November for the USS Avandar

All crewmembers home safely, and the threat of an uncontrolled Iconian Gateway thoroughly neutralised, the USS Avandar NCC 80203 set a course for somewhere a little less unknown for a chance to take a breath and attend to a few matters that have arisen due to recent events.
Whilst (temporarily) Lieutenant T’Lea is faced with the consequences of her actions concerning the Gateway, Doctor Malon has to do the same – though whilst T’Lea’s demotion has an end in sight, things are far less clear as to whether Malon’s telepathic abilities will recover at all from her efforts to control the Inconian technology.
In the meantime, the newer members of the crew take the chance to begin settling in under more peaceful circumstances – a situation that does not, regrettably, prove long lasting. En route to it’s destination, the USS Avandar encounters something very much out of the ordinary, though investigating quite what it might be initially takes a back seat to the crew having to dealing with the ship being dumped violently out of warp with no warning.
The culprit is soon identified as a biological space-dwelling entity of some kind that attaches itself to the warp core, drawing energy from it and leaving the ship’ systems unbalanced as a result. Quite what it is, what it’s doing, and what it’s reaction will be when something is done about it, are all questions the crew will have to face in the very near future…