After receiving an advisory from the Tycho, Lt. Commander Stinnik had issued a station-wide directive for all SPROC personnel to immediately leave the transporter and mineshaft area on the west side of SPROC and head for the Docking bay area on the east side. Junior officers and senior staff with commbadges were ordered to align themselves with small groups of lower echelon staff without commbadges. Since the entire area was still vibrating with tremors, these orders were met with no small amount of confusion and skepticism.
Lt. Gordon Ziegler, the transport officer standing at the transporter console, was among the most indignant. "What the hell is Stinnik up to?! Here I'm tryin' to recalibrate the fastest way off this miserable rock and he's sending everyone way over to the other side of the dome!" Ziegler was referring to the duranium reinforced clear plastene shell covering SPROC that maintained an Earth-like atmosphere inside.
There were approximately 100 people clustered around the transporter platform just before the first quake struck. All were greatly unnerved by both the quake as well as the sight of ten dematerializing people having the smooth swirls of their molecules suddenly sizzle and pinwheel outward into quickly dissipating mists of nothingness as the platform shook and tilted. Many gasps and screams followed that shock but tapered off as the shaking ground appeared to settle down to low level tremors. The Starfleet officers in the crowd tried to establish calm by declaring that the worst was over and that the transports would resume just as soon as Lt. Ziegler made the proper adjustments to the platform.
Ziegler muttered to his assistant, Ensign Kurt Sahloff: "Yeah, RIGHT! I can't begin to make final settings until these tremors completely stop!"
A couple minutes later, Stinnik issued the order for all personnel to evacuate the the transport area for the opposite side of the station. Most of the staff milled around looking at one another with expressions of disbelief. In the SPROC control center, Stinnik, monitoring the all-station view screens, felt rising frustration and panic.
"PLEASE, people! We've received word that the whole mine shaft area is unsafe! You've got to clear out of there!"
The crowd's response was less than enthusiastic.
"Hell! The whole PLANET is unsafe!!"
"What? Now we're supposed to run clear over to the docking bay and wait for shuttlecraft?!"
"Where's Major Snodgrass?"
"Yeah. Who put Stinnik in charge anyway?!"
However, a few of the junior officers dutifully corralled 3 or 4 staffers apiece and began walking along the plastene dome wall in a semicircular route toward the docking bay. A few minutes into their walk they were surprised to see a Tycho academy recruit suddenly materialize near them. He was holding an odd-shaped object in his hand about the size of a grapefruit. The young man, tense and wide-eyed, glanced quickly around for a few seconds before breaking into a grin.
"Wow! Oh MAN! I made it!" He addressed the nearby SPROC personnel: "Hi. I'm science tech Matt Napieralla and I'm here to beam three of you lucky people back up with me to the Tycho in orbit above SPROC!"
The ground tremors had not stopped. A lieutenant asked testily, "How come only THREE of us?! There's a LOT of us that need transporting!"
"Because we're not sure of the effective zone for this extra strength transport badge I'm holding. Close proximity only!" The group regarded Matt skeptically. "LOOK! There's a huge gravitonic beam shooting up all around SPROC and we can only try pickups at the edges where it's not too strong yet." Matt paused. "I wasn't sure I could get through comin' down here! I'm the first to try it, but now that I've made it there'll be others." Matt smiled. "Now which three of you are beaming up with me?"
As if to punctuate his offer, a low rumble accompanied another, stronger tremor. The testy lieutenant was the first to step next to Matt with no further comment. He was quickly followed by several other staffers clustering around Matt.
"Just THREE, dammit!" Matt exclaimed. "Only three. Otherwise, we might all disintegrate!" The lieutenant and two staffers firmly locked each others' arms around Matt.
"The Andorians are sending down more volunteers shortly and I'll probably be back once we make it up to the Tycho." Amidst some grumbling and sour looks, the other staffers reluctantly stepped back. "Tycho," Matt announced, "four to beam up."
Shortly after they smoothly dematerialized, a second massive quake struck SPROC.
Aboard the Tycho Capt. Klosowski was conferring via view screen with Kal'trax on the Kallindor I. "Make sure your transport chief chooses his locations carefully, Director. The gravitonic beam seems weakest around the eastern half of SPROC but there are fluctuations everywhere."
"I know," Kal'trax replied. "The Kallindor II has sent three volunteers with enhanced commbadges down to the northeast and southeast edges of the dome, but they haven't found any personnel there yet. Our scanners show that they're still mostly in the west side."
"Well, our young science tech has just brought up three from the south edge and there are more moving west, so it shouldn't be long before... WHOA!" Ted had just spotted an alarming signal from a sensor monitor in his armrest. "Another quake is hitting SPROC.... a BIG one!"
On the viewscreen Kal'trax was looking down to his right at his own monitors. "I see it. I will order shuttlecraft down to SPROC's docking area. Hopefully, we can pick up some survivors there."
"I don't think that's a very good idea, Director."
"Why not?"
"Well, Sir," Ted began, "do your personnel shuttles have small warp engines... as the Starfleet shuttles do... with small dilithium crystals?"
"Oh. I see. We can't have dilithium getting close to the graviton beam." Kal'trax pondered a moment. "What about cargo shuttles? They only have impulse engines."
"If you want to risk one or two." Ted responded. "Impulse engines shouldn't be unduly influenced. Maybe you could retrieve a few docking bay personnel."
Dianne injected herself into the discussion. "Captain; sorry to interrupt but we have have an incoming hail."
"Who's hailing us, Commander?"
Dianne replied with arched eyebrow. "It's the Styx, Sir!"
With an earsplitting roar the trembling ground that had been pancaking under the SPROC transport station suddenly blossomed into a low hill, upending the platform and dashing all hope of any further transport. Lt. Zeigler and Ensign Sahloff were thrown off balance to the ground as were most of the crowd gathered around the station. All had clapped their hands to their ears to block out the thunderous growling of the quake which was enhanced by the acoustical effect inside the plastene climate dome.
The pavilion canopy covering the entrance to mineshaft 3 was also violently shaking and a weird glow began emanating from the shaft. A screechy crackling was also coming from the shaft but was barely noticeable amid the overwhelming noise of the quake. Only one ensign armed with a phaser rifle took note of the glowing and crackling. After the loss of the crew from number 3, Major Snodgrass had posted armed guards at the entrances to all three mineshafts as a precautionary measure. The guard at number 3 was recovering his balance from the quake, and feeling rather panicky, when the glow and crackle from the shaft stiffened his neck hairs. He stared in terror as the first glowing energy tendril poked out of the shaft entrance.
"What the f___!!!"
The tendril paused momentarily, sweeping back and forth as if scanning the area. Then it stopped with its curved tip in line with the guard, emitted a sharp squeek and began extending toward him. To his credit, the guard reacted defensively by clicking the energy setting on his rifle to "kill" and fired a lethal phaser bolt at the tendril, striking the rising stem. The effect was seemingly deadly as the tendril froze in place with fracture lines instantly forming along its length. The fracture facets coruscated with a wide variety of hues before the tendril collapsed in a tinkling of broken shards.
"Ha! I killed the sonava_____!!"
The guard's exultation was short-lived as two more energy tendrils emerged from the shaft.
Panic now gripped the crowd that had surrounded the transport station. As they scrambled to their feet with shouts and screams, there was a general stampede eastward back to the buildings centered under the dome. This path led them past number 3 which was the innermost shaft situated to the northeast of the ruined transport platform. There the first runners encountered the guard battling energy tendrils. He was doing a creditable job as his phaser bolts had struck and shattered two more tendrils.
At that point the ground heaved upward with more deafening rumbles as the entrance to shaft number 3 split outward in several directions and the tip of a glowing crystal column sprouted through the collapsing canopy roof. Lt. Ziegler and Ensign Sahloff were back on their feet and feeling frustrated and angry over the loss of their transport station. Even over the noise of the quake they recognized the sound of phaser fire and saw the guard shooting at the apparent cause of their problems. As officers, they carried hand phasers. Their blood was high and they were eager to join the battle.
Jerking his phaser from his belt, Ziegler turned to Ensign Sahloff. "You ready, Kurt?"
Sahloff grabbed his own phaser. "Oh YEAH!!" Both men ran toward their sparkling enemy.
Remnants of the canopy roof slid off the rising crystal as several more tendrils shot out of various facets with chilling squeels. The crowd of staffers was now totally spooked and scattered in all directions. A few of the junior officers with hand phasers found the courage to stay and join the guard in firing at the crystal hydra. Gordon Ziegler and Kurt Sahloff added to their firepower with rightous fury.
For a moment it seemed like the SPROC officers might prevail. The crystal column stopped rising and a few more tendrils were frozen and splintered. Then one of the panicky staffers, a woman, attempted veering around the northern edge of the column where there were no defending officers. A tendril zipped out and attached itself to her bare arm. Her high pitched scream reached the ears of all humans in the area... even above the din of the quake. Two more tendrils attached to each of her legs just beneath the skirt she was wearing. She was not immediately absorbed for the three tendrils then lifted her high overhead, as if displaying a trophy in plain view of the humans. The unfortunate woman was slowly waved side to side for several seconds, pitiably screaming and crying, while the officers stopped and stared in shocked horror.
During this short interval no more tendrils extended from the column but another crystalline offshoot was forming that took the shape of a broad, thick crystal leaf that grew up to the same height where the woman was held. The tendrils then held the woman to one side as the crystal 'leaf' began undulating back and forth like a broad blade of grass in a breeze. The top of the 'leaf' took on the shape of a ball, like a dandelion flower turning to seed. The crystal 'ball' coloration became a uniform shade of dark metallic blue as it swayed back and forth atop the 'leaf'. The officers and remaining staffers still in the area stood entranced at this bizarre spectacle of a mewling, captive woman held on high next to a giant alien waving leaf-flower.
The leaf undulation stopped at its rearmost position relative to the humans in front. Suddenly, the leaf whipped quickly and violently forward as the ball 'flower' flew apart into hundreds of sharp, crystal shrapnel fragments that tore into the band of standing humans. Hellish devastation ensued.
The tendrils holding the woman quickly dissolved and absorbed her in mid-scream. Her empty garments fell to ground. The small cadre of officers together with a handful of staffers were literally shredded. Most died instantly with a few still alive but rapidly bleeding out from multiple severe lacerations.
The lone exception was Ensign Kurt Sahloff, an athletic young man with excellent reflexes. He had somehow sensed the forward whip of the 'leaf' and instinctively dived forward toward the column and under the deadly hail of crystal projectiles. He scrambled to his feet and turned back to the others.
"GORDY!!" He ran back to find Lt. Ziegler lying on his back; uniform ripped and turning red all over; eyes staring vacantly upward with a dark blue crystal impaled in the middle of his forehead. A low gutteral issued from Sahloff's throat as he looked back at the crystal column; his eyes red with rage. He grabbed the phaser rifle of the dead guard next to Ziegler and charged the column, firing kill bolts as fast as he could trigger them. "You wanna a piece of ME, you MOTHER______?!!"
The column was sprouting a new crop of energy tendrils which were hungrily consuming the human gore left by the 'flowerball'. Kurt's charge took him clear to the base of the column and he managed to "kill" a few more of the tendrils on the way. But, of course, he was hopelessly overmatched. In the end, they got far more than a "piece" of him.
In the control center Lt. Commander Stinnik had stood aghast in front of his monitors while watching the battle at number 3 concluding with the heroic last stand of Kurt Sahloff. Stinnik's pallor was ashen and it was several moments before he found his voice. "GOD! We're living in a NIGHTMARE!" he said to no one in particular. Then: "Open a frequency to the Kallindor II."
Captain Slee'tog appeared on the viewscreen.
Stinnik began, "Captain Slee'tog, I regret to advise that our transport station is ruined and the ground here is extremely unstable." Stinnik paused and gulped before continuing in a shaky voice. "Also we are under attack by some sort of... underground devil!"
"We have been monitoring your seismic situation, Commander. Perhaps it will cheer you to know that two of our volunteers have managed to retrieve a few of your personnel from your southeastern perimeter." The Andorian continued unemotionally. "However, The gravitonic beam surrounding SPROC is increasing and rendering further such pickups problematic. I would strongly suggest that you evacuate your building and proceed immediately to your docking area. We have dispatched two cargo shuttles to rescue whatever survivors we can find there."
Stinnik was greatly conflicted. "Captain! I still have a hundred people or more spread around the west side! I'll need a little time to round them up and get them over to..."
Slee'tog cut him off. "I don't think you have that time, Commander!"
As if to underscore this statement, another strong quake hit SPROC, shaking the control center badly enough to knock things off shelves and people off their feet. Sparks flew from some of the electronics and screens momentarily went blank with static. Stinnik himself had fallen down. When he got back up, he was partially relieved to see that Slee'tog was still on the comm view screen.
"I.. I guess you're right, Captain. I'll take the people here at Command and head for the docking bay now."
"Very good, Commander. Don't delay!" The viewscreen went blank.
Stinnik sighed heavily and turned to the others in the room. "All right, People. Let's get our butts on over to docking."
Another strong tremor shook the building. Stinnik looked over to the western area monitors and nearly fainted. He saw glowing crystal columns erupting from mineshafts numbers 1 and 2... the ones closest to the west edge of the climate dome. The columns began sprouting energy tendrils. He also saw many staffers running pell mell in different directions within the triangle formed by the three crystal columns. Energy tendrils from number 3 were already advancing into the center of the tringle, dissolving panicky people who got too close. Longer tendrils skirted the outer edges of the triangle, herding people toward the center. Stinnik was glad the grinding rumbles of the quake drowned out the audio system. He didn't want to hear their screams.