LOG 011 – INTO THE FOREST WE GO

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 57917.6.

The Melbourne is in the middle of a survey of the unexplored edge of the Cygnus Sector, which has been keeping the Science teams busy while allowing other sections to catch up on routine work. Aedon has things well in hand, which has allowed me the time to maintain some of the relationships we have established in this region of space, perhaps one relationship more than the others.

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five
• Stellar Cartography - Kuvalae System

PART ONE

Capt. Mitchell is in his ready room on a subspace call with Talani Vartok, the Orion trader who had been part of the recent Pax Alpha conference aboard the USS Melbourne. Talani fills Mitchell in on her activities in the weeks since the conference, noting that the Karishi Diaspora have been eager to trade, especially in technical information to help them upgrade their limited space travel ability. She notes how they have already started repurposing the primitive warp rings from their colony vessels to build a prototype warp vessel based on old Vulcan designs. She has also been making frequent visits to the Drake's Folly colony, leveraging her existing relationship with them to provide the Karishi with some of the rare minerals they need for their space program. For his part, Mitchell is encouraging and emphasizes how he wants to maintain the new relationships formed in this remote region, and Talani reciprocates the desire, at least in terms of their burgeoning relationship.

On the bridge, Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress notes that the Stellar Cartography division has been running an unusual number of diagnostics on the ship's sensor systems. She contacts Astrometrics and speaks with Lt. Carson, who informs her that they have found some glitches in the sensor data from the survey and want to confirm it is not the result of an internal error. Ahn'Kress reviews the diagnostics results and is not able to see any issues. His long-distance call finished, Capt. Mitchell returns to the bridge in time to overhear the tail end of Ahn'Kress' report and, hoping for a little change from the monotony, asks if there is anything happening.

With the diagnostics seeming to show no internal issues to explain the strange data, Lt. Stuart and Ahn'Kress take a deep dive into the sensor results. They confirm what Lt. Carson was initially theorizing it could be; that the data appears to show a small, intermittent, irregular low-band subspace signal. Based on the handful of occurrences, the pattern and strength of the signal cannot be matched to any known natural or artificial phenomenon. They are able to narrow the source of the signal to somewhere in Section 72 in Block 514 of the survey region, so Capt. Mitchell orders Lt. JG Reydon to set a course for there to, in the Captain's words, "find the White Rabbit".

As the ship gets closer to the source new scans detect more occurrences of the signal, narrowing the location down further. A flare star is eliminated as a possible cause, leaving a star system with a single Class M world. Long-range scans show that the planet does have life, both flora and fauna, but no indications of advanced technology. Scans also show no subspace anomalies in the area that might explain the signals. When the Melbourne enters the system, short-range sensors give a clearer picture of the planet. It is fairly Earth-like, and they can now detect the presence of humanoid life spread across six of the planet's eight continents, with the two polar continents being the only exceptions. Different regions show different levels of technological development, but none have yet reached an Industrial level. After detecting a few more of the brief signals, it is confirmed that they are coming from the planet, specifically a forested area in one of the northern continents, one devoid of any signs of habitation, though there is a major port city less than 100 km from the southern edge of the forest.

Capt. Mitchell orders an away team to beam down as soon as the Cultural Anthropology division has gathered enough information from scans to determine the level of disguise needed to protect the team as well as to program the universal translator. The inhabitants are near-humans, with a tan skin tone and prominent brow ridges. Cmdr. Partav selects Lt. Cmdr. Tir, Lt. Stuart, Lt. J.G. Tradis, and Ens. Thelles to join him on the away team. Tir and Stuart only require cosmetic alterations to pass for the locals, while Partav, Tradis and Thelles require temporary genetic modification to disguise their more alien natures. To help stick to the Prime Directive, Cmdr. Partav also requires that the away team be equipped with subcutaneous communicators and be limited to Type-1 phasers for the mission.

Once they are ready, the away team is beamed down to a small clearing deep in the forest; sensors having confirmed that none of the locals appear to be anywhere nearby. While Lt. Stuart and Ens. Thelles try and narrow down the location of the subspace signal's source, Lt. JG Tradis starts scanning the life signs in the forest. Cmdr. Partav soon notices that Tradis has gone pale and her breathing is shallow. When he asks her what is wrong, Tradis can only whisper the words "webs, spiders". This is enough for Partav, who realizes she is referring to the silicon spider creatures a Melbourne away team had encountered on a derelict Ferengi vessel at the beginning of the ship's mission in the region, an away team that both he and Tradis had been part of, as had Tir and Stuart.

Thus alerted, Partav pulls the team into a defensive formation and lets Lt. Cmdr. Tir take charge as tricorder scans show a half-dozen of the spiders approaching their position. Remembering the previous encounter, Tradis pulls up all the information they have on the creatures and is able to recommend a phaser modulation that will be more effective against the spiders' hard carapace. The team modifies their weapons just in time, allowing Tir and Partav to take out two of the spiders almost immediately. Mera is also able to warn Loto in time for him to avoid an attack by another spider, and he is then able to take it out with a phaser shot. One of the remaining spiders latches onto Cmd. Partav and he struggles to keep it from clamping its sharp teeth into him. Two more spiders arrive, forcing the rest of the team to deal with them while Partav continues to fight with the one on him. The other spiders are dealt with just as Tradis overcomes her traumatic fear of the creatures in time to blast the one on Partav. The exhausted Commander orders Tir to secure the perimeter before he collapses.

PART TWO

Capt. Mitchell orders the Science division to focus on discovering everything they can on the infestation of the creatures on the planet below. Ahn'Kress focuses all of the ship's sensors on the forested area where the away team found the crystalline webbing and the silicon spiders, feeding all the incoming data to the various science teams. The scans are abruptly cut off when feedback shorts out the Melbourne's subspace transceivers , but not before a large amount of data was gathered.

Lt. Steck focuses his team's efforts on the webbing, noting that not only do the webs permeate the forest, but there are also traces in some villages near the forest edge, villages that otherwise appear deserted. Steck's analysis uncovers that the webbing resonates in subspace and that this was what was causing the random subspace signals that drew the Melbourne to the planet in the first place. This property also explains the source of the feedback that damaged the subspace transceivers; the webbing reflected and focused the ship's own scanner beams back at it. Steck notes that since the webbing has a crystalline structure, it might be possible to find a resonant frequency that would cause it to disintegrate, but this idea is shelved when others point out that based on the devastation on the Karishi homeworld this would cause a toxic dust that would cause similar damage to this world. Instead it is hypothesized that it could be possible to trigger a polymorphic transition in the webbing itself to alter its crystalline structure and render it inert, but in order to test this a sample of the webbing will be required.

Another science team, led by Ens. Keldan, analyzes the data collected by the away team on the silicon spider creatures themselves as well as what the ship's scans might reveal. The team finds that the crystal webbing acts as a carrier medium for the spiders' radio signals, greatly extending the range of the creatures' communications. They also note that the scans have revealed several small tunnel networks scattered around the forest. From the security station on the bridge, Ens. Garrett has been doing a tactical analysis. His survey finds what appears to be a meteor crater approximately two kilometers from the away team's current position, possibly the site where the creatures first arrived on the planet. He also proposes using the ship's transmitters to create a widespread jamming field in the forest to disrupt the spiders' communication capability so they cannot coordinate effectively.

Once the damage control teams have completed the repairs on the subspace transceivers, the away team is brought up to speed on the discoveries and they prepare for their next actions. First they get ready to collect a sample of webbing, with Lt. Stuart determining the most effective way to cut the crystalline material before letting Lt. JG Tradis make the incision. Once the sample has been collected and beamed up to the Melbourne, Cmdr. Partav requests that the ship start broadcasting the jamming signal to help keep the creatures from hunting the away team as they make their way to the crater site. Lt. Cmdr. Tir takes the lead, guiding the away team on the trek through the forest to their target.

The away team reaches the crater, but they are surprised to find no trace of any meteor or other cause for the crater. Lt. Stuart and Lt. JG Tradis use their tricorders to conduct a scan and confirm there appears to be no trace of any material from a meteor, but they do find biological residue that Loto matches to the material he found inside the Karishi scout ship aboard the derelict Ferengi vessel, material he believed at the time to be part of an egg sac of some kind. They turn their attention to the tunnels, finding several starting from the vicinity of the crater and heading outward in no discernible pattern. What they do see is that the tunnels start small and gradually grow larger in diameter as they progress. Based on the silicon nature of the spider creatures, the two hypothesize that a meteor might have carried the egg sac to the planet's surface and when the creatures first hatched they first ate the meteor, then began consuming the soil and dirt nearby, creating the tunnels.

While the investigation of the crater and tunnels is underway, Lt. Cmdr. Tir turns her attention to the forest itself. She finds no indication that the presence of the spiders or the webbing is having an adverse effect on the flora or fauna. Cmdr. Partav wonders why, if the spiders are not attacking the local animals, did they attack the away team. Without more information there is no answer, but Loto wonders if their comm badges or tricorders might be triggering a response. Turning his attention back to the webbing, Loto determines that it does appear to be decaying naturally, but at a very slow rate; too slow a rate to allow for the total decay observed on the Karishi homeworld, indicating there must be a catalyst of some kind that triggers the more rapid disintegration of the crystal into the toxic dust they found there.

Feeling they have learned all they can in the forest, Cmdr. Partav requests a site-to-site transport from the Melbourne to beam the away team to the nearest village where the webbing was also detected. They arrive at the site and are able to immediately observe that the village is deserted, with evidence of an orderly departure some weeks earlier. Some residences have been boarded up and have a white, cross-shaped symbol carved into them. Lt. Cmdr. Tir checks the perimeter while Lt. Stuart and Lt. JG Tradis scan the area for any other signs of life. They find none, but do discover the presence of three cremation pits where both humanoid and animal remains were recently burned. At the same time, Ens. Thelles scans for the webbing, locating clusters of it in several buildings. Cmdr. Partav goes into one of the boarded up buildings where he discovers one of the spider creatures lurking. The creature moves to attack but Partav is able to kill it with his phaser before it can reach him. The away team report their findings back to the Melbourne and they are informed of a more alarming development. The ship's scans have detected the presence of the webbing in a large port city south of the village; the infestation has spread further than they initially thought.

PART THREE

The senior staff are in the main conference room having just received a briefing on the port city of Sembra, the Melbourne's next focus of investigation, when the bridge informs the Captain that a short subspace burst was just detected coming from there. Everyone returns to their posts on the bridge and Capt. Mitchell calls Cmdr. Partav into his Ready Room. Mitchell does not even bother to sit at his desk before informing Partav that he wants to lead the away team going to the city. Mitchell backs up his request by pointing out that his empathic abilities and history in xenocultural studies make him the best candidate when dealing with the locals, especially with the Prime Directive in consideration. The Captain also indicates his preference for the First Officer to take the lead in overseeing the Science department's efforts in finding a way to safely deal with the crystalline webbing. Partav points out that while regulations favor the First Officer leading away teams it is the Captain's prerogative and agrees to remain on the ship while Mitchell leads the away team.

According to the briefing, the people of Sembra are interpreting some of the effects of the presence of the spider creatures as being caused by a plague, leading to the city being locked down and the people taking precautions like wearing face masks as well as their being some officials wearing primitive forms of hazmat gear similar to medieval Earth "plague doctors". The presence of masks and other concealing clothing will make it easier for the away team to disguise their alien appearances, meaning that Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress is accompanying the away team this time. Lt. Cmdr. Tir is returning to provide security along with the Orion security officer Haral; while Lt. JG Tradis is coming along as the medical officer. At Cmdr. Partav's suggestion, the Betazoid helm officer Lt. JG Echo Reydon is going along on his first away mission, based more on his telepathic abilities than anything else.

Sensors have been having difficulty getting precise readings from the city, but they can provide enough information for the transporters to deposit the away team in an alley within a few blocks of where the brief subspace signal originated. After beaming down, the away team immediately uses their tricorders to get a feel for the area. Lt. JG Tradis scans for pathogens and other biological anomalies but finds none, while Ahn'Kress is able to discover that the reason the ship's sensors have been having difficulty is because the city's extensive sewer system contains a large amount of lead piping and linings.

Back aboard the USS Melbourne, Cmdr. Partav is working with the Science team led by Ens. Keldan, who is an expert in crystallography and has already conducted research into the webbing. Thanks to his and his team's efforts, the complex molecular composition of the webbing is unlocked, as is the nature of its crystalline matrix. With this key information the team is confident there is a way to render the crystal inert through some form of chemical reaction or similar means to change the molecular structure and/or realign the crystalline matrix.

On the surface, the away team has just started performing a reconnaissance when Ahn'Kress' acute senses hear, and smell, someone near them emerging from a sewer entrance. They track the person down and while most of the team remains hidden at a distance, Capt. Mitchell chooses to approach him. The person in question is a male dressed in high boots and a long overcoat, both now covered in the filth from the sewers. Most notably, he is carrying two large bags, one slung over each shoulder, and is behaving somewhat conspicuously, mainly in that he is trying too hard to not look conspicuous. Capt. Mitchell's empathic abilities let him sense that the man is highly nervous, but also attempting to keep down a sense of excitement over something. Mitchell's sudden appearance startles the man, and the Captain attempts to entice him with a drink from a flask. The man absentmindedly takes a drink, almost on instinct, and is caught off guard by the strong alcohol within, one of the Captain's whiskeys. Almost immediately the man's attention turns from Mitchell to the drink itself and he pours some into his hand to make a closer examination, smelling and then licking it to get a more analytical taste.

From a distance, Lt. JG Tradis scans the man with her tricorder and while nothing unusual medically turns up, she is able to recognize an interference pattern that indicates the man is carrying a sample of the crystalline webbing in one of his bags. She uses her subcutaneous communicator to surreptitiously inform the Captain of this, who starts talking to the man again claiming he is a trader from the northern forests who has an interest in crystals. This makes the man suspicious, but with his empathic senses to guide him Mitchell is able to defuse the tension and resume a more genial conversation. Ahn'Kress does her own tricorder scan of the man's gear, revealing a set of tools ranging from fairly crude to highly complex as well as vials of various chemicals, including some strong acids, facts she quietly informs the Captain of.

Mitchell guides the conversation with the man, learning that he is apparently looking for a way to deal with the plague and end the lockdown in the city. When Mitchell offers to use his family mercantile influence to help, the man indicates it is scientific, alchemical in his words, help he needs, not political or financial. Taking this cue, Mitchell calls over Tradis and introduces her as an associate who is knowledgeable in medicine. This intrigues the man, who begins quizzing Tradis on her level of knowledge, with Tradis in turn asking questions to see how much the man knows about the alleged plague. Hoping to keep the man close, Mitchell orders Lt. Cmdr. Tir to commandeer the closest abandoned building she can find so he can claim it is his temporary residence while he is trapped in the city.

Tir finds a suitable building, an establishment that looks like it might have served as a showroom or art gallery, possibly abandoned by the owners when the word of a plague first spread. Mitchell leads the man in, introducing the rest of the away team as his entourage and the man finally gives his name as Elrad Hokkor after realizing he hadn't yet properly introduced himself. Elrad indicates he needs to get back to his laboratory to properly examine what he has found, but eager to keep him around Mitchell claims they have one at this very establishment. Taking this cue, Ahn'Kress calls up to the Melbourne and has them quickly replicate equipment suitable to the level of technology of this area that might feasibly match what would be found in an alchemy lab. The equipment is beamed down to a room in the building and Ahn'Kress and Tradis arrange it just ahead of Mitchell leading Elrad in.

Elrad is impressed with the setup, and asks what some of the equipment is as he is not immediately familiar with the designs. As Ahn'Kress explains, Elrad takes out the crystal sample he had procured and starts his examination, almost starting to ignore everyone in the room in the process. Lt. JG Tradis manages to keep prodding him for information on the plague, allowing Lt. JG Reydon to start scanning Elrad's thoughts to get more information. Together they learn that there is definitely some kind of disease occurring in the city, where victims initially suffer from a fever before developing lesions and other symptoms that cause the skin to start to darken and harden. Such victims are inevitably taken by the authorities and transferred to a monastery on one of the city islands that has apparently been turned into a quarantine facility. No one outside of the monks who have volunteered to take care of the victims is allowed onto the island, let alone into the monastery, so Elrad does not know anything else.

The away team turns their attention to the crystal webbing, asking Elrad how he obtained it. He tells them that while most of the experts in the city were focusing on trying to find something in the food, water or air that might be the cause of the plague, he looked for other anomalies. Rumors from sanitation workers of strange growths in the sewers led Elrad down to look for himself. He found a small cluster of the crystal webbing that he was able to remove and that he tested, ultimately to its destruction, so he set out to find a larger sample. He succeeded and after much effort, including using some of his acids as well as cruder tools like a hacksaw, hammer and chisel, he was able to break off the chunk he is presently examining. Based on the timing from Elrad's story, the away team surmises that it was his actions that inadvertently caused the webbing to emit the short subspace burst they had detected earlier. As they listen to Elrad recount his initial examination of the crystal they realize something he had done must have neutralized, or at least lessened, the toxicity of the dust-like form of the crystal made when it is shattered. They secretly scan his notebook with their tricorders and send the information to the Melbourne, hoping it will help the Science teams in their research.

Feeling that their next move must be to learn more about the plague itself and its victims to see how it ties to the infestation, Capt. Mitchell turns his attention to the monastery, visible to them in the distance now from an upper floor window of the building they are in.

PART FOUR

The science teams give a briefing on their solution, a liquid formula that when triggered by an electrical charge will cause a chemical reaction transforming the crystalline structure of the webs into a harmless, less rigid form. Commander Partav orders teams to adapt weather manipulation technology to use storm clouds to literally rain down the formula into the areas of web concentration, mainly the forest but also the city of Sembra, as the webbing appears to be mostly in the sewers and so can be covered by the runoff. Once the target areas are sufficiently saturated, the reaction can be triggered by generating an ionization effect within the atmosphere in those regions. This will only leave places like the villages and possibly some buildings in the city where the webbing is inside a structure, which will require teams equipped with spray equipment to manually deal with the webs.

The spiders remain a concern, but for the areas devoid of population security teams can be dispatched to deal with them. As a backup, Cmdr. Partav orders Lt. JG Steck to start research into what they know of the spider' biology in the hopes of finding a biochemical means of dealing with them that will not be harmful to any other life on the planet. With these plans in place, Partav orders the teams to get to work and contacts. Capt. Mitchell on the planet below to brief him on their progress.

Down in the city, Capt. Mitchell sends Elrad away, encouraging him to petition his patron again to try and get access to the monastery. Elrad departs, expressing his gratitude for the help that "Machall" and his entourage have provided and tells them how they can contact him if needed. Once Elrad has left, Mitchell solicits suggestions from the away team for options to get them onto the quarantine island without being detected. A few ideas are presented, but a decision is put off until they have more information and the team heads for the shore where, under cover of the approaching night, they conduct covert observations of the island. From their vantage point they can see that, as Elrad had informed them, that only one bridge to the island remains usable and it is kept under guard, only allowing new patients or supplies to be transported across. The waters around the island are also kept under watch by a harbor patrol, making approach by boat or swimming difficult.

It is not all bad news, though, as Lt. Cmdr. Tir observes that only the monastery remains occupied and all other buildings on the island appear to be deserted. She also notes that every observation she can make of the monks at the monastery reveals they are wearing the "plague doctor" gear, meaning bulky clothing and a complete head covering. The away team also looks for evidence of a mass grave or crematorium that might show if there have been a lot of deaths among plague victims sent to the island. With the help of scans from the Melbourne, they do identify a pit that might be a mass grave, but it is unclear. Capt. Mitchell requests that outfits matching the quarantine gear used by the monks be sent down, and once the away team has changed into them he has the Melbourne perform a site-to-site transport to beam them all over to the island, materializing between the abandoned buildings so their arrival will not be observed. They arrive as the storm clouds being generated by the USS Melbourne are forming, providing additional darkness to cover their nighttime infiltration.

The away team approaches the doors to the monastery, with Lt. Cmdr. Tir leading the way. As they pass by the mysterious pit Lt. Cmdr. Ahn'Kress' feline senses tell her that it is full of rotting organic matter, but not bodies. Tricorder scans show large amounts of decaying vegetable matter as well as some animal proteins, leading them to wonder if it is some kind of composting site. Heading inside the monastery, there is no indication of the presence of any monks near the entrance so the team makes their way to what they think is the main monks' quarters, which would have enough beds for the plague victims.

Outside the room, Capt. Mitchell tries to use his empathic senses to get a read on anyone in the room, but can only detect unconscious activity. He asks Lt. JG Reydon is his Betazoid telepathy picks anything up, but he can only sense chaotic mental activity, no coherent thoughts. The door is not locked, so the team quietly enters, seeing six beds all occupied by apparent plague victims and no sign of anyone tending to them. The outward appearance of the six individuals lines up with what Elrad had described as the symptoms of the plague, with the victims all showing a heavy darkening of the skin, which in these six has reached a dark grey, nearly black. The six are also losing their hair, which sits pooled on the pillows beneath each of their heads.All six remain unconscious, showing little movement beyond shallow breathing and an occasional twitch or spasm.

While Ens. Haral watches the door, Lt. JG Tradis takes out her medical tricorder and begins taking detailed scans of the patients. It is immediately apparent that this is no regular disease, likely not a disease at all. The appearance of a darkening of the skin is in reality caused by the epidermis transforming into a chitinous outer shell, and that is the least of the effects. The scans show a radical transformation of the entire body is underway, with the patient barely recognizable as the same species as the city residents like Elrad that Tradis had scanned previously. The brain is almost completely rewired along with the rest of the neurological systems of the body, and while the exterior retains a humanoid shape, the internal organs have been changed, as have the joints and musculature. Frighteningly, the faces, despite the newly formed exoskeleton, are still recognizably Antaran.

Ahn'Kress wonders if they are somehow transforming into the silicon spiders but Tradis says this is not the case, though she is unable to discern what the final form of the mutation might be. She is able to trace a likely root cause, however, in the form of a mutagenic virus that permeates the entire body of the victim. More importantly, the molecular structure of this virus matches what they had originally thought was the venom of the spiders, as seen in injuries sustained by security officer Evan Garret from an attack during the Melbourne's first encounter with the creatures as well as the chemical traces found in the Ferengi survivor, Lizig. It is now almost certain that the neurological damage that rendered the other rescued Ferengi brain dead and that Lizig requires his implant to bypass was the same mutagenic process and possibly only the unusual Ferengi four-lobed brain structure and related neurological system prevented them from being changed in a similar manner.

While Tradis confirms that the other patients are at a similar stage of transformation, Lt. Cmdr. Tir takes a closer look at the room, confirming that it was previously quarters for the monks that resided here. What she then realizes is that the people in the beds are wearing the same kind of clothing that can be found hanging on hooks in the room, and they are also wearing medallions bearing the same symbol found around the room and other parts of the monastery. These patients are not victims of the so-called plague from the city, they are the monks; but if these are the monks, where are the original plague victims from the city who were supposed to be quarantined here?

Tir and Haral move to search an adjacent room, finding it to be a library. The books are in disarray, taken down from the shelves and scattered around the room, some lying open on the floor or on tables while others are piled in heaps or placed haphazardously back on shelves. The away team moves out into a hallway where Ahn'Kress' keen hearing detects movement on the second floor above their location. Lt. JG Tradis attempts a scan, but the stone ceiling prevents her from getting a clear reading. The only thing she can be certain of is that the beings above them are not reading as Antarans. Heading back towards the entrance to the monastery, the team turns a corner to find themselves facing a figure at the other end of the hall dressed in plague doctor gear. The being raises its hand to point at them and at the gesture three of the silicon spiders come skittering down the hall towards the Starfleet officers.

Lt. Cmdr. Tir aims her phaser and fires at one of the spiders, but misses. As the spider closes Capt. Mitchell reaches beneath his long coat and draws out his ritual Deltan sword, deftly striking down the creature with a single, precise stroke much to the surprise of the rest of the away team. Another spider launches itself at Lt. JG Reydon, who barely evades, before Ens. Haral is able to stun the remaining spiders with a wide beam shot from his phaser. Ahn'Kress turns her phaser on the figure at the end of the hall, striking them dead center, but the being seemingly shrugs off the attack and flees around a corner.

The away team pursues, chasing the figure upstairs. As they do so they can hear raindrops hitting the roof, indicating that the storm triggered by the Melbourne has started over the city. In the upstairs hall, the being they were chasing has joined up with two others. They have dropped the masks and overcoats of the plague doctor gear, revealing transformed bodies like the mutating monks in the beds appear to be changing into. Like the monks, their chitinous faces still resemble bald Antarans, but the rest of their bodies tell a different tale. The most alarming change is to the arms and legs, where the lower half of the limbs below the elbow and knee have split, giving them two forearms and two lower legs, each elongated from the Antaran norm. The split forearms have one half with a three-fingered hand with opposable thumb while the other half ends in a dangerous looking pincer. The lower legs have each split into a pair of digitigrade limbs ending in clawed feet.

Tradis immediately tries to get a good scan of them with her tricorder, with Lt. Cmdr. Tir providing cover for her. The three creatures move in to attack, with Tir deflecting the blow of one. Capt. Mitchell engages another with his sword, again striking true and downing his foe. One attempts to retaliate, but Mitchell parries the pincers and counterattacks, dealing another lethal blow. Haral attempts to stun the last one, but as before it seems to shrug off the phaser blast. It attacks Haral in return but misses, and Ahn'Kress is able to hit it with her phaser, this time causing it to collapse. The away team move in to get a closer look at the creatures, but are interrupted by a communication from the Melbourne - something is happening in the monastery's main chapel.

PART FIVE

The Melbourne has been monitoring the progress of the generated rainstorm. Just as the seeded rains approach 90% saturation of the webbing in the forest, Lt. Stuart detects a powerful subspace signal coming from the forest. Unlike the random signals that had drawn the Melbourne to the planet previously, this one has the structure of a message of some sort. The sensors show that the signal is actually emanating from the monastery where the Away Team is, the webbing in the forest is merely amplifying it. Cmdr. Partav puts the ship on Yellow Alert and orders communications teams to start work on analyzing the signal before contacting Capt. Mitchell at the monastery.

The Captain acknowledges the message and tries to hide the level of threat the Away Team has just faced. Partav sees through this and he and Capt. Mitchell have a brief back and forth on the Captain joining Away Teams in the future before the pair's attention is brought back to the more immediate threat. Scans have pinpointed the source of the subspace transmission as the main chapel of the monastery, so the Away Team head back downstairs. Outside the large double doors to the chapel are a pair of the silicon spiders, acting as guards in a more coordinated behavior than the creatures have displayed before. The two spiders are dispatched by Capt. Mitchell and Ens. Haral and the Away Team open the doors and enter the chapel beyond.

Inside, the chapel is almost entirely filled with the crystalline webbing. A half-dozen of the spiders skitter along, but the focus is on the area of the altar, where one of the humanoid creatures is manipulating the webbing as if it was playing a musical instrument. The Away Team's priority is stopping the transmission, with the webbing being the key. They can hear the rain coming down hard outside, so Lt. Cmdrs. Tir and Ahn'Kress turn their phasers on the ceiling. This creates a large hole in the roof, allowing the artificial rain to pour in and start coating the webbing. The humanoid's head spins around 180° to observe the intruders as it continues to work the webbing with its multiple limbs. It then shows that it is able to control the spiders, ordering them to attack the Away Team.

Ens. Haral fires his phaser at the humanoid creature, to no apparent effect but the creature still moves to evade further attacks. It recalls a pair of the spiders and sets them to continue manipulating the webs to generate the subspace signal and sets two more at Haral. The spiders strike, injuring Haral and injecting their venom. Tradis moves in to immediately treat the wound, knowing now what the effect of the venom is and ignoring the threat of the spiders still swarming around Haral. Capt. Mitchell takes a shot at the humanoid again, hitting but again seeming to have little effect. The creature leaps at Mitchell, attempting to kill him and as the two stand face-to-face it gives a name to the threat, identifying itself as one of the K'thon and claiming they will find the Away Team's worlds and bring death to them all. Mitchell parries the K'thon's attacks and drives his sword through the creature, killing it.

The death of the lead K'thon causes a moment of confusion with the spiders and Lt. JG Tradis takes advantage of the distraction to pull a cardiostimulator from her medkit and use its electric field to trigger the catalytic reaction to disable the webs. The spiders recover and resume their attacks, with two focusing on Capt. Mitchell. He again is able to defend himself with his sword and dispatches the pair. Lt. Cmdr. Tir is able to kill the remaining spiders with precise phaser shots. A quick tricorder scan confirms that with the webbing transformed the subspace signal is no longer being broadcast, but Tir is still on guard and she spots an opening in the floor behind the altar.

Lt. Cmdr. Tir takes point, heading down the stairs beneath the opening behind the altar. It seems to lead to a set of catacombs below the monastery, and it is immediately apparent that these catacombs are riddled with more crystalline webbing. Tricorder scans detect at least fifty silicon spiders moving around the catacombs. This is far too many for the Away Team to deal with, and there is also no way to easily disable the webbing with the chemical reaction method, leaving a major problem. Lt. Cmdr. Tir and Ens. Haral guard the opening to prevent any spiders from leaving the catacombs, while Capt. Mitchell consults with Cmdr. Partav to come up with a plan of action. With the webbing in the city disabled by the rains, the Melbourne's sensors can perform more precise scans of the area.

The scans show that the catacombs below the monastery contain the last of the silicon spiders. Capt. Mitchell theorizes that once the first few victims brought to the monastery had finished mutating into intelligent humanoid K'thon the remaining spiders in the city had been called to them to produce the webbing in the catacombs and chapel. After confirming there are no other life signs on the island, Mitchell and Partav agree that destroying the entire monastery and surrounding area is the best way to remove the remaining threat. The tactical team on the Melbourne calculates the required force and are ready to program a photon torpedo with the necessary yield. The Melbourne will beam the Away Team back to the mainland and then transport the torpedo into the monastery before remotely detonating it.

The artificial rainstorm the Melbourne generated over the region has already been producing large amounts of lightning, so the detonation of the torpedo is timed with the lightning to imply a connection. The Away Team is beamed over to the mainland from where they witness the massive explosion on the island. They take cover as small bits of debris fall around them, causing no injuries to the city residents due to the late hour and the heavy rains keeping most people indoors. Crowds do swarm to the streets in the aftermath to see what the explosion was, arriving at the shore to look out at the fire and smoke filled crater that was the monastery.

The Away Team moves through the crowds, spreading rumors to reinforce the idea that a massive lightning strike somehow triggered the blast. When Capt. Mitchell spots the alchemist, Elrad, he makes sure to discuss the theory with him as well. Mitchell also points out how the webbing seems to be inert and explaining, fairly truthfully, that it was Elrad's chemical reagents that helped do it, with the electric charge from the lightning being the missing ingredient to transform it. He hopes this will provide a contingency, leaving someone on the planet capable of neutralizing the webbing should the Melbourne's teams miss any. Once covert teams from the ship finish sweeping the city's sewers to destroy any unaffected webbing there and confirm no spiders remain, everyone is beamed back up to the Melbourne.

After the Away Team members have had time to clean up, rest and change; the senior staff assembles in the Main Conference Room to debrief and decide on the next course of action. The communications teams have had some minor success decoding part of the subspace message that was being sent, and they believe it was a set of coordinates, specifically the coordinates for the planet below. Lt. Cmdr. Tir believes it likely this signal was intended to summon more K'thon with the intent to destroy the planet much like the Karishi homeworld had been. With no way of knowing if the signal was successful, if more K'thon are even on their way, or how long it would take them to arrive if they were, it is not feasible for the USS Melbourne to remain in the system for any lengthy period of time. Cmdr. Partav proposes leaving behind a probe to monitor the system and send an alert if any threat is detected.

Capt. Mitchell agrees, but wants any warning signal sent by the probe to be broadcast to more than just them. With the Melbourne being the only Starfleet vessel within reasonable range to respond, he wants to bring their new allies in the region in. Besides sending a full report to Starfleet Command, Capt. Mitchell will inform the Na-Zek, the Aduan, the Karishi, and even the Orion trader Talani Vartok. He wants them all aware of the threat, and to hopefully be willing to respond if the K'thon do attack Antara.