Halsey sat in the command chair, reading from the PADD on the various science reports and updates that were coming in as they sat staring down the USS Colorado.  He was conscious of the similarities between the two ships.  The Olympic class had taken many design elements from the Daedalus class.  He had served on an aging one in his cadet tours in his senior year at the Academy.  There was something about those old designs that caught his heart.  The older ship designs held more risk, more possibility, and more unknowns.  To be a captain in those days, he wondered, what would it have been like?

Fleming spoke up from the front of the bridge as his console beeped with a report, “Captain, transporter rooms report crews have been beamed aboard.”  Halsey turned in his chair to his interim chief science officer…and his wife.

She didn’t even turn to look at him as she moved her fingers over the science console, “Transporter room has a secure lock on all officers, and we are monitoring all readings short and long range, sir.”

He smiled quietly to himself as he returned his chair forward, “Understood.”  He stood and returned to standing at the back of the chief helm officer, “Why do you think she’s here, ensign?”

The young officer thought for a moment and turned to face his CO, “This section of space doesn’t get a lot of traffic, sir.  I’ve done a surface search on the flight paths of various Federation and other assorted entities…and not many of them travel this section of space anymore.”  He turned to the screen, “She could have been sitting here all this time…but someone somewhere would have picked her signal up.”

Halsey stood there for a moment and tapped his commbadge.  He would need a second officer on the bridge as he suspected that his operations officer would be called over to the ship as soon as it was secured.  “Lieutenant Choi, please report to the bridge.”

Egrel looked up from filling out forms on his PADD. He tapped his commbadge, “Lieutenant Choi here, I will be there in a moment.” He cut the line and stood up, having left his PADD and work behind, he made his way quickly to the bridge.

A few minutes letter, Choi arrived on the bridge, a little out of breath. He must’ve taken some parts faster than a brisk walk. “Sir,” he announced his arrival, “I came as soon as I could.”

Halsey turned, “Welcome to the bridge, Lieutenant.”  He gestured to the left side chair as he sat down himself, “How has it been acclimating to the Mercy?”

Egrel moved towards the directed chair and took a seat. He nodded once as he replied, “Quite well, actually. Thank you.” He glanced at the screen with a furrowed brow, “That is… strange.”

The CO nodded, “You’re right.” He nodded to the viewscreen and explained what had brought them to a stop in space.  “She’s a mystery.  Federation space is a big place, but ships that sit out in the middle of somewhere, especially Starfleet ships.., they don’t stay unnoticed for long.”  He leaned back in his chair, staring at the supposed ghost ship, “Your thoughts, counselor?”

Choi furrowed a brow, his lips pursed as he formulated his words. He spoke in a slow, articulated manner, “I am a bit uneasy about this whole thing. It’s an old class. And as you said, Starfleet ships don’t sit for long. We would have known about a disabled ship within this vicinity.” He glanced at the screen once more, “And if it were sitting around for this long, scavengers would have picked it clean by now.”

Leopold gave a thoughtful nod, “Uneasy is a good word for it.  You make a good point.”  He turned in his chair to his wife, “Lieutenant, what does the warp trail readings look like in this sector?”

Theodora tapped at the console.  She tapped the console, and the report displayed on the screen, “This is mildly irregular, Captain.  You can see it is a small amount of traffic that’s been detected through the system recently, but one of those signatures goes right near the Colorado.”  She tapped at the console again, “Best estimates put whoever was through here was in the region approximately three to five days ago.”

Henry felt his mind begin to have mild alarms sound, “I don’t suppose we know who that ship was that made that trip?”  The interim science chief shook her head and returned to her work.

Egrel looked over at the captain, “Have life signs been detected?” He hesitated, looking like he had more to say when he spoke again, though he was incredibly unsure, “Did you wish for me to telepathically read, sir?”

The CO wasn’t sure how to reply to the counselor, so he sat back in his chair to think.  He explained, “No life signs were detected.  Biological readings were detected.  It suggests the possibility of remains.”  He turned to the Betazoid, “This is a downright bizarre situation.  We’ve got a signal from deeper in the sector, and we’ve got a phantom ship sitting out here…where a few ships have been through recently.”  He thought for a moment longer, “If you open your mind to whatever is out there, be mindful of taking precautions.”  He waved his wife over, “Lieutenant Walker is trained in the ways and means of Vulcan mind melds…if things become too precarious, I would require her to be able to intervene in whatever way she deems necessary.”

Egrel nodded, looking at Walker, “I would welcome intervention if needed; thank you, sir.” He looked at the viewscreen, brow furrowed in concentration. After several moments, his face slowly changed into an expression of pain. He slammed back into his chair with a ragged gasp, his hands pressed to his temples and face pale.

Theodora Walker moved across the bridge at a speed that startled everyone but not her husband, who was thankful he had her on assignment. Within seconds she was at the side of the counselor, her hands gently touching his body, her eyes searching his, “Lieutenant, are you with us?”.  Halsey gave a reassuring nod to the rest of the crew.

Egrel ran his hands down his face and took a shaky breath, “I’m… I’m alright. I should be.” He closed his eyes for a moment as he spoke, “I felt anger and fear. And I want to say curiosity even. It was faint, however. Despite that, it tried to break my defenses. I pulled away just in time.” He hesitated, adding, “The feelings were not from our away team.”

Walker looked to her CO and back to Egrel, “I would like to ask your permission for a mind meld, Lieutenant.  You may have seen something in a flash…or something that may give us a clue as to what is happening.”

Halsey accepted the toss of a medical tricorder from the medic he has summoned from sickbay and swept it over the still shaken counselor, “Allow him a moment.”  He completed the scans, “Blood pressure is up, heart rate is up, and various stress factors are also reading higher than normal for your species, counselor.  Whatever it is, I do not think we should repeat this exercise.  As for the mind meld,” he turned to Egrel, “That is up to you.  I won’t order it.”

Egrel remained leaned back against the chair, nodding slowly. “I do not plan on trying to check again. At least… At least we know.” He looked between Halsey and Walker momentarily. He straightened up in his chair and nodded his ascent, “Yes, you have my permission for the mind meld.”

Walker knelt before him and extended her hands to him, “My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts.”  She repeated it several times, growing softer as she gently applied her fingertips to the face of the counselor.  He tensed for but a moment before he relaxed at her mind’s gentle reassurance at its entry into his own.

Egrel closed his eyes and relaxed; he promptly allowed Walker access to his mind and brought her in.

The blackness of space surrounded them on all sides, and Walker felt echoes of the experience their chief counselor had felt and didn’t want to stay long.  She walked forward towards a bright light, her mind on guard as she looked closer.  “It was a living presence that stepped into your mind.”

Egrel frowned, “It feels like no living presence I have ever felt before. There is something horribly off with it.” He struggles to try and put it into words, “It feels like a children’s drawing next to a photograph.”

She turned to him and then back to the specter that danced across the blackness.  “You are correct. It feels…off.  As if it is attempting to mimic life…but is not fully able to relate to one enough to convince it is alive.  It feels…the emotions are not balanced as they would be in a living being. You feel as if sandpaper is rubbing against you softly, and then….”

He nodded and turned towards her, “That is exactly what I was trying to say; thank you, I have not encountered anything like this before. It is unknown to me. And I do not like it. I do not trust it.”

Walker sighed, “It is unlike anything I have experienced in my life…or in my research.  Whatever this…creation is…it is not to be trusted.”  She put her hand on his shoulders, “I am thankful you were able to see it for what it was, Counselor.  Let us return to the bridge.”

Before she ended the connection, a faint roar echoed across the planes of their minds, and the Vulcan spun on her heels, “It has left something here.  I will remove it from your mind.”  Her tone had turned serious and tight.

Egrel tensed and turned with her, eyes wide. Though the Betazoid was utterly calm on the exterior, there was a deep, gut-wrenching fear in the pit of his stomach. His breath hitched as he gasped, “How did it…?”

The Vulcan slowly tightened her fingers into fists at her side, “It is not as uncommon as you think, Counselor.”  She was intertwined with his thoughts and questions as she searched the various pathways of his mind.  She stepped forward slowly and yet determined.  “We do not have many modern cases to evaluate and explain…but there is plenty in the past before there were laws around this kind of thing.”  She reached out and pulled the swirling darkness out of the air,  both her hands gripping the unruly cloud tightly.  “It is interesting that it chose to leave something behind.  I say chose because it was not as well hidden as it could have been.  Another element to be aware of as we continued forward in our investigation.”

Egrel nodded slowly, “I pulled back as soon as I could. I can see it was not quick as I could have, or should have been, for that matter. It tried to push through my defenses, whatever this is. It was poorly and hastily hidden, I see. I did not allow it to have time to linger long before I yanked away.”

Theodora stared at the thing in her hands as she slowly went about the process of removing it, “There are plenty of methods and means at my disposal as a Vulcan…as you have at yours as a Betazoid.  In this case, it is merely a case of removing the false memories that it placed to power this abomination.”  It took her a moment longer to seek out and clear the implanted memories.  “Whatever did this was in a rush…they did not take the time to tie the false memories to real ones…or any kind of thing that would have presented challenges.”  Another moment as she searched the halls, walls, and shelves of the Counselor’s mind until she had found no trace, and the once swirling ball had faded until it became nothing, her hands holding an empty space.

Egrel watched her work with fascination, storing that in his memory to utilize later, “I am glad I forced it out when I did. I never gave it the chance, nor do I ever want it to.” He paused, falling quiet as he let her work and search. He queried, “Is that all there is of… that?”

Walker cocked her head at him, “It is, for now.  We will need to be careful as we move closer to the original signal.  Power is relative to distance.”  She glanced around, “Your mind is strong, Counselor.”  With that, she slowly untangled her mind from his, washing the connection in calming breaths and peaceful memories until her hands were separated from his skin and her eyes opened to see his.

Egrel opened his eyes to look at Theodora, replying to something she said during the mind meld, “Thank you, Lieutenant. It needs to be…to be a counselor.” He straightened up and touched a hand gently to his forehead. He looked towards the Captain, “It left something behind in its haste. I am glad we looked.”

Halsey glanced at his wife as she gave a quiet nod and said, “I’ll have a complete report for you shortly, Captain.  Counselor, I would advise you to create a report of your own to submit.  We will need much information as whatever it is out there comes closer to us in here.”

The CO returned his attention to the view screen.  What in the hell was out there?