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Christopher Pike hated goodbyes. But since Number One left all those years ago, he felt out of sorts. Maybe his time has come to leave The Enterprise. He thought it over many nights in his room.
Even the Admiralty thought it was time for Pike to take his leave. They wanted a new image for their flagship. Not saying he was old, they really would have loved to keep him in the captain’s chair, but the current prospects they had in line to succeed him might need coaching.
“Look Chris, you leave the Enterprise and you’ll be sitting fancy as a fleet captain. You’ve got the mind for it.”
He could only laugh.
But alas, it was alluring. He always wanted to see how far he could go. With Starfleet’s looming 5-year mission into deep space, Pike wondered if he could handle it.
Some days, an ugly scarred face looked at him in the mirror. Some days it was fine, other days it incapacitated him.
It didn’t help with Starfleet’s projected 5-year mission launch being only 9 months away. There were crew changes already happening. New helmsman, new engineers, almost new everyone.
“Are you sure you don’t want the command, I could literally just hand it to you.”
Spock walked beside Pike. They were cruising their normal route through the hallways of the ship, taking note of upgrades that were due.
“Command is intangible, Captain. You cannot hand it over. You also forget that I do not want it.”
“But you’re good at it.”
“I am good at it, because you are here to back me up.”
“Could you at least think it over?”
“I suppose.”
“You said the same thing when I promoted you to first officer.”
They rounded the corner, again seeing that the hallways were going to have to be widened. The ship could hardly accommodate the foot traffic of its growing population.
“Captain, I’ve thought about it.”
“And?”
“No.”
“Okay guys, first order of business, do any of you know who’s been purposefully replicating the lentil soup? We put an alert out that all lentil dishes bug out the computers.”
It was their weekly officer’s meeting. It was always held in the mess hall at 18:00. It was quiet enough, but still open. Pike never liked having these in private. It was ship’s business. The entire crew should have the ability to chime in.
“I tried fixin’ it. But eh, no luck. Guess it’s another thing to add to the list.”
Montgomery Scott was newly assigned. Like many of the officers sitting at this table now, they were new. All electing to get used to the ship before spending 5 years away from home. Pike liked him. He was determined. He also had the best stash of scotch he’d ever seen.
“How long is that list anyway? Last I saw it was when I added the helm controls.”
Hikaru Sulu. A master gardener. A master swordsman. Aa master pilot. Pike picked him personally. He couldn’t pass up a guy who bought his own 19th century helicopter for a single credit from a trash collector. He’d serve the 5-years well.
“It’s 14 pages now. I’ve been relaying our goals to more departments on the ship and compiling information. Expect it to get much longer.”
Nyota Uhura. Pike never saw anyone that could work as a public relations specialist, journalist, and linguist on top of being the ship’s public information officer. She explained to Pike one day about the codes she developed for easy information access across the ship. Since implemented, there’s been less confusion about orders.
“If it gets longer then it will delay the mission start. Starfleet will want a full refit.”
And then there was Spock. Pike could write a love letter to the Vulcan. He wouldn’t understand a word it would say, but he’d still write it. He didn’t know how Spock was going to take to being First Officer, but he reluctantly took the promotion and killed it ever since. He just knows how to handle his own department and coordinate everything. Pike was going to miss him.
“I doubt they’ll delay this any further.” He sipped his coffee. “I’ve been uh, delaying it more than enough.”
“You’ve been delaying it? Why for?” Scotty frowned. He had a real appreciation for Pike and didn’t want the cause to be malicious.
“Well, that’s mostly why I wanted to have this meeting, and actually have it rather than it just being Spock sitting at this table and forging the minutes. I wanted to tell you all first. Well, Mister Spock knows but he gets privileges. The thing is, I’ve been grappling with the decision to take a promotion and leave. And I am here to say that yes, I’m leaving.”
What was hard for Pike announcing it was the fact that everyone here but Spock had been on this ship for 3 months. There weren’t deeply rooted connections with any of them. Sure he had their loyalty, but it wasn’t like the old days.
“I know you guys are aware, we’ve been getting visitors to the ship. They’re all prospects to become captain. Which sucks because-“
“-they all kinda really sucked, sir.” Sulu nodded.
“Actually, yeah. They all weren’t great were they? I mean maybe for other ships, but not this one. So, we’ve got one last hope.”
“You’re promoting Mister Spock? Please say you’re promoting Mister Spock.” Uhura pleaded.
“No.” Spock and Pike said in unison.
“I asked.”
“And it’s still no.”
“Still no.”
“Still.”
“Dammit.”
“So then, what’s the last hope?” Scotty looked over the list. “We don’t even have a CMO right now.”
Pike sighed. Was that on page 11 or 3 on the list? “Don’t remind me, Scotty.”
“Wait we don’t have a CMO?”
“How do we not have a CMO?”
“Is it even legal to operate without a CMO?”
“GUYS! Please! We have a better chance of getting a CMO than a captain at this point. Look, our last hope is sitting on a shuttle right now as we speak. He’ll be here in 10 hours. He’ll come on board look around and leave. And don’t…don’t scare him off like you guys did with the last two.”
He eyed Spock.
“Commander James Kirk. Permission to come aboard?”
Spock returned Kirk’s salute. “Permission granted. Follow.”
He turned on his heel and didn’t care to look back. He was just another visitor. Another human that would undoubtedly express something.
“I’ve always wanted to see this ship. Damn, she’s pretty.”
Sigh.
“I suppose the ship does have a redeeming quality to it. It functions well.”
“That’s all you have to say about Starfleet’s pride and joy?”
“Should I say more?”
“Er, no. I guess not.” Kirk frowned.
Spock lead Kirk through the corridors, answering only yes or no to any of Kirk’s questions. Even if they weren’t yes or no questions. It was his tactic to get the human to shut up. It finally worked after the 19th question.
They got into the turbolift, Spock finally had his chance to ask. “Did you want to settle first in your quarters or would you rather see the bridge?”
“Oh you know I have to see the bridge. I heard there aren’t any ships that resemble it!”
Spock directed the turbolift to head to the correct destination.
“Lieutenant?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve yet to introduce yourself.”
“So I have.”
Kirk waited for him to say his name and rank. “So then, do it?”
“You couldn’t pronounce it.”
“Oh come on!”
“Spock. Lieutenant Spock.”
The bridge was aflutter. The view screen displaying all sorts of stats that the ship was picking up from their surroundings. Sulu was at the helm making more adjustments to compensate for drift. Uhura was preparing documents for Pike to look over before she sent them to the rest of the ship.
Christopher Pike was lounging in the captain’s chair, signing off duty rosters.
“You know Mister Sulu I was wondering, you’re pretty much our chief helmsman. You’re the guy I want piloting if we get into risky business. Why don’t we have a chief navigator?”
Sulu turned around. “Page 54, then.”
“We gotta stop adding to this list.”
“Captain Pike, I have retrieved our guest.”
He spun around in the chair, standing up and graciously offering his hand. “Christopher Pike. And you’re James Kirk?”
Kirk took the captain’s hand, gripping it firmly. “Call me Jim.”
“Sweet. Call me Captain!”
“Stop telling that joke, sir.” An ensign called out.
“You guys seem like you have a lot of fun up here,” Kirk laughed.
“Eh we try. Except for this guy,” he pointed his thumb in Spock’s direction. “He is a cold cold soul who only enjoys the company of the chess board.”
“Oh you play?” Kirk smiled. “I’d love to challenge you.”
“Sorry, I have other duties to attend to.” He clasped his hands behind his back and returned to his station.
Shot. Down.
“First Officer Lieutenant Spock. Actually a really great guy. I love embarrassing him. Hey! Spock! I actually need you to come back over.”
“Embarrassing a Vulcan?”
“Yeah yeah, but shhhh.”
Pike leaned next to Spock, a playful gesture. “So Spock I’ve got something for you.”
“Uh-huh. And you are going to stretch this bit thin enough to the point where I get seemingly irritated.”
“But you’re Vulcan and don’t get irritated.”
“That would be the correct assumption.”
“But you get seemingly irritated?”
“I do not get seemingly irritated.”
“But you just said-“
“Captain.”
“Yes?”
“I have projects I should work on.”
Pike whistled to get the attention of everyone on the bridge. “Okay everyone listen up. Spock just told me he has things to work on. So I gotta make this quick.” He saluted the Vulcan. “Welcome to the Lieutenant Commander’s club.”
Uhura presented a small box with a set of stripes.
“A promotion.”
“Yeah! Come on, guys. Celebrate!”
There was clapping coming from all over. A few cheers and shouts of encouragement. Spock studied the room, they were genuinely cheering him. Why would doing his job how it should be done result in such fanfare?
“Captain, this should have been done in private.” He slinked back to his station.
He found Spock sitting in the corner of the mess hall. His hands steepled before him, a cup of tea sitting underneath. Kirk decided to join him.
With his own cup of coffee in hand, Kirk sat across the table. Spock didn’t move.
“You have a question, Commander?”
“No, uh I didn’t know if you were meditating so I decided I wasn’t going to ruin it.”
Spock looked up from his very specific spot that lied inside the cup of liquid. “But you wanted to say something?”
“Why don’t you want a command on this ship? You’ve been the first officer for years here. And you’d be the first Vulcan captain. That would be impressive in itself.”
“I don’t want command. Some days when Captain Pike has me as acting captain I — dislike the experience.”
“So then why be first mate? Or why even be the lead science officer on board?”
He raised a brow. “A good question. Perhaps because I also know I am able to keep a group of people functioning. But I would rather work on my projects, not lead people.”
Kirk guessed his answer was good enough. It got him thinking why he wanted to be a captain. He wanted to inspire everyone he was around.
The familiar chime of the intercom rang. Spock answered. “Spock here.”
“Hey it’s Pike, we’re gonna need you to meet up with Sulu in the transporter room. And is our guest with you?”
“He is.”
“Take him with you. Pike, out.”
Kirk wasn’t expecting to be doing anything other than living on the ship for a couple of days. At least that’s what brass told him. He’d hang out, see if he liked the vibe and confirm or deny that he’d take over the ship for the 5-year mission.
“I assume, since you seem to be the most logical candidate for captain, Pike would like to test you.”
They headed to the transporter room where Sulu and Pike were standing at the console. Sulu had prepared phasers, Pike was there to debrief.
“Welcome on in guys. Here’s the deal for you Commander. We’ve been looking in on this planet. M-class. A real potential for colonizing. The last sweeps of the planet say it’s uninhabited. But we have a real weird problem on our hands.”
Spock furrowed his brows. What could be so weird that they’d have to transport down with phasers? He was the one who initiated the mission. Delegating the task to 4 lieutenants, and 5 ensigns. They were all highly skilled cartographers and scouters, biologists and geologists.
“What is this weird problem?”
“Three days ago we left with 9 crew members and 19 days worth of food.”
“Yes, just as we planned. We’d leave them for 18 days, as they gathered their evidence while everyone here on the ship would be charting the rest of this solar system. We would return for them after the allotted time has passed.”
“We got a call a bit ago. Upon that call, I talked to Lieutenant Yuilla. All she could tell me was the basics. Today, three days later we have 9 crew members, 16 days worth of food and a dead body.”
Kirk folded his arms, “they didn’t tell you anything else?”
“Nothing.” Sulu sighed. “Yuilla just kept saying a dead body turned up at camp.”
“This planet is uninhabited.” Spock reread his logs on the planet. “We have quite a mystery to solve.”
“Precisely, Mister Spock. I want you, Sulu and Kirk to get down there. I’ll monitor from up here.”
He glanced at Spock, who returned the look. Kirk could only admire the two’s unspoken conversation.
When they transported down, they found the original away team laying out a forensic scene. They might have been utterly terrified at an unknown body showing up at their campsite, but they weren’t incompetent. They knew what Pike expected. Work hard, but know when to stop.
Lieutenant Yuilla was waiting patiently for them. “Thank god. If it ended up just being us down here, I feel like we’d end up in some poorly written slasher movie.”
“Scream, or something like Saw?” Kirk smiled. He was already swayed by her looks, now he was swayed by her taste in pop culture. “I’m Commander James Kirk. And you’re?”
Sulu rolled his eyes when the commander held out his hand. They didn’t have time to make pleasantries. He glanced at Spock who glanced back. The Vulcan must be thinking the same thing.
“Lieutenant Leah Yuilla.” She didn’t bother shaking his hand. Yuilla was still concerned over her team.
“This,” she pointed to the ground, “would probably end up being from the likes of Sorority Row.”
The three newcomers looked on at the body. It was face down. Rigid. There were no signs of new decomposition. Every wound looked debrided by a medical professional.
“Sure woulda been nice to have a CMO on board,” Sulu sighed. “I can only look at this from my own experiences with sharp weapons. High quality grade blades. Medical instruments? Not over this expanse of skin.”
“Yuilla, are there any clues about? Any thing at all?” Spock looked up from the body, he was watching the rest of the away team search through the ground.
“We’ve been working on it. Laying a grid all over camp. I didn’t want to maneuver the body until we found anything. This is exactly how we found it.”
She pulled out her PADD, “but on the other hand…we left camp for about 12 hours. Nothing was taken. Not even food. Post mortem processes as far as I have been able to figure them out says he should have been alive 6 hours before we returned.”
“But you’re not an expert in this kind of science,” Spock retorted.
“No not at all. A hobbyist I guess. Anatomy, the way our species live and die, it’s interesting. I look into forensics because it’s helped us understand so many archaeological finds.”
“Do you mind if I look at him more? This feels, somewhat familiar.” Kirk bent down.
“You’ve seen something like this before, Commander?” Spock knelt next to him. Particularly odd, there was no smell coming from the body either.
“Yeah there was a planet I was on a couple years ago. I’m not saying I’ve seen this exact thing, but something,” He frowned trying his hardest to remember that night, “something doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Their shoes are brand new.”
They looked up at Sulu.
“No creases. Nothing. It’s like they just walked out of the store with them.”
“What should our best course of action be,” Spock said after another inspection of the body.
“You’re the first officer here. What do you want to do?” Kirk ran a hand through his hair. He did not want to have this conversation. “Just because I outrank you, I’m still a guest and this is your mission. Confer with Yuilla and let us know.”
At least he’s not a hot shot, Sulu thought.
Spock pulled out his communicator. “Spock to Pike.”
“What’s up?”
“We are quarantining ourselves. No one is to beam up or down. We do not have sufficient data to say what has happened here. Our guest though has a hunch, if I remember the right term.”
“A hunch eh? What’s the hunch?”
Spock held the communicator to Kirk.
“Captain that’s just the issue. It’s a hunch. Just a weird feeling in my gut. Forgive me, I know Mister Spock wouldn’t give such an order unless there was actual data, but protocol—“
“Protocol says if it’s fucking weird you just don’t fuck with it. I know. I’m reluctant, I want you all to be safe. The food supply is still in order as regards to the initial report?”
“Nothing is wrong with our food supply, captain.” Yuilla continued. “That’s one of our issues. I’ll send up the information we have on hand.”
“Cool, we’ll look it over. Figure something out. Stay safe you guys, I mean it. Pike, out.”
Pike swiveled his chair to dress Uhura. He smirked knowing the response this was going to invoke. “Miss Uhura, do you want to get your team to start researching murder stories? Real or fictional, those photos Yuilla sent up to us looked like they were straight out of those old procedural crime dramas.”
“Captain, this isn’t a tv show.” Uhura questioned while posting a message to her department anyway. Pike loved her ability to respectfully show her concerns.
“No we’re not, but I’m curious.”
The planet’s sun was starting to set. The warm air was slowly rising into the atmosphere. Sulu and one of the ensigns guarded the body while the rest of the team still scoured the group for any clues. At this point it seemed like it fell from the sky.
“Im gonna turn it over. There’s nothing else we can get from this. There’s just nothing here to show whether they walked here, or flew or, fucking floated around like a ghost.”
“A ghost, Commander?” Spock rose a brow.
“Yeah a ghost. Maybe it’s a ghost.”
A shriek filled the campsite.
The ensign who was standing guard with Sulu felt something crawling on his leg. He looked down and saw the hand of the dead body gripping his ankle.
Kirk, Spock, and Yuilla ran to the site.
“Or zombies,” Kirk muttered.
“Get it off! Get it off of me!!” He kicked and kicked, but the body still held him.
Sulu was quick to pull out his phaser as were the other officers. It was Sulu’s shots that finally got the hand to let go. The ensign tried to catch his breath. He backed away, stumbling over himself.
“What the fuck? THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”
The phaser shock stopped the body from doing anything else. It was rigid like they first discovered it. Sulu got closer, he knelt knowing full well he was putting himself into more danger.
“Sir, where do we go from here?”
“Any changes in the body, Mister Sulu? Apart from this episode?” Spock carefully approached, his phaser still pointed.
“None, sir.”
Spock pulled up the ensign by the arm, he waved for Sulu to back off. “We are relocating. This is no longer a safe area.”
Yuilla pulled out her communicator, rambling off orders to the team back at camp. “We’ll pull rations. Enough to hike with. Oh god, Jaimie, are you okay?”
The ensign was shaken up, but he nodded. “I’ll be good. I just wasn’t expecting to beam down to a haunted house.”
Kirk trailed behind while the group headed to a different location. He said he wanted to be the first line of defense if that thing came after them. It was really just because he wanted time to think.
“I know I’ve seen this somewhere. What planet was it?” He racked his memory trying to remember the mission he commanded 3 years ago. His memory was faint of that time any way, it was the year he got sick with a rare flu that attacked the nervous system. While fully recovered, he had to accept that year just wasn’t going to stick in his mind. It didn’t help that he had no idea where in his logs he should start.
“Dawn of the Dead, Zombieland, hell Shaun of the Dead, all those movies even the current zombie movies had something in common. What is it!?”
Spock fell back to Kirk’s position in the group. “You look as though you are in turmoil.”
“You know what turmoil looks like?”
“The unfortunate side of seeing the worst things happen to your captain.”
Kirk nodded. He knew that so well. It was the loneliest jobs in Starfleet. He saw it on the face of every captain he’s served under. And there wasn’t anything he could do to make their anguish any easier to handle.
“I was on a scouting mission a few years back. I don’t remember what one it was, where it was, I just remember having my phaser in hand and shooting. My unconscious is telling me something. It’s baseless and I hate having to rely on pure instinct on this.”
“You’ve been spending this entire hike trying to remember?”
Kirk laughed. “I am running circles in my own head. Circles in pitch black nothingness.”
For a moment Spock considered offering a meld. Or a slight variation to trigger a memory for the commander. To him, thought and control over memories were essential. It’s why he left detailed log entries. But he took another glance at the young commander. His youth blinded everything else about him. A mere child wanting to command an entire ship? Spock couldn’t be certain that it would even happen. It would be a waste of energy to see his thoughts.
“I do hope you can turn up something.” He stared up into the purple star-filled sky. The green bioluminescent dew started hanging onto the plants. “At the very least, this planet is aesthetically pleasing.”
Yuilla called out, “we’re camping here! Safe and plenty of spots to keep a lookout.”
Commander Kirk and Lieutenant Richon had the second watch. They didn’t make much conversation. The fire before them was plenty distraction. Thankfully there weren’t any strange noises, or unexplained movements among the trees. They weren’t in a scary movie, there should absolutely be no life on this planet. Whatever this was, it was probably an accident and could be explained.
Two hours in. Nothing. Kirk motioned to Richon, “If you need to stretch and walk around a little, go for it. I think we’re pretty safe.”
Richon nodded. “Thanks. This rock is not comfortable to sit on.”
The lieutenant stood. He stretched. Before he could bend down to grab his phaser, a hand came around his throat. The fire was bright enough where it masked the figure standing behind Richon. A gleam of a blade crossed the skin. The gurgling of his voice as blood spilled into his vocal folds happened all too fast for Kirk to take any life saving action.
Kirk pulled his phaser out and shot. Once between Richon’s eyes. The other two shots at the hand. Richon fell to the ground in a hump revealing the figure. A ghoulish zombie-like beast. Humanoid.
“Wake up!” Kirk repeated the command over and over. “WAKE UP AND DRAW PHASERS!”
He took a couple more shots at the zombie, always aiming for the head. He’s seen enough of those zombie movies to know where to shoot. The creature fell to the ground, saying he was lifeless was moot, but he definitely wasn’t moving anymore.
“What’s happened,” Spock came up behind Kirk, his phaser still drawn.
“Richon. He-he was attacked. Slit throat. I shot him in the head, and then I shot the zombie or ghoul or something behind him twice.”
“Ghoul?” Spock tilted his head.
“Zombie?”
“It still gives me little information.”
Yuilla approached. All three carefully walked to the scene. “Look at this. The wounds, they’re rotting now.”
“How do we know this is the same one?”
Kirk and Spock looked at each other and took off for a run. “Keep everyone awake and alert, we’ll be back!”
They came up on the original scene. It was still tagged, no disturbances.
“It’s gone.”
Spock lit up the torch that was at the base of the phaser’s handle. A convenience Starfleet finally added just in case. There was no shifting of the ground, no tracking.
“How is that possible?”
There was a scream from the distance.
The two nodded at each other, running towards the sound. When they made it back to camp Yuilla and three others were shooting at two more zombies.
“Aim for the head!” Kirk slid to a halt.
When shot correctly, the zombiess fell and moved no more.
“Yuilla? What transpired here?” Spock carefully crossed over to the rest of the away team.
“Out of nowhere! Two more of them came hurling at us! They grabbed Milee and Drubin. Fuck, we should have picked up that blade, one of them grabbed it!”
Kirk kicked the blade away from the lump of rotting flesh. Once it was a safe distance he grabbed it.
“Okay, one more viable weapon.” He grimaced. “You said they hurled at you? Fast moving?”
Yuilla nodded.
“Normally they’re slow.”
“Normally?” Spock questioned. “You’ve encountered these before?”
“Mister Spock they’re zombies. A product of spooky stories on Earth.” Sulu interrupted.
“But for them to be—“ Kirk gasped. “I think I remember what I was trying to remember!”
He grabbed a handful of soil and brought it over to a rock where he dumped it into a pile. “We don’t have a tricorder for this right now. If we can get this back to the ship it’ll be better. But three years ago I was on a planet similar to this. Its ground was a fertile hot pot. You could drop seeds anywhere and plants would sprout within an hour. And these were normal plants either. They were carnivorous. Hungry and bipedal. I’m thinking this is the same kind of deal.”
“Commander, this is an illogical conclusion.” He picked up more of the soil. “You’re inferring that this soil can produce humanoid corpses.”
“That’s what zombie movies are all about.” Sulu scanned the soil. “Zombies come from the ground. A virus or some sort of asteroid hits and disrupts the planet’s agriculture.”
Of course the scan detected nothing abnormal.
“Sulu! Look out!”
He stood to figure out why Yuilla would be yelling at him. Another zombie came running out from the darkness. It leapt onto Sulu’s back trying to strangle him.
“The knife! Throw — the — knife!”
Kirk tossed the knife to Sulu who caught it without any thought to it. The commander was astounded to see the difference in Sulu’s disposition when he held a blade compared to a phaser. The long knife became an extension of his arm, he swung it across his body to slit the back of the zombbie’s neck. It was enough for it to detach, where Spock took aim at the head.
“We need to get off the soil.” Kirk heaved a sigh of relief.
Spock and Sulu nodded.
Yuilla started to gather the most essential of their provisions. Water, a few rations since they’d be expending energy. Everything else could be abandoned. “There’s rocks farther up. About 3 miles. We can get to those and call the ship to beam us off.”
“How are there more?” Kirk muttered. “It’s like the ground binds to us or something. It takes our DNA.”
“Commander, we are all wearing shoes.” Spock pointed to the most obvious, their shoes.
“Wait,” Sulu brought a hand to his mouth, pondering what he remembered from the first body. “That first one we saw was wearing brand new shoes.”
He prodded the body with the knife. “And this one is too. Starfleet issue. Brand new.”
“Their clothes?” Yuilla carefully approached.
“Black pants, black t-shirts,” Kirk frowned. “Typical undershirt.”
“And the face,” Spock said, “look at the face.”
“Richon.” Sulu and Yuilla whispered.
“That first one is still missing.” Kirk looked around. “We do. We need to leave. We need to be fast. And we gotta realize that the more ground we cover the more of these things could show up.”
They all nodded in agreement.
It wasn’t a run. It was a sprint. This was by far the longest run most of them had been on since their academy days. It didn’t help that for 3 miles there was a group of 13 zombies running after them. A decent runner could have made the distance in 30 minutes, yet they had to keep dodging rotting flesh.
Kirk pulled out his communicator. Breathless, with his lungs afire, he panted. “Commander Kirk to Enterprise!”
“Lieutenant Uhura here, Commander is everything alright?”
“Running. In danger. Can’t stop.” He raised his head, “how far are we to that location?”
“Assume 2.3 miles, Commander,” Spock responded. “I estimate 40 more minutes to reach it.”
“Lieutenant! Prepare for emergency transport! Expect another transmission from us in 40 minutes!”
A zombie tried to jump at Kirk, a mighty leap from the ground. Sulu screamed for his attention. The yell came too late, as the zombie body checked Kirk into the ground. They rolled a couple of meters before coming to a stop, albeit still scrambling over each other.
The rotting being was trying its best to chomp at Kirk’s flesh. It was grabbing everywhere it could. The madness was unending. All Kirk could do was fighting to keep himself from being eaten. There was no escaping it.
“Keep going!” Spock yelled to the away team while detouring to the commander. He aimed the phaser point blank into the back of the zombie’s skull. In one swift motion, he grabbed Kirk’s hand and pulled him into a run.
Kirk was trying to gain his balance, and a bit of his sanity.
“Keep moving forward commander, the gait will return!”
It was a brutal 54.89 minutes. Spock pulled out his communicator, he took a quick tricorder reading. “Spock to Enterprise, enter the coordinates and beam us up now!”
The last of the away team barely made it to the rocks before they were all transported off the planet.
Pike walked around his ready room. He had a PADD in one hand and coffee in the other. He’d read a few sentences then look up at Yuilla, Sulu, Spock, and Kirk who were all sitting patiently before his desk. Pike at times wanted to stop and comment, but he continued to read.
“4 days ago there was 9 of you on that planet. Today there’s 3 of my crew dead. And 32,” he held up the PADD again, “zombies. All dead. Shot in the head.”
He sat at his desk. A sip of coffee to wet the pallet. “Zombies.”
“Not something I’d consider, Captain.” Spock finally broke the silence after minutes. “But, it is true. Zombies.”
“Which, for my final report I do not think this planet should be colonized.” Yuilla added. “Commander Kirk has his hunch and his logs from another mission, but we need samples to confirm. Otherwise, Starfleet will laugh at us.”
“How about I put you all on drones and you can take samples that way?” Pike rubbed his eyes. “Zombies. Guys we were up here learning about The Zodiac Killer. We were thinking this was just a dumping site!”
“The more you keep saying it, the less it’s going to make sense, sir. I promise, everything that’s in that report is correct. I’ll bet my promotion on it.”
“Betting a promotion to starship captain on zombies.”
“Yup.”
“On a hunch because you watch a few horror flicks during your free time.”
“It came in handy.”
“Okay Mr. IMDB. Go fetch your samples.”
They exited the ready room. Yuilla nodded to Kirk, thanking him.
“So Mister Spock?”
“Yes, Commander?”
“You owe me a game of chess.”