This was home, Duck Danvers mused to himself aboard the USS. Sure, he knew of Earth, it was where he was born, where his mother came from as well, where he had lived for five years, but here, he had learnt so much. He had grown so much over the eleven years ever since his mother entrusted him into the hands of Captain Kirk and Spock, traveling the galaxy to save planets, even if-

(His hand fell onto the bed. The heart monitor showed a line. 

"22.04, Mister Danvers has died. My condolences, Captain Marvel." 

No no no no no!!!

Tears fell down his cheeks. His mom hugged him. "W-Why is he so cold, Mama?" 

"Because he's... he's gone." She couldn't lie to her son. 

She would come to regret it, because the raw fear she saw in her son's eyes was something that struck her deeper than any supervillain ever could...)

He shook his head. No, he couldn't think of that. It was his birthday. Things were supposed to be cheerful! 

"Hey, kid, you good?" a voice called out, making him look over to see the captain of the ship walk over to him. 

"Y-Yeah! Just reflecting about stuff," he said while hopping away from the window seat he had been using to look out onto the great cosmos. (Not really, but no one needed to know that.)

Captain Kirk frowned a bit, but opted not to question it. Instead, he said, "Everyone's waiting for you, Duck. It's birthday party time, y'know."

Duck's eyes lit up, and the captain had to hold himself from grinning outright. Man, he inherited his mother's looks alright. Really made him look like a star. 

Placing a hand on his current ward's shoulder, he smiled and said, "Let's go, birthday boy." 

The two walked into the main command center, where everyone was gathered. Each and every one of them wished him a happy birthday. Some even gave him gifts that made him smile. 

Man, he really loved the USS. It was so lively! They even had a cake prepared for him, and boy was it beautiful. Encased in a sugar dome was a miniature fondant version of the USS, with everyone holding out the chocolate sheet that read out, in messy cursive, "Happy Birthday Duck!" 

"Thank you all so much!" he said, and he genuinely meant it. They were the people he had come to see as family (and Carol Danvers definitely approved of them, if her words during her last visit a year ago were any indication). He loved and cared for them so, so much. 

The candles were lit, and as the lights dimmed, he stared at the candles in front of him, a smile forming. 

He closed his eyes to make a wish, and once he was done, he opened his eyes and prepared to blow out the candles when-

The alarm system went CRAZY. The lights came back on in all red, and a screen showed that a message had been sent in from a cargo ship. 

Captain Kirk, always the one to jump into action, rushed to the panel and pressed the button to open the message. "It's from your mom, Duck. And the Avengers?"

He blinked. "My MOM?" 

Why would her call make the system go crazy? Was something going on? 

"It's a distress call," Spock said with a frown as he looked at the coordinates. The message only had SOS on it, which was never a good thing. "I do not like the looks of this."

"We should still try to help out," McCoy said. "Someone could be hurt." 

"I agree on that," Captain Kirk said while inputting the coordinates into the interface. "Everyone, let's go!" 

"Right!" They all nodded, even as Duck quickly blew out the candles with a quiet sigh. 

So much for a quiet birthday huh? 

The cargo ship was not too far away from where they had been, but one thing stood out to them right off the bat; the lights were not on. 

"Cargo ship 334, requesting for docking," Uhuru spoke into the intercom system. 

The only reply he got was silence. Utter silence that worried everyone immensely. 

"This is an emergency, right? We should probably head in anyway," Captain Kirk spoke up. 

Duck nodded. "Someone might be in danger, after all!" 

"The kid has a point," McCoy said with a sigh. "Let's go in and check in to make sure things are safe."

They all nodded, and Sulu started the docking process while Uhura kept on trying to make contact. 

Duck couldn't help the worry that permeated through his body. That feeling in the pit of his stomach said that he was about to enter a world of fear and sorrow. 

He gulped. This was not going to be easy, alright. He could only hope for the best even if he knew the worst was yet to come. 

"Docking, complete."

The group then headed to their dockpit, where the doors opened to reveal-

A vast empty, pitch-black hallway. 

"Woah, what the-" 

"This is quite an unsettling situation. I advise we move with caution," Spock said to them all.

They nodded, and the group soon moved as one as they entered the cargo ship slowly, unaware of the horrors they had yet to meet...

"What in the galaxy's name happened here...?" Spock quietly said. The cargo ship was a MESS; the entire thing made Duck feel a bit nauseous, especially with an all-too-familiar feeling in the air. 

"Kid, take it easy," Captain Kirk spoke as he noticed the look of pure fear on his face. "Deep breaths, please." 

"I-I..." he struggled to get his words out. He couldn't... This brought back memories of that dark hospital room, when the doctor was telling them that his father had died. His body growing cold. No more breathing. No more pulse. 

Jack Denver had died, just like that, and it scared Duck immensely, this concept of no longer being able to see someone he cared for. It was why he trained so hard; so that he would never have to go through that situation again... So that no one would ever have to lose their family as he had. 

Deciding that he had to attend to this right away, the commanding officer stopped walking and turned around, squatting slightly to meet the eyes of the youngest of their crew while holding his shoulders. 

"We're here for you, remember that, okay?" Captain Kirk said. "You're safe with us, Duck." 

The teen took in deep breaths, and the captain mirrored his breathing, watching him slowly calm down with a relieved sigh. 

"Thanks a lot, everyone," he said with a smile. "I really... appreciate the comfort." 

Captain Kirk grinned. "Kiddo, don't think too hard about it. We'll solve whatever comes our way!" 

The others all nodded, making Duck feel a lot better as he said, "Let's not dawdle around anymore then!" 

"That's MY line kiddo!" 

Spock and McCoy both snickered, and Captain Kirk smacked both of them on the back in retaliation. That in and of itself led to bickering, but they still walked forward, heading for the main interface to hopefully understand what was going on here. 

"What was this cargo ship even carrying?" McCoy frowned as he brought up the question. 

"According to the database, it was carrying normal cargo, but this seems to suggest otherwise," Spock said, his eyes catching a glass pane from nearby and walking over to it. 

The others followed him, and as Sulu found the switch to turn it on, they-

"What the actual-" 

Rows of test tubes the size of humans stood side by side on the walls of the laboratory> most of them were broken too, which was a huge red flag to them all as they stood in front of the glass pane. 

"W-What in the world?..." Duck gasped. "What in the world were they doing in here?!" 

"They were most probably conducting... experiments," Spock seemed disgusted by the sheer word as he uttered it. 

Captain Kirk frowned. "The real question is, WHAT were they working on? And could it have anything to do with the distress call and the current state of their ship?" 

"It probably does," McCoy spoke up. "I cannot tell from a glance what they were working on, but I think that we may have an issue on our hands... We left the doors to the USS Enterprise open, so if the issue is airborne..." 

Everyone paled as the implications of his statement hit them like bricks. 

"We need to get back to the ship! NOW!" Captain Kirk yelled, making them nod. Their footsteps echoed very loudly on the floor as they rushed back to their ship, unaware of the dead bodies nearby. 

A finger twitched. 

"We have to go and find the others! They went searching there as well, Captain!" One of the crewmates reported with a pale face once they got back to the ship. 

Kirk let out a curse. "This is the worst!" 

"I think it's best if we split up then," McCoy said. "But we should be careful about this."

"Spock and I'll go with Duck, the rest of you go together," Captain Kirk commanded. "As McCoy said, we have to be careful about this. We don't know what horrors were unleashed by that ship." 

They all nodded in agreement. 

Duck couldn't help but feel worried though. Fear coursed through his veins. Worry flooded his mind. 

He could only wonder, just what horrors had been unleashed by that cargo ship-

A hand found itself on his shoulder, and he turned over to see Captain Kirk smiling at him. "You're going to be fine, kid. We're going to protect you no matter what it takes." 

Despite the knot in his stomach telling Duck that no, something was going on here, something sinister and evil, he leaned onto the support that his captain was providing him. "T-Thank you."

"And if you ever need help controlling the power, you know where to get the energy regulatory device," he added. "It's with Spock like always." 

"Understood. Thank you, Captain," he said, meaning every word.

It did seem like the officer knew it as well, if his smile was any indication. 

Spock walked over as well, saying, "If you need time to breathe, do let us know. Communication is key in a mission such as this, Duck."

"I know, Spock," he reassured the other. 

"Good. I am simply reminding you that you are not alone in that place. Your thanatophobia is understandable and valid with us, but in a mission such as this, pleasantries are not a luxury we can enjoy." Spock patted his back. "Should you truly need time to relax and not move in order to recompose yourself, we have your back." 

"I know. But as you said, we don't have that luxury in high-stake missions like these," Duck said. "I'll have to do my best as well. Hopefully, it's not TOO bad."

"While you're at it, could you please check the lab we found beforehand?" McCoy called out. "I think my group may be walking down the opposite route so I need you to check it over." 

"Nah, we can take the other route. You're our resident doctor. We wouldn't be able to make heads and tails of it," Captain Kirk said. 

"Alright, but I do advise caution when going around. The entire place reeked of death," McCoy said with a frown.

Duck gulped again. "A-Alright."

Uhura and Sulu simply hit McCoy on the head at the same time. 

"OW!"

"Read the room."

"Seriously, Duck's terrified of death, remember?" 

"I was stating the facts! Sorry that the facts are grim!"

"Can we not have this conversation right now?" Captain Kirk rubbed his temple. He couldn't believe these people some days of his life. Chaos was truly a normal component aboard the USS Enterprise and while he relished in it sometimes, most of the time he had to be the mediator in the messes they got into during times of peace and calm. 

Seriously! Years of being with these people could truly grate onto someone's sanity! 

Duck couldn't help but laugh a bit. That was a bit funny, and sure it was a bit scary, but he was sure that they could make it through. 

Somehow. 

The dark hallway made their footsteps sound louder than they actually were. Soft whirring could be heard in the background as the three walked through it, nervous and on guard for anything that could happen. Duck's fists were close to his chest as he looked around. He didn't like being caught off guard in this place. As McCoy had said, it reeked of death and one could never be too careful. 

Each door opening up, as most ships did when the motion sensors detected movement, made them freeze. Each loud noise caused flinching.

Duck just wanted this nightmare to end right now. He couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to celebrate his birthday in peace. Why this?  First, his dad dying on this very day years ago and now this weird mission that scared him to no end? He just wanted a break from all the scary stuff! Was his birthday cursed or something?!

He closed his eyes. No, breathe. He had to stay alert and focused. Anything could happen. Nothing was known for sure as of right now. He had to keep moving forward. 

Perhaps it was this determination which led him to suddenly be aware of a weird sound. A hissing of sorts... from above?

His eyes opened up as his head craned forward, and froze. 

Oh no. 

"CAPTAIN! SPOCK! GET OUT OF-" 

The pipe burst right there, and the three were suddenly at the epicenter of a green gas that was so thick Duck could barely see in front of him. 

"Kid! Are you alright?!" Captain Kirk yelled. Where it was coming from, he didn't know. 

He didn't have time to cover his mouth. The gas went straight into his body and he couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything. 

But suddenly he felt someone grab his shirt and yank him out of the mist, coming to realise that it was his teammates as they began running. "T-Thanks!"

"That was such a peculiar mist!" Spock frowned while running, panting slightly but not letting up. "Whatever they were doing aboard this ship, it ended badly!"

"Yeah, I agree. We should head back and meet up with the othe- WOAH!" Captain Kirk barely avoided two bodies slamming into his own. 

"RUN!" That voice!

"Shang-Chi? Uncle Thor?" Duck gasped. 

"Duck? Someone got our distress call!?" The Asgardian sounded surprised by that. 

"We can talk about this later! Run and don't look back! We'll explain once we're on the ship! Make sure to lock the ship up tight!" Shang-Chi yelled, his feet already on the move. 

"What's going on!?" Captain Kirk demanded. 

"QUESTIONS LATER! SURVIVAL MATTERS THE MOST RIGHT NOW!" Thor yelled, prompting them to quicken their pace.

The sounds of frenzied footsteps nearly made Duck turn his head, but Shang-Chi gently pushed him to face front. "Later. Please." 

He gulped, but nodded as they continued rushing back to the ship, spotting Uhuru, Sulu, and McCoy running back with pale faces. 

No one stopped until they finally got back to the ship, and it was only after they activated the air ventilation system at full speed that Uhura spoke. 

"W-Why were there ZOMBIES IN THERE?"

SilverEyesCharlie Here we go! I don't know much about Star Trek admittedly, so this is probably OOC. Still, I hope you enjoy it!