A Snack for a Plant

It was monsoon season on Duralodon when the Excelsior-class U.S.S. Requiem entered orbit, the starship's crew eager to explore the planet's surface, and so mere moments after beaming down Ensign Kara Dillion was soaked, her lustrous black hair plastered to her face and down her back. Releasing a mock-sigh, she had badgered her department head into letting her be on the initial survey team after all, Kara brushed the hair from her eyes, glancing down at the tricorder she held. The device was overwhelmed by the amount of life in the tropical forest surrounding the young woman, screens displaying only gibberish, and she deactivated it with another sigh.

The sounds of the jungle drowned out the voices of her crew-mates as Kara moved further from the beam-in point. She tried taking shelter from the constant rain, her actions futile due to earlier exposure, but her preoccupation with avoiding the weather distracted Kara from being fully observant. The ensign didn't notice the ground beneath her boots change until she tried to take another step, feeling something nearly tug her left boot off, and looked down at the roughly square patch of ground she was in the middle of. It was partially covered by the broad leaves of a plant a few feet taller than she was and Kara struggled to get under the leaves, smoothing her uniform tunic when she achieved her objective.

It was with mild irritation that Kara looked up upon feeling a drop of liquid hit the crown of her head a short time later, a second falling onto the skin of her left cheek. That droplet left what appeared to be a thin red smear in its wake as it descended to her chin, dangling there for a second before continuing on its way to the ground. It also made Kara's flesh tingle and the young woman shivered at the pleasurable sensation, already reacting to the aphrodisiac within the liquid. After a few minutes more droplets began falling but Kara stayed under the leaves, starting to pant in arousal as the tingling sensations silenced any reservations.

Kara's lack of participation during the check-in raised more than a few concerns but for the ensign it was too late. When her crew-mates found the young woman Kara was little more than a skeleton just starting to collapse within her uniform, flesh rapidly dissolved away layer by layer by the plant she'd come across. Even as she was being observed a bony arm dropped from inside a tunic sleeve, bouncing slightly upon hitting the ground, and the survey team's commanding officer drew her phaser, blasting the plant and its meal into atoms.
"Log Ensign Dillion's death and the entity responsible. Ask for a replacement."