[3] Audentes Fortuna Iuvat ➳ Star Trek: Beyond (2016) ✔️

|09| The Warped Mind Of Krall

Chapter 9!

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Kirk quickly activated the comm, "Great work, Bones!" he called out.

"Thanks Jim," Bones responded, "Now I've just got to figure out how to land..."

Kirk chuckled, cutting the comm. and looking at the rest in the Bridge, "Status report?"

"Captain," Chekov reported, "I have three hull breaches from the impact. Deck 3, the cargo bay, and the engine room."

Kirk tensed at the mention of the last location, as it was where Scotty had pulled not only Jaylah but Victoria only a short while ago, and opened the comm. again, "Victoria, we're getting reports of a hull breach in the Engine room."

"Yeah," her voice echoed through the room, sounding a little exasperated, "A big one."

Kirk nodded at the confirmation, "Alright, Sulu, Chekov, check the cargo bay and Deck 3. We need confirmation that the weapon has been neutralized and Krall is dead."

"James," Victoria cut in, "That big breach?"

"What about it?"

"Well, it's made an even bigger problem."

"What?"

"You may want to come down here," was all she said.

"Are you safe?" Kirk called, already heading out of the room, nodding for Uhura to go with him for backup. For Victoria to not give him a report over the comm. meant there was something very wrong happening and she didn't want to alarm the crew by broadcasting it. It was clearly something he, as Captain, needed to know, but something else he absolutely had to know was if she was in danger.

"For now."

That set him off faster.

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"Victoria!" Kirk called as he and Uhura hurried into the engine room to see Scotty and Victoria deep in a very serious discussion, Jaylah standing a few feet away with a frown on her face, looking down at something covered with a cloth on the ground, "What happened?" he moved right over to her, taking her hand instantly as soon as he was near enough.

It won a small smile from her for the action, but it quickly fell as she grew serious and somber, "Over here," she tugged him by the hand over to the cloth and crouched down. She hesitated a moment, before sighing and reaching out to fold the one end down to reveal one of the crew lying there.

The moment Kirk realized what was happening, he almost asked her to stop, he didn't need to see more of the crew lost to him, he didn't want to see the evidence that his plan to stop Krall had caused someone he was responsible for to die. But when he saw the state of the man, it became clear that this 'death' was NOT normal, for there was something significantly wrong with the body.

He knew that ensign, and that man was not as old as he appeared to be while lying there. He looked desiccated, as though all the life and youth had been drained out of him.

For the briefest second, his mind registered that this man had not died as the result of his plan, that the crash and breech of the hull had not been what had killed him. But that thought was quickly replaced with the knowledge that this was also NOT a normal way to die and there was only one anomaly they'd come across in the last few hours...

"It's Krall," Uhura confirmed from beside him, "We've seen him do this. It's some kind of...energy transference. It physically changes him."

Victoria looked up at Kirk, "He's still onboard," she reasoned, "The ships," she nodded to the one next to her that was sticking through the wall of the engine room, "It was how they got onboard last time. If the other two breaches have his minions in them..."