As the USS Hera slid smoothly out of warp like buttered pearlescent silk at the edge of the system, Enalia smiled over at Thex who was in the engineering station on the bridge, which was an oddity in and of itself, even if it wasn't the beginning of the dayshift.

From Operations Ensign John Jones piped up almost immediately. "Captain, the Imperial Guard has sent a message asking us to declare our business in the system."

The captain allowed a hint of a grin to grace her lips - the game of bureaucracy had already begun. "Tell them that we're here to allow our Andorian crew shore leave and to peruse the Andorian cultural, natural, and governmental databases via a direct orbital link. We have a scientific interest in their wildlife and historical sites and wish to research several of them while we're here."

After a moment, Ensign Jones replied once more. "They confirm our declaration and have granted us passage to point Ada-six for customs scans. Our place in line is forty two and the wait time is... Ah, sorry captain, the wait time is estimated to be three local hours."

The Trill woman pursed her lips and wondered if this was normal. "If this is standard procedure for them then it's in the spirit of Starfleet and the Federation to comply with all local guidelines and directives. Helm, follow their course and line us up for customs scans. In the meantime, let's make sure we don't have anything scannable that they would consider to be contraband."

"Aye, Captain. Course laid in." Ensign MacNeille said from the helm.

Thex at her station was looking through the info that was coming in. It seemed that Andorian religious and separatist season had happened in the same month this year. Multiple bombings attempted assassinations and several riots that had lead eighteen people dead. Thankfully the imperial guard had put the planet on lockdown and were now searching all incoming and leaving ships. " Well trust it to be rioting season when we decided to come back." She said looking over to her captain.

"That's why all the extra security? I guess it makes sense then," Enalia said as she accepted a PaDD from her new Yeoman that Commander Paris had assigned her - a young man she had found processing comm requests on deck 24 that looked like he was still too young for the Enlisted Academy.

"Wait... They're looking for resins? Makeshift weapons and explosives? Not real ones?" At Enalia's outburst the poor lad looked like he was about to wet himself, so she made a mental note to take him aside later and see if she could work on his confidence or show him that she wasn't going to hurt him or... Something. Try and figure the kid out.

Meanwhile, they had an inspection to get through so she sent the list over to Sonak's station through Heranet Messenger. "That does make sense though - this vessel, while it has massive firepower and arms aboard, they're all registered and traceable. Makeshift weapons and resins used in improvised explosives that can't be traced would be ideal for... whatever movements you'd want to support. Commander Sonak, if you'd be so kind as to scan the ship and make sure we don't have any of those resins building up in any part of the Hera, please?"

The Vulcan complied as he spoke.

''Such resin is a byproduct of matter and antimatter reaction decay. But it has to be deliberately extracted on a live power plant and kept in a magnetic containment field or else it is consumed by the reaction itself.''

After a moment he turned towards the command dais.

''Scanners do not show any such substance aboard and no magnetic containment unit outside of the warp core itself, as expected on a starship. Since engineering is a restricted area, it is logical to assume with all this data that any search will in fact clear us.''

Thex was about to reply but leaned back in her chair feeling her head as a stabbing pain appeared between her eyes. As her head felt weak and heavy her vision blurred as the image of the bridge flowed and was replaced before her eyes.

Her eyes darted open and she immediately began to panic. She was lying on a cold metal table with some instruments of unknown make bearing down upon her. As a long sharp blade began to emerge from one she started screaming as loud as she could as it stabbed own towards her eye.

The thunk filled the bridge as she fell from her chair onto the floor still screaming as she did so. Her eyes darted around the room as she realized where she was as she tried to steady her breathing.

The first officer was already there, taking her hand as her other hand tapped her badge. "Medical emergency to the bridge!"

Looking down, the concerned commander decided against a yellow alert, as no one else seemed to be suffering any malady, and instead she focused on the chief engineer. "Thex? What's wrong, what happened? Are you alright?"

Sonak stayed at his post as he spoke.

''She has been subjected to a rather sudden and intense telepathic transmission.''

"I was in the factory again Rita. £$£% I could feel the needle going through my eye." Thex said as she steadied herself in the chair. "Someone's calling me there. They want me to stop it."

"A psychic distress call is still a distress call," added the Trill captain, whose finger had been hovering over the alert activation panel on her chair. "Discreetly scan for anomalous readings in the system. I want as few surprises as possible."

Sonak nodded.

''Affirmative, Captain. Starfleet General Order 6 does not require any specific form of transmission and compels us to answer immediately. Even the Treaty of the Neutral Zone recognizes the necessity of a distress call from Federation citizenry.''

As he spoke, he was manning his sensors and looked at the readout before reporting.

''There is no anomalous reading from sensors. However, the EM band still registers a faint trace of residual psionic activity between us and the location of Andoria. The echo of the transmission, Captain.''

Dr. Mah strode out of the turbolift with her medkit in hand dropped to her knees and was beside her patient, "Thex stay still please". She had her tricorder in hand going over Thex and looked to Commander Paris, "What happened?"

"She zoned out then collapsed screaming, apparently from a psychic vision she received. From there it's all on you, Doctor," Paris reported.

Dr. Mah nodded and finished her scan of Thex, "Your neurological system has been shocked, as if having suffered a physiological trauma, and your body function's are reacting in kind. How are you feeling?"

" Like someone stabbed a spike through my eye." Thex said as she steadied herself in the chair feeling some relief at the room temperature feeling on her back.

Mah nodded, "I can help with that," she applied a cold compress to the back of Thex's head, "you will want to take this pain med for the lingering headache. In the meantime can you tell me what happened? If I didn't know any better I would be looking for a physical injury."

" I don't know what happened doc. One moment I was here then the next I was on an operating table having a spike stabbed through my eye. " The andorian replied steadying her breathing.

The doctor looked taken back, "Well that would explain the stress readouts, that couldn't have been pleasant on any level." She pulled out her pen light and looked into Thex's eyes to ensure her body did not have sympathetic symptoms. Everything looked clear, "Your eyes look okay which means your brain got to have all the fun but, did not pass on the physiological effects. That's the good news, the bad news, I have no idea why this happened. What I can tell you is this is not good for you to keep repeating so this was a one time deal. If you do this again we will be tracking it vial neural monitoring to see what is going due to the severe physiological reactions. I can't allow one of my favorite dancers getting knocked off her feet, alright?"

The Andorian nodded. " If it happens again you'll be the first person I'll inform doctor." She said doing her best to relax in her chair.

Sonak addressed the physician in his trademark monotone.

''It was the result of a powerful alien telepathic intrusion, Doctor. So alien it affected her physically, and so powerful even I with my limited telepathy felt it. I can help the Lieutenant Commander in strengthening her mental barriers; on the long term with diligent training, but on the short term by being in proximity and able to physically link our minds to share the brunt of it.''

Dr. Mah nodded, "Excellent, keep me advised if the situation calls for further intervention."

"All right people, let's clear the bridge, please," Paris asked, for her, an order. "Landing party convene on the flight deck, pad 7, full EVA suits with Andorian adaptations."

"Let's get down there, and find out just what the hell is happening on Andoria."

''Acknowledged, '' Sonak answered crisply.

On the viewscreen was a ringed gas giant and the frozen moon of Andor where the Andorian and Aenar races called home. The USS Hera wasn't here for a mere social visit, however. The Starfleet Intel vessel was here for a bit of an investigation of it's own. As the scenery on the viewscreen slowly shifted and the mighty vessel slipped into a high geostationary orbit over the moon, Captain Telvan motioned towards Ensign John Jones. "Open a channel to the Andorian Ruling Authority with our request to transport a team to the northern prohibited zone."

With a nod and a series of presses, Ensign Jones complied. "Aye Captain. Transmitting now." They didn't have to wait long for a response as a government signal came back almost immediately. "Captain, we have a reply from an Administrator Take'yen"

"That was faster than I expected," Enalia replied as she composed herself and readied herself for bureaucratic battle - her least favorite form of combat. "Onscreen."

An officious and unpleasant looking blue face appeared onscreen, not looking at the sensor but still working on something else off to one side. When he spoke, it was clear the greeting was a perfunctory one he was required to use, in which he had zero enthusiasm. "Andoria department of historical sites, this is Administrator Take'yen, how may I help you?"

Enalia knew this type of bureaucrat - he was expecting a simple declaration of who she was and what she wanted in either the most pompous way possible or the most droll way possible. She chose the latter to match his expression as if this were a daily occurrence. As she pretended that the PaDD she was holding was far more important, she began her spiel in a nearly monotone voice. "This is Captain Enaila Telvan of the Federation Starship USS Hera requesting permission to send an archaeological investigation team to the restricted zone in your northern wastes. Transmitting coordinates now."

With a wave of her hand, she motioned for Ensign Jones to transmit them.

Glancing over that the coordinates, the bureaucrat tapped at his keyboard, peered at the screen, then in the same disinterested tone reported his findings. "Mmmmm, so sorry Enaila Telvan of the Federation Starship USS Hera requesting permission to send an archaeological investigation team to the restricted zone in your northern wastes. It seems that is a restricted nesting zone for the Untallados, a rare migratory bird. So any and all expeditions to the region are strictly forbidden. Our deepest apologies on behalf of the Andorian government."

The bored diatribe didn't sound particularly apologetic to anyone overhearing it.

Captain Telvan tapped at the PaDD in her hands and motioned towards her nervous new yeoman to check the PaDDs he was holding before looking up at Administrator Take'yen. "Ah yes, the Untallados. It seems our Science Chief put in a request to research them as well. Something about their mating practices. We're also requesting permission to send down a science team to study them, as well as three other native species."

"Mmmmmmmyeahno, those permits are only granted once a year as a preliminary to the mating season, and only by qualified researchers, which your crew does not posses. So your application will be reviewed by the committee and the results will be sent to you electronically." The functionary did not bother to look up, continuing to work as he spoke. For that matter, he didn't seem to be looking up any facts either. Apparently he was so experienced at this sort of runaround that he knew the diatribe by heart.

Waving her nervous new yeoman over, which seemed to make him want to faint with dread, Enalia continued. "When I said my science officer put in the request, I mean that he put it in weeks ago in preparation. I have here the positive reply," As Enalia spoke, she took one of the many PaDDs that the young man carried and held it aloft, her reply as neutral as she could make it. "So how do we proceed from here then? Request form 33-A-29 extended?"

"That would only be the case if this were a geological expedition, not a wildlife expedition. In order to qualify for the permit to enter the restricted wildlife preservation, you would need to file an SJ-10994 and a GRG-9572 as well as an 10090 TB-949 form, with the appropriate authorities, in order to be reviewed, scheduled, and chaperoned onto the site." The bureaucrat didn't seem to be taking any joy in being an obstacle, but career apparatchiks seldom did.

"Excellent. Thank you for your assistance then," Enalia replied as she rifled through the PaDDs that the anxious young man to her left was holding for her. "It seems we have the SJ-10994 and a GRG-9572 completed, however... I'm not seeing the 10090 TB... Which office is that one from and what is it pertaining to?"

"The 10090 TB-949 form is one that has to be filed with Immigration, as you aren't native Andorians," the functionary rattled off in that same flat and frankly bored tone. "Yes, I am aware you have one in the science party as an engineer but that still doesn't make the rest of you Andorians. In deference to our culture and the United Federation Cultural Recognition Act of 2347, when non-native life forms wish to interact with native life forms, the planet in question can choose to require a temporary citizenship grant to such researchers, which is processed by the Naturalization and Immigration Bureau of that region, who currently have a 4 year backlog of cases they are working on surmounting. So feel free to file it with them and you will receive your answer in due time."

"Ah..." The spotted captain motioned towards her skittish new yeoman who almost dropped the stack of PaDDs as she almost had to coax the poor lad over like a cat with a saucer of milk. "I'm not going to bite. Now hand me... Yes, this one and this one."

Eventually, she was able to sort through the roster and come up with a solution. "So if I were to swap out the away team with the Andorian and Aenar members of my crew, I would no longer need that form?" she asked as she held up a PaDD with the pictures of Thex and her three mates, a random female science crewman who happened to be Andorian, and the EMH who had an Andorian filter applied.

"You'd have to speak to immigration for that, it's not my department, the bored-sounding bureaucrat explained. I can transfer you. Hold please..."

At that the screen changed to the Andorian flag, and a soft jazz version of the planet's anthem played.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1n4N2Se3v4


Yeoman Armstrong looked nervously toward the Captain as he tried to keep the dozen tablets he was juggling in a neat order so he'd be ready to back up the commander with paperwork as she called for it. Internally he desperately wished his stomach would just shut up and stop burbling at him and just tie itself in a knot and be done with it.

"Yeoman, do you need to visit sickbay? Or do you have an issue with being this close to me?" the Trill woman asked as the 'hold and rot' music played in the background. She gave her best grin to her new Yeoman, though she wasn't sure if it didn't come off just a bit predatory - she'd been told before that her 'friendly smile' did look as cheerful as a shark's before, after all.

"Ah, no ma'am, not at all, just... trying to make sure I have the right forms for you and hoping that I have all of the right ones filled out and making sure I'm ready for whatever you ask for and maybe a little worried that I might not have gotten everything right so sure that's probably making me a little nervous but no ma'am, no issue being this close to you on the bridge at all, Captain ma'am," the clearly mildly terrified yeoman managed to relay in one long run-on sentence that screamed high anxiety.

"Well, you've done wonderfully so far so I have no reason to doubt your competence," the spotted captain replied, looking over the PaDDs once more. "Now if we could get off of hold..."

Away Team: Rita, Thex, Sonak, Dox, Tova, Sarika

In the runabout Selune, the flight deck team had already prepped the craft and run through the startup sequence when the first of the away team had arrived. The engines were prepped, the stealth systems were online, and the small ship was packed with equipment hardened against the extreme cold.

As was customary for him, Sonak was at the exact appointed time for the departure. After checking the calibration of the sensors and scanners, he made sure there were enough tricorders available for every member of the away team if any and all wanted to add their own observations to his own. Although it was his chief duty as first science officer of the Hera, he was well aware that any lone individual may be subject to errors or lapse in observation, even a Vulcan kolinarh master. it was not an admission of any lack of competence; just of the inherent limitation of the humanoid form. As a scientist, he was therefore insistent upon having at least a second person also intaking data, so that his own scans could be validated properly.

He had never been to Andoria before. There was a long shared history between his people and that of their chief engineer, some of it less than admirable. But the times of conflict between Vulcans and Andorians were centuries in the past now, especially since the Vulcans had returned to the Way of Surak after straying too many decades from it. In this day and age, notably thanks to Humans who's very nature made a natural bridge between the logical beings of Minshara and the passionate ones of Fesoan, having this opportunity to meet such a different people was nothing short of fascinating.

Sonak anticipated much from this experience.

It had been a while since Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox got to actually pilot a craft during a mission with the Hera, as much of the last half year of her life had been spent seemingly everywhere BUT her home. It was a frustration that had been growing in the back of her mind after bouncing from one ship to the next for a wide variety of reasons that she was happy to push out of her mind as she came out of her office onto the main flight deck reading over the report on the various adjustments made to the Selune that she had overseen with the R&D Department. 

Ensign MacNielle had been taking on the responsibilities of the assistant flight chief of late and Dox had deferred the task of performing a preliminary check of all the systems and modifications, though as the mission's pilot, she would be performing all the final system checks herself. Thankfully, the report she was reading looked good and MacNielle was adjusting well to the tasks set to her. For her part, Dox was looking forward to flying a Runabout, for sure. 

The part where she would be at the polar cap of a moon where the temperature dipped well south of 30 below with wind chill however, was slightly less exciting. Hence the thick thermal black undersuit and the modified, experimental EVA suit that the R&D Department had refined and designed specifically for this mission. Her helmet was retracted and she had customized this new variation of her suit so that the metal plating was a metallic red to match her crimson uniform, with a raised silver and gold Starfleet Delta on her chest. 

Looking up, she nodded to the Hera's Chief Science officer who had just arrived on the Deck in his own EVA suit. "Hello, Lieutenant Commander Sonak."

''Greetings, Lieutenant Commander. I have checked the sensors and scanner systems and everything seems to be in excellent working order, especially reagrding the particular conditions of Andoria. I anticipate no difficulty with the equipment and the accuracy of our readings.''

"Excellent." Dox said, noticing that Sonak seemed to be the Vulcan equivalent of 'excited' as well, which the emotional Romulan could best describe as a seemingly higher level of overall engagement that seemed to come with the opportunity for learning or discovery. Of course, it was just as likely Dox was just projecting her own emotions as she thought on it, which non-Vulcans had a tendency to do around the logic-driven people.

"I'm going to begin the final systems check and give her an external visual review before lift off while we're waiting for the rest of the team to arrive." Dox added as she went back to work examining the runabout.

The turbolift doors opened as the reason this whole operation was going ahead stepped into the shuttlebay. The sapphire chief of engineering had a knot in her stomach as she gave a weak smile as she stepped towards Dox and Sonak. " Hello, you two. Ready to get going?" She asked trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.

Sonak nodded in greeting.

''This is my first visit to your homeworld, Lieutenant Commander. Considering the shared history of our two peoples, I am understandably curious and expect much learning from this venture.''

"I wish it was under better conditions, commander. Not only is there my mess of a past to deal with, but my people's nutters are up in arms again," Thex said calmly. Trust the imperial guard to be on high alert. If this went wrong they'd have many questions to answer.

Listening, the Hera's resident mistress of high-anxiety and no stranger to family drama on a galactic scale stopped what she was doing and stepped over to her friend. Dox could read all the cues of Thex's stress a light year away.

"One way or another, we will work out these mysteries, Lieutenant Commander. We'll help you find your answers. As for the political ramifications, the Captain will be running interference and untangling those knots while we do our jobs." Dox said, doing her level best to show determination and bolster the confidence of her friend and superior. "None of us are ever alone here. You'll have us with you every step of the way."

"I'm glad your here Dox. Think the girl will hold up against the Andorian weather?" Thex asked, tapping the runabout bulkhead.

"I believe so, yes." Dox said with a bit of a smile, proud of the work the R&D Department had done. "We worked with the R&D Department to ensure that she's as ready for every possible contingency they could imagine. Multiple system redundancies, added layers of cold weather insulation in case of shield failure rated for temperature extremes as low as negative 250. Compensators for extreme windshear. Surface sub scattering panels for maximum frost resistance. Three layers of shielding that will redirect the cold and kinetic absorption to make the winds work for us by helping charge redundant systems. Multiple function landing skiffs for different surface tension levels and snow. And that's just the start of the system enhancements."

"They ran as many tests on the Selune as they did on our redesigned EVA suits." The Romulan Flight Chief said as she looked at the sturdy Runabout with a nod, patting her own armored shoulder.

''To do any less in our present context would be illogical,'' the chief science officer of the Hera simply said.

"Well let's hope they'll be as good as the tests say they are," Thex said flexing the shoulder of her suit. "Even by Andorian standards, the north polar is freezing."

"As a fellow sciencey type, I'm sure looking forward to this little adventure!," came the excited call from the runabout door as Baroness Sarika made her way in wearing a white and blue civilian colored version of the modified EVA suit, her curved sword strapped to her back. "My cybernetics aren't exactly adapting well to these suit designs, but to adapt and overcome is my fleet's way. If I can't get used to a 'fleeter suit, what right do I have to lead?"

Sonak lifted his right eyebrow very slightly.

''Leadership is earned through the ranks, built on years of service and actual experience. But it is your expertise and specific viewpoint that is welcomed here.''

"You are correct, good sir! And I have proven that time and time again in the Artan way. One of the things I've been trying to learn is how it's done in Starfleet, to try to improve ours since there are no reports or..." Sarika caught herself in the middle of meandering off topic as she was checking her own gear once more, her fingers flexing awkwardly around her brass colored scanner. "But that's a conversation for another day. Today we're going to investigate the northern reaches of Andoria, face certain danger, and return with a bounty of data to analyze! I call dibs on any geothermal vents!"

"Dibs noted and logged," came the voice of the cheerful commander, the feisty first officer, Rita Paris. Clad in her white and navy blue EVA armor, complete with the cold weather adaptations, Paris was fidgeting with the larger, bulkier gloves when she looked up, to notice the colorful suits arrayed around her. "Ah... I thought this was going to be an unsanctioned stealth mission, so I camouflaged for Andoria. Guess I was a little off on this one?"

''Andorians have a larger sensory spectrum than most humanoid species and they can perceive bioelectric fields, '' Sonak retorted in his usual monotone. ''Even shrouded Jem'Hadars can't escape detection from their antennae... unless you come from behind. A good pair of thick-soled boots for stealth would, therefore, be more effective.''

"It's the thought that counts and as a fellow human, I understand completely," Sarika replied with a wide grin and a slap to Rita's back. Indeed, though the pattern was the civilian one and the delta had been replaced with a subdued Artan logo, the coloration was the same on her suit. "After all, we'll be avoiding predators as well and there have to be some that can't see into the EM bands, right?"

Coming back down the ramp from having checked the cargo holds one last time, Dox smiled at Rita. "Commander. While I hadn't considered what Commander Sonak mentioned regarding Andorian physiology, the R&D team did institute another mission-specific upgrade into the suits."

As her helmet was retracted, Dox began typing on the controls on her right wrist, and as she did the crimson red parts of her suit made a light tingling sound for a moment, and with a ripple across the surface, the crimson went white and the Starfleet Delta vanished. "A nano-polymer coating that can be programmed with different color options."

"I read through the manual that covers everything, but there should also be some kind of... what did the call it... an infographic set of menus on the HUDs if we need information on all the upgrades during the mission." Dox said, slightly embarrassed she didn't think to pre-set her armor to a mission appropriate color in advance.

Doctor Mah entered finally in her white medical EVA suit with a blue Starfleet insignia on her chest where her comm badge would normally be and a red cross on each arm. It was similar to her predecessor's but a bit more toned down. She was checking her pockets to ensure they were secure, "I packed half of sickbay in every possible pocket for every scenario I could think of," she nodded to the team, "ready."

"Good to see you Dox." Thex said coming out from under the runabout as she was giving her one final check."If anyone gets into trouble you should turn the color of your suit to bright orange. It's will stand out best against the environment. " The blue girl said turning her own to said color before back to the yellow and white of her engineering colors.

Looking around, seeing the landing party was ready to go, Paris summed it up. "Alright. First off, this is not an officially sanctioned Starfleet mission. The Andorian government has, thus far, bureaucratically stalled all efforts we have made to gain access to this locale Thex is driving us toward. So our current plan is to come down on the side of the mountain range that we are allowed to access, then climb over the ridge and onto the glacier to see what's there. With that said, we are directly violating Andoria's sovereignty here, and committing a crime that can get us thrown out of Starfleet and into prison, for quite a long time, as it turns out."

"So I am stressing, here and now, that this is remarkably high risk- career-ending," Paris stressed once again. "This is an unofficial mission, so I cannot nor will I attempt to order anyone to come with the landing party. You are engendering an enormous personal risk here, and all because Thex has a tip that there's family trouble. I am acting on the standing Starfleet tradition that if it is the senior staff and they all did it, the punishment tends to be blunted. But that in no way protects any of you from the consequences of our actions. So, anyone who does not wish to volunteer and possibly end their careers, bow out now. There is no shame nor will there be any recriminations whatsoever. So, anyone?"

The expression on Dox's face hadn't wavered at all in the moment as she listened to Rita's statement to the assembled crew. Thex's discovery that she was a clone and that there was a conspiracy to hide that information related to where they were going was extremely troubling, and the redheaded Romulan knew that her friend, who risked as much and more to rescue her from Romulus, needed help. Throughout it all, she had a look of resolve on her face and looked over at Thex and smiled slightly before turning back to Rita and replying. "The Selune is prepped and ready, all emergency equipment is stowed, and our flight plan has been prepared, Commander."

"Adventure awaits us and none of us are getting any younger," added Sarika with a wide grin, slipping into one of the auxiliary seats. "Asides, as a member of Enalia's first crew, I feel it's my duty to see how things are done in the Federation so I can improve my own away teams. One thing I don't get though - Rita, you're her second... Sorry, First officer... Our captains and commanders lead our away teams and the Second commands the ship. Is this normal for 'fleet ships?"

"Opposite with Starfleet. The Captain, as the most experienced and high-ranking officer onboard, is to remain onboard, in command of the ship, while the First Officer- or Second, in your parlance- leads the away missions and takes the field risks, reporting back in so the ship's commander can make the calls without hazard in the field." Rita patiently explained to the non-fleeter how it worked in Starfleet, then paused, holding up a hand. "Which yes, she chafes at quite a bit, but Captain Telvan has to trust me to make the right calls and decisions when we are out of contact. It's been an adaptation for her as well, as a hands-on commander. But she has adapted, and this is how we do it in Starfleet, Miss Sarika."

''It is simply logical, '' Sonak added. ''A starship captain not only represents invaluable years of experience and investment, but is charged with the highest responsibility of overseeing everything a ship and crew does. Risking all this in specific narrow tasks any less experienced officer can do is an unwise waste of resources. Moreover, a starship captain is the custodian of many classified codes and data even beyond his ship and crew that would be compromised if lost to any hazard, from a mere accident to enemy capture.''

He turned towards Rita as he added to his explanation.

''Assigning field responsibility to the first officer also provides actual command and hands-on experience to groom a future starship commander, while protecting the investment Starfleet puts in the captain. Usually younger, the first officer thus matures as a command officer while the accumulated years of experience of the more mature commanding officer is not lost even when age would limit field efficiency. This formula gives us exceptional command performance, as seen when Commander William T. Riker and Captain Jean-Luc Picard served on the flagship Enterprise itself.''

"Thank you so much for that clarification of my explanation, Mr. Sonak," Paris remarked with a rather fixed smile on her face that didn't last the statement. "However, as detailed as it was, I did actually pose a question for all of you. Illegal, potentially diplomatic incident creating, likely career-ending illegal mission forming here. Which I requested for those who are now in theory fully aware of the risks to volunteer, as this is a highly illegal action on a founding world of the Federation. This is an action that, as your superior officer, I cannot order you to do, as it would be in direct conflict with your Starfleet oath." At that, Paris herself took a moment to consider. All of this was taking a LOT on faith, and skimpy information at best. In that moment she realized this might actually be a horrible mistake, and that she might be leading these people to court-martial and prison sentences.

Was this just a trap by Andorian factions, to lure them in and expose Starfleet's hypocrisy? While Rita was mostly ignorant of the culture and government, Thex had pointed out there were protests and unrest, so this could all have been calculated for a political ploy, which they might just be playing into the hands of unknown parties here. Internally she wished they had a bit more to go on than an e-mail and a psychic flash. perhaps in stressing the severity of the situation, more might come to light... or at least she hoped so, because she was starting to get a very bad feeling about this.

Thex couldn't help but smile at her family willing to help her. Strapping herself into her seat she began breathing trying not to think about the flash of nightmares she's seen on the bridge. Something was going on here and they were hopefully about to find out the truth.

Sonak then looked at the first officer straight in the eyes.

''Then there is a simple question to be asked: if this is illegal, worse, if this goes against everything we stand for, why are we even considering this action?''

As the young andorian woman head touched the back of her seat she didn't feel the familiar backing, but that off ice-cold steel. Opening her eyes Thex screamed as the sight of the warehouse appeared before her. Images of the tube room and what appeared to be some nightmares operating theater flashed before her eyes as she felt something slice into her skin. More images flashed many of people she had never seen, others of whom she knew and some of races she couldn't even begin to describe.

And at its heart, something indescribable, darker than night itself pulsed and swarmed as it pushed against the ice as a figure in a mask of black starry nights watched on before turning and look straight into her eyes.

And all Thex could do is scream.

Turning sharply at the sound of the scream, Dox was the closest and started to run to the Andorian's side with concern plainly visible on her face. "Thex!? What happened? Was it another message?" The Andorian Engineer had been receiving strong, psychic messages from the planet since the Hera had arrived in the system. Unusual calls for help that had been indicating the presence of a larger concern.

Thex's blue eyes darted from side to side as she slowly came back to reality. Breathing deeply she nodded to dox as she ran her hands across her face. Finally getting some air back in her lungs she finally replied. "Yes, more of the facility and Dox there's something under the planet. Something that can't get out." she managed to blurt out.

Dr. Mah was still getting in her seat as she heard the scream, she bolted to Thex seeing her distress and began recording all diagnostics immediately. Elevated respiration and blood pressure, output of adrenaline and cortisol, all of the standard stress responses. Something was activating her amygdala to detect danger despite the lack of obvious signs of such. As with most Andorains, their bodies could only take so much stress in higher temperatures before being worn down. The last thing they needed was to arrive with Thex compromised and exhausted.

Mah shook her head, "Sorry Thex but, you get a babysitter until this is over." She applied a cortical monitor behind her ear to track what was going on so any possible future episodes could at least be assisted with prefrontal cortex stimulation to help calm the perception of danger. She looked at the crew, "This should help, we may not be able to stop what is going on but I can make it seem less scary and help keep her calm during the mission." Mah connected the neural stimulator to her temple on the other side so the two devices would not interfere with each other and set the threshold for stimulation to automatically run should Thex be out of Mah's range when an episode occurred.

''I saw it as well.''

Sonak's voice was soft as a whisper. Then he blinked and looked again at Rita.

''This solves the legality problem of our actions. Starfleet General Order 6; the request for emergency assistance from Federation citizenry demands unconditional priority from Starfleet personnel. Such personnel shall immediately respond to said request, postponing all other activities. And as General order 13 specifies, territorial integrity may be violated when orders demand it. General Order 24 and 33 would also justify action as there is definitely a potential threat to Federation citizenry where we intend to go. Therefore, we are not here breaking our oath; we are fulfilling it.''

While one might argue that it was irresponsible for the first officer to simply take the word of the regulation-spouting scientist, if there was one thing in this universe Rita Paris believed in, it was Sonak. She nodded, silently accepting his logic.

"You saw him? You saw the man with the mask of stars?" Thex managed to blurt out.

''It could be described as such; I suspect this is but a way for our finite minds to grasp the actual reality of this... entity with which we were briefly in contact.''

His steely grey eyes went to each of them in turn.

''Of late, my former innate telepathic abilities seem to be working toward reestablishing themselves in this universe. This was recently exacerbated with our encounter with the living crystals, and seems to have been stimulated by our brief passage in this other reality we experienced. I am still attempting to understand it fully, but one thing is undeniable; I felt the same touch in my mind as you did, Lieutenant Commander. It is evidence that our planned mission is of definite importance.''

"Well. When the court martial comes a-calling, we'll have a great excuse. The Captain is wrestling the bureaucrats... in the meanwhile, as you can see with Lieutenant Commander Thex, time is of the essence. Load up, people, I've a last minute addition." Tapping the command delta of 130 years ago on her left breast, the mission commander called out to the overhead.

"Ensign Sado, suit up and report to the flight deck. Andorian upgrades, and on the bounce, Mr. Sado, the away team is waiting."



-----------------------------------------------


The Selune slid into the upper atmosphere of Andoria like a knife at the deft hands of Dox, who kept at least one eye on the console as the harsh atmospheric conditions of the frozen moon began to slam against the runabouts environmental shields. 

"Minor turbulence ahead, but the modifications are working perfectly. Landing coordinates set for base camp and eta is 8 minutes, Commander." the red-headed Romulan said from the helm as the Selune pushed through the lower cloud boundary and they could all see the icy crags and mountains of the harsh terrain as they approached the northern regions.

"Outstanding. Alright people, the situation is this," Rita held a portable hologenerator, to illustrate the mission parameters as the shuttlecraft winged it's way to the landing zone. A mountain range sprung up from her hand, and as her finger indicated points on the display, climbing routes and expected climb times made themselves apparent. It was clear the Commander had been working on this plan for more than her usual 10 seconds. "We've no official sanction from Andoria, and we don't want them knowing we're here if this is a cover-up. So we're still coming in on the eastern slope of the Ch'vhaaleth mountain range, where we'll scale the Esebeb trail over the mountain to the western slope. There we'll descend, until we come to this location, on the edge of the great Sh'ovyhrirh Glacier, which is the edge of the predominant glacial mass of the northern pole of Andoria."

"I suspect we will not find Santa and his elves, but in the galaxy, one never knows," Rita cracked the joke, but no one laughed. Everyone seemed tense, for different reasons, save Sonak, of course. Instead he was anticipatory of the mystery ahead. After all, exploring the mysteries of the universe was what had led him to leave Vulcan and serve in Starfleet, and this particular enigma was layered and complex.

"I expect the ascent to take around 2 1/2 hours, given our gear and advantages, and our descent should be managed in a couple of minutes if we use the crystal caverns trail here, which can be ski'd. We'll take our initial readings from there and proceed by foot to whatever is here, which, from Thex's descriptions, will likely be a medical facility of some sort. That we'll all have to play by ear since we don't have any facts yet. Questions, people?" Paris left the holographic representation of the mountain range, glacier and their destination rotating there between them all, a visual representation of the mission ahead.

''Two point forty-seven hours calculating the specific gravitational pull of Andoria during this... skid,'' Sonak specified, confirming the rough estimate of their mission commander. ''Commander Paris, it might be useful if we could narrow down our scans to specific data we should be looking for.''

Although it was not formulated as a question, Rita was so familiar with the Vulcan's speech pattern to understand that this was one; and one aiming at maximum efficiency in a time of crisis. Normally, he would have left himself and others open to all avenues of research and inquiries, collecting every bit of data and studying them more parsimoniously later. But this was not a standard survey mission. She could feel even without their mating bond how focused he was as only a matter of life and death could bring him to be.

Sarika had been taking notes in her head the whole time, learning from the experience and working out what she could take back to her own command later. She lived for adventure, but she also wanted to improve the safety and efficiency of those adventures for her and those under her, bettering the livelihoods of everyone under her command and these 'fleeters had the right ideas in a lot of ways that the Artans were just so close on. She just needed to convince them on it and train people.

"It would, Mr. Sonak. Ideally there will be a facility, which I would suspect to be shielded. So how to look for that is a bit beyond my, but we'll work from visual sightings and Thex's instincts," Paris planned on the fly, realizing again just how little this mission was being sent out on and how genuinely dangerous this expedition would be, both physically and politically. "As for anything further than that... I'm afraid to give more data I need more data Mr. Sonak. Perhaps you could try to isolate the frequency that seems to be broadcasting mental messages of distress to you and Lieutenant Commander sh'Zoarhi? That seems to be our only actual lead at this point, other than the Andorian government decidedly not wanting for us to investigate."

''That would be logical, '' the Vulcan simply said, nodding. ''As for any shielding this expected facility might had, it would be either physical or energy-based. If physical, detection of anomalous material will pinpoint the location. If energy-based, the same would work with energy signature, except in the case of a cloaking system which would of course encompass the energy source itself. However, any energy leaves an effect on surrounding matter and energies. That is what we should be looking for; discrepancies in radiometric decay, gravity or the EM spectrum for example.''

Pondering what was on the table already, Dox considered an additional question as Rita had asked for them, and turned slightly from the helm. "Lieutenant Commander, sh'Zoarhi. Intel data is extremely sparse regarding this region and there are no records of settlements close to our touchdown location, but if that data is incomplete or inaccurate, do you know if there are locals or settlements anywhere near where we will be touching down? Anyone that we may need to avoid or be concerned with, as you've mentioned religious extremists before?" Dox added as she brought the Runabout lower still, deftly maneuvering through the vicious wind currents as if they weren't there.

" The nearest settlement is the fishe...." Thex began before realizing what she was saying. Why had she said it was that t hadn't been that for decades. Not since the party had vanished/been murdered " Sorry, the nearest settlement is the Andorian oceanic research facility two hundred miles south of us. Some of the religious extremists do send people up here for training, but they're most likely all in the capital slugging it out with the imperial guard." She explained.

"There's also the Ushaan ritual zone, in the northern wastes mountain park, which is where I had planned in infiltrating the planet, but that's another hundred miles further south," Sarika added as she checked her own maps. "Outsiders are allowed there with the sole purpose of fulfilling the Ushaan ritual with a native born Andorian or in support of them and as a researcher... Well, it's something I've always wanted to see beyond just the ritual combat."

"Relax, everyone," Rita turned to address the landing party in the cabin of the shuttlecraft. "There's a resort on the eastern side of the range that offers geological tours and photography expeditions, as well as skiing and other snow sports entertainment. We're putting down there then setting off for 'parts unknown' from there. It'll be fine... I may not have an actual plan, but we'll manage this." Patting the knee of the nervous Andorian, Paris offered her most reassuring smile. "We'll get you there and figure all this out, okay Thex?"

Thex nodded as she gripped her friends hand. " I know we will Rita. " She said steadying her voice as part of her body screamed at her to run away and never come back. She knew she had to do this. For all there sakes.


--------------------------
OOC: Suit mods for Andoria, including existing capabilities:

•Variable heaters throughout suit to compensate for personal needs
•Maybe gauntlet-mounted mini phasers for cutting?
•Built in transport enhancers to make rescues easier.
•Limited emergency force fields for avalanches.
•External 'boots and gloves' that are independently powered to insure extremities remain warm.
•Dorsal mounted piton launcher with IFF and piton launcher, 600 M of monofilament line capable of carrying 600 kilos
•Ski/toboggan/boogie board that clips to his mounts when not in use
•Wrist mounted piton launcher with line, as above
• 7 meter web attachment that uses carbon nanotubes to AHEAR to the surface of our armor via molecular adhesion. That adhesion can be set to repel by a minor charge through the armor's polarity that is pre programmed into our systems.

Integrated tactical tricorder package
Integrated targeting scanners
Semi-holographic HUD
EV/life support package (7 days)
Self sealing 9mm armor
Weapons carry hard points on back and thighs
Gravity magnet boots
Enhanced comm package
MACO strength enhancement package (1.3x-3x variable)
Self sealing 13-17mm armor
Medical scanners and built in medical suite
Thermoptic cloak *specialized stealth hull of the Hera package, activatable*
Thigh cases for mission specific equipment
Fire suppressant system

The Away team landed the Runabout Selune on the eastern slope of the Ch'vhaaleth mountain range of the frozen world of Andoria. The resort at the landing site wasn’t overly busy, which enabled the officers of the Hera to disembark and casually leave the resort, to begin their ascent without any fanfare or attention.

Lead by Commander Rita Paris, the team was clad in specialized EVA suits that had all been customized by the ship’s R&D Department to withstand the ravages of the sub-zero temperatures of the frigid moon. Additional heaters as well as specific climbing gear had been added to the exploratory armored exoshells, which would enable the non-Andorians to weather the extreme temperatures of the frozen world's extremes of cold.

Their final destination in the northern regions was beyond the pass that they were scaling, which was officially off-limits from them, by order of the Andorian government. But a series of cryptic clues, the distressing discovery that she herself was a clone, and sudden, jarring and alarming psychic distress calls for help that the Hera’s Chief Engineer, Thex sh'Zoarhi had been receiving, had led the team here to investigate the growing list of concerns.

The seven-person team moved as quickly as they could in the densely packed snow, hiking single file up the steep mountain pass. Rita Paris, Lieutenant Commander’s sh'Zoarhi, Sonak and Mnhei’sahe Dox, Doctor Tovana Mah, Field Medic, Ensign Tanaak Sado, and Artan Baroness Sarika walked single file.

During the arduous, two and a half hour climb to the edge of the pass, the team pressed forward through blinding blasts of snow, 80 kph polar blasts of wind, and temperatures reaching negative 55 degrees celsius.

From the middle of the line, the hot-blooded Romulan pilot tapped the side of her customized helmet as she trudged onward and upward, using the suit’s trekking rods, which telescoped out of the gauntlets of the armor for extra stability. “I have to say, I’ve never been quite as happy for the strength enhancements in these suits since we had to fight Valkyries in them.”

As she spoke, on the inside of her helmets heads-up-display, a tiny image of a cartoonishly proportioned Fiona O’Dell popped up. The gregarious Ensign was the fearless test pilot of the Hera’s R&D Department and clearly put a piece of herself into the new suits she helped design and test as her the holographic helper piped up.

"Oi! Didja know, the strength enhancement capabilities of yuir armor can be cranked up to three times that of normal, and will even compensate for greater Vulcan strength! It's a meter over here on your right, and it can run at a surprisingly minimal power drain!" The little cartoon frowned, then tapped the screen. I" see yuir at high altitude and nae changin' yuir O2 mix to run rich, accordin' to the biosensors. Maaayyyyybe ye should change yuir O2 flow to the recommendations yuir bioscanners are pointin out?"

A small yellow button pulsed where the cartoon of the lively ensign pointed onscreen.

“I’m not getting frostbite and losing my mind, am I? Please tell me I’m not the only one of us getting these technical recordings from O’Dell in their helmet?” Dox joked, smirking as the minuscule Mariposian hologram vanished again, only after the Romulan pilot pressed the virtual button to change the O2 mix.

"You mean the leprechaun and the bird that's been popping up every time I use something in the suit? I thought I was just snowblind," replied the Baroness as she trudged along with the others. "If it's not that test pilot offering advice about something, there's a cartoony version of your wife drinking tea in the corner of my HUD pointing to my power levels."

"Well... the R&D Department is certainly through. Chipper, but through." Dox chuckled lightly as they continued, nearing the top of the ridge.

"It turns off, fortunately," Paris chuckled as she fired a piton and climbing cable into a rock face that her suit's sensors assured her were stable. Once it was secure, she began climbing, using the winch and her own muscles to haul her up the mountain, laying the climbing cable for the team behind her. "I think we'll crest the ridge in a few minutes, then we can plot the course and ski down. Is everyone checked out on the skis or the sled attachment?"

''Affirmative,'' answered Sonak. ''This shall prove an interesting experience.''

Skiing in any form was a totally unknown activity on a hot rocky desert planet like Vulcan. Skis in fact were never invented there. For his people as for himself, they were a most alien contraption; more so because it was more often than not associated with leisure activities, another thing rather rare on Vulcan for several millennia. Sonak had of course diligently if briefly prepared for this mission on the holodeck; but now, this was the real thing. No instant transport to sickbay for a quick fix if he fell and broke bones on rocks outcroppings, floundered in deep soft snow or failed to swerve from a ledge. Here, just knowing about all the intricacies of gravity and friction was not quite enough.

Interesting experience indeed.

"Aye, Commander." Dox replied to the First Officer's question.

"The what?" Sarika asked, the Fiona popup playing in the background of her comms, explaining them to her. "That's a bloody thing the suits do now? Turn off... off... off.... go away... no, not... Stahhhhhhhp...!" In the background of the Baroness's comms could be heard a cheerful explanation of yet another away mission protocol built into the suit.

Thex was doing her best to keep up with the rest of the group, but every slight twitch on her head was making her worry that she was about to have another vision. Worst was the eerie feeling like she'd been here before.

While Rita Paris was no mountain climber, she was wearing a powered exosuit built for exploration and customized for the mission in this case. As O'Dell's obnoxious Armor Assistant had cheerfully informed her. Putting her on mute meant that she poke in cartoon word balloons, but Rita could live with that much easier than the little leprechaun literally chattering in her ear while she was trying to concentrate. The suit's scanners had mountaineering programs loaded, which analyzed the sensor data and projected the best paths to take and what hazards to watch for. It had been a while since she'd climbed a mountain, and last time, there had been stairs.

Eyes flickering to the display on her left where she was keeping track of the away team with literally eyes in the back of her head, Paris tabbed her comm to private and contacted the combat medic who had chosen to bring up the rear, which placed him in front of Thex. Both were lagging more and more as he gave her ground, trying not to rush the somewhat fragile engineer. But they needed to stay on course and on time if they were to avoid sensor sweeps at the peak of the ridge. If they were spotted, the Imperial Guard would be en route in minutes, and the calm commander had no illusions about her people avoiding or besting the Andorian Imperial Guard on their own home planet.

Ice. Moon. Idly she realized that if she asked him, Sonak would be happy to inform both her and the landing party. She made a note to make that her second call.

"Mister Sado? Lieutenant Commander Thex is having some difficulty. I suspect her confidence is quite low and that she's rather vulnerable right now. But I need both of you up this mountain, and I need you to be with the landing party when we reach the top. Am I understood, Ensign? Gentle, but if you have to carry her, so be it. She's your patient."

The medic glanced back at the slight Andorian and his heart went out to her. Although he didn't know the whole story, he could tell she was bravely fighting a battle he couldn't see. "Understood, Commander."

Changing channels, Paris opened a channel to the Chief Science Officer. "Sonak, while this is demanding and dangerous, I think some science is called for to keep the crew engaged mentally in all of this.: Without missing a beat, Paris changed her comm channel to broadcast to all six other members of the landing party.

"Mister Sonak? While I understand that Andoria is a moon, I must admit I do not know if it has a core of molten iron-nickel alloy like Earth, one of stone or is it actually ice all the way through. Would you be kind enough to elucidate?"

The Vulcan scientist quickly explained.

''Andoria is a moon only by virtue of being a celestial body orbiting a planet. In size, mass and structure, it is much comparable to your Earth; twenty-one point nine percent bigger in fact, hence its thick atmosphere and relatively sparse amount of very high salinity surface water over large tectonic plates, with quite impressive seismic and volcanic activity providing telluric heat. The thick ice covering and low temperatures are due to its distance from its binary star, somewhat alleviated by it's proximity to Andor, a gas giant and therefore an additional source of light and heat due to its protostar nature.''

In the middle of the line, Dox smirked lightly in her helmet, appreciating just how good of a natural leader Rita truly was as Sonak gave the basic science lesson, which was infinitely preferable to the tiny Fiona that kept popping up.

"Didja know?" the cartoon icon of the test pilot popped up as if on cue inside Dox's HUD, her brogue immediate and hurried. "There's an increase in seismic activity that might joost be the signal for an-"

"AVALANCHE!!! Everybody anchor, NOW!" Paris called out as her sensors gave her the warning, even as she was ascending up another winched distance- exposed, but at least tethered. Behind her, all of the away team were tethered to a line as well, but the cascading wall of ice and snow picking up speed, mass, and momentum as it roared down the mountain would test their technology as only nature could.

Dr. Mah was used to having to respond quickly after years of working in hospitals. She immediately anchored into the rockface by her wrist and pulled herself as closely to the face of mountain as possible as she activated the forcefields in hopes of not falling.

Sonak was barely finishing speaking when he felt the tremors in the ultrasonic range. Immediately he clasped Rita with one hand, Dox with the other, and moved his body to catch Doctor Mah on his back as the mass of snow fell under, around and over them. The worst thing that could happen would be for them to lose one another. He calculated that his Vulcan Strength added with that of the Romulan and the Andorian would be enough to keep at least the four of them together, and that they would both react fast enough to also catch someone else until the avalanche would settle.

They would see soon enough if he calculated right.

"What thaaaaa..." Mah's anchor was not as well placed as she thought, she came sliding down and grabbed onto Sonak before tumbling further down the mountain. Her arms and legs were wrapped around the poor Vulcan like a koala as she tried to get her bearings.

"Imirrhlhhse!" Dox cursed in her native Romulan, holding tight to Sonak's hand and reaching for the next in line with her other, as the suit's emergency force fields strained against the force of the avalanche. Her feet were ripped out from under her as the snow beneath her joined in the descent down the cliffside. In an instant, she fired off the emergency piton and repelling line that was built into the rear of her belt that punched through the snow under her to connect with the rockface.

With a hard jerk, the powerful emergency winch added another level of stability to the ground while the wall of snow continued to slam past them. Still connected by Rita's line to the rest of the team, she squeezed each hand hard and prayed to Al'thindor that she would help anchor them until it passed.

Thex had been trudging along in an almost daze like state as the stabbing pain in her head throbbed and subsiding. Her soul was telling her to run far far away that she should just forget all of this and go home to her girls....

"Avalanche!" Alarm blared through her head, seemingly breaking Thex from the trance and back into reality. Without even needing to think her emergency piton line fired anchoring her into the ground as she activated the magnetic lock on her suit as she grabbed Sado and held on with all of her strength.

If not for Rita's instruction to keep an eye on her, Thex might have missed Tanaak altogether. His reflexes to fire his anchoring line had triggered second to his instinct to take two large steps back towards her and stretch out his hand. "Got you!" he breathed into his helmet as he pulled the Andorian under one arm, preparing to shield her as best he could from the rolling snow that threatened to overtake them.

Sarika, for her part, tried to activate the emergency features built into her arms, only for them to be blocked by the EVA suit itself and just in time, she was able to activate several random features in it, those being the webbing launcher, which secured her to Dox, fired off a piton into a nearby outcropping, extended her wrist poles, and deployed the 'bubble' saving her just as she was buried in snow.

The sensors in Rita's suit warned her- seismic, atmospheric, air pressure all added together to give her time to react. Not enough time to winch to the top of the climb she was currently ascending, but not close enough to the face to secure herself. Sonak grabbed her hand, in a grip like a vise. He'd been meters away a few seconds ago- clearly, he saw the danger as well and was in motion. Reaching up to grasp the climbing cable. Rita locked the winch as the climbers below secured themselves to the face. Activating the gravity magnets in the palms of her exploration armor, she looked up to face whatever the universe was throwing at her.

In this case, a chunk of a mountain.

In the case of an avalanche caused by a slab, formed by the wind. On the mountains, the wind compresses snow crystals one against the other, destroying the structure of the crystals to form fine granules. The granules accumulate, forming very unstable slabs that do not stick to the lower layer; but remain separate, as if there were a mattress of air. These slabs often form in windy areas, under cornices, in crags on the slope and in the bowls overloaded with snowdrifts. This snow crashes very easily and the whole slope is affected by the impact of the broken slab.

In this particular case, a few rocks were breaking loose along with the snow and ice and crystals, and at the lead of the climb, Rita caught a few. Which in turn caused the brake on the winch to slip 8 cm against the onslaught. Which would not have been a problem save that while the winch slipped, her grip on the cable did not, and with a pop, Rita Paris had dislocated her shoulder. Easing off the magnetic grip slowly, the arm slid down the cable and eased the tension on it, but it was still dislocated. Cutting her audio to anyone else in the landing party, Rita wailed in pain before she calmed herself.

"It appears ye've dislocated yuir right sho-" the Virtual O'Dell managed to get out before Rita shut it down, blowing her sweaty bangs out of her face.

"I've dislocated my shoulder. My winch might be able to make the climb- should we assess at our ascent?" Mission commander she was, but Paris knew when to defer to the professionals.

''It would be more logical to see to our injuries and reassemble before continuing, Commander, '' Sonak proposed after a long look at her to make sure nothing more serious had happened to her.

He activated the tricorder built into his EVA suit and made a few adjustments.

''Sensors do not indicate any other sign of tremor; and most of the snow mass is now past us, so we should be secure from any such mishap in the foreseeable future. However...''

He frowned in concentration a moment over his readouts.

''Something peculiar is registering; barely but enough to suggest there is... something our data banks can't seem to recognize and scanners can not precisely pinpoint. It is also either very small or very faint, very far, or very thickly covered. At this moment, I can not even confirm if it is matter or energy. Most interesting.''

One by one, the team dug its way out of the covering of snow and debris from the avalanche while Sonak scanned.

As soon as Dr. Mah was free she put out a call to the others, "Mah here, Injury report, sound off", she was doing a field-level triage of the injured to determine who needed help and in what order. Her first hope was Sado in case she needed assistance. Normally she would defer to those of higher rank but she knew when it came to the health and safety of the crew her call was final and she took that role as seriously as the other senior staff.

From just under the drift, Dox's voice came over the comm as she finally breached the surface. "Dox here. I'm fine, Doctor Mah. No injuries."

The Baroness Sarika slowly dug herself out. "I'm fine! I'm still here. Remind me to train on these suits more next time though?"

The deep, monotone voice of Sonak then was heard over the channel.

''One injury to report, Doctor; Commander Paris has a dislocated shoulder.''

"On it" Mah nodded to Sonak since it was his quick thinking that kept her from falling down the rockface itself, "I need your help Sonak." Already kneeling down to Paris, hating that this was going to hurt the Commander she'd come to respect. She accessed the med suite within the suit, did a quick scan to verify the diagnosis ensuring none of the rotator cuff was torn. She looked to Sonak and limited communication between Paris, herself, and Sonak.

"This is a case where I need you as her husband to assist in a way no other can offer help, sirs." She gave a dose of analgesic to Paris, yet not so much she wouldn't be able to function and then released the restrictive bracing within the suit holding the shoulder that would allow her to rotate the arm back in. "I'm sorry Paris, I won't tell you this won't hurt, cause that would be a lie. I'm going to need you to completely relax while I rotate your arm in place. Your husband is your emotional and physical support, now is not the time to be a badass. The more relaxed you are the easier this will be especially given this cold weather. This needs to be a fast one-shot deal or it could cause damage for the rest of the mission we don't have the luxury for am I clear?"

"I've suffered both dislocations and relocations before, Doctor. I'm a big girl- let's do this," Paris explained as she breathed evenly, legs solidly placed and a relatively serene expression on her face. When she spoke, she sounded reasonably emotionless. "You may proceed, Doctor."

The young doctor fresh to the final frontier looked at both of them, insuring they understood the seriousness of what was at stake. "On the count of three I will move your arm- don't fight it or try to control it at all, ready Paris? One, deep breath," Mah looked at her O2 sats to ensure they reached at least 98% and picked up Rita's injured arm, "let it out, two and..." Mah pulled the arm up to a 90-degree angle and continued the rotation until the arm fell into place around 120 degrees with a loud POP within Rita's suit, "three. Humerus bone reset, I will set your suit to be supportive of the joint during the rest of the mission. Let me know if the pain returns, communications returning to normal."

She stood up away from the two to allow Sonak to help Paris up with her limited movement for the moment as she logged the incident and made notes to follow up after the mission.

"Thank you, Doctor, much obliged," Rita directed the medkit in her suit to run a deep regeneration on the cartilage around the joint as she rose, checking her scanner details. "It looks like we're close tot he top, folks. At the pace we'll make our coverage window and be over the peak of the ridge on time. Let's take another minute, then press on."

In due time and on schedule, the team reached the summit. Once there, heading down the other side was quicker, but no less dangerous or difficult. The modifications to the EVA suits included curved, weather-resistant panels attached to each leg that connected to the boots and acted as skis, complete with retractable poles on each team member's gauntlets.

Using Sonak's sensor readings as a guide, the team rapidly descended the snowy expanse and did their best to be as quick as they could possibly be. To their credit, the mostly inexperienced skiers made good time, with Dox only falling over a couple of times during the trip down. Keeping pace with her on the boogie board both skis could be connected to create, the water sport enthusiast adapted her skills to try to ensure the least of their skiers were kept on course, and no serious injuries were incurred.

After a considerably shorter decent than the two and a half-hour ascent, they had arrived at the edge of the glacier. From there, the team proceeded to hike on foot across the frozen, windswept ice. The march across the frozen landscape was far from easy, however, the difficulty was lessened by the customized EVA suits that the team was wearing.

That was, until they reached their destination.

Expecting a building or a ravine, or something that looked Andorian-built or natural would have been one thing... Instead, they were faced with a crack in the ice-filled in with what looked like black steel with a red mark etched into it in several locations.

And no obvious way in.

"Well at least we know I'm not crazy." Thex's voice said, as she stared down at the pile. How had anyone gotten this much steel up here was beyond even her guessing abilities. She tried looking at the red marking etched into the location but every time she did a splitting pain shot through her head.

"Thex, I am seeing increased cortisol and stress responses, are you in pain again?" Mah was concerned for her patient given the proximity of where they were heading to the stress readouts she was seeing.

" Just when I look at the symbol. It's like my whole body wants to throw up." Thex said blinking a few times as her body seemed to recover while looking at the white snow.

As Dr. Mah addressed the Hera's Chief Engineer, Dox watched quizzically. She had noticed the azure engineer wincing when she tried looking at the unusual site and couldn't help but recognize the symptoms.

"That... sounds like a programmed pain response linked to the visual. Like someone wanted you to walk away if you ever saw this. I've... seen this kind of thing before. The Tal'Shiar did it to my father." Dox said with concern in her voice and a smile for her friend.

Even before their arrival, Sonak has been hard at work with his tricorder. Now standing right in front of what he had been scanning, his left eyebrow rose.

''Interesting; this... barrier do not register as matter, nor energy, not even as plasma in between. There is no fluctuation in its readings and scans can not penetrate it or beyond it. yet, it is there like some form of... solid void, as illogical as this notion is. but I can not find any more suitable definition of what I am gathering.''

His gaze rose to the barrier.

''These markings however are readily identifiable. They and similar ones were first recorded during our sojourn into this... alternate reality we recently escaped from with the Romulans. ''

"Well THAT'S an unsettling coincidence," Rita Paris muttered as she looked around. "Options? Drill in from the side with the phasers? Analyze the null material here to unlock its secrets? Let's hear some ideas, crew."

As the chief science officer of the Hera, it was Sonak,s duty to provide options to the commanding officer. He thought for a moment before doing so.

''Based on our previous experience with this other reality, I hypothesize it could be possible to penetrate beyond this barrier using the same basic principles that were used to send us into that other realm. We could use the reaction of a single atom and anti-atom to create a micro singularity through which we could send in a transporter beam, and us.''

He looked at Both Thex and Rita as he offered caveats to his own suggestion.

''However, unless we can regulate the reaction as in a warp core, that would require us to be out of range of the ensuing antimatter explosion; meaning at least four-point seven kilometers... and time the transport with the exact moment of the detonation. And unless we can replicate the same conditions once inside, or find some way to bring that barrier down, or find another way out, this would be a one-way trip.''

Immediately, Dox's mind locked on the words 'transporter beam', knowing full well the unresolved and scientifically inexplicable issues that Rita Paris had with that specific technology.

"As a general rule, transporting should be accounted for as a last, possible scenario, I would imagine. Particularly with so many variables." Dox interjected, not mentioning Rita's unique 'allergy' specifically, but alluding to it well enough to convey her thoughts, she hoped.

"I was pretty much the only one here that WASN'T with the rest of you in the Undrheim. But I know that neither Hera nor Death herself could see into it while you were there, so if Thex is receiving telepathic messages from inside, this has to at least be different enough from that." Dox said, working out her thoughts allowed. "And if there's someone in there, it stands to reason there's a way in and out that isn't as risky. Some kind of door or... resonance frequency that might allow us to pass through safely or drop a section of the field."

"So I'm not sure what the rest of you are seeing, but with my cybernetic eyes, there seems to be something different about that section over in that general area." As Sarika spoke, she continued scanning with her eyes and motioned towards an outcropping of ice not far from them. "As if the... Let's call it void-space... Is less dense or has something under it."

Sonak nodded.

''I adjusted my tricorder to the em spectrum of your oculars and I confirm what you report. Assuming the logic of Lieutenant Commander Dox, which is sound, and the fact that Lieutenant Commander Thex has experienced telepathic contact, I would hypothesize that there is a biometric component to this... aperture. If there is indeed a resonance key to it of such a nature, it would logically be one that is attuned to Andorians in general, if not our chief engineer in particular.''

"So someone managed to pull a part of void space into our reality to use as a keep out sign. This keeps getting...." Thex said before freezing in place before with a yell of pain fell to her knee's despite the pain she could see clearly through eyes not her own eyes looking straight at her and her friends. Despite the stabbing pain in the center of her skull she managed to yell out. " They know we're here."

''...Confirmed.''

if the unexpected hesitation in Sonak's voice was not enough, the fact that he staggered before his mental shields compensated for the sudden psionic onslaught left no doubt in anyone's mind.

He came quickly to the Andorian's side and touched her temples through his gloves and her helmet to better share his defenses with her. What he was now experiencing was only the echo of what she felt, received through his barely reawakening telepathy; yet it had almost overwhelmed him. He didn't have to guess the pain she must be going through.

But pain was a thing of the mind. And so, he shared his with hers, and his lifetime of training that had been even tested successfully against the Talosians.

Even then, based on their previous experience with thee outerwordly entities the sign suggested, and if they were truly involved here, he calculated only fifty-three point forty-seven percent probability even this could be enough.

Hopefully, it would be enough.

Without knowing she done so Thex grabbed the Vulcans arm with her own desperate for anything that could anchor her amongst the countess memories and thoughts that were not hers. Flashes of lovers she never knew, heartbreaks she had never felt, and mountains upon mountains of her own deaths fell upon the blue girl, but among it all she saw one thing that stood out clearly.

"There." she yelled pointing to the part of the sea of ice and metal. "There's a passage there," she staid staggering up and lurching towards the spot. Despite the pain stabbing in her head, her legs found strength as they made there was to the none specific spot in the landscape. Which with an eerie black glow appeared to fold outwards revealing a slit growing deep into the planet.

The human laid her hand on Sonak's shoulder, lending what strength she could to the Vulcan as he attempted to bolster the Andorian as they investigated her mysterious past. Which seemed to be getting more sinister by the minute. "So, 'they' know we're here. Given that psionic assault and cloning and lots of keep away signs are the hallmarks of these people, no chances, phasers out, heavy stun, people. We're going in, but we're taking no chances."

As she unclipped the outdated-appearing phaser from her hip and adjusted the settings, Rita Paris stepped forward to enter the unknown. Taking the lead, because someone had to, and she was mission commander, so it was her responsibility.

Now if only the growing pit of dread in her stomach would shut up about it.

"Single file except for Thex and Sonak. Sado, you're the rearguard, so get your rifle out and be prepared. The rest of you stay close, stay together and sing out if you hear... or feel... anything unusual." Eyeing the landing party, Paris nodded with a confidence she didn't feel. "Let's move."

"Aye, Commander." Dox replied flatly, as she usually did in a potentially dangerous situation, quelching her innate nerves as she unclipped her phaser to the ready.

"This whole thing reeks of bad tuna..." Sarika muttered as she cycled her eyes through the various bandwidths, making sure everything was logged and recorded for later study. "There are sayings about venturing where angels fear to tread, right? Something about fools rushing in? Sorry, I'm still studying a lot of human classical literature but I'm trying to say that this feels like something not of this universe to me."

"We're not angels, but we're also not fools, 'Rika." Dox said to her nervous, silver-haired friend, lightening her tone as she spoke and calling up the tactical scanning settings on her heads up display. Immediately, wire-frames of the team and their environment overlaid her point of view allowing her a clearer view of what they were about to walk into. "We stay observant and focused. We stick close as ordered and remember that we're here to help. We remember that these phasers aren't our weapons. Our best weapons are our heads and our words. Even against things not of this universe."

In truth, the little speech was as much for Dox's own benefit as it was for Sarika, as the group began to slowly step down through the dark slit that had opened ahead of them that seemed to cut into the harsh planet before them.

Mah followed the team in watching the read outs from Thex and Sonak as they proceeded in. She wasn't ready to increase the interuption to the signal to Thex from whatever outside source was targetting her yet given the proximity of where they were heading. She was hedging her bet with her patient that there may yet still need to be further intervention and if her body could hold out with Sonak's help she would let the situation continue as it was. Sonak seemed to be none the worse for wear, Thex though reaching the range of her limits was yet to be at them and her only other patient thus far, Rita was still doing fine. That didn't help her sense of dread about what they were heading into however. Possible cloning, hidden facilities, extreme conditioning to keep the area hidden from the woman who was a possible victim of the situation, all of it went against what she held dear as a doctor. She steeled herself for what they were going to potentially find, knowing that she would understand better than most the horror of what was really being done.

Thex could barely even see straight, as the group descended down the narrow corridor that seemed to stretch down forever. The noise of the wind had long been replaced by the dripping of ice that fell down the passage. Everyone had the feeling that they were being watched now, as if eyes were watching them from behind the ice sheet.

When the Hera's team must have thought it would never end, sensors showed it leveling off, and just as soon as it had begun it leveled out in a landing ending in a big metal spiral orifice portal. A faint blue light burst flickered into life, illuminating wider entrance area.

"Well, big metal door looks reasonably certain to be our way in. Now if only we could scan through it, that would be keen," Paris muttered, brow knitting in consternation. "Alright people, look around, the control mechanism must be here somewhere. There's a way in, even if it's our little light over there."

Looking around, their suits built-in scanners weren't revealing much in the way of mechanisms on their side of the metal partition. "Well... that light came on when we got here, and my sensors are reading something that resembles a sensor lens generating it. That field out there parted for Lieutenant Commander sh'Zoarhi. Perhaps that light is a scanner that might recognize her as well?"

"Do you feel anything specific, Thex?" Dox asked, stepping a little closer to examine the light source.

The short Baroness had been looking the light source over as well with her cybernetic eyes, her brows furrowed. Eventually, she got fed up with the suit's own HUD getting in the way of her own and, taking a deep breath, popped the helmet open, the cold air blasting her in the face and freezing her eyebrows almost instantly.

What she saw without the filters of the helmet helped out quite a bit, it seemed. Rather than a simple light source and a big metal door, she now saw that there was indeed an old bioscanner hidden in the wall just under the light that somehow the suit's slightly tinted face shields were filtering enough to make virtually invisible. It was also such old tech that tricorders and sensors would have a hard time picking it up.

Locking her face shield back in place, Sarika let her breath out as the suit's midget Mariposian berated her and she warmed back up. "Aye, that was brisk! There's an old tech bioscanner under the light. Looks to be from before Andorians had warp. I'm guessing it's keyed to one genetic code and Thex... My latinum says it's yours."

The chief engineer nodded as she used all of her strength to walk over and wave her hand over the blue light. The pain in her head was unbearable, and she collapsed against the wall as the spiral door began to slowly slide open. From the sound of it, the device was ancient, as chips of rust peeled off, and yhe metal squealed a bit in protest as it moved and slithered back into its holes.

"Looks like you win the latnium, Sarika," Thex mumbled weakly as she looked out past the door, then instantly wished she hadn't. As Rita came to brace her shoulders and help support her, the sight before Thex made her collapse and begin to sob. On the other side of the door was a massive room that seemed to stretch on for eternity into the darkness. A room full of tubes, full of a viscous black liquid that seemed to glow, even against the darkness. Each of the tubes bore a symbol of a five-pointed star that had been distorted along its lines, and contained within it an eye-flame symbol in the center that seemed to stare at the Starfleet away team.

Mah saw Thex's readout levels spike past the point of pain tolerance for even hardened soldiers, which earned an increase in her neural interference to act as a pain blocker directly to the brain's receptors. It was a risky move- Thex would barely feel any physical pain whatsoever so if she took damage it was now readout information that would report actual damage not Thex. She could easily sustain serious injury if Mah wasn't careful, thus every alarm possible was set to sound off if Thex got hurt on Mah's medical monitors. "How are you feeling Thex? Any better?"

The andorian nodded as Sonak and Rita helped her to her feet.

Dr. Mah wanted to make sure her patient was stable before looking at the containment units. Black fluid surrounding a cloned unit was never good, the ideal was a fluid identical to that of the host mother's amniotic fluid. The sludge surrounding whatever these units had within was nothing close to the healthy consistency of humanoid lifeforms currently known within any medical journal the doctor previously studied in her decades of medicine. Even the smell was off which did not bode well.

She looked at Dox, "Can you please assure containment is secure on this unit as I examine the contents visually? Even if we can't get good scans notes can be taken otherwise."

With Sonak busy helping Thex, Dox stepped forwards and nodded. "Aye, Doctor." In all matters medical, Tova was in charge and the red-headed Romulan immediately followed her instructions.

"I'm picking up… 3 units with minor temperature regulation leaks. 1 with power failure at the end of the row. But no leaks on any of this chemical mixture, which is reading as… some kind of biological fluid with… Andorian DNA traces in it. But there are no detectable fields or mechanical trips. I'm not getting any booby traps, Doctor."

Dr. Mah began a scan on the first container as soon as Dox gave the all-clear. She wanted comparative scans on a few of the containers for comparison.

"I am… however… feeling a presence trying to push past my mental defenses. It's faint, but as soon as that door opened, even with my limited psionic sensitivity, I could feel it. I think we're close to whatever's contacting Thex." Dox said, following up on Rita's prior order. "I'm fine, though. It's barely noticeable, and not getting in."

''You should be able to maintain your defenses properly, '' Sonak confirmed. ''I have strengthened them as best as I can and I can provide telepathic support if we stay within visual distance of one another.''

He turned towards Rita.

''Commander, there is definitely an... echo of what we experienced in the, let's call it nightmare reality we went through recently. Whether this is indicative of actual connection with that reality, or just a remnant of some previous contact, it is difficult to say at this time. But it is there. We should be very aware of any sudden change of behavior among us, that could indicate possible alien influence. If things happen again as it did during our last encounter, each one of us might find oneself isolated and alone without a starship to pull one through.''

"Great. Paranoia protocols, people, on top of everything else. This can't be a coincidence... first Odin dumped the station there, then we get sucked in with the Romulans, now this? The universe doesn't make coincidences this big. Someone's definitely manipulating us here... but to what end?" Paris put it out there, because the entire landing party needed to know, and to be considering the greater mystery at hand.

Without anyone in the group noticing, Thex had begun pointing at something deep in the warehouse. One of the tubes was calling to her in a strange humming lullaby. Her feet didn't seem to be moving, yet she found herself moving towards it hearing the faint cries of her friends when they'd realized she had left the group. Her boots began to crush on broken glass as she approached one of the tubes. Dust and the black slimy goo littered the floor as if it hadn't been touched for many years.

Tears flooded down her face as she realized that this was her tube. This was where she'd been born, grown and... had someone forcefully removed her from this? Yanked her into the cold dark of this place of nightmares?

Feeling very small she fell to her knees before the tube sobbing as the horrific nightmare of her birth crashed upon her.


To be continued...

In the dark expanse of the dimly lit warehouse, the rows of dusty tubes filled with dark fluids lined the corridors. By the estimation of those in the away team, possibly hundreds of them in the expansive chamber. But there was one that had drawn their attention at the moment more than the others.

The Chief Engineer of the U.S.S. Hera knelt in front of one of those tubes. A tube that had been shattered and left empty. Around her knees were shards of broken glass and half-dried crusts of the black chemicals that had clearly once filled this tube as well. The lights on this tube, no longer occupied, were long dark- unlike the similar ones around them.

And kneeling there, surrounded by her crewmates and friends from the Hera, Thex sh'Zoarhi wept with the chilling realization that she had been born in this very tube.

Looking at the dust-covered glass at her knees, the armored Andorian would have wept if she had any tears left. Her whole life had been a lie. Someone had bred her in this and forced n all the abuse and pain of her growing up.

As Thex stared into her old cloning tube and the others stood by for support, there was the sudden sound of an old and rusty metal door slowly coming back to life. Standing near their friend, Commander Rita Paris made a quick but silent motion for the others to be ready and maintain the perimeter. Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox, Baroness Sarika, Doctor Tovanna Mah, Field Medic Tanaak Sado, and Lieutenant Commander Sonak all complied, forming something of a barrier around their suffering friend.

The door was at the end of the row of tubes they were on, and from the darkness came an eerie sound of a clomping foot followed by a sickly dragging sound of metal on the deck plates beneath them. Slowly, they watched with phasers at low ready as a heavily robed figure entered into their view.

Shuffling into the light stepped a hunched over Andorian that looked disturbingly similar to Thex from the side facing them, favoring her good leg and chuckling softly. Grinning as if her sensibilities had left her, or perhaps never were.

"Wel...come..." came a voice that sounded like the azure engineer, though cracked and hoarse as if it rarely spoke. The words came out slow and deliberately with disconcerting breaks in her speech patterns as her breath appeared in the frigid air around them. It was still extremely cold in the chamber, if not quite as intense as was outside.

"I see... some of... you... Some have... met something like the master... before." With that, she turned to reveal that her other side was not a completed or successful cloning process, but a grotesque and melted masque of horrific blue flesh that barely looked livable. "I am... the caretaker. I... maintain the... facility for the masters. Please excuse... the mess..." 

Turning more towards them, the light illuminated the rest of the caretaker's face. While the left side looked like a gaunt, malnourished version of a somewhat older Thex, the right side was a different story. Her right eye had drooped with a cheekbone easily three centimeters lower, the eye itself foggy and glazed over as it seemed to be focused on nothing. Her blue skin was mottled and covered in a series of raised welts that stretched the skin to a taunt, thin-looking sheen. The rest of the skin that wasn't pulled taut over the distended chin or protruding brow was wrinkled and hanging below the rest as a trickle of drool worked its way down her cheek.

A face that told of the horror Thex had apparently only barely escaped.

"Sonak, get some samples of that goo and an analysis, please. Mah, scan for variations between Thex and the Caretaker. Sado, you just became Thex's bodyguard. Not a scratch," Paris ordered, which was a sign of tension in and of itself. The courageous commander tended to ask for what she wanted, almost never ordering. Stepping in beside Thex, Paris kept her phaser down, but stood ready to support the lithe engineer. This was something Thex had to face- all they could do was support her in this exploration of the horrors of her past.

As Rita had been speaking, she had also been typing additional orders on the wrist-mounted controls of her EVA suit, and glanced at the red headed Romulan for a second. Across Dox's HUD read: 'That door the caretaker came through is still open. Full scans in what's in there.'

While the others got to work as ordered, Dox passed a glance to Sarika and silently, both women backed unseen between two of the tubes to go investigate.

The Vulcan used his toolkit especially tailored for scientific nanalysis and collected a sample of the substance with utmost care. Once it was safely stored into a container, he scanned it with his built-in tricorder. Through the visor of his helmet, everyone could see his right eyebrow go up.

''Fascinating; this at first analysis looks like protomatter; however, it is definitely organic in nature. This is reminescent of what has been speculated as the transitional compound between inorganic and organic matter at the source of the process of life. But the fact that it exists here and now clearly suggests that it is either manufactured... or originates from outside of this universe.''

Dr. Mah finished her third container and approached the Caretaker as close as she felt was safe and did a medical scan and well as a visual catalog of observations. "Observational notes of Caretaker, medial line developmetal differences. Subcutaneous structure reflected in epidermal molting and lack of turgidity. Skeletal structure reflects zygomatic arch sinking into buccal zone on right side...optic development is in question. Verify if this is a result of erroneous cloning or injury. Gait is compromised apparently from femoral, possibly lumbar region. Speech pattern is stuttered, most likely from underdevelopment of Broca's area within brain. Review scan for remaining findings." She sighed deeply as the scan finished up looking at the initial readouts understanding that what was done here was illegal in every Federation planet. This wasn't just directly cloning, to save a race that was facing the threat of extinction, this was was expermintation on beings that were no longer even completely humanoid in the failed cases.

"Rude..." The caretaker frowned, looking at Tova. "Am... right here "

Dr. Mah walked up to Thex ignoring the misshapen Caretaker, knowing full well she was accurate in her assesment, "Come on Thex, this is not who you are. We all have beginnings but we decide what our story becomes. Stand up, you are not meant to kneel, you are meant to stand proudly by the crew who loves you enough to be with you as you face this difficult time." She put her arms gently under the beautiful Andorain she had grown fond of and was determined to care for.

Thex nodded as she stood up. Turning away from the tube as she decided to find out the truth to this nightmare. She was Thex. The chief engineer of the Hera and she wasn't going to die until the master's pad for whatever they were doing here.

"Brave... Little... Sissssster." The voice of the caretaker hissed as she limped closer to Thex. Of the two antennae on her head, one was gnarled and curled up limply, but the other twitched and moved towards the azure engineer. "They all... protect but you are not theirs to... Protect. You are the MASters."

As she spoke, Dox and Sarika silently returned to the group, forwarding their findings through the suits network to Rita. Scans of the next chamber, containing a bank of ancient computers, and an additional, single tube like the others. Then the deformed woman turned towards the others. "You are... for the masters. All... but..."

Her good antennae twitched as a pout came across her face. "All but the red one. She has not been... prepared. But the rest... You are of the masters liking."

Sonak faced Rita.

''Commander; it might be relevant to inquire more about this... masters she is referring to. If someone is here and responsible for all of this, all our answers should be found there.''

Thex starred at the shriveled version of her that was staring back at her. How could anyone leave someone to suffer like this? " Who are the masters and why have they let you suffer like this." She said softly to this twisted mirror version of herself.

"Heh." The twisted caretaker chuckled, a mirthless thing that scratched out of its deformed throat, "I... do not suffer, little sister." Then, she held her arms out wide and bowed towards Thex. "I am... as the masters have made me... as are you."

"Yes. So pretty pretty... you are. Perfect little one. So... smart... so pretty." She continued, her voice dropping to a hiss in the cold as she narrowed her one, good eye and glared at Thex. Then, she reached a wrinkled, gnarly hand over to the nearest tube and dragged a slider across the console at the base of the glass. As she did, the black fluid began to bubble within the tube and the darker color began to swirl upon itself, becoming just light enough to allow the true contents within to be seen. 

In the tube, was a near-perfect duplicate of Thex, herself. It's platinum white hair longer and unkempt and its eyes closed, but seeming to move it's chest slightly. A thin black tube down its throat. "Pretty... useless things. ALL of you... made to give yourselves... to the masters. I live to serve the masters. I... am... strong. I am good. And I will... be... rewarded for my service... to the harvest."

By this point Sarika was well past the point of officially freaked out and ready to write the whole mission off as a bad idea. She had one of the Starfleet phasers in one hand and her sword in the other and while she was keeping an eye on this 'Caretaker' person, she was keeping an eye on her 'fleet companions to see how they were going to handle the situation. After all, she'd never been in any situation like this and her senses were popping up death flags left and right and dying was not on her list of things to do today.
" The masters are the man with the face made of stars?" Thex asked though the thought felt wrong as t had left her throat. As if she had said something that she couldn't.

"Yoooooou... have seen their truth. The... MASters are... evvvvreything." The caretaker said, stepping a bit closer to Thex again, her voice rising as she did. "The masters are the thoughts in your mind as you drift away. The eyes... in the dark. They sculpted you and gave you your... mind and set you out into their universe to do... what you were made for."

On those words, the single, good eye crept down to look at the anxious engineer's middle. "And you... did well... We can... feel it. You will... spread their majesty. As will... your brood."

Without even thinking Thex wrist-mounted phaser was raised and aimed straight at the clone with enough power n it to vaporize her and a few walls behind her. " Don't you dare even...."

"Enough." Boomed a voice that appeared to be echoing from the darkness surrounding them as everyone's wrist-mounted phaser and personal weapons suddenly crumbled into a thousand pieces. "Cease this nonsense, and bring them to us."

Meanwhile, the caretaker began to chuckle, as her cracked voice lowered to a dry rasp. "Heh heh heh. You're in... trouble. In trouble, little sister. Naughty, naughty."

Then, the caretaker stepped back, grunting as she did, as she began moving towards the door she came in through, dragging one of her feet behind her, hunched over. "Walk... this way."

"Dematerialization of specific objects, which demonstrates intent, fear of the weaponry and a pretty clear desire to dominate. Mr. Sonak, what are the odds what we're seeing and experiencing may be illusory?" Paris asked the analytical scientist who happened to be a formidable telepath. "Deep scans as we follow Igor here, people."

''There is currently no evidence to reject anything of what we are experiencing, '' Sonak answered, hard at work with his tricorder, using the hand-held unit to verify the readings he was getting in the heads-up display inside his spacesuit. ''Until we have such evidence, we should treat everything as real until there is evidence to the contrary and a way to deal with the falsehood. You and I know how, without it, even pure illusions can be as significant, even as deadly, as reality.''

"Fair enough," Rita Paris replied, remembering the buttheaded illusionists whose mental projections could literally reshape reality. "Well, let's see what's in the mad scientist who's creating life's laboratory, shall we?"

"Commander, I advise caution as we proceed especially for Thex. Her system is compromised and highly open to influence. We need to keep her within our ranks as much as possible." Advised Dr. Mah as they began to proceed.

Dropping the hilt of the sword she had drawn and the remains of her phaser, Sarika sighed heavily. Yet another death flag. On top of that, the katana that Enalia had given her when she had set out to find her own freedom away from Arenara was now little more than scrap. At this point she'd just be happy to survive this.

Passing through the rusted door that the caretaker emerged from, the team stepped carefully as strips of antiquated fluorescent lights flickered on overhead in the slightly smaller inner chamber. 

With the Caretaker walking at the head, she turned slightly to gesture with her more deformed, gnarled hand. "Come. Come. The masters... they.. call. They speak... through their chosen. Through our great sister."

Along the outer walls of the room that appeared to be approximately 12 to 15 meters across, with a taller, domed metal ceiling, were banks of old computers. Most still seemed to be active and working as the outdated, rounded off screens pulsed with lines of data streaming across them. Workstations with chairs caked in dust that looked undisturbed for years as they curved towards the center of the chamber. And in the center, another tube.

Like the other tubes, this was filled with the same thick black liquid with the same eerie symbol upon it. But this tube was larger than the others. Twice as large, easily, with bundles of twisted cables and tubes running along the deck from it's rear to the computers. Above it, another series of massive tubes and cables that stretched up to the center of the dome, then down along the sides and back to the computers. 

As the caretaker reached the tube, she opened up a panel and pressed her hand to the panel, causing the red diodes on the panel to turn blue. Turning to Thex, she chuckled, drool leaking forth from her distorted lips. "You are... for her... little sister. She called and... you... came. She is the first among us. The voice of the Masters... flows through her greatness."

"Let... her know... it is you." the caretaker said, her voice a sickly thing, as the black fluid began to swirl in the tube. Swirling and roiling, to lighten to a metallic, silvery blue color that was just transparent enough to reveal yet another horror.

In the tube was another distorted reflection of the Hera's Chief Engineer. Its head was massive and distorted, easily three times the size of Thex's own. It had no eyes to speak of, as if such things never grew upon it, instead having what appeared to be three long, prehensile antennae upon its head that slowly pressed themselves against the glass. Its body looked like that of a shriveled child, dangling beneath its oversized cranium in the swirling fluids.

Sonak stepped closer to Thex as he addressed Rita.

''Commander; this one is the source of the telepathic contact. However... I sense that this telepathic field extends beyond her. And if I understand our host correctly, she might in fact not be the actual source but... a relay.''

A few words came out of Thex mouth that didn't translate well as she looked at the thing that was in the center of the room. Who was this..... well her and what had they done to her.

"Who...?" Thex began as the sound of another door opened into the room. Someone Andorian-shaped was standing in the door slowly clapping to itself as it said hidden in the gloom from the other room. "Oh, Thex have you not worked it out yet. I thought we trained you better than that." Said a voice that froze Thex blood.

Into the room stepped Relaoss sh'Zoarhi an evil grin on his... His face didn't look right. None of him did. It was as if something was attempting to imitate an Andorian was standing there. It's limbs moving jerkily as if it was glitching in place as it floated towards her.

Sonak was scanning the apparition and his eyebrow went slightly up.

''Biometric readings do not fully correlate with Andorian physiology. There is... interference, and some readings I cannot correlate with what we define as organic life; at least, not in this universe.''

He paused in his cryptic delivery to glance only for a moment towards Rita.

''There are however correlations with data we recorded... in another one.''

"I see. So- hypothesis, given all the data at hand?" the gold-clad commander asked, trying to formulate her own theories.

''I can see only one at present; someone or... something... is working on either adapting itself to our form of life; or trying to mold life to itself.''

"Commander, base DNA sequence scan confirms this is one of biological compatibility to Chief Engineer sh'Zoarhi, mentioned Dr. Mah. It was the most gentle way she knew to confirm that they were dealing with one of Thex's parents for better or worse. In another situation, at another time she would have broken it down with much more delicacy but that was not an opportunity given at the moment.

A laugh that seemed to freeze the condensation from his breath came from the Andorian as to listened to everyone talk. " I'm right here you know. I am one of the commandeers of this imperial guard facility. That all of you are trespassing in may i add. "

In other circumstances, Sonak would not have spoken; that was the prerogative of the team leader. But this time, he perceived that the authenticity of first-hand testimony was required. And so he spoke:

''Incorrect; we were asked to come here.''

"Mr. Sonak, you keep up on Federation law. What are the regulations on cloning, I'm curious?" Paris asked, her eyes never leaving the Andorian crypt keeper. "As to us trespassers.... we are here because we were summoned by a distress call, so that would be our primary defense. After all, we would never have found this place were we not guided here. But a cloning facility being run by the Imperial Guard? I am quite behind the times in my education, but does that violate the Federation charter, Mr. Sonak, I am curious?"

''Cloning, especially cloning of organs and other replacement parts for afflicted individuals, is part of the regenerative medicine the Federation highly favors over crude methods like cybernetics. That being said, there are clear regulations about that method; first and foremost that the subject has to be fully and properly informed and give free consent to any such procedure regarding oneself.''

He looked at Thex while saying this, giving her a lever she could use in the present situation. Then he added:

''Also, cloning is a medical procedure and therefore falls under all the relevant laws about medical practice; one being that it is allowed only under officially recognized medical authority, by a certified physician for example. Although I am not fully cognizant of the Imperial Guard's jurisdiction, I doubt it covers medical practices in general or cloning in particular.''

"Children children children." Came another voice as another door opened. A female Andorian stepped through another door. She bore a distinct resemblance of Thex though her appearance was somehow even more unnerving than her male counterpart.

"If you only knew what she is, truly. Of what she's going to do. Why do you think he created her in the first place? " She said her hand jabbing to the deformed Andorian in the tank, which started reeling as if in a great deal of pain.

Thex drooped to her knees as she felt the pain reaching fro her head which felt like it was being split open. A course of screams echoed from elsewhere in the base as what sounded like thousands of Thex's screamed in unison.

Feeling the pain, Sonak mastered it within his own psyche, then went to Thex and touched her to induce a mind meld so that his own defenses and pain control disciplines could be shared with her. It took a lot of his own mental strength even coupled with hers. The telepathic onslaught was only short of that of a Talosian, as he perceived that more than their two minds were thus interconnected through the link.

For her part, even Dox could feel the intense force of the telepathic assault that wasn't even aimed at her. For a moment, she stumbled back herself and did her level best to keep her mental defenses up as she winced through what was, to her, little more than an echo of what Thex and Sonak were enduring.

Meanwhile, Sonak concentrated on diffusing the pain by closing up the assaulted nerve centers in both their brains. But he did not try to sever the connection. For one, there was logically critical data to get from it. And furthermore, this was Thex's choice to dictate. Unless both their lives or sanity would be in danger, he would simply support her. Thex would have to make the decisions.

"Tora, please, make it stop!" Thex screamed to the thing she had thought was her mother.

The female Andorian didn't seem to notice the screaming, but with a single gesture, the screaming died though the deformed Thex in the tank seemed to still be in pain as she continued twitching. Turning for a brief second Tora's lower body seemed to warp into a mass of tentacles, before morphing back into its just as disturbing form.

"Tell me, do any of you believe in god? Not the mere ashes of him like the ones you've met, but the real creator?" Tora said the words seemingly oozing from her mouth.

Feeling Thex was out of immediate danger of harm, he turned towards the deformed Andorian.

''Belief by definition is accepting something as true without evidence. Therefore, Vulcans do not 'believe' anything. Logic would indeed support the argument that there is a prime cause to everything; but logic alone is not evidence of anything.''

"I believe I've had enough of both of you," Rita Paris declared, then fired a phaser beam on heavy stun at Tora, then at the 'Master'. As they had been casually torturing Thex and her clone sister, Rita had experimented behind her back, flicking her wrist to summon another phaser from the inventory she kept within the extradimensional space of the bracers she wore. She'd let this tableau play out to see where it was going, but the torture and pointless scenery-chewing had gotten on her nerves, and she'd decided it was time to take action.

If the phaser blast had done anything it didn't show as the light seemed to vanish as the phaser beam seemed to vanish into the darkness. " Would you look at that. It thinks its toy can hurt us." Came another voice as another female Andorian stepped into the room. She snapped her fingers and the phaser splintered into a thousand pieces n Rita's hand.

" And that makes three Evylao. " Thex said bitterly at the sight of her Shreya as Sonak helped her up.

" Thirteen thousand four hundred and seventy-three so good to see you again. I'm glad Akal didn't damage you when he went mad and ripped you from your tank before running. He put up quite a fight trying to "save you" as he called it. We'll have to ask him about that when he comes to his senses." Evylao said a chair materializing out of thin as she sat down in the same strange manner as he colleagues walked. Her knees didn't seem to move.

" Now to business. " She said in the same cold term as with a tide of dust and rust a massive shutter that clearly hadn't been opened in decades crawled open behind her. Illuminated by a strange black glow was the massive black pyramid from the picture that Thex had shown everyone. Whatever it was made from seemed to pulse and squirm as it sat miles beneath the ice.

" I'm sure all of you have a lot of questions to ask. So where would you like me to begin." The Andorian said in the same cold tone from her chair.

Earlier, Rita had asked Sonak about the reality of what they were seeing, and now as she watched, Dox began to question it as well. Particularly regarding the creatures that were appearing as Thex's parents. The observant Romulan, even as she pushed back against their mental force, had been watching. Seeing the flickers where the image of Andorians vanished for moments where instead, nightmarish coils of tentacles seemed to instead exist.

These were from the Undrheim. The nightmare realm that the rest of the team had been trapped in. The things that Masato Rei... the being known as Death incarnate... described as creatures that existed in a realm that the gods deposited their discarded in to be devoured. 

But, more importantly, they were beings that might very well not really be here. Not in the way they wanted it to appear, at least. So, as they postured and seemed to undo Rita's phaser blast, Dox had her arms behind her back, typing to the golden commander on their secure comm systems. =^=Cmmr. caretaker said the masters voice flowed thru the 1 in the tube. Sonak called her a relay=^=

With her fingers behind her back that she couldn't see, the typos kept coming as Dox continued, =^=they might be projections. if they come from Undrheim, then they might be trapped there. using Thex's sister's power to manifest here. but they are talking and making shows odf force. they need us for sometihng.=^=

Keep your eyes open and wait for your moment, Paris sent to the entire team in response.

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do than waste my time with you," Paris sighed, launching into what she'd ask a reasonable person. "Why would you do all of this? Why make alllll these Andorian clones, then just keep them locked in tanks in a secure facility far from prying eyes, maintaining it for however many years this has been here. To what possible end? Also, if you are going to explain to me that my feeble mind can't comprehend it, then don't invite questions."

Clearly this was not Rita Paris' first encounter with seemingly omnipotent beings, nor was she particularly impressed.

" The same reason you wear your uniform Mrs Paris. To protect Andorians from the crawling chaos that hides in the darkness. We are all that's left of a group in the imperial guard known as the black group who's job is to make sure agents of the great enemy don't manage to bring him through. " Evylao replied her tone unchanged.

" Have you looked in a mirror recently. Your barley Andorian at this point." Thex managed to spit out. If her words had even been heard the three Andorians didn't notice as they continued as if nothing had been said.

" As for the clones they have their uses. Has she told you about the patch she has in her DNA? The one that stops her fertility falling?"

While all this was going on, Sonak kept both his returning telepathic ability and his tricorder active, collecting data and staying alert about their hosts and surroundings; most of all about anything ''out of this world'' he was expecting to manifest at any moment. he had recorded and perceived enough to logically deduce that this was what was bound to happen in the next minutes.

he had to be ready; and he knew that his readiness would register on Rita, not only because of their mating bond but through her long time experience with him and situations like this.

It was not the first time they faced either illusion or madness.

Dr. Mah for her part stayed very quiet all of the proceedings. She was scanning the clones, Thex's parents, the tubes, all of it for data about the experiments on a medical level. Cloning on this level was not only unethical but, illegal according to Federation law and Mah was collecting the evidence they needed to make their case from a medical standpoint. Even if they didn't have permission originally, there was overwhelming evidence to allow for the mission now. Her quiet fury was high as the evidence of what they had done kept coming in. She understood the open DNA sequencing that allowed for the melding of the Underhelm creatures they were leaving. It also led to massive deformities, abnormalities, and enhancements. She would review Thex's DNA sequence and could repair it later, for now however she was looking at a possible commonality within the sequencing that could work in their favor.

Is it just me, or are they stalling? Rita asked Sonak through their telepathic link. And lying, but overall very little of this makes any sense. What are they hiding here, what's their true purpose and why this silly charade? If they wanted to manipulate us, hostility was their worst plan. Now they want to appear reasonable and play 'mysterious Q&A where a minute ago they wanted to seem all-powerful? This is highly illogical- do you suspect insanity? Your thoughts?

Sonak, after a small but definite pause, answered the same way.

Your logic is valid based on what we are observing. The notion of insanity might be coming from their apparent illogical behavior in light of our ignorance. We still don't know who they are and what they want. But it is obvious they want something... of us or... at least one of us.

He paused again before adding:

We still know little as of yet; but if they are in some form of contact with entities suggested by the clues gathered so far, and with their demonstrated abilities, my own mental shields extended to you might not be enough; they are possibly trying to listen on us right now.

he looked at her.

This is a good time for a Q&A of our own... and disrupt their timetable.

Ask away... I'm still formulating questions, Rita replied, watching the unfolding tableau. Want to try some logic puzzles on them?

Sonak nodded and turned towards Evylao.

" You claim to protect Andorians from what you define as the crawling chaos that hides in the darkness. How do you manage to accomplish this?''

" By doing what must be done. When children play with nuclear weapons do you let them go ahead and play with them? When the emissary finds people he can use to try and bring the crawling chaos through he does so without hesitation. It's why our ancient ancestors built the pyramid. The Andorian fertility problem has happened before. In their desperation, they prayed to the gods to save them. He heard them and had them do the ritual to bring the crawling chaos through. Something happened and all that popped out was the original. An Andorian with a DNA patch from Azathoth himself. Luckily the primitives didn't damage her that much when they clubbed her to death. " Evylao said slowly and coldly.

Thex was trying to listen, but every word they were saying felt wrong. Her body was telling her to run go far away from her. Her blue eyes fell on the deformed copy in the tank who was looking straight to her. For a brief moment, she heard a faint whisper in her ears.

" No not..... please....pain.....stop them." She heard in her own voice.

" If I'm an abomination why are you..." Thex began before her foot crunched on something on the floor. Looking down she looked at the shattered remains of a syringe. Unlike the rest of the room it looked new as if it had....

The blue liquid leaking out of it and onto her boot. She couldn't even attempt to stop it as she lost her lunch, breakfast, and dinner as her throat gagged at the realization of what they were doing with the clones.

" Ah, she's finally figured it out. Took her long enough." Tora hissed out.

"What is that?" Dox asked, concerned for her friend and looking down at the broken syringe.

" It's me...." Thex said softly as she tried to pick up the broken syringe and fluid hold it to her like it was a child. " it's what they're doing to me,"

Dr. Mah quietly scanned the liquid, not saying anything but still comparing the readings for sequencing. The liquid was the key to what the Masters sought, an age-old 'elixir of life' with a catch of course. They found a way to harvest the eukaryotic nuclear pore complex along with healthy mitochondria to ensure cellular regulation within the mRNA. This was ensuring proper regulation of nuclear lamins, essential for the maintenance of tissues and essentially setting their cellular aging process back to the zero point. The problem was of course with each infusion and rewrite of their DNA sequencing the introduction of a control sequence of new chromosomes was also being introduced giving eldritch entities a deeper grip and the efficacy was becoming less. Mah now understood exactly what was going on and the horrific consequences for not just the subjects being harvested but those who participated in the infusions. The implications were catastrophic if this was a world wide practice. It could be traced and stopped but the damage was done. Now the question was how deep the damage went.

Cmmdr scan result confirm clones used for DNA harvest reverse to aging, resulting in DNA tie to masters

"I think we've seen enough. Any reason we can't just walk out of here, inform the Federation of what's going on down here and let them handle it?" Paris asked. Whatever weird science was going on here, she was more than past trying to figure it out. It was immoral, illegal, and whatever motivations may have existed for it, she really didn't care. This operation was coming to a close, one way or another.

''That is the logical approach, '' Sonak acknowledged. ''The Andorian Government, Starfleet and the Federation Council must be informed of this and act appropriately to stop the crimes committed here... and prevent anything worse.''

He was reminding them of their duty but also of the implicit peril in what they could now understand of the situation. This was much more, much worse, than merely finding a ring of the Orion Syndicate.

"I hate to say this but..." Sarika spoke up, shaking her head as she looked between her Starfleet counterparts and the semi-Andorian semi-Eldritch beings on the other side of the room. "As an Artan Baroness, this is usually where I'd retreat, come in with a few dozen small ships, bombard the area from high orbit, and be done with it. This sort of genetic work tends to be frowned upon and then you add in all this nightmare fuel for good measure? You'll have to excuse me, but no, our policy for that sort of thing is kill it with weapons fire."

Sonak frowned a bit.

''There would be some logic in this, but, aside of immediate emergency or threat to life, it would be somewhat wasteful, possibly damaging... and highly illegal.''

"Not my call, but this mission is," Paris added, then switched to internal comms. "Alright people, we've seen enough here and we're leaving. Let's go- Sado, take point. Doctor Mah, support Thex. Sonak and Dox on sensors, Sarika, you're free safety. If it moves and it isn't us, put steel through it."

''Acknowledged,'' the Vulcan chief of science answered, his eyes still on his tricorder.

As the team began to follow their commander’s direction, something happened. In the large, central tube where the eyeless, deformed Andorean with the three antennae floated, those antennae began to twitch and move again. In their seats, the eldritch, modified Andorians seemed to freeze in place along with the deformed caretaker, who had been standing silently since their entrance. Then, as the telepathic clone in the tube’s antennae pressed again up against her tube, an almost ghostly Andorian wearing garb from nearly two thousand years ago shimmered into view.

"Please, do not be alarmed.” echoed the voice that, like the woman’s face, was near identical to the Hera’s Chief Engineer. “I am the progenitor. My name is Talla P’Trell. I am she whose DNA my sisters are all based upon”

With a raised arm, the ethereal Andorian gestured to the deformed being in the tube. “My sister’s power is great. It is her mind that gives the dark ones access to this realm, but she has a strength of her own will and allowed me to speak through her now, and in my cries for help, but there is little time."

The look on her face as she began her plea was one of concern and care for her fellows in the facility as she looked over the shoulders of the away team towards the door to the previous chamber they were in. To those still in the tubes. "The beings that you see here… their true minds are buried deep between the veneer of the masters. But they are still there... I can feel it. However, the seals deep within this facility that we fought so hard to protect are slipping and with what they have done here, Nyarlathotep has been able to crawl into their minds. Please forgive them their discretions."

"You who have been touched by the nether realms are the only ones that may safely approach the temple without the ancient ones weakening your minds. The one who has not felt the touch of the crawling ones upon her mind, I can aid with an ancient rune. This is why those of us here in pain have called out to you. Why I have sought to save my sisters the only way I could think of… through our greatest sister's friends." This time she looked at first Thex, then to Sonak in turn. "The choice is yours. If you help us, we will use the last of our power to send you to the temple to do what you must and we shall face your justice. If you choose not to... Then we will aid you in your escape so that you may tell the worlds of the horrors you have found here."

The ghostly visage then fell silent and awaited their reply.

Sonak looked at the spectral face then at Rita.

''This is a distress call."

"It is. I don't know how qualified we are to reset seals in a temple that holds back ancient eldritch beings... but then, when has that ever stopped us?" Paris grinned at that thought, as it was quite accurate, given their exploits. "Alright... send us in, and we'll see what we can do to reinforce those seals and keep your crawling chaos at bay for another millennia or so."

"I thank thee. If I had the power, I would restore your arms, but I am afraid we only have the power to clear your way and distract the others." The image of the ancient Andorian closed her eyes and concentrated and as she did, the one in the tube began twitching in the swirling fluid as Talla P’Trell's will flowed through the other one's mental power. As it did, the Caretaker and the Masters all flinched slightly, the hold on them tightening for the moment.

While the image of Talla P’Trell's feet didn't quite touch the ground, she stepped slightly closer to Dox. "The symbol you see on the tubes. The eye within the star. It is an ancient rune that gives protection to those clones within. It is a limited form, but cast it upon your suit and it will aid in protecting you from the influence of the masters."

"Be wary. Things may not be what they seem." With that, the ghostly visage motioned towards a nearby brick column as part of the brickwork moved out fo the way to form a doorway. "This pathway will transport you down into the temple and pyramid of Nyarlathotep. Please use care but move quickly - we do not know how long we will be able to forestall interference from the others. My sister's gifts are great, but it is a great strain for her to enable me to speak and hold them."

And with that, she vanished.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Sarika muttered as she glanced over towards the red and gold glow coming up from the new doorway.

As always the mighty warrior woman known as Hildr was prepared for battle. Tightening her fingers into fists that could shatter lesser beings, the towering blonde bombshell stretched the leather straps that held her armor upon her breast as she took a mighty breath. Upon her brow, a glistening, silver winged helm sat low. On her hip, a long, two-handed broadsword was strapped tight and hung out behind her, pulling up her velvety blue cape as she let out that long breath.

It was time to approach the raging being on the other side of the massive, ornately carved wooden door and have, at last, a reckoning.

Grabbing the twin, golden rings, Hildr pulled, and the massive doors, easily 4 meters tall, swung open. Standing inside at the balcony overlooking the golden realm, was the former Baroness of the Artan Empire. The enhanced woman, empowered by her connection to her intended, Schwein Von Alcott was in a mood. And a woman with as much power within her as Schwein now did being in a mood was a dangerous thing indeed.

But as her chosen guard and confidant, the Valkyrie known as Hildr was honor-bound to do something about that. "M'lady, I have received word of some... beast... in the northern seas of Vanaheim. It has vexed the local fishermen and has caused quite a bit of devastation."

"Mayhaps... you seek some... diversion?" Hildr asked, the slightest hint of anxiety in her deep voice.

Turning her frown into a grin, the former Baroness turned to her friend and companion, tightening a couple of the straps on her own gold and leather armor and patting the lightning cudgel at her side, the royal blue cloak trailing behind her as she turned. "Aye, I could use a diversion. My mind is filled with worry and running in circles and if you have something that I can throw my fists at, I would much appreciate it."

It was odd that after all the years around pirates and Starfleet she had kept her accent, yet here in Asgard she now tried to pick up the local speech patterns. Her Germanic accent was still there, but she now had a distinct Asgardian twang to it as well. "Let us go dance with this beast that troubles our people so, ja?"

Relaxing a bit, Hildr had been worried that her not-so-subtle attempt to offer her lady a distraction would be received poorly. Standing up a bit straighter, the broad-shouldered woman stood a good head taller than her mistress and smiled. "Then... let us be off. To which we have only one decision to make. Shall we travel by rainbow bridge... or Rainbow Dash?"

The silver-haired woman nodded thoughtfully, assessing the situation. "We will likely be fighting over water so pegasi will be needed. However, Vanaheim is quite the distance. I believe it would be wise to use a combination of travel methods. Besides, I have not seen Heimdall since my arrival and would not mind seeing him again."

"As you wish, m'lady." Hildr said with a grin as she brought her fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle.

Moments ladder, there was a rush of air and the sound of mighty wings as a massive white horse descended upon the balcony, bright white wings carrying it down to a gentle landing just outside. Across it's back and up its neck, spirals of gold connecting a white, leather saddle to an ornate, golden bridle. 

Stepping up, the mountain of muscle leaned in with a massive grin and gave the winged horse a hug around its thick neck. "Ah, good boy. Who is my good boy? Yes. Yes, it's you, yes it is."

Bumping Hildr with his head, the horse whinnied and clicked its gilded hooves on the marble of the balcony as Hildr put a foot in the reins and effortlessly lifted herself up onto the saddle, tapping it behind her. "Your ride, my lady."

"I was never very good with animals," Schwein admitted as Hildr helped her up. and they set off. "Thank you, my friend. It may be some time before I am able to ride unassisted."

With a mighty thrust of his massive wings, they were airborne with a force that would have staggered lesser women as the winged steed arc over the fabled spires of the land eternal that was known in legend as Asgard. "Rainbow Dash lets few ride him even as a passenger. You, the lovely mistress Ethel, and very few others."

"Ahh, there lies the great bifrost, stretching forward into the realms infinite." Hildr said as the horse swiftly dipped in between the gilded cityscape towards the rainbow bridge.

"Ja, it is a more elegant method of travel than transporters, yet I find myself missing starships, if I am to be completely honest. It feels lacking to go somewhere without the journey," the silver tressed woman explained.

"Well then..." Hildr said, patting Rainbow Dash on the side of his thickly cabled neck, "Tis a good thing that we only need the Bifrost to cross to Vanaheim. The rest of the way, we travel in style."

Opening his massive wings wide, the white steed reared back in the air and gently landed upon the shimmering surface, reflecting back upon them like a prism. In this case, a prism that refracted both light and those upon it between realms. Before them stood two massive, gilded arches that, they themselves, looked like sculpted wings that curved overhead. Standing between them, a massive figure cloaked in navy blue robes holding a broad-bladed sword, edge down, whose face and eyes were obscured behind the visor of an ancient helmet with arcs upon them that matched the gilded gateway he stood in defense of.

From the steed, Hildr bowed her head and spoke. "Lord Heimdall, the Lady Schwein and myself seek passage to the realm of Vanaheim."

"It is good to see you again," Schwein added with a wide grin.

The somber man, taller even than Hildr, barely reacted physically. His voice was deep and steady, and his golden eyes fixed and calm. And within the shadows of his face under the deep visor of his helm, one could see the stars of eternity stretching wide within him. "Indeed, Lady Schwein. I have seen the calamity in Vanaheim and saw your coming. Your intervention is most needed..."

"And I'm sure the diversion will be most welcome to balm your troubles." He finished, with the slightest hint of a smile in the depths of his resonant voice as he stepped aside and rapped the bridge beneath his feet with the tip of his blade.

As he did, the air between the gilded arches shimmered and the rainbow bridge they stood upon stretched into the ether. 

"Punching my way through my feelings is a barbaric way of doing it, ja? Yet here I am, doing it again," Schwein smiled broadly up at the tall guardian of the rainbow bridge once more as they passed through the archway. "Thankfully, my punching my issues out is able to benefit others as well. Thank you, my friend."

The response from the guardian of the gateway was naught but a simple bow as, with a mighty flourish of his wings, Rainbow Dash was airborne once more and the travelers were through the gate.

With a flash of radiant color and a momentary swirling disorientation, they found themselves high above the realm of Vanaheim. VERY high, indeed, and seemingly a good distance from their destination along the shore where the villages were under siege. 
Soaring over the clouds, the moonlight shone brightly up at them, reflected back by those same fluffy clouds.

"Heimdal does indeed see all. Including, it seems, the need for a slightly longer journey." Hildr said, hesitantly, not wanting to offend her mistress.

"It seems we have a few moments of time with which to discuss what troubles you, m'lady..." the broad-shouldered woman gulped slightly. "If you need an ear, that is."

"Ja, I do need to get a few things off my chest," replied the former pirate. In truth, she had concerns over her place here for a while now, yet had remained silent. She knew Thor had chosen her and that the people liked her... But it still felt like a dream or like she was tricking people.

In the end, she settled on a sigh and a simple question to start out with. "Am I really worthy to be here? Marrying Thor, God of Thunder, living in Asgard, all of this... It feels like a dream. I'm not in a coma somewhere and dreaming all of this up, am I?"

"Feel this wind in your hair. Taste that sea air blowing up from the sea far below." Hildr said confidently. "Not the tricks of a dream, are these, m'lady. But I do understand your fears. Thou were born mortal. A human of Midgard. Special. More than the others, perhaps. But mortal. Now, you find yourself on the cusp of something more than your imagination."

"You learned that what you once thought was only myth is our truth." Hildr said. "But is that not the way of your former fellows? To explore? To discover? Even before our scion chose you, did you not walk among greater beings? Does not the one known as Hera reside upon your former home? The Great Deliverer?"

"Ja, I have walked with Death in the literal sense as well as Hera among others as friends. I now walk with you as a friend and comrade and am now to be wed to the one I worshipped first before all others." With a wry grin, Schwein continued. "It is just a difficult thing to fully grasp, is all. As if Loki or another god of mischief is playing a trick on me. After all, I have lost much in my life - being tricked into willingly abandoning Enalia would be more believable given my past."

"Loki is a powerful trickster, but even he is not omnipotent, my mistress." Hildr said as they dipped below the cloudline, closer to their destination. "Were this an illusion... all of it... it would have meant that every encounter and experience you have had for... well over a year of your time was a fabrication. That would be... considerable effort for something with no evident goal."

"Though if it means that you somehow dreamed my time with the glorious Ethel Jablonski, then I would also say, dream on, m'lady." Hildr joked, turning slightly to her friend. "This is real." 

The silver tressed woman couldn't help but laugh out loud for that admission, the tension relieved somewhat for the moment. "I was definitely not there for that, ja? In that case, I will count my lucky stars and consider my luck changed for the better."

As the kraken came into view below them, Schwein's voice softened slightly. "For those that have fallen while under me..." Then she saw the terror that the tentacled beast was wreaking along the coastline and she was once more fired up to wreak some havoc of her own. "I feel like seafood for dinner tonight! How about you? Let's show this critter to the afterlife!"

Unsheathing the massive gold-hilted blade from her side, Hildr held it forward and kicked the sides of Rainbow Dash gently but firmly as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "FOR ASGARD!!!!!

Tucking its long wings in tight, the mighty flying steed began to plummet down towards the raging, multi-tentacled beast half the size of a starship. Mere meters from the frothing, icy seas, the steed's wings burst open lifting them out of their dive underneath one of the Kraken's thick tentacles as Hildr swung her blade up, cleaving the limb off in one slice.

"Rainbow Dash, fly her TRUE! HYAAAAGHHH!!!" Hildr shouted as they arced up over the beasts roaring head, it's stump spewing a black bile into the waters. Turning slightly, the blonde behemoth had a mad grin on her face as she lept off of the flying steed down to the beast below.

Leaving Schwein on the saddle, now in control of the flying steed.

Though she wasn't confident in her abilities to handle an animal in the slightest, she trusted the noble steed completely and in that regard, she felt safe to just hang on and let the pegasus do its thing. Rather, she gave a pat to Rainbow Dash's mane full of confidence that she may not have felt, pulled free her mace, and started waving it in the air in circles, starting up a thunderstorm the likes of which would make Thor proud. As the storm built, lightning started to rain down upon the tentacled beast, searing its flesh as it did so.

As the bolts struck, Hidlr lept backward off of the head of the beast, flipping clear and taking another tentacle with her as she let out a loud, "HYAAA!!!"

As the assault from the elements faded, the great beast roared in pain, flailing wildly towards the source of its agonies. With one massive swing of multiple tentacles, it struck Hildr in midair, sending the mighty Valkyrie flying into the nearby beachhead as Rainbow dash only barely avoided the blow.

Twisting upside down, in mid-air, the silver-haired former pirate almost slipped free of the horse before the magnificent beast righted itself, coming in for another run. 

Pulling herself out of the shattered rock face with a grunt, Hildr was slightly dazed, but grinning. "AHHH! I do love it when my calamari fights BACK!"

"It's always tastier once it's tenderized!" Schwein called out as she sent another lightning storm down, this one focusing on the head of the beast and causing the remaining tentacles to go crazy with writhing spasms. She was barely hanging onto the back of the mighty Rainbow Dash, yet something told her the keen pegasus was going easy on her.

Once the smoke cleared, the creature was writing weakly as the lightning attacks had taken their toll on it and, with the last of its strength, its limbs stopped flailing as the fell with a massive splash, into the roiling sea.

From the shore, Hildr ran over to grab on of the larger tentacles that was strewn across the rocks and grabbed ahold with her massive arms and started tugging. "Oh, no sinking into the depths for you, foul beast! You besieged this fair village for many nights, and your meat will feed many a child."

Patting the neck of the mighty steed, Schwein grinned and pointed her cudgel towards the shore. "What say we assist with the cleanup, ja?"

As Rainbow Dash came in for a landing, the former pirate hopped off and returned her weapon to her belt, heading towards the nearest pair of tentacles. With a mighty heave, she gripped them tightly and whipped them so that the body of the beast cracked up onto shore with a mighty thump, a distressed moan coming from the forlorn kraken. "Now you will not escape!"

With the beast subdued, Hildr walked over as the local villagers began to peer out their doors in astonishment. "So, m'lady? How do you feel?"

Stretching and grinning, the silver haired woman couldn't help but nod. "Better. Refreshed. Thank you. Just have to pass a few more days until the wedding now, ja?"

"Indeed!" Hildr said with a nod as she sized up how best to chop the beast up for cooking. "Thankfully, by how your fellows measure time back on that ship, our days stretch quite long by mortal standards. Plenty of time to prepare."

The former pirate narrowed her uncovered eye at her companion, trying to piece together what she had just said. She was fairly certain she'd read the calendar right, but the 3D thing was obstinate to begin with so there was really no way of knowing more than how many days on Asgard it would be. She knew time wasn't measured the same here as it was in the rest of the universe, but if it was even further off than she thought... "Quite long? Just how long is an Asgardian day on the calendar I have been looking at? How far away is my wedding day in Earthly time?"

"Many think us immortal here in the Realm Eternal. But it is but the realm itself that is everlasting." Hildr said matter of factly as she wiped some of the blood of the Kraken off of her sword with the leading edge of her own cape. "Though... I admit I am not the wisest woman in the realms in such regard. Here, you may live many hundreds... perhaps thousands... of human lifetimes while your form will age only slightly."

"In Midgard, we flow with time as it does for them. A life lived there even for an Asgardian is far more limited. But here, What is to us but a day is many months or more for them. I... believe it has been... SIX of their months since our grand party for thee on Risa last week."

With a slow motion facepalm, Schwein realized just how far removed from the rest of reality Asgard really was and vowed to herself to better understand the difference in not only the calendars, but the time scales and send a message to her friends explaining the issue. Her wedding may be a few Asgardian days away but for Enalia and the crew of the Hera...

"Ja, I will have to figure that math out later. For now, let us feast on fresh seafood."

"HO!!!" Hildr proclaimed as she turned and hoisted her sword high towards the small fishing village on the black rock shore they stood upon. "Come, good peoples! Bring your cooking tools and let us celebrate this..."

As some of the townspeople began to slowly linger out of their doors, Hildr was cut off as the massive creature began to moan behind her. 

"Quiet, you!" The mighty Valkyrie said, turning and thrusting her blade deep in its head as it squealed and died. "There, that's better. Someone bring BUTTER!!!"

Doc Power had just finished up with a long series of sample container sterilizations and, having finished the categorization and logs of each type of container being stored, nodded satisfied and headed out of sickbay storage and into sickbay proper, still looking over the logs on his PaDD. "That should just about do it for that round. Next, I think I'll check on the surgery lab inventories."

He had already performed inventories on both the biobeds and surgery labs a few days prior, yet every time he checked it was common for them to randomly be missing a gauze pad or two. It wasn't an issue since those were commonly used items, but he almost wished that whomever used them would restock them at the end of the day rather than relying on him to restock everything twice per week.

Then again, though he felt a minor bit of annoyance, he also felt... Useful? He knew that he would always have a place on the USS Hera because of his skills, but it helped fill his day and take his mind off of what kind of troubles the ship and crew might be getting into and what kind of injuries might be coming through the door next.

Which was when the sickbay double doors opened and admitted the next patient. Ensign Tathaa and the quad's children. With his best smile, Adam turned and greeted them, waving them towards one of the new family centric biobed areas. "By the looks of it, this isn't a work or social call. What seems to be the trouble?"

The white nurse gave him a warm yet concerned smile. " Doctor I need your help. For the last ten minutes I've been feeling this stabbing pain between my eyes. The twins have been feeling it as well." She said a look of panic and concern on her delicate face.

"Then please, come in and have a seat and I'll see what I can do for you," the EMH replied as he grabbed a tricorder and started pulling up their medical records and all of his knowledge on Aenar biology both on a PaDD and in his mind before beginning his scans. "Between the eyes... I suppose it's too much to hope that it's a simple stress headache, what with it being all three of you. Are there any other symptoms? Pressure or anxiety?"

"It feels like something pressuring the inside of my skull trying to force it open." The white Aenar said as she indicated where she was feeling it as she held her two daughters tightly to her.

With a few more moments of scanning, Doc Power nodded and went to the racks of hypo ampules. "Your neurotransmitters are inflamed, particularly in the areas that regulate psychic sensitivity. My theory is that Commander sh'Zoarhi is in a bit of distress and you and the children are experiencing a bit of it."

As he loaded up an ampule and set it to a very mild dose, he continued. "Or I could be wrong. We won't know until the away team's return. Either way, I'll prescribe a very mild dose of a psychic inhibitor and pain blocker, if you'd like. It should at least ease the symptoms for now. Also, if you'd like to stay here, you're more than welcome."

Rather than administering the hypo immediately as usual, the holographic doctor waited until Tathaa gave the go ahead for herself and the children. He had been working on his bedside manner and this was far from an emergency, after all.

The blue girl picked up Tothye and held her close nodding to the doctor as she did so. Like most Andorian children the small girl didn't cry in pain, but the quivering of her antenna indicated she was in pain. " You may proceed doctor. " She replied as she began speaking an anear prayer hoping that Thex would be okay.

"You may feel a bit fatigued or fuzzy. The sensation will pass after a few minutes." With that warning, Adam administered a mild dose to the necks of Tathaa and the children in short order. "Would you prefer to stay here, just in case?"

The anear nurse nodded. "I don't want to be alone. I fear for her doctor as do all of our quad. "

Adam nodded knowingly - it was tough to worry about others and not be able to reach them. "Then please stay as long as you like. I need to go over the latest cultures and make sure everyone is healthy, but if you need anything, please don't hesitate to let me know, ok?" With a smile and a nod, the photonic doctor returned to his prior task of inspecting and logging bio-samples.

Tathaa nodded as she started held her two girls in her arms. She knew like her they were both worried about Thex as were the rest of the quad. Breathing in and out she beginning singing an anear prayer of healing and protection both for her girls and Thex. Ancestors watch over her and help her find peace.

Just before the doorway that had just been opened, the away team from the U.S.S. Hera stood at the ready. Called to the frozen moon of Andoria, they had found themselves in a secret, shielded and hidden facility buried within the forbidden northern pole of the planet.

The team consisted of Commander Rita Paris, Lieutenant Commander's Sonak, Mnhei'sahe Dox, and Thex sh'Zoarhi, Doctor Tovanna Mah, Field Medic Tanaak Sado and Artan Baroness Sarika.

Orbiting high above, the Hera’s Captain, Enalia Telvan was busy verbally dueling with the bureaucracy of the planet to ensure that when they were complete, their unauthorized incursion to the restricted region would be rendered legal. Though, with the evidence they collected, they had more than enough cause to be there. To say nothing of the telepathic calls for help from the ancient Andorian who called herself Talla P’Trell and wore the face of the Hera’s Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi.

The mission had already answered many of the questions that the Andorian Engineer had been struggling with the past few months. There, in that frozen facility, the team had discovered row upon row of cloning tubes with duplicates of the Hera’s chief.

Behind them in the main chamber of the control facility, three people that appeared to be the Andorians that appeared to be Thex’s parents were frozen in their seats. Telepathically locked in place by the will of Talla P’Trell, reinforced by the mental power of the clone in the single tube within the room. A deformed, blind clone of Thex that had been the conduit from which the messages for help had been made, but also the means by which the eldritch beings known as “the Masters” had taken over Thex’s parents.

These ‘masters’ had flexed their abilities, in truth the abilities of the deformed psionic in the tube used against her will, to disable and take apart the crew’s phasers, but now they were free to investigate further. P’Trell had used the psionic’s power to telekinetically open a passage in the stone column at the back of the room, that lead down to what she had called the Pyramid of Nyarlathotep. The ancient structure that kept the cosmic, crawling horror from the realm of nightmares known as the Undrheim from entering their reality.

It was a reality that all in the team except Lieutenant Commander Mnhei’sahe Dox had been before, and P’Trell had said that their experience in the Undrheim had inoculated from the influence of the dark and macabre minds that would try and affect them from the beyond. And to protect Dox, she instructed the Romulan pilot to put an ancient rune symbol upon her armor that would offer her a similar measure of mental protection. It was the same symbol that was etched upon each of the tubes of a five-pointed star with wavy lines, surrounding an ominous eyeball wreathed in flame. The cautious Romulan was wary but took the necessary precaution.

Using the mimetic skin of her EVA suit, she scanned the pattern and projected it on the chest of her suit. But Dox had also been extensively trained by Sonak, to develop extremely strong mental defenses. She would be working to keep them up the whole time, just in case the symbol was a trick. Turning to the rest of the team as she programmed the symbol into her armor, Dox looked into the tunnel before them.

They could see a set of stairs going down deep enough to not be able to see the bottom, but could see an eerie reddish-orange glow coming up, which was more than a little disconcerting. Thex had been buffeted by the intense psychic communications from Talla P’Trell calling for help transmitted through her so-called sister in the tube, but with them there, it appeared that the mental pressure might have let up considerably as the azure engineer seemed to be more herself.

Turning to Thex as they all stood at the ready, tasked with entering the pyramid to somehow strengthen the seals that P’Trell described as weakening and allowing the crawling terrors on the other side to leak their influence into our realm, Dox had a look of understandable concern on her face for her friend. “Thex, how are you holding up? Can you still feel those presences in your mind?”

"I've found out I was created to be melted down into a life-extending drug that turns people into a mass of tentacles and drives them mad. Of course, I'm not holding up," The engineer said trying not to throw up in her helmet as she tried to get her breathing under control.

''They are still here,'' Sonak confirmed in his sobering tone. ''You would compare this to a lingering odor; not really smelling it any longer, but still present at the edges of perception. Apparently they are content to passively monitor what is happening from a distance; or else they actually fear to be too... close to us; when we will make contact with whatever we are about to encounter.''

"I think when we get back I'll ask Maica to remove the Bolian hot squid massage from her services," Sarika offered as she surveyed the stairs leading down, her shortsword and backup disruptor out as she led the way down. "All things considered, I think most of us are trying to avoid that sort of thing now."

Glancing at Sarika, Dox sighed slightly. This was a nerve-wracking scenario for the silver-haired pirate not accustomed to these kinds of missions, and the red-headed officer was worried about Thex's mental well being under impossible circumstances.

Not knowing what she could possibly say to help her friend having the grandmother of existential crises, Dox put a hand on the shaken Andorian's shoulder and looked into her eyes. "And you were freed from that and given the chance to do something about it to make sure none of the others have to suffer that fate."

Not knowing if she was helping or making things worse, Dox pursed her lips. "I... can't imagine what you're going through right now, Thex. I don't. But no matter what, you won't be going through it alone. We're all here. And your quadmates are back on the ship waiting, along with those amazing, beautiful children. You know that you are so much more than whatever they had planned for you, and that can't be taken from you. And you can give that hope to those others we passed on the way in."

"That's right, we're all here with you and you've been handed a chance to do something good and right for not only those poor people in those tubes, but everyone on this planet," Sarika added as reassuringly as she could, slipping her disruptor back in its holster and making a fist in the air. "You have your freedom and you have friends and allies that will help you spread that freedom to whomever wants it among the stars! Now let's go kick some tentacle ass, bi... team!"

In her mounting anxiety and stress, the Baroness had almost let her old potty mouth slip out again after she had done so well to curb it after all this time. Thankfully she had caught herself, but she still felt bad about it. With a glance back at the others, she continued leading them down the stairs, into the temple of Nyarlathotep.

Sonak, of all of them closest to what the Andorian actually thought and felt, concurred.

''You are an accomplished individual. This means you have exceeded the mere basic nature of what you are, and even touched positively the lives of others. You have even given new life to this universe. Do not carry the past as a burden. Use it as you have always done; as a step towards achievement and more giving.''

As he finished, he glanced at his wife Rita. If there was a shining example of this idea he shared with Thex, it was her.

Damn, I have there filter to fix tomorrow, Thex remembered as her thoughts drifted back to the small bubble of metal that was her home and the two little creatures that needed their shreya. A weak smile came across her face as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah let's kick these assholes in their... well whatever they have in place of an ass."

"Or let's see about reinforcing whatever ancient seals are down here, that are holding the line between Andoria and monstrous beings from beyond space and time. Time to go save your homeworld, Thex," Rita clasped the slender Andorian woman's shoulder, shaking her a little in her EVA armor. Turning, she addressed the entire landing party. "We won't know exactly what we're looking for, but we've done this before, people, we know the drill."

Flicking her wrists, Paris produced a pair of apparent Type II phasers of her era- in point of fact, clever reproductions using modern materials that were far sturdier, and capable of the greater output of modern phasers, with extra long battery life built into the handles. Tossing one phaser to Dox, Paris lobbed the other throwback phaser high to Sado.

"Just in case, people. Doc, you and Sonak be our sensors- you watch us, Sonak will be scanning and analyzing the environment. Sarika, you're with me- I suspect you have a keenly honed sense of danger that should come in quite handy in this scenario. Let's move in twos, Sado solo in the rear, and let's go shove some worms back in a can, folks"

Dr. Mah was keeping her eyes on both her patients and surroundings as well as contemplating readily available biological solutions if any of the dark and creepy critters got out of hand. So far she was leaning toward a high dose of anti-fungal spray. After all, anything that killed a fungus killed humanoids. Issue was the temperature would render most aerosol compounds into immediate vapor with no staying power. What she wouldn't give for a huge pack of old fashioned powdered lye, bleach or concentrate with a low enough pH balance to send most living things running. She kept scanning for base elements with just such factors, they had to have some way of handling ice and cleaning in a crisis in a place like this. Sometimes simple worked, damn it.

Slowly, the team made its way down the increasingly ancient-looking, black stone stairs as the golden-red glow from below came to meet them. As they descended for what began to feel like forever, their suit sensors gave constant updates on their atmospheric and environmental conditions as the air got thicker and mustier and the temperature steadily rose to much more bearable levels.

With Rita in the lead and Sarika at her back in a defensive position, both the golden commander and Dox, behind Sarika, had phasers set at low ready thanks to Rita's judicious habit of keeping multiple weapons hidden within the extradimensional storage space of the bracers of Hera she always wore. Behind Dox, Thex stepped cautiously, followed by Sonak, Dr. Mah and the mammoth Tanaak Sado guarding their rear.

After approximately five minutes of slowly making their way down the stairs, Sonak scanning the entire time, they reached to bottom of the shining, reflective black stone steps that opened into a larger chamber.

Around them and above them were walls of ancient ice that seemed to contain what could only be described as an obsidian pyramid that, based on the one visible angled wall that faced them, nearly 140 meters. On both the black stone floor and wall, were intended grooves and lines that formed patterns up the sides and below their feet, but there were no obvious entry points visible.

Tapping the side of her helmet, Dox scrunched her brows slightly as she checked the readings of her heads up display. "Commander Paris. I've been in constant link with the Runabout through our comms, but the signal is now choppy at best."

"No surprise there," Paris replied. "We're underground already, and we're dealing with beings that want very much to remain a secret. Send an update to the Hera through the runabout before we go any further. Meanwhile, what do we make of these runes and carvings, people? Is it me or do these look like blood runnels...?"

''A logical assumption, Commander, '' Sonak said as he scanned the artifact. ''The belief in blood being the vehicle for supernatural forces is a most primitive and debunked one, but it is a fact that it is a most rich and malleable organic substance. Any entity with transmutation capabilities can use this as a prime raw material.''

He looked at his scans and added a nod and a word.

''There is a definite residue of hemocyanin; the Andorian equivalent of hemoglobin.''

With a nod, Dox immediately sent the latest in a collection of status updates, filled with scan date and all relevant information, through their link to the Hera. As usual, the red-headed Romulan had been preparing to do what the Commander had ordered before the order was given while they made their way down the steps. Looking down at the floor and the grooved lines upon it, Dox couldn't help but feel a chill beyond just the temperature.

"Message sent, Commander." Dox said, somewhat quietly as she avoided stepping on any of the grooves, her voice a little flat as if with a slightly forced calm. "And... I remember... reading something about what you're describing in the academy. In comparative cultures and religions."

Sonak nodded.

''Data we have gathered of these... eldritch entities have definite similitude to blood cults and death faiths found throughout known space.''

Thex was listening as she climbed the black steps. Something about this rock felt wrong as her feet touched it. " " How could andorian's have built this thing. We're miles from the nearest civilization and this stone doesn't look native to the planet. " She asked out loud as she looks at the stones. They were so friendly pressed together there was apparently no gap between the stones.

"A very good question, actually. Andorians have only had space travel for a few hundred years? Maybe a little longer? my history isn't the best." Sarika mused on this as she focused her eyes on the stonework a bit deeper as the end of their downward journey finally started to come into sight. "My cybernetics tell me they're cut from highly compressed and purified volcanic rock with low sulfur content and high iron content and assembled with great precision."

Sonak answered her.

''Actually, the Andorians knew space travel before any other member species of the Federation. They met the Orions, the Tellarites and the Vulcans centuries before they met Humanity and even had a space war among themselves that lasted a hundred years. But what they lacked was the advanced physics to make possible faster than light travel. And so, for centuries, they colonized only neighboring star systems with sleeper ships that were often lost to the hazards of space, instead of conquering the whole galaxy.''

"Still, the nearest source that I know of that might provide a similar material is the second planet in this system. Otherwise... Ceti Alpha One? I've used almost identical materials there as shielding before. The carbon and cut wear on these stones are reading as well over a thousand years and they're likely much older. I'd need better scanners and samples to tell." It was obvious from the slight waver in her voice that the Baroness was doing her best to stay strong and the science distraction went a long way to soothe her frayed nerves. Geological surveying was something she knew quite well and could rely on.

''That would make these stones extremely recent on the geological scale,'' Sonak mused, going through his own scans. ''However, it would take a thorough chemical analysis to make sure there are no contaminants; not to mention that there could be elements of deception involved. Readings are... inconsistent.''

"Agreed." She then pursed her lips in consternation, studying the seams and carved lines. "These lines... This type if igneous rock is very mildly magnetic and the blood of most races are diamagnetic... I hypothesize that these carved runnels gather to one location - the gate."

''A logical assumption, '' the Vulcan agreed.

As the team continued to study the mysterious materials and search for an entry point to continue further, the began a low rumbling from the surface beneath their feet. Sonak's delicate senses and the team's EVA suit sensors picked it up a split second before it was too late to act on it.

Quickly, and with only the hint of a warning, there was the momentarily deafening sound of stone scraping against stone that screamed in the enclosed space. Cutting into the team's ears, they were unprepared as tall panels of the stone slid quickly up from between them rising rapidly up to the massive sheet of ice that comprised the ceiling of the chamber. As it did, small chunks of that ice were shaken loose and crumbled off, falling to the ground at the team's feet.

A second later, the doorway behind them was closed off by a sheet of cold, black stone and walls had separated the team into smaller groups by chambering the area into three spaces, each space now leading to narrow openings in the side of the pyramid that revealed themselves in the same instant that the walls jutted up.

In the first section, Rita and Sarika stood alone. In the middle section, Thex and Dox shook their heads in confusion, and in the last section, Sonak, Dr. Mah and Sado found themselves isolated.

Looking around, Dox called out on her commbadge. "Commander Paris? Lieutenant Commander Sonak? Is anyone picking me up?"

All she head back was silence. Turning to the ships Chief Engineer and Second Officer, the Romulan Pilot and subordinate calmed herself quickly. "Lieutenant Commander sh'Zoarhi. Suit sensors and comm signals can't seem to penetrate the stone and I've lost contact with the Runabout as well."

Thex was already trying her own suits scanners and coms, but like Dox she was getting nothing. " I've got nothing on any channel the stone appears to be letting out an elector magnetic frequency that scrambling the coms. " The blue engineer replied as she reached for her hdden weapon.

" Protect." She yelled hoping to summon her armor, but the nothingness of the pyramid that seemed to be eating the sound around them was her answer. " And I can't summon my armor." She said feeling very very small. This stone could stop that getting to her. Still with only one-way forward, she panned her head around to look into the newly opened passage. Drips of condensation fell from the ceiling as the black stone seemed to beckon them forward into the dark. " Well looks like we only have one way to go." She said turning back to Dox

Looking down the dark corridor that had opened into the stone face, Dox nodded as she considered their limited options. "Indeed. In theory, I could cut a hole through the ice overhead with the phaser Rita gave me, but more than a few sizable chunks came down when those walls came up. So I'm concerned that any attempt to shoot out will bring that down on all of our heads."

Figuring that Rita and Sonak would come to a similar conclusion, Dox turned back to Thex. "Lieutenant Commander, I would recommend that, since these things have a greater interest in you, I should go in front."

" It is due to that fact why I am going in front." Thex replied. She wasn't going to let a set of children loose one of their mothers due to her dragging Dox down here. " Follow me and keep the phaser at the ready. Hopefully, we won't need it. "

"Aye, Lieutenant Commander." Dox brought her weapon back to low ready and followed behind the azure Engineer as they stepped slowly and carefully into the darkness.

To Be Continued…

Okay here's the planning document for the crew trip to andoria. I have a basic plan for what we're going to do.

The ships going to arrive on andoria system to find everything on high alert with the imperial guard searching every ship. Andorian separatists/religious cultists are at it again.

We can attempt to get permission to go to the northern ice sheet officially, but get turned away for various reasons.

We sneak up to the ice sheet and find a crevice that's clearly been filled in. Thex has a wired feeling she's been here before.

At the bottom, we find a pyramid that's made of an oily black stone cover with the symbol of nyarlathotep.(though we don't know that) As we examine it we find what's left of the expedition. All have been executed there bodies have been mummified by the cold. Examining the pyramid we find the stone is ancient and isn't native to andoria.

We are then attacked by Andorian's in power armour. We manage to fight them off and take one of them, prisoner. We finish of our exploration of the pyramid, but can't reach the central chamber. The stone is fused together and even phasers won't dent it.

The prisoner won't say anything and is babbling in an unknown language. He then dies of a heart attack as if he's been scared to death. We return to the andoria capital. The government either truly knows nothing or is that good at lying we can't tell.

With no choice, Thex goes to the one place that would know something. Her home. Only it's not as how she remembers it.

Sound good?

---------------------------

OOC: Dox- Any recommendations for the core party to go down to the planet and who stays up top? I imagine we need some characters to stay on the Hera to continue distracting the Government if the rest of us are going in under cover.

Maybe Thex, Rita, Dox, Sonak and Jablonski and the Klingon Sisters or Jablonski and Az'Prel, for the trip planetside. Who wants to go where everyone? Exploring an ancient alien pyramid sounds like fun.

Certain elements like the symbol of nyarlathotep, the unknown language and the non-native stone will need to be defined for the writers as, if we have Sonak on the team, anything Science related won't stay a mystery for long. And it stands to reason, plenty of research will have been done in advance.

How will the home be different? As in her memories of it are false or it's drastically changed since she was last there?

---------------------------

Home will be different from how she remembers it.

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OOC Az: Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos, has a few different symbols, seals, and marks they're known by.

https://temp.split-world.com/uploads/Pictures/nyarlathotep/

Here I've gathered several common symbols and images from across the internet. As for the anime girl, that's how the Japanese see her for some reason. Nyaruko - the crawling perverted chaos that will 'love' you to death... Really weird anime and manga. Anyway, Andre, I assume you have a repository of knowledge on the Crawling Chaos that would put Wikipedia to shame so I do believe we'll be counting on you again for your eldritch lore. ^_^

OOCSonak: much less than my Trek lore I must say. But fortunately, I started to delve deeper on it for the last months since my novel employs Lovecraftian ideas. But I'll do my best. The good thing is, Lovecraft made his work nebulous enough to deliberately allow creativity. We should do good :)

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Mission Outline
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The Hera arrives at Andor. Requesting to go to the polar region, we are told by a stuffy Bureaucrat (with overly expressive Antenna that lets Everyone watching know when he’s full of shit or surprised.) That the area is off limits.

Once in orbit, Thex has a psychic flash from her “sister” on the planet.

Rita assigns a minor crewmember to be Enalia’s new Yeoman to help bury that guy in paperwork.

The away team, (Rita, Sonak, Dox, Sarika, Thex, Tova) takes a runabout down to the side of the mountain we ARE allowed to go to and we hike over the mountain range and ski down, making our way on foot to the polar region.

Enalia stays behind to verbally spar with the Bureaucrat and trade paperwork to (hopefully) legally validate our presence.

At the edge of a great crevasse, we find the secret cloning facility. IN the facility, Thex’s OTHER parents are the administrators, using failed or deformed Tivri-Thex style clones as the mindless drones in the factory in creepy robes. (So we can have a dramatic moment where Thex can yank a robe off to reveal the other clones working the facility.

The facility is to grow more clones because they can be distilled into a serum that can be used to expand life expectancy.

Thex's family are in fact several thousand years. They were formerly members of andorian anti eldritch group, but over years of using the drug they've began warping into eldritch abominations themselves.

In the facility, we discover the preserved form of Talla P’Trell, the clone’s originator.

We also discover the deformed clone in a tube with enhanced mental powers that has been calling Thex.

To keep her from talking to us, They transports us into the base of the creepy pyramid, telling us there’s something we need to get from there as an impetus.

the perfect clones get to go forth with the order to reproduce in the population
and the rest maintain the facility and produce the chemical.

the perfect ones are likely normally used to hide the existence of them via mind control
but Thex isn't as perfect as they thought and doesn't think on the same wavelength or maybe because she chose starfleet what's her name has been shielding her.


and the call of Nyaaaa-chan is why they send the away team to solve the puzzle-temple
since the clones can't and they can't get close to it

As we are separated into teams of two (Rita and Thex, Sonak and Dox, Tova and Sarika) we begin working our way into the labyrinth before Sonak possibly logics that by “solving” the mazes, we will unlock the Eldritch horror that will feed upon the clones. So, using his growing telepathy, he lets the team know to instead focus on busting OUT and regrouping.

At the base of the pyramid, three miles deep, we need to make our way back up and out, encountering various creatures from the depths of Andor.

We then have to make the moral decision of letting things continue, reporting this to the Andorian Government and Starfleet, or shutting it down. Decision is likely ultimately left to Thex.

Final post - Thex goes to the orphanage she thought she grew up in only to find out that it’s an abandoned building that hasn’t been used in almost a hundred years. Cue the sinking in of the realization that she too was grown in the cloning facility and that all of her memories growing up were implanted.

------------------------------------------



QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PYRAMID MISSION:



- What are the Seals?

- How are they currently FAILING that the Masters have leaked their influence out?

- How can we REPAIR them?

- Will Thex still be being pressured telepathically since Talla P’Trell and the Tube Thex are blocking the Masters. or will she have her full mental capacity back?

- If the pressure is reduced, then maybe her connection may make Thex MORE sensitive to the Crawling Terror thingy to give us an idea of what THEY want, so we can do the reverse?

Commander's log, July 1, 2397- computer, translate that to stardate in the report, please. Inside the cloning facility, we've descended into a black pyramid. Above, they are harvesting the clones for llife-extending drugs. Below, we've been told there are seals holding back an eldritch horror that must be reinforced somehow. The landing party has been separated and I am here with the Baroness Sarika of the Artan fleet, a cyborg roboticist. We've seen our weapons disintegrated and I cannot sense Sonak through our bond, so there are powerful forces at work here. We have to figure out this archaic device, repair it , and try to save the clones in the facility upstairs.

For now, we have to get out of this room.

"So, Baroness... first time trapped in a mysterious temple of traps with an unspeakable horror?" Rita quipped as she rotated through her comm frequencies, verifying everything was a no go. She still suspected complex illusions. But after a certain point, illusory or not, it was real enough to you. At least in regards to consequences. "My sensors are bouncing.... this material is literally impenetrable."

Waving her hand in front of her cybernetic eyes for a moment to make sure they were functioning right, the silver-haired woman nodded. "Yeah, first time. First time my eyes have had such trouble seeing as well. When we get back, I might take your medical department up on their offer of bio replacements. So... Where are we? Everything looks like sensor shadows other than you and me."

"Somewhere in the complex below the complex... some kind of basalt stone that isn't native to Andoria, I believe. As for construction, who knows. Hell, at this point I am still betting on half of what we're seeing is illusory. You push the suspension of disbelief too far, I stop looking for scientific answers and start sniffing for bullshit. I passed that threshold upstairs, so now I couldn't say if this is the stonework reflecting our sensors, or if it's an illusion that we can't see our readings." Sighing to herself, Paris activated the high-intensity searchlight she had mounted on her right wrist, under her hand. Scanning about, she studied their predicament.

"There, that..." Sarika pointed towards what she saw as a flash in her optics, which happened to coincide with where Rita was pointing her light at and she took a few steps closer to the point, activating her own light. "I could see clearly for a moment and I picked up readings of astatine elements. It emits very low-level duonetic fields and this seems to be modified for a purpose. If these rocks are laced with it in this part of the complex it's a wonder our suits are still working."

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, the Baroness turned back to her companion. "I feel like this is all meant to make us feel alone and separated from one another. Please tell me this isn't a common occurrence in Starfleet?"

"I don't know if I'm the one to ask about what constitutes 'common occurrences' in Starfleet," Paris replied with a self-deprecating smile. "So why don't we study this stoneworks. This has all the earmarks of a rat maze, so let's start figuring out the puzzle together, shall we?"

As Sarika nodded and started to reply, but then she heard a voice that she knew was impossible. As her eyes widened and a cold chill went down her cybernetically enhanced spine, she glanced around for the source of it and took a few tentative steps forward. "Did you hear that? I heard a voice... It sounded like..."

Without hesitating any further, the baroness started quickly walking deeper into the temple, spots of the walls flashing to life as if to guide her as she followed the sounds of the voice, her semi-blind cyber-eyes growing wild as she went. "I can hear the voice of my old second. The one that betrayed me during the Tribunal. He was executed for treason though..."

"Great. Nightmares brought to life. It figures that creatures that feed on fear would set up something like this. Which actually begs the question- who built this?" Paris pounded on the basalt wall, to no appreciable effect. "I mean, unknown material, unknown origin, and planted in the ice here in Andoria near the pole. Singe magnetic poles shift over time, that may have been an average of the readings, or just where it was when they planted it here, who knows. Which then begs the question how long has this been down here... which I'll bet we could determine from the glacier around it... make a note to get some scans of that."

"I hope Sonak's okay," While it might not have been clear to Sarika, the experienced explorer knew that fear fed on the unknown and the terrors one cannot percieve. Focusing on the questions the situation brought to mind as she stepped in with Sarika to move together down the passage, which began taking a confusing series of switchbacks.

"What I wouldn't give to have Malana down here right now," Paris muttered, then spoke up again. "You're a scientist, aren't you Baroness? I forget, what's your specialty?

With the more level headed line of talk, Sarika was starting to regain her composure as her mind settled down and worked through what she was and apparently wasn't really hearing. Her eyes were still a bit wild, however - that part was more due to not being able to fully see what was around her because of all the sensor scattering. "Ah, I got my start in geological studies as a mining slave and expanded out to primarily stellar physics under Enalia. That's why my eyes are tuned more for geology and spatial anomalies than combat or medical like Marelith or Schwein."

"I look at Malana and I automatically start analyzing her constituent elements," the silver haired pirate added with a slight giggle, the voices of her traitorous comrade fading from her head. "She's ninety percent granite, yet of a type that I've never seen before. That ten percent extra... I would love to lay my eyes on others of her kind just once."

And before they knew it they had arrived. They were in a circular room with a domed ceiling formed of the same basalt stone that surrounded them the whole way down. In the center of the floor, the blood grooves seemed to converge in a pattern of some kind that neither seemed to recognize. Leaking out from the seal in the middle of the floor were speckles of an eerie, sickly yellow light that streamed out like a noxious vapor.

This was one of the three aforementioned doors that kept the crawling chaos contained, it was visibly leaking, and they were standing on it.

"This I can see clearly..." Sarika began in a whisper. "So how do we reseal it? Mugatu Glue?"

Looking around to scan, visually and with her armor, Rita rolled her eyes. "Hooray, my sensors are basically reporting hash. Okay, so... these things were sealed in the first place, so somebody probably left us a clue here. See anything?" Paris asked, as in the background she heard the twang of a transporter in the distance, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

"Nightmares... made manifest, trying to get through to this side by breaking the seals, and we have to reseal them and cut them offf from the fear..." That scraping sound that happened when the sliders came down on the control panel and the annular confinement beam was established. When the transport really took hold. In the corner of her armor's display O'Dell pipped up, a word balloon commenting 'Heartrate 122 BP 153/90'.

"Sarika, I think we might be in trouble... I'm really very afraid of transporters..." Rita said as a shimmer of particles began and she leapt to the side, eyes wide with terror.

The pirate Baroness was already close to a panic when she heard the word transporters and now, in a small underground room, already with her vision limited? The fear in her latched onto it and started tormenting her all over again. This time skipping the more recent and fresh memories of betrayal and heartbreak and instead going back to her very origins as she just barely heard the grainy Orion slaver transporters over the sound of an ore processing machine.

"Rita..." Sarika whimpered as she jumped backwards into one wall as her arms, eyes, and front felt like they were on fire from the memory of the molten magnesite that had been transported almost directly on top of her. "I really don't like this place..."

"Hera preserve us. Watch the air above us! We can see the particles... my sensors, here's my AGH!" Rita flinched away from a forming beam and bolted, coming up short as another started to form ahead of her.

"It's just a game of keep away, Sarika, that's all..." That firm grasp on the situation and reality wasn't quite there in Rita Paris' voice as she started playing hopscotch with transporter beams, her fear mounting even as she tried to master the situation.

As the sound of another beam in echoed in her mind, Sarika rolled across the wall in an attempt to avoid the splash of pain she knew would follow even as she worked within her own cybernetics interfaces to try and disprove what her own mind was telling her. As the searing memory hit her once more, she whimpered in pain and turned towards the wall as she reached up to her helmet, trying to get it off. It took her now numb cybernetics a few tries, but she was able to pop her helmet off and open it up wide, her hair streaming out and all over the place as her ever present hat went flying across the room.

And then she proceeded to beat her head against the wall.

After several strikes blood was flowing freely down her face from deep gashes in her forehead and a now dented silver plate could be seen under the skin. That was when she stopped and turned back to Rita, her eyes far more calm. "Realignment successful. What say we reseal this bitch and send these nightmares back to the abyss?" Clenching a fist in the air, it was obvious that Sarika had gone off the deep end and had stopped trusting her own biological senses and was relying on her cybernetic ones completely now.

"Sure... okay... AGH!" As she dodged transporter beams Rita repeated a human litany she'd memorized, which Sonak had recommended as a mantra to calm her panicked mind "Fear, fear is the mind killer... oh no... I must not fear. Fear is the little-death OH NO YOU DON'T! that brings total obliteration. I will..." Pausing, Paris centered herself, sidestepping one of the beans rather than flinching away from it.

"I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me." Brows furrowed, eyes set with resolve, Rita stood and looked skyward, letting the beam overtake her. "And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path." Every instinct she had told her to run from the transporter beam that would be her undoing, but Rita held firm finishing the mantra with open eyes, unafraid.

"Where the fear has gone there will be nothing." She wasn't vanishing... the light was not taking her to pieces. She was whole, and afraid of nothing. "Only I will remain."

"Yeah... let's seal this bitch," Paris grinned. "You feed on fear, do ya? Well, we faced our fear, and we know who we are. I've another bit of classical literature from Earth for you, crawling chaos. Try this one on for size. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me!"

Looking around in the still darkness, Paris shrugged. "I think that did the trick? At least for our contribution. What do you say we climb out of here and I buy you a beer, Baroness?""

"I would agree with that assessment - the seal appears to have ceased leaking stray radiation," Sarika replied, reaching up to inspect her forehead. "I may need to spend some time in sickbay before taking you up on your offer. I've done considerable damage to my bio-netic interface and it may be a few days before the doctors clear me for alcohol consumption." With that, she retrieved her hat, placed it back on her head, and resealed her helmet with a sigh.

"But I agree - after this I think we both need a good drink," the silver haired woman added with a lopsided and slightly stiff grin.

"Now let's find a way out of-" Paris got out before the bottom dropped out, and they began falling into darkness. Raising her right arm and firing the back-mounted climbing piton at the same time, Rita Paris grabbed the hand of the Artan baroness. Reeling them up, Paris swung the cyberpirate onto the walkway before swinging herself over, reeling out line to give her room, then retracting both of them. "After all that, not really in the mood to a fall into the depths of Andoria today. What do you say we backtrack and see if there's something we missed..."

To Be Continued…

Slowly, Thex and Dox made their way down the narrow path. Each step was slow and deliberate in the inky darkness, illuminated only by the searchlights on their suits which seemed to barely reflect off of the smooth, black stone.

"Our external sensors may not be giving back much information, but my suits INTERNAL sensors are showing something interesting. The ambient temperature is rising considerably. The surface temperature of my armor is registering at 2.7 degrees celsius."

The sensors scans on their suits seemed to be scattered or absorbed by the surface, but the faint pressure Dox felt getting continually stronger in the back of her mind made her question if it was her suit sensors that weren't working, or her own senses. The further they delved into the heart of this pyramid walking down the slight decline in the level of the stone beneath their feet, the stronger the pressure Dox felt on her mental defenses.

If the ancient rune that had been put on her armor was doing anything to protect her mind from whatever was in here, she was unaware of it. As a general rule, Romulans did not possess the psionic abilities of their Vulcan cousins, but Dox's mind had been opened artificially a year and a half past, and while her abilities were extremely limited, she had studied and built her mental defenses under the tutelage of Sonak, and they were extremely sensitive and quite strong.

"Also... whatever is down here is trying to push into my head, I can feel it, Lieutenant Commander. It's stronger the closer we get to its source."

" I can feel it as well Dox." Thex replied trying not to show the fear in her voice. Every step she took made her want to run away as fast as she can as the eerie thought that she'd been here before. She paused as the two of them approached another fork in the passage. Looking at the ruins and images carved into the rock the andorian paused as she tried to think what they could mean. " Is it me or is this whole corridor going back on itself?" She asked her companion.

"It's not you, Thex." Dox said, looking down each possible direction they could go, weapon at low ready as she pondered their new dilemma. "The tunnel floor has been steadily declining by... according to my EVA internal gyroscope... 10 to 15 degrees. At the length we walked... 322 meters... it's possible we could be a level below where we came in by now, and have turned right back around in this labyrinth. Even without active sensors, I'm recording our movements as a map of our path recorded in the onboard systems."

"That said, the library in my suit's HUD has nothing on those symbols. Maybe if we still had access to the ship's library computer. Are any of these runes... familiar to you?"

The red-headed Romulan may have not been a telepath, but she didn't need to be to read the anxiety on her blue friends' face. And here, Dox could see Thex trying to process what she was seeing clearly in her face and body language.

Thex's blue eyes looked deeply at them the ruins on the wall seemingly staring back at her from across the veil of time. " I think so." She said pointing to the runs. " That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die. " She said slowly having no idea how she could understand them. Had her original self known this language?

If it was epigenetic memory or programmed knowledge that the azure engineer was consciously unaware of, Dox had no way of knowing. But that was a question for smarter people for when they returned to the ship, and the Romulan flight chief was concerned with keeping her troubled friend focused on problem-solving, rather than introspection. As such her thoughts were focused on what the phrase meant. "Well... Death isn't here, so I'm assuming that was meant metaphorically. We have intel that there's... some kind of ancient intelligence in here trying to get out that's been here a long time. Our 'eternal lie'. Something akin to the eldritch creatures you and the others encountered when the Hera was in the Undrheim."

"So... this could mean that if we can strengthen the locks keeping them in there, they can eventually die in that realm." Dox suggested as she pondered the information. "Which would be an end to their threat, in theory. But it doesn't really give us any clue as to which path to take. Any ideas?"

Thex looked backward and forwards upon the two passages trying to think of which could be the correct way. After what felt like an eternity she turned to the left-hand passage. " I think it's this way. My head hurts the more i think about this passage."

Stopping to concentrate, Dox considered what Thex was saying and closed her eyes and focused on her own mental defenses. When she turned down the other tunnel, the pressure did reduce slightly. It was a subtle difference, but indicative that Thex was right. "Agreed. My own mental defenses are feeling more pressure from that direction than the other."

"I can't help you like Sonak could, Thex." Dox said, putting her arm on her friends, talking as such now and not as a subordinate to her superior. "But no matter what happens, I am here. I will do whatever it takes to make sure we get out of here. I'm not going anywhere. I swear on my honor, you will NOT be alone here."

Thex gave Dox a reassuring look. " Thank you my friend. Now let's get this done get the clones out of the tubes than get back to the Hera. Then I'm giving my girls a hug."

"THAT sounds like an excellent plan all around." Dox replied as they continued their way down the tunnel, it inexplicably seemed to be getting darker and the walls appeared to be getting narrower as the two armor-clad officers occasionally scraped them with their suits. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as both women felt the pressure in their heads increase as they went.

"Mnheeeeeiii'saaaheeee" Came a voice from behind them that caused Dox to turn with a jerk, her weapon raised. Her already rapid Romulan heartbeat ramped up as she looked up the long path behind them and saw nothing.

"F... father?" Dox whispered under her breath, recognizing the voice of her dead father echoing in her mind. Shaking it off, she turned back to Thex. "Whatever this is down here, I think it's beginning to get past my mental defenses."

There was an evident strain on Dox's determined face as she reinforced her grip on her own mind, shutting it back out. "Unless you heard that, too."

"I heard my daughters screaming." Came Thex weak voice as the voice's echo slowly faded from her mind. She gulped before she swallowed and fixed her voice. " I guess what's down here is capable of manipulating multiple people at once. Which is expected."

Looking at Thex to make eye contact, Dox leaned in and all but whispered to her friend. "Your daughters are safe on the Hera, as are mine. Whatever is down here will never touch them. These creatures... they're trying to unnerve us. Get into our heads and manipulate our fears and our desires. Your children. My dead father."

"But that tells us something very, very important, Thex." Dox said, a slight grin that made the Romulan pilot look eerily like her mother in the moment. "They are on the defensive."

Thex gave her friend a reassuring nod as they kept going further into the pyramid. Every step felt worse for the Andorian as the screams of her daughter, quad and friends echoed inside her head. In her head, she kept on listing the ship's current spare part log desperately trying to keep her mind away from whatever was down in the bowl of this abomination.

Further, the pair went as the torments inside their heads seemed to increase. For Dox, she heard the pleas of her father being murdered again. The mirthless laugh of his killer, the renegade Romulan, Dalia Rendal. She heard Mona screaming for her family that was killed and eaten while the Miradonian woman was caged and forced to watch as a child. Those screams were then replaced by the screams of their triplets. Through it all, Dox concentrated with all her will on the image of Mount Selaya in her mind. The mental defenses that Sonak had trained her to develop.

But as strong as her defenses were, they weren't quite up to the challenge of whatever lurked in the depths below as sweat beaded on Dox's furrowed brow. Then, as the pressure on both women's' minds seemed to reach its peak, there was a sudden sensation, not unlike a wave cresting around them as the narrow tunnel opened up into a larger chamber.

Before them, a circular room with a domed ceiling. All formed of the same black stone that surrounded them the whole way down. In the center of the floor, the groove lines seemed to converge in a pattern of some kind that Dox didn't recognize. Leaking out from the grooves, speckles of an eerie, sickly yellow light that streamed out like a noxious vapor.

This was one of the three, described doors that kept the crawling terror contained, it was visibly leaking, and they were standing on it.

Thex's mind was a mix of horror, astonishment, and wonder all at once as she looked over the nightmare made flesh before her. How were they even supposed to begin on closing this thing? The door seemed almost the size of the Hera's saucer section. As if it could sense the presence the stone slab appeared to more as more of the sicky yellow light began to force its way through the cracks.

Before Thex could say a word her mind broke as the stabbing pain shot through her head, down her spine and into her very soul. Collapsing to the ground the blue girl from Andoria screamed as reality seemed to break. She could feel her parents boot on her neck as they'd pulled her back into the compound. A kick broke her ribs causing her to gasp for air as they dragged her towards the processing center. " You are nothing Thex, you were livestock created to be processed nothing more, your quad doesn't love you and you're daughters....."

" Don't you dare even mention them monster." She sputtered out through the pain as she focused on the two things in the world she cared more than anything. The one thing they could never make her lose hope in this world. Her mind began racing on that one fact. Get up Thex you're daughters need you.

On the other side of the circular chamber, Dox saw her friend crumple to the floor and flail against unseen apparitions. The trails of yellow mist from the grooves intensified and wrapped around the Andorian engineer as Dox started over towards her friend. Whatever Thex was seeing, Dox couldn’t see, but she could hear what the Andorian was saying.

“Thex? Whatever you’re seeing isn’t real! We’re alone in here! Your children are on the Hera! You can...” Dox began to reach for her friend, oblivious to most of what was being made manifest for the Andorian woman when her suit systems all seemed to go dead. The light creeping out of the floor cut off and suddenly, the entire chamber went dark.

Suddenly, in the darkness, Dox felt a blast of cold as she called out, feeling the heat sap out of her as her cheeks went flush, “Lieutenant Commander? Are you there? Can you hear me?”

Instinctively, Dox grabbed herself by the arms to warm up and immediately noticed her bare hands on her sleeves, not the advanced and heavily insulated EVA suit that she had been wearing a moment before. “Imirrhlhhse… this… this is impossible. Okay. F… follow your own advice, Mnhei’sahe. T… This isn’t real. This is just an illusion.”

It was only then that she realized that the pressure on her mind that she had been feeling had vanished with the darkness. And since she was relatively certain her not feeling her armor was some form of hallucination, it could only mean that whatever was down here had completely penetrated her mental defenses. “Okay… concentrate. Focus. Find your center, Mnh…”

“Mnhei’sahe?” Came a voice from the darkness right in front of her as a blinding light snapped on in the darkness that stabbed into her eyes. Covering her face, she squinted as the source held the arm-mounted light up to the ceiling.

“Commander?” Dox said, noticing that the new arrival was Rita Paris. “How did you get…”

Before she could finish, Rita stepped over, looking around. “Sonak cut through the interference. Got us limited scanning back, but I’m guessing our hosts used that same attack they used to disintegrate our weapons on your armor to get rid of that protection glyph. But it’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Where’s Thex, Miss Dox?” Rita asked, turning back to Dox with a stern expression. Looking around the otherwise empty chamber but for the two of them, Dox replied with mounting anxiety in her voice.

“I don’t know. When my lights went out, it’s like she vanished, Comman…” Dox said, before Rita again cut her off, mid-sentence.

“So, you lost her?” Rita said with a judgmental tone, tilting her head and looking down at the shorter woman. “The entire reason we’re here... to help our friend… and you LOST her?”

“I didn’t…” Dox began to reply in protest, but Rita kept talking.

“Thex was compromised. Under mental duress. You should have taken command as soon as the two of you were separated together, but what did you do? You let her go first instead of taking the lead and now she’s gone!” Rita snapped, stepping up and beginning to loom over Dox, shaking her head. “I knew Enalia promoted you too soon. I knew you weren’t ready. This is Castillo de Muerte all over again, isn’t it?”

“What?! NO!!! Thex was in control of her faculties. She was...” Dox protested, her face contorting as her emotions began to well up. Then, as she considered Rita’s words, she stepped back, still freezing, but beginning to realize what was happening. “No. Rita was already separated before Thex took the lead. And with no comms, she would have no way of knowing what has been happening with us.”

“Thex is stronger than that, and so am I.” Dox said, confusion replaced with anger, her eyes squeezed shut trying to push out the invasion in vain. “You’re not Rita. This isn’t real.”

“Oh, you truly want to believe that, don’t you Granddaugher? That you are so special that you can overcome any challenge.” Came the familiar, cold, calculating voice of Verelan t’Rul. Looking up, instead of Rita Paris, Dox saw her family matriarch standing in front of her, dressed in the finest of green and gold robes, looking as regal as ever.

“N… no. That wasn't Rita. You’re not my grandmother.” Dox protested as she struggled to her feet.

“No? What am I, then, Granddaughter? Perhaps a voice in your head showing you what you really think of yourself, Mnhei’sahe?” the image of her silver-haired grandmother said. “Because you are too smart to be fooled thusly. Too clever. Clever like a good Romulan.”

“I know… I know what you’re trying to do. It wo… won’t work! This is an illusion in my mind.” Dox said, closing her eyes and reinforcing the image she had been trained to see, but as she struggled to visualize the familiar, arid landscape and precipitous mountain steps, instead, she saw the steps of the senate on Romulus. Saw that teal sky and felt the spring air warming her cheeks.

“Just come home with me, Mnhei’sahe. Stop fighting your destiny and stand at my side. Take my hand and the pain can end. Take my hand and come home with me.” Verelan said, pleading in her voice. “I NEED you. I’m too old. I cannot sway the senate. I cannot help our people. But you, your youth and strength. You can SAVE our world from itself.”

Standing on shaky legs, Dox looked at the image of her Grandmother and shouted back, angry now. “NO!!! I’m NOT going back! I’m FREE!!! And you can’t… NOO! You’re another illusion. Those… things giving my fears a voice. You’re just trying to control me, and it won’t work!”

“Why not, Mnhei’sahe.” Came a chilling voice from behind her. Turning with a jerk, Dox looked into the eyes of a small, slight, pale Japanese woman with hollow black eyes and raven-black hair dressed all in black. “You let us all control you. Paris, Telvan, Charybdis, your grandmother, ME.”

“You cannot pretend with me, D?shi.” The image of Masato Rei said stepping just a bit forward and calling Dox a ‘kindred spirit’ in the woman’s own original tongue from millennia ago, before she assumed the mantle of Death itself. “I know you as well as I do myself.”

“As a child, your mother controlled you and you were a good little officer. Then it was your adopted grandparents and you became an attentive prisoner. A dutiful student. A good cadet. A loyal officer. Everything you could be to replace the one thing you wanted to be: a child.” Rei said, rounding Dox, who hadn’t even noticed that Verelan had vanished. “Poor little Romulan girl, always wanting to have what you could not. Always wanting someone… anyone... telling her what to do.”

“Just let go, D?shi. Let go of the responsibility. All the hands reaching for you. Telling you what to be." Stepping back, Rei’s face vanished again, almost devoured by shadow as her cold voice echoed across the black, shiny stone walls. “Let go. It's so much easier. Come with me. Be nothing.”

“DHAT!!!!” She screamed, ‘no’ in Romulan as she shut her eyes tight and dropped to her knees, grabbing the sides of her head with her hands. “No!!! This… This is just FEAR! My fear. You’re just reaching into my head and pulling out every ugly thought… every base fear…”

“Trying to make me…” Dox cried in the darkness as her eyes opened, their normal brown color returned. “Trying to make me give up control. Give up... everything. So you can feed off of it.”

There was silence as the yellow mists tried to wrap themselves around her as she let go of her head and sat quietly on the stone floor. Crossing her legs, she let out a long breath and closed her eyes again. “No more. No. I know where I’ve failed. I know where I’ve given in and given too much.”

An edge returned to her voice as she concentrated. “I will not be afraid of my own fears. I will NOT be afraid of my own decisions.” As she shouted, that image of Mount Selaya began to fade back into being in her mind's eyes, her mental defenses strengthening. “I choose to be here! I choose to help my friend! I CHOOSE to be better than my fear!”

The swirling mists began to dissipate as Dox felt the familiar warmth of her EVA armor surrounding her as she snapped her eyes open in the chamber, back in reality and out of the prison of her own mind. Below her, the yellow lights began to dim slightly. But next to Thex, they were still leaking out.

In that moment, the pressure upon her mind began to fade. Out of the illusion, she could feel it again, like the memory of a headache, dull and throbbing within her mind. But decidedly outside of it, once again.

Feeling as if her limbs weighed a metric ton, the exhausted Romulan woman dragged herself across the room. “I don’t know if you can hear me Thex, but I’m HERE. You are NOT alone. You are NOT nothing. It doesn’t matter what you came from, only what you’ve MADE for yourself! For your family!!!”

If Dox's words had reached Thex only the deepest part of her subconscious could tell. The engineer was internal screaming as nightmares flashed before her eyes. Lifetimes after lifetimes flashed before her eyes each one ending horribly as her body and mind were broken and scattered to the solar winds.

" You are nothing Thex. An accidental anomaly from a genome created to be consumed. You're no better than livestock. " the nightmares said in the haunting voice of her quad, friends, "family" and many others.

The pain coursed through her body as she tried finding something to block the pain. Her broken figures pulled on the stone slab until they came to something. The familiar feeling of her bracelets. Even though her blooded figures she recognized them. She knew they wouldn't work, but the feeling brought new strength to her mind.

She wasn't nothing. She was Thex. Starfleet engineer, fixer of tech and friend of the god, sh'za of her quad and shreya to her girls and she wasn't going to let this thing that had mocked her and threatened them beat her. It may be pointless but to creatures like this defiance was the one thing they understood.

Staggering to her feet she used all of her strength to try and utter ut the words pro.....

For a fraction of a microsecond, an image of vash the image the fake thavan shot before her eyes doing nothing, but giving her a look of utter concern.

And it all became clear. Like a shadow lifting from her mind the darkness was gone and the stone she was lying upon buckled and then fell with an unimaginable shreak.

Immediately, both women began to fall as Dox flumped around the azure engineer, clutching her with both arms and held on as tightly as she could. In that same instant, the tiny hologram of Ensign Fiona O'Dell popped up into the red-headed Romulan's heads up display.

=^="It appears that yuir fallin'. Activatin' rear piton and emergency cable now."=^= And as it spoke, from the rear of Dox's suit's belt, a tiny retractable piton fired straight up, lodging itself hard into the domed roof above them as they jerked to a stop on the incredibly strong cable. =^="External sensors are offline, but INternal sensors detect surface contact with another EVA suit. Would ye like to...=^=

"Activate armor to armor mag locking and KRELDANNI SHUT UP, Fiona!!!" Dox shouted, cutting the hologram off. With a hum, the metal plates of the armor magnetically locked on to Thex's own suit, allowing the exhausted pilot to relax her grip while they hung there.

"Thex... are you okay? Can you hear me?" Dox asked as they dangled over the open darkness, the cable slowly retracting to pull them back up to the chamber level. Hanging there, it took Dox a second to realize that the mental pressure she had been fighting against was gone. Whatever had been down there, leaking out, seemed to vanish from her mind along with the now-gone yellow mists.

"I'm okay." Thex said firing her own grapple to aid Dox's in pulling them up. " I think it's over. " she said a weak smile coming to her face. " I really shouldn't have said that." she said quickly the universe had a very bad sense of humor.

To Be Continued…

As soon as the doors closed, Sonak heard them sliding and grabbed both medical officers to throw himself out with them. But he only managed to bruise his shoulder on the strange metal and accuse the involuntary body slams of the others.

Finding back his footing, he tapped his combadge.

''Commander Paris, do you copy.''

Utter silence answered.

''Lieutenant Commander Dox... Lieutenant Commander Thex... Baroness Sarika... please respond.''

The silence would have been unnerving, forboding even, had he had any emotion. He opened all channels.

''In case you can receive me but unable to answer, this is Sonak. I am safe and sound with our medical officers, trapped in a small closed triangular chamber with passages to unscanable areas. All telepathic contacts are broken, including my bonding link. We will keep all channels open in case you manage to reestablish communication. We will provide real time data as we proceed further.''

He turned toward the other two.

''Are you able to function Doctor? Ensign?''

Mah looked at Sonak and nodded, "I'm fine, I find myself however feeling the same sense of impending displacement we have gone through before. As we were warned we may find ourselves facing that which is not our reality soon." She sighed deeply, "Whatever this place is from the scans I was able to get before the walks came down I can say without a doubt based on the vast differences in decomposition in biological residue, thousands of not more have lost their lives here. I was not able to completely scan the area for final analysis of possible intended use. The amount of data is overwhelming." She knew both fellow scientists would understand the implications of that much blood in a confined area. They were essentially walking through a data-rich graveyard at best or possibly a genocidal crime scene. The outlook was not good with the team now divided in such a place. She shared a knowing look with them confident they understood the stakes as well. "Options this far based on data on hand?" She was in full swing science mode, time to since this problem, and get to her crew to ensure safety.

Double checking his gear, Ensign Sado sighed. "I'm not hurt," he said pointedly, but not harshly. He was able, and could continue, but he wouldn't be fine until they were reunited with the rest of the landing party. He didn't like what his and Mah's equipment was reading. Tanaak was as afraid of death as anyone, but he was even more afraid of leaving behind someone who might need him.

Sonak looked around, scanned again what little his instruments could gather then looked at them both with his steely grey eyes.

'' There are two options; we wait here for rescue; we move forward to regain contact with the others and gather more data to resolve our current situation. We will take the most logical option and move forward. As we have apparently only one way to go, our choices are made all the simpler. I will take point; All scanners active, communications open, phasers on stun. Stay in one line no more than two meters apart.''

The Vulcan led them through the darkness that alone offered an opening out of their pyramindal chamber. immediately he felt something hurling itself at his mental barriers.

"Be aware that there is a telepathic attempt to touch my mind. It's stronger the closer we get to its source. If you feel anything out of the ordinary, please report at once."

Even with his slowly reviving mental faculties of old, Sonak could not assume his short range telepathy would alert him if mental influence would affect his two companions. Thus he warned them, hoping their lack of psionic abilities would in fact preserve them. his mental defenses were exceptionally strong, but his past encounter with Talosians in another universe had shown him they were not impregnable.

They approached a fork in the passage. Looking at the ruins and images carved into the rock, Sonak paused to scan and record them, pondering at what they could mean. His extensive data library downloaded for this mission could only correlate some symbols with what had been briefly recorded in the nightmare realm they had breifly traveled before. It was obviously of the same origin, but too chaotic in nature, too much diverging and sparse to be translated into anything meaningful,even by the Universal Translator, except for one series of symbols repeating themselves with clockwork regularity.

" Curious; this says, What is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die. I hypothesize this is some form of ritual of a religious nature, indicating we are in a sacred place to some as yet unindetified people. Unless deemed necessary, we must be cautious not to touch anything which could be interpreted as desecration. data suggests an antediluvian intelligence in this area trying to get out after prolonged confinement. That intelligence apparently relates to the eldrich creatures we encountered in the Undrheim. We must exert utmost caution."

When they reached a second fork, he looked at his instruments to confirm his suspicions.

''This passage is going back on itself steadily declining twelve degrees. We have walked three-hundred nineteen meters. This means we will be a level below where we came in, turning right back around in this. Keep recording our movements as a map of our path in your suit's onboard systems in case we get separated."

Sonak looked backward and forwards upon the two passages trying to think of which could be the most logical way to follow. But his inner senses provided what logic failed to do.

" This way. telepathic emissions seems stronger down this passage."

As they continued their way down the tunnel, it inexplicably seemed to be getting darker and the walls appeared to be getting narrower as they occasionally had to go sideways because of the bulk of their suits. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they all felt pressure in their heads increasing as they went. To alleviate the emotional stress his two companions might be experiencing, Sonak spoke to focus their minds better.

"I propose our task here would be to strengthen the locks keeping this intelligence in there. If we interpret these repeating litanies correctly, it can eventually cease to exist in that realm and provide an end to their threat. So we might just... be able... to... "

"Soooooooonaaaaaaaak"

The voice seemed to come from behind Sonak. He pivoted, scanner raised to look beyond his two companions, up the long path behind them There was nothing.

But did recognized the voice.

Michael

There was no mistaking it despite the strange acoustics of it. It had been the voice of Captain Michael Stuart of the USS Exeter, his former commanding officer and long lost friend from another universe that no longer was.

he looked into the eyes of Mah and Sado in turn.

"My mental defenses are being breached."

Dr. Mah stood behind Sonak but her eyes looked through him. She felt the displacement and could identify it coming yet much like a non-convulsing seizure the brain and body were no longer in snych. She lost her chance to her a warning before her world was swallowed by the secondary overlay reality. There was no way to discern which was the REAL world at the moment, she would have to figure it out. This is what She hated the playing in her mind, the wisdom of making the distortion just close enough to reality tio make it plausible. If it was something out of left field She could tell what was real and what wasn't, a gift from her species. At least she could take satisfaction the jerks would have to work hard to bypass that delightful barrier of protection.

She closed her eyes and held still, Sado and Sonak ran as names over and over in her mind. They were who she entered with, the only ones who were real. All others were fiction, all others were calls from her past. She kept repeating it in her head as well as their findings, the ritual space, the blood samples, anything to hold on. She knew it was a losing battle but she wanted to go down swinging.

Through his still limited telepathy, Sonak felt the shift in Mah's mind. That anchored him and he shared his own thoughts with her and Sado in his trademark deep monotone.

''Doctor, Ensign; we are either being contacted... or assaulted. There is only one logical conclusion from one or the other; we are getting nearer to a mind that experiences a strong emotion out of our approach. It is using it in an attempt to manipulate us. And there is one emotion most susceptible to manipulate others; fear. Do not succumb to it.''

Mah opened her eyes and looked at Sonak nodding. She began reciting the attributes of blood for various species, "Chlorocytes, copper-based blood green in color found commonly in Vulcan and Romulan physiology for oxygenation. Erythrocytes, iron-based blood found in humans and various other species with similar traits similar in action to chlorocytes for prior species. Kyaneocytes blue in coloration....." her recitation went on very clinically as they proceeded forward. It was all familiar enough to know yet still something one had to think back on to remember. It was obvious she had her own way of mastering discomfort, fear, boredom or various other challenges with these mental exercises. Both men were privy to the serious side of their CMO and why she was so good at her job. Drills and inner discipline were her crisis management, knowledge was her power, lollipops were merely a mask.

''Diverting emotions through deliberate concentration on rational thought processes; very good, Doctor, '' Sonak said outloud so as to incite Ensign Sado to do the same. 'I have been successful in computing several transdimensional equations for the same purpose. Obviously whatever is attempting to affect me will do so by assailing my logic about our current predicament, since I have no emotions to play on.''

As he spoke, he continued leading them further into the pyramid. Further, the pressure inside their heads seemed to increase. As strong as his mental defenses were, they were severely challenged by whatever lurked in the depths below. Then, as the pressure on their minds seemed to reach its peak, there was a sudden sensation, not unlike a wave cresting around them as the narrow tunnel opened up into a larger chamber.

Before them spread a circular room with a domed ceiling, formed of the same black stone that had surrounded them the whole way down. In the center of the floor, the groove lines seemed to converge in a pattern of some kind that Sonak did not exactly recognize, but identified as belonging to the same realm of nightmarish entities he knew they were again facing. Leaking out from the grooves, speckles of an eerie, sickly yellow light streamed out like a noxious vapor.

This was one of the three, described doors that kept the crawling terror contained. It was visibly leaking, and they were standing on it.

His former commander and long lost friend's voice now boomed in his ears, heavy with sadness.

''You have been separated into isolated chambers were mental assault is aimed at your weaknesses. You know Rita's worse fear as well as I do; transporters. She has no mental defenses to speak of, especially against what is assailing you all down here. Even you Kolinarh, can barely withstand it. She cannot rely on you as even your mating bond is severed here. You know the logical conclusion.''

Sonak didn't answer and so Michael's voice spelled it out.

''As we speak, she is either braindead or driven to so much insanity that she will kill herself... and possibly whoever else is trapped with her.''

As Michael's disembodied voice spoke, Sonak noticed that the flow of yellow light increased in spurts almost on cue with each word. A hypothesis instantly formed in his mind and the need to test it was obviously paramount. And so, this time, the Vulcan answered.

''Logic is only as valid as the premise it is based upon. Your premise excludes the established fact that she has more mental, emotional, and spiritual resilience than most humans and even the average Vulcan. What she would experience here is child's play compared to what she felt living for years as a transporter ghost without going insane, as she has done. Your premise is flawed; therefore, your logic is invalid.''

As he spoke out loud, the pressure on his psyche eased perceptibly. But more importantly, his hypothesis was confirmed; the flow of ominous vaporous light diminished substantially before his eyes and his instruments.

''Doctor, Ensign; this symbol is a psychic seal. It needs to overwhelm your mind to fully open and let whatever it guards again free. But if you successfully repulse it's mental assault, you will close the seal.''

Calculating the reduction of the foul light's flow, Sonak knew alone he could not fully close the seal. They too had to fight off this mind from beyond; each on their own. And so, the Kolinarh master offered to guide them through the same rituals that had, over years, purged him of all emotions. It would do no such thing in the short amount of time they would be here; but it would show them a way to fight back against whatever was trying to affect them and use their psychic energy to escape.

''Concentrate; do not let emotions sway you. Think logically. Let stray and strange thoughts flow over you, through you and beyond you without concern, without accepting nor rejecting them. be a detached observer of your own self without relinquishing it; like a rock in a sandstorm, each grain of sand touching you, moving all around and over you and then past you... while you remain, like the rock, touched yet unchanged.''

Dr. Mah could hear Sonak like a whisper as she looked at the bodies of her fallen crew around them. Dox lay next to Thex, Rita, Sarika and the others as their blood drained into the ritual grooves. A small part of feared the blame for failing her team from her Captain, she stopped herself though evaluating the situation as a superior would. Did she do everything possible for her team? Had she failed to look for all possible solutions? She looked at Sonak, he wasn't leaning over Rita in concern. She closed her eyes and continued down the check list of logical questions, the looked again to Sonak noting he walked past his crew, their crew. She follwed suit and continued their mission. If the team was really gone there was nothing they could do. She would follow Sonak's lead in this, truth would follow later.

But Sonak was not aware of her anymore. He blinked and found the cave gone, his suit gone, everything gone. He was wearing a blue shirt and black trousers over short soft boots. He was standing under a grey sky on a desolate rocky planetary surface sparsely dotted with wide-leafed blue plants vibrating with an eerie sound not unlike that made by 23rd century transporters. But he was not alone.

''Captain?''

Michael Stuart, wearing his gold command braided shirt and left-breast insignia of the USS Exeter, was standing before him, a look of relief on his face.

''We truly thought that we had lost you this time, Sonak.''

It was his voice, it as his face, his slightly crooked trademark smile, his familiar twinkling eyes.

''The Talosians had you in their thrall for quite some time now. They apparently managed to convince you that you were in another universe, living the life you always aimed for with Rita. But you're back now.''

''How?''

''Had the ship on autocontrol aiming our phasers at the Talosians' main facility. After a programmed delay, she fired and knocked them all out, freeing us. A brilliant idea you had there, as usual...''

He stopped as Sonak knelt to trace something in the sand with his finger.

''Have you seen this before, Captain?''

As he drew the strange glyph, the one he had seen painted on the suit of the Hera's chief flight control officer, Michael's face started to contort itself in a most ugly way. He stepped back, pointing his finger at him.

''You destroyed everything! You who dare call yourself my friend,yet you killed me! You eradicated our entire reality without a second glance while you and your so dear Rita went on with your new life in another! You left me dead! Erased! Non-existent! ''

Sonak looked at him with his cold icy grey eyes.

''You claimed this was all a Talosian illusion.''

His friends face was now etched with a mixture of anger and fear, hope and despair.

'' You can bring me back Sonak! You can bring it all back! You know the parameters, you know the calculations, you know the means to recreate our universe! You can save me! All of us! me, you and Rita, we can be together again as we were, where we belong!''

Sonak shook his head.

''This is not Talos IV. This no Talosian illusion but your own whoever, whatever you are.''

''I am Michael Stuart! I am the only friend, the only true friend you ever had!''

''You are not. Michael would never, ever, ask for his life at the cost of two universes; only would an inhuman monster... like you''

The image of Captain Stuart didn't respond. His skin took a grey-green tinge while pus-filled blisters and bleeding pustules appeared all over his growing and melting body. Sonak, undisturbed by the grotesque transformation, turned his back on it.

He blinked. Everything around him was darkened, chilled, made of strange stone and stranger metal with a vaporous sickly yellow light dimming by the second. Then the floor tilted under him and he fell.

Immediately, Sonak spun around to again grab both women in his viselike grip. In that same instant, the tiny hologram of Ensign Fiona O'Dell popped up into his heads up display.

=^="It appears that yuir fallin'. Activatin' rear piton and emergency cable now."=^= And as it spoke, from the rear of all of their suit's belt, a tiny retractable piton fired straight up, lodging itself hard into the domed roof above them as they jerked to a stop on the incredibly strong cable. =^="External sensors are offline, but INternal sensors detect surface contact with two other EVA suits. Would ye like to...=^=

"Activate armor to armor mag locking, cut off audio feed and convert into data stream" Sonak ordered the built-in computer, cutting the hologram off. With a hum, the metal plates of the armor magnetically locked on to Mah and Sado's suits, allowing to free his hands while they hung there.

"Status Doctor? Ensign?" the Vulcan asked as they dangled over the open darkness, the cable slowly retracting to pull them back up to the chamber level. '' The mental pressure has subsided. Whatever had been down there, leaking out, seemed to vanish with the illusion and the yellow mists. I postulate we closed the seal successfully from our end. Well done.''

Mah looked up at Sonak, "I've never been so happy to hear a suit speak to me before and I'll be damned happy to get back to my sickbay!" she grumbled. It seemed many medical doctors were cranky when away from the comfort of their sickbay for too long. "Thank you again for ensuring I didn't go bouncing down some hard surface. Apparently I need to master some sort of spider like abilities in this suit for my next mission."

A series of bleeps alerted him to his tricorder and he looked at the read out.

''We are now again receiving signals beyond the chamber. I read four lifesigns and four Starfleet combadge signals. Our team mates seem to be alive. It is too early to determine if they are still sane as well and if they too succeeded. We will try to reestablish contact and converge with them.''

"I can check physiological readout levels for elevated levels of cortisol, adrenalin and corresponding stress hormones as we get closer so we have an idea of what we are dealing with sir. As soon as they come fully online I will report, " offered Dr. Mah. She might be cranky but she was diligent in her duties as the CMO and the health of the crew was top priority. Her facade with others on the ship might still be able to stand with others, with Sado and Sonak all pretense was blown after this mission.

''Thank you Doctor, that will prove quite helpful, '' Sonak answered with a nod. ''Please advise immediately if you find anything peculiar. The mental and emoptional duress we are experiencing since our arrival could have lasting repercussions. We must also keep in mind that we are subjected to attempts at deception; all of us. Your data could help us counter it.''

Dr. Mah nodded to her commanding officer and began getting readout information from the crew she had on priority, Rita showed no unusually strong aftereffects of her journey. Mah still intended to get that shoulder rebuilt once they were on the ship. There were micro tears in the cartridge and she knew it would only be a matter of time before Rita made it worse, besides a little R&R with her husband could be ordered by the CMO. As for Thex her anxiety was still high despite what they had finished here, she was a bit concerned as to the reason. There was no panic reaction sho it had to be something else, "Mah to Thex, everything alright? I'm still reading elevated stress levels."

There was no answer. Not yet.


To Be Continued…

As everyone found solid footing once more, the flooring resealed itself, and the walls partitioning off the landing party slid down into the pyramid from which they had initially projected. Scanners came back online, as did comms, and everyone appeared to be none the worse for wear.

"Report?" Paris asked of the assembled officers, assuming certain commonalities of experience.

Looking around, Dox and Thex looked to be just about holding each other upright as the red-headed Romulan checked her suit's systems and took a breath. "Our tunnel led down to a circular chamber... about 8 meters across with the blood grooves converging in the center. Unidentified, yellow mists leaking out. Each of us was... attacked with some form of massively overwhelming hallucinations. Pushed right past my defenses and... went out of its way to get me to succumb to... internal fear."

"Working my way past that fear seemed to be what was required to reinforce whatever that seal was." Dox finished, standing upright under her own power now, helping Thex while making eye contact to see that the golden commander was, herself, okay without breaking mission protocol.

Thex gave a grunt as Dox helped her up. " It wanted me and the armor. That thing can't survive in our world. It needed a host and a suit so it wouldn't die. Well, I think that's what it wanted." Thex said the memory already seemingly fading.

''I will provided a detailed report and analysis of our findings as soon as we are back on board the Hera, '' Sonak answered in turn. ''Essentially, what our Chief Helmsman reported is what we went through ourselves. Doctor Mah and Ensign Sado can provide their own expert report, and more importantly details about the emotional duress they endured. I myself was challenged by a problem of logic and morality, as of course emotional pressure was useless when applied to me. It was a fascinating experience. But thanks to the efforts of the Doctor and the Ensign, we managed to seal the breach from our end as well.''

"Outstanding," Paris observed, seeing the calming heartrates and stress level readouts in her own HUD that indicated the landing party were recovering, including Sarika, whom Rita overrode and snapped her helmet black in place before the cyberpirate froze. "Alright Thex, let's make our way topside, because you have a lot of sisters up there, and I think we're going to need to decide just what to do about all of this. And in this matter, you are the defacto ambassador for your family."

" First we need to think about what we're going to do about the things that were claiming to be my parents." Thex said noting the two phasers the group had between them. " Rita do you have any more weapons in the braces?" She asked her friend.

"I have multiple weapons concealed in my arms - primarily bladed, but my arsenal includes a stun blaster in my right palm. However, I would have to remove my suit to use them," Sarika offered, holding up her hands in front of her and unsealing the glove on her right hand.

"Weapons we have, for all the good it seemed to do. You miss the part where I shot them to no effect?" Rita reminded Thex. "If you just plan to take them into custody, that in and of itself is an interesting 'how do you propose to do that' question? At this point I imagine we can call for the Hera to stun the facility from orbit, but that's about my best option, given the circumstances."

Thex paused as she thought through the situation. " It may be that there depowered with the portal closed. Less energy for them to feed off of. " She said trying to run her hand through her hair before it bounced into her helmet. " I mean we can't just leave the here. Gods know how many of me they've processed.

"While I retain my doubts as to their capabilities, your logic isn't unsound. What do you saw we see if a right cross can succeed where a phaser could not?" Paris replied, clearly indicating to the landing party her intentions as she cracked her knuckles. "Engage hand to hand and let's see how many cranial impacts it takes to get to the center of common sense or a lack of consciousness, shall we? Insufferable powerful alien so-and-so's..."

Locking her phaser onto her belt, Dox looked over at Rita and grinned. "Aye, Commander." She said, with more than a little pleasure evident in her voice at the plan as the team began to make their way back to the open doorway to the labs that they had come through earlier.

Thex was racking her brain for an idea when a voice drifted back into her head. Stronger and clearer than it had been before. "Weaker now... your weapons can hurt them.... hurry not last long." The voice of the deformed her echoed in her head, but the message was clear.

"We can hurt them." She blustered out without thinking getting some odd looks from her friends. "The deformed me in the tank is talking to me- we can beat them if we hurry."

"Well, that being the case..." Paris flicked her wrist to produce a phaser rifle, and began double-timing it to where they'd left the trio of oddities who acted as caretakers for this place. After the ancient astronaut had seen of this place, she was very much in the mood to see just how much stun their 'hosts' could resist, the rifle shouldered and ready to fire at the first sign of them on her scanners.

''I recommend stun level 3, '' Sonak said as he adjusted his own phaser, ''and concentration of fire on one target at a time. As we do not know the extent of their resilience, we need to overwhelm each one until the stun effect hits the central nervous system before switching to a new target. Commander, you should call target for all of us.''

As the team made their way quickly up the stone-floored path that led back to the opening to the inner chamber where the trials had begun, the deformed woman in the dark, thick cloak that called herself the Caretaker dragged herself into view, blocking the doorway back into the complex.

"Yooooooooo.... have... SIlenced... the MASters!!! What have you DONE!?!" The distorted reflection of the Hera's Chief Engineer hissed at them, venom on her furious rantings as she fixed her singe, working eye on Thex. "WHAT HAAAAVVEEE YOOOOUUU DOOONNEEE!!!?!?!"

Sidestepping to remain in front of the azure engineer, Dox raised the classically styled phaser that Rita had tossed her earlier and squeezed the trigger as a streak of amber energy streaked at the raving creature who was knocked back off her feet with an unearthly squeal.

Flumping to the ground behind her, the caretaker fell, stunned. "Worked on her." Dox said coldly.

"Mr. Sonak's right, stay together, mark your targets, here comes our next target. Stun level 3, concentrate on target and... fire."

In the darkness, multiple phaser beams lanced out to a common point, where another form crumpled.

''Tricorders still can't read through the surrounding material, '' Sonak reported. ''We will have to rely on light-of-sight... or possibly telepathic signals.''

"Thex, how you holding it together, Lieutenant Commander?" Rita Paris asked over the open channel as they scanned the chamber for the next ancient, the officers stepping into flanking positions as they moved forward.

Thex was silent as she tried to reach out letting the feeling of dread guide her aim through the darkness. She could feel there hatred staring out from the abyss wanting to pouch and........

With an inhuman yell, one of the jellyfish-like beings lept from the darkness heading right for the andorian. A blast from Thex's phaser smashed into it as it still came straight for her. Right into the engineer's fist as it slammed into the strange flesh with the texture of month old pudding. Even still the creature flew back from the force of the blow as more phasers slammed into it till it stopped wriggling as it went into shock then unconscious as it crumpled to the floor. A smile spread over Thex's face as she finally replied to Rita. " I'm doing great my friend. One more to go."

Suddenly there was the sound of arcing electricity from behind the away team as Sarika handled the last of the threats with the stun blaster in her palm, bright red lightning arcing through the jellyfish as she gave it a nice solid palm strike, knocking it unconscious in more ways than one as it tried to come at them around their rear. "Threat neutralized. No motion detected."

Checking her own HUD, Dox nodded as she addressed the mission commander. "Confirmed, Commander Paris. No hostels detected, and with them down, that clears the last of the interference with communication. I have a clear signal to the Runabout again."

"Outstanding," Paris declared, opening a channel to the Hera. "USS Hera, do you copy? This is Commander Paris."

"This is the Hera, we copy you, Commander- go ahead," came the prompt reply.

"The away team has met with success. You may want to alert the Imperial Guard that they have a rescue mission to undertake... there are a great number of Andorians in need of medical attention down here. Lieutenant Commander Thex stands ready to liase with them on the site."

Clasping her friend's shoulder, Paris shoulder hugged the little blue sprocket from the engine room who loved to dance. "This is your moment, Thex. All of your sisters in here... they're going to be a political football, because cloning is illegal in the Federation, at least on this level. So they may have to fight for their right to exist, their right to enter society... hell, they might have to fight for their right to even be woken up. But they have something on their side- they've got you to speak for them. To advocate for them. To get them the same chance at life that you've had."

Thex returned her friends hug before looking around at the mess they were surrounded by. The facility seemed to be aging very slowly as they stood there as if their many years under the ice were finally catching up on it. " Better get some engineers down here as well. God's knows how long it's been since this place has had a maintenance check and let's get some cryo pods for these three I don't trust moving them while they could wake up. "

Walking over to one of the tanks she placed a hand on it's dusty service looking at the identical face staring back. This would take a long time, but she was going to help all of them. " It's okay your safe now." She said soflty.

The nightmare was finally over.

End.

The mission to Andoria had been completed successfully, but it was not a mission without casualties. Nobody from the crew of the Hera was seriously injured, save a dislocated shoulder for Commander Rita Paris that was currently being healed back on the Nebula Class Starships sickbay. Rather, the casualties today were emotional.

Flying over the icy surface of the frigid moon in the Runabout Selune, Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox and Captain Enalia Telvan were seeing to the mind of the one this mission had been the most important to: The Hera's Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi.

While Captain Telvan had stayed aboard, arguing with the planets seemingly intractable government to ensure the legal permission to explore on this, one of the founding worlds of the Federation, Thex, Dox and an away team snuck down to investigate a series of powerful telepathic calls for help that had come to the Andorian engineer. Calls that lead them to a hidden facility and an ancient, buried pyramid on the icy world. In that facility, over 200 Andorian clones being kept in stasis tubes for a terrible purpose. 

After a pitched conflict that involved using all of their mental faculties to re-seal the eldritch horrors within that pyramid from escaping. In that conflict, Thex learned a number of troubling truths that the azure inventor was still struggling with. That she too was a clone. That she had been taken from that same facility years ago. That the memories of her childhood were fabrications.

In the chaotic hours since the team returned to the Hera from the abandoned facility, much work had been done. Conversations with Starfleet about the nature of that facility and the crimes committed there. Meetings with Andoria's security council and Thex to discuss the future of the clones that had been kept there. It was only the beginning of something that would likely take years for many higher-ups in many governments to work through, and Thex would be inexorably linked to all of that as a Starfleet officer.

But for today, the talks had ceased for a time and Thex had something personal that she had requested permission to do. A bit of much-needed closure and confirmation. Seeing for herself that place that she still remembered growing up in. Something Captain Telvan had insisted on being with her friend for.

From the helm of the runabout, Dox flew the sleek craft deftly through the atmosphere. "Lieutenant Commander, we're approaching the coordinates you gave for your village."

Thex nodded as she placed the water bottle down as she walked to look out the front of the shuttle. She remembered the mountain ranges with the one shaped like a finger scraping the sky towering high into the sky. " It's on the eastern side of the hot spring lake. " She said pointing as the lake which was still bellowing giant plums of steam into the atmosphere allowing this area to be relatively clear of snow and ice.

That was a factor that made Dox a little grateful. They had area-appropriate cold-weather gear, but the prospect of putting her EVA armor again for this wasn't something she was looking forward to, though all of their armors were stored in the ship's hold. "Okay. I'll bring her in for a pass. Sensors are queuing up landing zones for us."

Deftly maneuvering around the mountain range and over the lake, Dox brought the Selune in for an initial pass over what was described as the place where Thex had grown up, but what they saw as the smaller ship parted the swirling mists of the hot springs was different from those expectations.

Surrounding the hot spring was a forest of the small squat trees that were native to andoria. Several small furry grubs the size of a large dog were sucking the sap from the tree's thought they took a break as they stopped to look at the shuttle flying overhead. A faint heavily worn path lead from the lake in a few directions, one back towards the nearest city and another up towards the mountains. Along this path which the shuttle was now following came a clearing was the faint ruins of a perimeter wall could be seen. It had long since fallen into ruins becoming overgrown with thick foliage.

"This is one of the most pleasant and welcoming places I've ever seen on Andoria, and yet..." Enalia paused a moment to look over not just the landscape, but the buildings and structures in the area as well. "It looks like no one has lived here in at least fifty years - probably even longer."

Bringing the Selune down gently in the tall grasses near the entry point of the main perimeter wall, Dox pursed her lips and glanced over at Thex. While she herself had traumatic childhood memories she had repressed for years, that was nothing like what had to be going through the azure engineer's troubled mind. But whatever was to be discovered, Thex wouldn't be alone in the moment. 

Thex breathed in deeply before she stepped out of the shuttle. This felt wrong somehow. Her memories of this place had the tree's far larger and more densely packed. The road had been cobbled not the hard finely ground sand that it had now turned into. Walking towards the wall she could remember falling as Vash had pulled her over and feeling the pain as she ran into the woods as the guards chased after her. " This place... it's changed." She managed to say as she heard her two friends approach.

While Dox had a tricorder on her belt, she kept it closedfor now. But the evidence of her eyes showed something she didn't need a tricorder to tell her. "Thex... I've read your personnel file. This looks like... far more than twenty some odd years of growth and disrepair."

" I guess it was all fake implanted memories, but this doesn't make sense. It was modern building materials it was made from, not solid stone." The Andorian said leading the way to the gate.

During their time on Andoria, much had been revealed to the troubled engineer about the truth of where she really came from. "All things considered, that's not impossible. However, the level of disrepair that we found in the cloning facility also indicated that what happened there happened a long time ago as well."

"Perhaps your memories happened longer ago than you had thought." Dox added, curiously, as they reached the gate. "But this is all still familiar to you? Why implant a memory of a real place that had been abandoned so long ago? Unless someone wanted you to come here... find something?"

Thex gave a shrug as she stepped through the remains of the gateway. " Perhaps or maybe they're just memories of the original me that they update in case they need to realize one of us." Thex said before pausing. " I've already started referring to them as us."

"That would make sense," Enalia began as she scanned one of the fire-grubs happily munching away at one of the trees not far away. Talla P’Trell, mentioned in the reports, is likely not only the original DNA doner, but also the memory doner as well."

"This is just a hypothesis, but..." the captain motioned towards a darker, partially collapsed building further into the small settlement that resembled a church or spiritual center. "A cult was founded for whatever reason, she acted as the center of it to preserve knowledge across generations, either intentionally or because of a variance in the system her memories weren't completely copied to you - only her memories of growing up."

"The better parts of the cult then helped you escape and forget about their world for a time, leading you to your own life choices," Enalia finished with a hint of that lopsided grin of hers. "But who knows what really happened now. In the end, you've become an amazing Starfleet officer and engineer with a host of achievements under your belt. That's something they can never take away and have no claim to."

" Maybe." Thex said as she stopped in front of one of the buildings. It had been a kitchen or at least her memories had had it as a kitchen. " I wonder why she decided to run. What were they going to do to her?"

"If she is the basis for your memories... the answer might be with you as well." Dox said, looking around and keeping her eyes and ears open for any potential threats as they explored further. "Perhaps when we return to the ship, Sonak can help you with that. He was... instrumental in helping me unwrap the memories I'd repressed from growing up. It might take a while and be unpleasant, but it's something."

"Unless she feels compelled to talk to you again through your telepathic sister." Dox added with a shrug.

"I may be able to help with that." Came a voice from the doorway of the largest roundhouse. Stepping out of the door was an ancient-looking one-armed Andorian who Thex new very well.

"Thavan." Thex said in a strange mixture of relief and bitterness.

Captain Telvan tapped at her tricorder and scanned not only the mysterious new arrival but the building he came from as well as the ones nearby. "That explains the sensor reflections under the foundations of the central buildings..." she muttered as she eyed Thex's Thavan.

Vash or whatever his name truly was raised hs one good arm. The space was his other one had been seemed to move as well before fading back. " I mean you no harm. I'm sorry for scaring your colleagues in Starfleet intelligence captain. I'm sure they're quite surprised on how I vanished from there care. "

"Thex's Thavan? You're who sent those files to Thex to begin with? The clues that prodded all of this into action?" Dox asked, a hint of anger in her voice.

" What do you want Vash? " Thex butted in.

" I can let you talk to you. This place meant so much to Talla. Her spirit is tied here as is yours." The old Andorian said before coughing out a sound that sounded like shredded seashells being trodden on. " Consider it a parting gift. "

With that the unAndorian andorian seemed to slide his figure over the air before the foreground of the roundhouse. A ghostly transparent yet visible reflection of Thex dressed in the finest garments available to bronze age andorians stood before her.

Watching the exchange, it all felt like callous manipulation to Dox, who had experienced far too much of such in her own life. Working to keep her own feelings contained for Thex's sake, Dox raised an eyebrow at the visage. "Talla P'Trell?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox- I am she." The ghostly Andorian said with a warm, reassuring smile. "I would like to thank the both of you for looking after Thex. She means a great deal to me, I think. She brought help."

"She means a great deal to us as well." Dox replied, deferring to Enalia and Thex, both of whom had to be bursting with questions as much as she was.

"She's... special," the projection said as she cupped the cheek of the very real Thex. "They only had so much of the original genetic material- there wasn't a lot of me left. So they made copies, from which they made copies, from which they made copies. Over the course of time, you lose qualities of the original. Then they instilled the directive in all of them- subliminals pumped into their tanks telling them to reproduce. If her sisters and aunts and grandparents and great grandparents can all be integrated into society, they could be a boon. All of them want to breed... because they were supposed to serve as hosts for the Dark Ones. But now... they could help our world, our species. We struggle to continue, and our birth rates drop every year."

"And what about her memories of her growing up here when this place has been abandoned far longer than would have been possible." Dox replied. "Are those memories hers or yours or one of the others along the way?"

"That was her great grandmother's memories, transferred down through to her by Vash. To give her a past, so she could build a future," the projection of the progenitor of the line explained. "Thex carried all of our hopes with her, although she didn't know it. We lived vicariously through her, and a few of the other escapees through the decades."

Thex raised a hand to touch the ghostly version of her from across time and space. " I only hope I made all of you proud. Know I can free them and they can live their own lives."

Talla smiled as she hugged Thex, a smile upon her face. " And I can finally rest. It's been so long."

"Right when I think I've seen everything, something else proves me wrong..." Enalia muttered as she continued her scans, her frown deepening as something on the horizon caught her attention. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like a storm... Blizzard? Bad weather is forming almost on top of us."

Checking her own tricorder, Dox nodded. "The runabout is equipped to deal with that, but looking at the wind speeds, flying through it will be a bit more dangerous than not. Plus... the winter gear we're currently wearing will not be sufficient for the cold. Looks like we have twelve to seventeen minutes, tops, before the leading edge hits."

"And Vash? I'll have to report your location to Starfleet Intel," Enalia added with a hint of her piratical grin. "They should be finished processing the release of information to the Andorian government in around... I'd say seven or eight local years at the earliest. You know how Starfleet regulations can be at times."

" I'll we hand myself into federation intelligence as soon as I've finished one final task. Someone needs to be put in her place. " The ancient Andorian replied.

Thex held Talla for another moment before letting the ghostly Andorian go. With a smile and a wave, she faded away until no trace of her being there remained.

" Who do you need to put in her place?" She said turning to Vash.

" Oh you already know who she is." The Andorian replied before he as well began to fade from view. "Take care of yourself little one." his voice echoed one final time.

"What... does that mean, Thex? Who were they talking about?" Dox asked, more than a little confused.

The Chief engineer of the Hera suddenly felt a small lump in her pocket. Pulling it forth, she unfolded the piece of paper to reveal an old photo. In the image, a crew of a Federation starship wearing the late 2270's uniforms staring back at her. And one, in particular, was obvious indeed. She'd seen the short Andorian before in her memories and the identical face staring back at her brought a smile to her face.

"I hate to break things up, but the storm is moving in faster than expected. If we don't leave now, we'll be stuck here," Enalia called out, glancing up at the wall of clouds forming over them.

As the spectral images of P'Trel and Vash had vanished, it was only Thex, Enalia and Dox left standing there in the ruins of of a memory given to the Hera's chief engineer. As Thex returned the photo to her pocket, he three women nodded and headed back to the runabout on the other side of the gate. A few moments later, with Thex at least having some idea that she was part of something bigger than she had ever realized, the small craft took off from the surface, speeding ahead of the storm back to the heavens and the ship they all called home.

-------------

Many, many years ago, the creature known as Vash... no longer Andorian... smiled slightly to himself as he placed a small, cooing Andorian child wrapped tightly in a box in the doorway. It seemed so cruel to do this, but everything did have to happen or the loop would be broken. Backing into the darkness he waited until the noise from her brought the two imperial guard officers that would find the child.

Like Thex, Tivri had a part to play. Now it was all a matter of time, and the cycle continued.

Doc Power was at the training holodeck early, browsing over the details of the scenario they had agreed upon at their last meeting. He had loaded the program in a paused state and was standing just inside the arch, dressed in a stylized version of a green and brown archer's outfit complete with quiver and bow. This was the last time he left his choice of period specific apparel up to the program as he felt more akin to a... Well, he wasn't rightly sure to be honest. He was fairly sure that he wasn't the type to take on the role of an archer or a Robin Hood style though.

As the massive double doors opened, the ship's EMH looked up from the oversized training arch and smiled broadly. "Good morning! It's good to see you here early as well."

Tovanna looked up at Adam Power delighted to see he was dressed for their adventure. While she hadn't insisted on the team wearing anything specific it was indicated they would be going on a medieval excursion. She herself was dressed more the style of what looked to be a cleric with a long skirt and two knives strapped to her hips. It was the most feminine the doctor looked since coming aboard with her hair in a complex series of braids on top and the rest loosely running down her back. She looked as if this style of dressing was much more comfortable and natural than her daily uniform in the way she moved easily with her skirt, "Well good morning Adam. I just finished the finishing touches on the program. I am no expert of such games but have done what I can to base a loose little bit of fun for us today. So what shall we call you today? Lord Power? Adam the Rogue?" she laughed sweetly at the thought of their crew being a band of adventurers.

With a thoughtful nod, the holographic doctor nodded. "I quite like the sound of that, actually. By day I'm a mild mannered doctor. By night I'm a crime fighting warrior known as Lord Power." With that, he did his best to strike a heroic pose but lost it and started laughing halfway through his attempt. "Well, we'll see. I have confidence in my skills in sickbay at least."

As the holodeck doors opened, they admitted Lieutenant Ironhooves, who had apparently played this game before. Heavy dark iron armor, pitted and scarred from numerous battles was present in large bulky shoulderpads, a breastplate, one arm guard that appeared to be a buckler on her right forearm, and an oaken shield banded by riveted iron on left arm. Between those armored plates was chainmail of emerald green, where it was not also torn and scraped in an old injury. Plates covered her equite back and flanks, although her legs and hooves were unprotected.

Hefting a rather large and somewhat improbable-looking mace bulging round riveted studs over her shoulder, the Arborean warrior looked around, her rather impressive mane of hair fitted through her somewhat Spartan-style helmet tossing about like a battle standard.

"I am here, prepared to stand with the... medical command team, in this bonding through... play acting battlefield warfare... trust building exercise," Ironhooves managed to declare, although it was clear she was still having a bit of trouble with the layers of complexity it all. Her tone was not mocking nor dismissive- it was clear the difficulty was in framing what she was trying to say in thje proper context.

Obviously she was onboard for the exercise, as her gear did not look like anything the replicator had spit out on command.

Tova looked at Lieutenant Ironhooves as she entered and did a doubletake, "You look well prepared for battle doctor, I am quite impressed. I think you can officially be assured you are the most practiced fighter among us. Might you possibly help Dr. Power and I with the question of if he should be called Lord Power or Power Ranger?" She giggled looking at Dr Power and asked him to look up the series and explain its heroic nature as she sat down knowing she was about to get an ear full.

"A lord rules over lands and cares for his people, so Lord wouldn't be quite right. Power ranger... you might have it programmed, but you don't look like much of a woodsman to me. Perhaps as this is a make-believe battle, your make-believe title should suit you and inspire you, Doctor Power?" the centaur hefted the mace as she spoke, spinning it in her hands and taking a few experimental swings with it even as she adjusted her shield straps.

As Doc Power stepped a bit further out, drew an arrow, and pulled it back on his bow with seeming ease, he thought about it a bit further. After a moment of thought, he released the arrow and sent it flying across the landscape to spear a fruit growing on a tree at least a hundred yards away. "I think... Just Adam is fine."

"Adam Archer I'd say, with an eye like that," Ironhooves commented as she moved in, admiration evident in her eye. "You are always that accurate? How fast can you reset and fire?"

"Madam, I am one of the best physicians ever to exist within Starfleet," Adam replied, quickly pulling out three arrows and firing them all off in quick succession, nailing three more fruits from the same tree, though the third one was not completely centered. "It seems these arrows are to me just an extension of my normal laser scalpels."

Grinning at the holographic healer, the middle-aged centaur dam did a little pony prance. Despite all of her grumbling in getting here, it was clear that she was growing excited for the exercise. "Oh, this is getting more interesting by the minute! I cannot WAIT to see what the Minotaur is bringing to this!"

Tova smiled at the excited centaur, "And how shall we address during our adventure you my lady Ironhooves?"

That brought something of a smirk to the face of the battle-scarred veteran. She was, in point of fact, High Priestess of the Green, Lady Ironooves, granddam of the Ironhooves Clan, of the western steppes, speaker for the Green and speaker for the dead. Destroyer of Uggoth the Unknowable, banisher of Chase the Destroyer, Handmaiden of Armageddon. While a battle lord and respected wielder of potent magicks on her homeworld, here she was just a doctor, a physician of mediocre skill and extensive training. Thus she skipped on the formalities which would be meaningless to her comrades in arms here, and instead went both simple and humble.

"Just Ironhooves will do, Doctor. I have encountered no others in Starfleet. So I suspect, like myself, my name is unique, easy to remember and as three syllables, unlikely to be confused with any other battlefield commands," the cranky centaur summarized.

Tova's head quirked to the side as she considered Ironhooves and she nodded deciding not to push at this point, "Very well, I must say however I am intrigued by your armor. I hope at some point you will share some of the tales of how it came to see such wear."

"The battle of Stonebreak Plain. The battle of Barog's Bit Pit. The assault on the city-state of the Imperial Overlord. The battle of Birbaum Tor. The battle of Seven Armies," Ironhooves rattled off in an offhand manner. "I don't remember them all, they were so long ago. But there were battles, yes... on a world called Arboria, which is not part of the Federation, which is off-limits to Starfleet as a protected sanctuary world as it is pre-warp. Not a lot of point going into it as it is the past, not the present, and will play no role in our future." While she was dismissive, it was clear to anyone with eyes that bringing up her home planet and her past was not the favorite subject of the fantasy warrior, who now found herself explaining exactly that.

Tova nodded in empathy and respect having more than once been grilled about her race, its demise and the culture she lost. She knew the look Ironhooves had given and was sure she herself had done so as well, though buried behind a mask of smiles and generational distance, not that of one who was part of the culture itself. She resumed gathering their supplies, not saying anything more on the subject.

All heads turned as the doors slid open once again and Ensign Sado swept into the room in rather luxurious robes. Swathes of black silk with gold accents hung from one shoulder, crossed at his waist, and swirled around his legs. Underneath, he wore a form-fitting vest and pants made from the same materials. His dramatic collar revealed dark green velvet lining, and it didn't appear he'd brought a weapon with him. He reached up with his exposed arm to run his fingers along the ridges of one of his curled horns, drawing attention to a simple gold earring in his right ear.

"Good morning," the horned Ensign called with a small wave as he approached, grinning from ear to ear to see that he hadn't overdressed. "Tanaak the magician, at your service," he said with a bow and a flourish of his arm. "Though I suppose I should ask what the house rules for magic are to be."

"Good day Tanaak, it seems we have a magician with our group now. As for rules of magic, I would think anything that would make the adventure too easy would merely escalate the difficulty as we move along, so take care with what you use," mentioned Tova as she pulled a scroll from her cloak, "so now who would be best at managing our map?"

"Well, I could take a look at it," Doc Power replied as Tova unfurled the scroll. Then the holographic life form's face fell. "Nevermind. I don't know what any of these symbols mean. Is this supposed to be the heart or the brain?" he asked, pointing towards a graphic clearly labeled as a castle.

Tova looked at Adam and smiled. Apparently cartography was not a skill set included in his database, "Maybe I should handle this," she pointed east, "this way. We should be able to reach the outskirttng villages of Castle Nightengale soon." She continued leading the way for her team as they made their way along a well worn path. "It seems or assistance is needed to help with a rash of illnesses that have been coming up and can not be healed by the lord's healer or the local medicine women. There is a curse suspected from within and we are being asked to help no matter what plagues them. A fitting mission I hope?"

"I'm still curious as to how this simulation will deal with a simulation of magic, but yes, the mission seems reasonable. Will we be solving this challenge through applied science then?" Ironhooves asked, moving at a sedate pace to remain with the party.

"For the most part yes," Tova nodded to Ironhooves, "but there are simulations for spells if they were input," she looked at Tanaak pointedly and smiled, "on the other hand what is magic? What one civilization calls magic, another calls an ability be it natural or technological. For example the majority of my people can naturally detect space-time continuum some especially well. Is that magic? For us no, it is merely part of who we are as people with varying levels of ability. At one point in the history of Terra you and Tanaak would have been looked upon with wonder and awe for being a magical being, you would have been worshiped. You were what humans dreamed of." She smiled gently at the two as she remembered the many hours she spent in museums growing up and shrugged.

Internally the high priestess took the lecture about the nature of magic in stride and didn't bother to correct the chief medical officer. That was decades ago and lightyears away, and the less the rest of the 'civilized' galaxy knew about actual magic, the better, Ironhooves had long ago decided. She also noted there was still no answer to Sado's question save that he should have apparently taken it upon himself to adjust the parameters of the exercise to accommodate his desire to do something other than be a bruiser. The old country doctor noted the leadership style and said nothing, just observing and diagnosing.

The path before them narrowed slightly and turned sharply as they descended into a glade before them. There were wildflowers of various types, flying insects and other flora and fauna. Tiny fluttering leaves fell upon them as they proceeded into the glade and they could hear the groaning of wood despite a lack of wind. The glade looked undisturbed and was encircled by trees all around it, no distinct train leading out of the glad for them to proceed upon.

"So are we to be using tricorders on the local flora and fauna to see if it is an airborne allergen or agent causing the malady, or are we attempting to use the simplest methods, and 'roughing it'. I'm still a bit unclear on that point," Ironhooves admitted.

"I don't think tricorders fit the theme," replied Doc Power as he notched an arrow and eyed the trees warrily. "Besides, judging by the disturbances of the trees and the movement of the shadows within them, I do believe we have just walked into a dangerous situation. I believe the phrase 'we failed our observation check' applies."

Tova nodded looking around at the trees and glade as they seemed to creak more. She looked behind them, "Problem confirmed, the path behind us is gone." She looked at the team and pointed to the trees at the edge of the glade, "Is it me or does the treeline seem denser than when we entered?" She looked up at the top of the trees and saw movement all around them. "Suggestions?"

"To simplify things, I suppose I'll stick to spells that relate to atmospheric conditions; water, ice, electricity," the medic turned mage said, eyeing the trees. "That being said, any of us who can target multiple foes at once might get ready to do so." Tanaak held up his palms and tested his ability to call up his desired effect, arcing tiny bolts of lightning between his fingers. "I think this would also be the time to set up a plan of defense. Shall we take them on back to back, or split up to give each other room?"

"Stay together," the old warhorse grunted as she unlimbered and strung her bow in a practiced motion. She spoke in a low, hurried and hushed tone that the others could hear, but anyone distant would not. "We've not worked as a team, and any distance between us will invite friendly fire. We are four points of the compass- chose a heading and guard that flank, back to back, and call out when you need help. Begin with range but be prepared for close quarters."

A flash of white went between the trees near the ground and then a wolf appeared. The fur of its nose, ears and forepaws were white but faded to a verdant green which led to an eventual mossy fur at the rear of the animal. It chuffed as it entered the grove and trotted toward the front of the group, tail high in the air looking at the group. It stopped for moment looking at Tanaak with a curl of its lip and staring at them, not moving.

Doc Power glanced over his shoulder at the beast, still covering his area with his bow and arrow. "Is it friendly? It doesn't look friendly..." he whispered nervously as it approached.

Tail up, head up, it certainly didn't look like it was hunting to her. Ironhooves held her arrow knocked, but bent over some to reach out with an open hand in a sign of friendship and welcoming.

The wolf sniffed the air and looked at the group as it paced back and forth. Tova pushed Adam's arrow down toward the ground, "It's not attacking, hold." The wolf started to circle towards Ironhooves from a distance, stopped and looked at her outreached hand yet looking at the weapon in hand eyeing her.

Shrugging, the four-footed physician hooked the strung bow over one shoulder, dropping the arrow into the quiver with a practiced ease and showing both hands to the local wildlife like a blackjack dealer. "It's alright... we're not here to do harm if we don't have to defend ourselves. We come in peace, friend."

Returning his arrow to its quiver, Adam stood down and relaxed a bit, though his eyes were still on the treeline. "I admit that since my patients are humanoid, I'm not very good at reading non-humanoid life forms. Please relay my appologies."

The wolf passed by Adam and Tova stopping near Ironhooves and chuffed as it slowly continued to circle around the group eyeing Tanaak lip raised in a curl. "Tanaak, loose the lightening," said Tova noticing the wolf's behavior.

"Not uncommon for landing parties to encounter native life forms that may be suspicious of outsiders," Ironhooves spoke in calm, friendly tones as she conveyed her thoughts to the medical personnel. "So it's not uncommon for use of Starfleet contact protocols. Patients who can't or won't communicate in traditional fashions aren't common, Archer, but a good point to recognize an area to work on, Power. I'm not good with diseases myself- too darn many of them in the galaxy. There you go, see, he's reigning it in. We're not hostile, we still come in peace. You can call out your pack if you like, we won't harm anyone unless we have to defend ourselves. Which we won't have to do, because you and your pack want much the same thing."

Tova nodded, "Agreed Ironhooves, seems we have stepped into this wolf's grove," she looked down and away from the wolf submissively. The wolf trotted up the the group and sniffed at them all eyeing them, seeming to settle on something. Finally after a moment it chuffed and ran toward the edge of the grove as a path appeared and the trees creaked and rustled. It stopped at the edge of the path and looked behind at the group and ran back toward them pacing in front of them again and running back toward the path. "Looks like we are being directed forward, shall we?" Tova started forward toward the wolf.

"Doctor Power, if you wouldn't mind watching the rear flank, I think you've got the sharpest eyes. Sado, take the front flank- you're quick and large, a good combination. Unless you had a plan you wanted us to follow, Chief?" Ironhooves said it flatly, without emphasis, but the undercurrent was not hard to read- if you are to lead, you must lead..

Tova quietly moved forward following the wolf, "The only plan I have for my doctors and field medic is for them to follow field protocols as we were all trained to do. Since there are only four of us and we are not in a time sensitive situation then, it would seem an all around security wedge formation would be the most logical approach during this time. I expect all of my medical team to understand this at their level off training and rank, wouldn't you agree?" She glanced over her shoulder at her team as she moved along, then returned to watching the animal before them not loosing site of the wolf. "Perhaps one thing that we shall all learn during this team building exercise is that your CMO approaches leadership with a polite bedside manner when possible and has the highest expectations of her team."

"That would be something beneficial to learn," Ironhooves agreed, bringing up the rear of the recommended formation as the most fleet of foot. "Since we're talking about our approaches, aside from children my bedside manner... lacks. Half the time they are dying to ask me questions, the other half of the time they don't believe I'm a doctor. Part of why I specialized in surgery- they don't talk to me while I'm working. Pre-op and post-op I prefer to leave to the nurses if possible, or I just keep the conversation to a minimum. Less room for misinterpretation that way."

Tova nodded as she continued following their guiding wolf never taking her eyes from it in case of traps or areas of danger for her team. "That is the purpose of this adventure, to learn about each other, how we each work in a simulated scenario. As for your capacities doctor, given my experience in the private sector and my work with Starfleet, I find they are hardly insurmountable issues." She slowed as did the animal they were following as they approached a much smaller clearing of trees. The treetops were so dense it was shadowed yet there was a glow between the high grass as they approached. The wolf came to a stop and sat close to one of the trees near the glow. Tova held her hand to call a halt, "Ironhooves, please keep us covered with Sado, Power with me, weapon low but ready."

"Aye," replied the holographic life form, his eyes alert for anything. He had his bow at the ready in one hand and his other hand was ready to pull an arrow and notch it in an instant should anything happen. He chose this stance to be less threatening, yet surgically on guard.

As they crept forward Tova and Power could see a small round opening in the trees with two wolves laying facing the center, glowing area. The animals both raised their heads as the doctors entered yet settled back down quickly. Tova knelt down to look within the glowing area, a nest, within she found a small woman lying curled up with wings wrapped around her. The small woman gave off a cool blue glow as she shivered. Tova picked up the nest gently as the wolves whined at her and turned to Dr. Power. "I think we found out what we were being led to, let's see if our team can handle such a diminutive patient." She slowly walked toward her team, "Anyone have any experience with healing ummm," she looked at the little woman unsure, "fairies?"

"I think they drink restorative elixirs from the bells of the flowers, collecting the morning dew. This one's not my patient," Ironhooves explained as she thunked her war mace to her breastplate, both ringing with the sound of metal on metal. "Cold wrought iron. My shoes as well. On my world the fae were... malicious."

Tova's ears rang a bit with the clang of metal, "Did you just say you came from a world that had fairies Ironhooves?" She shook her head and looked at the nest in her hands and then her eyes flashed up revealing the soul of the woman over sixty she kept very well hidden, "At some point I've gotta get you drunk and we can trade stories about long lost worlds we'd rather not share with strangers woman." Tova looked to Sado, "How about you? Any fairy folk where you come from?" She looked at the tall man with interest.

"Can't say that there are. We've legends of blue hooved gods with eyestalks that would give our centaur and andorian friends something to talk about, but nothing quite so..." the magical medic bent over the trembling being and tilted his head. "Delicate." Tanaak stood up to his full height again and looked around at his companions. "If the fae has a physical aliment, one that's familiar, we're certainly group to treat it. If it's magical, and that wouldn't surprise me at all, we might take the creature with us and pursue that restorative elixir angle. In the meantime, if the poor thing is cold, perhaps I should be the one to carry her. Oriasi blood runs hot."

"Well Tanaak, it looks like you are now the walking heating source for our little patient. I will get on collecting the needed items for some basic remedies I know of as we move along to our destination," said Tova as she began walking with her team, the wolves letting them pass without challenge, "let's resume formation shall we. If nothing else seems we are learning about each other already. Seems Adam is quite the marksman in addition to a fruit carver however cannot read a map all that well." She smiled sweetly at him.

"We have learned our lovely Ironhooves has seen her share of battles, and is as hesitant to speak of her homeworld as I am." She nodded her head to the doctor in obvious respect, "Tanaak you seem to be the gentle, hot blooded giant from a world of equally endowed people and gods. Quite an impressive team thus far. Let's continue our journey and see what else we can learn."

The path before them was less traveled yet still worn. It led in the direction they were originally heading towards Castle Nightingale. Tova looked at the map and to her team, "We need only go only that rise and we will be on the outskirts of the town that surrounds the castle. In the meantime is anyone familiar with flowers?"

"Not without a tricorder," Ironhooves shrugged broadly. "Alchemy wasn't much of a focus of my sect."

"I am able to differentiate between over three hundred million plant based life forms within Federation space and can diagnose the viability and healing uses and properties of innumerable more just based on my own senses," interjected Doc Power, looking a bit sheepish. "Apparently someone at Starfleet Medical thought that it was a necessary database to add to my matrix."

"Makes sense. You have a perfect memory and can scan at high efficiency. Makes sense to stuff you with as much potentially helpful data as possible," Ironhooves snorted. "So why the question about flowers, Doctor?"

Tova was unsurprised by Power's knowledge base given the type of work they did and nodded, "Actually it was you Ironhooves and what you said about morning dew and flowers. An extract based upon certain flowers can actually be quite clean. It lacks contaminants such as dirt and bug parts especially if it is a morning blooming flower. Such extracts are also quite easy to absorb and less likely to trigger any histamine reaction, thus it makes sense that what seems to be a fae healing technique is actually the basis for modern medicine. If our little patient is suffering from a serotonin shortage from a recent birth or another issue this can be solved by an extract of clean water mixed with..." she thought for a bit, "Powers keep an eye out for Cocks-Foot, Silvergrass, or possibly Xyridaceae." She stopped and looked at the fairy who was now glowing a soft pink instead of blue, "If she has been through a stressful or traumatic event recently, that could be an issue. There could also be an issue with her tryptophan which led to the serotonin if that is indeed the problem so we should keep an eye out for a supply of pumpkin seeds as well, "she looked at Tanaak, "if nothing else they are nutrient rich. She is looking better Tanaak, keep her warm." She turned to continue on their path, "Keep the inspiration coming Ironhooves and your eyes open"

Adam snapped his fingers as a thought struck him, "I hadn't thought of it as a hormone or chemical imbalance. I was assessing it as a bacteriological illness. In that case..."

Without hesitation, he drew an arrow and gently fired it straight up into the tree they had been walking under. Moments later the arrow fell back into his hand, followed by a delicate pink and white blossom the size of his palm. "We're walking under a tree covered in Farezniad Galandia, a flowering vine native to tropical areas of Betazoid and known for its highly intoxicating scent due to the high levels of natural estrogen and serotonin in the pollen. I believe a highly prized chocolate liquor is distilled from it."

Tova stopped and laughed, "And here I was looking at the ground for flowers, it didn't strike me to look up. Well then let's see if our theory is sound shall we? Ironhooves, do you have anything on you that can serve as a mortar and pestle among your gear or you Mr. Sado? It would be more effective to grind up the flower and go the route of steeping it. I can strain it through some of the cloth I have to wrap wounds." She looked to both Sado and Ironhooves in hopes but had a backup plan if not.

"I can grind it, but you'll need water and a fire if you plan to make tea," Ironooves held out her armored three-fingered hand for the flower, pulling out a simple wooden bowl from her pack and using the hilt of her war mace to begin pulverizing the blossom. Waterskin we have, but a kettle we have not."

"I have a small tin coffee pot in my pack," Adam offered as he pulled out the single serving percolator and half a dozen varieties of coffee grounds to the stares of his comrades. "What? On most worlds coffees are one of the oldest tonics and often prescribed for a variety of reasons. Should I use an arrow to make a friction fire or does someone have an easier method?"

"I would suggest a bit of Sado flame to make it like a floral tea, not too strong. We can then administer the med to our tiny patient via a drop method." Tova smiled at her team, "I like seeing the way our team works together. It's a shame you didn't bring a second coffee tin, I could use a cup."

Having stooped to gather some dry leaves, Tanaak set them aflame with a spark. "I feel I'd be going back on my word if I started streaming fire from my hands," he mused, manipulating the flames anyway. "However, directing oxygen would certainly be within the parameters I set for myself as a weather magician." The fire grew tall between his hands, then died down to a manageable flicker, the magician quite finished showing off.

"Well, I can't be perfectly prepared. I am only the product of my programming and experiences, after all," Doc Power replied as he busied himself with the small tin pot. "Though that isn't to say that I don't have some salt and herbs. You know... In case we want some roast chicken. Not that I need to eat, mind you."

"We're all products of our programming and experiences, Power. That just makes you like the rest of us material spirits," Ironhooves grunted in observation.

"Ready for that coffee tin," Tanaak interjected, thanking Doc Power when he handed over the prepped pot.

Tova smirked at Ironhooves and Power, "Well just for the record this unit is programmed to run on caffeine," she added pointing to herself as she popped a candy in her mouth. "Thirty years of medical rounds, surgical suites and being on duty hopping time zones has created a horrible habit between me and my caffeine much to my doctor's chagrin. Maybe now I'm on a ship I can slow down. If I just remember to go to sleep between books." She looked at Ironhooves, "Speaking of downtime, I know Power likes to carve fruit, what about you? Any interesting hobbies?"

"I sing," Ironhooves admitted with some recalcitrance. "I take runs on the Holodeck, I carve chess sets out of marble, I write my memoirs, and collect exotic spores, molds and fungus. I spend a lot of time reading medical journals, as I don't have a perfect memory," she nodded to Power, "and I don't have thirty years experience as a doctor," she nodded to Tova, "so I have to work a little harder. at being a decent doctor. That occupies most of my time beyond my actual duties and rounds. What do you do with your private time, Dr. Mah?"

She smiled at Ironhooves finding herself liking three humble woman, "I love listening to music but can't sing to save my life, humming is about all I can manage. I love dancing and embarrassingly enough knife fighting and throwing. I actually love playing chess and the only carving I do is in a surgical setting or cooking, I love to cook. My family had a garden and I grew up with fresh grown fruits, vegetables and herbs. I read a great deal from medical journals to historical literature. I have a great memory which isn't all it's cracked up to be, you get the good with the bad." She looked more serous at that thought, as if a shadow held on to that idea but then shoved it away trying to cover the pain it caused, "I also like watching others flourish." She smiled sweetly at Ironhooves, "if you are open to it I would love the opportunity to see you run one day, I believe it would be a glorious sight. Perhaps I could draw you? I'm not as good as my mother but, I'm not horrible."

The flowers finished steeping while the crew spoke and Tanaak kept the tiny patient warm. Mah looked at the brew and nodded as she smelled it. "Looks like it's time to test our concoction out on our patient." She looked at Tanaak, "Please hold her in a reclined position as I put a few drops in her mouth to start with." She had done aim sorts of procedures before but what she wouldn't give for proper tools for the tiny creature. She placed drops in the fairy's mouth slowly watching for the autonomic swallowing reaction to kick in. She stopped after just a few drips were in, how the neck did you dose a tiny woman?

She sat back and looked at everyone, "Ummm, I guess we wait?" There was a bright pop of light in Tanaak's hands and then suddenly the fairy was gone. Mah's eyes got huge "Oh please tell me I didn't blow her up?!" she looked horrified.

Ironhooves had something tangled in her hair just a second later, that she swatted at none too carefully. "Off! Fugoff, you dirty denizen of the fae realms!"

A glowing ball was evading Ironhooves swats with alacrity as a high pitched beautiful voice could be heard at the same time full of worry, "No, no, no beautiful centaur not you too! You humans have encased her in iron as a slave!"
Suddenly Powers and Mah found themselves being peppered with stinging little jabs from something sharp by an impossibly fast ball of light. " And you you brought a demon to these woods!!! Run centaur, gather the Glade Guardians, I will distract them!!!!"

It seemed their patient not only woke up but was disoriented and hostile to boot. Now to calm her down as she assaulted Mah and Powers in defense of the perceived victimization of Ironhooves and threat from Tanaak.

Mah tried wrapping herself in her cloak to ward of the tiny stabs from their angry patient. "Ow dang it! We were trying to save you."

"Lies! You'll not fool me, I have two eyes I see what you've done to one from our forest and who you keep for company you foul wench! There is no hiding from my mighty wrath!" Her assault did not slow on either Mah or Powers and whatever her weapon, it had sting.

Shifting her weapon to her shield hand, the wily centaur's eye narrowed as she watched the faeries for three seconds, then charged forward, cantering to a stop as her leather-clad hand wrapped around the pixie, gripping her surely but not cruelly. "Gotcha! Now..."

Bringing the small creature around in front of her, where her iron noseguard separated her teal eyes, Ironhooves squinted at the small life form. "I am a shaman. They are healers. We are visitors to your land who mean you no harm. Be at peace with us and we will be at peace with you. We are different, because we are strangers. If we become friends is up to you."

"I am going to let you go now. Your have listened to me because I made you. Sometimes, that is the way. I return your freedom- your choices from now are your own." With that, Ironhooves opened her hand, palm up, to support the petite pixie as she returned her freedom to her as a sign of trust and friendship.

The fairy tiptoed to Ironhooves nose and whispered to her conspiringly taking her face gently, "Are you sure you're okay? We can get away from them and run if we need." She looked back at Mah, Tanaak and Powers unsure and motioned her head towards Tanaak, "That one looks like a demon," she looked deeply into Ironhooves eyes, "he's not entranced you has he? You're not under their spell? They look sneaky Shaman..." She pulled out her small dagger and looked at the others over her shoulder "are you sure we can trust them?"

The horned doctor's eyes flitted up to the corner of his vision. He could barely make the slivers of horns that framed his world. He was sporting a pout of deep concentration when he looked to Ironhooves to see how she would answer.

Nodding sagely, the cranky centaur made a fist to her heart. "They are healers, and have sworn an oath to heal. Judge not by appearance, for we are strangers here, yes? Now, you were beset by a malady when we came upon you. What laid you so low?"

The little fairy looked quite seriously at Ironhooves and sheathed her dagger, then returned her salute. "I trust you great Shaman," she bowed in respect to the healer which would be quite impressive if the woman weren't a mere 6 inches tall with glassy fairy wings and a little leafy dress, "I'm Dandelion of the Wind, fastest of my folk and escaped the plague in the North woods near the Nightingale Court. I was on my way to..." She looked around, then at her hands and feet and turned round and round checking her wings. "I'm better! You are indeed powerful, my color has returned. Thank you..." Dandelion flitted to Ironhooves face and hugged her neck as best she could. "You are such a wonderful Shaman indeed." She flew back and floated in front of her, "Please ...Can you save my people?" Her eyes were pleading as she looked at the woman before her.

Mah leaned over to Adam quietly, "Okay, you have the advantage here, any chance you can hear what the heck is going on? One minute we're fairy pin cushions being yelled at, the next she is hugging Ironhooves. Any ideas?"

"My ears aren't nearly that good, I'm afraid," Doc Power muttered back as he rubbed a few spots that got stung.

"She told us, north woods, Nightingale court," Ironhooves refrained, then eyed the diminutive damsel. "The healers were the ones who restored your health, not me. It is they to whom you owe thanks, and they who can save your people. I am only the guide here. So... can you take us to your people so that we may see what can be done to save them?"

While she loathed faeries in general and had spent her youth battling them, this was not her home, this was not her enemy, and clearly the chief medical officer was working to create a scenario that was inclusive. While she wouldn't admit it, Ironhooves was in fact a bit grateful that the scenario was one in which she was not the least of them. As a doctor, she lagged far behind Power and Mah, with their years of experience. In truth, Tyra had more in common with Sado as a combat medic. But the gruff and cantankerous centaur would say none of this- instead, she engaged the scenario and did what she would have done on any alien planet they ended up on where this scenario might just come to pass. She sought answers so she could help the Starfleet way.

Dandelion looked at Ironhooves with great respect, "I trust you Shaman, healer, you are one of them so I will trust you all." She leaned in a bit, like a partner in crime "That demon looking fellow is still a leap of faith mind you but you are noble so I know you will see my people saved." She turned to Drs. Power and Mah And Medic Sado, "The great Shaman is kindly crediting you with healing me humans and.... sir.... I shall trust you for her sake. Now if you really care about helping others let us go save those suffering this plague."

Mah covered her mouth almost laughing at such bravado from a tiny, little fairy and regained her composure. "It seems we are all heading to the same destination, please lead the way." She smiled at Ironhooves, "Come on Great Shaman, seems you are are our new ambassador."

Dandelion buzzed in front of Ironhooves leading the way, not slowing for the others and allowing her a liberal trot as she briefed the woman she now declared the Great Shaman. "It began a fortnight ago, with the castle...the sickness spread there with a great heat. A few have fallen gravely ill and their healer came to us desperate for help. We tried to help yet our magus was unable to undo the illness. Suddenly our people fell ill but it swept through our grove overnight. I was on watch and saw the light of our people change and went for help to the South. I know not how you found me our healed me but I'm thankful to the Great Mother you came. The royalty there believe it is a curse. I fear your friend may not have the warmest welcome. Be careful with his safety, only a Cleric may pass with him if they were to declare him bound to them. We've never seen a healer like him in this part of the world." She was trying to be kind in her message but concise in it's meaning.

Mah was running at a good clip to keep up and was glad she kept up her cardio. She was happy to let Ironhooves take notes while she worked to keep pace.

The village that surrounded the castle came into view as they broke through the wood's edge. Dandelion started to skirt the town and go around heading to the other side avoiding the occupied space full of humans and others. Her speed increased as her excitement grew for a return to her own people, "Come Shaman, this way, we can avoid the sickness from the cursed and heal the glade if we stay clear." She was almost a blur and would require a full gallop if Ironhooves wanted to keep pace. She was also taking them around the castle, not to it. A few more moment's and she would be out of sight, as it was Tovanna Mah was looking tired. Of all of them she was the shortest of their crew and not of a species built for long runs, nor was she a holograph. To keep pace as long as she had was impressive but the strain was showing, though she didn't complain despite obviously struggling. Sometimes a good leader knew when to delegate, it looked like Mah understood that just keeping up was all she could manage at the moment.

Seeing the chief medical officer's distress, Ironhooves doubled back, swept the woman expertly onto her hindquarters and finished the circle to make up some time galloping after the small life form. As she did so, she muttered over her shoulder, "Don't get used to this..."

Much to the utter shame of Dr. Mah she squealed like a little girl as she was thrown over the back of Dr. Ironhooves. Her eyes were as round as saucers and it was obvious she had never ridden a horse in her life. Unfortunately for her both Sado and Adam were able to fully see the look of complete shock and terror on the poor woman's face as she gripped onto Ironhooves armor where she could and held on with her legs for all she was worth. There were no expletives, no bravado, none of her congenial smiles just a windblown woman who looked as though she might need a change of underwear when all was said and done. Ironhooves would never need to worry about her CMO getting used to the experience if her expression was any indication.

Adam power chuckled softly as he kept pace easily enough. He was holographic and for whatever reason, his programmers had included the ability to move nearly as fast as a gazelle, but were disinclined to include weariness so he could work 24-7. While the tree branches hitting him in the face were annoying, seeing his boss acting like a little girl on the back of one of his coworkers was worth it. He'd have kept that grin on his face if he didn't already swallow a hand full of leaves when he was chuckling.

Dandelion kept her pace checking behind to ensure the party kept up as they approached the glade on the other side of the village, taking little note of the woman bobbing around on the back of the Shaman like a bouncy ball. As they came to the clearing behind the castle gardens she slowed to what would only require a trot and looked at the centaur she respected so much. "How should I explain the Horned One, Great Shaman? I don't want your healer to be met with hostility? Do you think it is safe for me to even enter?" It was obvious the fae was nervous now they were near her home.

"They are healers. We are visitors to your land who mean you no harm. Be at peace with us and we will be at peace with you. We are different, because we are strangers. If we become friends is up to you," Ironhoovces repeated. It was a basic formula that tended to work on strangers who spoke the same language. Which, thanks to their comm badges, they all did. "I keep teaching you this lesson, yet you do not learn it. So I will keep teaching it."

Dandelion came to a stop and looked at Ironhooves nodding, "You are indeed wise Shaman, I should not doubt you."

While she had a moment Mah slid off Ironhooves like a sack of flour and hit the ground with a thud. She sat up, not bothering to get up off the ground, "I will never get used to that and my butt hurts!" She looked at Ironhooves, "Thank you for the help, much appreciated."

She looked at the crew, "What happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. I may have brains, but riding is not my forte. Now can I get some help up? My legs are jelly." She smiled at them with a healthy dose of humility.

While the team was focused on Mah, Sado could hear small whispers behind him, "A demon, maybe he will help us. He seems to enslaved by these strangers, are we sure we should trust him? Of course, just look at him, I'm sure he will want to see the glade and those within it fall. They have enslaved so many of his kind and ours, why wouldn't he help us with the downfall of the glen fae and their supporters?" The whispers were fading away but no footsteps could be heard.

While Doc Power gave Doc Mah a hand getting to her feet, he surveyed the area they now found themselves in. "Nice little settlement they've got - by our standards even. I wonder what kind of help they'll need."

"Hard to say. Only one way to find out," the straightforward centaur observed.

Dandelion visibly shivered and looked at the group, "Something has changed, it is not right. Please healers take care as you enter the Glade of Gaia, all may not be as it appears." She flew slowly into the glade letting them follow, her healthy golden glow leading the way as the trees shadowed their path. Soon to their left and right they could see blue lights flitting through the branches as well as orange and red flickers of light. Dandelion looked more and more nervous, not like someone happy to return home. As soon as they stepped into the circle of the glade Mah, Powers and Ironhooves were peppered by stinging tiny needles all over their bodies while Sado was instantly knocked out and put to sleep in a shower of glittering dust. Dandelion realized the glade was compromised, "RUN, they think you are here to attack" she flew into the fray screaming at her fellow fay to stop. "Please listen, they are here to help, I brought them to heal us, please stop!" She was searching for the clan leaders who could make the others cease the attack. She found the clan Elder guarded and still sick, "Please Thistle, look at me, I am better, let them save him like they did me, they can save the clan. I brought a Shaman!" She was desperate to rescue her family and friends.

Mah saw Sado fall and was not going to allow him to stay here without her. She cover herself and him in her cloak as best she could and dealt with the pricks of the tiny needle-like arrows. "I'm getting why Tyra hates fairies," she grumbled as she took a needle in the arm and hoped the assault would end soon. "Mah to Power and Ironhooves, I will cover Tannak you two try to handle the natives as peacefully as possible."

That was when the holodeck program paused and over the comms came the voice of Ensign John Jones from the bridge. "Bridge to training holodeck three. Doctors Ma, Power, Sado, and Ironhooves, we have several babies deciding to be born and your presence is requested in Sickbay."

Doc Power tapped his comm badge and did his best to stifle a sigh as he replied. "Acknowledged bridge. We're on our way." He then offered a hand to Tova and Sado who had been doing an excellent job roleplaying. "I'll have to add 'masterful acting' to both of your records. Now how about we go welcome new lives to the crew?"

Celebrating things like a birthday was often difficult on a Starship. And on the U.S.S. Hera, it was particularly tricky when missions often cut into personal time more often than not.

In this case, the crew of the mighty Starship had been engaged in a secret and covert mission to uncover the hidden truths behind the origins of her Chief Engineer, Thex. And after a harrowing mission to the Andorian’s homeworld that revealed a complex conspiracy of cloning and ancient horrors that had lain buried on that icy moon, the crew was welcoming a little time off while the ship warped through the black void of the heavens.

That travel time gave the crew the time to exhale for a few days and unwind from the stress of their mission. And Commander Rita Paris and Lieutenant Mona Gonadie had decided to conspire with a plan of their own. Gonadie’s wife, the skilled pilot and Chief Flight Officer of the Hera, Lieutenant Commander Mnhei’sahe Dox, had turned 33 while they were on Andoria. But that hadn’t stopped the ship's first officer and the head of R&D from planning a surprise party.

“After all,” Rita had posited with that million-watt smile of hers, “What’s more surprising than a surprise birthday party when it’s NOT your birthday? Now here’s a silly hat...”

The crew of the Hera was a tight-knit group, and it wasn’t hard to recruit some of her officers and personnel to help pull together the event, which was planned in the couple's expansive, double-sized family quarters that had been expanded with the birth of their triplets not long ago.

A good portion of the ships command crew had been in attendance as Dox arrived home at the end of her shift, and the surprise was quite the success... even if Dox had almost punched Ensign Briaar Gavarus in the throat during the initial ‘SURPRISE’.

Along with Gavarus was her pint-sized life-partner, Ensign Fiona O’Dell and their adopted Minotaur child, Minerva, who spent most of the night playing with Mnhei’sahe and Mona’s daughters, Hlai’vana, Tala, and Amihan in the kid’s playroom on the other side of the split quarters.

The Klingon security sisters, V’Nus and S’Rina came for a while with a fairly large bottle of Bloodwine as a gift. Lieutenant Sam Clemens, the ship’s Intel Chief, made a rare appearance for a while and disappeared just as quickly, leaving a box of cigars in his wake. Yeoman Ila Dedjoy came for a bit as well, as did a few other crew members from the flight deck that weren’t on duty, to congratulate their chief. Doctor Power dropped by, and Maica was seen mingling with Kodria.

For a brief few minutes, while Dox was taking a moment to recharge from the excess of attention in the refresher, even Masato Rei had popped in with her spectral horse, Taxes, to wish Dox well on her way to work. It was a moment that, as it usually did, caught the young Romulan off guard, as spectral horse heads passing through refresher doors without warning tended to do. Apparently there was a particularly virulent plague in the Delta Quadrant, and for the woman who was the embodiment of Death, work was an ever-present responsibility.

Being something of a party planner and chef, Mona had prepared a LARGE spread that had occupied much of the surface area of their larger-than-not kitchen unit, filled with foods from a few planets. And after a few hours of talking, laughing, and much-needed relaxation, the larger party had all but ended. Sonak, of course, was in attendance, as he was curious about the Godox triplets and he was usually game for rituals of other cultures such as this one. And where Rita went socially, one could expect Sonak. Gavarus and O’Dell had made their way to the new pub they were working on opening soon. The Klingon sisters were on night duty and who remained, were a select few of the folks that Dox knew the best.

Sitting around the table, alcoholic beverages (or Syntholholic, in Rita Paris’ case) had been replaced with various teas and coffees as Dox sat at the table with her wife, Mona, leaning against her arm. Across from them, Rita was finishing up a story, while Thex was nursing a drink quietly. Captain Enalia Telvan was pouring cups of tea she had brought for herself and Mona, listening with Maica at hand.

The ship's Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Tovanna Mah, was looking over the spread with hungry, and curious eyes in the kitchen, listening as well. Doctor Power was shadowing her, observing his chief to learn a bit about her El Aurian behavior.

Still in her uniform, as was common for the workaholic Romulan, Dox took a sip of the bitter, black Romulan coffee she preferred and chuckled at the familiar story of her own disastrous onboarding nearly two years ago. “I knew the layout of the ship, Rita. I wasn’t LOST, I just didn’t understand why you were leading me back around in circles, is all.”

Dox looked over at Mona, who as a Miradonian, was a living lie detector whose large, amber eyes could see the biological fluctuations associated with telling untruths. The brightly feathered woman raised an eyebrow and smirked at her wife, who sighed dramatically for effect. “Was that even a little convincing? Okay, fine. I was so nervous that I barely remembered my name. I was... very intimidated, Rita.”

“I get that one a lot. Which means that I’m doing my job,” Rita admitted breezily. “It’s your first impression on the first officer, and it is most definitely always an interview. I need to know who you are, why you’re here, if you are a joke or a threat. If you have the potential for greatness, or if you’re a defective cog that’s liable to blow us all to smithereens. That onboarding is a test of character, and a setting of expectations for the command.”

“I maintain its importance, and I will tell the story of walking the new onboarding officer around in a circle back to the flight deck until long after I am retired. And I don’t plan to retire,” Rita teased Dox. “However, I solemnly swear not to admit that it was you. If they guess, that’s not on me.”

Blushing a faint shade of green, Dox smiled a little awkwardly and laughed at the light ribbing.

“Speaking of which,” Rita hastily changed the subject rather obviously as she fished out a gym bag and handed it to Dox- a gym bag which was black, with the bright canary yellow of a bygone age, and a delta on the rounded ends that bespoke of that bygone age all the same.

Looking quizzically at the bag, Dox slowly unzipped it and inspected its contents. Pulling what was inside out, she revealed a gold Starfleet tunic that was, by design, quite old. “This is… the 2250’s Starfleet uniform. From… after they shifted from the dark blue tunics to the older department colors?”

“2255,” Rita noted. This was, after all, history she knew.

Holding up the yellow tunic with the black collar, it had a curved, gold Starfleet delta on its chest and was a bit more goldenrod than the mustard minidress that Rita herself was wearing. Glancing from where they were sitting, Dox looked over to the wall to the left of the main door to her and Mona’s quarters. On display in two diamond-shaped frames were two folded uniforms. The first was Dox’s first Starfleet uniform. The black and charcoal gray jumpsuit with the crimson collar and her Lieutenant Junior Grade pips on the collar. Next to that, was the mustard gold, velour minidress uniform that she had worn in a holodeck simulation nearly two years prior where she, Rita and the ship’s former CMO, Asa Dael, had been trapped in a simulation pulled from Rita’s own memories and the holodeck physically converted her normal uniform into a perfect replica of the one from Rita’s own timeline. But this new one was different.

A series of four piping lines up each shoulder and the flared, diamond collar was distinct and vibrant, and she knew her history well enough to recognize it well. But she was still a little bit confused. “Uh… are we… are we changing our uniforms back to this design? There’s not a skirt in here, is there?”

That earned her a peal of musical laughter as Rita genuinely belly laughed at that. “Oh Mnhei’sahe, have I not met you, ever? Please. That uniform had either option, and of course, I got you the slacks, and the boots as well. Mine was a window of extreme sexism in Starfleet, and there’s a reason it didn’t last long. I would never give you a gift designed to embarrass you- you’d never wear it! This is a memento of an earlier age, yes... but one with a little dignity and romance to it, no?”

Smiling, Dox took the gift in. As usual, Rita had a powerful gift when it came to gifts, knowing the red-headed Romulan's interest in the eras that had preceded her. The uniforms, history, and technology of those ships fascinated her to the degree of having spent more than a little free time practicing on flight sims for many vintage Starship designs just for fun. “This is really wonderful, Rita. Thank you so much. I see some holodeck sim time wearing this for sure.”

“I will join you for that!” Rita declared with a smile. “I never met Christopher Pike, but I heard he commanded a fine starship...”

Mona cleared her throat, pulling a clothing box into her own lap and running her hand across the top of it a moment as she didn’t want to interrupt, but she also wanted to give her Minay something dear to her.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the box in front of her wife and slowly let it out. “This is for you. It’s a traditional Miradonian dress suit for mothers. I... I wasn’t sure what you’d like... But I figured since you had similar coloration to my mother... You might look good in it. She was a northern snow Miradonian and had white and olive feathers.”

Holding up the outfit, which seemed to be made of a thick but silky fabric cut not dissimilar to a Kimona, Dox took in the vibrant colors and the fine pattern of birds in flight crisscrossing the material. As she looked at it, she couldn’t help but think of that first gift that Mona had given her. The stunning, green and purple, Miradonian feathered dress that she had been given the day she was promoted to full Lieutenant. The day she began to realize that her affection for the woman that was now her wife and bond-mate was more than simply friendship.

“Oh, Jhu Dhael… it’s lovely. It really… thank you.” Dox said, blushing a light bit of green as she used the Romulan term for ‘Angel Bird’ that she generally reserved for when the two were alone.


“When we were back home, I tried to find the right pattern and coloration and it took a while so I just ordered it. Thankfully it was delivered before we left. I’m just glad you like it,” Mona was thrumming softly as a soft smile spread across her face and the feather coloration on her face brightened slightly.

Enalia chuckled and motioned to her own wife, who set a small gift basket in front of Dox. “Perhaps we should have gone with clothing as well?”

That garnered a shoulder slap from the holographic Maica. “I think the cooking wine set we got you is more than enough. We were able to get bottles from Romulus, Miradon, Cardassia, Earth... There’s even a bottle of Tulaberry oil from the Gamma quadrant.”

“Well… I think Mona... you might get more use out of this than me. Heh” Dox chuckled pulling one of the bottles out of the basket with a dark, red oil in it. “I can barely boil water on my own in the kitchen. Is this?”

Pulling the glass stopper out of the top of the bottle, the redheaded Romulan took a whiff as she bit her bottom lip. “It IS<. Tlhei dignair'le… this is sserayl oil. I… Captain. Maica. How did you? Outside of Romulus itself, the only colony world that presses this that I know of is Mol Krunchi?”

Dox looked in mild astonishment at the bottle in her hand that somehow came from the colony planet that she was born on. “Even when mother and I were smugglers, we only came across bottles of this… maybe twice in… sixteen years. You can make the most amazing breads.”


The former pirate queen tapped her chin thoughtfully a moment before replying. “Some years ago Seinae was able to get her hands on a full case of it and I was able to claim a few bottles for a rainy day.”

Mona was also busy digging in the basket, humming at the various bottles. “Miradon golif juice? I can make some amazing cookies with this but... Golif fruit went extinct almost two generations ago. And this olive oil from Earth. The bottle says 2230 and is still sealed.”

“We really don’t have anything sentimental to give you, so we wanted to make sure you’d have something you could enjoy,” Maica added, her bright and cheerful smile on full display.

“They’re wonderful.” Dox said, clearly more than a little embarrassed by the attention. “They’re ALL wonderful. Thank you all.”

Sonak then approached her with a small metal box, made of what appeared to be tarnished bronze.

‘’Being among Humans and several other species for this long, I am aware of this gift-giving tradition, on one’s specific day of entering into life. Although I fail to see the emotions relating to it, it is nevertheless only logical to respect it; as it is of significant importance, to people for whom I have respect and admiration. So I believe the proper ritual is to say; Happy Birthday. May you continue to enjoy peace, and a long life.’’

He gave her the cassette. Inside was a small metal oil lamp that looked very old, engraved with ancient Vulcan sigil.

‘’This is not a replica. This has been in my family for sixty-two generations, and is one of the remaining artifacts of the revered ancient artisan Sinek, from the Time of Awakening. Surak himself owned one of those meditation lamps.” Sonak paused for effect at that, for he understood that emotional processing often overwhelmed the logical ability to process data. He chose to close with what his human bride would describe as philosophical poetry. “May it remind you that the fire of your Rihanssu heart was once lighted on Vulcan, and will now, like your people did, light the path of your life whichever path you will choose.’’

“Uh, mine’s a recreation...” Rita muttered.

‘’You know what is mine is yours,’’ her husband said to her with a slightly raised eyebrow. ‘’The replica you have is for traveling; like mine is. This one is from this universe’ Sonak heirloom I was entitled to when I went to Vulcan. Ours in our quarters is the original one I brought back from our own universe.’’

Looking at the lamp, Dox’s eyes went wide. Emotional displays were unnecessary with Sonak, but he understood their function, so the stunned young Romulan instead took a moment to collect her thoughts, something she was failing at. “Thank you very much, Sonak. This is… you’ll have to pardon me. After everything, I’m… at a loss for words.”

‘’Consider this a gesture towards our shared dream of Reunification,’’ the Kolinahr master added. ‘’May it’s light inspire us all.’’

Tovanna smiled at Dox enjoying her reaction and brought up a rectangular flat package wrapped artfully, "I am by no means as good as my mother but I studied by her side for decades, I hope you like it." Within was a life study of the crew surrounding Dox and her family in charcoal sealed within a frame. The piece caught the subtle nuance of love shared by Rita and Sonak that could be seen if one were to notice in small glimmers so rarely shown. There was Gavarus, Fiona, and Minerva with their lighthearted connection, yet each also showed an inner strength. Enalia was portrayed with her family in a beautifully soft manner not normally seen yet ever-present if one really looked at the beautiful Captain who took care of them all. Even Rei was there in her natural form for all to see with Taxes gently touching his muzzle. There was no one missing yet all were reflected in a manner that said more than a photo ever could about who they really were. Tova looked at Dox and the crew nervously hoping she did not insult anyone with her portrayal of them.

"It seemed fitting to remember this moment surrounded by those who hold you dearly, moments are what make life beautiful. A very wise woman taught me that." She nodded at Rita remembering looking at the stars and smiled at Dox. "Happy birthday"

"You... made this?" Dox said, marveling at it and showing it off to the table. "Tova, this is... beautiful. I can't believe it. All of this is so..." It was clear that Dox was well past the point of being more than a little overwhelmed. Looking at the illustration, she still had Rita's replica uniform folded in her lap as she lightly rubbed the chromed delta on its chest. While she had come a long way in her time on the Hera, she was still something on an introvert and was at a loss as to how to process everything.

"Khlinae arhem.... Thank you. I... I will treasure this. All of this, from all of you." Dox said, her voice cracking and her eyes tearing up a bit as she accidentally slipped into her native tongue for a moment. Before it could get any more awkward, however, the door to the second half of Dox and Mona's double-sized, family quarters opened and Jaeih Dox stepped out, looking ever so slightly frazzled.

"Ahhh. I hate to interrupt, however... Mona, dear. I am afraid that I must pull you away for a moment." The Romulan grandmother said, raising her finger. "It appears that with the reduced gravity settings in the children's rooms, they have decided in unison, that something has them worked up and they have proceeded to begin lightly flying about the room. I catch one, and the other two begin flying out of reach. I think this needs something of a mother's touch."

With a soft chuckle, the brightly plumed avian stood up and glanced around the room, her eyes falling upon her bond-mate. "I'm sure they're just sensing all the excitement and emotions from us. I shouldn't be long." With a squeeze of Dox's shoulder, Mona headed into the chicks' room with Jaeih to help calm them down.

In truth, Dox was grateful for the momentary distraction as she scooched her chair back a bit and started to collect the overwhelming gifts. "I should put these away in the room. Again, everyone, thank you so much."

Standing up, Dox was clearly a bit anxious as she fumbled a bit trying to grab all of the multiple items and blushed a light green. "I'll... be right back. One moment."

"Oh for pity's sake, Mnhei'sahe, let me give you a hand," Rita expressed, rising from her seat to take a few of the gifts from the overladen Romulan officer's arms. "C'mon, we've got this now..."

"Ahh. Thanks, Rita." Dox said as the pair carried the gifts back to the bedroom. As the door hissed shut behind them for a moment, Dox began putting the items gently on the bottom of the fairly large, round bed she shared with Mona, gesturing to Rita to do the same with a nod of her head.

"Thanks again. and thank you again for the wonderful gift. I really appreciate it." Dox said, a little bit of her anxiety starting to fade a bit as it was just the two of them alone in the bedroom for the moment.

"Ohhhh, I know how much you enjoy relics from the golden age," Rita jokes, as she herself WAS one of those relics from the golden age of Starfleet, as evidenced by her remarkably sexist uniform of the period, which she still proudly sported 125 years after it was phased out of service. "Christopher Pike used to wear one of those, as well as his first officer, Number One. It's not sexy like mine is, but those uniforms represented something, back in the day. Something special that those explorers embodied, I like to think. In the modern-day, you are certainly one of their descendants, and I wanted you to feel that connection to our past- Starfleet's past- as you move into the future."

"That... means a lot, Rita. It really does." Dox replied, picking up the golden uniform top before folding it up neatly, and putting it on the bed with a smile as they turned to head back to the main chamber and the others. "And I'll need to load up some ship sims into my library, but I am already looking forward for an excuse to wear it, to have some fun in the holodeck. The closest designs I have on file now are the original Constitution and the refit models. I enjoy flying those every now and again. Such a completely different interface, but still very tactile."

"Tactile is certainly a word for it. You could certainly feel the engines through the vibrations in the deckplates, and for the life of me, given how often the inertial dampeners shuddered, I will never understand why we didn't have seatbelts back then..." Rita recalled with a laugh.

As the two women passed through the doorway to the living room, smiling at their friends on the far end of the room, mid-conversation, they all felt what could best be described as a tingling sensation dancing across their skin. Like walking through a mild, electrical field, Rita and Dox felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up as time seemed to slow down.

VERY slowly, the members of the crew still in the dining room began to turn towards the other side of the room where Rita and Dox were before the tingling sensation seemed to freeze them all in place. A purple shimmer encapsulated the room like a force field had been activated and, in the center, it was as if a tear began to form in the chamber right in front of Dox and Rita.

Frozen in place, no one there could move or speak, but they could all see and hear as, through the rift that had just cracked open in the air, a figure stepped out. 

Dressed head to toe in what appeared to be a suit of armor that was somehow both cobbled together, and beyond state-of-the-art, was the shape of a man, his face hidden behind a black, domed helmet. On the back of the suit, folding in, was some kind of mechanism that resembled warp nacelles mounted like wings that glowed with the same purple energy that surrounded the room and seemed to keep them all frozen in place.

"We-heh-ellll, if it isn't old home week," the figure declared as his helmet retracted into his armor, revealing the face of a teenager... with curly red hair, fair skin, somewhat pointed ears, and bright blue eyes. "Granny. Grandmother. I see you're having a little party- cute. Myst be Granny's idea- Grandmother never was much for celebrations. Wow, you two were something back in the day, weren't ya?"

Neither woman could move. Even their eyes were locked in the direction they were facing when the field enveloped them, but they were still seeing and hearing everything as their minds raced.

Looking around the quarters, the young mischief-maker smiled. "Oh hey, that must be Tova, the El-Aurian doctor. Well, the second one, at least. Guessing that's gotta be Sonak... is that Queen Enalia in a Starfleet uniform? There's a rare sight. Oh, and Thex the 1st I'll bet. Isn't this just so nice, the whole gang all together on the Hera, back in the day. I can practically smell the nostalgia. SO," Rubbing his hands together briskly, the chronal intruder who has them all frozen in place tapped his temple.

"Ah ah. you taught me better than that, Grandpa. I should introduce myself- I'm Declan Dox. I'm your grandson... well, four of you, anyway," he waved in the direction of Rita and Dox, then continued. "See, you made me swear not to mess with the technology. But you told me the stories, so how could I not? All those years you just sat on the Bulukaya particle, and for what? Because you were afraid to investigate it? That's not how science works!"

Looking around the living room for a moment, the redheaded intruder's eyes glinted and a smug grin spread across his face as he looked at the shelf by the door to the quarters. Along the shelves were an assortment of some of Mnhei'sahe's personal effects from her own childhood, and he reached up and grabbed one in particular. A small, hand made model of a Romulan D'deridex-class Warbird that she had built as a child, and kept ever since.

Popping it off the little plastic base, he reached into a small hole in the underside of the model, the self-declared descendant of the crew pulled out a black crystal aloft with a gleam in his eye. "Yessss, here we go.... the key to the multiverse and Grandmama keeps it stashed in a toy. Real classy, Gran. So, I suppose I should explain for those of you who don't know, seeing as how I've got a captive audience here."

"You see," the armored teenager who seemed to have something of a mastery of time and space began as he paced slowly about the room, amongst the participants in the frozen tableau. "The Bulikaya Particle enables dimensional travel. Now, directed correctly, it can map the multiverse and enable actual dimensional travel. Or so it's theorized. But somebody got the research and sat on it for a century or so, until I found mention of it in one of her old logs. So I pestered and asked and got enough together to know what to expect when I went hopping through time and space to look for it. You see, by keying in the sequence, the particles can be released, and they'll send anyone exposed to them skipping through the dimensions, on their way back home. Quickly at first- 30-second hop, then a minute, then two, then four, then six. They say the closer you are to the source, the more jumps you'll take through the multiverse and the longer it'll take you to get back."

"Assuming you get back. Your corpse will, at any rate." The young man attempted to appear callous to that concept, but it was clear that the consequence hadn't occurred to him until now. Which in turn shook his confidence a bit, so he looked up and grinned, a surprisingly familiar expression often seen on the face of Rita Paris.

"So I'm thinking, what's the least responsible thing I could possibly do that would royally piss off the both of you?" the invader who had frozen them all in place turned to eye Rita and Dox, with a somewhat maniacal grin. It was clear he was acting out now, trying to get a rise out of them in a situation where possibly for the first time, he had power over them all.

Struggling to move, both women were still frozen as the teenager that claimed to be their grandchild held the data crystal up in front of them next to a customized port in the gauntlet of his right glove that seemed designed specifically for the crystal. In the rear of the room, Enalia, Sonak, Thex and Tova were all stuck, watching as helplessly as they all were. From the other side of the shimmering forcefield, they could hear banging as it appeared that everyone outside the room was free of the temporal bubble.

NO.This... this can't be happening. Mnhei'sahe thought, her mind racing. Months ago, Admiral Charybdis MacGregor had told her a bit about her experiences being pushed from timeline to timeline, and MacGregor's granddaughter Liviana McCray entrusted the data crystal to her for safekeeping. My... our... grandson?!

What are you doing? Dox thought, completely helpless.

We have GOT to teach our grandchildren to be more responsible with time travel, Rita thought to Sonak through their bond, reaching out to the smartest man in the room for answers. How is he keeping us all paralyzed here? If we can hear and think, it isn't stasis. What is he doing to us?

Neuronal control field, came the reply, thanks to his reassessing telepathy. Theories in psionics establish that it would be possible for a mind powerful enough, disciplined enough and well-trained in applied neurology and physiology to take control of someone else's body; as precise as deactivating certain nerve clusters like locomotion while leaving others like sensory perception fully functional. Neuroscience and applied psionics open the possibilities of artificial means to achieve this selective telecontrol. Obviously this is the case here with this purple emission, using our optic nerve as a conduit.

All the while, Sonak was concentrating on taking back control of only one tiny muscle group in his own body; that of his eyelids. His natural inner eyelid was already protecting him from most of the glare, but not quite enough for him to regain full control of his neuromotor system. But if his hypothesis was right, and if he could just find enough neural energy to shut up his eyes completely, logic told him that he would break the effect.

But at the moment, dealing with those two ''ifs'' was like trying to arm wrestle a Gorn. Still, he concentrated.

"So," Declan Dox declared, inserting the crystal into a port in his wristguard and studying the hardlight readings he was getting off the unique black crystal, from the Dedjoy system. "The Bulkikaya particle is tied to your connection in that dimension- the version of you that exists there. You'll always appear within a few meters of yourself. It's too bad I can't send you back to meet yourselves as teenagers so you can see what it's like, but you're always chronally anchored to your local equivalent. At least, you will, with this version. For me, it's about to unlock the multiverse. All of space and time will be mine."

"Maybe I'll be a tourist. Maybe I'll rewrite history." Turning to the two women frozen in place, his eyes narrowed, and he looked to all the world like an angry child. "Nobody will be able to order me around, ever again!"

With those words spoken, the hum of building energy rose from the crystal embedded in his armor. His eyes alight, an expression of pure joy settled onto his face. "Here... we... go!"

Sonak managed to close his inner eyelid, and was already in motion when the explosion of particles burst throughout the room. Globules of ultraviolet energy exploded outward in clusters, in a five-meter radius. When the flare of the ultraviolet was gone, no one remained in the room, save Maica and Kodria, who were the only witnesses to what happened next.

Another crack opened in reality, and through it stepped a gold-clad armored figure, with a rather distinctive physique. The armor was polished and clearly advanced, if nothing else illustrated by the complex 'rack of blinds' wing assemblage that flexed from her back, coruscating with energy. The face shield of the helmet retracted, and a considerably older Rita Paris regarded the two holographic women.

"I'm too late, aren't I?" she asked, although clearly the question was rhetorical as she snapped shut her visor, the wings spread and hummed as they gathered energy, transmitting it to the wingtips. When she stepped back, the wings came together before her in cataclysmic clash of cosmic energies, and reality cracked- a fissure in space and time. Wordlessly the armored figure strode through, leaving the two women alone once more.

"Unfortunately..." Kodria muttered as a couple of her temporal prediction holos popped up and began scrolling through data. "It seems you couldn't have been on time anyway, what with the interference from his suit's power source. I'll just have to leave you hints for the back end of the trip later."

The rarest expression graced Maica's face as she glanced around the room - a frown. "If what he said was true, everyone should be back before long. I'll contact sickbay and have them prepare for... For quarantine." She didn't want to think of what else the stranger had said could be possible, especially with how other realities could have turned out for her wife, but for now she'd choose to remain hopeful. After all, Enalia was Enalia, in any reality.

An instant later, subroutines that Declan's future technology had laid down were finally cracked and the door to the nursery and the main chamber door wooshed open. At the main entrance, Petty Officer's S'Rina and V'Nus had phasers at the ready. From the nursery, Jaeih had an arm wrapped protectively around Mona who looked extremely distraught.

Behind them, from their cribs, all three girls were wailing in distress. All three, along with their mother, felt the exact instant that Mnhei'sahe had, for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist for their empathic senses.

With a disturbingly calm voice, Jaeih turned to Kodria and asked, "What... happened?"

A few doors down, the namesake goddess of the starship turned the page on the book she was writing. "Off on yet another odyssey..."

The particles flared incandescent, and even with her hand held before her as she rushed forward trying to disrupt the event in progress, the Bulikaya particles scattered themselves throughout the area. All sentient life suddenly began shifting through the multiverse, and Rita Paris found herself blinded by the light.

Then the lens flare she knew so well came into focus, and she was on the clean, brilliant, gleaming bridge of the Exeter. Not the dull and staid technology of the past era of the Prime timeline, but the advanced technologies of the Kelvinverse. Michael Stuart stood, rigid, his eyes looking toward her but not seeing her.

You are the Lost Navigator.

Another version Sonak stepped forward, his eyes also unfocused upon her, his cadence not really his own.

Another reality. A visitor said her own voice, as she stepped into view. It was rather a unique experience to literally meet oneself, but the eyes of this version were not empty, and she was relieved to see Rita.

“How long have I been here?” she asked, grasping Rita’s hands with an uncomfortable urgency.

Time has no meaning the Prophet wearing Michael Stuart’s form declared, as Rita realized where she was.

“The wormhole... you’re still in here! The Prophets kept you prisoner here?!?”

“”Sonak is looking for me, but he can’t find me yet... I don’t know when they’ll let him!” the other Rita, trapped in the Celestial temple told her counterpart from another reality.

She seeks to leave.

This cannot be permitted, the wormhole alien wearing the form of her beloved declared, as he reached out his hand toward her.

There was a pulling sensation, as the particles within her decayed, attempting to hurtle her through the multiverse once more, tied to her own counterparts she would encounter, if the briefing held true. But in the here and now, it felt like she was the chew toy in a tug of war of realities, and she began to scream as she could feel reality shearing her apart molecule by molecule.

“Let her go, you’re killing her!” was the last thing Rita Paris heard, before there was light, and calm, and comfort... then she vanished once more.

The world before Lieutenant Commander Mnhei’sahe Dox had exploded in a burst of ultraviolet blue light. There was a rush of energy and she could feel what was described to her as Bulukiya particles flooding her body displacing her from reality.

It was a disorientating experience, to say the least.

In the brief moments before her exposure, she had learned what would happen and as her mind began to come back to her, she ran through the information she wasn’t expecting to have to remember quite so quickly. The information smugly conveyed by the temporal terrorist who had invaded the Hera. The young man with pointed ears, red hair, and blue eyes who called himself ‘Declan Dox’ and claimed to somehow be Mnhei’sahe and Rita Paris’ GRANDson from the future.

Who, as it turned out, clearly did NOT like either of them. A somewhat distressing realization in the moment that was no longer all that relevant to be concerned with, all things considered.

The Bulukiya particles, once absorbed, moved a subject across different dimensions. The leaps were supposed to start short at about 30 seconds, but double in length until they were spent and you were returned to the timeline you left from.

There was a momentary bout of dizziness and disorientation that was quickly replaced by some very real disorientation as, what she realized was deck plating under her feet, shifted hard away and she found herself flying face-first…

...Into herself.

"IMIRRHLHHSE!!!" both women cursed as they slammed together and went rolling in a heap across a particularly hard set of risers.

Trying to orient herself, she heard shouting in her native tongue of Romulan and looked around, grabbing her head. She was definitely on a Romulan bridge. A T’varo-class, she thought, but it looked different somehow. She turned back around to see the familiar face she has flown into. Behind her, rubbing her head was another version of herself. This other her had longer hair, down to her shoulders and was wearing some kind of black, leather-like top of crisscrossing black bands. On top of that, a long green canvas overcoat and green pants with knee-high black boots. On the hips of the other her, crossing belts and her curved Caitian swords.

On the sleeve of her jacket, the Artan family crest.

The other her was doing the same thing while two similarly dressed Romulan men had disruptors drawn, looking very confused and clearly waiting for instructions. Sighing, the long haired Dox shook her head and shouted to the room in Rihan. "Would it be too much trouble to get that cloak back up sometime before the Ekhesai is blasted to Areinnye?! We can’t let that Warbird patrol catch us, people."

Okay… I’m on an Artan-run Bird of Prey called ‘The Mercy’ running from Romulan military ships. Good to know. Dox thought, trying to catch her bearings as she felt a strange flush of energy within her.

"As for her, lower your weapons. I'll deal with her once we are NOT being shot at." The Artan-clad Dox said with a slight grin. From the guards and the rest of the crew of Romulan on the small bridge, Dox heard shouts of, "Ie, Baroness!"

The woman called Baroness pulled herself up and sat back down in the center chair of the bridge as she went back to work, sparing a glance for Mnhei’sahe, who was still a bit confused on the deck. But then, a shimmer of blue light began to overtake Dox as she began to leap again. “Uh… sorry. Looks like I won’t be sticking around to explain. But… uh… I don’t have anything to do with your battle here.”

When the deck of the ship vanished, she was surprised to feel it replaced by a relatively warm, wood floor.

“Ow. What in Areinnye?” She said, as she pulled herself up off the floor, rubbing her face as she looked around. She didn’t recognize the house she found herself in, but the trappings around her were familiar..

Surrounding her was a warm, provincial farmhouse that looked very much like the one she spent her teenage years in on Earth. Shawn and Juliet Dox’s home, where she railed against their affection as a petulant, angry young woman. This wasn’t that same house, but it felt like it. It looked very much like Earth and it was decorated with their things. Juliet’s photos on the wall that she remembered. The antique lamps she had almost destroyed in anger that first night. The old, amish chairs she used to pout in. The house was different, but it was sill so familiar that it made her gray heart ache in her side.

From behind, she heard the click and hum of a Romulan disruptor as she heard her own voice, shaking and afraid. “T… turn around. Turn around slowly and put your hands on the back of your head.”

”NOW!!!” her own voice screamed as Dox slowly complied. There, standing in the doorway to the kitchen was another version of herself. No pointed ears and no olive tint to her skin. Every bit the woman Dox would have been had she never left Earth for Starfleet and never had the human DNA overlays in her removed and had her Romulan heritage surgically restored.

“Okay, stay calm. Please, I can explain.” Dox said as she raised her hands at the clearly shocked counterpart with longer, curly hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. This version of her was wearing worn, denim overalls and a green flannel shirt. But the disruptor in her hands wasn’t anything she would have found anywhere in rural Ohio.

“I know what you are. Another Tal’Shiar operative. You’re not the first to try and take me. Now get on the ground. You know this has no stun setting and I’d rather not just kill you.” The other woman said, fear in her voice and a tremble in her hand.

“I’d rather not die… Melanie.. I’m guessing?” Dox said, assuming that this version of her still went by the human name she had been hidden with for years before remembering her true name. “But I’m not here with the Tal’Shiar. And I’m not here to hurt you.”

“I’ve heard that before. A few too many times, frankly. ON! THE! GROUND!” the other Dox screamed.

Slowly, the crimson-clad Starfleet officer complied and got down on her knees as she tried to speak softly and figure out what had happened in this woman’s life. “Okay. I’m on the ground. But I’m not the Tal’Shiar. I’m… you. I know it’s hard to explain, but.”

“So, what, some… agent doctored to look enough like me to, what, take my place while you sneak me away? KILL me like you did my mother? I’ll tell you what I told the others that came to me, like the one I took this off of. Tell your masters I'm never going back.” She said, turning the disruptor to full power. “Well… someone will have to tell them.”

Hearing the hum, Dox tucked over as she felt the tingle of the Bulukiya particles churning up again and vanished as the green beam from the disruptor lanced over where her head had just been a fraction of a second before.

Standing in the now quiet house, the woman still called Melanie Dox didn't know what had just happened. As far as she knew, another Romulan attacker had finally tracked her down... and that it was time to run again.

A minute Dox thought, feeling wooden floorboards replaced by metal deck plates as the telltale dizziness quickly faded and she finished her last second tuck and role into a new reality hoping to avoid being disintegrated by disruptor fire. I was on the Bird of Prey... maybe thirty seconds. Then a minute in the farmhouse. The leaps ARE doubling. And if he was right, I’m going to have twelve of these in total. Oh… I don’t like this math.

"My own face. I should have expected that, shouldn't I have?" Came her own voice again, echoing through wherever she was as she got up to her feet as quickly as she could.

Looking around, Dox quickly realized she was in flight deck two back in the Hera. Red Alert klaxons were going off and there, standing in front of her, was another her. This one also in a crimson Starfleet uniform, but with only one pip on the breast.

But more importantly, was where her hand was. It was resting just over the emergency purge button. With the klaxons going off, Dox's stomach tightened. She knew what this was. Her counterpart here had disabled the safeguards and was about to open the cargo bay doors into space.

It was the suicide method she had considered night after night as a child on the smuggling ship she was raised on. And the method that had become a reality for this version of herself in Starfleet. Dox knew she didn’t have long, but she needed to try and find out what had driven this version of herself this far.

With hollow eyes, the other Dox continued. "You… you used to look… kind of like my mother. But this is… much more fitting, isn't it? That you would come to me looking like me. But… it doesn't matter. Nothing matter's anymore. I can't do this anymore. I'm ready."

"Wait, what do you mean?! Who do you think... I am." It took a second, but she quickly pieced it together and the realization went off like a bomb in her mind. This other Dox thought that she was Death.

The thought sent a shudder down the displaced woman's spine, considering the intentions that the woman named Masato Rei had for her possible future. That, should she so choose, she one day might fulfill the very role this other Dox thought she was seeing. It was a thought she tried to regularly not focus on, but it felt like an uncomfortably real scenario in the moment.

Frantically, Dox's mind raced. She had under two minutes tops, here. There was no way or time to explain the reality. And the woman in front of her was preparing to die. Dox had to think, and think quickly. "Look... I know what you're thinking. I know how many times you thought of doing this as a child. But… you don't have to do this, Mnhei'sahe. What happened?"

"What… what happened? Has… has it been so long? Did you actually forget?" Her double said with a broken desperation in her voice.

One minute left…

"All this time and you've never come back. Every time I wanted to… and I was always alone. Ever since… since I let you and Schwien kill those men in the brig. The men I put in the brig and… in my anger… stood by and watched as you… took them." She said, her voice broken and weak.

"Since you two merged and left. Left me to pick up the pieces of my failure that…" her hand was shaking dangerously close to the pad as she spoke. "That led to everything falling apart. To having… nothing left."

Without all the details, it wasn't hard to extrapolate what must've happened. This Dox was never exonerated in the deaths of the prisoners in the brig. This Dox was demoted and demoralized. A single moment of inaction that clearly led to a downward spiral of further demotion and depression about to end in suicide.

"Look, Mnhei'sahe…" Dox thought quickly, trying to improvise. Not wanting her other self to press that button, even as she felt that strange tingle of the Bulukiya particles again. "What happened… it wasn't your fault. What… what has happened to… to ME… was affecting you.

Remembering what had really happened that must never have come to light here, Dox lied as she allowed her counterpart to believe she was the being known as Death. It was, on every possible level, a deeply uncomfortable thing to have to do, but it might have been the only way to do anything in the moment before it was too late.

"My aspect. My aura. It influenced your anger. Your darkest thoughts, just like it had for Enalia, who told you to go to the Brig with Schewin to handle them. You were NOT fully responsible. Neither was Enalia.” Dox spoke quickly as she felt herself starting to leave this reality and reinforced what she had learned, continuing to speak for Death herself, who was NOT here. “H… my merger with Schwein was unnatural! It damaged me and in that damage, my aspect was affecting YOU! I’m… I’m sorry… You must under…"

But before the words could make it out, Dox had vanished again in a wave of blue light, leaving her counterpart alone with only the sound of the klaxons and the security team working to get in.

Left standing there, alone. Ensign Mnhei'sahe Dox slowly, and with tear filled eyes, pulled her hand away from the button. In a few seconds, security would rush through those doors to the corridor and take her into custody. She would be taken to the brig and placed under protective custody. She would be sent back to Starfleet and sent for psych reevaluation. She would be stripped of that pip and the badge on her chest.

Her career was over, but for that exact moment, at least her life wasn’t. And for the first time in what felt like an eternity of self-loathing, that felt like it was enough.

To Be Continued…

As Captain Enalia Telvan faded into existence, her first Bulukiya jump complete, her first thought was that it was freezing. It had to have been at most -50 degrees C on whatever remote planet she had been dumped on. Then in the dimly lit snow and ice-covered wasteland, she recognized something. A group of six people that she knew all too well.

Pulling her arms in tighter and rubbing her hands against herself to try and stay warm, she hoped that they weren’t who she thought they were as she shuffled towards them.

As soon as she saw the first of the faces, frozen in terror, she knew right where she was and what was going on.

She was back on Cetlik Seven.

The day she almost got her first crew killed.

In her reality their hair had all turned silver, a couple had lost limbs, and she had almost frozen them to death with a thermal fusion device. This meant that she had somehow been transported to an alternate reality where she had triggered the device early and failed to get them off the planet and away from the foot-long swarmers in time.

As she shuffled further into the group, she could see her old engineer with his legs torn off by the swarmers, locked in agony as he futilely tried to get the transporter online. She saw Schwein crushing them with her bare hands, her face twisted in rage. Sarika slicing through them with the hidden blades in her arms.

Then she saw herself. A look of subtle surprise locked on her face for all eternity. They had come here to freeze and exterminate the main hive after they had evacuated the colonists, then deactivate the device so the colonists could return. By now though... The whole moon would have long since been frozen and the colonists moved on.

Just as ice crystals started forming on her nose and she felt a strange tingling within her, Enalia reached out and pressed the deactivation trigger, beginning the thawing process and leaving a bit of her own skin behind, frozen in place as she vanished from that reality.

--------

A moment later, she was standing in a much warmer place, now looking around her own study. The fireplace was lit with a bright fire and after the cold she was in, it was a welcome sight. However, she assumed that this was also not her reality and was on guard.

Especially at the sound of a charging phase pistol behind her and the sound of her own voice. “Turn around slowly and tell me how you got in here, ‘fleeter.”

Holding her hands out to her sides as non threateningly as she could, she slowly turned around to be confronted by herself wearing the most on the nose pirate outfit she had ever tried on. It was little more than a bikini top with a black vest, shorts with a sash, holsters for three guns and a sword, swashbuckling boots, and a sea hat with a feather so big it looked like it made a thousand pimps cry out in envy. “There was an accident and I was transported to your universe. If things hold true, I should be out of your way any moment now.”

The time she spent in the last universe was what? About half a minute? It seemed like longer, but she was fairly certain it wasn’t long at all. Would she stay here that long? Twice that long? Until she did something? What was the trigger?

“I’m not buying it, ‘fleeter. I’ve had look alike assassins after me before and you’re by far the worst of them, coming in uniform and all that,” pirate Enalia replied with a sneer. “So you best give me a good reason not to kill you.”

“I could prove that I’m you and you’re me, just from different realities with a scan, but…” Enalia grinned that piratical grin of hers, knowing just how she thought. “I think I’d rather show you with my blade, wouldn’t you?” As she spoke, she reached over and pulled free a sword hidden in the fireplace tool rack. In her head she had been counting seconds and she had just passed 30 seconds - that meant this would take longer at the very least.

“Aye, to the blade with you then,” the pirate Enalia replied with the same grin as she swapped her pistol for her sword, not expecting the other-universe Enalia to know about the fireplace tool rack having a hidden sword in it.

Within several swings it was obvious that one was holding back. It was also obvious that they were trained by the same person. It was also obvious that one was out for blood.

“You haven’t trained against enough opponents,” the Starfleet opponent commented as she easily parried a thrust. It was far from easy as her counterpart in this universe was quicker, however she seemed to be far more experienced and thus had the upper hand.

“And what does that matter? I’m faster and stronger!” replied the piratical version, her grin turning to a sneer.

“Raw strength only goes so far. If you only fight a few opponents, you don’t learn how to take on a variety of different people and you leave yourself open.” With a quick flash of her sword, Enalia disarmed her opponent, the pirate’s sword flying straight up into the study’s vaulted ceiling and burying itself into the wood several centimeters. “Especially against people that have learned to use others’ speed and strength to their advantage.”

Now with the tip of a sword under her chin, the pirate Enalia was fuming but had to admit defeat. “And what is it that you want? You’ve bested me fair and square.”

Then she felt it - the same feeling deep inside her as last time, just as she hit sixty seconds. “Just learn to be better, I suppose,” Enalia called out as she dropped the sword and vanished.

--------

Commander Artan was asleep in her cot when Captain Telvan shimmered into existence on the other side of her cabin on the deep space monitoring station. Quickly taking stock of the situation, Enalia tried to stay still as she carefully looked around the room and assessed the situation she was in now.

There was a desk only a couple feet away so she reached over and tapped at the terminal, bringing up the display, lighting up the area around her. Thankfully, her in-universe counterpart seemed to be sleeping soundly enough.

A few more taps and she had her own service record. Commander... Not augmented... Father and sister ran a mining consortium... Mother passed not long after her birth due to complications. Joined Starfleet for a chance at a better future because a Captain Caldwell saved her during a mining accident and she wanted to help others in a similar fashion.

Then she felt it again - like a tingling. With a click, she shut off the desk terminal just in time before she vanished again.

`
The first thing Rita Paris saw, as the flare of the ultraviolet faded, was a butthead.


A Talosian, in actuality. But the butthead thing had stuck with her permanently, something she had only been able to make a private joke with Michael Stuart over the years, in reference to the enlarged pulsing craniums of the native of Talos IV.

The Talosian in question, of course, knew what Rita was thinking. They could apparently know what anyone was thinking, although it helped if they had touched your mind before. Which, in Rita’s case, they had. It had nearly killed her. All of this went through her mind as the imposing Talosian loomed over her, looking down disapprovingly as he waited for her relatively sluggish and dull mind to arrive at the moment.

Mostly, he looked bored. At least, that was her impression.

Which was when things got very, very interesting.

Prowling out from around a rock came... herself. Clad in a gauzy veiled number that looked like Vulcan lingerie night, she eyed the uniformed version with interest and a certain hunger that Rita found unnerving on her own face.

“Is this another of your ideas?” the resident of Talos IV asked her landlord as she prowled forward, practically oozing predatory sexuality. While Rita had used such tactics in the past, she’d long ago put them in the toolbox for emergencies on away missions and ‘holodeck adventures’ with Sonak. Seeing a version of herself here, acting in that manner as a matter of course, shook Rita. Until she realized what had happened here.

“Talos IV.... you’re still here. The Talosians wouldn’t let you leave, you couldn’t convince them... oh, hey, stop that,” Rita swatted at the hands of her counterpart as she slid her arms about Rita’s narrow waist.

Which was when Sonak and Michael Stuart came around that same rock, naked, and inside, Rita’s heart broke, just a little bit.

It had been more than a year, two now, since she’d seen her friend and captain. The man whose temper so often tried to get the best of him. The captain who lacked that moral compass which could have made him great, which was supplemented by Paris, the junior officer, to give him his guidance gleaned from her experiences, growing up surrounded by line officers. That handsome, charming man who, under different circumstances, she might have come to love, flaws and all. Whom she did love, in her own way; but as a friend and comrade in arms, who’d saved her life more times than she could count.

Whom she never quite realized was quite so gifted, anatomically speaking.

“Two Ritas? I don’t know what this is about, but I like the looks of it,” Michael fairly purred as he moved in on the local version to nuzzle with her, to which she responded in kind. “Uniformed. Kinky.”

“I propose this may not be the doing of our hosts,” Sonak put forth, clasping his hands together behind him as he spoke, as he often did. “Instead, this Rita Paris seems disoriented. Note the differences in uniform- the delta is detachable insignia, there are what I would assume are rank pips on the collar, the tights are solid black rather than merely hosiery and she is sporting bracers on her wrists unknown to our own Rita. I propose that this is a displaced version of Rita Paris, likely from elsewhere in the multiverse, as well as the timeline.”

As Ronald Tracey stepped into view, with him was Vina, the sole survivor of the SS Columbia. Both were wearing skimpy swimwear, and from their body language, they looked quite close. As Sonak moved in on Stuart and Rita, he too looked at ease with their intimacy.

“The Talosians kept you all and you became, what, a polyamorous quad... a pente?” Rita spat out, mildly flabbergasted, horrified and somehow amused.

“Always room for another,” Rita purred as Michael Stuart kissed at her neck, and the nubile navigator arched her back as she lifted her leg, to park it over the shoulder of the kneeling Sonak. As she reached out to Rita, all around them, the rocks and blasted earth gave way to a lush tropical paradise, with surf and sea and sand and sun.

A part of her was tempted to take that hand, and perhaps she might have given in to that temptation. But the particles within her decayed to the point of being unable to hold her in this universe any longer, and spun her away from the forbidden planet.

“More for me, then,” Rita Paris muttered before kissing her handsome captain, with a deep and hungry passion.

The pulsing craniumed Talosians looked on in approval. Vina was most definitely no longer lonely.

As the flare of the incandescent that could be seen through the eyelids faded, once again, Rita Paris struggled to reorient herself. She looked like she was in a pirate-themed pastry shop- two things that she’d likely put on her list of personal hells. Dealing with the Artan privateers had driven her up the wall, and she had just never cared for the empty carbohydrates and sugary frostings of pastries.

Apparently her local equivalent felt considerably differently.

Morbidly obese was a word for it. The uniform, still the miniskirt and leggings, were stretched over a very fleshy and rather voluminous mass of pulchritudinous female flesh that had to be 300 kilograms. Beside her was a similarly doughy Sonak, and on the floor beside them, currently powering her way through a dessert cart, was a rather porcine Dox.

At first she didn’t recognize the purple velvet couch was a person, let alone recognizing her as Enalia.

In the background, calliope music played, and she realized where she was.... The city of Log’yerm///, the extradimensional entity that kept the Worldship floating and his people in attendance, like children he kept about for his own amusement. As she watched the glazed eyes of her counterpart and her husband as they mechanically raised pastries to their mouths to stuff them in.

Apparently her speech to Log’yerm/// here had been less inspiring, and he’d decided to keep the landing party as well... probably the entire crew. Dumbed them down, compelled them to eat, and was keeping them trapped in this living hell.

Even the air smelled sugary, and it turned Rita’s stomach.

Looking out over the Worldship, she considered how she could help the crew trapped here like this. Given what she knew of the particle and given what she was experiencing, she estimated she had about two minutes here, tops. Not enough time to do anything, really.

Looking over the crew, lobotomized and trapped within ever-expanding prisons of flesh for the entertainment of an alien entity from beyond the stars, Rita Paris simply whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

No one noticed her fade from sight.

The smell of sugary sweet baked goods finally began to clear from her nostrils as Rita Paris’ eyes once again adjusted from the flare that accompanied the dimension-spanning Bulikaya effect.

That had now deposited her somewhere dark and foreboding. Where the wind atop the mountaintop howled as lightning arced between angry black storm clouds, pregnant with menace.

Facing her was a stone replica of... herself. Then, taking in the entire woman, Rita realized it wasn’t a statue. It was her. The helmet was retracted, the heavy rifle down and off to one side, the right hand held out in greeting. Her smiling face was open and earnest, one of offered trust and the spirit of Starfleet. Which was now immortalized forever in stone.

It would appear she had been attempting to reason with Hera, and she’d been turned to stone for her efforts. Then apparently moved out into a collection of such statues- many of them on their knees, pleading. Some were in charging battle poses, many looked as though they were attempting to flee.

Nearby, she heard the snort and shuffle of a bovine, and heavy hoofsteps on the stone floor.

Considering summoning her own armor, Rita chose not to escalate. After all, she had been doing this sort of thing all over the galaxy for years in a minidress and high heels, and damned if she needed some high-tech handicap just to hide from an ornery guard. Ducking down, she lowered her profile in the statuary garden that comprised the area in which she’d found herself, and used her own statue for cover.

Sorry, Rita. I’d fix you but I haven’t the faintest clue how, and I just need to stay alive for... a few minutes, now. No problem, just play hide and seek with a minotaur... or two or three, look at that. With harpies on air support, just screwing around in the sky up there. Ah- yup, that statue just moved. Ohhhh my stars and garters.

Standing still, she summoned said high-tech handicap from the extradimensional inventory that she kept stored in the bracers of the moon and sun she wore upon her wrists, themselves a gift of the goddess Hera. Powering up the EVA armor, she tapped it over to the stealth camouflage mode.

‘Starfleet Represent’ be damned- this was dimension hopping as an extreme sport, and it was one you survived or returned to your own universe as a corpse. Having been dead in a few ways a few times, Rita didn’t much care for being a corpse.

Plotting a course to the south and the capitol city below, the extradimesional explorer sprinted for the cliffside, staying low and fast. The living statue behind her had raised the alarm, and she could both hear and feel the thunderous hoofbeats behind her as the minotaurs charged after her. At the same time, the cries of the harpies telegraphged their intent, and her armor’s scanners picked all of them up and plotted likely projected flight vectors for aerial attack from above.

“Time to do that thing that saves your life, Interplanet Janet,” Rita said to herself as she bolted to the edge of the cliff, pivoted as she hopped off of it, and began a controlled slide down the side of the butte upon which the Temple of Hera was built, as she plotted her course through the vast city.

Herapolis, capitol city of Hera’s World, aka Meroset 347.

Once upon a time, Rita Paris had led the revolt that Admiral Meowlith had started. They had executed a three pronged attack on the mad goddess who had declared war on humanity, wherever they may be amongst the stars. Having discovered an Achilles heel that levelled the playing field, Rita had stormed the temple, taken out Hera’s generals while Asa Dael had destroyed her throne, causing a feedback loop that ‘short circuited’ Hera’s powers. With the psionic resonation collectors in the temples demolished throughout the city, the people were free and Hera was defeated. After which she would be reformed on the starship that bore her name, by the woman who had spared her life. Who believed in her, and convinced her to lead a better existence, and be a benevolent goddess once more.

This was not ‘that’ Hera.

This was the angry, vengefeul one that had launched her invulnerable chariots at the stars, and apparently had neither been stopped by Commander Paris, nor reformed. This version still had quite the mad on for the ‘children of Zeus’, and her followers were deciding the new girl in town needed flattening.

Which was unfortunate for them. Because Rita Paris knew Herapolis quite well. It was a favored scenario of hers for use in urban warfare training. She shared this with Ensign Sado, as they now trained together, often in this quaint bronze age landscape populated by monsters of Greek mythology. The R&D department used it to test out the mechs they designed and built for urban warfare in close quarters, and the scenario had worked excellently. Given the detailed scans, advanced holographics and amount of time she’d spent here, in a virtual sense, this was more home turf for Rita than it was for the troops following her down the mountainside.

Activating the virtual assistant in her armor, a miniature redheaded chibi cartoon in a Starfleet uniform sprang up in the corner. Speaking before it could, Rita ordered, “Play House of Pain, Jump Around.”

“Excellent choice mum! Let’s get those strength boosters online, and let’s nae forget the antigrav-pack is deployable if need be, for short flights up to 30 seconds, aye?” the chirpy voice of Fiona O’Dell nattered, but the computer’s AI that was running her wasn’t wrong. Rita had to admit it was a good idea, as the first few lines of the base cut in, and one of the tracks of her battle playlist she’d actually appropriated from O’Dell started playing.

In truth, Rita didn’t need the battle music. Using her suit’s scanners, she ducked out of the way of patrols, hid and stayed to the alleys and shadows, and was feeling reasonably confident that she was going to be fine, and not have to use her TR-116C2 today. As the particle’s half-life expired and she felt the familiar tug of the multiverse, Rita sighed, and reflexively said, “Thank Hera...”

Then time slowed down, and the pull of the multiverse became the mild discomfort of the multiverse. In her mind, she felt a presence... similar to one she knew, yet very, VERY different. Vengeful, angry and currently both infuriated and curious as to who dared invoke her name, here on her own world, whom she did not know... yet whose faith shone like a beacon when the name escaped her lips.

Racing through her heart and mind, Hera knew the mortal’s truth in an instant- one of the statues of her garden, from another reality where she had been defeated by chance and circumstance. Where she had been taken captive, shown mercy, and offered a boon, as was the wont of her kind, for the curious human who was so uncompromisingly compassionate.

Be better.

So she had been bade, so she had become. In doing so she had lived up the the request- to be the goddess the antique astronaut could tell her children about. Which Hera had done, time and again. She lived on good deeds, and her devoted followers loved and cared for her, not out of fear nor obligation, but because they genuinely wished to serve her, as she served them- through love.

It was, in a word, alien. Angrily she tore through the reality of it all, dispelling illusions and causing lies to poison and fester, but there was no rot. There was no change. Truth was invulnerable to any such assault, and it seemed the woman simply did not lie. The love the woman had in her heart, which flared forth when she offered a grateful prayer for her safe escape, had been unlike anything the goddess had felt in thousands of years. Yet so strong and pure it was, it had drawn Hera to the woman, to test it, to witness it.

Ultimately, to be humbled by it.

The decay of the particles was an inevitability that Hera could not change, even had she wished to do so. The traveler would continue on, this ‘lost navigator’ as she was known. All Hera could do was stretch the seconds out, to see this faithful with her own eyes, and hear her testify her faith. Even as the mortal departed, her heart reached out to the angry and unforgiving goddess to forgive, and to listen, and to heal. Because forgiveness and redemption were always there, for those who sought them

Be better.... was the last fleeting plea to the goddess, from her faithful whom she had never actually met.



By the dawn, as the prayers rose to her name to thank her for allowing the sun to rise once more, the goddess Hera stared at the statue, brought from her garden, to be placed in her throneroom. The expression of calm, the hand outstretched, without a weapon, in peace.

It seemed the tyrant of Meroset 347 had much to consider.

“...Stand!!!” Dox yelled into the cool, sterile room she had appeared in. She had just been trying to convince an alternate version to not commit suicide and vanished in a wave of blue light, moved into a different dimension by the Bulukiya particles mid-sentence.

Now, as the momentary disorientation began to fade, Dox looked around and began to take in where she was. To her left was a large mirror, and around her was a number of screens and what looked like medical equipment. And to her right, was a large bed. And in that bed, strapped down and connected to various tubes and wires, was another her.

“Bhudt'e…” She muttered to herself, a Romulan expression of disbelief and concern that roughly translated to ‘oh, boy.’

Stepping back slightly, she looked at her supine counterpart. Her hair had gray streaks in it and her head was half shaved along the sides with leads pressed against her temples. She had what looked like a feeding tube in her mouth, oxygen tubes in her nose and a fluid IV drip leading to one arm. The technology seems a bit old fashioned, but indicated that wherever she was, this version of her had to have been there in this state for a while to require that level of regular, daily maintenance.

The screens were also very modern LCARS Starfleet displays, and on her counterparts nightgown was a small gold delta pattern. Wherever she was, this was a Starfleet facility. From the lack of any feeling of vibration or the hum of a warp engine, Dox assumed she was likely on a planet or moon at least.

The room was cold. Not just chilly, which to her hot Romulan blood, most starships tended to be anyway, but directly cold as she exhaled and could see her breath linger in the air for a moment.

If the pattern holds, I’ll have four or so minutes here. Dox thought as she looked around, fixing on the mirror as she did. There was a tingling sensation along the back of her neck that wasn’t the bulukiya particles that she dismissed as anxiety.

“Hello? Is there anybody there? I assume there’s an observation room on the other side of this mirror? I can explain who I am and what’s going on, but seeing a face would certainly help.”

“I don’t have a lot of time and… what happened to… to herrrrrrr.” Dox said, her voice trailing off as the tingling in her head became like a wall of force in her mind and a sudden wave of impossible fatigue overtook her. An instant later, she felt all the energy leave her muscles as she began to collapse to the floor.

What felt like an instant later, Dox groggily opened her eyes and the strange medical bay was gone, and she appeared to be back on the Hera. Wait, what? She thought to herself as she slowly lifted herself off of the deck of what looked like the corridors of deck 8. I was only in there a few seconds. I can’t have already lept? Maybe the Hera figured out how to pull us back. But then... why am I in a corridor. It felt… wrong. It felt…”

Like someone pushed their way into my mind. Or… Dox reasoned, looking around at the otherwise empty, dimly lit corridor. Pulled me into THEIRS.

“Computer.” Mnhei’sahe spoke up to the ceiling but heard nothing. Instead, tapped her commbadge, but again- nothing.

Slowly, Mnhei’sahe began walking down the corridor. There were no guards stationed outside the quarters for either Hera or Masato Rei, and the doors at each room wouldn’t open for her. She knocked on the door to Rei’s quarters and called out. “Rei… it’s… it’s Mnhei’sahe. Are you in there? Taxes?” She called out to the embodiment of death that was, perhaps, her most unusual friend. She even called out to the pale horse that was regularly by Rei’s side, but heard nothing. Even with the door locked, either could have simply passed through in their ethereal states to see her regardless, but they weren’t there.

Then, Mnhei’sahe felt something. Almost like a presence behind her that felt familiar that she couldn’t place for a moment. When she turned around at the inexplicable sensation, there was nothing. The corridor was empty, but it set her eyes down to her and Mona’s quarters. In that moment, she had a particularly cold thought and began heading down the corridor, beginning with a hesitant walk then breaking into a run as she arrived at the door to her own quarters. As with the other doors, it would not open. Frustrated, she slammed her fist on the door, banging loudly. “MONA! MONA, are you in there!? MONA!!!”

As before, no answer.

Feeling a wave of panic, Mnhei’sahe began to try and access the entry pad to the side. It had power but refused to accept or acknowledge her access codes. After a few moments of frantic panic, something happened.

~GET AWAY FROM THERE!!!~

The voice filled her mind and there was a sensation of intense pressure that felt like gravity had increased ten-fold in an instant. Mnhei’sahe fell hard, back to her knees on the deck in front of the door to her quarters. The voice pushed its way into her mind somehow, and as she realized what was happening, Mnhei’sahe concentrated. As she did, she felt that impossible, arid heat threatening to steal her breath as she visualized the Vulcan of her mind and recalled her training at the tutelage of Commander Sonak. In her mind was the image of Mount Salaya on Vulcan, and she felt the pressure let up, at least enough to think clearly.

“What… what in Areinnye was that?” Mnhei’sahe muttered as she hesitantly rose to her feet, leaning against the corridor bulkhead. The voice had pushed powerfully past the barriers that had been put in her mind after months on mental training like they weren’t there. Now that she was actively aware of the presence, she was keeping it out.

Barely.

Looking down, she saw three small drops of green on the deck by her feet and wiped her face. She was bleeding slightly from the nose. “Hnaev…” She cursed to herself as she went back to the door.

Thinking, she remembered being in the medical room. The wires fixed to her counterpart’s head. Her counterpart’s brain. The idea was itching at her mind, but in the tension of the moment, she couldn’t put her errant thoughts together yet.

“Okay… we do this the hard way.” Mnhei’sahe muttered under her breath, instinctively switching from Federation Standard to her own native Romulan. A habit she had a hard time breaking from since her month long captivity on a Romulan ship speaking nothing but her mother tongue all those months ago. She noticed, but in that moment, didn’t care as she felt for the edge of the door under the rim and began to pull with every ounce of strength she could.

It took nearly a minute of intense, physical effort, but eventually, the door budged and Mnhei’sahe could get her arm in enough to push it the rest of the way. Stepping inside, the room was dark. The only light coming in through the large, curved windows into space. Improbably, the plasteel had cracks in them. It was dark, but there was a smell that filled her senses. The copper twinge of old blood.

Feeling for the wall panel, Mnhei’sahe turned the lights on manually and she saw her quarters. It looked as though it had been torn apart. The beautiful curtains Mona had put up were shredded and in tatters at her feet. The Furniture looked ripped to shreds as if by an animal. The shelves smashed and all her possessions in pieces all around her. All around her, streaks of dried blood. Dried, once green blood. Smears on the walls and across most everything.

Looking to the left, the old kitchen was there. Still intact as it was before they had expanded their quarters, and there was no door to the children’s room, and therefore, no children’s room. It wasn’t much, but it gave Dox a window within which this reality must’ve diverged from her own.

“Did… did I do all this?” Mnhei’sahe whispered to herself as she stepped further in. As she did, she felt that pressure on her mind increased again. Whatever voice she had felt before seemed like it had an answer, but she had no intention of letting her guard down again to let it in. Still, the increased pressure was intense and she felt her nose start to drip again.

But Mnhei’sahe put it out of her mind as much as possible, wiping her green blood on the sleeve of her crimson tunic. The door to the bedroom was open, but looked as if a force had slammed them open hard. They were askew on their tracks and the room was dark. But regardless, Mnhei’sahe stepped in. The pressure on her mind increased as she felt whatever was causing it getting closer.

Reaching in, she felt for the manual wall pad and turned on the light. As the light went on, the room was intact. The curtains still hung and everything was in its place. But on the rounded, nest-like bed that she shared with Mona Gonadie, was a black torpedo tube. Looking, her heart sank and her stomach tightened. She knew well the old maritime tradition that Starfleet had adopted to use torpedo casings as coffins for burial amongst the stars in certain cases.

She slowly reached a hand towards the tube. Hesitantly at first, but after steeling herself, placed it on the shining, black tube.

It was warm. The sensation pushed into her mind as if her mental defenses simply didn’t exist, but rather than pressure or pain, it was more warmth. It was a momentary wave of warmth. Lavender warmth.

“M...Mona?” Dox whispered. But as she did, she felt a different kind of pressure. While she was empty in the room, she felt a wave of what she could only describe as pure force that pulled her from her feet and shoved her back from the bed and against the far bulkhead.

Banging her head against the wall and falling to the deck with a sharp pain, her concentration wavered and the booming voice returned to her mind.

~DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!!!!~

And as she staggered back to her feet, her nose bleeding again, she now recognized the voice and knew exactly who was in that tube. “Mona…” she whispered. The voice was, once again, her own and it was forcing itself into her mind with a power that felt light-years beyond anything she had felt from either Sonak, the Ju’rot or even Anansi. And its source was getting closer.

Turning from the bed, Dox grabbed her head and realized that she had been here far longer than four minutes and still hadn’t lept, which made no sense to her. As she made her way back out into the main room of her quarters she worked out that if she never lept from the medical chamber, then she was still there and whatever this was had to be something else. Some kind of mindscape where the perception of time ran differently like in a dream. It, at least, would explain the missing crewmembers and constant pressure on her mental defenses.

Running into the corridor, Dox stopped dead before she felt a force pressing against her, pushing her off of her feet to the deck with a hard slap. Standing before her, was another version of herself who muttered almost silently, “Stop.”

Still in uniform, but it was stained and dirty looking. The other her was thinner and gaunt in the face, with sunken eyes. Her hair was noticeably longer, matted, and graying everywhere except where it was buzzed on the sides, just like the version in the bed. Not any older, but clearly more worn away.

Looking up, Mnhei’sahe tried to pull herself to her feet, but the other her simply tilted her head and the pressure returned and her knees buckled under her as she slammed back to the cold deck as if gravity had increased even harder than before. “No… not yet. You and I... we need to talk. Who… no… what are you? How are you here?”

And as the other her spoke, there was another wave of force and Mnhei’sahe felt a blackness push in around her. She pushed back against it in her mind, reinforcing her defenses and trying to stand. As she did, she felt nausea seep in as the pressure began to become a real thing again and she slid back on the deck. “Don't make me hurt you. Just stop fighting me, you’re not winning this.”

Looking back up, the other her’s eyes were different now. Completely black. “STOP!” She yelled, and the world went just as black.

---------------------

The first thing Mnhei’sahe felt was pressure. That same pressure, forcing itself into her mind through the blackness of sleep. If that’s what it was. She had no sense of time having passed nor any memory of dreaming and she could tell she hadn’t yet lept. The blackness started to fade as she looked up through squinted eyes at the cracked windows of her quarters. Muttering in Rihan out of habit, she whispered. “What… what happened?”

Listening as she realized she was sitting on her own couch with her head flumped back, she heard the voice of the other her. “You were being difficult.” The other her was speaking English, without the hint of an accent that Mnhei’sahe had been working to quash that had come back since her month on the Warbird.

The other her chuckled and looked down for a second, then back up. “I didn’t know what you were at first. They keep me asleep so I won’t reach out with my mind consciously anymore, making me think you were just another part of the dream. Some… strange concoction of my subconscious to punish me some more. But I know my own mind… even now. So, you are me… but you aren’t a part of my mind. You’re REAL. What are you?”

“What? Can’t make me tell you?” Mnhei’sahe replied, tapping the side of her head, reinforcing her mental defenses and realizing that this was the OTHER Dox’s mindscape.

As she did, she watched her other self’s eyes go black again as she tilted her head. Immediately, Mnhei’sahe crumpled over in pain, held in place as if by an invisible grip. This might all be happening in her counterpart’s mind, but it hurt as much as if it were a real hand trying to crush her.

“I CAN, but you don’t want me to try that hard. Bringing you in here was... easy enough. But those defenses you have are quite strong. You probably wouldn’t survive if I broke completely through and I’d prefer to not kill you if possible.” The other her said, not moving from where she sat, her eyes still stark black.

The other her was beginning to read her mind, regardless of the defenses. Cracks were clearly forming through the pain and random thoughts were leaking out so Mnhei’sahe redoubled her efforts as the image of Mount Selaya returned in force. The other her sat back in a chair in the center of the room and sighed. “I can start breaking things, if you want. I don’t want to, but I will.”

Suddenly, Dox fell back to the deck, tumbling over the front of the couch. Then, there was an intense pressure in Mnhei’sahe’s right foot as if a vice was being twisted on it. “NNNNGGGGGG…” She moaned as she grabbed her foot and doubled back over. “O… okay… stop!” Mnhei’sahe groaned out, and the phantom pressure stopped.

Shaking out the pain that she knew was only in her mind, like all of this, but felt real all the same. she pushed herself back up to her feet and looked at the other version of herself. “Quid pro quo. I tell you something, you tell me something. Sound fair?”

The other her simply nodded and waited as Mnhei’sahe righted herself in front of the couch, shaking out her foot. “I’m you. I’m you from another reality. I’ve been… being moved through different realities and dimensions… encountering different versions of myself for a time then moving on. I was exposed to some kind of extra-dimensional particles that…”

As she spoke, the other Dox cricked an eyebrow and raised her hand, as if reaching for something in the air in front of her. As she did, Mnhei’sahe felt an intense pulling sensation and she lurched forward, feeling as if something was being pulled from her.

There was a moment of intense pain and she let out a gasp but felt all the air pulled from her as she did. Then, the familiar shimmer resumed and she wondered if she was about to leap again. But instead, she squinted through the pain and saw the shimmer slow and stop, and a single glowing blue light came from her and hovered in the air before her. As it did, the other her blinked and as she did, Mnhei’sahe fell back to the deck limply. None of what was happening here was necessarily real, but it felt real, and that was enough.

“That would be… this? Your body is filled with them. I can feel them pulling at you even now. Interesting.” The other her said as Mnhei’sahe struggled back to her feet, this time leaning heavily against the couch and dragging herself to her seat.

The small, blue glowing particle moved over to the other Dox’s hand, and she closed her fingers around it as it vanished into her. “If I weren’t… speeding up your perception of time in here, we never could have had this talk. But… it’s my mind and I can do what I want here. Still, you would think with everything that’s happened to us, we would stay away from unknown science.”

Catching her breath, Mnhei’sahe slumped in her seat. “Quid pro quo… I can’t do any of the things you’re doing. I can’t… pull people into my mind like this. Create this fantasy. Move things with my mind. What happened?”

Smirking slightly, the other Dox leaned over in the seat again. “Hera. Hera happened.”

“The eighth door of my mind had been cracked open by Mona’s helmet. It turned my mind into a… a beacon for psychic entities like Gaia and the Spider. I went to Hera for advice, and she offered to help me by opening ALL the doors in my mind so I could learn to control it. To learn to keep beings like Gaia out by… awakening me to my full potential as a Romulan. All the abilities our people abandoned when our ancestors left Vulcan.”

Mnhei’sahe’s eyes went wide. She remembered the offer well, and remembered choosing instead to let Sonak teach her to hone those skills gradually, over time. The harder path, but the potentially safer of the two. “And… and you accepted, didn’t you?”

Suddenly, the other Dox’s expression changed and her face twisted into a sneer, and as it did, Mnheisahe felt that mental pressure increase. “Of course I did. Gaia was coming and I had no way to keep her out of my mind. Rita… Rita tried to talk me out of it. Tried to get me to let SONAK train my mind and my mental defenses, but there wasn’t time, so I did what I had to do.”

The other her calmed down and the pressure abated slightly. Mnhei’sahe realized that the force from her mind was just a constant thing, not controlled, and its intensity was connected to her emotional state. “What happened?”

The other her sat back and sighed. “What do you think happened? Gaia came. We… we tried a mind-meld. Sonak linked my mind with his, Rita’s, Sam’s, Asa’s and… and Mona’s. He tried to use his discipline to help me control those open doors. Nobody knew what would happen. After Hera awakened me… I could hear their minds even before Sonak linked us… like whispers I couldn’t quite understand but also couldn’t silence them. They were just… just being pulled in. Sonak tried to help me to shut it out, but it was too much. Then… then Gaia came and we melded and…”

Suddenly, the bridge began to shudder as the other Dox spoke. Her fists were clenched and she was trembling in the chair as her emotions began spilling out as waves of force that shook the room within her mindscape. “M… Mnhie’sahe! Calm down!”

The other Dox stopped with a look of shock. She clearly hadn’t heard anyone call her by her own name in a while. “You need to calm down. Center yourself. Focus.”

Standing up, the other Dox looked angrier than before, and the waves intensified. Mnhei’sahe grabbed the back of her couch to hold on as the waves slid the couch back even further. As she did the other her shouted. “Calm down!? CALM DOWN!?!?! Do you have any idea what happened!?!? WHAT WE DID!?!?”

With a fresh, green trickle of blood from her nose, Mnhei’sahe struggled against the force radiating from her other self and spoke as calmly as was possible. “What… what happened, Mnhei’sahe?”

As the other Dox saw the blood, she stood up, knocking back the chair and a look of panic swept across her face. “No… I… I don’t want it to happen again. I… I can’t… I can’t stop it.” As she did, the waves lessened a little bit.

As the waves abated, for just an instant, Dox felt it again. That presence from before, like a voice a mile away but just inside her ear. Shaking her head, the beleaguered Romulan focused on her defenses again and looked back to her counterpart.

“Then just… listen to my voice for a second. Concentrate on it and close your eyes. Try to remember those first lessons from Sonak. Do you remember the brazier he gave us… to help us concentrate?” Mnhei’sahe said, trying to keep her voice calm and even. Trying to remind her other self of the training that she hoped had happened before the Gaia incident in this reality.

“It… it doesn’t work. It’s not enough. Y… you don’t understand. With the doors opened, EVERYTHING is pulled into me. I can’t… I can’t stop it! Sonak couldn’t stop it.” The other Dox said, still stepping back, shaking her head. The reaction was a complete 180 from the angry, assertive woman from earlier. But it was reducing the waves of pressure on Mnhei’sahe’s mind.

“Is that what happened? During the meld, when Gaia came? You… you pulled them… her in, didn’t you? You couldn’t stop it from happening?” Mnhei’sahe said, standing up and trying to step across, closer to her other self.

As she did, the other Dox stopped and looked up at Mnhei’sahe, her eyes going black again. “SHUT UP!!!! she screamed, and as she did, Mnhei’sahe was shoved back again, slamming awkwardly into the couch, flipping painfully over it onto the deck behind. As she did, the small dining table, closer to the other Dox cracked and crumpled where it stood.

The waves of force intensified as Mnhei’sahe remained hunched over on the deck as the doppelganger shouted, “YOU DON’T KNOW!!! She died! She died in my MIND! Gaia looked down on us and judged us as pretentious, greedy, arrogant, and unworthy! And I PROVED it! I couldn’t stop it! I pulled her into my mind and she died! I killed MONA!!!!”

Listening, Mnhei’sahe tried to crawl to her feet, but as the other Dox screamed, a wave of force shoved her against the far bulkhead as the rant continued, tears streaming down the doppelganger's cheeks. “I… I tried to stop Gaia! I begged her to stop, and my mind… it pulled at her too! It took a piece of HER and then… with that extra power, I started to pull at the rest! I couldn’t control anything. The others… they flew away from me. The ship started to shake...” As the counterpart described the memory, the ship in her mind also started shaking.

“Sonak stopped it! He broke the meld and stopped me, but it was too late! She was GONE! I… absorbed her! I killed her!” Now, the doppelganger was sobbing as she collapsed to her knees. That was what the torpedo tube was. A visualization of this version’s grief and guilt made manifest in this empty illusion of the Hera that her mind must have been stuck in.

Then, Dox felt it again, but clearer this time. That presence just over her shoulder. Warm and gentle. Reaching to her, but held back by the power of her counterpart’s mind.

“Have you been… here... since then? In your own mind?” Dox asked of her hysterical counterpart. “What happened afterwards?”

Sniffling, with her head down at the deck, the other Dox muttered her reply as the ship stopped shaking. “They… tried to help me. To tell me it wasn’t my fault. Sonak tried to teach me to control it. Hera tried to shut the doors she had opened. But nothing worked. I kept getting… getting stronger. I couldn’t shut it out, so I was brought here.”

With a wave of her arm, the setting dissolved around them like sand washed away by the tide, and they stood again in what looked like the hospital room. The bed and the machinery were gone, and it was just the two versions of Mnhei’sahe Dox.

“This is a Starfleet psych facility on Europa. Kilometers away from anyone I could hurt. The staff holographically monitors me from an orbital station. Our EMH… he gave himself a name… Adam. He transferred his Matrix here to help. There’s even a hologram of Kodria that they found hidden in the Hera’s computer that’s copied here now too. She comes and sits with me and talks to me, trying to help me get better. They’re… they’re trying to help me.” the bleak faced counterpart said as she rubbed the side of her head where her hair had been cut short.

“You, I’m guessing, didn’t accept Hera’s offer. You accepted Sonak’s training and didn’t end up… You didn’t kill your Mona. You didn’t steal a shard of Gaia from her, making yourself even more powerful. None of that happened for you, did it?” She asked, her voice tired and weak.

In spite of her mental defenses, Mnhei’sahe, but could already feel her other self pushing into her mind for the answers as her counterpart continued. “No, you took the harder road. I see it. You're... not blocking me anymore. It’s all in there.”

“What about who else is in here?” Dox said, looking at her weary-eyed double who simply looked confused.

“I get it now. I didn’t know what it was before, but I understand now. Mnhei’sahe, you need help, but you have it, you’re just not listening.” Dox said, putting her hand on her counterpart’s shoulder.

As Dox did, the counterpart shrugged it off and turned away, holding her head down as she did. “No, I don’t. You don’t know what you’re talking about. I'm ALONE!”

“Only because you want to be. Look.” Dox said, and as she did, in the center of the empty room now sat the black torpedo tube that had been on the bed back in the dreamscape. “You pulled her into you. And whatever happened to her body out there, that was an accident. But in here... she’s trying to reach you. I’ve been feeling it the whole time I’ve been in here with you.”

“Let her.” Dox finished, stepping back slightly as her counterpart trembled, keeping her back to the tube.

“I… I killed her. I… I can’t… I can’t…” She whispered hoarsely. “She’ll… she’ll hate me.”

“I hate me.” her voice cracked, tears in her eyes.

“I could never hate you, my Minay,” came a weak voice, Mona’s teal and lavender energies finally seeping out of the torpedo casing now that she’d finally been acknowledged. “No Miradonian has ever harbored hate in their heart and I refuse to be the first. You are my bond-mate and as I have told you before, I will be with you until the day you die.”

Stepping back, Dox watched as Mona stepped closer to the broken counterpart, that crumbled to her knees in the bare room. “I… I wasn’t… I wasn’t strong enough to stop it. I… I… I… can’t…”

The small representation of the medical chamber began to shake with the force from the counterpart’s mind as she sobbed. “I… I… killed you. I reached out for you… but I couldn’t stop myself… I killed you.”

“Bodies die, my Minay,” Mona replied, her voice growing stronger as the casing started to melt away from an added golden and silver light. “But my spirit lives on through you. This is the way.”

“You called out to me and I shed my feathers to become a part of you. There is nothing to hate, nothing to forgive. This was my choice.” Mona now stood there, a shining version of herself where once a black torpedo casing once stood and from where her feet touched the deck, vibrantly colored flowers sprang forth. “I will always be here for you for my love is eternal and unconditional, my Minay. Trust in that.”

As the flowers spread around the counterpart Dox’s knees, the flowing teal and lavender energies seemed to envelop that Dox’s shoulders and flow within her. “Mona.... I don’t… I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

Standing back up, the counterpart slowly turned around, her eyes still cast down as her own double from the Hera watched, tears in her own eyes at the magnificent sight. “I… love you. But… how do I live with what I did? What what I could do again to someone else?”

“Together, my Minay,” Mona replied simply as she reached out and pulled Mnhei’sahe to her. “We find those answers together, because we are bonded and no longer one and one. We are One.”

There was a burst of glorious light as seemingly every color Dox’s eyes could process flowed from the two forms as her counterpart clutched Mona tight. There was a wave of force that pushed Dox back slightly as she stumbled back slightly once again. And as the colors fused together to a brilliant white, she saw what appeared to be great wings of brilliance burst from Mona’s back and wrap themselves around the two women.

With eyes wide, Dox suddenly felt a strange sensation like a pinch to her neck as her already rapid Romulan pulse seemed to leap forward as she jerked up.

Then, the magnificent light faded back to the overhead light in the medical chamber as she gasped back awake. “Imirrhlhhse!!!”, she shouted, cursing in Rihan as she sat up from the floor and looked around quickly.

The various screens and monitors were shattered and slammed against the walls and the mirror was blown back into the other room, an observation chamber of some kind. Her counterpart was still in the bed, but standing to her side with a hypospray was Doctor Adam Power, and kneeling at her side with a concerned expression, was the holographic representation of Dox’s android niece from the future, Kodria.


“Your quantum signature says you’re not from this dimension,” rattled off Kodria as Doc Power stashed the hypo and started in with a tricorder and a dermal regenerator. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“But I’m sure you have a perfectly good explanation for why and for what just happened?” Adam added, his brows raised inquisitively as he worked. “And for the rather altered mental state of our Mnhei’sahe?”

Lifting herself up to her feet, Dox shook her head as the initial buzz of whatever stimulant was used to wake her up was still rather prominent in her. She also felt that her four minutes were very likely up here in the real world, where she was no longer having time stretched out for her. “Well… I don’t really have a lot of time to explain how I got here, as I can feel I’m about to leave. Sorry.”

“But, uh, I think I was able to help her. It’s Mona. Mona has been in there with her the whole time, but… she… your Mnhei’sahe… she locked her away out of guilt. But she’s free now. They.... they’re together again.”

“But… it means a lot to know that you two have been here for her this whole time.” Dox said, smiling at Adam and Kodria as she started to fade in a growing burst of incandescent blue.

“Thank you,” Kodria got out just before Dox vanished, a bright smile lighting up the young android’s face for the first time in a very long time.

Just then, several holographic displays popped up around the room, showing a change in bio-signs and Doc Power’s eyes went wide. “These readings... I think she might be waking up.”

As the two went to work, quickly removing the tubes from Dox’s mouth as Doc Power continued to monitor her vitals, Kodria put a hand on her beloved Aunt’s head, rubbing it gently.

“We’re here for you, Auntie. We’ve been waiting for you to come back to us.” If Kodria could cry, she would be doing so now.

Slowly, Mnhei’sahe’s eyes fluttered open weakly, looking into the wide eyes of the emotional android as a smile began to form on her gaunt face. With all of her strength, Mnhei’sahe lifted her arm to put her hand on Kodria as, weakly, her hoarse voice that hadn’t spoken in well over a year whispered out. “Kodi, I'm... We’re here.”

To Be Continued…

Appearing on a beach, as her eyes once again adjusted, Rita Paris was confronted by a sunset that was almost too beautiful to be real. The smell of the sea and the temperature all came together to make her think of Risa. Of that sailing trip-

“Of that sailing trip you all took on the sloop John B, where you took the boys sailing and they didn’t really know how to act off a starship,” came the sound of her own voice, as she lay there in a comfortable chair with a tropical drink melting in her hand. In the background, people were falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band. A bright blue bikini was somewhat maintaining her modesty, and Rita Paris looked rather pleased with herself. “Yeah, I remember. They ruined that entire trip you were so excited about, and worked so hard to make perfect for them, and they couldn’t have cared less. Good times.”





“Have a seat, take a load off. Daiquiri?” her local counterpart asked, then suddenly Rita was sitting, holding a frozen banana daiquiri with a chunk of pineapple in the top, with whipped cream in a rather large Tiki mug that was just like-

“The one from that vacation, right, you’re catching on. There’s a barrier at the edge of the universe, remember the report? Gary Mitchell, that dick from the Academy?” Rita did in fact recall the report, as well as the follow-ups that the barrier needed analyzing to understand it “Yeah, Exeter got the order to investigate. Passed through the Barrier, and I became... more. Empowered, connected to the universe and the quantum field in ways that there literally are no words to describe, and believe it or not, dumbing it down doesn't work either.”

“Turns out the power only corrupts you if that’s who you are, and frankly, Mitchell was always a chauvinist swine,” vacation Rita inclined her head. “So I’ve got someone coming who’s going to explain it to me, and I’m going to try to figure out my place in the universe now. You want to do good, but you hand a baby a phaser for the lightshow, you can’t be surprised when he sets it on overload and destroys himself.” Catching the look from her visiting self, the newest member of the Continuum rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t do that, it’s just an example. Don’t be so provincial, Rita.”

They spent the next five minutes in silence, watching the sunset, listening to the sea waves breaking on the sand, the wind of the surf, and enjoying the tranquility of a truly gorgeous Risan sunset. It was one of her favorite pastimes- often she would go down to the shore and watch the sunset over the Pacific, from San Francisco bay. Rita loved the ocean, and the beach in particular... where the ocean met the land. At this point in her life, the only thing about living on a starship that she truly missed were sunsets over the ocean.

“Everything that comes together in an improbable blend to create the perfect sunset. Remove one element, and it is lesser. Remove too many and it isn’t even a sunset anymore.” Eyes seeking those of her extradimensionally exploring counterpart, Rita Q’s eyes turned silver. “All this power... I want to do good, to help. But I need perspective, on a scale I’ve never known.”

“Time for you to go now,” said an annoyed male voice behind her, and without warning, Rita suddenly found herself consumed by the flare of the incandescent, flung out into the multiverse once more.

“HONestly, I don’t know why you entertain them with their little thoughts and problems and petty little ideas,” Q said as he settled into Rita’s abandoned chair, picking up her banana daiquiri to take a sip. “Mmmmm.”

“Call it self-care, Q,” Rita Paris replied with a dazzling smile. “Now, as I recall, you were going to explain life, the universe and everything...?”