The Galileo moved into a position a few hundred meters from the shuttle. No one spoke; even the hum of the bridge seemed oddly quiet. It was if the ship herself was listening.

“Magnify,” AJ ordered.

The image sharpened: a vessel once graceful, now ruined. Hull plates were warped and fused, symbols burned beyond recognition, and through the shattered stern glimmered a faint blue light, steady, alive.

Keller leaned closer to his console. “I’m reading a localized energy field. It’s maintaining minimal environment, but I can’t find a power source.”

Delar frowned. “That shouldn’t be possible. Structural decay suggests this thing’s centuries old.”

“Transporter lock?” AJ asked.

Keller shook his head, eyes moving too fast to follow. “Negative. The interference would scramble us halfway through. We’ll need direct contact.” His fingers tapped the console twice.

AJ studied the drifting relic. “Then we send a team. Keller, zh’Vael, Beckett, Krev, Jalani. Full suits, environmental isolation, no assumptions.”

Talresh’s antennae tilted forward in anticipation. “Acknowledged, Captain.”

From the helm, Parker half-turned. “Sir, I can nudge us in closer, cut their transit time.”

AJ gave her a crooked grin. “You’ve already out-danced one storm today. Hold steady.”

She smirked. “Aye, sir.”

USS Galileo – Transporter Room

The away team waited on the pad, visors down, equipment checked twice. “Telemetry linked,” Jalani reported. “If anything spikes, I pull us back in three seconds.”

Beckett adjusted his scanner. “Make it two. I prefer my atoms in the current arrangement.”

Krev’s laugh crackled over comms. “If you explode, I’ll collect the largest pieces for analysis.”

“Comforting,” Beckett said, perfectly straight-faced.

Talresh sighed. “Children, please. Let’s try to look professional before we die.”

AJ’s voice came through the intercom. “Energize.” He hated sending people into danger, that nagging feeling that one of them might not make it back always haunted him.

Aboard the Derelict Vessel

They materialized into a long-abandoned corridor. Dust drifted weightless; the air was thin and cold. Every surface contained delicate markings, like calligraphy, etched into the bulkheads.

Talresh ran gloved fingers over one panel. “What is this?”

Krev’s antennae twitched. “A warning!”

“You think?” Beckett chimed in, “words of wisdom from the Security Chief.”

Jalani scanned, “Localized stasis field. It’s weak, but still holding atmosphere. That’s what’s keeping this from collapsing.”

As they moved slowly, Beckett counted the sounds.. four steps, pause, four steps until Talresh whispered, “This ship feels… sad.”

Beckett answered without looking up. “Ships don’t feel. Crews do.”

At the next junction, Jalani gestured toward a sealed hatch. “The source is just beyond this bulkhead.”

Krev forced his move into the next door.  Once inside they were greeted to the sign of a figure suspended within a decaying containment field. It was humanoid, translucent, veins pulsing with faint bioluminescence.

Beckett knelt, scanning carefully. “One life-sign. Barely. Cellular cohesion is unstable.”

Talresh adjusted her tricorder. “The field’s adaptive. It’s reacting to the scans.”

“Which,” Beckett said, “is impossible.”

“Yet there it is,” Jalani replied.

Beckett reached out, fingers hovering near the controls. “We’ll have to move fast. The containment is collapsing.”

Jalani tapped her comm. “Galileo, away team. We’ve found a survivor; sending coordinates for direct transport to quarantine.”

Static covered Keller’s reply. “..Copy that…hold…signal…”

The deck lurched under them. Alarms flickered red across the ruined walls.

Krev steadied himself. “Hull stress increasing. She’s coming apart.”

Beckett worked faster, “Stay with me. You made it this far; don’t quit now.”

Another tremor hit. “Transport!” Jalani shouted.

“Get them out of there,” AJ’s shouted.

The beam caught them as the derelict split in two. In an instant, stormlight swallowed the wreck.

USS Galileo – Sickbay

They formed in chaos as the alien lay on the biobed, “Containment field up!” Beckett barked. “Stay clear, unknown bio-signature!”

The nurses scrambled to comply. The air seem to shimmer as biofilters engaged.

Beckett scanned, muttering data like a mantra. “Heart rate erratic, respiratory variable, sensors are agitating it.” He looked up. “Captain, I think observation the being has triggered a reaction.”

AJ’s voice came through the comm. “Can you stabilize?”

“Maybe..”

He dimmed the diagnostic screen, switched off auto-scanners, and reached for manual tools. “Old-school medicine it is.”

Massi stepped forward carefully. “Captain, I’m sensing fear. Not pain. It doesn’t want to be seen.”

Beckett nodded to Massi. She lowered the lights until Sickbay was quiet. The alien’s glow steadied, a slow rhythm answering the ship’s own heartbeat.

Massi exhaled. “They’re calmer now.”

Beckett checked one last readout, then smiled faintly. “Told you. Works better when you whisper.”

For a moment, only the hum of life support filled the room.

AJ’s voice came over the comm. “Good work, all of you. Keep them stable. Whatever this is, whoever this is, they’ve come a long way to find us.”

Beckett looked down at the alien. “Let’s make sure the trip was worth it,” he murmured.