Waking the Dragon

Posted on Sat Nov 7th, 2026 @ 12:25am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Kate Kono

1,956 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Creatures of the Night
Location: Planet Stoker - Forest of Stakes

"Dracula? You are joking, right?" Deanna stammered.

"Definitely not a joke" Sypha said as she readied herself.

There was no room left in Kate for surprise. Her world had narrowed to the weight of Sam against her side and the sharp, shallow breaths that hit her neck. She held on, a human crutch for a leg that would not hold. This was her purpose now, carved out by blood and necessity.

“I really need to stop blowing my Phasers up,” Kate said, the words tight. Her right hand drew the sword from its sheath in one clean motion. With her left, she hooked Sam’s arm over her shoulders, pulling the grip across her own chest until Sam’s body was braced against hers. The leverage was brutal and intimate. “Where to, Sam?”

Floating down out of the misty clouds came an imposing figure. He was tall, slim yet athletic build, looking like a man of perhaps 30. He had a well-manicured black goatee, which matched the jet-black hair that was trimmed as if he were a soldier. He wore red armor, full plate that was crimson and black, a dragon design upon the chest. He held a female by the throat as she struggled to be free to no avail. "Belmont, Helsing, I asked not to be disturbed. This creature is a disturbance" he said in a low voice that seemed calm.

"Camila decided to use the arrival of StarFleet as an opportunity" Belmont replied.

Dracula looked around, his gaze stopping at Shran and Deanna, then he looked to the creature in his grasp. "This belonged to you Andorian, but no longer. It has entered into my domain, and I must deal with it lest a conflict begin here."

"I don't leave my people behind" Shran answered defiantly.

Dracula offered a slight smile. "I thought as you once. You leave no one behind. She is dead. I will keep her in my domain, function as a ward to her."

Sam leant against Kate, grateful for the assistance as they watched Shran and Deanna confront Dracula. Sam could see the resemblance to the stories of her homeland from the Brothers Grimm, several hundred years ago now. It was uncanny. "How does a dude from a kids story hundreds of years ago end up on a haunted planet?" She mused.

“I don’t know,” Kate said to Sam, her voice low. She kept her eyes fixed on the dangling form of Mina in Dracula’s grasp. “But we can’t just stand here and do nothing. Look at her—even if she’s gone, she doesn’t look gone. She looks… present. We should ask her. We should find out if this is what she wants. An eternity in this place.” Kate fell quiet then, her expression grave and inward, as if weighing the silence itself.“

"Belmont, Helsing, take these StarFleet people away from here. I will place this newly formed child with my son Alucard. He will teach her what she needs to know. Now, go, horrors none of you are prepared for are coming. I will deal with Camila and her treachery" Dracula stated emphatically.

Belmont looked to Shran, "I suggest we leave captain. You aren't prepared for this sort of evil."

“Any kind of life is better than death, I’m sure,” Kate said. She raised her voice toward the high ground where Dracula and Mina were. Kate had to yell so loud over the wind, even the shadows seemed to drink the sound. “Hey, Count! You wouldn’t happen to keep a subspace transceiver lying around? Something so Mina doesn’t feel… abandoned?” She recognized the young man lingering nearby as the one who’d tried to get fresh earlier. Now, caked in mud and propping up her blood-soaked friend, she figured she made for a pathetic picture—hardly worth creeping on. The thought was grimly comforting.

A shadowy figure appeared atop a nearby hill. The were waving their arms in a strange way, and then suddenly, the bodies on the stakes began to come to life, fiery red light in their eyes.

"What the hell..." Deanna began to say.

"Necromancy" Sypha replied.

"We're leaving" Shran said emphatically. He hit his comm badge, =^=Washington, lock on to all life signs at my location and transport. Energize! =^=

The away team members, Shran, Deanna, Sam, Kate, Potter, Weasley, Granger, and Price, along with Sypha, Belmont, Gabriel, and Anna dematerialized from the planet, and a moment later were aboard the ship.

Shran looked around, "Alright, we are all here. Kate, escort Sam to sickbay. In fact, I want everyone to go to sickbay for a thorough check."

A hot tear traced a path through the grime on Kate’s cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut, guiding Sam by the elbow toward the sickbay doors. If she moved fast enough, kept her face turned just so, maybe no one would see the tremor in her jaw or the way her throat worked around a sob. They had beamed back into the clean, bright hum of the Washington, but all she could see was the swing of her sword the fall of something that looked too much like a dog. She had done that. Put it down like it was nothing and watched it suffer to death under her boot. The image stuck behind her eyelids every time she blinked.

She stopped, turning carefully to offer Belmont’s sword back, hilt first. Her voice came out scraped thin. “Here you go, sir. Thank you.” She didn’t know why everything felt raw and distant, why her own hands seemed unfamiliar. It was the mission, she told herself. Just the cost of doing business out there where people and things kept dying.

***

Kate got Sam to Sickbay and helped her through the doors.

“Hey Sam,” Kate said, her tone straining toward lightness as she helped the doctor onto a biobed. “Are your junior officers just as good at fixing you as you are? Because it’s not like you can fix yourself here.” The attempt at humor faltered as her own tears began to fall. She sniffled, laughing wetly. “Sorry. What I meant is, when the chief medical officer takes the hit, it’s like the fire department catching on fire.” She laughed and wept in equal measure, the sound ragged in the sterile room. Finally, she sank onto the adjacent bed and buried her face in her hands. Crying helped, a little. It also made her feel guilty for doing it.

Sam hopped, leant on Kate, and swiped a box of tissues from the bench and handed them to the other woman. "It sucks when we lose someone, worse when it's senseless." She could feel the emotion like a tangible force in the room.

Two of the junior officers appeared and vanished just as quickly, allowing them some privacy for a few moments.

Shran followed into sickbay with Belmont and the others. Gabriel appeared the most comfortable on the ship, though none of them looked particularly thrilled to be here. "How long must we be here?" Gabriel questioned.

"Let my medical people look you over. Compared to things on the planet, you won't have a better offer" Shran replied.

Kate swung her legs off the biobed, the hum of the replicator filling the sterile air. Two slim PaDDs shimmered into existence, each fitted with a compact power cell. Her fingers trembled slightly as she picked them up, her contact details already glowing on the screens. She crossed the room to where Belmont was being examined, the medical team parting for her without a word.

She held out the devices. "Mina's still out there," she said, her voice thick with a grief she was trying to stifle. "I don't know what's going to happen to her. But if you could get one of these to Dracula for her... and keep the other... I need to know how this ends. Her family needs to know." She swallowed hard, looking down at the PaDDs as if they were a lifeline. "It would feel less like we abandoned her."

"Right," Vincent said, sliding off his own biobed to join them. His tone was infuriatingly casual. "And if he can't, I could always try. I intend to return to continue my studies."

Kate’s head snapped toward him, her eyes narrowing into slits of pure disbelief. "Were you even paying attention down there? That planet is a supernatural deathtrap." The words were out, too loud, too sharp in the quiet sickbay. She flinched, immediately turning back to Belmont with a look of genuine remorse. "Sorry. I meant no disrespect." But when her eyes found Vincent again, her brows were drawn tight in utter incomprehension, as if he were speaking a language of madness. She set the PaDDs carefully on the biobed beside Belmont.

Deanna walked over casually to Kate. She needed to make the situation clear to both Kate and Price, because Shran wasn't going to break in front of the crew. "Lieutenant, ensign, no further talk about Mina or Lucy. You are StarFleet officers. Space in dangerous, and wearing this uniform comes with certain risks. One lost person on an away mission is too many, and we lost two. It wasn't the fault of either of you. And understand this, the person who takes this the hardest is the one who has to actually speak with parents, and that is the captain. Not another word." Her voice was soft yet stern.

"Captain, I'm sorry for your experience on our planet. Nobody can prepare you for the things you saw, but I promise you, despite the horrors, it is a beautiful world" Anna said, addressing Shran.

"Not my first rodeo, as you humans say" Shran replied. "Seeking out new life, encountering the unknown, that is what it means to be in StarFleet" Shran replied. "But I admit, I've never encountered something quite like that. I wouldn't plan a holiday, but I am sure you are right that the planet has some worthwhile things to see. But I think we may return to this planet in the future."

Sam shuddered at the thought of going back to the fields of blood and creatures that drank the blood of others. The medical team were currently resetting the bones in her leg, analgesic and all it still make her a little queasy feeling the bones move inside her leg at the hands of others.

"I think I'll take a raincheck for going down there again"

Kate approached Deanna, her posture straight but not rigid, a quiet sorrow for their lost crewman still in her eyes though the commander’s outburst had not shaken her. Her voice was even, respectful, but carried the weight of her position.

“Regulations grant department heads discretion in post-mission consultations, regardless of seniority,” she said, meeting Deanna’s gaze without defiance. “While I acknowledge your authority to restrict my actions, even those aimed at saving a crew member, the manner of your intervention was unnecessary. I was operating within Starfleet parameters.” She paused, allowing the statement to settle. “I say this not to challenge you, but to uphold the standards we expect of one another.”

Kate had expected professionalism from Deanna, not public reproof. Still, she complied without hesitation. Turning to the replication terminal, she entered the command sequence. The PaDDs dissolved into shimmering light, matter returning obediently to the stream. Her actions were precise, unhurried… a department head executing an order, even one she found regrettable in its delivery.

Deanna picked up all the stray thoughts and emotions coming from Kate. She considered correcting the young officer, but this was neither the time nor place. She moved to engage with the visitors.

 

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