The Sigournate Virus

(See chapter 1 for disclaimer)

Chapter 4


"Tawney!" Lazarus cried as the young woman's body slumped forward into his arms.

Instinctively, he swung her up into his strong arms and carried her over to a soft patch of moss a good distance away from the Fangor Beast's carcass. Gently laying her down, Lazarus cradled her head in his lap as he reached for his comlink.

"Peter, can you hear me? This is Lazarus, something's happened, come in." He waited, but got nothing but static.

Raising his head toward the sky, he noted how sickly the color was. It was no longer the bright blue it had been when they had arrived. Lazarus knew that the color meant an electromagnetic storm, and figured that was what was wrong with the communicator. They needed to get out of there fast.

He reached for his mapper so that he could find the way back to the rendezvous point from their position. But upon opening the device, he knew it was no use. The weather was interferring with that as well.

"Oh, for the love of Ipthar, can't a Tev'Meckian get a break?" He muttered.

Apparently not, for at that moment a menacing rumble sounded from the heavens, signaling the approaching storm. And from the looks of the rapidly retreating clouds, it was going to be a bad one.

Sighing heavily, Lazarus picked Tawney up into his arms once more and went to look for some form of shelter.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Commander Peter Quincey Taggart was frantically trying to contact the members of his landing party. "Lazarus ole' buddy, can you hear me? Come in, Lt. Madison, are you there? Ensign Smith, do you read me?"

All the while trying to stay as silent as possible. If what he had read in the files he had clutched in his hand was true, then they had five wild and enraged Kreemorian Fangor Beasts loose in these woods. The creatures were natural-born predators already, but with what those fools at the lab had done...

Yes, Taggart had all the facts now.

There were never any miner's on Mottera. Just a bunch of scientists working on a rogue virus they had discovered and wanted to research. They had been trying to find out the effects of the virus and attempted to make a vaccine. They had found that the virus could be spread through just a scratch. The deeper the scratch, the more severe the reaction.

First they would loose consciousness, then if they were lucky they would remain that way until the virus had done it's job and shut down all of the victim's vital organs, one by one. If they were lucky. Those who were awake during the process, where in so much pain and incoherent. They had found that out when the idiots had attempted to test it on themselves.

Taggart mused on how people who were supposed to be so intelligent could be so entirely stupid. They had smuggled the Fangors onto the planet to be new test subjects. And apparently the Fangors hadn't liked the arrangements. The virus had enhanced all of their already impressive abilities. Their speed, agility, strength, made them more intelligent. Great, that's all they needed, a Fangor Beast with common sense.

The fools had inadvertantly created the perfect killing machine. The creatures were now, according to the files, almost unstoppable. When shot with a phazor it only was knocked out for a time. You had to nearly decapitate them to kill them. But none of the scientists had been able to get close enough to do any damage. The creatures had rebelled, escaped their cages and began killing off the scientists one by one. That was when the distress call had been sent.

They had only said they were miners, thinking that if anyone knew they had brought their fate on themselves then nobody would come to their rescue. But the signal had been delayed somehow, because there was no trace of any bodies back at the building. Taggart assumed that they had been eaten by the Fangors. And now said Fangors were loose in these woods.

He HAD to contact the others. They needed to get off of the planet, pronto.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Lazarus found a downfall of trees that made a sort of natural cave a few yards from the scene of the attack. He took Tawney into the enclosure and laid her down, then went about tending to her wound with what few medical items he had in his medipouch. Lifting her uniform gently away from her side, he examined the wound more closely. There were four gashes in Tawney's side, about half an inch deep. Not life threatening now, but could be if not treated properly soon.

He placed an antiseptic patch over the scratch for the required two minutes, then removed it to place the steri-patch over it, and secured the patch down.

That done, Lazarus leaned back and observed his handiwork. Satisfied with what he saw, he then let his eyes drift up to rest on her face. Her eyes where still closed, her pink lips slightly parted. Lazarus had a stray though enter his mind as he gazed upon the sight.

This is her. My mate. The one I am meant to be with. That is the reason why I have been reacting the way I have around her. The reason I felt terrified at hearing her scream. The reason I very nearly KISSED her just seconds before she passed out.

He thought.

Sighing deeply, he resigned to his fate. He was in love with Tawney Madison. And then set about trying to rouse her.

"Oh Tawney, come on, wake up. Please Tawney, I just found you, love, don't leave me now." He whispered softly, stroking her soft, cheek with the backs of his fingers. A cheek just a might too warm in his opinion.

He though, panicking.

There was a soft moan, barely audible, but he heard it. Then her eyes were fluttering open. Her body tensed a bit as she looked around with a frightened look, until she saw him. Then she relaxed a bit and sighed.

"Laz." She breathed.

That made the third time she had called him that. He wondered if it was just because she was too tired to say his entire name, or if it meant something more.

Looking back into her beautiful blue eyes, and stroking her soft honey blonde hair, he smiled.

"Yes Tawney, it's me." He said softly.

"Oh, thank God. Don't leave me, okay baby?" She mumbled.

Lazarus started at the endearment. Did she know she had even uttered it? He leaned down and spoke into her ear.

"Don't worry, Tawney. I'm afraid you are stuck with me." He whispered. Unconsiously allowing his lips to graze her ear as he spoke.

"Good." He thought he heard her say, and he smiled.

Sitting back up, he noted that it had begun to rain outside their little cave. Lazarus thought that maybe if they waited for the storm to pass, then their equipment would begin working properly. Then they could get back to the rendezvous sight and get back to the ship.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Commander Taggart burst out onto the rendezvous site and quickly noticed that none of the others where there. It had begun to rain, along with the thunder and the now dangerous electical bolts that shot across the darkened sky.

He thought frantically.

He came to a stop at where the coordinates on the digital conveyor were set. Now he needed to-

They came out of nowhere it seemed. Just materialized from the shadows of the trees. The rain made it hard to see them clearly, but he knew what they werour our very large and very furious looking Fangors. Taggart looked slowly around, careful not to make any sudden movements.

Slowly he raised the comlink to his mouth, praying to every diety listening, that Chen would be able to hear him.

"Chen? Chen are you there? This is Commander Taggart." He whispered.

Chen's voice came back to him, loud and clear. "Finished already, Commander?"

Unfortunately, it was a little too loud.

At the sound of Chen's voice the Fangors ed aed around to stare directly at Taggart. As one, they crouched down and prepared to pounce.

"Digitize me, Chen!!" Taggart yelled, just as the Fangors leapt.

When they landed, there was nothing there.

*~*~*~*~*

In a flash of twinkling lights, the Commander appeared on the platform in the Digital Conveyor room. Tech Sgt. Chen looked at the Commander with a confused look on his tanned face.

"Where are the others, Commander?" He asked, not quite sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"You mean they aren't here?" Commander Taggart yelled. He had had a feeling they wouldn't be, but he had still hoped.

Chen shook his head in the negative, and was startled when the Commander shoved past him to stand in front of the controls. He began working at the controls to the ship's surface scanners, trying to pick up the location of his friends.

"It's no use, Commander." Chen said, moving to stand beside the frustrated commander. "It's the storm. Everything's scrambled. It was just luck that your communicator worked when it did. It was a hell of a thing."

"Fuck!" Taggart exclaimed, bringing his fist down hard on the console of the Conveyor. Luckily, he didn't break anything important.
*~*~*~*~*~*

He thought as his knuckes grazed her forehead once more. Due to the storm, it was dark as night outside the shelter, and even darker within. So far it hadn't produced much rain, only thunder and the occasional electrical burst. But the electrical burst was what was keeping him from contacting the Commander, or the ship for that matter. He didn't know their coordinates because that device was going haywire as well. Could it get any worse?

The low growl that emerged from nearby their little shelter, pointedly told him that it could.

"Shit." Lazarus swore softly. "Shit, shit, shit." He thought frantically.

The sound of the approaching beast became louder. He had to do something or the creature would be upon them within moments. Taking a deep breath and hoping it worked, he began to pem thm the Mak'Tar Stealth Haze. With a ripple in the air that surrounded them, their forms became invisible to the human eye. He just hoped that the Fangor didn't have 20/20 vision.

*~*~*~*~*