Horrible Night For a Curse Pt 2

Posted on Tue Oct 6th, 2026 @ 5:03pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Kate Kono & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

2,000 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Creatures of the Night
Location: Planet Stoker - Science Station

Aidan, Kapowski, the Chief, Kate, and her gaggle materialized in the foyer of the of the science station. A tall gangly man approached them, walking slowly. Aidan as the senior officer at the moment took point. He approached the man, seeing others standing nearby.

Aidan looked around, seeing outside through a window. Onboard the Washington it was roughly 2330, but this place, he wasn't certain. It seemed like it may be night, but considering the storm that raged outside, it could easily be day. He looked back to the strange man, "Hello sir. I'm Lt. O'Connor. Captain will be down in a moment. I'd like to check on the equipment if you don't mind."

"Welcome lieutenant. I am Dr. Mobius. Pleasure to have you here." He looked to the men behind him, "And these are my colleagues, Dr. Stantz, Dr. Spengler, and Dr. Venkman. We would be happy to show you to the cargo bay."

Aidan looked back to the group, "Chief, Kapowski, you got work to do. I'll catch up once the captain arrives."

"Aye sir, we'll start function checks and installation prep." Aaron replied crisply, looking to Kapowski. "Ma'am, after you."

Aidan looked to Mobius, "I think you'll be needed here doctor when the captain arrives. I'm sure he'll wish to speak with you."

Mobius looked pensive, nervous. "Um, yes, I suppose you are correct. My colleagues can go with your people then."

The trio of doctors in the back looked professional enough, but their mannerisms made it clear that each was quite distinctive. Spengler appeared to be the intelligent type that bordered on arrogance. Stantz was competent, but he looked like the type that wanted to please everyone. And then you had Venkman, who may have been a doctor, but he seemed to remain a child.

As the trio of doctors led Kapowski and the Chief off to the cargo bay, Shran beamed down with the second group, including Sam. The Andorian looked around and spotted Aidan speaking with the station head he had spoken with previously. "Lieutenant, everything arrive alright?"

"Appears so sir, but I have Kapowski and the Chief double checking before we move on to the install. Was waiting here for you with Dr. Mobius" Aidan replied crisply.

"Very well. You are free to get back to work lieutenant" Shran said as he shifted his gaze to Mobius. "Doctor, pleasure to me you. Thank you for allowing us to visit your station." He glanced toward the window and saw the eerie weather. "Seems rather bleak outside."

"Yes, often is rather stormy. I think you'll find this planet has a rather unique meteorology" Mobius replied, his eyes shifty. "If you plan to visit the colony towns, I still think you might want to look at some of the towns on this side of the mountains."

"Yes, I understand that would be your preference, but I am interested in Vaseria. My people say the conditions there should be quite agreeable, at least for me" Shran noted with his usual stern directness.

"As you wish captain. I was simply trying to ensure your time on our planet was pleasurable" Mobius replied. "How long do you think your people will be?"

Shran looked over to Deanna. She stepped over and entered the conversation, "Assuming everything goes to plan, 18 hours minimum, 26 hours maximum."

"Very well. That seems acceptable" Mobius replied, his voice beginning to tremble.

"Everything alright doctor?" Shran questioned.

"Yes, fine. But I'd like to check on things if you would excuse me" Mobius said as he walked away in a rush.

Shran looked to Deanna. She smiled. "Yes, he is hiding something and hiding it well. Would you like me to investigate further, or put Kate on it?"

"Leave it be for now. Just make sure our people here are on alert" Shran replied. "We'll head out to Vaseria in 10 minutes" Shran replied.

Inside the station’s main hall, the air was unnervingly still. Mina and Lucy stood a dozen paces away, their low conversation in a murmur against the groaning of the structure. Outside, the wind screamed as if it were a living thing throwing itself against the reinforced windows and obsidian walls. The whole station seemed to breathe, its joints creaked like old bones, its vents hissing in a rhythm that wasn't quite mechanical.

Kate stood apart from the others, her gaze locked not on her companions but on the viewport. Beyond the thick transparisteel, the jagged black teeth of the mountains bit into a bruised purple sky. A flash of lightning bleached the world to negative in a single, stark photograph of desolation and in the heartbeat of silence that followed, she felt the cold not on her skin, but in the air itself. It was a dry, ancient chill that had seeped through the station’s seals.

She moved to Shran’s side. Her boots were silent on the solid cold floor, but from deep within the walls came a sound like gravel shifting… whispering. She hugged herself, fingers pressing hard into her own arms.

“What the heck’s going on, Captain?” Kate’s voice was thin, pitched for his antennae alone. Her eyes flicked toward the empty corridors branching off the hall. “Not much of a warm reception.” She swallowed. “And I’m not talking about the weather. Nope… Nope not at all.” The last words faded as if the silence had eaten them, leaving only the shape of a threat she couldn't name.

"Some low-level secrets to be sure. I'm not overly concerned about this facility though. I am more interested in why they seem to adamant about us not checking out Vaseria. Get your people ready for transport. We'll beam there in a few minutes" Shran replied.

The grey light filtered through the high windows of the cargo bay, showing the dismal weather outside. Aaron punched commands into his PaDD, carefully checking the equipment for function continuity before looking to Kapowski. "So far so good Ma'am. I recommend we move to power transfer checks if that's ok with you."

"That sounds fine Chief" Kapowski replied, her voice trembling as she seemed genuinely disturbed with their surroundings. "This has to be the creepiest location I have ever visited. Reminds me of places you would read about in old Gothic tales, or hear about around campfires.

Aidan approached, and as he did a loud ethereal wail seemed to echo throughout the room. "Saints preserve us" he muttered, looking over at Kapowski who was visibly shaken and the Chief who remained stoic, though he clearly had heard the wail. "Sounds like a banshee" he noted, as he conjured up the stories her had been told as a child in Ireland.

"Just the wind" came a voice from behind. As they turned to look, they could see Deanna walking toward them. "According to my research, howling winds are not uncommon coming off the mountains here. The mountains are named the Badhb Mountains and also have an unusual population on ravens. No one has ever studied why the ravens seem to have claimed this particular mountain space."

"You know that Badhb was an ancient Irish war goddess who took the form of a raven to screech out omens of bloodshed and doom, or wasn't that part of your research?" Aidan questioned. "Many legends back home acquaint her with the first banshee. This planet just seems to get aduain."

"Perhaps lieutenant, but you'll just have to deal with it. Captain is preparing to depart to Vaseria on the other side of this mountain range. I assume you three can handle the install of this equipment?" Deanna inquired.

Aidan looked at Kapowski and the Chief before looking back to Deanna, "We'll get it installed in a jiffy."

Deanna nodded. "Captain wants you to remain alert. Dr. Mobius is concealing something, and whatever it is, he has the ability to shield his mind from telepathy, something humans have no ability to normally do. We can leave security personnel if you feel it necessary."

Lt Kate Kono kept close to Shran’s side, her slight frame nearly eclipsed by his bulk. Across the room, Lucy was eyeing the doctor with an unsubtle hunger, a slow, provocative smile blooming on her lips. She leaned in to whisper something to Mina, who mirrored the expression like two reckless flowers turning toward the same dangerous sun.

Kate suppressed a sigh. They had the survival instincts of a pair of socks in a dryer. Quietly, she sent a pulse of gratitude into the universe for not sticking her with Irwin again.

Her voice was low, meant only for Shran. “Ben’s probably waking up right about now.” Her dark eyes flicked toward the observation windows. Beyond the transparent aluminum, the blizzard raged like a churning dark fury that swallowed light and sound. “And we’re about to go out into that.” She pulled her gloves tighter. “Don’t get me wrong I love that you always choose me for these missions.” Her gaze swept the sterile room, the hum of climate control fighting a losing battle against the cold seeping through the walls. “But I’ve got a super weird vibe about this place.” A shiver traced her spine, deep and instinctual, entirely separate from the chill in the air.

“Is it weird that I feel safer walking out there with you in this blizzard than spending one more second on the station? I’m ready when you are, Captain.” Kate’s voice was a thin thread of sound, nearly swallowed by the groan of the station’s stressed hull. She shifted her weight from foot to foot in a tight, nervous rhythm, her body angled toward the airlock as though pulled by an invisible wire. It wasn’t eagerness as well as the jittery containment of someone holding back a scream. Her hands opened and closed at her sides. She did not look at him as she spoke; her gaze was fixed somewhere in the middle distance, where shadows pooled and shifted just beyond the standby interior lights. A fine tremor worked through her, and for a moment her expression went blank and cold as stone before she blinked it away. She felt it then; not fear of the storm outside, but the crawling sense that something in here was watching, waiting for them to turn their backs.

If she could have traded this suffocating warmth for the howling, sub-zero dark outside, for the blizzard-swept Carpathian hellscape where even the moonlight froze and shattered on the muddy sleeted ground, she would have gone that instant.

Sam shivered, pulled out her tricorder and took some readings, unable to find anything to explain the weird vibe everyone seemed to be feeling. She had to agree - things felt 'off' but she couldn't find any data to explain any of it. "Everything reads 'normal' Captain - if you believe any of it"

"Normal..."Shran muttered. He pondered what that word meant on this planet. Somehow, he didn't think it meant the same thing as it did most other worlds he had seen, though over the last few years, he had encountered many things that expanded the definition of that word, including Norse and Celtic gods, planets where ancient Earth had been reborn, and recently they encountered actual dragons. As Deanna approached Shran looked to Kate, "We are leaving this little slice of heaven lieutenant. Time for you to deal with what I consider balmy."

"Aidan and his team are beginning the install. I'd like to have security left for them if possible" Deanna noted.

Shran nodded as he hit his comm badge, =^=Washington, this is Shran. Transport security to be with Lt O'Connor's team here and transport my team to Vaseria. =^=

=^=Understood. =^= came the reply from Ibarra on the ship.

Shran and the rest of his away team dematerialized in the standard blue hue, leaving the station as they made their way to the other side of the mountains to the colony town of Vaseria.


TBC

 

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