Chapter Text
“Captain’s Log, Stardate 42379.62. On our route to Starbase 290, our sensors have detected emissions toxic to organic life. We dropped out of warp to find out what it is, but our efforts have been unsuccessful. We don’t know if there is a source or if this is part of a trail. All we know is that it seems to be deathly toxic to any and all organic life.”
Tensions ran high throughout the bridge of the Unreliable, with scans of toxic emissions coming up through their route to Ajilon Prime, where Starbase 290 was orbiting around. “Any idea what those emissions might contain, Wally?” Breezie asks, turning to Wally who was manning the science console.
“Not exactly, most of it seems to be an unknown substance, with it seemingly having traces of nitrogen and sulphur…” Wally replies, reading out what the console displayed.
Sally was monitoring the comms traffic, sweat running down her face… Until something appeared. A hail from where the emissions seem to come from.
“Breezie… Something within the gas is hailing us.” Sally says. Breezie’s face became one of confusion.
“Odd… Put it through.” Breezie replies, unaware of what would be displayed upon the viewscreen.
What came up seemed to look a bit like a corpse, the skin was withered and dull, the hair was barely styled to be like a pompadour with the colour now being a dull grey-blue and all they heard was a raspy, croaking breathing.
“Sir? This is Captain Breezie McKormic of the starship Unreliable. Do you have any explanation for these toxic emissions?” Breezie states.
The nearly-corpse looked up, his eyes sunken in as his face twisted into a smile. “Oh yes, these fumes. These wonderful fumes. All a result of extracting Chroma.” It explained.
“Chroma? What is Chroma?” Breezie asks.
“Silly girl… Everyone knows what Chroma is. It’s what makes the world go round.” It stated, before going into a croaky laugh.
Looks of disgust were shared around the bridge as Sally silently cut the signal.
“That could be the lost scientist, Wallace Daniels.” Andy says, which caught Breezie’s attention.
“My old crew made a deal with him, though I noticed the more we saw him, the more… He looked dead.” Andy explains.
“Then if that’s the case, I’d like to find out what this ‘Chroma’ stuff is. I suggest we devise a plan.” Breezie says.
In the rarely used conference room, the bridge crew, Gary, Fiora & the EMH sat around a table.
“So, how do we find out what this Chroma stuff is? Any suggestions?” Breezie asks, standing at the back end of the conference table. The crew were in thought.
“Perhaps we could collect a sample of the fumes from outside into a canister and break it down into its key components using the science lab?” Alex suggests.
“I remember the chemical formula for it… If we implement it into the Unreliable’s computer and tell it to scan for a match we could find out something about this stuff. I never quite got what Wallace meant when he said Chroma was the most important material in the galaxy.” Andy says, remembering his time with his old crew.
Wally seemed unnerved, looking around nervously.
Breezie noticed his discomfort. “Wally? Are you alright?” Breezie asks.
Wally silently shook his head.
“Hm. Devoid, could you talk with Wally in private whilst we devise a plan?” Breezie asks.
“Sure, Breezie.” Devoid says, getting up and leading Wally out of the conference room. Devoid led Wally to the mess hall, where Devoid finally asks what’s going on. “Wally, what’s up?” Devoid asks, concerned.
After a few seconds of silence, Wally answered “When I saw Wallace, I felt this horrific feeling in my chest, as if he was familiar… Horribly familiar.” Wally said, looking down at the floor.
“How so?” Devoid asks.
“I don’t know… I really don't know.” Wally responds, unsure of what’s going on.
Back in the conference room, Andy was about to input the chemical formula for Chroma onto a computer terminal. As he inputted it in, the others are discussing what it could be. Once Andy completed the formula, some information appeared on the screen.
“- Name: Chroma
- Compound: Hl2Jc6Rc
- Discovered by Starfleet: 2228, USS Kelvin.
- Classification: Toxic Hallucinogen
- Symptoms of Exposure/Usage:
- Accelerated physical deterioration
- Rapid psychological damage
- Amplifications of mental ailments
- Decline of Sanity
- Hallucinations
- Moderate deterioration of morality
- Users often go Hostile upon taking it, they must be killed on sight.”
Looks of concern spread amongst the crew. Andy especially seemed distraught. “No wonder he said he was lucky we weren’t Starfleet.” Andy says, sighing.
“It said the USS Kelvin found it, it was a scout ship though… Einstein class. Did Wallace try to sell this stuff in federation space?” Breezie asks, wondering how the USS Kelvin discovered Chroma.
After a few minutes had passed, Devoid returned without Wally. “So, what do we know?” Devoid asks.
“It seems we aren’t the first starfleet ship to find this stuff. The USS Kelvin did too. It’s also some sort of toxic hallucinogen, take a look at this.” Breezie explains, indicating to the computer terminal.
Devoid walks to it and takes a read of the screen, his face going from intrigue to disgust to fear in a matter of a few minutes. “What the hell?!” Devoid says.
“I don’t think that’s the end of it. This documentation also talks about something called ‘Agent Rainbow’, and I don’t think that’s a kids show about a detective solving mysteries about colours.” Gary says.
“Then if that’s the case, we’ll have to go in. Gary, Sally & Andy, you’re with me. Get an EV suit and meet me in the shuttle bay. Alex, you’re in command until I get back, make sure Wallace doesn’t try to block communications. I get bad vibes from that guy.” Breezie says.
Alex nods, hoping the mission goes through.