Ivvën suddenly yelled. Everyone turned to look at him. “L-Listen, we’re..looking for a ‘nano-bug’. It has to be in one of your cargo storages, so we’ll be. . .l-looking there.” He gulped.

”…Why are you telling us this?” Amira crossed her arms, walking forward.

”I don’t know! Just…trust me, okay!” The captured Vaadwaur squeaked.

“okay…what should we do then?” Williams finally asked after a moment of silence. Runt looked up.

”We find it before they do.”

The corners of Williams lips lifted. “Sounds like a plan. Check the console again for Vaadwuar readings near the cargo storage. That should give us a clue to where we can find this-”

His thought was cut off. A blast of energy shot past the back of his neck into the bulkhead. He ducked and raised his rifle. “Take cover!”

The party scattered and ducked behind panels and consoles. Williams raised his rifle and fired a stun bolt towards the door. One of the attackers dropped to the deck. Runt let out a huff and got ready to fire one of his phasers—only to have it shot out of his hand and bust it completely. Amira looked.

”Oh hell—Runt, take cover! Don’t peak your head out!” She ordered.

Runt looked around for a second, eyes landing on a loose pipe from the wall. It was sturdy enough to hold. . .he looked at Williams and motioned to the red alert lights, trying to signal him to break open the panel behind and cut them off.

Williams fired and missed. He saw Runt gesture to the lighting panel and gave him a confused look. “The lights?”

Sparks from a disruptir blast impact rained onto his had and caused him to flinch. Runt repeated the motion again and mouthed out, ‘LIGHTS OUT.’ He looked at the lighting panel again. It wasn’t clicking.

Runt furrowed his brow and aimed the plasma knife. “Duck.” Is all he said as Williams lunged forward and hit the deck.

And then? Total darkness. While the ship was mostly lights out from the protocol, there was no lighting from any panels—no red alert, nothing. Pure darkness.

And that’s when Runt struck.

There was a lot of tussling—so much that it sounded like a cat was getting strangled. Amira quickly used her scanner to get some form of lighting, shining a light on the scene—Runt beating (and also getting beat with a rifle) one of the attackers, using the pipe from the wall. He had a major advantage with seeing in the dark.

”WILLIAMS!” She called, pointing the light to the other attacker, who was aiming directly at the other two.

Still prone, Williams reached for his rifle. The two saw the flash of illuminated movement and fired. Williams rolled and disruptor fire singed the deck where he’d been laying, instantly clicking to fire a stun bolt. The first assailant dropped.

Another blot shot. Two more to go.

The second flinched, but wouldn’t go down. He shot the rifle from Williams hands, turning to Runt. William advanced, pumping his fists. Adrenaline coursing as the Vaadwuar swung the stock of his disruptor. Almost instantly, Williams ducked and drove an inhuman right hook into the aliens jaw, breaking both knuckle and jaw bone. Their mixed blood splattered to the deck with the unconscious attacker.

One went straight for Amira, who grabbed something from her back pocket and sprayed it directly in the face of the attacker, causing him to cough for a few seconds…and then slump over.

”Everyone okay?” She called after a few seconds of heavy breathing. “That includes you, Ivvën.”

”Oooowww…owwwww..” Runt called, holding his side. The cats ribs were most definitely not okay, but otherwise than that, he was fine. “I’m alive. . .”

”Affirmative.” Ivvën responded, letting out a shaky gulp.

Williams nodded and began wrapping his hand. “I think I over did that. But I’m alright.”

He tied off the bandage and grabbed pulled out his phaser pistol in place of the damaged rifle. The group started to reconnect and recharge, but just as Williams turned around, the Vaadwaur he knocked out got up again.

”WILLIAMS!” Runt called, rushing forward. But he was too slow.

Amira also ran, but her phaser wasn’t with her. She was too slow.

But Ivvën wasn’t.

in an instant, the captured Vaadwaur grabbed Amira’s phaser off the ground and shot it directly at the attacker, causing his head to jerk back and him fall on the ground, knocked out cold. Everyone stopped to look at him.

”that was on stun? Right?? Right?? Oh, shit, Kenn’tha—sorry. Sorry. Er—“ He cleared his throat. “We have a bug to find. Let’s go.” He said after a shocked pause, handing the weapon back to Amira.

Williams was broken from his pause. “You heard the man.” He said as he grabbed one of the rifles, cocking it. “Let’s go get that bug.”