Stardate: 70921:1400
Title: Into The Warren
Author: Chief of Operations Autumn Falls
Time: After "Deeper Down The Rabbit Hole"
Scene: Renna Homeworld / USS Horizon


It was unfortunate that Emma had been taken ill and beamed back to the ship as Autumn could really have used her skills, or even just her good luck to find Lily. Slipping from the banquet room the Chief of Operations debated dropping breadcrumbs as the crystalline structure before her split off into many paths, all of which were very indistinct.

Tapping her combadge she asked for Vaebn.

[Go ahead Lieutenant,] the CSO replied after a moment.

"Is this a secure channel?" Autumn asked. Lieutenant Kehn confirmed that they shouldn't be overheard, and so the COO quickly explained the situation.

[Our scanners are having a difficult time picking up individual Rennas,] Vaebn began. [We can only find them when they are clustered, so I won't be able to help you avoid an encounter. Hopefully with a quick recalibration I can scan for Lily, she should be easy to pick out as she will be the one stray human.]

Movement down one of the halls made her cram and conceal herself as best she could in a nearby recess. The strange clicking dialect of the approaching Rennas didn't change in pattern or frequency, so Autumn felt pretty certain that she had not been spotted.

[That's strange; our sensors are picking up blank spots where we can't get any readings. There could be some sort of shielding in those areas or the structure might be too deep for us to scan. However, for a brief moment we did get a human lifesign flash up, coming from the third tunnel to your right.]

"Thanks Vaebn. Can you keep a lock on me as I go down into the warren?"

[Shouldn't be a problem. I'll see if Remmick can give me more power to the sensors. Kehn out]

Following the Chief Science Officer's instructions Autumn entered the third tunnel to her right, she noticed the drop in temperature from the banquet room which had been quite warm compared to the chilly almost frigid cold air here. Trying to be as stealth-like as possible, she slowly crept forward.

Vaebn had been right in his prediction that the chamber was sloping down; it felt like she was descending several stories. Autumn thought she heard footsteps before her so she cautiously sped up her pace in hope of catching Lily. Ahead she saw the Horizon's future Captain forcing a door in the corridor open and even across the distance she was able to make out the words Lily uttered in despair.

"No, no, no."

Lily turned as she heard Autumn approach and there was a look of fury in the young woman's eyes. Looking into the room it took her a few seconds to work out what the scene actually was. When it came into focus it was clear that this was some kind of death room, as bones littered the floor. The scary thing was they looked humanoid in structure.

"We have to report back to the ship," Autumn broke the silence.

"No, we need more intelligence - there is no way the Rennas would have shown us this room. We must continue to learn all their filthy secrets now," Lily bent down and picked up one of the bones. "Dr Matthews can tell us more about this." Autumn had no doubt he could, but she wasn't keen on picking anything up.

With that Lily pulled the door shut so it looked like it had originally and headed further down the corridor

"Lily, we need to head back - the transporter and sensors might not be able to get a lock on us down here and we need to report what we have found."

"Just a little further." She didn't wait for agreement. Instead, she carried on.

They could see the end of the corridor now, complete with a huge set of double doors, and the distinct clicking sound of some Rennas talking, but it was slightly different than they had previously heard - it was more high pitched.

Autumn knew something was wrong long before she felt the crippling pain shoot through her head. It was the chatter - as they got closer it seemed to get more excited. Lily was also obviously feeling the pain as she grabbed her head and doubled over. Grabbing the back of the future Captain's jacket Autumn pulled her back up the corridor but it was no use; the pain would not shift even as they put more distance between themselves and the room. Tapping her combadge for immediate beam out, she got no response and no comforting light engulfed her.

As the intense pain gripped them, both Lily and Autumn found it difficult to stay on their feet; when they could no longer walk they crawled, Autumn constantly calling back to the Horizon. Lily stopped and lay down blood trickling from her eyes, nose and ears.

"Mum..." Lily cried as she stretched her hand out to Autumn.

Autumn grasped her hand and with her last conscious breath she called back to Horizon.


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Lieutenant Autumn Falls
Chief of Operations
USS Relentless
NCC-72400
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