Lifeforce: A Star Trek Discovery Horror Story

Flee

They fled down a short access corridor—say this about the pocket-sized Magee-class boats, Landry thought, it was a short distance between any two places—and into a turbolift. When the doors slammed shut, and the car dropped through the skeleton of ship, Landry turned to Paredes. The woman's caramel complexion had gone grey and pallid with anxiety.

"What the hell were those things?" she demanded.

"They killed my crew," Paredes huffed and slumped against the wall of the 'lift, pressing one hand to her forehead. "Oh, God forgive me, but I couldn't save them."

"What did they do to them?" Landry asked. "King and Warrener? Did they kill them?"

Eyes still pressed shut, Paredes shook her head. "Not...precisely. Not yet. But they will be soon. They can't stop it."

Irritation was welling up in Landry again. "What the hell are they? Are they human? They look too..." she shook her head, a sense-memory of the limitless desire that had poured over her.

"Perfect?" Paredes offered ruefully. "Desirable? You felt it didn't you? You'd do anything for them. The one you imprinted on."

Landry didn't want to answer that. "What are they?" she asked again, sharply this time. It was a shot across Paredes's bow, warning her off of the subject of what Landry had felt.

"I don't know," Paredes sighed. "But I know what they're capable of. They have a transporter and a planet beneath us—"

"Colony," Landry corrected. "Wilco colony."

"Wilco? Is that where we ended up?" Paredes rolled her eyes. "Four million space-farmers and no planetary defenses."

"That's about the size of it," Landry nodded.

"Then we've got to get to a shuttle," Paredes said, straightening up and throwing her shoulders back. "We've got to get down there and warn them."

"Are there any left on this ship?"

Captain Paredes smiled slyly.