About 50 years ago…

At a sliver of the vastness of space, a vessel left the speeds of warp and slowly came to a stop. The vessel was a Starfleet Excelsior-class, riddled with battle scars from various weapons. The vessel came from the direction of the Cardassian Union, where it was originally part of a small task group in charge of destroying certain key infrastructures. Unfortunately, this vessel was the only one that survived the surprise ambush that the group fell into.

Upon fleeing the attackers, the vessel had to make an emergency stop in orbit of a planet of a star system not explored by Starfleet and intelligence indicated that the Cardassians never ventured into the system. This would give the vessel an advantage to make what repairs needed before they continue their journey back to Federation Space to make their report. While in orbit of the planet, the desire to explore had not left them and while at war with the Cardassians, they had not forgotten what was important to Starfleet. So an away team was sent down to the planet when sensors picked up a strange reading.

That was an hour ago.

Captain Richardson stood up from his seat to approach Ensign Jackson at the helm. “Why did we drop out of warp?” He asked him. The Ensign had recently taken the controls, as Richardson’s Chief of Flight had been injured and was in sickbay.

“I can’t explain it, Captain. But warp drive just went offline.” Said the man.

“Sir!” Shouted an Ensign at the Engineering station. “Warp core just went offline! Main power is being drained! We’re running on auxiliary power and batteries!” Suddenly the main lights that illuminated the bridge went dark, only for the red emergency lights to pop on and cover the entire bridge in a red hue.

Richardson went back to his chair to press a button that gave him direct contact to Main Engineering. “Chief. What the hell is going on down there?”

At first, all that came back over the overhead speakers was a bunch of screams and shouts from the crew. They were all belligerent, incoherent and hard to make out. But some words did come through. ‘Oh my god!’, ‘It’s got me!’, ‘Somebody help us!’.

“This is the Captain, somebody respond!” Richardson ordered loudly and clearly, as frustration began to build up when he had to repeat himself to get some answers.

“This is Lieutenant Y’von! It’s the device, Captain! The Chief was examining it when it attached itself to the core! Some black mass is covering the entire room! We need security, now! It’s killing us! Captain! Cap-“ A horrific gurgle sound emitted from their throat that was clearly heard over the speakers. A sound that Richardson knew all too well, that the lieutenant had been severely injured.

Richardson quickly pressed another button. “This is the Captain. I need a full security team to Main Engineering immediately! Repel anything that comes out of there! And if you find the device, remove it from the core by any means necessary!” But all Richardson got back was more screams and shouts of his crew being overwhelmed by something.

The door to the turbolift on the bridge opened and caused practically everyone to jump in fear or surprise, or both, and look at it to see what was coming or who. Richardson let out a sigh of relief, among many, when it was his chief of security. “What the hell is going on, Sarah?” Richardson watched her approach him, and he could see the absolute sheer terror in her eyes. Richardson has known this woman for many years, she had been his chief of security for much of those years and he has never once seen this look from her. Ever.

“It’s spreading too fast, Captain. Whatever it is, it came from Main Engineering and took over the entire engineering section in matter of seconds. My entire team has been slaughtered by it. We can’t stop it. The only thing we can do, is completely seal off the bridge.” She told him.

“What about the ship? The crew?” Someone asked.

Richardson saw Sarah snap towards that person. “The bridge must survive! The Captain must survive! If we lose both, we’re done!” Richard watched as Sarah headed for her station, where she began to input commands. “I am erecting a full maximum containment field around the bridge. I am closing all doors and sealing them shut.”

“But then we can’t get out!” Said one officer.

“We have escape pods, we can use them to escape this thing!” Said another.

There was more that pleaded and questioned what Sarah was doing but all the voices went dead silent when a black mass began to form at the doors and several different spots on the floors. It had breached the containment field. ‘Can anything stop this thing!?’ Richardson thought, as he watched in horror as tendrils lashed out of the black masses and began to grab his bridge crew. One by one, he watched as they were either drug through a black mass, or torn completely apart with their limbs ripped from their bodies, or their body be impaled in several different places.

But then he watched something different happened to Sarah and to Jackson. Richardson watched as Sarah was completely covered in beetles, where they began to eat her either from the outside, or crawling into any orifice they could find and eat her from the inside. Sarah had told Richardson that she had one thing she feared the most and that was being eaten by insects. And here, he just watched in pure horror, of his friend’s fear happen before his very eyes. Before her face was completely covered, he saw how terrified she was. No, it was beyond that, she was petrified.

As for Jackson, Richardson barely knew the Ensign but he witnessed the man be burned alive by green plasma fire. But it was not quick. It started with his feet and his hands and slowly the flame worked its way towards the center of his body until, Jackson was no more.

Richardson looked around his bridge, not a single member of his crew were there. He was alone. And he waited for his end to come, he waited to be impaled or to be dragged into the depths of black hell, wherever this thing was from. But nothing happened. He looked some more and could see the black masses were still there, various spots on the floor, consoles, ceiling and doors. The room was littered with them.

“What are you waiting for?! You took my crew! You took my ship! Why am I still alive?!” Richardson shouted as he stood there, in the direct middle of the bridge, before his seat and near the two seats in front. Nothing happened. The tendrils retreated into the black masses they came from and yet the masses remained. It seemed as though he was not going to get an answer, that this thing, whatever it was, was purely an abomination with no intelligence whatsoever. That all it was there for, was to siphon energy and kill anything that was not part of it.

He was wrong.

A single black mass formed just before his feet, just inches away from him and from his seat. Then, slowly, a very large figure rose from it. It looked more like a spike with a rounded tip, or a pillar perhaps. But one thing was for certain. It was intelligent after all.

“Y̵͍̠̆ͅͅo̷̡̗̪̘͇̿͒͆̐͘u̵̡͖͈̿͛́͐̚ ̴͈̥̽̀̾̐͝w̶̭͇̍̑̑̕i̸̪̺͓̙̋͛s̵̡͙̤̗̿h̵̗̹͉̩͈͗̂̈́ ̷̨̼͇͓̓̉̑̂̔t̶̼͖͛̕͠ọ̴̼̇̈́͋͊ͅ ̸̗̄̅̑̈̌k̴̦̂̌̎̋͐n̶̤̠̜̟͒͝ó̸̟̒̕ẅ̶̪̥̅̐̿́ ̶͈̳̺̻̇͊w̷͍̳̻̙͌͆h̷̰͉̋̋y̶͈͐͌̒?̶̲̯̥͓̗͝” The voice that emitted from the mass figure was sharp, highly pitched piercing-wailing sound, like a banshee shriek. But it was mixed with a soft, feminine whisper, and a mournful, pitiful sobbing. The words echoed in his mind, where he could distinguish multiple different voices in one. And it sent a shiver down his spine.

“Yes. I do. You killed my crew. Slaughtered them in fact. Why not me?” Richardson asked as he stared hard at the mass before him.

“B̵̨͎̘͇̆͝é̸͎͕̤̤c̶͙̅͂́̀ḁ̶͓̯͘ṳ̷̹̳͈́͊̅͋s̵̙͔̋̅̾̒͝ę̶̥͊̋͌̏,” It’s voices pierced his ears. “Y̸̡̗͝o̴̧̻͍̦͋̋͊͘u̷̫̍̂́͆̓r̵̼͉͈̫͌̀ ̷̻̟̜͉̜͑͗̕͝f̶̽̈͊͆̌͜ȅ̴̪͓̙̅̃̽̀a̴̟͌̉r̸͉̫̂̊̿͠ ̷̟̜̞̎͆̆i̴̻͉͒̒s̵̺͓͍͋̿̑̈́͠ ̷͇̣̃͘ṃ̸̛̬̙̬͝o̸̢͇̗͒͝s̶̡̹̲̳̝̀t̴̡̝̤̟͑ ̵̟̌́̅̃ḙ̵̦̱̯́͜n̸̡͔͕̄j̸́̆͊̒͜o̶̠̓̉̓y̷̠̱̺͛̚ȧ̴͖͎̘͎̖̋b̷̻͍͋̌͝l̵̨̧̩̜̮̇͋̔̐̀ȅ̷̛͖̗̳̦̙͛̽̅.̴̼͖̣͗̌”

“My fear?” Richardson asked and then his eyes went wide. “No.”

There was a sudden chuckle in the same mix of voices that only grew louder and louder until his head began to hurt. He shut his eyes and covered his ears but it did nothing to stop the pain until it was gone in an instant. His breathing quickened, his heart pounded in his chest as he recovered his posture and opened his eyes to look at the mass, where he got the answer. An answer that he already knew.

“Ý̵̛̱͕̳̙o̷̟͝ǘ̵͍̰͕͌͆͘r̷̳̜̎̎̊̕͠ ̶̬̻̋̇ẇ̶̼̤͇͎̞̀o̴̩͉͖̅̿r̶̡̦̫̥̱̃̑̎͝s̷̫̬̭͓̆̃͌ṫ̴̢̎ ̸̥̣̹̺̅f̵̬́̒̉͐͝ẻ̵͙͓͜å̵̳̏̽r̶̡̠̠̀̾̂̓.̴͉̱͖̓̆͊͆͜” It began. “I̷̱̺͗̍̾̚s̴̨̢̺̩̀͊̐ ̶̡̉̽͒̚ḇ̵̣͙̥̣̒̔̋e̷̿̃͝ͅí̵͈̮̪̔̃n̴̤̓g̵͍̊̂̔ͅ ̴̹̼̖̝̀c̷̬̣̩͎̤͝͝o̷͚̜̼̽̊m̸̮̥̤͆͆ͅp̴̨̛̲͆̽͜l̸͖͉̺͚̕ę̶͉͙͇̈́͑̈́̉t̷͎̅e̶͇̩͛̅͆l̵̛̯̲͒̔y̷̩̯͑̀͘ ̵̘͍̔̓̾̊̈a̶̧̨̺̙͌̈̎ĺ̶̜̦̍̈́̕͠o̴̬̝̖̹̦̐͑̃͠ņ̷̩́͑͗̿e̷̛̥̞̮̲!̵̛̮̙̯͉͆̓̍͘ͅ A̵͗͒̈́̂͜n̶͔̜͆̿d̸̙͋̀͂͗ ̸͚̿̎͝ṷ̷̧̊̊͝ͅͅs̴̛̻͔̒͝e̶̠͐ľ̷̨̼̰̦̮ḙ̸͈̯͘ś̴̜̙̈́̉s̶̘͓̣̣̔͛̏͘̕!̷̧̠͖̭̏̉̓͛ F̸̢̪̳̿̅͝O̴̢̓R̷̮̫̻̭̿Ę̵͉͕̥̑͆̈́̈́V̷̨̛̆̄̀̓E̸̢̜͒R̴̝̜̭̈́!̷̠̯̦̙̟̆̊́” Once it was finished, the large mass retracted into the floor and every single mass on the bridge disappeared.

Richardson turned around, just so he could go to the helm station. He tried to input commands, to crank the impulse engines to maximum but none of his commands went through. The station simply popped up errors, only for the entire LCARs screen to be completely covered in those errors.

Richardson went to the tactical station, where he tried to arm the torpedo launchers and load probes. He wanted to fire off probes that could emit beacons, to signal someone to come to his location, to rescue him. But again, no response but just errors, errors that blanketed the entire screen.

He turned and went to the engineering station, where he tried to find a way to bring the warp core back online, to overload it. Only to receive nothing but errors. He slammed his hands onto the surface of the console before he pushed himself away so he could walk to the comms station. But before he could even begin to input commands, it began to be blanketed with errors. He stood up straight and began to look at every single console on the bridge, just to watch them all be covered completely with errors.

Growling in frustration, he went over to one of the doors and tried to pry them apart. But none of them would budge. There was nothing he could possibly do. He was trapped.

There was no escape.