3.3 - The Other End of the String

[Harrias Jira]

“Right. Now, let me get this clear Lieutenant Commander. You have parked us at the bottom of a lake?”

“Yes.” The andorian said, sounding pleased with himself. Harrias sighed. Granted, it was an excellent hiding place, and one in which he would not expect that they would be discovered in. On the other hand, to get themselves out of the pond they would need to go diving. Or the opposite of diving, whatever that was.

Shaking his head at the andorian, he moved to the back of the shuttle, and pulled a suit out of the cupboard that would be suitable for underwater travel.

“Umm, sir. What are you doing?”

“I’m getting a suit. You don’t expect me to swim out unaided do you Lieutenant Commander?” There was a slight edge to his voice. The trill was starting to lose patience with his navigation officer. Who, only a few minutes ago he had been praising. However, the andorian was simply looking back at him with a slightly confused, and bemused face.

“We have sensors here sir. I can scan the immediate area with ease.”

Now Harrias almost lost it. “Yes but we can not get an in depth scan for the doctor with the shuttle’s scanners.”

“No sir. But I can scan the local area, check noone is there, and then beam us up there. It’s drier.”

“Ah.” Captain Jira turned a very nice shade of pink. “Right. Of course. Good plan. Well done on your promotion by the way.”

“Thank you.” The helmsman accepted the topic change without comment. A few minutes later, Lt Cmdr Thelev had found a suitable area, and the two disappeared in a silvery haze, to reappear on the surface of the planet. On dry earth.

“Now we just have to find some suitable Iconians.” Captain Jira noted.

[Deleted]

"You're telekinetic!" Melain exclaimed, she could think of only one species, the Platonians who possesed this rare ability. It required a mental capacity of extrodinary proportions.

"I.. I geuss so." Grace laughed looking at the cup.

"You mean that this has never happend before?" Melain was fasinated, she grabbed her scanner and rushed to the Councellor's side. "Your brain wave patterns have altered and your synaptic readings have only been this high during a vision, how is this possible?"

"It may be the trip through the wormhole, maybe the nearby nebula or even this dimension or time period." Grace replied, rubbing her temples. "I meditated a few minutes ago, I have felt my control slipping."

"Why didn't you say anything." Melain chastised her. "Up onto a biobed and try and get some rest. I'm sure the Vulcan crewmembers won't mind if you interview them lieing down. Besides, I want to keep an eye on your synaptic readings and it's easier if you lay still."

[fthelev]

ooc: Sorry for the long post, but I woke up this morning with some inspiration.

ic:
The two men gave themselves a moment to take in the surroundings, which were heavily forested. The crescent of a single blue moon glared through the braches of what looked like some sort of pine tree variation. The branches swayed softly in the light cold breeze.
The moon’s light reflected on the calm surface of the lake. There was no indication of the shuttles presence.


Frek glanced at the tri-corder in his hand. Looked around and checked the readings.

“That way,” he said pointing somewhat to the south. “The town is about one kilometre from here.”

“There’s a trail,” Captain Jira noted, “It leads in the right direction. Let’s go.”


As expected the trail was fairly deserted, which was of course not that strange taken in account it was on the middle of the night on a working day. At least Frek reckoned it was a working day, not that that assumption made any sense. They knew virtually nothing about these people. With the exception of their own footsteps and the occasional ‘chirpy chirpy cheep cheep’ sounds of some night animals it was quit quiet a swell.


It took them less than fifteen minutes to reach the edge of town. The track ended at what looked like the main road leading into town. It was shadowed by what Frek thought to be a monorail track.
Carefully the Captain and his pilot approached the town, making sure to stay in the shadows.


Captain Jira gestured to a halt and kneeled down behind a bush. Frek followed his example and sagged down next to him. There was a soft rustle in the bush. Both men looked at each other, tension visible on their faces.
Another soft rustle.
Jira moved his hand slowly towards the phaser at his side.
A small bird hopped into view in front of the men.

“Just a bird,” Frek giggled softly pointing at the four winged creature.

The bird hopped closer. With a quick move it picked at his pointing finger and hopped out of sight. Frek let out a stream of words under his breath that would give hardened criminal red ears.

“Shh,” Jira hissed at Frek, who by now had put his bleeding finger in his mouth.

“Look at this,” he said holding up the tri-corder Frek had dropped. “It seems like this is some sort of industrial area. No signs of life. Seems like we have to move further into town.”


The next twenty minutes or so were pretty uneventful. They made it into town quite easily; the one time the tri-corder picked up a moving life-sign they had no problems evading it.
They needed at least four close range in-depth scans. Two males and two females.

“We sneak up at someone’s home,” Jira said, “We should have no problem scanning the inhabitants standing next to it.”

“Five life-signs in there sir.” Frek replied. Jira’s gaze followed the direction the tri-corder was pointed at.
Jira looked around quickly. No-one there. “Let’s go then. The sooner we can get this over with the sooner we can go back to the ship.”

Frek was about to reply when he felt a heavy hand on his collar. He felt his stomach shrink to the size of a Benzite pea, and had to make an effort to not to scream out in terror. He was reasonably sure his heart stopped beating for quite some time. The doctors could say what they wanted, but the fact he was still alive proved you could do without a beating heart.

“What the hell are you two doing here at this time of the night?” a dark brown voice said.

Slowly both Captain Jira and Frek turned around. Behind them was a big, healthy, life and well what probably could be considered an Iconian. The uniform indicated this particular Iconian might be a member of some sort of law enforcement.
They couldn’t see his face. Partially because it was hidden in the shadows. Another good reason was because of the bright light he was shining in their eyes.
The light source homed in on Frek’s face and then on Jira’s.

“Neb, Kram? Is that you?” he asked with some surprise in his voice.

“Uhm, eh…we,” Jira started only to be interrupted by the lawman.

“You two should really stop dressing up like aliens from that tv show,” he lectured, “What was it again? Space Trek? You are really too old for that.”

“Well we…” Frek tried.

“What do your wives think of this?” Lawman went on, “You should really get a life and stop playing these silly games.”

The Lawman sighed.

“Look at that,” he said with something in his voice that could be recognized as disgust as he gestured towards the Trill Captains spots. “Looks just like you’ve got some eerie case of the measles.”

He grabbed the tri-corder out of Frek’s hands. “And this thing. The display is a nice touch, but it looks really fake. It’s a kids toy.”

He tossed the tri-corder back at Frek, who was still nailed to the ground. “Go back home. It’s late.”

With those last words the lawman turned around and walked away, leaving the two astounded Starfleet officers alone. Frek noticed he finally dared to breath again and looked at his Captain.
“Well, that was..uhm,” Jira started.

“…Something different,” Frek added. “I’d rather go into battle armed with a spoon against a gang of Klingons on speed than to go through this again.”

“Yeah, I could do with some deodorant now,” Jira replied removing his gaze from the alley the lawman disappeared in. “Let’s get our scans.”


Taking the scans itself proved to be less time consuming they had initially thought. Lurking in the shadows they pressed themselves against the cool metal sheeting the Iconians used to build their houses with.

“One nice happy Iconian family Captain,” Frek whispered, “Mommy, Daddy and three probably very annoying children.”

“That should suffice,” Jira agreed, “Let’s get out of here. As soon as we are sure nobody can see us we beam out.”

The street looked empty again. Frek scanned it, just to make sure. They didn’t want to run into the lawman again. Or anyone else for that matter. They were barely back on the street when the alarms went off.
It seemed like the whole town was embedded in sound and light.

Jira sighed. “Mr. Thelev, what did you do?”

“Dunno sir,” a somewhat puzzled Frek replied, “Perhaps the scans have interfered with some sort of security device.”

“Activate the transporter,” Jira ordered, “I don’t want to get entangled in this.”

“Uhm, sir?” Frek said slightly worried, “The transponder isn’t working. I can’t activate the transporter.”

In the distance some vehicles approached at high speed.

“Isn’t working?” Jira asked, “What’s wrong with it?”

“Well the transponder isn’t responding,” Frek said quit stupidly, staring at the vehicles getting closer, “But I suggest we run like hell Captain?”

Next time Melain wanted some scans, Frek thought, she could get them herself. She so owed him a drink for this. A big one.

[rex]

Rex was still completely in the dark regarding the database; he could make head nor tales from all the information.

However he had managed to monitor the security commfrequencies. It would come in handy once the Iconians had figured out their database was being hacked. Instead, Rex was alerted by the amount of activity on one channel.

A closer inspection of the traffic indicated something was going on in the grid the Captain and Frek had landed. Immediately Rex informed Commander Steve:

"Commander, it seems there's trouble near the location of our awayteam. I can't figure out yet if they are the cause, but it seems serious."

[Harrias Jira]

“I would saying that running is definitely a good plan Lieutenant Commander.” The trill captain replied, feeling his spots. He had felt somewhat insulted by the comments that the iconian had made, even if they had all but saved his life. He sighed, and then started running, leading the way through the factories and warehouses that made up this part of the small town. Factories was a generous description, they were more like warehouses that made things, but he was willing to use the term. He paused in his thoughts, wondering why he always though of such abstract things when he was in jeopardy such as this. He swerved left, almost losing Frek, but the andorian spotted the move in time to follow him.

They could hear the vehicle still, but could not tell if they were being pursued, or whether the noises were from where they had been. Either way, Harrias pushed himself to run quicker. He was aiming to get back to the lake. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do if and when he got there. The shuttle was definitely too deep for him to manage to swim down to, and if the transporter block extended that far, then he would be well and truly stuck. Nevertheless, he would feel better the closer he got to the shuttle, or at least, the further he got from the sounds of sirens and vehicles.

Suddenly, he found himself clear of buildings, and on the edge of a large, open field. He swore softly, hoping that they weren’t being followed. He turned right, and ran, with the andorian still just behind him, along the edge, hoping that the hedge would shield them as much as possible. As he glanced back to check that they weren’t been followed, he ran straight into a low tree branch, sending his straight to the floor.

“Ouch.” He commented as his vision cleared and he saw Frek standing over him.

“Aren’t I meant to be the clumsy one?” The helmsman questioned.

“Lieutenant Commander.”

“Yes sir?”

“Shut up.”

“Yes sir.”

Lt Cmdr Thelev offered the captain a hand up, which was accepted, and the trill gingerly rose to his feet. Frek took the lead now, lowering the pace to a jog, confident that they weren’t being followed. The transporter still wasn’t working unfortunately, and Harrias wasn’t completely sure how they would get off this rock.

[Deleted]

Grace seemed as if she was about to protest when she gave in and allowed Melain to put the bioscanner on her forhead. "I must admit Doctor, I am getting tired of spending so much time in sickbay."

"Oh come now, it's not that bad in here. It could use a window perhaps, but they put Sickbay in the center of the ship for a reason. No one wants to be on my operating table worrying about whether or not we're going to recieve the direct hit." Melain laughed.

"If someone's being operated on I doubt their worrying about much other then the sedative you gave them." Grace replied. The door to sickbay slid open and a Vulcan in the Engineering colours walked in. "It looks like the first contestant has arrived for our criticing."

[fthelev]

Once they cleared the clearing they found themselves surrounded by forest again. Being under the cover of the trees again made Frek feel somewhat better. He reckoned that by now they were far enough to risk taking a little rest. The sirens had faded, occasionally returning, carried by the soft breeze. Besides, if they didn’t take a rest Frek was fairly sure he would simply top over. He most definitely agreed with himself once more he wasn’t built for these sorts of things. If we wanted to run a marathon he would have become an athlete.

“What now?” Frek asked. He planted his back to a tree and slit down intending to land with his behind on a large rock resting at the foot of the tree. The landing itself went perfectly well. It was the sliding down. Somehow his uniform jacket managed to get caught on something sharp. With a tearing sound a gap appeared.

Jira refrained himself of making a comment. Instead he sighed sat down on another rock.
“We need to find out to what the extent is of this signal block,” Jira said, “Our combadges are not exactly working either.”

Frek nodded, wondering if there was a limit to the number of free uniforms Starfleet would provide. “We might have slightly underestimated the Iconian technology.”

“Is doesn’t seem right.” Jira looked thoughtful. “From what we have seen and what we know from our orbital scans this is a civilization that’s in their early space-age. They’ve got simple satellites in orbit, have old fashioned transportation and entertainment based on 2D picture transmission.”

“You’re saying they shouldn’t have the technology to block our communications and disrupt transporter signals?”

“Exactly.” Jira looked up from the stick he was examining and tossed it aside.

Frek’s brains worked at high speed. Which didn’t come easy, since they hurt. This proved once again physical exercise was unhealthy, Frek thought, not considering it perhaps was the lack of it. “That would mean interference from non-locals.”

“Or future Iconians,” Jira said, “Federation scientist never figured out the full extent of the possibilities of the gateways.”

Pondering on what his Captain just said didn’t make him feel very comfortable.
“So basically we are f…” Frek started to comment when he was disturbed by a rustle.
He stared at the direction of the disturbance. In the pale moonlight he saw a familiar four winged bird appear. It clearly showed an interest in Frek’s now swollen finger.

“Not that again,” Frek groaned as he flung a nice piece of stone towards the blood thirsty bird.
He missed.
The stone disappeared in the bush, as did the small bird.

“What the hell,” Jira said getting to his feet. Frek followed his example.
The stone had continued to clatter around for at least several seconds after disappearing in the bushes.

Frek pulled the bush aside. A dark gaping hole appeared. While Frek hold the branches Jira switched on his torch and examined the cave.

“Can you see anything Captain?”

“Not much,” Jira filled him in, “Looks like a cave entrance. Big enough to stand in almost straight up.”
Jira flashed his light around. “Wait a minute! I see something.” An undertone of excitement was clearly audible in his voice. “There’s definitely something down there.”

“Sir? What is it?”

[rex]

On the Nevada bridge Commander Steve had ordered Rex to keep monitoring the security commchannels.

"As long as we do not know for sure if the away-team in fact is in trouble, we cannot risk any further contamination", Steve told Bonar.

Between the overkill of transmissions, Rex tried to work further on the database. However his work was quite frustrated because of this.

Nevertheless Rex found some interesting documents regarding ufo-sightings by the Iconians, not unlike the ones recorded in Earth history since the mid 20th century.
'Now that is strange', Rex spoke out a little too hard as the entire bridgecrew looked in his direction once again.

The First officer stood up from the captains seat, and walked over to Rex' console.
As he saw the information, a smile appeared on his face.

"Can you find any patterns in these sightings"

"Well sir, it would appear that the reports have been filed all over the planet. But there's a sudden rise in the last decade."

"And with a growing technological knowledge one would expect a decline in ufo-sightings, due to a greater general insight into the phenomena which could explain anomalies.", the Commander complemented the security officer.

Rex was scanning the reports from the last decade for more information.

"It would be safe to assume that some space-vessels have indeed frequented this planet. About 60% of all the sightings can't be explained with our knowledge of natural phenomena. And what's even more interesting is that I can't find any reference to formal alien contact. These Iconians are completely in the dark about these visits."

"Well then, it would appear that we're not alone after all", Steve said with hope in his tonation.

"Commander, I have been disconnected from the planet's database for unknown reasons'', Rex dampened the uplifting moment. "I cannot recieve transmissions either. It looks as if I've been blocked by an unknown source..."

[Zhukarak Hrisvalar]

Marine Major Zhukarak Hrisvalar brought the shuttle in for a little less than gentle landing. Post-flight checks were performed and engines cut off. Lt Leo Jenkins and the Major departed the shuttlebay, on their way to the bridge. Theel’zhiin went ‘between’ and reappeared on the bridge, way before the two officers.

"Commander, I have been disconnected from the planet's database for unknown reasons'', Rex dampened the uplifting moment. "I cannot receive transmissions either. It looks as if I've been blocked by an unknown source..."

Zhukarak heard this as they had entered the bridge. “Commander! Do you want Mr. Bonar and I to go planet side?”

“No, Major! I don’t want anyone else down there until we know more of what we are dealing with.” The Commander…commanded.

Zhukarak found Theel’zhiin perched at the science station. The blue firelizard squawked with excitement when Zhuk had arrived, as if they had been apart for a long time. Zhuk approached Cmndr Steve with the analysis of the nebula. “Sir. It seems the nebula may indeed be hiding a wormhole.”

“I hope this one will take us home. We’ll let astrophysics and stellar cartography take a look at this and see what they come up with.” Cmndr Steve took the PADD and handed it over to one of the science officers standing by, who promptly took it to the respective labs for further analysis.

[gracemitchell]

Grace and Melain began the interview with the first Vulcan. The doctor had a list of questions that she asked as Grace listened to how the candidate answered the questions. Even though Vulcan's do not show emotion, Grace knew that they do have emotions because of her extensive contact with Vulcans.

As the candidates would answer questions, Grace would observe the candidates body language and voice inflection

They were interviewing candidate number 3, when Gace felt a tickling at her brain. She didin't want a vision no, but unable to stop it, Grace went into a trance.

Melain did not notice at first "That is all the questions I have, ensign, unless the counselor has any, you are free to go. Grace." Melain looked at Grace "Grace is everything alright?" Melain took out her scanner and began taking readings.

The vulcan ensign assessted the situation "Doctor, the counselor is in one of her trances. I have witness this before. She will begin speaking in a mono shortly."

The ensign was correct "Andorians. Trill. Humans. Here. Should not be. They must leave. We must help."

The Vulcan ensign says "Just as I predicted."

[Harrias Jira]

Harrias didn't reply to the andorian immediately, he was spending too much time looking at what he had found. He didn't recognise it exactly, but it was easy enough to see what he was looking at. The configuration was like nothing he had seen before.

"It's our way out of here."

The andorian obviously got fed up of waiting, and pushed his way past the captain, and stood in the entrance to the cave.

"Is that a?" He trailed off, shock getting the better of him.

"Yeh, or at least, it sure looks like it. I just want to know how good it is." The trill replied to the obvious question.

Before the pair of them, a doorway was situated. Although it was nothing like the diagrams, and indeed, photos of Iconian doorways, it was clear that this was a prototype or early runner to them.

Advancing slowly down the cave, Harrias was on alert for anyone who may be around. Although the cave complex looked abandoned, he knew that the Iconians were well known for their traps, and that it was entirely possible they were being watched.

When he was completely in the room, he couldn't see any sign that they were being watched. Losing the pretence of secrecy, the trill CO ran over to the doorway, closely followed by Frek. The pair looked over the machine, and then at the small computer next to it.

"Right, now we just have to work out how to use the damn thing." Harrias noted.

[Deleted]

"I don't understand, it's as if she is communicating for someone or else she is talking with them." Melain continued her scans. "Either way I want to know what exactly is going on."

"Do you require my assistance" S'ren asked, leaning over to look at Melain's scanner.

"From our interview it appears you may be the best canidate. You trained breifly under one of the greatest melder on Vulcan and trained as a monk untill being accepted into StarFleet. I'm not patient enough to interview anyone else so I geuss you'll be our man."

"If you believe that I can preform the procedure Doctor, then I will." S'ren replied.

"I'm not entirely sure you'll be able to assist Grace in acessing the desired information, but I am confident you have the skill not to cause any harm." Melain placed a small scanner on his forhead. "I'll be monitoring you during the meld incase anything goes wrong."

S'ren nodded and sat beside Grace. "Can you have her sit up, It will be easier for me to make the appropriate connections."

"Of course..." Melain's reply was cut short by a beep from her comm badge.

<A> Doctor, It's Commander Steven. The Captain and Lieutenant Commander Thelev have been cut off from communications. We are doing everything we can to contact them, but you may want to prepare for any casualities just in case.<A>

Melain gasped, the Captain and Frek where only on the Planet for the scans she requested. Frek would never let this one go. <A> Understood Commander, keep me posted<A>

[fthelev]

The computer, assumable used to control the Iconian doorway, was built half into the stone wall. No way of telling what kind of technology was hidden behind the rocky surface of the walls.
“You think it’s still working captain?” Frek asked his superior commander.
“I think it is,” Jira replied. “It would explain a few things. Besides, there’s hardly any dust on the computer and the doorway itself. That should indicate it’s used regularly.”

Both officers stepped closer to the control panels of the computer. Basically it was a dull, black panel. About a metre wide and half a metre deep, fixed to the wall in a slight angle. It didn’t show any markings. You probably had to switch it on first. Something that looked like a large painting frame was fixed to the wall above the panel. They assumed it was some sort of display.

Frek let his hands glide over the surface of the panel. It felt a bit rough and gave way a bit when pressed upon. A touch-screen console. Probably not unlike those commonly used in their own timeframe.

Suddenly the panel came to life. He must have triggered some sort of on-switch. Accompanied by a soft buzz a series of alien marks became visible. The air in the picture frame shimmered and than portrait a series of circles interconnected by lines appeared, some text written next to it.

“Well, it’s a start,” Jira said.

Frek wasn’t to sure. “I’m not sure about you sir, but my Iconian or whatever this is, is slightly rusty at the moment.”

“Let’s see if we can interface it with out tri-corder and run a translation matrix,” Jira responded, “There must be some way to connect it with the mainframe.”

It took them the better part of the following hour to figure out how to do it, but it was definitely worth it. Once they got it cracked the translation of what was on the panel showed up on the small screen of the tri-corder.

“Look at this sir.” Frek held up the tri-corder.

Jira peered at the data scrolling down and looked at his CNO. “The amount of data is astonishing.”

“Look at the screen.” Frek pointed at the frame on the wall. “It appears that all those circles are stations, perhaps like this one. As it seem they are all connected. A huge computer network.”

Frek pressed a button. The computer zoomed out, showing the whole extent of the network on the holographic screen.
“Quite something isn’t it?” Frek said. “No way could the people on this planet have built this.”

“The question is, can we use it to get out of here.” Jira stared at the information at hand.

Frek shrugged his shoulder. “Don’t know sir. I’m a navigation officer. Not a science officer or an engineer.”

[steve]

"Well then, it would appear that we're not alone after all", Steve said with hope in his tonation.
"Commander, I have been disconnected from the planet's database for unknown reasons'', Rex dampened the uplifting moment. "I cannot receive transmissions either. It looks as if I've been blocked by an unknown source..."
The door to the bridge opened and Steve saw Major Hrisvalar enter, nodding at the Major he turned back to Rex and Zhuk waited
"Could there be a ship out there blocking us or is it from planet side?" Steve asked
"I don't know sir, it could be either" Mr Boner said
"Well find out"
Steve turned to Zhuk
“Commander! Do you want Mr. Bonar and I to go planet side?”
“No, Major! I don’t want anyone else down there until we know more of what we are dealing with.” The Commander…commanded.
Steve took the padd and Zhuk turned to leave "Oh Major, you could prepare a landing party, just incase"
Zhuk smiled and said <Tag Zhuk> then turned and left.
"Mr Boner.... anything?"
"Not yet commander"
"Go to yellow alert, if there is another ship out there I don't want to be taken by surprise"
"Aye aye sir"
"Keep scanning the planet, I want to know where our people are, and make sure you watch the space around us for any other ships."
Steve took a seat in the commanding officers seat while people around him worked

Off: Soz for being away, this back problem has ment that sitting for any real amount of time at the PC makes it ach, so thats why this is only a small post. Well done all on winning the inspection and everyone keep up the good work.

[rex]

Rex was trying real hard to figure out why he had been disconnected from the database. He concluded that it hadn't been because they were detected.

The science officer on the bridge had noticed an increase in a radiation of some kind flooding the atmosphere.

Rex was alerted by the sensors, and quickly set his work aside to find out what had triggered them.

"Commander...It appears that there is a heavy bombardment of solarenergy approaching. The intensity of it is unprecedented. It is consistent with the assumption that this system is still evolving."

The science officer added that the radiation which was building up in the planet's atmosphere, composed of several components which would be able to break the energy down, however it was unsure if the Nevada would be able to withstand this intensity.

"Shields up", the commander responded calmly. He turned to the science officer: "Calculate the impactlevel on the Nevada and find countermeasures." Then he turned to the Marine Major. "See if you can help the science officer, Major"

Steve's head turned back to the viewscreen.

"How much time do we have, Lt. Bonar?"

"According to the latest readings, we have less then 10 minutes, sir."

[Deleted]

(O.O.C I'm heading out on an LOA starting tonight, I may be able o make a post after school, but I might not. I'll be back Thursday morning and as I mentioned I don't get too hung up on what you've got Melain doing etc. while I'm gone. But I will try and keep her occupied with something)

Melain had helped S'ren up onto the Bio bed. Grace was still in her trance, a fact that concerned Melain who was taking hope in the fact that this meld might clear everything up. Melain slid a few pillows under the Counsellor's head making her sit up. She placed some scanners on S'ren and Grace's forheads and took out her tricorder. "Ready when you are S'ren."

S'ren nodded, and Melain could almost see the slightest look of concern on his stone cold face. "S'ren, if you don't feel you can do this no one will think less of you if you don't."

"I can preform the meld, it is just that I have never done so on an unresponsive patient. How am I to know that she wants the procedure preformed?" S'ren asked, dispite his hesitance he continued to search for the pressure points.

"I can promise you that she will hold nothing against you, or I for that matter. Grace interviewed you with me If she had not wanted a meld preformed she would have mentioned it then." Melain reassured him.

"Of course, quite logical. Are you sure you are not a Vulcan?" S'ren seemed to joke, although his face continued to show no emotion. Sometimes when a Vulcan spent so much time around other humanoids they leaked emotions that could catch you off guard. A moment later he found the pressure points and began the meld. "My mind to your mind... my thoughts to you thoughts... Our minds are one..."

The readings on the scanners and Melain's tricorder fluctuated slightly, but remained at a harmless level. Now all she could do was wait and watch patiently.

(O.O.C If you want she can go to her office when the meld is done and examine some scans or something)

[steve]

The ship rocked
"Status of shields" Steve asked
"Holding but at this rate they will be down in about 7 minutes" Rex called out
The bridge fell to darkness and was lit up by the flashing lights of red alert.
"What happened?" Steve called out
"Sensors have picked up a large amount of radiation coming through the shields." A young science officer called out
"How long until it reaches dangerous levels?"
"Less than a minute sir"
Steve turned round and looked straight at Rex "Can you locate or get a lock on our people down there?".
"Sorry sir I cant, I cant break through this interference."
"Very well" Steve turned to the helm officer "Break orbit and move us to a safe distance".
"But sir, what about the captain, we can just leave him."
"Lt. this is not up for discussion we are leaving and leaving now."
With that the helm officer set course and the ship started moving.

[Zhukarak Hrisvalar]

Steve took the PADD and Zhuk turned to leave "Oh Major, you could prepare a landing party, just in case."
Zhuk smiled and said,

“It’ll be my pleasure.”

As Zhukarak entered the turbolift he tapped his comm badge.

=/\= SSgt Carrera. Get the teams ready for a shuttlecraft insertion. We may have to rescue the Captain and Mr. Thelev. =/\=

=/\= Yes sir. =/\=

Zhuk knew that the teams would be ready by the time he reached the marine staging area.

SSgt Carrera barked out orders for the marines to draw their gear. Fleeters, as the marines liked to call regular Starfleet personnel, side stepped and got out of the way while the marines were double-timing to the staging area. They were ready, and not a moment too soon. Major Hrisvalar arrived and SSgt Carrera handed him his gear.

“Sergeant, we’re on standby. I was just informed that a wave of solar energy is about to impact the Nevada. We’ll have to wait and see if it passes before we can take off. If we can take off with the radiation that will be left behind.” Zhukarak informed.

“Ah man. Typical ‘Hurry Up And Wait’…” One of the corporals chimed in and finished with “…but always ready, sir.” As the sergeant gave him a quick glance.

Zhukarak didn’t make anything of the remark. They were good troops.

[Harrias Jira]

"I thought we multi-trained everyone on ship? You are meant to be at least slightly trained in this kind of thing aren't you? Never mind."

The Captain frowned. He knew that the doorway was active now, but he had no idea where they would get if they went through it. Unfortunately, that could mean that he ended up in the middle of space. Looking over at Frek, and then around the room;

"Right, we can't risk going through here. But look, on the map. As far as I can tell, the red dots are doorways. Now this -" He pointed at a point in space - "is where the USS Nevada is. Now over here is the nebula that we found a wormhole in. Only, as you can see there is a red dot. So my guess is that that is a doorway, not a wormhole. If we can work out how to use these things, we can hopefully go through that doorway to get home."

The helmsman looked at the map, and nodded. "One problem Captain. What are we going to do now? We are still stranded."

As he spoke, there was a rustle at the entrance to the cavern. The two split up, an dived behind anything that resembled cover. While Frek managed to get himself behind a substantial crate, Harrias was left behind the gateway itself, which was transluscent, meaning that if they looked hard enough they would notice him. He just hoped that the doorway would make them cautious. He didn't know if the shot would go through it and get him, or travel to the other end of the doorway. He hoped he wouldn't find out.

[fthelev]

Three men entered the cave. Their physiology resembled the Iconian they had encountered before, although it was slightly different. An exobiologist might have found it rather interesting; clearly they belonged to the same species, or at least had the same roots. It was just as if one of the two had evolved more.

The one that seemed to be the leader was dressed in civilian clothes. At least it seemed that way, since the other two obviously wore uniforms. Or pyjama’s. Frek couldn’t entirely determine.

“Let’s hope we’ll catch ‘em soon,” said the biggest one. Obviously they were having some kind of discussion.
His pyjama-ed colleague gave him a sneer. It was the kind of sneer that gave people the creeps. “Don’t worry. We’ll have them soon enough.”
“If it wasn’t for that idiot local cop.” Biggie shook his head in disgust. “Thinking that they were dressed like aliens from a sci-fi show. How stupid can you be?”
“Our patrols will find them,” said the civilian one. He looked like a scientist or perhaps a technician.

“They couldn’t have gotten far. They’re…” He suddenly fell silent. They had noticed the activated panel. Or perhaps the beating of his heart betrayed him, Frek thought.
Biggie let the strong torch glide through the confined space of the cave, stopping when it encountered a blue antenna sticking out above the top of the crate.
“They’re here,” Civi said triumphantly.

There are a few situations when you don’t want to hear these words. According to his father one was when they were used in combination with ‘parents in law’ or ‘tax collectors’. Frek reckoned this situation would qualify as well.

It was quite amazing how fast the pyjama-brothers could produce their sidearms. Biggie kept it carefully trimmed on Frek. His partner looked around suspiciously, probably looking for Captain Jira.
“Get up. Slowly,” Biggie said friendly. Frek looked at the muzzle aimed at him. It was a lot less friendly. It looked like an eye. A dark, rather unfriendly eye. The sort of eye that was able to give a deadly look. “Keep you hands next to those swizzle-sticks of yours. No funny stuff.”
It was an unnecessary remark. Frek didn’t feel like jokes at all. A swollen finger was enough, he didn’t want to add shot wound to that.

“Where’s your partner?” Civi demanded to know.
Frek shrugged his shoulder. “He went through the gateway. He could be anywhere now.”
It even wasn’t a lie.
“He’s lying.” Biggie sounded somewhat less friendly then before. His younger friend apparently agreed and looked around a bit more careful. Twenty-three seconds later Jira stood besides Frek holding his hands up. His own hands, not Frek’s. They had both been professionally disarmed.

“Well, well, well,” Civi said. He walked up a little closer. “Never seen any species like you.”
He flashed a grin. The light reflected on his perfect bright white teeth. Apart form manufacturing interstellar and temporal gateways they apparently also took pride in developing the best toothpaste for era’s to come.
“Nor you for that matter,” he said looking at Frek.

He walked back to the doorways control panel and started to perform a series of actions.
“My superiors will be rather pleased,” he said looking over his shoulders. “We’ve been monitoring you. We did lose you after you entered the atmosphere though.”
The doorway made an unfamiliar buzzing sound. The air inside began to shimmer and soon the translucency had gone opaque.
“We have a theory you are from the future,” he continued, “The distant feature.”

He gestured at the gate and then at the young one. “I’m taking you to Command. My young friend here we’ll go first. He’ll be waiting for you on the other side. So it’s best not to try any tricks.”
Jira nodded. He understood perfectly well this was not the time for heroics. They wouldn’t stand a chance. “Where’s Command?”
Civi flashed his eye-blinding grin again. “Somewhere off-world but close. Time to go now.”

For a moment Frek considered asking him for some sunglasses if he kept on flashing that grin but decided to keep quietly. Probably was best not to make them angry. He took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder at Jira. The Captain gave him an affirmative nod.
Frek took another big breath and stepped through the doorway.

The experience of going through the gateway was rather unimpressive. It felt like stepping through a sheet of cold water, but that was it. Carefully Frek peered around as he stepped out of the gateway on the other side. The first thing he noted was the soldier or security man that went through before him and the gun he was holding. He found himself in a circular room, furnished with various control panels. On his left was the only exit of the room.
Captain Jira and the other two Iconians had appeared as well.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to accommodate you in some, uhm…” Civi searched for words, “Economy class quarters for the moment.”
“You mean the brig?” Jira informed.
“If you prefer it to call it that way, yes.” He smiled and pointed at his two companions. “They’ll take you. I have some other things to do at the moment. I’ll stop by later.”

Biggie prodded Frek with his weapon. “Move,” he declared in friendly manner.
The two prisoners were let away through the corridor. They past several junctions and doors marked with the alien, unfamiliar Iconian writing. Within five minutes their destination was reached. As soon as they stood in the cell a forcefield was activated.
Biggie turned around before leaving them to themselves. “By the way, those antenna’s. They’re creepy.”

[steve]

"Are we out of danger?" Steve asked
The helm officer spoke up "Yes sir, we are clear of the planet and any danger of radiation."
Good he thought to himself, he had had enough of this place and was ready to go home. "Mr Boner keep and eye out for anything out of the ordinary, there are still some unanswered questions".
"Aye sir"
Steve turned and look at Rex "You have the bridge, if you need me I will be in the ready room"

Steve walked into the ready room and took a seat at the desk, it had been some time since they had seen or heard from the Captain and Mr Thelev and Steve was starting to worry. Something had happened down there and Steve had a feeling someone or something knew they were up here.
=^= Steve to Dr Melain =^=
=^= Go ahead commander =^=
=^= Report on your status please =^=
=^= Well from what I can tell the mind meld was a success. It lasted about 20 minutes and both the commander and the Vulcan are resting. =^=
=^= What did you find out? =^= Steve asked
=^= Nothing at the moment sir, both Grace and the Vulcan feel into a deep sleep, this was expected after my talks with Grace. =^=
=^= When do you think we will find something out? =^=
=^= As soon as Grace wakes sir but I don't want to wake her until she is ready. =^=
=^= Understood doctor, please keep me informed =^=
=^= Ofcourse Commander, Melain out =^=
Steve sat back in his seat and closed his eyes for a moment, this was meant to be just a training mission and wish he had got a better nights sleep to deal with all of this.
"Computer, coffee, black, sugar... hot"
With that a piping cup of hot coffee appeared infront of him and he took it back to his desk. Steve took a sip and enjoyed every moment of the hot liquid moving down his body. He was about to take another sip when the comm beeped.
=^= Commander Steve. Please report to the bridge. =^=
Steve put his drink down and walked onto the bridge.

"Report" he ordered
Rex looked at the commander "Sir, I have been scanning the space around us looking for anything that didn't seem normal".
"You found something?" Steve asked
"Well sir, sensors have just picked up what looks to be a ship coming out of the nebular."
"Have they picked us up?"
"I don't think so commander" Rex took another look at his panel "No I am sure that they haven't, they have set a course out of this system a high impulse."
"Is it an Iconian ship?" Steve asked
"Unknown sir, they are on the edge of our sensor range."
"What is the status of the planet?"
Rex again looked at his panel wanting to give the commander the most up-to-date information. "The planet is surrounded by the radiation but is not being effected, at this time."
"So there is no way we can get to it?"
"Not at the moment commander"
"Right, was the test ever done on the cloaking system?"
"No it wasn't sir"
"Well no time like now, raise cloak and set a course to follow that ship, keep your distance as I don't want to be detected."

With that the USS Nevada shimmered against the back drop of space and vanished.

[rex]

The even younger crewman that had replaced Frek at the wheel made Bonar feel more comfortable.

In the short period that the Andorian navigational officer had been on board, Rex had heard several stories about the lt. commander's proneness to accidents. Rex knew that Frek didn't make those mistakes on purpose, and that in fact he was one of the better pilots in Starfleet. But Rex was kind of superstitious in these things.

The cloaking device had been activated and the Nevada pursuited the vessel with caution.

"What a day this turned out to be", Rex mumbled again a bit too loud.

[Harrias Jira]

Sitting in the brig of the Iconian vessel, Harrias tapped his commbadge hopefully. It was little surprise to him when he got nothing but static. Although these Iconians were a bit behind the times, they were sensible enough not to leave him with anything useful.

He pondered the Iconians. From everything they knew about them, Starfleet had reckoned that they were a peaceful race. From everything they had found, there had never been any weapons. The Iconians that they had met, had been quite aggressive however. He was thinking about this, and wondering about the misconception for a while before he came to a realisation. If he found some unknown aliens on the Nevada, the first thing he would do would be escorting them to the brig. So following his own logic, this was not a particularly aggressive move. Which meant that they had a way of surviving.

With this out of his mind, he moved his thoughts to those of escape. He looked around the room they were in. Following the standard rules for a brig, it was completely bare, other than a bed on one side. There was only the one though, leading Harrias to understand that this was meant to be a single person brig, and not designed to hold two prisoners, which gave him an idea.

He looked out through the forcefield that took up one side of the room, at the two Iconian guards. The were both watching the federation officers with hawk eyes, following every movement. There was no chance of catching them off-guard, that much was certain. He stood up, and started to move towards Frek. One of the Iconians immediately moved towards them.

“Don’t go near him.”

The trill captain turned to the iconian, flaying his arms out wide, in an gesture of exasperation.

“I just want to talk to him.”

“You can talk from over there.” He moved to enter the cell, and as his arm went partly through the field, Harrias realised that it was programmed to let Iconians pass through, but not anyone else. Interesting, if not useful.

Dejected, the captain moved back to the other side of the cell, and dropped onto the floor, and started thinking again. They were on a ship. That was definite, the faint hum he could hear wasn’t just the forcefield, and the vibrations could be made by nothing other than a ship’s engine.

[fthelev]

It is hard to keep track of time when you are locked up in a room where there is absolutely nothing to do. For some reason Frek didn’t feel much like talking. At least not with those Iconian guards staring at them. It looked like Jira didn’t fell compelled either to start a long conversation about the delights of Betazoid-reindeerburgers.

It felled as if ages had past to Frek until finally something happened. The door opened and the civilian they encountered earlier entered the room. He signalled one of the guards who responded by pressing a button on the panel.

“Forcefield is down,” Civi informed them. “I hope you haven’t been too uncomfortable?”
“I have been treated worse,” Jira admitted carefully stepping out of the cell.
“Good,” their host responded. “I’ll take you to Command. They’ll want to speak to you.”
He gestured at the door. “After you.” He was politeness itself. He raised his finger warningly. “Remember, no funny tricks.”

Frek followed his Captain out. The civilian, who still hadn’t introduced himself, closed the queue. The two pyjama-ed security men they met before stood waiting. Their uniform was different from the guards in the brig. Perhaps another unit, Frek thought.
He stared at Biggie, swaying his antenna’s down and gave him an unfriendly look. He hadn’t forgotten his remark about his beautiful antennas.

After a short walk Civi let them into what resembled a briefing room. He gestured at two chairs in front of large table. “Take a seat.”
Frek had enough of sitting. He had been sitting in that brick for a couple of hours. “I’ll rather sta…”
Biggie gave him a menacing glance. “Sit.”
He must have been a man of few words, Frek thought accepting the offer.

They were barely seated when five Iconians entered the room. Three male, two female. One of each were dressed in uniforms, the others were dressed similar to Civi, civilian.
They took place on the other side of the desk, facing them. Civi remained standing, while the two guards were dismissed. Frek was sure they would just outside the door.

The two Starfleet officers and the Iconian Command stared at each other for a few minutes before the civilian female took the word.

[gracemitchell]

Grace was laying on the biobed in between sleep and awake, just the right zone for a vision and so it began.

She could see Harrias and Frek being taken captive, walking through a gateway to a ship. Sitting in a brig, then in a briefing room. A woman was talking but Grace couldn't hear what they were saying.

Grace awoke and sat up. Melain noticed and came over to her "Grace what happened during the mindmeld?".

"Just a minute, Melain. I have to contact the bridge, it's about the Captain and Lt Thelev."

Grace touched her comm badge
=^=Grace to the bridge=^=
=^=Steve here. What do you have to report Grace?=^=
=^=I just had a vision about the Captain and Lt Thelev, Steve. They are no longer on the planet, they were captured and taken through a gateway. They are currently on a ship. I was unable to determin if they are still in the same time zone as us or a different one. I also do get the sense that they are not in any immediate danger.=^=
=^=Thank you, Grace. Did you get anything from the mindmeld?=^=
=^=I'll be on the bridge shortly to give a full report, sir. Grace out=^=

Steve turned to the science officer "Ensign, sensor scans of that ship for human and andorian life signs."

Grace looked at Melain "The only thing I know for sure is that I was here with the Borg. I was consious but unconsious at the time. The borg determined that the Iconians were extinct in our time and weren't worth the effort to assimilate. The truth is the Iconians defeated the borg much in the same way as Star Fleet has in our time."

"Did you find out anymore about your own past?" Melain asked curiously.

"I wouldn't let the meld get to that part. I blocked it. I don't want to find out that way. I'd rather remember on my own." Grace replied, then continued "I'd better go to the bridge and report to Steve what little I know. Keep an eye on the ensign, a meld with me is hard on Vulcans."

With that Grace left sickbay and ehaded to the bridge.