Captain Seth, Dr. Min, and the security team marched in through the doors of sickbay, battle-ready. But they would be greeted with chaos. It appeared that not all of the Excelsior victims could be evacuated in time, and the physicians and nurses were completely helpless against their enemy. They stood with their backs against the walls, keeping their distance with the aliens. The Annecta humanoids were destroying everything. Seth felt a growing anger over what the humanoids were doing to his ship. First the holodeck, and now sickbay. Seth could only hope that Thorn had engineering under control.
Min stepped forward. He immediately noticed that the holographic nurses helping out the physicians had all been de-activated. “Computer, re-activate all Medical Holographic Nurses,” Min said. Six holograms in full medical uniform materialized throughout sickbay, and they certainly caught the attention of the Annecta humanoids. Seth looked at Min curiously as to the reasoning of his decision.
“It will help distract them,” Min explained.
Good idea, Seth thought.
In fact, one of the humanoids already fell for the trick and tried to thrust his hand into the nurse’s chest, only to find that his hand went through it. Min must have turned off tactile sensation in the holograms, since objects appeared to be able to pass right through them. The nurse blurred in red, yellow, and blue as the computer struggled to keep the image of Medical Holographic Nurse intact. The humanoid stood confused.
Ceasing the moment, Ensign Lo came literally came flying through the hologram with his right arm coiled, simultaneously spinning his baton and ready to come down hard on the humanoid’s face. He swung it with a force that would have crushed a Klingon’s skull. That, combined with the added pain stimulus of his weapon, caused the humanoid to fall back in a complete daze. Ensign Lo maneuvered quickly with a series of sharp and powerful jabs that would continue to disorient and disable the humanoid. Lo then tried to land a finishing blow before he even had the chance to recover.
But the humanoid was prepared. He grabbed Lo’s arm before he could strike, and crushed the baton in his hand, and continued to crush the bones in his arm. Ensign Lo screamed through his helmet as he stood helpless in the Annecta’s grip. Lo countered valiantly with jabs from his other arm, but the Annecta would not let go.
Seth rushed over to help him and fired at a vulnerable area on the neck of the Annecta, at extremely close range. The humanoid let Ensign Lo go and stumbled back, and Seth immediately swung his rifle across his head.
Something then reached out and grabbed Seth by the neck, completely catching him by surprise. Seth was thrust up high on the wall, lifting his feet above the floor. The grip tightened slowly, like there was anger in the grip. Seth was completely caught off guard, finding it increasingly difficult to breathe with each passing second. His vision blurred from the lack of oxygen.
I…I NEED HELP… Seth quietly thought. But Seth’s other security officer was preoccupied with protecting the Excelsior patients from the alien humanoids.
Seth struggled hard to get free, digging his fingers deeper and deeper into the tissue of the arm that held him. But the arm felt different from normal tissue. It was cold to the touch. Seth had assumed it was one of the other the humanoids who had grabbed him, but it wasn’t.
It was the android.
