Mission 6 : Fire and Mercy

[Daniel Schirra]

=^= Interesting Sir .. I'm on my way =^=

Dan looked at Alyana, raising his eyebrows in question. They both knew that dragging the Asadian ship into space was a risky move, but the alternative was to allow it to keep taking 'pot-shots' at the Excalibur, and while there was no real danger, it was always possible they could do some minor damage.

"Do we contact the ship ?" he asked.

"No, I think if we're going to bring them up here the last thing we should be doing is letting them know." the Commodore said decisively, "Commander, I think we could be in a lot of trouble if this goes wrong." Daniel moved over to the tractor beam control station as Karka entered the Bridge. The Engineer checked setting's then nodded.

"We will need to reduce the distance between us for this to work." Daniel said, "Helm, drop us into the upper atmosphere, and be ready to take us back up once we have a tractor lock."

The Excalibur dropped into the planets inner gravitational field, the Navigator fighting the planet's natural urge to pull the massive vessel into the ground. Two sets of tractor emitters came on-line and two linear graviton beams lanced towards the vessel below. Karka was so adept that the beams seemed to caress the ship rather than slam into it. He increased the power levels until he had a confirmed lock, then looked at Daniel and Alyana. The two nodded in unison ...

~~~~~

The Constitution Class ship began to climb, pulling the Asadian vessel with her. At first all was well. The Excalibur re-entered her original orbit and Psonoir began to manipulate the tractor to pull their former attacker into space. But it soon became evident that they had problems ! ... Karka began to frown, working at the panel, quickly making minute adjustments, but Dan could see they we're loosing the fight to get the Asadian vessel aboard.

"Can we lower it back into the atmosphere ?" Alyana asked, watching the now seemingly fragile ship being dragged upwards on-screen.

"It will disintegrate the second we release it." Daniel confirmed, "Could we extend the shields ?"

"No chance." Karka said without looking away from his panels.

Daniel could see the Engineer working through every option at his disposal, but the Asadian vessel below them began to break up. he knew Karka was between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place' at the moment. the more he eased off on the tractor power, the less chance the ship had for survival, but increasing the grip to hurry the task could, and most likely would, crush the ship, and those aboard her.

< tag : Karka >

"Sir ! ..." the Helmsman suddenly said, "There's a Klingon vessel approaching."

Daniel changed his location quickly. He moved to Operations. Ensign Sarah Wentsworth was working hard to track the on-coming vessel. He ordered the window cleared ... The Klingon ship was ahead of them, climbing to match their orbit. He didn't need telling that they weren't here to help.

"Keep our weapons off-line." Ryat ordered, watching the ship close.

Dan resisted the urge to turn and look at the Commodore. She was, in his opinion, taking one hell of a risk. He moved toward the Command seat, resting a hand on the headrest. He could fully understand her dilemma given the options available to her. Protecting the Excalibur would sign the death warrants of the twenty five Asadian's aboard the ship below. Leaving the shields lowered would leave the ship vulnerable to fire from the closing Klingon's ... It suddenly occurred to him that they could prevent a fire-fight 'and' save those below. He opened a Comm link quickly:

=^= Captain Santos to the Bridge .. Immediately =^=

"The Asadian ship is breaking up." Karka informed the Bridge ..........




< tag : ALL >

[Karka Psonoir]

Karka had arrived on the bridge and was happy to see his suggestion had been taken up. The tactical officer was readying the tractor beam's relays and was passing the information to Karka's engineering console. Psonoir took up the position and began the task of lifting the Asadan aggressor from its suborbital altitude.

He ran into problems near immediately, problems which were apparent to all of the bridge crew, as they then debated whether or not the plan to tractor the vessel was feasible. The more he increased power to the tractor beam, the more the structural integrity of the suborbital craft was compromised. If he released the tractor, the vessel would disintegrate - no longer held together by the binding force of the beam.

It took all his enhanced mental capabilities, concentration, and his ability to increase his rate of consciousness relative to the bridge crew, to maintain the balance of holding power and beam moderation while also continuing to lift the craft. It was working, to a degree: the craft was currently rising at a speed of 100 m/s. If Karka could continue to incrementally increase its velocity and within safe limits, it would reach the shuttlebay inside five minutes.

The Klingon cruiser made its approach at that moment. He twisted in his seat, rapidly but with a calm assurance to survey the viewscreen. The cruiser was on a menacing approach, bulbous forward section tipped down, disruptor arrays in full view and rotated to fix on the Excalibur's engineering section.

Karka was surprised the Commodore chose to keep the shields down, but, considering they were carrying Klingon prisoners, he understood that she might be open to talks over them. It might be the very reason the Klingons were confronting the Excalibur, to negotiate for their captured warriors.

He received a blaring alert from his console. His eyes lit up... This wasn't good. "The Asadian ship is breaking up." He informed the bridge.

More important - at least to him, or so he continued to tell himself... for the temptation to further engross himself in this timeframe had become increasingly strong, in part due to his falsified memories installed before his trip back through the aeons - was the Asadan suborbital ship, that he in truth suspected was here to disrupt his personal mission. In a way this was good, as at least for now there would be no further disruptions to his plans. Still, the majority of people aboard that craft were Asadan citizens... Or perhaps they all were.

While he was debating this, something else occurred in another partition of his mind. "Sirs. I believe we could create a small gap in our shields to allow the Asadan ship through without exposing ourselves to the Klingons. The Asadan vessel is beginning to disintegrate... In case it doesn't make it to the shuttlebay, we can beam the survivors off, once the vessel has passed inside our shield grid and we've closed the shield against attack."

<Tag Ryat, Schirra>

[Daniel Schirra]

Daniel watched the Klingon vessel close the distance between them. They had armed their weapon's but for some reason known only to the Klingon's, they were holding off firing. He looked at the Operations console, checking on the progress of the rapidly disintegrating Asadian vessel below them. It was becoming increasingly evident that the ship wouldn't make it into the Excalibur's shuttle bay, so they had decisions to make, and quickly ...

"Sirs. I believe we could create a small gap in our shields to allow the Asadan ship through without exposing ourselves to the Klingon's. The ship is beginning to disintegrate... In case it doesn't make it to the shuttle bay, we could beam the survivors off once the vessel has passed inside our shield grid and we've closed the shield against attack."

"Would that work ?" Daniel asked Karka, who didn't seem one hundred percent convinced.

"We need to try it." Alyana instructed them, as she too watched the Klingon ship.

Psonoir and Schirra began configuring the shields to allow them to open a section and recover the Asadian vessel, but the Klingon's must have detected their preparations. They suddenly halted their approach to the Federation vessel and re-targeted their phaser banks, on the Asadian ship !

"Open a channel to the Klingon's now !" Ryat ordered, striding to the massive window. Second's later the Klingon commander appeared:

=^= You are targeting the Asadian vessel below us .. Should you attempt to fire on the ship we will have no option but to retaliate on their behalf .. Under treaty regulations you are requi ..... =^=

=^= Do not interfere Earth vessel .. This is a matter between the Klingon Empire and the Asadian Ruling Council .. I will not tell you a second time. Human =^= the screen cleared to show the Klingon vessel as the Commander terminated the Comm link.

"Bring weapon's on-line. Target the Klingon vessel." Alyana ordered, annoyed at the abruptness of the Klingon. She wasn't used to being cut off. But had little time to dwell on the issue as there was another, more serious development.

"Sir, the Klingon ship is moving again." Ensign Wentsworth informed them from Opps, "They are moving toward the Asadian ship. Sir ... They will intercept our tractor beam in thirty six seconds. If they break the beam ...."

No-one needed a diagram. The Asadian ship would fall back into the atmosphere, if it even survived the sudden release of the beam that was both holding it in one piece, albeit while crushing the hull. No-one would survive the catastrophic decompression. Dan watched the Klingon ship begin to fall below them, so they had seconds to act.

"Target the Klingon engines." Dan said quickly, glancing at Alyana. The last thing the Excalibur wanted was to be the catalyst that began a Federation / Klingon war, but they couldn't stand by and allow the deaths of sixty Asadian's, whatever the eventual cost.

"We've opened up a section of the shield." Wentsworth said, "But if the Klingon's get below us they will have a direct line of sight to our Engineering Section."

"How long before we can begin transporting people off that ship ?" Dan asked.

"Twenty five seconds. Sir's the Asadian vessel has just lost their Engineering Section, it's falling back into the atmosphere. I'm registering fourteen life-signs, eight, now zero life-signs ... Structural stresses are far exceeding the tolerances the vessel can withstand. The Bridge section is beginning to break away." Wentsworth informed the Bridge quietly.

Dan looked at Alyana ... Whatever they were going to do, they needed to do it right NOW ! ..........

[Ephrem Santos]

It didn't take long to realize that was something needed to be done. Ephrem quickly surveyed the information in front of him and knew that Aly needed to make a decision almost instantly. The ship couldn't survive much longer and no matter the consequences, they had all sworn to protect those in needs whoever they may be.

"Commodore what are your orders?" Ephrem asked making his presence known.

(Tag Ryat)

Ephrem took the science station and awaited for the decision to be made.

(Thanks for a way in)

[Karka Psonoir]

"...eight, now zero life-signs..." Those fateful words were torture to Karka's ears. He who was usually insensitive to such happenings (because he knew friends would be resurrected in some other walk of life, some other channel of time, universe of submissive comprehension).

If another 'vigilante' (although Karka had ceased to consider himself as such) had been aboard that vessel, then he was now potentially missing a crucial piece of information, that might dictate his future, his passage back to the aeons to come. He wiped the sweat off his brow, his temporary human form perspiring for the first time he could remember on this outing. "Confirm, Ensign. Zero life signs?"

Wentsworth, didn't need a second to check his readings, "Confirmed, Lieutenant, there's no one left alive..." he trailed off, turning his attention to the viewscreen. The zoomed view displayed the tiny Asadan transatmospheric vessel's bridge section breaking apart. Spindly bits of decking and spiralling metallic spars expanded outwards in a silent dance. Its bridge and main section - the total of which was less than 20 metres - unglued themselves in slow motion, debris diffusing into surrounding vacuum.

"Transporter lock established," Karka regarded his console with slight amusement, "We have something... biological or mechanical I cannot tell..." He worked the console, trying to establish the nature of what he'd just beamed into the transporter room. =/\=Transporter room 1, Lieutenant Psonoir from the bridge, report. What do you have there?=/\=

=/\=Wreckage, sir...=/\= the grainy voice came. Karka slumped over his console. =/\=Reading biological matter amongst the material too, sir. It seems the bridge suffered a direct hit immediately before our beam out. The remaining bridge crew must've been pulped by the machinery.=/\=

=/\=Acknowledged,=/\= Karka managed. He'd broken into a cold sweat. Everyone was looking at the viewscreen now. It wasn't like Karka to go with the crowd, in any social environment - which was, incidentally, a product of his cultural upbringing and the social convention of the Hybrudeans spread across the centuries but centred on a planet lying marginally outside of Federation territory some 300 years from now - but he found himself watching the viewscreen like all the others. It didn't do wonders for the bridge crew's efficiency, but it did serve to illustrate their predicament.

The Klingon vessel - having reduced the Asadan craft that was never meant for spaceflight to interplanetary dust - had swung back towards the Excalibur. It beared down on them, ramping up its impulse engines til they were overcharged. Psonoir found the courage to speak, quicker than the others (he still remained detached enough from the proceedings of this timeframe), "Sirs... Judging by trajectory and velocity, the Klingon cruiser is preparing to ram us."

<Tag Ryat, Schirra, Santos>

"Get yourself to engineering, Mr Psonoir!" one of them ordered amid the sudden panic. Karka obliged. He swept away from his console. And from his uniform trouser pocket dropped the silver vial filled with its purple blood, rolling away to the lower deck under the navigation officer's console. The vial of hybrid evidence he'd meant to return to the future. The vial containing the lifeblood of a synthesis of Deltan and Klingon. The vial that may damn him if they found out he'd concealed it. Psonoir entered the turbolift, descending through the beleaguered vessel unaware of his mistake.

[Daniel Schirra]

"Get yourself to Engineering Mister Psonoir." Alana ordered as the Diplomat entered the Bridge.

"Commodore, what are your orders ?" Santos asked, looking at the massive window, and the closing Klingon vessel beyond.

"First off, you can try to talk them out of not attacking us." Daniel said, quickly checking weapons status over the shoulder of the Helm Officer, "They have just murdered umpteen Asadian people, and we have the feeling they would rather not have the Excalibur hanging around to testify to their actions."

"Open a channel to the Klingon vessel." Santos ordered quickly.

< tag : Ephram >

The new weapons systems recently installed on the Excalibur were more than a match for what the Federation believed the Klingon's possessed. But still, both Alyana and Daniel were reluctant to find out for certain. Commodore Ryat ordered the ship moved to a higher orbit, firstly to give them time, and secondly, if they had to fight, they would have maneuvering room in a higher orbit. Dan informed her that their weapons were now in stand-by. The Commodore ordered them brought on-line ...

"We have a target lock on the Klingon vessel." Daniel informed her as Captain Santos tried to talk them into dropping away, "I'm locking phaser banks and photon torpedoes onto their ship. If they don't change course in thirty seconds then we'll have no option but to fire !"

They looked at the Diplomatic representative as he tried everything to dissuade the Klingon's from ramming the Excalibur.

"Have they attempted to send any transmissions ?" Alyana suddenly asked.

"Nothing." the Comms Officer confirmed.

"Where are the other two Klingon ships now ?"

"Both are holding position in high orbit approximately twenty thousand kilometers ahead of us Captain." the Helmsman said.

"I have a feeling they are waiting to see if we fire on their sister ship." Daniel said, making sure he got a positive weapons lock on both of the far off vessels, "The one coming at us has not activated their weapons' systems, so it looks like they fully intend to ram us."

"Sir, the Klingon ship is adjusting their approach vector to compensate for our moving higher. We've increased the time to impact. Impact confirmed in forty eight seconds."

Daniel wanted to make the decision, but he knew that could only come from the Commodore herself. He could see her watching the approaching ship while allowing her eyes to flit between the window, and Captain Santos. The Diplomat was getting somewhere, albeit too slowly in Dan's opinion. The Federation had heard rumors about the Klingon's desire to die in glorious battle, so they go to Sto-vo-kor, a place reserved for their honored dead. But Dan wasn't keen on going with them ! ... He double-checked weapon's lock then turned to Alyana:

"Commodore ?" he said simply.

"CAPTAIN ..." the Tactical Officer shouted, "I'm tracking an incoming target. From the surface, northern most sector. It is unmanned. It is carrying a nuclear warhead."

"Commander ?" Alyana asked Daniel, who checked his panel then confirmed, "Are we being targeted !"

"No, it is locked onto the Klingon vessel approaching us. One of the two other Klingon ships is closing the distance between us, they are arming phaser banks and are trying to lock onto the missile, without success, I might add." Dan said, watching the scene.

"Tactical view." the Commodore ordered, sitting forward in her seat as the Bridge crew watched the blue line climbing from the surface. They could see the gold arrowhead insignia of the Excalibur, and the closing red insignia of the Klingon vessel. The left side of the screen showed readouts of impact time between the Excalibur and the Klingon vessel, along with impact time for the missile sent up from the surface ... It was going to be close !

"The missile is continuing to accelerate. Leaving the outer atmosphere now. The Klingon vessel is altering course to evade. They're not going to make it."

"HELM ... Turn us away. Maximum shields. Brace for impa ......" Dan began as the missile slammed into the underside of the Klingon ship.

The screen instantly turned black as the blast from the nuclear warhead erupted through the Klingon vessel. Second's later the shock-wave slammed into the Excalibur, throwing the ship like a rag doll on a high wind. Everyone was thrown off their feet, slamming into bulkheads or stations. As the inertial dampers righted the ship, the window lost it's opacity. The planet below came into view as the ship regained her orbital trajectory. As everyone regained their feet and took their positions, the Navigator spoke:

"We have company...." Less than a thousand meters from the Excalibur, the second of the three Klingon ships was stationary.

"Commodore. We have an incoming communication ... The Asadian Ruling Council." ..........

[Ephrem Santos]

The loss of life would always be an outcome of interstellar travel, this was something that everyone in Starfleet knew and accepted, but seeing it first hand was something different entirely. As a Federation captain, Ephrem had been responsible for some of that loss of life, but it had never been done in cold blood. The destruction of the Asadan ship had struck a cord with everyone on the bridge and it was taking everyone a few moments to process what they had just seen.

Knowing that they could not just wait to act, Ephrem began to access the possibilities. The Klingon commander was responsible for the death of Asadan civilians, even the Klingons found this kind of action dishonorable. They only way this act of dishonor would reach Qo'nos would be via the Excalibur and the report that all of the senior officers would need to write. The moment that Klingon Bird of Pray turned to the Excalibur, Ephrem knew that his worst fears would soon be confirmed.

"Open a channel to the Klingon vessel," Ephrem ordered as he rose from the conn console. "Klingon vessel, you have destroyed a defenseless Asadan vessel. Your act of dishonor is your own, we are prepared to defend ourselves, but it would benefit both our people if we can do this peacefully. Klingon vessel respond!" Ephrem knew that it would be a long shot, Klingons were not ones to talk. Things were becoming increasingly difficult when something completely unexpected happened. The Asadan's had launched planet side weapons towards the Klingons. Ephrem already knew that it would be impossible to escape the shockwave, and waited for it to come.

As he picked himself up, Ephrem was pleased to hear that the Excalibur had not sustained any major damage. They would need to get tested for radiation, but that would happen after this particular crisis was solved.

"We are the Federation vessel Excalibur under the command of Commodore Alyana Ryat, I'm Captain Ephrem Santos, Federation Diplomatic Officer, we are not your enemies. I am sorry that we were not able to save your vessel. I repeat we are the Federation vessel Excalibur and we come in peace," Ephrem said knowing that the radiation from the explosion might distort the message or create inference between the ruling council and the Excalibur.

(Tag all)

[Alyana Ryat]

Aly had been perturbed by the destruction of the Asadan ship, but what was really puzzling her was the way the Klingons were acting. She had seen a lot of Klingons and these were not acting like typical Klingons. She was beginning to wonder if they were acting on their own initiative rather than under orders from the High Council.

The Asadan High Council hailed the Excal just then: "Commodore Ryat, what's going on up there?!" Aly didn't recognise the young aide on the screen but she could see three of the council members in the bakground. She did her best to calm them down the council, knowing full well that any moment she might have to cut the comm connection and take her ship to battle.

Aly could hear Ephrem doing his best to get some "Open a channel to the Klingon vessel," Ephrem ordered as he rose from the conn console. "Klingon vessel, you have destroyed a defenseless Asadan vessel. Your act of dishonor is your own, we are prepared to defend ourselves, but it would benefit both our people if we can do this peacefully. Klingon vessel respond!" It would be a long shot, Klingons were not ones to talk and their idea of a ration situation was a long way from theirs.

The nuclear missile impacted on the Excalibur's shields shaking her from stem to stern. Aly's finhgers dug into the arms of her chair as she fought to stay in place. She glance at the automated damage readouts and was relieved to see that there was nothing serious. The comm link to the planet had been cut by the explosion.

"We are the Federation vessel Excalibur under the command of Commodore Alyana Ryat, I'm Captain Ephrem Santos, Federation Diplomatic Officer, we are not your enemies. I am sorry that we were not able to save your vessel. I repeat we are the Federation vessel Excalibur and we come in peace," Aly heard Ephrem fighting to restablish the link to the planet.

"Excalibur, this is the Asadan High Council! We weren't responsible for that missile launch. Please look for the launch site. It was the same aide he looked even more panicked now. Clearly they thought that they were in danger from the ship.

"Locate the missile launch site and tell me what's there." Aly said to the bridge at large. The Exal wasn't rigged for surface bombardment but it could be done. Of course if there was a lot of other nuclear material on site then there was no way they could fire.

Tag: All

[Daniel Schirra]

"Commodore. We have an incoming communication ... The Asadian ruling Council." audio only.

"Open the channel."

=^= Excalibur .. This is the Asadan High Council .. We weren't responsible for that missile launch .. Please look for the launch site =^=

Alyana and Daniel looked at each other as Captain Santos tried to calm the Klingon's only meters away from them.

"Locate the missile launch site and tell me what's there." the Commodore ordered, "Can we get a visual on the Comm to the Asadian's ?" Within moments, the window changed to a view of the Council chamber. An elderly gentleman was sitting at a desk, his face somber. He was ordering Aide's to begin searching for the origin of the missile launch then realized the Excalibur was watching:

=^= Commodore .. My name is Nvvil .. Council Member .. We most emphatically deny any involvement in the launch of the missile that destroyed the Klingon vessel .. Though I do not regret their demise .. We have suffered greatly this day =^=

"Commodore. We have a location for the launch site. It is on the outer rim of the northernmost continent." The Tactical officer informed them, "Sir, the Klingon vessel is targeting the location and preparing to fire."

"Captain Santos !" Daniel said quickly, "Tell the Klingon's NOT to open fire on the surface. If they attempt to fire we will have no option but to fire on their vessel." he said, as he watched the results of the surface scans.

< tag : Ephram >

"Commodore. We have found a small facility. Two structures, small on the surface but from our scans they seem to be much bigger below. The place is big, and I do mean 'BIG' ... Almost half kilometer square, over two hundred meters below the surface structures."

=^= Do you know anything of this facility Councilman Nvvil ? =^= Alyana asked, hardly hiding her sarcasm.

=^= The northern region is uninhabitable to us .. We are unable to grow crops or sustain a suitable climate .. It would be impossible for us to build any kind of structure in that area apart from the weather monitoring stations .. So in answer to your query .. No .. We know nothing of the structure you refer to =^= Daniel was watching the Councilman closely, and some'sixth sense' told him the man was not being one hundred percent truthful in his reply. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Nvvil was keeping something back. He decided to test his theory:

"Lock phaser's on location." he said, seeing the Councilman flinch:

=^= Is there a problem with us destroying the facility .. Councilman ?" he asked.

=^= Would it not be more prudent to investigate first ? =^= the man replied, obviously worried that someone had been able to build and equip a station on their home-world without their knowledge.

"Sir, the Klingon vessel has powered-down their disruptors. They are still holding station five hundred meters ahead of us." the Tactical Officer confirmed.

Daniel turned to Alyana ... It was her call now ..........

[Karka Psonoir]

Karka had found his staff in a state of panic. Just before he'd reached the doors the Excalibur had vibrated with the telltale signs of an external impact. It hadn't felt particularly powerful but Karka was fully aware of the ship's design limitations and what it had been tailored to expect.

"We've been struck by the shockwave of a nuclear warhead," Hearan reported as he walked by, which confirmed Karka's suspicions. The weapon in use could've been quite antiquated but if it had a high enough yield then regardless of the technology it would do some damage.

"The engines seem to be bearing it," Unwin said from the adjacent station. Karka remained silent, seeing no reason to speak if he couldn't offer a new opinion or something of use to the team.

The death of the Asadan ship had turned out not to be as affecting as it might have. It didn't make sense to Karka that a fellow Hybrudean would have put himself on that ship if he or she knew it would be destroyed minutes later. No, there had to be another reason why it'd suddenly opened fire on the Excalibur from below the Asadan homeworld's cloud layers. The craft's destruction indeed remained a tragedy, for which Karka felt partly responsible, as he'd been the one to suggest they use a tractor beam to bring it out of the protection of the atmosphere and into the frozen exposure of vacuum, where it'd been placed at the mercy of the Klingons. However he took solace from the probability that a Hybrudean hadn't died.

Satisfied that the engineering staff were dealing with the power spikes and instabilities in the EPS system, but unhappy not to be in the know of what was happening on the bridge, Psonoir retreated to his office. He waited in the tense silence while the diplomatic exchanges took place on the bridge and the bridge crew discovered the facility on the northern continent.

Growing weary of his vigil of quietude he decided to turn his attention to figuring out the whereabouts of President Gelan. The Asadan civilians - presumably Gelan's enemies - had been the ones to tag him with the transporter device that allowed him to beamed away. The Excalibur had already attempted to track the direction of the matter stream, but had lost the trail amongst scan dispersion fields that surrounded the Asadan governmental complex.

Those fields had been lowered now, but the trail was too faint to deduce any pattern further than a few kilometres, which, if it did anything, allowed Karka to exclude a beam destination point anywhere inside the structure or the centre of the surrounding city. Could Gelan have been beamed to the Klingon ships? If his counterpart in opposition had been backed by the Klingons then that made the President the Klingons' enemy.

Half an hour ago Karka had tasked some of his staff with locating the transporter destination. Their results were now ready, and provided Karka with quite a shock.

It was a sorry conclusion, but it seemed Gelan had been beamed aboard the atmospheric craft that'd just perished at the hands of the Klingons. That ship had fired at the Excalibur, more a nuisance than a real threat, but had showed itself to be an antagonist. Had Gelan been there against his will as had immediately been assumed? Karka wasn't so sure. One of the away team had voiced the possibility that Gelan had been against Starfleet all along, and it might explain why after he'd been beamed out the craft appeared suddenly and started a desperate attack on the Excalibur, presumably against the wishes of the Asadan Ruling Council.

[Daniel Schirra]

"Sir, the Klingon vessel has powered-down their disruptors. They are still holding station five hundred meters ahead of us." the Tactical Officer confirmed.

"Captain Santos. I need you to keep them occupied." the Commodore said quietly, before turning to Schirra, "I have one of those bad feelings here ... Thoughts ?"

"Well, I had the feeling he was keeping something back, he wasn't open about the facility, and fought to hide his reaction when we said we were about to fire on the facility. My guess, there's either something down there he doesn't want the Federation knowing about, or he's under pressure 'not' to allow us to know. Either way, there's something there, so we either cut our losses and hand this back to the Federation, or we go looking." Dan finished.

"Sir, Nvvil said the region was uninhabitable ?" the Operations Officer said, "The air is thin, but there's enough to sustain life, barely. Our scans are detecting an oxygen-rich atmosphere within the structure."

"Can we beam in ?" Alyana asked, still watching the Klingon ship outside the massive window.

"If we do, the Klingon's will be right behind us, that's for certain." Daniel said, turning to Captain Santos, "Could you do anything to help Sir ?"

< tag : Santos >

It had taken an hour for the Diplomatic Officer to convince the Klingon Captain that there was no need for such a close proximity, and eventually the ship moved away. It climbed to a higher orbit and fell far behind the Excalibur. Dan figured they had a twenty minute window on each orbit when the Klingon's couldn't see them. If they were going down to the surface, it would need to be in those twenty minutes ... There was an inherent problem. Should the Commodore send a team into the facility on the surface, they would effectively be on their own apart from the window when the Klingon ship was on the opposite side of the planet, so if they got in trouble ...

"We're going down there." Alyana said, the decision made, "Ensign Wentsworth. Monitor the Klingon's orbit, inform me when we can transport."

Alyana, Daniel, Karka, along with two Security Officers made their way to the transporter room, each picked up a phaser. The Security Officer's were equipped with phaser's tricorders, and medical kits. The six stepped onto the pad and waited ....

=^= Stand by away team =^= the Comm chirped.

The transporter Chief watched her panel, then looked up nodding. She initiated the transport and the Excalibur Officers vanished from sight ...

ooooo

As the transport completed it's cycle, the away team materialized inside a pitch black structure. A second later lighting sprang to life, giving them their first view of the complex. They seemed to be in a central corridor, rooms off to each side. Ahead, large double doors. One of the Security Officers used his tricorder:

"No other life-signs Sir. we're alone."

"This place is over half a kilometer square, and over two hundred meters below the surface." Daniel said, turning through three hundred and sixty degrees, "I seriously doubt whoever built this place simply up and left."

"That way." Alyana said, motioning toward the doors ..........




< tag : Alyana / Karka >

[Alyana Ryat]

Twenty minutes an orbit wasn't very much of a window but Alyana trusted her crew. They had to get down there and find out what was going on.

The transport completed its cycle, the view of the Excalibur's transporter room was replaced by darkness. Lights switched on a second later. They were in a long corridor rooms off to each side large double doors at the end.

One of the Security Officers completed a scan "No other life-signs Sir. we're alone."


"This place is over half a kilometer square, and over two hundred meters below the surface." Daniel said, turning through three hundred and sixty degrees, "I seriously doubt whoever built this place simply up and left."

"That way." Alyana said, motioning toward the doors, she agreed with her FO there had to be someone down here there was no way this facility was running on auto. This was the direction of the centre of the place so that was the logical place for an operator to be. The doors hissed open almost silently as she approached, the corridor beyond was a mirror of this one dark but at the end there was an orange glow. Clearly the lights were on somewhere here. However, despite that there still no life signs on the tricorders. Something had to be distrupting them...

Tag: Daniel / Karka

[Daniel Schirra]

Daniel followed the line the Commodore had set out. in ten minutes they reached the first of the doors ...

"Options ?"

"We go through the green door ?" Dan said, sarcasm inching it's way into his reply, "Though to be honest, I'm a little concerned that these doors lead off the main concourse, which means they lead us 'away' from our goal. We need to find out who is here, who built this facility, and foremost, why we're being dragged into it !"

"You should have been a politician."

Daniel ignored the comment, choosing to look at the first of the doors. There were six in total, all apparently leading 'away' from the cavernous space behind them. So, he could pick at random, but the Commodore took that option away by motioning to the second door. Dan took the time to appraise each of the options, and eventually shrugged, one door, in his opinion, was as good as the rest. Needless to say, he was a little disappointed when the door remained stolidly closed when they tried to open it.

"So much for intelligence." someone uttered.

Daniel spun on the speaker, disgust growing within him, trying hard not to throw his considerable 'influence' in the face of these people. He had to remember, he had been sent to the Excalibur for a reason, and at this point in time, no-one needed to know that reason. He took a breath, biding his time before the Captain made some sort of decision. Alas he was disappointed. Commodore Ryat seemed to be studying the doors and making every effort not to get in the middle of this issue ... Dan sighed:

"The next time someone has anything to say, I'm here. Understa ......"

"As you were Commander !" Alyana interrupted, "I'll say this once. This ends HERE !"

Dan looked at the other Officer's suddenly annoyed at their presence. Not to the point that he needed to say anything, but it was getting close. These people were crawling over every nerve he had. Known for his relaxed, easy temperament, Dan wasn't usually easy to annoy, but he would give the world to be rid of these condescending, weak, idiotic people. He would be better off going ahead alone, because frankly, these people were a distinct liability ! ..........





< tag : ALL >

[Karka Psonoir]

Karka joined his colleagues in the transporter room. The device dismantled him into constituent atoms and removed him from the ship, and seconds later the Excalibur received a subspace communication from Starfleet Command. With Captain Santos busy dealing with the Klingons and mediating between them and the Asadan authorities, it was left to Lieutenant Harris to take the high priority message from Command.

"Lieutenant. Where is your commanding officer?" the Commodore appearing on the screen said.

"She and an away team are planet side, sir. Exploring an underground facility that we believe may be intimately connected to the general unrest here."

"Communicate to your CO after this comm that she is to withdraw immediately. The Excalibur's work in the Asadan system is done."

Harris licked his lips, choosing his words carefully as it was hardly his place to question his captain, let alone a squadron commander. "With respect, sir, our task here is not done. The Asadan President was captured, his whereabouts still unknown, and we are in the middle of talks with the Klingons."

"From Starfleet's point of view, it is done, Lieutenant." The Commodore sighed, letting on that he hadn't wanted to reveal the next piece of information, "In this hour we have received an urgent request from the Asadan government that they no longer want our assistance. We are to leave them in peace. As Asada is a prospective member world, perhaps a couple generations down the line, we believe it best to stay on their good side and not to rile them any more than we have to." The Commodore leant forward, eyes burning into Harris's. "Relay this message to Commodore Ryat. That is a direct order, Lieutenant. Vazquez out."

<Tag Alyana>


Planetside...

"As you were Commander !" Alyana interrupted, "I'll say this once. This ends HERE !"

Karka looked askance at the Commander. Schirra's behaviour was remarkable, to say the least. Up until now - despite Karka's initial misgivings that'd ran deeper than most on board he suspected (because of his unique position and outlook) - Schirra had actually shown himself to be a dependable and easygoing member of the crew. Perhaps Psonoir had to reevaluate that opinion...

All of his doubts and suspicions came back in a rush of fragmented memories, buried beneath psychoconditioning and memory guidance that allowed him to play his role as a human and Starfleet officer more convincingly. The divergence in the timeline from what the Hybrudean institutes had expected arose, he believed, from the point when Schirra was assigned to the Excalibur. Karka walked behind Schirra, keeping a close eye on him, as the team eventually found an open door from the six that lay before them.

Schirra was right, whoever had constructed this environment couldn't have simply abandoned it. Someone had to be down here. Karka found it strange, however: The records of history had nothing to say about an obscure facility on the northernmost continent. Was that another divergence from the expected chronology, or a simple omission? He began to wonder if there was some connection between Schirra's assignment here and the presence of the facility itself.

The security officers walked ahead, tricorders waving from wall to wall. "Still no lifesigns, sirs."

Karka was bringing up the rear now. As he passed a doorway - the others several metres ahead of him - the door slid aside and, shockingly, a corpse fell out of it and on to Karka. Its hand was outstretched, clasping the engineer by the shoulder and almost seeming as if it wanted to drag him to the floor. Psonoir gasped as the dead body collapsed and rolled onto its back. Its mouth hung open, sticky ichor dripping from its mouth, blood of amber.

Karka looked down in sudden fear. This was inexplicable, impossible... It was his Hybrudean colleague and friend, Lirwa. "Commodore Ryat, Commander Schirra..." he mumbled. The figures cast against the bare ceiling light turned to look and saw the dead body of the man from the future.

"Lieuteant...? Someone you recognise?"

"Yes..." Karka murmured.

One of the security officers spoke before anyone could reply. "Reading biomatter here, behind the walls. And here... And here." The man turned on the spot, "Corpses all around us. This place is a tomb."

<Tag All>

[Daniel Schirra]

"Lieutenant... Someone you recognize ?"

"Yes..." Karka murmured.

Daniel looked at those grouped around the corpse, he felt as is they were simply seeing the blindingly obvious without realizing it. He began to approach the group, wondering why he had been dumped with them. He could be doing so much more. Why the hell had Star Fleet Intelligence put him here, they should all be confined, removed from any but the most basic authority. A Commodore who couldn't make a decision, Senior Crew that were ... What ... incompi .......

He was about to speak his mind when one of the Security Officers spoke:

"Reading bio-matter here, behind the walls, and here, and here ... Corpses all around us. This place is a tomb."

"BRAVO ... ALL DEAD !" Schirra shouted, applauding the man for his insight. The Commodore and Engineers, Psonoir, started towards him. He took several steps back, raising his phaser in their direction, eyes darting between the two. Crewman Prescott, one of the Security team, stood watching the scene and slowly drew his own phaser, pointing it a waist-height at the Exec' ... He frowned, as if something had suddenly crossed his mind, then turned to Ryat:

"Commodore, Commander Schirra's phaser is set on it's highest setting. If he fires at this range it wi ...."

"Understood Crewman." she replied, turning to face Dan, "Commander Schirra. You are not yourse ....." she began, stepping forward once more, but halting instantly as the phaser swung up to her face ! ... Dan was struggling with what was happening in his head. He knew he needed to rid Star Fleet of this incompleteness's in the Command structure, but mainly he needed to be rid of Ryat and Psonoir, they were dangerous, TOO dangerous !

Prescott watched the Exec' closely, despite orders, he wasn't going to allow the cold-blooded murder of two people if he could stop it. Schirra wasn't taking the slightest notice of him, so tentatively he raised his phaser, using his left hand to increase the output setting to heavy stun, he aimed and ....

Daniel snatched at his right temple, the weapon in his left hand dropping away from it's target. Prescott took a step forward, but Schirra's phaser arced around to target him instantly. Dan was in agony, but he couldn't understand why or how. Prescott lowered his weapon and stepped away, keeping his eye's locked on the Exec's, but Schirra turned away to face the commodore once more, bringing his phaser up, but the pain took his motor functions away and he dropped to his knees his arm lifting to keep Ryat in direct line of the phaser's eventual discharge once he could regain use of his fingers. Fear and frustration flooded through him, but something was compelling him now and he could feel pressure being increased on his index finger, he figured that one gram more would be enough. One micro-second of clarity showed him what he was about to do, before his mind took action. It shut down ... Daniel fell to the floor unconscious, the phaser falling from his hand. Prescott moved quickly to secure the weapon as the Commodore and Chief Engineer ran to their colleague.

Prescott quickly knelt and scanned the Commander:

"He went into cytotoxic shock. From these readings is was passed into his nervous system through the skin." he took out a hypo-spray and made quick adjustments before placing it against Schirra's neck and activating the device, "I've given him a broad-spectrum inaprovaline, it should, hopefully, counteract the effects, but he'll be weak for a while."

Everyone stood, allowing the Field Medic space ... The single thought running through all their minds was:

How did Schirra become affected, and who was next ? ..........

[Ephrem Santos]

"Captain, the Klingon's are becoming impatient," the operations officer reported," they want to know why the Commodore and the away team have not returned from the surface."

Ephrem knew that Klingon's were not a patient people, but even they understood that exploration took time. Yet Ephrem understood their frustration, one of their vessels had just been destroyed and they had yet to avenge the deaths of their comrades. Their blood was boiling hot and someone would need to die to make it cool again.

"Excalibur to Klingon vessel. You must give this time. Our people have willingly put themselves in harms way to bring the people that have forced this situation to light. The honorable thing will be to wait and make sure the right party faces justice," Ephrem said into the comm. The reply was short and sweet, six more hours.

"Alright, we have six more hours until the Klingons ask for more details," Ephrem said," for some reason I feel like we are being played and I don't like feeling played."

[Daniel Schirra]

The pain began to subside, albeit slowly. He could tell he was on the floor, lay out as if asleep. As the throbbing eased he opened his eyes:

"Try not to move Commander." Prescott said, running his tricorder over Schirra's body. He frowned for a moment then ran the scan once more, "You are going to be weak for an hour or so Commander. You were affected by a cytotoxic enzyme, airborne I think, but I've managed to catch it early, there's less than four parts per million in your bloodstream and that's dropping quickly."

"How long before we can move ?"

"Five minutes, five hours, five days ...?" Prescott answered, frustration in his reply, "I'm no doctor Ma'am, just your everyday Field Medic. He could get up in thirty seconds and collapse dead in the next minute."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Daniel said, climbing to his feet shakily, "You really do need to work on that 'bedside' manner."

"He's doing his job Commander." Psonoir said.

"Yes ... Sorry." Daniel said, placing a hand on the mans shoulder, both to signify his sincerity, and to prevent him from falling flat on his face, "OK, we need to be aware of this pathogen. Chief, can you inoculate the others to prevent this happening again ?"

"I'm sorry Commander, it doesn't work that way ... They need to get it for it to be treated. I just don't have the equipment or know-how to synthesize a preemptive." Prescott said sadly.

"We were going to go through one of these doors if I remember rightly. Did you decide on which one yet ?" Dan said, the last effects of the pathogen finally leaving his body ... He tilted his head as others began to comment on the doors. After a few seconds he was straining to hear the constant whine:

"QUIET !" he ordered, listening intently, "Do any of you hear that, or is it in my bloody head ?"

It was there, a low-pitched 'hum' gradually rising through the register. As the frequency increased the others began to hear it too. It was like a large motor running at slow speed while someone gently feathered the power level. It had now grown to the point of being clearly audible and everyone was looking around to pinpoint the origin. The frequency was rising exponentially as the sound increased. Dan looked at Karka:

"Any idea's ?"

< tag : Karka >

Prescott had reconfigured his tricorder to scan the increasing sound, but was as stumped as the rest as the pitch continued to rise. Dan listened ... It was almost like a phaser going into forced overload, but much much slower. He decided that whatever it was, it couldn't be a good sign. He could feel it through the soles of his boots too now. 'Whatever this was, it is not going to end well' he thought, looking at his feet and seeing tiny stones vibrating.

"We need to get the hell out of here !" Prescott suddenly said as the whine rose even higher. It was now in the eight kilohertz range and climbing, rapidly, "Pick a door Commodore, or I will !" Daniel said, feeling the first trickle of blood run from his nose ..........






< tag : Alyana / All >

[Karka Psonoir]

Karka looked down at the spot where Lirwa's body had been. It had a left a smear of amber blood across the floor, not as obvious as the haemoglobin-rich plasma of human blood, but giving off a unique aroma that reminded the away team of mothballs.

Lirwa's body had been Hybrudean, in an undisguised form, his consciousness not transplanted into a human body as Karka's was when he'd tunnelled into the past. The engineer's shock at seeing Lirwa hadn't come from his friend's presence in this timeframe - because he'd always known it had been a possibility that Lirwa had been in this timeframe at some point - it had come from finding him dead, with no possibility of resurrection and nothing to change the fact of his expiration. It was... disturbing to say the least.

The question left unanswered was when Lirwa had come back. Had he followed Karka into the past, or had he travelled here after Karka returned to the future? Perhaps he'd even come here before. Could he have hidden that from him when he was in the act of planning his temporal incursion? But such important questions could be dealt with when Karka returned. If Lirwa had arrived after him then hopefully he'd be able to warn his friend. If not, then the process of saving him would become vastly more complicated... But there were more pressing things to attend to now.

The team had examined more of the bodies during Schirra's period of unconsciousness, finding lacerations and marks consistent with blunt trauma over most of the bodies. The more they checked, the more it became apparent that these people had fought each other to the death, not with weapons, but with their bare hands.

"Most of these are Asadan... but approximately 10% are Klingon," Prescott reported from down the hallway, "Should we inform the Excalibur? The Klingons will want to know about this." Before anyone could respond Schirra showed signs of consciousness.

Minutes later Karka noticed the others in the away team become distracted. Schirra asked if the others could hear the sound, Karka assuming that it was only a side effect of the cytotoxic shock. But soon it became apparent that everyone could hear it.

"Any ideas?" Schirra asked him.

"It's possible this place has some central core that has become active, or was active before and has started to overload. It would explain the vibrations we're feeling through the floor."

"What about the sound?!" one of the security officers said, hands clasped to his ears.

"There is an issue in that area," Karka said calmly, almost vulcan like. "I cannot hear the sound." He had a suspicion of why that might be, but he wasn't about to divulge it. Something to do with his species that made him impervious perhaps, but that didn't add up... The brain he currently possessed was human and therefore should be susceptible to the same sense data as other humans.

He went about scanning the four members of the away team. "Odd. I'm detecting considerable neural disruption in the frontal lobes of your brains," he said, raising his voice so they could hear him above the noise, "And in your spinal cord, Commodore." He halted before Ryat, his alarm growing as he read his tricorder. "There are foreign objects in your brains, each no larger than a pinhead. They must be responsible for the sound you're all hearing... They're also showing signs of recent matter transportation... Judging from the signal degradation, I'd say they were transplanted upon our arrival here."

"Why weren't you affected, Lieutenant?"

"I'm unable to speculate on that," he said evenly, "I can feel the vibration through the floor though, so whatever they are they must be amplifying an external source rather than being the source themselves. We shouldn't rule out a connection between these 'implants' and the Commander's recent episode. Perhaps they make you susceptible to the cytotoxins, perhaps the same as all the corpses here..." It was clear that the droves of dead bodies had suffered similar episodes to Schirra, and had ended up killing each other.

[Daniel Schirra]

Daniel watched the Engineer work, his proficiency never in doubt, so when he divulged there were 'devices' implanted within each of their brains, he took the answer as read.

"Commander." Alyana said, addressing Dan, "Have you come across anything like this in your, before you joined us ?" everyone present knew she was referring to Schirra's former role within Intelligence. He took a moment to think while making a concerted mental effort to block out the high-pitched whine in his head.

"No ..." he replied, as something jogged a memory, "Hold on. We encountered something like this on, Demvox two in the Edemolax System, though they used something much cruder than micro-implants. They placed a receiver in the temple and transmitted neuro-stimuli. The effect was nowhere near as subtle as what we're seeing here. As far as we were aware, the facility was destroyed from orbit by the USS Stirling, we didn't find any survivors."

"How many were in there ?" someone asked.

"That is, confidential." was all Schirra could say before he determinedly turned to the Engineer, "Is there any way you can block the signal to these things ?"

< tag : Karka >

"We could try a neural suppressant ?" Prescott said after the Engineer said he would need time to work on the problem given his limited assets, "I'm sure we could use the hypo-sprays. The only thing is, a suppressant would affect all neural function, and we could be worse off."

"One of those 'Frying pan into the Fire' situations then." Daniel said wryly, fond of those twentieth century quotes, "I say we go for the Lieutenant's suggestion and take the neural suppressant. But first off, we need to get away from this area and regroup. Whoever they are are obviously well protected, but we need to get in and quickly. If you want a volunteer, I'll play guinea pig."

"I don't think that is wise Dan, given wha ....." Alyana began, but Schirra had already programmed his own hypo-spray and placed it against his neck. He shrugged and activated the device. After a few moments he was less than impressed.

"Well ?" Prescott asked, a worried look on his face. Daniel shrugged, explaining that as far as he could tell it had made little or no difference to him, given he couldn't hear the high pitched tone anyway. So it was up to Ryat if she proceeded with the option or not. Deciding not to wait on her decree, he stepped away from the group and looked at the options available to them ... He couldn't figure out how the place seemed, on the surface, so to speak, fully automated. Yet there were people moving around, albeit in the shadows and as yet unidentified. The technology here was way beyond the indigenous population, that was a given, so they needed to find out who had placed the tech' inside the planet, and why the rulers didn't have any knowledge of it.

Daniel stepped into the mouth of the corridor, They needed a solution, and quick ! ..........

[Alyana Ryat]

Aly had a head ache, it was hardly surprising with what had been going on. The message which had been relayed to her from Command was puzzling, her orginal mission had been invited by the President and as far as she understood Asadan law the government couldn't over rule the President's personal request except under very special extreme circumstances. Of course these circumstances were extreme but not the right sort. Aly did not feel that she could leave here without locating the President. Especially as a notable fraction of his own people seemed very unbothered about finding him.

Aly told Ephrem to stall. It still felt a little strange to be giving her form CO orders but that was the way things worked in Starfleet.

ALy could have kicked herself for not noticing that Dan was acting out of character before he started waving a phaser around. She knew to always be aware for possession, duplication or telepathic influence, she only had to remember what had happened to Mira when she had first joined the Excal. Of course even acting out of character Dan's weapons discipline was excellent, he hadn't been waving a phaser around but it was easier to consider it as that rather than a rather than a phaser on its maximum setting pointing unwaveringly at her.

This place was just so aggravating. The bodies and the questions were piling up. Especially the one that Lieutenant Psonoir recognised. Had she been thinking that she could have kicked herself? Perhaps it would be better if she kicked someone else?

That was a strange thought.

Then that horrible sound started, Aly gritted her teeth and tried to think. Strangely despite the weirdness in her head and the external noise she could 'hear' Ryat better than usual. Ryat was not impressed.

It was strange that Lieutenant Psonoir was not affected by the sound but Aly could not reason the why on that. Apparently nor could the CEO. She was not entirely surprised by the results of he scan although that too raised more questions.

She checked herself over, there was no way a field medic would be able to make much sense of her neurological system unless they were specifically trained for it after all. She verified that she had managed to get a double dose of whatever they were however Ryat was unaffected.

She also wasn't surprised that Dan had some past with similar devices. She dugg her finger nails into the palm of her hand. The pain was a bit of help with the thinking. When then neural suppressant was suggested Aly was a little bit concerned and even more so when Dan hyposprayed himself. At least she was concerned once she had squashed an impulse to berate him and apply a right cross.

In the end he didn't appear affected one way or the other by the hyprospray. It seemed that it was the only option they had. Aly made sure she programmed her own hypospray. If she knocked Alyana a bit dopey and let Ryat take a bit more control than usual, that wasn't a big problem. Especially on the scale of today's problems. If her neurochemistry was upset then it could be a big problem.

Maybe it was placebo but she felt a bit calm after the hypospray. Maybe it was because she couldn't hear the sound as well.

They had to keep going and shut this place down they couldn't get back to the Excal for another orbit anyway. Might as well use the time constructively.

"Where's the power that's making the floor vibrate coming from? Can we knock out a junction?"

Tag: Karka

Aly opened another door there was another body laying in the room beyond. This one did not appear beaten which seemed a bit strange. As she stared at it she realised why it was confusing her.

"It's the President. Prescott, check him over." She fought to keep the clipped tone out of her voice. She had to set an example.

Tag:

[Karka Psonoir]

"That is, confidential." was all Schirra could say before he determinedly turned to the Engineer, "Is there any way you can block the signal to these things ?"

Karka was glad to see Schirra back to his normal old self, as normal as an intelligence officer with a shady past and hidden agenda could be at least. "Negative, sir," he shook his head. "I lack the necessary equipment. The ship would have the technology required, to detect and nullify devices with power sources as small as these. But it would take I would approximate a week to gather together all the - "

"Alright, Lieutenant, I'll take that as a no." Schirra said, holding up a hand and turning away.

"I did say 'negative', sir," Karka followed Schirra over to Prescott, the resourceful field medic holding forth with another theory.

The rest of the team took the suppressants as suggested. Karka was hesitant to do so, partly because he actually didn't need it but also because he couldn't be sure how his physiology would react - human body regardless, differences between him and the others had already been made apparent, had arisen in fact from the very issue that Psonoir now debated.

The ringing sound seemed to have abated, but the vibrations through the floor were as intense as ever. In an instant, Psonoir had developed another theory: What if the micro-implants had been put into them on arrival... in order to warn them? The ringing apparently had no other source but the implants, but the suggestions of machinery churning beneath their feet confirmed an external source - something perhaps that was best to avoid.

If the implants were designed as a caution - and if Karka divulged this to the team then it would've succeeded - then whom had cautioned them? And if Karka was the only one not to have received an implant, did that mean... was he in personal danger?

His extra sensory perceptions, not nullifed when he'd taken his human body, warned him of imminent threat.

As another partition of his mind coolly registered the discovery of the motionless President Gelan, the other partition leapt into its mode of pure instinct. He ramped up his consciousness rate, so he was experiencing events roughly ten times slower than Ryat and the others. He saw the doors ahead parting, slowly, rolling as if on mechanical casters, to reveal three armoured figures and the interior of a turbolift. They were armed and taking up firing positions, slow movements almost comical.

Karka turned to face them and raised his own weapon. His consciousness might be accelerated but he still had to operate within the limits of his body, although his augmented reflexes accounted for some of that. "Ryyaat... Schirraaa..." he yelled in slow motion, loosing shots at the new arrivals in the same instant. The front two went down, the third ducking behind the doorway. He saw the figure smashing the elevator controls, desperate to get back down to whatever level of safey lay below.

Psonoir leapt towards the elevator shaft, feeling apprehension, not sure if this was the wisest course of action. He'd done enough here already, hadn't he? Found the hybrid vial; got Lirwa his prized, if somewhat inconsequential evidence for his upcoming seminar, which in a sense had already happened... No; death, on what he'd hoped would be his final vigilante excursion, was not part of the programme.

It was too late anyway; the doors slid shut, the armoured Asadan as it turned out to be smiled at him toothily, "You're the only one. You're not meant to be here, human." The Asadan guffawed as the lift closed and began its descent. Karka counted the floors; no visual readout around the door, simply aural perception. The lift clanked every time it passed a floor, the sound ceasing after three. So they were three floors down. But what had the Asadan meant? How could he know...?

Reality reasserted its standard entropic flow... Karka feeling the usual momentary emptiness in his senses as his receptors no longer received their expected level of high input. He returned to the others.

So the President wasn't dead after all. He came about, groggy, staring confused at those standing around him. "Who kidnapped you? The rival faction?" Schirra was probing.

"They wanted me to live..." was all Gelan could manage.

"Then why dump you here among all these corpses?"

Karka went back along the corridor, disregarding Gelan for a moment - although the President's allegiance and his relations with the other factions was still a matter of great importance - and found Lirwa's body. He crouched beside his friend's body, cradled his head. Why? was the word that formed in his head. "You came to rescue me?" Unlikely, he thought. "You came to find the vial yourself. Did you expect to find me here, in this system. Or did you come after I'll tell you my findings, 600 years from now..."

He let Lirwa's head drop to the floor, it lolling to the side, and allowed himself a moment's repose, an instant in which to unfold all the torturuous thoughts that death welcomed to his mind and to nullify them forever. "I'll let you know," he said breezily, "If I get out of this place." And he hoped that Lirwa's survival, if it'd been a rescue attempt, wasn't a condition for his escape.

<Tag All>

[Daniel Schirra]

"Well ?" Alyana had asked after a few seconds ... Daniel shrugged, about to say it hadn't worked, when the high-pitched tone began to decrease, then still further until it was almost inaudible. But the vibrations through the floor remained the same.

He turned ant threw the hypo-spray to the commodore, who used it first on herself before handing it around. minutes later they were heading along the corridor cautiously. Dan opened the first door to his right moving out of the doorway quickly, half expecting phaser-fire to emanate from within. After a second, he spun into the room, weapon ready, but it was empty. He stepped back into the corridor, admittedly relieved. They continued on ...

The Commodore opened the first door on her side of the long corridor, same result ... She moved forward and tried the next door. There was a body on the floor against the back wall, she signaled that she had found something and the group joined her:

"It's the President ... Prescott, check him over." she said quickly, stepping back as the man knelt beside the ruler of the Asadian Government.

"Why leave him here ?" Daniel asked quietly, "If they felt safe they would have remained, so I'm guessing they knew we were getting close and dumped him. But again, why ... He's their only bargaining chip, without him they must know we could level this complex and collapse the tunnel system easily using the Excalibur !"

"He's stable, but we could do with moving him out of here." Prescott informed them regarding the President.

"They 'expect' us to move him." Alyana said, making Daniel realize what was bothering him:

"They knew we would find him !" he said urgently, glancing toward the doorway half expecting there to be weapons trained on they, "They have been herding us to this section of the tunnel system. Each time we made a decision, it was based on external circumstances right, we found out, a little too easily, that we could suppress the high-pitched tone to be able to go into this tunnel, when we could have easily gone the other way and not encountered the noise or vibrations !" he suddenly realized something and ran from the room, the others only a meter behind him ... They stood behind the Excalibur's Exec' in silence.

Where the entrance to the tunnel once stood, there was now a seriously formidable barrier ... Daniel didn't need a metallurgical analysis to tell him it was made of something they had zero chance of moving, or getting through in any way. He turned to the others:

"Guess we're going that way then." he said, pointing along the seemingly endless corridor ..........

[Ephrem Santos]

"Captain, I'm afraid that you have run out of time," the Klingon commander said as he barred his teeth

"You have not been true to your word Commander, you gave us six hours, two hours remain," Ephrem said refusing to stand up. He knew that this would infuriate the Klingon, who wanted to be treated and thought of as an equal.

"Klingons are not a patient people Captain, your people have been there for far to long, I will not wait here for the Federation to discover a method of destroying me or my ships," the Klingon said.

"We have no interest in you or your ship," Ephrem said annoyed at the pretentious attitude of the Klingons. They obviously wanted a fight and they were looking for any reason to actually begin one. Ephrem didn't quite know all of the newer officers aboard the Excalibur, but he trusted Aly. She was once under his command and he knew that she was one of the brightest officers Starfleet had in the fleet. She would not let the Excalibur or the Federation down.

"You are weak Federation, but you are right about the time allotted. Once the two hours pass, my vessels will board yours, kill your crew and claim your ship as a prize. Your Excalibur will shine bright under the Klingon sun!"

"I really hate them sometimes," Ephrem said as he walked towards the observation lounge. With the senior officers not onboard, it was up to Ephrem and some junior officers to come up with a contention plan. They would be ready to fight the remaining Klingon vessels, but in all honesty Ephrem would rather not have to destroy them.

(Tag All)

[Daniel Schirra]

"Guess we're going that way then." Daniel said, pointing along the seemingly endless corridor ...

"We need to take the President." Alyana said, making sure the comment wasn't mistook as a suggestion.

"He can walk, but I wouldn't suggest a prolonged march." Prescott said, helping the President to his feet.

They began to move down the corridor, it seemed endless, curving off to the left far ahead. Dan wasn't concerned they would be trapped should anyone decide to fire on them, otherwise why lure them in here, they could have killed the Federation Officer's in the room where they had found the President. So there was reason behind their being herded in this direction he decided. They had been walking, albeit slowly, for approximately ten minutes when Dan spotted an opening on the tunnel's right wall. He held up a hand then pointed ahead.

"I'm going to take a look." he said, checking his phaser before moving forward.

AS he reached the room, he inched toward the door listening intently. After a moment he was convinced the room was unoccupied. He took a tentative look before stepping into the room ... It seemed to be some sort of relay station, the far wall was covered with control panel's humming quietly. he couldn't figure out what the equipment was for, but one thing stood out clearly. He went to the door and signaled the other's to join him. Prescott lowered President Gelan to the floor against the wall and walked over to the other's. They were all looking at one particular panel.

"Isn't that ....."

"Klingon !" Daniel finished for him.

"What the hell is Klingon technology doing in these caves !" Prescott said, moving to look more closely at the consoles, "These look like power relay's nothing more sinister. These here, could be shield modulation relay's but that is just a guess. That large panel could be communications, and that one, I'd guess at weapon control. But what the hell are they controlling ?"

Dan had been moving along the consoles in the opposite direction to Prescott. He found what could be environmental control's which meant nothing to him given their situation, but he agreed with Prescott. He realized they needed to put distance between this room and themselves, it was entirely possible that whoever was operating this equipment could return at any moment. He turned to the Commodore and voiced his concerns.

"I have to agree Commander." she said, asking Prescott to get the President to his feet.

They left the room and continued down the corridor. They had gone maybe twenty meters when someone stepped out of an opening on their left. The man seemed shocked, but recovered quickly. He turned and was about to shout a warning when the beam from Schirra's phaser slammed into his side. The man was throw past the doorway as the Federation Officer's fell to their knees, phaser's ready, but no-one followed the first man out. Daniel tapped Prescott on the shoulder and the two moved forward cautiously. They could hear talking inside the room. Prescott held up two finger's signifying he could hear two people, Dan concurred ... Prescott pointed himself, then to the far side of the door, he pointed to Schirra, then to the near side of the door, Dan nodded and the two moved forward once more. Schirra risked a glance into the room then stepped across the open doorway, hugging the wall with his back on the far side.

He risked a second look then pointed to the side of the room Daniel was on. So, two people, both on Dan's side of the room, he nodded to Prescott who silently mouthed 'three, two, one' then leaned into the room. Daniel followed suit and both fired simultaneously, the two alien's dropped like stones.

"These are definitely 'not' Klingon's !" Prescott said needlessly as the other's entered the room.

"So who the hell are they ?" Dan asked, checking the bodies for signs of life.

"I think we are about to find out." Alyana said, making the rest of the team turn in her direction. They found themselves looking into the wrong end of several Klingon disruptors !

"Your weapon's .. Throw them, on the floor in front of you ... NOW !" one of the owner's ordered ..........

[Karka Psonoir]

Karka glanced up quickly as he realised the rest of the away team were moving down the corridor, out of the side room where they'd found the President. From the uncertain darkness above him - metal pipes snaking along the ceiling to venting units in the passage's corners - a sound of ponderous grinding had started up. The Hybrudean rushed forward as he realised what was happening - a barrier was descending out of the ceiling, about to cut him off from the team. He sped up, to near inhuman speeds, and ducked and rolled under the forked barrier just before it met with the floor.

He sprang to his feet, dusting his hands off and sighing, receiving odd looks from the others of the landing party. One of them sighed, as if this was a serious problem. "Lieutenant, it might've been wiser if one of us remained - " he paused, "Never mind."

Retreating towards his taciturn but polite nature, Karka regarded the impenetrable barrier. His friend Lirwa, lying still in death, lay beyond that partition. He hoped he'd meet him again, hundreds of years from now, before this nightmare had begun.

He followed the others to the control room, keeping watch outside while Schirra and the versatile Prescott surveyed the room. He was the first to shout warning of the intruder ahead - who looked suspiciously like one of the hybrids... - and crouched behind an outjutting section of the passageway, just as energy bolts crackled against the obstruction.

As Karka realised the identity of the attacker, Schirra emerging from the control room downed him with his phaser. He and Prescott ran to the other room ahead, made checks and ducked inside. What seemed like mere seconds later they were all staring down at the prone forms of the two hybrids. Karka kept quiet; he knew that these beings were a genetic combination of Klingon and Deltan, and by some strange quirk in their combined physiologies were granted superhuman speed and agility. These, unlike those encountered in the President's administrative complex, were conventionally armed - no razor-sharp pincers and scythes, of the type that'd maimed Psonoir's engineer Jablweski.

"Your weapon's .. Throw them, on the floor in front of you ... NOW !"

Now these were Klingons, all except one whom was a hybrid and stood slightly behind the others. Karka glanced at the Commodore, at Schirra, and quietly let his phaser scatter to the floor. The others cast him a brief look, maybe surprised by his quick acquiescence, and dropped theirs also.

The group were led down the corridor, in the direction the team had been heading anyway. Taken that way, as Schirra had correctly theorised, as they'd been drawn inexorably by the reaction of the implants in the others' skulls to whatever hidden transmitters were causing the shrill tone in their heads. They'd been guided unwittingly, manipulated.

At the end of the corridor they encountered someone Karka suspected he'd never see again. "Virna," he said evenly. "Or rather, Helutia. Vice-presidential candidate to the defeated faction in the elections. I suppose you've had your revenge on Gelan, with the help of your Klingon allies here... But why do you want us?"

"You know this Asadan?" Schirra asked darkly.

"Yes. At the welcoming party, she and I shared a drink in the moments before the assassination of most of President Gelan's staff. She made an excuse and left, leaving me to return to the table, just before the shrapnel-filled device detonated."

"You're bargaining chips," Helutia answered, her former sultriness replaced with the cold persona of a statesman. "We want this world delivered to the Klingon Empire, under our protection, and the broken remnants of Gelan's inner circle ousted from government. Or you will perish here in this facility. If you don't comply, we'll abandon you here, where the cytotoxins will drive you to mad and err you on to kill each other, just like many here before you."

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