Monsters are Real - Residential Zone

Posted on Fri Oct 23rd, 2026 @ 12:13pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sizia Sh'velihr [Baas] & Lieutenant Commander Magdalena Doyl & Lieutenant JG Ryan Kellerman & Lieutenant JG Adam Taggart

1,762 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Monsters are real
Location: Various

[USS Valkyrie]

As her team stepped up on the transporter Sizia checked her weapon as she took her spot on the pad next to a nervous looking medic. "First away team?"

"No. First potential combat situation against a mutated horde that has, has no antidote."

Taggart stepped upon the transporter pad, ready to beam down.

"No antidote to be found as to becoming a Defiled?" the redheaded security officer shook his head. "Just something that we are not wanting to have happen. Being infected by that."

"And that is why we aren't going to do anything stupid," Maggie added. "And keep a weapon handy at all times. If we don't go off on our own, we'll get through this." She knew there was no guarantee, but she didn't want anyone on the team to start out being afraid. It would only get worse from there.

Ryan Kellerman arrived in the transporter room just enough to catch the tail-end of Doyl's words. His attention was fixed on the phaser in his hand, verifying its settings.

"Someone once said, 'the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.'" Satisfied with his phaser's settings, he looked up as he approached the transporter pad, offering Maggie a curt nod and a half-smile.

"Franklyn Roosevelt, I believe," Maggie replied, nodding back. "An excellent thing to remember--especially at times like this."

When everyone on the team had taken their place on the transporter pad, Doyl nodded to the chief to send them down to the station.

Nodding back, "Standby. We'll lose the transporter lock once you enter the shielded zone. You'll need to return to a clear area for us to get you out."

"Understood." They'd have to be extra vigilant, but Doyl trusted her team. She had to.

"Energizing."


[Station Residential zone]

When they materialized in the residential area, Taggart caught his breath. The place looked like it had already gone through a battle. A lone yellowish light flickered, having a slight buzzing sound to it. pieces of chairs, were strewn about, there was one piece that had become embedded into a wooden panel of a divider.

He avoided what looked like a small puddle of something, goo, or could it be even blood? Taggart wasn't certain nor was he going to touch it to find out. He scanned around the lobby, before heading towards the entrance which led even deeper into the residency area of this place.

"Stay with the group," Maggie called out to Taggart.

Sizia looked around carefully her senses peaked, keeping her spot light off. "On Pricari the strucures had had decade to decay, but there was similar damage. It was like they tore through whatever was in their way." As they checked the area she continued her story. "When we finally found them the individuals had fused themselves into a single massive form. But it still birthed individuals to come after us... Give them time... probably nothing but individuals... at least one for every person... or animal infected.

"Though after Wells was cut it half... both sections mutated and kept coming."

Doyl remained quiet, keeping her physical and telepathic ears tuned to anything that might be lurking around them. She had no doubt that any Defiled would be waiting to pounce on them without warning. Like the others, her spotlight was off so she didn't draw too much attention. She kept her phaser in one hand and her tricorder in the other.

First, she scanned the space around them, noting that something was interfering with the signal. They'd have to keep on their toes.

Ryan materialized with the rest of the team. He always felt there was some residual vibration in his arms and legs after using the transporter, but always dismissed the sensation as psychosomatic.

The residential block was an eerie, dark place that looked as if it had suffered some kind of accident. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the poor light.

The lobby area had been badly damaged. A yellowed light fixture buzzed overhead, flickering every few seconds and causing the room to shift whenever it did. Annoying, he thought.

He brought the tricorder up and swept the room. The readings were sparse and there was definitely some interference. He adjusted the scan and tried again.

Ryan looked toward the corridor beyond the lobby. It disappeared into complete darkness only a short distance away, the walls carrying the scars of whatever had happened here. Abandoned places were creepy at the best of times and while it might be easy to infer the damage was caused by some battle, it wasn't the only explanation.

Sizia's account of Pricari echoed in his head as he walked. He had read the reports of that encounter--and everything else in Valkyrie's database about the Defiled. He was trying to keep his attention focused on his surroundings when his arm light stopped on an enormous biological red-and-black mass that could have been a humanoid torso stripped of skin and bone. It rested silently in Ryan's light, basting in a puddle of blood.

He armed himself instinctively. "Weak stomachs need not apply."

The pervasive odor of death was strong enough to taste. It lingered at the back of Maggie's throat as a constant reminder--as if she needed one--of what happened here. "Stay frosty," she cautioned. "No wandering off alone."

Sizia took aim at the remains of the torso and fired. The sound echoed slightly and the remains vanished, a blacked mark on the plating the only sign it had been there.

Maggie turned to her. "Why did you do that?"

Looking up at the others who were all staring at her. "What? A mass smaller than that had killed one of our security escorts on Pracari."

The chief looked at where the partial corpse had been, then at Sizia. Then she nodded. "Good to know. So, vaporize anything that may have been alive. Got it."

Sizia looked down the corridor, the dimly lit passage of door after bloody door. While she had seen what they might run into, it wasn't her place to direct the team. Turning back to Doyl, "How do you want us to proceed Commander?"

Ryan continued his sweep of the area. "I'm on-board with shooting first," he muttered.

"Never go off alone. We stay in one group, or in teams. One person always has a phaser out," Maggie said. "I doubt we'll find survivors in all this, but we can't overlook the possibility. Still, if you see part of a body move, that's another matter. Also keep the comms open and report your position every five minutes." She looked around. "We'll start here, then check the corridors. When possible, I'd like two teams, one on each side of the corridor. That way, backup is close. Report if you see anything that might indicate what happened here."

She made eye contact with each member of her team to be sure they heard and understood. It wasn't that she didn't trust them. It was that she wanted all of them to get out of this alive. "If you get injured, call the medic. Got it?"

Doyl waited until each of the team nodded, then paired them up and assigned them to teams. "Let's go."

She led her team off to the right, carefully maneuvering around the scattered debris. She had a tingling at the back of her skull that made her feel like she was being watched. It made her antsy, but she wouldn't let it make her paranoid. Paranoia led to mistakes and mistakes led to injuries. Or death. She paused frequently to scan pieces of a broken bookshelf or armchair. Pieces of stuffing seemed to stick to everything like they'd been glued on. Some had rusty-colored patches that could have been blood. Her PADD sorted everything.

As she scanned with her tricorder, Maggie's telepathy felt almost as jumpy as she did. She began to mentally catalog everything in the public area and where it may have originated to keep her mind focused while her tricorder indicated any humanoid DNA. No body parts. Not yet, anyway.

Sizia stepped through a door that had been forced open and ripped from its track. Lights flickered from the wall panel and water spilled out of a sink as it overflowed from a broken basin. The violence of whatever had forced its way into the quarters was extreme.

Kneeling down she picked up a blood splattered image of a young family. Looking at it for a moment she set it on a counter before returning to the corridor. "No one there...just more of the same."

Almost at the edge of hearing there was a scream and a roar.

Maggie set her scanner to maximum range. "I don't detect any life signs." She growled in frustration. "I don't want to ignore a cry for help, but I can't get a direction, either. And it could be a trap." She looked at the others to see if they were able to get anything more concrete. Whoever had done this was still here. Chances of finding survivors was slim, but not impossible. Chances of running into a trap were better.

Then the roar was louder.

Sizia brought a finger to her lips for silence the talking. She knew these things didn't have any life signs she also knew from her own experience that was happening to the being that had screamed. Shifting her tricorder to motion, nothing, even though that a had heard something up ahead.

Where was it? In a crossing corridor up ahead? In some room they hadn't cleared yet? Was it just one, well now two, or was there a horde waiting for them.

None of the team moved. Maggie kept checking her tricorder, her phaser still at the ready. She also listened telepathically for any discernible thoughts beyond their own. Hopefully, if it was a creature that had just killed, there would be some sort of telepathic resonance.

Near the end of the corridor, in the dim flickering lights, the most recent victim of the Defiled burst into view as the body died and mutated into a grotesque abomination of it's former self. It thrashed about two arms splitting, in a spray of blood, becoming four clawed limbs. It's legs disjointed into something seen in an animal. As it dropped onto all six of it's limbs it notice the away team and howled. As more and more defile appeared the corridor echoed with their roars.


...TBC

 

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