Malon Mining Colony

The corridors of the mining colony stood dark and empty save for the occasional slow red strobing light. The light in places struck and refracted off and ran through the growths of blood dilithium that clung to the walls, ceiling and floor of the hallway and in places punched right through the bulkheads into neighbouring rooms or the cold vacuum of space, bathing the corridor in a reddish glow. Refuse and tools littered the floor lending the hallway a foreboding feeling.  

The empty hallway lit up with bluish-white light momentarily as 5 figures in Star Fleet EVA suits materialized. Three of them brought up phase compression rifles and scanned the surrounding hallways.

Ril looked over her shoulder towards Kerry, “All clear on our end. You seeing anything on your scans Kerry?”

Shaking her head Kerry barely looked up from the tricorder, “I am not picking up those life signs but we didn’t get a solid reading on them anyways. We should have a look around.”

Ril nodded before gesturing to two of the other figures, “Andrews, you take the lead. Thomas, watch our backs. The last thing we want is the Devore who attacked here to get the jump on us. Let’s move towards the living quarters.” The two men nodded and began to move.

“Do we know it was the Devore who attacked? They had the miners already, seems odd they would then attack.” Nurse Joy said quizically as she peered at a large formation of blood dilithium that had cut through the bulkhead from the neighbouring room.

“Who else would it have been? Not many races around here stand up to the Devore,” Ril remarked with a shrug as she stepped past Joy following Andrews down the hallway.

After several minutes they emerged into what looked like a large mess hall and galley. Frozen food and plates are tossed around as if a tornado has torn through the room. Ril considered the room and the mess for a long moment, “Looks like this place suffered a rapid decompression given the mess.” Both Andrews and Thomas looked over at her from nodded in agreement, “Sure looks that way,” remarked Thomas.

“Give me a minute here, will you?” Kerry said without directing it at anyone. She approached a large growth of blood dilithium that was coming out of the opening to the galley and knelt down beside it, tricorder in hand. “This blood dilithium is not like the other samples we have found. Its molecular structure has changed somehow. We couldn’t use it in a warp core anymore. I think,” she said with a pause before stepping back and pointing her phaser at it. She pulled the trigger and a beam struck a corner of the blood dilithium causing the whole crystalline structure to glow and pulse. “Yep, it can absorb directed energy…”

Her voice trailed off as the pulsing within the crystal began to slow but not before a shape was silhouetted from within. “What was that?” Ril asked, “It looked like something was inside there. Andrews give me that pick.” Andrews glanced back at Ril and unhooked a short rod from his harness and tossed it to her. Catching it with easy Ril flipped open the compact mining pick they brought along for sample collection and stepped up to the crystal formation.

“Stand back Kerry,” Ril said before she swung the pick down catching a weak spot between two branching growths causing one to crack and fall to the floor. She stared in shock as she realized what it was she had seen.

“Is that a Malon? What the hell happened to him?” Allen Thomas said from the other side of the mess hall. 

“No idea Allen,” Ril said. “Joy, what do you make of this?”

Nurse Joy stepped up to the blood dilithium formation and the now half-entombed Malon body that the crystal had seemed to have grown around. “He is dead, I am positive of that,” she said before bending down for a closer look. “He was killed by a weapons blast. See, here,” she pointed to a blackened and charred mark just under his neck. “But I cannot get an accurate reading on his body though, it is odd. The readings indicate it happened several days ago but the state of the body makes me think weeks.” She looked at the withered, almost skeletal remains of the Malon and shook her head, “I have no idea what would make a body wither away like in this environment or how it got into the blood dilithium.”

“Kerry any thoughts?” Ril asked.

Kerry stood staring at the body and was unable to look away from it for a moment, before turning to look at Ril. “None.”

“Lieutenant,” Andrews called. “Look at this.” Ril turned and looked over at the young ensign as he moved a table that had been flung against the other doorway leading in or out of the mess hall revealing several scorch marks on the wall. “Looks likes like weapons fire and check this out,” pointing towards the tabletop. Embedded in the tabletop was a shard of blood dilithium about five centimetres long. “Wonder how that got there?”

“Another question…” Ril said as she pulled out the shard and examined it. “I’ll update the Sojourner, take five then we continue the search.”

USS Sojourner; Bridge – Deck 1: 02:40

Kirin stood looking out the large viewport in her ready room at the large asteroid and Malon colony below. She has spent the last hour that the away team had been on the asteroid reviewing the data Palek had shared on the system and previous Star Fleet encounters with the Devore so she would be ready when they made contact. Though she had to admit to herself if they made contact was seeming like a real possibility.  

She hated that she wasn’t leading the away team herself but fought the urge to constantly check the cameras. She trusted Ril and Kerry to look after the team but she was not one to sit back when the people she worked with were in danger.

She was about to return to her work when the coms activated and Belania’s voice could be heard, “Captain. Update from the away team.”

Kirin tapped her combadge, “On my way,” before turning and she headed for the Bridge.

A few moments later she took a seat in her chair on the bridge, “Put them on.”

Ril’s voice came over the coms, “Captain, hope you are having more luck finding some answers on your end. So far we just have more questions. The blood dilithium has formed inside the colony and Kerry has said it is molecular structure has been changed somehow and now absorbs energy. And that isn’t even eh weird stuff. We found a dead Malon, killed by weapons fire several days ago but it looked like he was withered. We have sent over the scans. The strange part is he was entombed in blood dilithium.”

“Entombed? That is very strange. I will get the science team to start looking over the data you have sent. Anything else to report? Any signs of the Devore?”

“There are some indications of weapon fire in the mess hall but otherwise it is empty only one body. Anything on your end?” Ril asked.

Kirin looked at Belania, “Belania?”

Belania nodded at the Captian, “Our scans confirm what Kerry found. The molecular structure has been changed to the point I am not sure we can call it blood dilithium anymore but that can be discussed later. The blood dilithium all over the system exhibiting strange energy readings but the formations on and in the mining ship are several orders of magnitude above that; to the point that they seem to absorb the radiation in the system. We are also seeing active growth of some formations that haven’t been reported by other ships. My best guess is that the high levels of radiation from the pulsars are causing growth if there is material for it to consume. The ambient levels do not seem to have much effect beyond being absorbed but as the pulsars’ spin, the discharges from their poles seem to stimulate growth.”

“Thank you Belania,” Kirin said once the Operations Chief finished speaking. “You have two hours until the next discharge passes over this area. I suggest you complete your search by then. If it will cause rapid expansion of the formations I do not want anyone on that colony when it passes.”

“We will continue the search,” Ril remarked.

“One final thing, we detected a warp signature of another vessel. It was weak and a couple of days old but it could have been the Devore. Even if it was keep your eyes sharp.  Find the survivors, get what samples and evidence you can then beam back.”

“We will transport the couple of samples we have now so the science team can start making headway on it,” came Kerry’s voice over the coms.

“Will do Kerry,” Kirin responded. “Keep us updated on any developments.”